Chapter 215
Chapter 215
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 215. I'm Right, Aren't I?
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Walking down a dark corridor with Song Arin.
More precisely, it felt like a wooden puppet and Song Arin were walking down the dark corridor.
"Quite a mysterious way you arrived."
"The most mysterious thing is me. ...No, I mean. How the Troupe Leader found you."
"That was pretty mysterious for me too."
According to Song Arin, there was a thread attached to my body.
Which meant essentially the same thing as the Troupe Leader having already found me.
"You don't have some kind of pheromone that attracts containment objects, do you?"
"No, Arin. Don't say ridiculous things. There's no way that... could..."
"..."
"...I hope not."
Looking back on my past, it seemed entirely plausible, which was terrifying. All I could do was pray it wasn't true.
"But didn't the manual say it has no attack functions?"
"Yeah."
That red light that had just illuminated me.
I'd never used it on myself before.
"...Maybe it deliberately doesn't show abilities like this when you're around?"
"...No way?"
That would feel like such a betrayal.
I stared fixedly at the manual in Song Arin's hand.
If that was the case, I'd have no choice but to rethink my opinion of the manual.
As if sensing my gaze,
the manual in Song Arin's hand suddenly began to open.
-Flutter!
The manual opened at a faster speed than usual.
[Office Manual for Desk Workers]
[SCR - Auxiliary Ability of the Management Bureau Manual (Incomplete)]
1. Since the owner may face various crises, the manual is developing its own defense system.
2. This function has not been used recklessly because it is still under development.
"What? Then what am I?"
Song Arin muttered in disbelief while holding the manual.
3. Side effects observed in experiments so far include rare instances of nausea, dizziness, tremors, respiratory distress, and organ abnormalities.
4. Due to the possibility of side effects manifesting, the manual has refrained from using the self-protection system until now. We ask for your understanding.
5. Additionally, using this function draws a small amount of the owner's <CENSORED> for risk management, so the self-protection system was not activated separately.
"Hey! This book is insane!"
Song Arin threw the book to the floor and looked at me.
"It never showed you a function like this even once, right?"
"That's right."
If it had, I would have used it already.
"So that means I'm just someone you can experiment on!"
Song Arin let out disbelieving exclamations of "Ha. Damn. Ha." several times while glaring at the manual.
"What if I had died from this!"
"For now... are you feeling any nausea, dizziness, tremors, respiratory distress, or organ issues?"
At my calm words, Song Arin patted herself down here and there before shaking her head.
"No."
"That's fortunate, then."
And then I looked at the manual.
"Regardless, it's not right to do this to other people. And if it's needed, I can use it myself."
The manual did not open.
"Should I just leave it behind?"
"..."
-Flutter!
[Office Manual for Desk Workers]
A book that displayed nothing.
It was safe to say it hadn't responded. Or maybe it had nothing to say.
I let out a sigh.
"Please give it just one more chance. If anything happens, I'll take responsibility."
"...Responsibility?"
"Yes. Whether it's nursing you or covering hospital bills, leave it all to me."
After all, I was the manual's owner. The responsibility was mine.
"...Well. In that case."
Song Arin trailed off and bent down at the waist.
"Then no helping it. I'll let it go."
"Thank you."
"...But."
Song Arin picked up the manual from the floor and looked at me.
"Where do you plan to search for your body?"
"First, I need to explain what happened to me."
As we walked down the dark corridor, I explained to Song Arin everything I'd been through.
Being trapped in that small house, the broadcast, even the host.
"...So you were trapped on a stage."
"That's what I think."
Song Arin rested her hand on her chin and muttered after hearing me out. I nodded in agreement.
"But how does that connect to finding your body?"
"Arin. How long after I disappeared did you enter?"
"...Hm. About five minutes?"
"...Five minutes?"
Five minutes?
I recalled what I'd gone through.
At least half a day. No, it had felt like a full day.
"...Looks like there's a time discrepancy."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'll explain later."
There was no time to go into every detail right now.
"Okay. Let's say we can find your body."
Song Arin nodded.
"The problem is, how?"
"There's someone who can solve that right in front of us."
"...Me?"
Song Arin pointed at herself with a finger.
"Me?"
"Yes."
"What can I do?"
"Find it."
"..."
Song Arin looked at me uncertainly.
"Me? You?"
"Precisely, my body."
"...How?"
"Synchronization."
The Troupe Leader and Song Arin shared so much.
To be honest, "shared" wasn't even the right word. The two were the same person.
"No one can understand the Troupe Leader better than you, Arin. You're the same person to begin with."
"..."
"Of course, if it's too much, you don't have to."
