"Carol! Did you interfere with my experiment again?"
Ah, geez...
Carol swallowed the curse she was about to hurl at the pumpkin-headed nuisance who had been grating on her ears since morning.
Though she had been living in the Institution for quite some time, there were still many things she wasn't accustomed to. Having stayed up all night, Carol wasn't in the mood to deal with Jack O'Lantern, who was getting on her nerves.
"Shut up! Who gave you permission to conduct experiments? And your experiments are just about tormenting prisoners!"
"Tsk tsk... A bit of sacrifice is necessary to develop this body's sense of humor. I didn't kill anyone, just how you told me not to!"
Jack O'Lantern spoke as he pleased, regardless of Carol's objections.
Carol, who is eccentric but shy, and Jack O'Lantern, who is just plain weird, have a special bond within the Institution.
Mostly, it was Jack O'Lantern annoying Carol, but Carol couldn't deny that she found some psychological comfort in him.
"Ah, just go away!""Look at this brat! It's revenge! I'll grab your boobs!"
Boing.
"Did this bastard really just grab me?!"
Carol hadn't built close relationships with her subordinates or colleagues of the same rank.
The Institution's hierarchical environment was part of the reason, but mostly, it was due to Carol's eccentric personality.
Regardless, the only person Carol could open up to was Jack O'Lantern.
This pumpkin-headed guy always teased her about it.
"Anyway, no more tormenting prisoners under the guise of inspiration. And no snooping around other containment rooms either."
"Hey, friend! Do you really not understand this body's heart? Empathy is part of intelligence! That's why you have no friends other than me. Tsk tsk."
"Huh, who said I have no friends? What about you?!"
"I'm locked up!"
Despite their childish bickering, the two were skilled individuals who had solved numerous incidents within the Institution.
Carol's knowledge and imagination.
Jack O'Lantern's bizarre, non-human perspective often pierced through the core of anomalous phenomena.
Jack O'Lantern would rejoice whenever his thoughts proved correct, and Carol also appreciated the results.
"Haa... I need some coffee. Talking to you always gives me a headache..."
"Didn't sleep again, Carol?"
"Yeah. Work's driving me crazy."
"Hmm... It's not just work, is it?"
When Jack O'Lantern stroked his chin and said that, Carol paused.
She looked at him as if asking how he knew.
"Do you think I wouldn't notice? You're like a little girl, unable to sleep after seeing something horrible. Even if you were the one who created the corpse."
A day ago, an anomalous entity had escaped from containment.
Like most monsters confined here, it was a highly dangerous parasite to humans.
It usually took the form of candy, luring humans to become its hosts and escape.
Since it didn't work on those who had never tasted candy, an agent who had never eaten candy was assigned to manage it.
A week ago, a colleague accidentally fed the agent candy, causing him to briefly taste it.
As a result, the agent became a candy zombie, with half his organs turned into candy.
Carol had discovered it early and shot it dead.
"You didn't hesitate when you pulled the trigger... I don't know what you're so afraid of."
"You were laughing back then, weren't you?"
"Kehahahaha! Honestly, a human piñata? That's hilarious!"
Jack O'Lantern claimed to have been human once, but Carol couldn't believe it.
His emotions were too far removed from humanity.
He laughed if the way monsters killed people was amusing.
Carol could never understand that and never would.
"...I hate this damn world. I hate the monster bastards who kill people every day, and I hate the Institution that consumes people to find solutions. And I hate that I'm gradually adapting to it all."
Perhaps Jack O'Lantern's attitude had touched a nerve, as Carol began to pour out her negativity.
Jack O'Lantern casually agreed.
"Hoho. Well, who doesn't have complaints? There's absurdity in everything. This world is trapped in such a framework, and breaking free usually ends badly. Like me, who played a prank on the higher-ups and got my head chopped off!"
"That's just jumping into hellfire yourself..."
