[Translator - Jjescus]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Chapter 240: Monad II
3
Fragment of the Second Monad.
"Brother."
"Oh, Seo Gyu."
"I... this Seo Gyu is the mastermind behind everything. Hehe."
"......"
This time, it’s a short piece related to 'Mastermind Syndrome.'
'Not this pattern again.'
I sighed.
In case anyone forgot, Mastermind Syndrome refers to a bizarre phenomenon where:
'One firmly believes that they manipulated all the tragedies from behind the scenes, ensuring the world's destruction.'
So, when and how does one get infected with Mastermind Syndrome?
The conditions are quite simple. You just have to survive until the end with me, the Doctor Jang, and then cheerfully declare, "Tonight's dinner is chicken!"
Naturally, the more outgoing you were, the less likely you were to survive.
Awakened individuals who always fought outside against anomalies, like Tang Seorin or Cheon Yohwa, had an extremely low chance of contracting Mastermind Syndrome. After all, you had to survive first before worrying about getting infected.
On the other hand, our guild’s proud introvert alliance got selected as masterminds so often it was almost routine.
People like Sim Aryeon, who didn’t take the 'Northern Saintess Route,' or Lee Hayul, who wasn’t dragged away by her restless fate, or Oh Dokseo, who spent decades in seclusion after her series got discontinued...
Seo Gyu was also a strong candidate, even though he wasn’t exactly an introvert.
The guy was holed up in the hideout all year turn, and his daily routine consisted of [Sleep] [Eat] [Weightlifting] [Eat] [Managing the Cyber-Anomaly Prison] [Eat], and that was it.
"Right, Seo Gyu. Though you would’ve been decapitated by a fairy at Busan Station if I hadn’t saved you, somehow, you’re now the mastermind behind all the tragedies on Earth, orchestrating mass murders."
"Hehe, you know me well, brother."
Normally, I would’ve smashed Seo Gyu’s head in and moved on to the next turn.
But that day, precisely at the end of the 682nd turn, I felt a strange curiosity.
The turn was already a failure anyway. I figured I might as well hang out with Seo Gyu, who was always full of nonsense, for a bit longer.
Without much thought, without any serious intent or purpose, I asked:
"Just one question. You would've been eliminated in the early stages without me, so how do you claim to have orchestrated and controlled everything? If you die, it’s over, right?"
"That’s a foolish question, brother."
To my surprise, Seo Gyu answered confidently.
"Of course, my death was part of my plan."
"What?"
"Think about it. Hehe. If I died, it would mean that you, brother, didn’t have the strength to defeat the Tutorial Fairy in an instant. Or it would mean that you had the kind of personality that would passively watch civilians get slaughtered."
"......"
"In such a world, there’s no way I could succeed as a mastermind. I can only thrive as a mastermind in a world where there exists someone strong enough to defeat the anomalies and yet kind enough to care about those around them. In other words, I could only survive by leeching off the stage you created, brother."
Seo Gyu clicked his tongue.
"Why would I bother striving for glory in a world that didn’t meet these conditions?"
"What."
"Brother, right after the anomalies arrived and we were dropped into the Tutorial Dungeon, I quickly made a decision. Either I would become the mastermind controlling all the world’s evils—or I’d die here and escape all the suffering early."
"......"
I was dumbfounded. Why did this sound oddly convincing?
"No, but... you didn’t even know your ability was ubiquitous. You couldn’t even awaken without my help. Even if you survived and joined my guild, what guarantee is there that you’d succeed as a mastermind?"
"Hehe."
Seo Gyu smiled mysteriously—a sound that had never once been permitted to a muscular man in human history.
My desire to beat him up clashed with my curiosity about how far he could twist his nonsense. Since I could beat him up anytime, curiosity won out.
"Did I really not know?"
"What?"
"I awakened my ability in the very early stages. But you, brother, had no way of knowing whether I awakened or not... The longer I delayed revealing my awakening, the more you’d let your guard down around me."
"Gasp."
"I could manipulate the timing of my awakening at will. You were bound to trust me and give me an important position. It’s like the art of survival, like Jia Xu from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms."
