Chapter 113

The first thing I saw was a red pulsation.

Throb, throb, throb.

Only belatedly did I realize I had hit something.

SPLAT.

With a short, heavy sound, my body landed on something wet and squishy.

A foul smell.

A moment later, I realized it was the stench of rotting protein. The scraps of flesh strewn around me clung to my body in thick clumps.

Pulsating red.

WHOOOOSH!

A gust blew past. The high-speed train I had been riding rushed by me, leaving a deafening roar and a blast of air in its wake.

In an instant, it disappeared toward the glimmer of light at the far end of the tunnel...

"..."

Honestly, it was filthy and a little frightening, but I wasn't in pain or in any serious panic.

It just felt like standing alone in front of my apartment building's recycling area late at night.

-Good heavens, what unsanitary conditions! Are you all right, my friend?

"Yes. I'm fine."

'... Happy Maker really does its job.'

It was like how taking a traditional calming pill made your heart feel cool and still, easing your nerves—except the opposite: my head felt warm and still.

I got up in a fairly calm, stable state of mind.

But as I brushed the rotten scraps of flesh off with my bare hands—

Tear off your wickedness and eat it

A strange voice rang inside my head.

"..."

So, well. Putting the current situation together with the accounts of those who had been offered as sacrifices...

'This must be where your whole body starts hurting like it's on fire, and you can't stand it, so you start ripping off your skin and flesh...'

Then you had to walk toward the light at the end of this filthy, dank passage, chewing on those pieces and dropping them along the way. That seemed to be the insane situation here.

The passage itself bore the traces of that horror.

Fortunately, all my pain was numbed, and I was wearing the silver ring that increased my mental resistance, so I wasn't going to feel any such deranged urges.

"Whew."

I straightened fully and gave myself a little shake.

It didn't do much. The stains left by the filth and rotten flesh were starkly visible.

Let's try not to think about... where this flesh came from...

Happy Maker kept me from getting upset, but it was still unsettling.

Oh, wait.

"Braun, are you all right?"

-Ah, do you mean that noise like a radio tape playing on repeat? It seems like meaningless noise pollution, but nothing I can't stand!

"... What about the burning pain?"

-Haha!

-This body has neither skin nor flesh! Only cloth and stuffing, and eyes and a nose...

R-right.

'So only humans qualify as sacrifices after all?'

At least I didn't have to worry about Braun losing his patience and going into a shamanic frenzy.

-In any case, does my friend have any more business in this filthy place?

"... No."

-Then let's get out of here at once.

Agreed.

'I need to get back onto that train to escape.'

I rose and started walking.

Toward the end of the passage.

SQUELCH, SQUELCH.

Bodily fluids splashed from the filth underfoot into my shoes, soaking my socks red.

Cast off your sins

Tear away as much as you have sinned

Eat your sins

"..."

Did the burning pain get worse the more sins someone had committed?

'Then, in theory, a good person would feel only minimal pain even if they fell out the window into this place...'

The ghost story focused on the passengers aboard the train as each loop turned them into an increasingly desperate, horrific, inhuman hellscape. Details like these were things I could only infer by experiencing them.

Anyway... the passage was longer than I expected, and I trudged doggedly on.

'I hope I won't need to use another Happy Maker.'

Cast off your sins

Cast off your sins

Cast off your sins

I kept walking, ignoring the voice.

My feet seemed to grow heavier, but the light drew steadily closer.

Step after plodding step. The intense light pouring from the tunnel's exit almost blinded me, making it difficult to see ahead.

'Ah.'

Almost there.

Squinting, I stepped farther forward...

And at last, as the light enveloped me—

Go to Tamna

'...!'

A quiet, gentle invitation.

An uncanny sense of warmth and liberation seemed to envelop me, a strange... revelation-like sensation piercing through the crown of my head...

-Whoa! That's rather aggressive recruiting. One moment...

The instant it disappeared, my consciousness was sucked somewhere at incredible speed, like a train hurtling down a steep slope.

"...!"

* * *

"Haaah!"

"Aah! Aaaah!"

I opened my eyes.

I was sitting in a comfortable, modern high-speed train carriage.

My body was clean again, and my mind...

'Wow.'

Remembering it made me feel like throwing up.

My stomach churned.

'I... couldn't feel any of this?'

I'd been buried in flesh that people had torn off their living bodies, eaten, and vomited up—and then I'd gotten up and walked through it?

'L-let's stop thinking about it.'

Anyway, what mattered was that I had successfully returned to this point.

'And returning to the starting point completely wiped out Happy Maker's effects.'

I quickly regained my composure and checked my supply of Happy Makers first.

...

Eleven before I used one.

Still eleven.

-The consumable you used has returned to its unused state. Strictly speaking, since we've returned to the moment the train departed, that is only natural!

Yes. Just as I'd expected.

'Good.'

The preparations were complete.

I looked up to find Deputy Jin Nasol watching me, her expression composed.

"How was it?"

"A horrible, revolting place. Anyone who falls without protection will almost certainly show signs of delirium or contamination."

"Really? Then get up. We'll secure them ahead of..."

"Hey! Look here! This one's fine!"

"..."

Aaaah!

Jin Nasol looked displeased at being interrupted, but she didn't immediately use force on the civilians crowding around us.

'L-let's hurry.'

I deliberately offered a faint smile to the people staring in astonishment at my unscathed condition.

"Are you okay?! Oh my God!!"

