🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter – 03
“Welcome to everyone who has come at my invitation. Without any long speeches, let us simply enjoy this splendid night.”
With the Marquis of Hendo’s opening remarks, the party began. Soon, the hall filled with noisy laughter as people mingled, enjoying drinks and lavish food.
Mikhail Hendo, the host of the party and current head of House Hendo, was a handsome man with pale blond hair. He appeared to be around the same age as Count Wilson, though his gaunt face was particularly striking.
‘He doesn’t look well.’
At first glance, he simply looked thin, but even his complexion was dark and unhealthy, making Taeyun wonder if he might be suffering from some kind of illness.
In any case, there was no doubt that Marquis Hendo and Count Wilson were the two individuals who demanded the most attention at this point.
“This is amazing! I’ve never seen such luxurious food in my life!”
Mary, who had come along with him, exclaimed in admiration as she busily moved around collecting food and drinks. Meanwhile, Taeyun paid her little mind, fully focused on searching for anything suspicious.
‘Damn it, this place is a mess.’
Taeyun had never liked noisy environments to begin with. And even aside from that, it was no easy task to concentrate and observe anything carefully amid this kind of chaos.
Thunk!
Clatter!
“O—oh! I’m terribly sorry.”
“It’s quite all right. But you dropped something—”
As Taeyun bent down to pick it up, he noticed the sharply carved shape of a bird of prey.
The man reacted with visible shock, quickly snatching it away, offering a hurried apology, and leaving the spot in haste.
‘What was that about?’
At first, Taeyun hadn’t thought much of it, but the man’s reaction had been far too exaggerated to ignore.
Could it be that the bronze-skinned, curly-haired young man was hiding some kind of secret as well?
It wasn’t an unreasonable thought.
‘Maybe because I know how things unfold, but everyone looks suspicious now.’
Shaking his head at how he’d apparently turned into a paranoid cynic, Taeyun let out a shallow sigh.
That was when it happened.
Click!
Clang!
Whoooosh.
“Hm? What’s going on?”
“Ghk! W–watch where you’re stepping!”
“Oh my, I’m so sorry. I couldn’t see in front of me and—”
Food was spilled, people were stepped on, and when the lights in the banquet hall suddenly went out, chaos erupted.
And unlike the irritated reactions of the crowd, there was one person who was concentrating harder than anyone else to grasp what was happening.
Taeyun.
‘Something’s about to happen. No… maybe it already has?’
Though he hadn’t been able to enter a dungeon and had stagnated as a result, Taeyun was still a hunter apprentice who had trained relentlessly for five years.
His physical abilities far surpassed those of ordinary people, and even in pitch darkness, his sharp senses could nearly pierce through the movements of those around him.
And yet—
‘What…?’
Even amid the chaos, Taeyun couldn’t detect any suspicious movement or presence at all.
He was sure this wasn’t just a simple accident, so this turn of events left him strangely deflated.
Click!
Whoooosh—!
The confusion settled, and soon the lights came back on, restoring visibility to the hall.
At that moment, Taeyun had to struggle to keep his composure as a piercing scream and a massive shock assaulted his senses.
“Kyaaaaah!!”
A person—there’s a person!”
“H–hey! Is anyone there?!”
When all the lights turned on, a man was hanging from the center of the ceiling, blood dripping steadily from his body.
Every inch of skin on his face had been stripped away, leaving nothing but raw, crimson flesh exposed.
‘…What the hell happened?’
There had been no suspicious presence. It couldn’t have been a mistake—Taeyun had pushed his senses further than ever in that moment.
And yet, such a swift and stealthy murder?
‘What the hell… was that even human?’
He remembered the man’s face. Just moments ago, he had been one of the guests casually drinking in the hall.
Only then did Taeyun realize just how naive he had been about this theater.
‘The Theater of All Things.’
A mysterious space where anything could happen, and anything could reveal its true form.
In the theater of the ‘Red Man,’ Taeyun’s enemy was not some ordinary criminal.
‘This thing is dangerous.’
An unknown killer whose identity and limits were impossible to discern.
That was the adversary Taeyun now had to face in this theater.
“Sniff… sob…”
“P–please calm yourself, Lady Phelin. Didn’t the Marquis say he would soon catch the culprit and make them pay?”
“Given the circumstances, it would be best to end the party and have everyone leave at first light.”
With a murder having occurred, continuing the party was out of the question. Still, leaving the mansion in the middle of the night—without knowing where the killer was—would be reckless.
As a result, the general consensus was to stay together inside the hall, wait for morning, and leave once the sun rose.
