Chapter 269
Chapter 269
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 269
Chapter Title: The Thing Slumbering Beneath Ulsan Rock
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Kim Sung-hwan hadn’t been a cultist from the start.
During the time of the Great Collapse—just like in other regions, a horrific disaster struck Sokcho as well.
‘A crisis is just an opportunity in disguise.’
Kim Sung-hwan was one of those who realized that the disaster, poverty, chaos, and the dreadful state of anarchy brought by the Great Collapse were actually massive opportunities to seize.
‘We’re just a bit more cool-headed and wise than the rest.’
Under that slogan, the [Sokcho Reconstruction and Revival Association] was formed.
The group, which had been little more than a social club for the wealthy, transformed one day into the [Old Voice] cult—a depraved mystical organization worshiping blasphemous mysteries—thanks to a certain voice emanating from beneath Ulsan Rock.
Even though Kim Sung-hwan instinctively sensed the deadly danger this change entailed, he chose neither to escape nor renounce his faith.
‘No, why should I? This madness gives me more power and pleasure!’
After all, surreal powers and cosmic wonders provided him with even greater wealth and authority.
‘Yeah, no matter what obstacles come, I can turn them into opportunities!’
Unaware that his mind was being tainted by abnormal madness and surreal horrors, Kim Sung-hwan was intoxicated by the pleasure and power offered by the [Great Origin] slumbering beneath Mount Seorak.
But madness dilutes under even greater madness.
Grrrraaaawr!!
That horrific stone golem racing at tremendous speed like a living beast (Kim Sung-hwan now knew its name was Doldol).
“Ehehehihik—”
The ominous laughter spilling from Kim Shin-hwa’s mouth.
“Uwaaaaaah!”
Kim Sung-hwan’s scream echoing off the grotesque stone walls.
* * *
Just an hour ago, Kim Sung-hwan had sensed the [Great Origin]’s descent drawing near and unleashed grotesque ecstasy and blasphemous incantations, displaying the signature madness of a cultist.
But now, what poured from him were pleas to be let go and tears.
“Uwaaaaaaaaah! Please stop!”
A deep, dark labyrinth.
A ceiling of dizzying height.
Grotesque structures seemingly carved from massive gray boulders whole.
Geometric patterns embossed on every wall.
A mysterious underground architecture shrouded in eerie darkness.
To think such a place existed beneath Mount Seorak,
beneath that colossal Ulsan Rock...
It was the ruins where a fragment of flesh from the abyssal being known as the [Great Origin] slumbered—the very site the [Old Voice] cult had so desperately sought.
‘But—was it like this? Was it really like this?’
In a calmer situation, Kim Sung-hwan might have felt the awe and reverence befitting a cultist.
But right now, Kim Sung-hwan was being dragged by Kim Shin-hwa through the interior of those ruins...
Kugugugugaka!
“Uwaaaaaaaaah! Let me go! Let me go! Please, I’m begging you!”
...at high speed.
Kim Sung-hwan floated through the air against his will, following Kim Shin-hwa.
Not even in a proper position.
“Uwaaaaaaaaah! You devil! At least change this pose!”
Kim Sung-hwan hovered tilted 45 degrees to the left behind Kim Shin-hwa.
Instead of the reverence he ought to feel as a cultist, he was overwhelmed by primal terror and—
peripheral stimulation.
No, he was on the verge of going insane!
Religion wasn’t the priority right now!
“Save me! Please stop! Stop running!”
He kept screaming, begging, and twisting his body, but Kim Shin-hwa, who controlled his body and lifeline, ignored him and...
“Kim Shin-hwa, where are you going now?” “Kim Shin-hwa, is this the right way?” “Kim Shin-hwa, you remember this properly, right?” “Kim Shin-hwa, stop! Let’s just run away!” “That cultist’s been saying something since earlier, you gonna ignore him?” “Oh, is that the problem right now?” “Where are we?” “That thing’s below here, right? Can we handle it?” “You got a plan, right?” “Hey, straighten your posture, you’re gonna fall!”
...kept talking to herself.
It looked like a crowd chattering, but all those shouts came from one person—Kim Shin-hwa herself.
