#163
Hahoe Mask Rises (3)
Inside a laboratory crammed with all manner of cutting-edge devices.
“All riiight~ It’s all done. Now, open your eyes! A whole new world awaits you!”
A man’s shrill, frivolous voice rang noisily through the room.
And then, as though waking from sleep, a man in his thirties lying on the operating table slowly opened “both” eyes and stared up at the ceiling.
“Oohoho! As expected, truly revolutionary eyes! Kuh~ I’m jealous, so jealous. You really were lucky! To tell the truth, I was going to use that first…”
Ignoring the chattering voice, the Lawgiver raised his upper body and looked around.
Indeed, the limitation in his left field of vision caused by the incident two months ago had disappeared.
“I was going to pluck out one of my own eyes and put that in its place, but wouldn’t you know it, the Society Leader caught me right before I could! Oh, how annoyed he was! My head still aches when I think about how badly I got scolded back then.”
The “Doctor” prattling away all by himself without even a reply did bother him, but it was also true that he had obtained a new eye thanks to him, so he said nothing in particular.
‘It wasn’t simple blindness, but damage to the spirit body, so no matter what eyeball was transplanted, it was useless…’
A literally permanent loss that could not be explained medically.
But even that problem had been solved by bypassing it through a different method.
“…Of course, since my unique skill manifests through my eyes, that is a shame! Still, I had one remaining, and it was an opportunity to realize a romance as well. Reform and evolution are the ultimate values mankind ought to pursue!”
Zing— zing—
Letting that exaggerated fussing go in one ear and out the other, he sensed a faint vibration from the newly transplanted eyeball whenever he shifted his focus.
However, the mechanical sound produced by the camera aperture moving was only faintly perceptible to him, quiet enough that it could not be noticed from the outside.
He quietly examined the area around his eyes through a mirror placed to one side.
In contrast to his ordinary black eye, the rim of his left pupil was dazzlingly ornate, encircled by a soft blue glow, while the iris within was filled with geometric patterns that shone mysteriously.
This ultimate artificial eye, born from the fusion of mechanical engineering and magical engineering, took the form of an eyeball and sat within the eye socket, but its mechanism was a magical tool entirely different from a real eye.
Just as he was admiring his new eye…
Thud! Whirl—!
Someone grabbed him by the shoulder, and as his field of vision spun around, it was filled with eyes gleaming with madness.
Before he knew it, the Doctor had approached right beside him, thrusting his bearded face forward frighteningly as he firmly seized the Lawgiver’s head.
Then he reached out with one hand, pried open the left eye where the artificial eye had been transplanted, and began examining it from every angle again.
“Wow~ I told you, the technology of the Callicas Dimension is revolutionary! I should have gone to that dimension myself! To think I can only encounter it through such indirect means—what a great tragedy!”
The Lawgiver sighed as he watched the man chatter right in front of his face, spittle flying again.
A middle-aged Westerner in a shabby lab coat, with disheveled gray-brown hair.
His appearance was shabby, but this man was not an opponent to be underestimated.
The fact that he was a first-generation returnee caught up in the first otherworld transmission was merely secondary; he was the genius of the century who had led the current technological power of the Beoncheonhoe.
Gathering and improving the mysteries of each dimension, including magic, sorcery, alchemy, and magical engineering, would not even have been possible without that demonic brain of his and the 「Eye of Truth」 he possessed.
“Uhyahyat! It’s fortunate there happened to be a fellow who returned with this artificial eye attached, isn’t it? I heard it was extremely expensive even in that dimension!”
“I see. Such a precious item… Once again, thank you, Doctor.”
The fact that such an item existed on Earth naturally meant there had also been someone who brought it here.
A returnee who had poured all the wealth he had painstakingly gathered up until the moment of his return into obtaining a new eye before coming back.
Of course, that person was no longer of this world.
“So, about that! I have one thing I’m curious about, Lawgiver!”
“…Yes.”
Thinking that this man’s pace was difficult to keep up with as always, the Lawgiver reluctantly answered.
“The being that did that to you, Ha… Hahae?”
“It’s Hahoe Mask.”
“At any rate! That smile mask, you see? I find him extremely interesting. I looked into him a little out of curiosity, and there were all sorts of amusing stories!”
The Doctor, not listening to others, continued in an excited tone all by himself.
