#199
An Approaching Hand
A Korean online community.
- Looks like Hahoe Mask has given up on stopping people from taking photos or videos now? It’s only been a few days and evidence is suddenly pouring in like crazy lol Though all of it was taken in Japan.
└After making such a flashy debut, it’d be hilarious if he tried to hide now. But more importantly, why won’t he bring out that Bone Dragon again! I want to see it again!
└Ha, bro··· when are you coming back to Korea···? It’s scary walking at night without you hereㅜㅜ
└Still, the villains who started popping up one by one again after Hahoe Mask went to Japan have been disappearing pretty quickly lately, haven’t they? Looks like the Guardians finally started doing their jobs lol
It had not even been a week since Hahoe Mask had revealed the Bone Dragon in Kyushu.
Naturally, with the heat of the topic still blazing across the internet, discussions about him continued day after day.
Of course, even now, new incidents were occurring every day, but the shock from that time was not so weak that it would fade after only a few days.
Not only had his presence been seared powerfully into people’s minds, he had even made international headlines!
It was only natural that Koreans, who were sensitive to reactions from other countries, would take a deep interest in Hahoe Mask, who wore Korea’s representative mask on his face while operating overseas.
Of course, not all opinions about him were favorable···.
- But is it really okay for someone from our country to run wild however he wants in another country like that? Won’t it become a diplomatic problem?
└Fact) Hahoe Mask is already a criminal who ran wild however he wanted in Korea too.
└But if you think about it, isn’t this a national disgrace? A criminal our country failed to catch is now operating overseas and making a name for himself. What does that make our country look like;;
└So what? Japan can’t catch that criminal either.
There were also quite a few people who felt uncomfortable with his extreme actions.
No matter how one looked at it, he was ultimately a criminal who carried out judgment as he pleased, and on top of that, it had been revealed that he was a necromancer who used the infamous dark magic, so it could not be helped.
The reactions overseas, where news of Hahoe Mask had spread, were mostly similar.
A certain level of curiosity, and an underlying, subtle aversion.
In that sense, public opinion within Japan, where his “purification work” was currently proceeding in real time, was a true crucible of chaos, with all sorts of opinions mixed together.
- That masked dark hero came through our neighborhood yesterday. When I checked today, there were police all over the area.
- They were guys neither the police nor the Guardians had ever paid attention to, so I’d been living in fear, constantly watching my surroundings···. Can I finally relax a bit now?
There were those who showed a quiet sense of anticipation for the changes that would follow Hahoe Mask’s visit.
- I live in Fukuoka, and I can definitely feel the difference. Of course, it didn’t take long for small fries to move into the empty spots.
- Still, the difference in scale is on another level, so it’s much better than before. Though I don’t know how long this will last.
└It’s the same where I live. The new guys who moved in are at least keeping their heads down for now. I wish the Ability Bureau would deal with this properly while their influence has been weakened like this, but praying for that masked hero to come back would probably be faster than expecting those incompetent bastards to do their jobs, right?
There were people who expressed a quiet satisfaction with the results after he had already passed through.
- Is everyone here an idiot? A Korean criminal came into our country and is slaughtering Japanese people, so why the hell are you all so happy about it?
└Exactly. What is the Ability Bureau doing? Hurry up and catch that bastard! How are we supposed to live like this when it’s so unsettling?
└But that Hahoe Mask only hunts criminals like yakuza, doesn’t he?
└Are yakuza not Japanese? If they’re going to be caught, we should be the ones catching them. Why is some Korean bastard stepping in? We should demand compensation from Korea for this.
└Isn’t the problem that they don’t catch them because they’re all already in collusion?
There were types who expressed blind rejection based on national sentiment, as well as those who argued against them.
Since they were the direct parties involved, they had no choice but to react more sensitively than people elsewhere.
And that interest could only intensify when it moved from ordinary people to specific organizations—.
The most representative examples were the criminal organizations within Japan, whose feet were now held to the fire, and the Beoncheonhoe, who had tried to capture Hahoe Mask only to take a blow and retreat.
***
A lodging in China, filled with ornate decorations.
Bzz— Zing—
Along with the faint mechanical vibration in his head, a man in his thirties seated in a wheelchair moved his eyes at regular intervals with a face as expressionless as a robot.
