Chapter 1: Prologue
I wrote in my diary every single day.
No matter how unwell I felt, no matter how exhausted I was, I had never once skipped writing in it.
The day’s weather.
My daily routine.
The emotions I felt in every mont.
Even the smallest things — the conversations I had with people or random stories I overheard in passing — I recorded them all, ticulously.
Even I sotis thought it was a bit obsessive. But I couldn’t help it.
‘I can’t forget again.’
My mories stopped three years ago.
I had no recollection of anything before that.
When I woke up in this town three years ago, not a single person there knew who I was.
I had felt like I’d been dropped into the world all alone, without any signposts to guide .
I never wanted to feel that sa despair and emptiness again.
That’s why I kept my diary.
I had already lost my mories once — who’s to say it wouldn’t happen again?
“Then this will help you when that ti cos.”
Thud.
I closed my diary.
Whenever I finished writing for the day, that familiar sense of refreshnt and drowsiness washed over .
You did well today, Mason.
Now, ti to sleep.
“Rise and shine, everyone. The round sun hasn’t risen yet, but let’s get up anyway!”
That voice was followed by peals of laughter.
They must’ve thought it was quite a funny joke.
‘Ugh, what kind of dream is this…’
I rubbed my eyes open groggily.
I should’ve been seeing the familiar attic I always stayed in — but instead, an entirely foreign scene filled my vision.
“Huh? Wh–what? Where is this?”
“Who are you! Why are you in my room?”
“What? I could ask you the sa thing—”
“W–wait. Why are there so many people here?”
“Oh my god. What the hell is going on?”
The place was buzzing with voices.
I shot to my feet.
“Huh?”
I couldn’t grasp what was happening at all.
The first thing that caught my eye was the sheer number of people.
In my entire life — well, in the three years I could rember — I had never seen so many people gathered in one place.
Nor had I ever seen such an enormous field.
Even with this massive crowd, the field was wide enough that it didn’t feel crowded in the least.
Then—
“Mason? Is that you, Mason?”
I spun around in shock.
“Mr. Forgotten?”
“I knew it was you.”
Mr. Forgotten was the man who had taken in three years ago, when I had lost my mories and fallen into despair. He’d hired to work at his restaurant.
The attic I lived in now was also his doing.
In this bewildering situation, seeing a familiar face filled with relief.
“Sir! I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Y–yeah. Though I’ve got no idea what kind of place this is.”
“Isn’t this a dream? I an, I don’t mind you showing up in my dream, but still.”
Mr. Forgotten’s face twisted awkwardly.
“Your dream? Funny, I was thinking you showed up in my dream.”
“Oh, co on.”
“No, I’m serious. And are we sure this is a dream? It feels way too real.”
I was about to reply when that sa lively voice from earlier echoed through the air once more.
“Ahaha, perfect timing! Soone just asked the right question. Yes, the bald man over there is correct — this isn’t a dream.”
“……”
“Now, everyone, may I have your attention, please!”
Until now, it had been impossible to tell where the voice was coming from.
But now, the source beca clear.
Not quite sky-high, but too elevated to be the ground — floating in midair at an in-between height was… sothing. Or rather, soone.
Her face was hidden by a hood, but judging by the voice, she was a woman.
“Allow to introduce myself. My na is Magireta. I’ll be in your care from now on.”
“……”
“You’ve all gathered nicely. Since ti is short, let’s get straight to the point.”
“To the point? What the hell is this?”
A booming voice rang out.
I turned to see a giant of a man — easily one and a half tis my size, muscles twitching under his skin, a vicious scar slashed across his face.
“Hey, lady. I don’t know what trick you pulled to bring here, but I suggest you send back while I’m still asking nicely.”
“……”
“I’ve got business tomorrow. I don’t have ti to waste in this place.”
“Of course you don’t, Mr. Bart. You’re planning to raid a rchant caravan tomorrow, aren’t you?”
Bart’s face froze.
“Wh–what did you just say?”
“You’re the bandit leader of a small rural gang, right? You must’ve gotten word that a rchant group will be passing through your territory. So tonight, you went to bed early to prepare for the ambush tomorrow.”
“Y–you… what the hell are you? Get down here right now!”
“You co up here.”
Her tone suddenly shifted.
And in the next mont—
“Guh!”
Bart clutched at his throat.
His face went pale, his eyes rolling back.
Then, to my horror, his body began to rise slowly into the air.
‘Wh–what? What the hell is this?’
I stood frozen, staring back and forth between Bart and the woman called Magireta.
Her arm was raised, and as she lifted it higher, Bart’s body floated upward accordingly — as though so invisible force was hoisting him up.
“You see, when starting sothing like this, it’s best to give people a sense of reality first.”
“Guh… guh…”
“So I thought, who should I use as an example? And wouldn’t you know it — there’s always one like you in every group.”
She clenched her fist.
Then, in response, the man called Bart’s body… began to crumple.
It was such an unreal spectacle, but it did not feel like a hallucination.
“Gyaaaargh!”
Bart’s shriek, a sound that drilled into my ears, lodged itself in my head.
When I ca to, Bart’s body had beco a single lump of at, sared with so much blood that it was impossible to distinguish its original form.
Whoosh.
Magireta tossed it away carelessly.
Thud.
Very inconveniently, the lump of at that had been Bart fell right in front of my nose.
Drip, drip.
I felt sothing run down my cheek.
It was the blood that the lump had splattered around as it fell.
A mont later.
As people around regained a little of their sense of reality, screams erupted.
“Ahhh!”
“Ah, ahaha. See? This is a dream after all….”
“Run. You have to run.”
“Everyone, run! Hurry!”
Panic spread and spread again.
