Chapter 163

Chapter 163
## Chapter 163

Hahoe Mask Rises (3)

Deep inside a laboratory crammed with a dizzying array of cutting-edge technology.

“Alright, it’s all set! Open them up now! Behold, a brand new reality is waiting for you!”

The researcher’s high, eccentric voice rang out sharply across the room.

Stirring as if shaking off a deep slumber, a man in his thirties resting on the metal operating table parted his eyelids, using both of his eyes to take in the sight of the ceiling.

“Hehehe! It truly is a masterpiece of ocular evolution! Man, I’m so jealous. Talk about hitting the jackpot! To be honest, I was itching to test it out on myself first…”

Yulryeongja completely ignored the ceaseless babble, pushing himself up into a sitting position to survey his surroundings.

Just as promised, the blind spot in his left peripheral vision—a nagging souvenir from his clash two months ago—had vanished entirely.

“I was actually planning to gouge out one of my own eyes to slot that baby in, but the Master caught me red-handed right before the scalpel touched my face. Wow, was he furious! Just remembering the tongue-lashing I took back then makes my skull ache.”

The relentless chattering of Doctor, who seemed perfectly content having a one-sided conversation, was thoroughly grating. Still, Yulryeongja remained silent, acknowledging that he owed his restored sight to the eccentric man’s expertise.

‘My affliction wasn’t a standard case of physical blindness; it was a profound rupture of my very spirit. A conventional transplant wouldn’t have mended it…’

It was an irreparable deprivation, an injury that baffled standard medical science.

Yet, this genius had managed to circumvent the impossible through an entirely different methodology.

“…Naturally, it’s a massive pity since my innate ability triggers through my vision! Still, I’ve got one spare, and it was the perfect chance to make my grand vision a reality. After all, structural modification and evolution are the ultimate peaks mankind must strive for!”

Hum— Click—

Paying no mind to the grandiose declarations, Yulryeongja detected a faint, rhythmic pulsing from the newly installed organ every time he shifted his gaze.

This mechanical whir, reminiscent of a camera lens adjusting its focus, vibrated subtly within his own skull, completely imperceptible to an outside observer.

Stepping over to a side mirror, he examined his reflection.

A delicate, sapphire ring traced the outer edge of his left eye, presenting a stark, vibrant contrast to his natural dark iris. Within that ring, a complex network of geometric configurations shimmered with an eerie, supernatural light.

This pinnacle of prosthetic engineering, forged from a flawless synthesis of mechanics and sorcery, occupied his eye socket like a standard eyeball, yet its internal architecture was that of a pure magical artifact—wholly divorced from organic biology.

As he quietly assessed the modification…

Clutch! Snap—!

His entire world tilted violently as a hand gripped his shoulder, spinning him around to face a pair of eyes burning with unhinged zeal.

Doctor had closed the distance without a sound, locking Yulryeongja’s head in a vice grip, his unkempt, bearded face practically pressing against his own.

The researcher reached out, prying open the lids of the altered left eye to peer inside with fanatical scrutiny.

“Incredible! The engineering from the Calicas Dimension is nothing short of a miracle, wouldn’t you agree? Ah, I really should have migrated to that world instead! What a tragedy that I’m reduced to sampling its wonders secondhand like this!”

Yulryeongja let out a quiet sigh, enduring the stray drops of saliva and the non-stop lecturing.

Before him stood a middle-aged Caucasian man dressed in a tattered lab coat, his brown hair a chaotic mess.

Yet, despite this unkempt exterior, he was a figure of immense terror.

Setting aside his status as a first-generation returnee pulled into the very first dimensional displacement event, he was a once-in-a-century prodigy responsible for steering the technological vanguard of the Heaven’s Turn Society.

The monumental task of harvesting and refining the esoteric systems of various realms—blending spellcraft, mysticism, transmutation, and magitech—would have ground to a halt without his twisted intellect and his legendary “Eye of Truth”.

“Hehehe! We really lucked out that one of our old comrades made it back across the rift with this specific ocular piece! Word is, it commands an astronomical price in that realm!”

“I understand. To possess such a rare artifact… My gratitude once again, Doctor.”

Naturally, the presence of this device on Earth implied a human vector.

A fellow returnee had liquidated their entire otherworldly fortune to secure this replacement eye just prior to their repatriation.

Of course, that individual had long since ceased to breathe.

“That brings me to a burning question, Yulryeongja!”

“…Speak.”

Yulryeongja offered a tight, reluctant reply, finding the researcher’s manic emotional pivots exhausting to navigate.

“The entity responsible for breaking you so thoroughly… Ha… Hahae?”

“It is Hahoe Mask.”

“Whatever the name! That Mocking Mask! He has thoroughly captured my imagination. I did a bit of digging out of sheer curiosity, and the whispers surrounding him are fascinating!”

Doctor forged ahead with rising fervor, entirely unfazed by his companion’s cold demeanor.

