NOVEL WEB Chapter 895
<Viktor's name appeared on the international call.>
Park Jinseong watched it closely, then slowly pressed the call button.
But even after pressing the call, Park Jinseong said nothing.
Instead, he counted silently to three and hung up abruptly.
Like someone wary of an unknown number calling.
After unilaterally ending the call in silence, he quietly waited.
Vroom.
Before long, another call came in.
Not on the smartphone in his hand, but on the rugged old-fashioned phone sitting far away.
A phone reminiscent of pre-smartphone feature phones.
It looked bulky and sturdy, evoking thoughts of a military rugged phone.
This was a satellite phone.
Not just any satellite phone, but a specially manufactured one designed to be undetectable.
Maybe it hadn’t been used for a while because it was covered in a layer of dust, vibrating as it shook off the dust, the screen lighting up with a multitude of text.
『 』
Park Jinseong reached out to grab the satellite phone as if grasping at nothing and answered the call.
And then… the thick sounds of Russian flooded in right away.
[ Europe has a tradition that has lasted a long time. Do you know it? ]
A direct question thrown at him as soon as he picked up.
“People gather to form villages, villages merge to create nations. So, since that’s human nature, how could their gatherings be any different? When clustered, one’s existence gets diluted and hidden; thus, instincts become more exposed!”
But Park Jinseong didn’t flinch at the unexpected question and answered.
A response that could be interpreted in various ways, like a riddle.
“As I said earlier, human nature manifests in the actions of nations. Therefore, it would also be in line with their nature for European nations to hold back and drag down those who surpass them.”
However, he didn’t end there with his vague answer. He paused for 1-2 seconds, then elaborated enough to answer the original question posed.
It appeared to be playful.
A lighthearted jest directed at someone violent, hasty, and short on patience.
A jest made to someone familiar.
“Regulus, what’s the reason for your call?”
Park Jinseong, after his little jest, flipped the question back at him.
He referred to the other as ‘Regulus.’
The star of Leo, Regulus.
A term Park Jinseong had once used for Viktor.
Regarded as the heart of the lion constellation, it also means prince or young king.
With just the word ‘Regulus,’ Park Jinseong was asking the other,
What could evoke fear in royalty that made him call me on a satellite phone?
The man on the other end—Viktor—let out a chuckle and said,
[ Even Hercules, cloaked in lion skin, fell to poison, so what makes me, just a mere human, anything grand to be arrogant about? ]
Then he explained why he had called using a secure satellite phone.
[ Hey, HnglPapa. Lately, I’ve been feeling an anxiety I can’t ignore. ]
“Anxiety, you say?”
Park Jinseong raised an eyebrow at Viktor’s words.
[ Yeah. It’s an unsettling anxiety, like when I was exposed during an operation. Someone is targeting me. Directly. ]
“Directly targeting you, huh? But since you can’t identify the cause of that threat, you characterize it as anxiety.”
[ Exactly. So I’d appreciate it if you could do some divination for me. ]
Park Jinseong paused to contemplate Viktor’s request.
“How about consulting a military shaman instead?”
That was a polite refusal.
But it couldn’t be helped.
He had just performed a ritual of magic that involved quite hefty costs.
While it could be forced to pay some unknown cost using obscure magic, a price is still a price. There was no reason for him to increase his own burden when he didn’t have to use magic in this situation.
‘And there’s something off with the Great Witch too.’
Additionally, wasn’t there Odilia’s matter?
A pile-up of misfortunes.
If he were to grant Viktor’s request for divination under such circumstances… things could go south.
‘And… now’s not the time for divination.’
The biggest reason he rejected performing divination was the sensory overload he had just experienced.
As if he were a prophet, a multitude of vivid scenes felt overwhelming, and every sense tangled together, inducing intense nausea. Furthermore, it wasn’t merely straightforward scenes; even compressed information could be interpreted in several ways.
The aftershocks lingered even now.
Considering that this sensory overload followed the divinatory reading he had done earlier, attempting to use divination again would be pure folly at this point.
[ Military shaman? Ha. You really think a military shaman can perform divination? ]
But Viktor scoffed at Park Jinseong’s polite refusal.
[ They’re just a little special weapon! You can’t really call them a true shaman! ]
He had absolutely no trust in military shamans.
Or rather, while he did trust them, it was merely in terms of weaponry or troops.
When it came to divination, he trusted them no more than a street fortune-teller.
[ Hey, HnglPapa. Don’t you know? Military shamans are half-baked! ]
The term ‘military shaman’ might sound impressive, but the reality was otherwise.
Truly powerful and capable shamans were hardly tied to the military.
Shamans were exceedingly few in number.
And among those, even fewer had any interest in military affairs.
A small number of people might momentarily get involved with the military for a specific purpose, but their numbers were minuscule.
They couldn’t possibly satisfy the military’s demand.
Thus, militaries worldwide tried to cultivate shamans internally.
What’s the nature of such magical abilities?
Magic has a characteristic that differs from typical abilities.
As long as you know the methods and are prepared to bear the cost, anyone can wield magic.
For a long time, armies concentrated on the idea that ‘anyone could use it if they just knew the method,’ gathering various rituals to organize those that seemed useful and passing them on to potential candidates to create shamans within the army.