Carol interjected, but her tone lacked energy. Jack O'Lantern noticed that Carol's stress was beyond what a few jokes could alleviate.
So, he brought up a topic Carol liked as a last resort.
"Hey, Carol. I'm suddenly curious, what kind of person is the Alice you keep singing about?"
"Ah! Are you curious about Alice?"
"Indeed."
As soon as Alice was mentioned, Carol visibly brightened.
Jack O'Lantern smiled bitterly at the sight.
He knew from experience that excessive fondness for something often led to a bad ending.
Jack O'Lantern wondered what kind of person Alice was to be so beloved.
What followed from Carol's mouth was something even Jack O'Lantern hadn't expected.
"...Actually, I don't know yet."
"What do you mean?"
"Yeah. Exactly what I said. I don't know what kind of person she is. She doesn't exist yet, so I can't meet her."
Jack O'Lantern's pumpkin head tilted.
"I don't understand. You say she doesn't exist yet. Does that mean she'll be created?"
Carol nodded at Jack O'Lantern's question.
Jack O'Lantern then spoke with a cold expression.
"Not only do you like someone who doesn't exist, but you also pretend to know them."
So, the girl named Alice that Carol had been talking about was just a figment of her imagination? Jack O'Lantern shook his head.
Carol added one more thing to his reaction.
"It's not like I know nothing about her. Alice is the protagonist of a story I created."
"What...?"
"Hehehe. She's the protagonist of my story, but I don't know what her base will be like or what personality she'll have. I only know that she'll be created as a Tale Devil."
Alice might be entirely different from the Alice in Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.
Rather than the book character coming to life, it's closer to a parody character being created.
...A parody.
Recalling this word, Carol blushed and muttered quietly.
"...It fits me perfectly."
"Who's creating this devil Alice?"
"That would be Mephistopheles, whom I've been badmouthing every day. I accepted his conditions and returned from death..."
"Oh ho. What an interesting story! But... The Alice you've been talking about is the protagonist of a story you created?"
"Um... You could say that?"
"What's with this vague answer... Well, anyway. It would be quite interesting to meet that devil..."
"Of course!"
Carol's confident response seemed to lift her spirits.
But Jack O'Lantern had something to say that would bring her mood back down.
"Hey, Carol. You seem to be getting your hopes up too much. The devils we've seen so far haven't had pleasant appearances. Who knows, Alice might have hundreds of hands and crawl around on tongues instead of legs."
"Stop with the horrible talk!!! And even if her appearance is like that, I'll still love Alice!"
...Probably.
Carol quietly added.
Even for Carol, Alice being a girl seemed preferable.
When Carol once told him about her tastes, she said she preferred women who were suspiciously pure and small, and he asked her if she had a particular taste.1
He had his lantern confiscated for a week afterward.
Anyway.
"That's not what I meant, Carol. The Alice you imagine and the Alice that will be born might be completely different. Even if her appearance is to your liking, the inner aspects implanted in her could be horrifying."
"..."
"Lewis Carol... The Mephistopheles you mentioned doesn't seem like the type to do anyone any favors."
"What are you trying to say?"
"Your plan... No, your escape might crumble to pieces! Hahaha! Poor thing! Have you become so naive that you're just thinking whatever you want? Did you leave part of your brain in the afterlife?"
"...If that was a joke, it was the worst one you've ever made."
Jack O'Lantern had deliberately crushed Carol's uplifted mood into the abyss.
This wasn't because Jack O'Lantern's jokes were low-quality.
It was a warning, not a joke.
Jack O'Lantern fled to his containment room to avoid Carol's icy glare.
If he lost his lantern again, he'd be shivering from the cold of death once more.
As he returned to his containment room, Jack O'Lantern fell into thought.
'Demons fulfill contexts and consume vast energy to become conceptual devils... But even minor devils rarely obtain something to symbolize themselves... But to fulfill such a complex story and become a protagonist?'
