Acquiring Syndrome

"You thought you would escape from me after dying. Hehehe."

A sinister voice echoed in my ears.

I recognized this voice.

It was...

The reason I was killed in the previous world.

I couldn't muster up the courage to look back, so after a deep breath, I continued my advance.

But I couldn't put up much resistance either, as it would cause me to fall into the void.

"Just a few more steps, and I am there,"

I mumbled under my breath.

Soon enough, I stepped onto the sliced tree.

The pressure building up in my mind vanished.

I sighed in relief.

It was truly scary.

But...

What?

Was it...

The gruesome scene of people dying?

Or...

The boy who burned the people to death?

"Well, leaving that aside, this tree is at quite a dangerous height."

I gasped as I looked down at the crystallized cut tree, peering into the fog-covered depths.

I had completely forgotten about what happened a moment ago.

"I am a jolly boy; it should be natural for me not to feel any tension."

I giggled, wondering which part of my body was disabled.

It was guaranteed that I had a disabled body part since high-density syndrome was being constantly absorbed by my body.

Which was only possible when one had a disabled body part.

"From my analysis, it has to be some internal organ... but it is rather intriguing how even top-class hospitals and doctors all around the world couldn't find my disabled body part. Not to mention, my body is functioning normally, so it naturally indicates that I don't have any syndrome—except for those nail ones."

I mused aloud, wondering why the doctors couldn't find my disabled body part, even if it was an internal organ.

'They must be holding a grudge against me. All of them.'

I contemplated while trying to remember what would happen to me now that I had crossed that one heck of a bridge.

"Hmm... As far as I can remember from the novel, this sliced tree acts as a conduit, forcefully rewiring a person's body—mainly the body part with a potential syndrome—to regulate syndromic energy and commence its awakening."

Although it rewired one's body forcefully, I couldn't feel much pain myself. Rather, it was a feeling of discomfort.

For the next few hours, I kept standing on the tree, letting it do its work while I brainstormed to recall all the information I had about the novel—along with a question I couldn't stop thinking about.

That was...

"Why the heck has this guy—or maybe girl—been standing beside me for literally three hours?"

I growled, snapping my head in its direction.

It wasn't like I didn't know who he was or why he was inside the Gates of the Unconscious Mind.

It was the physical manifestation of my acquired Syndrome.

"But the problem is—why the fuck is he not attacking me? Aren't they supposed to attack their acquirer to verify whether they are capable of acquiring a syndrome yet?"

I couldn't even muster up the energy to talk to him because he was giving off those 'Life is dreadfully monotonous' vibes.

"Hey..."

After a short while, I called out to it.

It turned its face in my direction.

He had a quite peculiar facial and skeletal structure.

Sunken voids replaced his eyes, swirling with erratic neural currents, distorting like a broken signal.

Where ears should be, only faint, static-like outlines flickered before vanishing.

His face fractured and mended in looping cycles.

Meanwhile, a hollow, fractured torso suspended neural tendrils, while elongated legs flickered, leaving ghostly afterimages.

"Why are you not trying to attack me?... At least make an effort to do something."

I interrogated, encouraging it to attack me, as I barely kept my laughter at bay due to its appearance.

Its gaze fell onto me. It felt as if he was boring deep into my soul. And after some effort, it spoke.

"I don't want to... Something inside your body scares me."

It replied in a hollow voice as it pointed its finger toward my head.

"Well, I am also not interested in letting a creature like you enter my body at least, but then how am I supposed to know what my syndrome is and how to use it?"

"I will enter, but I won't be attacking your mind to verify anything because that thing... it scares me."

"Okay, and stop acting as if it's my loss if you don't attack me."

He nodded in affirmation, but just before he could enter my body, I stopped him—my curiosity got the better of me.

Even though the novel warned not to talk too much to their Syndrome's physical manifestation, I figured I could talk to him a little more since I was giving him a deal.

"Are you a guy or a girl?"

It looked at me as if I were a meaningless existence in its eyes, then replied.

"I'm neither a girl nor a boy."

"Aww, that means you're gay, right?"

I taunted, expecting it to show even a speck of emotion. But as expected, he didn't seem to know the meaning of 'gay.'

At least from what I figured out...

"...Biologically. And don't talk to me anymore. I feel suffocated."

I nodded approvingly. Then he proceeded to fracture, symbols flickering as his neural tendrils unraveled into mist.

It seeped into my mind, dissolving into my thoughts.

I felt the Gates of the Unconscious Mind vanish from reality the instant he entered my mind, dissolving into nothingness.

Suddenly, I was back—my head submerged in the tub, lungs burning, and desperate for breath.

At least, that was what I expected.

Yet my head was already a meter above the tub, water dripping from my hair into it as if I had instinctively snapped it upward in response to the danger.

Even before consciousness fully returned to my materialistic body.

"Sigh... It was surely a hectic day. Anyways, let's see which part of my body has acquired a syndrome, unrave—"

"Wh-What the heck?"