Ch.88Monitor (1)

“Hmm, it doesn’t suit him.”

Lumia and I came to the same conclusion about Vatos wearing a middle school uniform.

Since dwarves weren’t particularly tall, the clothes fit surprisingly well, but his bushy beard made it look completely out of place.

If you kept staring, you’d experience cognitive dissonance as it clashed with common sense.

However, that cognitive dissonance disappeared surprisingly quickly.

“Oh, he’s back.”

“Indeed.”

This was because the student who had been Vatos soon changed back into an ordinary student.

I couldn’t tell if this was truly his original appearance, but it was certainly easier on the eyes.

“For now, it seems they can’t see us, right?”

“Since this is like replaying a movie that’s already been filmed, nothing we do will change anything.”

As I listened to Lumia’s explanation, I examined the boy from different angles.

The boy with the name tag “Han Se-ho” on his uniform didn’t seem to come from a particularly wealthy family.

His uniform, shoes, and the bag on his back—not a single item was free from wear and tear.

He might have simply lived frugally, but the extent seemed beyond mere frugality.

I felt sorry for him.

I felt responsible for the life I had taken.

‘Wait, what?’

Though it seemed like a natural thought, something felt off, making my head fuzzy.

While I was frowning at this strange feeling, I spotted Han Se-ho walking away in the distance and snapped back to reality.

“I don’t see a way out right now. Let’s follow him for now.”

“That seems like the best option at the moment.”

With Lumia’s agreement, I took the lead and followed Han Se-ho.

Behind me, Lumia wore a suspicious expression as she watched my back.

“If you don’t hurry, we’ll lose him.”

“Ah, I’ll be right there~”

I didn’t notice her suspicion.

What we witnessed afterward was the utterly ordinary daily life of a human being.

He wasn’t the most popular student in school, but he had friends to hang out with and wasn’t being bullied.

His family was a single-parent household with limited means, but not so poor that they had to worry about tomorrow’s meals.

Rather, because of their difficult circumstances, mother and son showed a strong bond, relying on each other.

Han Se-ho’s daily life wasn’t filled with complete happiness, but it didn’t contain any particular misfortune either.

“If only he hadn’t played that crappy game, things would have been fine~”

“Calling someone else’s world a crappy game is harsh. Though I admit it was a miserable world for me.”

If there was one flaw in his life, just one, it would be that he played Perished World.

I clicked my tongue as I watched Han Se-ho happily playing Perished World from behind.

I could easily predict how this memory would end.

“What exactly does the Evil God want to show us with all this…”

“Pfft, I wonder about that too~”

I glanced at Lumia, who was agreeing with me.

At some point, she seemed to have noticed something, but she didn’t share it with me.

Though her behavior seemed highly suspicious, I didn’t question her about it.

Instead, I pretended not to notice what she was thinking.

All that passed between us was an exchange of glances without words.

“We seem to be approaching the end of this memory.”

“Yes, and it looks like something unusual is about to happen.”

We had been observing Han Se-ho’s daily life in his memories for a week already.

I couldn’t tell how much time had passed outside, but it was enough time for an incident to occur within.

Although I called it unusual, it wasn’t really a major event.

“Han Se-ho! Where did you go today instead of staying for evening study?”

“Um… Mom, you see… I went to the PC room with a friend…”

It was just an ordinary mishap that could happen to anyone.

A middle school student, tired of studying, skipped evening study session to play and got scolded by his parent when he came home—a common occurrence.

“Are you trying to worry me to death?! Do you know how concerned I was?!”

“It’s just one day of skipping evening study to hang out with friends…”

“That’s not what I mean, you should at least tell me… Hey! Where are you going?!”

It was a minor rebellion typical of the turbulent teenage years.

Just the kind of thing that could be resolved with an apology from son to mother over breakfast before school the next day.

“Really, adults always just tell you to study…”

The problem was that the game the boy turned on after locking himself in his room was Perished World.

The boy had lost his previous character and had just created a new one.

The character that emerged was a dwarf.

A dwarf with Vatos’s appearance.

“A dwarf… with good traits and talents! Great, let’s start right away.”

As with any game considered terrible, good characters rarely appeared in this game.

So the boy smiled broadly at having a character with a decent race and well-matched traits and talents, ready to play.

That’s when mysterious messages appeared on the game screen.

[Want to become the protagonist in a game?]

[Want to go to another world where you don’t have to listen to adults nagging?]

[Shall I send you to such a world?]

