The Burning Puppeteer (3)

"I'll get straight to the point."

The gas-masked puppet laid out its master's goal in a flat, mechanical voice.

"Since the Cataclysm, we have been working to build a new nation on the Korean Peninsula."

"…What?"

"Not a collective led by politicians of the old era, but a nation of equals, centered on the survivors who lived through the Cataclysm and proved their strength. That is our ultimate goal."

"Now, when everything has been reset, is the perfect time to build an ideal nation."

A new nation?

The sudden, grandiose ambition left Hanseong staring blankly. Sangmin and Yeeun, standing behind Phantom, wore much the same look. The puppets paid their reaction no mind at all and pressed on without pause.

"To do that, we must first seize each region and remove the politicians of the old era. Then we gather the capable survivors in one place."

"For that purpose, we have already taken Honam and Yeongnam. The original plan was to take Daejeon as well, but…"

"From what I can see, this place appears to be your territory. Very well. We will not touch Daejeon."

The puppets shook their heads from side to side, then stared straight at Phantom.

"Let me say this in advance. We have no wish to make an enemy of you. And of course, we have not the slightest intention of interfering with your work."

The long speech ended there.

Only a dead silence hung over the hall. Hanseong forgot even to move Phantom and simply stared at the puppets, his face saying he could not make sense of any of it.

…Are they actually in their right minds?

They meant to build a nation where everyone stood equal, in the world after the Cataclysm? An idealistic story. No—closer to nonsense. The threat was still very much alive. The rifts had only just begun to open, and in the worst case more of them would break free until the Fallen God was summoned to Earth.

And they're already talking about what comes after that.

Too hasty. Far too hasty.

Once he had ordered his thoughts, Hanseong threw them back at the puppets. Wasn't this ridiculously premature, when the Cataclysm was not even over? The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠answer that came back was something to behold.

"Ah. We'll leave that to you."

As casually as if they were handing off a chore that was obviously his. The puppets answered in one voice.

"We would only get in the way, after all."

"So please keep hunting the monsters and the rifts, just as you have been. In the meantime, we will struggle for everyone's future."

"…"

The very height of shamelessness. Their utter confidence left Hanseong speechless. He was still too dumbfounded to answer when Sangmin, quiet until then, cut into the conversation.

"So what you're saying is, you mean to use the Mage."

"No. That isn't the meaning. We mean that each of us should do our own part from where we stand."

"That's the same thing! You dump every dangerous job on the Mage, then sit somewhere safe and skim the honey for yourselves!"

Yeeun's jab struck the heart of it. Just as she said, the puppeteer's proposal was absurd nonsense. Did they seriously believe anyone would accept an offer like this?

At Sangmin and Yeeun's accusations, the puppets let out a low sigh.

"It seems we cannot get through to you."

"No, the ones we can't get through to are you—!"

"Mage. I will ask you."

Ignoring Yeeun as she lunged at them, the puppets turned their gaze straight to Phantom.

"What do you think of our proposal?"

"I refuse."

Hanseong answered at once. It was not a proposal worth a moment's thought.

"The threat of the Apocalypse hasn't even fully passed, and I don't have the leisure to play along with nonsense like that."

"…I see. A shame."

The puppets sighed again, then turned back to Phantom.

"We do not wish to fight you, but…"

"If you keep interfering with us as you did yesterday, we will no longer be able to endure it."

"Hah! And if you can't endure it, what are you going to do?"

"That sounds an awful lot like you mean to fight."

Yeeun and Sangmin shot back. The puppets shook their heads.

"No. It is a little different."

"The Mage himself is difficult to touch carelessly. His level, above all, is far too high. So we will aim for the people around him."

Hanseong's brow shot up.

That was not all. Sangmin and Yeeun's faces twisted past disbelief into open outrage. Anyone could hear the threat in what had just been said.

"However strong you may be, protecting everyone around you will be difficult."

"Yes. For example…"

"We could blow this whole area away as a demonstration, and then open negotiations once more…"

Before the puppets could even finish, the wind blades waiting at Phantom's side shot forward as one.

A keen shearing sound split the air, and their torsos fell apart like dry reeds. In the same instant, Hanseong swept the remains into his Inventory.

And then—

He ejected their remains at a point exactly five kilometers overhead. In that instant, a roar like bombs going off split the sky, and the puppets' bodies detonated—hard enough to blast every cloud from the heavens.

A truly enormous blast. Had it gone off on the ground, the radius would have been wide enough to wipe out Phantom, Sangmin, and Yeeun, and the Vigilante Corps headquarters along with them.

"What the hell…"

"Wh-what was that? Did something explode?"

Grasping the situation a beat too late, Sangmin and Yeeun looked as if ice had crawled up their spines. Hanseong was different. He watched the fragments powder into ash and fall out of the empty sky, and he ground his teeth.

What? Go after the people around him? Blow this whole area away? That was as good as saying they meant to erase his family. As he turned the puppets' words over, fury spread through his eyes like a fire catching, and with it a sharp will to kill.

"You bastard…"

The puppeteer had crossed the line. Until now, Hanseong had passed the same judgment on everyone who crossed it. So he swore it. He did not know where they were hiding, but he would find them as soon as he could—and he would wipe them out.

Right after the clash with the puppets in Daejeon, the first thing Hanseong did was write a post on the Information Strategy Board.

Just as Baek Yerin herself had done, he meant to gather information on her out in the open. The moment the post went up, the reaction exploded.

Comments poured in within moments. He did not expect much from them. Finding her himself would be far faster than waiting on tips. Even so, he had written the post to put pressure on her.