To fulfill such complex causality, there must be intentional design, intense emotions, and conflict.
After all, that's what stories are.
Yes.
'...They'll have to use humans as material. But even if they were once human, can demonic beings share values? The more dogmatic the belief, like Carol's, the harder it will be.'
Jack O'Lantern didn't know exactly what Carol thought of Alice, but Carol seemed to have no room for error and was obsessively focused.
It could be said that there was something beyond mere affection.
'I want to help, but I still don't know much. She also seems to have much she can't tell me... I must leave. Carol. When I return to you, I hope you'll like this world a bit more. Escaping isn't the answer.'
A week later, Jack O'Lantern escaped from the Institution.
As usual, he was joking around, but then, without any warning, he suddenly left.
Jack O'Lantern's escape came as a shock to Carol.
Was it surprising that an anomalous entity she thought wouldn't escape had fled?
Or was it sadness that someone she secretly considered a colleague had disappeared overnight?
Only Carol knows.
...
POV Switch - Alice
Following the man dressed as a plague doctor.
The man asked about Ha-rim's disappearance, but I brushed it off.
Ha-rim, really...
It's dangerous to go alone, but overprotecting isn't an option. I don't know how to strike a balance.
Should I trust Alice's power more to turn terrifying situations into playful ones?
"Alice. Are you worried about Ha-rim?"
Eun-jeong asked.
"Haa... I trust her, but I can't help worrying."
As I sighed and spoke, Suho said.
"That's why the others tease you for being a mom."
"Shut up?"
After a brief scolding, I focused back on the present.
Since the Institution guys couldn't get the information, we have to get it ourselves.
How should I grill this suspicious man to get meaningful information?
Should I just hit him?
As my inner laziness leaned toward violence.
Kyeong-min naturally asked the man.
"Excuse me, what's in that blocked room?"
The room Kyeong-min pointed to had a No Entry sign, and the keyhole seemed welded shut.
According to my superhuman sense of smell, there was a fishy stench.
A mix of fishy smell and the scent of blood.
The combination of similar but distinct smells made me feel uneasy.
Suspicious. I can't leave it unopened.
The man answered Kyeong-min's question, and the translator spoke.
{That's where the critically ill patients are.}
"Critically ill? Worse than the wolves?"
{Exactly. They're beyond ferocious, driven by madness. They bare their fangs and claws, attacking everything. I call them Moon Wolves.}
"Moon Wolves?"
But why does it smell like fish?
I'll have to check.
"But why does it smell so fishy? Maybe like blood..."
The man trembled slightly at my words.
Being sensitive to emotions, I could tell.
It was the smell of fear.
{They were eating something. A terrible, horrifying sight that filled me with fear. Probably the smell of a victim.}
He didn't seem to be lying.
A victim. Probably a colleague killed by the wolves.
"I see... That must have been scary... Was it someone you knew? If they're Moon Wolves, they must be stronger than regular wolves. You must have lost your colleague without being able to do anything."
{Yes. Losing a colleague is sad and frightening for me.}
"Scary, huh... Well, you know."
Fear rose from the man.
But it wasn't human fear.
I created a mirror to reflect his fear.
When his fear was reflected in the mirror, the scene that appeared was of his colleagues being killed by Moon Wolves.
But those being killed weren't humans; they were fish-like monsters.
"Do you call fish heads your colleagues too?"
I immediately kicked the man.
The man collapsed, clutching his side as if hit by a cannonball.
It seemed my nature was to be mercilessly cruel to those who were neither human nor followers.
The children were momentarily startled but soon took out their tools and weapons.
"Hmm. I was trying to coax information out of you, but if there are many like you, that changes things. There's a possibility you're stalling as a group or leading us into a trap. Hiding the fishy smell from yourself also seems intentional."
When I removed his mask, a foul stench filled the room.
Disgusting.
I didn't hide my disgusted expression.
