The Girl Ran Toward the Starting Point
"So what did they drag you in for?"
I shifted my gaze toward the voice that had spoken as we descended into the tower's basement. A face I personally couldn't stand. The sleazy-looking man had sidled up to me at some point, grinning like we were old friends.
Normally I would have ignored him and gone on my way. But that wasn't an option here. Like it or not, the man was a senior in the industry—and of everyone descending into the Abyss with me right now, there wasn't a single soul I could afford to brush off.
"Assault."
"Assault? Seriously—what state did you leave the guy in?"
"Just one hit to the face..."
"You've got a good build on you. Physical enhancement type?"
"Yes..."
"Hmm. Still, one punch and all the way down to the Abyss? Don't tell me you left him a vegetable."
"No. He had a broken nose and lost a few teeth, but that was about the size of it..."
"That should've only ever been a fine."
"I didn't have any gold coins..."
"Ah. Tough luck. The System doesn't do leniency. The moment you can't pay a fine on the spot, the sentence changes just like that. If there'd been even a short grace period, you could've borrowed the money from someone. Am I right?"
"Yes..."
"You there. Enough chatter."
The sleazy man and I both shut our mouths and stole a glance forward. The Executor walking ahead of us was looking back with eyes that said we were nothing but a nuisance.
Executors. I didn't know the details, but I'd been told to think of them as a kind of police force made up entirely of the Awakened. Today was my first time seeing one in person—when they'd appeared out of nowhere and hauled me off, I'd been genuinely stunned.
I'd also been warned that they were closely tied to the System and wielded enormous power because of it, so I was not to treat them carelessly.
Recalling the information I'd skimmed through a few days ago, I kept walking in silence.
At the bottom of the stairs lay a surprisingly vast space. Judging by the supplies piled up here and there, this had to be the entrance to the Abyss.
The Executor tossed us our exploration gear. Bulletproof helmets and vests... some unidentifiable mechanical contraption that supposedly recorded every step you took and turned it into a map, and some lightweight rations.
"Wow... people still issue this stuff? Are they trying to get us killed?"
"I'd be better off with nothing at all..."
"What era do they think this is..."
The industry seniors clicked their tongues as they inspected the standard-issue equipment. I felt exactly the same. Moving with my bare body seemed far better than strapping this clunky junk all over myself.
This ridiculous bulletproof helmet, for one, looked like it would tear right open if I pulled on it with both hands.
Riiip—!
It actually tore.
Once the gear distribution was over, we were herded into a large chamber.
"The moment you arrive at the Abyss, your punishment time begins. Additional reductions will be applied according to the records stored in the data, so stay active. Once all of your punishment time is spent, the automatic return system will engage—so don't concern yourselves with getting back."
"Arrive at the Abyss...? Isn't this the Abyss?"
The Executor gave no answer. He threw a sneer at the crowd of faces staring at him, then shut the door.
Thud—!
The instant the door sealed, the entire chamber began to move. The sensation wasn't an unfamiliar one—it felt much like riding an elevator.
"Whoa... we're going even deeper from here?"
"Haah..."
The chamber descended for a long while. It felt like well over thirty minutes. When it finally ground to a halt with a heavy thud, the sealed door slid open.
And spread out before us was a desolate world drenched in black.
Remaining Punishment Time
23:59:58
"Hm..."
I frowned as I scanned my surroundings. At some point, every single person who'd been moving ahead of me had vanished.
After arriving at the Abyss, the people had split into two camps: those who holed up inside the elevator and did nothing, and those who moved out first as if this place were old hat. I had followed the latter. I wanted to do something—anything—to burn through my punishment time faster than sitting still ever could.
"Excuse me!"
My cry went unanswered, spreading out into the distance. They had been right in front of me mere moments ago—where had they all gone? Stepping around the junk that kept snagging my feet, I started walking again.
If I'd known this would happen, maybe I should've just waited at the drop point.
But I had already come too far to turn back. I angled toward a zone the map device hadn't marked.
The farther I got from the Abyss's mouth, the more trash there was to see. Objects shaped like nothing I had ever encountered, jumbled together with things said to have been used ages ago.
