Chapter 125
Chapter 125
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 125
Chapter Title: The Smiling One (1)
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"Ah, it's getting messier by the minute?"
Shelves lined up along the walls, stocked with canned goods and all sorts of survival supplies.
If the previous room had been Cheong-ho's treasure trove, this one was a genuine bunker stockpile meant for its actual purpose.
A space filled with items for surviving the apocalypse.
'Though that's just what it was originally designed for.'
Everything stockpiled for survival had been destroyed.
It looked like the aftermath of a lunatic—or a gorilla, or maybe a lunatic gorilla—running amok.
The rampage wasn't the issue.
The real problem was the disgusting traces covering the entire mess.
A bizarre stain coated the room and walls, emanating a horrendous stench.
"So that's where the rotten smell was coming from."
Rejoice, Cheong-ho faction! Your boss's sanity score has finally hit negative one hundred.
Someone had smashed preserved food and drinks, smeared them on the walls. It was hard to make out, but it seemed like they were trying to form letters or shapes.
Thanks to my unnecessarily high Intelligence stat, I could piece together exactly what had happened in this room.
Trembling hand movements, like they were scared. A pattern that cut off abruptly. Shattered tiles on the floor. They stopped scribbling around here, shook with fear, stomped their feet? Then went back over there... no, they jumped.
Grabbed something thick and sticky again, smeared it on that wall, painted letters. Then punched the shelf next to it. Cans came crashing down. He stomped a few, splattering food, then threw it or smeared it on himself. Nauseating.
Deep footprints in the floor. Stomping like a monkey again, thrashing around. Bloodstains? Self-harm? Scattered among the blood were thick fingernails. Broken, shattered ones. Some nearly intact, peeled off with bits of flesh still attached.
"At least they used food for the graffiti?"
From the looks of it, they were in a state where using excrement instead wouldn't have been surprising.
Shamanistic patterns. Primitive symbols. Obscene curses blaspheming the human mind and mocking humanity's achievements. It reminded me of the grotesque murals made by the ghouls in the apartment complex basement.
And amid it all, expressions that no one without surreal perception or abyssal knowledge could write.
How much did Cheong-ho understand about abyssal entities?
'Next to nothing.'
Setting aside his identity as an underworld boss, Cheong-ho was actually a pretty straightforward, pure guy. Even limiting comparisons to the three heads of the Triad, he felt less like a [Cthulhu World] character and more like a romantic brawler from the '50s.
It was hard to believe such a guy had done this.
But on the flip side, that was it.
"So why's there no one here?"
Who was it that talked to me earlier?
"Haa..."
A sigh escaped me. What a truly shitty game.
In the end, including the one at the entrance, there were only three rooms in this rat hole. Did they really design it to make me explore every last inch?
"Hey, Mister President! Do you really have to make me come all the way in? Don't normal hosts greet guests at the door?"
Sigh, these days' adults really have no manners.
I called out to Cheong-ho just in case, but no special response came. Guess it meant head to the final room.
"Ugh. Fine, it's all my fault. I'm going, going."
Sanity score aside, talking about survival score was pointless now.
Even if I ran into something like Cheong-ho, I might not recognize it as him.
I gathered mana again and opened the final door.
Considering the game's structure, searching this room would yield meaningful clues or useful items. But I had no intention of wasting more time on that.
Kreeeeak...
Once more, deep darkness repeated.
"Sigh..."
My sigh repeated as well.
What should I tell Jung Hyun-ah? It'd be nice if I could at least drag back something corpse-like.
The final room beyond this contrived darkness was living quarters.
Bed, shower, toilet, kitchenette, and some hobby space to endure long confinement.
Sorry, Jung Hyun-ah, but I was tempted to just torch the place and leave.
Couldn't do that, though?
"Ah, I can kinda guess the next development."
That's why you don't just barge into Tan-hyeon.
Tan-hyeon is closer to the abyss than anywhere else.
Give it the slightest pretext, and suddenly ruins appear where none were, monsters wander that never did before.
And those become footholds for entities from beyond the veil, from the deep, deep abyss, to project their influence.
'After dragging this out so long, something big's probably gonna pop out.'
Cheong-ho was just bait to lure me in.
An abyssal entity that'd act like this...
"Hmm... Can't tell from what we've seen so far? [Ruler of the Boundary]?"
[The One Who is All], [The Key and the Gate], [The Opener of the Way], [Vice-King].
No, not that.
If the [Ruler of the Boundary] was coming, there'd have been far more flashy, horrific omens. It wouldn't be satisfied with driving just one person mad.
'Then what the hell jumped in?'
Too many unpredictable variables this time.
"Alright. So is this the real tiger's den?"
Gotta enter the den to catch the cub.
Ultimately, pace check.
Into the deep, deep darkness, I stuck my head in.
But the darkness didn't fade. Just deep darkness.
Darkness.
Darkness.
No matter how far I walked.
No matter how much I advanced, the darkness didn't lift.
Dark. Deep, deep darkness.
"Shit, how long is this loading screen?"
It wasn't actually loading, but it sure felt like it to me.
[System: Penalty trait 'Sacrifice of the Feast' has activated.]
And with that, something began.
A monstrous screech from somewhere.
Something wailing. A groan soaked in agony—no, a sweet scream drenched in pleasure and ecstasy.
