Chapter 131: Short Description

Chapter 131: Short Description

“Whooo...”

I took a deep breath.

Masquerade... This is an event even I might find hard to handle.

Right. I haven’t even checked the letter yet.

“Let’s open it first.”

The envelope contained two pieces of paper.

One was a folded A4 sheet, and the other was a cute illustrated postcard that looked like a Christmas card.

“Oh, it’s a bear?”

Heo Sang-hyeon’s voice sounded bewildered.

He looked relieved for a moment. As if saying, “What, I misunderstood for no reason?” a helpless smile appeared on his face.

For now, I agreed with Heo Sang-hyeon.

“Yes, it’s a cute bear design.”

It was a postcard with an image of a cute purple bear shyly greeting.

Even more, it was a cute bear with colorful candies drawn on its belly.

Unfortunately, this was not a situation to be relieved about.

This was actually a warning sign.

In this world, there was only one crazy person who would send such a postcard to a 150-year-old necromancer.

Dokgo Gyeom.

One of the most dangerous figures in the Cthulhu World.

Indeed, if it was a masquerade, it could only be Dokgo Gyeom.

“This letter is from Dokgo Gyeom. It’s probably an invitation.”

Heo Sang-hyeon looked at me with a curious expression.

“You haven’t even read the contents yet, but you’re speaking as if you already know what it is?”

“Oh, it’s because I know what a masquerade is.”

A masquerade was a very special gathering.

It was established by a certain mad NPC in the Cthulhu World aiming for religious unification...

It’s an organization that transcends sects and cults.

It was an interfaith union for cultists that aimed at mutual development, enhancing their rights, and stopping annoying individuals like fixers or the administration.

There was a membership fee, and they exchanged information for fun among themselves, occasionally gathered for workshops, attended events, sent gifts during holidays, lent money to each other, and avenged dead friends...

They were essentially just a cult, but they enjoyed themselves well.

I could roughly guess what was written on the postcard.

Let’s see.

“The movement of the stars is unusual. Soon, the stars will find their places. Before that day comes, a gathering is needed to decide the direction of the judges. Prepare your masks. Though the time is near, we wish to hold a masquerade.”

Ah, shit. I was right.

Different religious cultists were planning to gather and wear masks to have a friendly exchange.

Of course, it wasn’t just about socializing.

Usually, the exchange was a light pre-event, and the main event was a joint ritual with cultists from different cults gathered in one place.

I shook my head and said to Heo Sang-hyeon.

“They sent a letter not knowing that Hollow Lord is dead?”

“There are too many words I don’t understand.”

Heo Sang-hyeon looked completely baffled.

“Well, it’s nothing much. So—”

Hmm, if I start explaining this in detail, it will take a long time. Do I really need to?

“This is a meeting of judges from each cult.”

“Judges...? Are they similar to the former master? Like a cult leader?”

Ah, do I need to explain from there?

“No, to be precise, it’s a bit different. This is just a title that the cultists decided on themselves.”

“Decided on themselves?”

It’s really a baseless title.

It’s not like the beings of the abyss call them that, nor is it a title recognized outside of their gatherings.

In fact, even in the Call of Cthulhu universe, which inspired the [Cthulhu World] game, there were no such titles. It’s a title unique to this place.

“From the cultists’ perspective, the beings of the abyss are gods, right? If a cultist receives an excessive amount of attention from such a being and becomes famous enough to surpass other cultists, they are called a judge.”

Usually, only those at the level of a cult leader receive such a title, but sometimes, like in Hwa In’s case, someone who is not a leader but inherits the title or traits can become one.

There are also those with exceptionally outstanding talents, those who can manifest special miracles with legendary artifacts, and so on.

“So, in the end, do we have to accept this invitation?”

Heo Sang-hyeon seems to have roughly understood what I was trying to say.

The area under his eyes darkened to the point it turned bluish.

“Don’t worry. We can just cancel the event here.”

“What?”

Heo Sang-hyeon asked back in a bewildered tone.

Oh no, since I was talking about the game settings, I ended up talking as if I was a streamer.

“Oh, I misspoke. Come on, what can I do by participating here? If I just go there in advance and set fire to the place, the meeting won’t be held at all.”

“Fire... you say?”

“Hoho, that’s right. They would need a place to hold the event after all, right?”

Actually, this was a sort of bug exploitation, but if I attacked in advance and destroyed the place where they were supposed to gather, the meeting wouldn’t happen.

Of course, this wasn’t easy either.

To prevent this kind of game abuse (the act of gaining advantage in a different way than intended in the game), the quests in [Cthulhu World] often had randomly changing locations.

But this time, we knew the location in advance, right?

“They kindly announced the location beforehand, didn’t they? If we go there and burn it all down in advance, it’ll be simple.”

Oh, of course, there were some random artifacts that could only be obtained by clearing this event.

But most of the items that come from here are usually useless, so it’s okay to ignore them.

Since it was a kind of bug exploitation, there would be no rewards or even experience points.

However, it was more stable to prevent the meeting from happening than to suffer in that terrible place with hundreds of cultists gathered.

So decision made!

To use this strategy, we had to move quickly.

Now, let’s see, when was the event scheduled?

The event schedule was written on an A4 paper enclosed with the postcard.

The date is tight.

Ah, this is really annoying. Should I do a speed run after a long time?

And then, the meeting place written below.

“Sejong City, huh?”

Geez, they called me far away. How is an old man with bones that barely move supposed to get there?

And the event schedule listed below.

An immoral feast using immoral ingredients.

The main event along with human sacrifice.

With other sadistic and disgusting acts that didn’t need detailed mention.

And then there was ...

Huh?

An unexpected sentence caught my eye.

The clear reward that players could only think of as random.

It was written there.

The owner of the [Mask of the Faceless One] will also be decided this time.

They were giving the [Mask of the Faceless One] as a reward?

Again, the best play here is to just cancel the event itself.

But...

If the event was stopped, this artifact couldn’t be obtained.

I have to give this up?

My reflection appeared in the mirror hanging in the living room.

The image of a mad mage stared back at me.

A crazy mage always wearing a bizarrely shaped mask.

I already had an L-rank mask artifact anyway.

Unless I had two faces, I couldn’t use the other mask even if I got it.

And just like I had only one face, I had only one life.

Sometimes I deliberately put myself in danger, but that was usually an adventure born out of extreme situations. Pointless adventures are unnecessary when you already know what will happen.

At this moment, I needed a calm and rational judgment.

Yes, Kim Shin-hwa, get a grip.

“Hmm... But this is still kind of tempting.”

TN: Lol, man is obsessed with masks