The Regressor Is Mentally Weak (4)
The Regressor Is Mentally Weak (4)
"There's a monster among us" is a time-honored cliché. In horror movies, a monster kills someone, wears their skin, and passes itself off as human. In fantasy tower-climbing stories, a doppelganger shows up to sow discord.
The same dynamic is everywhere in games. From the classic party game Mafia to the global megahits Among Us and its spin-off Goose Goose Duck, the process of sniffing out a culprit on limited information is just plain fun.
I knew the genre well, too. I enjoyed the mind games and played them often, and whenever the trope popped up in a story I'd grin and think, "Oh-ho, here we go." Naturally, I'd already considered the possibility it would show up in the Tower.
But I wasn't worried. If anything, I looked forward to it. Why? Because I'm a Regressor.
There's a monster hiding among us? Couldn't figure out who? What a shame. Guess I'll just regress and try again. Oh dear, I have absolutely no idea who the culprit could be.
A Regressor's greatest advantage is information. A floor built around uncovering information? I couldn't fail if I tried. In my mind, a floor like this was the easiest, most freebie ride possible.
"I can't... remember..."
"This is maddening."
At least, before my memories got scrambled.
The fog that had blanketed the area earlier seemed to cloud human memory. It made you unable to recognize people you'd just seen. Probably the result of mana. I'd have to test whether it could be resisted, but... if the fog can't be blocked, my regression is completely useless.
Say I regress and discover the culprit. Say I remember their face. So what? The fog will just make me forget anyway. What's the point of regression when I can't even recall the face of someone I saw ten minutes ago?
Taking preemptive action before the fog wipes my memory is pointless, too. The monsters don't appear until the fog blankets everyone, and by the time they show up I've already forgotten. Would a keyword system before seeing the fog work? I don't know. That needs testing, too.
So, is the situation completely hopeless? No.
For one, the mildly positive part is that I don't have to worry about a "we were all monsters all along" twist. Right now, there are clearly two monsters here and eight players. There is an enemy.
Some stories pull a twist where "the protagonist was actually a fake and was the monster." I'm very glad there's zero chance I'm a monster who secretly inherited the memories of a human named Kim Jun-ho. A monster living a life without knowing it's a monster sounds pretty sad.
I also have a few other edges I can use... but those seem like things to test in the field.
And my final comfort is that, as a very, very last resort... I always have the option of just guessing.
There are ten humans here. Excluding me, seven are players, and two are monsters.
Picking two out of nine gives 36 possible combinations. The probability is roughly 3 percent, so if I try thirty or forty times, I'll guess right at least once. Of course, I'd end up stabbing a lot of innocent people in the process. This is truly a last resort.
"First, let's talk."
Solving this with words before it reached that point was the best option, so I started racking my brain. Was there any way to resolve things before the Tower's "mission" kicked in? First, a common-sense test.
"Everyone knows the most famous hamburger brand, right? The really famous one."
"...Yeah, I know."
"Why ask that all of a sudden?"
"The monsters might not know. Let's all say the brand name on the count of three. If you're from Earth, you'd know, wouldn't you?"
"Fine."
People exchanged glances for a moment. The count of three passed in an instant.
"""McDonald's."""
Everyone said the hamburger brand name at the same time. No one hesitated; they all spoke in perfect unison.
"What? How do they know?"
"Are the monsters reading our minds?"
"Then how the fuck are we supposed to clear this? How does that make any sense?"
"Now, everyone calm down... let's talk about ourselves a little. If you're here on this floor, you must be someone notable, right?"
Next came the round where everyone stated their names and nationalities. Two major problems surfaced.
First.
"What, you don't know me? Seriously? I'm a national hero in Turkey right now! You don't know who I am?"
"Look, even if you're a national hero... I can't remember."
Thanks to everyone's fogged memories, verification based on Earth memories became impossible. They all claimed they were a big shot back home, a celebrity... but honestly, I had no clue.
It was possible I just didn't know because I'd focused my research on players in Korea, but the other players were a different story. This had to be the fog at work.
And second.
"All right, we've heard everyone's stories... let's vote. Who was the most suspicious? Whose story sounded made-up?"
"...No one."
"Honestly, they all sounded plausible."
