Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: The Birth of Horrifica
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Laughing Hamburger's other victim, the veteran black market merchant Kwon Jeong-seok, was still alive and kicking.
"Gonna have to pour every penny I made here into fixing this arm."
With one arm missing, that is.
It was the backlash from using the Phantom Severer.
Kwon Jeong-seok pressed hard on the stump and shook his head.
"Now where the hell am I supposed to get another Phantom Severer? Supplies have been low lately, so the price must be through the roof."
Today had been an utterly miserable day for him.
He'd gotten dragged into some mess where the shopkeeper actually showed up and tried to kill a guy in a suit, and he himself got caught in the crossfire and lost an arm to boot. Tears of bitterness blurred his vision, making it hard to even walk straight.
In reality, it was symptoms of anemia from excessive blood loss, but he'd decided to just believe it was that.
"Gotta grab my stuff quick and get the hell outta here."
After agonizing over it dozens of times, his conclusion was that the ruins of Seoul weren't a place to stick around long-term.
His goods were scattered and hidden across various black markets.
He couldn't retrieve them all, but he needed to hit at least one spot to secure startup funds.
"There's that recovery pack I smuggled from the Bureau there, too."
He had a memory of seeing a customer use one and drop dead from shock right after, so he wasn't eager to try it himself. But with one arm gone, his options were limited.
When he reached the nearest black market, a thin voice, sharp as a knife slice, echoed along the walls.
"...What the?"
He didn't want to head toward the ominous sound, but his skin had already turned ghostly pale.
And with the dizziness worsening by the minute, shock seemed imminent.
For those reasons, he had no choice but to go investigate.
"Wha... this is..."
He couldn't finish his sentence.
"Aaaah—!"
It was the most grotesque scene he'd ever witnessed in his long years as a merchant.
The merchant and customers in white masks wept and wailed, tears streaming through the masks. The masks seemed fused to their faces, textured like real skin, yet they acted like it was no issue at all. More than that... "They... seem to like it..." Their mouths curved upward in smiles. Pale mask skin, tears streaming down cheeks, and those grins blended into something profoundly unnatural. "People turning into a tale...?"
Spotting Kwon Jeong-seok, they stopped laughing, mouths gaping wide as they unleashed discordant voices.
⚙ DIVINE REVELATION ⚙ "In the beginning, there was God, holy in form..." "God molded man from clay and breathed life into his nostrils, and man became a living soul..." "Who did not survey the cosmos but gave fire to wretched humans..." "Aaah! We are the messengers of God, apostles spreading His gracious will—hear us, you fools!" All sorts of myths jumbled together, praising a single entity: Horrifica.
"The Father's name is Horrifica! The Mother's name is Shin Jin-seong!"
"What the hell is this!? Shin Jin-seong? What's Horrifica...?"
The messengers of God turned to Kwon Jeong-seok.
⚙ DIVINE REVELATION ⚙ "Savior of humanity. Parent to the faithful." Before Jeong-seok could respond, a colossal law of the world resounded.
⚙ DIVINE DECREE ⚙ "Your faith shall soon be made manifest." ◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Yeah, I never thought it'd go down that easily.
I'd harbored a faint hope that awakening might still take some time, but oh well. No helping it.
Guess I'll just have to work a little harder.
I shifted my gaze to the bed.
The old man's corpse—no longer worthy of being called a head—hung limp, blood trickling down.
Beep—
The monitor graphing his heart rhythm flatlined into a straight line, emitting a long, eerie tone.
It signaled his death.
But...
Was this old man truly dead?
The ceaseless cries of repentance contradicted that notion.
📜 FAITHFUL CHANT 📜 Our god, Horrifica! The time of salvation has come! If only I didn't have to hear this garbage.
The voices didn't enter through my ears—they hammered directly into my brain, complete with headaches from the noise.
And they were growing louder.
📜 FAITHFUL CHANT 📜 Aaah! Horrifica, begin the salvation! The old man was physically dead, no doubt about it.
A tale is a story.
When enough people believe it, the tale takes form.
📜 FAITHFUL CHANT 📜 Cherish Your children and bestow Your grace upon us! So, what if you implant a story into a huge number of people? Couldn't you artificially create a tale?
And this old man—now Horrifica—was the answer to that.
