🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter – 05
“Baron Werick… do you really think everything will be all right?”
“There’s no need to worry. Marquis Mikhail is moving swiftly to handle the situation.”
Under Mikhail’s shameless direction—after he hurried back pretending to be shocked—the body was dealt with, and the guests gathered in the banquet hall, spending the night with anxious expressions.
No one knew the identity of the murderer. Worse still, there might already be a traitor among them. Suspicion filled both their gazes and their hearts.
It’s about time I made my move.
Though he had more or less expected it, Count Wilson had been quietly observing Taeyun while pretending otherwise, never letting down his guard.
Then, following a servant sent by Marquis Mikhail, he quietly left the banquet hall. Taeyun felt that now was the perfect moment to act.
There are definitely eyes watching.
Since Marquis Mikhail had begun to be wary of him, everyone working in the estate had to be considered a potential watcher.
But so what?
Taeyun had already decided on his course of action, and he had no intention of hesitating.
“…Baron Werick?”
“I have something to ask the Marquis, so I’ll excuse myself for a moment. It won’t take long.”
Just as he said—this would be settled in an instant.
Leaving the hall, Taeyun began moving in secret, quickly heading toward Mikhail’s bedroom.
He’s not here. Did they choose another place to meet?
But Count Wilson had only just left the hall moments ago.
Thinking he couldn’t have gone far, Taeyun hurried through the estate, tracking their movements.
Then—
He ran into someone completely unexpected.
Thud!
“Oh—are you all right?”
“S-Sorry! I’m in a hurry. Excuse me.”
Taeyun was about to pass without much thought when he realized the man’s face looked strangely familiar.
A young man with bronze-colored curly hair, carrying a badge engraved with the image of a bird of prey.
Where is he going at a time like this?
Sensing something strongly off, Taeyun secretly followed him.
Soon, he saw the young man activate a hidden mechanism in a secluded corner of the mansion, revealing a concealed passage.
Just as I thought—there’s something going on.
Suppressing his presence and keeping his distance, Taeyun continued trailing him.
Before long, he noticed the curly-haired man had stopped and was hiding as well—watching something.
That’s… Mikhail and Wilson?
What in the world was happening?
Regardless, Taeyun knew he had to act soon.
He hid a short distance away and carefully observed the three of them.
“The ritual is going smoothly. Have you chosen the human sacrifice?”
“Viscount Contington. His bloodline still carries a strong trace of my ancestor’s blood. I’ve already fed the mask more than enough blood.”
As the two began speaking openly about their sinister plans, both Taeyun and the young man ahead of him sucked in quiet breaths.
“Since we’ve done it once before, it shouldn’t be as difficult as last time.”
“You’re still hung up on that? That was a mistake. We didn’t even fully understand the ritual back then to begin with—wait.”
“What is it?”
At Count Wilson’s puzzled question, Marquis Mikhail sniffed the air, his expression twisting as he stared toward the wall where the curly-haired man was hiding.
“There’s a rat here. I told you always to watch your surroundings!”
“W-What?!”
How he noticed was unclear, but Mikhail’s eyes suddenly glowed crimson as he grabbed a strange dagger lying in the corner of the stone chamber.
Though he still looked like a sickly middle-aged man, the overwhelming pressure radiating from him made it clear he was no ordinary person.
Just as the curly-haired man panicked and Taeyun hurried to conceal himself—
Mikhail suddenly clutched his face, letting out a tortured groan.
“Ghk—khhh—!”
“H-Hey! What’s wrong with you all of a sudden?!”
When he slowly lowered his hands and lifted his head—
A red wax mask had appeared on Mikhail’s face, as though it had materialized from nowhere.
The most horrified person there was, of course, Count Wilson.
“Why—why the mask?! Stay back! Don’t come any closer!”
Whoooosh!
Slaaash—!
Wilson scattered a shimmering powder from his clothes, but Mikhail ignored it completely and stepped forward, gripping his shoulder.
——!!
A sickening sound of tearing flesh rang out, followed by a horrific scream.
At that moment, both the curly-haired man and Taeyun bolted from the chamber without a word.
Tap tap tap!
“Huh?! Who are you?!”
“That’s my question! Who are you, and why were you tailing the Marquis and the Count?”
Though no real progress was made, both somehow realized instinctively that the other was not an enemy.
And more importantly—
They now shared a far greater threat.
“Let’s get out of here first!”