“You’re well aware that South Korea represents our very first total operational collapse, correct? Granted, we’ve faced setbacks and failed operations in numerous territories, but this is the sole region where our entire infrastructure was utterly pulverized. Oh, don’t look at me like that! I’m not tossing blame your way. If the Master saw fit to overlook it, it’s not my place to judge!”

A permanent, superficial grin remained plastered on his face.

Yet, beneath that smile, his sharp eyes flashed with an intensity that felt distinctly lethal.

“With that said, when do you intend to kickstart our initiatives in Korea again? There’s no immediate rush, of course, and nobody expects you to march out tomorrow. Still, shouldn’t we be making a move of some sort?”

Yulryeongja’s eyelid gave a involuntary twitch at the poorly veiled prodding.

While his ruined vision had been restored, a mere two months had passed since his encounter with Hahoe Mask had reduced him to little more than a breathing corpse.

The trauma to his system was severe enough to mandate years of absolute rest; currently, even drawing breath was a laborious chore, and his paralyzed legs kept him securely bound to a wheelchair…

The uncomfortable reality, however, was that Doctor, as the commander of the technological division, held a superior rank to Yulryeongja, who merely managed the East Asian sector.

“…I have already initiated preliminary arrangements. We cannot abandon that territory indefinitely, so establishing a silent foothold is paramount.”

“Aha! Splendid, Yulryeongja! Ring me up the moment you require my assistance. I’m salivating at the prospect of a high-quality specimen entering my lab! Oh, what grand experiment should we kick off with~!”

It was a stark reminder that every syndicate of villainy operated precisely like a predatory enterprise.

—

“Ah— that hits the spot.”

I squeezed my eyelids shut, letting the deep rhythms of the automated lounger melt my tension away following my intense morning workout and a long, unhurried wash. In the background, the television hummed with ambient noise.

Owning a massive estate funded by an astronomical bank account meant I possessed every conceivable luxury right at home, eliminating any real incentive to step past my front gates.

Reflecting on it, my physical self had been practically a hermit lately, with my only ventures into the outside world occurring via “Individual Projection”…

‘Though, technically, I still touch grass. I make it a point to go out daily and interact with the public. I’m practically a social butterfly!’

Granted, utilizing “Individual Projection” felt less like personal movement and more like operating a high-fidelity puppet remote from Han Seong-hyeon’s actual body. Furthermore, the fact that my social circle consisted almost exclusively of violent felons was a detail I chose to gloss over.

Dwell too long on that, and the existential dread starts creeping in.

“Right, moving on… that practitioner of the dark arts… Ahn Sung-jin, was it?”

I dialed the massage chair up to its absolute maximum threshold, letting my thoughts drift back to the practitioner I had cornered the previous evening.

An exact comparison was difficult due to the disparity in their worlds of origin, but his capabilities hovered just a tier below a grand magus of Auterica.

Furthermore, given the volatile, destructive nature inherent to dark mana, his immediate burst potential in a crisis would be formidable.

‘Then again, brute strength wasn’t my objective.’

Mercifully, he hadn’t rejected my diplomatic recruitment pitch, choosing instead to cooperate without a fuss.

We had even formalized an agreement forged on mutual terms—seasoned with just enough underlying intimidation—ensuring he wouldn’t dream of pulling a double-cross.

‘Integrity is everything. He didn’t strike me as inherently malicious, so I have no intention of treating him like slave labor, but I won’t abide any underhanded games either.’

Besides, I had no grand, agonizing crusades to thrust upon him.

His sole mandate was to use his network to unearth the specific intelligence I required.

Should his performance prove exemplary, I was more than willing to provide a highly competitive corporate benefits package.

‘Meanwhile, the process of reshaping the Heavenly Demon Emperor into a servant of the dead is progressing without a hitch…’

Predictably, a specimen of that caliber demanded far greater delicacy than the run-of-the-mill corpses he usually experimented on.
To extract the maximum value from such premium raw material, one had to invest a commensurate amount of time, meticulous care, and rare catalysts.

Having transferred the Heavenly Demon Emperor’s remains to the primary Hans entity stationed in Auterica via the “Avatar Cloud,” the body was currently undergoing the intricate rites required for high-tier necromancy.

‘It’s a perfect arrangement, considering I can pull thralls directly out of the dimensional pocket tied to my heart whenever a crisis emerges. The storage threshold limits me from moving a massive legion, but Earth doesn’t require a grand army anyway.’

Given the lavish resources being funneled into the project, the Heavenly Demon Emperor… or ‘Salma,’ to keep it brief, was bound to emerge as an exceptionally magnificent thrall.

The reality that his spiritual essence had suffered severe degradation due to a massive overdose of abyssal energy was a minor setback, but then again, the undead were rarely known for their pristine sanity, so it hardly mattered.

“Now, let’s check the accumulated Karma… Wait, what?”

My eyes snapped wide open as I lounged comfortably in the vibrating chair.

It had been a mere matter of days since I poured 640,000 Karma into the ‘Mental Strength Enhancement’ right before Hans launched his assault on the imperial heartland of Jeron. Yet, the sheer geopolitical shockwave of that event had already generated a staggering dividend of points.

