The Horizon of the Incident
The black-haired woman with a light, playful demeanor set down a tray holding four cups of iced coffee on the table. Isabelle, the woman who had been quietly fiddling with her phone across from me and Jae-hyuk, slid two of the cups toward us.
The black-haired woman sat down beside Isabelle with a hum and a bright smile, then pulled a small business card from her pocket and offered it to me.
"Since we've moved to a quiet café, let me introduce ourselves properly. The foreign lady next to me is Isabelle Kang. I'm Kwon Noa, and I work with her at the Korean Branch of the Special Phenomenon Task Force. Nice to meet you."
While Noa waved lightly and introduced herself, Isabelle silently lifted her coffee cup to her lips. A woman with the refined grace of someone straight out of a classic film, paired with a frivolous girl who loved to play and dress up. I quietly looked down at the business card they had handed me.
Special Phenomenon Task Force. Under normal circumstances, I would have immediately suspected a cult or pyramid scheme. But I knew their words weren't baseless nonsense.
"...Did you come looking for the mask?"
"Oh my?"
"....."
At the unexpected word that left my mouth, Isabelle's hand holding the coffee cup twitched, and Noa narrowed her eyes.
"...Yes, that's right. The item you picked up, Woo-joo, was something the British Branch had in quarantine. But due to an unfortunate security breach by one of the agents, the mask leaked out and eventually made its way to Korea."
"....."
There were too many questions I wanted to ask. What the hell was this mask? Why had I been the one to pick up something they were supposed to be keeping? What kind of mistake was big enough to let an object from England end up in the middle of Seoul? Who were they really? And how much had they told Jae-hyuk?
Countless questions swirled in my head. While I was trying to decide which one to ask first, Isabelle beat me to it.
"No need for long explanations. Do you have the mask with you right now?"
"...Yes. It's in my bag. But taking it out here might be..."
We had moved from the crowded campus to a café. It was still early evening, so it wasn't packed, but there were still plenty of eyes around. Female customers, staff, and Jae-hyuk sitting right next to us. I didn't know how much he'd heard, but judging by his dark expression as he sipped his coffee, it couldn't have been anything good.
Anyway, pulling the mask out in a place like this could create another victim.
"You don't have to show it here. We already know you've formed a contract with the mask. The mask has the power to block all external forces trying to uncover the contractor's existence. Personal information on paper, even your face. We can't perceive any of your data. The fact that we're able to have this conversation means... you're the mask's true master."
"So there's no need to take the mask out. That's something I'll handle myself."
Isabelle's cold voice added itself to Noa's kind explanation. It felt like she was angry with me. Or was I imagining it?
"Ah, then how should we..."
"Shh."
I glanced at Jae-hyuk sitting beside me and tried to speak, but she immediately cut me off.
"From now on, we'll be asking you questions, Woo-joo. You must not say anything except to answer our questions. That goes for Jae-hyuk as well. It's for everyone's safety, so we'd appreciate your understanding."
Noa placed her index finger against her lips with a small smile, then pulled a tiny recorder from her pocket and pressed the button. She carefully set the recorder in the center of the table, clasped her hands, and began the questions.
"First question. How long has it been since you picked up the mask?"
"...It's been exactly four days, I think."
"Four days... That's strange. Compared to other masters, you seem far too normal."
"What? Normal... what do you mean..."
As I tilted my head in confusion, Isabelle silently slid a photograph toward me. The image showed a dark room, and in the corner lay something shriveled like a dried leaf.
"This is what a man looked like 120 hours—five days—after picking up the mask."
"...What?"
"And this is what he looked like on the fourth day."
The second photo thrown onto the table showed a man lying in bed, completely bald with nothing but skin stretched over bones. The transformation between the fourth and fifth-day photos was so extreme it was hard to believe they were the same person.
"We have a photo from the first day too, but I won't show it. In short, compare that man's appearance with your own. Don't they look completely different?"
I needed to respond, but my voice wouldn't come out. I could only nod. Was the man in the photo dead? No, it would be strange if he were still alive. Even on the fourth day he looked like he was barely clinging to life. So why was I...
"...Could this be the so-called anomaly of the mask, Sister?"
"I don't know. The last recorded anomaly of the mask is from over forty years ago. It could be something trivial like the master's complexion appearing healthier than other masters."
