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I did think about just leaving like this, but then I'd end up a deserter. I don't want to be hunted by the Imperial Army Military Police.
I should wrap things up first.
So I returned to Seoraksan Forward Base.
Starting with an interview with Captain Hwang Jaecheol, the company commander.
"... Is that true?"
"Yes."
"Staff Sergeant Go Youngho tried to kill you?"
"He kicked me off a cliff. I barely survived after getting caught on a tree halfway down."
"Ugh."
Hwang Jaecheol felt like he was going insane at Taeju's sudden report.
Of all things, it had to be an insubordination case.
"Don't say anything for now and wait inside the base. Once Go Youngho and the platoon members return, I'll look into what happened."
"Yes, understood."
Could it really be true?
It must not be true.
If it was, headquarters at the forward base would hold him responsible for command failure, and his promotion would be gone.
'I have to smooth this over somehow. More importantly, where the hell did that bastard Jang Indong go?'
The next day.
Only then did they learn that Lieutenant Jang Indong and five platoon members had failed to return to the unit. Then came the bodies discovered by the search party.
Rumors spread throughout the base.
Signs of deaths presumed to have been caused by orcs entering breeding season.
Recovered dog tags, bloodstains, and pieces of flesh.
In the end, the matter left the company commander's hands.
During the reporting process to higher command, the matter of Second Lieutenant Kim Taeju and Staff Sergeant Go Youngho came up, and naturally, the forward base military police launched an investigation.
Taeju was interrogated by a military police investigator, a sergeant.
"I've heard the general situation... but how exactly did you return? You're not in good health."
"Does being a Mana-Rejector mean I don't even have the strength to move around? I carefully climbed down the cliff and returned to the unit right away."
"Why didn't you report directly to the military police?"
Taeju gave a short sneer and said,
"A mere Staff Sergeant tried to kill me. He even gave the impression that he'd been ordered by someone. In a situation like this, who exactly was I supposed to trust?"
"To be honest, I can't even trust the military police."
The military police investigator frowned slightly and asked,
"Then what proof do you have that Go Youngho tried to kill Second Lieutenant Kim Taeju?"
"How could there be any? Unless Staff Sergeant Go Youngho somehow comes back alive. Then maybe we could at least hold a face-to-face interrogation."
"Hoo... do you really not know how Lieutenant Jang Indong and the platoon members died?"
"How would I know that? I was shocked too when I heard they were killed by orcs."
The military police investigator simply couldn't understand it.
Go Youngho and the platoon members were one thing, but Lieutenant Jang Indong was an Awakener.
There was no way he could have gone down so easily to orcs.
At the very least, he should have escaped.
For now, it was clear that Second Lieutenant Kim Taeju had no ability to kill soldiers.
As a Mana-Rejector, he had such pitiful physical ability that he couldn't even beat an ordinary civilian.
Besides, he wasn't even awakened.
In truth, the biggest problem was not the deaths of five soldiers, including an Awakener.
It was the testimony of the victim himself, saying that a mere Staff Sergeant had tried to kill the son of a general and an officer of the Imperial Army.
If that report reached higher command?
It would no longer be a matter for the forward base military police.
Army Headquarters would send investigators directly, the military prosecutor's office would step in, and everyone involved would lose their uniforms one after another.
The investigator also knew that Taeju's testimony wasn't complete nonsense.
The heir to Paju Territory, the new wife, the half-blood children, the power struggle surrounding the territory, and the people who wanted Second Lieutenant Kim Taeju dead.
'The assassination attempt really could be true.'
It was believable.
Kim Taeju had been an administrative officer.
And yet, all of a sudden, he had been assigned a reconnaissance mission by Platoon Leader Jang Indong.
Even the company commander hadn't known about that.
Jang Indong couldn't have acted entirely on his own.
"But your testimony isn't conclusive either, sir."
"I know. There's no evidence."
Taeju pretended to think for a moment before continuing.
"That's why I don't want to make this incident public."
"... What?"
"Let's just bury it."
"Ah, uh, do you really mean that?"
"Like you said, Sergeant, there's no evidence. I'm not going around talking about it anywhere either. And Staff Sergeant Go Youngho is already dead."
The military police investigator's expression brightened.
Because that was what higher command wanted as well.
After some time passed, the deaths of Lieutenant Jang Indong and the platoon members were officially processed as killed in action during an operation.
