Chapter 14: Achievements
(TN: Sorry. It seems Tudor is female. Yeah, I was overthinking stuff. Will correct everything about that. Sigh.)
*****
[You have saved a human corrupted by the fluid of the 'Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young'! This is an astonishing feat that no one in this world has ever attempted. Beings from the abyss have witnessed your accomplishment. While some entities may have taken interest in you, others felt anger, but you remain undeterred, focusing solely on your principles.]
Principles or not, I was just trying to complete a quest. About 40% of it was just curiosity to see how far I could go. Anyway, these messages keep pushing this narrative that I'm acting for some righteous cause... I can't figure out what they want.
[Remarkable Achievement Unlocked! You have banished the power of the 'Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young' and reverted a heteromorphic being back to human form. You have earned the 'Mythical Achievement: He who insulted the Abyssal One'.
As a reward for this achievement, you will gain the hidden trait 'Secret Knowledge: Life Creation' and additional experience points.]
Suddenly, an outrageous reward came my way.
The phrase 'He who insulted the Abyssal One' bothered me a bit, but the reward for it was a hidden trait.
Hidden Trait [Secret Knowledge: Life Creation].
This is the first time I've seen such a trait. Wow, did something like this exist?
As [Secret Knowledge: Life Creation] activated, new knowledge I had never known before began to emerge in my mind.
Now, if only I had the materials...
Humans can also be made...?
What is this immense knowledge? I had no idea such things were hidden. My actions were merely aimed at completing a request, yet I received an unimaginable reward.
I'm not sure yet how to use this knowledge.
Creating people for what purpose? Moreover, the necessary materials are utterly absurd.
[You have accumulated enough experience points to advance to the next level. Your level increases by 1.]
[You have defeated the fixer Lee Chang-hyuk.]
[You have defeated the 'Mutant'. Your understanding of the gods improved.]
[You have accumulated enough experience points to advance to the next level. Your level increases by 2.]
[Discovery: You have acquired a secret item (1). Experience points gained.]
This must be a reward for obtaining the fluid of Shub-Niggurath... Though I planned to return it, the separate experience points were a pleasant bonus.
[You have accumulated enough experience to advance to the next level. Your level increases by 1.]
Was I now level 14? Normally, it would have been difficult to even increase one level against such a trivial foe... But thanks to the strange things he did, my level went up a lot more than I expected.
The experience points from the quest rewards hadn't come in yet, so perhaps by the end of tonight, I might reach level 15.
All I had to do was go back to Café Vasilisa and hand over Lee Chang-hyuk and the body fluids to Tudor and it would all be over.
Ah, there's a place I need to visit first.
The place I stopped by before returning to Tudor wasn't anything extraordinary.
It was the chaotic mess of Lee Chang-hyuk's motel room.
Although the situation had been resolved, it was resolved so quickly that the motel owner still hadn't returned.
The motel's guests had evacuated to the lounge, forming a crowd, but...
Since I had blasted through the wall with my magical power at the end, I was able to sneak in without going through the lounge.
I don't have much time to search.
In this lawless neighborhood, reporting to the police was futile as they wouldn't respond quickly.
Perhaps it would be even faster to pay brokers extra to hire a fixer?
Nevertheless, it was quieting down and the curious onlookers were beginning to gather outside.
All I needed to do was find one thing and leave. I laid Lee Chang-hyuk, who was wrapped in a straitjacket, down and searched the room.
He wasn't dead, but he was completely unconscious and likely wouldn't wake up for several days.
Ah, there it is.
I found the security bag that Lee Chang-hyuk had thrown earlier.
Inside it...I placed the [Black Goat's Body Fluid] extracted from Lee Chang-hyuk, turning it into the [Artifact: Security Bag with the Test Subject] which was originally the object of the request.
Of course, such details wouldn't appear in any explanation, but accuracy is crucial in artifact retrieval requests.
Even the slightest damage or deviation from the request's conditions is unacceptable. This isn't a place lenient enough to just shrug off inevitable issues with a casual "Oh, is that so?"
This is especially true for requests involving nefarious corporations like Helistic.
However, a somewhat tricky problem arose.
The amount of this has increased, hasn't it?
A magical engineering security device was installed inside the bag.
When I tried to place the [Black Goat's Body Fluid] into it, I realized that the amount exceeded the specified quantity.
Did it absorb something from Lee Chang-hyuk and grow...?
It wasn't a major issue. I just needed to split and store only the amount required inside the bag.
Fizz-crackle-pop.
It hasn't increased by much. After confining the fluid in the security bag, the remaining quantity was only about the size of a little finger.
This might also be useful.
It was indeed a dangerous substance. If it parasitized my body, I could transform into a monster like Lee Chang-hyuk.
Still, it was more dangerous to throw it away and above all...
It was an incredibly valuable catalyst. Selling it to a company hostile to Helistic could fetch me several hundred million.
In the end, I rummaged through the refrigerator and found a bottle of water which I emptied.
It was just an ordinary plastic bottle, but the material didn't matter. What was more important was its ability to contain something... and the will and magical power contained within.
After infusing the bottle with magical power and forming a glowing magical circle, I trapped the black goat's body fluid inside it.
Now, unless I permit it, nothing can escape from this bottle. Of course, this was a temporary measure and I would need to invest more time later for a safer solution.
And then... in the messy motel room, I found some jewelry and three bundles of cash, each worth about five million won. Roughly fifteen million won in total? Perhaps a part of his escape funds?
