Chapter 262
Chapter 262
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 262
Chapter Title: Misi Pass
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Rumble rumble rumble—
A massive vibration roared through the vehicle.
Thud—boom!!
Occasional unpleasant noises accompanied by jolting impacts.
The already uncomfortable seat bounced me from my toes to the top of my head with each shock rising from the floor.
“Ugh.”
I groaned, one hand fumbling over my mask.
The mask, secured with a double lock mechanism fused to my face, wouldn’t come off, but the shaking was enough to stir a nagging anxiety.
“We’re entering Misi Pass nooow!”
Yeom Cheol-min, in the driver’s seat, swung his attached iron prosthetic arm in place of his right hand and declared it.
“Alright, everyone, get tense!”
Kwak Dae-yong’s response from the passenger seat. Glancing at his face in the rearview mirror, he wore an expression intoxicated by light excitement. Had he already popped a pill?
“You all know this, but Misi Pass is the third danger zone we’re hitting today. Still, our wizard here will handle it like before, so no worries.”
“Yes, sir!”
A spirited reply followed Kwak Dae-yong’s words.
“Haa…”
The bumpy ride in this armored truck had dragged on for six hours. I was exhausted to the point of collapse, but these guys, true ‘pros,’ were still full of energy.
“What’s wrong? Motion sickness, wizard?”
Choi Mi-na, sitting across from me, spoke up. Her half-shaved head dyed bright red, her smile brimming with the confidence of the healthy.
“Want something to drink?”
She reached for the canteen hanging from her waist.
“No. I’m fine. Just a bit tired…”
“Ehehe— this ride ain’t exactly comfy, huh?”
Before I could finish, An Hyeong-gu, seated beside me, chimed in.
Whirr—
As if reacting to his words, a thin, tentacle-like appendage with a lens at the tip turned toward me.
“I knew what kind of vehicle this was when I got in—so no complaints.”
Yeonam Construction’s armored truck was a heavy-armored beast focused on defense and transport capacity. Passenger comfort hadn’t been a priority in the design phase, no doubt.
Whirr whirr—
“Body temperature’s up quite a bit. Hmm— you really aren’t feeling well, are you?”
The endoscope-like mechanical tentacle was linked to the bulky VR goggles An Hyeong-gu wore.
Of course, it wasn’t the only thing connected to him. A tangle of complex wires snaked from inside the vehicle, plastered to his helmet.
He was scanning me through the endoscope lens while simultaneously monitoring the truck’s external surroundings.
“What’d you say? What’s going on?!”
Kwak Dae-yong whipped around from the front seat, cramming his face toward the back.
“You okay? Hey, Professor Kim— we’re counting on you alone here!”
His massive upper body shoving into the already cramped rear seat made it hard to breathe.
“Guhk—”
A groan came from Yeom Cheol-min in the driver’s seat.
“I told you not to call me Professor Kim! I’m fine, so quit distracting the driver and turn back!”
“Jeez, I’m just worried, and you throw a fit. Anyway, in Misi Pass— they definitely show up, so everyone stay sharp!”
“Ah, boss! Move it!”
Kwak Dae-yong finally retreated only after Choi Mi-na shoved his head away.
“Whew, sorry about our idiot boss, wizard.”
“No. I knew that when I got on board. Can’t be helped.”
It had been a day and a half since that night— the night my new madness had taken hold.
Jang Hyun-deok never came back. I wasn’t without worry or unease, but regrettably, there was no time to search for him. So I’d boarded the transport Yeonam provided— this very armored truck— and set off.
* * *
“Haa…”
What the hell happened to that bastard Jang Hyun-deok? Well, even if he had returned on time, we probably wouldn’t have taken his car.
‘Now even taking care of my own body is a struggle.’
Damn it.
Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.
The new madness had nested in my mind.
I’d had a few ‘worst-case’ madnesses before, but this wasn’t even that level.
