When I woke up, I immediately checked my phone. I saw that there was one hour until the game began. I had been sleeping for long periods lately—I wondered if it could be because I was thinking too much. After pondering this, I yawned lightly. Then I slowly got out of bed, went to the sink, washed my face and hands, and brushed my teeth.
After leaving the bathroom, I bought some food from the hotel shop and filled my stomach. When I checked my phone again, I saw there were forty-five minutes until the game started. Fifteen minutes had passed quickly. I didn't have to go to work because of the game, and my job didn't have mandatory hours either—I just needed to go and clean the place at a suitable time. So I was at ease.
I could hear some moaning sounds coming from the room next to the shop—it seemed someone was doing inappropriate things. To avoid hearing the sounds, I walked up the wooden stairs toward my room. There weren't many people around. After opening my room door, I gently closed it behind me.
I realized I had forgotten to check the time when I woke up. I looked at my phone screen to check the time—it showed six-thirty in the morning. Since the system had set it for this hour, I figured they wanted to discipline the players. After thinking that, I lay down on the red carpet and continued yawning. Before the game started, I wanted to clear my mind and relax my body.
I continued lying on the carpet until the game time arrived. When the time came for the game to start, a notification came to my phone. I knew this notification was about the game. I immediately sat up where I was, took the phone in my left hand, and checked the screen again. There was one minute left until the game began.
When I saw the one minute, I took a deep breath and kept holding the phone in my hand. I was waiting for the remaining minute to end. Inevitably, I began to feel more tense. I took another deep breath and tried to calm myself down.
Let's see what kind of game this is.
When the minute ended, I was suddenly teleported to the center of a white room. The room was completely white, with a modern iron door in front of me. While I was examining the room, I heard the robotic voice again.
"Welcome, player. You are in the brief information stage before the game begins."
As the robotic voice spoke, digital screens and profiles began to appear around me in a light blue color. I could see viewer screens, elite profiles, live cameras, and live broadcasts. I looked around and examined these blue panels with my eyes.
"You will be watched from the other planet during this game. The elites of the other planet can place bets on you if they wish. There are dozens of elites from the other planet watching you. This applies to the other players as well—you are requested to be informed."
Before the "other players" part, I had thought it was because of the games I had played, but thanks to the extra information, I could understand there was no special interest directed at me. I nodded in confirmation. The robotic voice continued speaking.
Among the digital screens, I could see the man I had encountered at the volcano—he was watching me too. After looking at his camera for a short while, I returned my focus to the robotic voice.
"Additionally, your opponent in this game is yourself."
"Myself? What do you mean?"
"Completely yourself. You will be playing against your own clone."
"What do you mean? Is that even possible?"
The robotic voice didn't answer my question. The door in front of me slowly opened with a tense sound. Behind the door was a dark corridor, and further ahead, another door of the same style. I understood they wanted me to enter. I started walking and went through the door.
As I continued walking through the corridor, the robotic voice began to speak.
"The game area is behind the door. Please proceed."
I kept moving forward. As I approached the door, it opened on its own with the same slowness. When the door opened, I saw myself sitting in the same white room, at a wooden table, on a wooden chair. The person I saw looked completely like me. Even though he heard the sounds, he didn't turn his head for even a second—his eyes continued staring at the table.
I entered the room. A small camera-like system robot flew in behind me through the air. When everyone had entered, the door closed on its own. I began examining the surroundings with my eyes. The room was identical except for the wooden table and wooden chair—it was in a bright white tone. When I saw myself, I was so shocked that I couldn't express my reaction. I had already begun sinking deep into my own thoughts.
How the fuck is this possible? How can technology have advanced this far? How much more superior is the other planet compared to us?
Is my opponent really going to be myself? Is that why "metacognition" was in the game's name? Do I really have to surpass myself? I'm looking at myself—how the fuck can this be real? Am I dreaming?
Even though he looked completely like me in appearance, I could understand he wasn't completely the same emotionally. He still continued staring only at the empty wooden table. Curious, I decided to ask him a question—after all, the game hadn't started yet. Things like talking shouldn't be forbidden.
"Why are you playing this game?"
My own self continued staring at the table without making eye contact and answered.
"For my friends."
When I heard what he said, I was shocked again internally and began sinking into my thoughts.
How the fuck is this really happening? I never reflected these thoughts to anyone except my own friends. No, they couldn't have betrayed me. Then how can such a thing be possible? How much of my being does this system know?
"Do you remember your past?"
My own self answered the same way, staring at the table.
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"Yes, I remember."
After saying that, he began recounting my past. The moment he started telling my past, I went into great shock again. I told him to stop in a slightly raised tone so they wouldn't learn my past. Hearing me say stop, my other self continued staring at the table with emotionless eyes.
How can such a thing happen? How much do they know, for fuck's sake?
While I continued thinking to myself, I was told to sit on the wooden chair across from me. Doing as told, I slowly sat down on the wooden chair. I was looking at myself, while he continued staring at the wooden table as if he had no interest in me at all. I felt extremely strange.
"Welcome to the Metacognition Six Card Game!"
After the robotic voice spoke, a small portal suddenly opened. Six cards stacked on top of each other were brought to the edge of the table. The cards vaguely resembled playing cards from a distance—they didn't look special. Then the robotic voice began explaining the rules.
RULES
"At the end of seven rounds, the person holding the joker wins the game. Every three card draws count as one round—after a total of twenty-one card draws, the game ends. Whoever holds the joker wins."
"At every sixth card draw, if the joker changes hands, the person who lost the joker must select cards with their eyes closed on the next draw."
"When we reach the third, ninth, and fifteenth card draws, before the draw begins, both sides must exchange one card with each other."
