Chapter 4

“…It was deep in the night. On that day, I was wrapping up a long day at the estate of a very close friend, celebrating his birthday.”

And that was when the incident began.

“I wasn’t the only one visiting the estate. Each of us had prepared a special gift, and that object was among them.”

“What object?”

“You can probably guess, can’t you? A mask made of red wax.”

The Red Wax Mask. He had obtained another crucial clue.

Pleased with the first tangible result he had finally achieved, Taewoon focused his mind even further to remember Wilson’s words.

“At the time, my friend was in poor health. After receiving the gift, he soon fell asleep while wearing the mask. This was because he had heard it was effective for blood circulation and mental stability.”

And that was when the Calamity began.

“In the dead of dawn, screams rang out. The scene was gruesome, and anyone could tell that an anomaly had occurred.”

Wilson’s friend had transformed into an unidentified Aberrant entity, and only after three victims had fallen did the remaining survivors join forces to defeat the creature.

After that, they burned the friend’s corpse and left everything behind to start a new life in a distant land.

“That is the entire truth of the incident. I heard that all the survivors except for me have since passed away, but it seems someone’s record remained.”

Wilson seemed somewhat relieved to have brought up a story he had kept buried in his heart for many years, but at the same time, Taewoon felt as though he was being tested.

“…I see. That was quite helpful.”

For now, two things were certain. First, the object called the Red Wax Mask would be a crucial clue. Second, Wilson was telling a partial lie.

‘It’s probably not an entirely fabricated story.’

However, this man was still hiding some significant fact. Taewoon could not deny that intense intuition.

“Do not forget that I am always watching you. I shall return when night falls.”

“…Ugh.”

As Wilson left the room, Taewoon intentionally projected his presence far away before instantly hiding himself to observe the Count’s movements.

No matter how he thought about it, there were suspicious parts to the man’s words and actions.

‘First question: how did they defeat the Red Man and burn the corpse?’

To put it bluntly, Taewoon was confident he could break the Count’s limbs using only one arm, even if it were the Count in his youth.

Yet, Taewoon himself had been utterly powerless and defeated by the Red Man.

No matter how different the past and present situations were, Taewoon felt an unbearable and intense sense of dissonance at that point.

‘Second question: the Entry Privilege, A Word of Advice.’

Wilson Craig is black.

It was difficult to expect a precise interpretation from such a short phrase, but Taewoon was not a man lacking in intuition.

‘He consistently portrays himself as a miserable victim. But is that really the case?’

In countless crime movies, such a manner of speaking was a predictable pattern for those who were two-faced.

In Taewoon’s opinion, Wilson definitely had something dirty hidden regarding that Red Wax Mask.

Therefore, A Word of Advice was meant to point out that Wilson was by no means a clean human being.

‘Let’s see what you’re hiding.’

As he monitored the front of the room for a while, Wilson soon opened the door cautiously, looked around, and began to walk hurriedly toward somewhere.

Moving carefully to avoid being detected, Taewoon soon encountered a surprising sight he had suspected.

‘It’s Mikhail Hendo’s bedroom.’

He remembered it because the butler had warned him about Hendo while he was exploring the estate during the 1st Cycle.

This meant it was certain that there was some kind of relationship between Wilson and Mikhail.

He wasn’t entirely sure, but he felt that the situation was progressing significantly.

‘Damn, I can’t hear well. What are they talking about?’

Despite Taewoon’s hearing as an Awakener being superior to that of an ordinary human, it was difficult to capture the sound. It seemed the room had been designed with excellent soundproofing.

To eavesdrop on their conversation, he needed to close the distance.

Thus, risking the chance of being caught by the estate’s servants, Taewoon slid toward the door and listened intently while pretending to straighten his shoes.

[I have cleared away every possible problem; surely you haven’t let your tongue slip?]

[You say ridiculous things. Do you think I would make such a trivial mistake? Above all, there is nothing to be gained by betraying each other. Anyone can see that with a bit of thought.]

[Tsk. I don’t know what it is, but that fellow knew about the incident that day, as well as the fact that I was involved! Do you think this is something that can just be overlooked?]

The conversation had already progressed significantly; Mikhail and Wilson were engrossed in a discussion that seemed related to the incident seven years ago.

And in the next moment, Taewoon finally succeeded in obtaining information that brought him closer to the core of the matter.

[There are no problems with the state of the Wax Mask, I assume?]

[Of course. I am checking it more carefully than anything else, so do not make a fuss. There is no need to worry about the man called Baron Werik. When the time comes, I will deal with him personally.]

The Red Wax Mask!

Finally, a mention of that strange object had surfaced, but to make matters worse, it appeared that Mikhail Hendo was the one keeping it.

‘Should I just overpower both of them now and ask for the location of the mask?’

If he seized and destroyed the Wax Mask, or performed a certain Ritual in the correct sequence, wouldn’t the Red Man naturally disappear?

