"Hmm......"
Haseol tilted his head as he looked at the dark landscape.
"You two can see what I see, right?"
[We can.]
"Why did it get dark again? Did the duration of the light-making magic end?"
[No. The scroll I made earlier should have lasted at least ten minutes.]
"Then what is it?"
[What about the Waycut and the Cloak of Shade?]
"I have them. The Waycut is in my pocket, and the Cloak of Shade is tied around my waist."
[Come out and take another scroll. There is something we need to check.]
"Okay."
Haseol turned toward the wall of Rootstream.
"Huh?"
It was close.
He had certainly entered Rootstream and walked toward the only building there, and the explosion had sent him flying backward.
However, that did not mean he had flown all the way back to Rootstream's wall.
"That is the entrance to Rootstream."
[It is. Come out and take another scroll first. There is something we need to check.]
"Okay."
Still wearing a baffled expression, Haseol walked out of Rootstream.
"Use the scroll again."
Eska gave Haseol a sheet of paper she had prepared in advance.
Haseol took it and immediately returned inside Rootstream.
Riiip.
A mass of light rose into the air.
It illuminated the snow-filled space once more.
"The supermarket that was destroyed by the explosion earlier is intact. It is not on fire either."
Haseol calmly described the landscape before him.
[Could you check whether there are footprints?]
At Bisan's request, Haseol lowered his gaze and slowly looked around.
[They are gone.]
"Yes. I cannot see them."
[It is as though the inside of Rootstream has returned to the past. I will go check what is outside.]
"Okay."
[I will examine Rootstream.]
"Hah~. So I have to walk back to the building where the explosion happened and check it again?"
Haseol made an expression of genuine reluctance.
[Go.]
[Could you check for us?]
Their ways of speaking were different, but their conclusion was the same.
Haseol slowly began to approach the building where the explosion had occurred.
[Time outside is unchanged. It is flowing normally. The changes are continuing as well. It seems only the inside of Rootstream has returned to when Mr. Haseol entered.]
"It does seem to have returned to the past. Although if it returned to the past...... It is strange that it is connected to the outside."
[The internal structure was remade from its past state. In other words, it seems close to a small-scale loop.]
"A loop...... You mean one that repeats a fixed event?"
[Yes.]
"One where you have to keep repeating it until you resolve a particular event?"
[That is right.]
"Then it sounds as though I have to keep getting caught in that explosion......"
[That is good news. Even if you fail, you have a chance to try again.]
"Is that good news? I do not know how many times my lower body will get blown away."
Haseol asked with a faintly strange smile.
[There is bad news.]
Haseol and Bisan listened to Eska.
[I found something strange on the side of Rootstream.]
"What is it?"
[About twenty percent of Rootstream has turned black. Like the black Rootstream we saw in the future where the world was destroyed.]
"Ah."
[It does not appear that the loop will continue indefinitely.]
At Eska's words, Haseol.
"That is good news."
He replied with a smile.
[......]
[......]
An odd silence hung in the air for a moment.
"I meant, since I do not have to keep dying forever. It was a joke, a joke."
[Ah, a joke.]
[I am sorry. In your case, I thought you might mean that sincerely.]
"......"
At the two reactions, Haseol smiled in disbelief.
"Please remember that I am still an ordinary person."
Making a request full of several meanings, Haseol walked across the snow.
The shabby rest area where the explosion had occurred drew closer.
Not the burned and collapsed rest area, but a rest area standing there intact.
"What was wrong for the loop to occur?"
[If we assume Rootstream was created to prevent external support and let the ghosts eliminate supernatural abilities more easily, perhaps it happened because eliminating supernatural abilities became impossible?]
"Because the ghost that had to eliminate supernatural abilities died in the explosion? Then does that mean our side caused the explosion? I nearly died."
[That does not fit. If it is a failure from the ghost's perspective, it is also strange that Rootstream has grown closer to the black color from the world's destruction.]
"We will know if we go in again. Phewwww."
Haseol let out a deep breath.
"Bisan, do vampires have any ability that could block an explosion?"
He asked as he approached the rest area.
[You can make a blood barrier.]
"How do I do that?"
[I cannot say anything other than to make a blood barrier.]
"Hmm......"
[Is asking how to walk not the same? All I could say is to move your two legs.]
[Could you not explain the coordination of the muscles, hip joints, ankles and feet, waist, and the swing of both arms?]
[I am sorry, but I have never thought that deeply when I walk.]
"Then......"
Haseol spoke as he approached the supermarket.
[The best thing would be to protect your neck with your arms.]
"Okay. I will throw away everything below my neck again."
Haseol spoke with a half-resigned smile.
[The explosion happened when you opened the entrance, so break a side window and go in.]
[Would it not be better to take physical-enhancement magic before you enter?]
[Can you increase only my toughness without affecting my speed?]
[It would be possible if Haseol can control it well.]
[Mr. Haseol does not look as though he can control that right now.]
"First."
