Chapter 235
Chapter 235
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 235
Chapter Title: Language of the Elder Things
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An image exposing my organs, blood vessels, and bones in stark detail.
Strange characters meticulously engraved on the surface of my bones—inside my organs—inside my blood vessels.
“Can’t you increase the resolution?”
I furrowed my brow, trying to read the characters on the screen more closely. It wasn’t that the text was blurry.
“This is the max—if you want to see more detail—”
“I’ll pass on the endoscopy.”
“Oh—well, there are more definitive methods—”
“I’m declining any exams that require cutting into my skin.”
“Aah—then there’s no way to get a closer look.”
Yi Ha-seo made a pitiful face, her voice trembling, unable to slice into my skin. Wasn’t her emotional swing a bit extreme?
I peered at the image again, but I could only reach the same conclusion as before.
“Looks like what I said earlier was right. This is a language created far before human history.”
“A language older than humanity……”
Yi Ha-seo pressed her temples with both hands, making a face like she was straining to recall something, then spoke.
“Come to think of it, these characters—I feel like I’ve seen something similar recently—is this that Hyperborea thing or whatever?”
Hyperborea. Or Thule in Greek (Ὑπερβορέα).
A fictional place said to have existed—or still exist—on Earth a few million years ago.
Of course, in [Cthulhu World], it wasn’t fictional. You could visit it yourself if you cleared the convoluted prerequisite quests.
‘The kingdom where the beings of the abyss and their kin once reigned as kings.’
But even in [Cthulhu World]’s absurd worldview, that place was long forgotten.
The problem was that the writing etched into my body predated even that ancient kingdom’s language.
“No. This predates Hyperborea. It’s the language of the Elder Things.”
In terms of years, about a billion years ago.
Before dinosaurs, before plants even bloomed their first flowers.
In that unfathomably distant past, the ancient race that ruled this Earth.
So ancient that we don’t even know their true names. That’s why we just call them the Elder Things.
This was their language.
Hearing my explanation, Yi Ha-seo zoned out for a moment, lost in some grand delusion.
“Uh—then—no way—that’s—why—how did these characters—?”
“That…… I don’t know either.”
“Did you come from Andromeda—?”
“Let’s talk without bringing up Andromeda for now.”
“Uh—uh—but a billion years ago—back when there were only single-celled organisms, right? Multicellular life didn’t appear until 900 million years ago—”
“Well, if you know about Hyperborea, you can gloss over those minor details.”
It wasn’t something you could grasp with human scientific knowledge.
“Y-yeah, guess sooo—if you say sooo—but the scale is just toooo huge—”
Then Yi Ha-seo clasped her hands together like a praying cultist and looked up at me. Admiration, curiosity, awe, and chronic madness sparkling in her eyes.
“Ah—Myth-nim, you’re so cool. Do you know what it says, then?”
“I wish I did, but no.”
The bizarre glyphs and cryptic patterns inscribed on my bones, organs, and the insides of my blood vessels.
They’d appeared a few times while playing [Cthulhu World], so I recognized them as the Elder Things’ language. But I had no ability or knowledge to read it.
‘And honestly, I’m not even sure it’s a proper language.’
It was just a cliché “ancient script” design.
The game devs had slapped it on as the Elder Things’ language—that was the vibe. I’d never thought to actually read or interpret it.
“Mm—such a shameee—”
“Yeah.”
What could it be? Why was it written there?
Maybe it was just a spec sheet detailing some penalty or trait applied to my body?
Or a spell granting me far more mana than my stats could handle? A curse to implant artificial madness in my mind?
Or perhaps simply a mark declaring me the sacrificial offering for the feast.
‘But the future me went out of his way to show me this through Yi Ha-seo, so surely……’
It had to mean more than some trivial note.
“How’re you feelinggg? The text was the most striking oddity, so I mentioned it first—but there’s a lot more that caught my eye…… Wanna do some more tests for a closer look?”
“……Yeah, I suppose we should.”
“Then let’s start with the endoscopy—”
“Hold on.”
“Yes?”
“Let’s call it here for today. I need some mental prep too.”
Plus, the free time Yi Ha-seo had mentioned was almost up. Linger too long, and we’d run into the on-duty staff.
“Aah—I see. Such a shameee. So when should we schedule the next one?”
“I’ve got some things to look into first. Not right away.”
I wouldn’t learn more by staring at my own anatomy, but the Elder Things’ language—
‘I’ve got a few leads.’
There were things I wanted to check.
“So I’ll contact you in a few days.”
“O-okay. In the meantime, can I look into today’s scans and exam records some more?”
Mm.
Was that okay?
No, the obsessive safety-first route would get me nowhere.
“Go ahead. But.”
“But?”
“I’d like a few promises from you.”
“Promises?”
There was no such scan feature or event in the game. So ways to misuse photos of my guts—nothing came to mind offhand.
And Yi Ha-seo was [Firm Ally].
‘But she’s the type of person who’s too unnerving to trust blindly.’
She wouldn’t do anything harmful to me right now, sure.