Unintelligible alien tongue echoed.
The bunker’s owner must have built this place to protect himself from external calamities and ruin.
But against that purpose, this spot became a greenhouse for world-ending horrors.
The sturdy shell made to shield from external calamity and ruin had rotted from within, now a monster's lair.
And a grinding, meaningless laugh like metal on metal.
Hee hee hee, ee hee hee hee, ee hee hee hee hee...
"Uh, hold on a sec."
I opened my mouth to speak, but no reaction.
Just emotionless incantation flowing in, like a set script. A bizarre will transmitted not through air, but darkness.
Kkhuh, hee hee hee, uh hee hee hee heek!
- Prophet, thinker, foreteller of futures, the one who leads you to your future, to that distant future you will reach.
- Remover of fear, dread, despair toward the future and the unknown, the one who manifests coming calamities.
"Hold on, sorry, can I get a word in?"
But no response.
Just the set incantation repeating.
Darkness seeped into my skin, burrowed into my mind.
Vicious darkness eroding the soul to erase existence itself, malevolent will. And all sorts of other unhealthy crap trying to worm in.
Fuck off, my head's complicated enough!
Pzzt crackle!
Blue sparks flew near my temples. The trait activated at the right moment.
[System: Exclusive trait 'Madness of the Abyss' activates. Nullifies mental erosion effect.]
Yes, my beloved Madness of the Abyss.
Working hard again today.
- No matter your thoughts, your hopes, in the darkness, in the abyss, in that deep dream...
Still, the darkness kept talking to me. Kept trying to burrow into my mind—damp madness, fishy insanity.
"Ah, damn it, shut up."
Knock it off, you bastards.
[Beacon of Ibn Ghazi]
White flames infused with guardian mana flared up. Not enough, though.
Dozens of magic circles bloomed around me. Runes and arrays of various effects spewed multicolored flashes.
The darkness coiling around me recoiled far back from the light.
"Ah, refreshing."
I rolled my eyes under the mask, scanning around.
What I saw... ugh, not fully over yet.
The darkness had retreated, but hadn't vanished. Unnaturally sticky darkness blanketed the whole room.
It had the same properties as the black slime I'd seen outside the bunker.
"Bigger than I thought?"
If memory served, this room wasn't this spacious.
Smaller than the previous ones, for sure. But it didn't look that way now.
'Ah, not that.'
Distance perception distorted.
Not a good sign. Shamanic power, surreal pressure, bizarre darkness messing with my senses. Not just spatial awareness—detection and magical influence warped too.
No visible enemies yet, so no big issue... wait, no visible enemies is the issue.
"After all that commotion to get in, shouldn't someone at least come greet me?"
No response.
Deflating.
"Ah, damn, what the hell is this?"
This event didn't exist in the game.
Which meant anything could happen.
[Cthulhu World] often had bugs where key NPCs vanished, blocking progress. Shit, is that it? All this buildup just for it to be stuck somewhere?
I proceeded cautiously into the room.
[System: 'Heightened Vigilance' trait activates.]
Something appeared.
Direction? Damn, detection lagged a beat from suppression.
Behind me.
"Kkhuh, kkhuhuhu. You've come, you've come, my brother. Kkhuhuhu..."
"Oh, President, you're safe? I was worried you were stuck in some object and couldn't spawn."
I said that, but this wasn't the time for jokes.
Cheong-ho had entered from the door I'd come through.
How'd he circle behind without me seeing? Not just distance—space itself warping?
What about Jang Hyun-deok and Gu Jin-cheol?
Too dense mana blocked sensing beyond the room.
Regardless of my questions, Cheong-ho just burst into laughter.
"Kkhuh, kkhehehehe, kkkuk, kkkuk..."
Laughter is the root of fortune, they say?
"Your face looks bright, aura shining. Seems you've been doing better than expected?"
Hunched posture. Eyes wide open. Drool dripping.
Torn clothes everywhere, skin caked in filth, stench that made vomit rise.
Anyone would see him as unstable.
Parade that on the street, and cops'd haul him to a hospital in thirty minutes.
'And that's Cheong-ho?'
What the hell is that?
Not the pathological laughter or unstable demeanor raising mania concerns.
He looked exactly like Cheong-ho, spoke in Cheong-ho's voice, but something was off.
Felt like some alien thing wearing Cheong-ho's skin.
"Kkkuk... Couldn't be better. Kim Shin-hwa, my brother. Kkkuk, kkkuk, kkhuh, kkhuh... kkhuhuhuk..."
Cheong-ho trembled, emitting sounds unclear if sobs or laughs.
"Kkhuh, kkhehehehe, kkkuk, kkkuk... Missed you. I've been waiting. Kkkuk, in this damn darkness, long, long time—how long's it been? Kkhuh, kkhee!"
"Ah, hold on. Feels like it's time for the real ramble, but can I say something short first?"
Had to speak before Cheong-ho's full nonsense began.
"If you're planning 'I know all you don't, but won't tell easily' or whatever, cut it. Say what you want quick, short, precise words. Or if not, just three words."
"Three words?"
The same three I'd recommended to Hwa-in last time.
"Yes. Shout 'Kieek!' and charge, and I'll say 'Knew it!' while beating you down."