It was an incredible lightning bolt.
The whole world flashed. When the light that had tinged the entire world white disappeared, all electronic devices in the vicinity momentarily went dead.
The helicopters in the air swayed greatly from side to side. Some managed to make emergency landings, but others crashed.
“Aaaah!”
As the debris scattered around, the spectators who had gathered around screamed.
It was chaos.
Do Chae-hee ducked to avoid the explosion. When she finally came to her senses and turned her gaze back to the scene, they had already left.
“What!”
While Do Chae-hee raised her head and scanned the surroundings with her eagle eyes, the spectators around began to chatter noisily.
“What was that lightning?”
“Wasn’t Weltschmerz’s leader a water user? Is it someone else?”
“It might be!”
“But you know. To summon lightning of that level…”
“Doesn’t it have to be at least 7-Circle?”
At someone’s murmur, everyone closed their mouths with a ‘hup’. Silence fell in an instant.
Do Chae-hee also momentarily held her breath.
“Huh.”
Certainly, she had been so preoccupied with the thought that Weltschmerz had disappeared that she hadn’t considered it, but not just anyone could summon lightning of that level.
The moment ice spears pierced the Butcher’s body and his head rolled on the ground, the fog that spread out.
And before that fog disappeared, the tremendous lightning that struck the scene.
Lightning, huh.
Weltschmerz’s leader’s ability wasn’t lightning. Wasn’t he clearly a water ability user?
Han Seo-hyeon, and the big guy she thought was physical-type…
Among the three at the scene, who on earth used this lightning?
Her mind was in turmoil.
But she couldn’t just stand there dazed. Do Chae-hee, coming to her senses, shouted into the radio.
“Recover the Butcher’s corpse and immediately pursue Weltschmerz.”
[A-are you planning to track them?]
“Are you saying we should just sit here with our hands tied? Search the mountain behind us first!”
[Yes!]
Although she sent out a tracking team, Do Chae-hee didn’t really think they could catch Weltschmerz. Honestly, it would be better not to encounter them.
The tracking team wouldn’t even be a mouthful for those who had taken down even the Butcher.
“If you find them, absolutely do not approach closely!”
Do Chae-hee, adding one more word out of worry, hurriedly jumped over the crowd of people and ran to the scene. A stench of blood mixed with something burnt permeated the scene.
Do Chae-hee, covering her nose and mouth with her forearm, glared at the scene.
Weltschmerz, who had been here just moments ago, had disappeared without a trace.
‘They were right here.’
It had been two months since she had encountered their substance after the auction. It was only two months, but in that time, Weltschmerz’s status had changed dramatically.
Who would have thought they would actually take down the Butcher.
Seeing the Butcher’s corpse, Do Chae-hee tightly closed her eyes. The state of the corpse was truly horrific. Ice spears stuck all over, the head blown off far away. The hideous corpse, burned by lightning, was too terrible to look at with open eyes.
She wanted to go to the mountain behind and search for Weltschmerz, but she had a duty to clean up this scene.
“Is the scene cleanup team late?”
[Well, they say they’re coming soon! They’re almost here but there’s some traffic in front…]
“And ask for cooperation from the filming teams that were at the scene, tell them to give us anything they filmed. Anything that captured the battle between Weltschmerz and the Butcher.”
The confrontation between Weltschmerz and the Butcher was broadcast almost in real-time to the public. Of course, they couldn’t get very close due to the ice spears and dark red mana flying around, but it was a spectacular battle that was enjoyable to watch even from afar.
Dark red demonic energy and ice spears constantly striking the ground. And the lightning that struck at the end.
Has there ever been a time when so much information related to Weltschmerz was spread to the world as in this battle? Weltschmerz had always hidden their strength until now. Of course, it doesn’t seem like they showed their full power this time either, but it was important that the whole process was filmed.
If we properly analyze that video footage, we should be able to find out about Weltschmerz, who had been veiled until now.
At that moment, an ominous sound reached Do Chae-hee’s ears.
“Aaah! All the data has been burned!”
“The footage is gone? What, what! Mine too!”
At those words, Do Chae-hee immediately headed to where the cameramen had been. All the footage is gone?
“Hey you, no, wait, you’re…”
“What do you mean the data is gone?”
“Well, you see. Because of the last lightning, all the devices went dead, so we thought…”
They say all the data stored in the information recording devices has been lost.
“It seems the lightning from earlier had some kind of EMP effect.”
Well, it was lightning that generated electromagnetic force strong enough to even crash the helicopters flying around.
It might have been fine if it was analog, but analog recording devices have long been extinct, so the chance of getting that footage here was zero.
“The, the live broadcast should be fine, right? Someone somewhere must have recorded it!”
At Do Chae-hee’s words, someone said:
“But the live broadcast footage is extremely degraded in quality due to contamination by the mana gathered around.”
“I-is that so?”
But that seemed to be all. Do Chae-hee left orders for her team members to secure the live footage.
In the end, that was all they got that day.
The Awakener Crimes Division that rushed to the scene but ultimately let the villains escape. The Awakener Crimes Division that lets villains escape right before their eyes. News with headlines like that would probably flow out this evening.
Thinking about the criticism that would pour down on her, her shoulders felt heavy.
But she couldn’t stay deflated by the criticism.
“I have to catch them.”
Do Chae-hee holed up in her office with materials she had gathered from various places. And she began her analysis.
The one who mainly faced the Butcher was Weltschmerz’s leader.
She didn’t know why he brought three people but mainly fought alone. Park Cheol-wan said it was ‘because of pride’, but it seems he received help at crucial moments.
Anyway, the one who mainly faced the Butcher this time was Weltschmerz’s leader, Mask. The alias he used in Australia was ‘Lee Seung-joon’.
The main technique he showed in this battle was ice spears.
