“······.”
I had been muttering to myself while reading the thesis, but at some point, I fell silent. However, the proofreading continued without pause.
[There are many incorrect and inefficient parts. Maintain the idea, but······]
Truthfully, while ‘Drent’ had caused an unsavory incident at the Nongonghoe, it was a talent that the original Dekulein wouldn’t have dared to dream of. Having expected only a single Ifrin under my command, this was an unexpected harvest.
I suppose I muttered to myself because my mood had improved unintentionally.
It wasn’t like me.
Though nowadays, I don’t even know what being “like me” means.
“······Hmph.”
Dekulein’s disposition was [Authoritative]. The more outstanding his opponent, the more he wished them to bow to him, and when they crawled beneath him like this, he even felt a certain joy.
But right now, my body was filled with a sense of dissonance.
Specifically, the cornering felt unfamiliar. My entire body’s senses had developed hypersensitively due to the Trait [Ironman]. I perceived it through these keen five senses that had uncovered Allen’s secret.
The bastard gripping the steering wheel.
That bastard wasn’t Jeff.
“······.”
However, I mustn’t act rashly.
With a meticulous mind, I swept my gaze around the car interior. [Villain’s Fate] detected absolutely no danger.
Indeed, if getting into this car itself had been dangerous, it would have already been caught by the trait’s radar.
Perhaps this could be called a blind spot of the trait.
[Villain’s Fate] did not warn of danger; it only indicated ‘variables leading to death.’
I opened the window. Ordinary scenery flowed past in a blur, but the moment the outside wind surged in—
The entire road was dyed in vivid red.
The outside was a dead zone. At least within this area, the inside of the car was the safest.
And so, the moment I grasped the current situation.
[Emergency Quest: Encounter]
◆ Shop Currency +1
A quest popped up.
I thought quietly.
“An encounter, huh.”
A smile I didn’t understand myself crossed my face.
I didn’t know who had arranged such an absurd meeting, but—
“······I shall consider it an invitation.”
It would be comfortable to think of it as an invitation.
I looked at the bastard driving through the rearview mirror. The bastard whose eyes met mine gripped the steering wheel tightly. Sweat beaded in his palms.
“Don’t worry. I won’t do anything ungentlemanly. After all, you aren’t real, are you?”
The bastard didn’t answer, and there was still time left. I continued proofreading the thesis.
* * *
Vroooom—
Gerek glared at Dekulein’s car moving far ahead. He was following at a reasonable distance, but to Gerek, brimming with killing intent, it was endlessly stifling.
“Why can’t we kill him?”
Gerek asked. Al Los, who was driving, answered calmly.
“Are you Gerek?”
“Yeah. I’m Gerek. Same as you right now, Al Los. The ‘main body.’”
Al Los wordlessly stepped on the accelerator.
The puppet currently driving Dekulein’s car was a semi-puppet into which Al Los had transplanted ‘a portion’ of her own soul.
The ratio was about 7 percent?
Therefore, it lacked wisdom compared to the main body, and was foolish and dim-witted. However, everything the puppet saw, heard, and felt was transmitted perfectly to the main body, and the puppet acted believing itself to be the main body.
Because this ‘Puppetry’ only functioned perfectly that way.
A puppet that knew it was a puppet did not move vibrantly. To be exact, it lacked motivation in all matters. It wouldn’t carry out missions properly and would occasionally refuse the main body’s orders.
Yet transplanting one’s soul completely into a single puppet incurred too massive a penalty of ‘soul detachment,’ so this was a method she had developed with considerable effort.
Gerek muttered.
“But, the soul that went into that puppet dies the moment it returns to you? Without even knowing it’s a puppet?”
“Something like that.”
“Cruel. Doesn’t your puppet have a personality?”
“It’s paying a suitable sacrifice.”
Al Los smiled bitterly. Gerek glanced at her and asked again.
“What sacrifice?”
“The sacrifice that even the current me doesn’t know whether I’m a puppet or the main body.”
“······.”
Gerek’s eyes went wide.
Even he, who believed himself to be the main body right now, might be nothing more than ‘a fragment of a soul’ given by Al Los hiding in some back room.
These memories too might be fakes fabricated by that main body.
This was the price for creating the most perfect puppet despite being an incomplete human.
Because a perfect puppet was essentially a person, Al Los would live her entire life in doubt that ‘she too might be a puppet.’
“I like that about you, Unni.”
