Chapter 57
Chapter 57
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: Mi-go's Laboratory (1)
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“What’s wrong, Kim Shin-hwa? You okay?”
It was Curtain Call.
From her perspective, I must’ve looked weird just standing there, staring up at empty space. Especially with the mask on—no way she could guess what was going through my head.
“No, just... hold on a sec.”
“You look like you’re hallucinating or something.”
I figured she couldn’t see my expression under the mask, but her observation hit a little too close to home, so I hesitated and brushed it off.
“Well... not exactly. I’m a wizard, you know.”
That should suffice—wizards have their secrets that warriors can’t comprehend. Sure enough, Curtain Call gave a so-that’s-how-it-is look and nodded.
“Yeah, wizard stuff. I’ll wait.”
[How long do you think the knowledge you once knew will protect you? As long as the beings of the abyss are watching you, that very knowledge might one day become a curse. But you’ll overcome even such trials.
Remember: Time is running out!]
...Talk about a curse right back at you. Not that the message was entirely wrong. Someday, the knowledge I trusted might hold me back. That’s all the more reason I need to figure out how this world is changing and where it’s heading.
I turned to see Curtain Call waiting with a bored expression.
She’s another puzzle I need to solve... but for now, with unfinished business ahead, she’s a temporary ally.
“All done.”
“Yeah? What’d it say?”
...Does this woman know something?
“Who said what?”
“That friend in your head, right?”
I almost misunderstood, but she meant something else.
“Can’t say my mind’s all there, but I’m not crazy like that. Don’t worry.”
“Oh? Lame.”
“Sorry for making you wait and then saying this, but let’s move. Helistic’s manager might show up.”
“We’re pulling data from the lab, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m no good at that stuff, so I’m counting on you.”
“It’s not a big deal.”
“Yeah, yeah. Come on, let’s go.”
Curtain Call replied half-heartedly and picked up her demon sword.
For precautions, I conjured a magical alarm and stuck it to the window, then wrapped myself in protective wards before heading out.
The building was already a mess from the test subjects’ rampage, and now our battle had made it even worse.
Fireballs, waves, lightning, earthquakes—even some holes in the floor went straight down to the first floor. Through one, I could see a completely crushed car.
And the third floor was littered with disassembled corpses.
“You really trashed the place, Kim Shin-hwa.”
“No comment.”
I’d even turned some into zombies and ripped out organs to use as weapons, making the third floor a bloodbath worse than when I first arrived.
Charred black sludge mixed with flesh chunks, blood, and guts formed grotesque clumps everywhere.
All my doing, and it was a total slaughterhouse.
A miracle the building was still standing.
Soon, we reached the lab director’s room in the farthest corner of the third floor.
As the spot storing the most critical and sensitive info in the building, it had specially reinforced security unlike anywhere else in the hospital.
“This wall’s the only one intact?”
“It’s metal-reinforced inside. Like a bunker.”
“So the director could be hiding here?”
“Nah. The face skin Je Mu-kyeong was wearing belonged to the director, remember?”
“Oh, that was the director?”
“Yeah.”
Plus, this room had its own isolated power and servers, cut off from the outside.
If this stayed intact, the dual contract quest would go smoothly.
The door was locked, but at this point, it was just for show.
I didn’t break stride as I approached and cast the spell.
[Unlock]
Click.
Creeeak...
Unless it was magically sealed, no door could resist me.
Even magical security was just a matter of time. No big issue.
“What’s that? Not the USB?”
“No, the USB’s for accessing the main computer.”
“So damn complicated. What’s that?”
The director’s office was a stereotypical, stuffy setup.
A large leather sofa, bookshelves stuffed with volumes, and a desk with a computer.
Bloodstains and scattered books everywhere. The hefty executive chair by the desk had toppled and slid into the corner.
Traces of Je Mu-kyeong’s visit.
Compared to the rest of the hospital, though, it was tidy.
No need to investigate unless I wanted clear proof of Helistic’s involvement or details on the test subjects’ research—nothing else worth seeing.
Helistic: a corporation of mad scientists researching immortality, eternal life, and humanity’s surreal potential abilities.