"After the distribution, the person who starts will be the one who begins selecting cards. They present their cards to the opponent, take one of the opponent's cards, and after taking the opponent's card, the selection turn passes to the opponent. This cycle will continue until the game ends."
"For distribution, we will place six cards face down on the table. Please close your eyes."
We closed our eyes and waited for the cards to be arranged. My senses had sharpened—I could feel the cards flying through the air being placed on the wooden table. Within a short time, six cards were placed one by one on the table, face down.
"Please open your eyes!"
We both opened our eyes at the same time. When we looked at the table, we could see the arranged cards. Then the same small portal opened again on our left side and dropped two small classic dice onto the wooden table. The dice made a faint sound before resting on the table.
"To decide the first card and who begins, both of you will roll one die. The one who gets the higher number will be the first to select a card and will start the game as the first chooser. If you tie, you may roll again."
One of the two dice magically floated into each of our hands. I had been so shocked earlier that such things no longer bewildered me as much. The other me across the table was holding the die in his left hand just like I was—his gaze was still on the cards. What was he seeing in those cards, I wondered?
We were both left-handed, so we were both holding the die in our left hands. He was even doing this the same as me.
"When you are ready, roll the dice."
We both got ready at the same time and threw the dice to the empty side of the table. Our timing of the throw, even the way we threw, was completely identical. The only difference was my more humane face, while his had a more emotionless gaze. It was as if he resembled the version of me that had lost my friends.
We even did this exactly the same.
When we looked at the dice, we had both rolled a six.
Even this...
We took the dice back into our hands at the same time and rolled again at the same time, in the same way. To prevent it from being a tie forever, I threw a millisecond later. I rolled a three, while he rolled a two. I was starting the game. The dice floated off to the empty side of the table on their own. My other self continued staring at the cards.
"Rei One will begin. You have ten minutes to choose."
I started looking at the cards and thinking to myself.
Wait a minute—why do I have ten minutes? If we were playing a normal game, the cards would already be obvious. In that case, ten minutes would be meaningless. Also, this Rei has been staring at these cards for a while. At the same time, there's a penalty rule about selecting cards with eyes closed. Why would selecting with your eyes closed even be a problem? This means there's something hidden going on in this game.
I began examining the cards for a short while. On the back patterns of the card, there were interesting designs in the corners, but on the body section, there were a hundred very small black dots. The other parts of the card were in a near-white tone. For a normal person not focusing, it would take several minutes to count that there were a hundred small dots. Within about ten seconds, I understood that there were a hundred tiny black dots on one card. There were six cards in total, meaning there should be six hundred black dots in all. I let my eyes wander for a few more seconds. Within seconds, I was counting the dot count of each card one by one. After the tenth second, I noticed that the card in the very middle had ninety-nine dots, not a hundred. I sank into my own thoughts.
Holy shit, what does this mean? Why does this one have ninety-nine? Based on the supporting information I just gathered, does that mean that card is the joker? So are all the cards except this one completely identical? I don't know—I'll find out soon. But only this card has a pattern of ninety-nine small dots. Could it be an accident? But there can't be an accident here. This means that card is the joker...
Son of a bitch—he'd been staring at the cards since the beginning of the game, so he must have been able to spot that one missing tiny dot among six hundred dots before me. Wait a minute—why am I calling myself a son of a bitch, for fuck's sake?
My other self continued staring emotionlessly at the cards on the table, waiting for me to make my selection.
The important part is: How much does this clone resemble me?
According to my analysis, he doesn't completely resemble me emotionally. This shouldn't be a real living being—it's obvious from his face. We don't share the same human emotions. He just seems like a copy of me. Or I might be acting like he wants me to think that. If the person across from me is almost completely me, would I do such a thing? Yes, I could. But no matter how advanced technology is, I don't think they can adjust all my emotions and facial expressions exactly. But my memories and the things I deeply value are engraved in his mind.
So there are a few possibilities: Either he's completely my copy and is bluffing with body language right now, or he's completely identical cognitively but not completely identical emotionally. Which seems more logical. Because I'm sure he noticed the unspoken hidden dot detail, but he also didn't pretend not to know it. This means he himself might also know he's facing himself. Since he's facing himself, and he knows how intelligent he is, he might know there's no point in hiding such a detail from himself. Because he knows his own intelligence. So, just like him, he predicted I would also notice the detail, which is why he deliberately didn't bother trying to hide that he knew.
Another possibility is that we're completely identical both cognitively and emotionally, but he's still making such a facial expression. However, he might not be doing it as a bluff. But if he's not doing it as a bluff, and if we're completely identical, he wouldn't make such a facial expression. Or I wouldn't. So this possibility can be eliminated. So either we're completely identical mentally and emotionally and he's bluffing with his face, or even if we're completely identical cognitively, we're not completely identical emotionally. After all, the one across from me shouldn't be a real living being. That's why the second possibility is higher. He just proved it could be the case by noticing the detail before me. He might even be smarter than me.
I understand now why Gyoma said these first games are extremely difficult for eliminations. Both for me, and if everyone is participating in the same game, this game will be extremely difficult for everyone individually. According to my observations, the second possibility I mentioned is higher. If I were myself, I wouldn't get into such sorrowful roles, because I'm not good at emotionless or sorrowful roles. That's why I wouldn't even bother. So there's a ninety percent chance we're mentally identical but emotionally not the same. If we're emotionally not the same, it means I attach a more genuine value, or a value at all, to the things we care about. His is just made of falseness. Since I have emotions, I can surpass myself. I can desire to surpass myself. I will surpass myself and get out of this game.
Let's see which one of us is more of a shameless bastard, you son of a bitch. Let's play the game and find out.
The Metacognition Six Card Game was about to begin.