Round seven. The attack side was with Zei. I selected my guard zone. The forbidden zone was the head.
Zei's Side
I thought he was playing passively and had chosen fifteen, but that wasn't it either. I eliminated one, thinking it could really be one. Now he's moved to the middle. He must be aware he's steering me. I'll do something different. If he's heading toward the middle, it means he's pushing me away—it could also be the extremes.
"I'm guessing fourteen."
"Fourteen... incorrect guess! You will bear the penalty. The attack side passes to Rei. Forbidden zone: arms!"
Information Status
Rei's numbers cannot be 1, 14, or 15.
Zei's numbers cannot be 1, 6, or 15.
Rei's Side
"I'm guessing his number is seven."
"Seven... incorrect guess! Rei will bear the penalty. The attack side passes to Zei. We are on the ninth round. Forbidden zone: torso!"
Spectators
"It seems like Rei is making him think exactly what he wants. By saying the middle, he made his opponent think it could be at the extremes. Zei wants to eliminate the extreme ends. To make Zei think this way, he's now also eliminated the number seven. Zei will probably eliminate two next, and then he'll move toward the middle, just as Rei wants."
"You're right."
Zei's Side
Now I'll eliminate the other extreme.
Rei selected his guard zone.
"I'm guessing his number is two."
"Two... incorrect guess! You will bear the penalty. The attack turn passes to Rei. We are on the tenth round. Forbidden zone: legs!"
Information Status
Rei's number cannot be 1, 2, 14, or 15.
Zei's number cannot be 1, 6, 7, or 15.
Zei selected his head as his guard zone.
After thinking for a short moment, I thrust my katana into Zei's left hand. My blade sank into the palm of Zei's hand. When I pulled my katana out of his hand, his palm was split open. The moment the sword touched him, he screamed in pain. When my attack turn ended, he was now looking at me with a wide grin and fervent eyes. I was studying this situation. I had obtained the information I was waiting for.
"I'll kill you, you son of a bitch! How dare you!"
The attack side passed to Zei. We were on the eleventh round. Zei immediately took one of his pills, and the wound on his hand healed rapidly. But the pain he'd felt had already entered his mind once. He wanted revenge, looking at me with eyes that wanted to kill me. The man who had been playing passively was gone.
The forbidden zone was the feet. I selected the zone I would guard. Without much thought, Zei swung his katana at my left arm with a shout. My left arm fell to the ground. I looked at my fallen arm with indifference; the area around me was covered in blood. Zei's smirk widened. I looked at the referee.
"This can be fixed with the pill, right?"
"Yes. Try to reattach your arm and take it."
"Alright."
I calmly picked up my severed arm from the ground with my right hand. While pretending to try to stick it to the torn part, I took one of my pills. The moment I swallowed the pill, my arm oddly snapped back into place within a short time—it was as good as before. I could continue playing.
"How did that taste, you bastard Rei?"
The attack turn was mine. We moved to the twelfth round; the forbidden zone was the hands. Zei marked the zone he would guard. I continued thinking calmly, looking at the ceiling for a short while.
"I'm guessing his number is fourteen."
"Fourteen... incorrect guess! You will bear the penalty. The attack turn passes to Zei. We are on the thirteenth round. Forbidden zone: head again!"
I selected my guard zone immediately.
Zei's Side
That bastard Rei is still acting calm. Is he insane or what? Anyway, he guessed fourteen. So he wants to imitate me too. Just a moment ago he was saying the middle, now he's saying the extremes too. Then he might be hiding his number in the middle—six or seven—by saying the extremes. We've both landed one strike. I'm afraid he'll figure out my misinformation trap. I couldn't control myself; maybe that's why he attacked me. I don't know.
Before the Game Began — Rei and Gyoma, Walking in the Corridor, Shortly After Meeting Zei
"Zei, do you think he bought it?"
"He will. I knew he would come here, of course, but he also knew that. As if we had arranged it. I told him I like chaos. Moreover, because it was obvious I knew he would come, and on top of that, with the sound of footsteps in the corridor, he'll realize it was planned and think it was a lie. Knowing he'd think that, I told the truth on purpose."
"So you're literally telling the truth to tell a lie, right?"
