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All those who headed towards Dokdo have returned to their homeland.

Fortunately, they did not embrace the cold, lifeless body of someone; only their souls remained, not yet touching the ground. They all returned alive, able to stand on the earth without severe injuries.

Yet, despite that, their expressions were not bright.

Or perhaps it wasn’t just their expressions?

They looked like defeated soldiers, their faces filled with despair and powerlessness, and faint traces of fear were also evident.

Look at their faces.

Those faces, with remnants of fear lingering faintly.

Though they bore despair and humiliation as if they had lost, upon setting foot on the ground and seeing the people, a strange sense of relief emerged on their faces.

Their expressions softened, and the tension in their bodies eased.

Realizing they had returned to their homeland, they felt relieved, touching the shores of their fatherland once more.

How could this not be tragic?

They didn’t return victorious, nor did they achieve anything remarkable. Even in their defeated state, they felt relief and happiness just for being back in a safe place, their home.

What else could one call them if not defeated soldiers?

The bravado they had while heading to Dokdo was nowhere to be found; they looked truly disgruntled.

Yet, there were no voices to insult or mock them, for their defeat was something everyone could understand.

It was natural to have lost. Viewing once-proud warriors trembling the moment they returned home made it feel reasonable.

That was the burden they carried— the cost of magic.

The footage and audio recorded on the special equipment they had at Dokdo were horrific battle scenes that would make one incapable of criticizing them for not fighting valiantly.

“Stop! Stop-!”

“Shit! Where the hell did these ghosts come from?!”

“Where else could it be? North Korea! These crazy Koreans, they’re growing this kind of stuff up there!”

“Did we want to grow it? Shut your mouth and just shoot those bastards!”

The warriors teamed up.

At daytime, it was like petty punks, Korean warriors, and Japanese warriors were ready to brawl at the slightest eye contact, joining forces to fight against the evil spirits. A clear awareness that going outside the protective circle would spell doom forced them to use weaponry more suited for soldiers to shoot, shoot, and shoot at the foes.

With overwhelmingly superior physical abilities compared to other capable individuals, they continuously observed and detected the evil spirits, kept them at bay, and held them in check.

The wizard rolled on the ground multiple times, dragging their dust-covered body around frantically to fix the machine creating the barrier and poured energy into it. Not caring that the evil spirit had its gaping mouth wide open, eager to devour the wizard, they disassembled the equipment nearby to make repairs.

How close was it?

Though there was a barrier between them, in terms of centimeters, it couldn’t have been more than 30 centimeters away.

At that distance, they could vividly smell the foul odor of rotten flesh and the fishy scent, feeling the noxious breath on their skin. The wizards worked, moved, and constantly battled their fears.

And beside them were the spiritual capable individuals.

Spiritual capable persons from Korea and Japan wore unique, somewhat out-of-place outfits and each utilized their unique powers. They soothed and comforted the ghosts they brought along, directing them to attack the evil spirits beyond the barrier, and tried to enhance the effects of exorcism and dispelling with the items they had brought. They sometimes hurled precious items outside the barrier in hopes of inflicting spiritual damage on the evil spirits, even coughing up blood or rolling their eyes back and fainting during the process.

Behind them stood the Onmyoji.

They persistently created shikigami from paper and sent them to the evil spirits, manipulating the shikigami to lure the malevolent entities away or disturb their focus from the barrier. They also continuously infused the energy of earth (土氣) into the barrier to suppress the water energy (水氣) within the evil spirits and applied Yin-Yang techniques related to fire (火氣) to suppress the Yin energy (陰氣) in order to weaken them.

In that process, the Onmyoji became completely exhausted and fainted.

Though it was dubbed Yin-Yang arts, at its core, it was magic.

They had to endure the cost of that constant magic usage.

Thus, everyone fought fiercely.

Until the darkness of night dissipated.

Until the moment the black shadow that descended on the island was extinguished and vanished like smoke.

They fought, and fought again.

“…”

“…It’s horrifying.”

Only when the sun rose did those recorded in the footage begin to move.

They searched the island thoroughly for the two who had disappeared and finally found them.

On the sea, a burning wall of flame stood.

Flames.

A massive and intense blaze resembling the Homa ritual (護摩法) performed by some sects of Buddhism in Japan—an overwhelming, brilliant fire.

