Chapter 199
Chapter 199
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 199
Chapter Title: The Approaching Hand
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A certain Korean online community.
📰 Thread: But Ever Since That True Dragon Appeared in Japan Doesn't seem like the Hahoe Mask is bothering to hide from photos or videos anymore? Just a few days later and evidence is pouring in lol. All from Japan, though. — Anonymous After debuting so flashy like that, hiding now is just funny. But seriously, why hasn't that True Dragon shown up again?! I wanna see it more! — Fanboy123 ↳ Reply Bro... when are you coming back to Korea...? Nights feel scary without you ㅜㅜ — SafetyFirst ↳ Reply Even so, those Villains who started popping up one by one after Hahoe Mask went to Japan are disappearing fast now? Looks like the Guardians are finally getting to work lol. It had been less than a week since Hahoe Mask had revealed the True Dragon he'd summoned in Kyushu.
Naturally, the internet—still buzzing with excitement—was abuzz with the topic day after day.
Of course, new incidents popped up every day, but the shock from that event wasn't something that faded in just a few days.
Not only had that overwhelming presence been seared into people's minds, it had even made waves as an international topic!
It was only natural for Koreans, ever sensitive to foreign reactions, to take a keen interest in Hahoe Mask, who was operating overseas while wearing one of Korea's iconic traditional masks.
Of course, not all the reactions were positive...
— Patriot101 But is it okay for one of our own to go wild like that in another country? Isn't this a diplomatic issue? — FactChecker ↳ Reply Fact: Hahoe Mask is already a criminal who ran wild in Korea unchecked. — ConcernedCitizen ↳ Reply But looking at it objectively, isn't this embarrassing for the country? A criminal we couldn't catch at home is making a name for himself abroad—what does that say about us? ↳ Reply Whatever, they can't catch the criminal in Japan either. A significant number of people felt uncomfortable with his aggressive actions.
After all, he was a criminal who handed out judgments at his whim, and now it was out that he wielded infamous black magic as a necromancer. It was unavoidable.
Overseas reactions to news of Hahoe Mask were largely similar.
A mix of curiosity tinged with subtle rejection.
In that sense, public opinion in Japan—currently undergoing a "purification"—was a chaotic melting pot of mixed views.
— LocalJP That masked dark hero came to my neighborhood yesterday. Today, cops are all over the place around there. — Relieved We were too scared of those guys ignoring cops and Guardians to do anything but watch... Maybe now we can relax a bit? — FukuokaResident I live in Fukuoka, and yeah, I can feel a difference. Sure, small fry moved in quick, but... — Optimist ↳ Reply Still way better than before in scale. No idea how long it'll last, though. ↳ Reply Same here. The new ones seem to know better than to push it. Hope the Ability Bureau steps up now that they're weakened—fat chance with those incompetents. Probably faster to pray the masked hero comes back. — NationalistJP Are you all idiots? A Korean criminal came here and massacred Japanese people, and you're happy about it? — AngryOne ↳ Reply What the hell is the Ability Bureau doing? Catch that guy quick! Can't live in fear! ↳ Reply But they say Hahoe Mask only hunts criminals like Yakuza? ↳ Reply Aren't Yakuza Japanese? We should catch them, not some Korean! Japan needs to demand compensation from Korea. ↳ Reply Problem is they're all in cahoots, so they won't catch them. As direct stakeholders, they couldn't help but react more sensitively than elsewhere.
And that attention intensified when it shifted from ordinary people to specific organizations—
Like Japan's crime syndicates, currently desperate with fires on their feet, and the Reverse Heaven Society, which had tried to capture Hahoe Mask only to get burned and retreat.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ In an opulent lodging in China, filled with lavish decorations.
Bzzz— Zing—
With a faint mechanical hum vibrating in his mind, a man in his thirties seated in a wheelchair methodically scanned his eyes like a robot, his expression blank.
One by one, data meticulously compiled from around the world was imprinted directly into his brain.
Not just their own investigations, but even amateur analyses posted online for fun—everything thoroughly reviewed and attached.
The ultimate fruit of the branch's total intelligence-gathering efforts.
"Tch."
But after finishing the report on his office monitor, Yulryeongja leaned back in his chair, clicking his tongue in dissatisfaction.
He furrowed his brow as if something irked him, rubbing the space between his eyes repeatedly.
"Yulryeongja~? Things aren't going smoothly, I see!"
Suddenly.
His body jolted at the flippant voice that rang out.
There had definitely been no one else in the room moments ago.
But only for a moment—he lowered the hand from his eyes and calmly turned his head.
"...Doctor."
Sure enough, there stood a familiar middle-aged man with disheveled salt-and-pepper hair and a scruffy beard, grinning ear to ear.
"Long time no see! How's the new eye treating you?"
"Fine, thanks to you."
"Puhaha! Of course, my doing! So... even more disappointing, huh?"
The Doctor's face hardened in an instant, his voice dropping low at the end.
Yulryeongja merely bowed his head slightly at the man's ever-erratic mood swings.
"Heard about Japan. You guys got wrecked hard, right?"
"...My apologies."
