Chapter 334
Chapter 334
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 334
Chapter Title: Monkey's Paw
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Is this really something that happened?
It was just three weeks ago that the [Smiling One] disguised as Cheongho was destroyed in Busan. Of course, it had been even longer since I'd last seen Jeong Hyeon-a...
In Gafurum's memory, Jeong Hyeon-a keeps going berserk, bursting into metallic laughter.
Iron crowbars flying at her without mercy.
Vwoooom—
That's no ordinary high school girl's swing. It's powerful enough to kill a non-combat NPC like Gafurum instantly.
Crash!
"Miss! Stop! Please stop!"
Chae Tae-won's voice. Did he step in to block it?
This is Gafurum's memory. Her eyes are looking in the wrong direction, so nothing is clear.
Shrrrrk—
The iron crowbar in Jeong Hyeon-a's hand writhes like a "snake" and coils around Gafurum's neck. She gained abilities in that short time? Nirvana has side effects that can awaken abilities, but—
Zzzzzzt!
Severe noise interfering with Gafurum's memory.
Confusion. Gafurum seems to be having a mild hallucination.
Dizziness. The world spinning around.
Damn, this is making me nauseous.
* * *
A completely different place.
"Waaah! I don't know! I got lost again!"
I don't know the order of these memories, but this one is recent.
Because this is Jangmyeongsan Mountain.
Gafurum stamps her feet for a moment, then pulls an aroma pipe from her bag and inhales that horrific tuberose scent.
"Hoo. Feeling steadier now."
Gafurum's vision shakes in a strange way for a bit. She's rolling her eyes unnaturally.
"That way?"
Gafurum suddenly picks a direction with no basis or context.
At the edge of Gafurum's vision, unsettling insect legs creak ominously. Suspicious shadows. Sticky slime dripping.
No insects are actually clinging to her eyes.
No, they are attached. Abyss kin resembling spiders are crawling in Gafurum's mind.
Spiderwebs and grotesque bugs guide Gafurum as she walks aimlessly.
Gafurum "miraculously" and "by chance" slips through a weak point in the barrier and reaches the Hungry Manor.
Damn. So that's how it was.
The barrier guarding the Hungry Manor isn't perfect.
It would take too many resources to seal it completely, and they'd have to cut ties with societal infrastructure.
The barrier only blocks hostile entities.
It can't stop something like clinging to someone with good intentions and infiltrating indirectly, like now.
In the end, Gafurum reaches the Hungry Manor.
Coincidentally, at a time when both I and Jang Hyeon-deok are away.
* * *
"Who... are you?"
Heo Sang-hyeon's voice, laced with the poison of the dead.
His body's outlines are so faint it's hard to gauge his build.
Jet-black hair, dark clothes, a gloomy pallor covering his eyes... all blending unnaturally with the Hungry Manor's yin energy.
A corpse-like pale face with eyeballs dangling from it, floating through the darkness—an utterly bizarre sight.
A cold, large hand reaches out silently and grasps the door of the Hungry Manor.
"Uh... ugh..."
Physiological revulsion and instinctive fear slowly scrape at the back of Gafurum's neck and ankles.
Gafurum slowly backs away, overwhelmed by unbearable dread. Death entwined with darkness—stealing a human form—is mocking life itself!
Heo Sang-hyeon, already wide-eyed, opens them even wider and rolls his eyeballs.
"KyaAAAAH!"
Gafurum's horrific scream. A desperate cry to find someone to help her.
"UwaAAAAH!!"
Heo Sang-hyeon screams back in sync with Gafurum's wail.
'Poor thing...'
Sang-hyeon looks startled. Gafurum's sudden scream must have shocked him.
* * *
Heo Sang-hyeon (36 years old, Pension Manager)
Are you really okay?
That's a relief. I run this pension, but the owner—er, the master—is someone else. It's only in my name.
Who the master is?
He's like my life to me. More precious and important than anything I have...
But like all life, he's precarious, liable to vanish at any moment.
* * *
Gafurum pokes her head forward toward Heo Sang-hyeon, who lets out a hollow sigh befitting the dead, and asks a question.
"Your most precious person? Do you really think that?"
"...Pardon?"
Grotesque shadows continue circling the edges of Gafurum's vision. Something thin and repulsive like spider legs writhes and squirms, manipulating Gafurum.
"So—that master of yours. Is that person really precious to you, Heo Sang-hyeon? Really? From the beginning? Why? Since when? Wasn't there someone else who made you feel that way before? What do you think? Why did that person become your most precious one?"
"Hmm..."
"You're 36, right? That's weird. I have some documents I brought here. Oh? It says 40 years old."
The age on the documents means nothing. Heo Sang-hyeon died at 36, and after that, he became a being untouched by aging or growth.
"Well, that's not important anyway. What I'm more curious about is, where are the other people listed here? Your wife. And you have a daughter in her early teens. Aren't they precious to you?"
"Daughter...? Ah... mine?"
"Yes, look. It's right here."
Heo Sang-hyeon peers at the documents Gafurum holds out, looking confused.
"Wife? Daughter?"
Gafurum dramatically brings both hands to her mouth.
"Right? Isn't it strange?"
Gafurum keeps chattering nonstop.
"When was the last time you saw your family?"
Her words stab sharply into Heo Sang-hyeon's mind.
"Don't you miss your family?"
Stop it, you lunatic.
It's not Gafurum speaking now.
A massive black spider lurking deep in Gafurum's memories tugs on its thread.
Pulled by the thread, Gafurum giggles theatrically and reaches out her hand.
"Huh? What's that under your clothes? What's this?"
