“Finally, all seven devils have gathered! Everyone, a round of applause!”

The tale devils had finally accepted Dorothy, the tale devil who had been shrouded in mystery.

Now that everyone was finally together, it was time to celebrate.

“Wow!”

Clap clap clap clap!

However, only Jack, Little Red Riding Hood, and I were clapping.

The others, exuding an awkward atmosphere, were just glancing around, and the exclamations I had deliberately uttered to liven up the mood quickly lost their power and disappeared.

Translation: Dororthy

“Wow… Ahem.”

I couldn’t help but cough in vain, and I wondered how I could relieve this cold air.

“I’ll be honest with you.”

Just then, Ariel spoke, glancing at Dorothy.

“It’s scary, so could you look the other way? I still can’t look at you because it gives me goosebumps.”

That’s right.

Dorothy, who had killed the tale devils countless times in the loop, was a very scary being.

Moreover, this time, the tale devils’ memories were intact, so the sensation of having died was all too vivid.

It was only natural for them to break out in a cold sweat just by Dorothy being here.

Then Dorothy, with her characteristic bright smile slightly faltering, offered an apology.

“I’m sorry. Even if I had ten mouths, I’d have no excuse. I don’t know how many times I killed you all in that loop. I stopped counting specifically after it went over a hundred, but if you want that much compensation, I’ll do anything.”

“…”

I have never died at Dorothy’s hands.

So I can’t carelessly say they should forgive her.

Although I’ve told them about Dorothy’s situation and sadness, whether they accept it or not is entirely up to them.

Ariel was silent for a moment, then opened her mouth.

“Haa… If it were once or twice, I’d be angry, but since it’s over a hundred times. My head’s cooled down.”

Well, if the number exceeds the expected range, anger probably wouldn’t even arise.

It seems that the other devils have the same thoughts and do not intend to punish her for her sins.

“Yeah… It’s not like we’re all innocent. I’ll give you a welcome greeting.”

Ariel said so and handed over some juice.

Dorothy happily accepted the juice and smiled.

“Thank you. You’re so sweet.”

“You little brat, did you just say I’m weak?“1

Ariel, as if having a seizure, pulled out her trident, and Peter Pan and Little Red Riding Hood stopped her.

Meanwhile, Dorothy, who’s smiling without batting an eye, is terrifying even though she’s on our side now.

“Calm down! She said sweet, not weak!”

“Hahaha! What a narrow-minded dragon.”

“Shut up!”

“I was furious when she killed Cassie too, but phew… that child came back to me, so I’ll let it go. Don’t do it again.”

“I’m sorry, I’m reflecting.”

Dorothy bowed her head in reflection.

It was difficult to see her as a slaughterer who had previously swept away everything with overwhelming force.

Though her characteristic calm tone and smiling face remained.

“It’s definitely noisy when all seven of us gather together.”

“That’s because Peter Pan attended too.”

Ariel, contrary to her words of forgiveness, was extremely wary of Dorothy.

It didn’t mean she was hostile, but it seemed unavoidable due to the memory of dying hundreds of times.

It would probably take more time for her to get used to it.

Dorothy opened her mouth to try to ease everyone’s tension.

“Hey, now that my level has dropped, I’m not that strong. If I tried to kill everyone, I’d be the one to get beaten instead.”

Dorothy’s current level is said to be around 12.

Although she returned to level 1 from 998, it seems her level has risen as she experienced internal growth.

It’s a good thing that her level rises without hunting monsters (humans), but it also means she’s going through a lot of mental anguish, which is unfortunate.

Ariel asked going through.

“What if you only face one?”

“…”

Dorothy smiled silently.

Even at level 12, it seems she has no problem dealing with one person.

Ariel, recognizing the silence, spoke to Jack naturally.

“Jack, let’s sleep together tonight.”

“Ugh, you’re being gross today.”

Aren’t you guys strangers to each other?

Their actions make them look like a younger brother and older sister… Since the atmosphere seems to have loosened up a bit, I threw in a joke.

“Now that you’ve forgiven her, I’ll say this, do you all realize that everyone has a criminal record? Except for Jack.”

At my joke, everyone awkwardly turned their heads.

