Haunted Terminal Arc.
This wasn’t one of those serious episodes where we fight enemies like in the Bloody Night or Nemesis incidents. It was more of a slice-of-life episode, maybe something like a summer horror special.
The plot wasn’t all that complicated.
One day, a client shows up at the office, being threatened by some unknown person.
The threat went like this: A disturbing message with a curse arrives from an unknown sender, and soon after, it comes true.
In this mysterious situation where no one knows who, how, or why these messages are sent, Raven accepts the case and uses David’s power to track down the sender.
Surprisingly, the sender they find doesn’t exist in reality.
Eventually, Raven realizes that the source of all this is the terminal itself, which has been threatening the client.
But even when they remove the recognition chip, turn off the power, or even smash it in half, the terminal somehow always returns, relentlessly sending cursed messages.
Soon, the terminal traps both the client and the fixer crew inside the office, slowly closing in on them, threatening their lives…
Raven cleverly manages to drop the terminal into the vanishing staircase gap.
Falling forever towards the bottom of the world, the Haunted Terminal arc comes to an end.
‘It’s that kind of disposable horror episode typical of long-running omnibus-style shonen manga. You could say it prioritizes fun over coherence.’
Well, roughly explained, it was one of those forgettable passing episodes. But some readers felt a small sense of unease about it.
Their argument was that even for a summer horror special, it seemed excessive for just a single terminal to pull off such feats.
Like locking everyone in an endlessly looping office.
Or turning suspiciously ominous messages into reality.
Even considering the comedic tone, this exceeded the limits of common sense within the story’s universe.
So, curious readers later asked the author about this part.
During a Q&A session, the author casually provided some backstory:
– Ah, actually, that haunted terminal was also a kind of object similar to the Tesseract. Though it exited early… If the enemy had gotten hold of it, wouldn’t it have caused quite a problem?
There wasn’t much issue with plausibility.
From the start, there were evaluations that Invader items were overpowered enough to destroy worlds.
If that terminal was one of them, it would be sufficient to put the fixer team in a tight spot.
Of course, since much time had passed since serialization, it was somewhat out of the blue.
Thinking about it now, there couldn’t be information more helpful to me than this.
Unable to eliminate some unknown glitch, cheaper than a normal terminal.
It connects to the internet on its own without a chip, and even if you try to break it, no problem.
Moreover, as an Invader-related item, it’s compatible with my situation?
Naturally, I was excited about buying the terminal from the morning.
No matter how you think about it, there’s no better cost-effective terminal than this.
Well, since the Invaders aren’t actively looking for it and it’s floating around the black market…
I don’t expect much from reality manipulation. Just do your best as a terminal.
[ Friend! Friend! ]
[ …. ]
Back home, I immediately turned on the terminal while hiding in the closet in my usual fox mask appearance.
Soon, the Tesseract got super excited and started shaking its body wildly.
Since the Tesseract naturally hangs around my neck, my head tilted forward instinctively.
Suddenly hitting my forehead on the closet door, I quickly grabbed the Tesseract with telekinesis.
Though it feels similar, calm down a bit. We’ll get caught by Raven at this rate.
After rubbing my slightly numb forehead over the mask,
I brought the terminal, Echo, to my forehead and thought,
You’re hearing everything right now.
If you keep ignoring me, I’ll use you as Tesseract’s toy? Or feed you as dinner?
[ Hii, hii! N-no! Please have mercy! ]
[ Ah! It spoke! ]
Echo panicked, shaking the screen erratically.
Looking down at Echo, I solidified a suspicion that had been growing in my mind.
‘…Indeed. It’s not the Tesseract; I’m the strange one. Why can I hear their voices?’
Though I tried not to show it, it was really unsettling.
Not to mention, there was no description in the original work of Tesseract or Echo talking.
Considering that even the Invaders used them merely as tools without conversing, it was undeniable that the cause lay with me.
Could it be related to my inability to speak? Or because I’m a psychic remembering a past life?
The mystery deepened as I found no easy answers.
‘Hoo, I have no idea. Let’s leave it for now. I’ll figure it out someday.’
Scratching my neck as if brushing off the thought, I looked at Tesseract and Echo already chatting away.
By their voices, Tesseract sounded like a child under ten, while Echo seemed like a cool career woman.
