episode_0045

An empty bus.

I looked inside the gift box that was left behind.

As expected, there was an invitation, and as a bonus, there was a crude book included.

‘What is this? fairy tale book?’

I roughly put the storybook aside and opened the invitation.

– Cheshire Cat invites you to Wonderland.

Wonderland is a huge show created by Cheshire.

The show takes motifs from various fairy tales, and like the heroines of this game, they all show crazy cruelty.

I am the only audience member of Cheshire’s show, and everything in the show is made for me, Cheshire said.

But my thoughts are different. My role is that of an actor, not an audience member, and the only audience in the show is Cheshire himself, the director and producer.

Cheshire wants to see how I perform in the show he has prepared.

Normally I wouldn’t go along with such immature pranks, but Cheshire’s show is irresistible.

First of all, the first reason is that I always kidnap people around me and use them as hostages.

In order to save the hostage named ‘Alice’, you must obediently join Cheshire’s show.

The second reason is strategy.

Cheshire’s strategy is carried out in a different way than other heroines.

Only when you clear Wonderland, Cheshire’s progress increases by a constant 20%.

Since I have cleared Wonderland twice so far, my progress is 40%.

The remaining progress is 60%, so a total of three more rounds of Wonderland remain.

Fuck you.

This time, the third Wonderland begins.

Since the beginning is half the battle, you can say that you have conquered just half of it.

I even looked at the contents written on the invitation.

‘There is an address this time. This isn’t Wonderland… .’

Cheshire does not reveal the location of Wonderland.

Therefore, the address written on the invitation will be a location other than Wonderland.

Maybe you have to do some shit to get to Wonderland, and it’s a place to do that shit.

‘What is this again?’

A small, scribbled letter caught my eye.

– Who is the white rabbit?

‘It’s a white rabbit. hint… No, it must be a preview.’

There is too little information to be a hint.

This is probably a preview of the very first act of the show.

Find the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.

The words ‘2 days’ written at the very end of the invitation. This means time limit.

The time limit is that if you don’t save Alice within 2 days, you will die.

I received the invitation today, so until tomorrow, Sand Monday. It’s not a rush, but it’s an ambiguous time and it’s not that generous either.

So far, Cheshire’s Wonderland has been completed in about a day at most, so there’s no real problem.

‘More than that, the question is whether or not that scary guy can endure it.’

Veronica might end up crying, snot, and even urinating while participating in Cheshire’s entertainment.

Poor guy.

I have to go get it quickly.

Let’s go back and get some sleep.

There are two days left.

*

*

next day.

Early in the morning, I visited Veronica’s isolation room without her.

A banshee sits pitifully in the living room. Seeing that the furniture was all in disarray, it seemed like Veronica had lost consciousness due to the shock of being kidnapped.

“Director… .”

The banshee called to me in a pitiful voice.

“Uh, what should I do..? Well, Belle has been kidnapped… To that Cheshire… iced coffee… Ahhh..! no! stop… Stop!”

The banshee was tearing out its head in pain. Seeing that Veronica’s eyes are closed, I think she’s saying something.

‘It must be about being bullied by Cheshire.’

It happened every time that Alice was tormented to relieve her boredom before I came.

“Cheshire obviously stopped its activities? Why, why did it only show up now? Where are you? I searched the entire empire, but it was nowhere to be found… Where on earth are you hiding..!!”

Cheshire never stopped working.

To be precise, he only stopped playing pranks on the general public.

Whatever the reason, it is because I met an irreplaceable play partner.

There’s no need to deal with other idiots when I’m having fun with them.

“Banshee, calm down.”

“You look calm now!? Belle, our Belle is suffering like this!?”

The banshee scurried up to me and grabbed me by the collar.

“Why, why did you let Belle be kidnapped? Didn’t you already know that!? Director, you could have stopped it!”

“Stop it, Cheshire? No matter how much I do, I can’t stop Cheshire. And even if you use all your clones, you won’t be able to find it. Because he’s not that sloppy.”

“So you’re giving up? Bell..? Are you saying you’re going to throw it away or something?”

