#72
A New Order (2)
Within the barrier filled entirely with darkness, Hans turned his head and stared intently to the side.
As if gazing at something beyond that pitch-black space.
[Interesting.]
As his level had skyrocketed, he had created a new, more effective curse, and he had unveiled it this time upon resuming his activities.
But when he felt something subtle from the thin thread connected to it and briefly examined it, he found himself locking eyes with some black magician.
‘What should I do...?’
Though they had only met for an instant through their thoughts, he had already grasped a certain amount about the man.
Hans was sensitive to malice, yet he did not get the feeling that the man was particularly evil.
Rather, he was an unusual opponent—a fairly skilled black magician, yet one not tainted by madness.
‘Maybe he has some related skill like I do. More importantly, this location is...’
A complete map of Seoul formed in his mind, and the location he had just identified was marked upon it.
His main body immediately checked information on the place through the internet.
‘...As expected.’
It was a hospital under the management of the Ability Management Bureau, a government agency.
There was no particular need to take action over there.
He merely offered a moment of condolences to the civil servants who would diligently continue their meaningless investigation.
‘That black magician seemed quite useful. I’ll remember him for now.’
Since he could find him whenever he wished, it did not seem like a bad idea to quietly make contact with him later.
[Keheh, more importantly, I like this. If criminals recklessly investigate my curse, the moment they do...]
They would immediately suffer a counterattack, have their location identified, and receive a visit from Hans.
And since black magicians had a high proportion of criminals among them, the possibility was high.
If they were skilled enough to investigate his curse, they would not be small fry, so it could become quite a decent trap.
‘I’ll have to move a little more diligently if I want to increase the number of guys worth cursing instead of executing.’
“Gasp... Haaah! M-monster...!”
At that moment, while he had been briefly lost in thought, the villains who had been desperately pounding on Hans’s barrier gnashed their teeth.
Unable to flee because of the barrier surrounding them on all sides, they had resisted because they had no other choice, and at last had fallen into despair.
[I’m sorry, but I have no more time to spare for you.]
The blue glow in Hans’s eyes faded, and soon the “Eyes of the Abyss” gazed upon them.
“Ah, aaah...”
“Huuuh—”
And so Hans busied himself again today for the public order of Seoul.
Thanks to his efforts, criminals began lying low, and the crime rate was forcibly and drastically reduced...
And the citizens living in Seoul could clearly feel the difference.
***
Rumors about the Hahoe Mask, which had previously spread here and there like an urban legend, exploded across the internet.
Due to intervention from the Ability Management Bureau, which feared his idolization, it had not yet been reported on terrestrial news broadcasts, but judging by the speed at which it was spreading through online news and communities, that would not last long either.
Since direct exposure of Hans’s appearance to the public had been avoided, drawings made by witnesses and the like were used as materials instead of photographs.
Among them were drawings that merely sketched a pitch-black silhouette with blue eyes, while others were portraits so well drawn they resembled reality.
The most representative of them was an illustration of a figure wearing a Hahoe mask, draped in a pitch-black robe, looking down with blue glowing eyes while extending a gloved hand.
The artist who drew it explained that it depicted the moment he had been rescued by the Hahoe Mask from the man-eaters’ human meat factory, and claimed that the sight from that time was still vivid in his mind.
-Wow lol, they say he kills all the villains too. So damn satisfying.
-What human rights do criminals have? Instead of caring about that, protect our right to live.
-Thanks to Hahoe Mask-nim, I’ve been living with a bit more peace of mind lately. Please keep up the good work!
The reactions toward him were generally full of praise.
Of course, there were also conventional arguments that he was nothing more than a criminal himself and that private sanctions by individuals should not be supported, but they were swept away by the overwhelming public opinion and quietly buried.
As the Hahoe Mask gradually became an issue, reporters and individual creators grew heated in their coverage as well, and information from witness interviews and all sorts of collected materials began to be revealed little by little.
An ultra-wide-range detection ability that grasped incidents occurring throughout Seoul in real time.
Mobility that allowed him to teleport directly to the locations he detected.
And overwhelming combat power that resolved any villain in an instant, no matter who they were.
However, nothing certain was known about his fighting style, because the moment he appeared, he also put the victims at the scene to sleep.
Even the criminals who survived after being struck down by him were plunged into extreme fear and could not provide proper testimony.
But no one could argue about his might.
