#125

‘He’s asking me that?’

“What’s the Quest reward?”

“…Affinity increases.”

‘Forcing someone else’s Affinity to go up?’

He’s truly the Distorted One; the sheer creepiness is off the charts.

“I have a trait that blocks mental interference, so that won’t work on me. Just ignore it.”

“No, not yours. My Affinity for you increases.”

“What?”

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

If he acts nice to me, he’ll end up liking me?

“…Did you already receive the reward?”

“Once, a little while ago….”

“…….”

‘No wonder his reaction seemed a bit strange.’

I wondered why he was acting like this all of a sudden; so that was when he claimed the reward.

“Can’t you refuse the reward?”

“I can’t. The moment a Quest succeeds, it’s automatically applied.”

‘How shitty.’

This is straight-up mind control.

Even if it’s an enemy I want to kill, if the Quest forces my Affinity to rise, does that mean I’ll start thinking, ‘Now that I look at him again, he’s not so bad. I want to be friends’?

‘If that’s the case, why kidnap a person? Why not just play with dolls?’

“Should I try not to look good to you? Or should I keep looking good?”

Meanwhile, the Prophet was fidgeting with his hands, glancing at me for a cue.

‘Does this kid have any thoughts of his own?’

It’s not even my Affinity; what does he plan to do by raising his own Affinity for me?

Obviously, the move here is to ignore the Quest.

“…You should think about that on your own.”

“Ah, yes! I will!”

The Prophet closed his eyes in deep thought, then let out a startled gasp.

“A notification just popped up saying the Quest succeeded!”

“…What?”

“It says: ‘You obediently followed the instruction to think on your own. Success in looking good! Reward: Affinity increase…’”

“What the fuck.”

Is this a joke?

‘And my judgment?’

Since he’s trying to look good to me, shouldn’t my perspective be the one that matters?

I’m fucking pissed and frustrated; why is this judged as a success?

“…Um, this Quest popped up again. What should I do this time?”

I didn’t answer.

‘No matter how I respond here, the Affinity will increase.’

If I tell him not to follow my instructions and the Prophet ignores me, he is ultimately obeying my instruction to ignore me.

And if I tell him to follow my instructions, it will simply be counted as a normal success.

‘Of course, if he voluntarily screws me over before I say anything, he might fail the Quest, but….’

The Prophet was looking at me like a puppy that had just learned the command ‘stay.’

“I’ll do whatever you tell me to!”

‘…I don’t think that’ll happen.’

Is there no option where he realizes the answer on his own?

“I told you to think on your own earlier. What judgment did you make then?”

“I thought it would be best not to think!”

“…….”

“No, listen. When I take a test, if I’m unsure about something, I never change my first answer. Because if I change it and get it wrong, it feels way more unfair.”

‘…Is this kid a middle schooler?’

He sounds like a school kid.

“Besides, you said the one who set the Quest has malice toward me, right? Then the moment I agonize over it and change my answer, wouldn’t they tell me the original one was correct? So the more I dwell on the answer, the more I’m playing right into the creator’s hands!”

‘…Strangely, that’s convincing.’

“That’s why I decided not to think!”

“…And if you fail because of that?”

“Then I can just put the blame entirely on someone else. ‘I trusted them because they seemed like a good person! How could they deceive me!’ and so on.”

‘He’s an excessively honest bastard.’

Living with that mindset would certainly be good for one’s mental health.

“…What about the forced Affinity? Doesn’t it feel unpleasant?”

“What does?”

“Someone is messing with the inside of your head. You’re feeling affection for someone you would normally hate….”

“Huh? Someone I’d normally hate? Why do you think I’d hate you? I probably would have liked you even without a reward.”

“Don’t you remember? The first thing you did when you saw me was say I was fucking ugly.”

“That was exactly when I was being screwed over by the System’s unfairness! Regardless of how you actually look, my Charm Stat was low, so I felt you weren’t great.”

Now that I look at him, he has a cute face….

I felt a chill at the Prophet’s mumbling.

‘Fuck!’

Does “increasing Affinity” include that kind of affection?

I grabbed the Prophet’s shoulders.

“Wake up! You’re perceiving it that way because your Affinity is being manipulated! It’s one thing to think I’m ‘not ugly,’ but realizing that feeling I’m ‘cute’ is abnormal—you need to realize that!”

“Huh? You’re telling me not to think something cute is cute?”

