Everything Changes Starting Today
The current time is 3 a.m. The report must be submitted by noon today without fail, which leaves us nine hours. Subtract the three hours needed to revise the sections about Master, and that means we have to capture Isabelle within six hours.
“...Hmm.”
The moment I regained consciousness, I washed up and stepped out to find Noa—now perfectly groomed—continuing her explanation with a serious expression. From what I remembered of Noa’s work ethic back when she was human, it had been a complete mess, but maybe even a rotten fish still has its uses. I’d only ordered her to “tell me everything you know about Isabelle,” yet here she was, laying it all out like this was some kind of military briefing.
“First of all, the reason I’m explaining things this thoroughly is because our opponent is Isabelle. As Master must have sensed, that woman is more meticulous and thorough than anyone else. And though I hate to admit it, her mission execution ability is also top-tier.”
“...If she’s that incredible, how the hell did she accidentally kill Jaehyeok?”
“...I don’t know that part either. This was only my second time being deployed with her, but I’ve never seen her lose her composure and act so rashly. Ahem, anyway…”
Noa cleared her throat and pulled a single document from her bag, holding it out to me. The paper she offered contained Isabelle’s photo along with a detailed profile.
“Her name is Isabelle Kang. The Korean surname comes from her adoptive father. She’s twenty-four years old and already an eight-year veteran in the field. Pretty impressive, right? I’m only in my second year.”
I hadn’t expected her to be only a year older than Haemi, even if she did look young. If she’d been retrieving masks from people like me for eight years, that meant she started this work around sixteen or seventeen?
I flipped through the pages. They showed photos of Isabelle with a surprisingly toned physique for a woman, along with her career history and mission records. Honestly, aside from the pictures, none of the written content wanted to stick in my head. It felt like staring at the back of one of the masks.
“...Is she really that big a deal?”
“Yes. Just the missions she’s been assigned to number over forty, and she’s never come back injured. The survival rate for most field agents is around thirty percent. The majority of them either become Saintesses, die, or end up crippled.”
“.......”
“She’s a human weapon who has personally eliminated twenty-two mask owners and captured forty-six Saintesses single-handedly. She can take on three Saintesses—who each possess physical abilities twice that of an average adult male—at once and still win even when outnumbered. She’s insane.”
“...That’s even possible?”
“Apparently it is. The records even say she once beat three Saintesses using only a collapsible baton… If she used firearms, she could easily handle five-to-one odds. When I was still human, I found her incredibly reassuring, but from a Saintess’s perspective, she’s terrifying. I used to just let her handle all the physical work while I stayed back and took it easy. I never realized what a monster she really was…”
Noa took a sip from her paper cup of instant coffee, her eyes hollow, and let out a deep sigh. After hearing all that, I was starting to feel the same way, so I sighed along with her. My first thought was How the hell do we catch something like that? But then Noa’s eyes suddenly widened as if something had occurred to her, and she set her cup down. My thinking shifted.
“Ah! There’s one more crucial piece of information about Isabelle!”
“What is it?”
This could be the only possible way to capture her. Hoping for exactly that, I touched my lips and stared at Noa.
“Um… it’s a little hard to explain… but that woman can perform astral projection.”
“...Pfft!”
The moment Noa finished speaking, a burst of suppressed laughter came from the right—from Mom, who was playing a mobile game on the bed while trying to keep a straight face.
“...Hey, lady. What’s so funny?”
“...Astral projection, she says. That’s the kind of lie even elementary school kids wouldn’t believe these days…”
“...Hehe…”
I grabbed Noa’s wrist as she silently smiled and slowly drew a pistol from her bag.
“No, no. Just tell me first. What exactly is astral projection? You’re saying she can actually do it?”
I changed the subject to stop Noa from shooting, but I also decided to take this seriously. There was no reason for Noa, now a Saintess, to tell me such a childish lie. If she wasn’t lying, then Isabelle really could perform astral projection.
Astral projection—leaving the body behind and extracting the soul. The kind of thing you only saw in variety shows or movies. She could actually do that?
“...I don’t know the exact details, but Isabelle can do what people commonly call astral projection. To be precise, it’s a little different from the common understanding. She can create a clone called a spiritual body. She leaves her physical body behind and transfers her consciousness into that clone to move around… She can fight in that state, and she can even peer into other people’s minds, apparently.”
“That’s actually possible? For real? How?”
“Uh… well, from what she told me, it became possible ‘because of the mask,’ but she didn’t explain the details. Anyway, I’m honestly jealous. During investigations, she can detect lies from the target in that state, distinguish Saintesses, and when we split up and regroup, she hides nearby and uses her spiritual body to check me first—making sure I haven’t been converted. And if things get dangerous in combat, she can instantly return to her body, so it’s like having insurance.”
“...That’s a lie, right?”
“...No. I wish it were, though…”
Yeah. My thoughts changed again. From How the hell do we catch something like that? to Oh, we can’t catch this.
