Chapter 337
Chapter 337
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 337
Chapter Title: Clumsy Gesture
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Boom!
An explosion.
A chaotic hallway lined with similar-looking designs.
“Catch him! He’s over there!”
The combat nurses from Paju Central Hospital charging after me.
“Ehehehe! It’s Kim Shin-hwa!” “War! It’s war!” “Grrr!” “Gyaah!”
The bizarre patients from the locked ward causing a ruckus in their prison-like rooms.
And—
Zzzzt!
A metal wall suddenly appearing with eerie sparks.
“Ha, what a crazy ability.”
It was Gong Yi-su’s power, the ability to decompose and reconstruct any material. He’d reshaped the hallway’s structure to block me with a wall.
“But this won’t stop me! Senior!”
[Matter Decomposition]
Shhh!
The walls crumbled into particles in an instant. But even faster than they disintegrated—
Rumble!
Another wall rose up—
Whirr!!
Flying rotary sawblades and spikes.
[Gremlin’s Prank]
Crunch! Grind—zzzt—
The spell that breaks machinery paralyzed the incoming metal devices.
“Annoying.”
[Blink]
A short-range teleportation spell.
I’d only used it for survival before, but now I could cast it freely without routing through the [Carcosa’s Mask].
I chained a few Blinks together—and arrived at my destination in a flash.
A massive iron door.
I started to knock on it without thinking—then sensed the high-voltage current running through it and stopped my hand.
“Hey, Senior! You’re going too far!”
“Don’t come in! Get lost!”
“Fine. I have manners too, so I’ll stop here.”
I said that, crossed my arms, and stood in front of the iron door to the [Round Room].
“...What the hell do you want?”
“You said you’d come in two weeks, but you need to give me the exact date. When did Gafurum visit?”
“Kim Shin-hwa... are you really insane?”
“Some days I’m a little less crazy, so don’t worry.”
“...”
Gong Yi-su fell silent for a long time before speaking in a very small voice.
“Five days ago.”
Roughly ten days left, then?
“Got it. Now for the main point.”
“What now... Just stop... Get lost. I don’t want to get involved with you anymore.”
“The guy who doesn’t want to get involved—why are you still watching me?”
“...”
“You think I don’t know? You’re sitting there staring at me the whole time.”
Constraints like time or space weren’t big barriers for Gong Yi-su.
Ever since he’d locked himself back in this [Round Room], he’d been watching me nonstop.
After a short silence, Gong Yi-su spoke again.
“Yeah. That’s over now too...”
“No. The abyss bastards are watching me anyway, so it doesn’t matter. What I wanted to say is this.”
Hmm, I came here on a whim of anger, but saying it out loud is kinda embarrassing.
I cleared my throat once and then blurted it out.
“Thanks.”
“...What?”
Ah—making it twice as embarrassing.
“I said thanks. I don’t know what happened between us in the future, but since that’s all erased now, there’s nothing I can do about it—and anyway, thanks for helping me this time.”
“...You trashed your way in here just to say that?”
“Yeah.”
“...You’ve always been like this.”
Guess the old me was always bold and healthy.
Gong Yi-su muttered to himself, lost in memories for a moment, then said dryly.
“Fine. Now go home.”
“Alright. I’ll drop by again.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
A cold response from Gong Yi-su.
“Why—”
“What are you trying to do?”
What I’m trying to do? Escape this world.
There might be a future left where I meet Gong Yi-su and do something...
But if I leave this world before that happens—everything vanishes.
“Go home. I don’t need small talk. Just don’t come back. Please.”
* * *
“Eugh? I was being controlled? By a monster?”
Before charging in to meet Gong Yi-su, I needed to sort things out with Gafurum first.
During the fight with the [Dream Weaver], parts of Gafurum’s memories had collapsed, and others had been mashed into mush.
So I’d taken some of her memories with me during the escape.
Not just for her mental health, though.
Thanks to that, I’d recovered most of the sensitive info about the people around me.
“Wow! You’re really Kim Shin-hwa? For real? Wow!”
Human memory works in fuzzy ways. When there’s a hole somewhere, it weaves in other info to fill it with new memories.
In Gafurum’s head, I’d morphed into her, and the [Narcissus’s Sigh]—a spell that draws out narcissism to fend off abyssal temptation—had activated.
If it malfunctioned, she could’ve turned into a severe narcissist.
Anyway, thanks to those effects (or as the message window said, achievement rewards), Gafurum started seeing herself as a sidekick working for the hero [Kim Shin-hwa].
“Nyahaha! Just tell me if you need anything, anytime!”
Hey, good’s good.
With the issue the message window bastards had announced, I gave Gafurum a suitable talisman and sent her off.
* * *
Anyway, Gafurum’s not the point.
The vile conversation I overheard in her memories? That wasn’t fake.
But luckily?
I’d already confirmed with Heo Sang-hyeon and Jang Hyeon-deok. They didn’t remember the details.
They just vaguely recalled having a positive chat with Gafurum.
‘Probably because the tuberose scent induced a hypnotic state.’
They might not remember specifics, but a hazy doubt and vague awareness would linger.
Sooner or later, Heo Sang-hyeon would recall his family—the one I’d hidden so desperately—and Jang Hyeon-deok would realize his life fell apart the day he met me.
