[Starving Mansion] – the basent.
This basent was, from the start, a kind of protective facility the abyssal being built to shelter its own cultists.
Thanks to that, even in this tiline where everything outside the mansion had taken catastrophic damage, this basent alone could keep its forr shape.
Co to think of it, Cheongho’s underground bunker was in relatively good condition too, wasn’t it?
Most facilities a player can use as a base will probably still be “alive” like this.
Not because there’s any special diegetic logic—more likely they’re protected for ga-necessity.
That’s worth rembering as intel, but—right now that isn’t what matters.
A colossal silver structure placed in a corner of the basent.
A great hull made of pure silver.
Gold cords and talismans coiled around that hull.
Crosses and Buddha statues. A pendant etched with a pentagram. Masks and shields painted with strange iconography. The shed skin of a two-headed snake. Human body fragnts holding the essence of necromancy. Bible verses written densely. Buddhist sutras. A mandala carved by shaving the silver surface.
Every kind of country, every kind of culture, every kind of religion’s magical letters, and on and on and on—
It looks to the point of seeming like a grotesque art piece made by a compulsive madman, but this is a barrier I made by combining every rite and artifact I can bring to bear.
Originally it imprisoned [The Laughing One], but right now soone else is confined inside.
A shining hourglass drifting in the barrier’s dark interior.
Is it because the presence is relatively faint? No other body parts are visible.
The hourglass trapped in the barrier—in other words, Gong Isu—said,
“So ti has passed.”
“Can you tell how long?”
“A week, plus 6 hours 33 minutes.”
Excessively exact. Well, he probably has a trait tied to ti sense.
“So this is the barrier you used to confine a high intellect. I didn’t expect it could stop my ability too.”
It’s a barrier sustained by drawing in even the power housed in the ley lines around Jangmyeong Mountain. Of course, that alone wouldn’t yield performance like this.
“[Living Fla] helped make it.”
“Ah, so that’s why my head is this clear?”
“What do you an?”
Gong Isu hesitated a little, then spoke in a voice tinged with a kind of resignation.
“The narration is gone. I’m not certain, but it seems the [Administrator]’s interference is temporarily blocked.”
I hadn’t expected a function like that—this barrier is more remarkable than I thought.
No—maybe I should say [Living Fla]’s temperant is nastier than I thought?
The so-called [Administrator] managing Gong Isu is, with high probability, Nyarlathotep itself—or one of his avatars.
And... though it’s a little funny, the [Living Fla] that helped craft this barrier doesn’t get along with Nyarlathotep (in truth, among abyssal beings [Living Fla] is singularly vicious—so there are almost none in the abyss who get along with him).
Well, trying to discuss their social circles from a human viewpoint is aningless anyway.
In any case, there is justification for [Living Fla] to be uncooperative with Nyarlathotep.
“So you’re saying your ssage window is gone?”
The hourglass sways left and right. A motion like shaking his head.
“I told you the administrator managing you and are different. The managent style and system are different too. He’s been controlling by inserting himself into my sight and cognition.”
With only these incidental explanations I couldn’t fully grasp Gong Isu’s perspective—but a rough inference was possible.
“It’s definitely more like derangent than a ssage window. It rewrites my thoughts and perceptions as it pleases.”
“That’s an explanation I’ve heard from Kim Sinhwa. I can ignore his narration through a separate sense, so it’s not exactly the sa—but the feel is similar.”
“Well, if soone smarter than , Kim Sinhwa, explained it, it’s probably about right.”
It was a throwaway line said as a joke, but the hourglass drifting inside the barrier trembled in a strangely subtle way.
“Sorry... I didn’t an to ignore that you are Kim Sinhwa.”
“Hm? No. I didn’t an it that way.”
“No—maybe that’s where my mistake began.”
What happened to him while he kept looping and fighting ?
A stance in stark contrast to when he attacked with near-mad conviction.
It seems Gong Isu has lost both his confidence and his pride. His will is sinking into a bottomless swamp of aimless lancholy.
Troubleso...
I tried to gather the right words and comfort him—but it didn’t help much.
“......”
Ugh—this is going to drive nuts.
What’s the best way to handle this... Ah, right.
In the end I decided to try a completely different approach.
“Senior. How about a drink?”
“A drink?”
“Yes. There’s a little left.”
Thanks to the Wriggler, which had grown into a powerful spirit beast and guarded the mansion.
Granted, the mansion itself was little better than a ruin, but there were still a few necromancy golems I could run.
Gong Isu sighed and shook his head.
“How can you drink in a situation like this? I don’t need it.”
“Oh, not just any alcohol—Captain Thousand-Gold gave Dream Scent as a gift. Still not interested?”
“Dream Scent? Really?”
Ah, good—so he’s had it before.
If you’ve tasted it even once, you simply cannot refuse—a trendous liquor.
Maybe it wasn’t a good choice.
“In the end I failed. No—worse than failed. I dragged a ridiculous number of people in, including you, junior—and they laughed at and mocked my clown’s getup. It’s like this every ti. I thrashed for ages trying to get out of it, only to go round—and round—right back to the sa place. Damn it. If I hadn’t t Kim Sinhwa, I could’ve just lived peacefully and quietly in the round room at the hospital. Kim Sinhwa ruined everything. Not that I an Kim Sinhwa is bad. Did I tell you this? Once we refitted a big, gaudy armored truck and road the desert—and had an incredible fight with the [Black Pharaoh] who’d descended. Shantaks blanketed the sky, Mi-Go too. And grotesque mutant shapes bursting up from the sand. It was the absolute worst crisis. As always I was about to give up on everything. But do you know what Kim Sinhwa said then? Hey, junior, are you listening?”
