There's something called coulrophobia—the fear of clowns. One might wonder why clowns, who forcibly dress in ridiculous costumes to make children laugh, would induce phobia.

But when you actually see a real clown, rather than finding it funny, you get the impression that it's somehow eerie.

There were several reasons for this. Clowns apply excessive makeup to their faces. Because of this, they feel very unfamiliar.

And this makeup simultaneously makes it impossible to read what the clown is thinking or their expression. You keep thinking that the clown laughing before your eyes might harbor different inner thoughts.

Humans are wary of the unknown. Wariness breeds fear, and that leads to greater confusion.

And in the case of clowns, there were quite many cases where negative images had accumulated over time. There were actually historical cases where people dressed as clowns lured children away and committed murders.

For these complex reasons, clowns became beings that instilled discomfort and fear rather than humor.

The outer god took the form of a clown for this very reason. Piercing the core of fear. This appearance was the most suitable form for its nature, one that could best provoke opponents.

The clown outer god. Called by another name. Burum Rohal Ga, the one who devours negativity.

People who see this creature inevitably feel fear due to its distinctive atmosphere and grotesque appearance. Especially when encountering it in a dark, empty corridor like now, the fear would be doubled.

Burum Rohal Ga feeds on humans' negative emotions, particularly fear.

People who face Burum Rohal Ga always show the same reaction. They become wary or are paralyzed by fear.

However, Osian, who encountered it unexpectedly, showed a completely different reaction.

"Pffft."

From behind his mask, laughter he couldn't contain finally burst out.

"......"

The clown stared intently at Osian. Its eyes were filled with confusion at not understanding. Laughing? At seeing someone who could be called the incarnation of fear?

"Keke. Wait a minute."

Rather, that gaze stimulated Osian's laughter. Though Osian normally wouldn't laugh easily, this clown was different. Osian, who barely managed to stop laughing, asked in a slightly excited voice.

"What is it? Did you come here because you lost money on stocks?"

This would be incomprehensible words to the clown. But the moment Osian saw the creature, he couldn't help but think this way.

Osian's previous life was that of an ordinary office worker. Naturally, he invested his incoming salary in financial management.

Since he rarely spent money except on games, his leftover salary mainly went into bank savings and stocks. Osian mainly put small amounts of money into blue-chip stocks for stable long-term investments.

Therefore, he never lost money significantly or suffered major losses. However, perhaps due to his gaming habits, he discovered that stocks also had "communities" and often lurked there.

And he could see what happened to people who were really addicted to stocks.

It was a field of chaos and madness. And even people who didn't trade stocks added fuel to the fire.

Among them, if there was the most famous meme, it would definitely be the clown meme.

-Warning. Do not fall any further.

-What? Trade stocks with money you can afford to lose? Where is there money you can afford to lose!

-People are dying!

The image of clowns, which should have originally been a symbol of fear, became, limited to Korea, the image of a beggar who lost all their money on stocks. Even living in sewers without a home was perfect.

The selection of the clown image, the dialogue, and the funny yet sad situation of losing money created tremendous synergy. Though Osian had never lost money on stocks, he laughed like crazy reading those posts.

Perhaps because of that, even with a clown right before his eyes, Osian wasn't scared at all. Rather, those posts he saw that day came to mind and laughter burst out involuntarily.

"KYAAAAAAK!"

The clown also recognized that Osian was "enjoying" seeing it. Being one who feeds on emotions, it was sensitive to emotions. It opened its mouth wide and spewed out anger. A mouth full of grotesquely twisted teeth gaped open.

But that appearance only encouraged Osian's laughter.

-I had a home too!

Even that scene of anger appeared comically distorted due to past memories.

"Are you living in this underground because you lost all your money on stocks?"

"......!"

Rather than being terrified, Osian became even more delighted, causing the clown to hesitate and step back. Whether it was his imagination or not, its momentum seemed to weaken further and it looked somewhat pathetic.

"Or are you planning to recommend some good stocks to me? While waiting for a rescue team from rock bottom?"

Osian approached slowly while speaking. Though it was just words mixed with jokes, hearing it, the clown stepped backward.

Since the clown feeds on humans' negative emotions, conversely, humans' positive emotions become poison to it. Even though it was an avatar and not the main body, the distinctive atmosphere of an outer god was sufficient to terrify humans.

But Osian was completely unaffected. Osian had faced the main body of Red Eternity and confidently said what he had to say. There was absolutely no reason to be overwhelmed in presence by a clown that seemed to have squandered money on stocks.

"You, you...unpleasant knight!"

The clown pointed at Osian and shouted.

"D-don't think this is the end!"

"Why? Are you going to recommend what will skyrocket? Is it the opportunity of a lifetime?"

Being countered with jokes to the end, the clown became so heated that its face was horribly distorted.

"But didn't we have some business to settle?"

Starlight bloomed from Osian's sword. Pure white aurora pushed away the corridor's darkness. The creeping darkness was frightened by the starlight and fled far away. Even this darkness was one of the clown's powers.

"I received the gift you sent to the Broker Union the other day. So I want to give you a gift too. Ah, of course, not that financial term gift."

The clown that had been glaring at Osian slowly stepped back. The creature realized it was at a disadvantage and was trying to flee. Sparks flew in Osian's eyes. As expected, this creature was different from other outer gods. It had no arrogance and moved thoroughly pragmatically.

'If other outer gods are lions or tigers, this creature is a fox. Even as an avatar, its level isn't that high but it filled what it lacked in power with cunning.'

Then he would eliminate it here. The moment Osian made up his mind, the clown moved.