Standing atop Doldol as it dashed through the labyrinth at breakneck speed, Kim Shin-hwa muttered to herself nonstop while “The ruins under Nakhwam Rock are probably like this too,” waving her hand unstably, nodding her head precariously, and shivering like she was dancing.
“I told you, I have a plan!”
Kim Shin-hwa’s shout.
“Is that plan really gonna work?” “We’ve already wasted an hour in this maze!” “What happens now?”
“I think it’s all wrong! This is megalomania! It’s all delusions!”
“Shut up, I confirmed it with Lee Ha-seo earlier!”
“That crazy woman confirming what? She just confirmed your mind’s getting crazier!” “I just wanna go back to Heo-sang-hyeon and eat...”
“Oh, you bastards...!”
Now she was fighting herself.
‘Ah, I’m screwed.’
Kim Sung-hwan thought.
In this astonishing, wondrous ruin—without even witnessing the coming descent—I’m going to die captured by this lunatic.
Kim Sung-hwan tried to close his eyes, resigned to his fate—but then a screech echoed from afar: Kiek!
“Hey, something’s coming! Kim Shin-hwa! Kim Shin-hwa!”
“Yeah, I see it too! It’s coming again! Red!”
Kim Shin-hwa shouted that, twisted her left hand in a complex motion—and Kim Sung-hwan swung left at high speed in response.
“Uwaaaaaaaaah!”
Kim Sung-hwan’s scream.
“Kiiiiiek!”
The cry of a grotesque creature with four wings.
Kwarrrruk—Kwaaaaa—
For some reason, the owl-like bird unleashed a massive wave that swept through the ruins.
“Achilles!”
Kiririk—
And at Kim Shin-hwa’s feet stood a mishmash of junk...
A dog?
Whenever that beast—or robot—made a displeasing motion, dozens of fireballs shot out with a Wryaaaaaaa!!! roar.
Kwagugugwang!
“Hey, somehow I ended up job-changing into a beast master.”
Kim Shin-hwa’s sudden, incomprehensible mutter.
“Kirruk—”
“Kieeeeeek!”
Monsters swarming from all sides.
Pale skin—coarse fur—sharp claws—vaguely resembling degenerated, decayed humans—with what seemed like their own lore and history—but Kim Shin-hwa showed no interest in their backstory, and Kim Sung-hwan had no capacity left to grasp the horrific implications of their forms.
“Get out of that spot!”
“Over there?” “Whew, how far down are we going?”
“Yeah, over there! Let’s go, animal friends!”
“Kiiiiii!”
Kiriririk—
Grraaaawr—
Kim Shin-hwa shouted confidently and accelerated.
“Doldol! Jump down as soon as a hole opens in the floor!”
Whiriririk—
Magic stone bombs flying at her gesture.
Kwaaaaaang!
Massive flames and explosions.
Gurururung—
Another hole punched in the floor.
A bottomless, ominous pit so deep it made his mind reel.
“Alright! Doldol, jump!”
Another leap.
“Uwaaaaaaaaah!”
It should have been familiar by now, yet Kim Sung-hwan screamed again.
Freefall—
This kept happening.
Kim Shin-hwa navigated the complex maze, then suddenly blasted through a wall or floor to plunge in.
“We won’t make it in time on the normal route!”
No markers, no map.
Yet she moved like someone who had memorized every weak point in this labyrinth.
‘She really knows something, right?’
Kim Sung-hwan couldn’t shake the word [megalomania] that occasionally slipped from Kim Shin-hwa’s mouth.
And one more thing nagging at him...
Gururururung—
A vibration shaking the entire ruins.
Even when Kim Shin-hwa blasted walls or floors, it hadn’t shaken like this.
And with the vibration came...
“Tekeli-li!”
The shoggoth’s cry.
“Hey, that shoggoth—is it following us?”
“Yeah.”
Kim Shin-hwa’s self-Q&A.
“What the hell are you doing!”
Kim Sung-hwan’s wail.
As if it just occurred to her, Kim Shin-hwa paused—glanced at Kim Sung-hwan with that horrific four-eyed mask—then pointed somewhere.
“We’re here. See that dead end?”
