Chapter 90 - The Trailblazer IV

7

At this point, I should emphasize once again that while a void spot is indeed a path to defeating anomalies, it is never a one-way street. Traffic always runs both ways.

"Here to rescue you? What do you mean, kid? I'm trapped here too."

In short, I hadn't answered the child in front of me that way because I was a nasty sadist, much less because I was the eldest of the Science Ninja Team Gatchaman.

"Huh?"

"See my name tag? I'm a security guard here. A security guard. Good grief. By the time I realized what was happening, the whole school had gone strange."

"Oh... You're the security guard..."

I felt bad for the kid, but I had no intention of straying even a centimeter from my security-guard roleplay. The first reason I could mow down everything in School Ghost Stories was, of course, the experience I'd accumulated as a regressor. The second was my role as a security guard.

There was nothing strange about a security guard wandering all over the school without a care. That was his job.

There was nothing strange about a security guard knowing how to respond when unusual incidents occurred at school. That was his area of expertise.

In other words, the moment my mask as a night-patrol security guard broke, I would lose every advantage I'd enjoyed so far. I had to help the people stranded in School Ghost Stories without ever stepping outside my role.

And for a seasoned regressor, a restriction like that didn't even count as a penalty.

"Why do you look so worn out, kid? Have you been eating properly? Here, have some of this."

"Huh...? Oh! Chocolate?"

This wasn't just ordinary chocolate. It was the greatest dessert on earth: a Crunky chocolate bar in its beautiful golden wrapper.

"C-can I really eat it?"

"Of course. That's why I'm giving it to you."

A little later.

"Waaaaah!"

The Crunky chocolate bar's effect was tremendous.

"W-we didn't do anything. We just woke up in the dorm and came to school, and then suddenly, hic... Suddenly there were ghosts everywhere, and all the teachers were gone. The g-ghosts chased us... In the classrooms, the bathrooms, the field, the cafeteria, the rooftop, everywhere, everywhere... So many of our friends died..."

"There, there."

"I-I'm the student council president, but... hic. I'm supposed to help everyone, but I was too busy r-running away. I was scared. I'm s-sorry..."

Cheon Yohwa in run 117 was unquestionably the same person as the Cheon Yohwa of previous runs, yet she was completely different.

She was mentally cornered. Her emotions were raw and intense.

In other words, she lacked experience points.

"It's all right. Student council president or not, you're all just young students. Surviving alone is an achievement."

"Waaaaah..."

She still needed several years' worth of pain and endurance to level up into the fully developed Cheon Yohwa. The child in front of me was destined to lead the survivors until the student body dwindled from 750 to seventeen.

But the incomplete version had definite advantages over the finished one. That was why I'd thrown myself into School Ghost Stories in person.

"There's plenty of chocolate, so take your time. How have you been getting away from the ghosts all this time?"

"... Sniff. A strange-looking fairy would give us quests? Some kind of missions, regularly. If we completed them, we'd be guaranteed food and somewhere to sleep, just for a little while... I used to move around with the others, too, but as soon as this quest started, the fairy forcibly scattered us..."

"I see."

My reply was casual, but my heart beat an unusual rhythm once in my chest. What Cheon Yohwa had just told me was exactly the situation I'd been hoping for.

'... Just as I thought. At this stage, Cheon Yohwa can still clearly recognize anomalies.'

Not just the ghosts of School Ghost Stories, but even the tutorial fairy.

In previous runs, Cheon Yohwa couldn't even recognize fairies. Brainwashing. Or the effects of distorted perception.

But I detected none of those abnormalities in the current Cheon Yohwa. She saw anomalies for what they were.

'That means something happens later that changes her so she can't recognize anomalies... What could trigger it?'

That was what I had to find out now.

I put on a kindly smile.

"You've really been through a lot, kid. You must be very hungry, then. Would you like some of this too?"

"Waaah... Oh! Cup noodles!"

"Of course. I've got several flavors, too."

"Black bean and mala!"

"Now, if I connect the kettle to the portable battery I carry in case of power outages and wait a little... There we are. All ready."

"Wow! Wow! Woooow!"

For a while, happy times followed.

"Mister Security Guard. I've realized something. The world... Life... As long as you eat delicious food, it mostly becomes worth living..."

Cheon Yohwa wore the expression of a sage.

Then again, if Gautama Siddhartha had tasted modern civilization's factory-made black bean cup noodles beneath the Bodhi tree, he probably would have admitted, 'Life doesn't seem to be all that much suffering.'

"Of course. Even in a world like this, those who can live have to keep living. I'm going to look around for other students, so you take care of yourself."