"...?"
It’s... convincing!
He even referenced Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the greatest classic ever, making him seem suddenly more credible. It was like I was under a spell, listening to his masterful lecture.
"I subtly incited the anomalies without you or the saintess noticing. For instance, you ordered me to keep Romance of the Three Kingdoms playing on the smartphone 24/7, right?"
Failure.
Perhaps this whole "Mastermind Syndrome" wasn’t something worth worrying about after all.
But then, a thin line appeared across Seo Gyu’s neck.
“Huh?”
Seo Gyu reached for his neck with his thick hands. Blink. His gaze turned to me.
"Boss――."
Thud. His head rolled to the floor.
"......"
"Oops. Sorry about that, Doctor Jang."
The Saintess, now holding an axe, wiped the blood off and smiled brightly. It was an utterly foreign expression on her usually stoic face.
"Surprised?"
"...In a way."
"It must have been, what, 20 years ago in your time, right? When you told me to watch Seo Gyu, claiming he was the mastermind? I was a bit surprised at the time. You were suspicious of those closest to you."
I rubbed my forehead.
"So this time, it’s the Saintess who’s been revealed as the mastermind, huh."
"'Revealed'? That's a bit hurtful, Doctor Jang. I orchestrated all the destruction. From the very beginning, I was watching you, playing the role of the mastermind all along..."
Before she could finish her sentence, the Saintess’s body erupted into flames, evaporating in an instant due to my aura.
I didn’t want to watch this "Mastermind Syndrome" mock her any longer.
‘If she set her mind to it, of course the Saintess could easily play the role of the mastermind.’
Manipulating Awakened through the constellations, subtly distorting reports to me, committing perfect crimes by stopping time, and so on.
Only now did I realize the insidious nature of Mastermind Syndrome.
'...Isn’t this unsolvable?'
――――――――――
[Choice 1]
No matter if it’s Seo Gyu or Sim Aryeon, whoever is the last survivor will be designated as the "mastermind."
This mastermind will claim they plotted everything during the moments I failed to observe.
I couldn’t observe those moments. Therefore, I can’t determine whether their claim is true or false.
[Choice 2]
If I rely on the Saintess’s [Clairvoyance] to observe all events, the mastermind title will eventually be assigned to the Saintess herself.
The Saintess may have committed crimes while stopping time, moments that I couldn’t observe. Therefore, I can’t deny the theory that she is the mastermind.
[Choice 3]
To prevent any of my companions from being designated as the mastermind, I suppress their growth. I prohibit them from taking active roles. I prevent them from making their own decisions.
I abandon my companions before any of them can become the mastermind. I allow their deaths to happen.
I prioritize control over efficiency.
In this case, the cause of the world’s downfall will be my tyranny, my distrust, my stubbornness. In the end, I, Doctor Jang, will be designated as the mastermind.
This fact alone can be proven.
――――――――――
‘...No matter which option I choose, Mastermind Syndrome remains in effect.’
Take this turn, for example.
The monster wave that Sim Aryeon, as the Saintess of the North, had been holding off suddenly intensified at a certain point.
New Sinuiju was breached, and the Eastern Divine Nation was destroyed. The armies of annihilation didn’t take long to reach Busan.
‘What if the Saintess stopped time and moved around, wiping out cities across the world, causing the monster wave to grow stronger suddenly?’
Can I prove whether this hypothesis is true or false? I cannot.
Even as a regressor, it’s impossible for me to observe every event.
Could it be true, as the so-called mastermind claims, that Seo Gyu, or the Saintess, or at times Lee Hayul, Sim Aryeon, or Oh Dokseo were accelerating the world’s destruction in certain turns――?
I can never deny it.
Not ever.
"......"
I looked down at the armies of the monster wave, now completely blackened and covering the earth, leaving no space for life to stand.
At that moment, the creatures, the last beings on Earth, turned their gazes toward me.
The twisted limbs of the grotesque creatures seemed to be laughing.
-Boss, I destroyed the world.
-Doctor Jang, I orchestrated all the destruction.
This was the second piece of the puzzle.
[Translator - Jjescus]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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