Chapter 295
Chapter 295
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 295
Chapter Title: Source of Life
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Mumble mumble, mutter mutter.
Park Gwang-rim continued gnawing at his thumbnail and whispering under his breath.
I climbed the dark, endless stairs of Heemang-dong, listening to the ominous buzzing whispers from Park Gwang-rim right by my ear.
There were no interruptions.
We soon reached the third floor...
[Warning: The area ahead is an unimplemented zone unrelated to the scenario progression. Further access cannot guarantee gameplay stability.]
A message window blocking my view.
“Ugh, move. I can’t see.”
Zzzap!
I summoned a small bolt of lightning and struck the message window, which fizzled out without holding its form.
At the top of the third-floor stairs waited a massive iron door.
I sent out a subtle probe of detection, but felt nothing from the other side.
That didn’t mean there was nothing dangerous.
I truly sensed absolutely nothing.
It felt completely different from the first or second floors.
“Looks like this is where the real deal starts.”
Crack, crick.
I twisted my neck joints in a quick stretch, then turned to Park Gwang-rim.
“Gwang-rim, want me to send you to Paju?”
“Paju? How?”
If I cast Gate Creation right now, I could ship Park Gwang-rim straight to Paju.
Sending him to the [Starving Mansion] risked the mansion’s defenses killing him, but dropping him off around Vasilissa should be fine.
I explained as much, but Park Gwang-rim shook his head.
“I’m curious what’s behind here too. If I back out now, I’ll carry that question on my head for the rest of my life.”
Just like the NPCs in [Cthulhu World] often did, he might end up a drugged-out or boozed-up wreck haunted by an inescapable nightmare.
“Can you protect me? I want to know the truth too.”
“That truth might...”
I swallowed my words.
No idea what truth lay here, but as far as I knew, Park Gwang-rim was a game character.
Would he be okay?
For a moment, I considered just forcing him away, but in the end, I sighed and cast buffs on his body.
[Protection Circle]
[Lion’s Valor]
[Euphoria]
[Eagle’s Radiance]
“It’s probably a truth that’s got nothing to do with you, Gwang-rim.”
“Then that’s a relief. I can sleep easy.”
* * *
Screeeeech—
The rusty hinges let out an unpleasant shriek.
I’d hoped for some grand wonder, but inside was just an empty, filthy space with no furniture to speak of.
“Nothing here?”
“Looks like they fled in the night. An abandoned office.”
Spot-on analogy. A wide-open space without walls or corridors, littered with trash, scraps of documents, a few awkwardly scattered chairs and desks—that was it.
“Where’s the director?”
We proceeded inside, on maximum alert—
* * *
Huh?
Wait?
We’re falling?
At some point, we were plummeting through a vast white void.
“What the hell!?”
“Gahhhhh!”
An endless white space. No floor, nothing at all.
“Argh, this is that thing!”
That thing! That thing!
The message window’s warning flashed in my mind.
“Damn it. It said it couldn’t guarantee gameplay stability!”
Wait, no time to think about that!
[Flight]
Whoosh—
I grabbed the falling Park Gwang-rim and activated Flight.
“Kim Shin-hwa! What is this!?”
“This is—well...”
Explaining this to someone with no game knowledge—hell, a character inside the game—frustrated me.
It was that classic bug from poorly made games.
A botched space design leaving you falling forever in an infinite void without a floor!
Fortunately, Park Gwang-rim came up with a fitting term first.
“Is this an illusion? Or a secondary dimensional barrier?”
A response worthy of a Paju detective.
“Yeah, something like that.”
“Can you escape?”
“Hold on.”
Whoosh—
At least there was air. Dodging the wind whipping my face, I ascended toward where we’d fallen from.
But no matter how high I climbed, I couldn’t return to the drop point.
The higher I went—
Just endless white repeating infinitely.
‘Dizzying. The drop point vanished.’
A nasty bug.
The usual fixes for this...
One. Restart the game.
Two. Load a save.
Three. Use spatial teleportation magic.
“Good thing it’s simple, even if it’s disorienting.”
Lucky me. If this happened before I learned [Gate Creation], I’d have starved to death in eternal freefall.
I cast the spell immediately—
[Gate Creation]
[Error: Invalid path referenced.]
My focused mana scattered.
“What now?”
Park Gwang-rim looked up at me anxiously.
“Kim Shin-hwa, is there a problem?”
“Nah. No problem.”
It wasn’t just a failure.
The moment the spell failed, I sensed a snakelike energy slithering into my ritual.
It vanished quickly, but it couldn’t fool me.
“Over there!”
Fwoosh—
I wrapped myself in the [Night Mantle Robe] and shot toward where the interferer lurked.
And then, at some point.
“Wizard! Over here, over here!”
A familiar voice.
The one we met earlier... Hyunji’s voice.
“Here. Right here.”
In this floorless void, Hyunji stood.
I adjusted altitude and approached.
Before I could speak, Hyunji did.
“Wow! Impressive! How’d you find me so fast?”
“What are you?”
“What do you think? Plain as day.”
Hyunji spread her arms and spun in midair. Not flying—just standing.
Nothing to stand on, yet she bounced like on invisible ground.
“Standing on thin air... a monster in the form of a ten-year-old girl?”
“Hey, it’s me, Hyunji. We even said hi earlier.”