They’ve all done strange things, whether directly or indirectly.

Little Red Riding Hood wasn’t in her right mind, and Peter Pan, well, it’s closer to me unilaterally breaking the contract… Anyway, bad is bad!

“Yeah. Reflect on yourselves, you lunatics!”

“That’s harsh…”

When Jack, the only one who was confident, reprimanded them, Ariel and Pinocchio in particular were depressed.

Hmm, considering what they’ve been through, this might be okay.

Well, that’s enough for lightening the mood.

It’s time to get to the main point.

“Then, Dorothy. Will you tell us what you know?”

“Of course.”

Dorothy, who was playing the role of stopping the singularity.

It’s true that, like us, she was doing wrong things for her personal goals, but she seemed to be on a different path from us.

Since she spoke in riddles and nonsensical ways, she must know something more.

“You said you didn’t play games, right?”

“Yeah. For now.”

Dorothy had said that, unlike us, she had never been possessed into a game.

That was one of the reasons she was different.

“Then how…”

“You want to ask how I could become a tale devil without fulfilling the context, right?”

Dorothy said with a slight smile.

A calm tone that pierces the heart, despite the innocent smile.

I feel a little creeped out for no reason.

“That’s right.”

“You’re mistaken about one thing. To fulfill the context, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a computer game.”

“Hmm?”

“Thinking of this world as a game, seeing illusions, that alone can become a story. Just as dreams are just illusions, they can also become a story. The important thing is whether it’s based on reality.”

There is no need to limit it to a game story to meet the context.

This means that tale devils can be created from stories other than the games Mephistopheles seems to have made.

She really is different all the way from the beginning.

“Then, because you thought the world was a game, that alone fulfilled the context?”

“Exactly.”

I got a definite answer, but it’s still ambiguous.

The concept of context.

It can’t be helped.

I asked the next thing I was curious about.

“And you said you came down through the gates of hell?”

“Yeah. I saw the gates of hell directly. And I came down directly.”

“The fact that you came down means.”

This time too, Dorothy was quick to anticipate what I was going to say and answered me.

“Hmm? You guys came down too. In the form of possession.”

Is that so… We tale devils commonly came down from a higher world to a lower world.

That’s why our class was high, and we were able to compete with overwhelmingly strong Rulers.

“Little Red Riding Hood. Considering the Hungry Ghost Hell you were in…”

“Yes. We all might have passed through hell without realizing it.”

Little Red Riding Hood and my thoughts coincided.

Jack asked with a surprised expression.

“Then, does that mean the place we played in was part of hell?”

We turned to Dorothy to hear the answer. Dorothy answered, still smiling.

“Half right.”

“Hmm?”

“The world we were in is a higher world. And the world we are in now is relatively a lower world. It’s true that we all came down through hell. However, rather than being part of hell, it’s more accurate to say it’s a different small world with a hellish environment. From a certain perspective, it can be called hell, but the story gets complicated, so it’s better to move on.”

“Hmm… Is that a big difference? My head is starting to hurt!”

As Jack said, clutching his head, Dorothy patted him.

Jack, thinking Dorothy was trying to kill him, quickly ran away.

However, when Dorothy’s smile faded slightly, his complexion turned pale and he timidly stood next to Dorothy again.

So restless.

“You don’t need to think too hard. It’s just a parallel world.”

“Hmm…”

Just a parallel world.

Then why can we meet?

If you listen to the stories, it seems we all came from different worlds, so it doesn’t make sense for us to exist together.

Dorothy, who is so quick-witted it’s almost as if she’s reading my mind, gave an answer to my suspicion again.

“Because they overlapped.”

“…!”

“We each came down from different parallel worlds to different worlds. However, those worlds overlapped. Without any sense of incongruity.”

[The worlds overlapped]

I remember hearing that somewhere…

I think I heard it from Carol.

When I appeared as Alice, I was unconscious, but as a precursor, a phenomenon where small worlds overlapped in the form of black spheres occurred.

Could it be that it overlapped like that every time a tale devil appeared?

“Then, is this world actually in a state of much overlap? Why isn’t there overpopulation or something like that?”

“That’s what overlapping is. Perhaps unless it’s excessive, such causal problems rarely occur… unless it’s excessive.”

