Chapter 208 - Cheat (1)

1

"I investigated as you asked, wife."

Raviel set down a stack of newspapers with a thud.

"Were you able to find anything?"

"Yes. She is quite a famous student."

The newspapers were marked with a light green highlighter. The highlighted passages read [a certain Ms. Ja], [Ms. J], and [Ja Sujeong]. They had exposed a minor's real name in full.

The press in this era...

"She is better known by her nickname than her name. Commonly called the [Ghost-Seeing Detective]. Stop anyone on the street and ask, and one in two will know of her."

"That well known, even though she's never appeared on broadcast television..."

"The younger they are, the more likely they are to know her. Especially among high school and middle school students, practically everyone does. Even if they do not know what she has done, they have at least heard the words [Ghost-Seeing Detective], apparently."

It was not particularly favorable attention.

"Most responded with [Oh, that fraud?]. A pity. The person you claim is the Tower Master seems to command little respect."

"... A fraud."

Two days earlier. The day I met the Tower Master.

Uburka and Raviel had tracked my aura to find me. I introduced Ja Sujeong to them as the Tower Master. Though surprised, they decided to stay here for the time being.

When we asked whether we could impose on her for a little while, [Ja Sujeong, third-year student in Class A at Sinseo Middle School] nodded expressionlessly.

「Yes, that's fine. There are plenty of empty rooms. Stay as you please.」

But she added a condition.

「Please get my permission before entering the shed. And please avoid wandering around the house after one in the morning if you can. That's when the children play.」

I meekly accepted her advice.

No matter how gutsy I was, I wasn't confident about playing with ghosts.

The fact that aura didn't work on them at all was already baffling.

"Twelve administrative sanctions. Eight civil lawsuits pending."

Raviel furrowed her brow.

"She is embroiled in far too much trouble for someone so young. No wonder people treat her as a fraud. ... Seeing ghosts is indeed remarkable, but Gongja, is that child truly the Tower Master?"

"Yes. I'm certain of that."

CHOP, CHOP, CHOP, CHOP.

A kitchen knife danced in the kitchen.

The Tower Master.

The middle school girl who bore the name Ja Sujeong in this world stood with her back to us, cutting up a raw chicken. She was preparing dinner, with Uburka helping beside her.

"Actually, there were several strange things about clearing this stage."

"Strange things?"

"Yes. This world was originally a recreation of the Heaven-Slaying Star's trauma."

I had once faced the Heaven-Slaying Star on the fiftieth floor.

I succeeded in killing one of his puppets, but ultimately lost.

The Heaven-Slaying Star's trauma that I glimpsed as I died then—that was the true nature of this place, [City of Heavenly Ascent — Side Story].

"The moment the trauma was recreated, I heard the Tower's voice."

I wrote in a notebook.

+

Warning.

Recreating the trauma of the enemy who killed you.

Extracting the data required for recreation from your memories.

+

The important part was the last sentence.

"The landscape this world painted was the Heaven-Slaying Star's trauma, but the paint it used came from me. That's why all the characters' appearances changed to those of people I knew."

The class president became the Black Dragon leader.

The student council president became Raviel.

His mother and father became Master and the attendant spirit, respectively.

But there was one person—just one [person absent from my memories].

"Only Kim Yul's face didn't change."

"Hmm."

"I had no idea what the Heaven-Slaying Star looked like in his previous life. Since I didn't know, I couldn't possibly remember. Yet in the trauma world, Kim Yul alone had his own true appearance from the very beginning."

Raviel stroked her chin.

"... That is certainly strange. If the data was extracted from your memories, wife, [Kim Yul, too, should have been given someone else's face]."

"Exactly. There's only one conclusion. Kim Yul was extracted not from my memories, but from [other data]. He was borrowed from someone else's memories. I'm convinced that [someone else] was the Tower Master."

"On what grounds?"

"I have evidence."

I picked up my pencil again.