If everything Noa said was true, there was no way to capture Isabelle. Even Haemi, who had been stronger than me, would be no match. If multiple Saintesses attacked and still couldn’t handle her, and even if we somehow cornered her, what if the Isabelle we fought was just a spiritual clone? Then everything would have been for nothing.
“Huu…”
“Master, may I ask how many Saintesses you currently have, including myself and that lady over there?”
As I was rubbing my face and sighing, Noa cautiously asked. I immediately understood the intent behind the question.
“...No. I’m not going to make the Saintesses fight her in a battle of strength.”
Absolutely not. Haemi, Yunsol, Mom, and Noa. If I gave the order, they would carry it out even knowing they might die. I wasn’t confident that four of them could defeat a woman who had beaten three Saintesses alone, and if Isabelle pulled a gun, they could all die. That was something I would never allow, even if it cost me my own life.
“...Master, but we have no other options. Unless we confront her with raw force, there’s no way to capture that woman…”
“...You’ve told me everything you know about Isabelle, right?”
“Yes? Ah, yes… At least, all the information I have…”
“Thanks. I’ll think about the rest, so can you give me a little time?”
“Ah, e-eh, hehe… Yes, understood…♡”
I stroked Noa’s cheek as she jumped to her feet and praised her. Her lips immediately loosened into a soft smile. I watched her jade-green eyes fill with affection and her long tongue coil around my fingers, then sank into thought.
Everything I had learned about Isabelle. Overwhelming combat ability, meticulous observation, extreme vigilance, and that safety net called astral projection… She was practically an impregnable fortress. I had to break her within the next five and a half hours.
What could I use? I needed to find a tiny crack in that solid wall.
Think. Keep thinking… Think…
“Ah.”
...If that were the case…
“Noa.”
“Ah, yes, Master?”
“That astral projection thing—how far can the main body and the clone be separated?”
“I handled it well. Let’s meet at the park listed in the 6 a.m. address.”
“Haa…”
The alarm ringing from the mission-issued terminal was the contact I had been waiting for from Noa. Inside the safe house room, I ran my fingers through my damp silver hair and stared at my reflection in the mirror.
“......”
I had lost my composure. Because my judgment clouded for a single moment, a civilian ended up dead.
“...I killed him…”
I pressed my lips tightly together.
The mask that had failed to be sealed at the British headquarters was the very mask that had killed my real father. It was the mask that had turned my mother and my friend into Saintesses, and in the end, it had taken the life of the benefactor who had taken me in. A throbbing headache stabbed at one side of my skull, bringing back memories from my childhood that I never wanted to recall.
“Ugh…!”
I frowned, remembering the rough hands and the terror I wished I could forget. My father, who had been an ordinary farmer, had picked up that mask. After contracting with it, he became a monster driven by lust. The first person to become a Saintess at his hands was my mother. Every night I heard the wet sounds of a man and woman intertwining.
The monster that had once been my father didn’t stop there. He turned the girl next door—my only friend—into a Saintess and violated her body as well. I was only ten years old at the time. Unable to control his rising desire, he even tried to turn his own daughter into a Saintess. The mother who used to greet me with a smile every day after school, and the friend I used to play with, both grabbed my limbs while laughing in a grotesque way.
Just before the strange characters drawn on the back of the mask covered my face, a gunshot rang out and my father died. The Saintesses—my mother and friend—who had lost their master transformed into shapeless lumps of flesh. The bullet hole in my father’s forehead. The blood and brain matter that flowed from it. The sticky blue fluid that the creatures that had once been my mother and friend spat out soaked into my socks. I still cannot forget that sensation.
Are you okay?
The one who reached out to me as I froze in terror was a kind-looking uncle with a gentle smile. He was the father who cherished and raised me after I became an orphan in an instant. Even though we shared neither nationality nor blood, he adopted me, ate dinner with me, and gave me a place to sleep. Honestly, the six years I spent with him were brighter and happier than the ten years with my biological parents. I was proud of his surname and begged him to teach me the language of his homeland because I wanted to visit it someday.
And because I never wanted to experience that pain again, I endured the harsh training despite my training instructor father’s attempts to dissuade me. So that if something like that ever happened to me again, I could solve everything with my own hands. So that I could save children like me the way my father had saved me. So that I could repay the organization that had saved me.
But that chance never came to me.
There was an incident where a rookie agent sent out a distress signal and then went silent. My father had already retired, but since there were no other suitable agents available for the rescue mission, he boarded the plane. The result? My father killed the female agent who had already become a Saintess, rescued the accompanying agent and a civilian, then—having become the mask’s owner—shot himself in the head to end his own life.
He had seized the chance to cut the chain with his own hands so that no more victims would appear. He had done it brilliantly.
“.........”
But once again, I was left alone.
