Chapter 332
Chapter 332
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 332
Chapter Title: Human Mutilation
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“Hey, Jang Hyun-deok. What the hell are you talking about?”
That was the question I’d asked him not long ago.
At the time, Jang Hyun-deok had smiled innocently and answered like this.
“So, I met some woman yesterday, and it felt like it was her!”
What a refreshingly straightforward answer.
It felt like her?
Normally, I would’ve just chuckled and thought, *Heh, what an idiot.* But today, the situation was different.
“…….”
While Jang Hyun-deok and I had stepped out for a bit—
An unknown intruder had broken into the [Starving Mansion].
Not only had they tracked mud into my house—
They’d toyed with Heo Sang-hyun, who’d been left alone, then slipped out of the [Starving Mansion] without leaving a single trace.
“Myth-nim? It wasn’t toying—it was just a conversation. And it wasn’t even a bad one…….”
This was a challenge directed at me.
And it turned out Jang Hyun-deok had snuck out without telling me, told some random woman how to get to the [Starving Mansion]?
“Haha, you idiot.”
Instead of hitting Jang Hyun-deok, I spoke in a calm voice, stringing together just three words.
“Didn’t I tell you not to leave the house, you thick-headed fool—running around like that and the only thing you do is lead some strange woman to our home—”
Crackle! Crackle-crackle!
Magical sparks flying up in response to my rage.
“Myth-nim……! P-Please calm down.”
“Urk. Yes.”
“Ah, wizard-nim!”
“What!”
“It wasn’t me who brought that woman here! It was pure coincidence!”
“Oh, sure. So some random woman you met outside just yesterday coincidentally breaks into our house the next day and toys with Heo Sang-hyun?”
“Myth-nim, it wasn’t toying…….”
“I’m telling you, it really was! Do I look like an idiot who’d give out the wizard-nim’s home address?”
“Yeah, you do look like an idiot?”
“Ah, then let’s bet on it! A bet!”
“Aaaah—a bet? Fine, sure. Let’s check it out.”
* * *
End of flashback.
That’s why I’m here right now.
Truthfully, the dumb bet with Jang Hyun-deok doesn’t matter.
The problem is that this unknown person made contact with someone connected to me.
*Hmm, but I have a bad feeling I’m going to lose this bet.*
Magic is a powerful force, but it’s not invincible.
Yang Seo-ho’s ridiculous durability shrugs off most spells, and the Conqueror’s astonishing swordsmanship slices through magical formulas.
The Mystic Feast Expedition’s heretics—who are no longer around—shared the ability to devour mana.
And then there are cases like Kapurum.
*Lucky enough to breach the barrier’s weak point? Damn, give me a break.*
[Amazing Discovery] and [Serendipitous Luck] traits.
Kapurum can <coincidentally> run into people helpful to her just by taking a stroll.
*But that’s not all, is it?*
The current Kapurum is performing beyond the specs I remember from her reporter NPC days.
Looks like I’ll need to catch her to confirm properly.
I leaned in close to Lee Ha-seo’s ear and whispered. The best keyword to persuade this mad mad-scientist doctor……
“Professor.”
“Eh? Myth-nim? Myth-nim? Y-You’re too—cl-close…….”
“We’re about to do some human mutilation. Can you cooperate?”
“Hahk!? Y-Yes! Me! What do I need to do!?”
“Shh, just stay still.”
Lee Ha-seo covered her own mouth, her eyes widening—those bulging four-white eyes gleaming with tremendous ecstasy and madness.
Fine, whatever—I cast magic toward Kapurum, who was pressing her ear to the door to eavesdrop on our whispers.
[Sound Distortion]
[Shadow Bind]
[Invisible Hand]
Spells activated purely by will, without gestures or incantations.
The door shattered silently.
Kapurum was dragged in, ensnared by writhing tentacle-like shadows.
Simple.
“……!”
Kapurum’s mouth flapped as she tried to shout something, but the pre-cast [Sound Distortion] meant no sound came through. But—
“Urk, what’s that smell?”
A rose scent wafting from Kapurum’s body. Fresh yet alluring. A dense fragrance laced with mana seeping into the mind.
[System: The ‘Feast’s Offering’ trait activates.]
[A pleasant aroma spreads everywhere. The tuberose scent mixed into Kapurum’s body and breath induces benevolence, comfort, and familiarity in you.]
[Attempting a willpower check to resist artificial emotional alteration.]
[Willpower check……. Failure!]
Failure?
With my willpower and magic resistance, how does this fail?
It wasn’t just me who failed the check.
“Uh-uh? What? What are you curious about?”
