Failed Possession Chapter-54

## Ch-54

—

“…?”

Behind the holes of the mask, black eyes blinked.

The man who had been stomping the kid into a rag is now clutching his twisted leg, rolling across the ground.

In front of him stands a man with his hood pulled low.
Beside him, a woman wearing a mask.

At the sight, Bi-yeon unconsciously touched her own mask once.

In this city full of sinners and with few who could stand proudly, it wasn’t rare to see people hiding their faces.

For headwear, bamboo hats or hoods were common.
For covering the face, cloth masks or full masks were common.
Some even used skin masks that completely changed their faces.

There might be many reasons to wear a mask, but most simply didn’t want their face seen.

Bi-yeon was the same.

Seven years ago, her entire body had been burned.
The burns were severe enough that even her voice was damaged by fire qi.
Her face was the worst.

She didn’t want to reveal that hideous face, so she wore a mask.

The mask Bi-yeon wore was a plain white, featureless one.

“No face.”

“But what’s with that one?”

The woman’s mask was different.

A fox mask—something you’d expect from a troupe or a clown.

If the goal was to hide one’s face, it was effective, but it lacked the subtle secrecy typical of mask-wearers.

Its form almost flaunted its presence brazenly, and Bi-yeon was momentarily taken aback.

Soon, noisy shouting erupted.

The gang of the man with the broken leg rushed out of the alley and surrounded the hood and the fox mask.

All kinds of low, filthy curses poured out endlessly.

At that, Bi-yeon hesitated for a moment.

In this city that imitated survival of the fittest, thugs who occupied an alley like this were all at least third rank.

Of course, that wasn’t really her concern.

There was no reason for her to step in and save them.

But listening to those dirty curses annoyed her.

And wasn’t “annoyance” enough reason for the strong to move?

Thinking that, Bi-yeon leaned her body slightly.

**Thud!**

With a dull sound, the curses stopped.

One of the men swaggering forward had been kicked and sent flying into the wall, then rolled across the ground.

Too fast.

Even from above, looking down rather than straight on, she saw only an afterimage.

Bi-yeon stiffened beneath her mask and leaned farther out the window.

A man drew a hand axe and slipped in from the side.

He looked used to street fights, and considering he was around fourth rank, his movement was fairly good.

But the hood’s attack was faster than the axe.

A swinging kick folded the man’s body.

That was it.

There were still others untouched, but they no longer charged and instead hesitated backward.

The hood didn’t seem interested in fighting further either.

He helped the fallen kid to his feet, said something, and then began walking again as if nothing had happened.

“Ho.”

A voice came right beside her.

Sword Shadow, who had been hiding in the darkness, now stood next to Bi-yeon.

His eyes shone with interest as he stroked his chin.

“Indeed. There are eccentrics in Evil Hamlet.”

“….”

“How much did you see?”

“I didn’t miss the leg moving, but I couldn’t see all the footwork.”

“His clothes are so loose that it’s hard to see from this angle. If you’d seen from the front?”

Bi-yeon imagined it briefly while staring at their retreating backs.

If she had fought him there—

“If I hadn’t been consciously watching from the start, I probably wouldn’t have seen properly.”

She answered honestly.

“If we broaden the scope, something like Full-Moon Play exists, but masters of kicking and retreat techniques are rare even in the Cult.”

Sword Shadow kept speaking while staring in the same direction.

Full-Moon Play.

At that name, Bi-yeon’s brow furrowed.

To a warrior of the Cult, that name couldn’t help but be unpleasant.

“Not just kicking and retreating. His mastery of fist and palm techniques looks deep too.”

Beneath the sleeves that swayed with each step, she could see well-developed forearms and thick, hardened fingers.

Scratch.

Her nail scraped her mask.

Unexpectedly witnessing such skill stirred her competitive spirit.

Since he hadn’t released internal energy and had fought purely with external strength and body techniques, she couldn’t estimate his exact rank—

but at least fourth rank.

“Hmm…”

They hadn’t gone far yet.

She could stop them and politely request a spar, or simply pick a fight.

If you weren’t conscious of it, you couldn’t see it.

That’s what she imagined.

Which meant—

if you were conscious, you definitely could.

Would that be true?

*Too bad.*

Her hand fell from the mask.

If not for her master’s order regarding the Withered Old Crone, she would’ve already moved to satisfy her competitive urge.

Right now, she couldn’t act freely.

*Maybe before leaving this trash pit, I’ll look for him once.*

After killing the crone without issue.

*

*

 

While heading toward the slums outside the street—

“If you get caught, you’ve got no talent. Don’t pickpocket.”

A low voice flowed from beneath the fox mask.