At that, Gerek grinned. Al Los furrowed her brow at the word ‘Unni.’
“······I told you not to deceive me.”
“Unni~”
Gerek laughed creepily and lunged at Al Los. Al Los shoved the man who had become her younger sister away with her shoulder.
“Unni~ I love you so much, Unni~”
“Don’t cling to me. I’m driving.”
It was fortunate that he had a pretty face for a man.
If he had looked like a bandit with a beard full of whiskers, she would have already killed him.
“Unniiiiii~”
“I said you’re noisy, Jelin.”
This guy wasn’t Gerek but Jelin. The relatively manageable child among Gerek’s personalities.
“But, Unni. I can’t hold back much longer either. I want to kill Dekulein as much as Oppa does. Unni, you know how I died, right?”
“I’ve heard it dozens of times from Gerek.”
At Al Los’s answer, Jelin wiggled his eyebrows.
“Hmph. That stupid oppa takes everything. The conversation topics too, I thought them all up but he says them all······.”
Jelin, who had been grumbling, suddenly lowered his head. He gripped his pant leg tightly. And then asked in a voice pitched even lower.
“Unni.”
“What.”
“I’m real, right?”
Al Los turned her head to look at Jelin.
“Who knows.”
Al Los, a Puppeteer and Soul Shaper.
It was no coincidence that she teamed up with Gerek.
“Don’t try so hard to know.”
Gerek’s numerous personalities, which might simply be the aftermath of a mental illness, and herself, who might be nothing more than ‘a fragment of a soul’ given by the main body.
“It’s fine if you don’t think too deeply.”
That shared quality was identity.
Living life without knowing whether one was real or fake was quite opaque, and occasionally, like an anchor hooked onto the heart, it dragged all emotions down into a gloomy deep sea.
“Everything in the world is like that. No matter what it is, if you don’t think deeply, humans become okay again. Trust in your ego’s resilience. And, live shallowly.”
“······Unni~”
Jelin lunged forward, eyes welling up as if moved, but Al Los struck his jaw with her elbow.
“Get lost. Gerek.”
“Tch. How did you know?”
Jelin’s acting was outstanding, but Gerek’s was not.
Al Los clicked her tongue and said.
“There’s no time to play around.”
Al Los heard Dekulein’s voice through the puppet’s ears.
—An encounter······ I consider it an invitation.
This damned professor’s intuition was truly surprising. Honestly, she had prepared to abort the plan the moment he noticed it was a puppet, but if that happened, Gerek would act unilaterally.
That would be even worse.
“Dekulein is accepting this encounter as an invitation. It means he’s confident.”
“Really? That’s amazing. Well, I heard he’s evenly matched with that Rohakan. I couldn’t kill that old man either. When did Dekulein become so strong?”
It was at that moment. Al Los’s body flinched.
Because Dekulein had just said something extremely significant.
—Don’t worry. I won’t do anything ungentlemanly. After all, you aren’t real, are you?
Of course, he might be saying fake simply because it was a puppet, but just in case.
Even if there was a one in ten thousand chance.
If Dekulein had hinted at the authenticity of her ‘soul’ itself······
“Al Los. What’s wrong?”
“······It’s nothing.”
That couldn’t be. No one could distinguish the authenticity of a human soul.
Unless they were a god.
“We’re almost at the destination now.”
Right on time, the destination came into view. An empty lot far from the imperial downtown. An underground area left completely empty under the pretext of planned development.
“Ooh~ I’m looking forward to it. Ooh~”
“Gerek. Do you have a beast among your personalities?”
“I do, of course! I raised it, you know. There’s also a cowboy who swung a shotgun? Ooh~!”
Gerek smiled while roaring like a tiger.
* * *
The car advanced slowly. The buildings and streetlights along the road gradually disappeared, and at some point, the entire vehicle descended into the underground of an empty lot.
It was an unknown space.
Darkness filled the other side of the glass window.
The car rattled forward and then stopped in the very center.
Dekulein looked at the driver’s seat. Jeff had become a mannequin at some point.
Was it Al Los?
He placed his gaze outside the window again. There was no problem according to [Villain’s Fate].
“······.”
Dekulein got out of the car.
It was underground. Overall, it was a space like a parking lot.
Clack— Clack— The sound of shoe heels echoed through the cavity.
—Nice to meet you.
A voice reached from the right.
Dekulein looked that way. He did not take an unsightly defensive posture. Since there were no death variables, he simply stood there calmly.
