Something was wrong.
I looked around the table. Versions of myself seated there in the forms of various Ghost Stories.
Right now, my contaminations had been made visible there by the Space Shopping Mall’s VIP shopping service so that I could perceive them.
And when I asked for all of those to be removed, what the lizard had said was…
“…Would I permanently destroy a part of myself?”
That sounded as though it meant destroying my contaminated mind itself.
Like cutting off one’s limbs to stop an infection.
Of course, there would probably be times when that was unavoidable.
But normally, wouldn’t that be an irreversible choice, something only done when recovery was utterly impossible?
“…Is it impossible to remove only the contamination from over there? I mean restoring the contaminated mind itself to its original state. Permanently.”
“It is not a service the Space Shopping Mall can provide.”
“…Is it possible somewhere else?”
“It is an item of information that cannot be provided.”
I turned my head.
The yellow mascot was shaking its head at me.
No
I looked down at my right arm.
In this Ghost Story world, where bodies can regenerate, people sometimes do cut off limbs.
Because here, that can be reversed.
So cutting away and destroying one’s own ego—here, wouldn’t that be an even more extreme choice than literally cutting off one’s limbs?
“……”
Was that really the method Manager Lee Jaheon had wanted to introduce to me?
“I’ll change the question.”
It didn’t seem like it.
“In that case.”
I raised my head.
“Rather than destroying my contaminated selves, I want to be able to recognize them myself and manage them.”