Five hundred million won’s worth of used car slicing through Paju’s dazzling night view.
“But wizard. What were you and your senior doing together?”
Right up until he started the engine, Jang Hyundeok had dug his heels in over the used-car issue, but his curiosity had since wandered sowhere else.
“Hm? What were we doing?”
Mm—how to put it?
For it had been almost two months, but from Jang Hyundeok’s point of view only about two hours had passed.
We were shoved into ti travel, I road the tainted wastes of a four-fifths-ruined world smashing monsters, looting treasure, raiding facilities tied to Helistic, and I t Gapurim.
And although I told Gong Isu I’d refused Gapurim’s request—
In truth I t Yang Seoho, warlord of the end tis, last hope of humanity, savior of the wastes, and introduced him to Kkumul (for the record, even then Yang Seoho tried to kill ).
Anyway, a lot happened.
But that wasn’t what Jang Hyundeok wanted to know.
“Yeah. What exactly did you do there to end up dressed like that in such a short span?”
Ah. My outfit.
Obviously my clothes changed a lot during that stretch.
You could say I had an absolute blast clearing the post-apocalypse-thed DLC that didn’t exist in reality.
Right after a big event like that, veteran players usually end up in outfits that don’t match the vibe of the original story line.
“Is it that weird?”
“Mm—you were always weird, so...... it’s fine.”
Judging by his face, it’s very weird.
Fair—maybe it’s over the top.
Should I stow a few pieces?
I glanced down at my getup.
Which should I pare away: the goggles with seven lenses, the mask with an oversized filter, the battered leather boots, the backpack, the big shield strapped to my back, the staff with a human head and wings that was spraying five colors of radiance, the brass cogs stuck here and there on my clothes and spinning, or one of the extra pouches attached at the shoulder?
Of course I still had on the [Night Veil Wing Cloak], and at my waist I was properly rigged with the [Butcher’s Hook], the [Four-Sign Sword], and the [Blade of Flesh].
“No matter how eccentrically fixers dress....... I do think you’ll stand out a lot right now, wizard.”
“True. Hey, aren’t these goggles-and-mask pretty nice? Like this they beco a mask.”
Click—clack, shrrr—
“How is it? Cool, right?”
But Jang Hyundeok said, aghast:
“Oh, my God....... Are you going to wear that from now on?”
Mm.......
Seems I’ve strayed too far from human society.
Thankfully, Heo Sanghyun had nothing to say about my outfit.
“I’ll prepare your al while you wash.”
“Hahaha, I look pretty filthy, huh?”
“No....... It’s fine. Don’t wor—”
Grrrrr! Scrrriiik! Fffft!
“Eeeek!”
No matter how long I’m gone, the animal friends swarm to welco ho.
Sniff—yeah. I ca ho after two months.
Good to see you, little ones!
“Everyone, don’t get near Mr. Sinhwa! And Red, you had a bath today!”
But Heo Sanghyun would not allow the good animal friends to rub all over the grimy Kim Sinhwa.
“Please, go ahead and bathe, Mr. Sinhwa. I’ll get dinner ready.”
“......Yes.”
Was I really that filthy...... I’d better wash before Heo Sanghyun kills .
I dumped every artifact dangling all over my body into the basent—
Clatterrrrr! Clang-clang! Kang! Thud-thud-thud!
Thanks to [Spatial Dominion], I could feel Heo Sanghyun’s gaze from the kitchen side. Sorry. I got a little excited.
Anyway, I went straight up to the second floor and sank into steaming hot water.
“Wow. Civilization is the best.”
Of course I can conjure hot water with magic—but here you just twist a faucet and hot water cos out.
When I ca back down after a long wash, a Korean spread was set with nine side dishes.
“Huh? Uh? Mr. Sanghyun, why is this......?”
Mr. Sanghyun, it’s three in the morning.
I’m the lunatic who barged in at 3 a.m. demanding food, but I wasn’t expecting a nine-dish spread.
Unless this is.......
I looked at Heo Sanghyun with a trace of anxiety—
He smiled gently and spoke quietly.
“I don’t know what happened today....... I just tried to be a little thorough.”
Which is to say—
Uh—“You ca ho looking like a beggar, so a lot must have happened. I made plenty. Eat and keep your strength up, kid.”
I can almost see a halo flaring behind him. An optical illusion? Or am I insane? My eyes sting like I might cry.
“I can’t believe this.......”
The soybean paste stew, simred with Cheongyang chili, is...... so spicy-clean it catches in my throat. And why is this lustrous rice so perfectly sticky? It’s so good I’m almost mad about it.
How on earth did he prep this many banchan in that short ti and also fry pollock pancakes? Did he use magic? When Heo Sanghyun casts necromancy in the kitchen, the ingredients must run to him on their own and marinate and stir-fry themselves.
Damn it, Gong Isu, get back here. You need to be in this ti and space too. Co here right now and experience the sa rapture.
Ah, he stir-fried pork belly and kimchi in perilla oil. The slightly tangy, nutty kimchi and the big chunks of pork belly are dancing in exquisite harmony.
And this dongchimi with a crust of ice.
That musty, peppery, icy complexity shakes the soul of the Korean trapped in my flesh.
Jang Hyundeok shimmied into the dining room (“I made fifty million today, so I’m off work~”), then, seeing shoveling rice like a famished ghost, blurted in alarm:
“Wizard, did sothing really happen?”
“No....... Nothing....... Nothing happened.......”
Nothing has happened yet.
Night.
“But wizard, why do you go out only at night these days?”
“Most fixers do.”
“You still used to move around in the dayti, right? Lately it feels like you’re committed to nights only.”
I looked out over Paju’s nightscape and said:
“I was cursed by a vampire.”
“Eheh?”
“Heh, Hyundeok, do you know what that ans?”
“Huh? You suck blood too?”
“I’m holding back for now, but you should be careful.”
He’s an idiot, but this is Paju in [Cthulhu World], where impossible incidents crop up every day.
Not long ago a vampire with moth wings appeared on the Incheon Bridge and a horde of fixers sward there.
So when a mage who wields the supra-real freely says “vampire’s curse,” Jang Hyundeok—
“An!”
—reacting like that isn’t strange.
“Anyway. Looks like we’re here.”
“Yeah. We’re here. But are we really doing this?”
Beyond the flimsy green fence lay a sprawling lot jamd with all kinds of vehicles.
There were ‘ordinary’ cars you see everywhere—but this place deals in sothing more special.
“Explicit firearm possession is illegal, so how are those things being traded legally?”
Piles of heavy-weapon parts heaped like scrap at one edge of the lot. Vehicles closer to armored cars than automobiles. Bodies designed in grotesque ways for special purposes or for ritual intent.
“Mm? Well, fixers can’t work without those.”
“No, I an this setting has no consistency or verisimilitude.”
A slapdash world with convenience patches stuck on all over.
Even the physics, the magic, the monster lore grind and clack without shing consistently.
Take the lunatic dealer who sold a car to Jang Hyundeok.
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