Chapter 178
Chapter 178
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 178
Chapter Title: Wizard King
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"Wizard King"?
What a load of nonsense.
Jang Hyun-deok, the one who'd caused all this mess, looked utterly baffled as he spouted something ridiculous.
"Why 'king'?"
"It's a forced mimicry, but to recognize it as a transformation of the same entity, at least one connecting identity has to be maintained. But none of the keywords presented here link continuously to the existing faith..."
Explaining it like this wouldn't get through to Jang Hyun-deok.
"Just some guys who like kings, that's all."
In any case, it meant they perceived me as an incarnation of the King in Yellow. Since the yellow wasn't visible, they slapped "king" onto it.
I let out a sigh as I thought to myself.
'Of all things, not the Bremen Town Musicians.'
I never imagined the boat we'd taken from In-su Village would end up being used like this.
Sure, I'd added special effects with all sorts of spells, but in reality, it was like a kids' play.
Legs made of spirit golems.
The Dragon King's boat forming the body.
And the Dark Young I'd awakened to bulk up the size while serving double duty.
I'd draped shadows over all of it to make it look like one massive lump, but ultimately, there I was, standing in front of a boat with legs.
"Still, the effect is undeniable."
- What an enormous effect. I've never seen anything like this. Sanghyeon, have you been hiding this power since the Masquerade? Did you gain all this from Tan-hyeon?
It was Hee-in.
His voice was still unpleasantly suave, but unlike usual, it was trembling. Was he shocked?
'Or maybe excited?'
It was clear he was in a different emotional state than normal, but the unstable audio quality of the headset radio made it impossible to pinpoint exactly what he was thinking.
'Not like those instant cultists, though.'
Looks like this hastily thrown-together play couldn't shake the faith of the original cultists.
But the minds of the brainwashed instant cultists? Those I'd thoroughly rattled.
"Ahh! Wizard King!"
"Wizard King! Guide us!"
"Give us a revelation! Tell us how to escape this world on the brink of ruin!"
"Send us the ark!"
"The hand of salvation!"
Seeing the cultists begging me like that made me sigh. For now, at least, these guys would obey my commands. If I told them to, they'd jump into hellfire.
"Charm offensive successful, anyway."
But there were still obstacles left.
"Kyaaah!!"
Byakhees flying in from afar.
The Dark Young, who'd been busily waving its tentacles, got excited at the sight of them.
"Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry." "Hungry."
"Hang on, if you jump in too, it'll be a mess. Just hold off a bit."
I soothed the Dark Young as I thought.
I had the [Inheritor of the Corpse Heap], which let me subjugate otherworldly beings.
'It might be possible to force even Byakhees to submit if I pushed it...'
But this wasn't the time to get greedy.
I didn't know how Hee-in would react either—and come to think of it, wasn't this guy slacking off?
"Hey, if you don't clear those out quick, I'll assume you can't uphold your end of the deal—"
- I'll handle them right away.
"Ha, you punk."
I'd offloaded the Byakhees onto him in exchange for info on the Tan-hyeon ruins. But Hee-in had pretended to be pushed back by them just to sneak closer and monitor me.
The power I'd demonstrated had nothing to do with the Tan-hyeon ruins, but he had no way of knowing that.
To stay in my good graces, he'd kill angels or whatever now.
"Kyaaah!"
"Grrrrr!!"
The Byakhees' shrieks and pained groans.
KABOOM!
A series of explosions rang out.
In an instant, Hee-in and his three underlings dragged the Byakhees out of sight.
'See? I knew he'd pull something like that.'
Anyway, the annoying Byakhees were gone now—
"Alright. Good job clearing them. Time to wrap this up."
- Could you perhaps restore them all to how they were before?
Hee-in's voice cut in again. Ugh, quit being such a pain!
No, wait. "How they were before"?
"Before—as in, before you heretics, frauds, and cultists brainwashed them?"
- Back to the devout faithful they were before loving Hyun-deok. That kind of "before" would be ideal.
"You're the ones who forcibly brainwashed people who didn't want it, and now you talk about devout faith?"
- Fair enough. At least, please don't kill them.
Tch. If I could, I'd love to reset all these people back to normal, but that's impossible.
Such abilities are incredibly rare, and none of the magic or powers I rely on include anything like that.
I infused my voice with mana and shouted.
『Hear me! I command you—』
I scanned the blank expressions of the cultists awaiting my orders. Looking at those faces just irritated me more.
'In the end, all I can do is tweak the direction of the brainwashing a bit.'
I yelled out something half-hearted.
『All of you, go home! The gods have not descended yet. Return to your workplaces and do your jobs. Do not fall for the wicked sweet talk of antisocial heretics, frauds, and cultists who falsely claim to be gods or saviors! And if you've got that much passion left over, do some volunteer work or at least be filial to your parents at home!』
- We're not an antisocial fraudulent religion.
"Yeah, sure you aren't."
It was a sloppy shout, but the authority I'd borrowed was real.
The Mask of Carcosa lent my words the authority of the King in Yellow—far more convincingly than the pathetic traces left in Jang Hyun-deok's body.
That's why the brainwashed cultists embraced my command with fervor.
"Waaah! The Wizard King commands!"
"Filial piety and service!"
"The command is filial piety and service!"
"Root out heretics and frauds, and pursue filial piety and service!"
The brainwashed cultists scattered, shouting "Filial piety and service!" or "Wizard King!" with fanatical zeal.
- Hmm, why of all things that command...
Hee-in let out a dissatisfied groan over the headset.
"Even if they turn back to religion and faith, they probably won't join fraud cults like yours."
