Chapter 3

“I welcome everyone who has come upon invitation. Without further ado, let us enjoy this brilliant night.”

Following Marquis Hendo’s opening remarks, the party began, and soon the air was filled with boisterous noise as everyone laughed, chatted, and indulged in food and drink.

The host of this party and the current head of the Hendo family, Mikhail Hendo, was a handsome man with pale blond hair. He appeared to be around the same age as Count Wilson, and his most striking feature was his gaunt face.

‘His complexion isn’t great.’

He looked simply thin, but his skin tone was so dark and dull that Taewoon wondered if he had some health problem.

Regardless, it was clear that Marquis Hendo and Count Wilson were the two individuals who required the most caution at this moment.

“This is truly amazing! I’ve never seen such luxurious food in my entire life.”

The accompanying Mary spent her time wandering busily in search of drinks and food, constantly exclaiming in admiration, but Taewoon was preoccupied with searching for suspicious elements.

‘Damn it, this is too chaotic!’

Taewoon had never been fond of such noisy atmospheres. Even if he were, it was no easy task to concentrate and observe something amidst this commotion.

“O-oh. My apologies.”

“It’s fine. By the way, you dropped something…”

As Taewoon leaned down to pick it up, a sharply carved image of a bird of prey caught his eye.

The other person jumped in surprise, snatched it back, apologized to Taewoon, and quickly left the area.

‘What was that? Why the fuss?’

At first, he didn’t think much of it, but the man’s reaction was so excessive that it sparked a sliver of suspicion.

Could that tanned, curly-haired youth be hiding a secret as well?

It wasn’t strange for such a thought to occur naturally.

‘Maybe it’s because I know how things unfold, but everyone seems suspicious as hell.’

Realizing he had practically become a paranoid maniac, Taewoon shook his head and let out a faint sigh.

It was exactly then that the anomaly occurred.

“Hmm? What is happening?”

“Urgh! G-get your foot out of the way!”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I couldn’t see in front of me, so I accidentally…”

Food was spilled, feet were stepped on, and as the lights in the banquet hall suddenly vanished, the people fell into a literal panic.

Contrary to their irritated reactions, there was one person who was concentrating more than anyone else at this moment to grasp the nature of the anomaly.

That person was Taewoon.

‘Something is about to happen. No, maybe it already has?’

Although he had been stagnant for a while because he couldn’t enter a Dungeon, Taewoon was a Hunter apprentice who had devoted himself to relentless training for five whole years.

His physical ability was not on a level that could be compared to an ordinary person, and his sharp Qi Sense allowed him to almost perfectly perceive the movements of those around him even in the pitch-black darkness.

However.

‘What…’

At the very least, Taewoon could not feel the movement or presence of anyone suspicious amidst the chaos.

He had thought it wasn’t a simple accident, but if this was the case, it was quite disappointing.

Eventually, the confusion subsided, and the lights in the banquet hall flickered back on, restoring visibility.

At that moment, Taewoon had to struggle to maintain his composure amidst a piercing scream and a massive shock.

“Kyaaaaah—!!”

“A person! A person!”

“H-hey! Is anyone there?!”

When all the lights came on, a man was hanging from the center ceiling of the hall, blood dripping from his body.

Every inch of skin had been peeled off his face, leaving only a raw, crimson surface exposed.

‘…How did this happen?’

There had definitely been no suspicious presence. To call it a simple mistake would be wrong, as Taewoon had been expanding his senses to the absolute limit at that moment.

And yet, such a swift and stealthy crime?

‘What the fuck, is he… not human?’

He remembered the man’s face. He was one of the guests who had been sipping wine in the hall just moments ago.

Only then did Taewoon realize that he had been far too complacent about this Theater.

‘Theater of All Things.’

A mysterious space where literally anything could happen and anything could reveal itself.

In the Red Man Theater, Taewoon’s enemy was not some simple criminal.

‘He’s a dangerous bastard!’

A mysterious killer whose identity was unknown and whose limits were unfathomable!

That was the adversary of this Theater that Taewoon would have to face from now on.

“Sob, hic. Ugh.”

“P-please calm down, Lady Paylin. Did the Marquis not say he would catch the culprit and make them pay the appropriate price?”

“Since things have turned out this way, it would be best to dissolve the party and have everyone leave as soon as morning comes.”

Since a murder case had occurred, it was obviously impossible to continue the party, but leaving the mansion in the middle of the night without knowing where the unidentified killer was would be nearly a tactical error.

