Chapter 20

How a Regressor Conquers the Tower of Urban Legends

Chapter 20

"..."

For a moment, I couldn't quite process the scene before me.

Countless shadows, humans, and things that merely resembled humans were wandering around Exhibition Hall 2.

I wiped away my cold sweat and looked around.

I'd been worried that they would immediately notice me, but apparently that wasn't the case.

It seemed the place where I was standing still counted as part of Exhibition Hall 1.

If so, I had some time to make a plan before entering.

Good.

Let's think.

I took a deep breath and nodded.

First, there was no choice but to pass through.

I couldn't simply avoid this place.

And there didn't seem to be any trick that would let me bypass it.

The phone hadn't rung yet, so perhaps I was still in a situation where survival was possible.

Or maybe something even more horrible was waiting for me later.

Looking at the countless shadows moving around, I couldn't help complaining.

"Is there some kind of special exhibition going on? Why are there so many visitors?"

Wouldn't it be better to kill myself now and start again?

I briefly tightened my grip on the stake.

Then shook my head.

No.

Not yet.

"Hey."

The mascot stared at me when I whispered.

"Can you look at those things without anything happening to you?"

The mascot turned toward the writings displayed in the distance.

Then...

"!"

It looked back at me and gave me a thumbs-up.

"Good. In that case..."

What should I do?

I thought for a moment while looking at the mascot.

Then an idea came to me.

"If you examine them, can you find something that would be... well, less likely to drive me insane?"

There was no way I could simply walk through the exhibition without doing anything.

If I didn't at least pretend to examine something, I would probably be discovered immediately.

I looked toward the far end of the hall.

A rather long corridor stretched ahead.

If I had to pretend to read the exhibits while making my way through, it would take quite a while.

"..."

While I was thinking, the mascot was also considering my request.

Then...

"!"

It nodded vigorously.

"Good."

It was confident, right?

I really hoped I could trust it.

"!!"

The mascot nodded again and pounded its chest with one fist.

Then it strode forward with determination.

The moment it entered Exhibition Hall 2, countless figures turned their attention toward it.

"..."

The mascot immediately shrank back.

It glanced at me.

Then it straightened its chest and continued forward.

That's a little heartbreaking to watch.

But contrary to my worries, the mascot walked around quite confidently, carefully examining the various writings.

Only after what felt like a considerable amount of time did it finally return.

"How was it?"

"...!"

The mascot nodded, then pointed toward two locations.

One was a small piece of paper resembling a note, visible almost immediately after entering.

The other was a large stone tablet deeper inside the exhibition.

So those were the two things it believed were relatively safe for me.

Good.

I held the sharpened stake against my neck and took a deep breath.

Let's go.

The moment I slowly stepped forward, countless gazes fell upon me.

I suppressed the urge to bite my tongue and continued walking with the mascot.

Eventually, I managed to stand before the small note.

"...Phew."

I took a deep breath and looked at it.

There was only one sentence written on the note.

I carefully allowed the words to enter my vision.

More precisely, I merely skimmed them.

I had no idea what might happen if I actually focused on something like that.

It was a single line written on human skin.

The skin had been cut from the corpse of someone who had been trapped here before and processed using their own methods.

Parchment.

No.

Something inside my head spoke.

How could something this beautiful possibly be parchment?

You know what parchment is made from, don't you?

Parchment was a type of writing material made from the skin of sheep.

But this wasn't made from sheep's skin.

It was made from human skin.

Which meant we should call it human-skin parchment.

"Ah!"

Of course! Now I understand!

Human-skin parchment!

Yes.

The material I'd written on in Exhibition Hall 1 had also been human-skin parchment.

So it wasn't ordinary parchment after all.

With that realization, I began reading the sentence.

Black letters covered the surface.

Ink hadn't been used.

But if it was written in human blood, why was it so black?

Then where had that blood come from?

I pushed the question into a corner of my mind and continued reading.

I couldn't remember exactly what the sentence said.

Perhaps my brain was refusing to remember it.

My vision was turning red.

Something warm began flowing from my nose.

I unconsciously touched it.

When I pulled my finger away, it was covered in pitch-black blood.

Something hot was also running down my cheek.

I touched it with my other hand.

Again, pitch-black blood.

Why is my blood black?

Ah.

There was no reason to question that.

After all, my blood was meant to be used for this.

Turning human skin into writing material and using black blood were perfectly natural.

Because humans were the raw materials.

Naturally, that meant it was only right for me to bleed black blood.

They needed ink too, didn't they?

While I was thinking that...

Grab!

A soft mascot hand suddenly covered my mouth.

At the same time, the mascot struck my back hard, as though desperately trying to bring me to my senses.

THUMP!

The impact spread through my body.

Only then did I realize something.

I was screaming.

I wanted to stop screaming.

But I couldn't.

My body was moving against my will.

It was as though I'd seen something I was never supposed to see.

And because of that...

Countless figures were approaching me.

Some reached out their feet.

Others smacked their lips in anticipation.

The mascot couldn't stop them.

But was there really any reason to stop them?

If giving them a little of my skin would allow them to create such beautiful works of art...

"...!"

I bit down hard on my tongue.

CRUNCH!

Pain shot through me.

At the same moment, my mind cleared.

There was no time to think.

I have to go to the Hall of Art.

I can't solve this in the Hall of Philosophy.

I drove the stake in my hand directly into my neck.

Terrible pain erupted.

My breathing stopped.

The last thing I saw was the mascot wrapping its entire body around me, desperately trying to protect me from the approaching visitors.

"...Haaah...!"

I gasped for breath and immediately touched my neck.

It was perfectly fine.

There were no bloody tears flowing from my eyes.

No blood coming from my nose either.

But I still had the disturbing sensation of having read something I should never have seen.

