Chapter 292
Chapter 292
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 292
Chapter Title: Mass-Produced Jang Hyun-deok
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Rumble rumble rumble—
An unsettling vibration echoed through the entire building.
“Uwaaah! Gyaaaah! Aaaah!”
The people inside the building began to realize the problem and started screaming.
‘Well, it’s scream-worthy, I guess.’
I’d frozen time because breaching this strangely twisted space was a hassle, then lifted the whole building up.
Vrrrrrr—
If I’d just lifted it normally, everyone would’ve noticed, but the sudden movement and roaring sounds all happened within stopped time, so they hadn’t caught on until this moment.
It might seem like a waste of mana, but it’s a pretty impressive demonstration, right?
“Waaah!”
The current height was about 20 meters.
The administrators who stuck their heads out the window recoiled back inside in horror upon realizing they were flying over the Surisan forest.
“Let’s see…”
I placed my foot on the windowsill, leaning my body out while scanning the room from inside.
“What kind of room is this?”
A hospital treatment room? A cult ritual chamber?
It seemed like a multifunctional space blending both, with added weapons storage.
Glass bottles that had fallen from a shelf lay shattered, pooling unknown chemical substances on the floor that spewed unpleasant vapors, while assault rifles and grenades were displayed on the walls.
And in this room, aside from me, there were six people.
“Kim Shin-hwa! I believed in you! You’ve come to save me!”
First, Park Kwang-rim, bound to a wheeled bed wrapped in restraints.
“Teacher, are you friends with this Chinese guy lying here?”
Next, Jang Hyun-deok, dragging Park Kwang-rim’s bed toward the corner.
“This is private property. Please leave immediately. We will not tolerate aggressive actions.”
Beside him, Jang Hyun-deok speaking in an unsettlingly calm voice.
“A building flight anomaly is occurring. Did you perhaps use some ability to cause this phenomenon, Teacher?”
At the door, Jang Hyun-deok robotically assessing the situation.
“I see. You must be the ‘mage’ he mentioned. You’re here for Jang Hyun-deok, right? Isn’t that so, Mage?”
In the center of the room, Jang Hyun-deok declaring he understood something.
I pressed my forehead for a moment and addressed the Jang Hyun-deoks.
“Hold on. It’s creepy hearing the exact same voice and speech patterns like that. Could you give me a moment to adjust?”
“Kim Shin-hwa! What are you saying at a time like this!”
Park Kwang-rim panicked at my joke and jumped in.
“Not completely identical.”
Another Jang Hyun-deok said that as he slowly reached for an assault rifle on the wall.
In short, there were a whopping five Jang Hyun-deoks in this room.
“Like my head exploded or something.”
To be precise, they weren’t Jang Hyun-deok.
“You’ll soon be able to distinguish our individual personalities. For now, please remain still.”
The Jang Hyun-deok who picked up the gun smiled kindly as he pulled the trigger.
Click—ratatata!!
“Jeez.”
[Distortion Field]
[Swift Retreat]
I deployed a distortion field to evade the incoming bullets and leaped out the window.
“Wait!”
“These guys have such weird speech patterns?”
Their robotic politeness contrasted sharply with their ruthlessly aggressive actions.
Ratatata!!
The Jang Hyun-deok with the assault rifle kept firing toward the window and charged at the one I’d been at.
“Hyun-deoks, I’m the one controlling this place. Urcha!”
Vrrrrrr—
I channeled mana to tilt the flying building about 45 degrees.
Rumble rumble rumble!
The building shuddered with a massive groan.
The wall I clung to gradually angled toward the ground—
The naive Jang Hyun-deok firing his gun slipped on the suddenly steep floor and flew toward the window like he’d been flung.
“Uwaaah!”
The gun-wielding Jang Hyun-deok barely clung to the window frame.
[Grasp of the Dead]
Rooooar!!
Dozens of hands generated from the wall seized the Jang Hyun-deok hanging from the window, dragging him down. He couldn’t hold on and plummeted.
“Aaaaaah!!”
Crack, crunch—snap!
