The tools were ready. The ending was decided. All that remained was how splendidly I would act.
Now then. Shall we begin?
“I know. I know everything. How ugly you are, how you drove promising youths to their deaths with terrible lies and deceit.”
“Don’t make me laugh!”
“Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma. Even you yourself, Kanisen.”
His head snapped toward the direction of my voice. A click of the tongue could be heard from Kanisen, who had missed his target. Looking around in vain, he turned his body and narrowed his search net step by step, scrutinizing more carefully.
There was little room to dodge. The closer he got, the harder it would be to maneuver. I had to finish the necessary preparations before that.
“Everyone, once they came down here, they had no choice but to die, right? If the operation succeeds, they will explode along with Tantalos and be buried beneath the Abyss; if it fails, they will face the Military State’s pursuit squad and die. The moment they entered here, the Resistance was already dead.”
“We were prepared for it! Don’t ignore our resolve!”
“Haa. Don’t ignore it? You’re the one who ignored their resolve.”
Holding a sneer, I calmly unfurled the truth I had read before him.
“You didn’t leave it for them to decide for themselves. You drove them into a situation where they had no other choice.”
‘Answering such sophistry is a foolish act. Let him prattle on. Right now, I need to focus on the sound to pinpoint his location.’
Kanisen no longer answered. He kept his mouth shut to find me, making excuses for himself, but my mind-reading saw through to the mind beneath it all.
He was desperately growling to hide the truth that would spill from my mouth.
It was near. Carefully slipping out from under the cabinet, I spoke so my voice echoed against the wall with the instrument panel.
“You had the ability to break through the Military State’s encirclement and escape, right? You had the time to hide in the supply box, right? With that much leeway, while it might be different for you, Kanisen, who already had a warrant out for your arrest, the others, who were still unknown, had the chance to feign ignorance and act like ordinary citizens.”
Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Gamma too.
They were only at the stage of preparing for terrorism; on the outside, they were just common, thoughtless youths. They had shown subversive ideas, but perhaps one of them might have been caught if a large-scale arrest operation had been launched, but that was uncertain.
Yes. They could have survived.
“But you didn’t save them. No, rather, you drove them to their deaths. You were the one who was discovered, so why did they have to run too?”
“Nonsense.”
“What if, while you were fleeing, you hadn’t told them ‘we’ve been discovered’? Instead of ordering everyone to gather and flee, what if you had ordered them that the operation failed, so hide the evidence and wait for the next opportunity? What if you had told them to leave you behind and save yourselves?”
“Nonsense!”
“If you hadn’t presented the path to death as if it were the only way to those who didn’t know what to do? If they had hidden in a safe house instead of infiltrating the supply department with nowhere to run, couldn’t they have survived?”
It wavers. It breaks. It collapses.
Kanisen’s firm will, his mind armed with noble spirit and chivalry, all crumbled before his own guilt.
I am the trumpeter of conscience in his heart.
I speak borrowing my mouth, but what is actually gnawing at him is his own ideals.
Kanisen, with his wounds dug open, lost his reason and shouted.
“No! They are all warriors. They all wanted to fulfill the greater cause even if it cost them their lives! Don’t insult them, you dog who submitted to oppression!”
“You are the one insulting them, Kanisen. They wanted to seize the future they desired by paying with their lives. Participating in your suicide operation was not on the list of things they wanted to buy, even at the cost of their lives.”
*Crash!*
Kanisen threw the iron pipe with all his might. The iron pipe, containing a fierce aura, struck somewhere. The haphazardly piled debris collapsed at once, and broken boards heaved.
“Shut up!”
As if Kanisen no longer wanted to hear my voice, he shouted, making noise recklessly.
And I was the owner of a kind heart who always wanted to add one more word for free when told to shut up.
“Since you were subjected to the Military State’s random inspection, you, Kanisen, were a dead man anyway. Sooner or later. Whether by suicide or being shot dead. The moment the soldiers rang the doorbell—no, the moment the Military State’s leadership planned the large-scale inspection, there was no way to save you.”
“What do you know!”
I know everything.
Repeating it briefly, I continued to speak while changing positions to avoid him chasing me.