“Don’t go ahead alone.”

He took the invitation out of his pocket and held it in front of Banshee’s eyes.

“Cheshire wants to play a game with me. If you clear the game without any problems, you can save Veronica. So don’t worry and just wait.”

“…A game?”

“Okay, game. That crazy cat bitch has no interest in Veronica. No, I’m not interested in anything else. He’s a crazy idiot who only thinks about playing with me.”

I loosened Banshee’s grip on my collar.

“Veronica is just a hostage. A hostage to force me to participate in the game. You know that hostages are meaningful when they’re okay. So Veronica doesn’t die. Until I fail.”

“Hostage… … .”

“Okay, hostage. Do you think I will fail?”

“…No.”

“Yes. No problem now, right?”

The banshee took a shaky step back and then sat down again.

“Bell… Belle was asking me to save her… Right now, I’m asking you to save me now… .”

“Don’t worry. Because I’m just scaring you.”

“Pushing someone off a cliff and leaving them in front of a hungry monster is just scaring them?”

“Yes. It’s vicious. But it will be safe. Hostage? They say it becomes useless when you die.”

“But..!”

“All hostages so far have been rescued unharmed. Trust me.”

The turquoise eyes looking at me tremble.

When the main body dies, the alter egos also die. This is common sense about the alter ego ability. I don’t know if this common sense applies to Veronica in real life.

Therefore, it can be said that the lives of not only Banshee but also dozens of millions of other clones are in Cheshire’s hands.

“Tell Veronica that I will come to rescue her, so please wait patiently. Don’t do anything useless.”

“…Yes.”

Banshee closed her eyes for a moment.

Not long after, he opened his eyes again, and his expression seemed to have improved.

However, the face still looked somewhat complicated.

“I feel relieved when the director tells me that he will come to rescue me. You didn’t do that when I said I would save you… .”

“This is the difference between ability and trust.”

“That’s right. I am helpless. But if you are the director… .”

The banshee stopped speaking and smiled bitterly.

“I think it’s time for Belle to leave my arms.”

“Yes. I’ve had it for over 30 years, but I need to make it independent soon.”

“……Yes? 30 years?”

A banshee with an incomprehensible expression.

“No matter how young your mental age is, it’s not okay to be over 30 and still act like a child. It’s all because you guys raised me.”

“Now, wait a minute… .”

“No need to make excuses. Because I understand your position. It’s over when the main body dies, so of course you want to protect it. Still, this is too harsh. Veronica should have her own life too.”

“That’s not it. 30 years old. Director, are you sure you don’t know Belle’s age?”

Does that make it sound like I was mistaken?

“I asked you before. How old is the main body? I don’t know much, but I’d say he’s probably over 30?”

“……That body was not meant to be a bell.”

“What does that mean? Aren’t you Veronica’s alter ego?”

“So to speak, it’s complicated. I thought the director knew everything.”

“How should I know if you don’t tell me?”

“You knew Belle’s real name and gift.”

That’s it again.

“Wait, then how old is Veronica actually?”

“…I passed my 19th birthday last time.”

Come to think of it, I made a fuss about having a birthday party a few months ago.

That was your 19th birthday?

If it’s your 19th birthday, you’re 19 years old.

In Korean, 20 years old.

Shockingly, Veronica was not a ‘ugly older woman’, but was about the same age as my younger sister.

The wall collapsed.

The only barrier that existed between Veronica and Sohee, even if it was insignificant, collapsed.

Fuck.

Although they are not wealthy, they have ample economic power and a harmonious family. Our family was a fairly ideal family.

Mom and Dad were so friendly that they showed affection at all times, and the three siblings and I got along well, probably because we were four years apart from each other.

But around the time I graduated from elementary school, my father passed away in a sudden accident, and my family began to fall apart.

My mother, who was a housewife, worked late into the night to support her three siblings, and my older brother also dropped out of high school and only worked.

Suddenly, little Sohee and I were left alone at home, and I wanted to do something to help, so I took care of Sohee and took care of the housework.

After school, I went straight home instead of playing with my friends.

