Chapter 559 – The Secret of the Esper Ship (4)
—
User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 27
Current Location: Esper Ship
Sage’s Advice: 1
—
– Han Kain
After securing the entity wearing the ‘crown of thorns,’ the situation on the Esper Ship began to stabilize rapidly.
The difference in efficiency between me subduing one by one and the ‘self-proclaimed Jesus’ managing them with a single word was like comparing apples to a truckload of bananas.
Of course, even with quick action, there were casualties.
There were quite a few brutal things said that were hard to put in polite company regarding the masks.
Though we handled it smoothly at Hotel Delight without any direct casualties, the disaster on the Esper Ship was a different animal.
Once the ship docked, wouldn’t organizations like the police or the administration bureau get involved?
“…”
Let’s think about the future later.
What’s really bothering me right now is something else entirely.
“You are all sinners! In the first world, before all began! Humanity committed unforgivable sins!”
The content of the sermon was growing increasingly bizarre.
This might be why the reactions of the people sitting in the theater were taking an ominous turn.
Bloodshot eyes and trembling bodies.
This was true for the ordinary people without masks as well as those who had half-transformed into chaotic beings while still donning their masks.
None of them could resist the power of the crowned entity.
I took this chance to move around and remove the masks.
“What must we do? Kid, what should we do?”
When asked, the child widened his eyes and answered.
“Um, um… shouldn’t we apologize for our mistakes?”
A very innocent answer!
“Ha! Apologize? That’s woefully inadequate! How could you claim atonement with just that? Christ said: ‘O sinner, O eternal sinner! Repent! Acknowledge your sins and atone!’”
“I-I will repent!”
“Exactly! Everyone must repent! It won’t do merely to say it! What must be done?!”
Slowly, people began to gasp for air.
I was starting to understand what that scoundrel meant by ‘atonement.’
Having successfully removed most of the masks, I was preparing to subdue the cult leader.
— Crash!
“Ho-ho? Are you a student? Have you also received revelations from the great one?”
Was he interpreting the power of the sacred sun I showed just moments ago like that?
Whatever floats your boat.
“Minister, what must one do to repent?”
A cringe-worthy grin spread across his unnaturally stretched face.
“The utterly despicable life of a sinner— one must offer it all! – Urgh!”
I instinctively knew this was going to get troublesome once that sentence ended.
Without a moment’s hesitation, I tried to use the Grimoire to subdue the cult leader.
At the instant the power of the grimoire made contact with the deranged leader’s body, I realized.
I could restrain him!
I could rob him of his physical autonomy.
But I also knew that any further contact might be dangerous!
— Crackle!
“Ugh! Wh-What are you doing? My Father—”
No need to listen to this.
This moron was just an ordinary human who happened to wear the crown of thorns.
He was just a host that could be easily subdued.
But… what was that cursed ‘crown’ he was wearing?
“….”
Should I take the risk and try to restrain him with the Grimoire?
Or should I use a bit more of the power of the sacred sun?
Thinking over it, I became aware of Elena appearing behind me.
At the same time, I realized a simple way to resolve this situation.
“AAAH!”
I screamed in apparent agony, panting as if an evil demon was ready to rip me to shreds!
I even kneeled on one leg, biting my lip to draw blood.
And just as I hoped, the expected response came.
— Zing!
A strong resonance pressed against my skin.
Elena, spotting me in distress, activated the blessing of Justice!
— Crack!
It only took one punch to wrap this entire situation up.
As the golden wave hit the cult leader, only a smear of blood remained.
*
“Kain.”
“Yes?”
“Just now, that was acting, right?”
“….”
“I mean, even if you borrowed the power of Justice, it sounds ridiculous to scream like that when you’re taking down a mere foe with just a single blow.”
Not wanting to fool around, I nodded honestly.
Luckily, Elena didn’t get mad about that.
“Oh no! What have I done? I ended up killing him. He was quite a famous social media star, you know?”
Social media star? Was she talking about the host who wore the crown of thorns?
“Phew… This is gonna be tough to gloss over. Given that many people have died, it seems like the administration bureau will certainly show up.”
In a way, the guy Elena just turned into a bloody mess was just a victim controlled by the crown of thorns.
Elena must know that too, yet she felt no sense of guilt.
She was only worried about the aftermath to come.
“….”
An odd situation indeed.
If it’s not just Elena but also me who had to deal with it, then I certainly used Elena’s power without hesitation.
More than that, something appeared on the butchered body of the host.
“Ugh! What are you doing?”
“This seems intact.”
The crown of thorns.
A tool that can enthrall not just people but even chaotic entities.
“…”
In that instant, I felt a significant temptation.
Since I’m avoiding using the sacred sun’s power right now, the crown of thorns could be a kind of substitute.
“Did Elena prepare this?”
