#163
Hahoe mask rise (3)
Inside the laboratory, filled with all kinds of cutting-edge equipment.
“Okay, that’s it. Now open your eyes! A new world awaits you!”
The high-pitched, raspy voice of a man rang out loudly.
And then a man in his thirties, lying on the operating table as if waking up from sleep, slowly opened his ‘both’ eyes and looked at the ceiling.
“Woohoo! As expected, you have truly revolutionary eyes! Hehe~ I’m jealous, I’m jealous. You’re so lucky! Actually, I was the one who was going to write that first···.”
Ignoring the chattering voices, the scribe raised his upper body and looked around.
Indeed, the restricted left field of view that occurred two months ago has disappeared.
“I was going to gouge out one of my eyes and replace it with another, but I got caught by Hoi-ju right before that. He was so irritated! My head still hurts when I think about how I got scolded that time.”
He was concerned about the ‘doctor’ who was talking so earnestly without any response, but it was true that he had gained new perspectives thanks to him, so he didn’t say anything special.
‘It wasn’t just blindness, but damage to the soul, so no matter how many eye transplants there were, it was useless…’
A medically inexplicable, literally permanent loss.
But that problem could also be solved by circumventing it in another way.
“···Of course, it’s a shame that the unique skill is expressed through the eyes! But still, one side remains, and it was an opportunity to realize a romantic dream. Reform and evolution are the ultimate values that humanity should pursue!”
Jiying— Jing—
Letting go of all that exaggerated talk, I could feel a slight vibration coming from the newly transplanted eyeball every time I shifted my focus.
However, the mechanical sound made by the camera’s aperture moving was so quiet that only I could hear it, and it was impossible to notice it from outside.
He looked into his own eyes through the mirror on one side.
The left pupil, which was splendidly contrasting with the plain black eyes, had a soft blue circle around it, and the iris inside it was filled with geometric patterns, mysteriously glowing.
Born from the fusion of mechanical engineering and magical engineering, this ultimate prosthetic eye has the shape of an eyeball and is placed in the eye socket, but its mechanism is completely different from that of a real eye and is a magical tool.
As he was admiring his new eyes…
Chin! Whirl—!
As I spun around, someone grabbed my shoulder, and my vision was filled with eyes sparkling with madness.
The doctor, who had come up close to the subject without anyone noticing, thrust his bearded face in and grabbed the subject’s head tightly.
Then he stretched out one hand, opened his left eye, which had the implanted eye, wide open, and began to examine everything again.
“Wow~ As expected, the technology in the Calicas dimension is revolutionary, right? I should have gone to that dimension! What a tragedy that I can only access it in such an indirect way!”
The scribe sighed as he saw him spitting and talking in his face again.
A middle-aged Westerner with a dirty lab coat and disheveled gray-brown hair.
Despite his shabby appearance, this man was definitely not to be taken lightly.
The fact that he was a first-generation returnee who was caught up in the first other-worldly transmission was only a secondary factor; he was a genius of the century who led the current Bancheonhoe’s technological prowess.
The work of gathering and improving the mysteries of each dimension, including magic, sorcery, alchemy, and magical engineering, would not have been possible without that demonic brain and the “Eye of Truth” he possessed.
“Wow! It’s a good thing my friend came back with this prosthesis. I heard it was incredibly expensive even in your area!”
“I see. Such a precious item… Thank you again, Doctor.”
The fact that such an object exists on Earth naturally means that someone brought it there.
A returnee who poured all of his hard-earned savings into buying new eyes just before returning.
Of course, he is no longer of this world.
“So, my lord, I have a question for you!”
“···yes.”
Anyway, thinking that this man’s atmosphere was difficult to follow, the scribe reluctantly answered.
“The being that made you like this, ha… haha?”
“It’s a Hahoe mask.”
“Anyway! You know that smile mask? I was really interested. I looked into it out of curiosity and found it to be quite interesting!”
The doctor, who did not listen to others, continued talking in an excited tone.
