Vanessa Walker (1)
Vanessa Walker did not commit the murders of prostitutes.
This was a fact that Conan had confirmed himself.
Yet Vanessa continued to appear at every murder scene.
Why?
There was only one plausible explanation.
Vanessa is hunting the killer.
That would also explain why she showed up at every single crime scene.
Because she had to catch the murderer.
And the killer Vanessa was pursuing was most likely connected to the British government.
In official history, Conan had remained completely silent about Jack the Ripper.
If it wasn’t that Conan had failed, then the only force powerful enough to make him stay quiet was the British government itself.
It was speculation, but the possibility felt overwhelmingly strong.
The government that encouraged prostitution, the Plum Blossom Plague, Conan’s silence, the reason the gangs were left untouched, and Vanessa, who was not the true culprit….
Every circumstance pointed directly at the British government.
Above all….
Complete Jack the Ripper's Murders
It felt as though the target of this quest was the real “Jack the Ripper” who had slaughtered the prostitutes.
If that was the case, then Vanessa would fail to capture the true killer.
This world was not the official history but a “failed worldline.” And when the status window spoke of failure, it usually meant death.
There must be a cause behind her failure.
I needed to uncover the reason Vanessa had failed.
*
Even as I searched for the cause of Vanessa’s failure, Jack the Ripper’s murders continued without pause.
Emma Smith, Martha Tabram, Annie Chapman, the Double Event….
It was the East End murder case known as “The Whitechapel Serial Killings.”
Because of this unprecedented string of murders, police flooded every corner of the East End.
Yet Jack the Ripper mocked their sloppy investigation by sending letters to the newspapers.
I laugh every time the police claim they’ve nearly caught me.
Now they’re calling me a doctor, haha!
I find prostitutes disgusting and will not stop killing until they slap handcuffs on me.
My newly purchased knife is exceptionally sharp. I can’t wait to test it the moment an opportunity arises!
The letters ridiculed the police’s incompetent investigation.
They spread rapidly through the newspapers.
Rumors flew that Jack the Ripper was not a doctor but a deranged pleasure-killer.
The speed at which the rumors traveled was unnaturally fast.
Almost as if someone was deliberately fanning the flames.
However, there was one thing Jack the Ripper had overlooked: the people hunting him were not limited to the police.
“This is a deliberate attempt to muddy the investigation.”
The man pursuing him was the father of Sherlock Holmes.
“Such cold, precise work. The culprit appears to be a surgeon with extensive anatomical knowledge.”
Arthur Conan Doyle.
The god of deduction who could draw a hundred inferences from a single clue.
Even the letters that seemed to scream pleasure killings did not shake Conan’s reasoning.
“Could the purpose be experimentation? He may be collecting samples of monstrous tissue.”
As the murders continued, Conan uncovered new facts like pieces of a puzzle snapping together.
Surgeon. Left-handed. Surgical scalpel. Monstrous experiments….
The more traces accumulated, the closer Conan’s puzzle came to completion.
The list of suspects, which had once numbered a hundred, shrank to eighty, then sixty, then thirty….
The suspect list on Conan’s desk grew shorter by the day.
And when it was finally narrowed to ten names—
“It’s this man.”
Conan singled out one suspect.
[Ashley Cooper (48)]
The man Conan identified was a surgeon in his forties.
He was a surgeon and anatomist, as well as an author who had written numerous mystery novels.
Moreover, he was a figure whose name had never once appeared on the London police’s suspect list.
One would think it should have at least come up, yet Ashley Cooper was strangely never even mentioned.
People didn’t find it odd.
After all, he was the personal physician to Prince Albert and vice president of the Royal Society of London.
No one in London imagined he could be connected to Jack the Ripper.
No one except Conan.
“To have him investigated, we’ll need clear evidence.”
Ashley Cooper was too powerful a figure to pressure with mere suspicion.
Of course, even with physical evidence, it was unlikely we could publicly accuse him of being Jack the Ripper.
He was under the protection of the British government.
Even if that weren’t the case, I had no intention of revealing that he was Jack the Ripper.
Because the true identity of Jack the Ripper witnessed by people in history was not Ashley Cooper, but Vanessa.
Complete Jack the Ripper's Murders
My sole objective was to help Vanessa successfully complete her quest.
*
From that day forward, I monitored Ashley Cooper’s every move alongside Conan.
I had no plans to act immediately.
I first needed to discover the cause of Vanessa’s “failure.”
Until I uncovered it, I could not kill Ashley Cooper.
His daily routine was unchanging.
