[Hungry Mansion]’s kitchen is spacious.
Because the mansion’s original owner, Heo Joo, often hosted parties, banquets, or tea gatherings, it needed equipment to prepare large quantities of food at once.
‘Well, and to accommodate [special work] other than cooking.’
We only had dinner after the moon was up, so the smell of food still hangs thick.
The scent of garlic and olive oil taps against the mask as it wafts in.
Mm, that pasta from earlier comes back to me.
Gambas pasta with big black tiger shrimp. Spices pushed to a borderline spicy punch and a heavy, rich body.
It was such a pleasant dinner I could once again reflect on how blessed an act eating is.
"At any rate, it really is wide."
How does he keep a kitchen this big so immaculate by himself?
"Ah, why is this here..."
Heo Sanghyun hurriedly cleared a few dishes off the counter.
I didn’t know what, exactly, was the embarrassing point, but since he clearly felt embarrassed, I simply nodded and waited.
"Ahem, ahem. All set."
"Yes. Over there, right?"
"That’s right."
Now and then he shoved away or tucked aside something I couldn’t quite parse, leading the way ahead.
I followed him to a door set in the corner of the kitchen.
This is that.
[Food Storage]
Right, that.
The food storage was as impressively large as the kitchen.
A faint sweetness and the smell of vegetables.
Two large, silver, commercial fridges.
On the opposite wall, old wooden shelving filling the span.
It might have been made a hundred years ago—heavy, timeworn shelves lined with assorted ingredients in neat ranks.
And rows of colorful preserves and every kind of fruit jam.
"It’s multiplied like crazy. Oh, you can make jam out of that too?"
Sanghyun lowered his head a touch. The little twitch of his cheek muscles said he was a bit pleased.
"As I kept at it... If you don’t mind, perhaps share some with folks around us?"
"Hm? Is that okay? You put a lot of work into them."
"We can’t eat it all anyway."
You could ask why make so much if we can’t eat it all, but this is Sanghyun’s hobby. The pace of making outstrips consumption, so even this wide storage is close to running out of space.
Listening to Sanghyun’s long explanation (which jams are okay to gift, who would like which jam, maybe give this to someone called Tudor— we already sent a few to the Blood Demon Cult so you don’t need to send more. Ah, and we got matsutakes last time, so in return...), I walked deeper into the storage.
Two large, heat-shield doors installed at the very back.
"This way."
He opened the left one and guided me in.
[screeeech—]
A hard-to-describe smell spilled out with the white cold.
Red light that felt a bit ominous.
Beyond the door lay a cold room about three pyeong in size. For the record, beyond the right door there’s a cold room of the same layout.
Impressive, right? This mansion is that serious about cooking.
...No— truthfully, it was serious about other lines of work, which is why this setup exists.
[vrrrrrmmm—]
I lightly stirred mana, forming a cold-resistance ward over our bodies, and surveyed the interior.
"There’s still a lot left."
"They’re ‘ingredients’ that are hard to handle, after all."
Don’t tell Jang Hyundeok.
Foodstuffs and ‘materials for necromancy’ being stored in the same space— that would be a bit... provocative.
"Sinhwa."
Sanghyun called to me with a suddenly careful face.
"Yes?"
"Will the person named Gong Isu be able to eat pork?"
He was asking if, for reasons of belief, religion, or constitution, he could eat meat or pork— but before that: can he eat anything?
If Gong Isu were an [NPC] who appeared in the game, I could say ‘yes’ or ‘no’— but he never appeared.
"Mmm..."
I pictured his ‘face’ for a moment.
A cleanly cut surface where the neck should be.
Floating above it, a rough helm, a strange clock, or a truly elegant and refined mask of exquisite design.
I’d seen three ‘faces,’ but all three were ‘objects’ that felt divorced from eating.
"I don’t know either."
It looked like he could change the form of whatever sat on his neck— would he make himself something like dentures to eat?
Sanghyun widened his eyes with a worried cast as he looked over the provisions.
"You said he’s your ‘senior,’ so we should treat him properly... It’s a quandary."