From Hee-in's perspective, he could re-brainwash them, but it'd take a ton of effort now.
- To proselytize to those people, we'll have to reject superstition and promote doctrines of service and filial piety.
"If you're starting a new religion, I recommend calling it Confucianism."
Hee-in fell silent for a while before speaking again.
- Now, I'd like an introduction to the Tan-hyeon ruins you've just visited.
"Sure, I'll tell you."
There was nothing worth taking from those ruins anymore anyway.
Of course, given Tan-hyeon's nature where things appear from nowhere and existing things mutate, something new might have spawned—but if so, it'd come with even greater dangers.
'Go get yourself killed digging through the ruins.'
With that in mind, I shared the location I'd visited with Jang Hyun-deok.
"Wow, how do you remember all that?"
Jang Hyun-deok, eavesdropping, sounded amazed. Looks like he'd already forgotten the way there.
- The path sounds incredibly complicated. Couldn't you come with us?
"That's not part of our deal, is it?"
We'd only formed a short-term alliance for mutual gain. I'd given the Tan-hyeon ruins' location in exchange for him blocking the Byakhees.
He'd even tried to half-ass the job I assigned him, and now he was asking for extras?
- True enough. Then I'll settle for this.
"Good. Our temporary alliance ends here. So—"
Hee-in, who'd dragged the Byakhees out of sight, still wasn't visible.
But that just meant he wasn't in plain view.
"Get any closer, and I'll consider it hostile action and attack."
He was inching toward us while hidden.
I drew up my mana, radiating hostility, and the Dark Young sensed it, rising with a crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch—grinding its teeth with its hundreds of mouths piercing its body.
- ...You can't even see me, though?
"You really think so? If you're that confident, take one more step."
- No, I won't.
"Good. Now scram."
- Heo Sanghyeon.
"..."
His sudden mention of Heo Sanghyeon threw me for a loop. Right—he still thought I was [Super Rookie Heo Sanghyeon]?
But Hee-in interpreted my silence differently and kept talking on his own.
- I really like you. I'd love to get closer.
"You're giving me chills. You've seen me since the Masquerade—you know what principles guide my actions. By those principles, you'll end up just another cultist I hold a grudge against."
- I don't hold any grudges against you yet. Thanks to what you did at the Masquerade, I gained a lot.
"So?"
- All I want is a little power within my small group. Sanghyeon, I don't know what you aim to achieve, but wouldn't an insider or informant be useful?
Ah, I got it now.
'Right, this guy's the type who has no intention of being the backbone of a winning team.'
A quisling by nature. If he could become the boss of his group, he'd smile and accept the whole team going down in flames.
Not someone you'd want as a friend or ally, but if your enemy team had a guy like that...
'The difficulty's about to spike anyway, so this works out perfectly.'
I forced a friendly tone as I replied.
"Yeah, I like that."
- Glad to hear it.
"Let's extend the temporary alliance like you said. But—"
- Conditions?
"No, just two things I want to tell you."
- What are they? I'm curious.
"First, my name isn't Heo Sanghyeon. Remember that. My name is Kim Sinhwa."
To prevent any mishaps where [Super Rookie Heo Sanghyeon] got in trouble, I revealed my real name.
- A fake name after all. No connection to Heo Manor or the Hungry House?
"Nope. Same as you having your sacred relic."
- Understood. What's the other one?
"I still haven't gotten over you hitting me last time."
- Pardon?
[Mana Bolt]
Pewwww—
The mana bolt streaked far off, striking exactly where Hee-in was...
BOOM!
It slammed home. Hee-in's mask flew off from the impact, soaring into the sky. I extended telekinesis and yanked his mask right to me.
- ...Your detection—not just that, but your mana control and accuracy are incredible.
Hee-in, now revealed, ran a hand through his tousled hair.
No damage done. I'd tuned it precisely to strip only the mask.
'Honestly, I want to beat the crap out of him, but I'm scared he might explode or something.'
Tall and sturdy build, pale skin, kind eyes with a hint of a smile.
Handsome enough to hear "church boy" compliments. With that voice, he was born with a con artist's full toolkit.
I held up the mask now in my hand and said,
"Nice mask. Consider this settling the near-death you almost caused me last time."
- ...
"Go pick up a new one in Tan-hyeon."
Hee-in stood there expressionless for a moment, then smiled faintly.
- So, are we allies now?
"Temporary allies."
- Excellent. I hope our relationship evolves into friendship someday.
With that, Hee-in departed.
I took off the headset and tossed it to Gong Neung-cheon as I said,
"That guy's no ordinary psycho."
"Waaah! Wizard! You did it! Everything's resolved!"
"Hyun-deok."
"Yeah?"
"You're getting punched too!"
Whack!
"Ugh—why me?"
"Your smug intact face pissed me off. Good thing you didn't die; you're welcome."
"Sob... I thought you'd save us. Thank you so much."
"Yeah. You did good."
"Now you should head home. I'll escort you, Wizard, then I need to go wash up quick."
"Where you going?"
"Huh? Home, obviously."
"I heard from Tudor—you were tracked from your house, right?"
"Oh, yeah. It was awful. I accidentally gave out my address..."
"Fine for the brainwashed ones, but that three-eyed freak from earlier knows your address too—are you going back there?"
"Huh?"
Jang Hyun-deok made a dumb noise.
"You're staying at my place for a while."
"Whaaat?"
"I've got plenty of empty rooms anyway. Don't worry."
"N-No way! How am I supposed to live in that ghost house theme park!?"
"Do whatever. You think I'll bail you out next time for a measly ten million?"
Jang Hyun-deok's face drained to pale blue.