Haseol interrupted the two of them.
"Should I put on the Cloak of Shade?"
[Try it.]
Haseol put on the transparent cloak that had been tied around his waist.
[Even if it takes several loops, we only need to resolve this, so we could treat one attempt as a throwaway.]
"I would rather you did not throw away my lower body."
[We do not know whether succeeding in one go and succeeding after a failure will have the same result.]
"That is true."
[While we are at it, it might not be bad to fail the entire Rootstream once. We could learn whether this world is destroyed from one failure.]
"No, we should not investigate that far."
Haseol shook his head in disbelief.
"Then."
Haseol arrived before the rest area.
"I will go in through the window."
[Hold the knife in one hand and cover your neck with one arm.]
"Okay."
Haseol held the knife in one hand and covered his neck with one arm.
Then he took a moment to draw a deep breath in front of the window.
He had been smiling it off as though nothing was wrong, but the pain from earlier was not something that could be ignored.
Cold sweat came over him just from remembering it.
Haseol slowly placed a hand on the window and opened it.
Creak. Creak.
The window opened with a sound he did not want to hear.
Far away.
Someone standing at the far end of the supermarket turned toward Haseol.
A face made of black smoke.
A being wearing an ordinary jacket and dark-green cargo pants.
A ghost.
"Huh?!"
The ghost seemed startled, then raised a hand toward Haseol.
A switch in its hand.
Rustle.
Then came a sound.
[Left.]
Reacting to that sound, Bisan's voice came to him.
Haseol's eyes moved.
He saw something rising up from the floor on his left.
A bomb.
Haseol jumped backward, wrapping both arms around his neck.
The ghost pressed the switch.
An explosion erupted.
Flames bursting.
The window shattered under the pressure.
The wall, unable to endure it, broke apart and poured out.
Haseol was struck by that mass and flung backward.
Thud!
He fell face-first onto the ground.
"Kh! Cough! Cough!"
Glass shards were embedded in his arms and face.
His legs and stomach had also been torn by fragments, and blood seeped out.
[Open your eyes.]
"I cannot......"
[Then the number of times your lower body is blown away will increase.]
"Ah, fuck."
Gritting his teeth, Haseol opened his eyes with difficulty.
He could see the ghost walking through the collapsed wall.
[Can you move?]
"Not yet."
[Stall for time.]
"Okay."
With trembling arms, Haseol braced against the ground and raised his upper body.
"What are you?"
The ghost asked Haseol.
"What are you, then?"
"Type: Division. Terrorist. Threat level: B."
At the ghost's frank self-introduction, Haseol laughed in disbelief.
It made him feel that he really was fighting a strange enemy.
"Why did you come here?"
"What do you mean, why?"
[Hide your purpose.]
"I came for a walk because there is no one here......"
"A walk? You came for a walk?"
The ghost stopped, keeping its distance from Haseol.
"Is this a place for an ordinary person to come for a walk?"
"Do I look ordinary to you? Can't you tell by my regeneration? I am a vampire."
"Ah. Tsk."
The ghost looked down at Haseol and clicked its tongue.
"Think of yourself as unlucky."
After saying that to Haseol.
"Uninvolved victims are bound to arise in terrorism."
The ghost threw something toward Haseol.
A bomb.
[Knock it aside.]
[Dodge it.]
Haseol moved.
He did something entirely different from what the two of them said.
He covered his neck with one arm.
With his other hand, he drew the knife and threw it.
Faster than the bomb could land before him.
Squelch!
The knife lodged in the ghost's chest.
Sploosh!
No, it pierced all the way through and flew out behind it.
Together with black blood.
"D-die."
The Terrorist pressed the switch.
The bomb exploded.
Haseol gritted his teeth.
Haseol's body flew backward.
He could see the arm that had thrown the knife severed and hanging in the air.
Half of one leg was gone, rolling across the ground.
Haseol's body flew backward.
Thump, thump, thump!
It rolled across the pure-white snowfield.
"......"
[Open your eyes. We have to check the situation.]
[He cannot open his eyes that quickly.]
[You have Mr. Bisan's blood in you. You should be able to do it in terms of ability.]
[It is like suddenly giving me wings and telling me to fly.]
"Ah, guh, ngh, ah, ah......"
With a groan, Haseol slowly opened his eyes.
Snow melted in bright-red blood came into view.
He saw the Terrorist run back inside the rest area.
[Excellent. You did not merely dodge the bomb; you successfully attacked the enemy. I did not mention it because I did not think you would do it even if I told you.]
"You do not need to praise me like that. I will not give up, so please tell me a solution. I do not want to do this again."
With a body that was regenerating, Haseol slowly got to his feet.
[A solution.]
[You have to chase the Terrorist and kill it.]
[We need to think about the cause of the failure. The explosion was caused by the ghost, and the loop occurred after that explosion. If it is a loop meant to make the explosion never happen, then we should see the loop as working in our favor.]
