The Monster's Room - Chapter 73
John Doe felt his sanity slipping away, even as he had managed to keep it together when his wrist was twisted.
‘That thing’ was dangerous. He had repeatedly suggested to the Foundation that the threat posed by ‘that thing’ was far from a Safe level, but his warnings were ignored.
Ring.
The reason was the different scales of danger. The Foundation assessed anomalous entities as objectively as possible. However, John Doe pointed out that this was flawed. What was the basis for this supposed objectivity?
Ring.
Who manages these anomalous entities?
Ring.
People.
Ring.
It was people. The risk level of SCPs should be set based on human standards. By that measure, SCP-▉▉▉1 was at the highest level of danger. Imagine this: when is a human most dangerous? When facing a powerful entity that they cannot control? That’s one answer.
Ring.
But in John Doe’s view, the most dangerous time for a human is when they cannot even perceive the threat.
Ring.
SCP-▉▉▉1 was precisely such an entity. Most people were unaware of its danger. It was light, small, and capable of moving on its own. Just because it was inexpensive to manage did not mean it was safe.
This case was no different. Who would have guessed that someone would smuggle the SCP out and then use it to breach the facility in sync with his assault?
John Doe shut his eyes tightly as he watched the doll approach his feet.
– No, you have to keep your eyes open.
But he couldn’t even close his eyes. On the CCTV screen, Spiegel, who had a firm grip on his head, was bringing something to his ear.
A green receiver.
The monster, holding the future phone that was supposed to be visible only to him, brought it close with a chilling smile.
<Hello.>
A man with the same voice as his own greeted him from the receiver.
The third contact had been made. John Doe’s lips trembled uncontrollably. This couldn’t be happening. How had he come to this point? He was someone who should have achieved much more.
<What a pity.>
“…What did I miss?”
He knew how to succeed.
He knew how to avoid danger.
So how did it come to this?
<It’s just how things are. You succeed, avoid danger, and then you die. Isn’t that what life is all about?>
“I could have succeeded.”
<You already did succeed. The success I presented.>
“Are you only counting one success?”
<Of course, it’s me after all. Even in this situation, you’re trying to predict things.>
The fluffy cotton doll grabbed John Doe’s leg. Instead of immediately tearing his leg apart, the doll chose to climb up by holding onto his pants. A slight reprieve. Because of that, a glimmer of hope appeared in John Doe’s eyes.
There was less than a minute left until the alarm rang.
“I haven’t failed.”
<Oh?>
He had to buy time. John Doe held on, and each second, which felt eternal, ticked by.
Beep beep beep beep.
The alarm sounded.
Beep beep beep beep.
“……No.”
Beep beep beep beep.
“No, no, no!”
But even with the alarm, the child did not wake up. Even more despairing was that the creatures shown on the CCTV screens were waking up from their nightmares.
Something was wrong.
John Doe shouted this out, and laughter flowed from the future phone.
<Actually, there wasn’t no chance of success for you.>
“Then why……!”
<There was a variable.>
The fluffy cotton finally climbed onto his shoulder. John Doe felt the soft texture, true to its name, enveloping his face and fell into despair.
<Love>
He could no longer see ahead.
<A quite powerful force, indeed.>
It seemed that he would never see anything again.
Case Closed: Happy Ending
Marie opened her eyes. She was lying gently in the Shattered Mirror room, just as she had been before falling asleep.
– My queen.
“Spiegel.”
Rolling her eyes, she saw Spiegel standing, unlike herself. A shy smile formed on Marie’s lips. It felt like she might cry. How she had longed to face the monster like this in reality. Marie rolled over and sat up, resting her forehead against the mirror.
“I missed you.”
A faint sigh fogged up the air.
“You’ve been through a lot.”
Marie quickly reviewed what Spiegel showed her, and thanks to that, she understood what had happened while she was asleep.
The core of her plan, which she hastily devised just before the attack, was the fluffy cotton doll. Small and light, it was easy to sneak away and, when charged with a shock, could penetrate any obstacle. This was intended to provide a chance for a counterattack, but…
There were several fatal flaws in this plan.
For instance, if the Foundation did not send the fluffy cotton doll, the plan couldn’t even begin. Even if it was deployed, there was the issue of whether the doll could approach the enemy without being detected.
“If it weren’t for you, it would have been difficult.”
– Hahaha.
Spiegel filled those gaps. As soon as the attack commenced, Spiegel had gone to the Foundation’s personnel and threatened them—no matter how you looked at it, it was a threat—and skillfully altered the CCTV screens to prevent the fluffy cotton doll from being detected.
Additionally, Spiegel guided the fluffy cotton doll, which was wandering off course, to its proper destination.
Without Spiegel, capturing John Doe would have been nearly impossible.
