Chapter 73
Chapter 73
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: Blue Tiger (1)
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That horrific amphibious tiger and the police had retreated.
And Blue Tiger’s kidnapped daughter, Jeong Hyeon-ah, had returned.
“Fixer! Wizard! Kim Shin-hwa!”
Those were the words Blue Tiger shouted the instant he laid eyes on his daughter’s face again—one he might never have seen again. Blue Tiger practically threw himself at me, on the verge of tears.
“Aaaah… Thank you! Thank you so much!”
He cast aside all dignity as a boss and poured out his gratitude to me, a kid barely half his age.
Blue Tiger seemed convinced there were no more problems left, but one issue still remained unresolved.
The powerful hypnosis triggered by the parasites’ innate abilities continued to imprison Jeong Hyeon-ah’s mind. She stood frozen, unable to express any emotion or thought.
The moment Blue Tiger confirmed her state, his face drained of color once more. Ignoring the stares from his underlings around him, he paced frantically, not daring even to embrace or touch Hyeon-ah.
“Hyeon-ah? Hyeon-ah? What’s wrong? Why is she acting like this? What the hell did those mangy dogs do to my little girl!!”
The question naturally turned to me. In Blue Tiger’s mind, I’d apparently become some divine being capable of solving every problem.
“It’s hypnosis. I checked her on the way back—aside from a few wounds, her body’s in fine shape.”
Even as I spoke, Blue Tiger kept muttering things like “Oh god, what do we do?”
“Hypnosis? Wait, hypnosis? Like the hypnosis tricks I know? Those fucking bastards! Goddamn it!”
“We need a quiet place first. How about heading inside?”
In the end, Hyeon-ah was carried into Blue Tiger’s mansion practically on a stretcher.
The place crawled with minions and servants on the inside too.
But as the mood turned grim, men who looked like Triad executives could be seen shooing the grunts and help off to other areas.
And the moment Jeong Hyeon-ah entered the mansion, a message window popped up, announcing the quest’s completion.
[You successfully rescued the daughter of Blue Tiger, one of the three heads ruling Paju’s underworld Triad. Had you been even slightly late, a horrific alien parasite would have burrowed into this child’s brain. Blue Tiger, who entrusted the rescue to you, now feels deep goodwill toward you. He will become your friendly ally moving forward and assist in your endeavors.]
Ah, so breaking the hypnosis wasn’t part of the conditions.
Handing Hyeon-ah over inside the house must’ve been the completion requirement.
Her condition didn’t matter. It probably would’ve counted even if she’d been a corpse or still parasitized.
Of course, that would’ve led to some insanity-fueled plot twist straight out of [Cthulhu World].
Good thing I hustled.
[You rescued Jeong Hyeon-ah. Experience gained.]
Yeah, hand over the rewards.
[You have accumulated enough experience to reach the next stage. Level increases by 1.]
[You defeated ‘Parasite – Larva’ (31). Understanding of parasites in general has increased.]
[You defeated ‘Parasite – Adult’. Understanding of parasites in general has greatly increased.]
[You have accumulated enough experience to reach the next stage. Level increases by 1.]
[Discovery: Acquired 1 secret item from the parasites. Experience gained.]
[Discovery: You discovered the parasites’ secret lair. Experience gained.]
[Experience Bonus: You achieved a total of (2) achievements.]
[You have accumulated enough experience to reach the next stage. Level increases by 1.]
I’m level 28 now. Finish the next quest, and I’ll probably hit over 30—then I can really start wielding third-circle magic.
“Wizard!”
“Ah, yeah.”
“Why are you just standing there spacing out in a moment like this…”
Blue Tiger gazed at me with pitiful eyes. I’d dragged things out this far for dramatic flair, but watching this brutal-looking guy humiliate himself was more awkward than I’d expected. Time to wrap it up.
Blue Tiger’s servants appeared to be tidying the chaotic house, but Hyeon-ah’s room had a completely shattered window. Fixing that level of damage in such a short time wasn’t feasible, so she’d been moved to another room on the second floor. With no decorations or furniture to speak of, it looked like a guest room.
I took a closer look at Jeong Hyeon-ah as she lay there. I’d already checked her once in the car on the ride back, but I wanted to rule out any changes.
[Discern]
Keeeng….
Even the status-check spell revealed no special issues. If this had been madness-induced, things would’ve gotten way messier, but as it stood, a decent jolt would wake her right up.
A strong electric shock, say, would snap her out of it instantly. But that wouldn’t do, would it?
No need for crude methods anyway—I could wake her just fine.
With my hand resting on Jeong Hyeon-ah’s forehead as she lay staring blankly at the ceiling, I cast the spell.
First, bodily stimulation.
[Exhilaration]
Exhilaration’s getting all kinds of use today. It boosts combat fervor, nourishes the body, amps up stamina, and floods you with adrenaline.
And… well, nothing beats this for a situation like this.
[Voice of Authority]
A spell that delivers an unmistakable jolt to the mind of any intelligent being. It infuses my voice with otherworldly command, letting me bend others to my will.
『Jeong Hyeon-ah, snap out of it.』
“Hah…!”
