He frowned, sensing something from afar. A surge of intense emotions, a torrent of causality.
'This is…'
He soon learned the cause.
"-Breaking news! Multiple bomb attacks have occurred throughout Seoul! The government…"
KABOOM
The news anchor's urgent report was cut short by an explosion. It must have been close to the broadcasting station. The anchor flinched, her eyes wide with fear.
Buzz Buzz
His work phone buzzed with incoming emails.
-Jin Soran: Lord! Large-scale bomb attacks near Blood Alliance branches and Howard Industry store locations…
-Hans's Slave No. 1: Hahoe Mask! It seems the Heaven's Turn Society is behind this! The Supernatural Management Bureau is on high alert…
Jin Soran, managing Korea's vampires as Heinz II's representative, and Ahn Sung-jin, the dark mage Hans had recruited, were reporting the situation.
And even…
-Dont go outsid stay insid!
A message from Kang Tae-san, his only friend, arrived, its urgency evident in the mangled grammar.
I closed my eyes, accelerating his thoughts. Large-scale bomb attacks throughout Seoul. The situation was clear.
'Only the Heaven's Turn Society could pull this off.'
Korea's underworld was under the Blood Alliance's control. Smuggling operations were no exception. Bringing such weapons into the country undetected was nearly impossible.
Of course, nothing was truly impossible in this world of supernatural powers…
'But orchestrating something like this isn't easy. They've been so quiet I thought they had withdrawn from Korea.'
They had been hiding, biding their time, preparing for this.
"How dare they."
A grim voice escaped his lips, a subconscious utterance. Korea was his territory. They knew that. This was a direct challenge.
"Hah…"
He took a deep breath, calming himself. A strange, intense anger churned within him. 「Clear Mind」 was working overtime.
'I need to focus on how to respond.'
Resolving the situation was his priority. He couldn't let this disrupt the hard-won peace in Korea. He would vent his anger by eliminating them.
'I can't spare Hans right now.'
Ganghwange required his attention. The martial world alliance was gathering near Beijing, and a full-scale war was imminent. He couldn't risk anything happening while Hans was away.
'But I don't need the real Hans.'
He had a useful skill for this situation. He activated it without hesitation.
Rustle
The temperature plummeted. Shadows consumed the room, extinguishing the lights. Flesh and muscle melted away, leaving only bone. His beating heart was replaced by an organ radiating death, his vision shifting to the senses of the dead.
An eerie sense of omnipotence surged through him. He laughed involuntarily.
[Kuku— Hahaha!]
「Avatar Projection」, overlaying an avatar's presence onto his own.
He became Hans, the Demon King who had invaded Ganghwange. He donned a robe over his now-loose clothing, the Chimera having vanished, and secured the Hahoe Mask to his skull.
[Kuh— The rats hiding in their holes have finally crawled out.]
Howard Industry's sudden rise must have been a major irritant, pushing their patience to the limit.
He didn't know their exact motives, but…
[Let's see what you're plotting—]
It didn't matter.
[—I'll look inside your heads.]
He would capture them and find out himself.
***
A young man, holding a selfie stick with a smartphone attached and an action camera strapped to his chest, ran, panting heavily.
"Huff, huff… What's going on?!"
Hong Doo-sik, the internet streamer who had filmed the Gold Dragon's appearance from a prime location. His viewership had exploded after that incident, and he was constantly searching for another scoop, addicted to the thrill. His viewership had been declining since then. The fame was fleeting, and his rehashed stories had grown stale, revealing his lack of talent.
But he wouldn't give up. He had invested in an action camera and used his main content, food reviews, as an excuse to roam the streets, camera ready, hoping for another lucky break.
'Damn it, I'm not even a reporter! What scoop?! I should have stayed home and played games!'
At the first explosion, he had rushed towards the sound, excited for a scoop. Korea was one of the safest countries in the world. He had assumed the situation would be quickly resolved.
He was wrong.
Towering flames, acrid smoke, collapsing buildings, falling debris, people screaming in despair, panicked crowds… He had to stay alert to avoid being trampled.
'Where are the Guardians?! The firefighters? The police?'
He didn't know it, but this wasn't just a bombing. The police, fire department, and other related agencies had been flooded with tip calls… or rather, "terror forecasts." Many were genuine, but many were also false alarms.
The emergency response system was overwhelmed, struggling to handle the ongoing incidents, defuse unexploded bombs, and respond to false alarms. Even off-duty personnel had been called in, but they were still short-handed.
'Huh? Who's that?'
As he was being swept along by the crowd, he noticed an old man standing in the middle of the street, his expression vacant. It wasn't unusual given the circumstances, but something about him unnerved Hong Doo-sik.
