Chapter 137 - The Pretender II

3

"Huh? Wait a second, Mister!"

Oh Dokseo startled as she listened to my story. She spoke so hastily that she splattered espresso around her.

"Th-then that means that Japanese person was a regressor!"

"Calm down."

"How am I supposed to calm down? I-if there's someone besides you and that old fart, No-Scho or whatever his name is, that makes a whole three regressors!"

"Well, just calm down first, will you?"

I calmly wiped the table with a handkerchief. Oh Dokseo, who had initially been engrossed in examining the Monkey’s Paw, had now shifted her attention entirely to the diary.

As it happened, the diary lay open to the page I had mentioned. The sentence: "Time is turning back."

"I was rather excited too, just like you, when I read that line in the diary."

Of course I was. How could my heart not race?

If a "third regressor" existed, it would be an incredible discovery.

Even finding that person dead at Seongsan Ilchulbong posed no problem whatsoever. There was every chance they might survive perfectly well in the next run.

But to spoil the ending in advance, no such miracle occurred.

Not in the next run, nor the one after that.

No matter how much time passed, the hairy corpse never budged from its secluded corner of Seongsan Ilchulbong.

"C-can I read it too? The diary?"

"I don't mind. Unlike the Monkey’s Paw, that diary really is just an ordinary notebook."

"Thanks, Mister!"

FLIP

Oh Dokseo hurriedly turned the pages.

For an instant, her hands seemed to overlap with my own from the past.

With my fingertips when I first discovered that diary.

4

――――――――――

《Day 5???》

Again. The centaurs attacked again and started killing our party.

Why do I keep returning to Day 5? Did making those wishes on the Monkey’s Paw establish some sort of starting point?

I don't know anymore.

Since I knew the ambush was coming, this time we managed to drive the centaurs away without anyone dying. My party members are singing my praises, saying I'm incredible.

Even that taciturn You looked at me in surprise, but for some reason I wasn't particularly happy.

――――――――――

To you, this testament notebook probably appears to be written in neat handwriting, but the reality was different.

The handwriting in the diary grew increasingly chaotic, like the cursive scrawl of a madman.

On the rare occasions when the writer regained her senses, her handwriting became neat again, but even that was only superficially normal.

The contents of the testament itself—in other words, its owner's mental state—were already plunging into the abyss at an uncontrollable speed.

――――――――――

《Day 12??????》

I'm certain now. No matter what I do, I cannot leave this dungeon.

Next time, I think I'll capture and interrogate the "fairy" that seems to be hosting this death game. That bastard must know something.

――――――――――

《Day 13??????》

The fairy ran away the moment it saw me.

It said something like, "Eeeek! This isn't the right place! I made a mistake!" I don't understand what it meant.

I wanted to capture it by force if necessary, but honestly, that was impossible. When the fairy swung something that looked like a magic wand, people died effortlessly, and it turned invisible in an instant, disappearing from sight.

I've reached the final stage again. It's the mountain the Koreans call Seongsan Ilchulbong.

When the others reached the summit, they were enveloped in a brilliant glow and automatically disappeared somewhere. But I'm still inside the dungeon, all by myself.

Why?

Why am I the only one who can't leave the dungeon?

I've begged the Monkey’s Paw over and over to please let me out of this dungeon. But nothing changed. Why?

I wished to see my family and friends, but again, there was no response. Why?

I got angry and threw the Monkey’s Paw away. When I woke up the next day, it was sitting on my chest.

――――――――――

《?????????????》

Someone, please help me.

――――――――――

《Day 5??????????????》

The Day 5 attack again.

Suddenly, it all felt like too much trouble. This time, I deliberately let the centaurs do as they pleased instead of stopping them.

In fact, I tried joining their side. I attacked my party members from behind as they fought the centaurs. Since those idiots can't do anything without You and me, the group fell apart with laughable ease.

I saved You for last. Her eyes widened when she saw my face.

"You—" she began, trying to say something.

At that moment, a centaur's massive body struck her as it charged past.

People hit by horses die in spectacular fashion. I felt pleasure for the first time in ages. This might be a little fun.

