Part 1 Chapter 4 (16)

– Masquerade copies all stats and appearances. It cannot copy anything above your own C-rank, so if you recruit a B-rank Hero as a companion, you can easily clear the stage. (Likes 2, Dislikes 7)

ㄴ Yeah, next noob. A B-rank in Chapter 1? You wish they’d join you. Why not just call Seolhwa Princess?

ㄴ Their Affinity Rate was A-rank from the start, so if it’s A-rank from the beginning, isn’t that practically meta-gaming?

ㄴ No, they copy you as soon as they see you, what are you supposed to doㅡㅡ

Two weeks after the release of Deathdinath of the Blue Sky, Chapter 1 Strategy Guide Tip.

* * *

Kuung!

Cheolpyo’s steel fist swung. The door of the Main Assembly Hall was shattered, and the woman who was struck by the punch rolled down the aisle.

“…….”

The veil wrapped around her neck completely blocked external attacks. However, the defense was weak in areas not covered by the veil.

“Where did you get such a peculiar item?”

Cheolpyo entered the Main Assembly Hall, smacking his lips. Even after being hit by a punch that could crumple thick steel plates, the woman before him didn’t cough up a single drop of blood.

“…….”

The woman said nothing and touched her mask with her hand. It seemed she intended to hide her identity until the very end.

“It’s too late, Cheon Gaeul.”

“…!”

The woman, Gaeul, bit her lip behind the mask. Her identity was revealed, but she couldn’t take off the mask.

“Don’t ask how I knew. I saw you from the moment you jumped out the window.”

“……There’s one thing I want to ask.”

Gaeul adjusted her veil. Cheolpyo glanced at his smartwatch and nodded.

“What is it?”

“The massacre happening in Dongjak right now. Do you know about it?”

Gaeul pointed to her neck. Cheolpyo touched the pine tree emblem engraved on his own neck and laughed.

“Of course I know. That’s why we came up to Seoul.”

“…You’re Heroes! You save people and exterminate monsters!”

Gaeul clenched her fist.

The Pine Tree Unit.

Model prisoners who had reformed their wicked ways for the sake of this nation and its people, with upright minds and hearts like evergreen trees. These reformed individuals always worked and served the weak of New Seoul with smiling faces.

But that wasn’t it.

Their true appearance, seen from outside the fence of New Seoul, was hypocrisy and lies. Their true nature was, in essence, criminals and murderers.

“Tsk. If you had just quietly acted in New Seoul, you could have lived peacefully.”

Cheolpyo clicked his tongue and rolled his shoulder. Inside the burnt Main Assembly Hall, Gaeul was a rat in a trap.

“I don’t know if you were hiding it, or if you awakened in Seoul. But no matter how high your mana is…”

Cheolpyo leaped. Gaeul hastily threw her body to the side.

“Your death won’t change.”

Kwaang!

The floor of the Main Assembly Hall exploded. Gaeul dodged Cheolpyo’s punch, but her body swayed from the shock of the explosion.

“It’s a common mistake beginners make when they’ve just awakened.”

Cheolpyo straightened his posture and threw a straight punch from his spot. The wind pressure imbued with mana swept over Gaeul, and the cutting wind thoroughly ravaged the areas not covered by the veil, leaving scratches on Gaeul’s body.

“They awakened their mana, but they don’t know how to use their ability.”

Cheolpyo lunged forward again. Gaeul struggled to move her body, but her legs were stiff as if frozen, unable to move.

The fear of being unilaterally ravaged. The shadow of a purple monster flickered from Cheolpyo. That monster that rushed to kill her in the parking lot.

“!!”

Gaeul instinctively raised both arms to protect her head. Cheolpyo’s fist slammed down directly onto Gaeul’s raised arms.

Kuung!

“……Pooh.”

Red blood flowed from beneath the mask. Her instincts drew out mana to block the impact of the punch, but she should have moved her body to dodge it somehow, not just block it.

“Even though you’re not a physical enhancement ability user, you only know how to reinforce your body with mana. Just like now!”

Cheolpyo raised his leg. His iron-like shining leg kicked Gaeul, veil and all, sending her flying sideways.

Kkaang!

The sound of steel clashing against steel. Cheolpyo momentarily felt a misconception from the sensation in his leg.

