Chapter 12
There was an old game that used to be popular.
You just kept walking down an endless staircase until a monster appeared and it was game over.
I still didn't understand why I'd found it so fun as a kid that I'd screamed while playing it.
"I never thought I'd actually end up in a situation like this."
"?"
"No. I'm talking to myself."
I calmed the mascot, which was tilting its head, and looked around.
Honestly, there wasn't much to look at.
White walls.
And stairs stretching endlessly.
One staircase went up.
One staircase went down.
Those were the only two options.
If there was anything unusual...
It was white.
Completely white.
The walls.
The stairs.
The ceiling.
The floor.
Everything was painfully white.
And strangely, there wasn't even an obvious source of light.
"If I stay here too long, I think I'll go insane."
"!"
The mascot flapped its hands in agreement.
"For now..."
What else could I do?
As always, whenever I arrived at a new floor, there was one obvious first step.
I opened the now-familiar notebook.
Let's hear what our seniors had to say.
[9. Why are there so many stairs? I feel like I'll die climbing.]
[9. I'm going to die here.]
[17. So there's only one person ahead of me now. Don't die.]
[17. Thankfully, this place doesn't seem that dangerous.]
[17. But the stairs never end... I'm going down for now.]
[17. I have no idea how long I've been walking. I'm exhausted...]
[17. I don't even know if there's a reason to keep living like this... I don't know. I'm just lonely, so I'm complaining.]
[17. You guys absolutely have to survi]
[24. Hello. I am an agent of the Management Bureau. Since my name appears to be censored every time I write it, I will omit my name from now on.]
[24. This place seems somewhat different from the floors we've experienced so far. No. 17 went downward, so I am climbing upward...]
[24. No matter how far I climb, I cannot see an end.]
[24. No. There really is an exit if you climb all the way to the end.]
[24. Do not give up. Keep going.]
[38. I gave one leg to the whale. Am I supposed to crawl now? I'll trust No. 24 and climb... I don't know what the Management Bureau is, but following that person's advice hasn't hurt me yet.]
[38. This is way too hard. How much farther do I have to climb?]
[38. Barely made it... Think I got there right before dying...]
[46. Looks like you literally have to climb until you're almost dead. I don't even know how many floors I walked. Still, if you think about it the other way, all you have to do is keep climbing. Everyone be careful. Let's keep going!]
[51. Did No. 17 fail to escape? I cleared Floor 3 really easily, so I'll take responsibility and go down to check. Going down should be easier on the body than climbing anyway.]
[51. Doesn't look like No. 17 died. I can't see a corpse.]
[51. Arrived. Doesn't look much different. Going down seems easier than going up.]
[68. What the hell are the people above talking about? There are corpses everywhere.]
[68. I moved all the corpses.]
[68. There are too many corpses... How many did I move?]
[68. Seriously, there are way too many corpses.]
[77. What is everyone talking about? I just climbed a few stairs and arrived.]
[77. Actually, maybe it's because of my ability?]
.
.
.
[111. Don't think I'll be much help this time either. Maybe it's because of my ability, but I think you can just climb or go down. There aren't even any corpses. Why did No. 68 say there were so many?]
[111. Just think of it as a floor where you can take a break.]
[123. This is way too easy. Just go down.]
[138. Something feels wrong the longer I climb... I've been walking around six hours now, and I'm starting to hear strange sounds.]
[138. Something is weird the farther up I go...]
[138. I can't see ahead.]
[138. I can get out!]
"..."
I snapped the notebook shut.
How should I put this?
There was no consistency.
For some people, this floor was ridiculously easy.
For others, ridiculously difficult.
Which meant...
"...I can't figure out the rule."
Up to the third floor, there had always been some kind of rule.
But this time, there wasn't even a common experience.
No. 77 climbed one flight of stairs and escaped.
No. 138 walked for six hours without finding the exit.
Was the staircase changing?
For now, I'll keep that possibility in mind.
Let's summarize.
There were two exits.
One by climbing.
One by going down.
It might be exhausting enough to kill you, but if you kept walking, you could eventually leave.
Good.
I understood that much.
But...
"...Isn't there an easier method?"
"?"
"Every floor except the first has a back door, remember?"
A back door.
I'd found the back doors on the second and third floors.
Then the fourth floor should have one too.
"But this place is way too... vertical to search for a back door."
I looked up.
Then down.
Nothing but endless stairs.
If there was an exit upward and another downward...
"Does that mean every direction is an exit?"
"?"
The mascot shrugged.
It didn't know either.
Well...
It never knew the exact clearing method anyway.
"Then we'll just have to try."
Sometimes smashing into the problem was best.
"...?"
The mascot pointed upward.
Then downward.
Asking which direction.
"...Let's go down first."
Not because I lacked confidence in endlessly climbing stairs.
Obviously.
The mascot naturally went first.
I followed it down.
"..."
"..."
We descended in awkward silence.
Eventually, I couldn't stand it anymore.
"Didn't you get a little fatter?"
"?!"
"Don't misunderstand."
The mascot turned around in shock.
I quickly waved my hands.
"I mean fluffier. Like an animal growing its winter coat."
"...?"
The mascot immediately started touching its own body.
"..."
It stretched the fabric around its side.
Then placed a hand on the chin of its mascot head.
"Seems like it, right?"
"..."
It nodded.
"Anything else change about your body?"
Maybe it could suddenly transform into a parachute.
"?"
"Yeah. Probably not."
I was starting to understand what it meant just from its gestures.
"If anything changes, tell me."
"!"
It nodded and continued walking.
I watched for a moment, then looked away.
The white stairs truly seemed endless.
I sighed softly and kept going.
As long as I didn't die, it wasn't really a problem.
[Remaining Regressions: ??]
The translucent window appeared.
I looked at it briefly, then away.
If the only cost was physical exhaustion...
That was manageable.