Soon, the hymns to the god ceased.
Thump.
A heartbeat.
No—a new god stirred to life.
The spilled blood flowed backward, as if time itself reversed, returning to its owner.
Thump.
The flatline on the monitor jagged into diagonals, the unbroken tone shifting to steady beeps: bip—bip—.
Thump.
Still, there was nothing more I could do yet.
Not until the phoenix fully spread its wings and took flight—only then could I make it plummet.
Thump.
"Ah... 'twas a long dream. Toward humanity's salvation. My dream."
The god opened its eyes.
"Nay. Our dream. Horrifica's dream."
Tentacles rose from my shadow.
"Thus, in the end... my dream."
Horrifica swatted away the surging tentacles without so much as a twitch, announcing its birth.
⚙ DIVINE DECREE ⚙ "The time of salvation is upon us." A blinding flash filled my vision, the newly deified being dominating my sight.
I still couldn't deal physical damage to it.
But that didn't mean it was designed unkillable.
"Merchant. You've aided me greatly. Will you not join me?"
This was something I hadn't done in ages.
Of my right hand's fingers, only the longest—my middle finger—pointed skyward.
"Fuck off."
I bolted straight out the door.
This thing wasn't something I could kill here.
The tale 'Horrifica's' concept was godhood.
While all tales need stories to exist, the notion of a god demanded even stronger compulsion.
Divine power, miracles, all its authority stemmed from people's faith.
In other words, a god with no believers ceased to exist.
Phase one was straightforward, at least.
Weaken 'Horrifica' by killing its followers inside the base—now messengers of the god.
"Why's there no one here?!"
No signs of life in any of the rooms.
Had the pattern changed?
⚙ DIVINE DECREE ⚙ "Your faith shall soon be made manifest." Even after my taunt, it didn't pursue—just echoed from somewhere.
Up until now, it'd been rote drivel like "Believe in the god, salvation comes," but this felt different.
This heralded the true start of the assault.
Yet, despite the god's cry, nothing happened.
For this pattern to activate, it needed its messengers.
Neither the god nor I could strike each other directly.
"A glitch?"
I wanted to brush it off as "even better," but this was reality.
Reality didn't have bugs.
Something was definitely happening.
And I had to kill the god before its faith spread beyond Seoul.
Once the faith escaped the city, it'd be uncontainable.
"No time."
Let's think.
What changed from the game?
For starters, me becoming the Merchant altered a ton.
Horrifica used my goods in their plans, and my goods tipped off the Bureau to Horrifica's existence.
As a result of all those incidents, my arrival here accelerated the god's birth far beyond the original timeline.
"Ah, right! Even faster!"
It was a full month ahead of the game's schedule.
Horrifica's members were out there at this time, handling their unethical deeds externally.
Like Jeong Jun-il, who was selling goods—though differently from the game.
"No wonder no one's at the base!"
The answer was outside.
I had to get out of here first.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Haha."
Returning to the base's entrance, I realized I couldn't just stroll out easily.
A being that had lost all human form—dozens of wagon wheels spinning around a central hub—blocked the sole exit.
"Wondered what you were up to."
"I knew you'd come here in the end."
The voice pierced straight through my skull.
"Mind stepping aside?"
"Sorry, but I doubt that wish will come true."
"Aren't gods supposed to grant humans' desires?"
"Normally, yes. But you're neither my follower nor human."
"Fair point."
A suffocating standoff.
Well, not that suffocating.
I had no way to kill the god, and it lacked the means to attack me solo.
The ultimate shield blocking all spears versus the spear piercing all shields.
Ignoring it to pass would be ideal, but getting close meant molecular disintegration.
"Such a pain..."
About ten minutes into my brainstorming, an unfamiliar voice rang out.
"This seems to be the place."
Not mine, nor Horrifica's.
"Ah."
I knew who it was.
And it had only been 40 minutes.
Since when did the Bureau move this fast?!
"Uwaaaah!"
One response team member at the front plowed into an unseen 'Horrifica' and vanished.
"Huh? You're the tale merchant?"
Park Se-jin spotting and yelling at me.
"Aaaagh!"
And my own scream from the migraine hitting amid the chaos.
The three noises harmonized, filling the backrooms.