“However, you always wanted to spend your life on something meaningful. You wanted to dedicate your life for greater honor. Discovered for your terrorism plot after receiving the Military State’s surprise inspection, and shot dead after resistance. Such a shabby and meaningless future was not in the plans you drew. Is it a desire for honor, or is it a thirst for revenge? Not wanting to die alone, you recklessly called out your comrades and tried to force through the plan.”
“Shut up! Don’t speak as if you’ve read my thoughts!”
I am only saying what I read from his thoughts, but he himself is the one getting hurt.
It’s not surprising. Usually, the existence that hurts oneself the most is one’s own unsatisfied self.
“The only path left for you, who hid in the supply box, was to hide in Tantalos. If it was a Tantalos that had been emptied out due to a prison break, the inspection wouldn’t be that strict. But the problem is, a disabled Tantalos has no value worth risking your life to terrorize.”
It’s obvious. For a group dissatisfied with society to terrorize a prison, it’s only possible when the people locked inside are needed. Whether to recruit the prisoners, or to release them to burden the administration, it’s only possible if there are people inside.
If they had rather thought Tantalos was intact, terrorizing Tantalos would have been a not-so-bad choice. Leaving aside whether they could escape or not.
However, to put it differently.
“Kanisen. You were wise enough to know that a large-scale prison break had occurred in Tantalos.”
A prison with no prisoners.
“Yet you tried to persuade the other Resistance members to carry out the terrorism.”
Has no value to destroy.
“Knowing it had no value whatsoever, you put that thought aside for a moment. How huge a target Tantalos was, what symbol it held for the Military State. You kept repeating it like brainwashing inside the narrow and pitch-black supply box. To deceive them, and to deceive yourself.”
Therefore, Kanisen deceived them. Knowing there was no value in Tantalos, he persuaded them to join. Instead of telling them gravely to plan for the future, that he would be the bait so they should escape, he demanded they offer their lives.
Not for the country,
Not for justice either.
“To die for yourself.”
“Shut---up---!”
Anger ate away at his reason. He now ran without looking back. Without a weapon, he pushed through the debris with both hands and chased me in a straight line. With the sole thought of beating me to death, and silencing that prattling mouth.
The stronger the self-love.
The more one believes oneself noble.
The higher and sturdier the barrier surrounding the ego, the more vulnerable it becomes to internal attacks.
“What would someone like you know! They didn’t even hesitate to use their lives to bring down the Military State! That will must still remain! If we can bring down Tantalos and leave even a little of our names in history books! If future generations can remember us! Wouldn’t that be enough!”
Kanisen flipped the desk with both hands, shoved the fallen cabinet aside, and charged. Not caring that his hands were getting scratched, he tore through the steel frames as if brushing branches aside. He was now running amok in all directions, ready to bring down all the debris. With his indiscriminate charge, I had no choice but to keep fleeing backward.
“I won’t kill you nicely. I’ll catch you and tear you to pieces with my bare hands!”
Provocation successful. I’m not sure if this is a gain or a loss, though.
He got too excited. Should I calm him down a bit?
“Ahaha. Calm down, mister. What does it matter? You only demanded others sacrifice their lives. It’s a common thing. The Military State does it all the time! You hated the Military State so much that you ended up just like them! Hahahaha!”
“I’ll tear that snout first! I’ll chop your tongue to pieces! Let’s see if you can still run your mouth after your lungs are ripped out!”
Oh boy. If I get caught, a human slaughterhouse will open up. I wonder what grade I’d be. Getting needlessly curious.
Anyway, a human’s greatest weapon is reason. The moment he loses his reason like that is exactly my chance for victory. I took out a packet and a card from my bosom and hid them in my hand.
Once again, there is only one chance.
Well, it’s always been just once for me.
I measured the distance. When he overturned the debris, our eyes met over the empty bookshelf. As I showed him my back with a slightly surprised look, an explosive sound was heard soon after, and he violently knocked down the bookshelf and chased me.
Jumping over, ducking, running. Behind me, Kanisen, cloaked in a bullet-repelling aura over his entire body, deflected everything and charged like a chariot. A leg-broken chair flew through the air, a broken light fixture bounced like a ball and shattered. *Clang, crash.* The sounds of pandemonium rang out in real-time. Just getting caught in it would result in severe injuries.