After helping Sohee with her homework and studying and taking care of the housework, we had dinner.

In our spare time, we played together with the game console that my dad bought me as a gift for my older brother entering high school.

Even so, the only game that came with it when I bought the game console was ‘Black Heart’, a hardcore open world RPG game that was inappropriate for young children. That alone was enough to have fun.

In any case, until the family situation improved, taking care of Sohee was entirely my responsibility. In fact, I practically raised her, so Sohee was both my younger sister and my daughter.

Everyone in my family is precious, but Sohee is the most special to me.

The first face that comes to mind when I’m having a hard time is Sohee.

Since I was trapped in the game, the person I miss the most is Sohee.

So now I was quite confused.

When I got caught up in this game, I was about to enter college, and Sohee was in middle school.

And Veronica, whom I met at the right time, had the appearance and mental age of a middle school student, and strangely enough, had a certain resemblance to Sohee.

He isolated Veronica and treated her kindly at first, like a younger sister. However, the price of kindness came with a cruel betrayal, and a reset was forced.

After that, I tried not to see my sister in Veronica. I consciously tried to only see the negative aspects so as not to have any gaps in my mind, and I tried to constantly realize that I was different from Sohee.

Perhaps through some kind of self-hypnosis, the image of her younger sister slowly disappeared from Veronica.

He’s just a kid who doesn’t deserve his age and is annoying.

I definitely realized that,

I should have continued like that,

As a result, it looks like this.

If I had been a child like Daisy, I wouldn’t have done this.

‘Ha, fuck. I do not know.’

Let’s finish the damn wonderland first and think about it.

*

*

I received a call from Banshee. If I wait patiently, Zeke will come to save me.

‘also. Zeke didn’t abandon me…!’

The anxiety and fear that had been filling my mind completely disappeared.

Instead, hope and faith filled the empty space.

‘I can endure it…’ Because Zeke will come. Zeke will definitely save me.’

He is a man who makes the impossible possible.

At least that cat bitch won’t be any problem to Zeke.

“Huh? Your expression suddenly got better?”

I turned my head to avoid Cheshire’s gaze.

That woman shouldn’t find out that Zeke is coming.

“Ah, you think Zeke will save you~?”

“……”

Cheshire’s words were ignored.

It was obvious that they would laugh at me for not having a conversation and for having meaningless hopes.

“Kuhuhuh~. It’s a good idea.”

“…What?”

I was planning on ignoring him, but I stopped responding when he said something unexpected.

“Zeke will definitely save you. Like a handsome prince in a fairy tale. Ah~ I’m really looking forward to it..?”

Why would the person who kidnapped me say something like that?

I didn’t know why, and I had no desire to know.

Because my mind was spinning, obsessed with one word that Cheshire had mentioned.

“…Prince..?”

This is the story of a captured princess and a handsome prince who rescues her, which always appears in fairy tales and animations.

‘okay. Zeke is my prince.’

The men I saw on TV and in The Snowy Land were all ugly men compared to Zeke.

There is only one person in this world who can be considered a ‘wonderful’ prince: Zeke.

“Zeke is really the best. It surpasses my imagination every time. When I think about that time, I feel like… It’s so thrilling~.”

Cheshire said something incomprehensible with a melting expression.

Seeing him blushing and writhing his body, I thought he was not only out of his mind, but also perverted.

“What surprising method will you use to break through Wonderland this time? I’m so excited. Kuhuhu~. I hope it comes quickly. You think so too, Alice?”

“…I am not Alice.”

“No, your role is Alice~.”

Talk.

Cheshire moved behind my back again and placed his hand on my shoulder.

“Hiik..!”

Every time that crazy woman touches my body, the trauma from before comes to mind.

Falling from a high place and almost getting eaten by monsters.

Cheshire was giggling and saying it was fun, but I was dying.

Even now, just thinking about it makes my body tremble.

“Of course, if you don’t like the role, you can change it, right?”

“Oh, no. Alice, I’ll do it. Me, I like Alice.”

All I have to do is wait.

You have to be quiet and not offend that crazy woman.

Then the handsome prince will save me.