“Dead end! It’s a dead end! And that vibration! Even I can tell now! The [Great Origin]’s offspring is coming!”
“Huh? Isn’t that your friend, mister?”
“Urk—”
The [Great Origin]’s offspring.
In other words, Kim Sung-hwan now knew shoggoths attacked without distinction between friend or foe.
An hour ago, he’d thought dying like that wouldn’t be so bad, but after being tossed around in this mind-breaking march, he could finally make a somewhat ‘rational’ judgment.
“......”
Kim Shin-hwa’s four eyes, emitting pale yellow glows, scanned Kim Sung-hwan’s face.
Then she muttered to herself in a voice so low he couldn’t hear.
“Hey, this mister’s madness seems to have cleared up a bit?”
“It’s all part of the plan.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I told you, I have a plan. And we need this mister to reach the final layer. Anyway, bust through that too!”
With that, Kim Shin-hwa swung her hand, triggering an explosion.
Kwaaaaaang!
“Bust the floor once more from there!”
Kwaaaaaang!
“Veer left next!”
“Kieeeeeek!”
“Yeah, mop up the small fry! Red!”
Kwarrrrruk—
“We’re here!”
“Here?”
“Yeah. Here. Ah, this is exhausting. How much time left? 30 minutes? Damn, can we make it in 30?”
Kim Shin-hwa had gone beyond self-Q&A; now she seemed to be reading something invisible to Kim Sung-hwan’s eyes.
“She’s insane... Yeah, this one... Completely lost it.”
“Hahaha—Cultist mister, once you see what Kim Shin-hwa’s about to do, you’ll realize it’s beyond that level.”
Kim Shin-hwa chimed in with Kim Sung-hwan’s mutter.
“Sigh. I might seem a bit off, but don’t worry, it’s not like that.”
She stretched out her hand, pointing at the ceiling.
“That, that’s......”
A vertical shaft bored straight up toward the sky.
How deep had they descended?
He glanced up the shaft, but no ceiling was visible.
Whiriririk—
Kim Shin-hwa began piling massive quantities of magic stone bombs at the base of the vertical shaft.
“Weight matters. Weight. This wall’s way tougher than the others.”
Kururururung—
Another vibration.
No, this one felt different from before.
Kwarrrrruk—Kurururuk—
“Uwaaaaaah—!?”
How did she predict it? A massive shoggoth was pouring down the vertical shaft!
“Tekeli-li!”
“Yeah! Now!”
Kwaaaaaaaaang—
A shock that flipped heaven and earth, horrific vibrations. The cascading shoggoth. An explosion at the perfect timing. A flash so blinding it turned his vision pitch black.
Kim Sung-hwan felt his mind fading as he lost consciousness, hoping this was all part of a terrible nightmare—that he’d awaken to his blissful cultist daily life...
* * *
“Mister, mister! Hey, Mr. Kim Sung-hwan!”
He hadn’t even been out long, but Kim Shin-hwa roughly shook him awake with telekinesis.
“Wh-what? What is it?”
“Your turn now, mister. See that?”
He saw it.
A grotesque passage lined with massive statues.
Surreal boulders in foreign shapes—ill-fitting not just for Korea’s underground, but national borders weren’t the issue.
These were statues in forms grotesque and incompatible with any culture humanity had ever produced throughout its long history.
And between those statues were ritualistic seals.
“That’s......”
Kim Sung-hwan’s heart pounded.
That lunatic—Kim Shin-hwa—had made him forget for a moment, but his cultist nature belatedly awakened.
“Go on, that door. You can open it, right? With the secret rites handed down by the church.”
“Yeah, yeah... I can open it. And I’ve longed to open it......”
His brief rationality shattered by the returning madness, severely clouding his judgment and attention.
Thus, he failed to notice the [door] had already been opened once and approached the [door] between the statues.
“That’s right, mister. Fulfill your longing and prayers. Open this door and show me what lies beyond.”
“Yes—the Old Voice came from beyond this door. I can feel His pulse.”
Evil magic poured from Kim Sung-hwan’s body.
Though briefly confused, he was still a cultist. He began chanting the incantations passed down from the [Old Voice].