Chapter 152: The Shadow of Insu Vige (1)
The old man introduced himself as the vige chief.
Although we had a brief conversation afterward, it inevitably led to situations where I had to ask questions about things that the past Kim Shin-hwa would have known.
What did I manage to find out?
That the old man was very wealthy and that the past Kim Shin-hwa hade to the vige of his own ord to help with the ritual?
“The vigers are grateful for your help. We can’t afford to mess up again the ritual that only happens once a year, can we?”
“Mess it up again?”
“Didn’t I tell you before? Last year’s overseer was aplete mess. Thanks to him, the vige was in shambles.”
The chief clicked his tongue with a grating sound.
The overseer was the term for someone who came to assist with the vige festival.The skin on his face twitched. It looked as if the skin of someone wearing a mask was about to peel off. I ignored the strange sight and asked again.
“What happened?”
“Why are you asking again when you already know?”
Damn it. I didn’t know.
“I just don’t want to make any mistakes at such an important event.”
Was that not a good answer? The vige chief widened hisrge eyes at me. I guess I can neverin about Sang-hyeon-ssi’s eye size again.
Suddenly, he seemed to be wary. Maybe he was just annoyed by my questions. He turned his head slightly and headed towards the front door.
“Well, I can’t let a hungry person stay hungry.”
“No, Chief.”
“Just wait here; I’ll go to the vige hall and get something to eat.”
I couldn’t hold him back any longer. It was an awkward time to keep him, so I had to let him go.
“Thank you.”
“No need to thank me. Anyway, it’s about time I helped out with some work. I’ll be a while, so just wait a bit.”
After saying this, the chief opened the inner door and left.
He paused briefly between the inner door and the front door and suspiciously locked the inner door.
<em>Click.</em>
<em>A lock that can’t be opened from the inside.</em>
Not something you’d install in a typical house. It wasn’t to keep intruders out but to lock something inside.
The chief even shook the inner door to make sure it was securely closed before opening the front door and going outside.
<em>Click. ck. Beep, beep beep.</em>
The sound of the front door locking followed. There wasn’t just one lock on the front door? He locked it three times and even used a digital lock. He then shook it again to check if it was securely locked.
<em>Those locks probably can’t be opened from the inside either.</em>
It wasn’t until I heard the sound of the front door closing that I sighed.
“He’s acting tantly suspicious.”
The words he spoke were those of an ordinary old man from the countryside, but his appearance and actions walked a fine line between the ordinary and the extraordinary.
He might have looked like a monster, but he barely qualified as human, and his suspicious actions were just barely within the bounds of what could be considered cautious behavior.
<em>For now, the chief is a potential danger.</em>
To be precise, the entire vige was dangerous.
<em>Damn it, now that I think about it, this is just like the message said, isn’t it?</em>
It said something like this:
[The knowledge you have about this world. How long will it be useful? When the momentes that your knowledge no longer works, what kind of expression will you make? Beware of the chaotic future ahead.]
The entity behind the message window couldn’t predict my actions. This had already been confirmed through the incident of the [Mask of the Faceless One]. But the entity could make guesses.
This meant there had been signs without my knowing.
<em>Perhaps this isn’t the first time.</em>
Yes.
Thinking that way, it didn’t make sense that I hadn’t seen “those things” for such a long time.
Surely, I must have encountered things rted to my phobia several times.
Each time, I must have experienced localized amnesia and gradually forgotten the rted information.
<em>The problem is, this time the situation is much bigger.</em>
With the amnesia, I had lost not only a period of memories but also all the information rted to this quest connected to my phobia.
The quest’s setting was Insu Vige and it featured obstacles, stories, and even the different races and their gods.
It was indeed quite troublesome.
<em>If I ovee this madness, can I recover my lost memories?</em>
I couldn’t just sit back and let things happen.
I had to secure some clues before the chief returned.
“It seems like a ssic style quest.”
If I followed the traditional strategy, I would be able to see the flow.
“If I investigate the house and take a look around the vige, something will probably happen at night.”
If I didn’t gather enough information today, I’d die once the festival started tomorrow. Ah, not die, but be a viger, right?