Colorful balloons flew toward Osian even though there was no wind. Osian gripped his starlight sword and charged at the balloons.

-Riiiiip! Giggle giggle giggle!

The center of the balloons split and mouths gaped open. The balloons with human lips and teeth chattered their mouths in the air or engaged in mockery.

Osian sliced the balloons with his starlight sword. He felt some resistance. He naturally thought they wouldn't be ordinary balloons.

"Even so, it's useless."

Before the starlight sword, it was all meaningless struggle. The balloons split as pus mixed with foul smell spurted out from inside. When the pus touched the wall, the wall melted with smoke.

Osian took out a shield on his left arm and swung it with all his might. A fierce gale pushed the acidic pus outward. At that moment, shadows hiding in the gaps between balloons rushed at Osian.

A staff member's corpse with pale features, whitened eyes, and a mouth torn long that had gone down to the warehouse and suffered at the clown's hands.

Osian immediately ignited starlight flames and cut down the staff member's corpse. The severed corpse was engulfed in white flames from the ground and became black ash.

Osian glared into the darkness. The clown had already fled from the scene. The surrounding darkness also retreated, and belatedly the corridor's lights returned.

"This has become troublesome."

At first, he thought the clown had come looking for him. But seeing the creature's reaction when they faced each other directly, that didn't seem to be the case.

'It tried to avoid a direct confrontation with me from the start. Meeting here was a coincidence that even it didn't expect.'

Then why did the clown sneak into the concert hall? Why did it kill the staff member? There was only one reason.

'It's targeting Rose Melody.'

Osian's mind raced quickly. It has no particular connection with Rose. It couldn't have attacked knowing Rose was a priest class.

Nevertheless, the fact that it came this far meant there was sufficient reason for it.

'When I mocked it, it reacted particularly violently. Just from its behavior and the atmosphere it created, the creature was specialized in stimulating fear.'

Why stimulate fear? There's one reason for that. Because it becomes stronger when opponents fear it.

'It feeds on human emotions. Specifically, negative emotions.'

Just from what the creature showed at the Broker Union, it was specialized in driving surroundings into chaos. And hiding in Tirna and moving around was for the same reason. Because current Tirna is very chaotic.

'But after Rose announced her concert, the chaos that had been continuing became quiet.'

For a creature that lives by eating negative emotions, this was the worst situation. Rather, people's admiration toward Rose made the creature suffer even more.

'It will try to kill Rose by any means necessary. If not that, it will try to ruin the concert being held now.'

One might ask how the clown could possibly do that, but Osian saw a dead corpse moving in the creature's hands.

'It knows how to control people. And as one who lives by eating negative emotions, it also knows how to incite them.'

Right now, around the concert hall, people targeting Rose are hiding. Their skills are all exceptional, and their numbers are by no means small.

Osian pondered briefly, then took out a communicator.

"It's me."

*

Rose's rehearsal was over. Less than 30 minutes remained until the concert began. People who had been waiting outside began to enter. They took their designated seats and gazed at the central stage with expectant eyes.

The order barely achieved by stationary people began to become disheveled as they started moving.

"Hey! Stop pushing!"

"There! Stop dawdling and move quickly! Will you take responsibility if we're late?!"

"Everyone calm down and enter one by one slowly! There's still plenty of time left!"

Ushers were sweating profusely trying to calm people down, but it wasn't easy. People who were anxiously excited reacted sensitively to anything even slightly irritating.

Even though they held expectations due to Rose's popularity, they had been in the middle of intense protests for survival until just yesterday.

Anxiety still remained in one corner of their hearts. Because of such anxiety, they became more irritable than usual.

Despite the desperate mediation of field staff and crew, fights broke out everywhere. It was the same even when guards stepped in. Rather, people became more indignant seeing the guards.

Commotion began to spread like wildfire from the waiting line outside.

"Hehehe."

And from the darkness, the clown watching that scene laughed ominously. Human emotions are like a heavy stone hanging from a thin thread.

With just a slight touch, the thread easily breaks and the stone falls down below.

The clown continued to touch people's emotions. It secretly approached whispering anxieties, showed hallucinations, and plunged them into fear.

Chaos arose everywhere like fires breaking out. That chaos planted energy in the clown. The power consumed when facing Osian began to recover rapidly.

The clown didn't stop there. It had to expand the scale further and prevent the performance itself from happening.

For that purpose, there were people it had observed in advance.

Mercenaries openly displaying tattoos moved ignoring guidelines. Some people among the crowd tried to confront them but closed their mouths. They were frightened by about ten mercenaries with menacing atmospheres grouped together.

"There! Stop for a moment!"

One field staff member tried to restrain them, but it was useless. The leading mercenary unhesitatingly drew a military dagger and swung it at the staff member. The staff member dodged the dagger in surprise, but couldn't avoid the kick that drove into his abdomen.

The fallen staff member tried to request support, but at that moment, one mercenary drew a pistol and aimed it.

Just as he wondered if the trigger would be pulled.

"Hey. This won't do. Cutting in line, assaulting field staff, and now drawing a gun? Doing such things on such a good day is terrible."

A rough hand covered the pistol-holding hand with a thunk. Not only that. Tremendous grip strength crushed the hand holding the pistol entirely.

"KYAAAK!"

At their comrade's scream, other mercenaries were startled and tried to draw weapons. Legor, who had crushed one mercenary's hand, let out a chuckle through his long-grown beard.

"These bastards are acting cute."

North Blinders' organization members who had somehow approached around the weapon-drawing mercenaries began to subdue them.