Episode 36
Episode 36: Tanhyeon Picnic
“This is it.”
What was in Jang Hyeon-deok’s hand was a dirty mask. To be exact, fragments of a shattered mask.
“look. “It’s very similar to what the wizard is using, isn’t it?”
“I see-.”
Again, this is a fragment of the mask.
The chin is missing and the forehead is split, leaving only the part that covers the eyes, which is very unique.
“-Four eyes.”
Aside from its distinctive appearance, there are other ways to know that this item is not just trash.
[Damaged mask (miscellaneous) – Part of a certain mask.
Research or appraisal is necessary to determine its identity.]
A message window does not appear on just any object. If that were the case, something would have appeared on the dumplings I ate today. It must be holding some special secret.
“Give it to me.”
“You have to give it back!”
“okay.”
Jang Hyeon-deok held out his mask only after receiving several more assurances.
“Hmm… … .”
I turned the fragments of the mask around and looked at them closely. It is a gray color that has faded to an ultramarine color, but it was probably white originally.
‘There is a reverberation of magical power, but it has declined so much that I don’t know.’
I had a lot of trouble appraising the Carcosa mask that I’m wearing right now, but I think I could appraise it without much effort if it’s a damaged item like this.
[discrimination]
When the first-level emotional magic is activated, light erupts with a dry sound effect.
[System: Releases the curtain surrounding the ‘Damaged Mask’.]
[Judging to lift the curtain… … .]
Jang Hyeon-deok’s face can be seen beyond the mask fragment.
Because of the strange, indescribable color created by the mixture of the fluorescent glow emanating from the mask and the purple sunset falling from the sky, his handsome face somehow looks like an ominous mythical being from the abyss.
Wow… … .
[Judgment successful.]
Success was easier than expected.
At the same time, new information was added to the message window.
[Mask of Carcosa: Damaged (Miscellaneous) – Although it is now completely destroyed and has lost its power, this object once contained the power of the great old ruler, He Who Must Not Be Named, the great [Yellow Lord] .]
“Holy shit, it’s real.”
“Did I tell you? “I’ll say it again, there are a lot of items just like this in Tanhyeon!”
* * *
Tanhyeon is a neighborhood northwest of Geumchon-dong, and if we talk about the real world where I lived, Tanhyeon is one of the tourist attractions in Paju.
There is the Heyri Art Village, a folk museum, and a decent-sized theme park, and it is also home to one of only two Unification Observatories in Korea.
Since I originally lived in Paju, I have actually visited it several times.
To be honest, the atmosphere of Tanhyeon is closer to the countryside than a tourist destination.
Forest, forest, forest, forest, mountain, mountain, mountain, mountain, mountain, mountain, factory, factory, factory, repeating over and over again, then a brief moment at the tourist attraction, the Imjin River visible on the side of the road, and what you see beyond is North Korea, or something like that.
However, in [Cthulhu World], Tanhyeon is a neighborhood with special meaning.
There is a similar problem with Munsan, where Yonam Construction’s apartment complex is located, which I visited last time. In [Cthulhu World], saying that it is a place close to North Korea is the same as saying that it is a dangerous place.
Therefore, Tanhyeon in [Cthulhu World] has become a kind of high-level area, and now none of Tanhyeon’s tourist attractions in this world are in operation.
Instead, there are only crime-ridden areas created by outlaws, off-limits areas created by surreal disasters, and slums where strange people live in hiding.
Jang Hyeon-deok, who was driving a car in such an absurd place, chatted nonsense with a cheerful expression.
“The atmosphere here is a bit strange now, but it used to be a beautiful area and a decent tourist attraction. You see those ruins in the distance over there? That’s Heyri Art Village. Oh, did you know that there is a legend that says beautiful fairies came down to a pond somewhere here and danced?”
“You’re looking for something beautiful in a town like this.”
“Well, let’s take a look now, right?”
As people stopped visiting it, the topography of Tanhyeon completely changed.
It seems like the air outside the window has changed right away. Although we are clearly moving to the outskirts of the city and approaching the embrace of nature, the nature here is not as clear and green as we expect.
The trees that have grown through the roads and buildings are strangely distorted, perhaps because they drank water flowing in from North Korea, and are blooming with strange gray-brown leaves that are neither green nor yellow.
Trees, stones, trees again, everything that comes into view is twisted and twisted as if suffering from a disease. Among those twisted shadows, you even feel the illusion that the shadow of something that is neither human nor animal is writhing and moving.
Those gloomy trees, trees, trees, trees form a forest, forest, forest, forest, mountains in the distance, the Imjin River visible on the side of the road, and the land of North Korea beyond which you should never look for too long.
It is not a place where there is the kind of danger where bandits or goblins suddenly appear and block the road, but it is a place that sane citizens living in the bright hours of Paju would never visit.
A considerable amount of time has already passed since we left Geumchon-dong. This area is one of the deepest parts of Tanhyeon.
“It’s starting to become a full-fledged tanhyeon. I guess you’re doing it right, right? From now on, I can’t even take responsibility for you.”
“Oh, of course. It’s not my first time coming here. “I heard that they came and went several times carrying professionals like wizards.”
“So how much further do we have to go now?”
“We’re almost there now. Here… … 5 minutes? “No, about 10 minutes?”