“No, I’m saying the fact that you feel I’m cute in the first place isn’t normal!”

The boy burst into laughter.

“Ha, do you know that people who don’t realize they’re cute are actually the cutest?”

‘…I’m fucked.’

Cold sweat ran down the back of my neck.

Isn’t there a saying?

Once they start looking cute, it’s over.

‘Even if I use Influence, this isn’t an emotion I can change with Forced Persuasion….’

I could potentially persuade him that ‘Fabio’ is objectively ugly.

But even then, if he thinks, ‘He’s ugly but cute,’ it’s over.

‘Fuck, what does the Distorted One even want?’

The Prophet reached out and began to stroke my face.

“Cute, so cute. Who said this face was ugly? I should punish that person.”

“…Later, when your Affinity drops, this will become a dark history for you.”

He will spend days kicking walls out of shame from the memory of being unable to handle how cute a scrawny goblin with 30 Charm was.

That kind of shame is exactly what the Distorted One wants.

“Huh? Why are you thinking about the future?”

“You….”

“Do you know? The fact that the Distorted One can touch my emotions means he can make me suddenly treat something I cherish as trash and throw it away. And then, if he makes it precious again? I’ll probably go looking for what I threw away with my own hands, crying.”

The boy smiled brightly as he spoke.

“I told you, if you think too deeply, you lose.”

“…….”

I was wrong.

There was no way the player chosen by the Distorted One was simply someone ‘stupid and easy to tease.’

‘…He chose someone who can endure a long time without committing suicide even while being tormented.’

Just as I had chosen Perpetua….

“…By the way, how many hours are left on the Emergency Rescue Device?”

“50 minutes. Wow, time goes by so fast. What a shame. I want to stay with you longer.”

I decided to ignore the Prophet’s fidgeting.

‘Let’s not react. The Distorted One will probably reset the Affinity on his own later.’

“Let’s quickly think about what to do. You don’t want to hit a Game Over.”

“Fabio, have you seen the Saintess’s face? Is she really pretty?”

“Yeah. But what’s important right now is….”

“No frowning!”

The Prophet flicked my forehead.

It didn’t hurt, but it felt annoying.

‘This little shit….’

“A Quest just popped up.”

“To give someone a flick on the forehead?”

“It says if I see your frowning face, my Affinity increases.”

“What, so you want me to smile? Are you sure it won’t increase if I smile?”

“What is certain is that my Affinity is continuing to rise right now.”

I quickly smoothed my brow.

Even so, it was absurd.

‘Fuck, I have immunity to Distortion, so why am I the one being manipulated?’

Does this make any sense?

It’s not like he’s confessing to punish me.

He’s threatening me by saying he’ll like me more if I don’t do as he says.

“Ah…. Thank you. Even for me, it was a little scary.”

“…What’s your Affinity right now?”

“It doesn’t show as a number. It increases by percentage.”

“Then, explain it in a way I can understand.”

“Hmm. Right now….”

The boy tilted his head as he answered.

“Fabio, if you asked me to die, I think I’d seriously consider it. Like, ‘Should I?’”

‘Fuck.’

I felt like I was truly going crazy.

‘I’d rather wander in a darkness where I can’t see anything; it would be less terrifying.’

“Ah, you frowned.”

“…Sorry.”

“I think with that, I’ve officially come to like you enough that I’d die if you asked me to.”

‘Fuck, he’s really playing with a human being.’

Since Distortion doesn’t work on me, he’s messing with his own ‘playable character’ to watch my reaction, right?

‘I should have pretended to be a psychopath.’

The Distorted One loves beings with rich emotions.

Because those with sparse emotions have meager despair.

I looked back at what I had said and analyzed what had stimulated the Distorted One.

‘…It was because I asked if there was a way to go home.’

Having lingering attachments is proof of being a very emotional being.

“Hey, what’s your real name? How old were you? Where do you live? What do you like?”

“Shut up for a bit.”

“Yes.”

‘What do I do with this?’

If I help the Prophet escape, the ‘Distorted One’ will judge me as a soft-hearted pushover and torment me to death.

In that process, the Prophet will like me, then hate me, then like me again.

‘Can I stop that with Forced Persuasion?’

…I don’t know.

It would be difficult.

Forced Persuasion is a skill that requires multiple uses to gain influence.

And I’m trying to steal a ‘Cult Leader’ unit, not some random unit; would the ‘Distorted One’ just stand by?

