#71
New Order (1)
Flutter flutter—
[Hehehehe… What’s going on? No matter how much I clean up the trash, there’s no end in sight.]
A dark night without even moonlight.
There was a black piece of clothing fluttering in the wind on top of a tall building.
The only thing that can be seen in the darkness surrounding it is a pair of blue eyes.
Those two eyes looked down at the splendidly shining night view, shining coldly like an absolute being looking down on the world.
In fact, it wasn’t wrong to say that it was absolute.
Because he was the very same Immortal King, the disaster of the Auterica dimension.
‘The crime rate in the areas it swept through has decreased, but as the area it covers continues to expand, the amount of work actually increases.’
By becoming the Immortal King, I gained infinite magical power and used skills such as “Way of Magic” and “Magic Domination” to greatly improve the “Contagious Service Magic Final Version_Revised_2nd_FINAL(3)_Real Last” that I had been using.
And thus, the ‘Complete Edition of Contagious Ministry Magic’ was born.
It has become more stealthy, more accurate, and has a wider detection range.
Because of this, his area of activity continued to expand to cover the entirety of Seoul, and the number of villains he had to punish was becoming too much to handle.
[It is truly lamentable that this world is so full of malice. How great must the poison in their hearts be for this to happen?]
How is it only their fault that society has become so chaotic?
Aren’t they also just another victim of wounds in this world?
therefore···.
[Yes, I will accept all your anger towards the world. You will never let out your malice again… You will enjoy eternal peace in my arms. Hehehehe—]
Someone needed to break that cycle of misery.
And Hans, the embodiment of all evil, would be the most suitable person for the job.
Then a new signal was detected again.
Robbery and murder using supernatural powers, unfortunately, it seems that there have already been several victims.
[Oh, I… did it.]
If this happens, won’t he have no choice but to take it back?
Hans’ body was enveloped in darkness and his appearance slowly began to blur.
Before he completely disappeared, hundreds of things rippled in the shadows beneath his feet, as if screaming.
As if warmly welcoming the new arrivals who will soon arrive… very roughly.
***
“What do you think? Do you understand something?”
“Hmm… I get the gist of it. If certain conditions are met, the trauma will be replayed repeatedly, but by mixing in the curse with an evil thought, it’s impossible to bypass it.”
A man wearing a baseball cap pulled down low on a hospital bed answered, placing one hand on the head of the sleeping man.
“I already knew that. What about breaking the spell? Can you do it?”
“Oh, that? I absolutely can’t do that. The system is different, and for one thing, they’re at a higher level than me. If I mess with them for no reason, I’ll get punished too.”
The man in the suit who asked the question frowned and glared at him, perhaps unsatisfied with his answer.
“Then what else can you do? Have you figured out anything else?”
“I know one thing for sure. The human who put this curse on you is a monstrous monster. If I were you, I would rather commit suicide than fight this guy.”
“···Is that all?”
Park Han-cheol, team leader of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Ability Management Bureau, sighed and roughly scratched his head.
The man wearing the hat opened his mouth to explain in more detail.
Right now, he was cooperating with the investigation by providing advice on black magic.
“First of all, the level of black magic is high. Judging from the complex and solid structure, it seems like it was systematically learned over a long period of time in some dimension.”
It was clear that he had not only learned it superficially, but had also properly realized and acquired the vision.
“And the density of the black magic is unspeakable. It’s not just a matter of quantity, but the quality itself is different. I want to ask how you accumulated such pure energy.”
As you grow in energy, impurities are bound to accumulate, but the black magic used here was surprisingly pure.
This was the first time he had learned that black magic, which was originally an impure energy, could cause such harm.
“Lastly… I don’t know if it’s a unique feature of your system or a vision, but the way you use curses doesn’t seem human.”
“What are you talking about?”
The man in the hat looked at the person lying in the bed again carefully, as if his sharp eyes could see right through his mind.
“In the first place, a curse is a double-edged sword, so you have to be very careful when using it, right? If you’re not careful, it could come back to haunt you.”
“···I’ve heard that kind of story a lot.”
