The Soul Flows High (2)
I felt uncomfortable, but I decided to ask for more details when I called Yodmo next time. I had other matters to attend to first. After I heard the purpose of Yodmo’s ears from Parvache, I headed to the warehouse to store it and take out what I needed.
-Wooong
The door that read my Mana pattern opened automatically. As soon as I entered, I headed straight to the area where the items received from White Deer were stored.
“Ah…it’s uncomfortable to keep these things piled up like this, and there’s no way or time to dispose of them…”
Countless items were stored in a large space that was several times the size of my existing warehouse. Items that weren’t artifacts and weren’t relatively easy-to-cash precious metals such as gold or jewelry do not fall under any category. I had to go through this to get to the area where the White Deer’s artifacts were kept.
I recalled what Yusu said.
He said – “it was a bonus given in the hope for continual cooperation in the future.”
Actually, these things don’t even belong to the support I’d been asking for. Human items obtained through interracial-level exchanges with humans before the agreement or that they secretly brought after the previous agreement. Were they some of the things that their people kept as a kind of “hobby” to remember the old days?
The most considerable quantities were items such as bronze swords, jewelry, and mirrors. There were many things made of gold, but they were sorted separately in the precious metal section. I thought that I saw many knives among them, but the color was silver, unlike in the photos. So, it took some time to search for memories until I realized that it was very similar to what was on the cover of a national history book when I was in school.
It came to my mind lately to wonder how they fought with these fat, bumpy knives. Although the proportion was relatively small, there were endless handicrafts made of glass and iron, ceramics, incredibly soft fabrics, paintings, weapons, old books, and wooden furniture. Honestly, I had given up on converting them right now.
“I have no intention of disposing of them right away, but…”
The problem was that I had no knowledge or understanding of these things. I didn’t have a network, so I wasn’t sure how to dispose of them. Still, there was no reason to ask those people to take them back, so I took them. I was even taking the trouble of expanding the warehouse. I walked through a section where all kinds of bronze items were stored. I passed a section where melon-colored ceramics were gathered with a very ambiguous structure to wash dishes. I reached the destination I wanted after turning around the wall with dozens of portraits of the king, whose face was visible.
It was an area located quite deep inside the warehouse. This was where the artifact-class items received from the White Deer were collected and stored.
“Oh, where did I put it?”
After wandering for a moment, I found what I was aiming for and then brought it out into the living room.
***
What I put down on the living room floor was a vast plate made of silver about the size of my body. I poured water from a two-liter bottle and infused Mana in it. After a while, the water gathered in the concave groove trembled. It spread around, forming a shallow water film over the entire plate covering it. Then, a familiar face floated over the surface of the plate.
It was Yusu. The plate even conveyed his voice.
“Ah, it’s been a long time. Master Yoon.”
“Long time no see.”
This artifact came over to me, although there were only a few, even in White Deer. White Deer people were so uncomfortable communicating with me because my message magic system was completely different from theirs, so I asked for something useful – an artifact meant for communication.
“It has already been a month since the move was over. Are you almost finished with the cleanup?”
“Thanks to you. Now, my hands are a little free, too, and I have nothing to do except for the regular rituals. Anyway, I’m listening to the news. Garam was terrified that you were learning the Maek’s technique at a ridiculous pace.”
“I haven’t even reached the implementation yet.”
“It’s not about the implementation, but in the first place, this technique has no history of being mastered by any other race than the Maek.”
I now knew why. The magic that Maek used was only possible when the nature and pattern of the natural Mana of the race was the basis. However, while Garam stayed in this house before, the hidden observation magic everywhere recorded everything about him. It wasn’t just his physical body but the entire movements of his inner Mana. Parvache studied all the collected data, then solved the problem by merely teaching me how to copy his Mana.
“Moreover, it’s not normal to go all the way to the stage of collecting dreams. Even for Maeks, it takes years of training… but it’s just amazing.”
Yusu shook his head as if he couldn’t believe it. Parvache’s virtues were also great for the speed of learning. During Garam’s class, Parvache, who was listening to the magical principle, thoroughly analyzed and reinterpreted it with the magical theory that I was familiar with, making it easier for me to learn.
Once I converted it to a formula I knew, the rest was easy. It usually took less than a month for me to learn a single spell. Instead, in the case of this magic, the progress was slow due to the preparation of summoning Yodmo. Nevertheless, it seemed to be a tremendous speed to Maek’s common sense. At the beginning of the class, Garam’s consistent expression with the attitude of “How dare a human to learn this?” became distorted day by day. In the end, it was quite exciting to watch him deny the world in a corner.
“By the way, I know there is no class today. What’s going on? Shall I call Garam?”
“No, I have business with you today, Yusu.”
It was said that seeing the soul was the characteristic of the Maek, so it was possible to call Garam. Still, no matter how much I thought about it, Yusu was more reliable. In fact, Parvache’s interpretation of the soul was also much more accurate.
“Would you like to stop by my house? I have a favor to ask you.”
Yusu looked at me with an odd look, and I explained to him what I wanted. He pondered for a moment, then nodded and agreed.
“Okay. I will visit you.”
Then, he continued as if he suddenly remembered something.
“Well…by the way.”
“Yes.”
“I had something I wanted to ask, and it’s good to hear from you, Master Yoon.”
“What is it?”
In Yusu’s eyes, a little irritation passed by.
“Is there anything big that has happened to human society these days?”
When it comes to big things, there was one thing that came to mind.
