EP.60 Right Living
I feel a sharp gaze from the regressor. Calm down, will you? It’s just a simulation.
Be that as it may, Aji, feeling no sense of crisis whatsoever, answered honestly.
"Woof? You'll play with me? Ball! Let's play!"
Ah, no. That just means I'll be the one exerting effort. I quickly changed the subject.
"No, no. I am a kind, weak, and benevolent Puppet Uncle. You are very cute, aren't you?"
"Woof! Thanks! You are, hmm, look unappetizing!"
"Do you prefer tasty things?"
"Yeah! I like tasty things!"
"Is that so? Cute children should be given candy. Shall uncle give you some candy?"
"Candy? Woof? Is it food?"
"Yees. It's food. A magic orb that gives off a refreshing scent and tastes like fruit, growing sweeter the more you eat it. A blissful sensation, newly layered with every lick of your tongue, will fill your mouth."
Aji's salivary glands burst. Excited just by the imagination, Aji spun around in place and shouted.
"Woof! I want it! I want it!"
"Now then, shall we go to that secluded place over there, where no one's gaze can reach us? If you follow me, I'll give you candy."
"Woof! Let's go!"
"Keheheh. Follow me. Uncle will show you something nice..."
"Woof woof! Something nice! I like it!"
When I moved Puppet Uncle, Aji enthusiastically followed, circling around him. Without a hint of suspicion, Aji was ready to follow wherever Puppet Uncle went.
Watching that sight quietly, the regressor gripped Cheon-ang.
"Heavenly Sword Qi, Gakpung."
The wind blew. A thinly condensed wind flew towards Puppet Uncle like a blade. I read the regressor's thoughts and hastily moved my hands, but Puppet Uncle, hanging by the strings, was inevitably a beat too slow.
The sword qi struck the golem hard, and Puppet Uncle, who was trying to take Aji away, had every joint broken by the regressor's cruel hands and scattered to pieces. The severed limbs, hanging by the threads, swayed pitifully.
"Aah! Puppet Unclllle!"
"Woof! Candy!"
A marionette barely made by tying threads to a broken golem! Do you know how hard I worked to make that stitch by stitch?!
"Candy..."
Aji looked down at Puppet Uncle with a face that had lost the world. The sight of him nudging it, wondering if it would get back up, was utterly pitiful.
I twisted my face viciously and whipped my head around.
"What are you doing!"
Having committed the crimes of property damage and obstruction of official duties, the regressor replied with a nonchalant face.
"What am I doing? I executed a criminal trying to lure a child with candy."
"Don't get too immersed! Isn't this just a simple simulation! I was only trying to use it as a cautionary tale for Aji!"
"Then do it in a moderately unpleasant way! If you make that kind of smile, my hand naturally lashes out!"
"What's wrong with Puppet Uncle's smile? Where else would you find such a benevolent smile!"
Enraged, I threw Puppet Uncle down and shouted.
"Puppet Uncle was simply a man of good heart who lost his child early on and lived on by giving candy to children as his only comfort! Even giving candy to Aji was an unconscious action because he thought of his daughter!"
"You said it was a simulation! Don't put weird settings in the simulation!"
"You murderer! Sending the father after the son, you have no blood or tears! Did a vampire really suck all your blood dry?!"
The vampire, who had been quietly listening, added a small comment.
"I have never drank Shei's blood. Though I did take a little of what was spilled during training."
"Then is this brutality innate! A savagery that can't even tolerate a mere simulation! There's no need to see it!"
Raising a piece of chalk, I wrote the name Shei on the blackboard and drew a large X over it. For the reason, I wrote down excessive savagery and radicalness, and insufficient patience.
"You..."
"Huh? Are you angry? Are you perhaps unable to control your fury? Do you want to use violence even though the law is strict and morality still stands? If so, you fail!"
After dealing a double blow, I roughly cleaned up the shattered puppet. I threw one of Puppet Uncle's ribs to Aji, who still hadn't given up his attachment to the candy.
After that, I turned around and continued the explanation.
"Conversely, even if the other person doesn't have bad intentions, you shouldn't follow them if something like this happens. Since you are not mind readers, you can't know the other person's intentions, right? If you follow them, your body might be in danger, so you must never comply with such requests. Though suddenly slashing them like Trainee Shei did is a bit much."
Crunch.
While I was speaking, the sound of steel frames shattering came from over there. Aji had bitten into Puppet Uncle's steel frame. I'm not sure why a crunching sound occurred when he only bit it lightly, though.
Looking toward Aji, he happened to realize it and was spitting out the crushed steel frame with a disappointed face.
I turned my body again.
"Of course, if you have the physical prowess to chew through steel, it's fine to follow them. That's also the reason I'm not saying anything to Aji."
The regressor sat with his arms crossed, looking delinquent.
'Now that the foolish puppet is broken, he'll probably wrap this up roughly, right?'
No way. I immediately went out to the hallway, grabbed the prepared items, and went back in. It was a mannequin made from the skeleton of the military gear that the regressor had broken last time.
On the visor in place of the face, a human face I drew was sketched. Tapping on the mannequin with line-drawn eyes and thick lips, I said.
"Anyway, since Puppet Uncle is unusable, let's use the mannequin Mr. Mane that I brought for such an occasion. Mr. Mane is a young man with attractive dimples on both cheeks."
'Is he really a crazy bastard...'
"Now, Trainee Shei will try this time! Will Mr. Mane be able to protect his right arm against Trainee Shei!"
'Does he think I'm a real psycho! Fine, I'll show him!'
The regressor fumed and walked up to me. A positive attitude.
I waved the mannequin's hand to welcome the regressor.
"You have a good aura. Do you know the Dao?"
"Dao? What nonsense is this?"
