I Became a Genius Mage in the Cthulhu Game
Chapter 132: Sejong, the City of Hope and Happiness

It was late at night.

On a long, straight road somewhere in Chungcheong Province.

It was a remote road with no buildings in sight. At this late hour, there were no other vehicles except for the call van I was in.

In the driver’s seat beside me, Jang Hyeon-deok who was pale and sweating was pressing the accelerator.

Vrooooom!

The roaring engine and the tremendous wind noise made me feel like I was going deaf.

But there were no other sounds.

“Is everything sorted out?”

Jang Hyeon-deok seemed to find it hard to take my words at face value.

He nervously twisted his head to look up at the sky several times before finally speaking.

“Is it… is it over? Did we lose them? Really?”

I was about to respond with something like, “Yes, really this time,” when something suddenly blocked my view.

[Quest …]

It was a message window. What nonsense was it spouting now?

“Get lost!”

Unable to contain the surging blood pressure, I released a bolt of lightning.

Crackle!

A blue lightning bolt blazed in the cramped car.

“Aaaah!!”

Screeeeech!!

Startled by the sight, Jang Hyeon-deok screamed and let go of the steering wheel.

The scenery outside the window spun at an incredible speed. Ahhh! The car is spinning!

“Idiot! Grab the wheel!”

Screeeeech!!

“Whose fault do you think this is?”

Screeeeech!!

The guardrail loomed closer.

“Aaaah!”

Fortunately, the car stabilized just before the critical moment. Whew, what kind of crazy bastard casts magic inside a moving car?

“Mage-nim! What on earth is wrong with you? Have you lost your mind?!”

“Ah, sorry. My insanity acted up suddenly.”

[Quest Completed!

Reward: 1,250,000 XP + 120,000,000 won]

Anyway, was the quest completed? This isn’t enough to level up anymore.

“It’s okay now. The mission is complete.”

“Haah… Really? I almost died. You said it was just a long-distance trip, so why did I have to engage in a chase with monster birds?!”

“From the beginning, I told you we’d handle a simple task on the way to Sejong City.”

The costs, including this task, were agreed from the start.

“Dozens of monster birds with a wingspan of 12 meters are a simple task?”

“But it was handled smoothly, right? Isn’t it really the best to make money comfortably?”

“Last time, you said it was a simple task and dragged me to Tanhyeon. Why do you keep doing this to me? Do you have a grudge against me?”

“Huh? For a taxi driver who dragged someone into a death trap on the first meeting, you sure have a sharp tongue.”

“Ugh, isn’t it even after dragging me to Tanhyeon last time?”

“Yeah, you’re right, I’m sorry, Hyeon-deok.”

“Oh, come on! Please stop doing that!”

Huh? Seems like this isn’t working anymore.

“I’ve said it before, but everything went according to my plan from start to finish.”

“Can you include my car’s safety in that plan?”

“Your car is going safely, isn’t it?”

Unable to hold back any longer, Jang Hyeon-deok suddenly turned his body and pointed to the roof of the back seat.

“Look at that! Look at it!”

Screeeech!

“Hey! Look ahead! Look ahead!”

The roof of the back seat had a hole big enough for a person’s body to pass through. Because of that, the wind noise coming into the car had been unbearable.

[Sound Wave Distortion]

Creating a barrier that blocked the noise made things much more pleasant.

“That was part of the plan too. When we get paid by Tudor, I’ll cover the repair costs.”

Knowing this would happen, I had already deposited the repair fee with Tudor.

“Please, leave my car out of your plans next time.”

“You tell me to include it, then to leave it out; make up your mind.”

“Ugh… By the way, where did those birds go?”

He casually referred to the giant monsters with wingspans over 12 meters as “those birds”.

“Hmm, they’re probably still flying around here. They should be just above those clouds.”

“Is it okay to just leave that…as it is? This area doesn’t have any decent fixers, does it?”

“The request was to get rid of them in Paju, right? Besides, if we go a bit further, we’ll reach an area with plenty of fixers. They’ll take care of it.”

Though I didn’t actually plan to leave it, I just said that because it was annoying.

It might have sounded heartless, but Jang Hyeon-deok just made an expression as if he accepted my explanation. Well, he’s not exactly a naive civilian either.

We are in Jochiwon.

A bit further down the road, we’ll reach the huge future city of Sejong.

“Anyway, drive for a bit. I need to call Tudor.”

Just as I started talking to Tudor, she said the same thing as Jang Hyeon-deok.

– Hello? Why did you take them there?

“Were you watching?”

– How could I do that? Unlike you, I’m a modern person, so I found out through the internet. The real-time search terms are no joke.

The internet? Oh, right, this isn’t a game.

It felt strange that the residents of this world interacted with me in ways different from those presented in the game.

I briefly took the smartphone away from my ear and checked the internet browser. The real-time search terms were filled with keywords like monster birds, monster birds in the sky, Chungcheong province monster birds, monster birds in Jochiwon, Cheongju emergency, monsters in Cheongju, great collapse, monsters in Cheonan, and so on.

“Everyone has been living comfortably so far, huh? Those monsters have been flying over Unjeong Station for a while, and now ‘Chungcheong province monster birds’ is trending?”

Those birds had been spotted over Unjeong Station for over a month.

– People just don’t care about what’s happening in Paju. Anyway, why did you drag those things all the way to Chungcheong Province?

“I removed the monster birds from Unjeong Station because you asked me to. I did what you wanted, and now everyone’s complaining?”

