Despair: The Cure for Heroes
『When I opened my eyes, I was in a locked room.
Around me were several people gagged and bound in chains.
For some reason, my memory wasn’t very clear. What…had happened? Just when I started to approach one of the others, I suddenly heard a voice from the speaker.
“…Well now, good morning. Although it’s sudden, you’ll be participating in a game. The rules are simple. It’s the King Game. However, I’ve decided that you will be the performer. You are to pull out an order from that box there and carry out what is written. But, you will also to put in an order of your own, as well.”
King Game? What was the meaning of this?
“I’ve heard that you’re a person with a strong sense of justice, and a strong sense of responsibility. Honestly speaking, I’m the villain. However, I won’t be so easily caught. Go through with this game and see if you can catch me.”
Come to think it, I did feel like I was a person with a strong sense of justice, and a strong sense of responsibility.
“Alright, let’s get started.”
I switched my mood immediately. I had to play by the rules of this game and catch the villain. My head was full of these thoughts.
I had to make it clear what was right and wrong. Abiding by the rules, I had to destroy the evil, and become the hero.
“Who’s the King~? Fufufu… well, it’s me. Now then, my first request is…… to kill that guy.”
……What? However, my sense of justice was strong, as was my sense of responsibility. In order to catch this villain, I had to follow the rules. The rules were absolute.
“I killed him. Next.”
“Who is the King~? Fufufu… Next is that girl.”
“I killed her. Next.”
In this way, one by one, I murdered the people in the room according to the King’s orders. Until finally, I was the only one left in the room.
“Next. Who is the King~?”
The final request was the one that I had put in. Kill the King. With this, I could finally kill the villain according to the rules! However, the moment I thought this, my consciousness suddenly became clear.
“….. That’s right. From the very beginning, I was the King.”
I, who had a strong sense of justice and responsibility, could not kill the villain if I didn’t have the legitimacy to do so. That was why I made myself participate in this game. The voice from the speaker had been my own. However, the game couldn’t be stopped anymore. To disobey this order, which I had drawn out myself, would be a violation of the rules……!
And so, he took his own life. 』
Interrupting my work of struggling with meaningless sentences, I quietly sipped my coffee.
“If you just keep drawing something that’s safe and commonplace, that’s no different from a factory production line, is it?”
The coffee gave no reply.