The Logmaster - Chapter 18

Omiichi was intently reading through the [History] of an old man named Saeki that was displayed on the cold screen.

What was written there was a dark and bloody past that was hard to imagine, given his current frail appearance.

Taku Saeki

He had been violent since he was young and had repeatedly committed acts of violence.

The turning point came when he committed a violent crime in his 40s.

To kill time, he attacks a young couple in a park late at night.

It was an extremely brutal crime in which the man was tied up, raped and assaulted the woman in front of him multiple times, and then, in a fit of rage when she resisted, he killed her.

Just reading the graphic details of the history makes it easy to imagine the disappointment felt by the victims and their families.

Saeki was arrested and served a long sentence that was close to life imprisonment.

In prison, he was thoroughly bullied by other inmates because of the crime he had committed, leaving him physically and mentally broken. His former violent nature was no longer a shadow of his former self, and he had become a timid and servile old man.

Although he was released on parole after several decades, he had no place in society and, above all, he was abnormally afraid of retaliation from the victim’s family, so he hid his identity and began living a fugitive life, traveling from place to place as a homeless person.

But there was no place for peace.

Here, rough and cunning homeless people like Igarashi run rampant.

Saeki, who had been completely intimidated by his experience in prison, was an easy target.

The [History] contained a detailed record of the insidious and humiliating treatment Saeki had received from Igarashi.

His bento box, his last remaining food, was purposely crushed underfoot.

While I was sleeping, muddy water was poured onto my old clothes.

He was insulted and thoroughly humiliated in front of other homeless people.

Saeki’s “resume” was dotted with an indelible fear of Igarashi, as well as dark stains of repressed anger that continued to smolder deep in his heart.

(…This is it. He’s the best piece I could have. I’ll use Saeki. I can awaken the brutality and hatred towards Igarashi that lies dormant deep in his heart…)

He began a new “experiment.”

The target is Saeki, and the goal is to sublimate his anger towards Igarashi into concrete murderous intent, and then into carrying it out.

The noble cause of taking revenge on Igarashi had become the perfect cover to numb his conscience.

Omiichi then began to ingeniously add “malicious acts against Saeki” to Igarashi’s [History]. By modifying Igarashi’s actions, it was a plan to indirectly and surely amplify Saeki’s hatred.

『Added: Ryosuke Igarashi, laughing at Saeki and saying “I’ll give it to you”, forcefully pushes a croquette with sand on it that fell to the ground into Saeki’s mouth.』

『Addition: Ryosuke Igarashi buys cheap alcohol and snacks with the money he stole from Yoshi-san. He brags to his friends in the tent village, saying, “I’m smart, so I can eat delicious food without any effort,” and doesn’t share any of it.』

『Addition: Ryosuke Igarashi, completely drunk, urinates while standing in the cardboard house where Saeki sleeps, and laughs, saying, “Sorry, I mistook it for the toilet.”』

These [additions] were recorded as Igarashi’s actions, so they were saved smoothly without being rejected by the system.

And from the next day onwards, dramatic changes began to appear in Saeki’s [history], just as Omiichi had intended.

“Every time I see Saeki Taku and Igarashi, I feel a strong hatred that is almost murderous.”

“Takashi Saeki has nightmares from the past and memories of the humiliation he suffered at the hands of Igarashi flashing back to him in the middle of the night, and he often wakes up screaming.”

“Takashi Saeki is hiding from the public eye, sitting on the riverbank, gazing at one spot with dark eyes.”

(…It’s good. It’s working. Something inside Saeki is approaching a critical point…)

Omiichi observed the changes in Saeki’s [History], and with cold satisfaction, like a skilled perfumer checking the evolution of a scent.

The seeds of hatred have been sown and are growing well. All that remains is to wait for the harvest.

A few days later, Omiichi decided that the time was ripe and began putting the finishing touches on it.

『Addition: Tonight, Taku Saeki begins to walk aimlessly along a deserted path along a deserted river.』

『Addition: Ryosuke Igarashi is in high spirits tonight after gulping down some cheap alcohol and is taking a staggered stroll along the river.』

The timing was precisely adjusted so that the two would meet on a deserted, poorly-footed path along the river.

Now all that’s left is to wait for the magma-like anger that’s been building up inside Saeki to explode.

The next morning.

Omiichi checked the news site on his smartphone with a strange calm, as if the anticipation and tension he had felt until last night were a lie.

And he quickly found the headline he expected.

“An unidentified man’s body was discovered early this morning. He may have been drunk and accidentally fallen into the river.”

The article described the circumstances under which the body was found and the characteristics of its clothing, making it almost certain that it was Igarashi’s.

It was reported that the police believe that the circumstances at the scene make it unlikely that the incident was a foul play, and are proceeding with treating the incident as an accidental death caused by a drunk man slipping.

(This time, everything is going according to plan!)

His fingers were trembling, but there was a definite excitement in his movements.

Open the site and check Igarashi’s [History].

“…At night, while drunk and walking along a riverside path, Igarashi bumps into Saeki, who is walking towards him. As usual, Igarashi berates Saeki. Saeki becomes enraged and confronts Igarashi, resulting in an argument. The moment Igarashi makes a mocking gesture, Saeki pushes him away.

Igarashi lost his balance and fell into the river. He drowned and died. —Unplanned 5P—“

The moment of death was once again described vaguely. It was not clearly stated that Saeki had “murdered” him. However, for Omiichi, this ambiguity was an advantage. In this case, the system would likely process it as an “accident” or the “result of an accidental quarrel.”

When I looked at my smartphone screen, I saw a badge indicating an unread LINE message. I opened it and sure enough, it was a message from the red-lettered account, “⚪︎.”

“Five chain fragments obtained. 23:12”

(…five…not enough!)

He was due to die in the next five years, but perhaps he was destined to be killed by someone sooner or later.

But the important thing isn’t the number of pieces, it’s the fact that murder is possible this way.

It wasn’t something I did directly.

This fact made Omiichi feel an indescribable, sinful sense of relief.

But at the same time, he was dominated by an indescribable bewilderment at the undeniable fact that he had manipulated the destinies of two people, leading them to certain death, and a deep, dark and exciting feeling of satisfaction – a feeling he had never felt before – that he had been able to “alter” reality to his will.

The desire to “try out this new power” and the desire to experiment with his next target fueled his heart.