Above all, the achievements he had accomplished thus far proved everything.
Thus, the title he earned was none other than “the unofficial strongest in Korea.”
However, since all that existed were abundant firsthand accounts, with not a single piece of photographic evidence or CCTV footage, debates over him continued nonstop.
-Isn’t this just fake? How can one person cover all of Seoul?
-It’s a fact that the crime rate has dropped lately. Whether it’s really because of Hahoe Mask or not, something’s definitely going on.
-If it’s true, isn’t that humiliating for Guardian? That huge organization is worse than one person lol.
-Unlike the pushover Guardian that has to care about criminals’ human rights, Hahoe Mask’s principle is zero tolerance and summary execution.
-Then maybe it’s not an individual but an organization? Could be several people in the same disguise.
Since this was the situation even domestically, foreign communities dismissed it outright as Korean fabrication and did not even engage with it.
However, there was someone here who keenly felt the activities of that “Hahoe Mask,” and who suffered tremendous stress the more he continued his work...
“Uwaaaah—! How long has it been since I got off work! Hahaha! Seonghyeon, what are you doing? Let’s cheers, cheers—!”
It was my friend, Kang Taesan, laughing like a madman while holding a can of beer in front of me right now.
“Work must be really hard? Your training didn’t even end that long ago, and you’re already saying you’re dying?”
“Don’t even talk about it. Of all places, my first assignment had to be the Hahoe Mask investigation team! It’s the busiest department in the Criminal Investigation Division right now! I heard other places have actually gotten more relaxed, but I just had to enter a team like that as the youngest member!”
Kang Taesan burst out in resentment again and gulped down his drink.
He was my one and only friend, who had shown up at my place carrying an armful of alcohol, saying he had finally managed to get off work after a long while.
‘I don’t really need him to worry about me anymore, though.’
He was a grateful guy who had stayed by my side and given me strength ever since I had shut myself in after the accident.
He took out the trash in my place when I could not go outside, visited regularly to keep me company, and so on.
They were small things, but to me, who had felt as though I had been left alone in the world, they were warm gestures of concern.
“Still, you seem a lot better now. I did see you briefly before too, but how should I put it... It feels like you’ve found some motivation in life?”
“Yeah, I can’t live clinging to the past forever. My parents wouldn’t have wanted that either...”
“Yeah... You thought well, man! Do you know how worried I’ve been all this time?”
I had known Taesan since elementary school.
After losing his parents early and being raised by his grandmother, he had become close to me, and Han Seonghyeon’s parents had always looked after him like their own child.
That bond grew even stronger through middle school and high school, and later, he too came to rely on Han Seonghyeon’s parents as if they were his own.
To be blunt, we were practically brothers.
“How is your grandmother? Has she gotten a little better?”
“Ah... Haha... Well, she’s the same. She’s getting on in years now...”
His expression darkened for a moment, as if he was worried about his grandmother, who had been hospitalized for several years.
“I should visit her sometime soon too.”
“Huh? No, it’s fine! You don’t have to push yourself for no reason.”
“I’m not pushing myself. I can go outside now. Oh, and I’m moving soon too. I won the lottery.”
“...Huh?”
As I delivered major news one after another, a commotion broke out.
I forcibly subdued Taesan, who was expressing his shock with his entire body, calmed him down, and calmly organized my thoughts.
About a method that might be of help to his grandmother.
‘Heinrich’s holy power should have some effect. I’m not sure how much it can influence aging, but it’ll still be better than doing nothing.’
I could just slip in, quickly treat her, and put her back where she belonged.
It might be bothersome to create the situation, but if I received help from the other avatars, it should not be difficult.
“...Still, I’m glad. It seems like you’ve completely recovered too, Seonghyeon.”
After the drinking resumed, Taesan quietly muttered.
Then he carefully began gauging my reaction.
“Why? Do you have something to say?”
When I frowned and asked, seeing him hesitate unlike himself, he let out a sigh and met my eyes directly.
“Actually, I thought a lot about whether I should tell you or not. Until now, I thought it would be better not to... But seeing your condition today, I think it’ll be okay.”
At the sudden serious atmosphere, I put down the beer I was holding and looked at him.
“You know why I applied to the Criminal Investigation Division, right?”
Of course I knew.
He had also followed my parents as if they were his own.
I, who had been at the scene that day, had suffered wounds to my body and mind and shut myself in my room...