Dorothy let out another meaningful remark.

Is seven excessive or not excessive… Since there have been no crises caused by overlapping so far, is it okay?

Anyway, Dorothy’s story was shocking and contained tremendous information.

Peter Pan, seeing her casually revealing shocking information, frowned.

“The one who looks the most innocent knows a lot.”

“I was next to uncle Mephistopheles for quite a long time. He’s a really bad uncle.”

“…”

Senior… No, the name of that devil is mentioned again.

Believing that I could get good information this time too, I casually asked Dorothy.

“Do you know what his plan is?”

“Unfortunately, he didn’t tell me that until the end.”

Ah.

I don’t know how long I have to be dragged around without knowing his hidden information.

At this point, I’m getting angry.

“Still, if I were to tell you what I know, Mephistopheles does need Oz.”

“Oz…”

Oz, the entity that appeared contextually when Dorothy reached level 999, drawn by her powerful strength.

Ariel’s information said Oz is drawn to the strongest devil’s power, and this seems to refer to Dorothy at level 999.

Unlike tale devils of similar lineage, it is known to be made from the corpses of orthodox devils like Paimon.

The powerful reality-altering power that even turns back time on a large scale.

What on earth is Mephistopheles planning to do with it?

“Hmm… In my opinion, the reason that uncle was looking for Oz was probably because he needed it as a convenient tool.”

“What. Then Oz isn’t actually necessary?”

“No. It’s very important. However, he probably didn’t need to go out of his way to find it. Uncle said Oz would definitely return to him… definitely.”

“Ugh… I’ve learned a lot, but it feels like nothing has actually been resolved.”

We still don’t know the plan of the devil who made us this way.

And we are facing a huge bomb called the singularity.

Complaints about the unreasonable situation in many ways are heard.

“That singularity thing is coming soon… What should we do?”

“It was necessary to break the loop to solve the problem. A problem that must be faced unconditionally. It can’t be helped even if you complain.”

“That’s true. We couldn’t have stopped it forever. We have no choice but to accept it.”

Dorothy said to the tale devils who were like that, that there was no need to worry about it right away.

Because there is still plenty of time before the singularity is reached.

“Haa… Okay, I understand for now. Then, let’s prepare countermeasures for the singularity at the next meeting. For now, let’s disband. It’s tomorrow, so keep your schedules clear.”

Ariel announced the end of the tea party with a worried look on her face.

Bubbles of water were about to send us back to where we originally were.

If I open my eyes, it will probably be the Institution’s isolation room.

Just as I was about to return like that.

I was in a completely different space.

Looking around, Dorothy was right next to me.

My heart sank.

“…Alice. Is your time okay?”

“Huh?”

“I have something to tell you. Just you.”

The tale devils returned, and now she’s trying to tell me a story alone… I wonder why, I can’t help but wonder.

“Before I start the story, there’s something you need to know first.”

“…”

“I’ll apologize in advance. I lied. The arrival of the singularity is within 7 days. And just before it arrives, the gates of hell will open.”

…

POV Switch – 3rd Person

Alice, who heard the whole story and found out the truth, returned with trembling eyes and a sad expression.

Dorothy just watched such an Alice.

Only after Alice disappeared from sight did Dorothy return to her new home.

Alice. Horror game.

Dorothy doesn’t know much about horror genre works, but she thinks she’s seen content like that on YouTube.

That when the scale of many horror genre works gets too big, they even touch on metafiction.

Is that the last fear Alice has to face?

“All the Ozes of the derived worlds will overlap. The fact that its appearance resembles a carelessly lumped together dumpling of corpses is not for nothing.”

Dorothy mutters to herself.

“…Alice. You… No, what choice will you guys make. I’m very curious about that.”

Dorothy, who had a serious expression, opened the door to her new home and said, “I’m home!” with a smiling greeting.

The final arc of the novel!

Hell Episode Begins!

1. “상냥 = kind” (which I translated as “sweet”) sounds similar to “사냥 = hunting” (which I translated as “weak”), thus the joke. Obviously, I had to change a bit to make sense in English.

As always, if you spot any mistakes, feel free to let me know—and I hope you enjoyed the read!

—Chi