"...?"

"...Ah. Yes. I'm fine."

I answered calmly when the mascot placed a hand on my shoulder.

Then I looked ahead.

"..."

Exhibition Hall 2 stretched before me.

What?

Am I dreaming right now?

I pricked my finger with the tip of the stake.

A sharp sting followed.

Small drops of blood gathered on my fingertip.

The mascot immediately rushed over in alarm and started fussing over my hand.

It didn't seem like a dream.

"...My regression point updated?"

"?"

The mascot tilted its head as though wondering what nonsense I was talking about.

But I didn't have the time or mental energy to respond to its reaction.

Behind me was Exhibition Hall 1.

Ahead was Exhibition Hall 2.

Countless visitors were still wandering around inside.

"..."

I couldn't go back.

If I turned back, I would die.

The instructions had emphasized that repeatedly from the moment I entered the Hall of Philosophy.

"..."

How many more times am I going to have to die?

Last time, I'd managed to kill myself before things got completely out of control.

But if I'd been unlucky, something far worse than I could imagine might have happened.

I might have ended up becoming human-skin parchment, just like the others...

No.

Get a grip.

Smack!

I slapped both cheeks and dropped to the floor.

Push those thoughts aside.

For now, just push them away.

I could think about them later.

Being frightened and worrying wouldn't accomplish anything right now.

I needed to focus on what I could actually do.

I repeatedly clenched and unclenched my trembling fists as I continued thinking.

First, my attempt to read something the mascot considered safe had failed.

Something that was safe by the mascot's standards was clearly far from safe for me.

I needed another method.

But what other methods were there?

No matter how hard I thought, I couldn't come up with anything useful.

For now, let's try to define Floor N.

What made this floor different?

There were other people here.

More precisely, there were traces of humans.

Wasn't this the only place I'd encountered where humans had left behind evidence of their presence outside the notebook?

The same applied to the exit.

I remembered what the instructions said.

[3. The form of the exit depends on the method by which you arrived here.]

Didn't that make it sound as though some people had arrived here by a method other than the elevator?

Perhaps Floor N was...

Tap, tap.

Something touched my shoulder.

I raised my head.

The mascot was looking down at me with concern.

"Don't worry. I was just feeling a little depressed."

"...!"

Stop patting my shoulder.

It hurts.

Still, I understood what the mascot was trying to say.

I sighed and stood.

Then I looked ahead again.

The visitors were still wandering around.

"..."

At times like this, let's read the instructions one more time.

I unfolded the sheet describing Exhibition Hall 2.

[Hall of Philosophy — Exhibition Hall 2]

[1. Beginning with Exhibition Hall 2, you will encounter writings related to philosophy, as is appropriate for an exhibition devoted to philosophy.]

[2. From Exhibition Hall 2 onward, there will be others besides you. Although they may appear human, there has never been a confirmed case of two humans entering the same museum simultaneously. Ignore all of them.]

[3. Never read the writings. Even if you are a Nobel Prize-winning scholar, you will not be able to understand them. Furthermore, if you continue reading, you will begin to sympathize with the philosophy they express.]

[4. However, if you do not read the writings, the others will become suspicious of you. Pretend to examine them just enough to deceive the other visitors.]

[5. If the others discover that you are not reading, they will turn their attention toward you and force you to read. If this happens, turn around.]

[6. The number of visitors in Exhibition Hall 2 is entirely random. The more visitors there are, the harder it will be to clear. The fewer there are, the easier it will be.]

"..."

As I carefully examined the instructions, I noticed something that didn't quite fit.

[5. If the others discover that you are not reading, they will turn their attention toward you and force you to read. If this happens, turn around.]

When the visitors approached me earlier, they hadn't tried to force me to read anything.

Instead, they'd come to devour me after I'd already read something and reacted to it.

"..."

Strange.

The instructions didn't say that screaming after reading something would cause the visitors to eat me.

Was that information simply missing?

Or...

"..."

I stood.

"Philosophy... philosophy..."

"?"

"Let's go."

The mascot immediately raised both hands and grabbed my shoulders.

"You think it's dangerous?"

"!"

It began gesturing frantically.

"You want to go ahead and check first?"

"!"

Sorry, but I'd already tried that method.

And it had failed spectacularly.

"I appreciate you worrying about me, but it's fine."

I answered calmly and looked behind me.

The Hall of Philosophy.

And the reason the other visitors had suddenly attacked me.

"I just thought of a good method."

I strode forward.

The stake was in one hand.

The instruction sheet was in the other.

The moment I entered, countless visitors turned their attention toward me.

I ignored them.

The mascot cautiously followed behind me.

As we walked, I spoke.

"What's the most dangerous thing here?"

Philosophy was a theory.

A theory capable of influencing other people.

If that was the case, the answer was simple.

I simply had to use that theory properly.

The mascot looked at me in confusion.

Then it grabbed my hand and pulled me toward one side.

Beyond a large glass panel stood a mannequin.

It had a human head attached.

Its lips were moving continuously.

Life itself is anguish. Therefore, should we not all repent?

Should we not live new lives through repentance? Should we not...

CRUNCH!

I bit down hard on my tongue.

"Right. I understand."

Listening to something like that would drive me insane.

In that case...

I tightened my grip on the stake and struck the glass panel.

CRACK!

A loud sound rang out.

A crack spread across the glass.

"The role of an audience is to watch the show."

It wasn't to devour me.

Yet the visitors had tried to kill me during the previous regression.

"Because that's what philosophy is."

"!?"

The mascot stared at me as though it had no idea what nonsense I was talking about.

I met its gaze and grinned.

Then...

CRAAACK!

I brought the stake down again with all my strength.

SHATTER!

With a tremendous crash, the glass broke.