Would I end up like the chief? <em>Gulp.</em>
I ced my palm on the inner door and released my magic.
<em>Buzz…</em>
The magical power concentrated beyond the inner door passed through the front door and flew outside. The yard outside…. wasn’t very big.
The magical power soon reached the wall. A barrier was installed in a circle along the wall.
“It seems I’m still pretending to be friendly with the vigers.”
So I couldn’t just set up an offensive barrier outright.
[rm]
It was a simple surveince barrier. It would only alert me to any creatures or magic approaching the wall.
This should be enough to detect any intruders in advance.
I was prepared for potential dangers. Now, it was time to investigate the house.
I didn’t want to wander around thisrge house with my weakened—strength of 5 and health of 7— frail body.
I summoned my magical power and spread my detection spell throughout the house.
[Detection]
A faint buzzing sound filled the air.
“See, I knew there was something.”
The location was the kitchen.
The kitchen appeared as if it hadn’t been used for a long time. There were no signs of cooking or meals. Inside the refrigerator… oh. Impressive.
Several dead rats were stored in the refrigerator.
“Interesting taste.”
It was probably arranged as part of some horror show. The rats didn’t matter to me. I bent down and reached my hand under the sink.
Among the sticky tiles, dust, and insect carcasses…
I found a crumpled piece of paper. There was a small trash bin nearby.
<em>Did someone try to throw it away but it rolled under the sink?</em>
Or maybe the past Kim Shin-hwa hid it there?
At first nce, it looked like a page torn from a notebook…
<em>There’s a faint trace of my magical power.</em>
This was a message from my past self to my present self.
[What the overseer should do at the Dragon King Festival in Insu Vige.
I’m writing it down so I don’t forget! First: 589, 356, 1632.
If you’re so confused that you can’t remember your own name, just die.<ol start="1399"><li>Overseer = A person who helps with the ritual and performs the duties of a ritual officer. Both the ritual officer and vige chief are good people just like teachers so let’s help them well.</li><li>On the night of the ritual, spend the night at the temple with the ritual officer. There must be something to do at the temple.</li><li>From the day before the ritual, the overseer must abstain from alcohol and tobo and maintain proper behavior. Is there anything else to take care of?</li><li>The mask must be worn at all times. It is an important ritual for the overseer from another ce to integrate with the people of this vige. The person who was overseer before I came here…</li></ol>
“Why is a cliché like this happening now?”
The paper was torn, so I couldn’t read the next part.
Well, it can’t be helped. But even this much reveals a lot.
It seems that the past Kim Shin-hwa predicted that he would lose his memoryter on.
“Anyway, did he say ‘just die’?”
It wasn’t the past Kim Shin-hwa being rude to me.
This was a code. The method to decipher it isn’t difficult.
First, Kim Shin-hwa 1399.
These are the names of the characters I created.
Since it was bothersome toe up with new names each time, I named the characters by attaching numbers to Kim Shin-hwa.
“My name is Kim Shin-hwa. And the number, I remember it. So it must hint at the way of death.”
The characters in [Cthulhu World] had limited ways toe back to life.
So a death almost always leads to a game over, but thanks to my intelligence stat, I can remember all 1,700 of my characters’ deaths.
In other words, the sentences written in this note were a code that only someone who could recall how my characters died could solve.
Kim Shin-hwa 1399. And the ritual officer and vige chief are like teachers.
Why did Kim Shin-hwa 1399 die?
At that time, Kim Shin-hwa 1399 was killed by a cultist NPC named Woo Gwang-no.
In other words, it means to be wary of the ritual officer and vige chief.
“Why did I make a code based on how I died?”
To be precise, it’s how the game characters I raised died.
Kim Shin-hwa 924.
While searching for a missing item for an NPC on Park Kwang-lim’s request, I was betrayed and killed by that bastard Park Kwang-lim. So…
At the temple, it’s probably not betrayal, but finding a missing item?
“Ah, are they at the temple?”
It seems that the artifacts I lost were at the temple. Luckily, they were in a ce where I could retrieve it.
Kim Shin-hwa 755.
My character died while trying to ram a yacht into a being of the abyss.