Lee Ha-seo approached Kapurum eagerly, radiating goodwill.
It’s a probability-based check anyway, so there’s always that 1% failure chance no matter what. But considering the message that popped up right before……
[System: The ‘Abyssal Madness’ trait activates. It removes the induced benevolence, comfort, and familiarity from your mind.]
Crackle-crackle—
Even [Abyssal Madness] was needed to dispel those positive emotions. Not your average charm scent.
“……! ……!”
Kapurum kept trying to say something.
“Hmm? What?”
Lee Ha-seo smiled and drew closer in response.
“Professor, step back.”
“Mmm, but wouldn’t it be better to let her down easy?”
“Oh? She won you over in one go?”
“Ehehe—She seems curious about something, so I just want to answer…….”
I get it.
*Damn, so that’s how she toyed with Heo Sang-hyun too.*
Instead of my rarely used left hand, I extended my right toward Kapurum and unleashed several spells.
[Fierce Wind]
[Wicked Gaze]
[Cage of Cold Bones]
Whoooosh—
The wind blew away the scent diffusing through the air while suppressing and containing the magical effects.
[Ra’s Golden Sands]
Golden sand flew toward Kapurum—a spell inducing forced sleep.
“…….”
“Huh? Hmm? Uh…….”
As Kapurum fell asleep, Lee Ha-seo stared at her own hands and chest in bewilderment.
“Professor.”
“Ah! Yes!”
“Can I borrow a space suitable for human experimentation?”
“Ahaha! Ehehehe—Of course!”
* * *
Kapurum awoke in a bizarre place.
*Just now, definitely…… Kim Shin-hwa…….*
An uncomfortable sensation on her back. Dim lighting.
And cold light mixed with the smell of chemicals.
*Where am I?*
Her head spun. She’d already lost consciousness twice in the past day. What the hell was going on?
She barely registered that she was lying on something hard and cold like a bed—
“Hahk—Myth-nim! Myth-nim!”
A voice from right beside her head.
A voice she’d heard before.
Kapurum forced her heavy eyelids open and looked toward the source.
A loose white coat stained with sticky fluids and blood. Curves that the coat couldn’t fully hide. Long, curly blue-tinted hair. Glasses. A mouth larger than average.
And that mouth twisted into a horrific, terrifying smile.
Beyond the visual cues, a few more details came to mind about the person.
Lee Ha-seo. Age…… around 32?
A mystical surgeon specializing in hyperreal mutations, magical trauma treatment, and patients with alien body structures. A world-renowned genius doctor.
Not the easiest to talk to, but one of the few with access to special patients in the closed ward—she’d interviewed her a couple times before.
“What now? Shall I get the drill? Or the laser cutter? Ahhh! Forceps and scalpels are here. By type! By size!”
She didn’t used to talk that fast, did she?
So excited that Lee Ha-seo was practically spilling words like a waterfall.
Right. Her condition was pretty bad.
Strange paraphilias, obsessions, personality disorders, delusions.
From past talks, she seemed to have pica too—eating non-food items.
So why was she so hyped up now?
“No need for anything.”
A neutral voice, hard to pin as male or female.
Another familiar voice. Kim Shin-hwa? Was it?
“Mmph!?”
Only then could Kapurum check her own condition.
She was bound to a hard, cold plank-like surface. Even her mouth!
She couldn’t open it.
“Oh, you’re awake?”
The one who’d cast magic on her earlier.
A head about a handspan taller than Lee Ha-seo’s.
*Man? Definitely a man?*
Eerily beautiful, mysteriously handsome.
But something felt off.
When you see someone attractive, you should be able to describe what’s pretty or handsome about them—
But the face Kapurum was staring at now had no distinct features—it was just unsettlingly unique.
Unsettlingly lovely, horrifically sensual, irresistibly elegant. But that was it.
A bizarre face defying description.
In truth, the face Kapurum was seeing was Kim Shin-hwa’s fake one, rendered by the [Infinity Mask] reflecting his charm stat.
Kim Shin-hwa didn’t fully grasp how others perceived that face, but its mere attractiveness made people confront something other than Kim Shin-hwa himself.
“Mmph! Mmph!”
“Oh, reporter-nim. Sorry we had to rough you up. You probably didn’t realize it, but you were in a really dangerous state.”
“That’s right! But Andromeda’s science will save you! Free from Earth’s shackles—from out there beyond the distant galaxy—!”
“Mmm…… Professor Lee Ha-seo. Hold on. There’s something to do first…….”
“Ah, a-ah—right. Go ahead. Hurry!”