‘Damn that spider bastard.’
Solution?
“There’s a simple way, right?” “Y-yeah. W-we’ve done it before, haven’t we?”
The psychopaths in my head offering kind advice again.
“Ah, guess I should visit a mental hospital tomorrow.”
Whatever.
Worst case, maybe, but for now, I decided not to treat them like broken machines like before.
‘That’s why I went to see Gong Yi-su too.’
Alright.
With that resolve, I opened the door to the ravenous mansion.
* * *
“Shin-hwa-nim, you’re back?”
Heo Sang-hyeon greeting me at the mansion entrance.
As always, he scanned me carefully with those big eyes to see what I needed, then politely offered food.
“How would you like dinner?”
“Hmm, gotta eat. Is Hyeon-deok here?”
“Yes, you can eat together.”
“Hmm, thanks.”
Heo Sang-hyeon scurried off to grab an apron.
Watching him tie the strings taut from behind, I suddenly felt like talking to him...
But I just sighed and headed to the living room.
“Yahoo! Wizard! Check this out!”
Jang Hyeon-deok tumbling off the living room couch, cheering as he ran over.
And with Jang Hyeon-deok came Achilles, Ddol-ddol, and Red charging in.
“Ah, yeah. Hold on. One at a time, one at a time.”
After petting Achilles, Ddol-ddol, and Red, Jang Hyeon-deok—eyes sparkling as he waited—held out his smartphone.
“Car photos.”
“Right! But not just any car!”
True to his word, not ordinary ones.
Modded vehicles for fixers roaming Paju’s danger zones or security taxi drivers facing similar risks.
“What’s this?”
“Oh, last time Vroom-vroom got totally wrecked, right?”
“So?”
“Now I’m trying to get my life back—I went to check out Vroom-vroom 2.”
“Aha?”
Jang Hyeon-deok showed me the Vroom-vroom 2 candidates with a serious face.
“This one’s my favorite right now. 2021 model with a magic stone engine—wow! Awesome, right? Oh, and. Vroom-vroom had that drrr-druk sound, remember?”
“Hmm. Minigun?”
“Couldn’t find one with that, but check this one. It’s a 2015, but watch this video. You gotta see it.”
Jang Hyeon-deok played the video, showing a 1-ton wing-body truck-looking vehicle.
“Look, whiiiing—”
Whiiiing—the cargo bed opened, and a rocket launcher popped out.
“Hmm. Pretty cool.”
“Right? I’m torn between these two. What do you think, Wizard? You ride sometimes—what do you like more?”
Sometimes?
“T-this magic stone engine one—ah, cute. Just 500 million! Wow. Cheap!”
Cheap?
“I can take this one home with 100% installment at 38% interest.”
38%?
“Interest alone 190 million a year?”
“Nah, you pay down the middle, so less than that.”
“Oh, genius?”
“Right? Time to stop clinging to you and live properly out there.”
Properly?
Where’s properly?
“Hey, why are you buying a car?”
“Huh? Car? Uh? Gotta, right?”
“That... hold on.”
I tapped my forehead with my right index finger for a sec to sort my thoughts, then spoke.
“I’ve been fixing it when it breaks, right?”
“Psh, that was work-related damage, so you did.”
“Aha?”
“But this time, I tagged along on my own, and you weren’t even working.”
Jang Hyeon-deok, you punk—why be so diligent about the wrong things?
“Hyeon-deok-ah.”
“Yeah.”
Grinning proudly as he answered.
What’s with that face? Thinks he’s so great?
“You win.”
The blond punk tilted his head.
“What’d I win?”
“The bet. Gafurum. Wasn’t because of you.”
“Ah—aaaah—! Right! The bet! Ha! See? I was right!”
Jang Hyeon-deok jumping around. Achilles, Ddol-ddol, and Red going wild seeing him.
“Quiet!”
Heo Sang-hyeon’s shout from the kitchen.
“Jang Hyeon-deok, you too—settle down.”
“Ah, yeah.”
Good. This’ll work.
“So, tell me your wish. I lost. I’ll grant one thing you need from me.”
“Ah, a wish?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmm—wish...”
Jang Hyeon-deok crossed his arms, deep in thought.
“Hmm—”
Ask for a car.
“Hmm—”
Or money.
“Hmmmmm—”
You know I got money? Shin-hwa hyung, buy me a car. Say it!
“Hmmmmmm—what to ask?”
“Car! Car! Car, dude! Car!”
“Eh?!”
“Car! You need a car! Proper life, dude! Proper!”
“Jeez—”
Jang Hyeon-deok snickered with a baffled look.
“Wizard, where you gonna get the money? I’ll make it quick. Once I grab the wheel, I pull in over ten mil a month.”
Ah, headache.
“I’ll buy the car with my own skills anyway, so no need!”
Ah, aaaah—real headache. Hurts!
“Something else instead.”
“Phew—haa—what?”
“Yeah, I do have something to ask. Good. What? I’ll do anything.”
“Can you take off the mask just once?”
“Huh? What?”
“I wanna see your real face, Wizard. How ‘bout it?”
Silence.
Even the cooking sounds from the kitchen stopped.