Chapter 259
Chapter 259
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 259
Chapter Title: D-1
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“There, all done.”
Ha-seo said that as she held up three ampoules filled with my blood.
Was it really okay to just hand those over to her?
Well, Ha-seo wouldn’t do something like secretly siphoning off my blood and betraying me. If anything, with her, betrayal wasn’t the issue...
“Ugh! Don’t eat it! Stop!”
I created telekinesis to grab Ha-seo’s jaw and arms.
“That’s not what I was gonna eat—”
She insisted she’d only meant to lick it once.
Ah, this wasn’t like raising a dog.
“Teacher, let’s live like civilized people. Like civilized people.”
Ha-seo whined with a pitiful expression for a moment but soon seemed to accept it and put the ampoules containing my blood into a storage case.
It made me uneasy, but there was no helping it.
During this short vacation period, I could rely on a regular hospital, but if a real problem arose afterward, I’d need Ha-seo’s help.
And in fact, Ha-seo had already gleaned some information from the body data she’d obtained from me before.
“Your respiratory system and kidneys have some issues~ That’s why long walks are tough for you.”
This referred to one of my penalty traits, [Stamina Reduction].
Ha-seo whispered with a meaningful expression.
“If you prepare a few magic stones for me, I could try some appropriate treatment. What do you say~? Shall I fix that problem for you?”
Normally, I’d recoil in horror, but this was a proposal that had appeared in the game too.
[System: Would you like to accept ‘Weird Science Doctor: Ha-seo’s’ ‘Suspicious Medical Service’ to remove the ‘Stamina Reduction’ penalty?
Agree (Magic Stones x30) / Decline / Analyze (Medical Knowledge)]
Among the minor achievement rewards I’d recently acquired was the [Medical Knowledge] trait. Thanks to that, I could check the success rate of Ha-seo’s so-called “treatment” in advance.
[System: Analyzing success rate using ‘Medical Knowledge’ trait... Intelligence check successful!
The success rate of ‘Suspicious Medical Service’ is 20%.
Expected effects upon failure are as follows:
Instead of removing ‘Stamina Reduction’, one of the following traits will be added: ‘Coughing up Blood’, ‘Digestive Issues’, ‘Mutation: Third Arm’, ‘Mutation: Gill Breathing’.]
“I decline.”
“Ehh, why~?”
“It looks like you need a bit more research. Tell me if you have a new proposal next time.”
I left Ha-seo, who looked disappointed, and headed home. What should I do tomorrow?
* * *
My first visit to Basilissa since the rollback incident.
Basilissa had undergone a tremendous change.
“What is that? No, a person? Anyway, who is that person?”
“Who? Pani?”
Kang Il-sam—no, Sertin, the resident fixture of Basilissa—answered my question, but that still left way too many mysteries unsolved.
“That—no, that person’s name is Pani?”
“Yeah, she’s a new server who started five days ago. She was only doing serving at first, but now she’s started learning to make coffee too.”
“Hmm.”
Anyway, her name was ‘Pani’?
It was unavoidable that I’d used some odd pronoun for Pani. I didn’t particularly want to describe someone else’s body in detail, but Pani’s frame was slender and appeared feminine.
But on top of that body—where a head should be.
There was a cylindrical design lantern, like something from the late 19th century—big and bulky.
In short, a person with a lantern instead of a head.
And that Pani was learning how to make coffee from Orb. She clumsily tried to replicate what Orb had taught her.
“Hmm, she’s a pretty cute girl, isn’t she?”
Sertin watched her with a pleased expression.
“You’re seeing the same thing I am, right?”
“The thing on her head? Hey, Kim Shin-hwa. You’re the last one to talk.”
Ugh, damn.
That was true, but there was a human head under my mask. But that wasn’t the case with her?
Still, in this insane village, I was the only normal one. I could hear the fixers around us gossiping about Pani.
“Collie’s Orb love is finally facing a crisis.”
“I can’t wait to hear what Collie says when she gets back.”
“Come to think of it, when is Collie coming back?”
“Won’t see her for a while? She went to Sokcho with the team.”
“Ah—guarding a construction site? Wonder why she got roped into such a respectable job?”
“You’ve gotta take those kinds of gigs sometimes. By the way, why does Tudor keep putting those masks on the servers?”
From the atmosphere, Basilissa’s customers seemed to just accept it as some kind of ‘mask’. If I pushed further here, I’d just end up sounding like the crazy one.
But that wasn’t a mask. It was a lantern attached in place of a head. And look at the structure!
Orb could fool people since he was a monitor, but that lantern—
“It’s a lantern!”
It was transparent inside! I could see the bulb!
Pani even occasionally showed off her personal trick(?) of lighting the bulb in the lantern.
“What’s the big deal?”
“Magic, maybe? Something like that.”
“Your mask is more confusing. What hole do you even see out of?”
I grumbled while touching the mask covering my face, but Sertin just laughed heartily.
‘By the way, there’s even an event where a new server is added to Basilissa?’
It was a minor event, but something that had never happened when I played as the game.
Moreover, that bizarre otherworlder named Pani. She gave an oddly familiar feeling. No, of course, she didn’t have a face or anything.
‘No, wait. This is more fundamental than that...’
Wuuuuuung—
“Huh?”
One of the items in my pocket vibrated. Of all the timing, this item?
I reached into my pocket and felt for it.
The five incarnation stones derived from [Predator of the Mountains]. I’d taken one of them when leaving the mansion today.
And that one was vibrating. As if drawn to Pani.
