Barking Up the Wrong Tree
Jang Jo-jun and his companions returned to the present. Convinced that revealing Mei Ling's existence would only cause trouble, he deliberately avoided Nick and headed straight for the room containing the grandfather clock.
They had already marked both the entrance and the clock's location on their compass, so finding the way posed no difficulty. Once the clock activated, the group initiated another time leap, praying this time they would arrive in the mansion lord's era.
Meanwhile, Nick, left alone, pulled a shard of broken mirror from his pocket. The cracked surface reflected a quiet rural village somewhere in America.
"Hey, you there? Anyone listening? I told you to keep at least one person on watch…"
Nick grumbled in irritation. Moments later, a burly man appeared in the mirror, built like a bear.
— Sorry. A zombie horde showed up nearby.
"Casualties?"
— None. We handled them all.
"Good…"
Nick had been troubled by the recent surge in zombie attacks. Something felt off, though he couldn't pinpoint the cause. The only thing that nagged at him was the possibility that some of the items he had purchased recently were involved.
— Why the sudden call? Things not going well? Or… mission failed?
The bear-like man wore a worried expression; Nick never contacted them without reason.
"Nah, nothing major. I think I found the Cultist. Turns out he's even on my team."
— What? Seriously? Hahaha! The good gods said you'd run into one, and they were right! So, did you kill him?
"Can't. Killing a teammate strips you of all your power. I haven't done it yet."
— Huh… that's a shame. You should just sacrifice him, Nick.
"Cut the crap."
— Hahaha! Just kidding. So you need help, then. Tell me what you need.
"I want to screw him over without attacking directly."
— How? You said team-killing isn't allowed.
"I'll find a way that isn't team-killing."
Nick ordered the man to bring one of the items stored in the camp's shared inventory. After a long wait, the object finally came through the mirror. Once the transfer was complete, the mirror shattered into dust.
The delay occurred because Nick's survivor camp wasn't run by dictatorship. Unlike Jang Jo-jun, who could turn people into slaves and force absolute obedience, Nick's camp operated on trust. Any shared item required group consensus, or the production workers would simply go on strike.
"Alright… just wait, Bai Yu…"
Nick was convinced Bai Yu was the Cultist. The biggest clue was the man's chaotic skill usage. Blessed with the full support of the good gods' pantheon, Nick had fought alongside countless survivors who wielded their classes' skills cleanly. He knew every skill belonging to the good gods' classes by heart.
Yet Bai Yu, who claimed to be affiliated with the good gods, mixed Monk skills with Inquisitor techniques and even cast Priest buffs on himself. It was a sloppy mishmash of plausible abilities. Only someone like Nick, who had seen so many good-gods classes, would have noticed.
Jang Jo-jun, by comparison, simply used "various skills" without Nick ever realizing they belonged to specific classes.
For these reasons, Nick's suspicion of Bai Yu had hardened into certainty.
'Jun's obviously some weak pharmacist… Bai Yu, who's about as strong as me, is the real candidate…'
Nick still believed Jang Jo-jun was nothing more than a potion maker. The scene where Jo-jun drank a communication potion and spoke with the man hanging from the hook had left a strong impression. First impressions mattered.
'He might be hiding his strength, but Bai Yu mixing skills like that is way more suspicious…'
Nick refused to accept that his destined rival could be some frail potion-brewer. That was why he planned to secretly drug Bai Yu and deal with him quietly.
Choi Seok-ho remained trapped inside the mansion's control room, surrounded by countless mechanical devices. Realizing the entrance had been sealed by a wall, he pulled the levers several more times, but the door refused to open. The mansion, once it began twisting, had become an unsolvable puzzle box that only grew more tangled.
"Damn it… Am I going to die trapped here…?"
He could no longer remember how long he had been inside. Food was gone, and even drinking water was nearly depleted. Lying on the floor, Choi Seok-ho muttered to himself.
"I don't want to die… I have to operate the levers…"
Determined to survive, he reached for a lever again. At that moment, the wall cracked and began to crumble. No matter how hard he had struck it before, the wall had never broken—until now.
"W-what…? Don't tell me…"
Choi Seok-ho assumed the automatons roaming the mansion had come to kill him. After all, he had recklessly pulled levers and thrown the entire mansion into chaos; surely they had detected the malfunction and come to eliminate the source.
Bracing himself, he drew his dagger and climbed up to the ceiling, pressing himself flat against it. He waited for the wall to break so he could ambush whatever entered. If he was lucky, he might even escape through the opening.
