Gong Isu raises his left hand and triggers his ability.
The very ability the doctors at Paju Central Hospital recorded as [an超real chanical engineering capability that cannot be reproduced or imitated].
[krrrik— shrrrrrk—]
The helt disassembles in a surreal way, briefly morphing into the form of a surreal hypercube, then—eting Gong Isu’s right hand—transforms into sothing completely different.
"Magic doesn’t have great compatibility, though."
[shrrrrrrrk—]
Gong Isu’s head—no, the helt—changes into a wholly different shape—huh!?
"Waah!? How did you do that?"
Back then Ga Pu was a bit surprised—but only with the impression of ‘Gong Isu showed a nifty trick.’
But I, watching from behind Ga Pu—
Wow—so , I an .
As in Kim Sinhwa!
Woooooow!!!
Right, that thing I glimpsed from afar earlier—so that’s what it was!
From behind Ga Pureum I feel a surge of excitent strong enough to knock my mind out.
Gong Isu turns his head—no, look at that! A mask!
A mask! Hey! A mask! A mask!
Gong Isu is now truly wearing—among the masks I’ve recently collected, one of the most dazzling, gorgeous pieces—wow! A mask like that even exists! Sick! No—stop. Calm down. Breathe.
No overt ornantation, yet an exquisitely delicate, elegant, mysterious mask that glows like erald.
That very mask is floating where Gong Isu’s face should be.
Again: truly srizing—and truly cool! A best-ever mask.
[kzzzzzit! kwhazzit!]
mories warp with an ugly noise.
Ugh, the synchronization with Ga Pureum got cut. I got too excited, and too much of my identity as Kim Sinhwa bled through.
[System : ‘향상된 경계심’이 활성화됩니다.]
[System : 페널티 특성 ‘만찬의 제물’이 활성화됩니다.]
[shlirrrrrrk—]
Other mories of Ga Pureum coil around . And that creepy presence sidles up behind .
Ah, you’ve already caught up?
[shlirrrrrrrrk—]
In a flash, a massive—massive—massive—spider charges to my side.
Eight legs spun from indiscriminately tangled mories.
Eight huge, blood-red eyes, forged from pasts I want to forget, mories I’ve lost, obsessions I cannot.
A grotesque trunk like a jet-black, nauseous tumor—or a vilely over-fattened larva.
A shape so preposterously horrific it induces physiological disgust—dizzying and sickening just to behold.
‘But the timing isn’t bad.’
No need to worry. I can turn the [Weaver of Dreams]’s fierce montum against her.
"KYAAAAAA!!"
The [Weaver of Dreams] lets out a nightmare scream.
At the sa ti, foul mories pour over like simultaneous waves of reeking effluent.
Heo Sanghyun, Jang Hyundeok, Park Gwangrim, Mun Seunghee, Curtain Call, and Yang Seonho sighing, tearing up, scowling, and cowering.
And the faces of everyone I’ve t until now.
"Listen!" "Their." "Ugh—sighs." "—and." "Voices?" "That bla." "—you."
"And theeeen~" "your—" "sins."
The [Weaver of Dreams] plays the answers of those who bit at her bait.
"This happened because of Kim Sinhwa." "Why in the world did he do this to ...." "Kim Sinhwa ruined my life." "That demon bastard Kim Sinhwa." "Kim Sinhwa tempted ." "Kim Sinhwa deceived ." "I got done in by Kim Sinhwa." "Kim Sinhwa, that son of a—!" "If only Kim Sinhwa had never appeared." "Mage King! Mage King!" "Lord Kim Sinhwa will destroy this world!"
And the Busan mayor’s voice going out over public TV:
"We declare Kim Sinhwa, who has committed a heinous, unforgivable cri, an enemy of the public."
I shout at the mories surging without end.
『Oh, shut up. Shut up. Shut up! How is that my fault! They’re the ones who did those things!』
[crackle-crackle-crackle!]
mories shove back under a blue flash. And a calm voice cos through them.
"Was it done like this?"
Gong Isu’s figure still hasn’t vanished.
