If I could, I would have used magic to blow up the entire area and vanish in an instant. However, the fact that someone correctly called out my name stopped me from taking immediate action.
What's more, this plane had landed at an unfamiliar airport, not its original destination. The implications were crystal clear. The preparations for this likely began from the moment I booked my return flight ticket. It meant I was already under their surveillance, my identity exposed.
Shit. I muttered softly, cursing under my breath.
Why had they found me? How much did they know about me? And how had they located me?
Blowing up the airport and fleeing without knowing all these details wasn't a good choice, especially considering they probably had a firm grasp of my identity. Why were they so sure?
Silence fell in the air. I kept my focus on the woman in front of me, one of the two individuals. She appeared to be in her late forties, dressed in a respectable suit. She looked oddly familiar, and the more I stared, the more I recognized her. Her appearance bore some resemblance, but her accessories and hairstyle were an exact match.
Was this really a coincidence? Had they intentionally chosen someone who resembled someone I knew to anticipate my hesitation at least before I made my move?
If they had deliberately picked someone like her for that purpose, it was safe to assume they had already reached my family.
I pushed aside those thoughts and kept my face expressionless as I remained seated on the plane. The two individuals in suits stood courteously before me.
Meanwhile, I watched as the crews and passengers filed out of the plane one by one through the door behind my seat. Clearly, all of this had been meticulously planned in advance.
I assumed they must have orchestrated it this way.
Either way, being held hostage inside or outside the plane felt no different to me. I paid no heed to those disembarking and directed my attention to the man in front of me.
"Who are you?" I inquired.
"Oh, my apologies for not introducing myself sooner," the man responded with a polite tone.
He retrieved a business card from within his suit, displaying "Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea" next to the Korean flag emblem.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs?" I questioned. Wasn't that the department that dealt with foreign affairs and diplomacy? I tilted my head in curiosity. "I'm Korean..."
The man did not lose his gentle smile and continued speaking. "Since the outbreak of the channel crisis, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has broadened its scope to encompass various areas. This includes managing all interactions and negotiations with extraterrestrial races."
Extraterrestrial? This gentleman seemed to have made a mistaken assumption.
"I'm human," I clarified.
The man's eyes glinted oddly, as if he had heard the response he expected. "Ah, my apologies! That was impolite of me. The reason why I, as a member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, am meeting with you today is that the Korean government has determined you possess the necessary qualifications to be considered a negotiating subject and asset of the Republic of Korea."
"Sorry?" I was taken aback. It sounded like bullshit a malnourished Yodmo would say.
"In other words, despite the fact that you're a Korean citizen, we respect you as the subject of bargaining of the Republic of Korea instead of treating you as a citizen," the man explained.
"Then?" I asked while glancing around. "What's your business with me? What's all this about?"
Am I being too composed? Should I feign more confusion? I contemplated it briefly, but it seemed they were already aware of my identity, so I abandoned the act halfway. The man observed my reaction and continued speaking.
"I don't know if you remember, but there was an unfortunate accident in Busan a while ago." The man's tone remained polite, but I detected a subtle shift, a tension that couldn't be concealed. Was he apprehensive about my reaction? He continued, "A massive shockwave hit downtown Seomyeon. Two unexplained acts of destruction led to the loss of thousands of lives and significant property damage."
I didn't respond, recalling that day in my mind, the confrontation between Song of Chaos and Gramiel. It mirrored precisely what had occurred in Busan. Could it be that I unintentionally left some clue behind that day?
"We gathered and analyzed survivor footage from the scene, though it wasn't entirely accurate," the man explained further. "In our assessment, it appeared as if a human-like entity with an object resembling a Channel attached to their chest used a whip-like, high-elastic, high-strength, and high-speed object to battle a race believed not to exist in this world."
The body part Song of Chaos stretched seemed closer to octopus legs or tentacles, but referring to it as a "whip" might have been a careful choice of words, perhaps out of concern not to offend me. It's undoubtedly a tentacle, though.
"Is that so?" I replied casually.
"After the confrontation at the scene," he continued, "the human-like entity reappeared at the airbase near Busan City. They retrieved an object and then vanished."
I couldn't help but recall that I had indeed headed to the Busan air base right after Song of Chaos dealt with Gramiel at Seomyeon Station. My purpose was to recover the remains of Carraderina, Gramiel's devoted ascetic, left there.
