Cheong-ho did not react to my provocation.
“Kuh, kuhuhuhuhk, kuhih, kuhuhuhu….”
He just burst into that annoying laughter again.
He keeps laughing.
It was probably laughter that erupted regardless of his emotions.
“Chairman. Even so, you should still have so dignity, right? If you were going to be possessed, it should have been at least by a being of the abyss.”
I had so idea, but now it was clear what was involved. The shadows, the prophecy, and the non-contextual laughter that kept appearing.
Now even ridiculous things are bothering .
The Laughing One.
The cunning one, the laughing skull, the caller of madness, the shadow in the darkness, the monster in the fog, the offspring of snakes, the evil prophet.
A mad prophet who always foretold an unhappy future, destruction, and despair.
I could na several other impressive titles associated with this bastard, but the Laughing One was not a being of the abyss.
Rather, it was of a lower rank…
A high ntal body.
Or perhaps a unique existence, to put it in a derogatory way, just an ancient being.
In the original Cthulhu Mythos, which serves as the basis for [Cthulhu World], such distinctions weren’t clear, but in [Cthulhu World], the hierarchy is clearly defined. This was perhaps for ga balance.
In short, it was a candidate for a being of the abyss.
“That book… kuhuhuh, uhihit! Uhuhu… that book contains the truth. I’m glad I read it before handing it over to you, so glad. Kuhuhuh….”
“This is a serious matter. Unlike the lies adults tell children, what’s written in books isn’t always the truth.”
This is especially true for books that appear in Cthulhu World.
Moreover, if it’s an old book written in a foreign language, you shouldn’t just skim through it; you should refuse to touch it altogether.
Cheong-ho had read the book imbued with the Laughing One’s power and beca its slave.
“It was originally a book hidden deep inside this shelter… kuhuk, kuhuhuk… the one who lost this place to said it should never be touched.”
Oh, you didn’t need to tell such detailed settings… there’s sothing more concerning.
His condition is too good.
Of course, he was far from normal, but considering the signs that have appeared throughout this fallout shelter, he’s in remarkably good shape.
After all, isn’t he conveying his thoughts relatively concretely and clearly?
No, more than that.
There was sothing troubling about Cheong-ho’s words.
Cheong-ho’s condition was indeed strange.
He seems more like an NPC that ets specific conditions rather than a human.
I’m becoming unnecessarily cautious. Should I confirm a bit more?
“Chairman, was it you who sent the ssage to take the book?”
“Uh-heh! Uh-hehehehet! Uwahahahaha!!”
Cheong-ho laughed loudly again.
He laughed so hard that he looked like he might roll on the floor at any mont.
“That’s right! I went to the trouble of sending the ssage, but foolish Kim Shin-hwa! You wasted ti by going to the wrong place.”
“Thanks to that, I was able to protect your family, and I made quite a bit of money. By the way, how did you send the ssage without the other directors knowing?”
“I, I am the blue, blue tiger who rules the violence not only in Paju, but throughout this entire Republic of Korea. I am also one of the three heads of the Triad. I still have hundreds of networks that can move without those old fools knowing.”
Seriously?
Cheong-ho has now reached the point where he is explaining what kind of character he is.
It seems like if I asked who his first love was, he would tell an honest love story of a real man who was stern and inexpressive but had a burning heart.
There’s no point in having a conversation with this guy.
He’s just a scarecrow.
I briefly looked away from Cheong-ho and glanced around the room.
Where is the book? It couldn’t be an ordinary book. It must be an artifact in itself or sothing that could be called an incarnation of [The Laughing One].
[Magic Detection]
[Invisibility Detection]
[Curse Detection]
[Trap Detection]
[Insight]
[Heavenly Sight]
Whiiiiiirr…
Found it.
Amid the unpleasant noise that filled the entire room, no, the entire shelter, I detected an alien gaze.
A sticky and evil gaze that was hard to believe belonged to a human.
The location of the gaze was…
Damn it, this just keeps getting worse.
