Chapter 113
Chapter 113
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 113
Chapter Title: The Prophet's Deception
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The first thing I saw was a red pulsation.
Thump, thump, thump.
I belatedly realized that I had crashed into something somewhere.
Splat.
With a short, thick sound, my body landed on something squelching and slimy.
A foul stench.
The next instant, I realized it was the stench of rotting protein.
Chunks of flesh scattered around me clung stickily to my body.
Pulsing red.
"Rip off your sins...
...and devour them."
Whoosh!
The wind blew.
The high-speed train I'd been riding rushed past me, leaving behind a roar and blast of air pressure.
The train vanished in an instant to the far end of the tunnel, where light flickered...
"......"
Honestly, it was pretty disgusting and a bit scary, but I didn't feel any pain or fall into serious panic.
It felt about like standing alone in front of an apartment's garbage sorting area late at night.
"Yeah. I'm fine."
'...Happy Maker is really working properly.'
It was like how your heart cools and relaxes after taking a calming pill—except in reverse, my mind felt warmly solidified.
I rose to my feet in a fairly calm and stable state of mind.
But in the process, the moment I brushed off the rotten flesh chunks with my bare hands...
"......"
So, um. Roughly matching the testimonies of past sacrifices with the current situation...
'Around now, the pain like your whole body burning hits, and unable to endure it, you rip off your skin and flesh...'
And while chewing and drooling it, you stagger toward the light at the end of this filthy, damp passage—a mad scenario like that.
This very tunnel being the trace of that horror.
Fortunately, with all pain numbed and my mental resistance boosted by the silver ring, I wouldn't feel such insane impulses.
"Hoo."
I stood fully and shook myself off a bit.
It wasn't very effective. The traces of filth and rotten flesh were glaringly obvious.
As for the source of this flesh... better not think about it...
No panic thanks to Happy Maker, but still sticky and gross.
Oh, wait.
"Brown, you okay?"
"...Burning agony?"
Ah, right.
'The sacrifice conditions apply only to humans, then.'
Good thing Brown wouldn't snap and fall into madness.
"...No."
Yeah.
'To escape, I need to get back inside that train.'
I got up and started walking.
Toward the end of the tunnel.
Squelch, splat.
Filth and fluids splashed underfoot into my shoes, soaking my socks red.
"......"
Maybe the burning agony intensifies the more sins you've committed?
'Theoretically, a good person would feel minimal pain even falling from the window here...'
Since this ghost story focuses on the train's passengers devolving into a more desperate, horrific, inhuman hell with each loop, such details could only be guessed by experiencing them.
Anyway... the tunnel was longer than expected, and I trudged on persistently.
'Hope I don't need to use another Happy Maker.'
I ignored the voices and kept walking.
My feet felt heavier and heavier, but the light steadily approached.
Step, step. The intense light from the tunnel exit nearly blinded me, making it hard to see ahead.
'Ah.'
Almost there.
Frowning, I pressed forward...
And the moment I was enveloped in light.
'......!'
A small, soft invitation.
An bizarre... revelation-like sensation of unnatural coziness and liberation pierced through the crown of my head as it enveloped me...
The moment it faded.
My consciousness was sucked away at tremendous speed, like a train plummeting down a steep incline.
"...!"
"Gasp!"
"Agh! Aaaah!"
I opened my eyes.
I was sitting in a comfortable, modern high-speed train car.
My body was clean again, and my mind...
'Wow.'
Recalling it made me want to vomit.
My stomach churned.
'I... didn't feel this sensation?'
That I was buried in the flesh people had ripped off and eaten alive, then got up from it and walked?
'S-stop thinking about it.'
Anyway, the important thing was that I'd successfully returned to this point.
'Happy Maker's effects reset completely upon returning to the start.'
I instantly regained my reason and first checked my Happy Maker count.
......
11 before use.
Still the same.
Yeah. As expected.
'Good.'
Preparations complete.
I looked up to see Deputy Manager Jin Naso-l staring at me with a composed expression.
"How was it?"
"A horrific, nauseating place. Falling in without preparation would almost certainly cause mental breakdown or contamination symptoms."
"I see. Then get up. We've already secured..."
"Hey! Look here! This guy's perfectly fine!"
"......"
Ugh!
Jin Naso-l's words cut off as she grimaced unpleasantly, but she didn't act immediately with civilians swarming over.
'Q-quickly.'
I gave a vague smile to the people gaping in shock at my unscathed state.
"Are you okay?! Oh my god!!"
"This, this is the guy who volunteered to jump! But... y-you're, you're fine?"
"Yes. I'm fine now. But... what on earth happened after I fell?"