The sound of breaking branches echoed up. He probably wasn’t a normal Jang Hyun-deok, so he might survive if he’s lucky.
I poked my head back through the window to survey the remaining Jang Hyun-deoks.
Even with the floor tilted 45 degrees, the Jang Hyun-deoks stood firm with body control no ordinary human could manage.
“Yeah, now that I’m getting used to it, they look distinct.”
A colorful array of Jang Hyun-deoks, each with their own subtle personalities and charms.
The one still holding Park Kwang-rim even now had thicker eyebrows and a stern face, developed trapezius muscles, and callused hands suggesting close-quarters combat specialization.
The skinny, agile-looking Jang Hyun-deok half-hanging from the wall while grabbing another seemed specialized in stealth and mobility, judging by his movements.
“There are innocent, powerless people in this building besides us. For their sake, please at least readjust the angle.”
The Jang Hyun-deok speaking to me while dangling from the stealth type had considerable mana and a plump, chubby face—likely a non-combat role.
If they’d been perfectly identical faces, it might’ve felt less off-putting.
“Ah, too many Jang Hyun-deoks. It’s weirding me out.”
These vaguely similar yet not faces created an uncanny valley effect.
“But I’ll grant the request to adjust the angle.”
Rumble rumble—
I channeled mana to level the building.
“Thank you. But we are not Jang Hyun-deok.”
And finally, the bespectacled Jang Hyun-deok.
Among the various Jang Hyun-deoks, he exuded uniquely powerful mana, staring at me with an intensely clear, gleaming gaze.
“I heard earlier. Your name’s Kwigyejul?”
“Yes, that’s my name. This one’s Anjibseol, that’s Doemakcheon, Baedojon, and the one who fell is Park Bak-hyeon.”
Names that sounded like they were rolled from a dice.
“Hmm, it’d be rude to comment on others’ names, but…”
Jang Hyun-deok was actually a pretty good name.
Kwigyejul raised his hand nonchalantly and asked me a question.
“Is Park Bak-hyeon dead?”
I sent my senses downward for a moment.
“He’s alive. Can’t move, so probably some broken bones.”
“That’s a relief. Thank you for your mercy.”
The mismatched attitudes, speech, and expressions kept repeating.
It felt like talking to an AI programmed to act that way—an eerie awkwardness and dissonance stirring an indescribable subtle discomfort.
“Here’s a suggestion since we seem to communicate: how about surrendering?”
As I said that, I raised the building’s altitude a bit.
Rumble rumble rumble—
“If not, I’ll chuck this shithole into the sea off Daebu Island.”
Kwigyejul stared at me seriously for a moment.
His gaze swept the room before he flashed a sunny smile and declared confidently.
“I have short-range teleportation abilities, so I can escape your threat. And we have hostages, so I think we’ll pass on surrendering.”
Say what you will, their base is cultists.
They’re willing to throw their lives into danger.
No point in talking anyway.
“Yeah, wasn’t expecting you to.”
I sighed and activated my magic.
It’d be problematic if overused, but once or twice should be fine.
[Time Stop]
* * *
I released the time stop.
The time I can halt is around 20 seconds.
Short, sure, but more than enough for me. I’m a mage, after all.
“Uwaaah?! Wh-what?”
Park Kwang-rim screamed upon suddenly realizing the changed situation, then stopped.
He looked down briefly before turning to me.
“Kim Shin-hwa, where are we? Where did they go?”
Park Kwang-rim’s slightly awkward speech differed from the Jang Hyun-deoks’ weirdness.
Nothing to do with madness or anything. He’s just a bit clumsy with Korean.
“I shoved them all into the forest over there.”
I pointed at the enormous dirt mound towering up.
I’d flipped the building and buried it halfway in the ground.
As they said, there were innocents, so I adjusted not to kill them, but escaping would take time.
“Ha! Impressive! Well done!”
Park Kwang-rim hurled curses in about four languages toward the buried building, then stared at me with wide eyes.
“Magic is amazing. Or is it you, Kim Shin-hwa, who’s amazing?”
I shrugged modestly and tossed him the items I’d grabbed from the healing ward.
“You even brought these!”