I definitely detected sothing, but its location was a blank wall.
Another secret door and hidden room? No, there wasn’t even a door.
What kind of structure is behind that wall? This magical pattern is probably…
“Krhhh… That’s an interesting expression. Do you sense sothing? Krhhhhh…”
Another fellow comnted on my expression. Can he see the face under my mask?
I looked back at Cheong-ho.
Ah, this is such a pain. Should I just burn everything down and be done with it?
No, it was still too early.
It wasn’t appropriate to push with force without clearly knowing the form of the book that embodied the power of [The Laughing One]. If I hit it clumsily, it might just flee, or an entirely unexpected event could occur.
Tch, it might be better to let this event progress a bit further.
“Chairman—.”
Even though I knew it was aningless, I spoke to Cheong-ho.
“Anyway, it seems you understand what I’m saying?”
“Understand? You think I understand? Hahaha! Ahahahahak! Wahah!”
“Well, if you can respond that much, it’s quite an encouraging sign. You might recover if you receive treatnt.”
“Really? Haha, haha, haha, so?”
I knew this was aningless.
Even if I tried hard to persuade him, Cheong-ho couldn’t return.
It was already too late for Cheong-ho.
“How about it? Rather than staying here, why don’t you return to the Triad, or rather, your ho?”
“Return? What would happen if I returned?”
“Well, you might be able to see your family’s faces.”
“Hehehe… Family, subordinates, colleagues, organization, all, all, all aningless and pointless. Here in this place, in this darkness, amidst empty deaths and aningless laughter, I have realized the truth between the hollow, scattered laughter!”
“Aaah, the truth?”
I sighed as I replied.
Cheong-ho continued speaking without hiding his openly sarcastic tone. He either didn’t sense my sarcasm or simply ignored it.
“This world, this world exists solely for the great minds that dwell in the deepest abyss, beyond the farthest galaxies, where our spirits cannot reach!”
“Wow, that’s quite an enlightennt. Does it follow the typical apocalyptic the of destruction and whatnot?”
“Our world, this universe, is nothing but a aningless joke, a fleeting jest for those great minds’ brief amusent. It’s sothing they glance at out of curiosity, then soon lose interest and discard as a re diversion.”
“Huh? So it doesn’t end in apocalypse or destruction?”
“Why, why are you still sane? You, you’ve gazed into that deep, dark, aningless abyss too, haven’t you? Why haven’t you gone mad? What makes you different from ?”
“Haaah, what’s different? We’re the sa.”
Why am I still sane?
What nonsense is that? I’m already mad.
I’m just pretending to be sane because I can’t go any crazier.
“The chairman hasn’t completely lost his mind yet.”
“What? What? What?”
“Either fully embrace that madness and beco a cultist, or reject the knowledge entirely and beco a truly insane madman. Lingering in this unstable state will only prolong your suffering.”
“No! It’s too late for . But Kim Shin-hwa, my brother! You are entirely different from us. You live a completely different life! You are different from us, the structure of your soul, your mind, and your body are completely different. I realized it the mont we crossed magical powers last ti. You co from a different world.”
Though I wanted to put an end to it with a punch, it wasn’t the right ti yet.
Attacking at a clumsy ti with an awkward thod would only let the bastard hiding behind the scenes escape with a sly grin.
Patience was needed now. Just a little longer, just a bit more.
He would soon reveal his own weaknesses.
“No. The chairman is suffering from delusions right now. The things the chairman is recalling aren’t your own thoughts but delusions forcibly implanted by soone else.”
I knew that Cheong-ho’s words weren’t complete nonsense.
Nevertheless, I deliberately denied Cheong-ho’s words.
The [Laughing One] spoke only the truth.
But there was only one reason he spoke the truth.
Because the truth could shatter a person’s mind more effectively than any magic or curse.
“You can escape this world, right? But you lack the knowledge and the power! I can provide you with the knowledge you lack and the power you need!”
