Ti Stop was released.
[crash!]
That was the sound of smashing into the floor.
A shock like my body was shattering.
Ceiling, walls, and floor spun at random and pounded .
No—maybe I just couldn’t handle the recoil and rolled over and over?
Dizzy viewpoint switches, and dizzy pain.
“Ugh... damn.”
Where am I? Who am I?
“Mr. Kim Sinhwa!”
Park Gwangrim’s voice.
Right. My na is Kim Sinhwa. And I...
“Huh? That guy is the wizard?!”
Jang Hyundeok’s vacant voice.
Right, I’m also the wizard who fell into this grotesque world.
I failed.
From the start I figured I couldn’t actually hurt it.
But I wanted to jolt it enough to cancel the influence it was projecting around here.
I failed, and that bastard will now begin the dented stunt it pre-announced.
“Are you really the wizard?”
“Yeah—and are you intact?”
“Well, I’m fine.”
Jang Hyundeok was unscathed.
Almost enough to make all that trouble feel unfair.
“Park Gwangrim, you?”
“I’m—now all right.”
At that mont, a ssage window filled my vision.
[The Jang Hyundeok you were looking for has returned. We inform you that so events were skipped due to an unstable play environnt.]
“Ah, yeah?”
What got skipped?
No idea. That’s not the priority right now.
“It’s your neglect of managent, so pay compensation and beat it!”
I waved my hand and swatted the ssage aside, but to the other two it must have looked like the flailing of a madman in delirium.
“Wizard?”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine! So get ready to run, right now!”
“Run?” “Wizard?”
“I tried to block it and failed! We have to get out of here, now!”
This layout—this is the third floor I stepped into earlier.
A space so wide it felt desolate.
A few cabinets and desks placed against the walls. A handful of chairs had lost their places and rolled around.
The cabinet-and-desk arrangent that practically begged to search them caught my eye, but this wasn’t the ti.
“Move! You idiots!”
I yanked up mana in a rush to secure sensing range.
[keee—]
Damn, I’ve burned through almost all my mana.
The price of rampaging in an unstable space, spamming absurd, improvised magic. I’d spent so much I could barely even form a proper spell.
[System: ‘Heightened Vigilance’ is activated.]
“Mr. Kim Sinhwa! Outside!”
Looking out the window, I saw shadows swarming in the dark, encircling Hope Ward.
“Damn. They got out.”
Jang Hyundeok’s extended family, whom I’d buried along with Healing Ward. They were converging.
“Wizard, it’s okay! They’re not coming to fight!”
Jang Hyundeok’s guileless voice.
Goddamn it.
As he said, the faces that resembled Jang Hyundeok’s wore utterly placid expressions.
“Mr. Kim Sinhwa. I just t soone called the Director and had a conversation.”
Park Gwangrim grabbed my arm.
“And?”
“He said he’d let us go. I don’t completely believe him, but maybe... maybe...”
You think it’ll be fine?
Sure, it will be fine.
[While you were outside the managent area, achievent data and rewards could not be delivered. They will now be delivered retroactively.]
A ssage window suddenly popped up again to block my view.
“Ah—what now...”
[Legendary Achievent unlocked! You inflicted a small wound on the ‘Abyssal Being – Source of Life.’
You have obtained ‘Legendary Achievent: Wound of Life.’
As an achievent reward, your relationship with the ‘Abyssal Being – Source of Life’ advances, and you gain additional EXP.]
I couldn’t help but grimace at the absurd text.
Relationship advances?
With an abyssal being?
[System: Relationship with ‘Abyssal Being – Source of Life’ has changed to ‘Affection.’]
Goosebumps.
“What!? Keep it! You insane freak!”
I stumbled back and shouted.
[System: Penalty trait ‘Feast’s Offering’ is activated.]
Then, I sensed presence on the stairs.
“Wait a second!”
A cute voice from the stairwell.
Footfalls far too light to be an adult.
“Huh? Hyeonji? And you kids?”
Jang Hyundeok’s vacant voice.
Hyeonji.
And the kids who were in this Hope Ward—those tiny, cute children he called his younger siblings.
Bounding up the stairs, the children each wore happy, bright smiles, and Hyeonji at the front spoke to .
“I understand now why the others went that far with you, wizard.”
“Hyeonji? The others?”
Jang Hyundeok’s question.
Hyeonji nodded, her smile grotesquely warped.
[kiiiiiiiiiing—]
A terrible mana swelled from all sides.
[kee-gee-gee-gee-geek—]
A perilous tearing noise rose from the whole building—no, from the space itself.
That isn’t Hyeonji.
Right now the [Source of Life] was borrowing the children’s bodies to speak to .
“Yellow, darkness, fla. And even the hunger that’s gone now. No wonder those little ones like you so much, wizard—”
He called the abyssal beings—the [King in Yellow], the [One Who Cos from the Dark], the [Living Fla], and the [Predator in the Mountains]—“little ones,” and went on.
“Guys? What are you doing?”
Still unable to grasp the situation, Jang Hyundeok kept questioning the children.
But ignoring him, the children approached .
Just like in the frozen ti earlier, they smiled at , danced, and—almost singing—began to speak.
“Yeah, seeing you again here, I definitely like you.” “Yes, that’s right.” “I love it.” “Adorable.” “Co to think of it, you’ve got a pretty cute face.” “Wizard. We like you after all.”
“So let’s do sothing fun.”
Hyeonji said it with a smile.
I carefully scraped together mana and answered.
“Sothing fun?”
“It’s the most fun part of this ga, right?”
“Stopping destruction.”
“I’m going to destroy this world now.”
