Chapter 147
Chapter 147
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 147
Chapter Title: For the Time Being
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To cut to the chase, the Mask Obsession hadn't been cured.
I had expected as much.
I wasn't even in a state where my madness had fully manifested in the first place. And considering I was surrounded by masks on all sides—and still wearing one myself—it was hardly like I'd overcome them.
Instead, there was a minor change to my status window.
****
Kim Shin-hwa
Class: Abyss-Gazing Wizard
Level: 43
Magic Tier: 4th Circle
Madness: [Mask Obsession (Latent)], [Ichthyophobia]
Strength: 5 + 4 (Embers of the Bukrak Sect)
Vitality: 7 + 3 (Four Sins Piercing Sword (Verdant Blade))
Agility: 8 + 2 (Night Veil Wing Robe)
Intelligence: 30
Mind: 17 + 2 (Necklace of the Body Seizer)
Charisma: 19
****
It droned on with some verbose achievement nonsense, handing out experience points and rewards.
My level went up by one, at least.
Levels aren't that important right now, though.
What matters more is what's below that...
Madness.
[Mask Obsession] had changed to [Mask Obsession (Latent)].
"I know what this means."
Latent madness. More precisely, [Latent Madness].
It's the stage right before the madness gets cured.
If you stay stable for a long time in that state, get treatment at a hospital, or put in the effort with real-world mental health practices, there's a chance it could heal on its own.
Or so the system says.
"You're not gonna let it heal naturally, are you?"
This is a penalty tied to my trait, so no curing it.
If I rephrase [Mask Obsession (Latent)] in a state where healing's off the table:
Temporary mitigation of the penalty.
Even if the mask gets knocked off unexpectedly like last time, succeeding on the check lets me act rationally like a normal person.
Fail the check?
It treats it like a successful check from the full madness state.
I'll be shaking like I did with the [Rat Phobia], but if I push through, I can move. The downside is the madness reactivates from its latent state.
So, in simple terms...
'One free pass, basically?'
Spare life? Shield? Madness get-out-of-jail-free card?
"...Honestly, not bad."
I'm not thrilled, but this is a pretty solid reward.
Way better than spinning the wheel on random madness roulette, not knowing what'll pop out.
I've gotten used to Mask Obsession anyway, and with a one-time madness exemption in hand, countermeasures are easy to set up.
If some insane obsession hit me out of nowhere right now, it could derail all my strategies. Among the madnesses in [Cthulhu World], there are things like murderous impulses or the person fixation Je Mu-kyeong showed before.
And the utterly horrific Scatolo... No, don't even think about it.
[Restoration complete.]
Huh?
[Achievement unlocked! You have opened the 'Unopenable Box.'
You have obtained the 'Rare Achievement: The One Who Opened the Unopenable Box.'
As an achievement reward, the 'Faceless One's Mask' is bound to you as an artifact, and you gain additional experience points.]
Finally fixed the glitch? This achievement that should've popped earlier shows up now. The name feels kinda lazy. Slapped together in a hurry?
[You have shown yourself overcoming various hardships so far. But this time, you used a truly unexpected method. You anticipated every hidden trap and overcame them perfectly.]
I flashed a triumphant smile. Not that it shows through the mask.
"Looks like it's true—I'm outside your foresight after all."
If they could predict my actions, the fight wouldn't even happen.
That's why I'd deliberately tested a few times whether they could foresee me.
[Most watching you thought you were being swept up in Mask Obsession. It really looked like a total loss of control.]
Those watching me, knowing about Mask Obsession.
Probably the abyssal beings treating me like dinner theater.
[But that wasn't the case. Were all those choices, every precarious action and obsession, just an act? Not swept up in Mask Obsession, but biding your time like a cunning serpent?]
"Yeah, all an act."
The message window went silent for a moment.
I'd built this entire plan the moment I saw [Faceless One] instead of just 'mask.'
Thanks to that, they figured a trap like this would drag me down. Which is how I get my hands on the [Faceless One's]'s power—specifically, Nyarlathotep's.
...Man, it'd be great if I could say that with confidence.
'Ugh, but from midway, it stopped being an act.'
Mask Obsession took over, and it turned real. The embarrassing crap in the middle? Pure Mask Obsession. Why the hell did I bring all those other masks?
If it weren't for Jang Hyun-deok and Heo Sang-hyeon, I'd probably still be out of it.
But so what?
Now they'll read meaning into my every move and start doubting.
[But what impact will your dealings with higher intelligences have on your future? And the knowledge you hold about this world—how long will it serve you? The moment your knowledge fails you, what face will you make? Beware the chaotic future ahead.]
The message window vanished.
Another half-assed threat. Eh, good enough. I tried to stand...
Ugh, not easy.
"Urgh... You bastards, at least give me some vitality."
I grabbed a nearby table and barely hauled myself up.
My legs are jelly.
Artifacts force-boost stats, but it's not the same as real muscle from vitality. Same with the 30 intelligence crammed in my head.
I've figured it out from constant use. This is fake intelligence.
It kicks in naturally for recalling memories or calculations, but it doesn't function as my true intellect.
"What is it... like an external graphics card?"
Good analogy? Feels more like a separate processor hooked up from outside than my own smarts.
I glanced around.
"What a mess."