"When I cleared this world, the Tower said something strange."

I reconstructed the voices I had heard.

+

Clear requirements fulfilled.

Requesting a ruling in view of this stage's peculiarities.

Ruling complete.

The Master of All Life acknowledges the ‘stage clear.’

+

"Until now, the Tower has left the decision on whether a stage has been cleared to the constellations in charge. The constellation responsible for floors twenty-one through thirty is the [Director of the Great Library of Myriad Thoughts]. Hamustra. But for some reason, in this world alone, [The Master of All Life] made the ruling personally."

"..."

"In other words, this particular stage was managed directly by [The Master of All Life]."

There was more evidence.

"Another suspicious message came right after the stage clear was acknowledged."

+

Today, the twenty-ninth-floor stage has been cleared.

The Master of All Life announces this on behalf of the Tower.

Well done, everyone.

May good fortune be with you.

+

There had been some long message in the middle, but I couldn't remember that much.

Still, this was enough.

[The Master of All Life] had made an exception and personally offered congratulations.

"There's no room for doubt. The Tower Master oversaw this stage."

I spoke with conviction.

"The Tower Master was also the one who recreated Kim Yul's face. According to [The Princess Who Walks Through Mirages], the Tower Master lived in this world. Living the life of its unhappiest person. And as it happens, that girl Ja Sujeong knows Kim Yul."

"... They had a connection through tending the school animal enclosure together?"

"Yes."

So Kim Yul could be recreated using the Tower Master's memories.

That eliminated the gap in the data.

"That is logical. But if that girl is the Tower Master, why has she lost her powers and memories?"

"..."

I looked at Ja Sujeong's back as she stood in the kitchen.

BUBBLE, BUBBLE.

The chicken simmered in an old pot.

"There are several possibilities, but..."

"But?"

"From what I've seen, the Tower Master is the sort who avoids intervening much in the Tower's affairs, whatever happens. She doesn't show herself unless it's a true emergency. She may have imposed a restriction on herself, something like [Remain an ordinary human unless the situation is absolutely desperate]."

I moved my pencil.

Raviel leaned against my shoulder and looked down at the notebook with me.

+

Regarding Trauma.

+

"Take trauma, for example. I can see the trauma of whoever kills me. That's a rule guaranteed by my skill, [Regressor's Clockwork Watch]. But there's the question of what exactly determines which trauma is chosen."

With a few quick strokes, I wrote two possibilities on the page.

+

Regarding Trauma.

1. Trauma that the person remembers.

2. Trauma that profoundly affected the person's life, even if they do not remember it.

+

"At first, I thought it was number one. But..."

"The stage in this world disproved number one?"

"Yes. Because the Heaven-Slaying Star [didn't remember any of the trauma from his days as Kim Yul]."

The answer was number two.

An event that affected a person's life, whether they remembered it or not.

That was the nature of the trauma my skill showed me.

"When a contradiction arises, the Tower tends to try to patch it up somehow. This was the contradiction that arose when the Heaven-Slaying Star's trauma was recreated."

+

1. The Heaven-Slaying Star's past trauma must be recreated.

2. However, the Heaven-Slaying Star has lost his entire past through a skill.

3. [Kim Gongja's skill], which recreates trauma, conflicts with [the Heaven-Slaying Star's skill], which deletes the past.

4. A contradiction arises.

+

"The Tower recognized this as a crisis. So the Tower Master, living as an ordinary middle school student, [Ja Sujeong], temporarily awakened to resolve the problem. The Tower Master thought of a way to resolve the contradiction, but..."

+

5. As an emergency measure, extract data from Kim Gongja's memories rather than the Heaven-Slaying Star's.

+

"She hesitated at the point of completing the final piece of the puzzle. The Tower Master must have thought: Is it really right to substitute someone else's face even for Kim Yul, the person whose trauma this is?"

"..."

