Chapter 292
Chapter 292
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Welcome
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Scam.
A crime that claims countless victims every year and refuses to vanish from human history even after thousands of years.
Let me clarify our goal.
The best outcome is to take down that monster right here and now.
If that's not possible, at least escape from here alive.
No, escaping alive isn't enough. We have to finish this here, one way or another.
Otherwise, it'll be irreversible later.
I turn my gaze to Yoo Daon, Jang Chaeyeon, and Eileen.
I signal them with my eyes to stay put for now, then look at Song Arin.
Song Arin, staring straight at me.
First, I need to sync up with Song Arin.
There are many ways to pull off a scam.
One is to lie about your social status to make the target believe you're right.
But even if I told this mother of the butterfly—who probably doesn't even know what a lawyer is—that I'm a doctor, a lawyer, or from the Management Bureau's HR Team, she wouldn't buy it.
Next, the mirror effect.
Making someone trust you by showing them someone similar to themselves...
"...N-No, you can't go..."
Song Arin catches my gaze and lifts one corner of her mouth in an unnatural smile as she looks at me.
She's still continuing from what I said earlier.
"But until the end comes, please spare the person by my side."
"Wha...? Really...?"
Song Arin makes a dumbstruck face at my words, then looks between me and herself.
Next is appealing to the target that you're harmless by offering benefits and building trust...
Normally, I'd have to give something, but by yielding to her opinion just now, it feels like I've already conceded one demand.
Now, conversely, I win her favor with a small request.
There's this thing called the Benjamin Franklin effect.
If someone does you a small favor, they start feeling goodwill toward you.
The Butterfly's Mother nods as she grants my request.
Good.
"Th-Thank you... Are you really trying to save me...?"
Song Arin looks at me with touched emotion.
No, snap out of it. I'm in the middle of acting—why are you getting genuinely moved all of a sudden?
I hope Yoo Daon, Jang Chaeyeon, and Eileen don't look hurt either. Anyone would think I actually abandoned her.
"Very well."
Don't get swept up.
The main players in this conversation are me and the Butterfly's Mother anyway. As long as we steer it well, it'll be fine.
"Then... what must I do to become the new queen?"
The Butterfly's Mother stays silent at my question before turning her head.
She's looking at the mountain of corpses.
...
Nausea rises, but I force it down and stare at it.
Soon, something starts crawling out from the pile of bodies.
As gross as it sounds, it was a plump larva.
Just that its plumpness was about as thick as my forearm.
"Ugh..."
Song Arin groans and grabs my arm.
The larva crawls toward her, and she picks it up and holds it out to me.
Her face is unreadable—friendly or coercive, I can't tell—as she thrusts the larva at me.
This is awkward.
"...I... I can't eat that."
Who knows what it's made of? Eating something unknown could cause problems.
And letting that thing into my body?
I might actually die.
As I ponder how to refuse, the Butterfly's Mother shakes her head and puts the larva away again.
Then she looks above my head.
Ah.
Looking up at her head brings up the translucent window again.
[Name: Butterfly's Mother]
[Age: Created 20 years ago]
[Specialty: Parasitism]
[Talent: Parasitism]
[Background: This is the seed of the queen you must accept later. And as queen, you will be with your mother.]
[Weakness: Awakening reason that surpasses instinct—her most human state right now might be the greatest opportunity.]
No wonder her specialty and talent are parasitism, even as a mother.
She plans to link me to herself through that worm.
That's how I'd become the new queen of the Butterfly's Dream.
Of course, only if things go that way.
But it absolutely won't turn out as they want.
"...I know exactly what you're worried about."
I clear my throat and continue, and she looks at me.
"They'll come for you."
A scam out of nowhere, huh.
-...
"I've seen it. Not far in the future, a river overflowing."
-...!
She widens her eyes, and Song Arin looks at me like I'm insane.
"And what emerges from that river will drive everyone mad."
"Y-Yes, that's right."
I nudge Song Arin with my foot, and she nods hurriedly.
"And it's not just humans who go mad there."
-...
She nods.
