Chapter 365: Chapter 365

He frowned involuntarily, sensing something… unsettling from afar.

A surge of intense emotions, emanating from an unknown source, a turbulent current of causality rippling outwards.

-Breaking News! Multiple bomb attacks reported throughout Seoul! The government…

He had turned on the TV just in case, and…

…the news anchor’s urgent report was cut short by a sudden explosion.

It must have happened near the broadcasting station, as the sound was clearly audible, the anchor flinching visibly, her eyes wide with shock.

And then, as if on cue, his work phone began buzzing with incoming mail notifications.

-Jin So-ran: Lord! Large-scale bombings reported near Blood Alliance branches and Howard Industry stores…

-Hans’s Slave #1: Hahoe Mask-nim! It seems like Heaven’s Turn Society is behind this! The Supernatural Management Bureau is on high alert…

Jin So-ran, Heinz the Second’s representative, managing the Korean vampires, and Ahn Seong-jin, the dark mage Hans had recruited…

They were all reporting the situation, despite the chaos.

-Dont go outside! Stay inside!

…Kang Tae-san, his only friend, had sent him a message.

A short and frantic text, its grammar and spelling a mess.

Having grasped the situation, I closed my eyes and accelerated my thoughts.

Large-scale, coordinated bomb attacks throughout Seoul.

‘Only Heaven’s Turn Society could pull this off.’

The Korean underworld was under the Blood Alliance’s control.

Smuggling operations were no exception, and it was practically impossible to bring such a large quantity of explosives into the country without their knowledge.

Of course, in a world where magic existed, nothing was truly impossible…

‘But this isn’t something just anyone could do. They’ve been so quiet, I thought they had completely withdrawn from Korea…’

They had been biding their time, hiding in the shadows, even as their agents were being hunted down and eliminated.

And they had been preparing for this.

A cold, menacing voice, almost a growl, escaped his lips.

It had been an unconscious utterance, so quiet that he hadn't even realized he had spoken until he heard it himself.

Korea was his territory.

And yet, they had dared to provoke him.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm his anger.

A strange, unsettling feeling, a burning rage, was churning in his stomach.

If it wasn’t for 「Clear Mind」, he would have lost control.

‘I have to focus on how to deal with this.’

Resolving the situation was his priority.

He couldn’t let this incident disrupt the hard-won peace and stability he had established in Korea.

He would vent his anger by completely eradicating them.

‘I can’t spare Hans right now.’

The situation in Ganghwange was also critical.

The Murim Alliance forces were gathering near Beijing, and a full-scale war was imminent.

He couldn’t risk Hans, who was managing the situation, leaving his post.

‘Well, it doesn’t really matter if Hans isn’t there personally.’

He had a skill for situations .

He activated it without hesitation.

…the temperature in the room plummeted.

The lights flickered and dimmed, shadows creeping in from the corners.

His skin and muscles melted away, leaving only bone.

His heart, once pulsing with life, was replaced by a cold, still organ radiating death, and his vision shifted, the limitations of human perception gone, replaced by the senses of the dead.

A strange, otherworldly sense of omnipotence washed over him.

He couldn’t help but laugh.

[“Kkuk kuk— Khahaha!”]

「Individual Projection」, a skill that allowed him to project his consciousness onto an avatar, overriding its own personality and memories.

He had become Hans, the Demon King who had invaded Ganghwange.

He discarded the chimera disguise, his clothes now loose and baggy, and then donned a black robe, securing the Hahoe Mask onto his skull.

[“Kuh— So the rats have finally emerged from their holes.”]

They must have been quite annoyed by Howard Industry’s sudden rise.

Their patience, which they had maintained for so long, had finally snapped.

He didn't know their exact motives, but…

[“Let’s see what you’re planning—”]

[“—I’ll just take a look inside your heads.”]

He would just capture them and find out himself.

A young man, holding a smartphone attached to a selfie stick, an action camera strapped to his chest, ran, his breath ragged and his voice filled with panic.

“Haa… Huff… What is going on?!”

Hong Doo-sik, the streamer who had captured the Gold Dragon’s appearance from a prime location.

His viewer count had skyrocketed thanks to that incident, and he had been chasing the next big scoop ever since.

His viewership had been declining steadily as the hype died down.

He had gained some notoriety, but it was fleeting, and his lack of talent was becoming increasingly apparent as he ran out of stories to tell about the dragon encounter.

But he couldn’t give up.

He had even bought an action camera, using his ‘hidden gem’ food reviews as an excuse to wander around, his eyes peeled for any unusual activity, his camera always at the ready.

Hoping to capture another viral moment, like the dragon footage.

‘Damn it, I’m not even a reporter, what am I doing chasing scoops?! I should have just stayed home and streamed games!’

He had been ecstatic when he first heard the explosions, thinking his chance had finally come.

After all, Korea was one of the safest countries in the world.

He had assumed any incident would be quickly resolved…

But the situation was far more serious than he had anticipated.

Raging flames, thick smoke, collapsing buildings, falling debris…

People screaming and crying, a panicked crowd surging through the streets…

He had to be careful, or he might get trampled to death.

‘What are the Guardians doing?! And the firefighters and police?!’

He didn’t know it, but this wasn’t just a bombing.

A flood of calls, ‘terrorist warnings’, had been made to emergency services like fire stations and police stations just before the attacks.

But there were too many calls, and many of them were fake.

The emergency response system was overwhelmed, resources were stretched thin, and first responders were running around in circles, trying to deal with the real threats, defuse unexploded bombs, and respond to false alarms.

As he was being swept along by the panicked crowd, trying to escape the chaos,

…his gaze suddenly settled on an elderly man standing in the middle of the street, his face blank and his eyes unfocused.

