Chapter 130
Chapter 130
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 130
Chapter Title: Invitation
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Ah, I get it. Killing Goo Jin-cheol makes this place my residence?
"Cut the bullshit and get lost!"
[Fireball]
Roooar!!
Boom!!
I conjured a fireball and hurled it at the message window, but it had no physical form. It just vanished.
"Damn. Can't even vent my anger on this thing."
Time to revise the plan.
Before escaping this world, I'll definitely catch that bastard.
Then smash him to pieces, one way or another.
Escape can come after.
To do that...
『Kuh, heh, heh, heheheh...』
If I pry it open, maybe I'll understand the structure of this world?
It's not an abyssal being, but it's a monster with wisdom and knowledge beyond any human.
It won't spill easily, but it's worth experimenting.
"I'll take my time tearing you apart at home."
The darkness was fading, but not completely gone yet. Better absorb the mana filling the basement before it's too late.
'But first.'
I turned my gaze to something else left in the room.
"Hmm..."
Cheongho's mangled corpse.
No saving him. He'd been dead for a while.
I looked slightly above Cheongho's body, into the empty air, and spoke.
"Chairman, I tried to help if I could, but I failed."
Cheongho's soul just stared at me.
Rummaging through the insides of an avatar created by a high-level mental entity, altering its structure—a mad endeavor.
He even dragged in abyssal beings due to lack of power. Insane by any measure, but not just to torment the [Smiling One].
I'd extracted Cheongho's soul from inside the [Smiling One], where it had been swallowed.
But Cheongho said nothing. He just gazed at me with eyes full of meaning.
"No. You don't need to do that. This was just... hmm, yeah. Loyalty. Call it loyalty to you, Chairman."
If I thought seriously about it, Cheongho and I weren't that close. Alliance or whatever, it was just the game system manifesting.
I had no burning obligation to go this far for him.
This mess started because of me? Is it really my fault for asking for that book?
In the end, Cheongho pulled out a book he shouldn't have, just to use me, and got himself in this state.
Cheongho's soul now stared at me with a different meaning in its eyes.
"No. Don't ask too much."
Cheongho said nothing. He just stared.
"I gave you a similar answer when you were alive, right? I'm a fixer. If your men or your daughter offer proper compensation, and if I happen to have the time, I might help. But nothing beyond that."
I couldn't join under Cheongho or Jeong Hyeon-ah, or take over the Cheongho faction to protect his people.
I'd help as long as fair pay was given, but I had no intention of becoming one with them.
Cheongho remained silent. He just stared.
"..."
I couldn't hold back and said something I might regret.
"But I can help in another way. If that's what you want, Chairman."
I could change Cheongho's current state.
For a moment, images of Heo Sang-hyeon and the death spirit golems I commanded flashed in my mind.
'With some effort, I could do something even greater.'
I could give him power stronger than when he was alive. Of course, he'd be completely different from the old Cheongho.
But Cheongho still gave no answer.
After staring at me in silence for a long time, Cheongho slowly faded into the darkness.
He left.
"Tch, leaves a bad taste."
Crunch, crackle, munch.
A small noise from afar. And mana suddenly draining away.
Achilles, who'd been smashed, was regenerating and rising. Perfect timing?
"Achilles. I don't want to deal with Goo Jin-cheol in this mess, so handle him yourself."
Good. While that's happening, I'll scoop up all this mana here...
Screeech! Crack! Crunch!
"No, no, no! Don't kill him! Get him out of my sight! No! Take him to the car!"
* * *
"Good morning."
Heo Sang-hyeon's greeting.
"Ungh, is it morning already?"
My home, the Hungry Manor.
What time is it now? This house is oppressively dark and damp even during the day. Built intentionally north-facing due to some mad cultist's deranged design philosophy. The structure aligns with the ghost gate, naturally gathering阴 energy.
"It's 4 o'clock now."
"You're up too early."
"4 PM. Or 16:00 if you're going by 24-hour time."
"No, I was kidding. Man, I'm exhausted."
"You've been pushing yourself too hard since Tan-hyeon. I'm worried."
Since Tan-hyeon—that is, since wrapping up the Cheongho incident—about a week had passed.
I'd wanted a real break, but Tudor nagged me to keep my promises, so I only got two days off before handling minor tasks nonstop for five days.
They mattered to Tudor, but meant nothing to me.
Resolved a kidnapping of some big corp chairman's grandson, beat up a psycho collecting people's spines, swept up a few illegal aliens (not foreigners—actual extraterrestrials) trying to forcibly evolve humanity and tossed them to the Management Bureau, and wiped out an upstart cult building a massive summoning circle right in the middle of Geumchon.