During the day he taught anatomy at the Royal College of Surgeons, in the afternoon he visited the palace to attend Prince Albert, and in the evening he returned home to write mystery novels late into the night.
He was a flawless, renowned professor, physician, and novelist.
A man of impeccable character who had never been touched by scandal.
Even if you shook him, not a single speck of dust would fall.
During the three days I watched him, he showed no behavior linked to the murders.
Had it not been for Conan’s certainty, I would never have believed this man could be Jack the Ripper.
Four days after we began surveilling Ashley Cooper with Conan.
The light in the room where Ashley Cooper had been writing his novel went out.
It was late at night, with a steady drizzle falling.
“Hmm hmm~”
Ashley Cooper, dressed in a bowler hat and suit, opened a black umbrella and headed somewhere.
His steps were light and excited, almost like a dance.
He even tapped out a little tap dance over shallow puddles.
With such a joyful demeanor, the place he headed toward was neither the Royal College of Surgeons nor the British palace, but the slum known as the East End.
“See you shortly.”
“Understood.”
As Ashley Cooper made his way toward the East End, Conan quietly vanished.
He was going to gather people.
─Hmm hmm~
Meanwhile, Ashley Cooper hummed cheerfully as he entered the red-light district, moving as if he had visited many times before.
He seemed like an entirely different person from the one I had observed for three days.
I followed him from a distance.
I still hadn’t discovered the cause of Vanessa’s failure.
And then….
Slide.
A man appeared beside Ashley Cooper.
A knight carrying a sword.
An awakened…!
I knew the instant I saw him.
This knight was an extraordinary expert.
Until the moment he appeared, I had sensed no presence from him whatsoever.
A chill ran down my spine.
If I had carelessly touched Ashley Cooper, I would have been cut down by this knight’s blade.
And I realized.
This knight was the reason behind Vanessa’s failure.
The aura he released was like a towering mountain.
For a brief moment, it even reminded me of Yi Sun-sin.
Not quite that level.
Yi Sun-sin was the hero who had saved a collapsing nation single-handedly. The legend who ended the Imjin War.
Yet I could confidently say this knight approached Yi Sun-sin’s realm.
S-rank Hunter.
This was a bit—
—very dangerous.
“Joan.”
Joan of Arc, who had been dismissed during the daytime, appeared at my side.
I signaled her to stay silent the moment she materialized.
She saw the knight and quietly closed her mouth.
However, unlike us, there was someone who failed to recognize the danger.
“Gentlemen over there! What brings you to this place so late at night?”
A prostitute strolling the alley cast flirtatious glances at the two men.
“How filthy.”
Ashley Cooper frowned as though he had witnessed something repulsive.
Step. Step.
“W-what are you—?”
Ashley Cooper approached the woman.
In his white-gloved hand, something gleamed.
A double-edged surgical knife.
A Liston knife.
Black demonic energy flowed from Ashley Cooper as he gripped it.
The host!
I realized he was the carrier who had spread the Plum Blossom Plague throughout the East End.
Just as Ashley drew near the woman—
Whoosh!
Something hurtled toward Ashley Cooper at terrifying speed.
Red hair fluttered in the wind.
Golden eyes flashed within the darkness.
The ghost of death.
The unsolved mystery history had recorded as Jack the Ripper.
It was Vanessa.
Her movements were silent yet swift.
She seemed to glide through the darkness itself.
The knight swung his sword at her.
Clang—!
But his blade never reached Vanessa.
“……”
His sword had been stopped by the Twin Dragon Sword.
“Kyaaaak!”
The prostitute screamed at the sight of clashing blades and fled.
Before anyone realized, Vanessa was already exchanging blows with Ashley Cooper.
Slice. Slice.
“Ugh!”
At the eerie scissoring strikes emerging from the shadows, red roses of blood bloomed across Ashley Cooper’s body.
“Stand aside.”
The knight spoke to me.
─Kwaaak!
Even as Ashley Cooper was being carved apart, the knight’s voice remained composed.
As though he could kill me whenever he wished.
He was, after all, the S-rank awakened Britain took such pride in.
Sssss…
Golden energy rose along the knight’s blade and took solid form.
The ultimate realm a knight could attain.
The symbol of a Sword Master—something only those who had perfected their own world could manifest.
It was Sword Qi.
Whoosh—
The knight attempted to slice both me and my sword apart with his Sword Qi.
Yet above the Twin Dragon Sword blocking it, not a trace of energy could be seen.
Nevertheless.
Clang—!
The Sword Qi was deflected by my blade.
“!”
A spark of surprise lit the knight’s eyes.
In my ear, someone’s teaching echoed like a hallucination.
─Hide your energy.