“Long time no see~”
Soon, a man draped in darkness like a coat appeared. Dekulein knew the moment he saw his face.
Jukaken.
He was a Named of the underworld.
“Ah~ Stop, stop. Don’t come any closer than that, okay?”
He had only taken a single step. Jukaken reacted noisily and waved his hands. It was a bizarre gesture.
“Don’t move any further than that. Absolutely not. Stand right there.”
Dekulein observed the bastard through the Character Lens.
—— [Politician] ——
◆ Grade
: Unique
◆ Description
: One who does politics.
: Can partially imitate others’ traits through compromise. (However, limited to Unique-grade traits and below, and violence must not be present in the process of compromise.)
——————
Jukaken was quite a peculiar Named. The only one among the Six Killers who made the underworld his base.
The underworld was not an area completely beyond the Empire’s reach, so the risk was considerable, but true to his epithet of ‘Politician,’ he had long since solidified his vested rights and position through all manner of bribes.
“Don’t stand there so stiffly. Don’t wrinkle that handsome face, yeah?”
For one of the Six Killers, the bastard was dressed exceedingly aristocratically. It would not have been insufficient to call it a tailcoat, and the long purple hair slicked nauseatingly to the right firmly represented his concept.
“Dekulein. I propose a peaceful transaction.”
Dekulein listened to the bastard in silence.
“The ‘Altar’ wants your rune language.”
“······.”
“Just hand over the translated copy. Once we verify its authenticity, we’ll split the price fifty-fifty. At least 100 million will fall to you.”
Behind Jukaken stood a bizarre figure in a robe.
As expected, this ‘Encounter’ was a side branch of the Main Quest.
“What do you think?”
Jukaken raised the corners of his mouth and asked for his opinion.
Dekulein answered.
“You speak out of line.”
“······Tsk.”
The bastard clicked his tongue and swept his long hair back. He shook his head as if slightly angered and then looked at me again.
“Dekulein. I know you. That’s why I want to resolve this peacefully. Besides, I’m not telling you to hand over all rights to your rune language. If you wish, I’ll place ‘copyright magic’ on your rune language. So that only the upper echelons of the Altar can see it. For that, a magician is accompanying—”
“Jukaken.”
Dekulein cut the bastard off.
“If you know me. Correct that tone first.”
Within this flesh, some rage was boiling. His mind, confronting the bastard, was twisting darkly.
“You are not someone who may look me in the eye.”
It was simply.
That damned impudence grated on him so much that he couldn’t continue this situation.
“A wretch merely aping nobility. Who taught you such manners?”
Jukaken’s expression hardened.
“······”
The bastard licked his lips several times with his tongue and briefly lowered his head. Then he laughed while grabbing the back of his own neck.
“You’re still arrogant. But the current situation isn’t very good. I’m telling you to come to your senses.”
Haa— Jukaken sighed and continued.
“The Altar can simply open your skull and acquire your brain to obtain the rune language. You wouldn’t want that either, right? And.”
Snap—! When Jukaken flicked his fingers, a barrier manifested. The barrier wrapped around a radius of several tens of meters, centered on Dekulein’s feet.
The bastard glared at him from outside that barrier.
“It’s a barrier. You, a professor of magic, would know better than anyone the strength and density of this barrier.”
The barrier looked formidable even at a glance.
"We have also prepared the utmost courtesy, in respect of your prestige for having faced Rohakan."
Then, a cold, sinister aura surged like the wind. Vivid killing intent filled the empty underground.
It was a change brought about by the appearance of a certain 'figure.'
"Deculain. I'll say it again. This is neither a request nor a proposal."
Deculain looked at the hooded figure. It seemed to be some man, but his face couldn't be seen clearly.
"Is this your boyfriend, Jukaken?"
At that, Jukaken flinched in surprise before shouting in anger.
"You're sitting there spewing insane nonsense!"
"For one of the serpent's heads, am I truly so terrifying?"
"Hmph. If I wanted to kill you, I would have done so already. However, I merely wish for a peaceful resolution out of respect for the prestige you have shown in the underworld all this time."
"With such cowardice, can you even call yourself a man?"
"...Hey! Show yourself. Professor Deculain has lost his mind!"
Then, the darkness on the other side lifted. Deculain's expression turned cold.
He radiated death variables. No, he was a being whose very existence was a death variable.
"Gerek, is it?"
