Chapter 81
Chapter 81
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: The Starving Mansion (5)
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The figure standing in the doorway, Heo Sang-hyeon, looked downright bizarre, to be honest.
If Jang Hyeon-deok had laid eyes on him, he might’ve screamed.
That said, he didn’t have multiple eyes sprouting from his face or tentacles writhing from his body.
Heo Sang-hyeon’s appearance was ordinary enough.
Mid-thirties, maybe?
Even being generous, he couldn’t be past his late thirties.
His face was handsome enough, setting aside any issues, and his upright posture even carried a sense of dignity.
The problem was the ominous aura leaking from his entire body.
A chilling scent of death.
His skin was vampire-pale, and his overly wide eyes gleamed with a strange madness.
Because of that aura, despite his good looks, Heo Sang-hyeon came off as repulsive, foreboding… like a monster.
‘Not quite at the level where a Sanity check is needed, right?’
Even giving him the benefit of the doubt, he evoked images of a drug addict or a psychopathic serial killer—an unsettling vibe.
He stared at me in silence for a long while before his mouth finally opened.
“I’m canceling the request.”
His voice was hoarse, like rotten wood being crushed.
Wait, what did he just say?
“What was that?”
“Go home.”
“You mean that?”
“It’s for your sake.”
A gloomy emotion flickered in Heo Sang-hyeon’s eyes.
Fear, worry, tension, hesitation, and guilt.
“The situation has changed a lot since I made the request.”
How intriguing. This was a completely different development from when I’d played [Cthulhu World].
Whether the request got canceled or not wasn’t important anymore.
I needed to figure out what had gone wrong.
“Hmm, why not tell me the details instead?”
As I said that, I stepped onto the stairs leading to the entrance.
“We’ve come this far. I can’t just turn back now.”
Heo Sang-hyeon’s eyes shook with unease.
“Something… something has awakened. You can’t handle it alone. Monsters have appeared… bizarre beasts… And just now, horrific explosions kept coming from outside the house… It’s all gone wrong…”
Even in the original game, Heo Sang-hyeon rarely appeared in his right mind.
‘This is actually pretty sane, all things considered. He’s at least worried about me, right?’
“Bizarre beasts… You mean things like that?”
“Like that?”
I raised my hand and pointed behind me.
Scattered across the weed-choked lawn were fragments of the spectral golem.
Beside them, unidentified red slime—blood or bodily fluids—mixed with rainwater to form crimson pools.
Heo Sang-hyeon flinched and stepped back at the sight.
“Ugh!? What… what the hell is that?”
“It used to be a bear. See that over there?”
I pointed to one of the larger fragments of the spectral golem.
It had once been the bear’s head.
It was smashed up, but not unrecognizable.
“That’s…!”
“Seems like it came from this mansion. Is that the kind of monster that showed up today?”
“You… You took care of that? You handled it, Mr. Fixer?”
Ah, now I get it.
Just because the game’s plot had derailed didn’t mean the NPCs followed the system script.
From Heo Sang-hyeon’s perspective, the stuffed animals on the second floor suddenly coming to life had scared him shitless, and then he’d heard all sorts of explosions on top of that.
“I can’t believe it… Incredible…?”
“It’s not the first time something like this has happened, right?”
“Y-Yes, you’re right. But nothing that big has ever moved before…”
“If we leave it alone, more problems will crop up.”
“Y-Yeah.”
Heo Sang-hyeon’s expression shifted in a very subtle way.
‘Whoa, this guy’s something else, huh?’ Not that I was hoping for admiration, but the look on his face was suspicion, fear, and tension.
Pretty odd for someone staring at their supposed savior.
“I’d like to start dealing with the things inside the house now. Mind if I come in?”
“Huh? Oh, yes. Of course. Please, come in.”
I shrugged lightly and followed Heo Sang-hyeon inside.
The moment my foot crossed the threshold, a translucent rectangle blocked my view.
*Pop!*
A message window.
[Quest Information Updated
[Secure the Base Quest: The Starving Mansion] Subjugate all the evil spirits haunting the mansion and restore it to a ‘safe’ state.
First Objective (Cleared): Investigate the first floor of the mansion and uncover the ‘Truth of the Mansion.’
Third Objective (Cleared): Defeat the attacking wraiths and corpse golems.
Second Objective: Purify the mansion.
Fourth Objective: Defeat the ‘Master of the Mansion.’
Reward: 250,000 XP + Ownership of the Mansion
Failure: Possessed by an evil spirit.]
‘The quest status is weird.’
For starters, the second and third objectives had swapped places—not a good sign.
Probably because I took down the spectral golem outside first, it glitched the system somehow.
Like a buggy piece-of-shit game.
[Cthulhu World] was buggy as hell from the start.
This was barely a blip.
‘At least it’s not derailing the progress…’
Silver lining.
The issue was predicting what other glitches might pop up.
