Chapter 41: Butterfly Mask (2)

“Hong Insu, snap out of it and use the item,” Ion urged.

With trembling hands, Hong Insu held the compass to the monster. The lime-green needle spun rapidly. When placed on the paired white paper, a map formed, showing a 5km radius around the user. The compass melted like ice, and a lime-green marker appeared on the map.

The target was about 1km away, slowly moving farther.

“What… what the hell? This bastard’s trying to kill my sister by unleashing monsters?” Hong Insu stammered.

“I’ll track them. Stay with your family,” Ion said.

As Ion reached for the map, Hong Insu gripped it tightly. “I need to know who’s targeting my family! What’s going on? Why Inyoung?”

“Hong Insu, this is the last time they’ll come for your family. But if you dig deeper, you and your family will keep being threatened. Still want to know?”

“…!”

Hong Insu’s grip loosened. He couldn’t risk his family’s safety.

Ion snatched the map. The vines vanished, dropping the monster to the ground. Chweek! Ion stabbed the writhing Inriel with his flame sword, killing it.

“Yo… be careful,” Hong Insu said.

“Go to your family.”

Leaving those words, Ion took off.

Not leaping from the ground—he truly flew.

Translucent white wings unfurled from his back.

Hong Insu’s eyes widened. “Flight skill…!”

How many skills does this guy have?

Awestruck yet deflated, Hong Insu returned to his family.

Plants have evolved myriad ways to reproduce: secreting nectar to attract bees and butterflies, sprouting near water to let seeds drift, or being eaten and dispersed by birds.

Some plants grow wings on their seeds.

Alsomitra macrocarpa, a vine, is one such plant, equipping its seeds with 13cm glider-like wings.

As a child, desperate to survive, Ion developed a flight spell inspired by this plant.

When he first appeared with translucent, scale-like white wings, Teacher and the orphans wore identical expressions: mouths and eyes wide, doubting reality.

Just like the person before him now.

“You… how…!”

A full-face mask, adorned with a yellow butterfly and blue tail, covered their forehead to chin. A slim man in a black suit, with eyeholes sealed by black vinyl. His hand’s skin tone revealed he was East Asian.

“Ion…!”

The Butterfly Mask seemed to know Ion.

Ion felt the voice was familiar too.

“Hello,” Ion said calmly.

“…”

Startled by Ion’s casual greeting, Butterfly Mask flinched, touching their throat.

“How’d you know I was here?” A mechanical voice emerged from a voice modulator.

Too late to hide.

“That box—it’s a mana clump. Easy to track,” Ion said, pointing at the perforated box in the man’s hand.

It was likely from the skill Little Prince’s Box.

Ade Tuna had said its owner was Satya Pramata, meaning this man received it from Satya and used it here. The skill allowed the box to be itemized and traded via inventory ID.

Tch. The man crushed the box, and Ion’s map crumbled to dust.

“So, who are you? Hahoe Mask?” Butterfly Mask asked.

“No. I only teamed up with Hahoe Mask to protect Hong Insu’s family.”

“Not Hahoe Mask, yet you’re guarding them? Why?”

“They don’t need to die to reach the ‘future.’ At this point, their survival ensures a smoother path forward.”

Ion deliberately said “future,” not “ending.”

To the fanatically loyal followers of their Breeder, the goal was the exact future their master described.

“You heard about our Teacher’s ‘memoirs’ from Hahoe Mask,” Butterfly Mask said.

“Correct.”

Ion didn’t mention being trained by another Breeder.

“Hong Insu’s family doesn’t need to die. Even if they did, Hong Insu wouldn’t kill Choi Jungho now. He knows a conspiracy’s at play. If his family dies, he’ll hunt you down relentlessly. You know how terrifying a curse mage’s curse is, right?”

“…”

“Skip Hong Insu and kill Choi Jungho yourselves.”

“…”

“Choi Jungho’s death is October 10, right? Kill him in front of Jin Seongha. His rage and grief will awaken his fourth skill.”

“…Looks like we have someone to kill first.”

Butterfly Mask lowered his arms, exuding thick killing intent. Three metal spheres appeared, orbiting him.

Ion recognized the skill instantly: Juggling, from the novel.

It allowed spheres to shift sizes from 1mm to 10m, or combine into a 100m sphere. Their weight ranged from 1g to 100 tons—even a 1mm sphere could weigh 100 tons.

