Chapter.7 Masquerade Ball (3)
***
“Those money demons in the dome used their brains well.”
The professor decided to explain, at least roughly, how things would proceed as his friends’ faces hardened as they got closer to the central area.
“How much do you know about the type 3 variant?”
“Let’s see… It’s a very strong variant, and unlike Type 1 and 2, it doesn’t have anything in common, and it has a lot of strange talents?”
“hmm. “You don’t know anything.”
There are only about 10 minutes left until the entrance to the central model garden, so there is no time for a long explanation. How can I explain this well…
After thinking for a moment, the professor picked up a handful of pineapple pieces that he had previously selected and removed from the already-eaten pizza box.
“What is this?”
“Ugh Hepburn. You’re not playing with what you eat. “If you’re not going to eat pineapple, give it to me.”
“I’m going to eat. I didn’t like eating it with pizza, so I left it out separately. Anyway, let’s say this piece of pineapple is a type 2 variant, that is, a variant virus that appeared in the body of a newly dead person. It’s fresh, has a lot of juice inside, and is agile and strong as if it was doped by a living person. But in the end, a corpse is a corpse. If it goes wild like that and gets hit a few times, and it starts to rot and crumble in the hot weather…”
The professor crushed the piece of pineapple he was holding in his hand.
“Like this, it turns into a type 1 variant that is flabby and cannot move well. “Everyone knows this far, right?”
“Both Vex and I know that much. “Because they are the ones I see every day.”
“Okay then, we’re going into a difficult topic here, so listen carefully. “Oh Ian, you’re driving, so just listen.”
“under! On a well-paved road like this, would you be able to drive with your feet with your eyes closed? If you get into an accident, I’ll carve ‘Beginner Driving’ on my chin with a welder. “Anyway, what does pineapple have to do with type 3?”
In response to Ian’s question, the professor lifted the half-mashed pineapple piece he was holding with one hand as if he were holding a sacred object.
“At first, Bex saw this yellow piece and said it was a pineapple. So, if this pineapple has an ego and will, what does it imagine itself to be like?”
“Eh?”
“Yes? Pineapple… are you thinking?”
“Type 1 and type 2 are basically viruses that express themselves in corpses, but type 3 is a virus that has succeeded in expressing itself in a living body. The principles are fundamentally different. “If we talk about pineapples, type 12 is just a piece of pineapple with a different shape, but type 3 is the flesh containing the seeds.”
After saying this, I glanced out of the corner of my eye and saw Bex trying to understand somehow and Ian concentrating on driving with an expression on his face that said he wanted to smoke a cigarette. It must be hard to understand. To understand this, I also read the 30-page paper posted by Dome on the community over and over again.
The professor decided to focus on making students understand the broad framework for now.
“First of all, mutant viruses are known to be significantly affected by the host’s mental state. Let’s think about the variants we’ve seen so far. Most of them are walking around like zombies, saying uh-uh, but sometimes there are some that stand out, right?”
Seeing the two people’s eyes change, it seems like something came to mind. The professor had also personally seen the case cited in the statement. A variant that doesn’t know how to shoot a gun, but knows how to swing it. They have no nerves to feel comfortable, but they prefer to stay in buildings with roofs, and if there is a bare floor and a place with a rug, they flock to the place with a rug.
Mutants whose actions seem strangely similar to those of corpses whose hearts have stopped.
“According to Dom’s research, it appears that the mutant virus is influenced by memories stored in the brain of an unconscious host. Even if they are affected, most of them have already died because the oxygen supply has been cut off, and they are just leftover residue. If there is a bare floor and a mattress, you will be affected by memories that your body has become accustomed to, such as lying down on the mattress without thinking about it. “Dom researchers speculate that the uniqueness of the type 3 variant arises from the ‘memory preference phenomenon’ of this variant virus.”
“It’s a memory preference phenomenon… So since type 3 is a mutant virus that appears in a living body, does that mean it fully uses memories from when it was alive?”
“To be exact, they say that it follows the image of the ego that remained strongest during life.”
Let’s come back to pineapple.
The professor held up a strand of crushed pineapple in his hand and waved it as if the pineapple was waving.
“If a pineapple seed had a will, if you were to ask its newborn what a ‘pineapple’ looks like, what would it say? Some people might think of a small room trapped in a huge yellow world. Some may remind you of a round, scratchy body with healthy green leaves, while others may remind you of a pineapple shrub growing from the ground. Mutant viruses basically have the habit of trying to repair the host’s body and return it to its original form. Attacking and eating people is part of an effort to somehow extend the life of the host by injecting the same raw materials into the host. “Type 3 mutants are monsters created by the mutant virus’ efforts to return the host’s body to the ‘self’ that the host’s dead self-consciousness thought it was.”
The child who was abused and beaten and was hiding under the bed thought that he was like a hermit crab in its shell right before he died.
Soon after, a Type 3 variant appeared in Area 32, carrying an entire huge house with tentacles protruding from its body.
There is also an eyewitness account of someone walking out of a shelter where a huge fire broke out, carrying dozens of corpses that looked like burnt ash.