"The ghost wants to eliminate supernatural abilities, so something related to supernatural abilities was destroyed in the explosion, and the loop is meant to restore it?"
[Would that not be it?]
"I do not think the ghost would have installed this loop in Rootstream, so another person's power is at work."
[You had a predecessor, so assistance may be possible.]
"We will know what the conclusion is once we go back inside."
[That is right.]
[Indeed.]
Haseol got to his feet.
Pure-white snow fell away in clumps along with bright-red blood.
"Hmm, the cloak is not much use."
He took off the bothersome Cloak of Shade and tied it around his waist again.
[Use it to stop the bleeding, at least.]
"I should."
Haseol started walking.
He picked up the knife that had pierced the Terrorist, struck the wall, and fallen.
Haseol followed the black blood on the ground.
When he stepped into the supermarket.
[Get back.]
At Bisan's words, Haseol reflexively jumped backward.
KABOOOM!
An explosion erupted.
Flames burst out from every window of the supermarket, and the building began to collapse.
"Oh, uh. Wow......"
This time, Haseol watched the building collapse while still intact.
"How did you know?"
[I heard a sound.]
"A sound I could hear too, right?"
[That is right.]
Bisan heard a sound Haseol could not understand and gave an order.
"The building collapsed, but the loop has not happened yet."
[Either the building needs to be completely destroyed, or something inside that needs to be protected has not been destroyed yet. I think it is one of the two.]
"How about searching through those flames now?"
[I do not recommend it.]
"Thank goodness. I do not want to do it either."
[After the Terrorist is dead, I think the best method will be to search the supermarket in a safe situation.]
"You mean after the loop happens, right? Then what do we do now?"
[We need to observe the situation first.]
Haseol's view changed.
Haseol stood at the entrance to Rootstream.
The loop had begun again.
[Just now, about thirty percent of Rootstream turned black.]
Eska spoke.
[It seems likely that complete blackening of Rootstream means final failure. When it is completely blackened, a Rootstream that cannot be removed will be created.]
"It seems right to think that something was damaged as the building collapsed, regardless of my life."
[That is likely.]
"Then we have to kill the Terrorist before it collapses the building. Do you have a method?"
[There are many methods.]
"The problem is whether I can do one, right?"
Haseol gave a wry smile.
[That is right.]
[Wow, what is the problem?]
Myun's voice came through.
It seemed he had arrived late.
[We have to kill a Terrorist ghost that makes bombs.]
[A Terrorist ghost? What a trashy combination of words.]
[It seems that if the rest area inside Rootstream collapses in the Terrorist's act of terror, the mission fails and a loop begins.]
[Terrorism and a loop?]
"Please explain it separately to Myun."
[We should.]
Bisan's voice could be faintly heard as he rapidly explained the situation to Myun.
[Haseol, could you come out for a moment?]
"Okay."
Haseol stepped out of Rootstream.
Shura had also arrived at the entrance.
"Think of a way for Haseol to kill the Terrorist."
The four Kings were about to begin a meeting.
"I think it might be better for me to go back in quickly and try again first."
"After Haseol encountered the Terrorist, the supermarket collapsed faster than the first time. An uninvited guest has the effect of hastening the terror attack. Perhaps because of the uninvited guest, it is trying to cause an explosion to eliminate supernatural abilities even without being certain."
"Ah. That could be it."
"How big was the explosion?"
Myun asked.
"A single blast can collapse a wall and tear Haseol's body to pieces. However, it seemed there were several types of bombs it could use. One bomb failed to pierce his arm even though it exploded at close range."
Eska answered.
"What about rapid fire?"
"We do not know."
"If we cannot let the building collapse, we need to drag the Terrorist outside and fight it there."
"There was a brief delay before the loop began after the building collapsed. I think it may have taken a little time for the object to be destroyed. In other words, there should be a little leeway even after the explosion."
"If we take the supernatural ability out, the building can collapse and it does not matter?"
"That is highly possible, but we cannot be certain."
"The best thing would be for Haseol to drive the Terrorist outside and fight it there."
"There may already be a certain number of bombs planted inside the building."
Bisan mentioned something that needed to be considered.
"We cannot consider and account for everything. We need to set some things aside and try."
"That is true."
"The Terrorist is not going to wait forever. It will detonate them when it finds the supernatural ability, whether Haseol comes or not. Even if it is not a perfect move, we need to make a move."
Haseol listened to the three of them confer, then looked up at the quiet Shura.
Shura stood with a cigarette in her mouth, saying nothing.
Without a word, Shura held out a cold cola to Haseol.
"Thank you."
Haseol took the cola and drank it.
"We cannot account for everything, so we have to give up something......"
"Then why not give up one thing first?"
After saying that, Eska looked at Haseol.
Following her gaze, Myun and Bisan also looked at Haseol.
"You mean I should give up my body, right? Yes, yes. Just say it. I will do all of it."
With a self-abandoning smile, Haseol set down the cola.