"My, nonsense! Are you truly saying you do not know the Dao!"
'Keep spouting nonsense.'
The regressor crossed his arms and glared at me beyond the mannequin. Whether he did or not, I spread the mannequin's arms exaggeratedly, like a cheap puppet show, and said.
"All things have their own Dao. It is the path we ought to walk, and a signpost pointing to the destination we must reach. It is not only humans. Since ancient times, it has been said that Heaven, Earth, and Humanity form a harmony. The Mother Earth Goddess is infinitely merciful to humans, carving her own flesh to bestow all kinds of gifts. We drink the Mother Goddess's milk and take her fruits, carving her flesh to make everything. That led us to prosperity. However, the Father Heavenly God does not tolerate those who dare to overstep the gods, and takes those things away with rain and wind, floods and lightning."
Normally, when a speech gets long, the listener's concentration tends to weaken. But the regressor suddenly listened to my story seriously.
Hey, I just roughly patched together some random words, why are you focusing so much?
'Why is he suddenly saying these things? Is there some hidden meaning in his words? I don't know, so let's listen first.'
This guy is strangely loose in the head too. Just a moment ago he was complaining, and now he's going to listen first?
He's more fickle than summer weather. Even I, a mind reader, dare not predict him.
Sighing inwardly, I continued speaking.
"Therefore, humans came to love the mother and fear the father. Put differently, one could say they take the mother lightly and respect the father. This is the Dao of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity. Heaven and Earth. The path of humanity sandwiched between them."
"And?"
"Oh, you with open ears, you who melt all things like water. Meeting you must surely be the will of Heaven. However, this world is full of falsehood and deceit, and people see each other as prey, so I resent myself for being unable to trust you without testing you. For the sake of trust, would you please give me a gold coin?"
The regressor took out a gold coin from his pocket and willingly handed it over. I moved the mannequin's right hand to snatch it, and immediately flipped the mannequin's body around.
"Heh heh! You fool! To be fooled by such smooth talk! I'll make good use of this gold coin! Consider this your life tuition fee!"
The steel mannequin stumbled away.
The regressor swung Cheon-ang dryly. At that moment, the arm part of the mannequin, about five steps away, was sliced clean off, and the gold coin rolled out. I hastily snatched the falling gold coin and scolded the regressor.
"No, Trainee Shei. How could you just cut off the arm point-blank?"
"What does it matter? It's a fake."
"Lately, I'm worried that even if it were a real person, Trainee Shei would just slash their arm off. And why the right arm specifically? Did you form a grudge against right arms in your past life?"
"Whatever. Hand back. Return the gold coin."
"Tch."
I tried to slip the gold coin into my pocket but was stopped, and had no choice but to return it to the regressor. It's as painful as having my heart torn out.
Watching regretfully as the regressor put the gold coin into his pocket, I continued the explanation.
"Well, I said this, but Trainee Shei's response isn't wrong. It's just that cutting off the arm is a bit extreme."
"I cut it because it's a model. If it were real, I wouldn't have cut it."
"That is a lie known to heaven and earth. If you want to refute it, say it in front of me, who almost got cut, and Finlay, who did get cut."
After refuting with empirical evidence, I looked at the vampire and said.
"Anyway, there are cases where people approach with goodwill like Puppet Uncle, and there are people who try to rip you off like Mr. Mane. True goodwill and scammers who package themselves with goodwill mix cleverly when approaching, so people have always found it difficult to distinguish between the two."
"Yes. Those lacking experience always tend to fear others."
The vampire's leisurely reply. Reading the superiority complex beneath it, I stopped mid-sentence and looked at the vampire with coldly chilled eyes.
"Does that mean Trainee Tirkanjaka, having sufficient experience, can distinguish between goodwill and malice packaged as goodwill?"
"Perhaps not entirely, but sufficiently."
"...What?"
"I have spent a long time and seen countless people, and experienced even more than that. If I didn't even have an eye for judging people, where would all that experience have gone?"
Wait a minute. His self-evaluation is weird.
Interpreting my silence as agreement, the vampire spoke with a bit of swagger.
"The puppet demanded companionship, and the mannequin demanded money. Even if you don't know their intentions, if the opponent is a villain, they would try to take something from me. If you grasp that gist, you won't be swayed by anyone."
It's not a wrong statement, but sometimes the messenger undermines the credibility of the message.
No matter how I think about it, the vampire is just a lucky easy mark, and he has this kind of self-evaluation? Who did I hold this class for today?
This won't do.
"Then would you like to test it?"
"A test. I am not in a position to be tested by someone, but I am curious. How do you intend to test me?"
"I'll continue what Aji and Trainee Shei were doing earlier. Let's see how well you cope."
"I see no puppets left, so what will you use?"
"I have one puppet left that I handle best. One that doesn't even need strings to control."
I slowly walked up to the vampire. The vampire just stared, curious as to what I was going to do. Approaching the vampire's side naturally, I bowed my head and slightly lifted the edge of the parasol. Beneath the parasol, red eyes contrasting with snow-white skin could be seen.
Letting out a small sigh containing pure reverence.
"How can this be. Oh, God."
The vampire frowned as he saw me finding God right in front of him. Just before the unpleasant thought could wrap around his body, I immediately knelt on one knee towards the vampire.
"I finally understood the reason jewels are rare in this world today after seeing you. God must have used them all up making a puppet like you, leaving nothing left."
"...What?"
"Your skin was molded from white jade and your hair was woven entirely from platinum; it's as if all the white jewels in the world were gathered. Ah, a blissfulness that seems like it would blind me. However, is it the nature of beings who pursue beauty to be bewitched by light and throw themselves into the flames? Dare I ask, will you permit me to smell the lingering fragrance of beauty by your side?"
The regressor's jaw dropped.