# Chapter 119
──────
The Brainwasher I
Shin No-ah
1
I don't care for famous quotes or proverbs.
Admiring a famous quote is generally closer to appreciating a landscape photograph rather than directly facing the beautiful scenery itself.
For those who have already traveled to that landscape, it holds meaning as a memento, but for those who haven't, it's merely a fake antique placed in their home for interior decoration.
Still, there is exactly one. I think only the proverb Nietzsche left behind is useful even to a pragmatist.
- Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process they do not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.
Is this not indeed the guide of guides for hitchhikers traveling through the end times?
When you want to secure a bit more practicality here, you only need to slightly rewrite the latter half to make it perfect.
- If you gaze long enough into Goyori, Goyori will also gaze back into you.
Goyori.
Personal color is pink.
Pokemon type is Psychic.
Specialties are a soft smile for everyone. And a brainwashing hypnosis beam.
If she had appeared as Hypno in the first generation Pokemon anime, she would have boasted cult popularity among children, but unfortunately, due to being reincarnated into reality, the back of my head started throbbing.
What I want to tell you all is that I, the Undertaker, have truly made tireless efforts to seal this Pokemon.
'What if I just take a photo without looking directly at her? Then wouldn't I be able to know Goyori's true appearance?'
Click.
I committed the atrocity of secretly photographing Goyori. It was an act risking death.
The photography itself was successful, but the result was disappointing. There was no significant difference in performance between an ordinary camera lens and my retina.
In short, the photo only showed the same pink hair, the same beauty holding a soft smile, standing there vacuously. Hmm. Somehow the photo seemed worse than the real thing.
The moment I felt 'Hmm. Somehow the photo is worse than the real thing,' I realized I was already under a weak hypnotic suggestion. My spine went chilled. I immediately burned the photo.
Failure.
'What if someone else takes it for me?'
I had Yoo Ji-won, whose life wasn't particularly precious from my standpoint, take the photo. The result was the same. Yoo Ji-won also returned alive and well.
Failure².
For reference, my tests were never conducted in the same iteration.
Regarding Goyori, I needed to research with more caution than a nuclear bomb. All tests had to be conducted in separate iterations.
'If I record her voice with a voice recorder, maybe her real voice would——.'
Failure.
'...Wait. What if I photograph her with a spirit camera?'
It was a somewhat novel idea.
By this time, I had brought an instant spirit camera from the Magical Girl Consortium as payment for subjugating the Inunaki Tunnel.
Click.
I had quite high expectations for this test. The spirit camera was an artifact among artifacts. Surely there couldn't be a more suitable item for revealing Goyori's true identity?
It was then.
Whirrrrrr...
Strange noises began to emerge from the spirit camera that was normally developing photos.
Whirr! Rattle! Ring ring! Ring ring, ring ring ring! Ring ring ring!
It was a telephone ringing sound. No, perhaps it was like the loud sound that rings when pressing a red fire alarm button.
Clunk! The camera rattled on its own, and the next moment, pshhhhh- smoke began billowing from inside as if a fire had broken out.
And then it stopped.
"...."
Goosebumps rose.
"What's the matter?"
What was even more chilling was that Goyori had approached before I even noticed.
Right in front of my nose.
Goyori tilted her head, bent at the waist, and was looking up at me diagonally from below.
"Oh my. You look somewhat familiar... Ah, oh my, oh my. Wait a moment. Aren't you the person who was at Busan Station waiting room? Hmm. Your name was definitely... Undertaker. Undertaker-ssi, right?"
"...."
"Wow! Goodness! What a coincidence to meet again in a place like this! Ah. Smoke keeps coming out of the thing you're holding, is it okay? Something or other."
Goyori beamed a smile.
"Is there anything I can help you with?"
I'm screwed.
It was foolish to trust such a ridiculous camera in the first place. How powerful could a treasure from a group that cosplays as magical girls really be?
However, a regressor is a profession that establishes countermeasures by calculating even for cases like this. I immediately activated Protocol 552-71.
"An unexpected gale blows rumblerumblerumble! The sound of wind is clamorous, so Ju-yu, hastily looks at the flag on the long table, thump thump thump!"
"...Eh?"
"Oh-heh! The Azure Dragon and Vermilion Bird, with their horns, facing the White Tiger and Black Tortoise, spreading northwestward, in an instant the Southeast Great Wind rises, the horns creak! Wobble! The detonation board tumbles rumble rumble! Ah, rising like thunder, Ju-yu sees this sight and his gall bladder falls!"
"Eh. Oh my...? Pardon?"
"Oh heaven! Ahhhh! Why did you birth me and then birth Gongmyung! Uuuuu! Oo-weee!"
"...."
I danced like a madman and ran toward the horizon. As a regressor, I trampled all the personality, dignity, and whatever other kinds of "character" I had built up over a thousand years into the mud.
Protocol 552-71's original name was Singing Pansori Battle of Red Cliffs. Or, pretending to be crazy.
For reference, I was good at pansori.
I was a bit better at pretending to be crazy.
As expected, even Goyori, the Demon of Interest who would start by throwing out the words "how interesting" at everything in the world, did not chase after someone who had lost their humanity. Dobby was free, and I had escaped.
And in that iteration, I never approached within a 30km radius of Goyori again.
Failure.
――As expected, Goyori was a dangerous existence.
As the founder of the Library Society and mastermind behind the scenes, I found it hard to resist the urge to append [Goyori-class] to the end of the danger lineup of [Village-level - City-level - Continental-level - Ocean-level - Outer God-level].
My business partner whom I willingly rely on and consult at times like this, National Highway Management Bureau Chief No Do-ha, wore an ordinary expression at headquarters' operations room.
"In my view, you seem to be the more dangerous existence..."
"Hmm."