Strangely, Echo appeared completely intimidated in front of Tesseract.
[ What’s your name? ]
[ M-m-my name is Echo! ]
[ Echo… Yeah! I remember now! ]
[ Um, may I ask your name, please? ]
[ I’m Tesseract! Nice to meet you! ]
[ Y-yes! Mr. Tesseract! I look forward to working with you! ]
A clear hierarchy had already formed between them.
I had no clue what determined it… but seeing Tesseract, who likes me, dominate made me less worried about the terminal doing anything strange.
Ah, let’s try using a function.
Sitting properly on the closet futon, I brought the terminal to my forehead.
Then, I asked it to call Raven next to me.
Of course, I hadn’t exchanged numbers with Raven yet, but since Echo usually does things well on her own, I figured she’d connect us somehow.
[ I-I will connect the call to a nearby terminal! ]
As soon as Echo finished speaking, a number appeared on the screen, and a call connected somewhere.
Shortly after, a familiar man’s voice came through the speaker.
“Yes, this is Crowley Fixer Office. How may I assist you?”
“…”
The man was Raven.
He probably thought it was work-related since it was an unknown number.
Kuhuhu, unable to contain my laughter, I collapsed silently, laughing soundlessly.
Quickly hanging up, I rolled around on the futon like a bean bug.
Though unintentional, it felt like a prank call to a friend, and I couldn’t suppress the joy.
Raven probably won’t know, right? I didn’t say anything, and he doesn’t know my number.
Thinking so, I was rolling around in the closet when suddenly the closet door opened.
Raven peered down at me with a sour expression.
“The call earlier was from you, wasn’t it? Part-timer.”
“…!”
H-how did he know.
Quickly straightening up, I innocently tilted my head pretending not to know.
But Raven, regardless of my act, snatched up Echo, who had been rolling on the floor, and frowned while checking the call history.
“Yup, just as I thought, punk. How did you make a prank call without giving me your number?”
“…”
“Here, I’ve saved my number. Contact me if you need anything.”
Handle the rest yourself.
Raven said this and handed Echo back to me willingly.
Never expected to get caught making a prank call within a minute.
Next time, I should tell Echo not to leave any records.
While pressing Echo firmly in my hand, thinking this, Raven tapped on the terminal as if to save my number.
Seeing this, I hastily stopped him. Saving that number wouldn’t mean much anyway.
“Huh? Why?”
“…!”
Take a good look at this.
I poked Echo with my finger and dialed Raven’s number stored in the contacts.
Just like before, the call naturally connected to him, and a number appeared on the screen.
Upon seeing it, Raven twitched his eyebrows in disbelief.
“What? How did the number change… No, what exactly are you…”
It didn’t make sense logically.
Without touching anything, I made the same call, yet the number changed?
Raven immediately rejected the call, then tried calling my number in reverse.
First, it was an invalid number. Next, someone entirely different answered.
What sorcery was this?
He clutched the back of his neck as if his head hurt and stared at the ceiling.
‘It shouldn’t have a number without a verification chip.’
But from my perspective, it was an obvious outcome.
Numbers are combinations assigned by the managing side.
There’s no way Echo, who communicates through near-reality manipulation, would have a set number.
Meaning this:
I can send messages to others, but the reverse isn’t possible.
Looking at it this way, one might consider Echo a tin can… but if that’s the case, changing the method solves it.
‘Echo. Can you create a non-trackable email address for me right now?’
[ Y-yes? ]
‘Please. Do it for me.’
[ Echo! Get to work! ]
[ I-I will work hard! ]
I discreetly turned away from Raven and lightly requested Echo.
Though Echo seemed a bit flustered by the sudden request,
Perhaps thanks to Tesseract’s immediate whip crack, Echo got to work.
In no time, an email address was successfully created.
I didn’t know which site it was from, but the name was incredibly simple.
I subtly showed Raven the screen displaying the address.
If you need to contact me, do it here! Roughly this meaning.
“…Really, you’re not even trying to hide it anymore.”
“…?”
“No, just muttering. So, should I save this for now?”
“…!”
Nodding vigorously.
I nodded enthusiastically at him, despite his bewildered expression.
Hehehe, I gotta tell Alice and David about this tomorrow!
Even though the day hasn’t ended, I’m already looking forward to tomorrow.
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