Chapter 57

A hollow laugh escaped me before I even realized it.

There had been enough hints.

No matter how many gifts Doctor Dominic received while running a small clinic in Morneveil, it was strange that he possessed wealth beyond the limit of his available funds.

Unless he was receiving support from some kind of cult.

The abilities he showed in front of me were far from ordinary.

Even Edel had openly said it herself.

“Everyone in Morneveil has been treated by Doctor Dominic. Every single one, without exception.”

“He called them, you see. To his clinic.”

It was the Call of the Void.

“……”

A wave of dizziness rushed over me, and I briefly closed my eyes.

Edel’s laughter echoed through the underground chamber.

I barely managed to calm the dizziness and opened my eyes again.

Edel was smiling beautifully.

Her gaze was like that of someone looking at prey that had already been caught.

Under her greedy stare, I examined her carefully from head to toe.

Her revealing clothes actually made this convenient.

Just as expected, there were no visible changes to her body.

There was a possibility that a hidden part of her had been altered, but someone with that much power could not possibly remain unchanged.

It was certain that she had not made a contract with Dominic.

‘He probably wouldn’t have wanted that.’

Dominic had placed himself into the role of ‘Morneveil’s psychiatrist.’

He would have rejected being worshiped as a god.

Then perhaps the current situation happened because Dominic had placed all the citizens of Morneveil under his influence.

1. All of Morneveil is within Dominic’s sphere of influence.

2. Edel’s cult worships Dominic as their god.

3. The system of CallOVo recognizes all of Morneveil as part of the cult.

Thinking this way, everything made sense.

The world of CallOVo was judging everything overwhelmingly in Dominic’s favor.

The reason the system was moving like this was likely also because of Dominic.

With such overwhelming power, it was possible that his desire to recover his memories had influenced the system itself.

‘Just like how it kept forcing strange choices on me.’

Considering how persistently the choices had been pushed onto me, if I had joined the cult and performed the summoning ritual, it probably would have helped Dominic recover his memories.

However, even after roughly understanding the situation, one question still remained unresolved.

How had Dominic ended up trapped inside Call of the Void and lost his memories?

If he truly possessed a status worthy of a ridiculous title like ‘Lord of All Things,’ he should not have been affected by a summoning ritual performed by a mere trial NPC.

It was impossible to understand.

I even considered the possibility that his portrayal inside CallOVo was exaggerated, and that he did not actually possess such immense power.

But the moment I remembered the butlers, that assumption disappeared.

‘There is one final possibility.’

Even though I had thought of it myself, it was the possibility I wanted least to be true.

Yet it was also the suspicion that had remained stuck in my mind ever since Dominic realized he was the God of the Void.

“It isn’t too late, Little Lamb-nim.”

I stopped thinking for a moment.

Edel gestured toward me.

“Perform the ritual for Him together with me.”

She tried to tempt me, as if only that could bring true peace and salvation.

She even looked frustrated, as though she could not understand why I did not know this happiness.

“I want Little Lamb-nim to become happy.”

But the look in her eyes was empty.

Ever since her conversation with Dominic, her eyes had remained unfocused like that.

Looking at Edel’s dazed expression, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

Maybe the reason Edel had trusted me so easily and become my companion was entirely because of Call of the Void’s system.

It left a slightly unpleasant feeling.

Perhaps it was because I remembered the time I had spent with Edel in the game.

The happy ending I had intended to reach with her was not supposed to look like this.

Of course, even then I had planned to do something insane by summoning the strongest Outer God.

But at the very least, the Edel from the game was…

She was not someone who moved according to the system, or according to someone else’s will.

She acted passionately for the sake of her own desires.

For an Edel who existed inside the real trial world to feel more like something created than the pixel character made by the developer in the game…

It was absurd.

The words Edel had spoken to me in the game kept coming back.

After I left for the outside world alone.

The Edel remaining in this trial would continue living the same life.

Worshiping Dominic as a god, waiting for a freedom that could never come.

A promise that meant nothing.

The Edel here did not even remember it.

“Little Lamb-nim….”

Edel called out to me with a desperate voice.

I slowly parted my lips.

And I called out the name of an NPC who no longer called me Roasted Chestnut.

“Edel.”

Only after saying it did I realize I was calling her the same way I had when I played the game.

But it did not matter what I called her.

Whether I used an honorific or simply called her name, it would not matter to this Edel.

The ritual could no longer be stopped.

The reporter route was impossible to clear.

The backup plan I had prepared in case escaping with the hologram badge was difficult was gone.

But that did not mean there was no other method.

“I want to join the cult.”

Edel’s eyes widened.

Her lips parted in surprise, and then she smiled brightly as if a flower had just bloomed.

She jumped down from the altar and rushed toward me, wrapping her arms around me.

The scent of flowers surrounded me.

“I knew Little Lamb-nim would come! I’m so happy!”

Her small, pale hands touched my cheeks.

Edel looked up at me earnestly and asked,

“Little Lamb-nim is the true apostle who will serve Him. You will perform the ritual with me, won’t you?”

“Gladly.”

If my final assumption was correct, there was still a way to clear the true ending.

It was not for Edel.

It was simply… a precaution.

I held Edel’s hand and answered.

“Edel. Please offer me as the sacrifice for today’s ritual.”

“Ah…!”

Edel let out a gasp filled with emotion.

Tears even welled up in her eyes from my devotion.