"Oh."

I switched on my lantern and started walking. Cheon Yohwa hesitantly set down her noodle cup and followed.

"W-wait, Mister Security Guard. Couldn't you take me with you?"

"Hmm? You?"

"Yes! The thing is... Um, I know I might not look it, but until everyone was forcibly separated, I was something like their leader. A lot of them are nice, but some people are a little at the end of their rope... Umm. If they see your supplies, they might get some... bad ideas..."

I smiled inwardly. That was welcome news. Hadn't my goal from the start been to accompany Cheon Yohwa?

But there was a huge difference in willingness between my suggesting it and her deciding on her own. I'd barely cast my line, and the good kid had bitten right away.

"You're going to protect me?"

"Ahaha... Protect is going a bit overboard. From what I saw earlier, you seem really strong. I can just help out at your side so you don't have to deal with any unnecessary trouble!"

She mimed a one-two punch with a "Hyah! Hyah!" It was so amusing that I couldn't help chuckling.

"You're sure you aren't following me because you want more cup noodles?"

"Ah! You caught me... But, um. I think sticking together as a group is especially important in a situation like this. In return, I'll always walk in front!"

"Hmm."

Walking in front in a void meant not only taking on the most dangerous role, but entrusting your back to the person behind you. It meant placing yourself in a position from which you absolutely could not betray them.

"All right. If the student council president is willing to go that far, I ought to trust her. Let's stick together for now."

"Yes, sir! Thank you, Mister!"

We walked along the fourth-floor corridor.

Suddenly, the back of Cheon Yohwa's head caught my eye. A gauze bandage stained with dark, crusted blood.

A mark of betrayal. An external wound upon her heart.

"..."

"By the way, Mister Security Guard, have you heard any news from outside? We don't know anything except the tiny scraps the fairy tells us."

"I don't know the details either. Sometimes the radio in the guards' duty room picks up news from outside, but it's not much different from here. The country's fallen, the military's been wiped out. Things like that."

"Aaaah... Then there's no chance of a rescue team coming to save us...?"

"Probably not."

"I guess there wouldn't be..."

Cheon Yohwa's shoulders visibly slumped.

"I'm sorry to say it, but you should probably prepare yourself for the worst about your family outside, too. The world's fallen apart pretty badly."

"Oh, well. I'm not really worried about my family. They were sucked into a cult and spent all their time doing weird shit anyway."

"Hmm. A cult."

TAP. TAP.

Apart from our footsteps and voices, the entire school was eerily quiet.

But there was no time to get bored.

"Time itself flows differently in this school than it does outside."

"Huh?"

"How long do you think it's been since you got trapped here?"

"Uh. Hold on... There are some days I missed counting, but if I go by the number of times I've slept and woken up, at least about 390 days..."

"Outside, it hasn't even been three months."

"No way! Really?"

Every one of Cheon Yohwa's reactions was exaggerated and colorful. Unlike the necromancer of previous runs, whose smiling eyes had somehow seemed doll-like.

'So this is what she was originally like.'

It struck me anew.

Even though my life had already reached its 117th run, there were still wells within people whose depths I had yet to peer into.

"... Mister."

Cheon Yohwa lowered her voice.

The human voice was remarkable. Even a simple sound, a single form of address, could convey a surprising amount of information. I immediately looked ahead.

THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. SPLAT.

At the far end of the corridor, a ghost was just opening a classroom door and coming out. Not on its feet, however, but on its head.

It wasn't doing a handstand. It moved by bouncing directly on its head. Each time it moved, its skull shattered, spilling blood all around it.

THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. SPLAT.

But the skull fragments and blood spilled across the corridor instantly gathered back together into the shape of a head. In other words, the ghost was dying over and over again each time its head struck the floor.

"Oh... The Thump-Thump-Thump Ghost..."

Cheon Yohwa let out a low groan.

"You know this ghost?"

"Yes, well. We've run into it a few times. It's not fast, so it's easy to get away from. But if you're careless and get too close, your body suddenly gets transported to the rooftop, and you tumble down onto the field."

"You sound like you've experienced it yourself."

"No. I've seen a few kids fall from the rooftop through the windows... I've personally seen at least seventeen fall to their deaths. So besides the Thump-Thump-Thump Ghost, we also just call it the Suicide Ghost."

THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. SPLAT.

The ghost drew steadily closer, entering each classroom through its rear door and coming out through the front.

Defeating the anomaly here would be simple. Four methods of exorcism had already sprung to mind.

But the command I chose was "Wait."