"Exactly. He'll think I'm someone who doesn't like chaos. This way, I'll gain an advantage in the game—after all, I know what kind of game this is."
"We believe in you."
"Don't worry, guys. I'll handle it and come back. I'm sure he fell for it."
Zei's Side
"I'm guessing his number is seven."
"Seven... incorrect guess! The attack side passes to Rei."
Status Information
Rei's numbers cannot be 1, 2, 7, 14, or 15.
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Zei's numbers cannot be 1, 6, 7, 14, or 15.
Rei's Side
Zei had selected his guard zone. The forbidden zone was the arms; we were on the fourteenth round.
"I'm guessing two."
"Two... incorrect guess! The attack side passes to Zei. Round fifteen. Forbidden zone: torso!"
Zei was acting as if he was worried. Shortly after, I selected my guard zone.
"I'm guessing six."
"Six... incorrect guess! The attack side passes to Rei. Round sixteen. Forbidden zone: legs!"
You think well, but you think too complexly. You think the deeper you go, the better it will be. But sometimes, the simplest thing can be the deepest.
As I spoke, there was no arrogance or ego in my tone or on my face; it was as if I was stating facts to him expressionlessly. Because I rarely spoke, the spectators immediately looked at me. Zei was startled by my sudden speech, and he reacted.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"I've figured out your trap. Saying you were a complex person was planned—you arranged it. But you knew I could know it was planned. And I knew you would know that. Thinking this, you deliberately told the truth, trying to pass off the truth as a lie. But you gave yourself away. All your behaviors in the game—they were actions to steer me toward false information. But I know your number now."
"What?"
"I'm guessing your number is four."
"Four... correct guess! The game has ended!"
Zei was stunned and collapsed to his knees on the floor, staring blankly at the carpet. I was looking at him without expression.
"How...?"
There was no expression on my face. I continued stating the facts.
"Our opening strategies were almost the same, actually. You didn't lose because you couldn't think of what I thought. You lost because you thought, unnecessarily, that complexity would be better."
"Like me, you considered playing passively and choosing fifteen. Then you thought that would be risky because fifteen is a conspicuous number. You thought the same thing about one. Neither worked. Then, playing passively, you considered choosing the middle numbers—six and seven—for safety. But because those numbers are in the middle, they were still conspicuous. Instead, you could have chosen the extremes. The extreme numbers were two and fourteen. But you were aware that I'm intelligent, so you realized those could be dangerous too."
"After that, you considered the number three, but you weren't satisfied. Three is the number I chose. There was no point for me to add more layers to my opening. You, thinking that going deeper would be better, considered four, then five. But five also seemed like an ordinary number, so you decided to choose four and play according to the false information you were sending."
"From how you turned your false information into truth, and from the trap you set, I gained insight into your intelligence level. This way, you could understand this not-so-hard-to-think-of opening strategy. With my understanding of that, and when I factored in your love for complexity, the answer was either four or five. Since five felt like an ordinary number, I decided to go with four. It turned out to be correct."
As I completely read Zei's mind, he collapsed further onto the floor, making strange sounds. Perhaps he was devastated because his title would be taken away. The spectators were looking at both of us in astonishment; the atmosphere had fallen silent. Thinking there was no point in staying any longer, I walked toward the corridor with an emotionless expression on my face. Gyoma and the officials immediately came up to me.
"Rei, we know you're going to the leader's office for the title, but could you explain a bit more? What exactly did you do?"
"What do you mean?"
"Could you please explain from start to finish what you were aiming for?"
I took a deep breath.
"Alright."
"I had partially noticed the three-layered trap Zei mentioned. So, in reality, he wanted to make me believe he wasn't a complex person. I had considered such a possibility. The footsteps coming from the corridor, him knowing I would come, and him knowing how intelligent I am from the self-surpassing game—with this information, I could understand there was a trap of this degree."
"He was playing passively in the game. This means his love for chaos was either a lie or something he was hiding. The best move for the role he wanted to play was to imitate me with minimal information. This way, he would create a passive image. I expected him to do this, and as he did it, I realized he was hiding his true face."
