Chapter 216.1 |
The dull head thinks as it stares into the darkness before its eyes…
A ghost story under the Church of the Luminous Unknown, deleted from the wiki.
Yet it exists here. Because…
‘…Because it exists even in the delete log?’
At first, once it had gathered enough recommendations, it was registered on the wiki, but those later deleted for failing to meet the standards of registration could still be found under ‘Deleted Creepypastas’.
If that’s the case…
Is this ghost story truly a power created by the Church of the Luminous Unknown?
Or, since it was deleted for ‘insufficient connection to the Church of the Luminous Unknown’, is it separate?
……Just what kind of world is this place that has summoned me, into this grotesque body……
The smoke wavers.
“…You alright?”
A voice is heard.
It is the one wearing the badger mask.
A gaze is felt, peering in from outside the bathroom.
He seems to want to talk.
Standby
But I must make a judgment.
That is to say, if a ghost story that might belong to the Church of the Luminous Unknown ends up in the hands of Daydream Inc., what effect, what side effect, could that possibly bring about……
……
……
Does it even matter?
It does not matter.
Worrying over the origin, the root, the contradictions of the ghost story holds no meaning. The only thing that matters is carrying out the task assigned to me.
That is the purpose of my labor contract. Nothing else is necessary.
I have one thing to do.
Verification in progress
To determine whether this Darkness is suitable for Dream Essence production under Daydream Inc.
There were three points used as criteria.
1- Must yield Dream Essence through clearing.
2- Must allow improvements to survival and return rates based on a manual.
From this, it can be infered.
The likely meaningful way of clearing is ‘enduring without ever coming into contact with the rainwater until the rain stops’.
The enticement on a rainy day.
Because this legend has its root in luring rather than direct slaughter or violence, simply guarding one’s mind and locking the doors already grants a chance of survival.
If exploration records pile up, its behavioral patterns could also be deduced.
‘Criteria 1 and 2 are suitable.’
And then the final, third condition.
3- Must be easily isolated or contained.
……
I looked down into the bathtub filled with rainwater and slowly tapped my chin with a finger.
I made an estimate.
And I reached a conclusion.
Conditions met
: Suitable Darkness
And.
Proceeding with suppression into a transferable form
I carried out the task.
“Roe? But right now…”
I covered the rainwater in the bathtub with mist.
From now on, what is hidden by the smoke will regain its original form.
Unnecessary descriptions and records deleted.
Back to the original form.
AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!
From the bathtub came a death cry, a scream of pleading, echoing through the bathroom.
The scream of one whose existence is being erased.
It resembled the scream of a victim.
The method of this thing, which had learned for a long time the process of luring prey, had grown far more sophisticated than drifting superstition.
‘So, you’ve learned deception.’
A dead victim becomes a new bait, weaving together truth and falsehood to create convincing choices and lure in another victim.
It disguises, it mimics.
It toys with both sides.
Listen to one side, then doubt. Listen to the other, then doubt.
And by then, it is already, quite literally, ‘too late’.
As each sense of strangeness and each fragment of truth is realized, the prey becomes mentally weaker, until eventually, they choose one side and follow its words.
Whichever side they choose, the end lies within this rainwater.
This time, it just so happened to take the form of the couple and the child’s handwriting in the sketchbook.
But that too is the end.
The rainwater shrouded in smoke is now endlessly spitting out the corpses it had consumed.
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