‘Don’t block my view. Get lost.’
I swiped the message window away.
Now I could properly take in the mansion’s interior.
A short hallway right by the entrance door, then in order: living room, parlor, kitchen, dining room.
And stairs to the second floor in one corner.
‘No need to head upstairs yet.’
Normally, you’d scour the mansion for Heo Sang-hyeon’s diary, mansion blueprints, secret documents, and the like.
But since I already knew all the relevant truths, that part was marked complete.
‘Whatever. Skipping the most annoying part makes this easier.’
Not that the “truths” were anything special.
Just how Heo Sang-hyeon inherited the house, how his ancestors fell to corruption, who died, who got sacrificed—needless trivia.
No investigation needed, so my next steps were clear.
‘Clear out the first floor first, then take down the boss hiding on the second.’
I could already hear the wraiths bubbling up.
Giggling laughter.
The screech of nails on glass.
Tiny footsteps from beyond the ceiling.
“You hear those sounds, right?”
“Yes… Those horrific noises that won’t stop no matter what I do…”
Heo Sang-hyeon wrapped his arms around himself, shuddering.
“The last fixer who came couldn’t deal with them either. Mr. Fixer… no, Kim Shin-hwa, was it? Can you make them go away?”
“Making them go away isn’t hard.”
“Then…?”
“But first, I need to check a few things. Mind if I ask some questions?”
Hope lit up Heo Sang-hyeon’s gaunt face.
“I’ll answer anything I know.”
“When did this start?”
“A month… no, about three years ago.”
His sense of time was off by that much, from a month to three years…
“It started not long after I inherited this mansion.”
“You were planning to run it as a pension at first, right?”
“That’s right. Took about a year to get it ready. I thought we could finally start operating properly, but then those things began appearing not long ago.”
“I see. Got it.”
That was enough.
I beckoned Heo Sang-hyeon to follow and headed down the hallway.
After a few steps, the straight hallway began to look twisted and warped in bizarre ways.
“Watch your step. There’s some weird optical illusion that might trip you up.”
“Optical illusion… I see.”
If the homeowner called it an illusion, it was one.
The living room was a grim, precarious space decked out in antique decorations and wallpaper fitting the mansion’s vibe.
Standing by a luxurious sofa upholstered in dark green leather, I scanned the surroundings.
‘Damn, it’s a convincing haunted house.’
The misty, eerie mana made the room feel oppressively dark, cramped, and dangerous.
Humanoid shapes crawling at the edge of my vision.
Wraiths crouching in every shadow.
*Rumble…!*
The downpour and lightning crashing beyond the large windows amplified the mansion’s grotesque atmosphere.
“That staff… no, hook? Are you using magic right now?”
I turned to see Heo Sang-hyeon staring at the Butcher’s Hook on my belt.
More precisely, at the thin strand of mana extending from its tip.
I lifted the Butcher’s Hook slightly.
“You can see this, huh?”
“Ah… I can’t use magic myself. They just say I have better sensitivity than most.”
That was a mild case of mana hypertrophy. If it developed further, he could end up like Lee Chang-hyuk, wielding innate magic, or even become a full mage or psychic.
I still had several spells active, and the mana leaking through the Butcher’s Hook must’ve caught his eye.
“I took a taxi here and cast three or four protective spells on it.”
“On the taxi?”
“Yeah. There were wraiths wandering outside too.”
“Wait, hold on.”
Heo Sang-hyeon looked baffled.
“You’re still maintaining those spells? Three or four of them?”
What? What’s the problem?
“It’s a vehicle—not exactly small—and out of sight… In an environment this warped by mana, and you’re keeping them up from that far?”
The protection spells themselves weren’t impressive, but the duration, distance, and scale… No average mage could sustain that.
“Yeah, pretty much.”
Heo Sang-hyeon’s already pale face went even whiter, his expression screaming ‘I’m shocked.’
If he knew exactly what spells I had active, he’d probably faint.
“Anyway, mind stepping back a bit so I can get to work?”
“Oh, sure…”
Even after retreating, Heo Sang-hyeon mumbled under his breath.
‘If you’re gonna lie, at least act the part…’
He’d reacted in a way no ordinary person could without magic knowledge.
Truth was, Heo Sang-hyeon wasn’t just mildly mana-hypertrophied. The guy could use magic.
A normal civilian with slightly better sensitivity would’ve just thought it was cool, no matter what.
No one without knowledge would be shocked by spell duration, range, and simultaneous casts.
‘Whatever. He can hide it or not—I know all about it.’
I already knew everything: what spawned here, what secrets lurked.
I gestured for Heo Sang-hyeon to stay back.
I pulled a few items from my duffel bag.
Stuff I’d bought from the pawnshop for today.
“Since you know about magic, I’ll cut to the chase. I’m going to set up a barrier to exorcise the wraiths.”
“A barrier… With that?”