Pluck—
Gafurum strokes the [Ancient God's Nameplate] attached to Heo Sang-hyeon's chest.
It's an object that functions as magical bondage, anchoring Heo Sang-hyeon's soul to his flesh.
"A magical shackle? Restraint? You're Heo Sang-hyeon, right? How long have you been in this manor? Why? What reason does your master have for keeping you here?"
"The m-master... isn't like that. He's kind and just..."
No, I'm neither kind nor just.
"But why keep you locked up here? If he's so good and righteous, shouldn't he let you see your family?"
Heo Sang-hyeon hunches his body, unable to push away the tiny woman who's only half his size.
"I... well, I..."
Gafurum whispers into Heo Sang-hyeon's ear. An alluring tuberose scent spreads on her breath.
"What if you're being deceived?"
* * *
Damn it, enough already.
I'm not curious anymore. The abyssal being behind Gafurum wanted this from the start.
It's not about stealing or destroying something.
A petty trap.
That bastard just wanted to show me this scene and torment the people around me.
I need to break the sync with Gafurum first.
I extend my magic power...
[System: The 'Feast's Offering' effect activates.]
Shrrrrk—
Damn it, get off!
Gafurum's memory coils around my mind like sticky spider silk.
Gafurum's voice echoes.
"Kim Shin-hwa?" "What's wrong." "Look a bit more!" "More." "Fun."
"Interview." "Exists!"
Words from different situations pieced together. Like a message spliced from audio files.
I can't escape.
Shrrrrk—
It drags me deeper into the memories. Damn! Let go! Stop!
* * *
"That hand. Is it okay?"
Gafurum points at Park Gwang-rim's hand.
"My hand?"
Park Gwang-rim hurriedly hides his hand.
"It's been twitching the whole time. Are you scared of something?"
"Oh, no. Nothing like that."
"Ahh—lots of people are like that. I know. Something shocking happened, right? Nirvana?"
It's a side effect of Nirvana overuse.
Gafurum looks at the poor addict with pity.
"Hmm."
"And you mentioned your family earlier? But that's weird. You got money, so why not bring your family somewhere safe—and why are you still working another job?"
"Pardon?"
"You said you're working for Kim Shin-hwa now? Hasn't your priority changed?"
"Priority...?"
"Oh, not saying that's definitely it. But there are these scary urban legends sometimes. Demons. Ancient beings. Uh... something from the abyss? Those terrifying monsters that appeared in this world after the Great Collapse 23 years ago."
"What are you talking about?"
"They say if you become a cultist worshiping them, you forget what's most precious to you. The monsters tempt people and make them devote their entire lives to the demon. Maybe—just maybe. I've heard a lot of scary stories about this Kim Shin-hwa, so... what if—Kim Shin-hwa is."
"Kim Shin-hwa is..."
"What if it's an abyssal being? Disguised as a human, deceiving you and bewitching you?"
"No, it's not like that. It couldn't be..."
"But 10 billion is a huge amount of money, right? Enough to consider retiring. So why—why are you ignoring your family waiting for you, leaving them in danger, and working for Kim Shin-hwa? Maybe..."
Gafurum leans closer to Park Gwang-rim and whispers.
"Now that useless, lazy family that's always greedily taking your money isn't as precious as Kim Shin-hwa, who gives you money and recognizes your abilities?"
* * *
Zzzzzzt!
I try to move my magic power to escape this, but—
[System: The 'Feast's Offering' effect activates.]
The tangled mess of Gafurum's memories clings to my mind like spiderwebs, tighter the more I struggle.
"Wow!" "So cute!" "Kim Shin-hwa?"
"Still a long way to go." "Hwaang, even deeper?" "To the depths!" "......Let's." "Go!"
"Your." "Friends." "What questions." "Did Gafurum." "Ask them?" "Aren't you." "Curious?"
* * *
"What if that Shin Woo-jin died because of Kim Shin-hwa? If he hadn't gotten involved—if he hadn't caused that mess in Busan—maybe none of this would have happened? Innocent Koreans died, got hurt, turned into monsters, went insane. Isn't he a huge national security risk? Hmm, just a thought."
* * *
"Maybe he approached with that intent from the start? It's kinda suspicious, right? If Kim Shin-hwa hadn't made those demands to Hyeon-a's dad, maybe her dad wouldn't have gone through that."
* * *
"Ahh—I get it. Chae Tae-won—um~ Branch Chief, right? You hoped Hyeon-a would become strong enough to lead this organization? Looks like that wish came true in a weird way. How did it end up like this?"
* * *
"Really? That accident. Was it really just an accident? What if he's using it to manipulate Executive Director Mun Seung-hee? Someone with such great abilities—why didn't he prevent it beforehand? What else is he demanding from you? Eh? Yeonam Construction? Uh...? Did you want that too? What will he demand next?"
* * *
"Hyeon-ji, you said? What happened to those siblings? Why did that happen? Normally, the car wouldn't have broken down, and you could've kept earning steadily. Now you're seeing ghosts when alone, weird cultists show up at home, oh? And your beloved siblings are gone. When did all this start? Ah—Mr. Wizard? That older brother? Did all this happen after meeting him?"
* * *
"Have you heard of the—[Monkey's Paw]?"
That's what Gafurum said, waiting for her conversation partner's response.
But the man sitting across from Gafurum stares off in a random direction without answering.
"It's this demonic thing that grants any wish, but always in the most horrific way possible."
With Gafurum's voice comes the dangerous tuberose scent once more, filling the [Round Room].
Gong I-su, who had been silently staring beyond the edgeless, bizarre room's walls—toward the distant direction of Kim Shin-hwa—responded in a terribly dry voice.
"Interesting."