“Why has the number of humans jumping into the Han River increased suddenly since the last few days? Gatekeepers cannot watch humans drown, so they bring them to the village, which is a big problem.”
Ah. I nodded my head.
“Moreover, we can’t just let the people who come into the village go away, and we can’t hurt them, so we erased their memories one by one and sent them back, which is very troublesome.”
Um, well, that’s a tough job. Still, seeing that they didn’t hurt the humans who had come to know the village’s existence, I could roughly see how they treated ordinary people. They didn’t want to reveal their existence yet, and they didn’t want to get involved with people, but that didn’t mean they would take human lives with their own hands.
“Moreover, there is only one elderly who can use such a technique in the village; Elder Mago is about to explode. She had a hard time moving the village, and now she tried to rest a little, and it’s like a bolt out of the blue.”
“I see what’s going on.”
“What on earth is the reason?”
I struggled, scratching my chin. How did I explain this?
“There is a country called the United States. It’s a country on another continent that comes out after a very big ocean.”
“What does it have to do with that country and the humans jumping into the river on this land?”
“Washington…the capital of that country, was terrorized a few days ago. Oh, what I mean terrorized is…anyway, the building exploded, and many people died.”
To be exact, it wasn’t downtown Washington, D.C., but it was located less than 10 kilometers from the White House. A week ago, at night, the warehouse site, which had a radius of several hundred meters, was bombed. Everything, including the bodies of victims who worked at night, was burned down, leaving no trace behind in the wake of the explosions. The federal government quickly released the investigation results that a gas explosion caused it. Still, a different public opinion arose from the media and the Internet.
Photographs and remaining samples were taken at the site were leaked to the press despite strict federal control. It was impossible to explain why volcanic was formed at the fire caused by a gas explosion.
“There was no seismic activity at that time to see it as a volcanic eruption, and they can’t explain why it became a rocky area in that short amount of time.”
“Sure, I suppose so.”
What’s more, people’s reactions were inevitably heated because rumors spread that the area was one of the places where the federal government’s wizards were secretly trained.
“The fact that some countries foster wizards is an almost open secret.”
“Well…what is the action of the human authorities to prevent social chaos?”
“I don’t know exactly. It seems to be the purpose of concealing power…”
The governments of each country had repeatedly put forward the stance of “nothing has been confirmed.” However, there was no way it would work. Evidence revealed in various places, such as videos and photos taken by individuals, people who rush to go missing overnight after rumors of psychics spread, and consistent testimony provided anonymously instilled confidence in the public. It was enough.
“I understand so far, but what does this have to do with humans jumping to death?”
“Oh, from here on, I have to give you a more complicated explanation. It’s also a field that I’m not familiar with…”
Even after the outbreak of the channel crisis, the United States, maybe because of the help of heavenly luck, had only experienced cases where the level was far lower than that of the U.S. military. Either no response had been made, or there were no significant threats of domestic Channels. I don’t even know how the Fake God managed the media when he escaped from the intelligence agency, but it hadn’t hit the news at all.
For people around the world who believed that everything was under the control of the U.S. government, this terrorist incident came as a devastating shock. The result was a major crash in the world stock market, which was barely regaining stability. The aftermath came to the Korean market, and White Deer Village seemed to be getting troubled by jumpers trying to kill themselves on the Han River Bridge.
No matter how little damage had been done to the country, I don’t understand well that the world had reached this point or how such a market has continued to exist. I heard that this was an opportunity, and when it fell to the floor, people who pick it up and aim for cold water continue to flock. Yusu’s expression became serious after hearing my explanation.
“Is it also caused by an alien?”
“Well… it could be the alien things… or it could be a completely different organization. However, since the motive is unknown, there is no meaning of speculation.”
Saying so, I slowly added a word.
“When you visit this time, you may be able to approach the truth.”
***
Unlike before, Yusu visited my house in a very human way. He came from Han River Park by taxi. It was excellent progress in a short time. I asked them not to fly because of my concern that they might be caught in people’s eyes as I couldn’t be sure of the stealth they used. In such a situation, some of the gold I received from White Deer was disposed of, and I gave them some cash. Of course, it was like a drop in the bucket compared to the total I received.
“Welcome.”
After I brought Yusu into the house, we went downstairs together. It was a huge tank where he and I stopped in the lower floor’s room, completely enclosed without a single window.
“This is the essence of memory.”
I showed Yusu a pair of large and small beads.
“What I’m asking today is actually something that has nothing to do with the contract. In return, I will share the information.”
Yusu nodded.
“Then, I’ll get started.”
Having said that, I reached out for the tank in front of my eyes. The green liquid filled the tank was a substance made by mixing many things with magical freezing liquid. With my gestures, the figure locked in it slowly rose upward.
-Wooong!
As the shackles attached to the hands and feet floated into the air, the body of Fake Good, locked in the tank, came up. Yusu, who saw it, groaned a little.
“Alien…”
All of the clothing worn over his body had been removed, and the Fake God was unconscious and tied up. All twenty-three eyes were sewn with a wire made of enchanted magic metal. He was also immersed in a solution that absorbed all his Mana. The solution also functioned to sustain the Fake God’s life by excessively slowing the Fake God’s biological activity and providing minimal nutrition.
As soon as his body emerged out of the tank, the Fake God’s biological function began to normalize. His chest rattled as he began breathing, and he began telepathizing with a harsh cough.
=Ah… aaaaaaaah! Am I still alive…? I am alive…!=
