Chapter 2
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Episode 1 - Stories from a circus train [2] ─────────────────────────────────
〖Correct〗
The people gasped with joy upon hearing that he had answered correctly.
There are a total of ten questions. If you answer even a single one correctly, you can escape. However, the voice must first announce all the questions before the scenario concludes.
〖Congratulations, dear tourists. You successfully answered a total of 5 questions and failed a total of 5 questions.〗
The announcement that the scenario had ended left the people sighing with relief.
I, who had answered all the questions, also sighed, though with my heart beating at a ridiculously fast pace.
'At this rate, my heart won't be able to take it.'
Thinking I should go to the hospital after getting out, the loudspeaker's voice finished speaking.
〖You may leave the carriage if you wish. So, enjoy the rest of your journey in our grand and glorious circus.〗
After that, the loudspeaker's voice fell silent.
Clank!!!
The shackles binding my hands and legs suddenly opened.
Rubbing my arms, they felt very numb, as if the blood hadn't been circulating for a long time.
'How long has the blood been stagnant?'
After a few seconds, the other people were getting up from their respective seats. Upon realizing they were free, they celebrated with great emotion.
I was also happy, but I couldn't be for long.
"Hey."
While lost in my thoughts, a voice came from my right side.
Turning my head, I noted it was the person who had been sitting beside me all this time.
"...Yes."
I didn't know why this person was speaking to me, but preferably, I'd rather they didn't.
"Thank you."
"What?"
"Thanks to you, we are all safe."
"..."
Unexpectedly, he thanked me for saving him.
'But I didn't do anything.'
Yes, perhaps I saved these people indirectly, but if the game had been about who answers first gets freed, I would never have had the idea or the intention of saving strangers.
'I'm simply indifferent to others.'
Shaking my head, I tried to refuse his thanks, but...
"Thank you, and sorry about before."
"I'm sorry too. I'm sorry for shouting and calling you crazy."
"Sorry for yelling and calling you a bastard."
"..."
This situation...
Waving my hands nervously, searching for a way to calm the current situation, I said,
"No, I..."
But a woman's voice interrupted my moment.
"Please, this isn't the time for this. We are still inside a
She pointed backwards, right where a huge shadow loomed over everything at the end of the carriage.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
The people, upon seeing that the Sequence 7 Anomaly was still present, nervously swallowed their saliva.
Then, the woman turned towards me and simply nodded silently.
"..."
I did the same, understanding what she had just done.
'She's perceptive.'
The woman, I mean, Sohel, pointed to the exit door of this train car.
"That is the exit of this car. The further we get from that Anomaly, the better it will be for our state of mind."
The people, nodding, walked toward the door and lined up.
I was second in line. The woman with pale pink hair opened the door.
"..."
"This is..."
After crossing through the door, we appeared in a white room with six doors.
Each door was exactly the same as the others, and they formed a circle. The people noticed they were standing in the center.
However, for me, I recognized this place as soon as I looked around.
'Six doors in a white room.'
It wasn't a scenario, but it was the entrance to another scenario and also the exit from the
I broke into a cold sweat.
A memory surfaced when I read about this part on the wiki.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
| Record of Mysteries Exploration | Entry No. 18: "Six Doors"
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Congratulations, you have passed the first scenario, but that is not all.
When you leave the train car you enter a white room with six doors, all identical without any imperfection. In this place, there are two doors that lead to two objectives.
First: One of the six doors leads to the second scenario of the
Second: If you are lucky, one of the six doors will be the exit. Otherwise, you will enter the third scenario, about which almost nothing is known.
Mysteries solved: 2
Note: In the novel, it is not specified which position you must be in to select the second scenario or the exit. Therefore, everything depends on luck.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
This was the door selection event. In this place, I was vulnerable.
There was no way for there to be information about the correct door leading to the exit of the Passage.
'I can only choose at random, with no guarantee of picking the exit.'
At that moment, while I was weighing the pros and cons, the other people were debating which door they should enter.
"Which door should we choose?"
"Probably one of them is the exit of the Passage, but we can only rely on luck."
"Most likely we'll end up in another train car similar to the previous one."
"Damn it, does anyone have an idea?"
Depending on luck, these people could escape and we would all survive, or otherwise we could enter the second scenario.
'In the worst case, we would enter the third scenario.'
At that moment, Sohel, who had remained silent until now, spoke.
"How about we let you choose the door?"
When I turned toward her, I knew immediately she was referring to me.
"Me?"
I pointed at myself, and Sohel nodded.
"Yes, you. After all, thanks to you we escaped the previous scenario."
All eyes turned toward me.
"..."
I fell silent, feeling somewhat uncomfortable with the current situation, where everyone watched me expectantly, waiting for me to say something.
'It's still uncomfortable.'
Turning around, I pointed at a door.
"That one."
Of course, I pointed at a random door because I honestly had no idea which one to choose.
I had planned to wait for someone else to choose a door.
"Then let it be that one."
The others agreed with Sohel. Slowly, people formed a line, and just as Sohel was about to open the door, someone spoke.
"Now that I think about it, why doesn't everyone go through a different door?"
"Oh, that's right. Why didn't anyone think of that?"
There were fourteen people in total. Two of them suggested an idea to the others.
"You're right. If each person goes through a separate door, since there are fourteen of us, then two should go through each door."
