Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Madness
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‘……What the hell…… happened to me?’
An excruciating cold, like my flesh was being torn apart, jolted me back to my senses.
‘Ugh…… what is this? It’s freezing…… so damn cold…….’
My eyes wouldn’t open easily. Were my eyelids frozen shut?
I barely managed to pry them open, but for a long while, I couldn’t make out anything. It hurt like I was opening my eyes for the first time after birth.
‘What the hell is this?’
Only when I could finally distinguish objects did I realize just how bizarre my situation was.
I was fixed in place inside a cramped mechanical device, engulfed in a horrific chill.
And around me was a massive glass tube, completely sealing me in.
Like I’d been captured by a mad scientist and turned into a lab rat……
In fact, the clothes I was wearing were completely different from what I’d had on before.
Plain white garments, devoid of any patterns.
Leather belts were sewn directly into my wrists and ankles.
Ah, so those belts were restraining me? But that design looks just like……
‘A restraint suit designed to subdue dangerous patients in a psychiatric ward……?’
Ah, I get it. I’ve finally lost my mind.
My last clear memory surfaced.
Suddenly, something started spewing out of the monitor…… Oh god, so that’s what it was…… I always knew something like this would happen one day……
‘……No, what the actual fuck is going on?’
This wasn’t a psych ward. No real hospital would lock patients in giant cryo tubes like this.
‘Something feels off……’
My emotions were shifting way too quickly. Was I always like this? Instead of panicking or fearing my surroundings, I felt calm enough to observe slowly.
Outside the cryo tube I was trapped in……
The lighting was dim……
Strange machinery……
Exposed wires everywhere, a mess……
A few desks visible……
Oh? To either side, more cryo tubes like mine lined the walls, and inside them……
Inside them were people, asleep!
‘Ah, what the fuck is this!’
Hold on.
Hold on, hold on, hold on…… This layout feels familiar……
Just as something clicked in my head, a translucent message appeared in the empty air.
[You have opened your eyes inside the cryo tube. Your senses are numb. Your body, frozen for so long, is gradually regaining vitality. ‘Where am I? Who…… am I?’ You realize you have no memory of your past and are struck with great shock. You don’t even know where you are. But one thing you remember clearly.
Your name is Kim Shin-hwa.
A person who lived in the Republic of Korea……]
What…… a message? And I do have memories—what’s this bullshit?
Psssh-.
Suddenly, a sound like air escaping filled the air. With a faint motor hum, the cryo tube holding me began to open, and the belts restraining my body automatically released. Ugh, I’m alive!
[……The wizard who gazes into the abyss. No one knows what you must do or what end you will meet. Good luck.]
“What the fuck is this nonsense!”
But the real nonsense was yet to come.
Soon, a new message appeared.
[System: Penalty trait ‘Shattered Mind’ activates. You have no current Madness, so random Madness will manifest.]
Madness? Madness? You mean that Madness from [Cthulhu World]?
The hallmark of [Cthulhu World], its symbol, its core system.
When a character acquires knowledge humans shouldn’t comprehend, their mind and reason gradually collapse……
[System: ‘Madness - Mask Obsession’ and ‘Madness - Musophobia’ are imposed upon your mind.]
……leaving unnatural scars on the psyche.
That’s what Madness is…… Hold on, what Madness are you saying I have?
[The wizard who gazes into the abyss] possesses an unbreakable will.
Because they’re already insane…… You can’t shatter a mind that’s already broken.
They must live bearing constant Madness.
‘I’m the wizard who gazes into the abyss, and now I’ve got Madness?’
A couple of Madness traits don’t cause immediate issues.
Doesn’t everyone in modern life carry some insanity inside them?
As long as whatever I’m obsessed with or terrified of doesn’t trigger me…… it’s fine. Yeah, it’ll be fine. Right?
‘In other words, I have Mask Obsession. Mask Obsession means……’
Unconsciously,
I touched
my face,
where there was nothing,
my bare face.
Nothing on my face?
The realization that nothing covered my face……
[You realize there is nothing on your face. Your uncovered face is unbearably horrific and chilling. The latent Madness within you erupts, twisting your mind. Delirium is about to occur.]
“Hey, wait! Hold on! Just wait!”
Delirium, a status ailment from Madness, makes you act like a true lunatic.
[System: Attempting resistance to Delirium via Mental Fortitude stat. Mental Fortitude check……]
But Delirium doesn’t always trigger. I have a Mental Fortitude stat, and the higher it is, the better my chances of resisting.
[……Failure.]
Ah, damn it!
[System: Effect of ‘Madness - Mask Obsession’ inflicts ‘Status Ailment - Delirium’.]
The message spat out whatever text it wanted, but I couldn’t comprehend it.
Something more important had come up.
That horrific sensation on my face, it felt like, my face was, like, crawling. Something under my face with hundreds of legs, like a bug, crawling……
Something’s crawling!
My facial skin feels like it’s tearing. Stretching. Peeling off! Something crawling beneath my face!