The problem was that the centaur that wiped out our group hunted me down too.

Is it stupid? Just what you'd expect from a monster—it doesn't understand concepts like cooperation or alliances.

――――――――――

"..."

I swallowed a groan.

A textbook sign of a fall, perhaps.

The "diary's owner," who believed herself to be a regressor, was steadily losing her humanity.

Humanity only exists, after all, while people live together with others.

Conversely, if my space allows no interaction with others and my time cannot intersect with theirs, a person rapidly degenerates into "something other than human."

The Saintess, who fell and became the Executor, would be a prime example.

The diary's owner was no different.

――――――――――

《Day 17???????????????????》

I reflect on my past self.

Reflection on the past leads to the path of the future. I've now grown enough to believe that. Since no progress can be made in this space, only honing the self has any meaning.

Why did I dislike You so much all this time?

Because her hair looked like that girl's—the one Sena cheated on me with? Because of her obnoxious expression? Because she looked like such an obvious model student?

I repent of my prejudice.

Now I like You. I really do. Other people break after three days at most, but You has been holding out for nearly three weeks.

She keeps murmuring, "Rika, Rika," the name of someone who apparently matters to her.

Something about a promise that means she absolutely has to get out and go back? It was so stupid I laughed.

――――――――――

《Day 20???????????????????》

The world outside this space must have already ceased to exist.

There's no such thing as "clearing a stage." When people are enveloped in that glow at the summit, they actually die.

So it's absolutely better for them to stay here with me. Monsters jump out now and then, but that's better than dying, isn't it?

Around this time, the Korean groups we parted ways with at the starting line also reach the summit, one by one. But I didn't let them go.

It reminded me of the game <Fall Guys>, which I used to enjoy with Sena. Did you think you'd reached the finish line? Too bad.

I hung You in the middle of the crater. Then I grabbed everyone who approached the summit and sent them rolling down.

Round and round they rolled. With a little luck, a person would roll all the way to the exact center of the crater, where You was, and hit her. Yes! A hole in one.

I'd wondered why Korean students would come to a place like this on a school trip, but now I understand its true delights.

Every time I send someone rolling, their trajectory changes enormously depending on the angle and force. This is a game with real depth. I hereby appoint this place my personal golf course. It's private property.

One Korean shouted that I was a boss monster. How rude. I'm a young lady in the prime of her youth.

――――――――――

《Day 27???????????????????》

For the first time in ages, my heart lurched.

A fairly powerful-looking group rescued You and ambushed me as well. Had the last survivors banded together to form a suicide squad?

When a spear grazed my neck, I thought my heart would drop out of my chest. I only just survived the ambush and killed them.

I felt truly alive. So this is what interaction between human beings is.

I gathered all the wounded and killed them one by one in front of You. I put special effort into the person who had nearly slashed my throat.

That Korean glared at me with terrifying eyes until the very end.

Too bad. Sorry, but I'm someone who's maxed out "Luck" with the Monkey’s Paw.

You made a lovely sound. Could the violin have been an instrument born from human screams? My erudition has deepened yet again.

――――――――――

FLIP

The diary was also full of things I could hardly bring myself to transcribe.

Perhaps someone well versed in gore or torture erotica would feel differently, but to me, it was merely a repetition of much the same material.

A theater of torture performed solely to "elicit new reactions from other people." A horror show that would make even a tutorial fairy say, "This really isn't right."

But the toy that was human reaction could not be infinite. Creativity had its limits too.

In the end, after leaving one final statement, the diary gave way to yellowed blank pages.

The handwriting staggered across the page.

――――――――――

I'm sorry I was born.

O Monkey’s Paw, please make me disappear.

――――――――――

THUMP

I closed the diary. Then I looked down at the hairy corpse that had originally clutched this testament tightly in both hands.

Its posture almost looked as though it were praying to someone.

5

What on earth had happened to the "hairy corpse"?

Had she truly been a regressor? How exactly had the Monkey’s Paw worked?

An ordinary person would have struggled to investigate any further.

But I, the Undertaker, was an experienced "genuine regressor."

