“All right, then let’s begin at once.”
Whiiir—
At my gesture, vast magic circles flare into being all around the mansion.
It’s a lavish sight utterly at odds with this dark, damp, ravenous house. Ruby-like runes seep into every corner of the structure, manifesting my will.
“Ah, damn. They’ve multiplied massively in that short time.”
In the cracks of the walls, beneath shadows, in the narrow space above the ceiling, at the corners of rooms, under the wooden stairs.
Everywhere in the house, enormous surreal snails writhe.
They’re all grub forms of the Internal Snail.
“No wonder the house felt off just before I left.”
The sense of unease I’d felt just before going out was noise generated by these snail creatures.
According to the Predator of the Mountains, they followed me here from Paju Samneung. Like parasites burrowing into a living host, they’d infiltrated the mansion.
[Predator of the Mountains] was using these creatures to gather information on me.
“Good thing I found them before it was too late.”
New magic circles appear in every direction.
They’re all descendants of the one who surrendered to me. Now that they’re under my control, dealing with them is trivial.
Whiiir—
In an instant, the captured Internal Snail Larvae are sealed within barriers and confined to the attic.
“While I’m at it, I might as well boost the defenses.”
I lift all the newly acquired mana crystals and embed them into the outer walls of the mansion.
Chara-rararak—
From each crystal arranged at regular intervals, beams of mana extend outward, like a complex circuit branching in every direction.
Soon, protective structures—more direct than mere barriers—are installed throughout the mansion.
Magical insect-traps and wards, operating by spiritual or arcane means.
“And now, repairs.”
Shattered windows reseal themselves, collapsed walls restore themselves. It’s like watching a video in reverse.
“Phew, at least I won’t fall for a stunt like that again.”
“That was impressive... How on earth can Lord Sinhwa do something like this?”
“Uh, I just fixed things, caught the bugs, and stuck on a few wards.”
“You didn’t activate any specific restoration magic, detection spells, or capture enchantments. To pull this off with only will and mana flow, an ordinary mage’s brain would have exploded in the computation phase.”
“Ah, that’s true. Hmm—”
Heo Sanghyun has also honed his necromancy. Is that scholarly spark lighting in him now?
Heo Sanghyun, adopting an excited tone, begins firing off arcane-academic questions.
Since he rarely shows this side, I can’t exactly respond, “If you raise your Intelligence stat to 30, you could do it yourself.”
“This isn’t the best time for explanations. I’ll teach you properly later.”
Reading discomfort in my answer, Heo Sanghyun nods politely and takes a step back.
“Understood. I’ll go lie Hyundeok down in his room for now.”
“All right, please.”
Heo Sanghyun scoops up the limp Jang Hyundeok from the courtyard where ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) he’d been laid out haphazardly.
To avoid another disaster of him being crushed against a wall during repairs, it was necessary to carry the sleeping Hyundeok outside.
‘He really can walk easily while holding that lanky guy.’
Heo Sanghyun strides away, carrying Jang Hyundeok as though he weighs nothing.
Clearly, strength and health are everything.
There are two tasks to complete before going out.
First, finishing the mansion’s repairs and maintenance.
Second... preparing for another attack by the Predator of the Mountains.
As Heo Sanghyun headed to the second floor, I descended to the basement.
“Ah, my homunculi...”
My homunculi lie in stone sarcophagi.
Yesterday they felt like living versions of myself, but now they seem like corpses of strangers.
Thanks to all that effort, I got them back unharmed, but forcing the calibration into operation left them in terrible condition.
The bastard Predator of the Mountains even implanted parasites inside the homunculi.
Of course I removed all the Internal Snail Larvae, but re-tuning them will take time.
“What should I do? Dispose of them?”
The Kim Sinhwa I met in my dream, from the Fusion Faction, told me not to use these.
“Ah, it’s really a shame.”
A brief hesitation.
“Bah, damn it.”
I close the sarcophagus lids and establish sealing wards. For now, they’re sealed away.
“I’ll take them out again once this issue is resolved.”
I hope my senior from the Banquet has a solution.
After sealing the homunculi, I approach the largest piece of furniture in the basement.
A massive metallic apparatus entwined with various ritual tools and a permanently inscribed magic circle—a containment ward.
I channel mana and pull the silver door at its center.
Creeeak—
“As it’s been a while, the prison door is open.”
As the door swings open, a faint laughter and the voice of the Laughing One echo out.
“Planning to stay in that form forever?”
Inside the ward, the Laughing One still appears as Cheongho—wearing the Mask of the Faceless One.
“Surprisingly, I rather like this form. Kim Sinhwa, I thought you enjoyed it too?”
“I don’t.”
“Krrk-krrk, I’m pleased you don’t.”
The Laughing One chuckles wickedly, still in Cheongho’s guise. Falling for this obvious provocation would only irritate me.
“Fine, do as you please. But stay still for a moment.”
[Perceive]
I examine Cheongho’s—or rather, the Mask of the Faceless One’s—current state.
“The venom in the mask has mostly dissipated. Even if I wear it, there won’t be much side effect.”
“You... came to take this, didn’t you?”
Cheongho’s form retreats a step into the darkness of the ward, showing displeasure.
The Laughing One, absorbing Nyarlathotep’s power and the mask’s curse, is preparing to evolve into an abyssal entity.
While I live, that growth can never complete, so I’ve let it be. But I didn’t lend the mask out of boredom.
“No, not now. Keep using it for the time being.”
I inspect the ward’s structure. The breach I made last time is still intact.
When needed, I can open the gate and retrieve the mask.
“All right, that’s done.”
“Kim Sinhwa. If you wander uselessly and have questions, needs, or desire more power, tell me. Make your wish to me. You need not waste effort or wander. I hold all the answers. I will share truth, knowledge, and power with you.”
“I don’t need it.”
Why wish anything to a pretender mimicking abyssal existence?
“Here, take this instead.”
At my gesture, the cube brought from Paju Samneung moves into the ward.
“This... the shell is too hard? I can’t properly ingest it like this.”
“Who said you had to drink it? Don’t touch the contents—see the marked part?”
“I see it. Is that the Predator of the Mountains’ influence?”
“Yes. Eat only that portion.”
The Predator of the Mountains infiltrated the mansion via the partially purified cube.
To make full use of the cube, it must be purified, which would take too long for me.
“Kim Sinhwa. Just what do you take me for?”
A device that uses microbes to process food waste... or maybe a water purifier?
That thought came first, but instead of saying it, I blurt out a random word.
“Well, a comrade.”
“What?”
“A friend bound by trust and friendship. The greatest treasure we’ll gain at the end of this adventure. Isn’t that what our relationship is?”
“Cut the bullshit!”
“Anyway, eat the impurity and modify it as I marked. I’m too busy to handle that myself.”
I install additional bindings and constraints so it can’t misuse the cube’s power.
“A friend, friendship... and yet you add more chains to bind me?”
Of course—I can’t trust you.
“In any case, it’s good nourishment for you, isn’t it?”
“Hmm...”
He can’t deny it. Eating that will accelerate his growth.
“So this is a mutually beneficial exchange, then?”
“Exchange? Fine. It’s a deal. Established.”
“All right. See you again later.”
Creeeak—thud.
The ward door closes.
I adjust the ward’s enchantments for a moment, then turn my head.
“Next...”
I raise the mana stones piled on the shelves into the air. The crystals glitter in various colors.
“Huh, all this is money.”
A little wasteful, but unavoidable.
Magic circles bloom all around. At the same time, the airborne mana stones undergo a new transformation.
Paddd-drrrk—kaddd-drrrk—
“Will this suffice?”
Honestly. It’s so hard just to get to a hospital.
A two-station northbound train ride from Geumchon Station brings you to Paju Station.
From there, a five-minute walk.
You’ll arrive at Paju Central Hospital.
“There used to be some kind of industrial park here.”
In my world, there was no hospital at this location. Paju Central Hospital exists only in the Cthulhu World.
“Ah, seeing it with my own eyes is truly absurd.”
Five magnificent buildings arranged like an embrace around a vast site.
Considering the real Paju’s meager medical infrastructure, this scale is preposterous. It could consume an entire town.
But the outrageous aspect of Paju Central Hospital isn’t limited to its size.
Except for a few minor annexes, the hospital consists of five main wings: the East Wing, West Wing, South Wing, North Wing, and...
“That must be it?”
Beyond the massive hospital buildings juts a triangular structure.
That triangle is also part of Paju Central Hospital. From this angle you can’t see it clearly, but from higher up you can.
A colossal glass-and-reinforced-concrete pyramid.
Unlike any hospital you’d imagine, Paju Central Hospital is a secretive, dangerous place.
And that pyramid is the closed ward containing the facility’s most important contents.
‘Let’s go in slowly.’
You can’t head straight to the closed ward.
Nor do you have to defeat four sinister Dark Medical Kings in the East, West, South, and North Wings or collect seven hidden keys to open the door.
‘I’ll just stop by the North Wing to check a few things and then head straight in.’
The North Wing handles ordinary treatments and administrative procedures. In other words, it’s the most hospital-like part of this complex.
“Ugh, but there are people already waiting for me.”
In front of the hospital building.
As expected for a large hospital, there are many comings and goings.
Among the bustling crowd, I see figures with strangely dazed appearances.
“Bzzzzz...”
“Bubububububu...”
Milky eyes unfocused. A dazed expression as if wandering in a dream. Ghoulish lifeforms writhing under their skin.
“Huh, I didn’t expect them to come at me so bluntly.”
They must be sent by the Predator of the Mountains.
A bloodbath in front of the hospital, a daytime massacre, innocent people caught in the crossfire—do they want that kind of atrocity?
“Ah, let’s just get to the hospital. To the hospital.”
What a hassle. Why so many obstacles on the way to the hospital?
If I start brawling with these, surely the Banquet’s sacrifice will kick in and weird things will happen.
Then I couldn’t set foot in the hospital today, let alone tomorrow.
“Ugh, I’m so irritated. I’ll just ignore them and go inside.”
After all, I can avoid this kind of attack at will.