“But this gentleman has no defenses against it at all. He pursues only the faster, stronger, and more efficient methods. And yet, it fits so naturally.”
There was not a single frill to protect himself from the curse.
There had to be some kind of detour or something, but this was something I couldn’t even touch.
“Don’t you have a curse immunity skill?”
“That may be the case… But this doesn’t seem to be at that level, do you think? Something feels subtly off? Should I say it lacks humanity…?”
“Ha! Humanity is frozen to death by a curse. Even that guy must have gone mad a long time ago.”
“Hey, that’s what I feel. And not all black magic users are crazy, right? Even I’m pretty sane at this level, right?”
Park Han-cheol stared blankly at the man wearing the hat, Ahn Seong-jin, and sighed again.
Of course, he was usually quite well-behaved, but he had a seizure once and caused an accident, for which he was arrested.
Although he was able to block the mental contamination of black magic with special skills, the problem was that it wasn’t perfect.
Soon after he returned, he witnessed gangsters storming into his parents’ store, where they were struggling to make a living, and his control was broken.
Fortunately, it didn’t go as far as murder, and after considering various factors, he is now helping out at the Ability Management Bureau.
‘He may look like that, but he’s a high-ranking warlock. He could have run away, but he’s a man of sound mind who was caught and brought back without a fight, thinking of his parents.’
It’s true that he had been a great help to me, so I couldn’t say anything more to him.
“You said that the one who put this curse on was Hahoe-tal? That after killing a criminal, he takes the body with him?”
“Yes, there are cases where only blood full of black magic is left behind, and there are also cases where it is taken away without leaving any trace.”
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“Wow… A necromancy used by a warlock of this level? That’s really scary. Even your soul will become a slave.”
“···really?”
“Death is not the end for a necromancer. Your body and soul will be recycled until they are worn out. It wasn’t for nothing that I said earlier that suicide was better.”
Of course, like Ahn Sung-jin, he may be weaker than expected because it is not his specialty.
The body may have been taken for practice purposes.
But it was foolish to hope for such luck from an opponent of this level.
“Actually, this guy has been here for quite some time. He was attacked when Hahoe-tal was at its peak and hasn’t been discharged yet.”
Park Han-cheol gestured to the man lying asleep in bed and said.
That man was also a criminal, so they put him to sleep to make the investigation easier.
“But the Hahoe-tal, which had been quiet for a while, has started to move again. So, there are some guys who just came in today, and their treatment is almost finished, so I would like you to take a look at them.”
“What difference can be made if time passes?”
“But wouldn’t it be possible to read something more from the opponent right after they’ve been hit?”
“Hmm… Then shall we take a look?”
Since what he said wasn’t wrong, Ahn Sung-jin nodded obediently.
And after entering the intensive care unit, they came across a mummy with bandages wrapped all over her body.
“Uh… What did this person do wrong to deserve this?”
“Let’s see… It was arson. It seems to have ended at this level because there were no casualties. These days, Hahoe-tal mainly catches violent criminals, so most of them are summary executions.”
It was only natural that I got busier as my scope of activities expanded.
An Sung-jin nodded and moved to the sleeping patient’s bedside, placed one hand on his head, and closed his eyes.
Let’s do that for a moment…
“Ugh!”
His eyes widened for a moment, he quickly pulled his hand away and took a few steps back.
“ah···.”
“Why? Is there something different?”
“Aha… Ahaha— So, Team Leader! What are you going to do with this Hahoe mask?”
An Sung-jin, who does not answer the question, but instead laughs and talks about something else.
Park Han-cheol frowned for a moment, but then answered the question obediently.
“Rather than catching him, we should first figure out his identity. After that, we’ll verify him again and try to persuade him. He seems capable and good at keeping his own principles.”
“Like me?”
“What… is that so? No, but why are you suddenly like this? Did you find out something?”
As he frowned and shouted in frustration, Ahn Sung-jin smiled gently with eyes that seemed to be looking into the distance.
“I think I should take back what I said earlier.”
“Oh? You figured something out!”
He nodded proudly and slowly opened his mouth.