Gaeul’s skin, revealed through her torn clothes, was covered in steel, just like Cheolpyo’s skin.

“Who says, I don’t, know my ability?”

Gaeul’s eyes flashed behind the mask. Gray mana continuously swirled in her pupils.

“I’ve heard it day and night until my ears were calloused, you know?!”

Gaeul swung her fist. She threw it wildly, having no combat experience, but that fist was covered in steel, just like Cheolpyo’s.

Kaang! Kaang!

Each time Cheolpyo’s and Gaeul’s fists collided, a piercing sound spread. A clear metallic clang filled the Main Assembly Hall as if a hammer was striking an anvil, but the expressions of the two clashing ability users were utterly grim.

Gaeul, who swung her fists and kicked her feet haphazardly, and Cheolpyo, who dodged and counterattacked with boxing-like footwork.

At first glance, their fierce battle seemed evenly matched.

Kkaaaang!

Gaeul pushed with both hands, sending Cheolpyo’s body flying. Cheolpyo’s vital points were untouched; only his two forearms, which he had raised to guard, were slightly dented.

“Haa, haa, haa!”

In contrast, Gaeul was covered in bruises. Her vital points, covered by the veil, barely avoided being hit, but Cheolpyo persistently struck her exposed arms and legs. The moment her steel skin deactivated, the impact left bruises.

“How strange. How can you awaken the exact same ability as me?”

Cheolpyo trembled. His opponent’s ability was exactly the same, as if they had copied his own.

“Haa, hooh.”

Gaeul leaned against a desk, gasping for breath. The saliva in her mouth tasted coppery.

“Tsk.”

Spit mixed with blood fell onto the floor of the Main Assembly Hall. Gaeul readjusted the mask on her face. Blood stained the white mask.

Cheolpyo cracked his neck from side to side.

“Give up. If you stay still, I’ll send you off painlessly.”

“Do you know how much pain the people in Dongjak are in?”

“What a great Hero you are. Do you think you can save those people if you go?”

“You won’t know unless you try!”

Cheolpyo clenched his fist. Gaeul lowered her stance again.

If their abilities are the same and their mana is similar, then the outcome of the battle naturally depends on experience. It was only natural for Gaeul, an ordinary person, to be pushed back by Cheolpyo.

Nevertheless, Gaeul did not give up her resolve until the end. Even now, in Dongjak, the ability users of the Pine Tree Unit were probably massacring innocent citizens.

When she had no power, she couldn’t protect them. But now that she had power, she could protect them.

“Alright. I’ve watched enough of those dramas, so I’ll give you a chance.”

Cheolpyo raised his index finger and pointed at the veil.

“Take off that protective gear and come at me with all your might. If you land a single blow on me, I’ll let you go without a fuss.”

“Do you think I’d fall for that?”

Gaeul heightened her senses. The opponent’s expression, actions, gestures, and even the mana emanating from them. There was no falsehood in the emotions she read from the indifferent opponent.

Cheolpyo was genuinely making a bet. Gaeul fiddled with her veil.

“……”

It’s hard the first time, but it gets easier the second time. But Gaeul did not put down her veil.

“Do you think you can trick me with such a shallow method?”

“Yes. But you, you haven’t awakened long, have you? I can tell from fighting you.”

Cheolpyo curled up the corner of his mouth. He opened his mouth wide like a fierce leopard eyeing its prey.

“Your mana is boiling, making you feel like you’re going crazy, right? Vitality flows through your entire body, and your heart pounds, intoxicated by your mana and ability. And you want to show it off. ‘I’m an ability user, I’m this strong.’ Isn’t it like a drug? Everyone who awakens an ability is like that. They want to show off their power.”

“……Are Villains always so talkative?”

Cheolpyo held his stomach and laughed.

“Khahaha! I am a Hero officially registered with the country! You are an ability user trying to stop that mission, a Villain! Who would call me a villain?”

“If murderers who kill innocent people call themselves Heroes, then I’d rather just be a Villain!”

Gaeul slammed her fist down on the nearby desk. Her steel fist shattered the desk in one blow.

Cheolpyo’s eyes gleamed. His opponent’s ability had become a little more refined and stronger. It was a sign that she was getting used to using her ability.

“This is getting fun to fight.”

Pfft. Cheolpyo clashed his fists together, then licked his lips as if disappointed.