"Him passing instead of guessing in the second round was related to this. The attack side, as you know, is like a free opportunity to guess the opponent's number. Especially in the early stage of the game, no one would want to take a risk. Despite this, Zei deliberately made a mistake and used his pass right. When he did this, I began to grow even more suspicious. He had deliberately made a mistake to strengthen the role he was playing. I was aware that his best path, for the side he was hiding, was to imitate me. He would think this too. So, by guessing fifteen, I made him think I was hiding behind fifteen. This way, Zei first guessed the number fifteen."
"As I said, once I realized how he was behaving, I continued to steer him. Since we were playing passively, to make him think that instead of playing passively and choosing fifteen, I might have chosen one and was playing as if I had chosen one, and similarly, to make him think I wasn't hiding behind one because I had guessed it myself, I guessed the number one. After I guessed one, I made him think exactly as I intended. He continued his role and guessed the number one in the same way."
"After that, I deliberately guessed the number six—that is, one of the middle numbers. At this point, he would either continue guessing middle numbers and imitate me, or he would guess something else to avoid raising more suspicion. Because I was guessing the middle parts to test him logically, I made him think I was pushing him away from the extreme numbers. That's why he continued first with the high number, fourteen. I, in turn, to steer him toward the extremes—that is, to make him guess the number two—guessed the number seven, which is a number close to the middle. He thought as I wanted him to, continued eliminating the extremes, and guessed the number two. I was gradually beginning to understand his thought process and his true face. But to be completely sure, I needed to do something different. That's why I had been studying his body language throughout the game."
"Thus, when I decided to attack him, I struck the zone where I had calculated the highest probability of winning the game. After striking, I had achieved my goal. He had lost control; for a moment, he showed me his madness that loves chaos and uncertainty. Then I selected a random guard zone. By chance, he was able to cut off my arm. I reattached my arm, used my pill, and continued playing the game. Now that I knew his true face, I had more information—I had figured out his psychological profile. He enjoys chaos and uncertainty; his previous moves were just a role. I could understand that he planned to keep acting this way and then make a sudden aggressive move. But because of the pain and his desire to harm me, he couldn't control himself, which confirmed my suspicions."
"After that, I guessed the number fourteen. I was going to eliminate the extremes in the same way. This way, by then guessing the middle parts, I made him think I wanted to hide my number within the parts I was guessing. I had understood his logic since the beginning of the game; I was gradually able to understand his thought process from the purpose of his trap. This allowed me to make the right moves to steer him. He thought as I wanted him to. At the same time, according to his logic, if it wasn't at the extremes, he needed to check the middle parts. To appear as if I was hiding my number, I guessed fourteen. Then he thought as I wanted him to and guessed the middle number, seven. To make him continue thinking in the same way, I guessed the number two, and he thought the same way and guessed the number six."
"I now had enough information about his intelligence level; I had completely understood his trap. Because I understood it, I also understood his purpose. Because I understood his purpose, I also gained insight into how he thinks. When I gathered all the information, I realized he could think of our opening strategies. When I added the numbers I had eliminated, the roles he had played, and the knowledge that he loves complexity and deep thinking, I could understand that he had thought of the opening strategy I had thought of. Then, I added his love for complex thinking to this strategy. According to him, three wouldn't be deep enough, so going further, and thinking I would think this, he first turned to four, then to five. But when he turned to five, he couldn't be sure. He thought this complexly because he knew what I did in the self-surpassing game. I knew he'd think I'd catch him if it wasn't complex enough. With the other information, I also understood that he knew the game beforehand."
"Then he couldn't decide on five, because five perceptually feels like an ordinary number. That's why it could come to people's minds, and that's why it could be guessed by players. He had passed over four, but four felt less ordinary compared to five. That's why he decided to choose four instead of five. And I found the correct answer."
"In truth, he was secretly afraid of me, which is why he kept trying to go deeper in his thoughts. He succumbed to his fears and emotions. I hadn't done anything divine; I had just proceeded with the same strategy and chosen the number three. With all the information, I understood he had chosen four, and I won the game."
Both of them listened to me attentively. Now they understood everything. No move had been meaningless.
"I understand... So from the very beginning, Zei wasn't even playing the game—you were playing him..."
Without answering his question, I slowly disappeared from sight down the corridor. I was heading toward the director's office for my title. That emotionless expression was still on my face. As I walked toward the room, I had the same gaze. I had to take responsibility. To take responsibility, I had to purge myself of everything.