Up until this point, it was a narrative that the government could piece together. However, the question remained: how did they connect the dots and identify this human-like entity as me?
"As a result of meticulous government scrutiny," he explained further, "we've concluded that the 'wizard' who appeared in Busan that day was you, Mr. Yoon Min-joon."
I fell silent, absorbing this revelation.
"What we intend to discuss today will remain confidential, undisclosed to the public," he continued. "The aftermath of the Busan incident is of such magnitude that it necessitates careful consideration of public sentiment. Our government is willing to establish a cooperative, forward-looking, and mutually beneficial relationship with you, all for the greater and long-term national interest."
It was a speech that might fit well on television, but hearing it from the middle-aged man before me made it seem awkward and absurd.
In essence, beyond his formal words, his intention was rather straightforward. He wanted to negotiate with me discreetly, keeping it hidden from the public eye, didn't he?
However, there was still one crucial factor I needed to ascertain before deciding whether or not to continue engaging with him.
I regarded the man with a neutral expression and asked, "Why do you believe that wizard is me? This seems rather sudden."
The man continued to speak with an unchanged demeanor. "We detected the same terminal signal recorded at two distant locations in a short timeframe. Through this, we identified you as the user, Mr. Yoon Min-joon."
"Sorry...?"
He clarified, "The cellphone is registered in your name."
Ah, fuck. My heart sank as I almost instinctively reached for the cellphone in my pocket.
I refrained from speaking, at a loss for words.
I had been in my basement when Gramiel manipulated space and forcibly summoned me. As usual, my cellphone was in my pants pocket. It had remained with me throughout the entire process of being absorbed into Gramiel's space and subsequently discharged back to Busan through her power.
But hold on a second! There must have been thousands of people in Seomyeon at that time. How could they single me out?
The man speaks calmly and politely. "We investigated all the GPS signals measured within two kilometers of Seomyeon Station during the second shock incident in downtown Seomyeon. Then, approximately seven minutes after that event, we found a matching case near the 5th Airborne Wing of the Air Force. There was only one such instance."
I stayed quiet, encouraging him to keep going.
"The distance between the two locations was roughly fifteen kilometers. Simple calculations indicated that they had moved at a speed of 130 kilometers per hour. This wasn't impossible for a regular vehicle. However, it was essential to note that at the time of the incident, several kilometers around Seomyeon Station were rendered impassable."
Indeed. I acknowledged mentally. The tentacle's swing by Song of Chaos had wreaked havoc on the city.
It appeared as if roads had crumbled, buildings had toppled, and a massive earthquake had ravaged the entire city center. Most likely, roads throughout downtown Busan and its vicinity had been paralyzed.
"At that juncture," the man continued, "we can only surmise that you had flown through the sky to attain such a speed within that area. However, it's worth mentioning that no aircraft had been reported to travel along the route we identified at that time of day."
That makes sense. I conceded inwardly.
"At that time, no aircraft were captured on cameras along that route," said the man.
Since I had cast stealth magic while on the move, naturally, nothing had been caught on camera.
"However," he added, "a human-like entity was spotted above Seomyeon Station during the second shock. They were unmistakably floating in mid-air, providing the government with the most reasonable deductions."
I began to comprehend the sequence of events. Although the exact time hadn't been pinpointed, it had taken about seven minutes to travel from Seomyeon to the air force base.
These were the two locations where the government had identified the unusual phenomenon. They must have investigated cell phone signals at both sites. But I hadn't even made a phone call there. Was he implying that a powered-on cell phone could reveal my location?
"Through videos reported by numerous citizens, we've determined that the wizard appears to be a young man in his early twenties. Additionally, the registered cellphone owner is also a young man in his early twenties. With this information in hand, we hoped to establish contact with the individual in question, Mr. Yoon Min-joon, to facilitate a discussion with the government."
The man's smile remained intact, but I couldn't overlook the subtle trembling in his formally held hands.
The woman standing beside him, who had yet to utter a word, appeared equally tense. My reaction seemed to terrify her now that we had reached the main point of the conversation. Come to think of it, she hadn't said a word at all. Was she genuinely here for the reason I suspected?
As I contemplated this, I glanced around and realized that only a handful of people remained on the plane.