"Huh? Hey, hey!"
He stopped, realizing the source of his unease.
Click
The old man flicked a lighter, igniting a crumpled piece of paper. He dropped it onto the ground—
Whoosh
The flames spread rapidly along a trail of oil.
"Kyaaa!"
"What, what are you doing?! Are you crazy?!"
"Don't push! Go back! Go back!"
The sudden flames stopped the fleeing crowd. But Hong Doo-sik couldn't focus on the chaos. His gaze followed the trail of fire.
The flames raced towards—
"Uwaaaa! Get down!"
A fuel tanker truck. He screamed, grabbing the people next to him and throwing himself to the ground. He didn't know if it would save him from the imminent explosion, but it was better than standing there.
And then—
KABOOM
Shatter
The deafening roar shattered all the windows nearby.
'I should have stayed home and played games!'
He squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the heat. Burns were excruciatingly painful. What percentage of burns was fatal? Was instant death preferable to a slow, agonizing demise?
His mind raced. Time slowed down in the face of death, didn't it? It felt like seconds had passed, but there was no heat, no sound.
'It's actually… cold?'
Had he died before he could feel anything?
Then—
[Hmm. This is…]
A strange, otherworldly voice echoed in his mind. A chilling voice that evoked images of the Grim Reaper.
'I'm dead.'
His tense muscles relaxed. A wave of resignation washed over him. He bit his lip.
He took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes, lifting his head. Filming the afterlife would be a massive scoop.
Then, he saw it.
"Ah."
An unreal sight that shattered all thoughts of scoops.
A world frozen in time.
Not literally, but there was no other way to describe it. The raging flames were still, sharp debris and wreckage suspended in mid-air. The sweltering heat was replaced by a chilling cold.
People, frozen in expressions of terror, stared silently. A scene as if time itself had stopped.
Hong Doo-sik, his mouth agape like everyone else, looked up, drawn by an inexplicable force.
And there he was.
Floating ten meters above the ground.
A figure cloaked in black, a strange, grinning mask visible beneath the hood. Eerie ghost fire emanating from the eyeholes, a chilling mist swirling around him. An embodiment of dread.
'Hahoe Mask…?'
Korea's most famous dark hero.
His mind, previously numb, suddenly sprang to life. He looked like a death god, but he was real. Unless he had somehow changed professions from warlock to Grim Reaper.
So he wasn't dead…
[…Brainwashing.]
Hahoe Mask muttered, examining the elderly arsonist floating beside him. The man's eyes were unfocused, drool dripping from his lips. His soul, viewed through 「Abyssal Gaze」, was severely damaged.
'They were thorough.'
The brainwashing wasn't a continuous control type but a trigger activated under specific conditions. He couldn't trace the caster through the connection. Any lingering traces had been meticulously erased, even at the cost of the victim's soul.
He could only glean fragmented images of the location where the brainwashing had taken place and the caster's presence. This was a deliberate provocation.
'They want to play games with me?'
The ghost fire in Hahoe Mask's eyes flared. He was already irritated, and this pushed him over the edge.
'If they challenge me, I'll accept.'
And he wasn't alone. He projected his will, contacting someone.
[Andrew Weaver, I have a job for you.]
-Gasp! Y-Yes?
To the one with 「Trajectory Observation」, the ultimate tracking skill. Focusing on this would limit his ability to handle the disaster, but he had a solution. He wasn't alone.
***
"Help! Someone, please!"
"Cough, cough, help me… please…"
People trapped on the rooftop of a burning building, screaming in despair, death closing in.
Then—
Whoosh
The raging flames subsided without warning. The black smoke dissipated in a sudden breeze, the scorching air cooling, becoming moist.
"Help… Huh?"
"…?"
A sudden, inexplicable change. They stared at each other in disbelief, as similar scenes unfolded in other locations.
'…So tired… Can't breathe… Want to go home…'
A figure in a motorcycle helmet floated listlessly through the air.
***
And in another location—
"Holy crap, it's Iron Man!"
"What nonsense… He's real?!"
"Wait, is that… Spider-Man in his hand?"
A mysterious hero clad in futuristic armor soared through the sky, rescuing people with black webs shooting from his right hand.
'I'm neither.'
He sighed, clicking his tongue. He had altered the design significantly, but people's imaginations seemed limited.
<92 meters ahead. Life signs detected under collapsed building debris. 6 critically injured, 8 lightly injured. Marking survivor locations.>
But that wasn't important right now.
'I didn't know it had this function. Well, it makes sense for a technological artifact.'
Following the guidance of 「Callicas's Mechanical Eyes」, Hesperon accelerated. Making a memorable debut on Earth.