"All right, it’s done."
Lee Haseo said that and lifted three ampoules filled with my blood.
Is it really okay to just hand those to Lee Haseo as they are?
Well, it’s not like Lee Haseo would betray me by siphoning off my blood. With her, I should worry about something other than betrayal...
"Ugh! Don’t eat it! Stop!"
I formed telekinesis and grabbed Lee Haseo’s jaw and arm.
"I washnt tryna eeat it—"
Lee Haseo insists she only wanted to give it one lick.
God, I’m not raising a dog.
"Doctor, let’s live like a human. Like a human."
She whined for a moment with a wounded look, then, as if accepting it, put the ampoules of my blood into a storage case.
I’m uneasy, but it can’t be helped.
During this short vacation I can lean on a normal hospital, but if a real problem crops up after that, I’ll need Lee Haseo’s help.
And in fact, from the body data she previously obtained, she figured out a few things.
"You had a slight issue with your respiratory system and kidneys— that’s why walking long was hard for you."
This refers to one of my penalty traits, [Stamina Reduction].
With a meaningful look, Lee Haseo whispered.
"If you prepare a few magic stones, I can try an appropriate measure. How about it? Shall I fix that problem for you?"
Normally I’d be disgusted, but this is a proposal the game itself has presented before.
[System : Would you like to receive the ‘Suspicious Medical Service’ of ‘Weird Science Doctor : Lee Haseo’ to remove the ‘Stamina Reduction’ penalty?
Agree (magic stones x 30) / Refuse / Analyze (Medical Knowledge)]
Among the petty achievement rewards I got this time was the trait [Medical Knowledge]. Thanks to that, I can check the success or failure of the “measure” she mentions in advance.
[System : Using the trait ‘Medical Knowledge’ to analyze success rate....... Intelligence check successful!
The success rate of ‘Suspicious Medical Service’ is 20%.
The expected effects on failure are as follows.
Instead of removing the trait ‘Stamina Reduction’, one of the traits ‘Coughing Blood’, ‘Indigestion’, ‘Mutation : Third Arm’, ‘Mutation : Gill Breathing’ will be added.]
"I refuse."
"Eh, whyyy?"
"Looks like you still need a bit more research. If you have a new proposal next time, tell me."
Leaving the disappointed Lee Haseo behind, I went home. What should I do tomorrow?
Vasiliisa, which I’m visiting for the first time since the rollback incident.
There was a tremendous change in Vasiliisa.
"What’s that? No, a person? Anyway who is that person?"
"Who? Pani?"
Kang Ilsam— in other words, Seotin, fixture of Vasiliisa— answered my question, but there were too many doubts that couldn’t be solved with just that.
"That— no, that person’s name is Pani?"
"Yeah, an employee who came in five days ago. Started with only serving, and now she’s learning how to pull coffee too."
"Hmm."
Anyway the name is "Pani," that it is?
Using a strange demonstrative pronoun for Pani couldn’t be helped. I don’t particularly want to go into detail about someone else’s physique, but Pani’s body, at least, looked slender in a way that reads feminine.
But on top of that body— I mean where a head should be.
There, a big lantern is attached, cylindrical in design like something from the late nineteenth century.
In short, a person with a lantern instead of a head.
That Pani is learning from Orb how to make coffee. Pani reproduces what she learned from Orb with clumsy gestures.
"Mm, isn’t she a pretty cute lady?"
Seotin looked on with a pleased expression.
"Are you seeing the same thing I am?"
"The thing she’s wearing on her head? Hey, Kim Sinhwa. You’re not the one to talk, are you?"
Ugh, damn.
Granted, that’s true, but under my mask there’s a human head. That one over there isn’t, right?
Still, in this madhouse of a town, I’m the only normal person. I could hear the local fixers chattering about Pani.
"Colly’s love for Orb is finally facing a crisis."
"I’m curious what Colly will say when she comes back."
"Come to think of it, when is Colly coming?"
"Won’t be seeing her for a while. She went to Sokcho with the team."
"Ah— guarding that construction site? Since when is she involved in something so respectable?"
"Sometimes you gotta do a job like that. By the way, why does Tudor keep putting masks like that on the staff?"
Judging by the mood, Vasiliisa’s patrons are just accepting that thing as some kind of “mask.” If I push further here, I’ll only sound like a crazy person.
But that’s not a mask. It’s a lantern attached in place of a head. And look at the structure!
With Orb being a monitor, you can fool people that way, but that lantern—
"It’s a lantern!"
The inside is transparent! You can see the bulb inside!
Pani even showed off, from time to time, a party trick of lighting the bulb attached to the lantern.
"Why make a fuss over that?"
"Magic maybe? Something like that."
"Your mask is more confusing. What hole do you even look out of?"
I grumbled, hand to the mask covering my face, but Seotin only guffawed.
"So there can be an event where Vasiliisa gets an extra staffer?"
It’s no big deal, but it’s something that never happened when I played the game.
And that Pani— that bizarre heteromorph. It feels oddly not unfamiliar. Well, not that there’s a “face” to feel familiar with.
"No, wait. This is more fundamental..."
[vrrrrrmmmm—]
"Huh?"
One of the items in my coat vibrated. Of all times, this thing now?
I slipped a hand inside and groped for it.
Five avatar stones derived from [Predator in the Mountains]. When I left the mansion today, I took one of the five with me.
And that one vibrated. As if drawn to Pani.
