Chapter 71: Eyewitness Account (3)

After leaving the quarantine zone,

The truck carrying the group arrived at the headquarters after about ten minutes.

The group disembarked and followed Sergeant Park into the headquarters building. Soon after, they reached their destination, the commander’s office.

Knock knock!

“Brigadier General, it’s Sergeant Park Seong-cheol.”

“Hmm, come in.”

A deep voice granting permission to enter.

Sergeant Park carefully opened the door, revealing the scene inside. A middle-aged soldier sat at a large desk, examining documents.

It was Brigadier General Lee Jong-pil, the overall commander of the Suwon Air Base and Ji-hye’s uncle.

“I’ve brought the person you mentioned.”

“Good work. Go attend to your duties.”

“Understood. Victory!”

Sergeant Park saluted sharply before leaving the commander’s office. After a moment, as the door closed, Brigadier General Lee Jong-pil looked up.

“Don’t just stand there, have a seat.”

“Ah, yes! Excuse me.”

Yuna sat down on the sofa as if she had been waiting for those words.

The animals following her also obediently lay down at her feet. However, the twin-headed snake and eagle owl still remained attached to her body.

Han-seong also moved the Phantom’s body to sit next to Yuna. But just then, the brigadier general suddenly stared intently at the Phantom.

“…Captain Lee Ji-hye.”

“Yes, Brigadier General.”

“Who’s that person wearing the helmet? I don’t recall hearing about them…”

“Well, that’s because I didn’t mention it.”

The brigadier general’s eyebrow twitched.

An expression of displeasure. Ji-hye shrugged her shoulders before he could raise his voice.

“It’s the Mage.”

“The Mage? Ah, perhaps the one you mentioned before…”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Ji-hye nodded.

At the same time, the brigadier general’s gaze changed. If it had been full of wariness until now, it was now filled with curiosity and interest.

“Well, this is an unexpected big shot.”

He called him a big shot even though introductions hadn’t been made yet, so it seemed he had already heard information about Han-seong from Ji-hye.

Well, that was to be expected. She would have revealed everything that had happened while meeting her family. Meanwhile, the brigadier general stood up and approached the Phantom.

Then he suddenly bowed his head.

“Thank you for saving Ji-hye.”

Han-seong was momentarily taken aback by this.

He had expected to receive words of gratitude, but he didn’t expect him to suddenly bow his head.

Moreover, to go this far for a niece, not even his own daughter. As he was inwardly surprised, the brigadier general raised his head and spoke.

“Ji-hye is like a daughter to me. Having lost my wife early on, I don’t have any children of my own.”

Ah, if that’s the reason, it’s understandable.

Han-seong shook the Phantom’s head from side to side. Saying it was only natural as a comrade.

At this, a smile formed on the brigadier general’s wrinkled lips. He sat down on the sofa opposite the Phantom and Yuna, speaking in a much softer tone.

“I’m Lee Jong-pil. I have no intention of standing on ceremony, so feel free to address me comfortably.”

“Okay, uncle!”

Yuna answered with a bright smile.

Even if he said to address him comfortably, calling him uncle was a bit much. Han-seong made an awkward expression, but the brigadier general didn’t seem to mind.

“By the way, is the young lady over there a foreigner?”

“No, I’ve never left Korea since I was born.”

“Then that hair…”

“Ah, this changed color when I contracted with the spirit beasts. It was originally dark brown.”

The same goes for her eyes, she said.

This revealed the reason why Yuna’s hair and eye color were different from the past. Meanwhile, the brigadier general tilted his head and asked again.

“Spirit beasts? What are those?”

“They refer to animals with mystical powers or abilities. To put it more simply, you can think of them as animals with special innate skills.”

Yuna pointed to the twin-headed snake wrapped around her leg and the eagle owl perched on her shoulder. Curiosity bloomed on the brigadier general’s face at this sight.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t heard your job yet.”

“I’m an Eternal Beast Tamer. I’m twenty years old this year. My level is 30.”

