Chapter 305
Chapter 305
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 305
Chapter Title: Two Days Ago
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Two days until the trip to Busan.
I visited the Osan Industrial Complex north of Bongil Stream with Jang Hyun-deok.
"Coming all the way here without a car must've been inconvenient."
Jang Hyun-deok scanned the surroundings with a creepy expression.
It wasn't one of those special areas in Paju where just showing up put your life at risk, but it sure wasn't a place a decent Paju citizen could stroll into comfortably.
"Who's gonna bite us? Let's go."
This neighborhood was packed with all sorts of companies, small factories, and bizarre infrastructure.
It also drew a lot of shady folks from various backgrounds, especially because of certain services offered here.
"You could get bitten, you know. See them over there?"
Jang Hyun-deok whispered, clinging to my back.
In front of a convenience store in one of the industrial alleys sat people with freakish appearances, chugging down daytime booze.
No, people?
They looked human at a glance, but their proportions were subtly off.
Fangs piercing through their lips, tumors bulging unnaturally all over their bodies, and pitch-black mucus spewing from their mumbling mouths with a splat.
They weren't monsters.
These were folks whose bodies had been warped by Cthulhu mythos contamination or excessive mana influence. It was just a side effect of their abilities manifesting and affecting their looks. Judging them solely on their odd appearances would be discrimination.
Jang Hyun-deok wasn't wary of them because of their looks, either. It was the uniforms—crisp black outfits, each with a pitch-black feather brooch on the collar.
"Crow Crows."
The mutants from the back alleys of Gwangtandong, commonly called Crow Crows, were waste-picking criminals.
They rarely ventured out this far, yet here they were, out in broad daylight.
"They say the Black Queen's in a foul mood these days."
"Why's she pissed off again?"
Jang Hyun-deok kept whispering hot breath right on the back of my neck.
"Hey, back off a bit. You're hot, man."
Even when I pushed him away, Jang Hyun-deok stuck right back on.
"Oh come on, it's all because of you, Mr. Wizard!"
"Hmm."
Well, I knew the reason.
Just a bit further east from here was Gwangtandong.
The Black Queen saw it as her turf, so she'd treat the Osan Industrial Complex like her front yard.
But Yeom Geum-ja, the head of the increasingly powerful Bongil Stream faction, had objected to that notion.
"Fuck off. How's this your land?" she'd essentially said, slowly creeping into the Osan Industrial Complex.
"Hmm, the vibe doesn't look so great."
No open fighting had broken out yet, but the Black Queen had scattered her Crow Crows to send a message along the lines of, "Sis, you wanna get fucked up?"
"That's not all. One of the victims from what you did this time is connected to the Black Queen, too."
Most of the back-alley thugs the Manse Ilwon Church dragged into Buyeo were buddies linked to the Black Queen.
"Ha, that's kinda unfair."
I didn't kill anyone in Buyeo.
Yang Seo-ho beat them all to death.
Oh, [The Smiling One].
That guy probably ate a few, too...
Come to think of it, the fixer called Rhino who got smashed by Curtain Call in Sokcho was something like the Black Queen's close little brother.
"You saw the videos, right? Everyone who's died or gotten hurt lately is being blamed on you."
You all saw it, didn't you?
That's how rumors work.
"If the Black Queen finds out you're here... there'll definitely be trouble. You don't wanna be friends with her, do you?"
"Ugh, not the Black Queen."
The Black Queen was honestly too much to handle. I waved it off casually and said confidently,
"No one will recognize me anyway."
I'd come wearing the [Human Mask] today.
Since it was known that 'Kim Shin-hwa is the masked wizard,' overlaying a human face on top of the mask let me move freely.
"Hmm, that face of yours sure stands out in its own way."
Jang Hyun-deok eyed my face with a look of fascination.
The excessively high Charm stat made my face too damn handsome—that was another issue.
"Well, as long as it's not Kim Shin-hwa, it's fine."
"True, but..."