Color flooded Hyeon-ah’s face in an instant as she sucked in a deep breath. She bolted upright, posture like someone clawing their way out of a nightmare.
And right on cue, Blue Tiger’s bellow exploded.
“Hyeon-ah!!!”
“D-Dad?!”
A heartwarming father-daughter reunion. I stepped back to give Blue Tiger room to savor the moment, but the movement drew Hyeon-ah’s attention more than it should’ve.
Unconsciously, she turned toward me, her eyes locking onto the mask covering my face. Which of the four eyes on it met hers, I couldn’t say. What I did know was that the sight of me horrified her.
“Kya aaaaah!!!”
“Hyeon-ah! Hyeon-ah!! What’s wrong!?”
“Monster! Monster!! Grim reaper!!!”
“What happened!!!”
Kwaaang!!
Blue Tiger’s goons surged in like they meant to smash the door down.
A screaming daughter. A roaring father.
…The worst father-daughter reunion ever.
* * *
Calming the chaos and clearing up the misunderstanding proved harder than expected.
Since I was the root cause of every issue, I inevitably got booted from Hyeon-ah’s room for the time being and headed back down to the living room where Blue Tiger had lost it earlier.
In the just-over-two hours I’d been gone rescuing Hyeon-ah, the servants and Triad grunts must’ve worked their asses off cleaning, because the living room was at least somewhat presentable now.
With the shattered knickknacks cleared away, the space felt a bit hollow—unavoidable.
It was starting to feel boring sitting there when Jeong Hyeon-ah and Blue Tiger finally came down.
Hyeon-ah jolted at the sight of me from a distance, but once she confirmed the thing hiding my face was just a mask—not my actual mug—she approached.
She still kept more than two meters away, though.
Head bowed, Hyeon-ah fidgeted and mumbled for a moment before finally managing proper words.
“Th-Thank… thank you…”
At least it was gratitude.
“Yeah, glad you’re safe anyway.”
My perfectly normal voice seemed to ease her a little. But that was it—no further thaw. Blue Tiger stepped in.
“Ah, she’s not usually like this. Rough day today… She should rest. Hyeon-ah, that’s enough. Head up first.”
“Ah, yeah. I agree that’s best.”
And with that, Jeong Hyeon-ah vanished upstairs again.
No real reason to see her again anyway.
In [Cthulhu World], a regular high school girl without any special powers grabbing the spotlight just turns her into cannon fodder for some surreal calamity, like this time. I’d gotten my thanks—better for everyone if our paths never crossed again.
Far more pressing was hashing out rewards with Blue Tiger, who could actually deliver something tangible.
“Repeating myself might cheapen it, but I have to say it one more time.”
Blue Tiger had finally started regaining his image as one of the Triad’s three heads ruling the underworld, his voice grave and steady.
“Thank you for saving my daughter.”
“Yeah. Glad everything worked out safely.”
[Achievement Unlocked! You saved Blue Tiger’s daughter and received his heartfelt gratitude.
You have acquired ‘Common Achievement: Tiger Repays a Favor’.
Achievement Reward: You form a firm alliance with ‘Triad’s Three Heads – Blue Tiger’.]
“From here on, no matter where you go or what you do, you’ll be treated as the Triad’s benefactor.”
Not buying that. More precisely, I’m a benefactor to one-third of the Triad.
“That’s appreciated.”
“And about the reward I proposed through the broker initially…”
The reward relayed through Tudor at first was 300 million. No formal notice, but the messages mentioned a performance bonus tacked on.
“No matter how I look at it, I lowballed you. So… anything else you need? I’d even double the cash, no problem.”
600 million. More money’s always nice. But I had something else in mind.
I spoke slowly.
“Would it be possible to request something other than cash?”
“Something else? If it’s in my power, anything at all.”
Easy to say, but Blue Tiger’s expression sharpened ever so slightly. He’d intuited I wasn’t after a standard payout. Or maybe he just saw this turning into a negotiation table.
Whatever was on his mind, I finally felt like I was having a real conversation, so I relaxed. And so, I laid out the same pitch I’d given Tudor before.
“I’m looking for grimoires.”
“Grimoires? Anything specific?”
“No, not a particular title. A certain category of books.”
“Figured it wouldn’t be your run-of-the-mill spellbooks.”
“I’m after texts tied to abyssal entities, Great Old Ones, otherworldly rulers.”
Blue Tiger went silent for a beat, covering his face with both hands. He looked deep in thought, but I caught a glimpse of a smile playing at his lips between his fingers.
“Fascinating. Mind if I ask why?”
“I’m a wizard first, fixer second. ‘To sate my curiosity as one’—how’s that?”
Blue Tiger broke into an open grin now, leaning back into the sofa. Naturally enough, he chalked my words up to a convenient fib.
“This line of work, you handle all sorts of oddities. And yeah, I happen to have one myself.”
Blue Tiger had a grimoire?
News to me. But it didn’t feel like the game’s flow had diverged from other similar incidents. Stuff this obscure could slip past me easy. Plus, some artifacts spawn in random spots.
“Could you hand it over? Or even a temporary loan would work.”