Requests to others should never become coercion.
We could always find another way.
"...Got it."
But before long, Song Arin nodded.
With her gaze fixed on the floor, she continued speaking.
"Honestly, I don't know if I'll do well or not. But if it means finding your body, then I have to try."
"Thank you."
"Before that. There was one thing bothering me."
Song Arin furrowed her brow slightly.
"The Troupe Leader... honestly, she seemed ridiculously strong."
"Yeah."
"How to put it? It felt like she had no hypnosis ability."
"...Hypnosis ability?"
"Yeah. She came in with an incredibly solid mental barrier. I couldn't sense a thing."
"..."
I chewed over Song Arin's words.
When I'd seen the Troupe Leader earlier, what had been floating above her head?
[Name: Troupe Leader]
[Age: -]
[Specialty: Manipulation]
[Talent: Manipulation]
[Background: Let's sing. For a world where everyone is happy, for a world where everyone has fun, for a world where no one suffers.]
Her weakness had been... some incomprehensible dancing.
Now that I thought about it.
Her specialty and talent were the same.
By contrast, Song Arin...
I looked at Song Arin.
"...What. Why are you staring so intently all of a sudden."
"...It's nothing."
I couldn't see it.
Had I lost the eye function after transferring into the puppet's body?
If so, then I couldn't use Critical, nor Combined Prayer.
If synchronization proved difficult, I'd planned to use Method acting to assimilate Song Arin with the Troupe Leader, but that wouldn't work now.
I'd have to get through this relying solely on situational judgment and Song Arin's abilities.
But I wasn't worried.
"Let's do it."
"...Yeah."
Song Arin closed her eyes and focused.
Song Arin would do well.
From some point on, she seemed gripped more by self-doubt than confidence, but I trusted her without reservation.
"..."
With her eyes closed, Song Arin continued focusing.
The atmosphere around her as she concentrated shifted.
From her usual prickly, somewhat flighty vibe.
"..."
To something heavy and chilling.
Before long, Song Arin opened her eyes.
"..."
Her emotionless pupils fixed on me,
"Let's go."
she muttered curtly and positioned herself at my side.
"...Not going on ahead?"
"Synchronizing doesn't turn me into the Troupe Leader."
Still speaking in that emotionless voice, Song Arin looked straight ahead.
"If anything, think of it as increased understanding. In the end, I'm still me right now."
"..."
"Well, if it were me..."
Song Arin paused briefly.
"This way."
With that, she strode forward.
"Wait, do you actually know the path?"
"No."
"Then why?"
"..."
Song Arin glanced back at me.
"Ultimately, what we're up against is human."
"Huh?"
"Pretending to be strong or whatever, but still human."
Unlike any monster, Song Arin muttered as she looked ahead.
"All of it stems from a single emotion."
"..."
"Loneliness."
Song Arin looked at me.
"A lonely soul came searching for someone."
"Yes."
"And toyed with that person before abandoning the body?"
"..."
"That wouldn't happen."
Song Arin slowly shook her head.
"Let's go."
"So, where to?"
"The core."
Her steps remained unflinching.
*
Supporting the man—or puppet—Song Arin pressed on with her thoughts in a cold, clear mind.
Troupe Leader.
It was astonishingly identical to herself.
Was it because she'd seen that footage? Or simply because it was her?
'She said I was overflowing with inferiority.'
The words the black-haired woman had spoken to her.
Now, she had no choice but to acknowledge it.
She knew Song Arin well.
Not perfectly, of course.
Because Song Arin didn't know the black-haired woman all that well either.
The white-haired one knew her well too.
If the white-haired one's understanding—rooted in her own personality and actions—predicted the dilemmas and responsibilities from those actions, sometimes easing them and other times wielding them as weapons.
"...Handle your own mess yourself."
"Huh?"
"...Nothing."
The black-haired woman's whisper.
She knew herself purely.
The ugly parts she revealed, and the ones she wished to hide.
"..."
Of course, she felt like she understood now too.
The black-haired one was truly pitiful.
"Here."
"Man, not even a shred of hesitation."
Song Arin lifted the corner of her mouth slightly at the man's grumbling voice and kept walking.
Deeper inside.
And even deeper still.
Soon, she came to a stop before one room.
"...What is this place?"
"What it looks like."
Song Arin replied lightly and gazed ahead.
The man stared fixedly at the door marked <Warehouse>.
"You think it's here?"
"Yeah."
"You're treating it preciously."
"This is how you treat it preciously."
She slowly opened the door.
-Creak...
It opened with a small sound.
"...This is nuts."
Brushing off the man's sigh, Song Arin smiled.
See. I'm right, aren't I?