I smiled at her.

“Let us perform the greatest ritual together.”

Boom, boom, ahhh—!

Boom, boom, ahhh—!

The rhythmic sound continued.

Feet stomped in time with the beating of a massive drum, and then everyone sang together with the exact same voice.

As if they had become one.

The more the sound repeated, the more excitement rose within me, and vitality surged throughout my entire body.

I exhaled through my mouth several times.

I was trying to release even a little of the heat building up inside me.

The underground area where the cult’s ritual was taking place was impossibly vast and deep for a place beneath a building.

Hundreds of lives had already been taken outside, but the apostles were not satisfied with only that.

They selected the most devout believers and brought them underground.

They were to be used as sacrifices for the main ritual.

All of the believers wore pure white clothing.

The design was long enough to cover their entire bodies.

Only the apostles wore revealing outfits, but fortunately, I was given clothing that was at least somewhat decent since I was to become the sacrifice.

Sitting on the marble altar allowed me to look down and see everything happening below.

Edel stood beneath my feet and cut the throat of a sacrifice.

A fountain of blood erupted, splattering all over me as well.

It was when she killed the sixth believer.

“Roasted Chestnut!”

At last, Dominic appeared.

The entire place was stained with blood, yet Dominic alone remained clean.

He walked toward the altar with large, steady steps.

Edel’s face brightened when she saw him, but she could not approach.

Instead, she only backed away as if fleeing.

“What is going on here? I went to rescue those who were going to become sacrifices, only to find Roasted Chestnut becoming one instead.”

Seeing my condition, Dominic looked around as if searching for something to wipe me with.

But there was no way such a thing existed here.

I watched him quietly as he tried to take out the handkerchief he had used earlier when wiping my cold sweat, then asked.

“Dominic-ssi.”

“Yes, Roasted Chestnut.”

“What kind of existence are you?”

Dominic froze and looked down at me.

With the candlelight behind him, his face was shadowed.

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said.”

“Roasted Chestnut….”

Dominic sighed and turned his head away.

It was the gentlemanly attitude of someone trying not to react emotionally toward me.

“Have you also been influenced by Edel’s nonsense?”

He muttered it like a lament, then looked back into my eyes.

“It is true that I am an existence that does not belong here. But that does not mean I believe I am the ridiculous role Edel claims I am.”

“……”

“Think about it, Roasted Chestnut. If I truly were the Lord of All Things…”

A strange light appeared in Dominic’s eyes.

His voice twisted unnaturally.

The voice that crushed against my mind made it difficult to breathe.

Only afterward did I check my surroundings.

Every believer was trembling on their knees on the ground.

The only one still relatively unaffected was me.

I slowly answered Dominic.

“…You are right, Dominic-ssi.”

At that, Dominic’s eyes returned to normal.

He looked greatly relieved.

“I believed Roasted Chestnut would make a rational judgment.”

However, when I still did not step down from the altar, Dominic finally looked around.

Seeing the barbaric scene created by the cultists, his expression tightened slightly.

“This… is partly my responsibility as well.”

Dominic explained for my sake.

“When I first opened my eyes, I wanted to determine what kind of place this was.”

He had called every NPC in Morneveil to his clinic and examined them one by one.

However, none of them knew that Dominic was an outsider.

As a test, Dominic revealed his true nature to one person.

That person was Edel.

That was why Edel came to worship Dominic as the God of the Void.

After finishing his explanation, Dominic spoke to me with an apologetic expression.

“It seems Edel-nim used my name to incite these people. From now on, I will make sure she cannot do so again.”

“There is no need.”

I stepped down from the altar.

As if it had been waiting, the choice window appeared.

That damn ritual.

It seemed that performing it really would allow Dominic to recover his memories.

And yet the letters in the system window remained perfectly neat.

It was ridiculous.

But I would not choose anything.

If my final assumption was correct, I would not need to.

My eyes burned.

The system window that failed to receive a choice began to break apart.

If I used the escape function now, it seemed like I would be able to return outside.

But I did not grasp the hologram badge.

Instead, I looked up at Dominic and made a request.

“Could you tell Edel to hand over the position of cult leader? To me.”

Dominic slowly blinked, then asked in a lowered voice.

“Is this also part of your investigation? If it is for collecting evidence, it is too dangerous. Of course, I will keep Roasted Chestnut safe, but these people can be rather troublesome.”

“I would appreciate it if you could do it.”

“…Understood.”

Dominic turned toward Edel with an expression of displeasure.

Normally, his actions always carried the habits of someone considerate toward a lady.

Now that the shell he had worn as an imitation had disappeared, his eyes looked as though he were staring at an insect.

“Edel-nim.”

Edel’s body trembled slightly as she looked up at Dominic.

“I want Roasted Chestnut to become the cult leader.”

“If that is what you wish, Doctor, then anything can be accomplished.”

Before Edel could even finish speaking, the system window appeared.

“Are you satisfied now?”

Dominic turned back toward me and asked.

Seeing him openly show his dissatisfaction made me laugh without realizing it.

Dominic tilted his head slightly and stared at me.

“Dominic-ssi.”

“Yes, Roasted Chestnut.”

“There is something I want to say one last time.”

“…One last time?”

He reached out his hand toward me.

“Are you all right? It seems you need some stability.”

I could not take his hand.

“I’m sorry.”

Instead, I said something I should never have said to Dominic.

“I summoned you here.”