"Then... what happens to Woo-joo?"
"....?"
Jae-hyuk, who had been silent from the campus until now, finally spoke up and interrupted the two women.
"You said you could help him. But now you're saying you don't know? What the hell is going to happen to him?"
"Ahaha, Jae-hyuk, please calm down and wait a moment. We're doing our best..."
"Not knowing is not knowing. If you're that curious, your friend has a high chance of dying tomorrow."
"Sister!! Watch your..."
Noa tried to calm the increasingly agitated Jae-hyuk while Isabelle only poured fuel on the fire.
"That bitch has been like this since yesterday...!!"
"Wait, Jae-hyuk. Sit down for now."
"Hey, say something! She's saying you're going to die...!"
"I know. I know, so... just sit down and cool your head."
I eventually grabbed Jae-hyuk's wrist as he spat curses and tried to stand up. I was trying to stay calm, but my voice was shaking and so was the hand holding him. Maybe sensing the slight tremor in his wrist, Jae-hyuk swallowed the curses on the tip of his tongue and sat back down.
"...You die on the fifth day after picking up the mask?"
"Um... well, the probability is quite high at the moment. But nothing is absolute."
Noa, who had been mediating between Isabelle and Jae-hyuk, gave an awkward smile as she answered my sudden question. I felt like I should ask more, but my mouth wouldn't move.
Was today—half a day left—really my last day?
I pressed a hand to my dizzy head and stared at the ice cubes clinking inside the coffee cup. My reflection appeared on a dozen or so ice cubes, then melted and shattered. So fleetingly fast.
"Then this is the question prepared by the British Branch."
A voice called out to me as I was drowning in an indescribable emptiness. When I looked up, I saw beautiful blue eyes staring at me with arms crossed.
"I detected a total of two Saintesses. One on campus earlier, and given the similar reaction connected to her, they must be blood-related. Besides those two, how many more Saintesses have you created? If there are any, answer honestly where they are."
Saintesses. Haemi-noona, her mother, and even Yunsol. If I really died tomorrow, what would happen to the three who had become Saintesses?
"...The Saintesses... will they be okay? Can they return to being human?"
"...Hah, how ridiculous. A master worrying about his Saintesses? Stop the fake concern. No matter what you say, the sins you've committed won't disappear. It's pathetic to see things that are no longer human still deluding themselves into thinking they're human."
Isabelle let out a hollow laugh, her eyes filled with disgust as she looked at me. When I stubbornly asked again what would happen to those three, Noa, who had only been kind until now, sharpened her voice and scolded Isabelle.
"Just a moment, Isabelle...! Woo-joo is a master with a discovered anomaly! Has there ever been a mask master who crossed the lifeline and showed a friendly attitude? Calm down and talk...! We might be able to make a new discovery about the mask...!"
"How many times do you think I've been deployed in the field, Noa? Our abilities and experience are different...! How many times have I seen a master who maintained a normal state even after crossing the lifeline, or one who only pretended to be friendly? Let me give you some advice—don't pity the masters. While you're being kind, all they're thinking about is turning you into a Saintess."
"Isabelle, Isabelle! I know your circumstances and your past! But there's no need to act like this, is there?! Both Woo-joo and the masters you've met before are ultimately victims whose lives were ruined because of the mask...!"
"The masters you call victims are people who died the moment they contracted with the mask. The thing in front of us isn't even worth pitying. It's a sinner. You'll understand soon enough..."
"Wait, where are you going? Isabelle! Isabelle!!"
With a subtle, awkward expression full of complicated meaning, the silver-haired woman grabbed her bag and stood up. Noa's voice calling her name to stop her footsteps no longer reached her as Isabelle left the café.
Once the silver hair that had been gently sparkling and swaying outside the twilight-tinted window disappeared into the distance, Noa let out a low sigh.
"...I'll apologize on her behalf. I'm sorry. This is only our second joint investigation, but I've never seen her this on edge before."
"No, more importantly... what happens to him? Is he really going to be okay...?"
Jae-hyuk asked with a matching sigh. This guy really is something... My head was spinning so badly I could barely speak, yet even after hearing everything I'd done, Jae-hyuk still...