People yelled into the cave blocked by the flame, calling out to those inside, and the Shinto priest from Japan along with the shaman from Korea emerged from the cave, announcing that everyone had survived.

The shaman, assumed to have created the wall of flames, had reddened skin, and the Shinto priest appeared fatigued, staggering a little.

One could tell how harsh that long or short night had been for them.

And thus, all survivors gathered.

They congregated and moved… hastily escaping from the island.

They floated along on a boat.

To distance themselves from the island occupied by the evil spirits, they gently moved along…

Thus, they returned with the gathered data to their respective countries.

And this singular truth was conveyed.

Failure.

The expedition to Dokdo had failed.

* * *

“…It seems all the world’s misfortune is coming to me.”

[What a coincidence. I was thinking the same thing.]

Following the report of the dismal failure, two men were conversing.

One was the President of Korea.

The other was the Prime Minister of Japan.

Just a while ago, it was hard to believe they were the same individuals who had been shouting about contaminating Korea with radiation and bombing Japan with missiles, now appearing so amicable.

No… to be precise, it wouldn’t be correct to say they were friendly, rather they shared a sense of kinship and had drawn a bit closer.

A kinship borne from experiencing a tragic and terrible event together.

It’s akin to how relationships deepen after fighting together on the battlefield.

They resembled former arch-enemies turned comrades after a brutal battle.

[Failure was not an option. I thought it would be impossible to fail.]

“…How interesting. You’re thinking the same thoughts as me. I felt exactly the same.”

[Hahaha…]

Warriors.

Wizards.

Spiritual capable persons.

Onmyoji.

Shamans.

Even Shinto priests.

It was a lineup that could not afford to fail.

Moreover, it wasn’t as if they were a bunch of nobodies.

Proven experts and hopefuls alike.

They had sent them off with considerable care.

But… what was the outcome?

Failure.

[At least, thankfully there were no casualties… The wizards have exhausted their mana and are now on the verge of collapse, while the shaman from Korea has suffered burns all over from creating the flame wall, right?]

“Isn’t it the same for Japan? The Onmyoji are trapped in the hospital due to the cost. It seems the warriors are receiving mental counseling as PTSD has developed… and I’ve heard that the Shinto priest who accompanied Park Jinseong is also incommunicado.”

Truly, it was fortunate the damage was minimal.

There were no irreparable injuries.

Their limbs were all intact, no scars, nor any issues with their abilities.

Of course, that didn’t mean there were absolutely no problems.

It may be that the Korean and Japanese warriors still could not shake off their fear of the evil spirits, or perhaps they suffered from PTSD, as they were said to have been awake for nights on end, staring at the ceiling.

The wizards were in the same boat.

Like the warriors, they too were spending their sleepless nights in distress.

Moreover, because they had drawn too much mana, their bodies entered a sort of overload state, leaving them in terrible condition.

As for the Onmyoji?

They were literally admitted to hospitals.

The cost of magic was no trivial matter.

It was basic for inflammation to appear on their bodies, and skin problems were common occurrences.

Furthermore, perhaps due to excessive use of earth (土氣) and fire (火氣) related Yin-Yang arts, they even encountered issues with one or two internal organs. Their heart, corresponding to fire (火), faced problems causing fluctuations in their blood pressure, while their pancreas, corresponding to earth (土), faced changes in blood sugar levels that went haywire.

Due to the overpowering nature of earth (土氣) and fire (火氣), interactions and complications with the other elements led to detrimental effects on their other organs.

And as for the spiritual capable persons?

Their situations were similarly dire.

Those who had commanded spirits saw them flee, and several spiritual capable individuals were even reported to be spitting up blood periodically. Their life energy (生氣) was unstable, and their Yin energy (陰氣) grew so potent they nearly collapsed from hypothermia in a warm room.

The Korean shaman was receiving treatment for burns, and the Shinto priest had returned to the shrine and had gone completely silent…

It would seem they would need some time to return to their original states.

Moreover, what was even more painful was that they were individuals who could have been significant assets in the event of war.

Though not sufficient to be called pillars, they were forces that could not be ignored.

They were individuals who could have been considerable variables.

That these individuals found themselves in such poor condition…

For them, it was misfortune.

For someone else, it was truly a fortunate turn of events.

 

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