A Sense of Unease (5)

"A pleasure to meet you. All of you."

"..."

"Let me say this in advance. I am not your enemy. I will admit that my attire looks a little suspicious."

A little was generous. She looked suspicious in the extreme.

No one eased their guard. They glared at the woman in the gas mask and, muzzles still trained on her, started in with questions.

"Never seen that face around here..."

"Name, class, and level. Out with them."

"If you belong to a group, say so."

The questions came one after another. The woman shrugged, as if she had no intention of hiding who she was.

"Heo Yeseul, of the Sejong Provisional Government."

"What? The Sejong Provisional Government?"

Dohyeon's eyes went round. The others were no different. The surprise lasted only a moment, though. Suspicion flooded their faces almost at once.

"...And how are we supposed to believe that?"

"Then please look at this."

Yeseul hurled the whole backpack. What spilled out was a letter of appointment.

Even the signature of Yoon Cheolmin, Minister of Foreign Affairs and acting president, was there. The document was so finely made that forgery hardly crossed the mind.

But...

The suspicion had not vanished entirely. The gas mask was suspect enough, and a woman wandering around entirely on her own was no small cause for doubt either. So he pressed her at once.

"What's someone from Sejong doing here?"

"I was ordered to gather survivors from each region, in preparation for the Second Rift that begins in ten days."

Yeseul answered without a hitch. Dohyeon asked again.

"Alone? Not even a comrade with you?"

"My comrades are all in Busan as well. Each of us has to make contact with a different group of survivors, so we had no choice but to operate separately."

"...You must be awfully confident in your own skill."

"One does not earn the rank of major by luck."

Put that way, it was strange, certainly. She looked barely into her early twenties, and already a major. As she had just said, it likely meant she had exactly that much faith in her ability.

Then Yeseul spoke again.

"If you are considering joining Sejong, would you care to hear the details?"

At that, Dohyeon and his companions traded silent looks. A moment later, every one of them gave a quiet nod, without a single exception. They meant to hear her out, if nothing else.

Once their minds had settled on that, Dohyeon turned straight to Yeseul.

"Fine. Talk."

"Yes. I will. Ah—before that, may I come a little closer to speak?"

"Close the distance? Why?"

"Some of it is not meant for other ears. We can change locations, if you prefer."

In a place this open, talking could indeed be awkward—all the more so for someone from the provisional government. It was equally true that he still could not trust her completely. After a moment's thought, Dohyeon undid his belt and shook it.

"I'll bind you with this. If that's still all right, I'll allow you to come closer."

"Yes. That is fine."

Yeseul accepted the condition without ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠resistance, as if to prove she had no thought of fighting it.

Dohyeon took extra belts from the others, stepped up to her, and bound her body tight. In the process, he learned something.

Her body's firm.

No—stiff might have been the better word. She was probably wearing something bulletproof beneath the combat uniform. Either way, she would not be pulling any tricks now. Even if she made a suspicious move, they could shoot her full of holes before she managed a thing.

"You can come closer now."

"Thank you. Then..."

One step. Then another.

Yeseul closed the distance with a gait as regular as the hand of a clock. When only about five paces remained—

"Ugh! M-my head...!"

"What? My body won't move all of a sudden."

Companions who had been fine a moment before began to stagger, one after another. Before long, the change reached Dohyeon as well. His head spun, and all at once his body felt as if it were locking rigid.

...No!

Had this woman pulled something?

Instinct decided it. Dohyeon meant to pull the trigger at once and put her down.

Damn it. My fingers...

His body had already stiffened, and his fingers would not move. A little more time passed, and even his consciousness blew out completely.

By the time Yeseul reached the center of the group, Dohyeon and his people stood where they were, without a single exception, eyes empty of focus.

"That seems to be the end of it."

"..."

"Now then, would you undo this for me?"

The one who moved at her words was Dohyeon. He came over with a somewhat stiff gait and took back the belts that had bound her.

"Good. Then let us move."

Yeseul turned in silence and walked. Dohyeon and the others followed her, one by one, and vanished beyond the thick fog.

And at that same hour, the same thing happened dozens of times, all across the city of Busan.