"He's the one—the one who volunteered to jump! But... y-you're all right?"

"Yes. I'm all right now. But... what on earth happened after I fell?"

"W-well..."

Stripping the frantic, rambling explanations down to the essentials, it came to this.

"After you fell, the countdown started again...!"

"Oh, yeah! The timer reset, like it wanted us to offer one more person."

As expected.

"...! I see. Then at that point... did the train plunge into the water again?"

"No! After that!"

One of the passengers gathered around elaborated.

"The strange thing was, nobody fell from our carriage, but it suddenly said an offering had been received, and the way opened..."

"..."

"There was some talk about someone falling from a carriage up ahead, but everyone was worked up, and a fight broke out, so we don't know the details..."

"..."

"They called us crazy! They're the ones who don't understand what's happening!"

"Exactly!"

"It's so frustrating, I could lose my mind."

"Even in games, you can't let trolling assholes like that get away with it."

I see.

The conflict was gradually escalating.

'It started with this loop.'

Loop 3:

Factions form along carriage lines, and fights break out. Each pressures the others to select passengers to offer as sacrifices. Bloodshed begins.

And...

Violence in the carriages results in fatalities.

...

For now, I nodded calmly.

"I see. Apparently, the number of people we have to offer increases by one each time."

"Wh-what?"

"One at the first altar, two at the second. It seems the number of sacrifices required increases in sequence."

"Oh...!"

It seemed everyone had suspected as much but hadn't dared say it aloud. There were low groans and fearful moans here and there, but no vehement objections.

Only fear.

"What do we do? What are we going to do? Why... why does this have to happen to us? Sob..."

"D-do we all have to jump out the windows for it to end?? Is that it?!"

That was a fairly plausible guess, but I gently took the person's shoulder.

"No. Please calm down. There must be a way to end this."

"Hic..."

"Look at me. I fell, and I'm fine. There's a way through everything."

"Ah..."

Taking advantage of the slightly calmer atmosphere, I spoke gently.

"You said another person who fell out the window was in bad shape, didn't you? If you don't mind, could you take me to them?"

"Ah... Oh, yes!"

"This way!"

Following the people hastily leading the way, I glanced back at the seats.

"Ooh. I'm coming too!"

Beyond Supervisor Dolphin, who immediately followed me, Deputy Jin Nasol sat with her arms crossed, as though daring me to try.

'She's letting it slide.'

The moment she decided this was inefficient, it wouldn't be surprising if she immediately changed tack, grabbed everyone in her way, and threw them out the window one by one.

'That won't clear this.'

So...

For now, this was the most efficient and humane course I could take.

"Here... He's sitting here, but..."

I looked at the person in the seat they indicated.

The bespectacled man was staring into space with his mouth hanging open. The first sacrifice of the second loop, who had fallen before me.

"Sir?"

"..."

No answer. He looked completely out of his mind.

"Wh-what on earth is down there...?"

"It was horrible. But..."

I raised a hand and placed it on my chest.

"I came to a realization."

"... Sorry?"

CLINK.

I lowered that hand, slipping it naturally into the inner pocket of my suit jacket.

Then I pinned on the little badge that had been there all along.

The Silver Heart Badge.

"Everyone! Please don't worry so much."

At the same time, I approached the bespectacled office worker.

"Hik! Hik, hik! Hik!"

"It's all right... It's all right."

I went up to him and carefully injected him with Happy Maker.

'It'll all vanish from his system when the next loop starts.'

This would be better for him than remaining in maddening panic and terror.

And since Happy Maker was a tiny device, practically the size of a ballpoint pen, to everyone else, it would look as though he had calmed down simply because I supported him...

Like magic.

"... Hah!"

The bespectacled man gasped for breath.

Reason returned to his eyes, and an unmistakable peace settled over him.

"It was t-truly horrible... Ah, ah... ha... It's over."

Slowly, a faint smile spread across his face.

"Thank you... My mind... is at peace..."

Then he slowly got up and hugged me and the other passengers.

They accepted his embraces in bewilderment, beginning to stare at me in wonder.

"H-he brought him back to his senses..."

"How...?"

I'm a fraud...

But I gazed down at my hands as though I, too, were awestruck, and continued.

"I don't know why I alone gained this ability, but now I..."

One deep breath.

"I think I've begun to understand, however vaguely, what is happening on this train."

"...!!"

"R-really?"

"Yes."

I raised a hand and began folding down my fingers as I continued.

"Who must fall out the windows, and how many times it will take before all of this ends..."

"M-my God."

What was I doing right now?

'Running a con.'

And this particular kind of con was a staple of apocalyptic fiction.

'The so-called cult leader...!'

The bastard who whipped people up and did bizarre things, spouting nonsense about God's will.

Had the original one emerged from Car 6? ... Hmm. I thought so.

Loop 5:

Various exclusionary groups form in each carriage. Among them, a superstitious religion worshipping the loop phenomenon captures passengers from other carriages, kills them beforehand in the manner of barbaric ancient sacrificial rites, then throws them out the windows.

Sorry... No, actually, I'm not sorry at all, but—

'You won't exist this time.'

Because I'm beating you to it.

"Good people of Car 7. From this moment on, I ask that you listen carefully to what I have to say."

Standing before the train doors, I proclaimed:

"We have been chosen for a great test!"

-Good heavens!!

From the front pocket of my suit came the sound of Braun giving me a standing ovation.

A con artist bearing a ghost-story Host's seal of highest approval...

Now open for business.