But—like Park Kwang-rim, whose [Firm Ally] would end once the payments stopped—I couldn’t fully trust Yi Ha-seo.
The moment she lost interest in me, she’d betray me on the spot.
Which was why I needed guarantees beyond mere trust.
“No matter what, don’t disclose this info to anyone but me. Can you keep that?”
“That much? Of course.”
“Good. No time, so let’s head out and talk.”
* * *
“Then let’s make the contract.”
Outside the hospital.
Arriving at a safe spot with Yi Ha-seo, I activated my magic.
[Contract of Darkness]
Shraaala—
An intricate magic circle formed between my hands.
“Wh-whoa—what’s this?”
“A magical contract. Breakers suffer calamity.”
“What kind of calamity?”
“The contract decides. Mildest case: blindness and deafness.”
And the worse the betrayal, the more horrific the punishment.
Hearing this, Yi Ha-seo widened her eyes in surprise, then asked.
“What if the info gets taken against my will?”
“We’ll add an exception clause for that.”
For convenience, Yi Ha-seo the contracting party was ‘Party B.’
‘Party B’ must exert maximum effort and sincerity to fulfill the contract.
However, responsibility is waived in cases of the following:
① Inability to fulfill due to force majeure beyond one’s will or ability, such as natural disasters, surreal superhuman attacks, hypnosis, mind control, etc.
② Hacking at a superscientific level despite fully complying with Party A’s security requests……
Blah blah—
Note: Yi Ha-seo was twisted in values, but highly intelligent. Balancing her demands and mine made the contract absurdly long.
“So what do I get out of it?”
“We’ll write that in too.”
Party A pledges full cooperation with Party B’s exams and experiments. Once every 60 days unless special circumstances—
“Make it 7 days, pleeease—”
“30 days as a compromise.”
“Eek, fine.”
And Party A will pay per session……
“How much?”
“No need.”
“Then a million won it is.”
One million won (₩1,000,000).
“Ooh—that’s niceee—”
The completed contract materialized as paper and fell to the ground.
“What if it gets damaged?”
“It’s symbolic. As long as the caster lives, it holds even if destroyed.”
That was the contract’s weakness. As the caster, I could cancel it.
‘Of course, doing so would shatter my mind, stripping all magic and turning me into an idiot.’
[Madness of the Abyss] would probably block that penalty.
‘I don’t plan to break it, but it’s half a scam anyway.’
I handed her the contract with that thought—but Yi Ha-seo beamed, eyes tearing up with joy.
“I’m so happy! We have a secret just between us now. I’ve always dreamed of being secret friends like this. I’ll cherish it foreverrr—”
She was so thrilled she acted bizarre—like trying to put the contract in her mouth or lick it.
“Gah, don’t eat it!”
“But swallowing and absorbing it—making it part of my body—that’s the true—”
What kind of psycho talk was this?
* * *
Back home, I headed straight to the basement and pulled out an item.
IPE-21, [Ancients’ Scroll].
An ancient relic I’d acquired under the guise of an achievement reward while escaping the hospital.
****
Ancients’ Blueprint
Model Number: IPE-21
Alias: Ancients’ Scroll
Classification: Yellow 3
Papyrus scroll inscribed with complex diagrams and indecipherable ancient script. Size: 5.5m long, 0.33m wide.
Estimated creation: Between 9,000 BCE and 1,000 BCE.
Depicts blueprints of highly complex, esoteric machinery (deemed impossible for contemporary civilization), alongside various languages presumed from different cultures.
Initially classified Green as an archaeological find for public release, but surreal issues arose during IPE-21 analysis.
Subjects (requiring sufficient intelligence) who study it long-term develop intense urges to build the depicted machines.
Attempts to let subjects construct using the blueprint yielded entirely different devices each time.
Some produced highly dangerous effects on humans, requiring extreme caution in replication tests.
Details of created items: see Appendix 2.
****
“Made around 9,000 BCE, huh?”
Having just discussed billion-year timescales with Yi Ha-seo, 9,000 BCE felt downright recent.
Creation date aside—
This let users craft different items each time, influenced by their Intelligence stat, mental state, and a bit of luck.
In short, an artifact gacha ticket.
“Usually just junk or trash.”
With 20-ish Intelligence, decent stuff emerged sometimes. [Madness Murder Beam Cannon] or [Gene Recombination Device]……
Gong Isu’s record mentioned mechanical engineering skills? Probably her doing.
“Well…… I am curious what I’d get now.”
With 30 Intelligence and two Madness traits—what would come out?
“But gacha later—let’s see……”
I carefully unrolled the scroll.
Shrrrk—
It unfurled with the musty scent of an antique, perilously fragile yet intact.
Protected by some mystical force?
“Mm—yep, similar characters.”
Yi Ha-seo had said the Elder Things’ script in my body looked familiar too.
Some—very few—on the scroll matched exactly.
“Multiple languages from different eras listed together……”
Yeah.
Now I got why this was the reward.
The half-baked gacha wasn’t the point. This was a Rosetta Stone.
If I could decipher this scroll—
“I could figure out what’s written inside me.”