After that, my memories are hazy. I simply trained like a madwoman, studied, carried out missions, and built up achievements. I applied to the British headquarters—the country where my father had died in battle and where the mask he had sealed was stored—so I could work there. So that someday I could destroy that mask with my own hands. I set foot once more on the homeland I never wanted to remember, carrying the past I wished to forget twice over.
I will. I absolutely will. With my own hands—
I made that vow, and finally the opportunity arrived. The chance to deal with the mask that had taken everything from me in my father’s homeland, and with its owner. But I had been too hasty.
The accompanying agent, Noa, had opposed killing the owner while he still seemed to possess reason, citing the interests of the Korean branch. But what if, while we hesitated, even more women became Saintesses? What if that man died and a new owner appeared before we could act? What if more men became owners and more women became Saintesses in this land—my father’s homeland?
When I eventually died and met my father, I wouldn’t be able to look him in the eye. The mere thought of it brought back the terror I had felt as a child. So, without consulting Noa, I mixed the memory-erasure drug into the coffee of the owner, Choi Woo-joo, and the civilian, Park Jaehyeok. It probably wouldn’t work on the owner, but I planned to finish things while he suffered the side effect of dizziness. It was a unilateral decision I made because I didn’t want to inflict the pain of losing a friend on the civilian man either.
But in the end, because of that, someone who should never have died… died.
“...I’m truly sorry. I’m so sorry…”
I apologized to the photo of the civilian man, Park Jaehyeok, and the photo of me with my father that sat on the table. I felt bad for Noa, but I had no intention of covering up this incident. It was my fault. Whatever punishment came from my father’s country or disciplinary action from the organization, I would accept it all. Noa, who had accompanied me, would suffer some consequences too, but what terrified me most was the thought of disappointing the father I would one day meet again.
I prayed to my father, who was surely watching from somewhere, and to God, then got dressed. I packed all my equipment and materials into my bag and headed to the park at the address Noa had sent.
It was a park about thirty minutes’ walk from the safe house. Looking around, the area was residential with a subway station nearby. Why choose a place like this for a rendezvous? Noa knew better than anyone that too many eyes would be a problem…
“........”
Something felt off. The memory of Noa scolding me for being overly suspicious flashed through my mind, but I couldn’t shake the sense of unease. Before entering the park, I set my bag down in front of the public restroom at the entrance and went inside. I entered the first stall, sat on the toilet, and took a calm breath.
“...Huu…”
I closed my eyes, focused my mind, and imagined myself standing right in front of me…
“...Done.”
Though I had clearly been sitting, I was now standing on two steady legs. When I slowly opened my previously closed eyes, I saw myself sitting limply on the toilet with unfocused eyes. Normally Noa would have guarded my defenseless body, but right now I was alone. Still, this should be safe enough. There were elderly people exercising nearby and civilians preparing for work passing by. If anything unusual happened, the area would quickly become noisy, and I could return to my body immediately.
“Alright then…”
I turned away from my physical body, relaxed my muscles, and passed through the door. I picked up the bag I had left in front of the restroom and walked deeper into the park, searching for Noa.
.....But where the hell was she?
Since this was a materialized spiritual body, Noa should be able to see me…
...This wasn’t good. I should return to my body for now.
The more I thought about it, the stranger it became. Noa, who hadn’t contacted me for the past several hours, had said she would “try to cover it up,” and there was a high chance she had gone to meet the mask’s owner. That opened up the possibility that she had become a Saintess, and that calling me here was a trap.
I gently closed my eyes again, picturing my body sitting in the restroom, preparing to return—
“Ah, Unnie! I’ve been looking for you for a while… Why are you so late?”
“...Noa.”
When I turned toward the playful voice, Noa was standing there. She wore a bright smile that completely contradicted our last unpleasant conversation.
“......”
“Why are you staring at me like that? Hehe…”
“...Even after I warned you so many times. I’m disappointed, Noa.”
I let out a bitter breath and took out the collapsible baton I had prepared from my bag, extending it with a snap. Noa’s soul was not the pure white of an ordinary person, but stained with that filthy jade color.
“...You noticed right away. But there’s really no need to feel disappointed~ Becoming a Saintess feels incredibly good, you know? Haa…♡ Master said he would reward me if I brought you in. If you obediently follow me, you can be deeply, deeply pierced by Master’s cock… So… will you come with me?”
“...I refuse.”
I took a stance and gripped the baton tighter. Realizing words were no longer effective, Noa smiled quietly and drew her gun.
“...Master said that as long as he doesn’t kill you, a few injuries are fine. Well then——”
“────”
The instant Noa’s finger touched the trigger, I swiftly lifted my leg. Using the opposite foot as a pivot, I spun and drove the raised foot straight into the head of the person standing behind me.
THUD——!!
A black figure rolled across the park ground, kicking up dust.
“...Fuck…”
The man wiped the blood flowing from his nose and spat out a curse. It was Choi Woo-joo, the owner of the mask.