What kind of image did they have of me? Did they believe I might harm or take the chosen individuals hostage, prompting them to position themselves as intermediaries before this select audience?
Well, it's not a very wrong guest.
I wrestled with a decision. Should I play along, or should I dig deeper?
***
The Blue House.
Several high-ranking officials, including the president, military generals, and heads of intelligence agencies, are gathered underground. Their attention fixated on a colossal monitor in the conference room.
Their focus was on the national flag carrier scheduled to depart from Hongqiao and land in Gimpo. Instead of the originally scheduled crew and passengers, government-selected personnel had boarded the aircraft as part of a covert operation. All this was done without the knowledge of the only passenger who remained oblivious to the situation.
In the Blue House's subterranean conference room, the assembled officials were studying video footage from a CCTV camera installed within the aircraft.
Camera No. 6 was angled to capture the demeanor of the target. The President, gazing at the screen transmitting the camera feed, commented, "He appears remarkably composed."
A psychologist from the National Intelligence Service, present in the room, nodded and added, "It's an atypical reaction for a young man in his twenties facing such circumstances. He maintains an expressionless facade, but there's a distinct absence of nervousness evident in his mouth, eyes, and overall posture."
The President concurred. "I'd say it's almost certain."
One of the seated secretaries voiced concerns, wearing an uneasy expression. "Shouldn't we approach him differently? We forcibly rerouted the plane he intended to board, and that alone could provoke his displeasure. Maybe, at the apartment where he resided-!"
It had only been revealed recently that the target occupied an apartment registered in the name of a famous female celebrity.
However, the President raised his hand to halt the suggestion. "We've already determined it's safer to engage with him on a runway with minimal obstructions rather than risk an incident by making contact in an apartment complex."
Furthermore, there was no assurance that the young man in question would head straight to his residence upon returning to Korea. His purpose and intentions remained entirely unknown. They aimed to establish contact while understanding his motivations to the fullest extent possible.
"Huh?!" Those viewing the video groaned with heightened tension.
Yoon Min-joon, the target under scrutiny by the aircraft's onboard camera, suddenly rose from his seat mid-conversation and reached forward.
If I could, I would have used magic to blow up the entire area and vanish in an instant. However, the fact that someone correctly called out my name stopped me from taking immediate action.
What's more, this plane had landed at an unfamiliar airport, not its original destination. The implications were crystal clear. The preparations for this likely began from the moment I booked my return flight ticket. It meant I was already under their surveillance, my identity exposed.
Shit. I muttered softly, cursing under my breath.
Why had they found me? How much did they know about me? And how had they located me?
Blowing up the airport and fleeing without knowing all these details wasn't a good choice, especially considering they probably had a firm grasp of my identity. Why were they so sure?
Silence fell in the air. I kept my focus on the woman in front of me, one of the two individuals. She appeared to be in her late forties, dressed in a respectable suit. She looked oddly familiar, and the more I stared, the more I recognized her. Her appearance bore some resemblance, but her accessories and hairstyle were an exact match.
Was this really a coincidence? Had they intentionally chosen someone who resembled someone I knew to anticipate my hesitation at least before I made my move?
If they had deliberately picked someone like her for that purpose, it was safe to assume they had already reached my family.
I pushed aside those thoughts and kept my face expressionless as I remained seated on the plane. The two individuals in suits stood courteously before me.
Meanwhile, I watched as the crews and passengers filed out of the plane one by one through the door behind my seat. Clearly, all of this had been meticulously planned in advance.
I assumed they must have orchestrated it this way.
Either way, being held hostage inside or outside the plane felt no different to me. I paid no heed to those disembarking and directed my attention to the man in front of me.
"Who are you?" I inquired.
"Oh, my apologies for not introducing myself sooner," the man responded with a polite tone.
He retrieved a business card from within his suit, displaying "Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea" next to the Korean flag emblem.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs?" I questioned. Wasn't that the department that dealt with foreign affairs and diplomacy? I tilted my head in curiosity. "I'm Korean..."
The man did not lose his gentle smile and continued speaking. "Since the outbreak of the channel crisis, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has broadened its scope to encompass various areas. This includes managing all interactions and negotiations with extraterrestrial races."
Extraterrestrial? This gentleman seemed to have made a mistaken assumption.