‘The passive returns from the Home Theater setup are absurdly lucrative. It’s already climbed back up to 800,000 in this short window.’

The total was ticking upward at a breathless velocity—a rate of growth that would leave any ordinary awakened hunter utterly speechless.

The threshold required to push his innate trait to the next tier stood at 1.2 million.

The next breakthrough was well within arm’s reach.

-Moving along to our next segment. He is a figure you’ve undoubtedly encountered on your feeds recently, given the absolute firestorm of publicity surrounding him. We are, of course, talking about the rogue awakened known as ‘Hahoe Mask’!

-Ah, indeed! His name is on everyone’s lips these days.

Right on cue, the television I had left running as background static began broadcasting a segment centered on my alter ego.

As was typical for these broadcasts, the pundits opened by speculating wildly about his true identity before devolving into a fierce ideological battle over the morality of his vigilantism.

-…The exercise of unregulated, unilateral violence poses a catastrophic risk! When an individual’s personal moral compass becomes the sole metric for execution, it threatens the very bedrock of a civilized, lawful society…!

-…While his methods certainly bypass conventional jurisprudence, it is an undeniable reality that his interventions have radically suppressed violent crime across our nation. One need only look across our borders to see the alternative.

-An excellent point. Japan was recently rocked by a monumental crisis, wasn’t it? A catastrophic event that claimed hundreds of innocent lives…

The modern iteration of Earth was, in essence, a powder keg of absolute volatility.

Within the borders of South Korea alone, tens of thousands of superhuman veterans had repatriated after surviving unimaginable horrors across various dimensions.

On a global scale, that figure defied calculation.

The current global infrastructure remained intact solely because the factions invested in preserving normalcy—driven by ties like family—held a marginal numbers advantage. Even so, society was effectively sitting atop a ticking explosive.

‘It’s not just the dark magic practitioners or rogue Fiends; even ordinary awakened individuals corrupted by sudden authority and avarice pose an existential threat. Even with Hans actively policing the streets, these predators keep crawling out of the woodwork. Without that systemic purging…’

That grim alternative was precisely what was unfolding across the seas.

Naturally, foreign territories possessed their own elite defenders, and there was no shortage of vigilantes hunting predators with a brutality matching Hans’s own.

A few had even engineered sophisticated tracking networks mimicking his own familiar-based surveillance, however…

‘None of them can match Hans, who consolidates every single one of those specialized utilities within a single entity. To say nothing of his unmatched concealment and instantaneous deployment capabilities.’

Furthermore, Korea’s compact geography and dense population centers significantly amplified the efficacy of his oversight.

The fragile peace the country currently enjoyed was the direct byproduct of these unique variables aligning.

“Phew.”

Rising from the lounger, I took a slow, deliberate stroll toward the glass doors of the veranda.

The sprawling lawn—a luxury made affordable by the depressed land valuations on the fringes of Seoul—lay immaculately manicured, its artistic boulders and sculpted hedges projecting an aura of absolute tranquility.

‘Of course, any intruder foolish enough to trespass would find themselves stepping straight into a meat grinder.’

This entire estate was a sovereign death trap, fortified to the teeth with mystical defensive arrays devised through the combined genius of Hans, Heinz the Second, Heinrich, and Harris.

Every single garden sculpture doubled as a focal point for high-tier curses, their exact coordinates mapped out meticulously via the “Path of Magic.”

And anchoring this impenetrable citadel was the homeowner himself.

As long as he remained entrenched within these walls, his safety was absolute.

‘Excellent. Now that the domestic landscape is largely stabilized, it’s time to extend my reach.’

The fallout from the ‘Salma’ crisis had illustrated that the Heaven’s Turn Society had been weaving its webs across the globe for an immense duration.

It was highly improbable that their operations were confined to a single country.

Their rot was likely festering worldwide, far beyond the borders of Korea.

‘I’ve left them to their own devices for a while since they abandoned their domestic cells. Perhaps it’s time to initiate an expansion into neighboring territories?’

While he wouldn’t be able to establish a permanent, daily patrol regime like he maintained at home, a sweeping, scorched-earth campaign would still yield massive disruptive results.

He could easily tolerate a minor logistical headache if it meant the pure gratification of dismantling their designs.

Even so, the prospect of physically journeying to highly unstable foreign nations gave him pause.

Sprinting into a warzone in the flesh was a fundamentally different calculation than taking a leisurely, projected stroll through a pacified domestic district.

‘Let’s see… what does Hans’s itinerary look like at the moment?’

The transformation of Salma into a death knight required a prolonged incubation period, meaning that project required zero active maintenance.

Furthermore, he could simply issue a set of routine directives to Olivia, ensuring she fulfilled the standard obligations of a Demon King by deploying low-level minions to provide experience points for the hero’s vanguard.

‘Everything seems clear. Besides, if an emergency manifests, I can instantly recall my assets.’

That remained the supreme benefit of his avatar system.

With that final assessment, the blueprint for Hahoe Mask’s international campaign was solidified.

The opening theater—Japan, a neighboring territory presenting both proximity and an ideal operational scale.