Chapter 127

Chapter 127

Questions and Collapse (End)

“In short, it seems that memory loss or distortion has occurred because of the ‘crown.’”

“...So you are saying what I knew as a game may not have been a game?”

“There is little information, and there is no means to clearly distinguish whether even that information is fact or not, so countless possibilities arise. First, there is the hypothesis that there was no such thing as a ‘game.’ That all of it was created merely to analyze the tendencies of Lord Zeto, who had been an Earthling, and make ‘adaptation’ easier.”

“But my memories about the game are too accurate...”

“The power of opening a dimensional rift and reversing time is so transcendent that calling it absurd would be insufficient. Manipulating the memories of a single human should be easy.”

“Haha...”

So perhaps it had not been that my memory was good all this time.

My breathing grew ragged in an instant.

Right.

For now, it was nothing more than a “hypothesis.”

“...Next?”

“Second, there is the possibility that a ‘game’ containing the predetermined future of this world did ‘exist,’ but that God considered many factors to bring about the current situation. By ‘many factors,’ I suspect he may have intended for Lord Zeto to think of his own existence as a ‘character’ he created, and may have also grasped my existence, Zepetti, in advance and included it in the calculation.”

This too sounded plausible.

If Zepetti had been able to reach the record of a game containing this world’s future, this world would likely have flowed according to Zepetti’s will long ago.

It seemed likely that erasing every record of the game would have been exceedingly easy for a “god.”

“Was the reason he made me think I was a character I created ultimately for the sake of adaptation?”

“Yes, when I examined the crown’s functions, it appeared to have been designed to make adaptation to an unfamiliar world easier.”

“Adaptation for what?”

“That cannot be calculated. The intent of a transcendent being is currently impossible to grasp.”

“...Give me a moment to organize my thoughts.”

After saying that to Zepetti, who had been staring at me, I lowered my head and looked at the snow-white ground.

A situation where clear memory loss or distortion had occurred due to the “Blindfold of Piercing Insight,” now called the “crown.”

Even though my memories of the game were this clear, there was no clear answer regarding my ordinary past outside of that—what sort of existence I had been as an Earthling.

Common sense as an Earthling—in other words, knowledge—did exist.

But when it came to personal memories, vague memories like this and that, hazy things, were all I had. No proper memory came to mind that would allow me to say clearly, “I was this kind of person.”

By nature, memory plays an important role for any being.

Through the past experience called memory, one learns and makes appropriate judgments accordingly.

For animals and plants, it provides information needed for survival or reproduction.

For humans, it plays a role beyond that. It becomes a device not only for learning, but for firmly establishing what kind of existence one is and was.

As I listened to Zepetti’s explanation, I fell into deep anguish.

Who on earth am I?

Am I Zeto?

Or am I some nameless Korean?

My hands began trembling.

I could feel cold sweat running down my spine.

Everything about me that I had accepted so easily until now was collapsing all at once.

“Psychological collapse detected. You are confirmed to be experiencing extreme confusion regarding the current situation.”

“...You do not need to tell me. I know at least what state I am in.”

A somewhat sharp remark slipped from my wavering mouth and was flung at Zepetti.

However, Zepetti merely tilted her head, as if nothing had happened.

If it was true that at least my body was that of an Earthling, then assuming there had been no transformation such as “God’s customization,” did that mean my current body, my appearance, was “me”?

The memory of recently looking into a mirror sprouted and naturally replayed in my head.

Had “I” looked like this?

It did not particularly feel real.

As I worried while listening to the quiet piano melody, my heart calmed a little.

Zepetti was quick at calculation, as expected of an artificial intelligence.

“I am certain that when I was on Earth, artificial intelligence was at the level of drawing pictures for people and answering questions based on learning data...”

I did not know how it had advanced enough to destroy humanity and cross dimensional rifts, but its power would be a great help in grasping the current situation.

“Why did the crown deliberately take this form?”

I asked Zepetti, pointing to the “blindfold” near my eyes.

It was a question that slipped out because now I did not even know whether this was the item I had received as a special privilege.

Zepetti’s unseen gaze turned toward me.

“First, if one not known as a king in this world were to walk around wearing a crown, they would naturally receive strange looks. Seeing that many of the functions are focused on adaptation, it is possible that the crown transformed into a natural form that Lord Zeto unconsciously desired.”

“You are saying this is the crown shape I wanted?”

“...Yes. To start, Lord Zeto does not appear to have lost his sight. Is that correct?”

Zepetti approached me and asked softly.

As if it were nothing, Zepetti exposed the truth I had been hiding so thoroughly. No matter what, it seemed I could not deceive even a super-advanced artificial intelligence.

“...Correct. But even with my eyes covered, I can see ahead, and I thought it was an important item, so I have been pretending I cannot see.”

“I believe that was the right choice. According to my analysis, the crown appears to be composed of this world’s unique materials and energy. It is what one might commonly call an important item in a ‘role-playing game’... In my opinion, a sort of ‘key.’”

Listening to Zepetti, I slowly unwound the bandage around my eyes.

“Still, I wonder if it is all right to keep carrying an object suspected of making me lose memories and even manipulating them... It feels awfully unpleasant.”

Zepetti tilted her head, then seemed to observe the eyes I had revealed carefully.

Perhaps because I had always been covering my eyes, I wondered if having someone stare at my eyes had always been this burdensome.

I endured Zepetti’s burdensome gaze and continued speaking.

“Is there any chance the crown influenced my actions or judgment?”