"He’s not that kind of ‘senior,’ so don’t worry."
[Feast’s Offering].
It seems he didn’t join in the same way I did, but in a sense he should be called a [Player].
"For now I’m thinking of serving a Chinese-style whole roasted suckling pig. What do you think?"
"Chinese-style, huh— I’m looking forward to it."
Answering that, I looked beyond the provisions toward the ‘materials for necromancy.’
They were triple-sealed in inscribed linen, sanitary wrap, and plastic sheeting— but the faintly visible ‘humanoid’ silhouettes only made the atmosphere stranger.
"Maybe Korean-style would be better?"
Still, Sanghyun kept it all in excellent order.
Categorized by type like any other ingredients, and each tagged with a label.
Labels meticulously listing intake date and shelf life, as well as purpose and item name.
"Hmm... This is the best option."
I picked up the one I liked most. Since the attached options are random, looking with your own eyes is the only way.
"Sinhwa."
"Ah, sorry. Chinese-style— sounds good."
"No— I mean are you really going to use ‘that’?"
He looked at me with concern.
I glanced down at the ‘material for necromancy’ in my hand.
Ah, he’s caught on to my intent.
"Yes. Mmm— I need something similar to last time. Can you help?"
For the record, we’re not talking about cooking.
Various emotions rose and fell in Sanghyun’s big eyes.
In the end he let out a sigh so faint it was hard to notice and answered.
"If it’s something I can do."
What I pulled out was an unfinished artifact Heo Joo had stopped working on.
In the game it was categorized as a simple [synthesis material].
The specific spec is as follows.
[Withered Life’s Left Hand (S-grade Medium): The left hand of a necromancer who devoted his life to magecraft and death arts.
Those who touch the forbidden can find no rest even in death.
The 《Dark》 《Grave》 will hold the 《Sleeping》 《Quiet》 《Cold》 within.]
A mummified, grotesquely warped hand of a corpse.
"The previous master took it from another necromancer."
To be precise, he assassinated a rival sect’s high priest and cut off his left hand.
"Why did he stop processing it?"
"He said it accrued far more curses than expected and became troublesome to handle."
Well, it’s not something you use carelessly.
It has five keywords attached.
《Dark》, 《Grave》, 《Sleeping》, 《Quiet》, 《Cold》.
Use it clumsily and only one or two of those will express— lack the ability and you might produce nonflammable trash, not an artifact.
"But you can handle it, Mr. Sanghyun."
He widened his eyes in surprise.
"Not you, Mr. Sinhwa... I’m the one doing it?"
"Yes. You are."
"A-at my level..."
"No. No. You created a rite strong enough to control a Shoggoth. Your talent was only suppressed by a bastard like Heo Joo— you’re a necromancer of great ability."
A familiar cannot exceed the master’s strength, so he’d been stuck in an assistant role, but Sanghyun’s growth cap was set higher than Heo Joo’s.
I never experienced that branch— but I wonder if the dev ever considered a storyline where Sanghyun devours Heo Joo and becomes master of the mansion.
A familiar killing its master is a common cliché, after all.
‘Well, not happening since I killed Heo Joo.’
At any rate, bolstered by my encouragement, Sanghyun set his jaw.
"Understood. Tell me what to do."
Sanghyun lifted a staff woven from a cousin’s shinbone and a great-grandfather’s skull.
"Yes, please. Do it as specified."
"Huuuuuu..."
White chill flowed from his mouth.
The basement’s temperature plunged in a breath.
『I call your old names— hear me...』
He began to chant in a baritone, sing-song, or like a sob.
The longer the chant, the farther the baleful presence spread.
『You will become one with the great river, become part of a beautiful harmony, become a page of wisdom.』
An unending incantation. A complicated rite packed with necromantic arcana. A downpour of assorted reagents. Weird sigils blooming in the air like ashen smoke.
[pazzzzzzzz—]
Occult engravings and blasphemous glyphs etched themselves into [Withered Life’s Left Hand].
What had been a mere material sublimated into an artifact stuffed with potent power.
‘My turn.’