The stories the monsters fabricated were disturbingly well-crafted. They were clearly monsters, yet I couldn't tell them apart just by listening. They knew all the previous floors inside and out, had a wealth of Earth common sense, and were well-versed in the details of their supposed origins.
"At this rate, the monsters might not even know they're monsters."
"...Fuck."
Unless the monsters were "acting," simple psychological warfare was a dead end. If they themselves believed they were innocent, what good would setting traps do?
The discussion circled back to square one. How to expose the monsters.
"..."
"..."
A thick, heavy silence hung in the air.
"Everyone."
The man who claimed to be Turkey's hero spoke up.
"...Gather around."
-Shiiing.
A longsword was drawn with a menacing ring. The man who drew it roughly jammed the blade into the dirt, then looked around at us all.
"Cut your arm with this."
"...What's that supposed to mean?"
"I once saw a movie like this, where the monsters had different-colored blood. So, let's all show our blood. Let's see if it's red or green."
True, there were stories where shapeshifted monsters had different-colored blood. Or creatures that only revealed their true nature when wounded.
"Good."
"Shall I go first?"
The other players didn't seem to object. One by one, they made small cuts and confirmed that red blood flowed from their bodies.
"..."
"..."
Yes, everyone except me.
Everyone was staring at my arm. The pressure of those gazes was so intense I gulped. Now what?
Cutting my arm with a sword here was meaningless. I'd just end up regressing, and the same situation would repeat next cycle.
"Everyone except me has bled anyway. What's the point?"
"What's that supposed to mean? Don't change the subject."
"No, think about it. There are two monsters. Nine people have bled. Doesn't the fact that everyone but me bleeds red already prove this is pointless?"
"...Hm."
"Also, I have a trait that weakens me when I get injured. It's a precaution for emergencies."
My somewhat rational explanation seemed to sway about half of them, but the other half still eyed me with suspicion.
"Right, next time you stab someone, you'll say it was your trait then, won't you? What a convenient excuse."
"Well, what you say might be true. There's no logical error in it. But I hope you can also understand that it makes perfect logical sense for us to suspect you."
"..."
I understood their position. I was the only one refusing when everyone else had sliced their arm. Incredibly suspicious.
No, that wasn't the only issue. I wanted to lead the discussion. I wanted to uncover the monsters. And yet I was the one under suspicion? A person under suspicion can't lead a conversation. There's no trust.
"If this were a game..."
In a game, there's a concept called the "confirmed" townsperson. For example, in Mafia, the politician role can't be killed by vote, so they deliberately attract votes. If no one dies after people vote for them, that person is confirmed as the politician, and everyone can trust them completely. In other games, there are missions only a townsperson can perform. If everyone watches someone complete that mission, their innocence is unquestionable.
So how could I... how could I prove I was a civilian? How could I claim innocence?
Actually, there was one simple way.
"Hoo."
I closed my eyes. I focused my mana, circulating it rapidly right to the edge—just short of affecting my internals, just short of regression.
And outward.
-Fwoooosh!
I released it.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"You fucker...!"
Pure white fog spread at high speed.
The panicked players each drew their weapons to respond, but they were too close together, and my ambush was much faster. It was useless to cut at my "Cold Energy" anyway, since it had no physical form.
As a result of that direct exposure to the Cold Energy, their muscles stiffened, their mana seized up, and they couldn't move normally. At a superhuman level, you could consider them completely neutralized.
"Khk...!"
But perhaps they were true top-rankers after all. Even as their bodies seized, they protected their vitals as best they could and simultaneously tried to force their mana to move, struggling to regain control. They made the best possible decision even after losing the initiative.
.
"..."
"..."
I had no intention of taking any additional action here. I just stood there blankly staring at the players who couldn't move.
By the time their frozen bodies began to regain movement, and instead of the sound of brutal combat, all you could hear were eyes flicking back and forth.
"...What are you trying to say?"
One player asked. This was the question I'd been waiting for.
"Looking at this alone, isn't it impossible for me to be a monster?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"I'm simply too strong to be playing a monster's role. If I were a monster, no one would ever clear Floor 23."
"..."
"..."
A few faces twisted strangely, but no one refuted me.
And just like that, I was acknowledged as a human.
Through overwhelming force.