[Excitement]
Kim Sinhwa cast a spell on himself—an incantation to elevate his will and activate his metabolism.
The forcibly generated adrenaline and dopamine filled Kim Sinhwa’s mind with a vague euphoria and an unjustified sense of intoxication.
“Not bad at all,” Kim Sinhwa thought and said,
“Hyundeok, don’t stop—keep moving.”
“Do you want to keep going?”
“I am a bit tired, though.”
There was no stopping now. He could not lose this moment. There was no leisure to turn elsewhere or attend to anything else.
Because Kim Sinhwa was winning right now.
He was winning the fight, clearing the quests that would lead to catastrophe in one sweep, and repelling a vast number of enemies at once.
‘But there is no end to it.’
Kim Sinhwa exhaled a short sigh.
Even if he defeated today’s enemies, new ones would appear tomorrow.
When one threat was removed, another would wedge itself into the gap.
That was how this game worked.
It did not grant players any sense of accomplishment or victory.
Enemies once slain would resurrect with greater power. Enemies shown mercy would ultimately repay kindness with enmity. The girl whose life had been saved at great risk would return as a lunatic.
To rescue someone trapped by a necromancer’s bonds, one had to thrust them into new necromantic shackles.
‘A downright insane game.’
There must be a reason everyone warned against playing it.
And for Kim Sinhwa, who had clung to this game longer than anyone, what returned was an invitation into a mad world filled with horror more severe than death.
Tap tap—
Kim Sinhwa nervously drummed his fingers against his mask.
‘What on earth does any of this mean?’
After all, ruin was inevitable.
This was merely a contest of how long one could hold out—holding one’s breath, tied with rope, diving into a deep, dark abyss—a sport of madness only lunatics could join.
Yet Kim Sinhwa was the hero of reversals who had repeated this game more than any other.
He had witnessed countless deaths and destructions as many times as he had replayed, remembered which actions led to which defeats, and which cataclysms followed. That was why Kim Sinhwa could achieve victory after victory in this mad game. Today especially, he scraped together “small victories” with a more obsessive and voracious momentum than usual.
Not for any sense of achievement or triumph—but to avert the unpleasant thoughts creeping in his mind.
Traveling west along Gongneung Stream, Kim Sinhwa asked Jang Hyundeok seated at the wheel,
“Hyundeok, look over there.”
“Huh?”
“That is Odusan, right?”
Through the four eyeholes of his mask, he gazed at the mountain jutting toward the Han River.
“That’s right! But you know that from that mountain onward it’s classified as Tanhyeon, right?”
By now Jang Hyundeok understood how dreadful that mountain and Tanhyeon were—his eyes had learned to see mana, curses, terrifying voids, and abyssal power.
“I know.”
Kim Sinhwa immediately activated spells—without even stepping from the car or making any preparatory gesture.
[Chilling Cry]
[Set’s Grasp]
[Spell Boost: Increased Range]
[Spell Boost: Maximized]
“Kyaaaaaaa!”
Crrrk—
[Chilling Cry] and [Set’s Grasp] pushed away the evil mana and counterforce enveloping Tanhyeon and Odusan. Through the opening thus made, he drove in a sharpened bolt of lightning like a spear.
[Thunder Bomb]
[Spell Boost: Chain Explosion]
“Kwaaaaang! Kwang! Kwaaaaang!”
“Woaaaah!”
Now Jang Hyundeok knew just how bizarre and alien Kim Sinhwa was.
A grotesque, surreal phenomenon that widened its scope while scattering curses—in Paju, people avoided even coining new words, so they simply called this phenomenon [Tanhyeon].
And toward that [Tanhyeon]—from such a distance?
At the same time, Jang Hyundeok recalled what he had heard from Kim Sinhwa himself.
‘Remember the three elements of spellcasting. Some simple spells can omit one, but most magic requires hand seals, incantation, and a catalyst. Some or all are needed.’
‘But the mage uses none of those, right?’
‘Well... let’s just say I’m a genius.’
Even this time, Kim Sinhwa used none of the hand seals, incantation, or catalyst.
By sheer force of will and moving mana alone, he lifted the veil around Tanhyeon and wrought the miracle he desired.
And all from inside a moving car at such distance.
If Jang Hyundeok had possessed more varied knowledge and experience, he would have been horrified once more by what followed.
Kraaaakbang!
The [Chain Explosion] effect Kim Sinhwa had bestowed on the rite took effect. If it were merely destructive, it could have been simpler. Small successive explosions followed.
“Kwaaang! Bong!”
An explosion occurred with perfect timing and angle.
Thanks to that, the object Kim Sinhwa sought flew off intact from the summit of Odusan and plunged into the Han River.
Krarung—Thud!
Shhhhh!
A towering plume of spray rose from the Han River.
“Tch.”
Despite this astonishing feat, Kim Sinhwa clicked his tongue in displeasure—he had been reminded of the act of “flying” by the sequence he had created.
“Hyundeok, pull the car closer to the riverbank. Let’s retrieve that.”
“Understood!”
That object fallen into the river—
Without setting foot in Tanhyeon, Kim Sinhwa had drawn it out from beyond Tanhyeon. It was the monument that had stood atop Odusan.
Before the area called Tanhyeon and the phenomenon [Tanhyeon] manifested, it had been an ordinary stone.
But now it was imbued with a toxin unseen before.
Of course, compared to the other anomalies housed in [Tanhyeon], it remained trivial.
‘But in a week or so...’
According to Kim Sinhwa’s memory and calculations, an event was scheduled to occur within a week.
‘An event where thousands of gut-snails would land from the Han River, right?’
More precisely, the toxin gathered on the monument would guide one of the incarnations of the [Predator of the Mountains], the [One Who Drinks Fear], and trigger an event by his grace.
