Masquerade's Deadly Limits
Thud! Iron Marker's steel fist swings in.
The assembly hall door shatters, and the woman struck by the punch rolls down the corridor.
"......"
The veil around her neck blocks external attacks at the source. But it's vulnerable where the veil doesn't reach.
"Where'd you get your hands on something like that?"
Iron Marker licks his lips as he steps into the assembly hall. The woman before him hasn't spilled a single drop of blood despite taking a punch that could crumple thick steel plates.
"......"
The woman says nothing, merely touching her mask with her hand. As if determined to hide her identity to the end.
"Too late for that, Cheon Ga-eul."
"...!"
The woman—Ga-eul—bites her lip beneath the mask. Her identity is exposed, but she can't remove it.
"Don't bother asking how I knew. I've had eyes on you since the moment you jumped out that window."
"......There's one thing I want to ask."
Ga-eul straightens her veil. Iron Marker glances at his smartwatch and nods.
"What?"
"The massacre happening in Dongjak right now. You know about it?"
Ga-eul points to her neck. Iron Marker fiddles with the pine tree tattoo branded there and chuckles.
"Of course. That's why we came to Seoul."
"...You're heroes! You save people and hunt monsters!"
Ga-eul clenches her fists. The Pine Tree Unit. Model prisoners reformed with upright spirits like evergreen pines, always serving the weak in New Seoul with smiling faces.
But that was a lie. Outside New Seoul's walls, their true faces were hypocrisy and deceit. At their core, they were criminals—murderers.
"Tch. If you'd just played pretend in New Seoul, you could've lived quietly."
Iron Marker clicks his tongue and rolls his shoulders. In the burning assembly hall, Ga-eul was a rat in a trap.
"I don't know if you were hiding it or awakened here in Seoul. But no matter how high your mana..."
Iron Marker leaps. Ga-eul urgently throws herself aside.
"Your death won't change."
Boom! The assembly hall floor explodes. Ga-eul dodges the fist, but the shockwave rattles her body.
"A classic mistake newbies make right after awakening."
Iron Marker resets his stance and throws a straight punch from standstill. Mana-charged wind pressure engulfs Ga-eul, slicing her unprotected skin like razor blades where the veil doesn't cover.
"You've got the mana awakening, but no clue how to use your ability."
Iron Marker lunges forward again. Ga-eul strains to move, but her legs feel frozen in place.
The terror of being toyed with one-sidedly. A purple monster's shadow flickers over Iron Marker—the beast from the parking lot that tried to kill her.
"!!"
Instinctively, Ga-eul raises her arms to shield her head. Iron Marker's fist slams down on her raised arms.
Thud!
"......Pfbt."
Red blood trickles from beneath the mask. Instinct drew on mana to block the impact, but she should've moved to evade instead.
"Not a body enhancement user, yet all you know is reinforcing your body with mana. Like this!"
Iron Marker lifts his leg. His iron-shining kick strikes Ga-eul sideways, veil and all.
Clang! The clash of metal on metal. Iron Marker feels a momentary illusion from the sensation in his leg. Through her torn clothes, Ga-eul's skin was covered in steel just like his.
"Who said I didn't know your ability?"
Ga-eul's eyes flash beneath the mask. Gray mana swirls endlessly in her pupils.
"I've heard it drilled into my ears day and night!"
Ga-eul swings her fist. No combat experience, just wild haymakers, but her fist is coated in steel like his.
Clang! Clang!
Every clash of their fists echoes with air-splitting whooshes. Hammer on anvil rings through the assembly hall, but the ability users' faces are grim as death.
Ga-eul swings fists and kicks wildly; Iron Marker steps like a boxer, dodging and countering. At a glance, their brawl seems evenly matched.
Kraang! Ga-eul shoves with both hands, sending Iron Marker's body flying back. Not even a vital hit—his raised forearms are just slightly dented.
"Hah, hah, hah!"
Ga-eul, meanwhile, is covered in bruises. Her veiled vitals barely escaped, but Iron Marker relentlessly targeted her exposed arms and legs. The steel skin deactivates, leaving bruises in its wake.
"Fascinating. How'd you awaken the exact same ability as me?"
Iron Marker trembles with rage. Her ability is a perfect copy of his.
"Hah, whew."
Ga-eul leans on a desk, gasping. Her mouth fills with the metallic tang of blood.
"Ptoo."
Blood-mixed spit hits the assembly hall floor. Ga-eul refixes her mask. Blood stains the white surface.
Iron Marker cracks his neck side to side.
"Give up. Stay still, and I'll make it quick."
"Do you know how much pain the people in Dongjak are in?"
"What a hero we have here. Think you can save them with that mask?"
"I won't know unless I try!"
Iron Marker clenches his fist. Ga-eul lowers into stance again.
Same ability, similar mana—victory goes to experience. A civilian like Ga-eul losing to Iron Marker is inevitable. Yet she refuses to yield.
