Chapter 214
Everyone tried to walk on with their ears closed, but there was one person who paid attention to those words.
Of all people, it was the leader of the Companions.
Paradox.
He had advised the Companions, 'Don’t even make eye contact, and ignore whatever they say,' glanced at the inmate in the last solitary Cell.
A way to deal with the inquisitor is an unsolved quest.
It was an irresistible temptation.
“Do you know a way to get past the inquisitor?”
When Paradox asked calmly, the inmate giggled and said.
“Yeah! You were so quiet I thought you were a mute, but you speak just fine, huh? Of course I know. Do you know who I am…”
With anxious eyes, Cheonchilbaek observed Paradox conversing with the inmate.
He could somewhat guess what Paradox was thinking.
If this were a simulation game, it would be appropriate for a quest clue to be provided around here to help the players clear it.
It wasn’t entirely nonsensical to consider that inmate as the clue.
The problem was that he didn’t look trustworthy in the slightest.
Perhaps because he had been locked up for too long, his speech was slurred, and his constant giggling to himself made it seem like he definitely had mental issues.
What if his claim of knowing how to deal with the inquisitor was also just a psychotic symptom?
“Is that so? Who are you?”
When Paradox asked, the inmate tilted his head.
“Huh? Right? Who was I again? Good question. A very good question… Who am I? I definitely knew just a few minutes ago, you know? Wait just a second. You know that feeling, right? when you definitely know something but can’t remember it when you try to.”
Seeing him ramble while biting his fingernails until they bled gave him goosebumps.
Cheonchilbaek wasn’t the only one who felt a bad premonition; Samsao and Osai also looked at Paradox with eyes asking if this was really the right move.
However, Paradox patiently waited without bothering to explain.
“Ah, right. I was a researcher, one who researched supernatural abilities and created the inquisitor.”
Was that the truth? His tone of voice felt as clumsy as a hastily fabricated lie.
But under the premise that it was the truth, it was also a story they absolutely couldn’t ignore.
“Is that so? How did such a competent researcher end up locked in such a vicious place?”
“Well. I don’t remember that part too well. Maybe it’s because I killed a lot of people while researching? I vaguely remember something like that. Heeheehee. Ah, or maybe not? Killing a few people during research is just the industry average… Did I commit some other mistake besides that?”
Cheonchilbaek frowned. Judging by the way he spoke, even if his mental state was sound, he was someone Cheonchilbaek didn’t want to associate with.
He was a criminal too, but Cheonchilbaek hadn’t crossed the line to that extent.
On the other hand, Paradox, perhaps having a strong stomach, continued to ask in a warm and friendly voice.
“It’s not important, so you might not remember. More than that, I’m interested in your research. Could you tell me about it?”
“Ah, of course! How kind of you. I’ll have to explain it with all my heart. Where should I start…”
The disheveled inmate, who didn’t look like a researcher at all, began to speak passionately about his research conducted for the “combination of supernatural ability and machines,” its greatness, and its potential.
There were various gross and nauseating tangents, like how many people he had ground up in biological experiments, or what he had done to fetuses to combine humans with machines at the point of birth in order to eliminate rejection responses…
Aside from those points, it was ultimately a predictable story.
The entity known as the inquisitor, accidentally born through evil experiments, could not be controlled well, and unlike its original purpose, it could not be mass-produced.
Using it as a guard here in Glitch Hall was the best they could do, and even then, they had to prepare a separate device for control.
“A device for control?”
Paradox asked very naturally.
Since the inmate seemed very talkative, he was trying to keep him talking about his own story to extract important information piece by piece.
Cheonchilbaek marveled at that shameless oratory. As expected, there was no need to worry. Paradox was Paradox.
“That’s…”
However, the inmate on the other side was no pushover either.
He hesitated as if he was about to speak at any second, then abruptly cut off the flow at the crucial moment.
“…I can’t tell you that yet! Heeheehee, you’re pretty good, aren’t you, friend? Trying to get a free ride off me? Do you know how long I’ve been locked up in here? I can’t let an opportunity slip by that easily.”
He said with a wide grin, showing his yellowed teeth.
“Let’s make a deal. If you let me out, I’ll take care of the inquisitor for you. How about it?”
It was a bold declaration that he would take care of the inquisitor. It was a sweet proposition. The only problem was that it was completely untrustworthy.