“I guess I… should die right now. … But I’ve helped the country a lot so far, so I guess I’ll get a pension for my service, right? How much money have I saved up….”
When Ahn Sung-jin suddenly started talking nonsense, only then was Park Han-cheol able to read his expression properly.
His eyes, dilated and unfocused, were staring blankly into space, and his face, which was forced to smile with the corners of his trembling lips, was soon covered in cold sweat.
“···Are you okay?”
An Sung-jin recalled what happened a little while ago with a blank expression.
The moment I looked closely into the curse to get information.
He locked eyes with ‘that being’.
[Hoo—? What are you doing?]
I thought it was a simple thought I had seen in previous curses, but… something was different.
A pair of glowing blue eyes were staring straight at him, in a shape that seemed to be made up of an endlessly dark abyss.
An Sung-jin’s mind instantly went blank at the sight of those eyes that seemed to pierce through his soul.
When he came to his senses, he was in the middle of a seizure, hastily disconnecting himself···.
Meanwhile, a pair of eyes were quietly watching him.
Until the moment he left, I continued to watch him without taking my eyes off him for even a moment.
“Hey! What’s wrong with you! Come on!”
“Ahahaha… It’s okay. But I think I need to call my mom first, so could you leave me alone for a moment? I think it would be good if you told me you were on a secret mission for a bit and marked me as a martyr.”
The difference between the first curse and this one.
It wasn’t just that I got stronger or grew.
The density of existence itself was different.
Just a glimpse of it was enough to shake my soul.
He was also a high-level warlock, so he could know a little bit about it.
He lowered his gaze and looked at his hands.
Looking at my hands that were trembling without warning, I clenched my fists and strengthened my resolve again.
‘My existence has already been discovered. Since my soul has been observed directly, he can find my location whenever he wants.’
Depending on Hahoe-tal’s whims, his surroundings could become dangerous at any time.
If he comes looking for me while I’m at home…
‘No! It would be better to die now! And if I die now, my soul might not be captured and I might be able to attain Buddhahood right away…’
slap-!
“Hey! An Sung-jin! Aren’t you coming to your senses!”
I came to my senses for a moment, accompanied by a burning pain from the ball.
Only then did my surroundings begin to come into focus.
“Hey! I have an idea of what’s going on, but calm down for now!”
Park Han-cheol slapped Ahn Sung-jin in the face while he was panicking, and then sighed when he saw his eyes return to his.
“First of all, you need to know this. Up until now, Hahoe-tal has only punished criminals. And it has set its own standards and differentiated them according to the crime.”
In the case of serious crimes such as intentional murder, they were executed immediately, but for other crimes, they were sentenced according to their own judgment, just like the criminals standing next to them now.
“And he knew from the beginning that we were after him. And yet he never did anything to us.”
Because there was a clear line in Hahoe-tal that only criminals were judged.
“Do you understand? You’re not in your right mind right now. Calm down and think about it calmly.”
“ah···.”
After hearing his words, Ahn Sung-jin took a deep breath and sorted out the situation.
Yeah, now that I think about it, it wasn’t like I found out any great information.
Not only did I not know the identity or location of Hahoe Mask, but I also knew that its abilities were ‘great’.
It just so happened that our eyes met by chance through thought.
Eventually, he was able to look at his condition objectively.
I only briefly encountered a glimpse of existence through the curse, but I was so terrified that I fell into a panic.
“Ahahaha… I see….”
“Are you calmed down?”
“Yes… Excuse me, Team Leader?”
“Oh! Yeah! Why? Do you have something to say?”
“I’ll just take a break for a moment…”
dump-!
An Seong-jin, whose tension had suddenly disappeared, collapsed on the spot as if fainting.
“Huh? Hey! Suddenly? Here?”
Park Han-cheol’s voice sounded like it was coming from afar, but he no longer had the energy to argue about many things.
***
[Hmm… There are cases like this.]
In a space surrounded by darkness on all sides, Hans stared quietly to one side.
At the end of the direction his blue eyes were pointing… there was exactly one hospital.
