Uninvited Guest (3)
The private meeting with the dangerous figure ended more blandly than I'd expected. There was no displeasure from the surveillance, no palpable hostility. True to his word, he simply stated his business plainly without any probing questions and left. The watch continued, but as everyone anticipated, it vanished completely at some point, bringing the surveillance to an end.
"Are you really okay? Your face looks awful. You're not sick or anything weird, right?"
Moon Sera glanced nervously at her boss while driving, her voice laced with worry.
"I'm fine. You saw it yourself—nothing happened."
"But what if he pulled some sneaky shit we couldn't see?"
"I'm really fine. My head's just a bit cluttered, that's all."
Leaning fully into her seat, Jung Ha-yeon stared quietly out the window. Ever since the meeting, Wilhelm's cryptic words had been swirling in her mind.
In their brief conversation, he'd asked her to handle the aftermath of the kidnapped children from the human trafficking ring. He'd given off the vibe that he knew all about her grandfather and left a secretive message for him.
'Mara has awakened...'
Mara Papias. The name of the demon from myth who tested its followers. Over time, many names had been attached to it, but the first one that came to Jung Ha-yeon's mind was one in particular.
Emperor Demon. A pack of madmen who would do anything—anything—to gain power. The evil demonic cultists who worshipped only strength called their leader by that name.
'Is the Demonic Cult resurfacing?'
The Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families. What had caused the total downfall of the ancient martial world? The weakening of the world's energies played a part, but the civil wars after the war with Japan had been decisive. Remnants of the evil demonic paths, hiding behind new names and ideologies, had swarmed to eradicate the martial world. Those who resisted died, and only those who fled survived.
Sect after sect scattered across the globe, changing names or vanishing entirely. Even Mount Hua Sect had nearly lost its lineage when most of its techniques were lost, but an ancestor inspired by falling plum blossoms created the Plum Blossom Sword Technique, barely preserving the line.
A few of the agents gathered here were in similar straits—descendants of once-renowned orthodox sects.
'I need to inform the sect leader first.'
She could sense an ominous chill from the word "Mara," but since her generation hadn't experienced the Demonic Cult's terror firsthand, Wilhelm's warning felt a bit abstract. As team leader, she needed to report back to make a proper judgment.
* * *
A school is inherently wild. Even after the generations where robbery and rape were like folk games had passed and most kids turned herbivorous, the law of the plains still held among the grazers. Even among young impalas without horns, there was subtle tension.
In a classroom full of kids, packs formed—and every pack had a leader.
Among the boys in Seojun's class, there was one kid who stood out for his massive build. His name was Kim Tae-woong. Already over 170 cm tall with chunks of muscle everywhere, he was adult-sized. To the other kids, it must've felt like a grizzly bear looming over them, so naturally, Tae-woong had become the boss of the boys.
With all the kids his age treating him like a kingpin, how cocky must he have felt? He strutted around class like he owned it, totally immersed in his daily oyabun games.
But today, oddly, Tae-woong just sat there dazed, looking a bit off his rocker.
"Tae-woong, whatcha doing? No soccer today?"
"...Nah. You guys play without me."
"Huh? For real?"
The other kids were shocked. The boss skipping soccer? They knew how much he loved it, so this was huge.
Who was he? Gename Elementary's bulldozer. An invincible striker who cleared paths just by charging with his size. Mess with him, and you'd be black-and-blue all over—the king of school.
After Seojun stole his ball and scored last time, he'd been seriously pissed. For a kid that obsessed with soccer to skip it? Something was up.
"What happened?"
He was piling his tray high with just the meat as usual, so he wasn't sick. Definitely some other issue.
Under the kids' prodding, Tae-woong hesitated, then spoke cautiously.
"Well... yesterday, I was riding my kick scooter..."
After three straight losses in the promotion matches, feeling frustrated, he'd hopped on his scooter for some air. Circling the neighborhood, he passed a quiet park with no one around.
Blasting his light to max to ward off path-blockers, he cruised the empty sidewalk. Then, suddenly, a scooter pulled up quietly beside him.
He ignored it at first, sped up to shake it off when it bugged him—but it stuck right there.
Thinking it was a challenge, he glanced over.
"...It had no head."
What Tae-woong saw was a headless figure riding a scooter.
"Whaaaaat?!"
The faint-hearted kids' screams filled the classroom. A chill brushed their throats; they gulped hard.
Shaking off the unease, they barked.
"Liar!"
"You're messing with us!"
"Not falling for it!"
Unlike usual, Tae-woong didn't snap back. He mumbled, deflated.
"No... it's true. I turned, and whoosh—it vanished at insane speed."
"It was dark—you saw wrong!"
"Yeah, that stuff doesn't exist! Even kids don't believe that anymore!"
Media was so advanced these days, even kindergarteners scoffed at ghost stories.
"Maybe...?"
The scene was still vivid for Tae-woong, but with everyone insisting he was wrong, he started doubting himself. Deep down, he wanted to shake off the creepy memory most of all.
"Sounds like a Dullahan."
* * *
The headless rider, Dullahan. In games and media, it often appeared as a death knight in fancy armor on a black horse. Sometimes comically swinging a severed head from its side. But tracing its origins, it was originally a harbinger of death—not one that smashed skulls to drag souls away, but a messenger warning the doomed: "Hey, you're about to die—get ready." A sort of grim reaper announcer.
Riding a scooter instead of a horse was weird, but myths evolve with eras and cultures. With so many variants under different names and behaviors, it wasn't that strange.
So the conclusion: Why the hell did bro show up there...?
I'd never seen one myself, but I'd heard plenty of famous sightings. Headless guy on a motorcycle, or driving a fancy open sports car with no head in the driver's seat, etc.
Diverse places, diverse tales—but common threads: always at night; the headless man on something; and witnesses died or nearly died days later.
Of course, maybe not. Just piecing together descriptions and context—could be wrong. But my gut pointed that way.
What a shitty fate.
I gave Tae-woong my most pitiful look, full of sympathy.
The words "headless man" sent a deep chill through Tae-woong.
"Wh-what?! What's that?!"
"Old legend... Anyone who sees the headless man gets their head chopped off soon after. Pretty spooky."
I said it gravely, and Tae-woong's face flushed red.
Thinking I was pranking him, his voice boiled with anger.
"Bullshit! Making up weird stories again?!"
He always picked on me as the "ghost-possessed kid," so I'd scared him a few times out of boredom, and now my cred was in the gutter.
I tsked pityingly.
"What, you haven't seen School Ghost Stories? It's a blast."
"What's that?!"
"First time hearing it."
"Wait, I know! Ghost anime, right? Super old one. My dad watched it as a kid."
"Fuck, how am I supposed to know that?!"
Tae-woong looked dumbfounded at the other kid's words.
Tsk, not knowing this classic. Can't talk to kids these days.
"Anyway, don't wander outside carelessly. No more scooters. Or you'll really die."
I warned him seriously. The sudden shift felt too real for a joke; Tae-woong's face hardened.
"Just in case, wear a scarf every day for a bit. They say covering your neck fools it into thinking you have no head and skips you. But scarf in this weather? Kinda hot, huh?"
"This is getting ridiculous!"
Tae-woong fumed, thinking the kid he hated was just seizing the chance to troll him endlessly.
"Don't wanna? Then die."
The classroom erupted into chaos: hissing charges from Tae-woong, fleeing kids, others trying to intervene.
"Teacher!! He's trying to hit me!!!"
"N-no! Don't lie! If I catch you, you're dead!"