"Yes. You know him too. This famous one."
Gerek, the multiple personality. A combat monster ranked among the top even among the Named Madmen, and simultaneously, a mass of death variables for Deculain.
Deculain let out a hollow laugh.
"Jukaken. Do you think you can control him?"
"I cannot control him. If by any chance you dismantle that barrier, Gerek will kill you."
At Gerek's feet, the death variables were approaching like shadows. Deculain tracked that reddish movement with his eyes.
"Even if you do not agree to the negotiation, Gerek will destroy the barrier and kill you."
However, the death variables were blocked by the barrier.
It was a hint conveyed to him by 「Villain's Fate」.
"...Strange."
"Fufu."
Deculain peered into the barrier with 「Comprehension」.
Barriers are an independent branch of magic that utilizes a medium. Therefore, no matter who the caster is, it operates solely through the medium.
In other words.
Its owner can change at any time.
Of course, it would require tremendous computational ability and time, but I have sufficient capability, and this barrier is small in scale, so it will not take long......
"..."
He analyzed the barrier through the eyes of 「Comprehension」. With his 「Naked Eye」, he traced the flow of mana inherent within the barrier, reverse-calculated its circuits and formulas, and modified the barrier's medium using the 「Staff of Rokelok」 he held in his hand.
He had completely seized the barrier.
Soon after, Deculain drew a revolver from inside his coat. All six rounds were already loaded.
"Oho. That's a fine accessory."
Jukaken simply shrugged. Deculain raised the gun. He aimed at the barrier's ceiling and pulled the trigger.
—!
Five shots.
Not a scratch was left on the barrier, but thanks to that, he had drawn Gerek's gaze.
"Gerek. Can you hear me?"
"...I can hear you. But I'm not Gerek."
Gerek answered thus. Deculain raised an eyebrow and asked back.
"Who are you?"
"Jelin. My older brother won't come out. No matter what trick you use, I won't let you ruin this."
"How cute."
At those words from Jelin, Deculain quietly nodded.
"Even so, there will be reports, won't there?"
"...No. Whatever scheme you're plotting, it won't work."
Jelin narrowed her eyes. Deculain calmly checked the revolver's cylinder. He had just fired five shots, so only one bullet remained.
"The loaded bullet is one of six."
He spoke indifferently, as if devoid of emotion, and clicked—! shut the cylinder and gave it a whirl. Now it was impossible to know which chamber was empty.
"Gerek."
In that moment, Jelin's eyes went wide. Because Deculain had placed the muzzle against his own temple.
He looked as though he was trying to commit suicide...
"Let's play a game."
Jukaken's face contorted in displeasure, and Jelin, having grasped his intention, covered her mouth. Gerek began rampaging inside her body.
Click-
He pulled the revolver's hammer back. That cold sound echoed through the cavern.
A machine operates with cold precision, so if he pulls the trigger now.
The contents of the chamber will spring forth according to a fixed probability.
"Before you kill me, will I die by my own hand first?"
An empty chamber?
Or the one remaining bullet?
He asks softly.
"Or before I kill myself, will you wake up first?"
Deculain gazes intently at Jelin. The flustered Jukaken mutters, "H-hey! Don't be fooled! What trick is that mage bastard pulling—" but it's no use.
Whether magic is at work in this 'Russian roulette' or not—they, who are more sensitive to mana than anyone else, would know best.
"Will you send me off in such a shabby manner?"
With a click— he placed his finger on the trigger. With the muzzle pressed to his temple, Deculain smiled.
Jelin's expression twisted strangely.
"Now, the first shot."
Clack—! At that hollow click, Jelin trembled violently.
"Lucky me."
Deculain pulled the revolver's hammer again. However, Jelin shook her head and shouted.
"It won't work!"
Deculain's smile remained. He looked down at Jelin, Gerek's personality, and spoke.
"...Did you say Jelin?"
Jukaken had brought Gerek along while bothering with courtesy, but it had been a blunder instead.
Gerek was a monster no one could control.
Of course, if he were moderately enraged, he might target only Deculain.
But if his madness were pushed to the extreme?
This Named called Gerek would transform into a lunatic incapable of distinguishing friend from foe.
"Well then... was the agony of drowning bearable?"
Jelin did not answer. Her expression turned cold and subdued.
"..."
I looked at her feet and smiled faintly. The death variables were spreading in every direction except for this barrier.
They were likely not death variables that applied solely to me.