Dongjak's civilians are being slaughtered by Pine Tree Unit ability users even now. She couldn't protect them before without power. But now she has it—she can.
"Fine. I've watched plenty of your dramas too, so I'll give you a shot."
Iron Marker points at her veil.
"Drop that guard and come at me full force. Land one hit, and I'll let you go free."
"You think I'm falling for that?"
Ga-eul heightens her senses. His expression, movements, gestures, even his mana aura. No lies in the emotions read from the stoic foe.
Iron Marker means it—a real wager.
Ga-eul fiddles with her veil.
"......"
The first time is hard; after that, it gets easier. But Ga-eul doesn't drop it.
"Think a cheap trick like that'll fool me?"
"Yeah. But you're fresh off awakening. I can tell from fighting you."
Iron Marker smirks. Like a savage leopard eyeing prey, he bares his teeth wide.
"Man, doesn't the mana make you wanna go mad? Vitality surging through you, heart pounding from your own power and ability. You wanna show it off. 'I'm an ability user. Look how strong I am.' Addictive, right? Every newbie awakened to this power wants to flaunt it."
"......Villains always this chatty?"
Iron Marker clutches his belly laughing.
"Hahaha! I'm a registered hero of the nation! You're the ability user blocking our mission—a villain! Who's the bad guy here?"
"If baby-killing murderers like you are heroes, then fine—I'll be the villain!"
Ga-eul smashes the desk beside her. Her steel fist pulverizes it in one blow.
Iron Marker's eyes gleam. Her ability's grown more refined, stronger—a sign she's adapting.
"Now this'll be fun."
Snicker. Iron Marker cracks his knuckles, then licks his lips regretfully.
"Sorry, though. We're kinda busy."
Twang! Ga-eul whips around in shock. At the assembly hall entrance, a woman releases her bowstring. A pine tree tattoo gleams beneath her scarf.
Twang!
The mana arrow slices the air. Ga-eul urgently reinforces her body with mana, raising her veil to block—but the arrow curves sharply.
Thuk.
"Ah...?"
Ga-eul bites her lip at the pain in her back. The arcing arrow circles her body and pierces her heart from behind.
"As expected of Robin. Master of the bow, controlling arrow trajectories at will."
"Newbies are easier than apples."
Ga-eul's body crumples. The mana arrow fades into light.
Iron Marker approaches and peers down. The gray swirl in Ga-eul's eyes dims.
"Why'd you run out like that? You could've lived longer hiding quietly."
Thud.
Red blood flows like a river down the assembly hall corridor.
The curtain falls.
Stage lights blaze on, and audiences gather their things, filing out seat by seat. Amid the scrolling staff roll, Ga-eul can't leave her spot.
Cheon Ga-eul. Age 28 at death.
Awakened to ability, ambushed by Pine Tree Unit heroes, died of excessive bleeding in Yeouido National Assembly's main chamber.
That was the end of Cheon Ga-eul's life.
"Ah, ahh, aah."
Ga-eul clutches her head, bowing it low. Tears well and drip onto her thighs.
Regret upon regret, but irreversible. Cheon Ga-eul is dead.
"How's it feel, dying?"
The audience member to her right asks. A woman identical to Cheon Ga-eul wears a black-and-white mask.
"Infuriating, unfair, like going insane? 'Why'd I do that? Should've just hid.'"
"Shut... up!"
Ga-eul looks up. The masked Cheon Ga-eul, seated one aisle over, points at the staff roll.
"28 years of life, 14 years as an actress, and less than 10 minutes as an ability user. Act 2, maybe a fresh start, snuffed out."
The masked Cheon Ga-eul points at the screen. It rewinds to the recent assembly hall scene.
"You had to stay cold. Pressure to save people, high from new power—you didn't look back. A-rank ability user? Think that's special? Korea's got how many A-ranks?"
"I know!"
"Knew and still went wild? Should've stayed put."
On screen, gray light fades from Ga-eul's eyes. Pupils lose focus; blood from her pierced heart pools to the chamber's far end.
The men Ga-eul fought and killed her leave the assembly hall. Before fully blacking out, Ga-eul lies spread-eagled toward the ceiling, reaching up with fading vision.
— Sor... ry...
Thud. Her arm hits the floor. No mana recovery—a true, utter death.
"What exactly were you sorry for?"
"......A lot."
Ga-eul hunches forward. Tears stream down her lashes to the ground.
"Sorry I couldn't save them. Sorry I can't go back alive to my parents. And..."
The masked Cheon Ga-eul rewinds further. The blue monster in the speaker's office adjusts Ga-eul's veil, then vanishes.
Sob.
"Sorry for acting on my own... like I betrayed her."
"Yeah. Knew better, yet you did it."
The masked Cheon Ga-eul removes her mask. An older woman, scarred skin, smirks mockingly at Ga-eul.
"Now human Cheon Ga-eul's dead. No chance to apologize."