At the same time, Pani flinched—and looked in my direction. She had no eyes, but somehow it felt like our gazes met for a moment. But she turned her head away, pretending not to notice.
‘Wait, no way, right?’
No way?
Probably not?
A new NPC who suddenly appeared five days ago, right after that incident. In other words, right after [Predator of the Mountains] vanished—no, [Predator of the Mountains] didn’t vanish or die.
‘No. It won’t return to its original form. It will become something less than that. When you come to your senses, find a body to possess, you wretched thing.’
“Tudor? Tudor, where are you? Tudor!”
I quickly spotted Tudor chatting with a customer at a table in the corner of the cafe and asked my question, manners be damned.
“Who the heck is that?”
“That? That?”
“That—that thing.”
Tudor looked in the direction I pointed, let out a sly “hehe” laugh, and said,
“Oh, you mean Pani?”
“Yeah. Where did that—that thing come from?”
“Shh.”
A white, slender finger covered Tudor’s bright red lips.
“Shh?”
“If I say ‘where’, the Foreigner Management Office will drag her off.”
A nonchalant smile.
“Tu-dor—”
I’m really gonna get mad—?
Instead of saying the rest, I expressed my intent more clearly by channeling mana.
Rumble—
The tables and glassware around us began shaking violently.
“Kyakakaka, okay, okay. I’ll stop joking.”
“Tell me properly.”
“Hmm, it’s exactly what you think it is. Shan, Shadow, or even considering Gra or Pan—what do you think?”
Shan, Shadow, Gra, Pan, Pani. I didn’t understand the meaning of those names, but anyway, it was exactly what I thought? Really? For real?
“Then what about Orb?”
“You wouldn’t know even if I told you? Orb was Orb long before you came here.”
“Tudor, you...”
Only then did I realize Basilissa’s customers were watching me and Tudor, but it was too late. I spat out what I’d meant to say.
“What’s your true identity?”
“My true identity? It’s exactly what you know. Paju’s most capable broker, the owner of the ‘Beautiful Basilissa’, and the mysterious beauty you’ve contracted with.”
“And?”
Tudor smiled as if enjoying this and stood up. Eyes that somehow resembled reptile pupils looked down at me from about 20cm above my eye level.
“There is no ‘and’. Pani appeared suddenly, and I decided to help her. Just like I’m helping you.”
“Just helping? Just?”
Tudor leaned down a bit to meet my eyes.
Probably only Tudor could meet the eyes of me, wearing the [Mask of Carcosa].
“Hmm, I get what you want to ask, but you probably know more than I do?”
“Then—”
“Hey, you two. You gonna keep talking in riddles right in front of me?”
The customer who’d been talking with Tudor.
In other words, Go Kyung-soo from Wild Guns Security voiced his complaint.
“Hmm, sorry. But—”
I was about to say sorry but please step aside, but Tudor had a different opinion.
“Right, dear. Instead of that, let’s hear what our Kyung-soo here has to say.”
“Tudor—”
Tudor reached out to cut me off.
“Dear, how about we talk about that later, nice and cozy in a quiet spot?”
Well, there were too many restrictions on what I could say here.
“Fine.”
Yeah, clinging wouldn’t help anyway. Unless I resorted to force right here, I wouldn’t get a straight answer from Tudor.
* * *
In the end, I sat in the seat next to Tudor, and Kyung-soo let out a short sigh before speaking.
“Shin-hwa. Want to come to Busan with our team by any chance?”
“Busan?”
“Yeah. Busan business trip.”
I glanced at Tudor, who gave a charming wink and nodded.
“Cure built a large research facility next to Haeundae.”
Cure Medical Care.
One of the megacorps rivaling Helistic, which had set up in Paju and kept doing human experiments. Their operations... weren’t much different from Helistic’s.
While the triad thugs fought in the shadows, Helistic and Cure clashed in the light.
And this research facility Cure had built in Busan.
I knew where that was. And I pointed out the error in Kyung-soo’s words.
“It’s Songjeong, right?”
“Huh?”
“The research facility you just mentioned. It’s in Songjeong, isn’t it?”
“What’s Songjeong?”
Kyung-soo looked at Tudor with a baffled expression. Tudor looked at me with a ‘this guy’s a bit off’ face and spoke.
“Kyung-soo, you idiot. The Cure facility isn’t in Haeundae, it’s in Songjeong.”
“Hmm, Songjeong must be a neighborhood in Busan? I thought it was Haeundae since it’s near the beach.”
I should’ve just let him say Haeundae instead of dragging it out.
“Setting aside the location, what’s the job?”
“Cure’s looking for a team to fend off goblin raids there.”
“Goblins?”
“Yeah, they got the contract over the Busan fixers by cozying up to the managers, but—this is too occult a mission, you know? Our team’s weak on that stuff.”
Kyung-soo shook his head.
“So I came to borrow an occult specialist. Anyone would do, but it’d be great if the famous Kim Shin-hwa took it?”
There were goblins not affiliated with Thousand Gold Hall, but—goblins in Busan all of a sudden?
Plus, at this point in the game, the commissions Cure took in Busan didn’t involve goblins...
I thought for a moment and replied.
“Sorry, but I’m on break for a while. Look for someone else.”
“Hmm, on break?”
This time Kyung-soo looked at Tudor. She shrugged and deflected his gaze.
“Well, nothing to be done then. You’ve still got time on your schedule, so think about it.”
With that, Kyung-soo handed me his business card as if it were nothing.