Among the pile, I picked up a sword that looked like it might still be of some use. Awakened equipment was supposed to cost a fortune. Maybe I could scavenge one decent thing to walk out of here with.
"Ooh..."
Every tooth on the blade was missing, but it still beat bare hands. The moment I gave it a light test swing with that thought in mind, the blade slid right out on its own.
"..."
So trash was trash after all. Tossing the hollowed-out hilt aside, I quickened my pace.
How long had I been walking? I was just thinking that the unexplored area displayed on my map device had grown considerably when—
Kriiik—
A screech like some rusted machine being forced to run. The instant I turned my head toward the sound, a brilliant light swept over my body.
"What in the—!"
An alarm blared through my skull. There was no time to even register the stinging pain in my right arm. A colossal, strobing flashlight was bearing down on me, the skeletal limbs splayed from either side of it shrieking that metallic cry without end.
That was when my tension-frozen body finally obeyed. The instant I kicked off the ground, my enhanced physique launched forward at blistering speed.
My form crumpled and I rolled across the ground, once, twice. Even so, I got up and ran. And then I understood—my entire right hand was gone. Only then, belatedly, did I register the blood streaming down me, soaking through my clothes.
The breath tearing from my throat tangled with screams. Any shallow notion of trying to fight the thing evaporated on the spot.
Bzzt—
A faint crackle sounded behind me, and in the same instant the brilliant light swept over my body once more.
There was no gap in which to grasp what had been taken. My balance lurched left and I rolled with the momentum. The pain that arrived a beat later told me my left leg was gone.
My tumbling didn't slow. Like a body dropped from a great height, it only kept gathering speed. The world as I knew it spun round and round—and then, with a dull thud, my vision went dark.
Consciousness floated back up, faint and thin. I realized someone was speaking to me. No—in this case, it would be more accurate to say that the other party's monologue was ringing out inside my skull.
Who is it?
Answer me...
Crrreak—
What is this...
Disappear?
Why?
In that moment, the sensations that had been erased began to flicker back to life. Checking the vanished right arm and left leg first was, in a way, the obvious thing to do.
Wobbling, I pushed myself upright and ran my fingers over the parts that had been gone.
"Hah...?"
Squish—
The feeling was unmistakably different from before. These were not the limbs that had once been sheathed in hard muscle. They had become drastically shorter, soft to the touch, and for some reason the skin had gone far paler as well.
The voice I had taken for a hallucination showed no sign of leaving. Running a hand over my head, I muttered.
"Shut up..."
Who was this thing talking to me, and what on earth had happened to my body? A headache arrived belatedly, making my skull throb.
Trickle—
The moment the inside of my nose began to tickle, a warm stream came pouring out. I wiped at it with the back of my hand, thinking it a runny nose—but what smeared across it was dark crimson blood.
"Blood?"
"Dregs...? And just what kind of bitch are you, anyway..."
It was a question that had been gnawing at me for a while now. Just who was this, to move into my head and carry on a one-sided conversation? I had never consented to letting anyone inside my mind.
After the nosebleed gushed freely for a while, the headache seemed to ease somewhat.
"Ah... a restriction?"
The headache had lifted, yet somehow my thoughts felt sluggish, as if a fog had settled over the inside of my skull—that was the best way to put it. It took me a remarkably long time to recall what the word meant.
Restriction.
Didn't that mean something was being imposed to limit me?
"You bastard. What did you just do to—urk..."
The moment I tried to vent the fury that surged up on pure instinct, a sudden spike of pain clamped my mouth shut.
"Mmmgh... who even are you..."
"...Th-that's... bullshit..."
"Mo...ther? Mom? You fu... mmmgh..."
My head went numb. Drool ran from my hanging-open mouth. Why on earth should I have to call this thing mother?
"C-cut the crap...!"
The last words I wrenched out of my throat rang out like a scream. I didn't appreciate the higher pitch, nothing like my old voice—but once I had spat out what was churning inside me, my chest felt a good deal lighter.
"...?"
I stood there gulping down ragged breaths for a long while. At the crazy bitch's words, I reached down and groped between my legs—but there was nothing there to feel.