Chapter 120
Chapter 120
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 120
Chapter Title: Goo Jin-cheol
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[Heavenly Eye]
Kreeeeeen...!!
Focusing my mana into my eyes, the distant Cheongho mansion suddenly zooms in close.
No sound reaches me, but I can see the window of the room where Jeong Hyun-ah should be—shattered. Through the broken window, I spot Jeong Hyun-ah's back and...
"Ugh, figures."
Goo Jin-cheol's face comes into view. Yeah, it had to be that guy.
From the shape of his mouth, it looks like he's shouting something like "Take this!" or "Keh heh ha!" Probably "Take this," but considering he's your typical backstabbing villain in a classic role, it might actually be "Keh heh ha!" No, this isn't the time for that.
[You've accepted the sudden quest!
[Search Quest: Tiger's Daughter]
Jeong Hyun-ah, daughter of Cheongho—one of the three heads of the Triad—has been kidnapped. Locate Jeong Hyun-ah and secure her safety.
! Time Limit: Jeong Hyun-ah dies in (2) hours. !
Reward: 450,000 XP + Cheongho's trust + 300,000,000 won + bonus based on mission performance
Failure: Hostile relations with the Triad.]
Huh? Now it's auto-accepting quests on its own?
"Hang on, what is this?"
It's the exact same message from before when I had to find Jeong Hyun-ah. Well, bugs like this did happen sometimes in the actual game.
[! Time Limit: Jeong Hyun-ah dies in (5) minutes. !]
"Hey, it was 2 hours a second ago!"
[! Time Limit: Jeong Hyun-ah dies in (4) minutes. !]
...Fine, do whatever you want.
No time to waste anyway. I channel my mana and soar into the sky.
[The unique function of L-rank attire 'Wings of the Night Veil,' 'Heavenly Demon's Wings,' activates.
// Heavenly Demon's Wings: Automatically casts the 'Flight' spell.]
The Cheongho mansion I spotted far off rushes toward me in an instant.
Trailer exhaust smoke billowing out, collapsed walls, and shattered windows!
[Arrow of Ruin]
[Spell Enhancement: Explosive]
[Spell Enhancement: Chain Explosion]
KABOOM!!
"Arghhh!!"
"Eeeeek!!"
The window and part of the wall crumble away.
Glass shards fly everywhere, stone chunks tumble down, dust billows up.
Furniture and fixtures against that wall, books, and a few people all crash in a chaotic symphony—thud thud crash! Bang bang clatter! Screams everywhere!
I perch on the still-intact window frame and survey the room.
Bodyguards slumped unconscious in the corner. Chae Tae-won face-down, bleeding from his head. Shim Young-hwan, whom I'd zapped once before. Goo Jin-cheol clutching Jeong Hyun-ah's neck with one arm. And Jeong Hyun-ah herself, still unharmed for now. Plus a bunch of low-rank Triad NPCs frozen at a distance, helpless.
And mouths opening all at once.
"Wizard!"
"Kim Shin-hwa!"
"You fixer bastard!"
"You son of a bitch! So you came after all!"
Different words, but they all mean pretty much the same thing.
"They're all talking about me, I see. Am I too late?"
"You're already too late! Get out!"
[System: The 'Enhanced Vigilance' trait activates.]
Goo Jin-cheol raises the pistol in his hand toward me.
[Distortion Field]
Bang!
The distortion field activates before he can even pull the trigger, twisting the bullet's trajectory. With a dull *thunk*, a hole punches into the ceiling corner.
"Wh-what?!"
Bang! Bang bang bang!
Thunk, ping, ting, thunk. Scattered objects in the room—different materials—each make their own sound as bullets hit them.
"Damn it! You monster! Don't come any closer!"
Click.
He finally swings the gun barrel around. Like every low-rent villain, he aims it at Jeong Hyun-ah's temple.
"Ugh... Wi... Wizard...!"
"Cut the crap! No matter how fast you are, you can't cast a spell quicker than I can blow a hole in this bitch's head!"
"Oh, come on. Director, I knew you were trash, but doing something this trashy is a problem. Instead of the minor, why not take that young, healthy guy over there hostage? Much more wholesome, right?"
I point at the unconscious bodyguard in the corner. All that over-the-top action earlier, and now he's out cold at the critical moment. Tsk tsk.
There are more young, healthy guys in the room too—the Cheongho gang underlings stuck at a distance, unable to approach. What the hell were they doing to let things get this bad?
"Kim Shin-hwa! Please, save the young lady!"
That's Chae Tae-won yelling from the floor. Sigh, worry about yourself first.
"D-don't try any tricks! Why! Why are you sticking your nose in and ruining my plans from start to finish?!"
"Maybe it started the moment you looked at me with those weird eyes, Director? I had a feeling, honestly. The second our eyes met, I knew our fates would tangle up like this."
"What the hell are you talking about, you lunatic!"
Exactly. The moment I walked into that meeting room and Goo Jin-cheol gave me that sleazy smile, I knew things would end up like this.
"But let me make one thing clear: I gave you a chance, Director. Back there, you could've just confessed everything, I'd smack you around, you'd make some excuse, and it'd be done."
"Hmph, so what?!"