And Taeju immediately submitted his application for discharge.
No one stopped him.
If the assassination threat was real?
Then Second Lieutenant Kim Taeju was a ticking time bomb that could go off at any moment.
It was better to send him out of the military.
The application was approved immediately.
***
Kim Ungbang, Major General and ruler of Paju Territory, leaned back in his chair as if exhausted and rubbed his eyelids with his hand.
His son's sudden discharge.
But there was no further news.
He tried calling, but only got a message saying the number did not exist.
Why on earth had he decided to leave the military?
His adjutant answered that question for him.
"It's not confirmed information, but it seems there was an assassination attempt against Lord Taeju."
"... Assassination?"
"Yes. While he was going on an orc village reconnaissance mission with a Staff Sergeant named Go Youngho from the same company..."
"Wait! A reconnaissance mission? Wasn't he in an administrative post?"
"Th-that is... a sudden reassignment order came down."
"...."
Major General Kim Ungbang frowned as deeply as he could.
Even if he was a Mana-Rejector, he was still his son.
That was why he had arranged an administrative officer position for him.
"Who exactly gave that order? Who had the authority?"
"After checking with Army Headquarters, they said no reassignment order had ever been issued... and after confirming it, there really was no such order."
"Then who gave the reconnaissance mission order?"
"It was Lieutenant Jang Indong, who was serving with Lord Taeju."
"Are you saying that bastard pulled something? For what reason?"
"Th-there are, in fact, some suspicious points."
"What is it?"
"We've determined that for some time, Lieutenant Jang Indong had been in contact with Japanese-descended officers within Army Headquarters."
Japanese-descended officers?
At that moment, one person came to mind.
His wife, and the mother of Taeju's half-brothers Taepyeong and Taecheon, Honda Mitsui.
If it was his wife, she had both motive and ability.
Kyushu Territory was larger and wealthier than Paju Territory.
He himself had received a great deal of help from his wife's family.
Paju Territory.
A place that in the past bordered the magical beast danger zone once known as the Demilitarized Zone.
The Emperor of the Samhan Empire had personally bestowed this territory.
To exterminate Magical Beasts and protect the citizens of the Empire.
But the territory's situation had not been good.
Running the territory on byproducts obtained from hunting Magical Beasts was nowhere near enough.
How much money did it take to train and organize private soldiers?
In the end, he had no choice but to ask his new wife Mitsui for help.
For that reason, his wife's power within the territory kept growing.
'Could it be... my wife...?'
Had he really been that much of a threat?
That son of his, who was a Mana-Rejector?
Well!
Even at the age of twenty-nine, he still hadn't died and had kept hanging on.
She had probably been anxious.
She must have wanted to pass Paju Territory on to the children born from her own womb.
"I'll investigate further on my own."
His feelings were complicated.
His head was a chaotic mess of thoughts.
But at times like this, the simplest course was best.
"No, that's enough. End it here."
"Yes? B-but..."
"What's the point of digging it up for no reason? My son is alive, and he's even been discharged. I'll handle that matter myself."
"Understood."
There was nothing more to dig into, and no need to.
His son had long ago been declared terminally ill.
Since his son had not died, that was enough.
Moreover, he had applied for discharge on his own without even giving him notice.
He had not returned to Paju, and he had cut off contact.
'Is he saying he's cutting ties?'
Or had he begun to suspect his stepmother?
'Hoo... yes, maybe it's better if he doesn't show himself after all.'
Twenty-nine years old, young enough to still be called young.
He had been both the sore point in his heart and his personal disgrace.
The way people looked at his son was that the father was a tiger, but the child was a dog.
How could a Mana-Rejector be born from a Master Awakener?
Even so, he had resolved to love his son to the very end.
And in truth, he had cherished and protected him like a precious jade.
Things began to change once his new wife Mitsui gave birth to two sons in consecutive years.
Taepyeong and Taecheon were Mana-Compatible.
They had not awakened yet, but Mana-Compatible people could be awakened artificially as much as one wished.
Though the death of his eldest son Taeju would be regrettable, the heir to the territory would become Taepyeong, or perhaps Taecheon.
"Is there no way to find out where Taeju went?"
"After he left Seoraksan Forward Base, his whereabouts became unknown. Shall I look for him?"
"No, that's enough too. Don't look for him."
He decided not to mention Taeju's matter to his new wife Mitsui either.
Better to leave well enough alone.