A yacht, or maybe a ship? Is it telling me to get a boat? Could this be an ind?
Kim Shin-hwa 6.
When did I raise this character? It was Kim Shin-hwa from the very beginning. When I didn’t understand the game’s structure well, I wandered around aimlessly and went mad. I eventually died.
Thetter part of the content was cut off, so I couldn’t interpret anything rted to Kim Shin-hwa 6. It seemed to be a warning about madness, but without proper interpretation, it was a bit scary.
“If I’m lucky, I might find the missing parts in some unexpected ce.”
Anyway, I felt relieved. Regardless of everything else, it meant that past Kim Shin-hwa had predicted all these situations.
In other words, being trapped in Insu Vige after losing my memory wasn’t the result of an unfair defeat but part of a bigger n to gain more.
“Then I just need to do what I think is best.”
I took immediate action.
I immediately moved to the master bedroom.
The door to the master bedroom was locked, but this was hardly an obstacle.
[Unlock]
<em>Click.</em>
I entered the master bedroom.
It was the room likely used by the house owner, the vige chief, but like the kitchen, there were no signs of use.
The room was still damp, and the flooring was sticky. Every step I took made a squelching sound as the floor peeled up.
There was a queen-sized bed in the corner. It was piled high with nkets.
I briefly reached out and brushed my hand over the nkets. Dust touched my palm.
“It seems these bedding haven’t been used in a while.”
I momentarily recalled the vige chief’s peculiar appearance. The refrigerator full of rats must have been for the vige chief to eat, right? Is it a mutation? People who have lived in this vige for a long time undergo physical changes. They are blessed by the Cthulhu Mythos and get reborn as otherworldly beings.
“Considering the order written in the note, this should be done first.”
589, 356, 1632, written in a note left by the past Kim Shin-hwa.
Kim Shin-hwa 589. Died when a trap was triggered while opening the safe.
Kim Shin-hwa 356. Died when a monster jumped out of a small box.
Kim Shin-hwa 1632. Died when touching a treasure blessed by a being of the abyss.
“Looks like I’m supposed to take the item from the safe, right?”
I confirmed the location of the safe when I cast the detection spell earlier.
Even without the detection spell, there were hints ced to find the safe’s location. This house and vige are ultimately designed ording to a game-like structure.
The fact that the nkets are all taken out on the bed,
“Means there’s something in the wardrobe.”
<em>Creak…</em>
Inside the wardrobe was a huge safe that wasrge enough to hold a person.
The safe was massive and exuded an incredible sense of weight. The bottom part of the wardrobe had been removed; this was likely because it couldn’t bear the safe’s weight.
In short, the safe wasn’t ced inside the wardrobe. Rather, the wardrobe was built around the safe.
“But this is…”
A dull metallic body.
It was a typical safe with arge door, a dial, and a keyhole.
I raised my hand and infused magical power into the surface of the safe.
<em>Crackle!</em>
“This is not an ordinary item.”
Despite its ordinary appearance, the safe repelled my magical power.
No, it didn’t just repel it; the magical power couldn’t prate it at all. The magical power that lost its direction sparked meaninglessly on the surface of the safe.
“Where did he get something like this?”
This was simr to the treasure chest that contained the [Mask of the Faceless One].
Without the correct key, it would never open.
<em>The vige chief probably has the key.</em>
It meant that I had to either knock out the vige chief, steal from him, trick him, or engage in some other dangerous action to open it.
“I suppose I could ignore all that and just open it…”
There would be a lot of sparks. Could I hide it well enough?
Moreover, I didn’t have [Carcosa’s Mask].
The good thing was that it seemed a bit softer than the treasure chest I openedst time.
“Haaah, there’s no other way. For now, is that window the most dangerous route?”
I extended my left hand and ced an additional barrier on the window. This time, it wasn’t just a simple rm spell. I embedded an aggressive barrier that would strike anyone who approached the window with lightning.
Then, I set up a new barrier surrounding the entire bedroom.
This was to minimize themotion that would soon ur.
Alright.
“Whew.”
With a short deep breath, I activated my magic. After all, whatever was stored in a safe of this level must be something truly amazing.
[Perception]