A little earlier than the moment when Kim Sinhwa wraps eight third-generation chaebol heirs in tentacles.
Emergency stairs of the Ilshin Hotel.
"Bahue, stop!"
Curtain Call’s shout—she’d sensed some kind of danger with razor-edged instinct.
"Grrr?"
At her cry the massive Baukalak hurriedly checks his speed. He’s still maintaining a two-meter-tall wolf form.
For a creature moving on all fours, a sudden deceleration like this won’t throw his balance, but—
"Ugh—"
—for Mun Seunghee, who was clinging to Baukalak’s back with difficulty, it’s a bit of a predicament.
"Collie, why?"
Eric’s Korean is clumsy.
"Something’s coming."
Curtain Call’s answer—she’s bad at the act of explaining anything to others.
On a normal day someone might have argued, but right now it’s a crisis full of surreal danger.
In a situation like this, no one is going to challenge Curtain Call’s judgment.
Still, just about when grumbling might have started that she could at least tell them what to brace for—
Rrrrrrrrrrr!
A sudden earthquake rolls in.
"Uwaaaah!?"
"An earthquake?"
It isn’t easy to keep your balance on the back of a living beast. And Baukalak has neither saddle nor stirrups.
If they hadn’t braked hard, Mun Seunghee would probably have fallen off Baukalak’s back.
"Director, are you all right?"
Among the security detail, Hyeonggeun—whose Korean is the most fluent—catches her and asks.
"Haah... I’m fine. Collie, thank you."
"Get down now."
Not so much considerate as headless and tailless.
Because of that rough manner, Mun Seunghee and Curtain Call clashed for quite some time. Thanks to Tudor’s mediation, though, Mun Seunghee is now used to her way of speaking.
"Could you give me a hand?"
"Take my hand. Watch your step."
Eric’s big hand steadies her.
They’d run all this way, and still they were only halfway down.
"If not for the pests, we’d have escaped ages ago."
Hyeonggeun’s lament.
The assassins who chased from the banquet hall were stopped by Kim Sinhwa, but on the 25th floor they ran into a crowd of blockers.
Hence the delay.
And now they had to go down at a pace that matched Mun Seunghee, whose physical ability was only about average.
"Why people here? No party?"
Eric’s question.
More exactly: Why were there people hidden on floors other than the banquet hall? This was an event you could only enter with an invitation, right?
"The chairman’s..."
Catching her breath, Mun Seunghee answered.
"Haa—hoo... They’re probably the chairman’s bodyguards."
Curtain Call’s teammates think they’re “walking” down, but to Mun Seunghee it’s a speed more like “running.”
Only then do they slow down for her sake.
"What are you doing! You idiots!"
"Collie, slow! Follow. No more of them."
Curtain Call keeps snapping, but Hyeonggeun ignores her to question Mun Seunghee.
"Why is the chairman trying to seize you, Director?"
"That..."
She doesn’t know the definite answer, but she can guess.
"The chairman must not have intended to pass the company down. To anyone."
It was what Kim Sinhwa had said: "The chairman wants all of you to die."
"Huh? Uh— but if we get away here, then you could inherit Yeonam, right?"
"Oh— awesome, Seunghee the chairwoman."
"No. Hoo— the chairman said he’d pass Yeonam to me, but that’s a statement with no meaning."
That too was something Kim Sinhwa had said.
The succession process for a conglomerate isn’t completed with a snap of the fingers.
"Besides, I don’t want to inherit such a horrible company."
But does Mun Seunghee even have the right to refuse?
If she’d had the freedom to choose, she would have lived a completely different life, with no connection to Yeonam from the start.
She never wanted it, yet she was forced to stay within Yeonam Construction, and just because she was Mun Taeik’s illegitimate child, she had to endure endless insults, torment, and assassination threats.
"Still, that mask lunatic is thinking of making you chair, isn’t he?"
Curtain Call’s pointed remark—she’s given up on getting angry.
"Collie, I think of the Mage as a benefactor. And I respect the wisdom he has. But even he can’t demand something like that of me."
She accepted the role of successor only to protect Lee Seonbin from the fallout that would come with Mun Gyeongnam’s death.
"Woof!"
Baukalak’s warning.
He whips his head side to side and growls fiercely.
A dangerous scent is approaching. They need to run again!
At Baukalak’s reaction, Curtain Call bares her teeth and growls back.
Her expression is so savage it’s hard to tell which one is the beast.
"I sensed it too, so stop whining!"
Anyway, after she calms Baukalak down, Curtain Call scans their surroundings with a wary face.
A staircase stretching on in long angular spirals.
It’s far wider than a typical fire stairwell—but with that huge furball here, it’s bad terrain to fight while protecting Mun Seunghee.
Curtain Call’s gaze goes to the iron door leading to the fifteenth floor.
Should they leave the stairwell?
Or...
Her eyes move toward the "shortest route" to get out of this place.
The square shaft formed between the flights of stairs.
If they jump down that way, they’ll reach the first floor in one shot.
But only Baukalak and Curtain Call among them could survive such a leap.
Irritated by others’ frailty, Curtain Call snaps at Mun Seunghee.
"In your next life, be born sturdier."
"What the— too harsh! Collie, not good!"
For a second it sounds like last words and everyone freezes, but fortunately Mun Seunghee interprets her words in a slightly different way.
"Collie, you don’t mean give up, right?"
"Yeah. It’s too narrow here. Let’s get out."
"Grrr—"
Baukalak conveys the gist of, Wouldn’t it be better to just hurry down?
"We will go down!"
If she’d added something like, The stairs are too dangerous! everyone would have felt more at ease.
But without any such elaboration, Curtain Call wrenches open the door to the fifteenth floor.
