Chapter 26

Chapter 26
## Chapter 26

Mask (4)

Snap! Snap!

The public park sat quiet in the early hours, just moments before the morning crowds would arrive.

Luminous streetlamps spaced out across the grounds cut through the fading night.

“What kind of mess is it this time…”

Park Hanchul, a seasoned investigator with the Crime Investigation Division of the Special Abilities Management Bureau, exhaled a cloud of smoke from his cigarette as he surveyed the area under a dim light.

Inside a section of the park cordoned off by bright yellow police tape, several forensic experts and officers were actively moving about.

Right in the center, surrounded by numbered evidence markers on the pavement, a chilling message was written alongside dark spatters of blood.

* Execution completed

“Execution, give me a break…”

Park Hanchul grumbled, stubbing out his cigarette and dropping the remnant into a small pocket container.

Stepping over the police line, he walked toward a colleague who was finishing up a phone call in a quieter spot.

“Understood, sir. We will keep at it.”

The junior officer ended the call and slipped his device away. Park Hanchul gave him a quick pat on the shoulder to get his attention.

“Got anything for me?”

“Ah, hello, senior.”

The local emergency crew had been the first to arrive on the scene, promptly handing the matter over to the police, who then escalated it to the Crime Investigation Division of the Special Abilities Management Bureau.

“To start with, the blood belongs to a human. Furthermore, it looks like it all came from just one person.”

“Well, looking at this volume, there’s no way they survived.”

The amount of blood lost on the pavement far surpassed what a human body could handle losing.

As the team preserved the area and bagged evidence, preliminary forensic insights were starting to trickle in.

“There’s something else. We detected a heavy concentration of dark magic within the blood samples.”

“Dark magic? Are we dealing with a practitioner who bled out?”

“That doesn’t seem to be the case. The analysis suggests the individual was subjected to an immense overload of dark magic, causing rapid cellular death, which likely triggered the massive internal and external bleeding.”

“Could it be a Mine?”

A Mine referred to a returned individual who brought back corrupted abilities from realms beyond Earth.

Though the term originally described mythical monsters like vampires or lycanthropes, it had evolved into a catch-all label for anyone weaponizing forbidden curses or dark sorcery.

When a person relies on such corrupted forces over an extended period, their morality inevitably degrades, almost always turning them toward violent crime.

“We checked the security feeds covering the perimeter, and as you might expect, they’re spotless. No useful footage captured anyone besides the female target.”

“If someone has the nerve to pull off an execution like this so close to morning, they’d know how to avoid cameras. Still, it bothers me that we don’t have a corpse.”

Bzzzz~

A muffled vibration came from deep within Park Hanchul’s jacket.

He pulled out his phone, scanned the text notification, and gave a brief nod.

“The young woman has finally woken up. She’s incredibly traumatized, but the medical staff thinks she’ll be stable enough to talk to us shortly.”

“Thank goodness. Trying to piece this together with zero eyewitness testimony was getting frustrating.”

The woman who had been discovered unconscious at the scene had been rushed straight to the emergency room.

Up until now, she had been trapped in a state of shock, paralyzed by terror even while comatose.

With her awake, the investigation could finally gain some traction.

As the two investigators stood watching the forensics team while discussing the updates, one of the technicians walked over to join them.

“The prints we lifted from the personal items on-site match a resident profile. We’ve already gone to the suspect’s residence and uncovered an overwhelming amount of evidence tying him to multiple homicides.”

The items had simply been abandoned at the crime scene.

Setting aside a smartphone that clearly belonged to the rescued woman, the remaining belongings were a treasure trove of grim trophies.

They found a digital recorder filled with the final screams of various victims, a phone loaded with graphic photographs, and a wallet containing identification documents that pointed straight to the owner.

The moment those details were verified, the bureau pulled the suspect’s address and dispatched a raid team.

The confirmation had just come through.

“A literal serial murderer. Sounds like he got exactly what was coming to him.”

“Hmph. Even if he did, taking the law into your own hands is unacceptable. It’s no different than those arrogant vigilantes who get a fraction of power and think they’re comic book heroes.”

Disregarding constitutional law to enforce personal morality was a dangerous slippery slope.

To the agents tasked with preserving societal order, such individuals were essentially a heartbeat away from becoming active terrorists.

Before long, another alert came through on the junior officer’s phone.

“Got it. Yes, sir. Understood completely. Excellent work.”

Hanging up, Park Hanchul cast his gaze back across the bloody pavement.

“…The survivor just gave her official statement.”

“What did she say?”

“It aligns with our theories. She was walking through the park when the killer ambushed her. Right before he could finish her off, a third party intervened out of nowhere and saved her life.”

“A rescue? Are we absolutely certain?”