What Taeyun had just seen was unmistakably the same ‘Red Man’ he had encountered in his first life.
Thinking back… in the first timeline, I panicked and grabbed Wilson instead.
And at that exact moment, Mikhail must have been alone in the stone chamber, carrying out the same ritual.
If the Red Man who killed both Wilson and himself had been Mikhail transformed by the mask—
Everything finally made sense.
“…Hah… seems we have a lot to talk about.”
After reaching a second-floor terrace far from the chamber, the curly-haired man introduced himself.
“My name is Jain. I’m a fixer from Cologne and a member of the Dawn Assembly. I was invited under the alias Viscount Ryung.”
“The Dawn Assembly?”
“A secret order that recovers cursed objects and investigates supernatural incidents around the Bostin region. I’ve been personally tracking this ‘Red Man Ritual’ for many years. That’s how I infiltrated this estate. As for my role within the Assembly—”
Jain rattled on rapidly, until Taeyun cut him off.
“Too long. Summarize in three lines.”
“I belong to a secret organization. My goal is to investigate the ritual and recover the mask. If our interests align, let’s cooperate.”
“Much better.”
So that was it.
Just like exorcists or occult experts always appear in horror stories, this world had its own hidden guardians.
The only question was whether Jain was truly telling the truth.
“Can you prove your affiliation?”
“That question alone tells me you know nothing about the Dawn Assembly. The holy bird insignia I dropped earlier is our mark.”
There was a chance he was bluffing, but all circumstances pointed to Jain telling the truth.
Taeyun suppressed a heavy sigh.
Damn it. No wonder everything felt so complicated and unfriendly.
If he hadn’t rushed blindly in the first timeline and had simply observed events, he would’ve naturally crossed paths with Jain and learned about the ritual much earlier.
Though he had now uncovered the truth behind Mikhail, Wilson, and the Red Man—
He had taken the long and painful route instead of the easy one.
“Now it’s your turn. You don’t seem affiliated with any group—who are you really?”
“I don’t belong to any organization. I didn’t even know such things existed. I came here chasing the truth behind the incident from seven years ago.”
“The first ritual?”
Taeyun then shared everything he had learned across both timelines.
In return, Jain filled in many missing pieces.
“From what you’ve said, it’s clear. Mikhail and Wilson awakened the power of the mask seven years ago and gained the miracle of wealth.”
“Miracle of wealth?”
“One of the boons granted when the red wax mask is activated through the ritual. But the price is horrific.”
The mask originally belonged to the ancient Holstein noble family of the Quiln region.
After the family collapsed and its descendants scattered, the artifact disappeared.
“Seven years ago, more than a dozen members of the Galloway household died in their estate. The incident was buried quietly—but our investigation revealed something monstrous occurred there.”
That had been the first Red Man Ritual.
And the true scale of the tragedy was likely far worse than officially recorded.
“Now it’s happening again in this mansion. Stopping it is my mission.”
Jain spoke solemnly, but Taeyun focused on something more urgent.
“Then why did Mikhail suddenly turn into a monster? He said the ritual was going smoothly.”
“…I don’t know. But what’s certain is that they performed the ritual both then and now without fully understanding it. When you start something that reckless, disaster is inevitable.”
Meaning the ritual had already spiraled out of control.
“So both participants are dead. That leaves us in a dead end.”
“Not necessarily. There may still be a way.”
“What is it?”
“We must first retrieve the mask from Mikhail.”
Taeyun nearly smacked the back of Jain’s head.
Steal the mask from the Red Man?
Was he serious?
“He killed Wilson in seconds.”
“I know. It’s dangerous. But it must be done.”
“…And then?”
“We’ll need a descendant of the Holstein bloodline. There should be at least one or two among the guests.”
“So they invited blood descendants on purpose.”
“Exactly. If we follow the proper ritual and expel the Red Man’s spirit from Mikhail, the ceremony will collapse. That’s how they controlled it seven years ago.”
It wasn’t completely impossible.
The problem was still the same—
How to take the mask from that monster.
The Red Man could move in an almost supernatural way.
And when you looked directly at his bare face, your mind went blank.
As despair crept in, Jain spoke confidently.
“I possess a dagger known as the Holy Bird’s Talon. It’s effective against corrupt entities. If I can wound him, we can immobilize him briefly.”
“That’s reassuring.”
No wonder Jain had been so confident.
With that, there was no reason to hesitate.
Taeyun nodded, and together they moved to hunt down the vanished Red Man.
