Chapter 338
Chapter 338
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 338
Chapter Title: Panic
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What the hell did I just hear?
*I've heard so much stupid crap that my head's ringing.*
To properly confirm Jang Hyun-deok's demand, I asked again.
"You want just one mask?"
How petty, asking for a mask of all things.
I had a ton of them, so if that was his wish, I could probably spare one.
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
Before I could respond, Jang Hyun-deok tugged at his own face in demonstration.
"Your face, wizard! Your face! Take off the mask and show us your real one!"
Jang Hyun-deok suddenly backed away. No, I was the one stepping back.
"Mask? You want me to take off my mask? See my face? What for?"
"Just curious?"
"Curious? That's... it? Hey, forget that. I'll buy you a car, remember? Don't you want a car?"
"Pfft, who makes a bet like that and asks for a car? That's not normal."
Wow, so our Hyun-deok is a real stickler for normalcy?
Hey, but.
If he's making over ten million a month, that's more than 120 million a year, right? For someone like that, buying a car with 190 million in annual interest—is that normal?
Before I could retort, Jang Hyun-deok had already moved on to the next phase.
"Come on! So! Take off the mask and reveal your face! Pretty please!"
He struck a variety-show pose as he shouted.
Overwhelmed by his momentum, I retreated a few more steps and blurted out toward Jang Hyun-deok.
"My... my face... Yeah! You saw it last time, right? Here, look."
I briefly raised both hands to cover my face—no, the [Mask of Carcosa] equipped there—then pulled them away.
In an instant, the [Infi Mask] equipped itself, and its special ability activated, generating a bland, featureless random face.
"How's this? See? Face. Face."
"Uh, that's still a mask, isn't it?"
Jang Hyun-deok hit the nail on the head.
*This guy has [True Seeing], doesn't he?*
It was a minor ability he'd gained back when he read that demonic tome from the Huanglin Church and got chased by the cultists.
It didn't grant x-ray vision, but it could pierce through illusions and deceptions.
*If you're so good, spot the scammers among used car dealers!*
In the end, I scratched my head and mumbled awkwardly.
"Uh... The face under the mask looks about like this anyway. No, why do you want to see my face so bad?"
"Just curious?"
"Just?"
"Yeah. Just."
Ah, no logical reason means I can't argue with it.
"Can't you? Is it impossible? Magic or something?"
"N-No, it's not that..."
My tongue twisted.
I could take it off.
If I couldn't, I wouldn't be able to swap masks either, right?
In a perfectly sealed space alone, I could remove it to wash my face.
"So you can show it? Your face."
"No—Hyun-deok. Anything but that—let me give you something better..."
But just imagining taking off the mask in front of someone standing there to ogle my bare face sent a wave of horrific disgust and indescribable revulsion crashing over me.
Dizzy.
Blood draining rapidly from my limbs. Hands and feet going cold.
"Come on, just once. You said you'd grant my wish?"
Even now, Jang Hyun-deok approached with a playful grin. Has this guy lost his mind? A flurry of thoughts raced through my head.
*What if it's a trap from the enemy?*
Did some abyssal being plant this horrific suggestion in Jang Hyun-deok's mind? Was everything a planned trap? All to corner me like this?
Kiiiiing—
Mana surged outward roughly in all directions.
Tentacle-like detection magic groped the surroundings in a near-paranoid fashion.
Nothing.
No hostile presences, no malice.
Just Heo Sang-hyeon pausing his cooking to look over, and Dolly, Achilles, and Red staring up at me.
"Come on, wizard! Hurry! Take it off! Take it off!"
A deep sigh.
Fine, it was just a joke. No complex schemes or calculations.
Jang Hyun-deok just wanted to see me as more approachable, that's all.
*This... is harder than I thought.*
Cold sweat trickled down. In a different situation, I might have shown my face more easily.
But... like introverts often do—I'd overthought the whole "taking off the mask" scenario.
Now it was on my mind too much to do it.
Baseless anxiety. Contextless shame.
Breathing quickened.
But Jang Hyun-deok found my hesitation, my fumbling, my faltering amusing—he grinned mischievously and closed in.
"Come on, come on—wizard! Just once! Wow!"
Clap clap clap—Jang Hyun-deok's applause.
"You little—"
The mask obsession I'd gotten as a reward from the masquerade was heavily mitigated by now.
It didn't even show as [Latent] in my status window anymore.
I could probably take it off for a bit and show my face—
"Gh—!?'
I clamped my mouth shut and bowed my head.
Throat closing up. Gut churning unpleasantly. Lungs seizing.
Legs buckled. To keep from collapsing, I staggered back a few steps and grabbed my knee—
Ah, damn it. Kim Shin-hwa, you idiot—your left hand doesn't work right!
My dysfunctional left hand failed to grip, and the whole world tilted.
"Wizard?"
Impact on my left shoulder.
I'd collapsed to the floor.
Too panicked to even think of steadying myself with magic.
"Hey, stay... away..."
Gonna puke. Gonna cry.
Even the [Infi Mask], perfectly mimicking a human face, reproduced the changes on mine.
Skin probably flushed red or gone pale white, brows and mouth twisted.
Ah, is this a panic attack? Out of nowhere?
"Wizard? Uh—sorry. Wizard? Wizard!"