A monster is created when a dead person, at the last moment at the end of their survival instinct, mistakes the ego they drew for the original form of the host and ‘restores’ the body in that form. That was the identity of the type 3 variant known so far.
Buaaaang –
After the explanation, the three people became as quiet as if they had died.
“…How much did you understand?”
“Uh… Type 3 variant is a monster created by a dead person’s imagination.”
“Do you think it would be unusual for someone to come up with something like an armored vehicle?”
“I’m glad at least one person understood.”
Still, after listening to what he said, he seemed to understand the concept.
“The ‘Old Picture’ you are facing is quite unique among the three types.”
“In what way is it unique?”
“He was born from self-consciousness that didn’t know he was dead.”
A monster born from an unusual tragedy that happened to an ordinary family head.
Old Picture’s self-consciousness was not limited to its own body.
He was a monster who pictured himself in the ordinary streets of the past.
***
I could tell that I had entered the area of old pictures without anyone explaining.
This is because the surrounding scenery changed from an ocher-colored street lined with old and half-ruined buildings to a neat and sophisticated old-world street, as if someone had drawn a line.
“Then… he made it like this? Distance?”
“No, even if Type 3 has all kinds of special abilities, this is difficult. This model garden was made by Dome. “Oh, I see it over there.”
The spot where the accident occurred was quickly found. This is because in the middle of a neat street, a half-destroyed building and its remains were blocking the street, as if there had been a war, and people were gathered on top of them and moving around busily. There were about 7 to 8 people dressed in the typical attire of wasteland people, and in the middle of them was a man wearing an oddly neat suit.
“It looks like some people came out of the dome.”
“Couldn’t it have been too late? Still, it happened because of us, so we should have at least been there first…”
“Oh no. We’re not late. People around that civil servant. “Because they are intelligence dealers.”
“For information? Those guys who post secret messages on the community and give you passwords when you deposit money?”
The professor nodded at Ian’s words.
“No matter how diligent the wasteland people are, this is someone else’s business. It’s not easy to move until you really check how things are going. Look at that. It’s related to Old Picture, but you came without wearing old-fashioned clothes, right? It means I’m not here to help you with your work. “When something like this happens, the people who gather first are mostly information dealers.”
“Then why is the person from the dome talking to those people?”
“Isn’t it something like media control or something like that? When area 47 becomes turbulent due to intelligence dealers running wild with strange guesses, they are the ones who suffer. “We are releasing processed information before making wild guesses.”
“It’s complicated, isn’t it?”
“Let’s call it the price of peace.”
Moo-moo-moo-kei-ik!
When the vehicle carrying three people stopped in front of the noisy crowd, everyone’s eyes gathered at once.
‘That’s good. Looking at the numbers, it looks like intelligence dealers from not only District 47 but also nearby areas came to visit. Since it happened anyway, we need to clearly apologize, take responsibility, and show compensation to create a good image of Big Dream.’
The professor got out of the car and calmly accepted the gaze, took a deep breath, and opened his mouth with a smile on his face.
“Everyone has worked hard since this morning!”
The information dealers begin to whisper among themselves as the professor noisily steps forward among them
.
“Who is it?”
“Black… if it’s a trio of armed trucks…”
“Hahaha, some people already know! It’s embarrassing to say for us, but the culprit behind this incident is the newly opened caravan…”
“It’s BDSM.”
“Raptor-made black armored truck three-member caravan! Absolutely! “It’s BDSM!”
“They are perverts!”
Quick!
“…Big Dream! It’s a big dream!”
The information dealers whispered for a moment in response to the professor’s earnest cry.
“Do you want to use a name that is different from your official name?” “I heard you had a conversation like that in the District 47 chat room.” “But it’s already known as BDSM, right? “I also sold information under that name.” “If you say you change it now…”
“The reliability of our information will decrease.”
The information merchants who exchanged opinions for a short time smiled brightly and welcomed the group, just like the professor.
“It’s a great honor to meet District 47’s rising star [BDSM]! The people gathered here make a living spreading news around here, so if you run a caravan, you might be able to see them often. Ha ha ha ha ha! nice to meet you!”
Absolutely!
The smile on the professor’s face wavered dangerously at the informational answer.
In a short greeting, ‘Please change our name to Big Dream and spread the word.’ / ‘No problem. Let’s just go with BDSM.’ Professors and information merchants exchanged meaning.
Ian, who saw the corners of the professor’s mouth shaking as if there was an earthquake, gently tapped the professor’s shoulder from behind.
“Give up.”
“Nimirel….”
“I’m not from District 47, but for someone who lives in the wasteland, I’ve never seen anyone back down from a matter of interest. “There is no turning back.”
“Ezel…. Ezel Raiden…. I’m going to kill you….”
“Would you like a cigarette?”
“Put it away…”
The professor’s attempt to change the name of the caravan failed miserably, and a man dressed in a dark blue suit walked out from among the information dealers who were sketching the professor’s distorted face. It was an unusual outfit, but the Dome symbol was clearly engraved in white on the briefcase in his hand.