Everyone saw him pulling out dozens of ice spears and handling them freely. Although water alone lacks destructive power, so it made sense to fight by pulling out ice spears, the speed at which he pulled out the ice spears was ridiculous.
If the attribute is ‘water’, it should take time to freeze that water and then shape it into a spear.
The spears Weltschmerz summoned appeared already frozen from the start. How high must his attribute affinity be to be able to transform it so instantly?
Judging by the quality and quantity of mana he moved, he’s estimated to be at least 6-Circle, and although it’s a hasty judgment, she should even consider 7-Circle.
8-Circle… probably not, right? 8-Circle. There’s no way he could be on the same level as those monsters, of which there are only three in Korea, or only two if we’re talking about active ones.
And the two people who appeared at the scene, or should she say one person and one skeleton.
Weltschmerz’s big guy was a face she had seen in Australia too. The alias he used then was ‘Choi Se-jin’. The difference was that unlike then, this time he had cut off all his long hair that had covered his face.
This time, he carried the children in his arms. The children’s parents were witnesses. If they ask for their cooperation, they should be able to get a composite sketch soon.
Do Chae-hee thought this man was probably the awakener who had blown people’s heads off with his fists at the laboratory.
Back then it was fists, but this time it was a sword. Was this guy the main culprit in the guild raid incident last time?
And lastly.
Han Seo-hyeon, who had used the alias ‘Oh Hye-seong’.
Han Seo-hyeon’s appearance was barely captured at this scene.
Han Seo-hyeon’s talent is that of a necromancer who raises the dead.
The skeleton that appeared when rescuing the hostages, and the beast that bit the Butcher’s hind legs at the end.
‘It’s definitely Han Seo-hyeon.’
Do Chae-hee closed her eyes.
Among these, who used the lightning that caught people’s attention at the end?
The leader with water talent?
The fist who only showed physical abilities and didn’t use any abilities?
Or…
No, it can’t be Han Seo-hyeon.
Although it’s not certain who used it, it was powerful enough to be called 7-Circle without being strange.
If they had used that power earlier, they could have taken down the Butcher much faster.
‘They hid their strength.’
Everyone thought so.
That they deliberately took time despite having the power to finish off the Butcher from the start.
There were various opinions about the reason, but it wasn’t seen as unrelated to Weltschmerz rescuing the young children at the scene.
So they say the reason Weltschmerz took time was to get enough time to properly rescue the hostages.
‘That’s not even funny.’
A villain is a villain.
Rescuing the hostages was certainly a grateful act, but Weltschmerz were murderers who had killed many people so far.
They just didn’t harm children. No, actually, even that wasn’t certain.
Because the whereabouts of the ten children who disappeared from the laboratory were still unknown.
“Bastards.”
Do Chae-hee still thinks of Weltschmerz as terrible villains.
She was disgusted by their appearance of ‘I’m different, I’m a good villain unlike those guys’.
Because even with that level of ability, in the end, what they did were crimes like theft, murder, kidnapping, abduction. This is just what’s been revealed, how many more hidden crimes might there be?
Knock knock.
At the knocking sound from outside, Do Chae-hee raised her voice.
“Come in.”
“I thought you’d be like this.”
The one who opened the door and came in was Park Cheol-wan with a haggard face. He must have been thoroughly chewed out again today. Do Chae-hee greeted him with a bitter smile. Park Cheol-wan said as he plopped down on the sofa:
“It’s a shame, we could have caught all those bastards. Don’t you think?”
“How could we have caught them? I heard all the hunter support requests were rejected by the higher-ups.”
“Yeah. They say it would lower the prestige if we borrowed the hands of guilds, which are no different from private companies, when we have our government.”
“Who did they say was coming?”
“That friend, Jeong Ho-san from the Crimson Hound Guild…”
Do Chae-hee showed a surprised expression at the name she hadn’t heard in a long time.
“I thought you would remember. I also thought the name sounded familiar and looked it up later. He was a person of interest in the Kang Yi-sin case, right?”
“Yes. And he said something like that before too. That if there was anything he could help with regarding his friend’s investigation, he would help anytime.”
“Ah, such a righteous character. Come to think of it, that Kang Yi-sin guy…”
“I don’t even know where he’s holed up.”
There wasn’t even the usual life reaction that humans would have.
“At this point, I think we should just assume he’s left Korea.”
“Yeah. Tsk.”
She had completely forgotten about it, being so focused on Weltschmerz. Park Cheol-wan, reading Do Chae-hee’s expression, quickly added:
“There are guys causing enough trouble to fill your head these days. It’s natural if it’s natural.”
“Hmm.”
“Ah, right. It seems the higher-ups have decided to take Weltschmerz a bit more seriously now. Because their leader might be a complex talent holder.”
“Is it really complex talent?”
“It might not be, but if it is complex talent, it’s certainly troublesome, so they’re saying we should prepare in advance.”
He has a water attribute ability that should be at least 6-Circle, and on top of that, a lightning ability estimated to be at least 7-Circle.
If this is true, it means an awakener that could turn Korea upside down has appeared.
But what if it’s a villain?
Curses came out involuntarily.
Park Cheol-wan asked Do Chae-hee, who was frowning like that:
“By the way, how long are you planning to keep it a secret?”
“What?”
“Han Seo-hyeon.”
At that name, Do Chae-hee’s heart sank.
“You knew?”
“Yeah. I was hoping you would reveal it yourself, but you didn’t say anything. But you know, right? It’s become impossible to hide him now.”
The skeleton that appeared in front of everyone. Even though he acted to rescue hostages, he was still a member of Weltschmerz.
Do Chae-hee nodded.
And so, the Awakener Crimes Department decided to publicly issue a wanted notice for ‘Han Seo-hyeon’.