episode_0080
by fnovelpiaThe hero that Si-eun had said had never come was right in front of her.
He was saying things that made it clear that he wasn’t just passing by, but had definitely come looking for me.
Were you in the same agency as Draconius?
I only had that thought for a moment, but I am a civil servant belonging to the Heroes Bureau.
Masquerade knew that they were under a completely different agency.
So Masquerade came all the way here on foot to see me.
That’s it now.
That was the only conclusion I could come to, sitting there in a daze, in a dazed state.
Buck! Buck! Buck!
Like a cheerful and refreshing personality.
The Masquerade, whose footsteps were cheerful, quickly approached me.
“You look ordinary despite being so great.”
“Oh, hello… … .”
Scanning my appearance right away without even saying hello.
At first glance, it reminded me of the feeling I had when I first met Ruina.
Come to think of it, no matter how many times I think about it, it’s Ruina and Masquerade.
The two of them always clash, so they secretly have some similarities.
Both of them were wrapped in masks and other things, with no information known to the public.
“Um. Sorry. I am the Masquerade, the messenger from hell.”
With a few beats too late in his greeting, Masquerade suddenly extended his hand.
That hellish thing was his self-introduction that he always said whenever he appeared on the scene.
I took the hero’s hand and shook it awkwardly.
“Oh. This is it. Isn’t that Mr. Masquerade?”
Could it be that voices were heard inside the reception room as well?
No, there’s no way I didn’t hear that thunderous voice.
Anyway, Draconius’s large dragon head popped out through the crack in the door and showed off its colorful appearance.
“Wow. This is a real Masquerade.”
“Oh my… … .”
Soon, the other heroes also put their faces out below Draconius and expressed their delight.
As Si-eun said, is it because a person who is quite individualistic came to visit?
Even though they were clearly top-tier heroes, their attitude toward the Masquerade seemed more like surprise than joy.
“Mr. Masquerade. Did you come here to see the handler?”
Blaze, who seems to be relatively close to him since he belongs to the same agency.
Si-eun asked with a puzzled face.
“Hmm! I heard there’s an amazing person with abilities I’ve never seen before!”
Even the answer is very confident and refreshing.
It was a bold personality that seemed to come out of an old-school special effects hero movie.
“Come on, don’t stand there. Come on in.”
“Excuse me!”
Soon Draconius kindly opened the door.
Masquerade, still with his arms crossed, nodded vigorously and strode into the reception room.
A sudden confrontation with the #2 hero in the rankings.
That hero came to see me too.
My stomach started to churn again as I felt the burden that I had briefly forgotten reach its peak.
“Handler? Haven’t you found the bathroom yet?”
Draconius looked down at me and asked.
“Ah, ahh. No no. Hahaha.”
While I was staring blankly at him, I nodded my head even though I had done nothing wrong and ran away to the bathroom location that Draconius had told me about.
First, report to Team Leader Jang Se-hee.
I think I should go wash my face or something.
* * *
After the Masquerade suddenly arrived.
The gathering of heroes continued without much change from before.
The Masquerade didn’t show much interest in me, contrary to expectations, and simply checked out my abilities with his own body like other heroes.
Other than that, he would just sit there, do nothing, and if someone tried to talk to him, he would just say short, cheerful replies like “Hmm! ”, “I see! ”, “No! ”.
Is that why?
At first, the other heroes were very active in talking to Masquerade, but at some point, they stopped talking to him.
No, what. The other side is giving such a pointless and pointless answer.
Even if I wanted to talk at length, I wouldn’t have the motivation to do so.
“You really wear that mask all day long.”
“Because it’s my identity!”
Even though they were from the same agency, Si-eun was the only one who took care of Masquerade.
What, it’s a bit odd to say that you’ll even take care of that.
It was just a few random words thrown out there.
“… … … … .”
Rather than that, let me look back at myself now.
Masquerade only assessed my abilities and didn’t ask any further questions after that.
But I just didn’t ask any questions.
He was now staring at me with his arms crossed tightly.
That gaze was so blatant that even Si-eun came closer to me and showed me a worried look.
“Mr. Masquerade. You don’t usually look at other people so intently… … . Did you do something wrong?”
“How could that be? I just saw that hero for the first time today.”
Of course, I may have encountered it somewhere I don’t remember.
At least in my memory, Blaze was the first famous hero I encountered as an adult.
I’m starting to have a really bad feeling about this…
Surely you’re not going to keep staring at me like that until the end of this meeting?
… … … … There was a time when I thought that too.
“I’ll contact you again. Have a nice trip, Handler.”
“Thank you for inviting me today, Draconius.”
“Then Seonghun. See you next time.”
“Oh, yeah. You too, Kyungtae, take care.”
“Hey. What are you talking about?”
As more time passed, the hero group that had not been doing much disbanded.
I had just come out of the agency lobby after saying goodbye to the heroes.
“Then… … .”
The moment I was about to head home where Ruina was waiting with her neck stretched out.
I stood up straight and slowly turned my head.
There, still with their arms tightly crossed.
There stood a hero in a white rider suit looking at me.
It’s impossible to even guess what the hero is thinking right now because of the mask helmet that covers his entire face.
“Hey there… Masquerade?”
“Hmm! Are you going back now?”
“That’s true, but… …. Aren’t you going back to Masquerade?”
“You said hero handler?”
Are you having trouble hearing me because of that helmet?
I clearly asked if he was not going back, but instead I was asked back.
difficult.
This hero is really difficult in many ways.
I secretly missed Draconius’s overly polite kindness.
“Hmm… … .”
A distorted breathing sound could be heard from beyond the mask.
Masquerade was slowly loosening the tightly bound arms.
Soon his posture became such that he seemed to be secretly blocking my way home.
“I, I… … .”
“Hero Handler. Abilities are nullified. Duration is approximately 3 minutes.”
“Yes?”
What is this hero suddenly talking about again… … ?
My personal information? Suddenly? Why?
“Handler. Do you know anything about the villain Ruina?”
And then, again, a completely unexpected question was quietly asked.
Who would have thought that Masquerade, who always spoke loudly, could speak in such a low voice?
No, no. More importantly, why are you suddenly asking about Ruina?
I really hope not, but… … .
Do you know anything about my relationship with Ruina?
“Of course you know, right? There’s no one in this world who doesn’t know Ruina.”
I tried to keep my composure and answered with my hands clenched into fists in my trouser pockets.
In my hand was a cell phone, my only means of contact with the National Intelligence Service, which would unconditionally support me whenever I called.
If you are not satisfied, there is a way to call her directly through the accessory communication network that connects you 1:1 with Ruina… … .
If I call Ruina straight to that question, the true meaning of which is still unknown, it will only be a matter of time before my suspicions turn into certainty.
I looked at him straight in the eye, without letting my mind wander to the thought of the Masquerade.
If you hold onto strong thoughts here, even if you don’t want to send them, your thoughts will be conveyed to Ruina.
“Hero Handler.”
And then, with my back to the setting red sun.
Masquerade reached out his hand to me quietly.
“Can you help me?”
…………huh?
Help? Help me? What do you mean?
“Villain Ruina. I must catch him. To do that, I absolutely need your abilities.”
The masked hero’s distorted voice makes a polite request.
Looking at that calm appearance, the doubts I had were only growing bigger.
0 Comments