Chapter 58: Mi-go's Laboratory (2)

But meeting the Mi-go was out of the question today.

At the moment when Je Mu-gyeong and his friends initiated their rebellion, the Mi-go had already escaped from this laboratory.

However, it was possible to encounter something else.

- Who... is...?

An eerie voice filled the air.

"Who's there?!"

"Hold on Curtain Call."

- Who is it...?

- Why... is it... so dark...?

"Kim Shin-hwa, what... is that?"

"That... is an assistant of the Mi-go."

The assistant of the Mi-go was the sole survivor among the researchers of this hospital.

Though it was debatable whether this could still be considered survival.

I didn't know its name. In the game, it was simply referred to as "Migo's assistant".

The assistant of the Mi-go spoke to me.

- What on earth... has happened?

"You've been deceived by the Mi-go."

Bubbling... Bubbling...

There was nothing in the room that bore a human shape.

Only a large glass tube was placed on the desk.

It was a glass tube connected to a mechanical device of avant-garde design.

Inside the glass tube was a living human brain.

The very thing often joked about... a "brain in a jar".

This was "Mi-go's assistant".

[System: The unique trait 'Madness of the Abyss' has been activated. The mental distortion has been nullified.]

Bubbling...

The sound of bubbling emanated from the glass tube.

A strangely modulated human voice flowed from the speaker connected to the machine.

The emotionless voice continued to pose questions to me.

- Why... can't my body... move?

- Where are... the others?

- I want... to go home...

The Mi-go often engaged in such perverse acts for the sake of their research.

They would open a human's head, extract the brain, and imprison it in what they called a "Mi-go Brain Cylinder".

This wasn't something they did to just anyone... Typically, they reserved this grotesque form of "kindness" for humans who caught their fancy.

This was, in a manner of speaking, a gift from the Mi-go.

Why consider this a gesture of goodwill or a gift?

Who could possibly understand?

With a culture and philosophy utterly alien to humanity, trying to comprehend their actions was futile.

If I were to enlighten this brain about its predicament, instead of driving it to madness, it would impart to me the madness and wisdom of the Cthulhu Mythos.

And if I coax this brain well, I may be able to find out the truth about what happened here.

But neither was of any real use to me. I had already experienced both paths in the game.

"Kim Shin-hwa, kill it!"

Suddenly, Curtain Call cried out.

"Just a moment."

"Ah. Kill it now!"

"Wait."

Instead, I turned off the life support system beneath the glass tube.

- Are you... still... nearby?

- Hello...? Hello...? Hello...?

- Please... say something...

- I can't see... anything...

- It's dark... so dark...

- It's cold... so cold... so very cold...

- It's cold...

- It's cold...

- so cold...

The [Mi-go Brain Cylinder] soon fell silent.

"Ha, is it dead?"

"Yeah, it's dead."

"What a nasty business."

Haaah... Indeed. It leaves behind a bad taste. If you go through events that are hostile to Helistic, you will have several more opportunities to confront the Mi-go race. When those times come, perhaps there will be an opportunity to shake off this foul mood.

Curtain Call and I moved further into the Mi-go's laboratory and soon discovered a special area.

The first thing that caught our eye was a large surgery table.

This was no ordinary surgery table.

Each part of the table was equipped with restraints for the hands, feet, and torso.

At the head of the table, there were ominous rotating saw blades, drills, and mechanical arms whose purpose was difficult to discern.

"What is this bizarre thing?"

"It's a rather sophisticated surgery table where lying here, those mechanical arms would automatically move to decapitate and extract the brain."

How many had been decapitated here?

"Is this all there is to this place? Just this horrendous stuff?"

"You wanted to come here, and now all you have are complaints."

"I thought there would be more things to kill."

What kind of remark was that?

"I'm bored now, so I'll be by the elevator. Kim Shin-hwa, grab what you need and come quickly."

"Hmm, alright then."

There wasn't anything here that could possibly interest Curtain Call anyway. What I needed was that book, the one that drove Je Mu-gyeong mad.