I have to cover it, hide it, protect my face……
Or else my face will tear apart! Bugs! Crawling on my face!
My vision twisted.
I stumbled out of the cryo tube, barely holding my face with both hands as it felt like it was pouring off.
My face is melting.
A cicada that had been crawling under my cheek disgustingly pushes against my eyeball.
My vision twists.
It crawls out from under my eyelid.
My left eye, the cicada crawls across my forehead for a moment…… flaps its wings a few times…… then flies off.
Unpleasant stinging under both cheeks……
It stings! Crawling!
Tearing my flesh!
My vision keeps shaking.
Something’s covering my eyes.
Bugs? No, my hands.
The floor, no, the sea, no, the floor—the tilted chair lying there mocks me.
Don’t look at my face!
A horrific scream echoes.
Is that noise from my throat?
Me, no, not me……
A grotesque noise rasps from my throat.
There’s a large paper bag on the chair.
Big enough to pull over my head.
Grab that.
I need to cover my face with something.
I need a mask!
Ah, fuck. Something’s inside the bag!
Wrap it up tight so it doesn’t burst out.
Dump everything out of the bag!
And……
Hurry……!
Come on……!
[System: Mask equipped, ‘Status Ailment - Delirium’ released. Note that losing the mask may trigger Madness again.]
The paper bag…… no, the mask snapped my Delirium the instant I pulled it over my head.
Huff, huff, huff……
What I’d donned was a large paper bag with no eye holes.
My vision was completely blocked, but after the Madness and pain of Delirium, it actually felt comfortable.
Huff, huff, huff……
All I could hear now was my own breathing.
No sound of bug wings. There were never any bugs to begin with.
‘Haa…….’
This is dizzying. Or am I already gone? Anyway, staying like this changes nothing. First, I need to secure my vision.
I tried poking eye holes in the mask, but it wasn’t easy. Did I use up all my strength during the Delirium?
My hands were shaking unnaturally, and my limbs felt weak. Ugh, if I accidentally rip the mask, I’m screwed!
Carefully, I slipped my hand inside the mask and slowly tore holes. Good job, Kim Shin-hwa!
Only after securing my vision did I realize how utterly bizarre I looked.
Paper bag over my head, white restraint suit on. At least I had shoes—white rubber slippers…… Still, I couldn’t take the mask off even if I wanted to.
‘No mask means this keeps happening?’
It’s a paper bag, not a mask. But I perceive it as one, and as long as I wear it, no Delirium.
But my Madness isn’t just Mask Obsession. There’s another……
[Current Madness: ‘Madness - Mask Obsession’, ‘Madness - Musophobia’]
“……Thanks for the heads-up.”
Gee, how thoughtful.
Damn it, damn it!
What the hell is this!
Madness, and the Delirium it caused, was a horrific experience.
To players outside the game, Madness was just a ‘status,’ but now I understood the nightmare it inflicted on the character.
As my mind began to stabilize, my body started screaming.
‘C-C-Cold…… so…… damn…… cold…….’
During the Delirium haze, I’d escaped the cryo tube, so it wasn’t as bad as before, but the whole space was freezing.
I huddled, shivering for a bit. I’d sweated so much during the Delirium that the restraint suit was soaked. Ugh…… it’s gonna freeze.
What now? No heater…… or even a lighter?
‘Wait a sec, come to think of it……’
After the panic, anger, and frustration, realization dawned naturally.
[The wizard who gazes into the abyss] doesn’t just have Madness.
‘Right, I’m…… a wizard.’
If I’d truly become the wizard who gazed into the abyss, it’s only fair I get magic powers too, not just Madness. Right?
In the [Cthulhu World], wizards are extraordinary beings.
Those who twist causality, rewrite the laws of the world to manifest their desired reality.
And I’m no ordinary wizard. A genius wizard with transcendent talent.
I’d become a being with the power to achieve anything I desired.
‘I need warmth right now…… fire. How do I cast a spell?’
“Fire! Give me fire! Come forth, fire! [Ignite]!”
My wish turned to will, mana flowing along predetermined paths.
As natural and simple as breathing or wiggling my fingers.
Perhaps even more familiar than moving my eyelids or tongue.
The mana flowing from my body reshaped reality, manifesting my desire.
Flames erupted on the pile of scattered papers on the floor (probably from my ‘mask’).
Red light, smoke, and plenty of warmth.
“Now I can breathe.”
Staring blankly at the fire, my eyes naturally deconstructed and analyzed the mana components and flows making it up.
That flow was the artificial mana combination I’d created.
At the same time, lists of spells to convert, amplify, and control that mana flow surfaced.
And beyond that list, even more spells.
I could do them all.
“This is seriously badass……”
I really was a wizard.
A trembling sense of omnipotence mixed with faint self-loathing.
In the end, emptiness led to a hollow laugh.
“Hahaha, I’m losing it…… Did I really get sucked into the game? And of all games, this trash one?”
I knew this place.
[K-3675 Secret Research Facility].
The starting point of [Cthulhu World].