"Don't shoot. If you don't, you'll get beaten up a bit, humiliated, lose some money, lose your position, lose a ton of connections... hmm... yeah, you'll lose a lot. But not your life."
"You dare... you dare..."
Mock me? That's about what he was going for, but his face turns beet red with rage, and he can't continue.
The only reason I'm rambling like this is one thing.
No matter how washed-up they are, Goo Jin-cheol and Shim Young-hwan are Triad executives.
Casting magic without them noticing isn't easy.
"Director! He's casting!"
"What?!"
"Too late!"
A massive cloud of golden sand erupts from both my hands.
[Khah's Golden Sand]
[Spell Enhancement: Maximized]
[Spell Enhancement: Multiple Casting]
Whoooosh!!!
"Arghhh!!"
Goo Jin-cheol instinctively raises an arm to defend.
That move takes a decent chunk of mana—looks like he's been popping precious elixirs in his old age. But this spell isn't for him or Shim Young-hwan.
"Ughhh..."
Jeong Hyun-ah's body goes limp.
Thud. Thump, crash.
The sounds of Cheongho's underlings collapsing around the room.
"Wh-what?! What?!"
Shim Young-hwan flails his head around wildly.
"Shi-Shin-hwa... why...?"
Only Chae Tae-won, with his minimal resistance, manages a few words before passing out.
"They're... asleep? Why? What did you do?"
"Like I said, we're adults, right? Sure, morality's crumbling and society's falling apart these days, but let's hold the line and talk grown-up business while the kid sleeps, yeah?"
"Wh-what?! Magic already!? What did you do?!"
"Sleep spell. What comes next isn't for kids to see. 18+ only. Adults only from here on out."
"You mocking me?! Think I won't shoot?!"
Click!
[Gremlin's Scream]
Zeeeeeen!!
Click! Crunch!
The instant he pulls the trigger on Jeong Hyun-ah's head (whoa, this asshole actually shot!?), the gun doesn't fire—instead, it disassembles itself wildly.
I'd cast enchantments on Jeong Hyun-ah. Sure, body enhancement would help the bodyguards, but what good is strengthening a kid's body?
If anyone hostile tries shooting, it triggers equipment destruction.
"Th-the gun broke!?"
"The attack itself failed—but."
Blue light gleams from my mask. Mana pours out through it in huge quantities.
"—attempting it counts, so the trigger activates."
"Trigger?"
"Yeah, the activation condition. Lent her an artifact that goes off if the owner is attacked."
Rrrumble... shrrrrk...
More like a summon than an artifact?
"Like I said earlier, I warned you. Don't shoot."
But neither Shim Young-hwan nor Goo Jin-cheol seems to hear me anymore.
"What is that sound? What is that sound? What sound? Creepy noise! I hear a creepy noise!"
"Weird sound. Weird sound. Weird sound coming. Something's coming! Something's growing!"
Shrrrrk... shrrrrk...
An unpleasant noise shakes the human mind. The predator's sound etched into humanity's DNA. Fear reason can't suppress.
From Jeong Hyun-ah's embrace, something vile slithers out.
The egg I gave her.
Born from the fluids of the [Black Goat that Spawns Madness], once drank the mana of the [Father of All Ghouls], grew by devouring flesh from a cosmic parasite, and finally mutated after consuming the mana of the [Blind and Idiotic One].
Shrrrrk...
Honestly, didn't expect it to grow into *that*.
'It' writhes pale milky tentacles, continuing to expand. Ugh, eating way more mana than I thought.
Crack crack or squelch squelch noises repeat. The writhing tentacles split open here and there, revealing repulsive maws.
Dozens of mouths expose sharp teeth dripping viscous fluids. Malformed, jagged teeth sprouting wildly.
Another tentacle, then another—exploding into dozens, hundreds in seconds. They twist endlessly, coil around each other, knot and tangle nonstop.
Goo Jin-cheol's mouth and eyes gape wide. His reason's already shattered. Meaningless noise spills from his lips.
"Wha? Thi? Wha? Huh? Uh? Why? Ah?"
Shim Young-hwan, a bit farther away, manages slightly more coherent words.
"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?"
Hundreds of mouths pierced by pale tentacles erupt in simultaneous noise.
"Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry."
Child of the forest, pale child, goat spawn, tree of death, goat's hand, mother's brood, the wriggler—many names for the monster, but the most famous is Dark Young.
I scratch my head for a moment, then speak.
"Well, a promise is a promise. Sorry, Director, but I did warn you."
At the center of the massive tentacles, a swollen tumor-like body rises. And in its core, a gigantic maw. Big enough to chomp and swallow a person whole.
It opens.
From the enormous gullet spills an eye-catchingly huge tentacle, grayish and repulsive, dripping sticky fluids.
That's its tongue.
Whiiiirrrl.
"Ha, hahaha! Hahaha! Ahahaha!!"
Goo Jin-cheol's laughter echoes, wrapped in the massive tongue. The horrific laugh only a completely broken mind can make.
"Ahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!"
Shim Young-hwan mutters endless nonsense. Prayer? Maybe, but no clue to what religion. Could be one he just invented.
"Uhha, uhha, uhahahahaha!!"
Crack, craaaack.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Crunch, crunch, cruuunch...
Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch.