Gong Isu continued shouting at Kim Sinhwa, who still stood beyond the door.
“It’s because of you! It’s because of you that I’ve started being observed again! I was barely forgotten, barely free of observation! I was a nonexistent being in this world! Because of you, observation has begun again!”
Gong Isu’s cries rang out in desperation.
But he soon realized his mistake. This approach won’t help. It will only arouse Kim Sinhwa’s curiosity further.
“Nooo! I didn’t think that! I didn’t think that!”
Despite his intent, Gong Isu’s words betrayed him.
He sensed instinctively what was happening to him. He had experienced countless concepts and information from Cthulhu World firsthand.
“What is that! No! Don’t control my thoughts! It’s not true!”
Gong Isu’s screams resumed.
But no matter how much he screamed, it was futile. Meaningless screams only stoke curiosity. The more he screamed, the more events would be triggered—and Kim Sinhwa would observe him all the more to stop those events.
“I hate this! I said I hate it! Stop it! Don’t pay attention to meee!!”
“Hey. Senior. If you want indifference, calm down and shut up. Your screaming is making everyone in the other rooms pay attention to you, too.”
The chaos had already begun.
Around Gong Isu’s Round Room were many things that would overreact to his hysterical screams.
“Aaaaah! Aaaaahhhh!!”
IPE-2220, [Bereft Woman], screamed in response to Gong Isu’s madness.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
IPE-876, [Head of Hanuman], rammed the device restraining him.
“Hehehehe! Scream louder! Bubblehead! Scream louder!”
IPE-345, [Tooth Collector], cheered.
Brrr— brrr—
IPE-1754, [Bath of Blood] activated, and the sound of blood overflowing from the tub echoed.
“War has begun!” “It’s war!” “It’s war!” “It’s war!”
IPE-446, [Toy Legion], excitedly proclaimed the start of war.
“Finally, He is granting me a new opportunity...”
From IPE-3876, [Starving Elder], a faint voice drifted.
The patients responded to Gong Isu’s disturbance.
One patient’s reaction triggered another’s, and that one awakened someone else.
The chain reaction of convulsions among the secure ward’s patients spread like wildfire—wiiiiiii— wiiiiiii—
And activated the alarm.
This was Alarm Level 2.
“What’s happening!”
Hasty footsteps.
Security guards rushing in to calm the patients and resolve the situation.
Hearing that, Gong Isu screamed again.
“Intruder! Drag out the intruder! There’s an intruder! Protect meee!!”
Few patients in the secure ward can issue such a request.
But Gong Isu, having voluntarily ‘admitted’ himself, was one of those few.
“Ahaha, you hated talking to me so much you went this far? For a psychosis-inducing act, that’s remarkably purposeful.”
Despite the commotion, Kim Sinhwa neither fled nor panicked, only murmuring briefly.
Is that bastard as crazy as me? Or does he have some confidence? The thought flickered at Gong Isu’s lips. Soon Gong Isu confirmed Kim Sinhwa’s confidence.
“Oh, sorryyy— the commotion got out of handyy—”
A woman’s voice trailing off.
There was no one else by Kim Sinhwa’s side. Yet even in his delirium, Gong Isu was momentarily struck with admiration.
He hadn’t merely changed his voice. His entire presence had shifted. Shape transformation? A shapeshifter? Or magic?
“Ugh, Doctor? It’s a Level 1 danger outside right now. Even if you are the doctor, causing trouble in this situation is problematic.”
“Aahh— I knowww— that’s why I came here, seee—”
Kim Sinhwa continued nonchalantly.
“I heard the external problem might be related to the patients in this— heree— line, so I came for an inspectiong—”
“Related?”
“Yeees— I was instructed that the new IPE-3876’s cult came to rescue him, seee— it might be best to raise IPE-3876’s security level—”
Kim Sinhwa smoothly redirected the guards’ attention to IPE-3876, [Starving Elder].
In that brief exchange, Gong Isu rapidly processed the information. A former cultist, he remembered. But what was this Level 1 danger?
“I didn’t think that! I didn’t think that! I don’t even know who the Starving Elder ishh!”
Gong Isu spewed nonsense in his delirium. He concluded that shutting up might serve him better.
“No! It’s not true! That’s not my thoughtss!!”
“What’s gotten into him all of a sudden....”
“I know, right? He’s not usually like this. I don’t know why he’s rampaging like this— I’ll check on him, could you check IPE-3876’s statuss?”
“No, we can’t do that.”
Though Kim Sinhwa spoke casually, he was skipping multiple procedural steps. The guards would never allow it—
『There’s no problem here. Better to move to confirm IPE-3876’s status.』
“There’s no issue here. We will move to check IPE-3876’s status.”
“Yeees— see you laterr—”
Gong Isu screamed again, but he sensed the atmosphere had shifted.
‘Can’t hear outside anymore?’
Now he heard only his own voice and faint signs of Kim Sinhwa outside.
Sound had been cut off.
Gong Isu realized this abnormal silence. Some physical laws had ceased to function normally.
Shape alteration, psychological manipulation, interference with physics—powers unrelated to one another kept appearing. Magic, after all?
“A mage? You’re a mage!?”
Gong Isu’s shout.
Even though he uttered it himself, he spoke as if it weren’t his thought.
“Stop it! Shut up! Get out of my head! Stop your nonsense narration!”
“Ahh, this won’t do.”
A sigh from beyond the door.
Beep—
With a cheerful sound, the door opened, and a long curly-haired woman entered the Round Room. Someone Gong Isu knew.
Yi Haseo.
A lead researcher at this hospital and a medical expert with surreal abilities.
Click—
As the door closed, Yi Haseo’s guise collapsed, revealing the man who had been disguised as her: Kim Sinhwa.