“But I’m sorry. We’re busy right now.”

Saeek-

Gaeul turned around in surprise.

At the entrance of the Main Assembly Hall, a woman released a bowstring. A pine tree tattoo was visible beneath the scarf wrapped around her neck.

Saeek–!

A mana arrow cut through the air. Gaeul quickly reinforced her body with mana and tried to raise her veil to block the arrow.

Suddenly, the arrow curved sharply.

Puk.

“Ah…?”

Gaeul bit her lip at the pain she felt in her back. The arrow, drawing an arc, went around Gaeul’s body and pierced her heart from behind.

“As expected of Robin. A master archer who can freely control the trajectory of arrows.”

“Newbies are easier to hit than apples.”

Gaeul’s body collapsed. The mana arrow vanished into light.

Cheolpyo approached Gaeul and lowered his head. The gray light in Gaeul’s eyes gradually faded.

“Why did you run out like that? If you had just quietly hidden, you would have lived a little longer.”

Teol-seok.

Red blood flowed like a river down the aisle of the Main Assembly Hall.

* * *

The curtain falls.

All the lights on the stage turned on, and the audience members one by one gathered their belongings and left the seats. Even as the credits rolled, Gaeul couldn’t leave her seat.

Cheon Gaeul. Died at the age of 28.

Awakened her ability but was attacked by Pine Tree Unit Heroes, and died from excessive bleeding in the Main Assembly Hall of the National Assembly Building in Yeouido.

That was the end of Cheon Gaeul’s life.

“Ah, ahh, ahh.”

Gaeul clutched her head and bowed. Tears welled in her eyes and dripped down, soaking her thighs. She regretted it, regretted it, but it couldn’t be undone.

Cheon Gaeul, was dead.

“How is it? How does it feel to die?”

The audience member sitting on her right asked. The woman, who looked exactly like Cheon Gaeul, wore a black and white mask on her face.

“You’re angry, you feel wronged, you feel like you’re going crazy, right? Why did I do that? I should have just hidden.”

“Shut up…!”

Gaeul lifted her head. The masked Cheon Gaeul, sitting in the seat next to her with an aisle between them, pointed at the credits.

“28 years of life, 14 years as an actress, and less than 10 minutes as an ability user. The second act, which might have started anew, ended just like that.”

The masked Cheon Gaeul pointed at the screen with her finger. The scene from the Main Assembly Hall just moments ago rewound on the screen.

“You should have been calm. You didn’t reflect on yourself due to the pressure to save people and the exhilaration of gaining power. Do you think being an A-rank ability user is special? How many A-ranks are there in South Korea?”

“I know!”

“If you knew, why did you act so recklessly?”

The gray light in Gaeul’s eyes in the video extinguished. Her pupils lost focus, and blood continued to flow from the pierced spot in her heart, reaching the very end of the Main Assembly Hall floor.

– Cheon Gaeul, confirmed dead. What should we do now?

– Leave her until we find the item. Once we find it, set the Assembly Building on fire again. Haven’t you found anything strange anywhere?

– We haven’t checked the Speaker’s office where Cheon Gaeul came out, but there’s something like a Barrier created by mana there.

– Go. That’s the jackpot.

The man Gaeul fought and the man who killed Gaeul left the Main Assembly Hall. Before losing consciousness completely, Gaeul, lying spread-eagled on her back towards the ceiling, reached out her hand upwards through her blurring vision.

– I’m… sorry….

Teol-seok. Her arm fell to the floor. It was an undeniable death, one from which she couldn’t recover her body with mana.

“What exactly were you sorry for?”

“……Many things.”

Gaeul bent over. Tears dripped from her eyelashes directly onto the ground.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save people, I’m sorry I couldn’t return alive to my parents. And….”

The masked Cheon Gaeul rewound the video again. The blue monster that appeared in the Speaker’s office adjusted Gaeul’s veil, then concealed itself again.

Wal-kak. Tears fell from Gaeul’s eyes.

“I acted on my own… I’m sorry I felt like I betrayed you.”

“Yes. So, if you knew, why did you do it?”

The masked Cheon Gaeul took off her mask. The woman, who looked much older than Gaeul and had many scars on her skin, curled up the corner of her mouth and scoffed at Gaeul.

“Now that the human Cheon Gaeul is dead, there’s no chance to apologize.”