Silver Heart Possessor.
A good person who possesses a badge-shaped Item capable of inciting people.
While they are a decisive figure in this Tamra-bound High-speed Train Incident, they are someone who only gains attention at the very end of the short-story-style post.
So, me not remembering that person’s seat number or specific name...
Perhaps it’s only natural.
‘Because I read the Wiki focusing mostly on ghost story countermeasures...!’
After falling into this place, since it was no different from my lifeline, most of what I read repeatedly were the ghost story entries and Exploration Records.
This means I mainly read the Wikis that provided information for clearing the ghost stories.
‘Side content was put on the back burner for the time being.’
Long, emotional prose on the level of a short story, like some kind of Wiki spin-off? It was pushed way down the priority list.
In fact, the Silver Heart Possessor’s personal details were only mentioned once or twice there.
Accurately recalling those numbers and letters a month or two after reading them...
...It seems I was being unreasonable.
‘I’m screwed...’
No!
I swallowed hard.
‘I can at least make an educated guess.’
And even if I don’t catch that person early on, I will definitely think of a way to deal with it.
‘I remember the other Wiki entries for the Tamra-bound High-speed Train Incident.’
For example, urgent reports or documents registered at the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau.
Since I know the flow of this incident round by round, I can do this.
I can do it...
.......
‘Alright.’
I decided on a direction for the future.
‘It’s a bit extreme, but there’s no choice.’
Of course, all of this took place in my head within a few seconds, and meanwhile, the Elite Squad employees next to me were chatting nonchalantly.
“Wow, a loop! I’ve read a lot of SF short story collections like this.”
“So it means we can keep trying until we meet the conditions? It’s a bit annoying, but it’s convenient.”
“…….”
What an extraordinary conversation....
Fortunately, no one paid any mind to our low-voiced dialogue.
The entire Train was filled with shock, panic, and the sound of weeping.
“Huff, huff!”
“It’s a dream, this is a dream, a dream....”
However, there was bound to be someone who couldn’t just stand by and watch such a situation.
“Wait a moment. Everyone, please calm down! Calm down!”
...There he is.
Round 2:
In every carriage of the high-speed train, individuals began to appear, attempting to patch up the passengers' anxiety and gather opinions.
-Ah, did someone say crisis is an opportunity! In a chaotic situation, someone who volunteers to be a leader is bound to emerge.
Yes.
And in the carriage we were in, it was a businessman wearing glasses.
The same character who had scuffled with someone over whether to close the window in Round 1, only for his opponent to fall out.
“Still, isn’t it important that we didn’t all die? ...Let’s all calm down and try to figure out what happened.”
“A-Ah.”
“Do, do you have an idea?”
Since there was someone stepping up to take the lead, people began to pay attention.
“In my opinion, it seems that time is repeating itself.”
The businessman in glasses began to organize the situation, calming the people down in his own way.
“There’s no doubt we’ve been caught up in a strange phenomenon, but there must be a reason why we’ve been given a chance. It might be telling us to find the right answer to escape.”
“Ah....”
“Let’s believe that and try. Calmly.”
He probably thought the situation was flowing in a pretty good direction.
If only he hadn’t looked back at my seat at the end.
“Look, there are people already sitting here calmly.”
“...!”
“Let's try to grasp the situation with that kind of attitude as well.”
‘Damn it.’
The three of us, the Daydream Inc. employees, were pointed out.
‘Were we too quiet...!’
......No, actually, this was for the better.
It was time to establish a presence. I had to step forward early, while it was still Round 2.
“Ah, no. It’s not that we’re calm... it’s just that we’re so confused.”
I immediately shook my head with a smile that looked like I was trying my best to put it on despite being afraid.
“It just... it just doesn’t feel real. We were all dozing off because we were on a business trip.”
I probably wasn't suspected. My face was already pale even without trying.
However, when I spoke up first, one of Assistant manager Jin Nasol’s eyebrows twitched slightly, but she let it slide for now. Taking advantage of the momentum, I quickly followed up.
“But suddenly, like, the view outside became the sea and there was talk about offerings and whatnot.... That was all real, right?”
“T-that, well. It seems so.”
I swallowed as if I were a bit nervous.
“Then, the person who fell out of the window earlier....”
“…….”
The frozen gazes of the people slowly turned.
The middle-aged man who had been sitting right next to the window where the ‘sacrifice’ was offered. In the man’s seat, which had been empty after he accidentally fell out while picking a fight....
There was a person.