Wow, I shouldn’t have fed him.
His drunk habits are truly the worst.
“Yes, uncle, I’m listening. I bet Kim Sinhwa said sothing unbearably embarrassing.”
“Uncle? Why am I an uncle?”
“I an you’re like an uncle who gets drunk and rambles.”
“Ah, a joke. That was a joke? Hahaha—right, Kim Sinhwa was exactly like that. Junior, you’re just like Kim Sinhwa.”
Of course I am. I’m Kim Sinhwa too.
Rambling about the past while drunk is common enough, but of all things, the recent “Kim Sinhwa” left the deepest impression in Gong Isu’s past.
So Gong Isu has beco like “the uncle who goes on about childhood mories I don’t rember,” slurring, “Do you know how hard it was carrying you around when you were a baby—don’t you rember?”
“That bastard was really out of his mind. The worse things got, the more outrageous the things he said. Well, a personality that doesn’t lose humor at the worst mont is probably why he could do sothing that incredible. If only I’d been able to do that—but I couldn’t. Right. I’m a failure. I kept repeating only failure. I go round—and round—and round—in place. I don’t have the power to break out of this loop. Hey, junior. How am I different from Kim Sinhwa? Junior, are you listening? Answer .”
“Maybe Kim Sinhwa was just a crazy bastard?”
“Ha—! Right! He was a crazy bastard! Not just crazy—horribly, unbelievably—hahaha!”
A mont ago he said he wouldn’t ignore the fact that I am “Kim Sinhwa,” and yet...
Gong Isu talks to about “Kim Sinhwa” like he’s talking about so total stranger.
Well, to Gong Isu, I must look like soone who resembles his old friend “Kim Sinhwa”—what, like Kim Sinhwa’s snot-nosed kid.
I am “Kim Sinhwa,” but I’m not continuous with the “Kim Sinhwa” he rembers.
And there are three of those Kim Sinhwas, for that matter.
“In short, when you sent to the past back in Sokcho, that was when you’d first t [Kim Sinhwa], right?”
“No. I first t you at the hospital.”
“Ah, sure, that’s true.”
I thought you’d forgotten that I and [Kim Sinhwa] are the sa person.
Anyway.
Hiding out at Paju Central Hospital, Gong Isu t —and restarted ti travel.
The goal was to verify what kind of punk this [Kim Sinhwa] was, but he sohow botched that first jump and, in a desertified world, t a [future Kim Sinhwa].
That was Gong Isu’s ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) first eting with a [future Kim Sinhwa] not continuous with .
The two of them went on a truly killer adventure with a [Kim Sinhwa] called the [Savior of the Desert] or whatever—and...
To solve a certain problem, Gong Isu returned to the past and helped .
That was the Gong Isu I t in Sokcho. Hence the breezy “hahaha—it was fun~ what a sha~” attitude.
If the ti travel had ended there, a different story would have followed—but for so reason Gong Isu went to the future again and t a new [future Kim Sinhwa].
That was his second eting with a [future Kim Sinhwa].
This Gong Isu also, for so reason, went back to the past and turned ti—
And I don’t think I’ve t that version of Gong Isu yet.
And the Gong Isu right in front of now is the one who t a [future Kim Sinhwa] for the third ti.
He spent about half a year with a [future Kim Sinhwa] who’d lost sixty percent of his body—gained a certain realization, ca to , and kicked off this commotion.
So even after this, will Gong Isu et again and turn ti?
Who knows what will happen—but it may an that for Gong Isu, this level of failure and fall is scheduled going forward.
Twice more, at that.
And maybe that’s because I dragged Gong Isu in—
“Kim Sinhwa.”
That wasn’t him calling a [future Kim Sinhwa] not continuous with .
He was calling the Kim Sinhwa right in front of him——so I answered.
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry I dragged you into my failure and despair.”
“No—that’s...”
“Pour a drink.”
I stopped what I was about to say and poured Dream Scent into Gong Isu’s cup.
“Thanks.”
After another cup of Dream Scent, Gong Isu let out a self-mocking laugh.
“This is pleasant.”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying it.”
The hourglass swayed in a way that signaled affirmation.
“I thought I’d ignored the fetters of space-ti and gained true freedom—but it was all a delusion. This mont, with my body’s freedom taken and myself detained, is the freest I’ve ever been.”
“You don’t have to put it in such a squalid way, do you?”
“No. My life was extrely squalid. It was paved with attachnt, regret, and disappointnt...”
Gong Isu cut in before I could answer.
“No—I’m not being pessimistic right now. Thanks to you, junior, I’ve gotten a new perspective. For the first ti I’m free of his interference. If we search, there’ll be an even better way than this.”
He was trying to sound hopeful, but there was far too much wetness in his voice.
After he drank for a long while more, Gong Isu spoke slowly, a drowsiness in his tone.
“Kim Sinhwa. You must not go back.”
“So we finally arrive at this point. Why? What did you see?”
“Phew...”
He paused, asked for one more cup, and I poured it for him.
“I absorbed the power of the Golden Hairpin and a singularity—and gained the ability to transcend space-ti. I tried to send you back to where you were.”
“Astonishing. Then why did you turn ti?”
“Because in any space-ti, there was no such place as ‘where you were.’”
“No such place?”
“Right. You did not co from another world.”
Gong Isu declared it flatly.
“This world is not a ga. Just as I originate from this world—so do you.”
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