The tidy basement was now a disaster zone.
Documents piled on the desk were scattered everywhere, books from the shelves dumped on the floor.
And the masks too.
Masks don't hit me with that special rush anymore.
Thanks to the latent Mask Obsession, the mindless fixation has died down a bit.
"But if I let my guard down again, it'll be a mess, right?"
I've escaped the level where just looking gives mind-melting pleasure. Vague fondness lingers, though.
Down from obsession to enthusiast level?
I snapped my fingers, opening the barrier holding the [Book of Greed and Ruin].
Creeeeak.
"How's it feel?"
"Satisfactory."
A hazy image of Cheong-ho projected from the darkness in the barrier's gap. Is this guy planning to keep chatting as Cheong-ho forever?
Cheong-ho's appearance had changed.
He's now wearing the [Faceless One's Mask].
The masked Cheong-ho spoke.
"Kim Shin-hwa. Giving something this precious to me... You sure you won't regret it?"
"Who's giving what to who? Get a grip?"
I'm just storing my loot in one spot.
The dangerous grimoire [Book of Greed and Ruin] and the even more dangerous artifact [Faceless One's Mask].
The secretive request I slipped in with my question.
That was the real deal.
Help me escape the mask's temptation and seal it away.
In return, I'll share some power with you.
Not handing over the mask itself, though.
Think of it as scraping up scraps of the power overflowing from it?
But he was satisfied with that.
"Anyway, thanks. Soon, I'll truly become one with the abyss."
"Yeah, grow big and strong."
The [Book of Greed and Ruin] was just a terminal for a higher intelligence, but it'll suck up the mask's power and get stronger.
"Alright. Don't call me for a while. I'll build my strength here with the pain you taught me."
"Sure. I'll leave you alone for now. Mortal time frame, though."
"...Mortal time frame?"
"My 'for now' means 3 to 7 days."
"..."
"Oh, and a day is 24 hours. An hour's 3,600 seconds."
"...That's too short to accomplish anything."
"Figured. Anyway, see you soon. 'Soon' is also mortal time."
Thud.
The barrier door shut.
Once he reaches the state he wants, I won't be able to control him anymore.
But no big deal.
I already calculated that when I made the plan.
The time he'll need to reach that state...
"Anyway, it'll take until my son's son's son kicks the bucket to gather that much power."
Any issues he causes? I can worry about that later.
Gotta milk 'for now' for all it's worth.
"..."
'This is horrifying...'
My emotional state is horrifying.
He toyed with me, killed Cheong-ho, did that horrific shit.
The memories haven't faded, but the feelings tied to them have mostly evaporated.
And it's only been days.
Now I can joke around with him smiling, make deals without a care—even with him borrowing the dead Cheong-ho's face and voice.
'Everything but the madness embedded in my head is turning trivial.'
Just as madness, fear, and mental shocks don't faze me anymore, events that would've broken [Ordinary Kim Shin-hwa] are just jokes to [Mad Wizard Kim Shin-hwa].
I climbed the stairs slowly, fighting to hold onto this horrific feeling.
* * *
Days had passed.
More than the 'for now' I told the [Book of Greed and Ruin].
From Cheong-ho's death to the Masquerade.
I'd barely rested a day through it all, but now I finally let my guard down for a breather.
Not totally idle—I handled prep work for the future and caught up on grimoire decoding.
Picked up a few extra spells, but mostly mid-tier stuff.
Oh, not just that, though.
'Resting' is generous; I was holing up.
My schedule depends on how things shake out in Sejong City.
Looks like Dokgo Gyeom shook off Yang Seo-ho's pursuit. A bounty for him went up on the Fixer Network.
"Intriguing."
The voice on my smartphone replied in awkward Korean inflection.
- The amount is... don't be shocked.
"Come on, how much?"
- 400 billion.
"Whoa, that's nuts. City got budget to burn?"
Makes sense, though.
- No, not the city. Hunter Mutual Aid Association posted it. Probably 'cause he gut-stabbed that Sejong councilor.
"Ah, got it."
Hunter Mutual Aid is the bounty hunters' guild. Still, 400 billion is absurd.
- Anyway, things are getting noisy. Alien Management Office issued a statement about cracking down on illegal crimes and scam cults.
"Officially?"
- Under police auspices for now. Basically, rounding up all the cultists who stirred shit in Sejong.
"Right. Any chance Fomalhaut's spawn got tangled up?"
- Tch, would've been great for both of us. But no—they never showed in Sejong.
"Pity."
- Oh, but something else popped up.
"What? Fomalhaut-related?"
- Yep. Explosion at a business run by Fomalhaut's spawn recently.
"Yang Seo-ho anonymously?"
I said it deadpan, but probably Dokgo Gyeom. Guy with a 400 bil bounty stays busy.
In-fighting should follow. Safe to assume the Arbiter route's gone.
- Could be. Ahem, anyway, that's the vibe lately. So, shall we...?
"Shall we?"
- Wrap the small talk and get to business? You didn't call just for rumors, right?
Ah, yeah. Business time.
I didn't call Park Gwang-rim just for gossip.
"Alright. Actually, calling to commission something."
- Commission? From me, by you, Kim Shin-hwa?
"Yeah. Make me a few Kim Shin-hwas."
Time for my full safety net.