This is what these so-called ‘military shamans’ were.
But here lies the problem.
The characteristic of magic.
The reason there are so few shamans.
It was due to the cost involved.
The military is an organization where control and standardization are paramount.
Yet, the required ‘cost’ to use magical abilities is an uncontrollable force.
‘Moreover, the more people know about it and the more it is used, the greater randomness the cost entails.’
The same magic could require different costs from different people.
The same magic could have different costs today than it did yesterday.
Someone may simply suffer from a cold, while another could fall victim to the Black Death and send the entire unit to the infirmary.
Could such powers be wielded properly?
Moreover, the issue wasn’t merely randomness.
The harshness of the costs was also problematic.
What was the primary reason for most people joining the military?
To rise, to escape poverty, or to pursue specific goals.
Very few enlist merely to be used as disposable fodder.
Yet look at magic.
Every time you use it, irreversible changes occur.
Minds can shatter, bodies may break, and even souls can twist.
Who would hope to use their body like a candle to bring light?
Who would willingly sacrifice their self for an organization, even for a noble purpose?
Additionally, the horrors of those transformations are completely unpredictable.
Fear maximizes within ambiguity.
The unknown baggage surrounding one’s identity amplifies it, fortified by imagination.
If you’re lucky, you might just catch a mild fever; if unlucky, the pain could become a living hell where death would be a mercy.
How many could play this horrific Russian roulette with a steady mind!
No matter how high the stakes of the cost, very few would be willing to take it.
Does forcing someone to use magic really solve anything?
After seeing examples like North Korea, who’d dare make such a choice?
After witnessing firsthand a country turn into the Land of Ghosts by oppressing and controlling shamans, to replicate that would be… not simply foolish, but might raise suspicions about hidden agendas.
Were they really trying to sabotage their own country at the behest of an enemy or were they merely madmen claiming the world must come to an end?
Besides the example of North Korea, the danger inherent in magic was also problematic.
As mentioned earlier, isn’t it true that anyone can use magic as long as they know how?
What if “very practical magic suited for military use” spread into civilian hands?
What if the knowledge of how to swiftly assassinate someone or commit slaughter joined the entire populace?
If that happens, can public safety remain intact?
Thus, military shamans needed immense loyalty alongside a heavy mouth and patience. They also had to possess the courage and bravery to endure the fear of dreadful costs, and they needed adaptability and a willingness to obey within the military’s uniquely closed and hierarchical system.
…It stands to reason that such individuals are exceedingly rare.
Even if one meets the criteria, they won’t enlist, and even if they do, they’ll hardly choose a life that amounts to a future of suffering through excruciating pain and drained life force.
Yet the Russian military wanted military shamans.
And the Russian government wanted military shamans.
Most importantly, the Great Tsar of Russia (Царь) wanted military shamans!
Therefore, despite a lack of the necessary conditions, they forcibly birthed ‘military shamans’ into the Russian military.
Military shamans so subpar that Viktor would call them ‘half-baked.’
[ They can’t use proper offensive magic, only memorizing convenience spells for generals and officers, and yet they don’t teach anything like divination or protective charms—afraid they might quit the military? ]
Worried that offensive magic might leak out?
Then no offensive magic should be imparted from the start.
But if a real situation arises, training should be lessened, delivering about 50%–70% before shifting the rest to be revealed only in crisis.
Instead, they focus on teaching defensive, tracking, and convenience spells.
However, even those ‘functional’ spells that could cause issues if leaked are minimal, mostly serving as mere window dressing.
Additionally, they’ve rarely had the use of such spells, and should an actual crisis arise, it’s most likely that they’d deploy other ability users to handle it.
Instead, they centric the education on theories of symbols and magical meanings, utilizing them as advisors in case of necessity.
Divination or protective charms?
They don’t teach those.
What if the military shamans learned them and wanted to escape into civilian life!
The military certainly didn’t want the military shamans they had laboriously created to bolt.
Hence, they only imparted what barely made them useful within the army, avoiding any spells that could support a good life post-military… for instance, divination, recovery, granting wishes, good fortune, or talismans.
Even if they seemed trivial, they still refrained.
This is how today’s military shamans came to be.
Loyalty isn’t high, their courage is nothing to write home about, they have no particularly compelling goals for which they’d dedicate their lives, they lack competence, and they know precious little magic.
By Viktor’s description, they seem hardly anything more than ‘half-baked.’
Thus, currently, in a situation where World War III hadn’t yet erupted, Russian military shamans came off as ‘human totems’, ‘soldiers with magical knowledge’, or ‘gambling weapons to be used in dire moments.’
So, it’s no surprise that Viktor distrusts military shamans…
“But there’s something different here.”
Yet, Park Jinseong picked up on a deeper distrust veiled behind Viktor’s words.
And that distrust must be linked to the ‘European tradition’ mentioned earlier.
He slowly opened his mouth and asked Viktor.
“If there’s a tradition in Europe, then surely there’s a tradition in Russia.”
Listen well, young lion.
Do you gather an inkling from your heart?
“What you fear is…”
Purge?