‘The moment I think I’m succeeding, he’ll remind me that it was all my imagination.’

I know.

The Distorted One madly loves beings who are kind and fragile.

He loves returning kindness with malice, and he loves making people hold onto hope even in the depths of despair.

If there is one thing you must never do in front of the Distorted One, it is to harbor the hope that ‘I might be able to save them.’

‘I have to just consider this a lost cause and trigger a Game Over.’

The best plan is to pretend to be soft-hearted, pretend to cooperate, and pretend to grow fond of the Prophet, only to let the Saintess capture me and cause a Game Over.

‘…But I should gather whatever information I can in the process.’

First, I need to look soft-hearted….

“…What are you doing?”

“You told me to shut up, so I was shutting up!”

…For some reason, his condition looks even worse.

He looks like a dog that’s been told to ‘stay’ for an hour in front of a treat.

‘Did I unconsciously frown?’

“Before that, can I ask a few more things I’m curious about?”

“As many as you want!”

“Why did you sneak Adelaide away? What do you plan to use her for?”

“Huh? Use her for what…. I just brought her because I wanted Adelaide to be happy.”

“Do you like Adelaide?”

“Of course! How could I not like Adelaide?”

“Then did it ever occur to you that your actions might have put Adelaide in more danger?”

“It didn’t.”

“…Wouldn’t it have been safer to leave her in the Capital Church?”

“That is definitely not the case.”

“Why?”

“Hmm…. Because Adelaide is a Vassal of the Distorted One?”

“What?”

I reflexively frowned, but seeing the Prophet staring at me with an ecstatic expression, I quickly smoothed my face.

“Ah….”

The Prophet let out a sigh of regret.

“Tell me. Did you make Adelaide a Vassal of the Distorted One?”

“No. Adelaide was an Arrangement.”

“Arrangement?”

“Before the game starts, the Othergod can spend Clear Points to set up ‘Arrangements.’ An Arrangement can be a trait, a unit, or an item.”

‘Like the Blessing Mother God gave me?’

“Among those, they said Vassals are a Gacha. They said one random unit among those who have surrendered their soul to the Distorted One even once becomes a Vassal. Andrea was the second-best unit the Distorted One pulled.”

“…And the first?”

“That’s Adelaide!”

Adelaide surrendered her soul to the Distorted One?

“That… doesn’t make sense. Adelaide was the Saintess.”

“She was a half-baked Saintess. She couldn’t originally become the Saintess, but she made a wish and became one, which is why she coughed up blood every time she used Divine Power. Using power without qualification disturbs the Order.”

“…….”

“Once the Tutorial ended and the apostles began their activities, her identity would have been exposed and she would have been executed immediately.”

“…Even if she did nothing?”

Fuck, does that make any sense?

That’s just too….

[You feel terrible pain and horror.]

[

SYSTEM:

Due to the effect of ‘Heaven Above, Earth Below, I Alone Reign Supreme,’ ‘Distortion’ is provided as text.]

…What is this?

“Ah.”

The Prophet wore a look of blatant disappointment.

“What did you just… No, why did you use that?”

“It, it was nothing!”

‘Don’t give me that bullshit.’

“Tell me straight. What were you trying to do to me?”

The Prophet blushed and avoided my gaze.

“It’s just that I’ve come to like you so, so, so much….”

‘Because he likes me?’

He likes me so much that he wanted me to feel terrible pain and horror?

It’s not that the Affinity suddenly flipped or something?

“…It’s because I want to kill you.”

“What?”

“Or die by your hand. Ah, I really, really want to do both; what should I do? Can you perhaps resurrect? If you can, could you die by my hand once, come back to life, and then kill me?”

“…Are you insane?”

The Prophet rolled his eyes.

“No? I haven’t been assigned a Madness Trait yet.”

‘He’s saying this while sane?’

In an instant, my mind raced.

The clues I had been missing began to assemble themselves.

‘Only Clear Videos are archived in the Clips.’

The Prophet said he played for 800 hours but never saw an ending.

That means Nyapoleon and Pandemonium learned the Prophet’s nickname through other means.

‘And since he said he never looked at guides, he wasn’t active in game communities or wikis.’

Yet, if he was an impressive ‘player’ enough for a strategy game enthusiast to remember his nickname….

“Athanasanatagaskides…?”

[

SYSTEM:

Atanasu I like you is online.]

[

SYSTEM:

The messaging function cannot be used during Multiplier Adjustment.]

Chapter 126