I didn't particularly accept No Do-ha's point, but I modified the strategy for now.
"As I mentioned, 'The One Whose Name Must Not Be Spoken' is dangerous not only to me but to all humans. Each person projects their ideal type onto that person, so even someone as emotionally detached as me cannot help but fall for them."
"Damn. I have no idea how many places I should even point out issues with... First off, you, was your ideal type pink hair...?"
"Such peripheral issues are not important. Bureau Chief. However, by examining the above problem, we can establish the following hypothesis. By any chance, if someone who goes beyond having weak emotions to having no emotions at all were to contact 'The One Whose Name Must Not Be Spoken,' wouldn't they be safe?"
"Hmm? Someone with no emotions at all? Does such a person exist...?"
"More precisely, it would suffice if they were someone who has had the capacity to feel affection toward others - that is, the emotion of liking someone - excised. Because Goyori's perception manipulation starts from there."
"...."
"...."
We turned our heads almost simultaneously.
"Hm?"
Scratch scratch scratch.
There, National Highway Management Bureau Operations Control Room Director Yoo Ji-won was carving wood with a sculpting knife. He was directly carving pieces to use as chess pieces in [Mini-map].
"Why are you looking at me suddenly?"
The highly intelligent psychopath tilted his head.
2
Yoo Ji-won.
Personal color is silver.
Pokemon type is... no, who knows. Anyway, psychopath. Investing long time to explain this guy would be a waste of life.
Compared to Goyori, there was no aspect he could win at except appearance.
As much as I hated to admit it for reality, Yoo Ji-won was terribly beautiful in face alone. This was just an objective truth that I couldn't distort even if I wanted to.
Just looking at the fact that the rivals competing for the top two in appearance among the Korean Peninsula's Awakened were none other than Goyori and Yoo Ji-won, it was clear at a glance - there was simply no hope on this land.
That's right. I always assigned Yoo Ji-won the Goyori surveillance mission.
On the Korean Peninsula map spread across the operations team, a black bishop (♝) with "Goyori" engraved on it always crept around.
"Ji-won. You need to make contact with 'The One Whose Name Must Not Be Spoken.' Naturally, the fact that I sent you must never be discovered. Above all, if I sense even the slightest sign that you've been brainwashed, I will immediately quarantine you."
"Hmm..."
Yoo Ji-won rested his chin on his hand. Making a hmm sound while resting his chin right in front of someone. It was chilling to the point of goosebumps at such an obvious sign of psychopathy.
"Your Excellency. I have a condition."
"What condition?"
"Next iteration, please get me something."
This was precisely the voice of a born madman.
If Yoo Ji-won had been an ordinary psychopath.
'Hah? The next iteration's me? That's a completely separate person from current me! I'll pursue my present happiness.'
'From now on, I'll live for myself.'
His thinking would have flowed in this direction, but no chance. Our psychopath was extraordinary even in the shape of his brain wrinkles.
'Hmm. If the world regresses because of that person (Undertaker), then no matter how much I build wealth and power through my efforts, won't it all disappear with a single "click" of regression anyway?'
'Why should my power and safety disappear because of such a click-worm?'
'But a regressor cannot be killed.'
'Therefore, I must cling to the regressor.'
'In other words... I'll somehow negotiate with the regressor to pass more power and information to the next iteration's me. In the iteration after that, even more. If I continue to bequeath that inheritance like so...'
'Wouldn't final victory belong to this body?'
'From now on, I'll go all-in on regressor coins.'
He had arrived at this outlandish idea.
How do I know this? I heard it directly. From the person himself.
I'm now certain no additional explanation is needed for why I treat this hair-brained beauty as a madman. At least, I've never seen a character with this kind of thought process in creative works, in works featuring infinite regression.
This is yet another example of reality always lightly defeating creative works.
"Ji-won."
"Yes, Your Excellency."
"Do you have any guess how many times I've heard that from you?"
"No. But through Your Excellency's remark just now, I've confirmed the fact that I'm maintaining my right mind regardless of which iteration. I'm relieved."
"I think you need to fit some other word in place of 'right mind' for it to make sense..."
"Hmm. Intelligence? Reason? Judgment?"
"All the opposites of those words would be exactly right."
"...?"
In the end, I had no choice but to make another promise to Yoo Ji-won. For reference, this bastard's depth was 1,000 meters based on my hideout cafe.
The first time, it was 100 meters.
There's no need to explain how he crawled from 100 meters to 1,000 meters. I'll just add that I'm someone who keeps promises very well.
I dispatched Yoo Ji-won and trailed behind him. Naturally, maintaining a gap of several hundred meters with perfect vigilance.
Goyori was running a soup kitchen in Daejeon. She distributed food twice daily, morning and evening, receiving only a small amount of labor from ordinary people.
I observed the scene with binoculars. At the sight of Goyori personally wearing an apron and beaming while serving food, my teeth couldn't help but chatter.
Even the apron had Chinese characters written on it.
Three Kingdoms.
'How terrifying! Goyori!'
I trembled.
'To try to bewitch me by manipulating my mind even in such a moment! Do you think I would feel affection for you!'
Moreover, it was a green aprit, neither rootless blue nor red, practically the symbol of Shu.
Truly a fearsome brainwashing!
My hands shook uncontrollably. When I reluctantly turned the binoculars slightly, there was our National Highway Management Bureau's ultimate weapon, the silver-haired psychopath, walking unsteadily.
And——.
"...."
"...."
Two existences, faced each other.
One who absolutely makes others feel affection, and one who absolutely does not feel affection.
In other words... a contradiction!
A spear and shield that, merely by making contact, would seem to violate the laws of the universe and insult society's ethics, and therefore in proper history should never have met, had now come to stand face to face due to some strange karmic prank (me).
My heart grew majestic on its own.