“As you know, this is the first time in Korea that we have been destroyed like this. Of course, plans fail all the time in other countries, but the foundation itself has completely disappeared. Oh! That’s not what I’m saying. Since the chairman has accepted it, I’m not in a position to say anything!”
As always, a bright smiling face.
But those clear eyes were shining so brightly that it felt dangerous.
“So when do you plan on starting your activities in Korea again? Of course, it’s not urgent, so it’s not a problem if you don’t move right away. But don’t you think you should do something?”
The corners of the scribe’s eyes twitched at that secret question filled with desire.
The damaged eye problem has now been resolved, but it was only two months ago that he became a living corpse in a fight with Hahoe-tal.
At that time, I had suffered a serious injury that would have taken me several years to recover, and honestly, I was having trouble breathing and couldn’t move my legs, so I was confined to a wheelchair…
The problem was that the position of the Doctor, the general manager of the technology department, was higher than that of the East Asia branch manager, Yulryeongja.
“···We were already planning to make preparations in advance. We can’t just leave it there forever, so it would be better to prepare in advance.”
“Wow! Alright, Ruler! If there’s anything I can do to help, just let me know. I can’t wait for the day when a good test subject comes in! Where should I start~!”
And originally, all evil organizations were black corporations.
***
“Whew—that feels refreshing.”
After going to the gym as usual, I took a leisurely shower, sat down on the massage chair, listened to the TV as my radio, and closed my eyes tightly.
Since the house was big and I had a lot of money, I prepared everything I needed in advance so I never had to go out unnecessarily.
Come to think of it, these days, I feel like I’ve been stuck at home, except for going out for “object projection”…
‘Hey, anyway, you went out. You go out once a day and meet people. You’re really sociable!’
When I use “Object Projection”, I feel more like I’m moving an avatar than an individual named Han Seong-Hyeon, and I’ve decided to put aside the fact that most of the people I’ve met are criminals.
If I go into more detail, I’ll look too pitiful.
“Hmm, by the way, that black magician… was he called Ahn Sung-jin?”
I turned up the intensity of the full-body massage chair to the max and thought about the person I had visited the night before.
It was difficult to judge with certainty since they came from different worlds, but by Outerica’s standards, he was only slightly less skilled than a great wizard.
However, considering the characteristics of the hegemonic black magic, the instantaneous fighting power will not be lacking at all.
‘Of course, what I want is not fighting power.’
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Fortunately, he did not reject this peaceful scouting offer but readily accepted it.
Now that they have entered into a contract by mutual consent and are able to exercise even a little bit of coercion, they will not dare to betray him.
‘Promises are important. I don’t plan on treating you badly since you don’t seem like a bad person, but I can’t tolerate you doing something foolish.’
I had no intention of asking you to do something unreasonable anyway.
If you just do your best to bring me the information I want, that would be enough.
Also, if they do a good job, they are willing to take care of various employee welfare benefits.
‘The work of turning the Thousand-Year-Old Demon into an undead is also going smoothly···.’
Of course, since it was different from the corpses we had used before, we couldn’t handle it carelessly.
To properly utilize the best ingredients, you must invest the appropriate amount of time, effort, and resources.
The corpse of the Thousand-Year-Old Demon Lord, sent to Hans, the original master of Outerica, through the “Avatar Cloud”, was undergoing preliminary work to make him undead.
‘When we need the undead, we can take them out from here as a subordinate subspace of the heart, so it won’t matter. The capacity isn’t that large, so it’ll be difficult to handle a large number, but we don’t need a large force on Earth anyway.’
Since it is made with the finest ingredients, Cheon Sal Ma Je… no, now even ‘Sal Ma’ for short will be reborn as a very satisfactory product.
Although the side effect of overdosing on the Abyss was that my soul was badly damaged, it wasn’t a big deal since undeads were just guys with a few screws missing anyway.
“Karma points… oh?”
I sat on the massage chair and leisurely organized things one by one, then my eyes widened slightly.
Although Hans had used the 640,000-worth ‘Mental Strength Enhancement’ shortly before he attacked the imperial capital of Jerone, the scale of what he did afterwards was so great that he had gained quite a few points.