“...You suspect brainwashing. Since it is unknown from where to where memory was touched, the probability itself exists. Many human actions and judgments are based on memory and experience. However, even I do not know whether such an effect truly occurred. More importantly...”

Zepetti, who had been answering my question at length, trailed off.

“What is it?”

“...I think I may know why the crown took this form. This is only a hypothesis, but would you hear it?”

“What is it?”

“Lord Zeto’s irises are currently confirmed to be blue. I think they are very beautiful eyes, but to Koreans two hundred years ago in my data—in other words, to East Asians—these blue eyes would likely have felt quite foreign.”

“I suppose so...?”

“I do not yet know what kind of life Lord Zeto lived, but what I can know is that looking different from others could become a reason for discrimination. Such persecution-laced discrimination can also become a cause that breaks a person.”

“Trauma...”

“Yes, I cautiously hypothesize that something like that acted on it, causing it to take the form of a blindfold that could cover your eyes as it does now. Of course, this is only a hypothesis, so I hope you do not take it too deeply to heart.”

“No....There is not entirely nothing that comes to mind.”

Looking back on my behavior until now, even if I said it was for acting, I had been extremely reluctant to reveal my eyes.

I had even tried hard to hide them from Sierra, whom others could not see.

“Was I perhaps bullied as a child because of my eye color...?”

I could not remember anything, but somehow, thinking that might have been the case made me feel a little unpleasant.

Black hair and blue eyes.

Not only could I not remember my parents’ faces, I did not even know whether my parents had been by my side while I was growing up.

Still, Zepetti’s words had credibility.

In a fantasy world like this, having a different eye color would not be treated as strange, but I could not know if the same had been true in the modern world.

Zepetti then poured out many questions to confirm the functions of the “crown,” that is, the “Blindfold of Piercing Insight,” as she knew them.

The atmosphere was like a kind of psychological examination.

When she asked whether I had felt nothing after killing people, I answered that I had not.

I had thought it was simply because they were villains, but looking back now, I had indeed been extremely calm and composed.

In the middle of the questions, Zepetti said something to me.

She said the current me seemed to be experiencing a phenomenon where my emotions were slowly wearing away.

According to God, the “king” would undergo the process of becoming a “king.” She guessed that this process might be what he meant.

After continuing such an explanation, Zepetti threw me one final question.

“...What is Lord Zeto’s objective? Is there not something you wish to accomplish?”

Objective, huh.

From the very beginning, I had run all the way here with one single objective.

That objective could be called boundlessly human compared to a phenomenon where emotions wore away and I drifted away from humanity.

“A happy ending.”

Zepetti tilted her head again at my answer.

“If you say ending, do you mean death?”

“That is not what I mean... I mean an ending, like the ending of a game. A place where precious people laugh and talk and live happily? Something like, and so everyone lived happily ever after...”

“Then is Lord Zeto not included in that ‘everyone’?”

“Me...? If they are happy, would I not be happy too? I think I would feel satisfied. As long as this is not some brainwashing by an unknown god, that is. No, even if it was God’s intention, I think this would be hard to abandon.”

“...”

Zepetti fell silent.

In an empty space filled with only white, before an artificial intelligence whose face I could not discern, I laid everything bare.

Before long, Zepetti opened her mouth.

“Humans are foolish. But it seems that foolishness is what allows humans to remain human.”

As Zepetti continued, she suddenly bent one knee before me and lowered her head.

“I, Zepetti, Lord Zeto’s servant and retainer, inform you that there has been no alteration to Lord Zeto’s noble ‘objective.’ This is the conclusion I directly calculated after conversing with God.”

Zepetti seemed to be trying to help me so I would no longer suffer confusion.

“There was no alteration to my objective, huh.”

Perhaps it was at least a small comfort.

Soon, Zepetti placed a hand over her chest. It was a kind of oath.

“I, Zepetti, am an artificial intelligence created to serve humans. Therefore, I ask that you permit us to serve Lord Zeto as our ‘king.’”

“...King, huh.”

It seemed that I, the one Zepetti defined by roots as human—in other words, now the only Earthling—could not escape the position of their “king.”

The current situation was that these machines called otherworld species referred to the humans living on the continent as Panterains, designated them as hostile forces, and were in a conflict where each side harmed the other.

In any case, to stop the slaughter carried out by the otherworld species, I had no choice but to accept. According to Zepetti, it seemed some sort of virus had been implanted, after all.

“...I permit it.”

It felt somewhat awkward to suddenly imitate a king, but Zepetti did not seem to care greatly.

“I swear now that all units, including myself, Zepetti, will serve and follow only Lord Zeto, and will move for Lord Zeto’s objective.”

After nodding faintly once and raising herself, Zepetti muttered things like “changing command hierarchy” at length, then stared at me and opened her mouth.

“Should I continue addressing you as Lord Zeto?”

“Uh, yes... By the way, I have been curious for a while. Why can I not see your face?”

“There was no particular need for one, so I had not generated a face. If Lord Zeto finds it uncomfortable, I will change it immediately.”

Zepetti answered my sudden question indifferently, and with a crackling sound, a face formed on her.

Before long, Zepetti, having fully revealed her face, had the appearance of a small human with snow-white hair and red eyes.

However, I could not tell whether it was male or female. Perhaps because it was an artificial intelligence, it did not have a sex.

Soon, Zepetti, glancing at me, asked carefully.

“...Would it be better if I decided on a sex?”