NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 15 – Successful Escape
“You failed the trial!”
What..?
No…
He’s lying…
He has to be!
A single line remained on the white gun.
1 bullet left.
Fuck!
Why wasn't everything over?!
Wasn’t I supposed to kill him and escape?!
I kept my gun pointed at him. But my left hand was clearly trembling.
The monster, noticing my confusion and fear, spoke,
“Hehehe…
You have the answer, already in your hand…
Despite gaining conviction, are you still so simple-minded?”
The monster laughed.
Damn it…
Did I miss something?
What else was I supposed to do with the gun, other than killing you?
Why are you still alive?!
“Hehehehe…
You have misunderstood the whole point of this game.
At this point, you have failed.”
Swoosh!
The monster rushed at me.
Fuck, too fast!
Slam!
He slammed into my body with his whole body.
The impact made me drop my white gun, and I flew into a shelving rack from behind me.
“CAK-“
Fuck…
You… Fucker..!
…
Damn…
Dizziness…
Supporting myself on the shelf, I propped myself up on one of its hinges.
What… Am I supposed to do now..?
Both me and the monster looked over to the gun on the floor.
The light from the gun was becoming weaker.
“Huhuhu…
Seems like your conviction is wavering.
Based on the symbol… You have one bullet left?”
Shit.
What…
What can I do..?
“How unfortunate…
It seems as though you’re still lost in the dark.”
Unexpectedly.
With his leg, the monster kicked the gun towards me.
“Pick it up.”
The monster smiled.
You fucker…
The light from the gun was diminishing.
“Better hurry!
Before your resolve completely disappears.
Hahahahahahaha!”
I scrambled on the floor and picked up the gun.
Once more I aimed it towards the monster.
Shit… The light is gonna completely disappear!
The monster took one step towards me.
“Go ahead.
Shoot.
Afterwards… I’ll mess you up reeaaal gooood~.”
The monster laughed.
Fuck!
What did I miss?!
Wasn’t the whole point of this trial to fully acknowledge yourself, and gain conviction to kill the monster?!
Step.
The monster took a step forward.
“Here, I’ll make it easier for you!”
Shut up!!!
Fuck!
Think! Think!
There must’ve been a hint somewhere..!
I recalled my dream.
Right… The boy!
I gained the gun of conviction thanks to his help..!
I thought back to what he told me,
'You’re on the right track!
Confront your problems head on!'
Wait…
‘On the right track?’, he didn’t verify that I was supposed to kill the monster?
Fuck! I misunderstood his words!
‘Confront your problems head on!’
My problems?
I already overcame my delusional attachment towards Delilah…
And now the problem right in front of me was the monster!
I came back to reality and glared at the monster.
He smirked, “C’mon, shoot…
Just what exactly are you thinking about?
Don’t tell me you plan on hiding back inside the darkness..?”
No… Because that’s apparently not the point of this trial!
Damn it, the fact that the monster came back to life means killing it wasn’t the right answer!
So what exactly is my current ‘problem’?
…
Wait.
Did I have my set of priorities mixed up..?
Oh, right…
My priority was to escape the darkness in this room.
So the real problem is escaping the room!
But… How?!
There isn’t an emergency exit!
Think!!!
The monster kept walking towards me, “Having last regrets?
I won’t wait any longer…
I’ll give you 30 seconds to shoot me.”
Damn it!
What else did I miss?!
Okay… Think back about the emergency exit!
It was with me right before I teleported in the darkness.
Okay…
Oh right!
The monster can’t manipulate the lights from the emergency exit!
But it can only manipulate the lights in the roo-
…
Wait.
No that isn’t right…
How come it didn’t manipulate the light from my flashlight at all?
Perhaps...
The real reason it couldn't affect the emergency exit...
Was because I was the one who was holding onto it?
“15 seconds!”, the monster reminded me.
And also…
There was also another piece of information I ignored.
“You searched for light on your phone, and then that light betrayed you.
Searching for the light from something other than yourself…”
Just like with my phone…
I was seeking for light from the white gun.
Does that mean I literally had to find the light within myself?
“5..!”
That doesn’t make sense!
“4..!”
Wait… Does it..?
“3..!”
First… I had to gain conviction to gain the gun…
“2..!”
And my priority is leaving this room…
“1..!”
Ah, I see.
“Times up!
It was fun while it laste-“
But the monster stopped.
…
“What… Are you doing..?”
The monster stared at me with confusion...
Because...
I had pointed the gun towards my head.
…
Ah… Based on his reaction…
So I was right.
Back when I gained the gun, I was on ‘the right track.’
I remembered the monster’s words earlier, 'Despite gaining conviction, are you still so simple-minded?'
What I needed was the conviction to confront any problem.
Not a sole conviction to only face the monster.
The monster in front of me was definitely a problem. But it wasn’t my main priority…
My main priority was escaping the darkness from the room.
The monster was simply a red herring… To make me waste my bullets.
I didn’t realize that until I killed the monster earlier.
Now… I get the point of this trial.
I smiled.
I tightened my grip on the handle.
“Here is my answer.”
I took a deep breath.
Once again, the gun brightly glowed in the darkness.
“If I don’t have conviction…
I’ll be stuck running in circles in the dark…”
The monster stared at me.
He smiled.
“Superficial light… Won’t lead me out of the darkness.”
I couldn’t understand the monster’s complicated expression.
Despite smiling, he still lunged at me in a desperate attempt.
“If there’s no light to guide my path…
…
Then I need to become the light.”
BANG!
The gun… Disappeared from my left hand.
…
And my head was engulfed in light.
Rather than piercing my skull, my body absorbed the light…
And burnt everything around me.
“Hahahahaha!
You did it!”
Just like in my dream, the darkness that surrounded me was swallowed by a bright light.
Even the shelving racks disintegrated into the violent and unforgiving light.
“You beat me!”
The monster’s skin was being burnt alive.
“Yohlan Danien… Was it?”
The monster’s flesh was scorched into nothingness.
“Thank you… Truly… Thank you!”
Now all that was left was the monster’s bones.
“Ahh… It’s all coming back to me…”
The flames finally went up to the monster’s skull.
“My name…”
Until nothing remained.
“Was Jack Isenbern…”
…
The room I was in…
Was now a pure white space.
In the distance… Standing alone…
Was an emergency door.
…
Step. Step. Step. Step.
…
Step. Step. Step.
…
Step.
In front of the door, I was about push onto the crash bar…
Until I heard a familiar voice from behind.
"Hey."
I turned my head back.
It was the boy.
A wide smile was on his face,
"Surprisingly... You passed.
So...
Now you owe me a favor."