“Sss… You weren’t like this two years ago… How should I put it… Crimson-Leg, something about you’s kind of…”

“What about me.”

“Your tone’s got this unnecessary swagger… or weight to it? And your expression’s weirdly stern too.”

Even though he maintained the disguise technique he created himself without awkwardness, there was a minor side effect—his expressions became slightly stiff.

Disguise arts forcibly twisted facial bones and muscles to create another face.

He didn’t know how others did it, but Yuri imagined it like cosmetic procedures—acupressure, Botox, fillers.

Touching facial meridians. Stimulating certain muscles.

So stiffness was unavoidable.

“It’s not like I want this expression either.”

“Expression aside, it’s the way you talk. Didn’t you talk much with people these last two years?”

“I didn’t get many chances.”

He’d wandered as a drifter without settling anywhere.

Didn’t want deep ties.

“I got picked fights with a lot. Got stabbed in the back a lot too.”

“So. Did that swaggering tone reduce the fights and backstabbing?”

“Got stabbed pretty spectacularly just before coming here too.”

A low-level Hao Sect guy he’d interacted with for half a year.

Promised to introduce him to a branch leader.

Yuri paid him steadily and even took on jobs without compensation.

His current poverty was basically that guy’s fault.

Then on the day he was supposed to receive the letter—

the story changed.

No money, no letter.

“I thought he was a nice guy.”

“Hao Sect bastards are mostly dogs.”

Haryeong clicked her tongue.

Yuri glanced at her.

That fox mask was way too flashy.

Through the slanted eye holes, emotionless eyes stared out.

He’d thought maybe she relaxed her expression behind it, but apparently not.

“Why pick that mask of all things?”

“Because it’s smiling.”

An answer he hadn’t expected.

“As you know, I’m not good at smiling.”

“You could just smile.”

“It’s not that easy.”

He couldn’t see her face, but she clearly didn’t want to elaborate.

[Your martial arts resemble the Tang Clan’s Emotionless Killing Style, but they’re different. You’re trying hard to hide it, but you’re full of emotion.]

The Blood Fiend Ghost had said that back in Lagos.

‘Tang Clan…’

He knew.

In the game too, there had been the Black Dragon Society, the assassin sects, and the Tang Clan.

There were differences from reality.

In the game, the assassin sect leader and Tang Clan head was the Poison King Tang Ji-hu.

Level 83.

Poison stacking every status ailment and damage-over-time no matter your resistances, throwing hidden weapons that chunked your HP no matter your evasion.

Seronis didn’t have job classes.

Stats, skills, and equipped weapons defined you.

But “thief” or “assassin” had a certain romance.

Many players adopted that concept.

Like CatPanties.

That weird CatPanties constantly fixated on USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎.

Their speech style mimicked USA’s “USA” sound.

But the “self-character” wasn’t imitation.

A self-created character.

USAUSAMI’s was a bunny-eared girl.

CatPanties’ was a short-haired girl with cat ears.

According to Chuk Shin-do, CatPanties had used that character even before meeting USAUSAMI.

It wasn’t copying.

It was their own.

CatPanties expressed their affection through commissions—

paying illustrators for drawings.

Shockingly, they spent hundreds, maybe thousands, just on commissions.

From famous professional illustrators by name, to big shots on social media with hundreds of thousands of followers, they obtained drawings of their original character from all of them.

Every time they raised a new character in Seronis.
Every time they learned a skill.
Every time they changed equipment.
Every time they changed builds.
Every time they defeated a boss.

The quality of CatPanties’ original character increased.

The number of commissioned images increased.

The character that existed only in pictures grew as if it were alive.

The cat-girl in underwear held a weapon in the next picture, wore armor in the next, used sword techniques in the next, died, and was reborn.

[CatPanties is the cute girl ninja Hokage-nyan!]

[Nin-nin! Art of the Deluxe Fireball, nya!]

After drifting through countless builds, the concept CatPanties finally settled on was “ninja.”

No point hiding it.

The one who gave the most advice for CatPanties’ build was none other than Lee Suhyeok’s Pad-lip Immune.

He diligently advised them on the agility and evasion skills that any ninja should obviously have.

And so the early build of the cute girl ninja CatPanties was formed, and after endlessly grinding the Tang Clan for skills—

the cute girl ninja Hokage was born.

When he saw the beautifully completed character and the illustration of the cat-eared girl faithfully recreating the in-game equipment—

for some reason, he felt moved.

Even if, in the process of completing that character, the game’s Tang Clan had been wiped out dozens of times and hundreds of Tang Clan NPCs had died—

back then, Lee Suhyeok hadn’t been working part-time.

