Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"Knowledge is a sin."

"?"

I continued while looking at the mascot.

"There isn't actually some special condition for escaping these stairs."

"??"

"If you keep climbing or descending the endless staircase, eventually you'll get out."

"???"

"The important part is believing that."

I'd kept wondering about it.

Unlike the second floor, there had been no common pattern in the records.

People shared the same experience.

Yet the conclusions were wildly different.

And the reason was probably...

"Some people might take offense, but the smarter you are, the harder this floor becomes."

"?"

"The moment you think, Something is wrong here, you can't escape."

It was a reverse trap.

Thinking too much...

Analyzing too much...

Only built the wall higher.

At first, I thought it was luck.

The lucky escaped.

The unlucky didn't.

But I changed my mind.

I'd only climbed three floors so far.

Still, there was one thing I knew for certain.

This building was unreasonable.

But it wasn't impossible.

It never created a situation where death was absolutely unavoidable.

There were time limits.

Strange rules.

But there was always a path to survival.

In fact, places that looked like certain death often hid a back door.

Still...

Simply walking wouldn't solve the problem.

The mascot tapped me repeatedly.

It looked at me as if asking what my actual point was.

I answered.

"Does walking here make you afraid or curious?"

"!!!!"

The mascot shook its head violently.

"No."

"Exactly."

That was why the mascot had disappeared while walking beside me during the previous regression.

It hadn't known.

It had climbed the stairs faithfully without questioning anything.

The mascot stared at me after hearing that.

Why?

Then it tightly grabbed my hand.

"Why are you doing that?"

"...!"

It pointed at me.

Then itself.

Then shook its head.

As though it were worried about me.

"Ah. You're worried, so you're saying you'll stay with me?"

"!"

"...That's not bad. I'm grateful."

Now that the mascot understood too, it probably wouldn't be able to escape normally either.

The humming in my ears grew stronger.

I didn't care much.

The mascot and I didn't communicate through spoken conversation anyway.

It could understand me.

And I didn't need my eardrums to understand its gestures.

The only concern was...

What if I cleared the floor with my eardrums destroyed?

"...The bed will fix it."

Sleeping on Floor 0.5 was supposed to heal injuries.

No point worrying now.

We continued.

Seven hundred steps.

My heart began pounding again.

The difference this time was that the mascot remained beside me, firmly holding my hand.

It was strangely reassuring.

The softness of its plush fur.

The way it looked down at me and nodded.

Was the mascot always this soft?

The mascot itself looked uncomfortable, constantly glancing around.

Come to think of it...

Someone had written that after repairing their eardrums, they heard such horrible sounds that they destroyed them again.

Then was the mascot currently hearing those sounds?

"Do you hear something strange?"

"!"

It nodded hard.

"What kind of sound?"

"..."

The mascot placed a hand on its chin.

Then touched its temple and spun one finger in circles.

"...Something that makes you feel like you're going insane?"

"!"

Right.

I understood well enough.

I sighed and continued.

"..."

Soon, the familiar scene appeared.

Corpses lying on the floor.

And a solid wall.

"...One thousand."

I opened the notebook.

[150. If you fail to find the elevator by the 1,000th step, you will reach a dead end.]

"..."

Let's stop there for now.

What came next was the problem.

I sat down to think.

The mascot saw me and sat beside me with a soft plop.

"Most people die after reaching this point."

"?!"

The mascot stared at me as if asking why I hadn't mentioned that earlier.

"But is that really inevitable?"

"?"

"If both the upward and downward routes are blocked..."

I tapped the floor while thinking.

What could I try?

I had already reversed direction.

Nothing happened.

I'd simply looped back.

Then what had I missed?

The mascot tapped my back.

"What?"

"..."

"Oh. That?"

Apparently, it was bothered by the face peeking from the wall.

Naturally, so was I.

I'd thought it would simply cut off my head.

I hadn't expected the horrible pain afterward.

"...For now, it's not doing anything."

So ignore it.

For now.

I looked around and knocked against the wall.

Didn't seem hollow.

Though without hearing, I couldn't be completely sure.

"Want to try breaking the wall?"

"?"

"Just humor me. Hit it hard."

"..."

The mascot placed a hand against its forehead as though sighing.

Then...

BAM!

It punched the wall.

"...!"

It immediately dropped down, clutching its fist in silent agony.

"Sorry. That hurt, right?"

"......"

The mascot glared at me while holding its hand.

"I'm sorry."

Still...

If either of us was going to punch something...

Better the mascot than me.

Right tool for the right job.

Anyway.

Ahem.

I cleared my throat and returned to thinking.

What should I do?

"Should we go down and then climb back up?"

"!"

I intended to try everything possible.

"...Hmm."

I sighed deeply and wrote another note.

[150. After 1,500 steps, the watching entity moves closer.]

[150. I do not think you should walk much farther than this.]

"..."

I looked back.

The face was still peeking from the wall.

Now much closer.

When our eyes met, it smiled again.

Was there really no other method?

I felt like I'd tried everything.

Punching the wall.

Climbing.

Descending.

Rolling down the stairs.

Crawling.

Every stupid idea I could think of.

Nothing worked.

"..."

There had to be some way.

Some method...