Besides, he also had two sons who were Mana-Compatible.
Strong and reliable sons who could replace his eldest son.
***
It came suddenly, without any warning.
One day in 2023.
The intrusion of mana.
Because of it, fatal problems began to appear in people's bodies.
The cause of mana's appearance?
No one knew.
Even now, no one knows.
2027.
Mana, that strange substance permeating the atmosphere, caused severe damage to the natural environment.
People died because of mana.
The same was true for plants and animals, either dying or mutating.
Humanity despaired.
But it was already too late.
A third of the total population was already dead.
2050.
Nearly half of Earth's population had disappeared.
There was no way out.
People with some power and money hid in underground bunkers, but that was useless too.
To live, people had to breathe, and mana had permeated the air.
2100.
About 30% of humanity survived.
The survivors realized instinctively.
That humanity's extinction could not be avoided.
2123.
About 20% of the population remained.
Around that time, change slowly began to sprout.
Humans, along with other living things that had survived, maintained their lives through an adaptability that was hard to understand.
The beginning of adaptation.
Rather than adaptation, it was a change caused by mana.
It was not evolution.
Mana had mutated DNA.
In other words, a genetic mutation.
This change happened in humans as well, but it occurred even more violently in plants and animals.
New plants, new animals, the new masters of Earth born already adapted to mana.
But dangerous mutations also appeared.
Lifeforms called 'Magical Beasts' threatened humanity.
And awakening.
The appearance of the System.
A new humanity represented by Mana-Compatible people and Awakeners.
Once the System appeared, mana's emergence could no longer be called an accident.
Who in the world had done it?
Aliens, perhaps, or maybe a god.
2200.
Humanity began to flourish.
The reason humanity had managed to survive was its tenacious will to live, along with science and technology that had at least barely managed to continue.
Groups of scientists invented new technologies based on mana energy.
It was the opening act of a new civilization.
At first, development was slow.
But once it reached a certain point, it began to accelerate.
Cities were built, ironclad fortresses based on mana science and technology, and the world communicated with one another.
The role of Awakeners was great.
They protected humanity from Magical Beasts.
Humanity had hit rock bottom.
All that remained now was to rise.
Humanity regained its strength.
The present year, 2323.
Three hundred years after the intrusion of mana.
The glorious civilization of the past had been almost completely restored.
Earth's population was growing explosively.
There was something else that threatened humanity besides the intrusion of mana.
Climate change.
Because of mana, that change accelerated even more.
It had also contributed to the annihilation of 90% of Earth's human population.
The climate had changed greatly from what it had been 300 years ago.
It would be fair to say that overall, it had become warmer.
The former Japanese archipelago, now subjugated to the Samhan Empire, had nearly half of it submerged beneath the sea.
To the point that Kyushu had become a small island.
Many lands on the Korean Peninsula had also disappeared.
Mostly the coastal cities along the southwestern seas.
The east coast had suffered damage as well.
Even Seoraksan Forward Base, where Taeju had served, now lay close enough to the sea to border it.
For that reason, the capital of the Samhan Empire is currently located in the region of Manchuria, which once belonged to a country called China.
The capital's name is New Seoul.
It is a fairly good place to live.
The plains of Manchuria are warm on average and receive abundant rainfall, making them the breadbasket responsible for the Empire's food supply.
Mana rice in particular grows well there.
The original rice varieties had almost disappeared after the intrusion of mana, and only mutant varieties suited to the changed world survived.
Aside from the fact that mana had permeated it, the taste was almost the same as ordinary rice.
The same was true of all agricultural and livestock products.
Produce adapted to mana.
But Taeju's destination was not New Seoul, Manchuria.
Instead of heading north, he set his course south.
His final destination was the 'Free City of Gurye.'
A damp subtropical climate in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula, one of the regions where the Empire's public authority reached the least, and at the same time one of the five most dangerous cities in the Empire.
Because of the 'Jirisan Dark Forest' located just above Gurye.
It was not an ordinary forest, but a dense jungle where sunlight barely entered, making it always dark.
"I've finally arrived."
Let's settle down here.
Why else would I come all the way to Jirisan?
To this dangerous place.
The Jirisan jungle was home to countless kinds of venomous snakes, poisonous insects, poisonous herbs, and poisonous mushrooms, was it not heaven itself?
For 'Supreme Poison Demon Kim Taeju,' that is.