Chapter 171
Chapter 171
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 171
Chapter Title: Named Request
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A mug of sweet, steaming cocoa.
Warmth seeps back into my chilled fingertips.
‘Ah, a day off today... I’ll start moving tomorrow.’
Rumble—
The downpour outside hasn’t let up yet. The special civil servants maintaining the Great Barrier will handle it well enough, so there won’t be massive damage, but it’s worrying for all sorts of reasons.
Tomorrow, an avalanche of requests and incidents will probably come pouring in.
‘And with the Foreigner Management Agency laying low,异種族 have been flooding in.’
Then the floodwaters infused with the curse of the deep sea and abyss hit Paju. Even healthy humans can go mad from exposure, so the异種族, who are even more sensitive to abyssal influence, must be hit harder.
“The Foreigner Management Agency will be back in action soon.”
“Is that so?”
At my words, Heo Sang-hyun’s already pale face grew even paler.
“They kept it under wraps during the Sejong City incident, but they might pay a visit to this house too.”
“...I see.”
Dark shadows linger under Heo Sang-hyun’s large eyes, the kind unique to the undead. He’s an undead revived through magic, but his legal status remains intact from when he was alive.
This house is still legally his. In the end, he might end up suffering for it.
“Well, I’ll prepare countermeasures ahead of time, so don’t worry too much.”
Plenty of methods come to mind. Which one should I go with? As I pondered, I spoke again.
“You said it’s been three weeks? No other intruders in that time?”
“Some fixers tried breaking in a few times, but we handled them without issue. However...”
“However?”
“Yesterday, a man named Jang Hyun-deok came by.”
“Hyun-deok?”
There’s a barrier around the estate, but it’s not designed to block all intruders outright.
It only activates against those with murderous intent, aggressive hostility, or magic power above a certain threshold, so Jang Hyun-deok and other delivery folks can approach without trouble.
But why did Jang Hyun-deok come?
“What did he want?”
“Uh...”
Heo Sang-hyun traced his lifeless lips with his gaunt, pale fingers, lost in thought.
“I didn’t quite understand what he was saying, but something about a girlfriend? No, a girl he’s seeing? He rambled on about that and left.”
Huh? Some absurd word just came out of Heo Sang-hyun’s mouth. A girl he’s seeing? What’s this nonsense?
“He came to brag about getting a girlfriend?”
“I’m not sure. He was so scared of me that we didn’t talk long.”
“Hmm. What the hell is that idiot up to?”
A strange feeling nagged at me, but now wasn’t the time to worry about Jang Hyun-deok’s fluttering romance event.
“Nothing else noteworthy happened.”
“Got it. Understood.”
With that, I excused myself from Heo Sang-hyun and headed up to the attic.
‘Time to check the game’s progress.’
Creak—
A spotless attic, free of even a speck of dust.
In the center of the room sat a stone coffin.
I lay down in it and gazed up at the skylight in the ceiling.
Whirr—
Hidden mechanisms in the attic revealed themselves, transforming the ceiling window toward the sky.
T’s Clock.
An indicator of the game’s progress.
“In the game, you could just hit a hotkey to pull up the screen.”
No hotkeys here, no convenient UI.
But its importance is clear.
When all nine slots light up, this world ends.
“The moment the stars realign.”
Why it’s placed in Heo’s house specifically isn’t clear, but the other cultists must have had their own ways to check T’s Clock.
The deep ones in Insu Village were waiting for that exact moment when the stars realign.
‘Probably in their altar?’
Too late to check now. The altar was smashed when the sea well collapsed.
Click—
T’s Clock was ready.
The display showed four stars.
It had been three last time.
‘The Great Barrier fell, so no helping it.’
If I’d let the deep ones run wild, the stars would’ve filled up uncontrollably, and we’d be at six by now.
These stars even fill automatically over time.
“It’s fine. My score’s still decent.”
I can’t block every doom route completely, but handling the urgent ones early buys me maximum time.
What doom routes have I sealed so far?
‘First, the Fomalhaut offspring route.’
They’re nearly wiped out.
Left alone, their cult would’ve spread nationwide, causing massive arsons, chain explosions, and shocking spontaneous human combustions.
‘Next, the parasite war route.’
The one starring the alien parasites that Yang Seo-ho and the Foreigner Management Agency adore.
Hard to encounter unless you hunt them down, but they conveniently showed up as Jeong Hyeon-ah’s kidnappers, letting me shut it down early.
‘Then the Three Heads Society route.’
Some loose ends there, but the most dangerous path is gone.
The one where all three heads corrupt simultaneously and become Nyarlathotep’s minions.
But with the Red Heads’ forces shrinking—and Blue Tiger dead—it can’t happen.
Word is Jeong Hyeon-ah took over Blue Tiger Gang and is beating down the Red Heads... I’ve never seen that twist. I asked Park Gwang-rim to keep tabs.