“What? Level 30?”

The brigadier general’s eyebrows shot up.

Well, it was understandable to be surprised. Considering the average level of survivors, it was quite high. Seeing the surprised brigadier general, Yuna smiled sheepishly.

“Hehe, a lot has happened.”

“…I see. You must have been through a lot.”

The brigadier general nodded silently.

As they finished their brief introductions, Ji-hye, who had briefly left her seat, returned. She came back with canned coffee on a tray.

“Wow, thank you. I’ll enjoy it.”

Yuna’s eyes sparkled.

Although it was lukewarm since the refrigerator wasn’t working, even this was something to be grateful for after the Upheaval.

The brigadier general silently watched Yuna sipping her coffee, then spoke up.

“Now then, let’s get to the main point.”

At that moment, the atmosphere in the room changed.

Not only the brigadier general, but Ji-hye’s eyes also turned serious. Yuna was no exception. The smile disappeared from her face as she set down her coffee.

A brief moment of silence followed.

The brigadier general was the first to break the silence.

“But before that, I’m curious how you came to know about the situation in Hwaseong. I doubt you went in and came out directly.”

Currently, Hwaseong City is enveloped in fog.

Moreover, all contact is lost with those who enter the fog. Even the air base’s search party lost contact suddenly while maintaining constant radio communication.

In this situation, it didn’t seem likely that she had gone into Hwaseong and come back out. The brigadier general made this judgment, but the answer he received was unexpected.

“I did go in though?”

“…You went into Hwaseong?”

“Yes, I encountered the fog while on my way to Seoul to find my family and got lost.”

The brigadier general’s eyebrow twitched in surprise.

On the other hand, Han-seong remained impassive. He already knew that among the spirit beasts with Yuna, there was one that provided immunity to all status effects.

Meanwhile, the brigadier general, mulling over Yuna’s words, asked with a somewhat puzzled expression:

“Wait, did you say your family is in Seoul?”

“That’s right. Why?”

“Then why did you enter Hwaseong?”

To go from Suwon to Seoul, one would normally pass through Gunpo or Seongnam. And at present, the fog only exists in Hwaseong City.

No matter how he thought about it, there was no reason to encounter the fog, so the brigadier general was perplexed. To this, Yuna replied as if asking why he was questioning something so obvious.

“Well, you have to pass through Hwaseong to get to Seoul, don’t you?”

What on earth is she saying?

The brigadier general looked at Yuna with an expression that seemed to be asking just that. On the other hand, Han-seong and Ji-hye simultaneously let out awkward laughs.

They had just remembered once again.

The fact that Yuna was directionally challenged.

“Brigadier General, the truth is…”

Ji-hye relayed this fact to the brigadier general.

He then looked at Yuna with disbelieving eyes. Since it was a perfectly understandable reaction, Han-seong kept his mouth shut.

After a moment, having grasped the situation, the brigadier general cleared his throat briefly and summarized the conversation.

“Ahem! Right. Rather than why you entered Hwaseong, what’s more important is what you saw there.”

“That’s right. Yes, exactly.”

Ji-hye nodded along.

The conversation returned to the original point.

“So, how long did you stay in Hwaseong?”

“I think it was about a week.”

“…A whole week?”

“Yes, because I couldn’t find the way out.”

Yuna laughed awkwardly.

Everyone was surprised at those words.

They had thought she might have wandered for a day or two at most, but a week?

‘No, just how directionally challenged is she?’

She wasn’t this bad when she was younger.

A feeling of bewilderment welled up. However, separate from that, interest arose. If she had been in Hwaseong for a whole week, she must have witnessed quite a lot.

“I see. Then tell us now.”

What she had seen in Hwaseong.

At the brigadier general’s request, having regained his composure, Yuna suddenly stood up. She then approached the operations board hanging on the wall.

“First, I’ll talk about the strange phenomenon occurring in Hwaseong. Currently, all the citizens of Hwaseong City are in a state of temporary suspended animation.”