— BOOM!!!
The wall exploded inward. On the other side stood several people.
'Huh…? They're not automatons…?'
Choi Seok-ho cautiously dropped to the floor, wondering if these strangers might help him.
"What the hell? This doesn't look like the mansion lord's room either."
"Yeah… Oh? There's someone here."
The three who entered were Mei Ling, Jang Jo-jun, and Jack with his tentacle arm.
"Who are you?"
Jang Jo-jun addressed Choi Seok-ho, who was staring at them with wide, dazed eyes.
Choi Seok-ho burst into tears and began introducing himself. He had been certain the automatons would kill him; seeing fellow players appear felt like a miracle—especially Korean ones he could actually talk to.
"I-I'm… *sniff*… Choi Seok-ho. My class is Assassin. I never thought I'd meet another Korean here…"
He covered his face and sobbed. Jang Jo-jun's expression twisted into something ugly.
"You said you're Korean?"
"Y-yes… Korean…"
"That's impossible."
"What?"
"The only Korean here should be me."
"W-what do you mean…?"
Jang Jo-jun remembered clearly: among the gem merchants managing the Asian servers, only one handled Korea. That merchant, dressed in a gothic gown, had chosen him as her champion. Therefore, the only Korean who could have entered Jeonyul Mansion was Jang Jo-jun himself.
"What the hell are you?"
Choi Seok-ho had no idea what Jo-jun was talking about.
Without another word, Jang Jo-jun activated a skill. Tentacles erupted from his hand, wrapped around Choi Seok-ho's limbs, and twisted them violently.
"Aaaaargh!!!!"
Choi Seok-ho screamed. Jang Jo-jun stepped closer.
"Hey."
"Ugh…"
"Hey. It doesn't even hurt. Stop pretending and check your arms and legs."
"Huh…?"
Only then did Choi Seok-ho realize he felt no pain. When he looked down, oil dripped from his twisted limbs, and springs and mechanical parts protruded from the torn flesh.
"W-what the hell…"
"So you were already replaced."
"R-replaced…? What does that mean?!"
Jang Jo-jun sighed. "Do you even remember how you entered the mansion?"
"Of course. I was running away and… ended up in this room…"
"Your memory's messed up, isn't it?"
"I… I was running and then this room…"
"Everyone says the same thing. They lower your guard, then attack."
Jang Jo-jun grabbed Choi Seok-ho's head and melted it away.
The automaton that had been continuously reshaping the mansion to block intruders from reaching the lord's chamber was finally destroyed. The mansion would no longer twist and change.
"Damn puppet bastards."
More than a day had passed since Jang Jo-jun's group arrived in the mansion lord's era. During that time, they had discovered several facts while exploring. One of them was that some of the automatons emerging from the mansion read intruders' memories and pretended to be stranded survivors themselves.
These security automatons disguised themselves as humans, infiltrated groups, and attacked from within. Jang Jo-jun had tried to capture one and brand it with a slave mark, but because they already had an owner, the mark wouldn't take.
What disgusted him even more was that the automatons genuinely believed they were human. They had no idea they were nothing but controlled marionettes.
"More importantly, this room seems important. Let's find a way to the lord's chamber."
"Yeah… There are so many levers here. Were they using this place to change the mansion's layout?"
"Looks like it."
Choi Seok-ho, while under control, had believed he was desperately trying to escape. In reality, he had been the gatekeeper preventing Jang Jo-jun's group from reaching the lord's room.
"O-over here…"
Jack, who had found something, called out to Jang Jo-jun.
"What?"
"T-there's a hole here…"
Jang Jo-jun walked over. A small hole, exactly like a keyhole, was embedded in the wall.
It led directly to the lord's chamber, but required the mansion lord's key to open. That key could only be obtained in the era when the immortal family had existed. However…
— Click.
Jang Jo-jun inserted the Universal Key into the hole. Part of the wall slid open, revealing a mirror connected to the lord's chamber. The mirror reflected the interior of the room.
"Looks like we can go straight through this…"
Jang Jo-jun experimentally shoved Jack into the mirror.
"W-wait!!!"
Jack was sucked inside. A moment later, his bewildered face appeared on the other side of the mirror, looking around.
He didn't seem dead, and there were no obvious traps.
"Let's go."
"W-wait…! Kyaa!!!"
Jang Jo-jun kicked Mei Ling through, then jumped in after her.