At the same time, flinching— Pani looked in my direction. She has no ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) eyes, but somehow it felt like our eyes met for a second. But she turned her head away again, pretending not to notice.
"Wait, no way, right?"
That can’t be, right?
Right?
A new NPC who suddenly appeared after that incident five days ago. That is, right after [Predator in the Mountains] was extinguished— no, [Predator in the Mountains] was not extinguished or killed.
"No. You will not return to your former form. You will become something less. When you awaken, find a wretched body to entrust yourself to."
"Tudor? Where’s Tudor? Tudor!"
I soon spotted Tudor at a table in a corner of the café chatting with a customer, and I skipped courtesy and opened with a question.
"That one, what is that even supposed to be?"
"That one? That thing?"
"That— that thing, I mean."
Tudor looked where I pointed, let out a heh-heh laugh, and said,
"Ah, you mean Pani?"
"Yeah. That thing, where did it come from?"
"Shh."
A white, slender finger covered Tudor’s scarlet lips.
"Shh?"
"If you say ‘where from,’ the Foreigners Administration will snatch them up."
A brazen smile.
"Tu—dor—"
I’m seriously getting mad—
Rather than tack on more words, I raised mana to make my intention clearer.
[rrrrrrumble—]
Tables and glasses nearby began to shake furiously.
"All right, all right. I’ll stop kidding."
"Say it properly."
"Hmm, it’s exactly what you think. I was also considering the names Shan, Shau, Geuna, or Pan— what do you think?"
Shan, Shau, Geuna, Pan, Pani. I didn’t understand the meaning of those names, but anyway, exactly what I think? Really? Seriously?
"Then who on earth is Orb?"
"Even if I tell you, you won’t get it. Orb was Orb even before you got here."
"Tudor, you..."
Only then did I realize the patrons of Vasiliisa were watching me and Tudor, but it was already too late. I went ahead and said what I was going to say.
"What are you?"
"What do you mean what am I? Exactly what you know I am. The most competent broker in Paju, the owner of ‘Beautiful Vasiliisa,’ and the mysterious beauty who made a contract with you."
"And?"
Smiling as if amused, Tudor stood up. About twenty centimeters above my eye level... eyes that somehow resemble a reptile’s eyeballs looked down at me.
"There is no ‘and’ next. Pani appeared out of nowhere, and I just decided to help Pani. The way I’m helping you."
"Just helping? Just?"
Tudor bent a little at the waist and met my eyes.
Tudor is probably the only one who can meet eyes with me while I’m wearing [Mask of Carcosa].
"Hmm, I know what you want to ask, but you probably have more information about this than I do."
"In that case—"
"Hey, you two. Are you going to keep talking in riddles in front of a person?"
The customer who’d been talking with Tudor.
That is, Go Gyeongsu of Wild Guns Security— voiced his complaint.
"Mm, sorry. But—"
I was going to ask him to step aside for a moment, but Tudor had a different opinion.
"Right, darling. Rather than that talk, let’s hear what our Gaegyeongsu here has to say."
"Tudor—"
Tudor reached out a hand and stopped me.
"How about we save that talk for later in a quiet place, just the two of us?"
True, there’s too much I can’t say here.
"Fine."
Yeah, clinging here won’t help. Short of deciding to throw my weight around, I won’t get anything proper out of Tudor at this table.
In the end I sat down next to Tudor, and Go Gyeongsu let out a short sigh and began.
"Sinhwa. Would you like to go to Busan with our team, by any chance?"
"Busan?"
"Yeah. A business trip to Busan."
I glanced at Tudor; she gave me a gorgeous eye-smile and nodded.
"Cure built a large-scale research facility next to Haeundae."
Cure Medical Care.
One of the megacorps that settled in Paju and keeps running human experiments and such, in a rivalry with Hellistic. What they do... not much different from Hellistic.
While the Three Heads’ thugs fight in the shadows, on the sunny side it’s Hellistic versus Cure.
And the research facility Cure supposedly built in Busan.
I think I know where. And I pointed out the error in what Go Gyeongsu said.
"It would be Songjeong."
"Huh?"
"The facility you just mentioned. It’s in Songjeong, right?"
"What’s Songjeong?"
Go Gyeongsu looked at Tudor with a blank face. Tudor looked at me, pulled a face that said, He’s like this, and opened her mouth.
"Gaegyeongsu, you idiot. The Cure research facility is in Songjeong, not Haeundae."
"Mm, so Songjeong is the name of a neighborhood in Busan? They said it’s near a beach, so I figured it was in Haeundae."
Should’ve let him keep thinking Haeundae. Now this is getting long for no reason.
"Fine, location aside, what are they doing there?"
"Cure is hiring a team to block goblin attacks."
"Goblins?"
"Yeah. Thanks to being on good terms with the managers there, we managed to land the job ahead of the Busan fixers— but this is way too occult a mission, you know? Our team’s weak at that stuff."
Go Gyeongsu shook his head.
"So I came to borrow an occult expert. Anyone else would do, but it’d be great if the famous Kim Sinhwa himself took it."
There are goblins not affiliated with Cheongeumdang— but goblins suddenly in Busan?
And in this period, what’s supposed to appear in Cure’s Busan contract is not goblins...
After a moment’s thought, I answered.
"Sorry, but I’m on a break for a while. So find someone else."
"Hm, on a break?"
This time he looked at Tudor. She shrugged and let his gaze slide off.
"Well, then it can’t be helped. There’s still time on the schedule, so think about it."
Saying that, Go Gyeongsu freshly presented a business card.