“Temporary suspended animation?”

“Yes, it would be more accurate to say they’re in a sleep state that can’t be awakened by ordinary methods.”

A sleep state that cannot be awakened by external contact or shock. Yuna summarized the condition of the Hwaseong citizens like this.

“Additionally, I found many people wearing uniforms similar to yours also asleep.”

At those words, the brigadier general and Ji-hye’s expressions hardened.

There was a high possibility that the soldiers Yuna had seen were those who had departed from the air base.

“When you say they’re in a sleep state…”

“Does that mean their lives aren’t in immediate danger?”

“For now, that’s right. But they won’t last long. Because they can’t eat food.”

Even if there’s no physical activity, people die if they go without food for an extended period.

So if time passes like this, surely many people will lose their lives. At Yuna’s words, the brigadier general bit his lip slightly and asked:

“…Do you perhaps know the cause of this strange phenomenon?”

“It’s because of a champion monster that has taken up residence in the center of the city. It’s a monster called the Soul Eater, and it looks roughly like this.”

Yuna, holding a piece of chalk, drew the monster’s appearance on the operations board.

A giant spherical exterior.

Even including the depiction of smoke rising from holes all over its body. It matched exactly with the monster’s appearance that Han-seong had observed through Precise Observation last night.

“The Soul Eater periodically emits smoke containing sleep gas. The smoke doesn’t dissipate over time and settles on the ground like fog.”

“Sleep gas…”

“So if you inhale even a little of the smoke or fog, both people and animals fall asleep immediately.”

The same goes for Yuna’s animals.

On the other hand, the brigadier general tilted his head as if he didn’t understand the explanation he had just heard.

“Then why are you so fine?”

“Huh? What do you mean by fine?”

“You said you went into Hwaseong directly, which means you must have inhaled the sleep fog. So how were you able to come out without falling asleep?”

“Ah, because I have spirit beasts.”

Spirit beasts are not affected by the sleep fog.

Yuna mentioned this new information and pointed to the two spirit beasts she had explained earlier.

“This one is Byam, and this one is Bwong.”

Those names are quite carelessly chosen.

Han-seong, along with the other two, looked at Yuna’s spirit beasts as if saying just that. Meanwhile, Yuna stroked the twin-headed snake’s head and said:

“If I wrap Byam around my body, its innate skill ‘Clear Mirror, Still Water’ activates, which gives immunity to all status effects.”

“I-immunity to all status effects?!”

“Yes. But the skill’s effect disappears the moment it separates from my body. So it’s a bit troublesome, but I always keep it wrapped around my leg like this.”

Yuna gave a detailed explanation to Ji-hye, who had asked back in surprise. On the other hand, Han-seong wasn’t as shaken as Ji-hye.

He had already grasped the information about the spirit beasts earlier in the quarantine zone using Detection.

“Hmm, I see. I understand.”

Thanks to the spirit beast, she was able to avoid falling asleep.

The brigadier general, accepting Yuna’s words like this, nodded calmly.

“Then does that mean if we just defeat this monster called the Soul Eater, the citizens will wake up?”

“Ah, that’s not the case.”

“What? Why not?”

“There’s one more monster in Hwaseong besides the Soul Eater. I’m sure its name was…”

Yuna, who had been answering smoothly, suddenly trailed off. It seemed she had momentarily forgotten the creature’s name.

To this, Han-seong casually said:

“Ether Plunderer.”

“That’s right! That was it. Oh?”

Yuna’s eyes widened.

She turned to look at the Phantom with a surprised face.

“H-how did you know that?”

“I found out using the Detection skill.”

Han-seong answered nonchalantly.

Just then, the brigadier general’s question came:

“More importantly, what is this ‘ether’?”

“Ah, it’s one of the substances that make up the universe and the source of life. To put it more simply, you could say it’s a kind of life energy.”

At Yuna’s words, Han-seong’s eyes bulged.

