Chapter 130: Invitation
Ah, so if I killed Goo Jin-cheol, this place would become my residence?
“Stop spouting nonsense and get lost!”
[Fireball]
Whoosh!!
Boom!
I created a fireball and attacked the message window, but it had no substance. It simply disappeared.
“Damn it. This isn’t even good for venting my frustration.”
I had to revise my plan.
Before escaping this world, I would definitely capture that bastard.
And somehow, I would crush him.
Escaping could wait until after that.
For that, I needed to…
|Kuh, heh, heh, heheheh…|
If I crack this bastard open, will I have a way to understand the structure of this world?
He wasn’t a being of the abyss, but a monster with wisdom and knowledge beyond comparison to humans.
He wouldn’t willingly reveal it, but it was worth experimenting.
“I’ll take you home and dissect you slowly.”
The darkness was gradually fading, but it hadn’t completely vanished yet. I needed to absorb the magical power filling the basement before it was too late.
But before that…
I looked at the other things left in this room.
“Hmm…”
The badly mangled corpse of Cheong-ho.
There was no way to save him. He had died long ago.
I looked at the empty space just above Cheong-ho’s corpse and spoke.
“Chairman, I tried to help if I could, but I failed.”
Cheong-ho’s spirit just looked at me.
The crazy task of searching inside the avatar created by a high mental body and changing its structure.
I even attracted beings from the abyss since I lacked the power to do so. Anyone would say it was madness, but this wasn’t merely to torment the [Laughing One].
I retrieved Cheong-ho’s spirit from within the [Laughing One] who had devoured it.
But Cheong-ho remained silent. He just looked at me with a gaze full of some meaning.
“No, you don’t have to say anything. This is just… well, yes, loyalty. Let’s say I did it out of loyalty to you, Chairman.”
Seriously speaking, Cheong-ho and I were not close. Allies or whatever, it was just a manifestation of the game system.
I had no real obligation to do anything desperate for Cheong-ho.
Am I the cause of this incident? Is it my fault for asking for the book?
In the end, Cheong-ho also suffered this fate because he tried to use me and retrieve a book that should not have been taken out.
Cheong-ho’s spirit looked at me with a gaze carrying a different meaning this time.
“I refuse. Don’t ask for too much.”
Cheong-ho said nothing. He just kept staring at me.
“Didn’t I give you a similar answer when you were alive? I’m a fixer. If your subordinates or your daughter offer me sufficient compensation, and if I have the means, I might help. But anything beyond that, I refuse.”
I could neither join Cheong-ho and Jeong Hyeon-ah’s faction nor bring Cheong-ho’s faction under my control to help his family.
As long as fair compensation is provided, I can help, but I have no intention of becoming one with them.
Cheong-ho still said nothing. He just kept staring at me.
“…….”
I couldn’t hold back and said something I might regret.
“I can help you in other ways instead. If that’s what you want, Chairman.”
I could change Cheong-ho’s current state.
For a moment, images of Heo Sang-hyeon and the necromancy golems I controlled flashed through my mind.
If I put in the effort, more amazing attempts are possible.
I could give him more power than he had when he was alive. Of course, he would be completely different from his previous self.
But still, Cheong-ho remained silent.
After staring at me silently for a long time, Cheong-ho eventually faded slowly into the darkness.
He’s gone.
“Ugh, this feels terrible.”
Crack, crunch, snap.
A faint noise came from a distance. And my magical power suddenly drained away.
Achilles who had been shattered was now repairing its body and rising. Perhaps this was for the best.
“Achilles, I don’t want to deal with Goo Jin-chul in this situation, so handle him yourself.”
Alright, in the meantime, I’ll gather all the magical power filling this place…
Screech, crack, snap!
“No, no, no! Don’t kill him! Just get him out of my sight! No, take him to the car!”
“Good morning.”
It was Heo Sang-hyeon’s greeting.
“Hmm, is it still morning?”
This was my house, the Hungry Mansion.
But what time is it? This house is very dark and damp even during the day. This was because it was intentionally built to face north due to the crazy design ideology of a crazy cultist. Its structure naturally gathered yin energy as it faced the Ghost Gate (a passageway through which ghosts enter and exit).
“It’s 4 o’clock now.”
“Woke up too early.”
“4 p.m., so it’s 16:00 by the 24-hour clock.”
“No, I was joking. By the way, I’m very tired.”
“I’ve been worried because you’ve been overworking yourself since returning from Tanhyeon.”
It’s been about a week since I returned from Tanhyeon, after dealing with the incident involving Cheong-ho.
I wanted to rest for a while, but due to Tudor’s incessant nagging to keep my promises, I only managed to rest for two days and spent the next five handling trivial matters nonstop.
Most of these incidents were important only to Tudor and held no particular significance for me.
I resolved the kidnapping of a conglomerate chairman’s grandson, beat up a lunatic who was collecting people’s spines, rounded up a few illegal immigrants (not foreigners, but aliens) trying to forcibly evolve humanity, and wiped out an entire new religious group trying to create a massive summoning circle in the middle of Geumchon.
And yesterday, near Unjeong Station, a strange foreigner (this time, a real foreigner) caused a commotion, claiming he would play the melody of death with a bizarre violin that could drive people mad and summon monsters just by playing it.
Tsk, it was supposed to be a simple quest.
Just as I was about to wrap things up, the Feast Offering trait suddenly activated.