"I'm human," I clarified.
The man's eyes glinted oddly, as if he had heard the response he expected. "Ah, my apologies! That was impolite of me. The reason why I, as a member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, am meeting with you today is that the Korean government has determined you possess the necessary qualifications to be considered a negotiating subject and asset of the Republic of Korea."
"Sorry?" I was taken aback. It sounded like bullshit a malnourished Yodmo would say.
"In other words, despite the fact that you're a Korean citizen, we respect you as the subject of bargaining of the Republic of Korea instead of treating you as a citizen," the man explained.
"Then?" I asked while glancing around. "What's your business with me? What's all this about?"
Am I being too composed? Should I feign more confusion? I contemplated it briefly, but it seemed they were already aware of my identity, so I abandoned the act halfway. The man observed my reaction and continued speaking.
"I don't know if you remember, but there was an unfortunate accident in Busan a while ago." The man's tone remained polite, but I detected a subtle shift, a tension that couldn't be concealed. Was he apprehensive about my reaction? He continued, "A massive shockwave hit downtown Seomyeon. Two unexplained acts of destruction led to the loss of thousands of lives and significant property damage."
I didn't respond, recalling that day in my mind, the confrontation between Song of Chaos and Gramiel. It mirrored precisely what had occurred in Busan. Could it be that I unintentionally left some clue behind that day?
"We gathered and analyzed survivor footage from the scene, though it wasn't entirely accurate," the man explained further. "In our assessment, it appeared as if a human-like entity with an object resembling a Channel attached to their chest used a whip-like, high-elastic, high-strength, and high-speed object to battle a race believed not to exist in this world."
The body part Song of Chaos stretched seemed closer to octopus legs or tentacles, but referring to it as a "whip" might have been a careful choice of words, perhaps out of concern not to offend me. It's undoubtedly a tentacle, though.
"Is that so?" I replied casually.
"After the confrontation at the scene," he continued, "the human-like entity reappeared at the airbase near Busan City. They retrieved an object and then vanished."
I couldn't help but recall that I had indeed headed to the Busan air base right after Song of Chaos dealt with Gramiel at Seomyeon Station. My purpose was to recover the remains of Carraderina, Gramiel's devoted ascetic, left there.
Up until this point, it was a narrative that the government could piece together. However, the question remained: how did they connect the dots and identify this human-like entity as me?
"As a result of meticulous government scrutiny," he explained further, "we've concluded that the 'wizard' who appeared in Busan that day was you, Mr. Yoon Min-joon."
I fell silent, absorbing this revelation.
"What we intend to discuss today will remain confidential, undisclosed to the public," he continued. "The aftermath of the Busan incident is of such magnitude that it necessitates careful consideration of public sentiment. Our government is willing to establish a cooperative, forward-looking, and mutually beneficial relationship with you, all for the greater and long-term national interest."
It was a speech that might fit well on television, but hearing it from the middle-aged man before me made it seem awkward and absurd.
In essence, beyond his formal words, his intention was rather straightforward. He wanted to negotiate with me discreetly, keeping it hidden from the public eye, didn't he?
However, there was still one crucial factor I needed to ascertain before deciding whether or not to continue engaging with him.
I regarded the man with a neutral expression and asked, "Why do you believe that wizard is me? This seems rather sudden."
The man continued to speak with an unchanged demeanor. "We detected the same terminal signal recorded at two distant locations in a short timeframe. Through this, we identified you as the user, Mr. Yoon Min-joon."
"Sorry...?"
He clarified, "The cellphone is registered in your name."
Ah, fuck. My heart sank as I almost instinctively reached for the cellphone in my pocket.
I refrained from speaking, at a loss for words.
I had been in my basement when Gramiel manipulated space and forcibly summoned me. As usual, my cellphone was in my pants pocket. It had remained with me throughout the entire process of being absorbed into Gramiel's space and subsequently discharged back to Busan through her power.
But hold on a second! There must have been thousands of people in Seomyeon at that time. How could they single me out?
The man speaks calmly and politely. "We investigated all the GPS signals measured within two kilometers of Seomyeon Station during the second shock incident in downtown Seomyeon. Then, approximately seven minutes after that event, we found a matching case near the 5th Airborne Wing of the Air Force. There was only one such instance."