I grimaced and gathered mana.
“Cut the crap and say what you want. Gonna make me wish for something? Or demand I serve you?”
Hyunji’s face twisted grotesquely.
Like a monster who didn’t grasp human features forcing a smile—utterly horrific.
“No wishes or servitude from you. Since you’ve come this far, beyond where managers can interfere, how about a quick drive instead?”
* * *
The next moment, I was in the back seat of a shaking vehicle.
Up front, Jang Hyun-deok—flowers blooming all over him—drove.
“Man, driving together like this is great.”
“How about changing the scenery while we’re at it?”
Beyond the windows stretched bizarre sights.
Warped images, flowers, alphabets and numbers blanketing the sky, fluorescent tiles, crumpled and crushed humans, more letters, numbers, lights, colors, noise.
A nauseating, dizzying backdrop just to look at.
No clue where this was, but clearly no developer intended it.
“Hey, I can’t do that, wizard. I can create characters, assign simple rules, or scrap obsolete ones, but space isn’t my domain.”
“You just changed the space?”
“Outside management zones, I can tweak states or properties a bit, but no authority to swap background textures. That’s just random shifts. Get it?”
“Roughly.”
“Ah, perfect.”
“Thanks for the familiar skin, but you don’t have to. How about a generic random NPC instead?”
“Wizard, why are you so picky?”
Saying that, Jang Hyun-deok turned to look at me.
His face covered in golden flowers.
I could guess the situation.
Like when I got dragged to the Man of Gold’s domain before.
This monster borrowing Hyunji’s and Jang Hyun-deok’s forms was probably—
“Hey, [Source of Life]. Where’s Park Gwang-rim?”
“Hmm, he’s chatting separately. More reasonable than expected?”
“Park—no.”
Demanding Park Gwang-rim or Jang Hyun-deok would count as a wish, letting it demand payment.
“Park Gwang-rim and Jang Hyun-deok. Both your friends, wizard?”
“Nope, not friends. I don’t have friends. They’re just NPCs I use.”
“Hmm—”
Jang Hyun-deok’s eyes fixed on me.
Cold sweat trickled down my neck.
“Really? They seemed like friends.”
The face was Jang Hyun-deok’s, but it felt like an emotionless insect staring.
“Yeah, do whatever to them. Doesn’t concern me.”
In [Cthulhu World], you don’t make precious friends or lovers. The moment you declare them so, this hellish world rips them away, breaks, defiles, humiliates them, then hands them back laughing.
I have no friends.
That’s the stance I must keep.
I flopped sideways on the back seat.
“Whatever. Do what you want. Nice seat. I was tired anyway—gonna nap here.”
* * *
The scene shifted to a hospital bed in the [House of Healing].
The bed stayed the same, but the background was painfully bright noise.
A ghoul looked down at me on the bed.
“Fascinating. But don’t misunderstand. I’m not demanding wishes or submission.”
“Then what do you want? Like that elephant before, drive me insane?”
“We want to wish from you.”
What?
I sat up on the bed and faced the ghoul.
“What wish?”
“We’ll return Jang Hyun-deok and Park Gwang-rim. Come to Busan.”
“I was heading to Busan anyway, even without you saying so. Might’ve stopped somewhere en route.”
The ghoul smiled with the same grotesque twist [Source of Life] wore as Hyunji.
“If that’s your plan, stick to it.”
“And then?”
“You’ll help Jang Hyun-deok grow further.”
The ghoul’s face aged rapidly.
Wrinkles and beard appeared, body slightly larger.
A design I hadn’t seen, but “aged Jang Hyun-deok.” Was this the director the kids mentioned?
“What’re you talking about?”
“As I said, we ensure this game runs smoothly. Creating characters, assigning roles.”
“So?”
“What was Jang Hyun-deok like? My creation. A very special child, right?”
“Nah, dumb, clueless, only spouted infuriating crap. If ‘specially dumb’ counts, sure.”
“Exactly. That’s the ability I assigned him, and the role to match.”
He tapped his forehead with a fingertip, then continued.
“Truth is, I had no interest in you. You ruined my plan to descend in Sokcho. So I moved to plan B.”
“Plan B?”
“Yes. You drained too many resources. I had to summon my precious children for resupply.”
So that’s why Jang Hyun-deok went to Ansan for that damn sleep therapy?
“But when I checked, shock. Jang Hyun-deok had gained power beyond what I assigned.”
“That wasn’t my power. The [King in Yellow] gave it.”
“True, but him breaking role, gaining special experiences and power? All because he met you.”
“...”
“So I decided to upgrade Jang Hyun-deok from mass-produced to unique. Good, right?”
“I don’t care what happens to him.”
“To preserve his named NPC uniqueness, I’ll scrap all same-type NPCs. Keep adventuring with my Jang Hyun-deok as before.”
“Wait, what?”
“Yes, that’s my wish. Raise Jang Hyun-deok more. Make him the most special, one-of-a-kind being in this world.”
“No, asshole. What do you mean scrap same-type NPCs!”
[Source of Life] grinned twistedly and countered.
“Is getting that answer your wish?”
“You piece of—”
I clamped my mouth shut.
“Now, return to the management zone. I snuck the protagonist away without a word—manager will be troubled. I expect you to keep shining so this world doesn’t end.”