It was just proof this game was trash.
No, seriously, it’s absurd. Utterly absurd.
These issues crop up sometimes.
This wasn’t some roguelike genre dishing out random penalties and madnesses that straight-up make progress impossible.
You grind a gunslinger, and bam— fear of firearms. You build a swordsman, and boom— fear of blades. You go all-in on ma-gic, and suddenly— ma-gic phobia!
Whirr—
“Whoa— temperature’s spiking again. If you feel like puking, say so ahead of time.”
“I’m. Fine.”
“Keheuk—”
An Hyeong-gu tilted his head with a creepy chuckle.
We could’ve left earlier, but there was no helping it.
Right after getting the new madness, I’d wandered the mansion and Jangmyeongsan area for about thirteen hours in a frenzy of excessive excitement and rage. Then another thirteen hours struggling to adapt to my drastically altered reality.
I’d barely started accepting things and thinking about the future.
Heo Sang-hyeon had half-dragged me to bed while yelling, “Please just sleep already!” I slept a full thirteen hours before opening my eyes.
That’s why we’d lost a full day and a half.
I’d honestly considered quitting, but Yeonam’s urgent call came in— so I boarded Kwak Dae-yong’s team armored truck without proper prep.
“Sharp curve ahead.”
Yeom Cheol-min’s voice.
Screeech—
The truck tilted sharply as it entered Misi Pass.
Rattle— rumble rumble—
The already bad vibrations turned nightmarish. I might actually get motion sick.
[System : Exclusive trait ‘Abyssal Madness’ activates. Suppresses dizziness and nausea.]
Crackle crackle—
Sparks popped at my temples. Ah, so [Abyssal Madness] blocks motion sickness too.
“Huh? Magic? Did you just use magic?”
Choi Mi-na shot me a puzzled look.
I felt a twinge of aversion and discomfort at the word ma-gic, but answered.
“No. Well— yeah, it’s ma-gic.”
Uncomfortable, but just saying or hearing the word was fine. Probably a perk from boosting my sanity score a lot during vacation.
“What spell? Can you tell me more?”
“No, that’s… Talking about ma-gic casually…”
It had protected me all this time, the power I trusted and relied on— my one hope in this horrific world, practically an extension of myself.
Yet overnight, it had turned sinister and repulsive.
I’d meant to brush it off vaguely—
“…[Dawn’s Guide] will curse you. A curse that gouges out your eyes, severs your fingers, melts your guts. It falls on those who use ma-gic without permission or mock ma-gic—”
My mouth spewed bizarre nonsense on its own.
“Ah, I see.”
Choi Mi-na seemed to sense something off in my flat, rapid-fire tone more than the words themselves, leaning her head back slightly.
I recognized the problem but couldn’t stop. My mouth kept going against my will.
“[Dawn’s Guide] is constantly watching us. Punishing those who misuse magic— mm. Umm— no. I’ll stop now.”
I finally clamped it shut. Choi Mi-na still looked unsure how to react, so I turned to stare out the window.
This is driving me insane, for real.
For the record, there’s no [Dawn’s Guide] in this world. I made it up. More precisely…
I recalled last night’s dream conversation.
“Hey, this’ll kill me. Grandiose delusions this time?”
“Shut up.”
“Schizophrenia? Nah, just delusions?”
“No need for real-world psych knowledge. This isn’t a proper illness— it’s a system-induced effect. The phobia’s dragging in artificial delusions.”
The fox’s mockery and the crow’s analysis.
Thanks to them, I could assess my condition more coolly.
“…”
Anyway, our destination wasn’t Misi Pass itself.
We were heading along the winding [Misi Pass Old Road] to the construction site Mun Seung-hee of Yeonam Construction had set up on one side of Seoraksan.
Peering through the thick bulletproof glass, I spotted the [Misi Pass Tunnel] we’d bypassed up ahead.
More precisely, the [Misi Pass Tunnel Site].