He wouldn't have been dreaming of fleeing overseas with just this amount. Seeing as I couldn't see anything else in this room right now, I guess he was hiding a bigger sum of money somewhere else.... But I didn't have the luxury to search for that now.
It could be buried under a garlic field in some remote mountain or stashed in a dummy account, or perhaps an agent was holding onto it.
I also scooped up all the miscellaneous items Lee Chang-hyuk had, including trivial documents and identification cards, into my bag.
There might be clues in these items to locate Lee Chang-hyuk's funds. Of course, he might have already passed them to a smuggling broker, or they could be in a place impossible to trace... But taking these few papers wouldn't cause any harm.
During this process, I stumbled upon a rather large suitcase.
I had been pondering how to transport the almost luggage-like Lee Chang-hyuk, and there it was: the perfect solution.
It was a bag for the essentials of a fugitive life, but once emptied, it was big enough to fit a robust adult. Very good.
I walked outside and hailed a taxi.
My destination was once again the Geumchon neighborhood. Today, I had really traveled far and wide.
The taxi driver I met this time wore an excited expression. He tried to start a conversation with me several times hoping that I had a good story to tell, but as I didn't respond, he eventually fell silent.
Was this a common trait among taxi drivers in Paju?
After a long drive, the taxi stopped by the roadside where the large brass Buddha statue of Haknyeongsan Forest Park was visible.
As the night fully descended, the neon signs of the Geumcho neighborhood lit up casting dazzling lights everywhere. Bathed in these fluorescent hues, the brass Buddha exuded an eerily mystical atmosphere.
Now, meeting Tudor to receive the payment would conclude my day's work.
Huh?
Vasilisa was a café that operated 24/7, every day of the year.
It was run by an employee whose humanity was questionable and a witch whose age was unknown. The shop also served as a brokerage for various information and services circulated in the underworld.
Its influence extended not just to Paju but across the entire metropolitan area... Meaning, that regardless of the time, it was never a place short of customers.
But now Vasilisa was completely devoid of customers.
Of course, it was late. When I opened the smartphone found among Lee Chang-hyuk's belongings, it showed 3 AM.
It wasn't unusual for the place to be empty at this hour. However, the atmosphere felt strangely off.
The giant beauty, or rather the witch Tudor, was waiting for me right at the entrance of the shop. She opened the door and said.
"We've closed for regular business today."
"I don't think you're telling me to go back because you're done for the day, right?"
"That's right. I wanted to have a comfortable chat with you, so I chased out all those nosy gossip-lovers. Come in, dear."
Tudor led the way and chattered in a cheerful voice. She seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood.
"Lee Chang-hyuk is... in that bag, I assume? You didn't disassemble him, did you? Orb! Come here and take the bag!"
"He's still alive inside the bag."
Orb with his large monitor instead of a human head approached me and took the suitcase.
As I handed over the suitcase containing Lee Chang-hyuk and the security bag, a quest completion message appeared.
[Despite the absurd and unexpected situation, you used your amazing wisdom and profound magic to solve the problem and arrest the evil criminal Lee Chang-hyuk. Many have started to take notice of your actions. Tudor, the broker you're contracted with, has developed a deep fondness for you. Expect more requests and rewards from her in the future.]
[You have completed the quest!
<Bounty Quest: Hunting Lee Chang-hyuk>
Reward: 50,000XP (+the monetary reward promised by the broker is separate)]
[You have accumulated enough experience points to advance to the next level. Your level increases by 1.]
[You have reached level 15! As a level achievement reward, you receive (1) bonus stat point to distribute freely.]
I allocated the bonus stat point to charm as planned.
****
Kim Shin-hwa
Class: Mage Gazing into the Abyss
Level: 15
Magic Order: First Order
Mental Illness: [Mask Obsession], [Triskaidekaphobia]
Strength: 5(+3) (Ring of Corrupted Flame)
Health: 6
Agility: 8
Intelligence: 30
Mental Strength: 14
Charm: 17
****
"Dear, are you okay?"
Tudor slightly bent forward as she looked at me with her big eyes. I couldn't really feel it while sitting, but Tudor was very tall, roughly...about 1.9 meters? Yet, despite her height, every aspect of her physique was ideally proportioned, leaving no room for awkwardness. She seemed more like a perfect embodiment of a goddess from a fantasy. As expected, her charm score of 20 is not just for show.
However, apart from her high charm score, there was a strong presence and an intimidating air about her. It's possible that she has the blood of a non-human race mixed in, but the game provides no details on that, so the specifics remain unknown.
I waved my hand dismissively at Tudor's gaze.
"I'm fine. Just lost in thought for a moment."
Even though she's a witch with remarkable abilities, Tudor, like any other character in the game, cannot see message windows or status screens. Does that mean she's merely a character within the game?
Tudor wore a worried look for a moment as if concerned about my mental state, then broke into a bright smile. Her expression does change effortlessly.
"I was expecting some sensational news~, but wow, you handled it in quite the noisy way, didn't you?"
"Were you watching?"
"That's not true. But given the absurdity of what happened, it's not surprising that I know. The incident was already making the rounds on the brokers' network."
*****
(TN: The reason why I assumed Tudor was a male was, well, cuz of the name Tudor. The reason why I'm assuming she's a female now, because of the term beauty/beautiful woman(미녀). And the term goddess (여신). Which is gender-specific
If you're confused about why I'm still not sure about the gender here, it's because compared to English, Korean has a general absence of gender-specific pronouns.)