“You’ll take care of the inquisitor? How?”
“Eyy, look at this guy. I told you. That won’t work. I can’t reveal my hand that easily. I’ll tell you right after I get out of here. Yeah?”
At the inmate’s coaxing, Paradox shook his head.
“Unfortunately, I can’t trust you enough to let you go based on that alone. I don’t even know if you can really take care of the inquisitor.”
“Is that so? So do you have any other way besides trusting me? The inquisitor is my creation, and I know it best. And as its creator, I guarantee you, if I don’t help you, you will all be killed by the inquisitor. Every single one of you. Uhuhuhu!”
Maniacal laughter that made the listener’s blood run cold erupted. However, Paradox replied nonchalantly.
“Right. And you will be locked in here forever. Let’s go, everyone. There’s nothing more to see.”
Then he started walking again. Without even giving the inmate a glance, he strode forward, intending to leave the room. The Companions also followed behind Paradox.
The inmate just kept giggling until everyone was about to leave. Then, right before the door closed, at the very last moment, he shouted urgently.
“Wait!!! Fine. I lost! I lost. You guys have some serious guts, huh? Hey? Come back! You don’t all really want to die either, right? Huh? I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you. How to take care of the inquisitor? I’ll tell you.”
Only after the inmate yelled like that did Paradox turn his steps and return to the room.
“You should have done that from the start. We just wasted time.”
“You cowardly bastard! So dirty and cheap. I’m a bad person too, but you’re quite something yourself!”
“Why don’t you hurry up and tell us how to deal with the inquisitor? I’ll count to three. 3, 2, 1…”
“Ah, okay. I got it!”
The inmate, ultimately throwing his hands up in defeat to Paradox’s oratory, confessed the information he knew.
* * *
The inmate rambled on with incomprehensible scientific explanations that bordered on self-praise for nearly ten minutes until Paradox stopped him, and only at the very end did he briefly summarize it.
“It’s simple. Because the inquisitor is a lifeform born from the combination of science and technology and supernatural ability, if it becomes unable to use its supernatural ability, it dies. Croak! It just kicks the bucket.”
The inmate said that there was a “Supernatural Ability Restraint Chamber” somewhere in Sector 1, created as a result of supernatural ability suppressor research. He said they could consider Supernatural Ability Suppression Technology to be applied to the entire room.
In that room, even the inquisitor would be nothing more than an amalgamation of flesh and machinery, completely unable to use its bizarre abilities and even struggling to breathe, so five people would be more than enough to kill it.
“The location of the room?”
“I can absolutely never explain that with words. You know, right? How incredibly twisted this sector is. Keukeukeu. I can guide you guys there, but if you’re hoping for me to draw a map or something, that’s impossible. Every time the structure changes, you have to go in a different direction accordingly. It’s really complicated and difficult! You’ll never find the way without me.”
The inmate indeed had an ulterior motive. He told them how to deal with the inquisitor, but continuously emphasized that they couldn’t utilize that method without him.
“What about a way to lure the inquisitor to the room? If that room is its only weakness, it definitely won’t just walk there on its own.”
“That right there is the part where you need me. It’s the most important part, too!”
The inmate shouted, spitting in his excitement.
“I told you I’m the creator of the inquisitor, right? The inquisitor is designed so that, while it might harm others, it can absolutely never harm me. It’s engraved like an instinct in its DNA and Source Code. On top of that, I also know the knack for control over it.”
If I step up, I can unconditionally drag the inquisitor to the room. I can guarantee it. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s an easy task. It’s like forcibly dragging a man-eating shark onto land, you could say?”
In the end, it was the same conclusion again.
The conclusion that the inmate himself had to be released.
Paradox pondered for a moment before asking.
“What do we have to do to release you?”
The inmate smiled so wide his mouth stretched into a grin.
“That right there is really simple.”
* * *
At least regarding the method to release him, he hadn’t lied. It was really simple.
The glass wall was made of a special material, making it thick and sturdy, but when Samsao continuously threw punches at it without resting for several minutes, it couldn’t hold up and eventually shattered into pieces.
The inmate, as if he wasn’t even hurt, stepped firmly on the shards of glass with his bare feet and slipped out.
His expression was filled with ecstasy.