The Shadow's True Face
"Let me ask this first: did it feel like the surroundings just got darker? Or was it like the light vanished completely?"
"Huh? Uh, well, I pride myself on having great night vision, you know? But it was pitch black. I couldn't see a thing!"
"So nothing was visible at all?"
"Yes! Absolutely nothing! I thought I'd gone blind for sure!"
Latte shuddered as she spoke, the memory still vividly etched in her mind.
"Yeah, you did go blind."
"Right? My eyes... Wait, what? My eyes went blind?"
"Exactly. You were working at the cafe, so you weren't channeling any mana in your body, right? You got hit with black magic head-on."
And as far as I knew, there was only one guy who could slip into the academy so casually at this time and pull off something like this.
"Am yak. Looks like he's made his move."
"Ah, Am yak? You mean that guy! The villain whose identity no one knows, and no one's ever seen his face and lived to tell the tale...!"
Latte jumped up at the revelation that the one who'd blinded her was Am yak.
Her reaction was so intense that I couldn't help but chuckle.
"You know him well. Famous even in Niflheim, huh?"
"Famous? That's an understatement! He's practically a legend in the making! Back when I was in Niflheim, the rumors about him were everywhere!"
‘Am yak. No one alive has ever seen his face. Because everyone who has is dead.’
‘Am yak doesn't exist in this world. Because he's never been ‘observed.’’
‘All that's left in Am yak's wake are two things: blood and darkness. Nothing else remains.’
"See? Terrifying villain, right?!"
Latte recounted the horror stories like she was telling them to a wide-eyed kid, complete with the "Scary, huh? Scary, right?!" follow-up.
"Yeah, no wonder people fear him."
"Right? Right?"
"So, why do you think people fear a guy no one's ever seen?"
Latte blinked, her eyes widening as if the thought had never crossed her mind.
"Huh? Like you just said—no one's seen him, so... Wait, why are they scared if no one's seen him...? Huh?!"
"Exactly. The unknown always breeds fear. But on the flip side..."
—if you know who he really is, there's nothing scary about him at all.
A remote cabin in Gangwon Province.
A man clad in pitch-black attire, no different from the shadows themselves, was meticulously maintaining the weapons for his next mission, as always.
Kiiik— Kiiik— Kiiik— Kiiik—
As he carefully sharpened the edge of his black dagger, he suddenly looked up at the stack of papers on his desk.
An anonymous request had arrived on his burner phone the night before. It offered 50 million credits along with the details.
[Steal everything from the safe in the cafe ‘Cielo Notturno’, located inside Seoul Hero Academy.]
It was a solo infiltration of the dangerous Seoul Hero Academy, but not a hit job—just retrieving items. No need for combat inside, and 50 million credits for raiding a regular cafe safe? A steal.
He'd succeeded just as instructed. And those papers were what came out of the safe.
Thud.
He set down the dagger and walked slowly to the table, picking up the documents.
"......"
What could be so valuable to warrant this request?
He'd never touched a client's goods in all his years, but this job felt... off somehow.
He'd blinded the cafe worker and every rat in the vicinity with his Am yak technique.
But...
‘My eyes...! My eyeees! Thief! It's a thief!’
In a situation where a normal person would panic and collapse, the cafe part-timer had lunged at him with a bread knife—aiming straight for vital spots.
It wasn't luck.
How could a blind person swing precisely at lethal points? No ordinary cafe worker pulls that off.
He'd bailed quickly to avoid a bloodbath in the academy, but it had shaken him. A real threat to his life after so long.
"Hoo..."
He set the papers down and returned to his seat.
His survival in this game boiled down to two rules: never show your face, and never get curious about the client's requests. Curiosity could cost your life.
Just stick to the principles this time too.
As he reached for his weapons again—
Ding-roll-roll. Thud.
"...Hm?"
He turned at the sound of something dropping.
Animals or wind knocking stones around was common in these mountains. But what rolled into his cabin was no stone—a translucent blue orb.
"What the fu—"
B OOOM!!
A deafening roar, blinding flash, and massive explosion swallowed his position in flames.
The roof caved, walls crumbled, reducing the cabin to rubble.
"Kuh...! Guh...!"
From the debris, Am yak crawled out, scorched and wounded everywhere the blast had torn through his clothes.
"What the hell... was that..."
Then, a sound that shouldn't exist reached his ears.
Clap— Clap— Clap— Clap— Clap—
"Whoa. You survived that? Am yak lives up to the name, huh? Impressive."
A man emerged clapping genuinely, and Am yak stared in disbelief.
"H-How did you find this place...? No one knows it exists."
"This spot? Oh, I found it while forest bathing. Believe that?"
Am yak ground his teeth at the grinning man's nonsense.
Neat pompadour, cold features, red eyes, black suit.
His mind raced. Only one person fit.
"Guh! Kuh! The Calione heir... Eugene Han Calione."
"Nailed it. Guess you looked me up."
Eugene's smile chilled him to the bone—those eyes looked at him like a crawling worm.
"Whatever. Time for you to exit stage left."
Eugene pulled another translucent orb from his pocket, shaking it like he was showing it off.
"Portable bomb like this. Didn't expect it to pack this punch. Sorry if it hurt."
It was the prototype portable strategic weapon Ahn Byung-hoon had made recently.
‘Boss, be careful with this. One shot ends a normal Awakener.’
Not fully Awakened yet, but even the half-mad scientist warned about its power. Half-destroying a building like this? Expected.
"Hmm, still seems risky. One more for good measure?"
Eugene casually rolled another bomb.
———!!
Secondary blast. Eugene gripped the door against the gale.
"How's that feel?"
He peeked inside the scorching space.
"Kaaaaah—!! You bastard!!"
A roar echoed. Around Am yak, a tattered black defensive spell flickered.
Survived again, huh?
Eugene sighed and stepped in.
"Used up all the toys I brought. Guess it's hand-to-hand now."
Crack-crack. He advanced, knuckles popping.
At the same time—
"Gotcha!"
Am yak thrust his hand toward Eugene.
Steals the target's vision.
Am yak's signature black magic. Basic stuff, but effectiveness varied wildly by user.
And the spell...
"That all?"
"W-What...?"
Eugene stared straight at him. No effect.
"Bet you're wondering right now: how'd he navigate this trap-filled path? Why doesn't my magic work?"
Eugene's answer was simple.
"Ate something good before coming."
"You son of a—!"
He scowled, assuming it was a joke.
Eugene eyed him curiously.
"So that's what you look like? Figures you'd hide your face."
The explosions had torn his mask, revealing twisted eyes, sagging skin, ash-gray complexion—classic black magic side effects.
"Shut up!!"
Humiliated, he snatched a fallen dagger and charged.
Steals the target's vision.
No reaction. Eugene shrugged.
"Your magic. Doesn't work at all."
"Guh!"
His movements were stiff from the blasts, but he swung down at Eugene anyway.
But—
"Knives are scary. Drop it."
Bang. Eugene's pistol shot the dagger flying far away.
"Why! Why, why, WHY?!"
Am yak prided himself on it. War-mage and black magic specialist. He'd bound and paralyzed foes with spells on battlefields, then finished them with melee and weapons.
A survivor of countless near-deaths, wading through rivers of corpses.
Even the strong fell to his magic and blade work.
"Why doesn't the black magic work?! Some holy relic?!"
It made no sense.
And the answer—
"Huh? How'd you guess?"
"...What?"
"Got one right here."
Eugene pulled a pair of chopsticks from his pocket as proof.