It was still night.
But the surroundings had completely changed from the area around Paju Station and Paju Central Hospital. Trees grotesquely twisted by absorbed mana, wraiths lurking in the oppressive darkness. Curses and barriers densely blanketed every visible inch of ground. And there, bathed in moonlight, stood a vast mansion whose shadows only deepened its eerie presence.
“We’ve arrived! Paju’s finest haunted house and legendary theme park! Welcome home, Master Wizard!”
“...You don’t have to force the mood, so just stop it.”
“Huh? The mood?”
Ah, right—it was Jang Hyun deok. She wasn’t joking to cheer me up because of my lingering madness; that was just how she was.
“Shinhwa, you’ve come? You took quite a while this time.”
Heo Sang hyun, waiting at the gate, took my bag from me.
“Unexpected delays kept me occupied for days.”
“I was worried when the connection went so faint.”
“Oh, I didn’t think about that. Was everything okay?”
It had indeed been dangerous—I’d even lost consciousness and had my body seized. My summoned creatures linked to me might have run amok without me noticing. Had a rampage broken out?
He shook his head reassuringly. Fortunately, it seemed nothing beyond minor trouble had happened.
“Thanks to the high-level authority you granted me, I was able to control everything inside the mansion,” he said.
Though Heo Sang hyun was one of my summons, I’d endowed him with a special privilege, distinguishing him from the others—he was the mansion’s butler, provided by the game’s system.
Even without my direct control, he could manage everything within the estate.
“But...”
Heo Sang hyun’s large, ominous eyes widened with regretful realization.
“The creatures I released outside the mansion caused some problems, it seems?”
“The ones in the nearby forest were fine, but those toward the mountains—”
“Hey! Get down now!”
Jang Hyun deok’s shout cut him off. I glanced at her to see her pleading beside her Kolben.
“Master Wizard, please tell him to let him down!”
Growl—
Stubborn as a puppy, Roll Roll refused to come down from the back seat. He must really love those Kolben seats.
“Roll Roll, why are you sulking? You have to get out. Come on down.”
Thud! Thud thud thud!
“There—thank you, Master Wizard. Oh, by the way, what were you two talking about?”
She seemed aware she’d interrupted something important.
“Was it about the test subjects you released toward the mountain?”
“Yes. The magical beasts you set up to block intruders either wandered beyond their designated area or became excessively feral.”
“Ah! Because of that, the troubleshooters came in more than once.”
“The delivery routes I left open for the couriers got disrupted too. For your sake, Master Wizard, you should reopen the delivery route for your meals.”
To combine defense against outsiders with urban infrastructure, I’d erected a complex network of barriers across the mountains. But maintaining those contradictory functions sacrificed stability—and without my consciousness, it had °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° fallen into chaos.
“Hmm... Is there anything to eat today?”
“Ha ha, Master Wizard! Um? Master Wizard? Master Wizard? Hey, look at me! Who do you think went shopping while the deliveries were cut off?”
“Oh, right—you must have gone through trouble?”
“Well, I went back and forth—”
“Hyun deok tends to leave out a few items whenever she shops... So some ingredients are missing.”
“Wait, you didn’t mention that.”
“No, you did bring all the important stuff. Only a few items are absent.”
Judging by his expression, he’d forgotten staples like pasta noodles on pasta day.
“A lot must have happened while I was gone.”
The last I saw Jang Hyun deok, she was terrified of Heo Sang hyun—and she’d even been unconscious from the aftermath of possession. Now it seemed they’d grown quite close in my absence.
The next day, in the mansion’s parlor.
“Sang hyun, are you ready?”
“Yes, all set.”
Clink-clank—groan—
Three spectral golems began their preparatory motions. Normally they operated automatically, but now they were manually controlled by Heo Sang hyun, who held a skull staff imbued with necromantic intricacies.
“Good. As I said, if I show any abnormal behavior, move in immediately.”
“Understood,” he replied, tension etched on his face. I’d instructed him to attack or subdue me at a moment’s notice.
A leisurely voice drifted down from the second floor.
“Hyun deok, fetch Red.”
“Yes—! But why are we doing this, anyway?”
Huh? A strange experiment was underway. Suddenly, a bizarre owl with four wings swept down from above, flapping through the air as if defying gravity.
“Aha—?”
Goosebumps crawled up my arms, a sensation of alien dread. My ears rang. The area between my temples tingled. A wave of unease boiled beneath my ribs. My feet felt numb, as if the blood had drained away.
“Um, Master Wizard? Are you all right? Master Wizard?”
I couldn’t hear anything but the ringing. My vision began to darken at the periphery—an onset of blackout. Panic welled up, obsessive anxiety, a mounting impulse.
Why was this thing flying? It should not be flying.
“I see... I understand the feeling now.”
I felt anger—yet not overwhelming. A controllable rage.
“In the name of the blood we share, I command you, beast of four wings and three legs: fold your wings and alight upon the ground.”
“Krii?”
With my compulsion, Red folded her wings and landed with a heavy thud.
“Haaah—haaah—haaah—”
Fresh air flooded my lungs. My legs gave out, and I slumped to the floor.
“That... went just as I expected. No problem.”
“Master Wizard, whatever happened just now felt like a major crisis.”
“No, it’s fine. This isn’t an issue.”