"With the strength to be chased by wolves, how did you survive here? And how did you subdue those strong wolves and contain them, and cure occult phenomena with drugs?"
...Neutralizing might be the right term.
"You know what will happen if you don't speak."
I tapped my head, warning him of what I might do.
He probably understood.
"..."
"Keeping your mouth shut won't help, but the important thing is this."
I left the man, who had fallen silent, and walked to the closed door.
I slowly examined the door.
It was more securely sealed than it appeared.
With mystical, supernatural seals, it probably wouldn't break even if hit by a cannonball.
If they've sealed it this tightly, it must be someone dangerous.
I reached out and pressed my hand against the door's power.
Waves and thunder roared in my ears, but I ignored them and successfully destroyed the door.
The door discolored to black and flowed down like water.
Then.
Everything around us turned black.
"!"
Darkness surged like waves.
Seagulls flew in the sky, and only bats fell into the sea, leaving only the deep abyss.
We were instantly swallowed by darkness and dragged deeper into the abyss.
"Alice, my body..."
"Gross, I feel weird..."
"Blub blub blub..."
External curse attacks.
The children experienced common symptoms: mental confusion, auditory hallucinations, and physical mutations with scales growing.
In context, the man I kicked must have turned into a monster the same way.
And it felt like once fully corrupted, they'd never return to normal.
[Stop.]
I used my inner power to drive away the darkness and expel the corruption from the children.
Then, I struck the darkness itself with a clenched fist, creating a hole.
Through the hole, I saw a being watching us.
Irregularly grown scales and a foul fishy stench.
Its head was that of a fish, but its eyes were abnormally large, with parasite-like tentacles wriggling like waves.
I gauged the strength of its power.
It felt as dense and powerful as Freeman and the Machine God... a ruler-class being.
"So, it's you, fish? Trying to turn my children into your kind... No, turning them into your followers without any conditions seems to be your power."
This being's power wasn't limited to one.
But among all its powers, turning people into irreversibly monstrous beings without a chance to resist was something Alice couldn't accept, so I emphasized that.
The Queen of Hearts in my head was angry. Off with his head.
"Let's stop this petty power struggle. For some reason, my power has never lost to you guys. Especially in the realm of overwhelming beings suppressing humans and taking away any chance."
Because otherwise, the game wouldn't be fun.
While I spoke, I emitted power to counteract the curses affecting the children.
This fishy bastard was cursing from a distance.
If someone speaks, you should listen.
I wanted to rush over and beat it, but this was a curse cast from a distance, so it was probably an illusion.
With transcendent patience, I suppressed the urge to punch the illusion and spoke to it.
"Getting anxious because you can't turn them into followers? Well, you'll have to think harder while I'm here."
Though I doubt a being that can brainwash and turn people into followers with a flick of its wrist can think much.
Poor Institution agents.
With a monster whose location can't be pinpointed, sending people would just turn them into followers in no time.
If the Institution poured all its firepower, assuming it has no other special abilities, a fish like this would be roasted quickly...
Well, conversely, since the Institution can't easily intervene, this fish might have the potential to wipe out humanity.
...Hmm, thinking about it, it's strange.
If the Institution can't handle this monster, why is it stuck here? It could just rampage around without being stopped.
"Hey. You. Why are you stuck here?"
Can it understand me...? I wondered.
Such worries were brief as a voice came from the monster.
Strictly speaking, it is not a language system of any country, but similar to brainwashing curses, as the meaning was imprinted in my mind even if I couldn't understand the pronunciation.
[To descend to the lowest place. This place is connected to there. To become the king of the world, I head to the darkest and lowest place. As all parallel worlds and lower realms do, I crawl down to the most sinful place. I will truly become a Ruler.]
All those guys speak their inner thoughts like riddles.
Or they speak literally, but with insufficient information, so it's hard to understand.
And those who speak ambiguously usually don't end well.
Because I'll smash their heads in anger.