Therefore, the atmosphere inside the hall was leaning toward everyone gathering to wait for morning and leaving once the sun rose.

‘This is a classic mansion murder mystery pattern…’

He could bet that before morning came and the sun rose, a third of the people here might never see tomorrow.

Having devoured countless novels and movies, Taewoon knew this fact well.

‘But there is definitely something that doesn’t add up.’

Even so, there are still too many people left in this hall.

And yet, the killer intends to carry out a murder spree against them blindly, over and over? Isn’t that a bit strange?

‘Right, the murder is just a means.’

The entity behind all of this likely has another objective besides simple killing.

And that objective will surely reach its fruition before morning.

‘…There’s no time.’

He wasn’t entirely sure, but what was needed now was decisive action!

Urgent, Taewoon sought out Count Wilson Craig and, using all sorts of excuses, headed out of the hall.

As soon as he entered a secluded hallway, he instantaneously opened a nearby door, pushed the Count inside, and created a space where they could be alone.

“Urgh! W-what is the meaning of this! Surely you aren’t…”

“Don’t bother playing innocent. I came here already knowing you’re suspicious.”

Regardless of the details, this man, who had been the subject of the advice, had a secret.

And no matter how he thought about it, there was no merit in simply waiting for it to be revealed naturally according to the flow of the plot.

“Gasp! What are you… talking about…”

“Wilson Craig, I’ve already figured out that you are involved in this situation. Why don’t you just tell me where the ‘Red Man’ is?”

This was a form of bluffing.

If he knew something or had a guilty conscience, he would definitely react this time.

However, the action he took next was, frankly, beyond Taewoon’s expectations.

“The Red Man? Where did you hear that name?”

“Do you know something about him?”

“I don’t understand… No one should know any more about the incident from seven years ago.”

Nonsense filled with palpable confusion, but with this, it became clear that Wilson Craig was one of the key figures of the Theater.

“Shut up and tell me everything you know.”

“Why should I? Do you think you can get away with such rudeness in my own mansion?”

“Then you can just die.”

Taewoon tightened his grip on Wilson’s throat, adopting an exaggeratedly threatening posture.

Taken aback by the sudden, unannounced aggression, Wilson hurriedly spat out words with a look of absurdity.

“W-wait! I am the only one who holds the information regarding your questions! If you eliminate me, you’ll never uncover the secret of the Red Man!”

“So what.”

Taewoon wasn’t a master detective, but he had his own intuition and wit.

For this type of human, the most effective method is to push them quickly without giving them room to think.

“Y-you crazy bastard!”

Just as he thought that, Taewoon realized the room had been dyed in a chilling cold and silence.

Glancing at Wilson’s face, he saw the man’s eyes trembling, his face pale as if he had seen a ghost.

“The Red… Man? Why on earth…”

In an instant, the skin of Wilson’s face vanished as if it had been torn away by something, leaving only a few drops of blood splattered on the floor.

Faced with a situation beyond his assumptions, Taewoon instantaneously kicked off the ground, rolled, and gripped the dining knife he had brought in his clothes.

‘Where is he? There was definitely no one in the room.’

Even as he held his breath in a combat stance, no anomaly appeared; instead, only a freezing chill beat against his exposed skin.

“…!”

Immediately after, sensing an indescribable feeling, Taewoon turned his head to find a man whose form was nearly impossible to recognize.

The man’s mouth was covered in blood, and his face was tightly wrapped in blood-stained bandages, making it impossible to identify.

“Are you the Red Man?”

[…]

“Damn it, of course you won’t answer.”

The opponent was an unidentified Aberrant Being who could even erase his presence, but wasn’t hunting down such Aberrant monsters exactly the role of a Hunter that Taewoon aimed for?

Taewoon took a stance and carefully observed the opponent’s movements to strike first.

In response, the Red Man slightly curled the corners of his mouth, unwound the bandages covering his face, and slowly lifted his head to look directly into Taewoon’s eyes.

He couldn’t think of anything, and he couldn’t perceive anything.

The sound of his own body, having lost something precious, collapsing helplessly.

That was Taewoon’s final memory.

“…Haaah!”

As if waking from a long sleep, Taewoon’s consciousness, which had been submerged in something dark and viscous, surfaced back into reality.

“Baron Werik? Is something the matter?”

“This is…”

It wasn’t hard to grasp the situation.

Taewoon had clearly been murdered by the Red Man, but for some reason, he had returned to the point when he first entered the Theater.

‘What has changed?’

Hurriedly pulling out the bundle of Tickets from his clothes, sure enough, only two remained.