We chatted like that as we headed to a workshop on the outskirts of the industrial complex.
* * *
"We combined the parts you provided to reinforce it into a Scarab type, and swapped the turbo unit to V7."
"V7? No compatibility issues? My baby here's got a WIZ-4 console."
"Ah, we know you WIZ folks usually prefer Swordfish series. But stability-wise, this is way better. Let me show you the monitoring data."
"My baby's based on the basic frame from the transport kit, so I was worried... Oh, not bad?"
Jang Hyun-deok made a surprised face looking at the graph the mechanic pulled up.
"See? We switched the outer shell to the guard coat from Yeonam Industries, so V7's superior."
Jang Hyun-deok nodded, looking satisfied.
"But the torque dips a bit here—can you tweak that?"
"Huh? No way. Where?"
"No, this section. Probably interference from the added barrier. Lower the resistance a tad."
He'd said not to butt in since cars were his expertise, but this was an unexpected side of him.
"Uh—well... It's a mana stone unit, so I can't do it right away... I'd need to call my reinforcement shaman. Tomorrow? Uh, could you wait just a bit?"
The mechanic looked troubled and flustered.
Jang Hyun-deok scratched his head and glanced at me.
"What's the issue?"
"Oh, right. Mr. Wizard, can you handle this?"
"Uh... Are you a wizard, sir?"
"Yeah, something like that."
The mechanic pointed to one side of the vehicle.
"See this barrier generator attached to the back seat? That's the problem..."
Jang Hyun-deok and the mechanic explained in turn.
This time, I'd hijacked an armored truck from the Foreigner Management Agency—the very mobile prison where Dokgo Gyeom had been held.
I'd decided to transplant its gear onto Jang Hyun-deok's vehicle.
An engine with civilian-prohibited output, mana stone-based boosters, high-firepower armaments that were hard to get even in this world, and a barrier strong enough to hold Dokgo Gyeom.
That's why we'd come to a workshop in this sketchy neighborhood instead of one of Jang Hyun-deok's usual spots.
'Plus, it's not easy finding a ballsy mechanic willing to touch Foreigner Management Agency gear.'
After hearing their explanation, I nodded.
"So basically, the mana from the barrier generator is tanking the booster efficiency, right? Got it?"
"Yes, exactly."
"Just need to adjust the shielding in this section?"
"Yes. See the line connected to the mana stone? Regulating that requires handling magic, you know?"
It was full of game-only proper nouns, so I'd wondered what the big deal was, but it was nothing.
With a simple gesture, I shifted the mana—and hundreds of circuits reshaped themselves at once.
"Whoa whoa! You can't just tweak it like that!"
The mechanic's scream.
"Turn that monitor thing back on and check."
The mechanic looked at Jang Hyun-deok like, "Eh?"
I didn't know machines well, but if it was a magic issue, it was simple.
Not only did I fix the barrier shielding, I boosted the overall magical efficiency and even enhanced the booster performance while I was at it.
Jang Hyun-deok, who'd watched me all this time, gave me a look of strong trust...
"Mr. Wizard, you can't just tweak stuff without knowing! Geez, I can't rein you in."
"..."
* * *
"Yee-haa!"
Jang Hyun-deok's cheer.
VROOOOM!! RAAAAAWR!!
The Kol Van roared with explosive engine noise.
"Mr. Wizard! This is the best!"
Jang Hyun-deok, who'd been half-doubting even after seeing the monitor, now beamed at me with ecstatic joy.
"You like it?"
"Oh yeah."
VRROOOOM—the Kol Van accelerated even harder with a growl.
I had no romantic notions about cars, so I couldn't fully relate, but Jang Hyun-deok's reaction said it all—it was a success.
"But seriously, what are you planning in Busan that needs mods this insane? I saw the data earlier..."
It wasn't just the booster and engine.
Now Jang Hyun-deok's Kol Van had frontal armor that could tank a fireball, a ram module that could dent a Shantak, a 5.5mm Gatling gun with a 4,000 RPM fire rate, and a mobile prison barrier strong enough for Dokgo Gyeom.