“So try stopping this world’s destruction, wizard.”
“Mm, your condition doesn’t look great right now, so I’ll give you about a week. Get a little readier and co to Busan.”
“Wizard, you can do it! We believe in you!”
la-la-la-la— ha-ha-ha-ha— kikikiki—
Ah, hell.
This isn’t the sa abstract, ambiguous space from before, and the children’s bodies aren’t arbitrary illusions.
And those kids don’t have a dium’s traits.
That maniac descended into their bodies on a whim just to say that much—
‘I launched that reckless attack specifically to stop this sort of situation.’
My prediction ca true in the worst possible way.
“Park Gwangrim! Hit Jang Hyundeok!”
“Pardon? Mr. Kim Sinhwa, what did you say?”
“Knock that bastard out!”
[Lightning]
[bzzzzzap!]
I fired a bolt at Jang Hyundeok—but Hyeonji, dancing with a grotesquely warped smile, caught it in one hand—
A ten-year-old kid caught a flying thunderbolt and twisted it apart.
“Uwaah! Hyeonji!?”
“Wizard, that’s cute. It might be an opportunity, you know. But you’re using it to cover your friend’s eyes?”
“Shut up! If you’ve said your piece, get lost quietly!”
I felt black blood pour from my mouth. I’d spent too much mana.
In the cosmic-horror genre [Cthulhu World], the protagonist’s role?
‘To resist, resist, and resist the power of an absolute, irresistible being—only to end in frustration or destruction.’
That is the protagonist’s role in cosmic horror.
In other words, resist—and finally be crushed and ruined.
“Okay! Then I’ll go! Bye! For real, bye! Take good care of our Hyundeok!”
Hyeonji smiled and waved at .
“Bye! Bye! Bye, Hyundeok oppa!”
And to Jang Hyundeok, too.
“Bye! Hyundeok hyung! Let’s go abroad together later!”
“Bye-bye! Hyundeok! Beco soone even more special!”
“Bye! Hyundeok hyung, bye!”
“Bye!”
“Bye-bye!”
“Bye-bye!”
“Bye!”
“Let’s play again!”
“I love you!”
“See you later!”
“Bye-bye!”
The children’s bright, sunny farewells.
“Kids? Kids? What are you saying? Wizard? Wizard?”
“Jang Hyundeok, you idiot! Shut your eyes and cover your ears! Run!”
Outside the window, the people who looked like Jang Hyundeok all raised one hand and waved it side to side with the sa placid, happy expression.
A synchronized motion.
Bye-bye.
[System: Penalty trait ‘Feast’s Offering’ is activated.]
[POOOOOOOM—]
With an imnse blast—
The children’s bodies all at once beca thousands of gorgeous—
Flowers of every color, scattering in all directions.
“Ah.”
A short sigh from Jang Hyundeok.
Everywhere my gaze fell, petals drifted beautifully.
The clothes the children had been wearing lay strewn on the floor with those multicolored flowers.
A cloying, nauseating scent filled the air.
[pop-pop-pop-pop—]
Explosions sounded outside too.
The sound of the gathered people bursting.
Flowers shot up to the third-floor height and clung to the windows in a dense layer like sticky brain matter and viscera.
Now there was no danger.
Everything that could have posed a danger had burst and beco flowers.
Plenty of ti was provided to search the cabinets and desks, and I was able to leave the building with the docunts inside.
The docunts I found there contained various records and data, but by and large they only supplented what I had already seen, heard, and experienced in this House of Healing.
That the [House of Healing] operated with support from Cure dical Care.
That they ran this facility to cultivate artificial superhumans—in other words, ability users.
And the personal data of those who had stayed in this [House of Healing].
“What does it say about ?”
In a drained voice, Jang Hyundeok asked .
On the list they compiled, I found information about Jang Hyundeok too.
What was on Jang Hyundeok wasn’t even conditioning worthy of the na.
It wasn’t magical or ritualistic brainwashing. If it were, I would’ve noticed long ago.
What they did to Jang Hyundeok was love and education.
“We love you.” “Your younger siblings love you.” “Your teachers love you.” “The volunteers love you.” “Your friends love you.” “Your older brothers love you.” “The Director loves you.”
Kind, warm, gentle love.
“You love us too, right?”
“As much as we cherish and love you, you should love us too.”
Sticky, clinging. Sickeningly sweet whispers.
“So it isn’t strange.” “So there’s no problem.” “Soday let’s make money and go abroad.” “Don’t worry; other countries are safe.” “Let’s go abroad with your younger siblings.” “Let’s live happily in a safe foreign country.” “It’s okay; you’ll manage soday.”
“So earn money for us.”
“So put yourself in danger.”
“So work in places where dying at any ti wouldn’t be strange.”
Like the other brothers who were here, Jang Hyundeok loved the House of Healing.
He loved the younger ones, and he loved those who looked eerily like himself.
Because they loved one another, Jang Hyundeok and the other brothers and sisters could clearly distinguish each other.
Because they loved, they felt nothing amiss in this grotesque place.
“Wizard, what did I do wrong?”
Holding a tiny shoe that could fit a child—or a god—Jang Hyundeok asked that.
“No. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Then why did this happen to ?”
I briefly recalled what the [Source of Life] told .
[“You changed Jang Hyundeok into a special being.”]
I could see the sun rising outside the window.
And in that quietly rising sunlight, the thousands of flowers covering the House of Healing.
I looked at the sight for a mont, then changed masks.
A mask with four eyes emitting golden light.
With a face incapable of expressing emotion, I said to Jang Hyundeok,
“First, let’s go ho and eat.”
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