Chapter 94
Chapter 94
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 94
Chapter Title: Boom Times
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I finished "breakfast" and stepped out into the living room, where I spoke to Heo Sanghyeon.
"I'll be stepping out for a while starting tomorrow."
His already dark expression grew even gloomier.
"For a while? Then... when might you return?"
"Earliest would be around dawn that same day. Latest could be a day or two. Depending on the situation, it might even stretch to a few weeks."
Situations that dragged on for weeks were rare, but not entirely impossible.
"Myth, I don't know how this might sound..."
Heo Sanghyeon widened his eyes for emphasis.
"This is the Starving Manor."
"I know. Guests drop by from time to time, right?"
Not old childhood friends of Heo Joo's or acquaintances he'd traded favors with. No such bizarre folks existed anyway.
'It's the residency plundering system.'
A hassle in ordinary rented homes that you could ignore.
Special residences with unique options and great perks were hard to acquire and even harder to hold onto.
NPCs in the same boat or random bandit crews would periodically barge in to try stealing your place.
Manors like the infamous Starving Manor even drew bounty-hunting "righteous fixers."
"With a guardian in place, there shouldn't be any major issues."
I said it casually, but Heo Sanghyeon only widened those huge eyes further, revealing his anxiety.
"Understood. I'll do my best..."
"Huh? No, I know you have the skills, but you won't need to step up personally."
"But..."
"The guardians are the death spirit golems in the manor."
I'd also layered security spells inside and out with meticulous care. Amateurs wouldn't even reach the inner courtyard.
"And if things go south enough that even those get breached... use that."
I pointed to an object hovering in the air of the living room.
"That mask...?"
The Mask of the Departed.
"It might look odd, but it should handle most problems."
"...Understood."
Easy for me to say, though it pricked at my conscience a bit.
That mask, molded from a dead man's face, trapped the soul of one of Heo Sanghyeon's ancestors from several generations back.
Tracing the cause of Heo Sanghyeon being stuck in limbo inevitably led to that old spirit.
I knew that full well and still told him to borrow that geezer's power and mana to solve it.
"Again, you won't even need to use it."
The guilt made me ramble pointlessly.
"Anyway, I need to pack. Mind tidying up the dining room?"
"...Yes, understood."
I left Heo Sanghyeon behind and headed to the basement.
I'd boasted confidently to him, but leaving the hard-won manor empty still made me uneasy.
What loomed ahead in my future unnerved me even more.
I recalled the last words the message window had left me.
[Soon, the judges who speak for the Abyss's will shall...]
A hint that the main scenario was about to kick off in earnest.
The fastest way to bolster my forces right now was Thousand Gold Hall.
Unique artifacts could only be obtained there, and certain items could only be sold there.
I scanned the magic materials piled in the basement and said,
"Well... I need to wrap this up by tomorrow to head out with peace of mind."
On the workbench lay the beautiful severed head of a monster, gleaming gold.
The head of the golden dancer, eyes quietly closed.
I extended my mana toward it and activated the power dwelling in Kargosa's Mask.
[L-grade accessory 'Kargosa's Mask' unique function, 'Madman's Handiwork,' activates.]
In the mad wizard's dim basement, a horrific scream began to echo.
A scream from a non-human entity, utterly gruesome.
The next day.
I returned to Geumchon-dong after a while.
"Wizard."
"Yeah?"
Jang Hyeon-deok, driving, spoke with a serious look.
"You really gonna keep calling me that...?"
"You're getting paid well for easy work, aren't you?"
"Sure, you pay way more than it's worth..."
Security taxis were a service only available in high-risk areas like Paju, even in the Cthulhu World.
They offered far superior protection and safety over regular cabs, charging near-usurious rates.
Regular taxis charged by distance; security taxis charged by danger level.
"Just chauffeur me until I buy my own ride."
"You even have a license?"
"Nope."
"Hmm..."
Jang Hyeon-deok went blank for a moment.
The silence didn't last, and he kept grumbling after. But when I got out of his car, he said,
"I'll circle nearby doing regular fares, so call if you need me."
"Got it."
All that pointless griping just to end up like this.
After sending Jang Hyeon-deok off, I hopped on my board and slipped into Geumchon-dong's dark alleys.
Today's destination: Basilissa.
Tudor had finally summoned me yesterday, as I'd been waiting for.
Basilissa was packed today, unusually so.
It was always full of burly mercenaries and rough fixers, but today was extreme.
Every table crammed, with standees lining the walls.
Weapons of all kinds, mana of all flavors.
Not just Koreans—foreigners with diverse skin tones and outfits.