“Master Wizard, are you truly all right?”
“I am. The experiment succeeded.”
This episode differed from my previous madness. While wings normally evoke flight, and I’d once panicked at seeing puppetlike movement, I felt no fear at Red’s wings. Even seeing her fly no longer terrified me. My psyche had shifted—yet I hadn’t plunged into madness.
“Red, sorry about that. You startled me, huh? In the name of our shared blood, I rescind my previous command.”
“Krii!”
Red nodded as if relieved.
“All right, fly again.”
“Krii—”
Flap—
“Mmm, good, good. Now land. That’s enough.”
Okay. I now understood the scope and symptoms.
“Thanks for the help, everyone. Here you go, Red.”
I patted her and handed over a mana crystal.
Crunch—snap—
Red happily munched the crystal.
I staggered to my feet, exhausted.
“Um, Master Wizard?”
“Hyun deok... I need to rest a bit. I’m really tired.”
“Shall I help you up?”
“No—no—ugh—”
I waved her off, but Heo Sang hyun ignored me and gently supported my waist. His large hand on my back felt strangely comforting as drowsiness claimed me.
“What a stupid stunt.”
“But we found out, didn’t we?”
“Yeah, glad we did.”
Kim Shinhwa in the fox mask muttered in complaint.
“But that was seriously dangerous—”
Interrupting, the crow-masked Shinhwa spoke before waiting for my response.
“We warned you before: your sanity stat could drop to single digits.”
“Oh, that’s right. Hey, Kim Shinhwa! Were you trying to die?”
“If you drop to zero, it’s game over—no waking up like last time.”
“Better to test now than face it by accident. Besides—”
“Besides?”
“The very fact we thought of this experiment means it’s no real problem.”
“In a way, that makes sense.”
The crow-masked Shinhwa agreed. If I’d developed vermin phobia, one could kill the rat to cure it—but then it wouldn’t be a phobia. But flying creatures... facing them was impossible.
“But this time, the panic only hit the sight of flight, not wings themselves.”
“Hey, is this the anger stage? You really are a walking mental disorder.”
The fox mask taunted. Yes, perhaps this was anger management disorder.
“But if it stops at anger—”
“Right. This madness should be easier.”
I declared. As long as nobody literally flew me into the air... Wait—what did you say?
Someone—flew me?
Rumble—
The space around us warped, thunderous vibrations striking like lightning.
“You idiot! Calm down!”
“Kim Shinhwa! Get a grip!”
“Hah—hah—haa—” I gasped, clutching my head and reminding myself: sanity stat is 21.
“Damn it, nothing about that was okay!”
The fox mask swore.
“Anger management disorder—that’s how the Cthulhu World system triggers frenzy. If it fully activated, even high willpower couldn’t control it.”
The crow mask added.
“It should be easy—an impulse to attack the aggressor. But forcing highly magic-resistant Kim Shinhwa to....”
Rumble—
“...Well, forcing you to do that would be difficult, anyway.”
In short: “All right, I thought it’d be the worst, but this is easy mode.”
“Hmm, aren’t you underestimating it?”
“You know your own inner problems aren’t fully solved, right?”
Enough with the nagging.
“Fine. Let’s take our time fixing things.”
Rumble—
“Hey, Kim Shinhwa! Calm down!”
“It wasn’t me expressing anger just now.”
“Then what was that?”
“External—the mansion’s outer barrier tensed my body. There’s an intruder, it seems.”
The crow mask explained better than I could. I scratched my head and tuned into the barrier’s signals.
“An intruder? Who could it be? The troubleshooters? I’ll have to visit Tudor and clear things up.”
“Take it easy—this doesn’t feel like just any intruder.”
The mana signature piercing the barrier moved with astounding speed—like a judge’s class entity.
“Suddenly?”
“Kim Shinhwa, return from your dream.”
“I will, but—hmm—”
Somehow, it didn’t feel like a dire situation. This monstrous mana approached at impossible velocity, shattering the barrier in an absurd manner. Then I realized who it was.
“That is—”
“Someone we know.”
As my insight clicked, the other two quickly recognized the intruder too.
“Bahahaha! Master of the house, come forth and greet General Cheongeum’s arrival!”
His roar shook heaven and earth—literal trembling at the sound.
“I can’t even sleep properly.”
I rose from the bed and slowly walked to the window. Outside the dark estate, a goblin emitting brilliant golden mana under the night sky stood proudly.
“General Cheongeum, what are you doing at this hour?”
Cheongeum Daejang—Seo Cheon seul—regally regarded me and replied,
“I’ve come on Lord Mangum’s orders to see Lord Kim’s face.”
“My face?”
“Oh, right—Lord Kim has no face, does he?”
“No, why would I not have a face?”
He laughed heartily and produced a large wine jar.
“Do you like drink, Lord Kim?”
“Drink? Is that the wine from Cheongeumdang?”
“Bahahaha—very rare wine indeed.”
He brandished the jar, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“I almost died before this—perfect timing.”
At last, the final achievement reward arrived: Dream Scent. A precious liquor made only by Cheongeumdang. It healed illness, extended lifespan, boosted inner strength or mana, lifted curses, unlocked talents or abilities, even dramatically improved fortune—and restored lost sanity.
“Come in. I’ll have the sake table ready immediately.”