“Well, that’s where things get bizarre… Her emotional state is giving the hospital staff pause. According to the report, she actually seems far more terrified of the savior than the actual murderer who tried to kill her.”

“…Is the rescuer really that horrific?”

“She couldn’t actually see a face. She noted that the person was wearing a distinct mask.”

The officer paused, shifting his gaze toward a particular spot on the ground.

There, scrawled in deep red fluid, were the parting words.

“It was a Hahoe mask.”

Right next to the text was a rough, stylized depiction.

The junior investigator stared intensely at the drawing for a moment, scratching the back of his neck in realization.

“Ah, so that’s a Hahoe design. I honestly thought it was just some creepy, twisted smiling face.”

“I only put it together after hearing the report myself.”

“I mean, running into a lunatic sporting a traditional Hahoe mask in the dead of night would definitely be unnerving. But more terrifying than an active killer trying to run a blade through you?”

“I suppose context matters in the dark.”

The two men looked up at the sky as the first hints of dawn began to break, letting out a synchronized sigh of exhaustion.

“Looks like we’ve successfully ruined another night of sleep.”

“I didn’t expect to get any rest anyway. I just wish the brass would stop breathing down our necks for immediate results.”

With heavy, fatigued steps, they walked away to begin compiling the mountain of paperwork awaiting them.

—

Korea Returnees Association, Seoul South Branch.

“Director, we’ve received an urgent request for investigative assistance from the Special Abilities Management Bureau.”

“Again? Those Bureau guys are relentless. What kind of trouble are they dealing with now?”

Branch Director Yoon Jiyoon sighed, adjusting herself in her chair as she picked up the briefing folder presented by her personal secretary.

“Wait a moment… this description feels incredibly familiar.”

“I took the liberty of pulling our past incident logs for cross-reference, ma’am.”

“Ah! You’re incredibly sharp, Secretary Kim. Truly reliable.”

The director turned the pages, reviewing an older file regarding the capture of a three-man crew specializing in high-value metal theft.

The term “Hahoe mask” was prominently featured throughout their interrogation transcripts.

“The likelihood that we are looking at the exact same vigilante is exceptionally high.”

“Yes, it certainly points that way. Pass whatever files we have on the subject over to their office and provide whatever standard analytical help they need.”

She gave her instructions while leaning back comfortably into the cushions of her executive chair.

The moment the door closed behind her secretary, she lifted her boots onto the edge of her desk and rested her cheek against her palm.

“Honestly, looking at it objectively, I don’t think this Hahoe character is doing a bad thing, but…”

With public security dropping by the day, regular law enforcement was stretched completely thin.

In her personal view, if an anonymous powerhouse wanted to eliminate vile criminals and thin out their numbers, it saved everyone a lot of trouble.

Besides, she had personally benefited from his intervention during a past incident.

“But he crossed a major boundary by taking a life this time. It would have been so much simpler if he had just broken some bones and tied him up like before.”

Extradition via execution changed the entire narrative.

Even if the target was a monstrous predator who deserved a grim end, a sovereign nation could never openly tolerate unsanctioned killings on its streets.

“Still, it would be incredible if we could somehow recruit him into our guardian forces.”

Even if the Special Abilities Management Bureau managed to track him down, they wouldn’t want to lock away that kind of firepower permanently.

They would almost certainly offer a clean slate in exchange for joining their ranks.

The guy clearly possessed remarkable combat capabilities and operated under a personal code of ethics; if they could just put a proper leash on him, he would make an invaluable asset for the country.

“Ugh, back to the grind. So much paperwork.”

Dropping her feet to the floor, she pulled herself up to her desk and began reviewing her daily tasks.

With the recent spikes in criminal activity across the city, her daily responsibilities had grown exponentially.

The complaints pouring in from the lower-ranked staff were piling up just as fast.

“Honestly, some days I just want to tear this entire system down.”

That was her genuine, unfiltered thought.

—

“You know, there really is a unique satisfaction in tearing things down completely.”

I nodded with approval as I observed Hans, who had just returned from his overnight patrol across the city streets.

The initial deployment of the Infection Necromancy system had yielded highly encouraging results.

When I first set it up, my main priority was simply ensuring smooth deployment and distributing the underlying magic as evenly as possible throughout the area.

The beauty of this particular magic is that its overall sensory perception radius naturally scales up over time.

As the number of infected markers multiplies, the primary challenge becomes filtering through the noise and maintaining control over the connections that actually serve a purpose.

Because of that restriction, I had to deliberately restrict the active search boundary during these early phases.

‘Even with those limits, my network picked up more than five distinct crises across the city last night.’

The crown jewel of the night was, without question, terminating that serial murderer.

The remaining interventions simply required imprinting a curse of absolute terror or administering a physically appropriate lesson within reasonable boundaries.

Breaking the spirit of an active predator was completely warranted, after all.