“Excuse me. I just heard you said that you were the culprit of this incident. Did I hear you correctly?”
A person from the dome. Seeing that they were clearly decorated to look like people from the old times, it seemed right that this place was related to old pictures.
‘Hyde?’
[Beep-! No faces matching. This is someone who has nothing to do with your old work.]
Only after examining the face and cross-checking with Hyde was the professor able to extend his hand to the civil servant in front of him.
“I am ‘professor’, the leader of BDSM. “You can call me professor.”
“I heard a lot of rumors. “My name is Jack, and I am a member of the District 47 Dome Executive Department.”
The two people exchanged player IDs and names that appeared to be pseudonyms to anyone, shook hands, and then began talking about work in earnest.
“As far as we know, the two people behind the scenes, not the ‘professor,’ are the instigators of the incident. Is there anything wrong here?”
“Oh, that’s not it. It’s true that they provoked the Old Picture and destroyed the model garden. “I came to share responsibility as a companion.”
“Hmm indeed. Since there are only a few caravan members, it may not be easy to replace people. “Seeing as how you volunteered for this dangerous task.”
“…..”
‘Tsk.’
Apparently, this guy named Jack is the unlucky Dom civil servant I always imagined. Seeing as they brought up the idea of changing personnel first, I guess they meant that they would take care of it even if I were left out and only Ian and Bex were thrown in. It may have been said out of consideration, but it made me feel even worse.
Palak Palak
“Let’s see… ‘professor’… lives on the outskirts of District 47… Huh? “You were involved in the same thing a few years ago?”
“…I guess I’m a bit unlucky.”
“I don’t think so. Normally, stronger sanctions or expulsion measures would be imposed on those who become a problem for the same thing again…”
Palak-!
Jack took out one of the documents from his bag and thrust it in the professor’s face.
“This time, it has been decided that Dome will take full responsibility for compensation for what your company has done. “You’re lucky.”
“In the dome? So are you saying that we will pay everything from fines to street restoration costs and daily wages for the people who are mobilized for this ‘play’?”
“That’s right. “A separate apology must be made to local residents, but it has been decided that all other official costs will be borne by the Dome, and especially by our [executive department].”
The professor’s face said ‘Why?’ As soon as that expression appeared, Jack came closer and whispered softly to the professor.
“It’s no big deal. I just heard that you have a close relationship with the [Inspection Department]… I wanted to show you that our [Enforcement Department] also thinks very highly of HIV people. If you ever visit the dome, we would appreciate it if you could stop by the executive office. “The manager said he would like to treat me to a meal.”
“…It feels really bad to hear someone else’s name that I didn’t even reveal, but let’s just say that there is goodwill for now.”
“Hahahaha sorry about this. The executive branch is a group with a lot of ears, so they learn a lot of information even if they don’t want to hear it. “I apologize if you were offended.”
The professor spat inwardly at Jack’s sly reply.
‘He is politically involved in the offer to join Dome. He’s an unlucky guy, as if he knew about my past and let me go. ‘I hope things go wrong in the theater side and they get left behind.’
But now that we’re gathered like this because of the professor’s mistake, we shouldn’t express these feelings outwardly.
Jack, perhaps conscious of the gaze of the intelligence dealers around him, finished his intimate conversation and began to return to the main topic.
“Then the main actors are the ‘professor’ in front of me…”
“Call me Metal Joe.”
“…Vex.”
“Metal Joe Bex, the three of you will take care of it. You’ve already prepared your outfit. “Do you have any other scenarios in mind?”
“Hmm… First of all, I’m thinking of going ahead with the setting of the three of us being college students…” ”
It’s not a bad concept, but unlike the last time, this ‘play’ is going to be a little more noisy, so I think it would be good to prepare in a little more detail. We have prepared costumes and props for you, so we recommend changing into them. Instead of talking outside like this, it would be better to check the situation directly on stage and talk about it. Please follow me.”
Saying that, Jack enters the alley between the collapsed buildings.
The professor asked with a puzzled look as he followed behind Jack.
“A little more noisy? Wasn’t the ‘play’ all about keeping the workers in the street and getting his attention while they were working? I think a noisy group of college students would be enough to get his attention without breaking his illusions…” “It’s been
like that until now, but actually, this happens a few times every year. “Someone from outside accidentally provoked the guy, or a newly formed psycho gang wandered around without thinking and touched the guy… The executive department made a plan to use this opportunity to reduce such repeated disturbances.”
Shake!
Dozens of people moving around bustling inside the broken building.
“What the hell is this….”
“Because this play is about a theme, we need a lot of actors.”
Jack took out a large box from among the busy people, put it down in front of the professor, then opened the box with his own hands and showed the contents.
“If it is a living creature and it is possible to recognize the situation and control it to some extent… Wouldn’t it be possible to educate him?”
The Professor and Ian Bex looked at the contents of the opened box and their faces turned sour.
What was in the box was a military uniform from World War III that they were very familiar with.
***