I stayed quiet, encouraging him to keep going.
"The distance between the two locations was roughly fifteen kilometers. Simple calculations indicated that they had moved at a speed of 130 kilometers per hour. This wasn't impossible for a regular vehicle. However, it was essential to note that at the time of the incident, several kilometers around Seomyeon Station were rendered impassable."
Indeed. I acknowledged mentally. The tentacle's swing by Song of Chaos had wreaked havoc on the city.
It appeared as if roads had crumbled, buildings had toppled, and a massive earthquake had ravaged the entire city center. Most likely, roads throughout downtown Busan and its vicinity had been paralyzed.
"At that juncture," the man continued, "we can only surmise that you had flown through the sky to attain such a speed within that area. However, it's worth mentioning that no aircraft had been reported to travel along the route we identified at that time of day."
That makes sense. I conceded inwardly.
"At that time, no aircraft were captured on cameras along that route," said the man.
Since I had cast stealth magic while on the move, naturally, nothing had been caught on camera.
"However," he added, "a human-like entity was spotted above Seomyeon Station during the second shock. They were unmistakably floating in mid-air, providing the government with the most reasonable deductions."
I began to comprehend the sequence of events. Although the exact time hadn't been pinpointed, it had taken about seven minutes to travel from Seomyeon to the air force base.
These were the two locations where the government had identified the unusual phenomenon. They must have investigated cell phone signals at both sites. But I hadn't even made a phone call there. Was he implying that a powered-on cell phone could reveal my location?
"Through videos reported by numerous citizens, we've determined that the wizard appears to be a young man in his early twenties. Additionally, the registered cellphone owner is also a young man in his early twenties. With this information in hand, we hoped to establish contact with the individual in question, Mr. Yoon Min-joon, to facilitate a discussion with the government."
The man's smile remained intact, but I couldn't overlook the subtle trembling in his formally held hands.
The woman standing beside him, who had yet to utter a word, appeared equally tense. My reaction seemed to terrify her now that we had reached the main point of the conversation. Come to think of it, she hadn't said a word at all. Was she genuinely here for the reason I suspected?
As I contemplated this, I glanced around and realized that only a handful of people remained on the plane.
What kind of image did they have of me? Did they believe I might harm or take the chosen individuals hostage, prompting them to position themselves as intermediaries before this select audience?
Well, it's not a very wrong guest.
I wrestled with a decision. Should I play along, or should I dig deeper?
***
The Blue House.
Several high-ranking officials, including the president, military generals, and heads of intelligence agencies, are gathered underground. Their attention fixated on a colossal monitor in the conference room.
Their focus was on the national flag carrier scheduled to depart from Hongqiao and land in Gimpo. Instead of the originally scheduled crew and passengers, government-selected personnel had boarded the aircraft as part of a covert operation. All this was done without the knowledge of the only passenger who remained oblivious to the situation.
In the Blue House's subterranean conference room, the assembled officials were studying video footage from a CCTV camera installed within the aircraft.
Camera No. 6 was angled to capture the demeanor of the target. The President, gazing at the screen transmitting the camera feed, commented, "He appears remarkably composed."
A psychologist from the National Intelligence Service, present in the room, nodded and added, "It's an atypical reaction for a young man in his twenties facing such circumstances. He maintains an expressionless facade, but there's a distinct absence of nervousness evident in his mouth, eyes, and overall posture."
The President concurred. "I'd say it's almost certain."
One of the seated secretaries voiced concerns, wearing an uneasy expression. "Shouldn't we approach him differently? We forcibly rerouted the plane he intended to board, and that alone could provoke his displeasure. Maybe, at the apartment where he resided-!"
It had only been revealed recently that the target occupied an apartment registered in the name of a famous female celebrity.
However, the President raised his hand to halt the suggestion. "We've already determined it's safer to engage with him on a runway with minimal obstructions rather than risk an incident by making contact in an apartment complex."
Furthermore, there was no assurance that the young man in question would head straight to his residence upon returning to Korea. His purpose and intentions remained entirely unknown. They aimed to establish contact while understanding his motivations to the fullest extent possible.
"Huh?!" Those viewing the video groaned with heightened tension.
Yoon Min-joon, the target under scrutiny by the aircraft's onboard camera, suddenly rose from his seat mid-conversation and reached forward.