Late at night, past nine.

Before the Vigilante Corps headquarters at Daejeon City Hall, a figure in a motorcycle helmet showed itself.

It was Phantom. While he took in the city hall building through the shared view, a familiar face waved from not far off.

"Oppa! Over here."

It was Yuna, who had gone on ahead to Daejeon. She was on the second floor of the annex, where both their parents were staying. To check on his parents first, he sent Phantom up to that floor.

A little later, familiar faces appeared.

"Ah, it's been a while, son."

"How have you been? Are you eating properly?"

Father and mother. Hanseong exchanged a few simple greetings with the two he had not seen in so long, and at the same time used Detection, centered on them.

Not long after, he let out a sigh of relief.

Good. Thank goodness.

He had confirmed that neither of them was under any puppetry prohibition or abnormal status. No one else in the annex carried a puppetry-related skill either. Once he had checked that carefully, Hanseong turned Phantom around.

"I'll be going, then. The truth is, I came because I have business with the vigilantes."

"All right. Just ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠don't push yourself too hard."

"If anything gets difficult, you tell us anytime."

With a farewell that warmed his chest, Phantom left the annex at once—and ran into Yuna just coming out of the restroom.

"You heading to the director's office?"

"Yeah. Something I need to check."

"Then I'll show you the way. I happen to have business at the vigilante headquarters too."

There was no reason to refuse. If anything, it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠worked out. He had something he had meant to give Yuna. Hanseong took it from his Inventory and handed it to her at once.

"Yuna. Take this."

"Huh? What is it? A smartphone?"

Just as she said, it was a smartphone—one specially modified by the Magic Engineer, Lee Minjae. Its functions were not much different from the ones Hanseong and Jihye used. Still, better that she have it.

"With this, you can reach me from anywhere, anytime. Charge it with ether."

"Whoa, really? That's amazing."

"So if something urgent comes up, contact me whenever. I'll pick up right away."

"Okay. Got it."

Yuna smiled, soft and bright. She clutched the phone Phantom had given her and tucked it carefully into her pocket.

A moment later, having led Phantom to the door of the director's office, she turned as if her part were done.

"See you later, then."

"Yeah. You be careful too."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

After the goodbye, Phantom, left alone, knocked on the office door. He put real force into it, so it sounded less like a knock than a fist hammering the wood. A familiar voice came from the other side.

"What? Was someone else supposed to come today?"

"No, nothing was scheduled..."

The Butcher, Jeong Yeeun. The druid, Yoon Sangmin. Along with voices he had not heard in a while came the one Hanseong had come to see.

"Yes. You may come in."

Leader of the Vigilantes, High Priest Lee Seokhwan. At how readily he welcomed an unknown visitor, Hanseong sighed. Then he opened the door and sent Phantom straight inside.

In that instant—

"Hah!? Y-you...!"

"The Fire-Lightning Mage!"

Yeeun and Sangmin shot up from their seats, faces startled. More than that, a thread of wariness showed in both their eyes.

Yes. That was the right reaction. Only a reaction like that would keep them from letting a puppeteer walk right up to them. Seokhwan's was different.

"Haha. A welcome guest has come."

Seokhwan broke into a hearty laugh. Looking at Phantom, he showed neither tension nor wariness—only a benevolent smile, as if he would welcome anyone at all.

"It has been a long time, brother."

At Seokhwan's greeting, Hanseong answered with a nod of Phantom's head. Then, without preamble, he spoke an epithet aloud.

"...Yes?"

Seokhwan tilted his head, looking rather puzzled.

"I—what do you mean, all of a sudden..."

A different reaction from Yoon Cheolmin of the Sejong Provisional Government. This side did not seem to be under a prohibition yet. The details would have to wait, of course, until he could look with Detection.

Hanseong moved Phantom onto the sofa and sat. Then he explained the real reason he had come: the Sejong Provisional Government troops stationed in northern Daejeon.

"...Hmm. I see."

When he first brought it up, everyone reacted with surprise, as if to ask how he could know such a thing. When he said he had heard it from Yuna, the mood shifted into acceptance.