Anyway!
I righted the executive chair and sank into it.
“Ooooh...”
How much does this thing cost? Insanely cushy.
The cotton-candy cushion enveloped my butt, while the ergonomically curved backrest cradled my waist and spine.
“Mmm...”
Surrendering to this massive luxury throne melted my tension away... eyelids drooping...
“What’re you doing, Kim Shin-hwa? You idiot?”
“Come on. I’m not as tough as you.”
I mumbled an excuse and plugged the USB into the computer.
It was a data key...
Once inserted, it auto-launched the dedicated program.
A window popped up on the monitor with a message.
- This program can only be operated by personnel with the designated security clearance.
- To authorize, please enter the password.
The password came from solving some puzzle hidden on the second floor.
Even as a hardcore player who’d cleared this game a dozen times, I wouldn’t memorize a one-time code for a place like this.
Plus, the code was... M1g0'5WI+I15|73I2.
Pre-system, I couldn’t have remembered it if you paid me.
But with 30+ Intelligence, I could recall every trivial line and text from the game.
So, punching in that meaningless 17-character jumble of letters, numbers, and symbols was a breeze.
-Authorization approved.
With the dry message, the program kicked in.
Whirr...
“What’s that?”
“Nothing to worry about. Just wait.”
Whirr...
A faint vibration hummed through the room, accompanied by that subtle floating sensation like in an elevator.
I could unlock any magically sealed door.
But no spell existed to operate an elevator that only responded to its proprietary program.
This director’s office was one giant elevator itself.
The only way down was this.
It descended slowly.
Not just one room’s depth underground.
At that level, I’d have just blasted the floor with magic instead of this hassle.
But right now, sensing with my magic detection, it was dropping nearly 10 meters.
Thud...
The office stopped.
Now, just get up and head out the door... but... my butt won’t budge.
“Urgh...”
Wanted to grind in a bit longer, but no time.
Hiss... Plus, thinking about what waited ahead, I couldn’t afford to slack.
The basement held events even grosser than what I’d seen on the third floor.
Creeak...
I opened the office door.
A completely different scene from the hospital’s first floor unfolded.
The basement was dark. Lights were installed, but I knew they were off, so no point touching them.
[Dancing Flame]
Fwoosh—.
A flickering orb of light bloomed from my fingertip.
The vast basement space revealed itself.
Size... roughly 100 pyeong, give or take.
Inside, mystery machines and crates were piled haphazardly.
They should’ve been neatly arranged by spec... but looks like Je Mu-kyeong lost it and trashed the place.
Most visible gear was stuff you could see in the real world outside the game—in [Cthulhu World]’s reality too—but odd devices that couldn’t exist in reality dotted around.
Special tech monopolized by the giant corporations lurking in [Cthulhu World]’s shadows. Not mass-market public computers, but true ones stolen from alien tech.
Curtain Call, facing the long-awaited secret devices, marveled in awe.
“What’re these... retro toys?”
Sharp critique.
Alien tech computers weren’t sleek futuristic designs. The exposed machines looked straight out of 60s or 70s SF animations—clunky and dated.
Analog gauges like clocks, garish glowing big buttons, mysterious antennas, massive glass domes.
Even generously, nothing post-90s.
“They might look weird, but humans downgraded alien tech to something we could handle, hence the look.”
[Amazing feat accomplished! You have discovered the ‘Mi-go’s Laboratory’ hidden underground.
You have obtained the ‘Advanced Feat: Seeker of Mi-go’s Traces’.
As a feat reward, you acquire Mi-go’s gift and bonus experience.]
The word Mi-go hit like a sucker punch.
Mi-go. One of the alien races in the Cthulhu Mythos. From galaxies far beyond Earth, wielding super-science and mythic knowledge far beyond humanity.
Of course, as mythos creatures, just looking at them risked sanity collapse—dangerous bastards.
Not that any monsters in [Cthulhu World] were safe...
They’d set up outposts on Pluto and the Moon, quietly siphoning Earth’s resources per the lore.
And they were the guests from across the galaxy gifting Helistic wisdom beyond human reach.
That was the Mi-go.