"W-well..."
Skipping their frantic ramblings, the key points were this:
"After you fell, the countdown started again...!"
"Ah, yeah! Like it wanted one more sacrifice, the cooldown reset."
As expected.
"...! I see. So then, at that point, the train... crashed again?"
"No! After that!"
One of the crowding passengers explained further.
"It was weird. No one from our car fell, but suddenly a path opened, saying it accepted the offering..."
"......"
"We heard murmurs from the front car that someone fell, but people got all excited and started fighting, so details..."
"......"
"No! They called us crazy! They're the ones who can't grasp the situation!"
"Exactly!"
"It's frustrating as hell."
"In games, you can't let troll bastards like that slide."
I see.
Tensions were rising.
'Starting this loop.'
Loop 3:
Factions form by train car, fights break out. They pressure each other to offer passengers as sacrifices. Bloody incidents begin.
And...
Deaths from violence inside the cars.
......
For now, I nodded calmly.
"I see. It seems the number required for sacrifice increases by one each time."
"W-what...?"
"First altar: 1 person. Second: 2. The demands escalate sequentially like that."
"Ah...!"
They'd probably guessed it but couldn't say it aloud—groans of dismay and fearful moans rose here and there, but no fierce rebuttals.
Just fear.
"What do we do? How...? Why us? Sob..."
"W-what if we all have to jump out the windows to end it?? Is that it?!"
A plausible guess, but I gently gripped that person's shoulder.
"No. Calm down. There must be a way to end it."
"Hic."
"Look at me. I jumped and I'm fine. There are ways."
"Ah......"
Riding the slightly calmed atmosphere, I spoke softly.
"You said the state of others who fell is bad? Could you guide me if possible?"
"Y-, yes!"
"This way!"
I followed their hurried guidance, scanning the seats.
"Oooong. Me too!"
Behind the Dolphin assistant manager immediately following me.
Jin Naso-l stood with arms crossed, as if daring me to try.
'She's watching.'
The moment she judged it inefficient, she'd flip the board, grab the obstructive ones, and toss them out one by one—no surprise.
'That won't clear it.'
So...
For now, this was the most efficient and humane method I could manage.
"Here... he's sitting, but..."
I looked at the person in the guided seat.
A bespectacled man gaped at empty air. The first sacrifice of loop 2, who'd fallen before me.
"Sir?"
"......"
No response. He looked completely out of it.
"Wh-what the hell is down there..."
"It was horrific. But..."
I reached out a hand and placed it on my chest.
"I realized something."
"......Pardon?"
Jingle.
I slid that hand naturally into my suit jacket's inner pocket.
And pinned the small badge already inside.
Silver Heart.
"Everyone! Don't worry too much."
I approached the bespectacled office worker simultaneously.
"Eek! Hic! Hic!"
"It's okay... you're okay."
I approached him and carefully injected a Happy Maker.
'It'll vanish completely in the next loop.'
Better than leaving him in maddening panic and terror.
And since Happy Maker was tiny like a pen, to others, it'd look like he calmed just from my support...
Like magic.
"...Gasp!"
The bespectacled man panted.
Reason returned to his eyes, clear calm settling in.
"Th-that was truly horrific...... Ah, ah... ha...... It's over."
Slowly.
A faint smile spread across his face.
"Thank you.... My mind... feels at peace......"
He slowly stood, hugging me and the other passengers.
People awkwardly accepted it, starting to look at me with awestruck eyes.
"Y-you brought him back to his senses......"
"How..."
I'm a con artist...
But I stared at my hand wonderingly, as if amazed myself, and continued.
"I don't know why only I gained this ability, but now..."
Deep breath.
"I think I've vaguely realized what's happening on this train."
"...!!"
"R-really?"
"Yes."
I raised my hand, folding fingers as I spoke.
"Who must fall out the window, and after how many times this will all end..."
"M-my god."
What am I doing right now?
'Scamming them.'
And this type of scam is a staple in apocalyptic fiction.
'The so-called cult leader...!'
The guy who rallies people, claiming divine will or whatever, making them do crazy stuff.
Previously from car 6? ...Yeah, seems right.
Loop 5:
Exclusive groups form per car. Among them, a superstitious cult worshiping the loop phenomenon captures passengers from other cars, kills them in barbaric ancient rites, then tosses them out windows.
Sorry... no, not sorry at all,
'You're not happening.'
Because I'm striking first.
"Good people of car 7. From now on, heed my words."
I stood at the train door and shouted.
"We have been chosen for a great trial!"
A con artist certified by the ghost story moderator's highest praise...
Now launching.