Je Mu-gyeong had behaved entirely differently in the game.

It was surely that book that had changed him.

I need to escape this world.

It wasn't strange for me who was an outsider to this world to harbor such thoughts, but why would Je Mu-gyeong who was a being of this world come to think the same thing?

And then there was that final message sent telepathically by the Mi-go researcher.

All the secrets and clues must be connected to that grimoire.

I've found it

I found an old manuscript with a red cover in a bookshelf of avant-garde design nearby.

[The Silent Scripture of the Dreaming Path

Category: Grimoire

Author: Unknown

Year of Creation: 16th Century

Language: Tibetan

This book deals with the principles of life and death and the secrets of reincarnation. It concretely describes the afterlife and the realm of dreams and outlines the path to enlightenment.

Further research is required to ascertain the true value of the book.]

The message window displayed correctly.

Originally, pressing the [Research] button would automatically conduct the research... but now it seems I must examine it myself.

Given the book's age, the paper was incredibly fragile.

The cover was in relatively good condition, which led me to believe that someone from a later generation might have rebound the cover.

I carefully opened the book while taking great care not to tear the fragile paper.

As I turned the pages, I noticed thin sheets riddled with holes...

Wait a minute? The yellow color was the paper, and the black color was the letters.

"But I can't read the writing...?"

[The Silent Scripture of the Dreaming Path

Language: Tibetan]

No matter how intelligent one might be, it's impossible to immediately read a language that one has never encountered before.

How did Je Mu-gyeong manage to read this? Did he know Tibetan?

I soon found the answer.

It was because he had discovered an artifact that granted him the ability to decipher languages.

However, it was an item I could not use.

I picked up a small flask that I found on the shelf.

Inside the flask was a grotesque creature the size of a thumb, wriggling with tiny cilia.

It had such a horrible shape that the best I could do was describe it as a creature that resembled a Grima.

[Language Assistance Parasite (B-rank Implant): An implant designed to facilitate fluency in various languages. It contains 78 languages currently used on Earth and 8 extraterrestrial languages.

A parasitic organism created using Mi-go technology. This can be directly inserted into the brain using a specialized surgical device.]

Despite the high efficiency of this artifact, which allows for the mastering of dozens of languages quite easily, there are side effects, such as bursts of madness or a significant reduction in humanity.

By placing my head on the surgical table over there, I could have this alien Grima implanted into my brain.

Since it wasn't my real life, I often went ahead with such implants in the game... but, fu*k.

My mind was already in a precarious state as it was; I had no desire to further complicate matters by embedding a grima into my brain.

"Tsk, should I manually decipher Tibetan somehow?"

It might take some time, but with my current intelligence, it wouldn't be too difficult a task.

Ultimately, I decided to set aside the immediate examination of The Silent Scripture of the Dreaming Path and shoved it into my backpack.

It was disappointing not to have the answers right away, but there were more things to gather here.

I checked a few more books gathered on the bookshelf.

Even though finding a research journal directly left by the Mi-go would have been incredibly helpful, no such thing existed.

Perhaps due to their different physiological structure from humans, they didn't leave behind anything resembling a research journal.

"Yet, they somehow managed to collaborate with humans to create experimental subjects..."

The Mi-go was a race that was very proud when it came to their technology.

It was classified as taboo to teach their technology to other races, such as humans.

To the point where they would send assassins after anyone who dared to steal their technology.

But they still go and collaborate with human corporations like this.... which meant that they had a goal big enough to override their taboos.

While there were no direct documents from the Mi-go, it wasn't true that there was nothing of use.

"Was this written by human researchers?"

It was a note written by someone's hand about the test subjects... Among them, it contained information about the experiments conducted on Je Mu-gyeong.

The author of these notes was likely either killed by the test subjects or had their brains harvested by the Mi-go.

Although not of the caliber of magical books, these documents still held value in the context of the game.

I tossed those experimental notes into the cart and turned my attention to the other books.

Most of the other books revolved around biological knowledge or human modification.