And yesterday, some weird foreigner (a real one this time) near Unjeong Station brought a bizarre violin that drove people mad and summoned monsters just by playing it, and started a death melody rampage.
'Tch, it was supposed to be a nothing quest.'
Just as I was about to wrap it up sloppily, the Feast of Offerings trait activated out of nowhere.
Heads of listeners exploded in unison, blood rain poured from the sky, an earthquake hit outta nowhere, and giant freak birds crashed the party!
The massive chaos ended only when I smashed that devil's violin rare artifact.
Tch, what a waste. I couldn't play it, but it could've been useful somewhere.
Heo Sang-hyeon must've seen my reminiscing regret, because he hesitated before speaking like a proper butler.
"Can you... eat? No, will you be able to eat?"
"Just something I can swallow without chewing, please."
"I'll prepare something simple."
Heo Sang-hyeon soon brought fluffy white bread, jam, and cream of mushroom soup.
No shops around here, not even decent houses. Plus, lately I've been letting monsters loose everywhere (byproducts of failed experiments), so no idiots poking around anymore.
Ingredients come by delivery mostly.
How'd he get such fluffy, soft, chewy bread?
"Is there a bakery like this in real-world Paju?"
Even after leaving the Cthulhu World, I'd eat this bread every day.
The combo of chewy bread and Heo Sang-hyeon's homemade jam was perfect.
While eating, I checked my smartphone. Used to be addicted, but barely touch it in the Cthulhu World.
Online communities and news exist here, but details and formats are totally different from my old world.
I only check for messages.
Latest one was from Tudor.
'Not that anyone else messages me anyway.'
- Payment sent♡
- Btw, one more thing I'd like you to handle. Can you come out today too? You saw those kinda big birds near Unjeong Station yesterday, right? Request to deal with them.
- You have to come! Promise?
Those birds yesterday? With 12m wingspans, and she calls them "kinda big"?
I pondered a reply, then tossed the phone aside. More jam on the bread.
"No way, rejected. Today I'm resting, no other thoughts."
Cheongho's funeral was grand.
Chae Tae-won invited me, but I didn't go. What would be the point?
Goo Jin-cheol was locked back in the basement with Chae Tae-won, still not out.
Told them not to kill him, but who knows where Chae Tae-won draws the line. Whatever happens, I won't see his face again. Namu Amida Butsu.
Goo Jin-cheol's assets were mostly spent on manor repairs and cleanup. Oh, cleanup includes my compensation, of course.
"Haha, got a nice payout."
I'd returned Cheongho's bunker assets to the Cheongho faction, but took some items. Selling Goo Jin-cheol's stuff wasn't enough for my fee.
Like that, for example.
A lamp from the bunker.
Mana stone-powered, insanely expensive. Magical light that improves health and extends lifespan just by basking in it?
Essential for me with [Weakness: Disease]. Could dismantle for other uses if needed...
[System: Heightened Vigilance activates.]
Hm? Something weird outside.
Faint, but alien and unpleasant mana.
Not about quantity.
Abyssal influence.
"Ah, what now? Let me rest on weekends!"
Creak.
Door opening. Heo Sang-hyeon opening the front door.
I shoved the last bread into my mouth and swapped masks.
"Wait! Don't touch that!"
No idea what, but don't touch!
I rushed to the living room, but too late.
Heo Sang-hyeon looked uneasy as he showed me the item in his hand.
"A letter?"
Standard postcard envelope size.
But no ordinary letter. Tied to an abyssal being, or at least a high-ranking cultist.
"To the master... no, previous master."
"A letter for Heo Joo?"
Not a secret he died, but not headline news either.
Foamahout descendants' cultists might guess, but they've been stripped bare by me—probably not sane anymore.
Who? Who sends a polite postcard to a 150-year-old skeleton?
I asked Heo Sang-hyeon.
"Where from?"
"No idea."
His undead-pale face stared at the envelope briefly before answering.
"Any similar letters before?"
No family to send Heo Joo mail.
Heo Sang-hyeon was the last blood kin, and his cult doesn't take living humans.
"Sometimes, yeah. Similar ones. Memorable, since they're mana-infused."
"Figures. Mana-enchanted letters aren't common."
"Hand it over."
"Yes, here..."
Heo Sang-hyeon offered the envelope like it held a vile curse.
Looks like it could have a Christmas card inside.
But the faint unpleasant mana lingering on it screams sender's no ordinary human.
Flipped it over—no sender.
Just one short word.
"Masquerade."
I tapped the mask covering my face with a finger, lost in thought.
Masquerade.
A masked ball.
"Masks, huh. I love them too."
Like, insanely so.