#16 Beltsmets (Weltschmerz) (1)
That device Han Seohyun had found. I crawled through the vent myself to confirm it.
The device's role in the vent was simple.
Explosion.
And smoke.
Ray had checked it, so it had to be accurate.
Speak of the devil—they say a good day to sell is a good day to steal, and apparently someone else had planned to rob this auction today besides us.
Instead of dismantling the device, I decided to use it.
As expected, the explosion only sowed chaos in the auction hall without being lethal. But this chaotic atmosphere was fatal to the auction house.
There were six hundred people here—civilians mixed with hunters. No one could use their powers recklessly.
"The Crimson Flame Mana Stone! We must protect it!"
Everyone's eyes turned toward the auction stage at the heavy voice. People realized what the bomber was after.
They were superhumans. They could pierce through mere dust and survey the scene.
But the explosion hadn't spread mere dust.
The smoke, deliberately dispersed, contained mana. It was a smoke bomb designed to blind awakeners.
"I can't see ahead!"
"Damn it! Everyone, stay alert!"
Dense smoke thick enough to obscure even a foot in front began spreading everywhere.
━This way, even hunters can't act rashly.
'Hunters can't act precisely because they're hunters. Any sudden move would cause massive casualties.'
There were plenty of civilians here too—waiters, spectators, and the like. Fragile people who could die instantly from a stray mana bullet.
Without clear visibility, they were powerless.
Ah, of course, I'm the exception.
My eyes concentrated mana. The one-stroke talent 'X-Ray Vision'. That's why I could see the world clearly through this murky smoke.
Now it was my turn to step in.
If someone had kindly prepared a feast for me, it was only polite to enjoy it, right?
I pressed the button on my mask. The face of an ordinary twenty-something guy vanished, replaced by a crudely drawn smiling face.
"Everyone, stay calm!"
The moment she sensed the explosion, Do Chae-hee raised her voice. The tangled crowd was no help at all. She couldn't even pinpoint the culprit among them!
"Auction attendees, please don't panic and stay in your seats calmly! Refrain from moving!"
Do Chae-hee shouted, but the front rows, already in full panic, were thrashing to flee backward.
The hunters were holding it together somewhat, but the thrill-seekers who'd come just for the spectacle were the problem.
"Save me!"
"I wanna get out of here!"
The stampeding crowd soon collided with others, toppling like dominoes.
"I said stay still!"
Do Chae-hee's eyes gleamed. Even through the mana smoke, her 'Eagle's Eye' let her assess the situation clearly—from the tangled, rolling people to the security team milling about directionless.
All the chaos was in her view at a glance.
But the suspicious figure presumed responsible was nowhere to be seen.
People shoving past her to escape made it hard to secure a clear line of sight.
"There's someone here!"
At times like this, her petite frame felt like a curse. Damn these worthless humans! As Do Chae-hee muttered curses under her breath and debated firing her holstered pistol into the air—
"It's an attack!"
Her response was cut short.
Boom!
A second explosion rocked the hall.
"Kyaaack!"
Not just the panicked crowd—even those trying to stay composed began to waver, fearing more blasts to come.
"This isn't good."
The situation had already passed the point where Do Chae-hee and a few guards could contain it. Without vision-related talents, protecting everyone here amid the blindness was impossible.
Fine, then—at least protect the auction items.
Do Chae-hee's gaze shifted to the mana stone. Fortunately, the Crimson Flame Mana Stone was still intact.
It was shielded by a barrier, which held firm through both explosions.
'Good, that's a relief.'
As Do Chae-hee exhaled in relief, the space near the barrier warped in her vision.
'What...?'
Her passive from the shooting talent, Eagle's Eye. The skill that let her pinpoint targets in any situation focused on it.
A white bone.
A skull with blindingly pure white bones appeared inside the container holding the Crimson Flame Mana Stone. The thick smoke hid it from everyone else, but Do Chae-hee saw it clearly.
The snow-white skull's hand grasping the mana stone.
"The mana stone!"
And in an instant, the skull—and the mana stone—vanished.
A mana stone worth tens of billions gone right before her eyes.
What just happened? Dodging the shoving crowd, Do Chae-hee craned her neck again.
Then, in her sight, a boy—one who shouldn't be here—caught her eye.
"Han Seohyun."
Why are you here?
"No, fuck, wait a sec!"
But soon, she lost him in the press of people.
"Seriously, I said stay still!"
As her temper flared, the smoke grew thicker. And this wasn't ordinary smoke.
"My body is getting..."