Once she knows someone is hunting her, the strain will get to her.

Then she would be more likely to act outside her plan, and that would raise the chance of snagging her in Kotori's search net.

Next he contacted the Vigilante Corps and the Suwon Provisional Government, and he gave both groups the same warning.

First: anything that approaches wearing a gas mask is to be killed on sight, no questions asked.

Every gas-mask puppet possessed Self-Destruction. They could not be allowed anywhere near the bases. He also ordered that if something wore a zombie-like face, or if there was any suspicion it was a puppet, they were to shoot without hesitating. That, at least, ought to prevent a disaster with casualties on a massive scale.

Second: until Baek Yerin is captured, all activity outside is to stop.

Her puppets came in two kinds. The ones in gas masks were, in truth, easy enough to handle—even with the masks off, their faces looked like zombies. The problem was the other kind. People like Minister Yoon Cheolmin, head of the Sejong Provisional Government, were ordinary enough in daily life until a prohibition took hold and turned them into puppets.

If someone carelessly wanders outside a base and comes back already under a prohibition, we're finished.

So he strictly banned outside activity. He added that survivors arriving at the bases from elsewhere were, for the time being, to remain outside. With that, the urgent fire was out. They should be at least somewhat ready for Baek Yerin's schemes.

He had just finished every measure when his phone suddenly buzzed. He tapped the call button on reflex, and a familiar voice slid into his ear. It was the Crow Shaman, Kotori.

"You mean the bounty?"

She shot the question back, voice bright with excitement. Hanseong frowned.

"Just do the job I already gave you, and do it properly."

Her report followed. Around Seoul and Gyeonggi, only a tiny number of puppets were moving—altogether, not even a dozen. Past Chungcheong and farther south, the numbers climbed sharply. Jeolla and Gyeongsang, in particular, had seen far more of them.

Come to think of it, they said that too.

That they had seized Honam and Yeongnam. Then Baek Yerin was likely staying in one of the two regions. Hanseong told her to concentrate the search on Jeolla and Gyeongsang, and Kotori obeyed without protest. Then, as if something forgotten had just surfaced, she added:

"In Japan?"

A reasonable suggestion. Hanseong nodded at once.

"Fine. I'll leave that to you."

From what he had been told before, Kotori could create up to five clones. A genuinely useful ability for a search. If he had his way, he would have engraved even the skill that shared his senses with the crows onto an Enchant Ring, but unfortunately that was impossible.

They said an Enchant Ring can only imprint general skills.

The unique skills belonging to each job could not be engraved on an Enchant Ring, and the skills he had just considered were unique to Kotori. So he set the idea aside early.

All right, then.

He would start searching on his end as well. He could not leave the whole of it to Kotori. He had already looked over the Gwangju area last time; from here, he meant to look wider.

Gunsan, Iksan, and Jeonju.

The three regions that had reportedly clashed with the Vigilante Corps. Hanseong used Detection and Precise Observation on them in turn, and he was still quietly combing for Baek Yerin when Kotori returned.

She brought what she had learned from the puppeteers in Japan. Hanseong sent Phantom to the Jamsil Base, where her clone was waiting.

"Let's hear it, then."

"Ah, yes."

Kotori nodded, and her account began.

"The puppeteers I went to see—there were two."

Uratsuki Hiroshi, the Paper Puppeteer, and Minami Ryoko, the Clay Puppeteer. Each of them made puppets from a medium—paper or clay—and controlled them. Listening, Hanseong tilted his head.

"A skill that turns humans into puppets?"

"I asked about that, actually. They said no such skill exists. A puppeteer basically makes puppets from one specific material."

"Which would mean…"

"She might not be a puppeteer in the first place. On the boards, the alias people go by and their real job are often ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠different."

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

A plausible guess. It was also wrong. He had already confirmed through Detection that they possessed the Puppetry skill, and that was why he could be certain the gas-masked things were puppets. When he rejected the theory, Kotori smiled brightly.

"Then there's only one answer."

"…A Blessing holder."

If she had received some Blessing, as he and Kotori had, then it made sense that she could turn humans into puppets and control them. With a Blessing or without one, a skill's effects could diverge completely.

"Anything else?"

"Ah. They said there's a restriction when you control a puppet."

"A restriction?"

"For example, Mr. Uratsuki can control his paper puppets only while he's holding his breath. The moment he exhales, he loses his hold."

In practice, that meant only a few minutes of control. So the Paper Puppeteer fought mainly by fixing improvised explosives to his puppets and flinging them at the enemy.

"And the other one?"

"Ryoko can control puppets made of clay only while her eyes are closed."

A longer window than the Paper Puppeteer's, relatively speaking. If both of them were telling the truth, then a puppeteer certainly operated under some kind of restriction.

In that case…

Baek Yerin would surely have one too. And if he could learn what it was, he had the feeling it would help the search more than a little. He was sitting in silence, eyes bright, when Kotori spoke again.

"And this is something both of them agreed on."

"They don't know what restriction is on Baek Yerin, but they say even a Blessing holder couldn't keep puppets moving for twenty-four hours straight."

"The basis for that claim?"

"Information they heard from the Tower's administrator."

Then it was likely true. The Tower's administrator had little reason to lie. Hanseong nodded, turning over everything she had said.

"So if we watch for twenty-four hours straight, there will come a moment when the puppets all stop at once."

Genuinely useful information. He arranged to take shifts with Kotori and keep watch on the puppets' movements around the clock. Of course, nothing guaranteed that Baek Yerin would sit still, so he would still need to prepare for that.

Some time later, a full day had passed since the search began.