One more Ticket burned away as if melting, and soon only one was left. Only then could Taewoon truly grasp the system of this Trait called the Theater of All Things.

‘Every time I get a chance, one Ticket is consumed!’

He was given a total of three chances.

Since he had consumed the second Ticket to get this chance, Taewoon effectively had only one spare life remaining.

‘I must Clear the Theater within these two opportunities—the 2nd and 3rd Cycles.’

If he failed, he frankly didn’t want to imagine what would happen.

‘Damn it!’

Having assessed the situation, Taewoon recalled the memories of the previous Cycle and vented his frustration toward the Red Man he encountered at the final moment.

‘Action my ass! No matter how I look at it, he’s not an opponent you can beat by trading punches…’

In the first place, he couldn’t even feel the man’s presence, and the moment he decided to fight, he was murdered without even knowing what happened.

One thing was certain: he must never look at the face beneath the Red Man’s bandages.

“Baron…”

“I am fine. Embarrassingly, I’m feeling a bit motion sick.”

Let’s calm down; there’s nothing to be gained from excitement.

Taking a deep breath to settle his emotions, Taewoon cleared his mind and began to calmly design the objective for this 2nd Cycle.

‘I’ve said it several times, but the Theater’s tags were three.’

Action, Detective, Thriller.

He hadn’t properly experienced any of them in the 1st Cycle, but because of that, he could get a feel for what method he should take to Clear the Theater.

‘The Red Man doesn’t seem to be a being that can be defeated through force.’

Against that guy, there is no such thing as action or fighting. If so, doesn’t that mean there is a separate entity that is the target of that ‘Action’?

‘Deduce’ the identity and Origin of the Red Man through various Clues, and in the process, find those with dirty secrets to approach the essence of the situation.

That is likely the correct way to Clear the Red Man Theater.

‘…Let’s give it a try.’

The target to prioritize was already decided anyway.

Wilson Craig and Mikhail Hendo—no matter what anyone said, these two were the most suspicious.

‘Wilson was murdered by the Red Man, so he’s probably not on the same side…’

Even so, who knows if he’s involved in the incident in some other way?

At the very least, he had to interrogate him about the events of seven years ago, which he hadn’t been able to hear from him.

“Welcome to the mansion, Baron Werik and your party. I will show you the way.”

As soon as he unpacked in the same room as before under the Butler’s guidance, Taewoon didn’t hesitate and went straight to find Wilson Craig in the garden.

‘Where did he go?’

Thinking back, when he first arrived at the mansion, Taewoon had spent quite a bit of time getting acquainted with the faces of those around him.

Having no choice, he wandered around asking about his whereabouts, and soon secured testimony from a noblewoman who said she seemed to have encountered him in the guest library.

“Count Craig? Do you have a moment?”

“What is it?”

At this point, they were strangers, but since he had already seen everything there was to see, Taewoon led Wilson to a space where they could be alone with a consistently confident attitude.

Then, Wilson’s face was slammed straight into the wall.

“Aaaagh! W-what is this insolence? What on earth is your business?”

“Wilson Craig, tell me everything you know about the ‘Red Man’.”

Since he had a general idea, there was no need to say much. Taewoon intended to seriously provoke the secrets the man was hiding from now on.

“Questions are not permitted. If you won’t open your mouth, you know what happens next.”

“…Urgh. You son of a bitch! Why don’t you do as you please? I won’t give you a single word of the information you want!”

As expected, Wilson took a fairly rigid stance and refused to cooperate with Taewoon.

But it was fine. From the conversation in the 1st Cycle, Taewoon remembered that a sliver of agitation had leaked from him.

“Then do that.”

“What?”

“It’s certain that there is someone suspicious, so after I deal with you, I’ll wipe out everyone in this mansion. Then the problem will naturally be solved.”

At Taewoon’s words, which defied common sense, Wilson’s eyes widened and began to shake.

As if looking at a complete lunatic, Wilson spoke with an incredulous tone.

“Are you saying that in your right mind?”

“I am more than capable of doing so. It’s heartbreaking, but there are always inevitable sacrifices.”

“You crazy murderous bastard!”

He said that, but in the process of being subdued by Taewoon, Wilson felt a professional skill that was on a different level from an ordinary person. The claim that he was capable was not mere bluffing.

He had picked a fight with the wrong person.

The will to resist gradually vanished from the eyes of Wilson, who had encountered someone he should never have crossed.

Eventually, after a long while, the tightly closed mouth began to open.