Accordingly, data collected from all around the world and systematically organized was stored intact inside his mind.
It included not only information they had investigated on their own, but also content others had analyzed for fun and posted online, all thoroughly reviewed and attached.
It was, quite literally, the result of an information-gathering effort into which the branch had poured all its strength.
“Tsk.”
But after reading through every report displayed on the office monitor, the man, the Lawgiver, merely leaned back against his chair and clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.
As if something displeased him, he continued rubbing the space between his eyes with a furrowed brow.
“Lawgiver~? My, my, it seems things aren’t going very well!”
At that moment.
His body flinched at the frivolous voice that suddenly rang out.
Until just a moment ago, he was certain he had been the only one in this room.
But only for a moment. He soon lowered the hand that had been rubbing his eyes and calmly turned his head.
“···Doctor.”
As expected, there stood a familiar middle-aged man with disheveled grayish-brown hair and a scruffy beard, grinning broadly as he looked at him.
“It’s been a while! So, how are the new eyes? Are they working well?”
“Yes, thanks to you.”
“Puhyahat! That’s right, thanks to me! Which is why··· I’m all the more disappointed.”
The Doctor, who had been laughing excitedly only moments before, turned serious in an instant and raised the end of his sentence in a low voice.
Faced with his mood leaping wildly from one place to another as always, the Lawgiver merely lowered his head.
“I heard the news from Japan. They said you made an absolute mess of it?”
“···I have no excuse.”
“Well~ things like that happen, don’t they! Good heavens, a Bone Dragon! I hadn’t imagined that either! He turned out to be an even more interesting fellow than I expected, didn’t he? Pahahahyat!”
The Doctor, who burst into laughter again as if seized by madness, soon wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and brought up the main reason he had come.
“I received word that the Society Leader has returned.”
“···Is that so.”
The Society Leader’s movements were classified as top secret.
Of course, the Lawgiver was the branch head for East Asia, including China, the place where the Beoncheonhoe had originated, and as he was also in charge of the restrictions placed on key members, his position was by no means low.
News would probably reach him soon as well.
But naturally, in terms of priority for information, he could not help but fall behind the Doctor, who was practically the Society Leader’s right hand.
The reason he had come all the way here to say this in person was···.
“The Society Leader was also very intrigued after seeing that Bone Dragon! He’s always liked unusual things like that, hasn’t he?”
“Do you mean, perhaps···?”
“That’s right! He said he’d like to see that Smile Mask for himself this time! Of course, I intend to take a seat at that table too! Puhit!”
“The Society Leader said that personally? What about Oracle···”
When the flustered Lawgiver let another person’s name slip from his mouth, the Doctor’s face, which had been giggling until then, crumpled as though he had heard something he should not have.
“···Hmph, for some reason, that woman didn’t seem to have much confidence this time either, you see? So what can she do? She has no choice but to quietly shrink back!”
But that, too, lasted only briefly. Soon, his expression turned triumphant, and he continued in a boastful tone.
“You have no idea how refreshing it was when that woman, who always shrieked and squawked whenever we tried to do anything, kept her mouth shut! The future isn’t something that’s fixed—it’s something we must carve out for ourselves, don’t you agree? I only wish the Society Leader wouldn’t lend his ear too much to that woman’s words!”
Given their abilities and dispositions, the two stood at opposite poles, and their relationship was exceedingly poor.
If the Doctor was the Society Leader’s right hand, then she was his left.
If not for his existence, the two of them probably would never have been in the same organization like this.
“Then the Society Leader is now.”
“Uhyahyat! Why ask when you know his personality?”
Indeed, just as he said.
The Lawgiver, sensing something, slowly nodded.
“It should be about time he arrived···.”
Clack—
Then, as if cutting off the Doctor’s words, the door opened wide without warning.
“It has been a while, everyone. Lawgiver, is your body all right?”
Along with a low voice, a man entered the room, a strange air wrapped around him.
At first glance, he seemed ordinary. At a second look, he exuded a suffocating pressure. Yet when one tried to see him properly, he even felt indistinct—.
An utterly elusive being.
“Yes, thanks to your concern, I have recovered greatly.”
“Kuh~ Speak of the devil! You arrived right on time, Society Leader!”