He couldn’t help it.

The fact that she knew what ether was at this point meant that Yuna, like Han-seong, had entered the ‘Tower’ before.

“Then having ether stolen means…”

“Does it mean having one’s lifespan stolen?”

“That’s right. And people whose ether is depleted are ultimately devoured by the Soul Eater.”

The Soul Eater emits fog to put people to sleep, then the Ether Plunderer appears and consumes people’s ether.

Eventually, people whose ether is depleted have their souls taken by the Soul Eater without any resistance.

‘It’s a kind of symbiotic relationship.’

Han-seong was certain of the relationship between the two monsters.

He could also guess why their levels were different.

Since the Ether Plunderer eats first and the Soul Eater consumes the rest, it was natural for the Plunderer to have a higher level.

“Then is this monster called the Ether Plunderer also roaming the streets of Hwaseong?”

“No, the Plunderer is in the dream world.”

“…Dream world?”

“Do you perhaps mean the dream world we’re thinking of?”

“Hmm, it’s similar but a bit different.”

Yuna shook her head.

Then she looked around at everyone in the room.

“If everyone here were to fall asleep, would we be able to meet in our dreams?”

“Well, obviously…”

“We wouldn’t be able to, right? Not normally.”

That’s common sense.

But the fact that she specifically mentioned this meant that the dream world deviated from common sense. Realizing this, the brigadier general narrowed his eyes and muttered:

“Then don’t tell me this dream world is…”

“Yes, the dream world is a space that connects everyone’s consciousness and dreams. Limited to people who fall asleep in the same area in the same way.”

The brigadier general nodded.

As if he understood what she meant. However, that didn’t mean all his questions were resolved.

“Why go through the trouble of doing such a thing?”

“Well, I’m not sure about that either. Maybe it’s easier to absorb ether in the dream world than in the real world?”

Yuna added her personal opinion.

Anyway, the important point was that the Ether Plunderer was hiding in a space called the dream world.

That’s why it wasn’t shown on the map. After all, Han-seong’s Open Map skill is only effective in the real world.

“But how did you find out about this?”

Just then, Ji-hye tilted her head.

Of course, she had stayed in Hwaseong City for a week, but it was questionable how she had obtained so much information during that time.

To this, Yuna answered simply:

“Well, because I’ve been in there.”

“What? In the dream world?”

Yuna nodded silently. On the other hand, Ji-hye asked again with a voice still tinged with doubt:

“But then it doesn’t add up? You clearly said earlier that you didn’t fall asleep thanks to the spirit beast…”

Yet you entered the dream world?

The answer was contradictory. Ji-hye waited for an answer with this rebuttal, and soon Yuna’s lips parted.

“Ah, I was attacked by the Soul Eater a while back. While running away, I got separated from Byam and then…”

Yuna laughed awkwardly.

The twin-headed snake, a spirit beast that provides immunity to all status effects. The moment she was separated from it, Yuna was inevitably exposed to the sleep fog.

So like other people, she fell asleep and her consciousness was transferred to the dream world.

“But I came out quickly.”

“How?”

“Thanks to Bwong. This child has a skill that can cross the boundaries of multidimensional spaces.”

The eagle owl’s skill, Dimensional Boundary.

Thanks to that, Yuna was able to regain consciousness shortly after entering the dream world.

Afterwards, she immediately fled the scene after wrapping Byam around her leg again. With this detailed explanation, Ji-hye finally looked as if her doubts had been resolved.

“Anyway, the conclusion is one thing.”

Yuna grabbed the chalk again.

She wrote the names of the champion monsters existing in Hwaseong on the operations board.

[Real World]: Soul Eater

[Dream World]: Ether Plunderer

“To save the sleeping people, we must defeat both monsters completely.”

Subjugation of champion monsters.

Faced with this sudden task, not only the brigadier general’s but also Ji-hye’s expression hardened. On the other hand, Yuna continued speaking as if she still had more to say.