Because of the Channel within my body, I was buried in magic training every day. When Parvache offered to teach me magic, he said, 'Magic is actually very easy.' That was only half-right. Even by Parvache's standards, I certainly had learned magic at a tremendous speed compared to other wizards. However, this didn't mean that mastering magic and becoming highly skilled at it was easily accomplished.
[Again, your talent is really excellent. It is rare to succeed at creating such barriers only 11 years after starting to learn magic. Maybe it's not impossible to master the dimensional leap magic within the next six years. Hey, are you listening? When it's completed, even if a Truth-Seeker breaks this barrier, there will be insurance that you can live. It's excellent.]
I had been using the tracking magic that I learned from Parvache, but so far, I hadn't been able to find a basis to be sure that the Truth-Seeker was in this dimension or not. So, as soon as I was 20 years old, with an excuse to become independent, I left my house and came to Seoul to set up a base in Mok-dong's apartment, where I lived and made the barrier. My family thought that I entered a dormitory after passing from a university in Seoul. Still, there was no such thing in reality. I was just unemployed!
Where did the unemployed man get money to buy an apartment in Mok-dong and live alone? As you may have guessed, there was a bit of technology in this area that was illegal and far from this world's civilization. There will be opportunities to talk about that later.
"It's been eleven years…"
At the age of 20, after 11 years of magical training, this "Anti-Truth-Seeker Cognitive Disturbance and Concealment Barrier" unfolded in my house in Mok-dong. It covered not only the apartment complex where I lived but also parts of Anyangcheon Stream, covering an area of 3km in diameter. I don't have to tell you twice about how much I suffered in the process. In summary, if you were within this 3km area, you could escape the Truth-Seeker's search for your evolved Channel. Of course, if the Truth-Seeker took the disadvantage and used his power to break this barrier, there had to be other countermeasures.
"But, on the other hand, it's somehow vague… I mean that since there is no object of comparison, it doesn't feel real. It turns out that in the other dimension, it's common sense to get rid of these things in just five years, not eleven. Isn't it like that? Didn't you cheat me?"
[You're speaking nonsense again.]
"Hmm…also, since the dimensional leap magic has no results, but the barrier magic has remarkable ones, I can see that I am growing excited to do it. But when I want to practice, my avatar is just floating in outer space like a jellyfish…"
[It can't be helped because the difference between the two magical skills is still too big. Nevertheless, if you maintain your current lifestyle – one that never goes outside the barrier like you are right now, there will be a side effect. Still, the barrier will help it stabilize.]
Actually, at this point, where my Channel couldn't evolve into adulthood, it wasn't a big deal even if I wandered outside the barrier. However, since I completed this barrier when I was 20 years old, I didn't leave the barrier until I was 22, not even to see my family. After creating a barrier of such massive size (spanning a few neighborhoods) that I could be satisfied with, I didn't want to go outside. Parvache assured me that it would never happen, but what if I came across a Truth-Seeker while passing outside the barrier?!
Parvache said that the Truth-Seeker wouldn't be interested in Seeds even if he encountered them. Still, there was no such thing as 100% assurity in the world, which was the scariest part of all. Thus, I didn't take a step outside the barrier ever since I was 20 years old when the barrier was first completed. Parvache also mocked me for being a 'silly coward bastard,' but he didn't stop me because of the common purpose of extending my life.
Yes, if I stayed within the barrier, I could hide, even if the Truth-Seeker went looking for me earlier than scheduled on a whim. But once again, unless he used enough power to break the barrier, I was safe. When I came back into the living room, Parvache was still watching TV. Usually, I didn't really care what he watched on TV. Still, when I saw him turning on the TV on his own and focusing like that, it seemed like something important had happened.
"Are you going to keep watching TV? What about today's lesson?" I asked him in a subtle, curious voice.
[Wait a minute, something filthy is about to burst soon. But what is that?]
In the news broadcast of the channel that Parvache played, a breaking news screen passed.
-The 26th accident on Mapo Bridge and increased traffic congestion in the area.
"…Wow."
[Hmm.]
"How did it happen when they were driving like that?"
It was a big accident, but it happened only on the bridge over the Han River. It was unlikely to affect the people in the buildings like we are now.
[But, I still don't feel right.]
I raised one eyebrow in wonder as I saw Parvache's expression.
"Do you still have feelings?"
[Yes, it's getting stronger and stronger.]
"Hmm. What else is there to pop up beside that traffic accident?
[There is a possibility of that. Let's put the lesson on hold for now.]
I think I'd take some time off today. I opened the refrigerator door, took out some of the oranges I had just put in, and put them on a tray. Then I sat on the sofa next to Parvache, peeling the orange and staring at the TV screen.
-I repeat. Traffic is currently paralyzed due to multiple crashes on Mapo Bridge that occurred about 15 minutes ago. The exact number of casualties has yet to be announced. Now, KBC relay vehicles and helicopters are heading to the site. As soon as the site broadcasting is ready, the connection will be made…
Perhaps because it wasn't long after the accident, the anchor was repeating the same thing. There seemed to be no script for the exact accident. How many minutes had passed since it occurred?
-Yes, viewers, our KBC filming helicopter has arrived at the Mapo Bridge. The scene on the video now…
At that moment, the anchor's comment was cut off. What was it?
The anchorman on the TV screen looked over the camera, and his expression became serious. Just as the production staff continued to deliver messages to the anchors, the anchor's pupils continued to move. He opened his mouth as if trying to say something to the staff over the camera, then coughed as if he realized he was still in front of the camera. My sight caught his left cheek, shivering subtly like he had a cramp. As the silence continued, the anchor continued with a trembling voice.
-V-viewers, I will show you a video of the accident site of Mapo Bridge, but I would like to say that this video is a real-time video without any separate CG processing…our production crew has been struggling to decide to send out the live broadcast of this video but considering that the citizens are already filming with their cell phones and sharing it on social media…
I accidentally grumbled as I threw a clean rind from the orange I had already picked up on the tray.
"What's the big deal?"
-T–Then… Let's watch the on-site video.
The screen changed from the studio's desk to an external image looking down from the sky. It was the entrance to Yeouido of Mapo Bridge. Then, the moment the screen was in my sight, I dropped the orange that I had peeled.
The bridge was a mess. The scene really looked different from when it was only said they had a multi-car accident. Broken cars were spread out across, making them difficult to count, and there was a lot of smoke rising from the burning vehicles. There were still a lot of people on the bridge. All the car owners, who luckily avoided the crash, were all looking in the same direction at the exact moment. And what they were looking at wasn't a broken vehicle or a wounded man. They looked at the southern end of Mapo Bridge, where the initial rear-end collision was likely to have occurred.
What the survivors were looking at came out through the TV screen, and Parvache also witnessed it. Without even blinking an eye, I was frozen in my seat. The size was about 15-20 meters. There was a crack in the air that looked like a sharp weapon tore through it. Inside the crack that cut space, there was a strange blue light that couldn't be made by this civilization's power and had never been found in the Earth's ecosystem before today.
Both Parvache and I knew very well what it was.
"Channel…"
A huge Channel, one similar to the one in my chest, had been opened up. It hung in the air at the southern end of Mapo Bridge.