Park Kwang-rim joyfully clutched his pendulum.
“Now, save the thanks. Let’s go.”
* * *
Park Kwang-rim swept back his disheveled hair, tying it behind him.
“I did all this to repay my debt to you, Kim Shin-hwa, but ended up owing you again.”
Debt?
Oh, right, the notebook mentioned something about benefactor.
“No way, you really went this far just for the 10 billion?”
“The 10 billion’s nice, but didn’t you save me once before?”
“Before?”
“Didn’t you remove the ghost from me?”
What ghost?
Oh.
Come to think of it, Park Kwang-rim had been cursed by the [Descendants of Fomalhaut] before and nearly exploded. I’d lifted the curse, saving him from death.
‘Huh? So that’s what he meant by benefactor?’
Not about the money?
I’d rated his abilities highly but hadn’t fully trusted him.
Too many betrayals in my experiences with him.
But…
‘Right, those were just from the game.’
The real Park Kwang-rim I’d met hadn’t betrayed me once.
Thinking that way made me feel a bit sorry for suspecting him as some money-grubbing thug all this time.
I waved it off and told Park Kwang-rim.
“Don’t add this to the debt list. I’m the one who put you in danger to begin with.”
“Fine. But…”
Park Kwang-rim glanced around uneasily.
“Where are we headed now?”
“Hoe-wang-dong. No Jang Hyun-deoks there earlier.”
Park Kwang-rim scowled the moment I finished.
“Jang Hyun-deok, Jang Hyun-deok, Jang Hyun-deok. Who the hell is this guy?”
He started muttering in a mix of Chinese and Korean, displeased.
I’m a detective famous nationwide, not just in Paju. If he was someone worth knowing, I’d know him. Why go to such lengths and expense to save him? And so on.
“No, no. Calm down. Jang Hyun-deok isn’t the priority anymore anyway.”
“He’s not?”
Park Kwang-rim looked at me puzzled.
“Yeah. Well… I’ll save Jang Hyun-deok as a bonus, but there’s something I want to investigate. You saw those personality-less siblings, right?”
“Too many times.”
“Exactly. Too many. The Jang Hyun-deok I’m looking for has the exact same face.”
“What? Same…? The Jang Hyun-deok you’re after is from the same clan as those guys?”
Probably.
And during the time stop, I’d found something in the healing ward.
Based on that info, after some deductions, I reached this conclusion.
“Those are NPCs.”
“NPCs? What’s that?”
Ugh, a normie question from someone who doesn’t game.
I scratched my head and asked again.
“Ever tried games?”
“I’ve got one installed that auto-fires bows or guns if you leave it.”
“I get the type. Don’t games like that have hordes of identical enemies?”
“Yeah.”
“When playing, ever wonder where those identical guys come from?”
Park Kwang-rim shook his head at my words.
“It’s just a game. Copied sprites. What do you mean ‘where from’?”
Right. Normies don’t care.
But what if the world implemented a game exactly? How would mass-produced NPCs like that be handled?
“That’s what they are.”
“Game characters?”
Yeah, you too.
I held back from saying that, turning to gaze at the buried building.
‘Hard to believe even seeing it myself, but if my guess is right…’
Those guys are mass-produced NPCs randomly generated in the [Cthulhu World].
Within certain parameter ranges, stats are randomly assigned, so they get some individuality and traits above a baseline, but they’re generated from the same skeleton.
In the game, they drive security taxis, play minor fixers, swarm as low-level cultists, or work part-time at shops—
‘Probably facilities like this beyond Ansan too.’
Mass-produced NPCs aren’t just Jang Hyun-deok lookalikes.
“And they collect retired, role-less NPCs to recycle limited in-game resources. This place is one of those, right?”
“Kim Shin-hwa? Who are you talking to?”
Park Kwang-rim looked at me suspiciously, concerned for my sanity.
Of course he’d react that way—he can’t see it.
[Warning: The area ahead is unimplemented and unrelated to scenario progression. Further approach may compromise play stability.]
Fun warning.
I gathered mana and said.
“Go ahead and yap. You can’t stop me with the resources here anyway.”