Fading out, Gong Isu keeps talking in an annoyed tone.
"No—that’s how it’s done, right? Yes. I rember."
Saying that—Gong Isu lifts his left hand and, with awkward movent, makes a peculiar sign.
‘That gesture...’
Ga Pureum, who witnessed Gong Isu’s behavior back then, dismissed it as a madman’s inexplicable act—but the [Spell Mastery] trait nested in my head spins up fast.
Right.
I know what that hand sign ans.
It’s a mudra to complete a certain spell.
『Ha! What a genius—Kim Sinhwa!』
[crackle-crackle-crackle!!]
In an instant I cast off Ga Pureum’s image—and return to my own.
Leaving the unresponsive left hand as is, I form the mudra with my right hand alone.
[viiiiiiiiiin—]
The mudra Gong Isu once ford with his left hand, which Ga Pureum saw in the past.
And the mudra I now form with my right hand fuse into a single rite with one aning.
[부동박]
[vrrrrrrrrrum!]
The mories of Ga Pureum coiling around collapse. No—more than collapse.
[shlarrarrarrark!!]
The mories that had wrapped now beco shackles that bind the [Weaver of Dreams]’s shadow.
[crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle!!]
A trendous spark you could only see within a dream.
"KYAAAAAAAH!!"
The [Weaver of Dreams] screams.
She thrashes like an enraged nightmare, but she can’t escape. The initiative is completely mine now.
『Got you! You spider freak!』
Like a spider trussing prey, I bind the [Weaver of Dreams] with strands spun from the useless mories left in Ga Pureum’s head and from my own mana.
『Heh, the really fun part—let’s finish it outside.』
There’s nothing more to see in Ga Pureum’s mories.
With the [Weaver of Dreams]’ shadow lashed tight—I leave Ga Pureum’s mories without delay.
[whiisssh—]
Distance and direction are aningless, but conceptually my mind rockets upward.
A ntal image like escaping from the depths of the sea.
"You’re a real bastard."
Far below.
Gong Isu’s voice echoes hollowly in the fully collapsed mories of Ga Pureum.
The sa line I heard earlier.
"What are you saying? Can’t you hear ?"
Ga Pureum’s faint reply.
Ignoring Ga Pureum, Gong Isu keeps speaking.
There’s no guarantee I’ll hear this ssage, but he just talks.
"In about half a month, the from the past will be coming by—"
"Excuse ? Mr. Gong Isu?"
"Keep the promise and get that dog off . And..."
His voice recedes.
I’ve just about swum out of this deep sea of mory. Conceptually speaking, I’m almost at the surface now.
Gong Isu’s voice, barely audible.
"What did he take from , you ask? From that bastard I..."
Regrettably, I don’t hear what Gong Isu says next.
In an instant, my vision brightens.
Cold air tinged with the sll of antiseptic.
And Ga Pureum, bound on the dissection table, sleeping.
‘I’ve exited Ga Pureum’s mories.’
Before I can even feel the satisfaction of resolving a case, Lee Haseo presses up against my left side.
"Mr. Sinhwa! Oh, Mr. Sinhwa!"
"Yes?"
"What did you just take out?"
"Hm?"
"You just put your hand into this person’s body and took sothing out, didn’t you?"
Ah, is that how it looked to Lee Haseo’s eyes? In real-ti, it all happened in a blink.
In my right hand sits a creature smaller than half a fingernail.
A spider, bound by magical fetters, trembling in spasms, barely able to move.
"Ha. So this was the dium."
It’s the [Filino Aranea] the [Weaver of Dreams] implanted in Ga Pureum’s body to manifest her power in reality.
Tiny as it is, it’s packed with everything that matters.
For example—I can use this to craft a banishnt that affects not only the [Weaver of Dreams] but even the [Blind Weaver].
"Not a bad haul."
Otherwise—I could manipulate others’ mories or dispositions the sa way the [Weaver of Dreams] does. With a bit of effort I could even fix soone’s ‘break,’ like Jeong Hyuna or others...
"Mr. Sinhwa, Mr. Sinhwa."