‘Next, the Judges route.’
Wrapped up nicely with the Masquerade and Sejong City explosions. Masquerade’s leader, Dugoh Geom, is still a fugitive, so most of his related routes are blocked too.
‘And this time, the [Great Flood].’
Done.
Just a few key events left to worry about. Disrupting them in my downtime should buy plenty of time.
“So, time left for me is roughly—”
A year and a half?
Some routes have special conditions, but preemptively blocking those is impossible.
“Time to hunt for a concrete escape method.”
Most straightforward: ask the [Smiler]. But it demands payment. Hard to prepare something it’d accept right now.
Gotta level up first.
Like how Heavenly Gold Pavilion unlocked, level 50 opens new places and factions.
“The Great Race.”
Worth poking.
Yithians.
Aliens from the world of Yith, nomadic wanderers of space-time without a home. The only ones in the universe to unravel space-time’s secrets, earning them the title ‘Great Race.’
If anyone knows answers, it’s them, who traverse millions of years and billions of light-years freely.
‘They might not have answers either.’
But they can help. At least grant power to fight other abyssal beings.
“And the Mi-go.”
Not on the Great Race’s level, but they know plenty about this world’s secrets. Problem is, reaching either requires clearing annoying prerequisite quests.
“So, Holistic it is.”
Feels like a step down, but they experiment on abyssal-linked entities. Past a certain point, they dive into time and dimension research—in the game, that accidentally summons other-dimensional beings, triggering doom.
Whirr—
Having sorted my thoughts, I stretched and stood.
Complicated in detail, simple in summary.
“First, level up while cleaning up the area.”
Flood aftermath will spike requests.
Pick the best value ones to farm cash, levels, artifacts.
‘Then hit Holistic once prepped.’
Blocks their doom route too, and digging into them uncovers Mi-go. Two birds, one stone.
Rrring—
Huh?
My smartphone buzzes. Tudor.
—Oh, babe. That must’ve been you, right?
“Out of nowhere, what’re you talking about?”
—You go radio silent forever, then pick up right after this massive incident? Obvious.
“Hmm, fair point.”
—Did you cause it? Or stop it?
Odd phrasing.
“Stopped it.”
—Haha, as expected of justice’s champion, Kim Shin-hwa! But the Sea God’s persistent, so stay sharp.
Dagon aside, his deep one minions are tenacious. Other factions beyond Insu Village’s might attack for revenge.
“I’ll keep it in mind. So, why the call? Not just checking when I’ll be back, right?”
—Come on, do I look that idle? Got a request naming you specifically, so I figured I’d check.
“Named request? In this rain? If it’s not urgent, can we do it after it stops?”
—Heh, it’s not even that juicy anyway. If you pass, great—I’ve got something better for you.
“Then I pass—”
Wait. Something’s off. Why ask about one I’d obviously reject?
“—No, tell me the details first. What’s worth calling about?”
—Bodyguard gig. Urgent protection request until safe. Someone’s after their life, apparently?
“Ah, got it.”
—Pay’s a measly ten million won. You really doing it?
“Ten million? Yeah, pass. But from how you’re talking, the real hook’s coming up, right? Probably—”
The client’s special? Or the attacker?
—Your usual security taxi driver.
“Huh? Jang Hyun-deok?”
—Yep. That’s the client.
Rumble!
Thunder crashes outside, right on cue.
“What happened to Jang Hyun-deok?”
—Something weird’s latched onto him? But with you dumping that grudge-infused seawater on Paju... No matter how talented, he won’t hold out long.
Torrential rain pours like waterfalls.
Abyssal-cursed downpour blankets Paju.
Puzzle pieces click, meshing with earlier info from another angle.
‘Come to think of it, Jang Hyun-deok stopped by.’
He fears this house.
Yet he came and spouted weird stuff.
‘A girlfriend? No, a girl he’s seeing? He rambled on about that and left.’
‘Came to brag about getting a girlfriend?’
‘I’m not sure. He was so scared of me that we didn’t talk long.’
Our conversation with Heo Sang-hyun.
He thought Jang feared him, but maybe the reverse?
Jang Hyun-deok, gripped by horrific terror, babbling about his girl and fleeing.
[Will you accept the quest?
[Escort Quest: Taste True Love] Paju security taxi driver Jang Hyun-deok has left a request for protection. Protect him from the one who loves him. Locate Jang Hyun-deok and secure his safety.
! Time Limit: In (8) hours, Jang Hyun-deok will taste true love. !
Reward: 950,000 XP + Jang Hyun-deok’s trust + Performance bonus (+Broker’s promised payment separate.)
Failure: A new life begins for Jang Hyun-deok, who tasted true love.]
Yeah, this is Cthulhu world.
No room for heart-fluttering romance events here.
If something like that happens, it’s just prelude to a Cthulhu mythos catastrophe.