But now that event would not happen.
‘Because the event’s trigger object has vanished.’
To initiate the event, the monument was necessary. But now the monument was gone.
In short, Kim Sinhwa had preemptively won a fight slated to occur in the future.
[Vortex Current]
[Raging Torrent]
Krarungrrung!
Kim Sinhwa manipulated the Han River’s water to raise the submerged monument and it slid into the mouth of Dodori—the excited Dodori danced as it was swallowed.
Even though flames born of the chain explosion still scorched Odusan’s summit, Kim Sinhwa showed no interest there.
“Now let’s take the highway southbound as is.”
“How far are we going?”
“For now, to the old publishing complex.”
Once a site of printing factories that produced tens of millions of books, storage warehouses, and clustered publishers—after the Great Collapse, Paju was no place for the publishing industry.
Deserted factories lined the grounds gloomily. Weeds broke through cracked concrete. The air was oppressively heavy.
“You wait here.”
Exiting the car, Kim Sinhwa retrieved a few old books from a warehouse of a printing factory abandoned about ten years ago.
“Wow, what are those?”
“Books a printing technician once created after receiving abyssal revelation.”
Printed not with ink but with blood drawn from the technician’s own body, these curiosities miraculously contained the teachings of the [Blood Demon King].
[Exploding Smoke]
“Kwaaaaa—”
The factory was soon engulfed in a vast cloud of smoke. This was no ordinary smoke—it was a perilous magic that could ignite chain flames from a small spark or friction.
To ensure its certainty, Kim Sinhwa added another spell.
[Delayed Explosion Fireball]
[Spell Boost: Multi-Cast]
Though he had retrieved the grimoire, the residual traces and evil aura here would serve as clues for the Blood Demon Sect’s development of the Blood Heaven Demon Array.
And if Kim Sinhwa’s calculations were correct, a Blood Demon Sect member would arrive at this factory tomorrow.
“Hyundeok, start the engine.”
“Where to next?”
“To Unjeong Station.”
“Yeay, departing!”
Kwaaaaang!
The printing factory exploded belatedly.
Now, even if the Blood Demon Sect arrived, they would neither find the grimoire nor notice that the [Blood Demon King] had ever set foot here.
Thus the Blood Heaven Demon Array event—a ritual to drain the bloodstream of all Paju citizens at once—would never occur.
Once again, Kim Sinhwa had triumphed in a battle yet to take place.
Today marked his seventh victory.
Descending into Unjeong Station’s underground, Kim Sinhwa entered the subterranean church built by the Descendants of Formalhaut—exactly the same place he had visited before.
It had required great effort then, but now he arrived without discomfort.
Abandoned near annihilation, this place had become completely forsaken since the Descendants of Formalhaut suffered devastating losses.
Kim Sinhwa surveyed the gloomy underground briefly, then withdrew the [Slaughterer’s Hook].
[Absorb]
Drawing in accumulated mana, Kim Sinhwa erected a brilliant magic circle in the empty underground and departed Unjeong Station.
Left unchecked, the remnants of the Gourmet Expedition Party would have established a new temple here.
“What did you do?”
“I set a trap.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“Most of the fools will die instantly.”
“Ah, but what if innocent people get caught up?”
“That’s their fate. Anyone bold enough to intrude on such a secret place isn’t ordinary, is he?”
“Hmm, that may be so, but...”
Jang Hyundeok watched Kim Sinhwa’s expression warily, but the mask concealed all emotion.
“Where to next?”
“To Manjang Mountain.”
A low hill northeast of Bong Ilcheon, the stronghold of the Flamegold Lord. The two soon arrived.
“Oh, the summit. Mage, look at the view.”
Though not a high peak, Jang Hyundeok smiled at the broad vista.
“Mage, why did we come here?”
“This is the only place with the sniping angle I need.”
“Sniping?”
Without delay, Kim Sinhwa unleashed the mana stored in the [Slaughterer’s Hook].
[Arrow of Ruin]
[Spell Boost: Increased Range]
[Spell Boost: Deadly Poison]
“Piuuuuuu—”
From Manjang Mountain’s summit, 2.7 km to the northeast.
There flowed Munsancheon, cutting across Paju to the west. Beyond Munsancheon lay a vast wetland surrounding an arboretum. The spell Kim Sinhwa fired flew to that arboretum and then...
Crack!
It struck the target.
A shot of perfect accuracy.
“Um? Mage, what just happened?”
At Jang Hyundeok’s innocent question, Kim Sinhwa sighed lightly and replied.
“There’s someone called Gyuseongmawa.”
“Gyuseongmawa?”
“Yes. Remember those amphibian people?”
“Oh, the one from the One Hundred Eight Bodhisattva Sect? Related to them?”
“He’s about to become their cult leader. In Buddhist terms, the head monk.”
The idea of a newborn becoming a leader sounded odd, but Jang Hyundeok merely ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) accepted it—after all, he wasn’t even human.
“I see. But what did you do?”
“I just killed him.”
Jang Hyundeok blinked in astonishment.
“Huh?”
Was it a joke? But Kim Sinhwa calmly expanded on it.
“He was born not long ago, so he’s easy to kill now. Another Gyuseongmawa will be born later, but it will take time.”
He had merely bought a little time.
But that was enough. Before the next Gyuseongmawa was born, Kim Sinhwa planned to wipe out the remnants of Sangbulsa.
Without waiting for Jang Hyundeok’s response, Kim Sinhwa took out his smartphone and called someone.
“Yes, Director. It’s me.”
Over the phone, Chae Taewon’s voice and a girl’s scream echoed.
The mad girl’s shrill noise—chaotic. Kim Sinhwa narrowed his eyes and ignored her cries.
“Setup is complete. You may proceed now.”