“Mmm, sorry, reporter-nim. Do you remember where you got this?”
Kim Shin-hwa raised his right hand. Large, with pronounced masculine contours.
*Whoa, what a handsome hand. Definitely a guy, huh? Face is so small.*
“Not my hand—this.”
“Mmph!”
My aroma pipe!
“Where’d you get this?”
“Mmph? Mmph—mmph.”
The tarot-reading sister at that tarot shop—but wait? Where was that tarot shop? And when? How long had I been using this? Why would I even have an aroma pipe?
“Sigh.”
Kim Shin-hwa sighed, looking regretful. She wanted to help with anything if she could.
But no matter how hard she thought, she couldn’t recall where that tarot shop was. Wait, was it really a tarot shop? That incredibly alluring, pitch-black sister……
That person? Person? Eight slender black legs fanning out like wings behind her back—
“Mmph! Mmmph! Mmph!”
Magical bonds held Kapurum’s limbs, but she began thrashing with strength beyond her body’s limits.
Twitch—twitch—
Veins and muscles writhing under her skin.
Crack—creak—snap—
Bones screeching horribly as they failed to withstand the forced expansion.
“Urk, this won’t do.”
With that, Kim Shin-hwa inhaled deeply from Kapurum’s aroma pipe—*snuuup*—and covered his face.
“Fuuu—”
His sweet breath wafted toward Kapurum.
Laced with the sweet, wistful scent of tuberose.
“Mmph!? Mmph? Mmph…….”
The next moment, Kim Shin-hwa removed the hand from his face—and there—
“Ehet, hi there?”
Kim Shin-hwa’s head, now much lower. His long, curved fingers now short and slender.
And his face—
Kapurum’s own face.
“?!”
No—Kapurum? Me? Kim Shin-hwa? Me? That alluring, beautiful, lovely being is me? I’m Kim Shin-hwa? No, wait—I’m Kapurum and—
“Surprised? Don’t worry, just take a nap.”
Emotions converging not outward, but inward—love for herself. Interest in herself. Yeah, it’s fine. Kim Shin-hwa doesn’t matter.
I’m looking at me. I’m here, and I’m comfortable.
Kapurum fell into inescapable sleep once more.
* * *
Ah, what a headache.
Kapurum’s a decent NPC with good traits, but only as a reporter.
She can’t use hyperreal seduction techniques.
*Probably some abyssal being intervened and lent her power.*
That aroma pipe she had seems to be the conduit.
To trace its origin and uncover the bastard’s goal, digging through Kapurum’s memories is the best bet.
I converted the power dwelling in the aroma pipe, inducing a light distortion in Kapurum’s mind.
Using affection-inducing power to make her fall in love with herself.
She fell for my whisper—me in her form—and opened her mind wide. I synchronized with it.
Kapurum’s memories flooded in sequentially.
*Urk, is this how I look?*
The most recent one.
From Kapurum’s POV, Lee Ha-seo looks terrifying. Well, it’s basically alien abduction.
*This is all for your own good in the end, so bear with it a bit.*
I wanted something a bit earlier. Hmm, how many people did she meet?
Further back—
No, even further—
Ah, Park Gwang-rim.
As I focused, Kapurum’s memory solidified clearly.
The scene of his office in Yada-dong.
Park Gwang-rim reconstructed through Kapurum’s gaze.
Outdated old suit and an excessively stylish fedora. Narrow, slitted eyes and a long ponytail.
Slender but with defined shoulders.
Wasn’t he just under 180cm? A bit shorter than Jang Hyun-deok.
Looking up at Park Gwang-rim, who’d been at eye level with me, felt a bit novel.
This is Kapurum’s perspective.
Seeing through another’s eyes changes so much.
*[How old? Late 30s?]*
Kapurum’s thought.
I knew Park Gwang-rim was much younger, but Kapurum saw him as suspicious and dangerous—a scary underworld broker—so she perceived him as older.
Park Gwang-rim, whose recent drug issue wasn’t fully resolved, fiddled with his chin with faintly trembling hands and asked Kapurum.
“Mmm, what information would you like me to share?”
Awkward Korean with obsessive formality.
Hearing that, Kapurum asked.
“Tell me about Kim Shin-hwa. What kind of person is he?”
This woman……
Has she been going around asking everyone around me this?
“Kim Shin-hwa? Well…….”
Park Gwang-rim flashed a meaningful smile, preparing lies for both Kapurum’s sake and mine.
But—
*Snuuup—fuuu—*
The abyssal power in Kapurum’s breath forced the truth from Park Gwang-rim’s mouth.