The user? Kim Young.

A cocky young man who tested for Jin Seongha’s team with aggro and detection skills, failed, and posted about hallucinatory dungeons on SNS.

Kim Young was one of the Butterfly Masks.

Why post about hallucinatory attributes online, then?

Butterfly Masks aimed to preserve the destined future.

Was the SNS post harmless to that future?

Or…

Maybe their Breeder’s future differs from the one Teacher taught us.

He’d question Butterfly Mask after subduing him.

But a skill that awakens at Level 8… how’s he using it now?

“…”

Ion quickly deduced the answer.

Skills awaken under life-threatening danger or intense emotions.

Kim Young must have deliberately faced such a crisis to awaken a skill years early—a brutally harsh ordeal.

Ion retracted his wings and drew his flame sword.

“Want to fight?” he asked.

Butterfly Mask smirked, pocketing his hands and stepping back.

Three 10cm spheres, at maximum weight, hurtled toward Ion.

Ion’s response was simple: his go-to vine magic.

Vines sprouted instantly, seizing the spheres.

“Hah, mere plants?” Butterfly Mask sneered.

The spheres strained against the vines, but—

Boom! Thud!

More vines erupted from the earth.

This was a forest.

Ion poured mana freely.

Creak, creak—

The spheres froze, and Butterfly Mask’s smirk vanished.

Each sphere weighed 100 tons—300 tons total—yet the vines held them immobile.

Ion smiled at the stunned Butterfly Mask. “People underestimate plants. Roots are even stronger—they can topple concrete dams. Want to see?”

Crack—

The spheres groaned as vines rooted into their cracks.

“Damn it!” Butterfly Mask cursed.

If the spheres broke, the skill’s cooldown would be crippling. Unwilling to risk it, he deactivated Juggling.

Rumble—

The spheres vanished, and Ion sent the vines back underground.

Leaning casually against a tree, his mana slowly recovered—an act that looked like mere posturing to others.

Butterfly Mask ground his teeth. “Who the hell are you with?”

“Give up on Hong Insu’s family.”

“Easier said than done. The others won’t listen to me.”

He sighed. “To follow our Teacher’s memoirs… it’s the final wish of the one who raised us. We’ll protect it with our lives.”

The desire to honor a mentor’s dying wish, even at the cost of life.

Ion understood that deeply.

“You’re the only one I trust, Ion. The others are selfish, greedy. I raised them wrong.”

“You didn’t, Teacher. They’re the strange ones.”

“It’s fine, Ion. Even if they betray me, I only need you. You’re the only one who’ll fulfill my wish.”

“…”

“If they betray me, I believe you’ll stop them. You must ensure the novel’s ending. It won’t be easy—there’ll be obstacles. But you, Ion, must fulfill my wish. It’s your destiny…”

Back then, Ion thought Teacher meant the other orphans as obstacles. Now, he wondered if Teacher meant another Breeder’s disciples.

Their Breeder mentioned other Breeders to their followers, but why hadn’t Teacher?

The one who could answer was long reduced to ashes.

“I understand wanting to honor a loved one’s final wish,” Ion said.

Butterfly Mask looked up at him.

“But the memoir’s path you want is already derailed. Let go of what needs letting go, for the sake of the future still left.”

“…What are you? You don’t exist in Teacher’s memoirs.”

“Look around. Am I the only one not in them?”

Horizon’s aide, D-NATE’s two guildmasters, the Hunter Association’s finance chief…

Butterfly Mask must have always questioned the orphans.

They planted spies in Horizon, D-NATE, and the Association, yet couldn’t uncover their identities, leaving them frustrated.

After a pause, Butterfly Mask made his decision. “Choi Jungho… you won’t interfere?”

“No.”

“Fine.”

That meant they’d back off from Hong Insu’s family.

As Ion dismissed his flame sword, Butterfly Mask’s mechanical voice asked, “One thing. Why not kill me? You’re strong enough, and I’ll keep obstructing you.”

He spoke as if Ion were fully Hahoe Mask.

Ion wanted to kill him, to unmask him and confirm if it was Kim Young.

But their Breeder, unlike Teacher, raised near-extras as supporting characters. If they were fated to die in the novel, like Park Yujik, Ion would kill them. But a supporting character who survives to the end—like Kim Young—Ion couldn’t.

How could a mere extra dare kill a supporting character destined to live?

It went against his duty.