People who heard the performance had their heads explode at the same time; blood-red rain poured from the sky; an unexpected earthquake occurred; and huge monstrous birds suddenly appeared!
The chaotic disaster that ensued was finally settled by destroying the rare artifact known as the Devil’s Violin.
Aah, what a pity. I had no intention of playing it, but I could have used it somewhere.
I don’t know how Heo Sang-hyeon looked at me while I was reflecting on the previous night’s events, but after hesitating for a moment, he spoke like a butler.
“Would you like to eat… no, can you eat?”
“Just something I don’t have to chew, please.”
“I’ll prepare something simple for you.”
Heo Sang-hyeon soon brought out some fluffy bread, jam, and cream of mushroom soup.
This neighborhood had no shops, not even proper houses. Moreover, since I had recently released monsters (usually the results of failed experiments) everywhere, there were hardly any foolish people snooping around.
Therefore, we generally got our food delivered.
But where did Heo Sang-hyeon find such fluffy, soft, and chewy bread?
“Is there a bakery like this in the real Paju?”
Even if I left the Cthulhu World someday, I wanted to eat this bread every day.
The combination of the chewy bread and Heo Sang-hyeon’s homemade jam was excellent.
I glanced at my smartphone while eating the bread. I used to be almost addicted to it, but I hardly ever looked at it in this Cthulhu World.
There were online communities and news here too, but the detailed information and format were completely different from those in the world I used to live in.
I usually only check it to read messages.
The most recent message was from Tudor.
Actually, no one but Tudor ever messages me.
– Payment completed__?
– By the way, there’s one more thing I need you to do. Can you come out today? Do you remember those big birds you saw at Unjeong Station yesterday? I’ve got a request to deal with them.
– You must come! Got it?
Yesterday’s birds? Was it okay to call those monsters with 12-meter wingspans “big birds”?
I tried to think of a reply but ended up tossing my smartphone aside. I decided to spread more jam on my bread instead.
“No, I refuse. Today, I’m not thinking about anything else and just resting.”
Cheong-ho’s funeral was grand.
Chae Tae-won had called me, but I didn’t go. What would I do there?
Goo Jin-chul was imprisoned again in the basement under the mansion with Chae Tae-won, and he still hadn’t come out.
I told him not to kill him, but who knows where Chae Tae-won would draw the line. Whatever happens, I won’t see his face again. Namo Amitabha.
Most of Goo Jin-chul’s assets were spent on restoring the mansion and other things. Of course, the other things included my payment.
“Haha, I got quite a lot thanks to that.”
The property in Cheong-ho’s nuclear fallout shelter was returned to the Cheong-ho faction, but I took some of the items with me. Selling off Goo Jin-chul’s assets alone wasn’t enough to cover my payment.
For example, like this.
The lamp that was attached to the fallout shelter.
It was incredibly expensive because it operated on magic stones. The magical light supposedly improved health and extended lifespan just by being exposed to it.
For someone like me with the [Weakness: Disease] trait, it was an essential item. If necessary, I could disassemble it for other uses.
[System: The ‘Enhanced Vigilance’ trait has been activated.] Huh? I sensed something strange outside.
It was very faint but distinctly unpleasant and foreign magic.
The amount didn’t matter.
I felt the influence of the abyss.
“Oh, what now? I just want to rest on the weekend!”
Creak.
I heard the sound of the door opening. It seemed Heo Sang-hyeon had opened the front door of the mansion.
I stuffed the remaining bread into my mouth and put on my mask.
“Wait! Don’t touch that!”
I didn’t know what it was, but don’t touch it!
I rushed out to the living room, but it was already too late.
Heo Sang-hyeon showed me the item in his hand with an uneasy expression on his face.
“A letter?”
It was a postcard-sized envelope.
But it wasn’t an ordinary letter. It was likely connected to a being of the abyss or at least sent by a high-ranking cultist.
“It’s addressed to the master… no, the former master.”
“Oh, it’s a letter for the Hollow Lord?”
It wasn’t a secret that the Hollow Lord was dead, but it wasn’t widely known either.
The cultists that belonged to the Descendants of Fomalhaut might have some idea, but they’d be too shaken from their defeat to think clearly.
Who could it be? What kind of mad person would send a kind postcard to a 150-year-old skeleton?
I asked Heo Sang-hyeon.
“Where did it come from?”
“I don’t know.”
Heo Sang-hyeon answered while staring at the envelope with a pale complexion characteristic of an undead.
“Have letters like this come before?”
Hollow Lord didn’t have any family who would send him letters.
Heo Sang-hyeon was the last remaining blood relative, and the cult he established didn’t accept living humans.
“Occasionally, similar letters have arrived. I remembered them because they were quite unique.”
“Indeed, letters imbued with magical power aren’t common.”
“Let me see it.”
“Yes, here you go…”
Heo Sang-hyeon handed over the postcard envelope as if it contained a vile curse.
On the surface, it looked like it might contain a Christmas card or something similar.
However, the faint and unpleasant magical power lingering on the envelope indicated that the sender was no ordinary human.
I flipped the envelope over, but there was no sender listed.
Instead, there was just a single short word written.
“Masquerade.”
I was lost in thought for a moment while tapping my fingers on the mask covering my face.
Masquerade.
It meant a masked ball.
“A mask, huh? I really like those.”
To be more precise, I was insanely fond of them.
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