Normal smoke should dissipate over time. But this was intensifying.
"Look over there! Smoke's still pouring in through the vents."
Indeed. The smoke they'd thought came from the initial blast originated from the vents. It kept billowing out, filling every corner.
"Hosan, you notice it too?"
Jeong Hosan nodded gravely at Kim Myeong-cheol's words.
"Something's mixed in the smoke."
And it wasn't ordinary. Hunters spotting the mana particles in the smoke immediately circulated their own mana to protect themselves.
Whatever villain this was, their target was the auction items. Hunters, who valued their lives above all, held their breath with mana shields up.
They wouldn't act rashly without knowing what lurked in the smoke.
'Smart move.'
Do Chae-hee bit her lip.
It was a disaster.
Reduced to cowering behind this pathetic smoke. Even without it, the tangled civilians made using powers tricky.
"Everyone's just protecting themselves! Get out of the way! I'll handle it."
As Kim Myeong-cheol stepped forward shouting—
"As expected of Kim Myeong-cheol, master of fiery temper."
A man's voice echoed from the smoke. Do Chae-hee whipped her eyes toward it. Kim Myeong-cheol growled back savagely.
"You?"
"The one behind all this? Who knows?"
The man's tone was utterly playful, as if none of this fazed him.
As Kim Myeong-cheol gathered mana—
"Whoa, whoa. Know what's in this smoke? If your fire sets it off with a bang, you'd just be doing me a favor."
Even Kim Myeong-cheol, who couldn't abide injustice, hesitated at that.
His ability was fire.
If the smoke contained flammables, even a spark could blow the whole place sky-high, just as the man said.
For the same reason, Do Chae-hee couldn't fire her pistol.
"Damn it."
Kim Myeong-cheol had no choice but to fall back. All that was visible in the smoke was the man's smiling mask face. Like a ghost wandering the fog, the eerie-glowing mask looked down on the crowd.
The man in the crudely smiling-face mask said,
"If everyone just stays put like that, no one gets hurt."
The voice was disarmingly kind, but no one mistook it for genuine.
Yet the man's voice carried an undeniable charisma.
"But if anyone—even one—circulates the slightest mana... boom. Everyone here dies."
Suspicious as he was, they had to believe him.
In an instant, he had everyone in the hall under his thumb.
"Thanks for your cooperation."
"Cooperation, my ass."
Kim Myeong-cheol gnashed his teeth at the man hidden in the smoke.
"I'll put the Crimson Flame Mana Stone to good use for this world."
Unlike Do Chae-hee, who already knew it was stolen, the crowd only then realized the mana stone was gone.
"You bastard!"
A voice boomed through the auction hall. As murmurs grew louder—
"Who the hell are you?"
Do Chae-hee stepped forward and demanded of him.
Her eyes, piercing even the smoke, locked directly onto the face hidden behind the mask.
Among all these hunters, she alone met the masked man's gaze squarely.
"You'll all know my name soon enough. See you later!"
As he snapped his fingers, water cascaded like a waterfall from where he stood.
"Gah!"
People were swept away and floated up. The water filled the entire hall. Glass shattered under the torrent, everything pushed back.
Everyone looked like drowned rats. Yet, astonishingly, no one was hurt.
On the auction stage the man had ravaged, words that hadn't been there before were now engraved.
Beltsmets (Weltschmerz)
"That son of a bitch."
True to his word, everyone there now knew his name.
"It means a world-weary pessimism. The kind of word edgelord middle-schoolers might pick as a name, right?"
A quick internet search revealed the word's twisted meaning, fitting the guy's vibe.
His world's gotta be bleak. Huh? Mine's a flower field, all rainbow-bright? I'm dying of happiness here.
Do Chae-hee sneered inwardly, but the situation was far from good.
"He didn't just take the Crimson Flame Mana Stone. The Vampire King's Ring is gone too."
With all those hunters on site! Do Chae-hee clutched her pounding head. Argh, rage boiled inside.
She'd been completely played.
Played was the only word for it.
Beltsmets or whatever— no matter how skilled, a mere water manipulator couldn't handle all those hunters alone.
But the circumstances had forced everyone to dance to his tune.
"It was unavoidable."
"If we'd acted, casualties would've been worse."
"The security was lax from the start, letting him get that close."
The hunters were busy gilding each other's faces. Fine, their bruised egos aside.
The stage lay in ruins.
Victims groaned, tangled everywhere.
Damn it.
On-time clock-out? Overtime confirmed.
Do Chae-hee squeezed her eyes shut against the surging headache.