Jang Hyun-deok flailing around, face drained of color.
"Shin-hwa!"
Heo Sang-hyeon rushing over.
Ah, this sucks.
What the hell is happening?
* * *
"This is a serious problem."
"Agreed."
"Th-This is troubling."
I'm exhausted.
I replied to my clones, who each muttered a word.
"Hey, let's rest. Talking to you guys doesn't even feel like sleeping after."
"Kim Shin-hwa, you moron! Sleep matters right now? You gonna eat after that stunt?"
"Fresh doenjang jjigae with cheongyang peppers, spicy as hell on the table—and you want me to skip it?"
Thanks to Heo Sang-hyeon rushing over to help? That bizarre seizure calmed faster than expected.
*Though my appetite's completely gone...*
Jang Hyun-deok, who'd accidentally caused the scene, fussing guiltily—kinda awkward.
Heo Sang-hyeon worrying way too much—also awkward.
Anyway, to show them "perfectly healthy Kim Shin-hwa," I had to eat.
"Ah, so full. Knew I'd have nightmares, but didn't expect you lot nagging too."
"Shin-hwa. This is important."
The raven mask leaned in, whispering seriously.
"I know."
No message window appeared.
The one that always popped up chattering during these events said nothing.
"Th-Then—it's n-not artificial madness? D-Did I get that r-right?"
The buffalo-bone mask said, looking confused.
"Yeah. Kim Shin-hwa here's in deep shit."
The nasty-tempered fox mask chiming in.
"You always act like the world's ending whenever something happens."
I grumbled, and the fox pointed at me.
"Hah? Aren't you scared? You didn't even take off the mask."
"..."
I am.
Honestly, terrified.
What's going on in my head?
Has the latent madness—the mask obsession—somehow rooted in my mind, turning me into a real lunatic?
"Hm, Shin-hwa. Might not be the mask obsession."
The ever-cautious raven mask.
I started to respond, but the fox cut in first.
"Hey, if it's not mask obsession, that's even scarier."
"Enough. We need to analyze Shin-hwa's situation first to make a plan."
"Hmph."
Ugh, they get along fine among themselves.
I'm already crazy—no lower to fall.
If we're talking severity, this situation—seriously conversing with alternate personalities in my head—is the real issue.
Ugh, thinking like that actually calms me.
"Was it the wish? That line [The Smiler] said. Think it's real? What's your take?"
"Could be. Earlier, you tried steering Jang Hyun-deok's [wish] to buying a car somehow, right?"
"Yeah."
Play off taking off the mask as a joke—find an excuse, convince him, buy the car.
"Maybe a rejection reaction hit right then? System-wise, issues should arise when taking off the mask. Weird that it happened without even doing so."
"Haa..."
A sigh escapes.
Tuder once told me—I was granting people's wishes.
[The Smiler] said something similar.
Got upset because I hit a situation where I couldn't grant a wish.
*[The Dream Weaver] behind Gafurum called me the [Monkey's Paw].*
Strip away the unpleasant connotations of [Monkey's Paw], and you're left with [wish-granting tool].
"Interesting."
"Int-Interesting?"
The buffalo mask questioned my mutter.
"Hey, you're talking like Ko Isu now."
The fox mask snarking unnecessarily.
But I sank into thought without replying.
*What am I? Is this really my desire?*
Not expressed via system, but same as mask obsession.
[Accept requests from game characters, complete missions, receive rewards.]
Quests.
Any player starts the game, does them without a second thought.
Me too—trapped in this game world, I did [quests] unquestioningly.
For rewards.
Because it's fun.
To progress.
To see new events.
Because it's a game.
Of course, right? Trapped in a game! Who questions quests given in that situation?
But rephrase [quests], and it becomes:
[Grant people's wishes.]
I grant their wishes, get rewards, uncover the world's truths, grow stronger.
"[The Smiler] said it."
The fox mask jumped in suddenly.
"Said what?"
"How to become an [abyssal being]."
"Eat something abyssal-related to become one? What's that got to do with this?"
"No. He didn't say eat abyssal stuff to become one. He just asked how to become one."
Before meeting me, what [The Smiler] did was—
Grant people's wishes, turn them into slaves.
"No way."
"[The Smiler]'s happy eating abyssal stuff thanks to you, but maybe the real path is that? [Abyssal beings] too. Why do they grant wishes in the first place?"
Plausible, but.
"Then this game—no, why does its administrator keep me here making me do it?"
"That's... uh, no idea?"
Naturally, me, the fox, and the buffalo turned to the raven.
"Hm. No clue. But hearing that, it strikes me—your relation to us resembles abyssal beings and their avatars."
"O-Oh, s-so we're Kim Shin-hwa's av-av-avatars?"
"Hah! Hilarious. Hey, prep a fancy title in advance."
"I-I—then [The Starving Darkness Thirsting for Blood—]"
"Please... don't..."
Seeing a guy with my exact face say that is mortifying.
"Shin-hwa, thoughts sorted?"
The raven mask spoke calmly.
"Yeah."
"Then time for the usual question."
"Ask away."
"What now?"
"Hmm..."
Yeah.
What do I do?
Thought for a bit, but no solid plan emerged.
"Dunno."
"Dunno?"
"Clues are short. Tomorrow, let's dig through the Rakrex grimoires and think properly."