Chapter 5

“Baron Werik, is this really alright…?”

“There is no need to worry. Marquis Mikhail is moving busily to handle things.”

After disposing of the corpse under the lead of Mikhail—who had the audacity to return pretending to be flustered—the people gathered in the banquet hall and spent the night with anxious faces.

Since the identity of the culprit remained unknown, and there was a possibility that a subversive element was hidden among them, the gaze of suspicion and the feeling of vigilance toward one another only grew stronger.

‘It’s about time I move.’

As he had roughly expected, Count Wilson was continuing to keep his guard up, observing Taewoon’s movements while pretending not to.

Then, following the guidance of a servant sent by Mikhail, Taewoon quietly left the banquet hall, feeling that now was the perfect timing to take action.

‘There will certainly be eyes watching.’

Since Marquis Mikhail had begun to be wary of Taewoon, he had to consider everyone working in the mansion as a potential target of caution.

But even so, what of it?

Taewoon had already decided on his course of action and had no intention of hesitating in carrying it out.

“…Baron Werik?”

“I have something to ask the Marquis, so I will be stepping away for a moment. It won’t take long.”

Just as he said, the conclusion would be reached in an instant.

Leaving his spot, Taewoon exited the banquet hall and began to move covertly, heading toward Mikhail’s bedroom at a rapid pace.

‘He’s not here. Did they decide to meet elsewhere?’

However, Count Wilson had left the banquet hall only a short while ago.

Thinking he couldn’t have gone far, Taewoon busily roamed the mansion, tracing their tracks.

Then, he suddenly encountered an unexpected person.

“Oh, are you alright?”

“S-sorry. I’m in a hurry. Please excuse me.”

Taewoon, who was about to pass by without much thought, noticed that the man’s face looked strangely familiar.

He was a young man with bronze curly hair, possessing a token carved in the shape of a bird of prey.

‘Where is he going in a situation like this?’

Feeling an intense intuition for some reason, Taewoon followed the curly-haired young man secretly.

He then saw the man head toward a hidden passage via a secret mechanism in a secluded corner of the mansion.

‘As I thought, there is something going on.’

Carefully concealing his Presence and following at a set distance, Taewoon soon spotted the young man hiding and monitoring something.

‘Are those… Mikhail and Wilson?’

Just how were things unfolding?

Regardless, he truly had to act now.

Hiding a short distance away, Taewoon began to observe the movements of the three people, including the young man.

“The Ritual is proceeding smoothly. Have you decided on the human to be used as the sacrifice?”

“It is Viscount Contingent. He inherited a fairly thick amount of his ancestor’s blood. I have already fed the Mask a sufficient amount of blood.”

As the two began to speak of subversive matters in earnest, not only Taewoon but also the curly-haired young man in front gasped softly.

“Since we’ve experienced it once, we won’t have to struggle like last time.”

“Are you still dwelling on what happened then? That was a mistake. In the first place, none of us would have known the exact details of the Ritual… Wait.”

“What is it?”

At Count Wilson’s questioning tilt of the head, Marquis Mikhail, whose nose was twitching, distorted his expression and glared at the wall behind where the curly-haired man was hiding.

“There is a rat. I told you to always watch your back!”

“W-what?”

Taewoon didn’t know how he noticed, but Marquis Mikhail’s suddenly transformed red eyes glowed intensely as he gripped a strange dagger located in the corner of the stone chamber.

He still looked like nothing more than a pale middle-aged man, but the immense pressure emanating from him suggested that he was no ordinary being.

Just as the curly-haired man panicked and Taewoon hurried to hide further, Marquis Mikhail suddenly let out a groan of pain and clutched his face.

“Khhk, keuheok, gack…”

“H-hey, what is suddenly wrong with you? Huff…”

As Marquis Mikhail slowly released his grip and turned his head, a red Wax Mask—which had appeared at some unknown moment—was covering his face.

Naturally, the one most horrified by this fact was Count Wilson, who was standing beside him.

“Why… why the Mask! Kugh! Do not come any closer!”

Count Wilson pulled out and scattered a strangely shimmering powder from his clothes, but Marquis Mikhail ignored it and continued to approach, grabbing him by the shoulder.

A sound of spraying blood was followed by a gruesome scream.

At that moment, the curly-haired man and Taewoon began to escape the stone chamber swiftly, without needing to decide who would go first.

“Ugh? Wh-who are you?”

“I should be asking you that! Who are you, and why were you following the Marquis and the Count?”

There was no way the conversation would progress quickly, but for some reason, Taewoon and the man could realize that they were not each other’s enemies.

Furthermore, right now, there was a common enemy that deserved higher priority.

“Let’s get out of here first!”

The appearance of Mikhail he had just seen was certainly the ‘Red Man’ himself, whom Taewoon had encountered in the 1st Cycle.

‘Come to think of it, back in the 1st Cycle, I was too rushed and grabbed Wilson’s ankle.’

And at that exact timing, Mikhail must have entered the stone chamber alone and performed the same operation, just as he did now.

If the identity of the Red Man who killed Wilson and Taewoon was Mikhail transformed by the Mask, then everything was explained.

“…Huff, huff. It seems we have a lot to talk about.”

After moving to a second-floor terrace quite far from the stone chamber, the curly-haired man introduced himself to Taewoon and gave a brief history.

“I am Jain, a member of the Dawn Assembly and a Solver working in Cologne. I was invited to the party under the name Viscount Ryung.”

“Dawn Assembly?”