It wasn’t unusual to see people in a daze during a crisis… but something about him made Hong Doo-sik uneasy. He couldn’t look away.

He hesitated, his footsteps faltering, and then he realized what had been bothering him.

The old man flicked a lighter, and a small flame ignited, igniting a crumpled piece of paper in his other hand.

The burning paper fell to the ground—.

…and the flames spread rapidly, following a trail of oil that had been spilled on the ground.

“What the—?! What are you doing?! Are you crazy?!”

“Don’t push! Go back! Go back!”

The panicked crowd surged backwards as the flames erupted, blocking their path.

But Hong Doo-sik didn’t care about the chaos around him.

His gaze followed the trail of fire.

The flames spread rapidly, like a living creature, racing towards—.

…a large tanker truck.

He screamed, grabbing the people next to him and throwing himself to the ground.

He wasn't sure if it would protect him from the explosion, but it was better than standing there and doing nothing.

A deafening roar, shattering all the windows in the surrounding area.

‘I should have just stayed home and played games!’

He squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the heat.

He had heard burns were incredibly painful.

What percentage of burns was fatal?

Was it better to die instantly than to suffer a slow and agonizing death?

His thoughts raced, a jumbled mess of fear and regret.

They said time slowed down when you were about to die.

It felt like several seconds had passed, but there was no heat, no sound…

‘…It’s actually… kind of cold…’

Had he died before he even felt anything?

…a strange, otherworldly voice echoed in his ears, piercing his thoughts.

A chilling voice that made him think of the Grim Reaper.

His body went limp, his muscles relaxing as resignation and despair washed over him.

He bit his lip, then took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes, raising his head.

If he could capture the afterlife on camera, it would be the scoop of a lifetime— he thought idly.

…his frivolous thoughts vanished as he saw the surreal scene before him.

Time hadn’t actually stopped, but there was no other way to describe it.

The raging flames were frozen mid-air, sharp shards of glass and debris suspended in the air, their trajectories halted.

The air, which had been hot and suffocating, was now cold and still, a faint mist escaping his lips as he exhaled.

The panicked crowd, their faces frozen in expressions of terror and despair, stood motionless, their screams silenced.

A world where even time seemed to have stopped.

Hong Doo-sik, his mouth agape like the others, stared at the scene, his gaze drawn upwards, as if pulled by an invisible force.

…high above, at least ten meters in the air,

A black robe, a hood pulled low, a strange, grinning mask.

Ghostly flames flickering in his eyeholes, a chilling aura emanating from him, like a cold mist.

A figure of pure, unadulterated dread.

It was Hahoe Mask, Korea’s most famous dark hero.

And as he saw him, his mind, which had been blank, began to work again, thoughts racing, connecting the dots.

He looked like the Grim Reaper, but he was real.

Unless he had somehow changed his profession from dark mage to… well, Grim Reaper.

Then perhaps he wasn’t dead…

[“…Brainwashing, huh?”]

Hahoe Mask, observing the elderly man next to him, the one who had started the fire, muttered softly.

His pupils were dilated, his mouth slightly open, saliva trickling down his chin.

His soul, visible through Hans’s 「Abyssal Eye」, was clearly not in a healthy state.

‘They came prepared.’

And the brainwashing wasn’t a continuous control type, but a trigger activated by specific conditions, making it impossible to track the caster.

And they were thorough, erasing any lingering traces by… crushing the victim’s soul.

It was clearly a deliberate act, a message directed at him.

‘You want to play with me?’

The ghostly flames in Hahoe Mask’s eyeholes flickered and intensified.

He was already in a bad mood, and this… this was just adding fuel to the fire.

He felt his non-existent guts twisting in frustration.

‘If they challenge me, I’ll accept.’

He immediately contacted someone through his mind.

[“Andrew Weaver, it’s time to work.”]

A talented individual with 「Trajectory Observation」, a unique skill perfect for tracking and information gathering.

Of course, if he focused on this task, he wouldn't be able to help with the disaster… but there were ways around that.

“Help! Someone! Help me!”

“Cough, cough… Please… someone…”

People trapped on the rooftop of a burning building, their screams echoing through the air.

Death, its crimson tongue flickering, was closing in.

…the raging flames suddenly subsided, as if extinguished by an unseen force.

The thick, black smoke was swept away by a sudden gust of wind, the air cooling rapidly, the suffocating heat replaced by a refreshing coolness.

The sudden change, so abrupt and unexpected, silenced even those who had been screaming just moments ago.

They looked at each other, their eyes wide with disbelief, as if they couldn’t comprehend the sudden shift from hell to… well, not exactly heaven, but…

And similar phenomena were occurring in other locations throughout the city.

‘…This is… annoying… I can’t breathe… I want to go home…’

The strange phenomena followed the movements of a figure wearing a motorcycle helmet, its movements sluggish and listless, as if it couldn’t be bothered.

And in another location,

“Oh my god! It’s Iron Man!”

“What are you talking about… H-holy crap, it’s real!”

“And what’s that in his hand…? Is that… Spider-Man’s web shooters?”

A mysterious hero, clad in a futuristic metal suit, was zipping through the air, his movements swift and agile.

He was rescuing people from burning buildings, using black webs that shot from his right hand.

He sighed softly and smacked his lips.

He had deliberately modified the design, but it seemed like people’s imaginations were… limited.

<92 meters ahead. Life signs detected beneath collapsed building debris. Six critically injured, eight with minor injuries. Marking their locations.>

But that wasn’t important right now.

‘I didn’t expect it to have this function. Well, it’s a technological device, so it makes sense.’

Hesperon accelerated, following the guidance of his 「Cybernetic Eye: Callicas」.

He was making his Earth debut, leaving an unforgettable first impression.