“...!!”
The silhouette of a passenger sitting still could be seen.
...It was indeed the man who had fallen out.
“H-he’s alive?”
“Oh, thank god....”
It was then.
The passenger suddenly sprang up and lunged at the businessman in glasses.
“...!!”
“You son of a bitch! Because of you, because of youuuu!”
“L-let go!”
It was pandemonium.
The middle-aged man, dressed like the nouveau riche, glared at his opponent with strange eyes, spitting as he spoke.
“Die, die! I fell because of you... Ah, it hurts! It hurts so much……!!”
Madness flowed from his eyeballs.
“D-don’t fall down there! It hurts! It’s strangeeeek! Ugh, bleargh!”
“Eek!”
The middle-aged man trembled and staggered, then began to vomit something like a strange dark-red lump onto the floor.
“Urgh!! Uuuurgh!”
The businessman in glasses backed away with a shocked face.
‘Hah.’
Those who became ‘sacrifices’ and fell out of the window show symptoms of delirium bordering on mental insanity and strange signs of supernatural illness in the next round.
They testified that they suffered endlessly amidst terrible Burning Pain and whispers that were not human after falling through the window.
...Seeing it in person, that unstable state felt truly overwhelming.
Perhaps completely overwhelmed, the businessman in glasses slunk back on trembling legs.
-Hmm, a voluntary resignation! I could evaluate it as having been a meaningful, if brief, leadership! At any rate, from this moment on, the leader’s seat is vacant.
-By any chance, does my Friend intend to lead them with such wonderful skill…… Hmm, it seems not. That is also fine! Let us narrate the situation together with this Braun.
‘Right.’
I intentionally took a step back.
And at that moment.
Offer a sacrifice, you who wish to reach Tamra.
The video in the cabin changes again.
“T-that thing appeared again!”
“Uh, so, last time for sure....”
Because a person fell from the window.
The train successfully exited the tunnel and kept running.
“…….”
“…….”
Perhaps because there was still time, people prattled on while intentionally ignoring that fact.
“...What exactly is a sacrifice?”
“W-well, for now, shouldn’t it be something living? Like, if you watch horror W-Tubes....”
I cut in.
“No. It could be an object. Even the food used in a ritual is technically a sacrifice.”
“Ah...!”
“That’s true, let’s stay calm for now and think of various things to throw out....”
But their eyes were still brimming with fear, excitement, and anxiety....
“…….”
“S-so. First, is there anyone with food?”
Not long after, people who had snacks voluntarily gathered food to throw outside.
Fruit, eggs, meat, bread, and so on....
And at a precarious moment, the scenery outside the window changed.
Entering the First Altar
This time, the people were a bit calmer.
“Let’s throw them.”
“Yes...!”
Plop, plop.
In silence, the food disappeared out the window.
Remaining distance: 4
The Electronic Display didn’t budge. Only the number went down.
“No! It’s not ending!!”
People screamed.
In fact, even when something was accepted as a sacrifice, the countdown had gone all the way to the end just the same, but I didn't bother to correct them.
...Because I knew from the start that food was not the answer.
Remaining distance: 3
And it seemed the passengers had finally acknowledged it.
The answer.
“It has to be a person after all. A person....”
“Ah....”
“No, how can we to a person....”
“If we don’t, we’re all going to die! I’m telling you, the train is going to sink?!”
“But who....”
Remaining distance: 2
“…….”
“…….”
Gezes turned.
The meaning was this:
‘Since he’s already lost his mind anyway, can’t we just drop that guy one more time?’
An unspeakable unconscious thought, manifested because of the emergency.
The ‘Round 1 sacrifice’ who received those gazes had a seizure.
“Save me, save meeeeee! I don’t want to! I don’t! I don’t!!”
“C-calm down. It’ll be okay....”
Remaining distance: 1
“No! Nooo!”
“First, get away from the wind... h-huh??”
Whoosh...
Splash.
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The tunnel ended.
Inside the train, which had brightened as the blue sea was reflected once again.
The eerie purple words ‘The offering has arrived, open the waterway’ filled the cabin video.
In front of the window....
Broken glasses lay on the floor.
“…….”
“…….”
And the ‘Round 1 sacrifice’ who had pushed him.
“The bastard who dropped me is dead! I didn’t die! I didn’t die! Iiiii didn’t dieeeee!”
The middle-aged man, drooling, flailed as he ran down the aisle, then shoved his head into a corner and began to sob.