A stranger wearing a medical coat and glasses.
‘So this is the fellow called Kim Sinhwa?’
Gong Isu’s perception activated, and he realized Kim Sinhwa’s face was a magical mask. A suspicious and dangerous person, indeed.
Kim Sinhwa was the Sacrificial Feast. If Gong Isu remained entangled with the Sacrificial Feast, he would suffer the terrible curse those tied to the Sacrificial Feast endure. In the past, Gong Isu himself spread that curse as the Sacrificial Feast, but now the roles were reversed.
Gong Isu thought:
“No, I didn’t think that!”
He mustn’t be drawn into that bastard. He would escape. Now was his chance. He’d use his ability to subdue Kim Sinhwa and flee this room. He could still run. He’d request protection from the guards once outside.
“No, I can’t! I don’t want to leave! I’m not going out!”
“Hmm, his condition is worsening. Can’t be helped, huh?”
With a calm expression, Kim Sinhwa began drawing something from his pocket. Surely a tool to kill Gong Isu. He must move first and escape before Kim Sinhwa could act. He had to run. Give no information—just flee. Attack Kim Sinhwa before he noticed, and victory would be possible.
“Uaaaah! Stop it! Don’t try to control me! Stop it! Please stop!”
“Don’t come any closer. No, you’re not in a state to reason with.”
Kim Sinhwa extended his hand toward Gong Isu. An unpleasant chill on his skin. Kim Sinhwa was using magic—a spell inflicting forced status ailment. He will kill you. He will kill you. He will kill you. He will kill you.
“Wa-wait! Wai—”
He froze.
But it was okay. It wasn’t an unbreakable binding.
Move your hands. You have the Sight of Mana Flow and hands that can disassemble and reassemble anything. There is a weak point in the mana link at D64W354E345. Adjust that part by 15k to break the mana.
Crrrackle—
Gong Isu attacked the flaw in Kim Sinhwa’s magic and broke free. The false face mask warping slightly.
“You broke it? Impressive.”
Kim Sinhwa began gathering mana to kill Gong Isu. If he didn’t fight back, he would die. Better to kill Kim Sinhwa and become the Sacrificial Feast yourself. That wouldn’t be a bad twist.
Kim Sinhwa withdrew a strange stone.
“A random chance, but no choice. Try it, senior.”
“A wedge... that thing— don’t use it, you madman...”
The wedge stone.
Gong Isu knew the weapon.
An object designed to destroy the target’s mind.
Kim Sinhwa would use it to destroy my mind, extract my information, desecrate my corpse, and claim it as spoil. Then offer me in sacrifice to abyssal beings. At this point, he saw only one choice: suicide. He must kill himself before Kim Sinhwa acts. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide.
He must die.
His method was simple.
He had hands that could disassemble and reassemble anything. Place them on his chest—he had no head—and use his ability. The information he held was not yet to be revealed. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide.
This was his thought.
His decision. His will. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide.
With his own hands, he would destroy his heart.
After all, his life was trivial and dull.
Right now.
He would stage a dramatic finale. Hurry, suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide. Suicide.
“The wedge is not an offensive artifact....”
Kim Sinhwa at last activated the artifact he held.
A pity.
At this point, suicide might have been easier. Once entwined with the Sacrificial Feast, you can never rest.
“That’s right. The wedge is not an offensive artifact.”
Gong Isu contradicted me.
“But... it’s not safe enough to fire indiscriminately.”
A fair rebuttal.
[Wedge Stone (A-rank arcane tool) – A small shard of alien material never before seen on Earth. Strange patterns are etched in bas relief. The waves emanating from this stone have astonishing effects on the human mind.
Mental Wedge: When used, there is a random chance to restore a subject in delirium. However, on failure it worsens the delirium.]
If successful, it frees you from psychosis; on failure, it deepens it.
“I’ve used it several times already, and it’s been a streak of victories so far.”
“...You really are a formidable X-type, aren’t you?”
Once again, the wedge stone worked flawlessly.
Gong Isu broke free of delirium and became capable of peaceful conversation.
Tap, tap—
“My head still feels fuzzy. Huh— thanks to you...”
Gong Isu tapped his head a few times, then said:
“That horrible auditory hallucination is gone. I don’t know how long it’ll last, but thanks for now.”
“You’re welcome.”
“And whatever I do, you’ll try to extract information from me, right?”
“I will.”
“That’s what the Sacrificial Feast is supposed to do.”
His knowing attitude was irritating, but Gong Isu was the only one I could rely on now.
“What exactly is the Sacrificial Feast?”
“Something abyssal beings torment and want to consume.”
“...I know that too. I’d like you to tell me something I don’t know.”
“What nonsense is that? How would I know what you do or don’t know?”
“Why do abyssal beings torment the Sacrificial Feast?”
“To eat, or absorb, or turn you into worshippers.”
“I know that too.”
“Damn. So what do you want from me?”
This was troublesome.
Surely the plot wouldn’t proceed without special insight.
“Sigh...”
Gong Isu sighed, then said:
“I don’t know exactly why they torment the Sacrificial Feast. But I do know why the Sacrificial Feast is special.”
“Special reason?”
“Because you originate from outside time and space. You possess power that defies this world’s laws and rules, and thus abyssal beings target you for observation.”
“Outside time and space... did you come from outside time, or outside space?”
“Time and space... does dividing them even matter?”
“To me it does. Another time? Or another space?”
“Didn’t you come seeking this? I’m a time traveler. Some abyssal beings even called me the Regressor. Ah— but you don’t seem to be a time traveler.”
“I... I’m probably a dimensional traveler. I came from another world. Hmm... you could call me a Possessor.”
Because this body isn’t truly mine. [Possessor] is a more accurate term.