‘This is the classic mansion murder setup…’
Taeyun was confident that before dawn, at least a third of the people here would never see tomorrow.
Having consumed countless novels and films, he knew this pattern all too well.
‘But something doesn’t add up.’
Even so, there were still far too many people left in the hall.
Would the culprit really carry out repeated murders against such a large group? That seemed odd.
‘Right. Murder is just a means.’
Whoever was behind all of this likely had another goal beyond simple killing.
And that goal would surely be achieved before morning.
‘…There’s no time.’
He didn’t know all the details, but one thing was clear: bold action was needed.
Growing desperate, Taeyun sought out Count Wilson Craig, making up excuses as he led him out of the hall.
The moment they entered a sparsely populated corridor, Taeyun abruptly opened a nearby door, shoved Wilson inside, and created a private space for the two of them.
Bang!
“Ghk! W–what is the meaning of this?! Don’t tell me you’re—”
“Don’t play dumb. I already know you’re suspicious.”
This man, whom Taeyun had been advised to watch, definitely had a secret.
And waiting for it to be revealed naturally, according to the flow of events, offered no benefit whatsoever.
“Hah! What are you talking about—!”
“Wilson Craig. I’ve already figured out that you’re involved in this incident. Why don’t you tell me where the ‘Red Man’ is?”
It was a bluff.
If Wilson really knew something and had something to hide, he would react.
However, what followed was entirely unexpected.
“The Red Man? Where did you hear that name?”
“Do you know something about him?”
“I don’t understand… no one should know anything more about the incident from seven years ago.”
Those rambling words, thick with confusion, made one thing clear: Wilson Craig was one of the key figures in this theater.
“Shut up and tell me everything you know.”
“And why should I? Do you think you’ll walk away unharmed after pulling such a stunt in my own mansion?”
“Then just die.”
Taeyun tightened his grip around Wilson’s neck, deliberately adopting an exaggeratedly threatening posture.
Caught completely off guard by the sudden escalation, Wilson hurriedly spoke with a look of disbelief.
“W–wait! I’m the only one who has information about what you’re asking! If you kill me, you’ll never learn the truth about the Red Man!”
“So what.”
Taeyun wasn’t a great detective, but he trusted his instincts.
With people like this, it was best not to give them time to think—just keep pressing forward.
“Y–you insane bastard!”
At that moment, Taeyun realized the room had become filled with an eerie cold and oppressive silence.
When he glanced at Wilson, he saw a deathly pale face, trembling as if he’d seen a ghost.
“The Red… Man? How could you possibly—?”
Crunch!
In an instant, the skin on Wilson’s face vanished, as though something had torn it away. Only a few splatters of blood remained on the floor.
Faced with an utterly unforeseen situation, Taeyun kicked off the ground, rolled away, and gripped the dining knife he had kept on him.
Shing.
‘Where is it? There was no one else in the room.’
Even as he held his breath in a combat stance, nothing happened—only the icy chill battered his exposed skin.
Srrrk.
“…!”
Turning his head at an indescribable sensation, Taeyun saw a male figure whose form was impossible to clearly discern.
The man’s mouth was smeared with blood, and his face was completely wrapped in blood-soaked bandages.
“Are you the Red Man?”
[…]
“Tch. Figures you wouldn’t answer.”
A mysterious monster capable of erasing its very presence—but wasn’t hunting such aberrations exactly what a hunter was meant to do?
Taeyun steadied himself, carefully watching the creature’s movements as he prepared to strike first.
The Red Man slowly curled his lips into a smile, then unwound the bandages from his face and lifted his head, locking eyes with Taeyun.
Srrrk.
Thunk.
Boom!
He couldn’t think.
He couldn’t perceive anything.
The sound of his body collapsing lifelessly to the ground—having lost something precious.
That was Taeyun’s last memory.
“…Hah!”
As if waking from a long dream, Taeyun’s consciousness surfaced from a dark, viscous abyss back into reality.
“Baron Werick? Is something the matter?”
“This is…”
It didn’t take long to understand the situation.
Taeyun had definitely been killed by the Red Man—yet somehow, he had returned to the moment he first entered the theater.
‘What changed?’
He hurriedly pulled out the bundle of tickets from his coat. Sure enough, only two remained.
Whoooosh.
Fwoosh!
Another ticket burned away, leaving just one behind. Only then did Taeyun fully grasp the system governing the Theater of All Things.
‘Each time I’m given another chance, one ticket is consumed.’
Three chances in total.
Since he had used the