Cheon Yohwa had only just joined my party. It was customary to test a new member's skills.

"All right. Please wait a moment."

Cheon Yohwa didn't reject this unspoken test, either. The sound of her drawing a long, deep breath echoed through the dark corridor.

"...not. ...is... ...person."

She was muttering.

I enhanced my hearing to listen in.

"... I am not afraid. Cheon Yohwa is the kind of person who does not fear ghosts. Cheon Yohwa is brave..."

Darkness gathered around Cheon Yohwa's outline, drawing taut. She sprang forward like a rubber band stretched to its limit and released.

As I'd admired during our first encounter, her movements were nimble. This was nothing like the charitable compliment, "She moves well for an ordinary person."

Cheon Yohwa wasn't an ordinary person to begin with. She was an awakened.

And she was a survivor who had lasted 390 days in a tutorial dungeon of unprecedented difficulty.

With movements that were impressive even for an awakened, Cheon Yohwa closed on the ghost in an instant.

When the distance had narrowed by about four meters, Cheon Yohwa began easing off her speed. Then, with a swift motion, she lightly flipped into a handstand like a gymnast.

THUMP. THUMP. WHAM!

Cheon Yohwa's legs spun like a windmill while she remained upside down. A professional breaking dancer would have recruited her for their team on the spot.

The ghost's body swayed under her kicks. After two, three, then four blows in succession, it could hardly maintain its balance.

—Uooohhh...

"Hyaaaaah!"

Cheon Yohwa grabbed the ghost by the hair and pulled. Then she hopped straight up. With all its hair caught in her grip, the ghost had no choice but to be hauled upward too.

—Oh, uh, uh, uh, uh.

"Oho."

I almost whistled without thinking.

The ghost that had to move upside down on its head was now standing upright. She had struck its void spot.

Whether Cheon Yohwa had learned how to defeat it through innate intuition or stumbled upon the strategy by chance didn't matter. In a fight against an anomaly, results were what counted.

SPLAT.

Still held by the hair in Cheon Yohwa's grip, the ghost began turning into chunks of flesh from its toes upward, dropping in a patter.

In less than seven seconds, its legs, torso, upper body, and head had all shattered and fallen onto the corridor floor. Even the last remaining hair slipped between Cheon Yohwa's fingers.

Cheon Yohwa shook off her hands in horror.

"Ewww! That's gross... Um. Anyway, what do you think, Mister Security Guard? I'm a pretty decent fighter, right?"

"You're more than decent. I can see why they picked you as their leader. I'll be counting on you."

"Hehe. Yes, sir!"

This battle had accomplished more than simply confirming Cheon Yohwa's combat strength.

Even left to her own devices, that child would become an awakened who, alongside Dang Seorin, was a contender for the strongest on the Korean Peninsula. Her potential was already as good as proven.

The real gain lay elsewhere.

'That girl just brainwashed herself.'

The secret behind how Cheon Yohwa had become so powerful.

Just before charging at the Thump-Thump-Thump Ghost, she had unmistakably muttered to herself.

["I am not afraid."]

["Cheon Yohwa is the kind of person who does not fear ghosts."]

["Cheon Yohwa is brave."]

That was far more than reciting a prayer to bolster her courage. Because Cheon Yohwa's ability was necromancy—or, more precisely, the ability to program an NPC's thought patterns and behavioral principles.

'She's been gradually changing even her own thought patterns and behavioral principles. To make them better suited for survival and combat.'

I entered the classroom the Thump-Thump-Thump Ghost had emerged from. Then I swept my gaze over places people wouldn't easily notice: the lockers, the underside of the lectern, the compartments beneath the school desks.

Death. Death. Death. Death.

Sure enough, I found talismans. They were identical to the ones I'd found in the bathroom. All bore curses written in fresh human blood.

The attendance register on the lectern contained the name Cheon Yohwa. Apparently, this happened to be her classroom too.

"..."

"Mister, I don't think there's anyone around here! Let's try over there next! There must be kids hiding nearby to avoid the Thump-Thump-Thump Ghost!"

Outside the windows, everything was red. Through the broken panes, the white skin of birch trees bled as it spilled into the corridor. The entire corridor was a red, mangled mess, as though pierced and torn apart by harpoons.

"All right."

Cheon Yohwa waved brightly at me from the middle of that corridor, and I gave her a small wave in return.

How that child had ended up unable to recognize anomalies. Why she had drawn Gapless's interest and become its apostle.

And why Baekhwa Girls’ High School was plastered with so many curse talismans.

I felt as though the solution was slowly taking shape in my head.