Se-ho stared at the suddenly appearing messages as if entranced.

[Then make a contract with me.]

“Okay.”

A terms of service agreement appeared before Se-ho, who was staring at the screen with blank eyes.

Like most people, Han Se-ho scrolled through without reading any of the details.

And without any hesitation, he clicked the agreement box at the very bottom of the terms.

“This is clearly mental manipulation~ There’s nothing in the manipulation saying not to read the terms, but that part seems to exploit a perceptual blind spot.”

“I never thought it would work like this. How many people actually read terms of service agreements…”

Then, the space around the monitor shattered, and Han Se-ho’s body was swallowed by the black void and disappeared.

I prevented this poor boy from returning to his daily life.

So I had to take responsibility.

Once again, I felt a throbbing in my head.

Just as I was about to question it, I found myself sitting in front of a monitor.

In a pitch-black room, only the monitor and I existed.

Where Lumia had disappeared to wasn’t important.

Like Han Se-ho moments ago, I sat in front of the monitor, staring at the messages that appeared.

[Do you regret stopping Han Se-ho’s plan?]

[Do you feel sorry for killing Han Se-ho?]

[If you regret killing the Apostles so far, shall I tell you how to atone?]

[If you want to know, make a contract with me.]

“…”

I didn’t respond to the invitation to make a contract.

Rather than answering hastily, I considered whether I regretted killing the Apostles.

I thought about stopping Han Se-ho’s plan and ultimately leading him to his death.

“I stopped his plan, but I didn’t kill him.”

I stared at the monitor.

I wanted to move or approach the monitor, but strangely, my body wouldn’t move, so I could only stare.

With no other option, I could only glare at the monitor and speak.

“It was you who killed the dwarf that Han Se-ho possessed in the first place.”

[ . . . ]

At my words, the messages that had been appearing enthusiastically until just now stopped.

Only a “typing” message appeared, as if something was being considered.

After about several dozen seconds, messages began to appear again.

[You have a strong mind.]

[Should I just show you the entire lives of the Apostles you killed?]

[I think showing you about a hundred years of the most pitiful ones should do the trick.]

[Hmm~ It’s annoying that it takes time, but should I just force it even if the contract effect is ambiguous?]

Creak—

As these messages appeared, I could see my right hand moving against my will.

I tried to move again, but my body didn’t respond as if it wasn’t mine.

“This is a complete trap…”

Though my mouth was free and I wanted to use a True Word, there was no sign of it activating.

In this situation, I was about to be forced to stamp a fraudulent contract.

That’s when a sword pierced through my chest from behind.

Squelch—

[What?]

“Guh…”

The sword that pierced my chest was very familiar to me.

It was the God-Slaying Sword I had been wielding just before losing consciousness, so it couldn’t be unfamiliar.

“How do you feel? Are you more clear-headed now?”

“They say good medicine tastes bitter, and this is quite the effective remedy. Though the method of administration is a bit rough.”

“Still, I couldn’t think of a more certain method~ Since you won’t die anyway, please bear with it.”

“Not dying doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.”

This was a world existing within some kind of ritual consciousness.

Therefore, whether I had a sword in my chest or my head cut off, I wouldn’t die.

However, since I had the memory of actually having a sword thrust into my chest, the pain from that memory returned when the act was reenacted.

“Ssss… it hurts…”

“If it hurts, you shouldn’t have been so rough with your body~ Even though you knew Lilly and Kitsune were worried.”

Lumia left the sword embedded in my chest as if it were punishment for overexerting my body, and turned her attention to the monitor.

On that monitor was the Evil God, sending messages as if confused by the current situation.

[Weren’t you Frey’s other personality?]

“You seem to have thought I was the second personality pushed aside by Frey.”

[So I gave you all of Frey’s experiences and abilities and threw you into a fake world…]

“The fake world was quite elaborate. I didn’t expect you to create such detailed versions of Lilly and Kitsune in such a short time. I almost believed it was real.”

[If you were a personality that was going to disappear anyway, you could have lived contentedly in that world. No, how did you figure it out in the first place?]

As Lumia conversed with the Evil God, she answered as if amused by the god’s confusion.

“Well, I’ve never practiced swordsmanship before. And my face was prettier than in the fake world.”

“Aren’t you being too narcissistic?”

“My, it seems you want another sword in your chest~”

As Lumia brandished an unnamed sword in addition to the God-Slaying Sword, I had no choice but to keep quiet.