A pale silence flowed through the train car.
The atmosphere was maddening.
-The former leader becomes the sacrifice! Hmm, how typical. Though it was a bit fast.
At that moment.
“Excuse me, there was a next one too, wasn’t there?”
A cheerful voice, unbefitting the situation, rang through the train.
Supervisor Dolphin.
“W-what did you say?”
“The second Altar appeared soon after this one too. I think we should prepare for that.”
“Just stop it!!”
“Ack!”
Stress-induced reactions erupted. But Supervisor Dolphin spoke as if she didn't care.
“Let’s not make a mistake then; let’s find the wickedest person and make them fall!”
And she pointed her finger forward.
“Including all the other cars!”
“...!!”
“And well... there’s no guarantee they’ll die? Since that man just came back alive. Then isn’t it better to find a wicked person and make them suffer?”
It was a crazy thing to say.
But in an incomprehensible disaster situation, sometimes pleasant-sounding crazy talk works.
Albeit slightly distorted.
“Yeah! So far, they’ve all fallen only from our car! They should do it in the front cars too!”
“That’s right!”
Why should only our car suffer such pain and have to worry!
Consumed by a sense of unfairness and strange rage, the people of Car 7, our car, swarmed forward.
The Elite Squad employees and I joined the fray and headed forward. No, Supervisor Dolphin was practically standing near the front.
“Excuse me! There’s an open window here too, right?? When the train fell last time, I think it was because no one fell from there....”
But sure enough, as we went further forward, the majority were people who hadn't grasped the situation at all.
“W-what kind of crazy talk is that.”
“Who are these people?”
“Look here, if you don’t want to get hit, just go. Seriously.”
“Ooh.”
“...Let’s move a bit further and let them know.”
Supervisor Dolphin looked at the last speaker as if he were an excellent candidate with great character, then hurriedly moved to the next car.
But the moment we entered Car 3.
Entering the Second Altar
It began again.
“Aack!”
“Someone fall, quickly!”
“The train’s going to crash, waaaaah, waaaaaah....”
“Throw a person! We have to throw a person out the window!”
The shouts of the people from Car 7, our car, whose stress had reached its limit, were heard.
And the voices of the people from the other car, who had yet to accurately grasp the situation.
Remaining distance: 5
“Who are those people?! Where did they come from??”
“Aren’t they crazy bastards!”
“If you don’t want to die, hurry up and volunteer! Pick a volunteer!”
“Then why don’t you guys be the ones to jump!”
“Someone already fell from the We Help car! Look for someone in another car!!”
“So, as for a volunteer right now....”
Distance remaining : 4
A clear voice piercing through the pandemonium.
“There are none?”
Assistant manager Jin Nasol reached out her hand.
...No!
She's going to single out the most uncooperative person here and throw them out.
And if it starts all over again by any chance, she'll keep using the people she's already picked as sacrifices over and over again...!
It was efficient, but it wouldn't do.
Assistant manager Jin Nasol was certainly a capable person, but it was clear she had lived her life without caring about public opinion at all.
I immediately raised my hand.
Distance remaining : 3
“I’ll volunteer!”
“…….”
Assistant manager Jin Nasol looked back at me.
“What?”
I spoke once more.
“I’ll be the one to jump.”
“…!!”
“Why…….”
Distance remaining : 2
“It's not like I'm actually going to die, so I’ll try to hold out.”
Then I quickly whispered to Assistant manager Jin Nasol.
“I think we need to check once. Exactly what is happening down there.”
“Is it necessary?”
“I can't trust civilian testimony. I've prepared mental defense measures as well.”
“Hmm....”
Distance remaining : 1
“Fine, then.”
“…! Thank you.”
I quickly finished the hushed talk and shouted to the people.
“There’s not much time left! I’m going to the window, so everyone please get out of the way!”
“Uh, u-uuh....”
The people couldn't stop me and slowly backed away. The reaction was the same in the We Help car and the other cars.
...Good.
I spoke as if I were composed, but my hands were trembling.
Still, it couldn't be helped.
According to the plan, this process is absolutely necessary at least once.
If Plan A—to find and secure the Silver Heart Possessor immediately—failed.
Then I have to use a more extreme method.
“Everyone, be careful!”
As I hung from the window, I pulled a painkiller from my pocket.
There was a possibility it wouldn't work.
But it's better than nothing...!
I plunged the ‘Happy Maker’ into my forearm. At the same time, I threw myself out the window.
Into the red tunnel.
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