"To be honest, I don't know what will happen to Woo-joo either. We call crossing the third day after contracting with the mask 'crossing the lifeline'. Most masters who pass that point experience rapid weight loss or personality changes, but... it doesn't seem to be the case with you. There are records of masters who showed no changes even after crossing the lifeline and lasted past five days, so there's still time. Please don't worry too much."
"Ah, I see..."
"Then what about the mask Woo-joo has? He can't just keep carrying it around forever..."
"I can't take that mask by force. It absolutely refuses to leave its master. You've already experienced that, haven't you, Woo-joo? Anyway, the only way to separate a master from the mask is to break the contract..."
Noa trailed off as she rubbed her chin, looking like she was forcibly swallowing the words she was about to say. I wanted to ask what she meant, but my head had been spinning since earlier and the words wouldn't come out properly. What was going on...?
"In any case, you can rest easy for today. Woo-joo will definitely be fine. And I'm sorry, but could we continue the rest of the conversation tomorrow? Our principle is to always conduct investigations in teams of two..."
"Ah, yes... that would be fine."
Jae-hyuk looked up at Noa with half-lidded eyes and answered curtly. Noa smiled brightly and gently slid the business card she'd left on the table toward me.
"If anything comes up, contact me right away. I'll come immediately~ Well then..."
Noa playfully stuck out her pierced tongue, bowed her head, cleaned up her coffee cup, and left the café.
"..."
"..."
And so the two men were left behind. What should I say? How should I look at him? A thousand thoughts raced through my mind. It was only when the ice in the coffee cup had completely melted away that Jae-hyuk finally spoke first.
"...Let's go. There's nothing else to do here."
"...Yeah."
We silently cleaned up, grabbed our things, and left. We lit cigarettes in the small alley next to the café. The smoke rose like breath, scattering and fading into the sky, and Jae-hyuk's sigh layered over it.
"How much did you hear?"
"I don't know. I still can't believe it. That the mask turns people into weird monsters... that Haemi-noona changed like that, and that you might die soon."
"You heard almost everything."
I exhaled a long stream of cigarette smoke.
"Did you apologize to Haemi-noona?"
"...I did. I said I was sorry."
"Then that's enough. It's not like you wanted to do it... And I heard that if you hadn't, she would have died long ago. That wasn't your fault."
"...No. It is my fault."
Even if I wasn't the one who turned Haemi-noona into a Saintess, it was undeniably my fault that I had used her body however I wanted. I could understand why Isabelle had looked at me with such disgust and called me a sinner. And I didn't want to deny it. I wanted to hold on to the last bit of humanity left in me.
"Sigh..."
Smack—!
"Ow!! What the—? Suddenly?"
Jae-hyuk sighed and smacked the back of my head. The cigarette I'd been holding in my mouth fell to the ground.
"How many do you smoke a day? Cut back, you idiot. You've always been like this—whenever something happens, you mope by yourself muttering 'It's my fault.' Remember in middle school when I broke my grandfather's pottery? Why did you say it was your fault?"
"No, that was... because we were playing together and it broke..."
"Exactly. We were playing together and I dropped the pottery. It wasn't your fault. Jeez, fix that habit of yours, Choi Woo-joo."
Jae-hyuk shoved both hands into his pockets and trudged down the alley without looking back.
"...See you tomorrow."
With those words—whether from him or me—I slung my bag over my shoulder and headed in the opposite direction from Jae-hyuk, walking toward the bus stop on the hill to catch a bus home.
'Noona, I'm sorry. The conversation took longer than expected... If it's okay, can we talk tomorrow?'
'Sure~ I'm fine! I'm having beer with friends for the first time in a while~~'
Leaning against the bus stop where the insects were now chirping loudly, I exchanged messages with Haemi-noona. I'd wanted to do this for so much longer, from much earlier. Why was it only happening now, in this form? No, could this even be called happening...?
It's okay. Everything will be fine tomorrow. The joy of gaining allies who knew about the mask, and Haemi-noona's cute drunken antics, made me completely miss the fact that the bus hadn't come for a whole hour.
What told me that the long, long hour had passed was a single phone call.
"Hello? Mom? Sorry, the bus was..."
"Woo-joo! Woo-joo...! Where are you right now?! Come to the hospital Mom texted you immediately! Jae-hyuk, Jae-hyuk...! He got hit by a bus... *sob*... What are we going to do!! They say he's in critical condition!!"
"...What?"