Lee Haseo, pressed against my left arm, whispers with an excited face.
"Yes, what is it?"
"Shall I attach this hand back on for you?"
"Hm?"
[System : ‘괴과학 의사 : 이하서’의 ‘수상한 의료 서비스’를 받아서 ‘손 절단(1개, 주로 사용하는 손)’ 페널티를 제거하시겠습니까?
동의(마정석 x 200) / 거절 / 분석(의료 지식)]
It’s not a bad offer.
In fact, my non-responsive left hand is a real headache right now.
The problem is...
[System : ‘의료 지식’ 특성을 사용하여 성공률을 분석합니다....... 지능 판정 성공!
‘수상한 의료 서비스’의 성공률은 38%입니다.
실패 시의 예상 효과는 다음과 같습니다.
‘손 절단(1개, 주로 사용하는 손)’ 특성이 제거되는 대신, ‘돌연변이 : 촉수(고성능)’, ‘돌연변이 : 촉수(저성능)’, ‘돌연변이 : 입이 달린 촉수’, ‘돌연변이 : 눈이 달린 촉수’ 특성 중 두 개가 추가됩니다.]
So I’d end up with two tentacles in place of a hand.
"I’ll pass."
"Eeeh, whyyy?"
Exactly the sa face as last ti.
Right. Ripping up a human body like a toy and modding it at random won’t solve anything.
‘Better to take ti and fix it slowly.’
Sa goes for minds and relationships.
Let’s not chase a quick fix and beco a monster.
I gently push off the clinging Lee Haseo and say:
"More importantly, as I asked earlier—please check the blood."
What am I, a refrigerated water purifier? Why would magic stones be coming out of my body?
[You have shattered the sly trap prepared by the Abyssal entity ‘Weaver of Dreams’ and returned to reality. But in the process you confronted a shocking truth. You confird the wounds your cherished people suffered because of you—and how they were broken.]
"Yeah, you little punk. You said that well."
Ah, great—turn into a madman cursing at thin air again.
I step out of Lee Haseo’s grip for a mont and check the rewards the ssage window offers.
"And that’s my fault? Why is it always the sa routine with you lot? Was I going around personally ruining those people’s lives? If you slap the crap you did onto —am I supposed to go, aww, trashy Kim Sinhwa, guess I should die—and start bawling?"
Didn’t I say sothing similar before?
This really is childish harassnt.
Imagine a certain Mr. So-and-so picks people close to Kim Sinhwa and beats them.
Then is Kim Sinhwa the bad guy? Or is Mr. So-and-so the bad guy?
[It is not over yet. This is only the beginning. Those who dwell in the Abyss are moving on your behalf. A new incident will soon co for you.]
"Sure. Try it. See if I just sit still."
[You have defeated ‘Filino Aranea.’ Your understanding of divine servitors as a whole increases.]
I didn’t defeat the [Weaver of Dreams].
I rely stripped away the influence she had rooted in Ga Pureum’s mind through a servitor.
No way could you erase an Abyssal being with sothing so simple.
[Achievent complete! You have banished ‘Abyssal Entity – Weaver of Dreams.’
You have obtained the ‘Advanced Achievent: Dream Interpretation.’
As a reward for the achievent, your relationship with Reporter – Ga Pureum has progressed, and you gain additional experience.]
[System : ‘기자 – 가푸름’과의 관계가 ‘확고한 동맹’으로 변경됩니다.]
So I’ve gotten close with Ga Pureum.
[You have gained enough experience to reach the next stage. Your level increases by 1.]
And I leveled up.
"Phew."
More or less wrapped up.
Now I should head back and sort the rest.
Because of this string of commotions, I even had to pause making the escape device with the Lacrex grimoire.
"Hmm..."
I’m about to leave the hospital in one go when my steps stop.
"Right. Leave when it’s ti, sure. But I should still handle what needs handling."
I should et Gong Isu.
He said the past Gong Isu (from my perspective, the future Gong Isu) will be coming soon, but there’s sothing I want to say to the Gong Isu who’s here now.
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