‘At least no one else had to die.’

Reflecting on the night’s events, I felt I had been remarkably lenient.

I watched Hans for a brief moment before focusing my mind outward to reinforce and stabilize the active surveillance matrix.

While the boundary naturally stretches on its own, injecting my personal focus into the process would accelerate the expansion exponentially.

‘At the very least, I need this network to blanket the entirety of Seoul.’

The chaos from the previous night made one thing undeniable.

The baseline safety of the modern world had degenerated to an appalling degree.

‘Furthermore, I need to start tracking down the architects behind this shift.’

The root cause of this massive societal breakdown.

The underground syndicate orchestrating all this widespread civil unrest.

“Ha-ha-ha~ Well, I can leave that specific mess for Hans to untangle. It’s about time I checked back in on the other world as well.”

I took a deep breath, stretching my arms as I shifted my awareness over to check on the progress of Heinze II.

An entire month had already flown by since our departure from Ajantu.

Because I was traveling with two young children, I had intentionally avoided pushing forward at a grueling pace.

Instead, we secured comfortable lodgings along the road, taking time to explore the local sights and markets whenever we traveled through a new town or settlement.

Still, dragging two young siblings along on an endless, aimless road trip wasn’t a permanent solution.

Now that we had put a massive amount of distance between ourselves and the ruins of Ajantu, it was time to establish a stable, permanent home for them.

As it turned out, while I was weighing options for the children’s long-term upbringing, Diana brought up an old piece of family history.

“Um… Mister. I don’t know if he’s still there, but I remember our parents mentioning that we have an uncle who operates a small shop inside Rafaela City.”

“We never had the means or safety to travel away from Ajantu before, so the memory slipped my mind. But when I realized Rafaela City lies directly along our current path, it suddenly came back to me…”

It was a piece of information passed down by her mother and father years prior.

When they first fled, their only objective had been to escape toward the kingdom’s central territories, but this revelation gave them a concrete destination to aim for: Rafaela City.

They had no way of knowing if the relative was still alive, let alone if the storefront still existed, but having a vague lead was infinitely superior to wandering blindly into a new region.

After all, acting as a full-time guardian wasn’t a role I intended to maintain indefinitely.

I had my own contingencies prepared, but growing up alongside genuine blood relations was always going to be superior to relying on an outsider.

Even if their father’s side of the family might feel conflicted about suddenly inheriting two unexpected dependents out of nowhere…

‘A firm, implicit warning paired with a massive, regular stipend for child support should smooth over any hesitation. I can easily make regular visits to check on them.’

Even if the uncle wasn’t financially secure, a steady influx of gold solves almost any household tension.

If I provided substantial financial resources after evaluating their living situation, wouldn’t they treat the kids with even greater care than their own flesh and blood?

These children represented the very first real bonds I had forged since dropping into this realm.

Given my ability to bridge distances instantly via teleportation, keeping tabs on them wouldn’t be an issue, so I chose to pursue this path.

Naturally, there remained a distinct possibility that the relative might be untraceable, meaning I needed to map out alternative avenues for their care.

My gaze shifted over to the physical avatar that had just finished its physical training regimen outdoors.

The unique function known as “Persona” was now fully compatible with this specific vessel.

“Hmm… let’s designate this identity as ‘Heinrich.'”

-Entity Name: Heinrich

-Common Attributes: “Mind Hub,” “Persona,” “Rapid Recovery,” “Keen Perception”

-Entity Attribute: “Martial Prowess”

-Note: The fourth specialized vessel tied to Hansung-hyun. The presence of “Martial Prowess” drastically amplifies the efficiency of physical conditioning, granting massive bonuses toward close-quarters engagement and rapid martial art mastery.

Relying solely on Heinze II to escort the children through civilized lands was becoming increasingly problematic.

By nature, his lineage belonged to a species that thrived exclusively within the shadowed corners of the world. It was a stroke of pure fortune that no holy knights or mages had spotted his true nature yet.

To maintain that facade, a massive amount of constant, exhausting suppression was required.

“Operating as a vampire… means almost all of my usable connections are buried deep within the underbelly of the world. Heinrich, whom I am deploying next, needs to be cultivated into a figure who can operate openly under the sun.”

I already had a specific path mapped out for his development.

The collection of innate traits assigned to this vessel made it the perfect engine for pure physical amplification.

While managing the final adjustments for Heinrich’s entry into the world, I redirected a portion of my consciousness back over to Heinze II, who had just passed through the main gates of Rafaela City.

—

Meanwhile, deep within a completely unmonitored digital imageboard that promised absolute user anonymity.

“I just ran into that infamous Hahoe mask executioner in the middle of the night.”

Starting from that single post, terrifying accounts and whispers regarding the mysterious figure in the Hahoe mask began to spread like wildfire across the internet.