But Taesan, who had only heard the news late because he had been nursing his grandmother, instead used that incident as an opportunity to work even harder, and eventually joined the Ability Management Bureau.
To dig deeper into the incident from that time, and to prevent the same kind of crime from happening again.
“...That incident. It had already been concluded as a random terrorist attack by an Awakened. Everyone knew it that way. Until recently.”
For a moment, I felt my body stiffen.
I felt like I knew what he was about to say.
“There was an organization that had been operating in the shadows for a long time. Until recently, they’d been relatively quiet while causing incidents, but about half a year ago, they started moving in earnest.”
That was exactly the period when public order in Korea had begun to grow chaotic.
“They were so meticulous that all this time, we only vaguely recognized their existence and couldn’t even catch their tail...”
Then the Hahoe Mask appeared.
“After he started hunting criminals, the underworld was shaken and its rules collapsed, so it seems an opening appeared among the guys who had been expanding their power based on it.”
And so the Ability Management Bureau finally caught their tail.
An organization called the Beoncheon Society, which had been carrying out all sorts of terrorism from behind the scenes.
And Taesan... had been able to learn that they were behind the “Seoul Station Terror Incident.”
“Actually, this is classified, so I’m not supposed to say it. But... even if no one else does, I thought you had the right to know. Still, don’t talk about it anywhere else, all right? I could end up in prison. Kekeke...”
The first place to obtain the information had been the Hahoe Mask investigation team, and apparently he, a new recruit, had just happened to be there with them at the time.
“And it seems that right after clashing with Hahoe Mask, those guys stopped their domestic activities and started cutting off their tails. Since he’s still moving actively, it’s obvious who won.”
Taesan snorted and coolly drank his beer.
“After that, further tracking has become difficult. We don’t know how long they’ll stay hidden, but the scale of their force seems anything but small, so we’re watching them closely.”
As if he did not care about confidentiality or anything else, he even divulged the internal circumstances of the Criminal Investigation Division.
It probably meant that he trusted Han Seonghyeon that much.
After hearing everything, and seeing him carefully watching my reaction, I casually picked up a snack and ate it as if nothing was wrong.
“Hahoe Mask was even more amazing than I thought. Isn’t it thanks to him that you identified a criminal organization like that? Then why does the Ability Management Bureau keep chasing him?”
“That’s why I’m even more pissed off! I mean, why are they pointlessly chasing around someone who’s doing a good job? It just makes everyone tired! Just leave him alone and let him keep doing well—!”
As if relieved by my reaction, he crushed the empty beer can and exaggeratedly roared in anger.
Kang Taesan, like me, was firmly in the villain-hating camp.
He had joined the Ability Management Bureau because he wanted to catch criminals, but now he was chasing Hahoe Mask, who secretly shared those values, so it seemed his stress was considerable.
“It’s work, so you can’t help it. Hey, just drink, drink!”
“Yeah! It’s not like he’s someone I can catch just because I work myself to the bone anyway. Ah, screw it—!”
“And... thanks for telling me. I’ve already shaken it all off, so you don’t need to worry about me anymore. I’m just a civilian anyway, so there’s nothing I can do. I’ll have to leave the rest to your side or Guardian. ...And Hahoe Mask too.”
“...Mm, he really does do good work. Since he doesn’t have to care what anyone thinks, he handles things refreshingly.”
The atmosphere became noisy again, and the drinking party began in earnest.
Matching my friend, who kept downing alcohol, I pretended to be moderately drunk and went along with the mood.
It was a little disappointing that I could not get drunk easily because of my physical abilities and recovery power, but just being with a like-minded close friend made it a satisfying occasion.
...And so the night in Seoul deepened.
***
A filthy back alley.
In the middle of the people sprawled across the ground stood a figure that seemed buried in darkness.
[Huh... Busy, busy. Still, now that the big lumps have been cut away, the overall level has dropped.]
Hans was struggling again today to maintain public order.
He raised his head and looked up at the pitch-black night sky, where not a single star could be seen, with his blue glowing eyes.
No matter what anyone said, no matter what difficulties there were... he had absolutely no intention of stopping.
Starting with the villains running wild everywhere, all the way to the Beoncheon Society that was now holding its breath in hiding.
He would not stop until he destroyed them all with his own hands.
Hans stretched out one hand and grasped at the night sky.
[Keheheh... I like how black it is.]
Because now, he was the new order of this era.