*Could it be…?*

The current assassin sect leader and Tang Clan head was a man named Dark King Tang Yushin, son of the Poison King Tang Ji-hu.

The previous head, the Poison King, had suddenly gone into seclusion around twenty years ago.

The annihilation of the Laspion family.

The attack Orca suffered.

The timing was similar.

If FS had been involved in the Laspion massacre…

then perhaps Poison King Tang Ji-hu’s seclusion was also related to a possessor.

Maybe CatPanties—

“Crimson-Leg little brother. What are you thinking so hard about?”

While his thoughts churned, Haryeong spoke.

“Just thinking…”

Then another possibility occurred to him.

Haryeong was from the Tang Clan.

Judging by how Guzen—who would be dead by now—treated her, she was probably direct lineage.

Lee Suhyeok had been unlucky enough to possess Yuri’s orphan body, but not every possessor would end up in an orphan.

Someone absurdly lucky might possess a prestigious clan.

Maybe even the Tang Clan.

Haryeong.

He didn’t know her exact age. Probably twenties.

She had already been fifth rank two years ago.

Could Haryeong be a possessor too?

“…CatPanties?”

Through the eye holes of the mask, he saw her eyes grow cold.

“I don’t quite understand what you’re talking about.”

“I must’ve been mistaken.”

Of course not.

He had just probed once.

He felt relieved she wore a mask.

If he’d seen her bare-faced reaction, his heart might have crumbled.

Separate from that, embarrassment still made his face burn.

“What kind of misunderstanding makes you suddenly blurt out ‘CatPanties’?”

“We’re here.”

Yuri quickly threw the words out and hastened his steps.

Among the similar shabby plank houses, one looked slightly better.

A mage lived there.

He didn’t know what the man had been called outside, but here he was known as **Point-Ignition**—a nickname earned three years ago when he entered District 4 and burned to death those who tried to prey on newcomers merely by pointing at them.

Among the names Makcheol and the mage had given, he best fit the conditions.

Exact age unknown, but looked around his thirties.

Probably fifth-rank mage.

But whether he was a possessor or not—no way to know.

“What will you do?”

Haryeong whispered.

“A surprise attack? That’s better if he’s a mage. Giving a mage time is troublesome.”

“I didn’t come to fight.”

“That makes no sense.”

“I’ll try talking first. Noona, stay here.”

Even though it couldn’t be helped, the word *noona* still felt awkward in his mouth.

Still better than *nuna*.

Yuri focused and stared at the shack.

As expected, various spells were installed.

But since the surroundings weren’t private property, it wasn’t as extensively protected as Elena’s estate.

Door and windows.

Could he break them?

Probably.

But he didn’t bother.

He planned to talk first.

He approached slowly, not hiding his presence. Concealing it might just make the other side more wary.

“Stop.”

The closed door opened slightly.

Point-Ignition was a man with long hair and a short beard.
He didn’t look neat.

He smelled strongly of alcohol, as if he’d been drinking.

Hard to tell his age because of his disheveled state, but definitely past thirty.

“Don’t come any closer.”

Even drunk, a fifth-rank mage.
He sensed Yuri’s openly revealed presence and reacted immediately.

“Never seen you before. You got business with me?”

“Point-Ignition?”

Yuri asked carefully.

“Yeah. That’s me.”

The mage didn’t relax his guard.

Mana condensed at the fingertips not yet aimed at Yuri.

“I came to talk.”

“I’ve got no interest talking to someone I don’t know.”

“You talk and get to know each other.”

“Kid, stop the bullshit and get lost. If you’ve got something to say, say it from there.”

His brow twisted.

The mana flow intensified.

Yuri took a light breath.

He had prepared himself coming here, but actually doing it still made him hesitate.

[Usa.]

“…?”

[I came from Bunny Star to meet you, usa.]

Full-Moon Play was basically a possessor detector.

But that guy was too famous.

Imitating his “hou” speech would be meaningless.

But Yuri knew another detector.

**USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎.**

One of the two biggest idiots on the community alongside Chuk Shin-do.

That ridiculous speech pattern and concept pierced through regardless of nationality.

[Answer me, usa. Don’t you recognize me, usa?]

Even if the other person wasn’t a possessor, there was no loss.

He’d changed his face, name, and martial arts.

If not, he’d treat it as experience, fight, and move to the next candidate.

If he kept stirring things up, eventually someone would come to him.

A newcomer causing chaos always drew attention.

[If you don’t answer, I’ll return to Bunny Star—]

“Kraaagh!”

Suddenly, Point-Ignition screamed and pointed at Yuri.

In that instant—

Yuri saw fear spreading across his face.

—KWAANG!

A scarlet line sliced through the air—

and flames exploded right in front of Yuri.

—