“As you know, Korea is the first place where we’ve been smashed this badly, isn’t it? Of course, plans failing happens all the time in other countries too, but having the entire foundation blown away is a bit, well? Ah! Not that I’m blaming you or anything. Since the Society Leader accepted it, I’m not exactly in a position to say anything either!”
A smiling face, as always.
But his clear eyes were sparkling so brightly they felt dangerous.
“So when do you intend to resume activities in Korea? Of course, it’s not urgent, so there’s no particular problem even if you don’t move right away. Still, shouldn’t we do something?”
At that subtle question, filled with desire, the corners of the Lawgiver’s eyes trembled.
The problem with his damaged eye had been resolved this time, but it had only been two months since he had been turned into a living corpse in the fight against Hahoe Mask.
At the time, he had suffered severe injuries that should have required several years of recuperation, so to be honest, even breathing was difficult right now, and since both his legs would not move, he was dependent on a wheelchair…
The problem was that the Doctor, the overall head of technology, held a higher position than the Lawgiver, who was the head of the East Asia branch.
“…I was already planning preliminary preparations. We cannot leave that place alone forever, so it would be best to lay at least the groundwork in advance.”
“Ooho! Excellent, Lawgiver! If there’s anything I can help with, tell me anytime. I look forward to the day good test subjects come in! Now, what should we start with~!”
And evil organizations were, by nature, all black companies.
***
“Phew— That feels refreshing.”
After going to the indoor gym as part of my usual routine and even taking a leisurely shower, I used the sound of the TV as a radio and sat in the massage chair, slowly closing my eyes.
As expected, with a big house and plenty of money, everything I needed had already been prepared in advance, so there was no need to go outside for no reason.
Now that I thought about it, aside from going out through 「Individual Projection」 lately, I felt like I had just been holed up inside the house…
‘Eh, going out is going out, anyway. Going outside once a day and meeting people consistently—how incredibly sociable of me!’
When using 「Individual Projection」, it felt more like moving an avatar than my personal self, Han Seonghyeon, and I decided to set aside for now the fact that most of the people I met were criminals.
If I dug any deeper than this, I would start looking too pitiful.
“Hmm, anyway, that black mage… Was his name An Seongjin?”
I raised the intensity of the massage chair kneading my entire body to maximum and recalled the talent I had visited last night.
Since his world of origin was different, I couldn’t judge precisely, but by Auterica’s standards, he was a skilled practitioner just shy of an archmage.
But considering the characteristics of his domineering black mana, his instantaneous combat power would not be greatly lacking.
‘Of course, what I want isn’t combat power.’
Fortunately, he had not refused my peaceful scouting offer and had readily accepted it.
We had even made a contract by mutual agreement, enabling me to exert a very slight degree of compulsion, so he would not even dare think of betraying me now.
‘Promises are precious, after all. He doesn’t seem to be an evil person, so I don’t intend to treat him roughly, but I won’t tolerate him trying anything foolish.’
I had no intention of making him do anything unreasonable anyway.
As long as he did his best to bring back the information I wanted, that would be enough.
And if he did his job well, I was also willing to provide this and that as part of employee welfare.
‘The work of turning the Thousand-Killing Demon Emperor into an undead is going smoothly too…’
Naturally, since he was on a different level from the corpses I had used so far, I couldn’t handle him carelessly.
To properly use the finest materials, one had to invest the time, effort, and resources worthy of them.
The corpse of the Thousand-Killing Demon Emperor, sent through 「Avatar Cloud」 to the original Hans in Auterica, was undergoing preparatory work to be made into an undead.
‘When I need the undead, I’ll be able to bring it out on this side through the heart’s subordinate subspace, so it should be fine. The capacity isn’t that large, so a large number would be difficult, but I don’t need large-scale forces on Earth anyway.’
Since I was pouring in only the highest-grade materials, the Thousand-Killing Demon Emperor… no, shortened now to “Salma,” would be reborn as a fairly satisfying fellow.
Though the fact that his soul was heavily damaged as a side effect of excessive abyss overdose was a slight negative, undead were creatures with a few screws loose anyway, so that didn’t really matter much.
“Karma points are… Oh?”
As I sat in the massage chair and leisurely sorted through things one by one, my eyes widened slightly.
Not long before Hans attacked the imperial capital of Jeron, I had used the 640,000-point “Mental Strengthening,” but perhaps because the scale of what I had done afterward was so large, a rather profitable number of points had come in.
