My Alter Ego’s Path to Greatness - Chapter 26
Hahoe Mask (4)
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Inside the park at dawn just before dawn.
Bright lights turned on everywhere were illuminating the darkness.
“What is going on here…”
Park Han-cheol, an agent of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Ability Management Bureau, smoked a cigarette under a streetlight and looked at the scene.
Inside the area where the police line was set up on one side of the park, many people were walking around busily.
There were on-site preservation signs all over the floor, and in the center, there was a sentence left with a sea of blood.
-Execution completed
“Execution is stupid…”
Park Han-cheol sighed and stuffed a cigarette butt into a portable ashtray.
He trudged towards the police line and approached a person who was talking on the phone in a corner.
“…Yes, I understand. “Then please continue.”
He seemed to have just finished talking and put his smartphone in his arms. Park Han-cheol patted him on the back and spoke to him.
“I heard something came out?”
“Ah, senior.”
As soon as the dispatched 119 members discovered the scene, the incident was reported to the police and was soon forwarded to the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ability Management Bureau.
“First of all, it is human blood. “They say it’s purely one person’s blood.”
“…Then he’s definitely dead.”
The amount of blood remaining at the scene far exceeded the lethal amount.
Following on-site preservation and evidence collection, the results of forensic analysis were coming out one by one.
“And it is said that a large amount of dark magic was detected in the blood.”
“Dark magic? “Is the owner of the blood a dark magic user?”
“I don’t think so. “The cells were said to have died due to overexposure to dark magic… It is highly likely that this was the cause of the bleeding.”
“…Could it be a demon?”
Demon Man: A returnee who gained supernatural power from another world and returned.
At first, it was a term used to refer to vampires or werewolves, but these days it has also become a general term for people who abuse powers such as curses or necromantics.
In many cases, if unclean power is used for a long period of time, the user’s mind becomes polluted and they become criminals.
“The results of the nearby CCTV investigation are… as clean as expected. “Nothing has come out other than the female victim.”
“If you are going to do something like this, it is only natural that you will organize it. “But it bothers me that there’s no body.”
Ugh~
A vibrating sound rang from Park Han-cheol’s pocket.
He took out his smartphone, checked the text message, and nodded.
“The victim has come to his senses. “They say they are scared and plan to comfort them and understand the situation.”
“Thank goodness. “I was at a loss because there was no information.”
The woman who was found unconscious at the scene was immediately taken to the hospital.
I had been unable to come to my senses and was just stamping my feet, but now it seemed like I was making progress.
As they were looking at the crime scene and having a long conversation, a member of the forensics team who was investigating the scene approached them.
“The belongings and the fingerprints taken at home match. “There, we identified a lot of evidence of murder and began analyzing it.”
Items left at the scene.
Among them, the items, excluding the smartphone that appeared to belong to the female victim, contained evidence of several murders.
A wallet containing the ID card of the person who appears to be the owner of the tape recorder containing the victims’ screams and the smartphone with the photos taken.
As soon as we confirmed that, we found out the identity and address and sent an investigation team, and now the results are out.
“He was a serial killer, so he definitely deserved to die.”
“Tsk, no matter what, it’s a private sanction. “There is nothing more dangerous than a person with power, not even a child, falling into the role of a hero.”
In a country governed by law, people ignore the law and prioritize their own beliefs.
From the standpoint of protecting order, they were dangerous elements comparable to terrorists.
Soon after, the phone call came again.
“okay. Yes yes. All right. Good luck.”
After finishing the call, Park Han-cheol hung up and looked around the scene again.
“…I received a statement from the victim.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, as expected. “They say the killer appeared while he was passing through the park and that someone appeared and saved him just before he was killed.”
“You think I saved you? “I’m not sure?”
“This is ambiguous… They say the victim’s reaction is very strange.”
Park Han-cheol frowned, scratched his head, sighed, and continued speaking.
“They say he lost consciousness as soon as he saw him, but judging by his statement, he seemed to be more afraid of that person than the killer.”
“…Does it look that scary?”
“No, they didn’t see the face. “They said he was wearing a mask.”
He paused for a moment and pointed to one side of the scene.
There were words written in blood left there.
“If you go to Hahoe Mask, that is.”
A picture drawn next to the text.
The junior looked at him closely for a moment and then scratched his head.
“Ah, so that was the Hahoe mask? “I thought I drew some kind of weird smiling face again.”
“I just heard about it and realized it too.”
“Well, it must be scary to see a crazy person wearing a Hahoe mask in the middle of the night. But is that worse than a murderer stabbing you right in front of you?”
“Well… that should be natural.”
While they were talking, they looked at the dawning sky and sighed at the same time.
“In the end, I stayed up all night again today.”
“I had no expectations from the beginning. “I wish you could at least give me some time to sleep.”
They soon trudged with slumped shoulders to write a report.
***
Korean Returnees Association Seoul Southern Branch.
“Branch Manager, a request for cooperation has been received from the Ability Management Bureau.”
“also? They say that all the time. “What’s the problem again?”
Branch Manager Yoon Ji-yoon grumbled, took the document handed to him by the secretary, and began to read it slowly.
“hmm? “This… looks somewhat familiar?”
“I also researched related materials and attached them at the back.”
“oh! As expected, Secretary Kim. Are you very capable?”
The branch manager paused for a moment while reading the documents fluttering through them.
“The case of the arrest of a trio of precious metal robbers… That was definitely what came out in their statements. Hahoe mask.”