Almost at the same instant, her foresight comes true.
Rrrrrrrrrrrrr!!
A grotesque vibration. A foul smell. A hideous noise.
"W-what is that!?"
"Many!"
The Ilshin Hotel was built with materials not commonly used, so it could be used as a magical stronghold.
Because of that, no matter how exceptional your abilities, it’s realistically impossible to sense every incident that occurs within the building.
And even if you succeed at detection, an excessive diversity of ability users has gathered here. There’s too much information; it tangles together. It exceeds what the human brain can process.
But that’s a story for mediocrities—constraints that only apply to the ordinary magicians lying about like paving stones.
Kim Sinhwa broke those constraints.
Was it because his detection reached some extreme while he fought alongside Gong Isu?
Or maybe it’s because he has talent rare enough to have no precedent.
Whatever the reason, Kim Sinhwa grasped every scrap of information generated across the entire Ilshin Hotel without missing a single one, and his Intelligence stat of thirty sorted and analyzed it all.
Even while doing that, he talked to people, made plans, cast spells, and crossed blades with a peak expert against whom even a single exchange of blows could not be allowed.
"Superhuman" isn’t enough to describe that concentration.
There was no opening in Kim Sinhwa.
If Mun Taeik hadn’t moved, Kim Sinhwa might have prevented this situation from occurring at all.
Mun Taeik, who had received a revelation from the Abyss, attempted self-harm—a derangement.
Kim Sinhwa spent about three seconds to stop that sudden act.
But to restore the concentration that had been thrown off—it took a full three minutes.
Three minutes.
Short if you call it short, but for those who had waited for just this moment, it was plenty.
Three minutes?
No, two seconds—the period when the Feast’s Offering lost his mind—was enough.
The place where a miracle will occur: the Ilshin Hotel.
The top floor of a baleful spire heaped up by dull-witted humans.
In the deep dark, a wondrous power reveals itself!
Lightning pours down without a sound!
Vile cultists appear.
Artistic and awesome outfits.
Magnificent horns adorning everyone’s heads!
They are powerful black magicians, thoroughly trained.
Borrowing the power of the Abyss, they moved from Suwon to Sejong City in one leap.
Now the ritual begins.
They are short on sacrifices and short on time, so summoning an Abyssal being itself is impossible.
But they try to call forth a strong creature by invoking the great [Being of the Abyss] and pleading.
"[Horned Authority], avatar of mighty Nyarlathotep! Hear our desire!"
The laughable buzzing of palm-sized humans.
The generous [Horned Authority] decides to grant them power!
What should be permitted?
Yes, that.
Let’s roll a die.
If it comes up 1: [Mutant Rat].
If it comes up 2: [Flying Polyp].
If it comes up 3: [Shoggoth].
If it comes up 4: [Shantak].
If it comes up 5: [Star Spawn].
And if it comes up 6: [All of the Above]!
Roll!
"Stop! I will permit nothing further!"
The bodyguards of Mun Taeik—who had only watched until now—step in.
The chairman was going to eat these brats’ brains and become healthy.
They can’t allow me to damage their brains with evil tentacles.
"And if I don’t stop, what will you do?"
At my words, the bodyguard in the blue dress, Baek Seonhong, steps forward.
"We will do you harm."
"Aha, yeah?"
Shrrrrrrrrip—
I slide slender strands of tentacle to the ears of Mun Gyeongha and his brothers and say:
"Which will be faster—your doing me harm, or my driving tentacles into these precious sons’ brains?"
If I’d had another artifact, I’d have used another method, okay? But you banned artifact carry-ins.
Ugh—right now all I’ve got are tentacles with a brainwashing function. I’ve got no choice but to use them.
People who don’t know my tender circumstances gasp and condemn me.
"Oh, my god!"
"Kim Sinhwa! I trusted you for a moment!"
"To do something so horrible!"
Trusted me?
You came here to kill people for money and your mouths are busy. Still, the air is getting threatening.
Bodyguards watching for a chance to attack me.
And the ones invited as assassins—if their employer dies, they don’t get a cent.
"Hm? The mood’s turning ugly. If you’re confident in your skill, go ahead and attack. But I’ll strike back."
Saying so, I aim at the floor...
"Like this."
Damn it, I’m currently holding back the advance of that colossal [Mobile Parliament Carrier]. In the middle of that, I squeeze out the mana I have left—
[Surge of Power]
Krrrrrrrrrrrash!!
A tremendous hole punches straight down through the floor. It doesn’t stop at drilling the banquet hall floor.
It bores through the floor below, and the one below that—like that, a projectile of mana tunnels through dozens of floors in one go.
"D-damn it. Impossible!"
The fixers lose their fighting spirit in an instant.
Others might be able to reproduce this level of power, but that’s not the only reason they’re shocked.
"He cast a spell with that power instantly, without even a chant!"
"I can’t. I can’t handle a freak like that!"
Good. Don’t come close. If you do, an instant-kill with no start-up will fly.
"Please stop. We will not attack you. And we will cooperate as much as possible. Please, release them."
Baek Seonhong begins to plead.
But I can’t just let them go. So with a regretful heart, I refuse.
"Khahahahaha! I’m still going to brainwash them!"
[Mind Erosion]
[Voice of Authority]
It’s the effect I suffered before from [Scaled Stratagem] and from Jeong Hyuna.
A spell that injects new common sense or false memories into their minds.
Here is the common sense I will implant in them. Not that I want to do truly evil brainwashing...
"Do not fight within the family. Get along."
That should do.
Ah, and one more thing.
I need brainwashing that will make these arrogant, brutal brothers listen to me. But I don’t want to do something like Be slaves to Kim Sinhwa, so...
"Kim Sinhwa is your family."