I said to Jang Hyeon-deok, thinking about how much it would cost to call another security taxi from Tanhyeon.
“Yes, let me believe it.”
“what? “Have you ever doubted me?”
“No one will trust anyone they meet in Paju when the sun sets.”
“this… … I came this far believing in the wizard. “It’s too much.”
Jang Hyeon-deok said he was disappointed, but his face was actually full of laughter.
From the beginning, it was not a relationship where loyalty or trust could be discussed.
From the moment he confirmed that the fragment of the mask he brought was real, Jang Hyeon-deok demanded an information fee from me, and after a long and tedious argument, we were able to reach the following agreement.
“Then, 2 million for the information fee, 3 million for the fare for me to take you there, and any treasures or artifacts found should be divided exactly 5 to 5.”
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From the moment we entered Tanhyeon, the movement speed slowed down significantly. A road that has been neglected and dug up is a noble property.
There were times when large trees or deformed animal corpses blocked the road, and there were times when we had to push through bushes instead of the road.
As a result, the car shakes and moves forward almost like a ship hit by a storm. I had to spread my magic to stabilize my metabolism to avoid getting motion sick.
At some point, Jang Hyeon-deok became speechless. When I glance at the side of his face, I see him muttering and counting numbers in his mouth.
“Six, seven. Then there is a milestone, then two, three again.”
When I wondered how he was finding his way without a navigation system, he seemed to have memorized the route based on trees and rocks growing along the road.
It was a complicated road that required concentration to the point where I stopped talking.
After driving through a non-road path several more times, the car came to a stop.
“We are here! “It’s right there!”
Jang Hyeon-deok raised one hand and pointed to a place between trees.
“It’s just a tree?”
“Well, it’s hard to see from here. “We can’t go any further than this, so now we’ll have to get down and walk a bit.”
“Is it hiking…? … ?”
“No, not to that extent… … “It’s just past that tree.”
Jang Hyeon-deok got out of the car. In fact, it was difficult to get out quickly because I was still suffering from pain that felt like a vibration was going up to the top of my head, but I had no choice but to grit my teeth and get out of the car.
I think it would have been okay if my health was a little higher… … You can’t make it any higher from here, right?
As Jang Hyeon-deok said, it seems like the destination is not far. I feel that there is an unpleasant magical energy in front that is difficult to feel in other places.
I lightly stretched my back and activated the magic.
[Trap detection]
[Magic power detection]
[Transparent object detection]
Other than the concentration of unnatural magical power, no special danger is detected.
Meanwhile, Jang Hyeon-deok is sneakily moving ahead.
“Hey, Jang Hyeon-deok. “Let’s go together.”
“Oh, yes. welcome. “It’s right here.”
“Go a little slower.”
[protection team]
[Distortion field]
[Goat’s footsteps]
To be honest, my condition wasn’t very good because I hadn’t fully recovered from the aftereffects of the quest three days ago. As a result, in addition to basic defensive magic, he had to use auxiliary magic to strengthen his stamina.
‘There’s nothing good about having more magic numbers to maintain at the same time.’
No matter how much magical power you have, there is no benefit in maintaining multiple magics at the same time. There is also the problem of the power and precision of each individual being reduced, and concentration continues to be exhausted.
Besides using magic, the surrounding environment is draining my concentration.
First of all, a strange fishy smell emanating from the tree. It is different from the damp smell unique to the forest. It is closer to the smell of sewage stagnating in a sewer. And strange bugs with misshapen shapes hanging from the trees. Insects with thorny shells or patterns that resemble human faces crawl on their eight or nine feet.
“There is nothing normal here.”
And the fact that it is a place where I don’t know the strategy also irritates my nerves. In the past, there were situations where the planned development was ignored, but not to this extent. I know Tanhyeon both outside of the game and inside the game, but I have never been to a place like this.
And at some point, I realized that I had reached the place that Jang Hyeon-deok had mentioned.
“What is that…?” … ?”
It was a scenery I had never seen before.
Tree tree tree tree tree, forest forest forest An overly wide open space suddenly appeared after the forest.
And there are probably hundreds of rocks, rocks, rocks, rocks, placed at regular intervals in that vacant lot.
It’s called a rock because it’s something made of stone, but can it really be called a rock?
Those rocks had a bizarre lifelike shape, as if they had grown from the ground instead of trees, and at the same time, I felt an unpleasant malice that refused to imagine that they had never been created naturally.
Just saying that expression made me feel bad, but it was about the size of a human and had a shape similar to that of a human.
therefore… … like… … .
[The ruins spread out before your eyes are eerily quiet. A land of silence where you cannot even hear the sounds of grasshoppers or birds that have been tickling your ears. And it is a barren land where not even a single tree or flower can bloom.
The bizarre stone pillars arranged endlessly on the wide-spreading land are ominous shapes that are difficult to describe, as if they were created by a human being struggling in pain and pleading with a cruel god.
All that meets the eye is a hideous and sacrilegious spectacle created by the hand of an artist of extremely dynamic and destructive madness.]
[The ominous silence and evil magic that hovers in this space have a negative impact on your spirit.]
[System: Attempts to resist evil influence with mental strength stat. Mental strength test… … success.]
I made a successful check and no damage was inflicted on me, but other than that, it was an unpleasant place.
fantasy,