"This place is, above all, [Kim Yul's trauma]. Even if overlaying the people around him with other images was unavoidable... If Kim Yul himself were changed into someone else, it couldn't even be called [Kim Yul's trauma] anymore. It would become a lie."

The Tower Master could not allow herself to replace Kim Yul's face with another.

That was the kind of person she was.

In the end...

+

6. Restore Kim Yul's appearance alone using her own memories.

7. After the stage is cleared, withdraw her powers and memories once more and live as an ordinary [Ja Sujeong].

+

"That is what I believe to be the truth behind this world."

"I see. There are still many unanswered questions, but... excellent."

Raviel stroked my bangs.

"Climbing the Tower alone must keep you busy, yet you retrace the path you have taken and strive to draw closer to the truth. That effort is your most brilliant talent. No hunter could pay as much attention to the Tower as you do."

"Oh, it's nothing. This much is basic."

"No. Only you could have made this deduction. Anyone else could not have gathered information on the Tower Master, and without your skill, you could not have drawn her in. Simply take pride in it."

Raviel praised me.

Heehee.

"Gongja, what do you intend to do now? Even if that girl was the Tower Master, she now has neither powers nor memories. Her ability to see ghosts is remarkable, but is that not all?"

Hmm.

"If my deductions are right... there's one way to bring [The Master of All Life] down here again."

"Oh?"

"The Tower can't resolve a contradiction caused by skills on its own. It needs the Tower Master's judgment. So if we cause another contradiction, the Tower Master will appear."

"That makes sense. Precisely what contradiction do you intend to cause?"

"... I'll die at Ja Sujeong's hands."

"..."

Raviel closed her lips.

I spoke clearly and deliberately.

"Then a problem arises with recreating the trauma. Trauma highlights an event that had a major impact on the person's life. Whether they remember it or not. In other words..."

+

Ja Sujeong's (the Tower Master's) Trauma.

1. The trauma of Ja Sujeong, the middle school student living in this world.

2. Her trauma as the Tower Master, before she lived Ja Sujeong's life.

+

"A conflict arises. The Tower can't decide [which one's] trauma to show."

"..."

"Following the Heaven-Slaying Star's example, showing [the Tower Master's trauma] would be correct. That's the original source. Before I've even cleared the fiftieth floor, I'll come infinitely closer to the truth of the Tower—to the identity of the master who created and rules it."

"..."

"This is probably my first and last chance."

TAP. TAP.

Raviel tapped the table with her hand.

"... Can you say with certainty that it is your last chance? Perhaps after passing the fiftieth, sixtieth, or seventieth floor, you will learn the Tower Master's secrets."

"I can."

I glanced to the side.

The attendant spirit was listening to our conversation with his arms folded.

"Hmm."

The attendant spirit wrinkled his nose.

"I climbed all the way to the ninety-ninth floor, but I never met anyone like the Tower Master. I didn't even hear about beings called [Pillars] until after I met you, Kim Zombie."

That was testimony from someone who had been there.

"To compare it to a game, reaching the hundredth floor means seeing the ending. There'll be a reward fit for that ending. But [the developers who made the game] have nothing to do with the ending, right? Who the developers are, their life stories—none of that matters. I never reached the hundredth floor myself, so I can't say it with a hundred percent certainty... But the hundredth floor probably has nothing to do with the Tower Master."

I nodded.

"Yes. My attendant spirit says there's no information about the Tower Master at least as far as the ninety-ninth floor."

This had nothing to do with progressing through the Tower.

An Easter egg, so to speak.

Information solely about the Tower's creator, the developer of its stages.

"I want to know who the Tower Master is."

"..."

"Why she made the Tower, how she made it, why she insists on living the life of the unhappiest person in each world in their place... If there's a chance to find out, I want to seize it without fail."

"And this is your last chance?"

"Yes. That's what I think."

The secret of creation.

The creator's life.

That was worth staking one life on.

"Raviel."

I looked respectfully into her eyes.

"Please give me permission to die at that child's hands."