"Humans, animals, and everything else goes mad at the sight."
-...
"Is the future you saw the same as the one I saw?"
She nods again.
A bit more vigorously than before.
"Good. I'd do anything to avoid that future."
-...!
She nods again, then pauses as if choosing her words.
"But for that, there are conditions."
-...
"How much do you trust your subordinates?"
The Butterfly's Mother hesitates at my words.
First rule of scamming.
Isolate them from advisors who could offer honest input.
"Let me rephrase. Go ahead and possess that random person over there. Alive is better."
She stares at me blankly for a moment, then soon someone descends from the corpse mountain.
Limbs twisted in places, but breathing—so definitely human.
I quickly check above her head.
[Name: Butterfly's Dream]
[Age: X]
[Specialty: Parasitism]
[Talent: Parasitism]
[Background: This is not human.]
[Weakness: Attack from behind.]
Good.
"Do you really trust them?"
The Butterfly's Mother stares at me blankly again.
Like she's asking what nonsense I'm spouting.
"As long as they're in human bodies, they can't stay sane against mental attacks."
As I finish, I signal Song Arin with my eyes, and she raises one eyebrow.
Then the possessed one—with broken limbs—starts spinning and dancing.
-...!
"See?"
She's staring blankly at the dancing parasite, but I can tell.
She's shaken.
That's how people are.
When something they believed absolute crumbles before their eyes, they crumble too.
"Do you really believe your children—who get toyed with so easily by mere humans—can endure that day?"
"Dance!"
My voice rises, and Song Arin snaps her fingers like it's a puppet show. The broken-limbed one flips in the air.
What a spectacle.
"In comparison, you..."
I glance at Song Arin, and she lowers her hand, staring at it.
"Urk... Too strong... a mind..."
She presses her temple and staggers.
Well done. If I get kicked out of the Management Bureau, I should team up with Song Arin for scams.
With mind control, we wouldn't even need scams.
"You're different. You've already surpassed this level."
-...
She falls silent.
"Survival matters. And considering every possibility to survive is the right choice."
"Is that really Jaeheon?"
"She always had a con artist vibe when talking, but damn, she really is one."
I ignore Yoo Daon and Eileen's chatter.
Con artist? We deserve warmer gazes for saving humanity.
"Choose. Get attacked later by instinct-driven shells without ego... or survive and build a new world."
-...
She pauses, then...
-Aaaah...
Growls low.
Did it fail?
Cold sweat trickles, and Yoo Daon crouches slightly.
But the result comes soon.
-Kieeeek!
The larvae flip and die.
Like they've been poisoned, writhing in agony.
Not just the larvae.
Monsters slash their own throats with hand-blades.
The parasitized ones spew blood and collapse.
Countless monsters die in a short time.
Fear.
This monster felt fear of the coming future and submitted.
"...They're all dead."
After a moment, Yoo Daon says quietly.
"Good."
I smile in satisfaction at her.
She looks at us, then points above my head again.
Alright. What now?
[Name: Butterfly's Mother]
[Age: Created 20 years ago]
[Specialty: Parasitism]
[Talent: Parasitism]
[Background: She has heeded your words. Now she hopes you prove your loyalty by killing your comrade.]
[Weakness: Awakening reason that surpasses instinct—her most human state right now might be the greatest opportunity.]
"I see."
Kill a comrade.
I draw my gun, and she nods.
I aim at Yoo Daon, and she shakes her head.
She knows Yoo Daon won't die.
I aim at Jang Chaeyeon.
...
Jang Chaeyeon looks at me with a complicated expression.
"Trust must be met with trust."
I say that, finger on the trigger,
[Coordinate Rip: 3->2]
The world turns graph paper.
"Chaeyeon!"
"Yeah!"
Jang Chaeyeon thrusts her hand out, clenches her fist, and the monster flies backward.
-Kwajik!
Something crushes.
-...?
Second rule of scamming.
Hit 'em in the back of the head hard.
Song Arin smirks, lifting one corner of her mouth at the monster's bewildered face.
"Welcome to human society."
Emotion fills her face for the first time.
Rage.