Chapter 39: Your Gentle Despair (5)

Run, run, run.

If you don’t run with all your might, you’ll get caught by the monster, right?

I nodded at the monster who glanced at me as I leisurely chased after him.

Yeah yeah, you’re doing well, so keep chasing me.

Kaaa …

‘That squinty-eyed guy must have provided the doctor with magical girls, and the doctor must have provided him with monsters.

If not, there was no explanation for this large number of monsters.

Well, whatever happened, it had nothing to do with me.

“Oh, the door in front of you is blocked!”

“Huh, what do I do?

Oh, it won’t open?”

“Come from behind!

They’re coming from behind!”

“What do you want me to do when it’s blocked?!”

“Then why did you run away here!?

You should’ve just not come here?!”

The monster licked its lips as it watched the humans starting to fight each other as soon as they were driven into a dead end.

It seems you can’t stand that delicious-looking despair either.

‘Can’t you help it…

It was a shame for those humans, but since they were driven into a dead end, it was as good as dead as any chance of survival.

How on earth are you going to run away from a monster that licks its lips at the sight of despair?

I was the one who ordered the monster to chase the humans, but honestly, I was willing to let it go if it ran away until it got out of the underground.

It was because I was unluckily driven into a dead end.

[Oh my, is this some kind of gift you prepared for me?]

“This voice…”

In the middle of the mountains.

A door blocking the humans’ path.

A familiar voice was heard from the speaker above the door.

A voice that I’ve heard so often recently that I’m sick of it now.

[It just so happens that the last piece is missing—good.]

Jiing

With the voice of the squinty-eyed guy, the door blocking the humans’ path began to open slowly.

However, despite the door being open, the humans couldn’t easily step through it.

The reason for that was – yes.

After all, there was no other explanation than that dark-looking guy being more terrifying than the monster.

‘Taking care of the kids.

He was a grown man but couldn’t capture the hearts of kids.

He was just smart, but he was an idiot.

It would have been much better to buy favor and use them until the very end.

“Uh, what should I do?

Go in?”

“…Here?

Go in where that crazy doctor is?”

“T-but there’s no way!

We’ll just stay here and die!?

At least he won’t kill us!”

“Tch…!”

Right, just go in.

I don’t know what that squinty-eyed guy is up to, but it seems like those humans are helpful to his plan.

I just watched quietly, wondering what that plan was.

With a little anticipation, wondering what he’d come up with.

The door slid shut as smoothly as it had opened.

After much thought, I went inside, and it seemed like I liked the squinty-eyed guy better than the monster.

Did I really hate those guys that much?

They’re good guys who listen well and kill cleanly when they kill…

‘Wouldn’t it be better to die quickly than go to a guy who treats humans like toys?”

I don’t know what those humans will end up like, but I knew full well that I would never see a good sight.

And at the same time, there were questions and heartaches that arose.

The question of why the humans went there and the heartache that the humans who gave me delicious despair fell for that suspicious guy.

…You’re stealing my despair?’

It didn’t take long for the incomprehensible question and the heartache of seeing the well-prepared feast go into the mouth of the enemy to turn into anger.

How hard I acted to create that level of despair!

At least give me one!

No, give me two!

Boom-!!!

Boom-!!!

“Tsk…”

No matter what, isn’t this too much?

I knocked with quite a bit of force, but the door wouldn’t open, so I clicked my tongue in anger.

You made the door so strong that only you could survive.

[I still can’t figure you out.]

“Do you need to know about me?”

[You’re an existence that I can’t figure out because I’m interested in you even though I don’t need to know. You are an existence.]

Ugh, are you confessing now?

A similar feeling hit my lungs when I inhaled hope during the Despair Meal.

Ugh, disgusting.

Now, just a sip of my sippy cup…

Ugh, I feel like I’m going to throw up.

I don’t know if it was because of my previous life, or just the fact that that human existed, but an indescribable feeling of disgust ran down my spine.

It felt like a giant leopard was crawling up my neck and down to my tailbone.

[Have you ever thought about monsters and magical girls?

Aren’t you curious about how they come into being and how they gain their power?]

“Not at all.

Do I really need to know?”

[I don’t think I really need to.

But if I don’t ask you, a monster in the body of a magical girl, who would I ask this question to?]

Having the body of a magical girl…

I might have mistaken it because of the despair circuit.

No, or not?

This body was created by a doctor who was a monster so insane that it would be sad to say that it was really possible.

[My purpose is to break the balance between despair and hope.

If I break it, someone sitting there silently might start taking interest in the world again.]

“Do you believe in God?”

He was suddenly serious, which was out of place.

He even added a very philosophical topic, which made my hands and feet cringe.

Oh, there was definitely someone like this in the original.

What was it?

The name of the guy the magical girls dealt with before they attacked Apocalypse –

[Even if it means becoming a curse to the world, I absolutely must do this.]

‘Ah, I remembered.

When I heard the story of curses, there was one guy who came to mind.

Curse.

He was a guy who had been mentioned often even before Apocalypse appeared, but it was after he appeared with Apocalypse that Curse really appeared as a character.

‘That cool Curse is that cross-eyed pervert?’

A guy who imprisons human girls younger than him and raises them into magical girls to suit his tastes is the same as Curse.

Ah, that can’t be true.

Even when I thought about it myself, I burst out laughing at the ridiculous assumption.

It wasn’t just funny, it was just so exciting that my head was spinning.

‘I never thought Curse’s origins were humans.

The identity of the character that had been the subject of wild speculations was confirmed-no, half-confirmed.

How surprised would the original fans have been if they knew?

A monster that learned human behavior,

a monster that evolved even further; in fact, the original monsters also had intelligence like humans, and so on.

They were all wrong.

The reason Curse speaks human language fluently is because he was born human, phew.

“Aha, ahaha, ahahahahahaha!!!!”

I instinctively burst out laughing.

I never thought I would see this kind of thing in my life.

Honestly, I hadn’t even thought about Curse as a character.

[… What’s so funny?]

“No, what…

More importantly, do you want to be a god?”

He certainly had that side to him.

A mastermind who controls monsters from the darkness.

At first, there were all sorts of speculations about Curse being the king of monsters or a god.

Just as magical girls have queens for their partners, there must be such a being on the monster side as well.

[I don’t particularly want to be a god.

I just want to bring down God.]

“Heh, heh heh…

Phew, ah, my stomach… ugh…”

[…]

How did this chuunibyou adult become a curse?

If it was this fun, then I could understand why people who were filled with despair were robbed.

So what are you going to do now?

Just turn into a curse and stuff?

Then change, hurry!

Even though it wasn’t beating properly, I could clearly feel my pounding heartbeat.

“Every single word you say is really delightful.

Seriously.”

[…I don’t know what part of it made you laugh.]

“There are many things.

Almost everything you said, your attitude, and even learning things I didn’t know before.

But the biggest reason I laugh is, of course, because I’m happy.”

Right now, I was in a state where I couldn’t express it in words.

To the point where I could laugh even without feeling despair.