The head of the Beoncheonhoe, a transnational criminal organization that wielded immense influence over the hidden side of the world from the shadows.
After being absent for a long time due to certain matters, he had finally set foot on Chinese soil once again.
In order to personally capture Hahoe Mask, who was currently active in Japan.
***
“Why are my ears so itchy?”
Thud—
While carrying out my routine in the home gym as usual, I carefully set down the heavy barbell and diligently dug at my ear.
‘Tsk, is someone talking about me?’
That thought briefly crossed my mind before quickly disappearing.
If I went by that logic, there were far too many possibilities that came to mind, to the point that it felt only natural.
I lightly shrugged and bent over again to pick up the barbell.
“Hooop—!”
No matter how you looked at it, Hans was bound to be in a position where people cursed at him.
There was no need to even mention the other world, and recently, by some turn of events, he had started operating openly in Japan as well. Wasn’t this exactly the time when people would be talking a lot?
Naturally, I had already grasped the trend of public opinion.
‘Not that I have any intention of changing my course of action according to public opinion.’
So far, everything had been smooth.
In the process of turning Japan upside down, I had smashed the Beoncheonhoe’s trap and, in return, dealt them considerable damage.
Judging by my experiences so far, they were not the type to suffer a blow and then simply stay quiet, so there would probably be some form of retaliation soon enough.
All I had to do was prepare for that time while silently continuing what I had been doing until now.
‘Burning their bases down completely, that is.’
A faint chuckle escaped me before I realized it.
Was there anything more enjoyable than toppling a tower someone else had painstakingly built?
‘Only a few days have passed since our first clash. They’ll need time to reorganize too. Still, I doubt they intend to completely abandon Japan, so that deadline won’t be very long.’
Naturally, they would come more thoroughly prepared the second time, but no matter what preparations the Beoncheonhoe made, it would be meaningless.
There was Bone Dragon Heratos, whom I could now bring out without hesitation, and Abyss Revenant Salma, who had newly joined, as well as···.
‘If worse comes to worst, I can just run away.’
After all, I also had the ultimate escape skill, summon cancellation, ready at any time.
‘That should be enough for Earth. The situation in Auterica is a bit complicated, but··· well, at this rate, I suppose it’s going fairly smoothly.’
Thud—
With another heavy sound, the barbell was placed on the floor.
Having finished the training set like that, I loosened my shoulders and glanced to the side.
“Hoo! Huk—! Huk!”
Sweat streamed down his entire body like rain, and his rough breathing sounded as though he might stop breathing at any moment.
There stood a tall, handsome young man in light clothing, a barbell resting on his shoulders as he trained his lower body with squats.
‘Mm, he really is handsome.’
I looked at him and nodded in satisfaction.
Naturally, his identity was the avatar I had recently become able to create, “Hugo.”
As always, he had entered extreme hard-training mode immediately after being created.
The one unusual part, however, was··· that this time, I had not specially modified his appearance, so he had the same face as me, just like the clones I had made in the beginning.
‘The appearance modification from “Customization” can be done anytime later anyway, so it doesn’t matter.’
The duties currently assigned to Hugo were miscellaneous chores, along with acting as my stand-in when I was absent.
With this, I should be able to neatly solve the gaps that had been appearing lately whenever I frequently left my seat using “Individual Projection.”
Of course, being away for a short while probably would not cause any major problem, but it was always better to be safe than sorry.
‘Hmm, more importantly···.’
On the way to the shower room, with a towel draped over my shoulders.
I walked at a leisurely pace, checked the situation in the other world, and nodded.
‘Should I focus a little more on that side for now?’
After all, a rather meaningful event was about to begin in Auterica as well.
***
When he emerged from the gate swirling with blue light.
The first person Heinrich encountered was a face extremely familiar to him.
“Welcome, Saint. You have worked hard all this time.”
A girl with bright silver hair that scattered the surrounding light and sparkling golden eyes.
Saintess Liesta Saint Hatianus, wrapped in a halo that brightened her surroundings simply by her appearance, greeted the hero’s party with a gentle smile.
“Welcome to the Rosellia Great Temple.”
It was the moment Heinrich finally ended his long journey abroad and arrived at the Great Temple of the Holy Land to participate in the Second Continental Summit.