“I think there is a high possibility that it is the same person.”
“Yeah, I guess so. First, hand over our data and cooperate as we ask.”
She put down the papers, instructed her secretary, and leaned back on the chair.
As the secretary went out the door, she put her legs on the desk and tilted her head back.
‘Well, honestly, I don’t think Hahoe Mask is a bad thing, but…’
Public order continues to be in disarray, and there is a severe lack of manpower to protect it.
I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea if we could reduce the number of bad guys by punishing them like this.
It’s true that I got help last time.
‘But he ended up committing murder. It would have been better if we had just overpowered him like last time and handed him over.’
Murder due to private sanctions.
Even though the opponent was a vicious serial killer, the country had no choice but to accept it sensitively.
‘I’m going to be active anyway, so it would be nice if you join the Guardian.’
Even if the government agency, the Ability Management Bureau, finds him, he will not be severely punished.
They’ll probably try to scout you in exchange for a reasonable amount of amnesty.
He seemed to have the ability and his own sense of justice, so if he could be properly leashed, he would be a great horse.
“Ha, I have to work. Day.”
She sat down straight in her chair and started working.
Recently, as security has become chaotic, there has been more work to do.
Complaints from guardians under his command are also increasing.
‘Ah, I want to smash everything.’
That was my honest feeling.
***
“As expected, I feel refreshed after destroying everything.”
I nodded in satisfaction when I saw Hans returning from his night patrol.
My first practical use of ministry magic was very satisfying.
At first, I only focused on movement and casted magic as evenly as possible.
This magic is because the completeness of the detection network increases over time.
The number of magical entities will continue to increase due to contagion, and all you have to do is select and maintain the ones that are helpful.
Therefore, at this early stage, we had no choice but to narrow the detection range.
‘But even though we did that, there were more than five incidents last night.’
The biggest thing was, of course, punishing a serial killer.
The rest were ended by instilling a fearful curse and appropriately punishing them.
Wouldn’t it be appropriate to just castrate a rapist?
‘I didn’t kill him.’
Even thinking about it again, it was nothing short of merciful.
I watched Hans for a moment and then took him outside again to fix the detection net.
They say it will grow over time, but you will be able to expand faster if you use your own hands.
‘At least we need to make it enough to cover the whole of Seoul.’
I realized this for sure through this incident.
Public security has deteriorated to an unbelievable level.
‘And I need to find out about them too.’
The reason why public security has become this bad.
A villain organization that is said to have achieved power.
“Uchachacha~ Then we decided to solve that problem with Hans. “Now is the time to start caring about the world beyond.”
I stretched out and looked at Heinz II’s situation.
More than a month has passed since I left Azantu.
Since I have young siblings, I didn’t force myself to move around.
Every time I passed through a village or city, I stayed in a comfortable accommodation and went sightseeing with my children, moving slowly.
But I can’t wander around like this with my children forever.
Now that we were some distance away from Azantu, we had to find a place for the kids to settle down.
While I was contemplating the fate of the siblings, I heard a story from Diana.
‘Um… uncle. I’m not sure, but I heard that my uncle runs a small store in La Perla City.’
‘I had forgotten about it because I couldn’t afford to go far from Azantu, but when I heard that the city of La Perla was in the direction we were going, it came to mind…’ He said it
was a story he heard from his parents a few years ago.
At first, he headed to the center of the kingdom to get away from Azantu, but after hearing the story, he set his sights on the city of La Perla and moved on.
I don’t know if the store is still open or its exact location, but it was much better than the situation where there were no measures.
Because I couldn’t take care of him for the rest of my life.
I had some countermeasures, but it would still be better to stay with blood relatives.
The uncle’s family may not welcome the nephews who suddenly come to visit, but…
‘It would be enough to give them a little warning and a generous amount of child support.’ I also plan to visit periodically.’
Even if you are not in business, the more money you have, the better.
If you look at the situation and say you will provide support on a regular basis, wouldn’t you care for it more than your own child?
This is the first proper relationship I made after coming to this world.
I was able to do this because it didn’t take a lot of effort to use the sender.
Of course, there is a possibility that you may not be able to find your relatives, so you may need to prepare other methods.
I looked at the avatar who had returned from exercising outside.
An avatar that can be used with “Persona.”
“Hmm… I guess I’ll call this guy ‘Heinrich’.”
〈Individual Information〉
-Individual name: Heinrich
-Common characteristics: 「Mind Herb」, 「Persona」, 「Super Recovery」, 「Mysterious Index」
-Individual characteristics: 「Muslim」
-Special information: Han Seong-hyun’s fourth avatar. Due to the influence of “boneless,” the effect increases during training, and additional corrections are given to physical combat and skill acquisition.
Walking around the sunny area as Heinz II was also reaching its limits.
A species that originally lived in hiding in the dark.
I was lucky that I didn’t get caught until now.
Of course, it took a lot of effort to do that.
‘Vampires in Acrich. All the weapons that can be used are biased towards the shaded areas. The Heinrich we will send this time must be raised to suit the sunny areas.’
I also had a solution in mind for him.
The skills given are also suitable for developing into a physical faction, so it is the icing on the cake.
While preparing for Heinrich’s deployment, he focused his attention on Heinz II, who arrived at the city of La Perla at the right time.
***
An Internet bulletin board where anonymity is guaranteed at that time.
– A story about seeing a monster wearing a Hahoe mask in the middle of the night.
There, information about sightings of the terrifying Hahoe Mask began to spread one by one.
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