Then...

Tap tap.

The mascot, which had been tolerating all my strange experiments, carefully touched my shoulder.

"What?"

I looked at it.

It raised one fist.

Then pointed behind me.

"...?"

The face was now right in front of us.

Smiling at me.

If I moved any farther, it would probably kill me like before.

"What about it?"

"...!"

The mascot swung its fist.

Again and again.

As though venting its anger.

Its fist passed straight through the face.

The face didn't dodge.

It was simply transparent.

Like punching a hologram.

Or a ghost.

"Why waste your strength? Hitting something like a hologram or ghost won't..."

I froze.

Hologram?

Ghost?

"Wait."

I quickly grabbed the mascot's wrist.

Then looked at the stairwell.

During the previous regression, that thing had physical substance.

It killed me.

But just now...

The mascot's fist had passed straight through it.

I looked at the stairs again.

An endless staircase.

No side roads.

At least...

None I could see.

But there was one place here where something was clearly sticking out from the side.

I swallowed.

Slowly, I approached the smiling face.

Its eyes rolled toward me.

Half of its face remained buried inside the wall.

"..."

I swallowed again and placed my hand against the wall beside its face.

My hand passed through.

As though the wall were transparent.

The mascot raised both hands and began bouncing in shock.

No.

Too early to celebrate.

"You're coming with me, right?"

I looked at the mascot.

It nodded hard, as though asking why I'd even bother asking.

"Good. Let's go."

I took a deep breath.

Then the mascot and I stepped through the wall together.

The face remained half-exposed behind us.

Still smiling.

"Hup...!"

The moment I crossed over, my sense of direction twisted.

Dizziness crashed into me.

It felt like riding a spinning roller coaster twenty times in a row.

"Urgh...!"

At some point, I was on the floor vomiting.

A soft hand lifted me.

"...Thanks."

"!!"

The mascot gave me a thumbs-up.

I greeted it weakly, then raised my head.

"...Huh."

The scenery wasn't what I'd expected.

Another stairwell.

Still endless stairs.

The difference was...

There wasn't a single trace of light.

Pitch-black darkness.

Too dark to walk through safely.

I raised my smartphone.

Nothing.

The darkness seemed to swallow the light itself.

So that's what the flashlight was for.

I quickly updated the notebook.

[150. The wall containing the half-visible face-like monster is hollow.]

[150. If you enter it, you will find another staircase where you cannot see even one step ahead.]

[150. If you obtained the flashlight, use it here.]

"...Nothing we can do. Let's go up."

I snapped the notebook shut.

The mascot followed.

Then...

"...!"

Its entire body suddenly trembled.

It whipped around.

What?

I followed its gaze.

The smiling face was there.

The exact same distance away as before.

Close enough that our breaths could touch.

The face opened its mouth wide.

My thoughts exploded into motion.

Getting through the wall wasn't enough.

We had to find the actual exit quickly.

Otherwise...

"RUN!"

I shouted and jumped backward.

The mascot immediately grabbed me.

Then threw me over its shoulder and sprinted.

"Ugh!"

Before I could say anything, it was already charging up the stairs.

"Urk! Ngh! Ugh!"

I had no idea how many stairs it took in each step.

It moved so fast that all I could do was cling to its fur and make pathetic noises.

The mascot had carried me with my head facing backward.

Which meant all I could see was behind us.

That somehow made things worse.

The face was chasing us.

At terrifying speed.

Always close.

Its mouth opened as though shouting something.

My destroyed eardrums couldn't hear a thing.

But whatever it said...

Made the mascot run even faster.

Could I have outrun that thing by myself?

No chance.

The distance still wasn't increasing.

"Faster! Faster!"

The mascot accelerated.

I had no idea how long we ran.

Then suddenly, the mascot swung its arm.

"Ugh!"

I flew through the air.

Then slammed into something.

"Khk..."

Pain crushed my lungs.

Even through the narrowing tunnel of my vision, I looked around.

Familiar walls.

A small space.

The elevator.

The mascot had thrown me inside.

I immediately looked toward the doorway.

Far away...

The mascot was sprinting toward me.

It gestured frantically.

Press the button.

I slammed the close button.

The doors began shutting.

I reached one arm out.

"Jump!"

The mascot was still far away.

I stretched farther.

Its hand reached mine.

I grabbed it.

The mascot threw itself forward.

We tumbled into the elevator together.

My body slammed into the wall again.

Before I could even react to the pain, I looked toward the doors.

Thankfully...

As though understanding how desperate I was...

They closed faster than usual.

"...Huff... haa..."

"..."

I tried to catch my breath.

The elevator slowly began moving upward.

"W-We survived."

"..."

The mascot sprawled across the floor.

I used its stomach as a pillow and opened the notebook.

What should I write?

I thought briefly.

Then added one last message.

[150. RUN.]

[150. RUN LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT.]

[150. DO NOT WANDER. IF YOU REALIZE YOU ARE LOST, START RUNNING IMMEDIATELY.]

I lowered the notebook.

The elevator jolted.

The doors opened.

Even though I'd only stayed there once...

The sight of Floor 0.5 felt nostalgic.

Yeah.

We had suffered enough.

Now it was time for a reward.