The path to Clearing the Theater shimmered before his eyes, but Taewoon pushed aside his excitement and began to analyze the situation more coolly.

‘It’s frustrating, but I have no certainty that the Red Man can be defeated through the mask.’

And above all, Taewoon had already witnessed the Red Man’s appearance in the 1st Cycle.

If the mask was in their hands, how did the Red Man manifest, and exactly whose doing was the murder case at the estate?

He had an intuition that unless he found the answer to that question, it would be difficult to reach the end of this Theater.

‘…I still have one Ticket left.’

It was too early to throw in his final gambit.

If so, he thought it would be better to observe the flow of the situation in this 2nd Cycle and grasp the full details of the incident first.

[Sigh, it can’t be helped. Please be cautious. It seems Baron Werik has been chasing something in this estate all along.]

[There is nothing to worry about. Just make sure you don’t do anything foolish until the next Ritual is performed.]

The moment the word ‘Ritual’ came out of Marquis Mikhail’s mouth, Taewoon was finally able to draw a proper outline of the situation.

‘As I thought, the incident seven years ago was their doing?’

And for some reason, they were trying to carry out something similar here once again.

‘…Let’s wait for now.’

He desperately wanted to attack the two of them immediately and stop the Ritual, but no matter how he thought about it, now was not the time.

Once the conversation ended, Taewoon quietly moved back to his assigned room.

Night fell once again, and finally, the party began.

To avoid drawing the suspicion of Mikhail and Wilson, Taewoon stayed in the guest room and refrained from any particular action.

For now, just as in the 1st Cycle, he intended to wait for the moment the lights in the Banquet Hall went out and the first victim appeared.

‘I must not be mistaken.’

Although it was a very realistic space, he must not forget that this place was a created ‘Theater.’

It meant that rather than rushing in to save a victim and potentially ruining things, he had to aim for a more certain opportunity.

“Hmm? What is happening?”

“Ugh! M-move your foot!”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I couldn’t see, so I unintentionally……”

The exact same situation as the 1st Cycle, but Taewoon alone moved into action at that moment.

‘I must not miss this!’

He remembered the position of the man who had been sacrificed in the 1st Cycle. He had to accurately determine exactly what had happened in the Banquet Hall at this moment.

Taewoon refined his Qi Sense with more focus than ever and kept his eyes on everything in his sight.

And what Taewoon witnessed was a truly appalling and shocking sight.

‘…So, this is how it was.’

No wonder he hadn’t felt a plausible presence during the 1st Cycle; the man had not been murdered and sacrificed by the Red Man.

The man Taewoon thought had been sacrificed had, in fact, never existed in this hall from the start.

‘I saw it clearly. The sight of the man slowly becoming transparent, as if melting into the air.’

And in the brief moment just before he vanished completely, he witnessed the man’s entire body twisting into a grotesque shape and changing into a completely different person.

That pale face was undoubtedly Marquis Mikhail, who had seemed to return to his room after the opening speech.

‘…Was he not a normal human either?’

Or perhaps he was borrowing the power of some mysterious object, like the Wax Mask, which was the key clue to this situation.

‘Then what about the corpse on the ceiling?’

He must have created some kind of device to hide the corpse in advance and made it look like a murder occurred while the lights were out.

Judging it so, he examined the center of the ceiling where the corpse had been hanging, and he could indeed confirm a strange device operating in a faint form.

“Kyaaaaah—!!”

“A person, a person!”

“H-hey! Is anyone there?!”

The chaos subsided, and as before, the lights in the Banquet Hall came back on, restoring visibility.

At this point, Taewoon was able to notice several critical facts.

‘The murder in the Banquet Hall was orchestrated by those two, not the Red Man.’

Also, judging by the state of the corpse, the victim must have been killed just before the banquet began.

Such information meant only one thing.

‘It means the Ritual Mikhail and Wilson spoke of is already underway.’

And for some reason, that must have caused the Red Man to appear and kill the 1st Cycle’s Taewoon and Wilson.

Seeing how flustered Wilson had been, that was likely not the original result the two of them had desired.

‘What I need to do is clear.’

He must overpower Mikhail and Wilson, secure the Wax Mask, and simultaneously uncover the secret of the Ritual to completely annihilate the Red Man.

That would be the correct path toward Clearing this Theater.

‘When is the timing to act?’

Recalling the memories of the 1st Cycle, people would try to leave this place as soon as morning came; therefore, it could be assumed that the Ritual would be completed before sunrise.

The golden time given to Taewoon was about six hours from now until daybreak.

At the very least, within that time, he would have to thwart the secret machinations of Wilson and Mikhail and settle the score with the Red Man.

‘The execution will be…… in two hours.’

He would observe Wilson’s movements in the Banquet Hall and then strike the moment he followed him to join Mikhail.

The time to finally see the end of this Theater was drawing closer second by second.