─Revealing your energy is a foolish act only the showy Ming bastards enjoy.
It was the voice of An Wi, the renowned Joseon general.
─In our Joseon, we use internal energy, not external energy.
“I am Alexander Cunningham.”
The knight’s voice overlaid An Wi’s.
At some point Alexander had dropped his relaxed demeanor and taken a combat stance toward me.
I glanced behind me.
Vanessa was pressing Ashley Cooper hard.
I had to keep this knight occupied until she finished him.
Holding him long-term was impossible.
Although Joan was with me, her holy power was restricted, making her weaker than in her prime.
Whoosh!
Alexander charged at me.
His speed was so extreme it seemed as if his body stretched forward.
I couldn’t even consider drawing Napoleon’s gun.
Clang!
I barely blocked the knight’s sword and retreated.
The hand gripping the Twin Dragon Sword felt like it would tear apart, and my wrist screamed in protest.
Yet the pain vanished as if it had never existed.
Flutter. Flutter!
The holy light blooming from Joan as she waved her flag filled me with boundless vitality.
Whoooong!
Golden Sword Qi blazed brilliantly from the charging knight’s blade.
If I blocked that head-on, even with holy power wrapped around me, my wrist would shatter.
I instinctively reached into my subspace backpack, pulled something out, and hurled it.
Clang—!
The knight’s Sword Qi failed to pierce it and was stopped cold.
Clunk. Thud.
What rolled across the ground was Yi Sun-sin’s helmet.
While the knight’s sword was caught against the helmet, I activated the Twin Dragon Sword’s ability.
I swear to the heavens with a three-span blade; the mountains and rivers tremble at its color.
Three-Span Oath to Heaven, Mountains and Rivers Tremble.
Pure white Sword Qi from Yi Sun-sin bloomed along the Twin Dragon Sword, and atop it layered Joan’s holy power.
Holy power and Sword Qi—double stack.
I charged the startled knight and brought the Twin Dragon Sword crashing down.
“!”
The knight hurriedly raised his blade to block, but—
Kwaaaang—!
The golden Sword Qi was pushed back, and the knight flew away.
He didn’t seem heavily injured, however, as he walked back step by step.
But that was enough.
By the time the knight readied his next attack, the surroundings had grown noisy.
“Th-there!”
“It’s Jack the Ripper!”
“Ooh!”
Reporters holding cameras swarmed into the alley.
“Take the shots!”
The man leading the reporters was Conan.
“Tch.”
Seeing the flood of journalists, the knight glanced at Ashley Cooper, then abandoned him and fled alone.
And in the next instant.
“Kwaaaaaah!”
“Huk!”
“I-it’s a monster!”
Ashley Cooper’s blood-soaked body swelled grotesquely.
Rather than run, the reporters frantically clicked their camera shutters.
In the barrage of flashing lights, the bloated Ashley Cooper burst like a punctured balloon.
Kwaaaaang—!
Dust billowed. Stones flew.
A savage gale tore through the alley.
The explosion’s shockwave engulfed the reporters, but Joan’s holy power shielded them.
Jack the Ripper's Murders completed.
In the alley where the aftershock had settled—
“Th-this is a scoop!”
“This is huge!”
The reporters busily photographed Ashley Cooper’s corpse.
Beyond them, in the dark alley, a pair of golden eyes sparkled.
Vanessa.
A bitter feeling suddenly welled up.
Even now that Ashley Cooper was dead, Vanessa had to remain in the shadows.
Because she was Jack the Ripper.
The suspect who was never caught.
The ghost of death.
The moment Vanessa stepped out of the shadows, the British government would pin every crime on her.
The royal family would never allow their shame to be exposed.
Therefore, Jack the Ripper had to remain an eternal unsolved case.
Ashley Cooper’s death—a member of the Royal Society—would be recorded as unrelated to Jack the Ripper.
Just as official history had written it.
And then….
“!”
Jack the Ripper.
The ghost of death.
Gave up on remaining an “unsolved case.”
From the deep darkness into bright sunlight, the ghost walked with light, refreshing steps.
“Who is that?”
“It’s the suspect! Get the picture!”
Camera shutters flashed.
Vanessa smiled brightly at me as I stared in a daze.
“Is this sufficient now, Eungong?”
Distortion detected in the flow of history.
Because she had escaped the label of “unsolved case,” she could no longer be Jack the Ripper.
Eternal uncatchable suspect: X
Ghost of death: X
She was Vanessa Walker.
A woman who loved children and ate bread with great enthusiasm.
A woman full of smiles.
The distorted individual is being expelled from this world.
The world went dark.