Handling took a hit from cramming all that into a limited chassis, but...
"I'll cover that just fine."
Jang Hyun-deok's superhuman driving skills would handle it.
"No, I mean, what's going down in Busan?"
"You know about Shoggoths?"
"Nope."
"You've seen Yang Seo-ho, right?"
"Uh... Even souped up like this, I don't think we can shake Yang Seo-ho."
"Of course not. But a van that'd get smashed just from Yang Seo-ho passing nearby won't make it to Busan."
"Creepy."
"And that's not all. You saw the morning news, right?"
"Oh, the Cure press conference?"
The Foreigner Management Agency and Manse Ilwon Church weren't the only ones pissed at me. The Black Queen, indirectly involved, was annoyed too—
"Cure Medical Care was furious."
"Yeah, they'd be. You declared they'd end the world."
Cure issued a statement calling it all Kim Shin-hwa's slander and vowed a hardline response, including legal action.
"Legal options mean we're getting sued?"
"Sued? They don't even have my address."
Cure Medical Care was backed by [Source of Life].
Meaning, heading to Busan meant a warm welcome from Cure Medical Care first thing.
"At least a couple assassins. That Kid the—whatever guy who stuck to Park Kwang-rim last time will show up too."
"Kid the-? That's his name?"
"Nah, nickname. Uh, what was it?"
Why couldn't I remember? Weird. I barely recalled it.
"Oh, Kid the Gunman. Slipped my mind for a sec."
"Never thought I'd see you forget something, Mr. Wizard."
"Yeah. Uh... fuck."
What did I forget? No way.
With my Intelligence stat, I never forgot proper nouns after hearing them once.
Sure, I'd pretended to forget a few times as a joke or brushed them off lazily, but I'd never actually forgotten an NPC's name or ability from [Cthulhu World].
Actually, I had forgotten once. There was only one case like this...
"Hyun-deok."
"Yeah?"
"Call Park Kwang-rim and have her look into Kid the—whatever."
"Gunman?"
"Yeah. That guy. Get her to investigate everything—who he is, his abilities—and report back. I'll give you her number."
"Why not ask her yourself—"
"No, once you get the info, don't tell me now. Wait till we're home and I'm stable and relaxed."
Hearing some random word here could make me smash the car or something.
Jang Hyun-deok couldn't know that, but he nodded, figuring it was just me rambling weirdly again.
"Uh, now? We're almost there."
"Hmm—then promise you won't forget, and do it no matter what. Got it?"
"Mr. Wizard, you're breaking a sweat."
"No, I'm totally—completely—fine?"
"Hmm. Okay."
The Kol Van slowed as it began climbing the hill.
"There used to be a road here a couple days ago, but it's gone."
Until recently, there'd been a path here.
But as if that history was a lie, it had turned into a swampy, poisonous forest, branches from the newly sprouted trees reaching out like they wanted to grab us.
Crunch—crack—crunch—
The Kol Van pressed on, snapping branches.
It was clearly daytime, but a gloomy darkness had settled around us.
With the darkness came a sinister purple glow creeping in.
The Osan Industrial Complex was dangerous, sure, but still within human bounds.
This place, though—this land clearly harbored dangers beyond human comprehension.
One of Paju's anomalies: the endlessly expanding Death Forest.
Tanhyeon.
I pointed to the massive rock wall.
"Yep. We're here. Park it up ahead."
A grotesque rock wall covered in nauseating dark-green moss and repulsive purple mold. And smack in the center, an incongruously huge iron door.
The entrance to the underground bunker once owned by Cheongho.
A doomsday prepper's paranoid escape pod, hideout—and prison.
Where [The Smiling One] had slipped in from the shadows and killed Cheongho.
"You okay?"
Jang Hyun-deok looked at me with worry.
"Yeah. Just here to talk."
I'd stashed Dokgo Gyeom inside.