"True, let's do that."
Immediately, the twelve people behind me who were lining up scattered and moved to open their respective doors.
At that moment.
"It opened."
A duo opened one door. Then,
"Here too."
However, only two doors opened. Seeing that only two doors could be opened, everyone fell silent.
"So now what? Only two doors can be opened."
There was a moment of silence.
"In that case, six of you come with the two of us."
Sohel was the first to speak. All heads turned toward her.
"There's nothing else we can do, right?"
"No."
"Anyway, he answered nonsense questions. We might have better chances with him."
After a while, four people joined me, and the rest prepared to enter the other door.
'Two groups of six people.'
I realized things were moving very fast.
'But it's true I have a better chance of escaping, so it's not my problem.'
"Let's go."
Sohel said, and our group entered through the door we had initially chosen.
Meanwhile, the other six entered through the door they had chosen.
***
My eyelids felt heavy. As I tried to open them, I heard a voice at the same time.
〖Welcome, our audience!〗
Like in a reality show, fake applause and cheers echoed loudly from all directions.
When I finally opened my eyes, I realized I was sitting once again, but this time without shackles.
Instead, I lifted my head and the first thing I noticed was a stage, where a masked host stood with a microphone in hand, leaning forward in a greeting toward us.
〖Tonight, you will be part of two grand spectacles in our great and glorious circus!〗
The host said, looking at each of us.
At that moment, I realized something.
'This is…'
Definitely, this was the second stage.
〖Now, let the show begin!〗
I remembered those lines of dialogue from the novel. Moreover, recalling what I had read on the wiki about the two spectacles of the second stage.
'Damn it.'
I cursed internally.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
| Record of Mysteries Exploration | Entry No. 19: "How to Survive the Second Scenario"
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
If you had the bad luck of choosing the door to the second scenario, don't worry so much that you give yourself a heart attack.
The second scenario has two
The reason is simple: the first performance depends heavily on luck. The host, a Sequence 7 Anomaly if it's Sequence 7, you'd better not try to fight that thing unless your "Path" is equal or higher.
The first performance is all about luck. The host selects one person from the audience (you and the rest of your companions). If you are chosen, in short, you have a high chance of dying.
Survival rate: 17%
Note: If you are chosen, there will be two Sequence 9 Anomalies. The objective is simple: they will hold your hands while swinging, and the goal is to pass through the ring of fire twice without falling into the pit full of two-meter-long spikes.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
That's right. In this scenario, the first performance depends entirely on luck.
'Winning that prize before appearing in this world was one of those rare strokes of luck that happen once in a lifetime.'
My luck, of course, is still shit. That prize thing will most likely only happen to me once in a lifetime, but not more than that.
〖Alright, my dear audience, next we will choose one of you to be part of the performance〗
The host looked at us with his mask, which bore a smile.
〖The performance we have prepared is simple: see those two guys hanging from those ropes and the ring on fire? Well, as you may have guessed, whoever I choose to be part of the performance will be held by those two guys and swung to pass through the ring〗
No one said anything. We simply watched the ring of fire and the two Anomalies hanging from a rope.
〖Don't worry. Once they swing you to pass through the ring, you don't have to worry about falling to the ground because the other guy on the other side will be ready to catch you. Now, I will choose someone at random.〗
The host held a device in his hand with a single red button. When he said those last words, the host pressed the red button and then…
Click.
One of the lights on the ceiling pointed at a person.
"..."
My heart pounded violently, and cold sweat dripped from my face.
The reason.
'That was close.'
The person sitting next to me was chosen. The light pointed directly at the person beside me.
At that moment, the host said:
〖Great, we have our first participant.〗
The host said cheerfully. However, the person next to me couldn't accept it.
"I-I don't want to."
At that moment, the host's mask, or more precisely, the mask's smile, twisted and formed an almost straight line, slightly curved downward.
〖That makes me sad, but rules are rules〗
The host raised his hand and made a gesture with his finger.
"W-what…?!"
Out of nowhere, the person sitting next to me floated and was dragged to the center of the stage.
At that moment, the host's mask smiled again.
〖Then let the performance begin〗
The man, his face distorted with fear, had his hands grasped by the Anomaly hanging from the rope.
The man was lifted upward and began to swing along with the Anomaly.
Watching this, I swallowed hard.
"N-no, wait, please let me down."
The man screamed in fear, tears streaming from his eyes and running down his cheeks.
However, neither the host nor the people around me said anything. We just watched.
The Anomaly holding the man deemed it the right moment to release him when he had built enough momentum.
Then, the Anomaly let go of the man.
The man, who flew for a moment, managed to pass through the ring of fire. I thought the launch was perfect, but…
"..."
The man's foot struck the ring of fire, causing him to lose momentum and plummet face-first downward, where there were long, two-meter spikes pointing toward the sky.
"...!"
A light shower of blood fell to the ground.
"..."
He didn't even scream. The silence that deepened throughout the place was unsettling, but…
〖What a shame. If it weren't for his foot, he would have been caught on the other side〗
The host's mask had its mouth twisted downward, feigning sadness.
〖In that case, let's choose someone else〗
However, his mask returned to a smile. He then pressed the button, and the light moved immediately. This time, it landed on…
〖Oh, we have a lovely young lady. Very well, come forward〗
The person chosen this time was Sohel. She swallowed nervously.