"Well, these things happen! Man, a True Dragon! I never saw that coming! He's even more fun than I thought! Pahyahaha!"
The Doctor burst into manic laughter again, then wiped tears from his eyes and got to the point of his visit.
"Got word that the Chairman's back."
"...I see."
The Chairman's movements were top secret.
Of course, as the East Asia branch head—including China, the Reverse Heaven Society's origin—and overseer of key members' restrictions, Yulryeongja held no low position.
He'd probably hear soon enough.
But he couldn't match the Doctor, the Chairman's right-hand man, in priority access.
So why had he come all this way to say it...?
"The Chairman was really intrigued by that True Dragon! You know how he loves weird stuff."
"You mean...?"
"Yep! Wants to see that Smile Mask up close this time. And I'm tagging along, of course! Fufufu!"
"The Chairman himself said this? What about the Oracle...?"
Startled, Yulryeongja let another name slip, and the Doctor's smirking face crumpled as if he'd heard something he shouldn't.
"...Hmph, for once even that woman's not so sure. What can you do? She just sulks in silence!"
But soon his expression turned triumphant as he boasted.
"Feels great when that nagging woman finally shuts up for once! The future isn't set—you forge it yourself, right? Hope the Chairman stops listening to her so much!"
With their abilities and personalities at opposite ends, they had terrible relations.
If the Doctor was the right hand, she was the left.
Without him, they probably wouldn't even be in the same organization.
"So the Chairman is here now."
"Uhahaha! You know his personality—why ask?"
Sure enough.
Sensing it, Yulryeongja slowly nodded.
"Right on time..."
Clank—
The door flew open without warning, cutting off the Doctor.
"Long time no see, everyone. Yulryeongja, how's your health?"
A man entered, his low voice cloaking the room in an eerie aura.
At a glance ordinary, then oppressively intimidating, and upon focus, somehow blurry—
An utterly enigmatic presence.
"Yes, much better thanks to your concern."
"Kuh~ Speak of the devil! Perfect timing, Chairman!"
The leader of the Reverse Heaven Society, a transnational crime syndicate wielding vast influence over the world's underworld.
After a long absence for some matter, he had finally set foot in China again.
To personally deal with the Hahoe Mask operating in Japan.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Why's my ear itching like this?"
Thud—
Following my usual routine in the home gym, I carefully set down the heavy barbell and scratched my ear vigorously.
'Tch, someone talking about me?'
The thought flashed briefly before vanishing.
There were far too many suspects for it to mean anything.
I shrugged lightly and bent to grab the barbell again.
"Hup—!"
Hans was inevitably in a position to draw hate from all sides.
No need to mention the otherworld, and lately he'd gone public in Japan too, making waves.
Of course, I'd long since gauged the public mood.
'Doesn't mean I'll change course based on opinion.'
Everything had gone smoothly so far.
I'd smashed the Reverse Heaven Society's trap while upending Japan, dealing them heavy losses in return.
They weren't the type to sit idle after a hit, so retaliation was coming soon enough.
All I had to do was keep at it while preparing.
'Namely, burning their bases to the ground.'
A smirk slipped out unbidden.
Nothing quite like toppling someone else's painstaking tower!
'Only a few days since the first clash. They'll need time to regroup. But they won't abandon Japan entirely, so it won't be long.'
They'd come better prepared next time, but it wouldn't matter what the Reverse Heaven Society brought.
With Heratos the True Dragon now freely deployable, the new Abyss Revenant Salma...
'Worst case, I just bail.'
And the ultimate escape of unsummoning was always ready.
'Earth's fine, then. Outerica's a bit messy... but overall, not bad.'
Thud—
The barbell hit the floor with a heavy thud, ending the set.
I rolled my shoulders and glanced aside.
"Hoo! Ha—! Ha!"
Sweat pouring like rain, breaths ragged on the verge of collapse.
A tall young man in light training gear was squatting with a barbell on his shoulders, honing his legs.
'Hmm, handsome as ever.'
I nodded appreciatively.
Naturally, it was the new avatar I'd just been able to create: 'Hugo'.
True to form, he'd jumped straight into extreme hard training upon spawning.
The one oddity: I'd skipped customizing his looks this time, so he matched my original clones—and me.
'Can always tweak appearance with 「Customization」 later anyway.'
Hugo's current jobs included odd tasks and standing in for me when I was away.
This neatly covered the gaps from frequent 「Entity Projection」 use lately.
No major issues from brief absences, but better safe than sorry.
'Hm, more importantly...'
Towel over my shoulders, heading to the shower.
I strolled leisurely, checking Outerica's status, and nodded.
'Time to focus there a bit more, huh?'
Something meaningful was about to kick off in Outerica.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Upon exiting the swirling blue gate.
The first face Heinrich saw was a very familiar one.
"Welcome, Saint. You've been through a lot."
A girl with radiant silver hair scattering the light and sparkling golden eyes.
Riesta Saint Hatianus, the Saintess haloed in light that brightened the surroundings just by appearing, greeted the hero's party with a gentle smile.
"Welcome to the Roselia Sub-Temple."
It was the moment Heinrich finally returned from his long journey, arriving at the Holy Land's main temple for the Second Continental Summit.