What would be a normal [Misi Pass Tunnel] in reality was just the [Misi Pass Tunnel Site] here. It looked incredibly ominous.
“That thing won’t collapse again, right?”
Kwak Dae-yong muttered, thinking the same as me while eyeing the [Misi Pass Tunnel Site].
“Boss, if that goes, it’d be the fifth collapse, probably?”
“Oh, yeah? Whew— no fixing that, huh.”
They were now security specialists, but originally from a construction firm.
Staring at the pile of collapsed earth and rubble that was the [Misi Pass Tunnel Site], they were probably wondering if it could be repaired.
Click—
I cautiously stirred my mana, shifting the bundle of bolts in my pocket.
Ma-gic was harder to use now, but I wasn’t totally powerless.
I nudged the mana at my fingertips.
Hundreds of mana threads danced in geometric parabolas between my fingers.
Mana control: functioning normally.
Thanks to my deep magic knowledge and overwhelming mana control, I could manifest 0th-tier effects without forming structured spells.
‘Lucky I stacked so much sanity during vacation.’
Tests showed only structured [ma-gic] triggered my madness. Non-magic [abilities], [traits], or artifact effects were fine.
It’d tank my sanity hard, but I could probably trigger spells voluntarily if I had to.
‘Not that I want to…’
Plus, mana perception and detection were normal too. I said to Kwak Dae-yong,
“Enemies.”
“Enemies?”
Whirr—
An Hyeong-gu’s endoscope twitched.
“Boss! Mana reaction, 3 o’clock. Humanoid. Twenty-six. Now 4 o’clock!”
Kwak Dae-yong turned to the opposite side of the [Misi Pass Tunnel Site], the road’s right flank.
To the right loomed Seoraksan in its colossal majesty. Blanketing it were trees of enormous height— Seoraksan was famous, but I’d never seen it with my own eyes in reality, never visited.
‘But probably not like that.’
Seoraksan in [Cthulhu World] was covered in trees about three to four times human height.
In the damp, misty forest casting gloomy shadows, a group of people appeared.
An old man with a backpack patched in fluorescent colors.
An old woman in a bright yellow hat.
An old man in a sporty light blue shirt.
An old woman in a red vest and oversized straw hat.
In short, a colorful bunch in typical hiking gear.
They trudged the eerie Seoraksan forest path, gripping trekking poles and ropes.
But something suspicious about them.
The old folks stared wordlessly, expressionlessly— right at us.
“What? Just old folks? Hikers?”
Kwak Dae-yong sighed in relief.
Ah, this guy, really!
“Why would hikers be here? Get your head straight!”
One old man raised a large slingshot, aiming at us!
“Eek— right! Battle stations, everyone!”
“Battle stations!”
Bwaaaaaang!!
Yeom Cheol-min blared the horn, warning the vehicles behind.
Bwaaaaaang!!
Bwaaaaaang!!
Horns echoed.
Fwoooosh—
Something launched from the slingshot toward us.
[System : ‘Enhanced Vigilance’ trait activates.]
Of all places, my side? I thrust [Pyroblast] out the window to form a protective barrier— boom!!
A numbing shock at my fingertips. But it held.
The old man hadn’t loaded a rock or marble. Crude but potent— a magistone bomb!
“It’s the Evergreen Mountaineers! Battle stations!”
Rat-tat-tat-tat!!
The truck’s machine gun roared. But the old folks were already gone.
They were up in the dense trees now. No, ‘on the trees’ wasn’t right.
“Monkeys? Birds? How are they moving like that?”
The old folks pursued us impossibly, leaping tree to tree.
Slingshots and bows trained on us—
Boom!!
Crash!
Explosions bloomed everywhere.
Screeeeech!
The truck shook violently— hit somewhere dead-on.
“You heard the briefing! That’s the Evergreen Mountaineers! Underestimate them ‘cause they’re old, and we’re all dead!”