"Sister Yuna said such a thing..."

"Yes. So I brought a solution."

"A solution?"

Hanseong opened his Inventory without a word. Through Phantom, he took out the withdrawal order he had received directly from Yoon Cheolmin and unfolded it.

"Th-this is...!"

"I went to Sejong and got it."

Unlike Hanseong's calm tone, Seokhwan, Yeeun, and Sangmin all stared, eyes wide. The Sejong unit had been deployed only two days ago. Yuna had left Daejeon for Suwon just this afternoon. And already he had brought back a solution this solid.

"Hoo... thank you. I felt it last time as well, but it seems we only ever receive help from you, brother."

"You don't need to trouble yourself over it. I'm being helped as well."

His tie to the Vigilante Corps was mutual. In exchange for Hanseong's protection, the vigilantes gave his parents, and the children who had lost their families, a place to stay and food to eat.

"So let's move on to the next matter."

"The next matter...?"

"Have you recently met anyone who looks like this?"

What Phantom took out next was a notebook. Opened, it showed a drawing of a man in a gas mask. The moment he saw it, Seokhwan nodded, memory returning.

"Ah. The one who came about two days ago."

An answer that matched what Yuna had said. Seokhwan tapped his forehead as if calling the day back and went on.

"I remember he said he had come all the way from Gwangju to see me. But..."

"I kept him from meeting you."

Sangmin cut in all at once. Like Seokhwan, he seemed to be recalling that day, and soon his brow furrowed.

"I got a bad feeling off him. Not like facing something alive—more like meeting something close to a zombie... Ah. Right."

Sangmin's eyes widened a little, as if he had found the comparison he wanted.

"It felt like you do now."

Phantom. An empty shell with no soul. He had felt something like this? Then the one in the gas mask was probably not the puppeteer himself, but a puppet.

While Hanseong was nodding at the new information—

"Um, excuse me, but what have you all been talking about? I can't follow any of this..."

Yeeun raised her hand at a fitting moment, looking utterly lost. So Hanseong told the three of them what had happened in Sejong: Yoon Cheolmin, already bound by a puppetry prohibition, and the puppeteer as well. Once they understood, every face hardened.

"To think something like that happened..."

"...The thought that I wouldn't even remember my own words or actions gives me the creeps."

Yeeun shuddered. When he had finished, Hanseong turned a warning on Seokhwan, as if giving an order.

"So if any more like him come, do not meet them lightly. It would be trouble if contact laid a prohibition on you."

"I will keep it in mind, brother."

"I'll see to the commander's guard, so nothing like that happens again."

A quick man, as expected. Hearing the answer he wanted from Sangmin, Hanseong smiled in satisfaction. Around then, the notice he had been waiting for arrived.

He used Detection on Seokhwan at once and confirmed that no skill, and no prohibition, lay on him. With that, his business with the Vigilante Corps was finished.

Phantom rose at once. Seokhwan got up with him and asked:

"Are you returning to Suwon now?"

"No. I'm going to deliver the withdrawal order to the Sejong Provisional Government unit in northern Daejeon."

"Ah. That matter was still outstanding."

Seokhwan nodded in silence. Then Sangmin and Yeeun added their own words.

"If you need help, say the word."

"If the road looks like it'll be boring, just tell me. I can go with you as far as the area."

Kind, but unnecessary. He was more comfortable alone, and if they refused the order to withdraw, he meant to settle it by force if he had to.

"If I learn anything new about the puppeteer, I'll come again. If any of you learn something, contact me through Yuna."

"Understood. We'll do that."

"I'll look into it on my own, too!"

With those steady answers as the last of it, Hanseong stored Phantom in his Inventory. Then he fixed the coordinates of his second destination: the outskirts of northern Daejeon.

Three units deployed, in all.

Two of about five hundred each, on the northeastern and northwestern outskirts of Daejeon. And at the center of the northern outskirts, a unit of more than a thousand.

The commander will be with the larger force.

Judgment made, Hanseong released Phantom toward the unit stationed in northern Daejeon—to meet its commander, deliver the withdrawal order, and learn something new about the puppeteer.