Chapter 559
Teleportation—commonly called “Teleport” among magic-users—is infamously difficult, even among mages.
Screw up the coordinates and you’re dead in an instant, not to mention the mana cost is absurdly high. If you’re trying to travel long-distance, it’s basically a one-way ticket to passing out from mana depletion.
‘The ultimate crap cost-to-performance ratio.’
But as with everything, it depends on who’s casting it.
Just like how a supreme master’s “Basic Sword Technique” becomes indistinguishable from divine martial arts, it’s no different when the caster is one of only three Archmages in the world out of all 7 billion people.
「Fucking Korea. I say this every time, but it’s so damn far. I almost got motion sick on the way here.」
Watching the grumbling, dark-skinned Archmage Magic Johnson, I chuckled.
“Getting motion sickness from intercontinental travel is still pretty mild. A regular mage would be vomiting on the Third Heavenly River.”
「Sam-doo-chun? What’s that? Something like Seoul’s Cheonggyecheon stream?」
“…Not exactly. Close enough. Let’s move on.”
Having just turned Seoul into a “city of hell” upon arrival, Magic Johnson spotted the people in the room and grinned wide.
「Hey, what’s up, guys? Long time no see.」
Time Magazine’s pick for “Most Influential LGBTQ+ Person in the World” greeted us. Team Leader Choi responded with the firmest voice in the world.
“It’s guys, Mr. Johnson. Not gays.”
「Aw, Choi, that hurts. I flew over here in a heartbeat because you called.」
“I appreciate that you came, but couldn’t you have just sent a secure email?”
「You’re really going to treat me like this after so long?」
“If I recall correctly, we met less than a week ago. Isn’t that right, Mr. Jin Taekyung?”
I nodded.
“That’s right. Johnson was here for the state funeral too.”
The funeral that had been held was massive. Nearly a million citizens came to pay respects, and influential figures from around the globe visited Korea.
It was a reflection of just how much influence Lee Jeongryong had held in his life. Even multiple heads of state came to mourn, to the point that some media outlets dubbed it “a summit.”
And among those VIPs was none other than the symbol of the United States—Magic Johnson.
「Hey, Jin. Don’t lump that together. I came to pay respects to an old comrade.」
“Comrade, huh?”
「Yeah. I was just seeing off an old friend.」
“Then why did you go to a gay bar in Itaewon? And why’d you use an illusion spell to change your face?”
「…Who the hell spread that ridiculous nonsense?」
“One of the guys who went to the bar with you told me. Said it was ‘very convincing testimony.’”
Whatever friendliness had been in the air vanished. The victim of that night—Skeleton King—spoke with fury.
“I knew something was wrong when something touched my backside. That accursed human tricked me.”
「You ungrateful monster motherf—…」
Look at that expression. Time’s pick for “World’s Most Violent Gay” wouldn’t be a stretch either.
As the room turned toward him, Magic Johnson quickly schooled his face into something serious.
「Don’t get the wrong idea, everyone. I just wanted to experience Korean culture.」
“Did you sell off your respect for your old comrade on eBay?”
「Jin, don’t be like that. Attending the funeral was more than enough of a tribute. You, of all people, know what kind of man Mr. Lee was.」
Yeah. I know. No one knows better than me.
And Magic Johnson was one of the very few people who also knew what had really happened in the Arch Lich’s domain.
「Anyway, let’s drop this conversation. We finally meet again—how about we move on, Robin Hood?」
Unfortunately, Korea’s own Robin Hood—Im Jeok-jung—didn’t have a translator item and froze on the spot.
“Ah, I’m fine thank you. And you…”
「Of course I’m fine. But from here on, we’re going to be discussing something not so pleasant.」
With a sigh, Magic Johnson pulled out a memory chip no bigger than a fingernail.
As Team Leader Choi accepted and inspected it, his gaze sharpened.
“This is the data I requested?”
「Yup. Took some serious digging to get it.」
“I’ll thank you after reviewing it.”
「Be my guest.」
Tap. Shhhhhh—
It was instantaneous.
Choi tapped somewhere under the desk, and every window and crack in the office was sealed shut, shrouded in invisible mana like a curtain.
‘Magic?’
If I could tell, there was no way an Archmage like Johnson wouldn’t. He glanced around the office with intrigued eyes.
「Seven overlapping spells… The security here is tighter than I expected. Not many mages in our guild could pull this off… Whose handiwork is this?」
“Someone who’s been by my side since childhood.”
Magic Johnson and Butler Kim had yet to meet.
With a short reply, Choi inserted the memory chip into his smartphone. Immediately, a holographic projection burst forth.
CRASH!
A deafening roar. The ground for dozens of meters cracked and flipped, grains of sand scattering in all directions. It looked just like an earthquake.
Over a hundred Hunters of various ethnicities screamed and cursed.
—Fuck!
—Disperse! Disperse now! They’re coming!
—Healer! We need a healer!
Screams and shouts filled the air. Amidst the arid trees and sandy dunes, crumbling structures could be seen in every direction.
Im Jeok-jung’s eyes widened as he realized what it meant.
“A… Monster Wave?!”
Correct.
There’s no way modern buildings would exist inside a Gate.