“It is a guardian society based around the Bostin area that recovers cursed objects or investigates and resolves supernatural incidents. I have been personally chasing this ‘Red Man Ritual’ for many years, and I happened to obtain a promising Clue and sneak into this mansion. My position in the Assembly is…”

Jain spoke like a rapid-fire gun, but Taewoon, overwhelmed by the excessive amount of information, cut him off immediately.

“Too long. Summarize it in three lines.”

“I am a member of a Secret Society, and my goal is to investigate the Ritual and recover the Mask. If our interests align, let’s join forces.”

“Much better.”

I see. He understood.

Just as exorcists or demon hunters always appear in horror movies, it seemed that secret societies like the Dawn Assembly played that role in this Red Man Theater.

The problem was whether that was the complete truth or a lie.

“Do you have a way to prove your identity?”

“Hearing that makes me realize you have no knowledge of the Dawn Assembly. The token of the Sacred Bird that I dropped earlier is the proof.”

While there was a possibility it was just a convenient excuse, Taewoon felt through various circumstances that Jain’s words were true.

At the same time, he had to force back a sigh that began to leak out.

‘Dammit, no wonder the outline of the situation felt too complex and unfriendly.’

In fact, if Taewoon hadn’t rushed in and had instead observed the situation as it unfolded, he would have naturally connected with Jain from the 1st Cycle and secured at least minimum information about the ‘Red Man Ritual.’

By uncovering the identities of Mikhail, Wilson, and the Red Man, he had grown closer to the truth of the incident, but he had essentially chosen the hard way and taken a long detour instead of the easy path.

“Now it is your turn. You don’t seem to be an affiliate, so who on earth are you?”

“I don’t belong to any specific society or organization. In fact, this is the first time I’ve learned that such things even exist. However, while chasing the truth of the incident from seven years ago, I arrived at this mansion as well.”

“The incident from seven years ago… you mean the first Ritual?”

Since the situation seemed sufficiently explained, Taewoon did not hold back and shared the information he had gained through two Cycles with Jain.

At the same time, he was able to hear several facts from him that he had not known until now.

“Hearing the Baron’s words makes everything clear. Those who awakened the power of the Mask through the Red Man Ritual seven years ago to enjoy the Miracle of Wealth must be Marquis Mikhail and Count Wilson.”

“Miracle of Wealth?”

“It is one of the miracles that can be obtained by awakening the power of the Wax Mask through the Ritual. However, the price is gruesome.”

Originally, the Red Wax Mask was a treasure of the Holstein Family, a historic noble family in the Cologne region.

However, as the family fell and scattered, and even their descendants disappeared here and there, the whereabouts of the Mask had remained unknown.

“Seven years ago, an incident occurred at the Galloway family mansion where over a dozen family members, including the head, died. At the time, it was buried without a sound, but through long investigation, it was revealed that something terrifying had happened there.”

That was the Red Man Ritual, and since the scale of the incident was likely fabricated, it is believed it was originally much more disastrous.

“Right now, the same thing is about to happen in this mansion. It is my mission to stop it somehow.”

Jain explained his resolve with a serious face, but in Taewoon’s opinion, there was something more urgent to discuss.

“Then why did Marquis Mikhail suddenly become a crazy Monster? He was confidently bragging that the Ritual was proceeding as planned.”

“…I don’t know either. However, what is certain is that they performed it without complete knowledge of the Ritual, both seven years ago and now. Since it was a mess from the start, it wouldn’t be strange for any problem to occur.”

Ultimately, it meant the Ritual had already entered a state of rampage in real-time.

If so, he now had to obtain a way to end it.

“Since the parties involved, Mikhail and Wilson, are dead, we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

“That point is certainly painful, but perhaps there is a way.”

“What is it?”

“Because I have tracked them for many years, I possess a certain amount of knowledge regarding the Ritual. First, we must seize the Mask parasitizing Marquis Mikhail.”

Hearing those nonchalant words, Taewoon almost smacked the back of Jain’s head.

Taking the Mask from the Red Man—did this self-proclaimed secret society agent really think that was possible?

“That doesn’t seem like a very wise idea. The Red Man killed Wilson in an instant.”

“Correct. It is a difficult task. But we must do it.”

I’m telling you it’s nearly impossible, so what on earth is this man hearing?

Regardless, Taewoon became curious about the solution Jain was speaking of.

“Assuming we succeed in seizing the Mask, then what?”

“We need the help of a descendant who carries the blood of the Holstein Family. There must be one or two people among those invited to the party.”

“Meaning they intentionally gathered people presumed to be descendants.”

“Correct. After that, if we succeed in expelling the phantom of the Red Man from Marquis Mikhail through the correct procedure, we will be able to break the Ritual. Seven years ago, they likely suppressed the Red Man and completed the Ritual through a similar method.”

I see. If that’s the case, it’s not entirely impossible.

Even so, the problem remained: how to take the Mask from the phantom of the Red Man.

‘The Red Man can exhibit supernatural movements without any Presence.’

Also, he remembered that the moment he looked directly at the man’s bare face, his mind went blank and it became impossible to make sound judgments.

As he groaned in frustration at the apparent lack of a method, Jain spoke up with a confident attitude, perhaps sensing his thoughts.

“I have a dagger called the Sacred Bird’s Claw. Since it exerts power against all sorts of wicked things, if we can only inflict a wound, it will be possible to temporarily stop the Red Man’s actions.”

“That is indeed reassuring news.”

No wonder he was overflowing with confidence throughout; as an agent of a secret society, Jain also possessed a special divine artifact.

If so, there was nothing to fear.

Taewoon nodded and, together with the determined Jain, stepped forward to find the vanished Red Man.