If this level of artifact were the goal, I wouldn’t have bothered Sanghyun while he’s busy.
[vrrrrrmmm—]
Mana-stones rose at a flick of my hand. Egyptian-style ritual tools stirred.
[shrrrrrk—]
And the [intestines] of [Scaled Stratagem] began to move like living snakes.
In the [Canopic Jar] were [liver], [lungs], [stomach], and [intestines].
As a reward for evicting that crocodile-head bastard— I received [stomach] and [intestines].
‘Ordinarily I could have gotten [liver] and [lungs] too...’
[liver] is still inside Hyuna’s body, and [lungs] are in the Shoggoth’s belly hibernating, so it can’t be helped.
[shrrrrrr—]
On their own they don’t function as anything— but they originate from an [Abyssal Being]. Call them akin to a [Avatar Stone]?
In a sense, it’s more dangerous than embedding a Shoggoth in my hand.
[L-grade accessory ‘Mask of Carcosa’ unique function ‘Madman’s Craft’ activates.
// Madman’s Craft: You can attempt modifications to unlock an artifact’s hidden ability or grant it another ability.]
[shrrrrrk—]
Tendrils of light unfurled from my body, dancing as they wrapped Sanghyun’s constructed rite.
My mana fused without the slightest resistance to his.
He’s a wholly independent being— but in game-system terms he’s my summon, and in a ritual context you could call him a part of me.
So we can trade mana freely— and generate synergy beyond that.
"Mmm— mmmmmm— mmm—"
Before I knew it, Sanghyun’s chant had slipped into an unparseable, strange humming.
I spoke in a chant to match the keening, wailing hum that filled the room.
『So give up everything. You need think of nothing, remember nothing. I grant you only the freedom to serve forever in guileless loyalty.』
Sanghyun’s breath, laden with cold and the power of the dead, tangled with my intent—
A god’s [intestines] coiled around the artifact Sanghyun had made.
[flaaash—]
A dry hiss and a spreading flare.
It’s gacha time.
Cursed by the [King of the Cat Kingdom], I cannot fully restore my severed ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ hand.
So Sanghyun and I made a prosthetic.
I refilled his spent mana, then picked up the new limb.
Hmm, to mount this...
"I’ll help."
"Ah, thanks."
He stepped in to help me fit it.
I could do it alone with magic, but he clearly wanted to check the condition of what he’d made, so I behaved.
"Done."
"Good."
I raised my left arm, brought the prosthetic to my lips, and breathed into it.
[vrrrrrmmm—]
Per the set rite, the limb linked to my mana.
Skin flushing red with lifelike color.
Fingers moving so naturally you couldn’t tell them from a living hand.
"Amazing."
He traced my left hand carefully, admiring his own work.
It even felt more vivid than my original hand.
"Help me test the functions. Let’s see..."
[shrrrrrk—]
One finger ballooned explosively into dozens of snakes and coiled around Sanghyun’s hand.
"Good. It moves fine. Could you emit just a little mana?"
"Yes."
He bled mana loosely— and I tried interacting with it using only tendrils. Works well.
"Sensing and mana control are normal."
It inherits the qualities of the [intestines], which resemble snakes, so I can use certain functions.
If I wanted, I could also use the [brainwashing] and [mental erosion] abilities that [Scaled Stratagem] used on me.
"Great, now I really have a tentacle hand."
"It’s only a prosthetic. I hope you won’t mind it."
"Well, true. Thanks for the help."
"If there’s anything I can do, tell me anytime."
It would have been nice to say, That’s all right, you can rest now~ but I had another favor to ask.
Receiving it, Sanghyun gave a quiet nod and left the basement.
The night is short.
Gong Isu will be here soon.
"Right— time to hustle."
Left alone, I made a few quick preparations—
And opened the ward in the corner.
"You stuck something incredible on your left hand."
Cheongho’s voice, tinged with a chuckling laugh. It was [The Laugher].
"Hey, do you know who Chae Sonyoung is?"
[The Laugher], after watching me in silence for a moment, answered with Cheongho’s face.
"You mean Jung Hyuna’s mother?"