‘The home-screen effect really is good. It hasn’t even been that long since I used it, and I’m already at 800,000.’
Even that was steadily increasing at a fairly rapid pace, a rate of increase that would make other Awakened gape and say it made no sense if they knew.
The points needed to strengthen my unique skill now stood at 1.2 million.
At this rate, reaching the next stage would not take very long.
—Then shall we move on to the next topic? Since there’s been so much talk about it lately, all of you must have heard about it at least once. I’m talking about the Awakened known as “Hahoe Mask”!
—Ah~ That’s right! He’s someone people have been talking about a lot these days.
At that moment, the TV I had left on like a radio began talking about him.
And as always, the topic soon began with questions about his identity, then moved on to heated debate over the legitimacy of what he had done so far.
—…Uncontrolled, indiscriminate force is dangerous! The standard of judgment is his own subjectivity? In a country governed by the rule of law, does that even make any…
—…Of course, one cannot say his actions are unconditionally right, but it is an undeniable fact that he is contributing greatly to our country’s public safety. Isn’t that something you can quickly see just by hearing a little news from overseas?
—Ah, that’s true. They said there was a huge incident in Japan this time too, didn’t they? A tragedy with hundreds of deaths alone…
Modern Earth was truly the height of chaos.
Superhumans who had overcome all manner of adversity and deadly trials to return with power numbered in the tens of thousands in Korea alone.
On a global scale, it was impossible to even estimate how many there were.
For now, the current system was being maintained because, for various reasons including family, the forces trying to protect society were stronger, but the situation was no different from having latent time bombs scattered everywhere.
‘Not only black mana users and demonkin, but Awakened intoxicated by power and desire are also no small danger. Even now, when Hans’s force is suppressing them almost like oppression, those kinds of guys keep popping up. If even that much control didn’t exist…’
That was exactly the current reality overseas.
Of course, it wasn’t as if other countries had no strong people, and there were plenty of those who hunted criminals mercilessly like Hans.
Among them, there were even some who had established their own crime detection systems, like his servitor magic…
‘But they can’t compare to Hans, who has all those abilities in one body. On top of that, he has stealth and mobility too.’
In addition, the fact that Korea’s land area was small compared to its population played a major role.
Those various factors combined to complete the peaceful Korea of today.
“Phew.”
I got up from my seat and slowly headed toward the terrace.
The large garden, possible because this was a suburban area of Seoul where land prices were cheap, was neat and cleanly maintained, and the landscaping stones and garden ornaments placed here and there created a tranquil atmosphere.
‘Of course, if someone set foot in here recklessly, they’d experience hell.’
This place was a demonic realm densely planted with security devices created by mobilizing the abilities of Hans, Heinz II, Heinrich, and Harris all this time.
All the garden ornaments were mediums for techniques, and their placement had also been decided with careful consideration through 「Path of Magic」.
And the being at the center of this impregnable fortress was none other than me.
As long as I was inside, it was safe to say I was absolutely secure.
‘Yes, the Korea side has been roughly settled now, so let’s broaden my view a little.’
As it happened, through the matter with “Salma,” I had learned that the Beoncheonhoe had been meticulously operating in the shadows since quite a long time ago.
Surely this was not the only case.
It had probably happened frequently not only in Korea, but all over the world.
‘I’ve left them alone for a long time because they pulled out of Korea. For now, should I start expanding into nearby countries?’
I wouldn’t be able to manage them periodically like Korea, but even a single cleanup should have some effect.
The mere fact that I could screw them over was enough for me to endure a little inconvenience.
Still, it was true that I was somewhat reluctant to personally visit the still-chaotic overseas.
Wasn’t that a completely different matter from patrolling lightly with 「Individual Projection」 as though taking a stroll in a place that had already stabilized to some extent?
‘Hmm… What was Hans’s current schedule again?’
The work of turning Salma into an undead had a fairly long maturation process planned, so that was no problem.
As for the basic qualification of a Demon King—sending small fries to level up the Hero’s party—giving Olivia instructions in advance would be enough.
‘Hmm, there’s no real problem. Well, if a problem comes up, I can just call him back right away.’
That was the greatest advantage of reverse-summoning an avatar.
And so, Hahoe Mask’s overseas expansion was decided.
For now—to Japan, the nearest country and one of suitable size.