I Became a Genius Mage in the Cthulhu Game

The once pristine white gown is now mottled with blood and horrible fluids.

Her long curly hair, which used to cascade elegantly down her back and shoulders, is now soaked in blood like the gown, a complete wreck.

Considering her profession as a doctor, one might argue there is some extenuating circumstance in her appearance.

But beneath her large glasses, her eyes radiate sinister delight, curiosity, and joy.

To anyone without background knowledge, she might seem like the mad scientist or the unethical doctor who orchestrated every event in this corridor—but she is not the mastermind here.

She is simply a mad scientist who finds this purely enjoyable, and a doctor without ethics or morality.

“Hmm, it got quiet—I knew it’d be over by now—”

This is not a monologue. She holds a smartphone to her ear, speaking with someone.

“No, no—I had no choice—half of our party suddenly coughed up blood and died, the rest went mad, and—ah, fine. Okay. Wait a moment—”

The corridor is destroyed.

Corpses scattered everywhere.

Blood flowing like a river.

She lowers her head for a moment, reaches out toward the blood still flowing along the corridor floor.

Cham-bang cham-bang-

“Ugh—this is a mess too. So many patients dead or ruined. And it looks like my research is ruined as well—ugh.”

Brushing her hands off, Iha Seo rises, treading carefully to avoid corpses as she walks slowly down the blood- and corpse-filled corridor—

“Oh? Huh?”

—she discovers something.

“Director, something interesting has dropped here—could you send people this way? Yes. Yes, that’s right. Understood—I'll wait.”

Finishing her call, Iha Seo stuffs the smartphone into her gown pocket.

“It’s a disaster all around, but—”

With slender fingers, she lightly lifts her glasses.

“But at least I secured one handsome man—wouldn’t you call that a win?”

Iha Seo considers a codename for Kim Sinhwa, shyly touching her cheek.

Bright red blood runs down her pale face.

IPE-1789-Meeting Minutes-20230510-4

Participants: A, B, C, D

Personal information redacted (per Security Protocol 2-8)

A: Kim Sinhwa. Age... how old is this subject?

B: Hmm, they didn’t have ID on them.

A: Really? I’d say late twenties? Mid-twenties? Or early?

B: Mid-twenties, I think.

A: Hmm, let’s go with mid.

D: No objections.

C: Uh—couldn’t they be early thirties but look young?

A: Dismissed. This face isn’t thirty-something.

C: Aw, I prefer older—

A: No. I see mid-twenties. ■■■, record mid-twenties for now. We can adjust later.

D: Yes, temporarily recorded as mid-twenties.

B: What serial number should we assign?

D: Many numbers opened from this incident; we were instructed to fill from the earliest.

A: Do you think this is a supermarket inventory system?

C: Hmm—then IPE-1789 is available.

B: One-seven-eight-nine? Aren’t earlier numbers also free?

C: Those were filled by patients given provisional numbers.

A: Ah, provisional. Understood. Confirm IPE-1789. ■■■, record that.

D: Confirmed as IPE-1789. Recorded.

A: What alias will we use? ■■■. You picked something, right?

C: Uh—Pretty Face?

A: ■■■. Slash Pretty Face off the list.

D: Yes.

C: Gosh, they’re cute—

B: I hear some call them Destructomaniac?

A: Destructomaniac?

B: They say wherever they go they leave wreckage and death.

A: Ugh, cringe. Classification?

D: Autonomous activity, aggressive, multiple abilities equivalent to Level 1, difficult to control or subdue, severe mental contamination, trigger or active ability, classified Red Level 2.

A: Trigger or active? That? Isn’t that a static ability? How can it sustain so long without consciousness?

D: By classification, static must persist without resource consumption or maintenance. Circumstantial evidence suggests the ability activated before IPE-1789 lost consciousness. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

C: My analysis shows the barrier protecting IPE-1789 is maintained by consuming IPE-1789’s mana—

A: Maintaining that level of barrier without consciousness? Shouldn’t that be Black classification?

B: Hmm, initially ■■■ suggested it was some kind of avatar, and ■■■ checked—there is confirmation it’s not Black.

A: Is that so? Well, if ■■■ said so. Since it’s an active ability, Red Level 1 is more appropriate than Level 2. Confirm Red Level 1 and adjust security level accordingly. ■■■, record.

D: Confirmed Red Level 1 and will readjust security level.

C: Uh—wait—why not keep it Red Level 2?

A: No. Red Level 1.

C: Then I can’t observe—!

A: Get my permission first.

C: No—

(omitted)

Kim Sinhwa (age unknown, estimated mid-twenties)

Serial Number: IPE-1789

Alias: Sleeping Mage

Classification: Red Level 1

Notes: Presumed Class 7 Close Encounter.

Aggressive, multiple abilities equivalent to Level 1, difficult to control or subdue, severe mental contamination (presumed), trigger or active ability.

Humanoid lifeform floating approximately 1.5 m above ground.

Subject remains supine at constant height.

Fifty-six special objects (IPE-1789-2, mana crystals) orbit at a 1.5 m radius around the subject’s center.

IPE-1789 shows no movement, presumed comatose or in stasis (see Attachment 2, page 2 for prior activity records).

Previously active near Paju outskirts as a so-called “Fixer.” Confirmed to possess Level 1 abilities.

Primary abilities: Level 1 elemental control, distortion of physical laws, surreal psychological control, shapeshifting (Type E), flight, matter manipulation—confirmed as an “enchanted mage.”

Notes

IPE-1789-2 (mana crystals) generate surreal effects to protect IPE-1789.

They induce fatal anomalies in any approacher (living or nonliving).

Below are detailed observed anomalies.