I had never neglected to build connections with others, even when they seemed of little immediate use.

Thus, I had no shortage of ways to inquire about the "Japanese people" dragged into the tutorial dungeon that appeared on Jeju Island.

"Meow? You mean You?"

Manyoneko gently swished her cat tail. Sitting across from me, she paused over her green tea and blinked.

"What do you mean, you suddenly want to meet You, meow? Undertaker?"

"She's your childhood friend, isn't she? I understand she came out of the tutorial dungeon on Jeju Island."

You.

Why hide it? I had actually met the person who appeared so often in that diary before.

There were so many people named "You" that I hadn't been sure, but several pieces of evidence convinced me.

She had been stronger than the other awakened. Her hair had remained black even after awakening. Above all, she had murmured the name "Rika" while being tortured.

That's right. I'd mentioned it a few times in the episode about clearing Inunaki Tunnel.

Manyoneko's real name was Rika. And Manyoneko had a childhood friend named You.

If I hadn't exterminated Inunaki Tunnel, I couldn't have asked for a meeting like this.

Human connections are mysterious things.

"Meow. I did hear that You was spirited away to an island in Korea, yes..."

"I've been investigating some things related to the Jeju Island dungeon lately. It's tied up with a rather troublesome haunted object. I'd like to hear your friend's testimony."

For the record, the Magical Girl Council was extremely exclusionary toward outsiders.

The mere fact that they had named their organization the "Magical Girl" "Council" made it abundantly clear that this group considered public opinion worth about as much as a rat's dick.

"Meow. If it's a request from Undertaker, I have to help. All right, meow!"

And I was someone who had even received a plaque of appreciation declaring me an "Honorary Magical Girl" from the head of that organization, otherwise known as the High Shrine Maiden.

Personally, I didn't appreciate it much.

In any case, in a society that ran on connections, my request was easily granted.

Before long, I met You, whose magical-girl name was Obsidian Zither.

"You asked to see me?"

In the Magical Girl Council, overflowing as it was with lunatics committed to every imaginable persona, the person before me was relatively normal.

Obsidian Zither covered her mouth with a black mask marked with an "X." Anyone who had experienced the COVID era could reasonably regard that much as a mere fashion choice.

"Yes. We met briefly when I was working on Inunaki Tunnel, didn't we? Good to see you."

"Ah... Yes. Thank you so much for what you did back then."

"The thing is, I heard you cleared the tutorial dungeon at Seongsan Ilchulbong on Jeju Island."

"..."

"There's an anomaly I suspect originated there. I need your testimony to assess how dangerous it is. I'd appreciate your cooperation. Could you tell me what happened in the tutorial dungeon?"

In truth, I was quite cautious about raising this subject.

According to the diary, there was probably a very high likelihood that the person before me had been tortured by the "diary's owner."

If even an eighth of its contents were true, Obsidian Zither would have been branded with indelible trauma.

People generally react negatively when someone brings up a story they would rather leave buried in their hearts.

A start, perhaps. Or a flinch.

"This is the first I've heard of it. Was there an anomaly in that place dangerous enough to warrant your attention, Undertaker?"

But Obsidian Zither's reaction was neither.

The tilt of her chin expressed nothing but curiosity. Her response was far too matter-of-fact for someone carrying trauma.

Though I sensed something strange, I continued my inquiries.

"... Have you ever seen the figure in this photograph?"

The photograph I took from inside my clothes showed the "hairy corpse."

Only then did Obsidian Zither let out an "Ah." She seemed to recognize something.

But even now, it was a rather peculiar reaction to someone who had left her with wounds that would never heal.

"... I think I know who that is. Is what you want to know related to this person, Undertaker?"

"Yes. I'd like you to share whatever you know about her, however small a clue it might be."

"Of course I can share it, but..."

Obsidian Zither furrowed her brows.

I tensed. This might be the moment I received a clue about the third regressor.

"I'm not sure how helpful it'll be. I actually don't know very much either."

Behind her black mask, Obsidian Zither's lips moved in fits and starts.

"Because this woman was so weak that she died almost as soon as the tutorial dungeon began."