Co to think of it, at so point, the laughter had vanished from Cheong-ho’s words.
Instead, his expression, voice, and gestures were now filled with bizarre desire, pathological joy, and abnormal conviction.
Ah, had sothing finally satisfied the conditions? It was about to begin.
“This way! Follow this way! This space is still too solid! We need to break it more! Co here! We can change this world even more! My God! The voice of revelation that granted true wisdom, I will show you the language of truth!”
“Chairman. There is nothing over there.”
“Foolish Kim Shin-hwa! My brother! Open your eyes! I have seen the truth! This world is not fixed and is so fragile! Everything you see is not the entire truth!”
Cheong-ho ran towards a wall shrouded in thick darkness.
It was undoubtedly the spot where he had sensed sothing earlier.
Yes, this is the usual pattern.
I had been waiting.
This was the only reason I had forced myself to continue this dreadful conversation.
There was originally nothing beyond that wall.
It was definitely where a wall should have been.
Even beyond the wall, there should have been a space filled with soil and rocks.
However, just like Cheong-ho had said, the physical laws and cause and effect of this world were extrely fragile and unstable.
How ridiculous.
The structure and setting of the space were changing. It was as if they were saying, ‘Even though it isn’t visible due to the darkness, there is actually a space here.”
Just as the wall was opening and the truth inside was about to be revealed…
[At the end of your long journey, you t Cheong-ho, whom you had been desperately searching for. But surprisingly, what awaited you at the place where Cheong-ho should have been was not Cheong-ho. It had rely stolen Cheong-ho’s appearance, embodying a surreal entity connected to the abyss. However, with your remarkable intuition, you sensed this fact in advance. You deliberately concealed your true intentions and conversed with that alien entity to draw out the presence lurking behind it. Your extraordinary patience paid off. In the end, the entity, which called itself Cheong-ho, decided to reveal its true form.]
Suddenly, after remaining silent the whole ti, what the hell was this? Move aside!
The ssage window that suddenly popped up displayed an overwhelming amount of text, blocking my view.
No, wait. Why was it obscuring my vision at this precise mont?
I tried to extend my senses, but the noise intensified. I couldn’t detect anything.
Cheong-ho’s voice could be heard from beyond the ssage window.
“Eiaia! Aaaah!! Look at this! Kim Shin-hwa! Look at this! Although they ca in the form of a book, this is my god! The one who sees everything! The one who laughs at all the emptiness in this world! Truly wise! The great prophet!”
[The wall covered in darkness instantly transford into a vast space shrouded in deep darkness. Inside, there was a large book made from the bones of creatures, darkness, and a horribly empty laughter. This book is a great existence that has been in the universe for billions of years, even before humanity invented the concept of writing. You thought it was inferior to a being of the abyss, but it is not. The ‘Laughing One’, the ‘Great Prophet’, the ‘Book of Greed and Destruction’, it has the potential to one day ascend to the ranks of the great ancient beings…….]
“Get out of the way!”
Fizzzzzzz!!
I attacked the ssage window that was obstructing my view with electricity.
Whether the attack worked or not, the ssage window disappeared as if repelled by the sparks.
What appeared in the barely cleared view was…
A book?
No.
Contrary to the ssage window’s description, what erged from the darkness was a grotesque spirit with a humanoid silhouette.
A huge skeleton draped in a pitch-black cloak, a monstrous entity composed of thousands of bones.
An ancient and old evil spirit that has existed since before humanity invented the concept of writing.
“Oh… I understand! I understand your will now! It was Kim Shin-hwa; it was a feast of my brother that you needed! I understand! I understand your will that prepared for this day! A feast! I will beco the feast for Kim Shin-hwa, for Kim Shin-hwa! It will be ! ! ! ! Enter through my flesh! Please nourish the feast offering through ! I will gladly offer myself!”
Cheong-ho suddenly raised his large hand and grabbed his own head.
A brutal movent.
Crack.
The sound of bones shattering.
Cheong-ho was now… tearing off his own skull!
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