If you don't like it, speak clearly.
"Oh my? You can talk? Monsters that can communicate are less scary, what a shame! You're a Cthulhu reject!"
[Move aside. Descending to the depths is the instinct of us deep-sea beings.]
"No. I don't know where you're trying to go, but I know you're up to something. And if you're just going to show illusions like a virtual YouTuber, can you just disappear from my sight?"
I lifted my skirt slightly and raised my leg, then stomped hard on the darkness surrounding us and the children.
With a crack, golden light seeped through the split darkness, and when I closed and opened my eyes.
"Wow... I almost turned into a fish?"
"Blub blub blub."
"Eun-jeong, you're human now, so no need to blub. Breathe normally."
We returned to a normal environment.
"Why are you speaking so coldly?"
Eun-jeong grumbled.
In the past, she would have been scared and whined, but she's grown a lot.
"Alice. What's going on?"
When Kyeong-min asked, I explained simply.
"In short, I stopped you from becoming subordinates of the fish boss."
"Wow. You can do that?"
"Of course. I can control anomalies and followers, so this is nothing. You're my children. No one can touch what's mine."
As I spoke, Eun-jeong seemed to realize something.
"Ah, it's like that! Stealing someone else's Pokémon makes you a thief!"
"More like Alice's apostle, don't you think?"
"Hmm, an apostle... Interesting idea."
As we talked, I sensed multiple presences moving.
Since it can't turn us into followers from a distance, it's sending its followers to attack.
Fish-headed monsters without masks crawled out from ceilings, floors, and seemingly impassable crevices, approaching us.
The monster I kicked away also stood up again.
"Everyone, get ready. It seems they're going for a direct approach now."
When I was about to summon an anomaly to slaughter them all.
—Grrrrrrr
"Hmm?"
After the beast's roar, a wolf leaped out so fast even I almost lost sight of it.
It seemed to have come out late from the door I broke.
This wolf stood on two legs like a human, wearing a bowler hat, and its eyes were filled with madness.
But its focus was sharp, as if concentrating on something.
It was clearly different from the other wolves.
Before I could even move, the wolf sliced all the fish-men in half and broke through the wall, running away.
As if looking for its next target.
What was surprising was that while other wolves attacked me, this one showed no hostility toward the children.
It was like a hunter distinguishing its prey.
"That one's as strong as the monster Gévaudan."
"Is that the Moon Wolf they were talking about?!"
"The bowler hat... It's Uncle James!"
As Kyeong-min said, the only person we remembered wearing a bowler hat was James.
It might not be James, but it felt like it was him.
Instincts aren't something to ignore.
"Should we follow? Should we follow and subdue Uncle James?"
"No. No need to subdue him. He seemed fierce and out of his mind, but he didn't try to attack us. He had a purpose. So let's just follow."
He's fast, so we'll need a ride.
I recruited an anomaly from the mirror to serve as our ride.
Several anomalies volunteered to be chosen.
Despite appearances, these guys really like me and the children.
Seeing the same wolf, I summoned the Beast of Gévaudan from the mirror and had the children ride on its back.
I also got on its back and was about to start when I noticed the man I had kicked.
As he stood up, his blue fish skin turned red from the claw marks.
Amidst the blood, his necklace caught my eye.
A photo of his son.
When I reflected his fear in the mirror, there was no fear for his son's impending death.
He must have sold his soul to a non-human being.
My power can expel the flames called curse, but it can't restore the ashes from it.
There was no way to turn this non-human back into a human.
A monster who had even lost its own fear.
Fear is an instinct to maintain one's self.
If he hadn't let go of that fear.
There might have been a chance to return to normal with my power.
"The necklace you wore even after becoming a monster... Was that also a means to deceive me?"
No answer came.
I don't know.
Perhaps this monster had also forgotten the answer.
Leaving the bitterness behind, I chased James through the city that had turned into a forest.
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