Though she said this, she probably wasn’t too upset. After all, the quest was marked as completed.

– Well, as long as it’s out of Paju, it doesn’t matter. But are you going to leave them there? The people in Chungcheong Province must be thrilled.

They would be thrilled. Thrilled enough to put a bounty on my head.

“I’ll get rid of them eventually.”

– You’re going too far south. Where are you? How far do you plan to go? If you keep going that way…

“Are you seeing something weird?”

– It’s the internet. The real-time search terms changed, so I knew. You use all your brainpower on magic calculations and don’t think about anything else. Take a break sometimes, get some fresh air, exercise.

It was sad to hear this from a witch who had probably lived since before the 19th century.

As Tudor said, “Monster Birds in Sejong City” had climbed to the top of the real-time search rankings.

“Anyway, I took care of it, so just deposit the money.”

– Okay, okay.

“Oh, and how much of the repair fee is left?”

– Haha, did you wreck the car again? There shouldn’t be much left. For our very busy mage, I’ll make sure to adjust the balance.

“Alright. I’ll leave the minor tasks to you. I’m going to sleep for a day and head up tomorrow.”

End of the call.

I took a moment to focus, took a deep breath, and used my magic to check the state of the monster birds… no, the Shantaks.

[Thousand Eyes]

I could see what was happening up in the sky.

“Kyaaaak!!”

“Kweeeck!!”

Dozens of monsters that were larger than most light aircraft were flying above the clouds.

Shantaks.

We casually called them monster birds or monster birds, but they were not just birds or beasts.

They were a different species frequently mentioned not only in [Cthulhu World] but also in the Cthulhu Mythos, which was the original lore.

They were cosmic species (creatures that live in outer space) that had their own religion, unique language system, and even the ability to travel through space. They were not meant to wander under Earth’s atmosphere.

Yet there were dozens of Shantaks here.

I could handle one easily, but the story changed with so many of them.

“Gyahhh!!”

“Kgeeeck!!”

Well, even though their intelligence wasn’t very high, they could somehow be controlled. The creatures were currently in a highly excited state, chasing a few fireballs I had created.

Compared to the Shantaks, humans were barely the size of baseballs, and their numbers were far from sufficient, but the fireballs had been leading them perfectly all the way from Paju to here.

However, there were too many enemies to avoid.

“Kyaaahhh!”

One of the extremely agitated Shantaks finally cornered one of the fireballs. Damn it, is there a limit to autopilot? Just before the fireball was destroyed, I poured in my magical power to infuse the fireball with specific will and direction.

Differentiation is necessary to implement high-speed trajectory calculations, forces, directions, and three-dimensional movements in real-time. Calculations complete.

A fireball that dragged a long tail and created a trajectory that no other flying vehicle could imitate. Yes, move like that. Understood?

“Uhryyyyyyyyyy!!!”

Those fireballs leading the Shantaks were not ordinary fireballs.

They are all creatures of another world, also called descendants of the [Living Flame], the burning ones, or the fire vampires.

Since they weren’t just simple creations, they could think for themselves and learn and apply what they were taught.

And that ability was…

“Achilles.”

Crack!

“I’ll hand over control to you now. Can you do it?”

…something Achilles also possessed.

[The unique effect of the S-rank magic tool ‘Staff of Beacon’, ‘Binding of the Living Flame’ has been activated.

// Binding of the Living Flame: Grants the wielder the ability to summon and control the followers of the ‘Living Flame.’]

What was attached to Achilles’s body was the [Staff of Beacon] that I previously took from the descendants of Fomalhaut. Through Achilles, the connection to the flame vampires was maintained.

Initially, I had simply intended to create a flame-spewing golem, but the result was far beyond that.

Achilles was a necromancy golem with the ability to summon and control the Burning Ones.

I continued to issue commands while maintaining synchronization with Achilles. I wonder how I looked to Jang Hyeon-deok.

“No, a bit higher… lure them to a less visible spot. Good. Over there, that cloud looks suitable. Yes, above it. Great! Drive them further. Keep maintaining direction slowly… yes, this area is good. Now, circle around to buy some time.”

Good. At this height, it should momentarily stop the enforcers in Sejong City from panicking.

My vision returned.

Instead of the dozens of Shantaks and the Burning Ones luring them, I now saw the interior of Jang Hyeon-deok’s vehicle heading toward Sejong City.

“But, Mage-nim?”

And then there was the punk with cheap blond dye and dangling piercings—no, that’s just Jang Hyeon-deok’s dazed face. His head was slightly above mine. Being tall must be nice. No, that’s not it. I got distracted and lost my focus for a moment.

“What?”

“Aren’t we going back today?”

“What are you talking about? I said this was a simple task to handle on the way.”

“You did say that. So we’re really going…. to Sejong City?”

“Yes.”

“If this is a simple task, what are you planning to do in Sejong City? Are you going to turn it into a sea of fire?”

“Well, you’re not entirely wrong.”

“What?”

“No, I decided not to do that. Anyway, let’s go to Sejong City.”

“Technically, we’ve been in Sejong City since a while ago.”

“Oh, really? Is that it? Good.”

Sejong City came into view.

Just as Paju in this world was a strange and dangerous city, Sejong City in the Cthulhu world was a grotesque megacity that had been overdeveloped using alien technology and resources.

Massive skyscrapers stretched as if to distort the horizon, lights, and neon flashing even in the dark hours, and huge airships flying in the sky of the city.

It was Sejong, the city of hope and happiness.