Being involved with Helistic kept leading me to accumulate such materials.

Combining these materials with the [Secret Knowledge: Creation of Life] trait I acquired last time could lead to incredible achievements.

The knowledge of creating life was a trait I had never acquired throughout my journey in [Cthulhu World], making it difficult to decide how to make use of it.

I made sure to collect all the books that seemed useful.

Ah, there is one more thing I need to grab.

Aren't there gamers who can't rest until they've rubbed against every wall and opened every box in sight? I'm one of those gamers. It's a time-consuming habit, but it's the only way to uncover certain information.

It was around here somewhere...

I slid my hand into a small nook hidden among ordinary-looking mechanical devices....and pulled...

Click.

Right.

There was a very small secret box here. It was more akin to a secret shelf, but I reached inside and pulled out a small stone hidden within.

It was a smooth shiny stone about 5cm in diameter.

On one side, a star-shaped magic circle was engraved into the middle of the object amidst the emerald glow. It felt more like an artifact of magic than a product of technology.

[Guardian Amulet of the Ancient God (B-rank Magical Tool): a protective amulet with the power to drive away malevolent forces and weaken beings from the abyss. Blessed with the protection of an ancient deity.]

Despite the grand description of its power to weaken abyssal beings, the effect of this Guardian series varied significantly by rank. Since it was B-rank, it was more likely to fend off minions of the abyss rather than directly influence the beings themselves.

Nevertheless, it could still be harmful to the Mi-go.

However, it seemed the Mi-go had humans insert this amulet into a device to extract the ancient deity's energy contained within.

As a result, its magical power was depleted, rendering it unable to perform at its full capacity.

"Still, it's a thousand times better than having nothing at all."

If all else fails, it could serve as a material or a catalyst for other artifacts.

I packed up the items I had gathered and headed toward the elevator.

"It's time to head back."

As I approached the elevator, I saw Curtain Call leaning against the wall. Her gaze was fixed on something... The brain container of the Mi-go assistant who had died earlier.

That's quite an indescribable scene in its own right.

I wondered what she was thinking.

"Curtain Call, it's time to go back."

"I've killed a lot, Kim Shin-hwa."

"What?"

"I think I've killed about 50 people. Right?"

There were 58 subjects here, including Je Mu-gyeong. Considering the ones I subdued, it's possible that the number of subjects Curtain Call ended could be around that.

"What are you trying to say?"

"We need to kill more... only then can I fulfill my wish."

A wish? What kind of psychopath talk is that?

It reminded me of my recent encounter with Jang Hyeon-deok and the [King in Yellow]. They had mentioned a wish. In [Cthulhu World], the mention of "wishes" seldom bodes well.

It implies something is broken, someone will die, or something will become twisted—if it hasn't already. It is a word that is only mentioned in such situations.

I moved closer to Curtain Call and spoke.

"What kind of wish do you want to fulfill?"

"Well? That's not what's important. The fact that it's being fulfilled is."

"Curtain Call, I'm not quite sure what you're getting at..."

"Did Kim Shin-hwa kill for no particular reason?"

"No, there was a reason."

Or perhaps there was no reason not to kill.

"Can't you hear the voices?"

"What?"

"The revelation that commands us to kill. You think people are killed without such a thing?"

"Who... says such things?"

Curtain Call looked at me with wide eyes and smiled.

"The [All-Mother]."

"Ah."

That one was a familiar name.

This was the nickname of [The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young], the abyssal being that turned Lee Chang-hyuk into a mutant.

The monstrous power and bizarre madness of Curtain Call, a surreal force that can only be called a mutation. I understood where it all came from. Curtain Call was a cultist who received the blessing of the [The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young].

A dangerous and horrifying cultist who praises the great goddess by repeating slaughters in accordance with her revelations.

However, for some reason, it seemed that the blade was only directed at entities associated with the corporation named Helistic.

For the time being.... I decided to keep a closer watch on her... And that day I parted ways with Curtain Call without further conversation.