I should have been no different.
In my three years of mory, I had never witnessed such a brutal sight.
But.
‘Why?’
Why was I so calm?
Why did I find such a sight… familiar?
“Everyone, stand where you are!”
Suddenly Magireta’s voice rang out.
As if on cue, the bodies of the countless people who had been panicking and trying to flee froze.
It felt as if so invisible weight had settled on my shoulders.
“You must all be frightened. You want to run away from here, don’t you?”
“Ugh.”
“Don’t worry — I will send you back soon. After all, today was only ant to be a brief greeting.”
“…….”
“First, I will tell you my purpose.”
Clack.
Even though she was suspended in midair, Magireta assud a relaxed pose as if she had leaned back in so chair.
“From today on, I will occasionally give you various quests.”
“Q-quests?”
“Yes. And to those of you who complete all of my quests, I will give corresponding rewards.”
Swoosh.
She crossed her legs and continued.
“I will grant you the one wish you want most.”
“…….”
“Whether you ask to bring soone back to life, to kill soone alive, to give you such enormous treasure that you could swim in it, or to grant you land enough to found a country… whatever it is, I will grant one wish you desire.”
People’s expressions began to change slightly.
Of course fear and anxiety still made up more than ninety percent, but a small ten percent of greed flickered there.
I muttered absentmindedly.
“Does that include recovering mories?”
“Yes! You there, sir. From the way you asked that, you must’ve sadly lost your mories, huh?”
“…….”
“Of course — recovering past mories is included. As you just saw, I am quite an omnipotent being.”
I swallowed.
Then a clear, refreshing voice ca from a spot quite far from .
It was a voice beautiful enough to cool the ear.
“If we refuse, will you kill us? Like you just killed that man called Bart?”
I looked toward the owner of the voice.
She was a woman with brilliant platinum hair falling to her waist.
Magireta answered without hesitation.
“Yes! Of course.”
“Then I will refuse.”
“……? I just said I would kill you if you refused.”
“That is exactly what I would have you do. As you yourself said, it is impossible to imagine quests that such an almighty being would need our hands to accomplish.”
The platinum-haired woman spoke with a voice that trembled but remained clear.
“I think you will give us impossible missions and use them as pretexts to kill us off one by one. Honestly, I half want to watch to see us struggle desperately to turn the impossible into the possible.”
“Oh my. Such vivid imagination. Do I look so idle as to do that?”
“If you were a demon like you, I could believe you’d steal ti away to do just that.”
That woman was out of her mind.
To think soone could talk back so casually to that unprecedented being.
And her tone was strange, too.
Magireta spoke.
“Don’t worry. These are all tasks well within your ability. I’m not about to ask you to overturn the world or anything.”
“……”
“You seem doubtful, so I’ll show you directly. Now then. Here is your first quest.”
Magireta shifted her gaze away from the platinum-haired woman and looked down at all of us.
“I’m sure you’re all too shaken by the recent shocking events to think straight. You probably don’t even know who the people around you are yet.”
“……”
“From now on, we’ll take so ti for introductions.”
Clack.
Magireta snapped her fingers.
Then, suddenly, a large board appeared in midair.
‘What’s that?’
Letters began to appear on the translucent surface.
---
1. Within one hour, you must discover the occupations of three different people.
2. You may ask up to ten questions in total to deduce their occupations.
3. You must answer any question truthfully. If you refuse to answer or lie, you will be imdiately eliminated. However, you may refuse a direct question such as, “What is your occupation?”
4. If your own occupation is revealed to three or more people, you will be eliminated.
5. If you fail to discover at least three people’s occupations within one hour, you will be eliminated.
6. All acts of violence or coercion are strictly forbidden during this process.
---
‘Eliminated?’
I unconsciously glanced down at Bart’s mangled remains.
It wouldn’t be unreasonable to assu that that was what “elimination” ant.
Then Magireta’s voice echoed again.
“From now on, I’ll call this translucent board the bulletin board. When this board appears, it ans a new quest has begun. I’ve decided to display the rules visually — spoken words can be forgotten or misunderstood, after all.”
She pointed leisurely toward the board.
“The first quest is exactly as written. When people introduce themselves, the most common question is ‘What do you do?’ right? Normally, that’s how people start conversations with strangers.”
“……”
“So, the first quest I prepared is simple — find out each other’s occupations. You can tell I put so thought into it, can’t you?”
Naturally, no one agreed.
Magireta scratched her cheek, looking bored, then snapped her fingers again.
–1:00:00
Numbers appeared in the air.
Then they changed imdiately.
–0:59:59
No further explanation was necessary.
People’s pupils darted back and forth wildly.
Then, Mr. Forgotten’s voice broke the tension.
“W-well, that’s at least so relief.”
“Sir?”
“You know my occupation, and I know yours. So each of us just needs to find out two more.”
“The risk is higher too, though. If three or more people find out your occupation, you’re out.”
Mr. Forgotten swallowed hard.
He leaned closer and whispered.
“Goes without saying, but we’re a team, right? We’re the only ones here who know each other.”
“Yes. Even if that weren’t the case, you’re still my benefactor.”
“Hmph.”
“So then… what do we do now?”
I sighed as I said that.
Absentmindedly, I reached into my chest pocket.
To pull out my notebook — the one I used to write my diary.
‘Ah.’
But the notebook wasn’t there.
My diary and notebook were both sitting on the desk in my attic room.
‘I should record this. In my diary.’
The fact that I was thinking such a thing even now amazed .
Then—
Clack.
I almost scread.
Sothing had suddenly appeared between Mr. Forgotten’s face and mine.
It was a book.
My diary — the very one that should’ve been sitting on my desk.
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