“Stop—!”
Kanisen, while running, snatched the backrest of a nearby chair and threw it straight at me. A terrifying sound was heard. Having noticed it in advance with mind-reading, I barely ducked before the chair smashed the back of my head. The backrest flew over my head. The sound of it cutting the wind was dizzying.
“I’m really going to die at this rate.”
I turned the corner and hid behind the wall. Instead of rushing out from there to widen the distance, I held my breath and pressed flat against the wall. I heard the thumping sound of him chasing.
I read his thoughts. Engulfed in rage, Kanisen clung close. I concentrated my mind and measured the opponent’s distance with mind-reading.
Two steps.
One step.
And now.
Aiming the gun at the faintly appearing shadow, I fired.
*Bang!*
“Gasp!”
When the gunshot rang out, Kanisen flinched, raising his hand to his eyes. An instinctive reaction. In the gap where his body stiffened, I threw the gun and leaped out from the corner like lightning. Pouncing on Kanisen, I flicked the hidden card in my hand. The card brushed past my wrist and turned into a sharp skewer.
I put my entire body weight into thrusting the skewer. Kanisen’s pupils widened.
“Take this. This is the skewer that killed Delta!”
The pointed tip headed for his temple. It may not be perfect, but it’s the best strike I could make. That.
‘Just as expected. Cheap tricks!’
Kanisen saw it clearly with his wide-open pupils.
His bouncing right hand grabbed my fist. Gripping my hand as if to crush it, he twisted the trajectory and bent my wrist, making me drop the rod. At the same time, he grabbed my collar with his other hand and slammed me against the wall. I felt my body float, and immediately after, my entire back hit the hard wall.
“Keugh!”
I was being choked. I hurriedly grabbed his wrist, but it didn’t budge. It was like a rock.
Kanisen muttered with a sinister face.
“You’ve prattled that much, so I believe you’re prepared to die.”
“Kuh, w-wait. Keck.”
“I can’t hear you well. Where did that relaxed attitude from earlier go?”
“Kuh, kuh.”
I need to pry this off to speak, you bastard. I desperately patted the hand that was choking my neck. At the continuous taps, Kanisen relaxed the strength in his arm as if to let me speak once.
Ah, I think I can live now. Catching my breath, I said.
“Ta-da!”
“What?”
It was a good script. Smiling brightly, I raised both arms.
“Pickpocketing success. Look at your left wrist! I stole something very important from you!”
‘Pickpocketing? Left arm? What trick are you pulling now.’
Even so, his gaze naturally turned to the left wrist that was grabbing my collar. It can’t be helped. Whether you tell them not to look, or to look. The moment you perceive it, you have no choice but to recognize it.
Kanisen looked at his left sleeve with questioning eyes.
Only now are you looking this way. Ah, I’m so excited.
I shouted, completely thrilled.
“Your freedom!”
The left sleeve was torn *bwook*. Through the gap in the torn clothes, Kanisen’s bio-terminal was revealed.
An individual’s Aki Avatar, a device created by magicalizing biological information. A symbol of the Military State’s control-ism, but precisely because of that, the terminal that the Resistance must also have engraved to avoid inspections.
A packet was stuck in it.
Kanisen muttered with a dumbfounded face.
“Clothing… packet?”
It’s not a normal clothing packet. An item stored in a prison, along with the guard uniform packet. In that packet, which I found and rejoiced over greatly.
A symbol shaped like chains was drawn on it.
‘Restraint suit packet!’
Panicked, he tried to pull the packet out, but it was already too late. The packet forcefully sucked in mana from the bio-terminal. The packet, having recognized the Avatar, began to vibrate.
Unraveling completely, it wrapped around him like tens of thousands of snakes.
The arm that was choking my neck withdrew. I landed on the floor, rubbing my numb neck. Kanisen was in the middle of a meaningless resistance against the restraint suit pouncing on him. Of course, it didn’t last long. A trap for individuals, the worst invention of the Military State created to control humans, it could never be removed by a ‘normal’ strong person like him.
I bowed deeply to him and said.
“Pickpocketing upgrade, sleeve planting! Great success!”