All Gates contain at least some level of mana, and their rank is determined by the total mana contained within them.
But if a monster far surpassing that designated rank appears, everything changes.
A Mutated Gate.
A mutated Gate alone is already serious. But if a high-tier monster appears and pushes the mana inside the Gate beyond its threshold…
A greater disaster awaits.
A Monster Wave.
If a sturdy dam collapses under pressure, the water it held back will always overflow. The sight unfolding on the hologram was exactly that.
Shrrrk!
Over a dozen enormous scorpions let out eerie cries.
Their tails burst from the sand, and screams and blood exploded in every direction.
—KRAAAHHH!
—Joseph! Save Joseph!
—Commence full auto-fire!!
CRUNCH!
Just as humans and monsters hurled themselves at each other—
Flick.
The hologram playing in the office vanished like a wiped screen.
Team Leader Choi, who had stopped the transmission, spoke in a low voice.
“When did this happen?”
Magic Johnson responded grimly.
「Four days ago. The Mojave Desert. It spans multiple states, but the incident occurred near Arizona. I don’t know the exact coordinates.」
As I listened to their exchange, I frowned.
“Four days ago?”
「Yeah, four.」
“If it’s been that long, it should’ve already been publicly announced.”
Gates are like time bombs that can go off at any moment. That’s why nations around the world maintain strict vigilance over them.
They station national Hunters—known as bomb squads—at key locations, and law requires all incidents be made public within a certain timeframe.
‘Then why’s it been so quiet?’
Mutated Gates are rare—but Monster Waves? Those are dozens of times rarer.
An incident this massive should’ve been plastered all over the media. It should’ve been a global sensation.
Yet neither I nor Team Leader Choi, who had both been keeping close tabs on current events, had heard a single word about it.
There was only one conclusion left.
“There won’t be any official announcement, will there?”
Magic Johnson gave a faint nod.
「Right. The Department of Defense wiped it clean. Just like the desert wreckage you saw in that footage.」
“Is that even possible?”
「Possible? Jin, c’mon. We’re talking about the U.S. DoD. If you’re going to ask anything, ask what isn’t possible.」
Johnson scoffed quietly and went on.
「Twenty-two dead. Thirty-five injured. But that doesn’t change the outcome. It happened in a military base off-limits to civilians, so it was easy to cover up.」
“But this… This is flat-out concealment.”
「It is. It also violates the post-Cataclysm revised constitution. But sometimes, a kind lie is better than a cold truth.」
A sudden blow to the back of my head.
Because I realized—I’d thought the same thing, even while knowing it was wrong.
Dark Heaven.
When the truth arrives before the world is ready, chaos follows.
That’s exactly how Dark Heaven was in Murim. Even I had agreed it was too soon to reveal their identity.
But that wasn’t the only reason I felt stunned now.
It was the shock of seeing my vague unease manifest as undeniable reality.
“How many?”
The question lacked a subject.
But the stiffness in Magic Johnson’s expression showed he understood exactly what I meant.
“Jesus…”
He muttered like a curse and turned toward Team Leader Choi.
「Choi, how many clips were on the chip I gave you?」
Still staring at the phone, Choi whispered like he was groaning.
“Thirty-two.”
「Right. Two of them were Monster Waves. The rest, Mutated Gates. And keep in mind—this is just the intel I got.」
Magic Johnson’s power and influence in the U.S. were immense—undeniable.
But even so, he couldn’t possibly match the intelligence-gathering power of the United States Department of Defense.
‘If even Johnson collected 32 cases… how many more are out there?’
Apparently thinking the same thing, both Team Leader Choi and I fell silent at once.
And then—
“Wait. Wait a minute.”
Skeleton King, who had been furiously counting on his fingers, stared wide-eyed at Magic Johnson.
“You ungrateful human… If what you’re saying is true, then doesn’t that mean something’s been happening every single day?!”
「You loose-lipped monster, you’re being way too optimistic.」
“…Huh?”
What Magic Johnson said next was something we’d have been better off not hearing.
「Not over a month. Those 32 incidents happened in just the past week.」
…
A suffocating silence crushed the room.
Only one voice rang out—the one person who hadn’t grasped the weight of what had just been said.
“Ah… I’m fine thank you. And you?”
And you my ass. Holy shit.
Holy shit. What the fuck.
Even exhausting every curse I know in English still wouldn’t cover just how utterly fucked up this is.
‘Thirty-two in a week?’
An insane number.
And this was only from Magic Johnson’s personal intel.
No one knew the actual count—but it was obviously more than 32.
‘Well… maybe it’s only natural.’
The United States is 98 times the size of South Korea and has nearly twenty times more Gates.
During the Great Cataclysm, it was the primary target of the Demon King Asmodeus and suffered massive losses.
And yet, ironically, it was the very existence of Gates left behind by war that brought America back to the top of the world.
Oil Fields.
Modern Gates are, quite literally, new and richer oil fields.
Thirty years after the global catastrophe, the byproducts of monsters sell at sky-high prices, and magic stones have long become eco-friendly energy sources.
Humanity, having survived the apocalypse, built an even more brilliant and massive civilization atop the ruins.
But…
「Looks like the party’s over.」