Fixers each with their unique talents.
In this chaotic den of freaks, one man stood out sharply.
A impeccably prim middle-aged gentleman, utterly out of place.
Wheeled in a chair, he chatted with folks across his table.
His mana felt average, but something deeply ominous emanated from him.
'He's suppressing it... but that's vicious poison. What'd he bring?'
As always, a first meeting that wasn't truly first. I considered greeting him but held back.
We'd be talking plenty soon enough—enough to get sick of it.
I turned toward the counter.
"Orb, hey."
"Hell... o? Myth. Long... time, no see."
The reply came in awkwardly synthesized, halting speech.
Towering over 2 meters, with a massive monitor for a head instead of machinery alone.
A smiley face displayed on it.
Basilissa's barista, Orb.
"Business booming today, huh?"
"Lately... yes, boom... times."
The smiley swapped briefly for '¥€$' currency symbols.
"For a boom, you don't look busy."
"Tudor... is the busy... one."
"Yeah. Tudor's MIA today."
No sign of Tudor, who was always lounging in a corner or chatting up customers.
Peering toward Tudor's office, I saw it lined with scowling muscleheads.
Waiting for consultations, apparently.
Sudden boom times.
For Tudor, who brokered jobs to illicit talent, boom meant something ruinous was creeping toward the world.
'I'd calculated the dates, but it's hitting a bit sooner than expected?'
Players.
That is, me—my choices, fights, and encounters shaped the main scenario's form.
Details varied by scenario, but the core stayed constant.
A world-ending calamity loomed, presaged by monsters and madmen rampaging from the shadows.
"Tudor... said call... if Myth shows. One... moment."
Orb rounded the counter and lumbered slowly to Tudor's office.
'That walk is seriously stylish.'
A gait even runway models couldn't mimic—graceful and elegant.
Amid monster-sized fixers, his height held firm; inverted-triangle torso, veiny-muscled forearms, black apron cinched tight at the waist.
From toe to tip.
Tudor's taste embodied in a stunning barista.
Especially that head, no doubt.
After delivering the message inside, Orb gestured that Tudor would be out soon and returned to the counter.
"Oh yeah, haven't seen Curtain Call around?"
"Call's... in Cheonan."
'天安' flashed on Orb's screen.
"Cheonan? Chungcheongnam-do Cheonan?"
"Yeah."
Cheonan... what was Curtain Call doing there?
Whatever the job, Curtain Call excelled at killing people.
Or rather, killing was the only thing he could do.
No client hired him for anything else. Namu Amida Butsu...
"Oh. There's a Helistic factory there, right?"
Like most Helistic properties, it hosted highly illegal, antisocial operations.
In anti-Helistic storylines, you could even raze it in an event.
Lost in such thoughts, Tudor's voice suddenly rang out.
"Honey! Get in here!"
Looking over, Tudor peeked from the office door.
Mohawk goons in leather jackets snickered as they filed out.
Consultation over, it seemed.
"Aren't you busy?"
"Busy, so hurry up!"
"Right, coming."
Tudor really had been swamped lately.
His already disastrous office greeted me in even worse shape.
"Why not ask Orb to tidy?"
"I did. It was spotless this morning."
"...I see."
"Anyway, been a while..."
Tudor paused, eyed me, then...
"Whoa... impressive."
He let out an awkward exclamation.
"What? What's up?"
"I knew you got stronger each time, but this is no joke. What'd you scavenge and gobble up?"
"Gobble what?"
"Your mana's quality... totally changed. Toxic, reeking of corpses. Intensely so?"
I instinctively glanced down at my chest.
I had consumed something.
[Echo of Asphyxiation (Legendary Spiritual Medicine): A fragment of power from the Great Old One 'The One Who Comes from the Dark.']
A minuscule shard—barely a nail clipping from a human equivalent.
Yet it was part of an abyssal being.
Thanks to it, my absurd mana reserves nearly doubled, and its quality soared beyond compare.
Plus insights gained and new skills learned during my homebound stint.
He'd noticed the changes.
"Thanks to your help, I scored some fine tonic."
"Hmm... jealous. Include me next time—maybe extend my lifespan."
If my lore knowledge held, Tudor predated even Heo Joo, born under Emperor Gojong.
No point dwelling on that.
I pivoted to another topic.
"Orb said it's boom times lately."
"Oh yeah. Swamped because of it."
"Something going on?"
"Jobs aplenty, but partly thanks to you."
"Me?"
"Yeah. You, right in front of me."
Tudor grinned delightedly, pointing at my chest.