“No way! It’s difficult to even consider this a mask, isn’t it? Furthermore, imitating Jesus while wearing the crown of thorns is a seriously sensitive matter…”
Unlike other masks, the crown of thorns wasn’t prepared by Elena.
It was brought here by someone unknown.
So….
Only the ‘crown of thorns’ is the real deal.
The other masks are merely temporary manifestations created by the crown of thorns.
“Are you going to wear it?”
“… I’m still thinking it over.”
The cult leader didn’t have any semblance of a social media star by the time he met his end.
He had mostly lost his sense of self due to the crown of thorns.
Could I hold out against it?
“….”
During the moment I was trying to subdue the cult leader, I had a bad feeling when I contacted the crown of thorns.
This item is far more dangerous than it looks.
Because in reality, there are no second chances, reckless actions should be avoided.
Even if I had just a 1% chance of not being able to control this crown, it would be exceptionally foolish to act carelessly and simply toss it on.
Wouldn’t it be better to team up with Eunsol and prepare the flute before trying it out?
Let’s think a bit more.
“Elena, it seems the chaos has settled down to a degree. Now we need to check on the crew—”
“Right! I was gathering the staff to check on them.”
After I had stopped Elena, she stated that she’d put away all the masks in storage.
However, while we were having our little conference, a bunch of passengers and crew members were rampaging around wearing masks.
If the masks didn’t fly off by themselves, then that means someone distributed them.
Most likely, the culprit is one of the cruise crew or staff.
“Let’s go. We need to find the culprit and hear their motive.”
The instant I pocketed the mask, a voice I couldn’t understand echoed in my mind.
‘Remember the original sin.’
“What original sin?”
“Hmm?”
“Never mind.”
*
A writhing snake slithered across the ceiling, while the carpet on the floor flailed like a living creature, clamping onto the staff’s ankles.
Add in walls bleeding suddenly, and it was like a scene straight out of a horror movie.
Of course, the crew was frozen in terror, barely able to breathe.
Elena was pressuring the crew with sinister thoughts.
“Ugh!”
“Don’t try to cover for someone poorly.”
“W-We don’t know anything, Captain!”
“Hmmm….”
We had spent over thirty minutes utilizing Elena’s lie detection ability for the interrogation.
As a result, we managed to uncover that the staff had acted on the orders of ‘someone’ to distribute the masks throughout the cabins.
The problem was, they had no clue as to the identity of this ‘someone.’
“I really don’t know! Someone instructed me, and I thought I had to follow it….”
They thought they had to follow the orders but didn’t even know the person who gave them.
Elena looked at me with a “What do we do?” expression.
“…”
Handing over the cleanup to the administration bureau could be one option.
They would handle things like this better than us, and later, we can reach out to Ahri to find out the truth about everything that happened on the ship.
“Everyone, please listen to me for a moment.”
*
“Lunch time? That’s what I remember. At that time, I was walking down the corridor below the deck—”
“Keep going and try to replicate what you were doing back then. Even the smallest recollection.”
“Ah, understood.”
After returning to reality, I noticed a bizarre fact.
The blessing had diminished.
This wasn’t just regarding me but included all my companions too.
It seemed, at a glance, like a measure to adjust the hotel’s peculiar balance, but it felt odd.
Why would the hotel care about the balance of the reality outside?
The answer from the Owl also had its own subtle corners.
It felt as though the weakening of the blessing wasn’t due to some balancing act but that there was a deeper reason behind it…
In any case, I was getting used to the weakened blessing.
“Ready?”
“John, you’re good to go. Next up, David? You said you sent the wolf mask to the 5th-floor room?”
“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t think it would be a strange mask—”
“No need to apologize, just recreate the actions you took back then as closely as you can remember.”
I can’t just casually ‘insight’ for easy information like before.
Like right now, I must either guide the reenactment or dig through myself.
And doing so—
“…!”
I can see.
I see!
“Han—”
“Songee, shush! I think I can see something.”
A black and white photo-like hazy image.
Someone walking through the corridor with a mask—
This is not it.
Unlike before when I could see future possibilities, this time I was trying to look at a past event.
I need to look further back.
Who did the mask come from? Who issued the orders?
“….”
The image shifted as if rewound.
A meeting room.
Four? Maybe five employees faced someone.
It was blurry.
Why is this? Did the workers lose their memories?
Just a little further, just a little more—
“…?”
Was that a hallucination?
I feel like I just met eyes with someone moments ago.
Not as big as Hyung, but a significantly large man.
I couldn’t make out his features.
His lips began moving slowly.
Leisurely, as if trying to convey a message to someone in the future.
‘Shouldn’t you check on the location of your companions?’
“….”
This isn’t a delusion.
The figure was identified through Insight.
This unknown man was speaking to ‘my future self’!
“Oppa, oppa! Are you seeing something?”
—
Companion Location Information
Lee Eunsol: Searching…
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