After continuing to sit in silence at the table for a while longer, the game area vanished on its own. I found myself sitting on the carpet of my room once again. I thought this was the hardest game I had ever played. If everyone was playing this game, I wondered who would be able to pass it—but I didn't believe everyone would be playing this game.
I was extremely exhausted. I got into bed and fell asleep quickly. When I woke up, I had to go to work. Before heading to work, I took care of my needs and set out. At the hotel entrance, I ran into Gyoma—this time, I greeted him first. Gyoma showed me his usual smile.
"Hey Rei, did you pass the game?"
"Yes. You?"
"I passed too."
"What kind of game did you play, Gyoma?"
"I don't know if it's forbidden to talk about it or not, but it was a team game. It was tough, but we managed to win. Was yours like that too?"
"No, I played a solo card game."
"I see. They might have given different games to different people then."
"I need to go to work."
"You found yourself a job, huh? Nice, good. Well then, good luck with work."
After the conversation, I went to the place where I worked. The manager, seeing me, nodded slightly as if to say good morning. After cleaning around for a few hours, I stepped out into the corridor. I was heading toward the storage to put the supplies back in their place. As I was walking, two people appeared before me. One was a tall man in a suit whose face wasn't visible. Beside him was a girl around my age with purple hair. The girl had sharp eyes—red eyes.
When the two of them saw me, they stopped. The purple-haired girl looked at the man beside her and pointed at me excitedly with her finger, her face beginning to flush. Even though we couldn't see the man's face because of his mask, I could tell he had turned his face toward me.
"Dad, look! This is the person from the game we watched! He played amazingly—I was so impressed! Hello, Rei!"
Her father nodded and continued looking at me.
"Hello, Rei. We watched your game and were genuinely very impressed by your performance. My daughter has become an admirer of yours—she's someone who gets excited about such things. Thank you for the show you gave her. I didn't know you were here. My name is X, I am the owner of this place. And my daughter's name is Z. Pleased to meet you."
"Pleased to meet you, sir."
I was questioning how they had watched my game. Perhaps they were elites, or important enough people to be connected to the elites—after all, the man was saying he was the owner of this place. Z quickly approached me and clung to my arm, a sharp look in her eyes. She seemed to be enjoying the situation.
"I was so impressed by the game you played, Rei! Keep giving me things like this, okay?"
I was aware that objecting would bring harm—I needed to remain compliant. X continued standing before me, watching me, while Z seemed to be waiting for my answer with intense eyes. I nodded in confirmation. When I agreed, she clung to my arm tightly for a moment longer, then pulled back and returned to her father's side.
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"See you around, Rei. I wish you success in the tournament. If you need anything, you can ask my daughter—she's usually around here."
"Alright, thank you."
The two of them nodded and continued walking down the corridor. I thought I had just experienced an interesting moment. After continuing on and putting the supplies away in the storage, my work was finished. After receiving my pay, I wanted to go to my friends—a small smile would come to my face whenever I thought of them.
I used my teleportation to warp to the elf village. But when I looked ahead, I saw that the village was completely devastated. No one was there—the buildings were destroyed. I was suddenly shocked. I ran to the top of the volcano with all my strength. I shouted into the volcano with an extremely loud voice. Within a short time, Zepktrum Speleus emerged from within the volcano, standing in the air and looking at me.
"WHERE ARE MY FRIENDS?"
"WHERE DID YOU TAKE THEM?"
Speleus continued speaking calmly.
"Rei, I've thought about it, and looking at your game, you truly have potential. The system has decided to develop you in order to conquer other planets. That is to say, when you think about it, I don't have to keep my word the way you want me to. Therefore, we have decided to hide your friends and everyone you care about in an area on the other planet."
When the digital screen appeared, I could see the people I valued and my friends. Akari, Lie, Haru, Celebria—I could see all of them. All of their faces were exhausted; they were seated, chained, in a dark area. The elf king had clearly been killed—there were no elves left except for Celebria.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"There's no use in shouting, Rei. If you commit suicide here, you won't achieve your revenge. So I will be watching you from the other planet along with all of them. Meanwhile, you will knowingly be doing my work. When you complete the king mission, the capsule's transition card will automatically arrive in your inventory. During that time, I will be on the planet. If you can find a way to reach the other planet by overcoming the other capsules, you can get closer to us. You can commit suicide here if you want, or refuse to act the way we want—it doesn't matter. In that case, you won't get your revenge either. Everything you value will remain in our hands. Just like your mother. Good luck with the king mission. We thought you needed this to reach a new level. Farewell!"
After his speech, the digital screen closed. Speleus entered the volcano. My eyes began to open excessively wide, my hands began to tremble, my breathing began to quicken. They had taken everything I valued from me. It was clear that while I advanced toward my revenge, I would continue doing what they wanted so they could use me. The faces of my friends, the faces of those I valued, were coming to life in my mind. Everything had been taken from me. They had used the people I valued so I would develop in the way they wanted. I was forced to continue in the way they wanted. As he had said, I couldn't commit suicide—I had to advance on the path they had set. Only this way could I advance on the path to my revenge. They had planned this.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAAA!"
I began laughing madly. My blood had begun to boil—I was losing my sanity, I was beginning to go insane. Everything I valued had been taken from me just as they wanted, and now they were using it against me. Suddenly, exhaustion collapsed over me.
"I will destroy everything that gets in my way. I will destroy everything that takes away those I value. If those I value perish, I will destroy everything that had a hand in it. When those I value are gone, this world has no meaning at all. Because I no longer have anything!"
"If it has no meaning, then I will destroy everything. I will destroy everything that affects me. If those I value perish, I will destroy everything, and I will carry out the suicide of annihilation with my own death at the very end. No meaning, no meaning, no meaning, no meaning! HAHAHAHAHA!"
After lying collapsed on the ground for a while, I suddenly found myself teleported into my room. The emotions I was experiencing were extremely complex, especially combined with the previous game. I was lying on the red carpet. It was as if the second self I had played against earlier had entered into me. The same soulless face from the beginning of the game, when it had stared at the table—that face had now formed on my own. It was as if it had entered into me, as if I had become it. My face took on a soulless expression; just as it had stared emotionlessly at the table, I now found myself simply staring at the carpet again. As if it had truly entered into me.