‘It’s true that the home theater is effective. It’s only been a short while since it was released, and it’s already sold 800,000 copies.’
Even so, it was steadily increasing at a fairly fast rate, and it was an increase that would make other Awakened people laugh and say it was ridiculous if they knew about it.
Now, the points needed to strengthen unique skills are 1.2 million.
It shouldn’t take too long to get to the next step.
-Then shall we move on to the next topic? There has been a lot of talk about it lately, so you may have heard about it at least once. It is about the awakened person called ‘Hahoe-tal’!
-Ah, that’s right! He’s a very talkative person these days.
At that time, a story about him started to flow out from the TV that was turned on as if it were a radio.
And as always, the topic quickly turned from questions about his identity to arguments about the legitimacy of what he had done.
-···Uncontrolled, indiscriminate force is dangerous! The standard for judgment is your own subjectivity. How can this be in a country governed by the rule of law···.
-···Of course, we can’t say that his actions are absolutely right, but it is clear that he is greatly contributing to the security of our country. Can’t you quickly see that just by watching a little bit of overseas news?
-Oh, right. I heard there was a big mess in Japan this time too? A disaster with hundreds of deaths…
The modern world was truly the height of chaos.
In Korea alone, there are thousands of superhumans who have overcome all kinds of adversity and hardships and returned with strength.
It is impossible to estimate how many there are worldwide.
Although the current system is maintained because the forces that are trying to protect society for various reasons, including family, are stronger, the situation is no different from having potential time bombs scattered everywhere.
‘Not only users of black magic or mines, but also Awakened beings intoxicated by power and desire are serious threats. Even though Hans’s force suppresses them to the point of suppression, such guys keep popping up, so if you say there is no control to that extent…’
That is exactly the current situation overseas.
Of course, other countries were not without strong people, and there were quite a few who hunted criminals mercilessly like Hans.
Among them, there were those who set up their own crime detection system as if it were a magic trick…
‘No one can compare to Hans, who has all of those abilities in one body. And on top of that, stealth and mobility.’
In addition, the fact that the land area is small compared to the population also played a big role.
These various factors combined to create the peaceful Korea we see today.
“Phew.”
I got up from my seat and slowly headed towards the terrace.
The spacious garden, which was possible because it was located in the suburbs of Seoul where land prices are cheap, was neatly and cleanly maintained, and the landscaping stones and garden decorations placed here and there created a tranquil atmosphere.
‘Of course, if you step in without thinking, you will experience hell.’
This was a magical realm filled with security devices that had been created by mobilizing the abilities of Hans, Heinz II, Heinrich, and Harris.
All the garden ornaments were mediums of magic, and their arrangement was also carefully decided according to the “path of magic”.
And the one who is at the center of this iron fortress is himself.
As long as I was in there, I could be considered absolutely safe.
‘Okay, now that the Korean side is more or less sorted out, let’s broaden our horizons a bit.’
It just so happens that the ‘Salma’ case has revealed that the Bancheonhoe has been secretly and meticulously operating for quite some time.
This probably wasn’t the only time something like that happened.
It must have been common not only in Korea but also around the world.
‘I’ve been letting them off the hook for a long time because they’ve been avoiding Korea. Let’s start by expanding our reach to nearby countries.’
You won’t be able to maintain it regularly like in Korea, but cleaning it once will have some effect.
I was willing to put up with a little hassle just to know that I could f*ck them off.
But it is true that I am still a little hesitant to visit foreign countries in person because they are still so confusing.
Isn’t this a completely different problem from just taking a light stroll and patrolling with “object projection” to some extent?
‘Hmm… What’s Hans’ schedule like now?’
The process of turning Salma into an undead is expected to take quite a long time, so there will be no problem.
It was enough to instruct Olivia in advance about the basic skills of a Demon King, such as sending out a swarm of minions to level up the warrior party.
‘Hmm, no problem. Well, if there’s a problem, I can just call them in.’
Because that was the biggest advantage of Avatar Summoning.
In this way, it was decided that Hahoe masks would advance overseas.
First of all—to Japan, which is the closest and the right size.
