Chapter 03.2 “Dress-Up Dead End”
Beyond the heavy door lay an alternate space that seemed to condense the wealth of the entire world and adorn it with vibrant‚ extreme colors.
The single room was larger than an entire slum house.
Polished self-cleaning marble absorbed the faint light of magical plants blooming on the ceiling‚ creating a soft gradient across the entire floor that shifted from pearl white to violet.
「……Miss. First‚ please enjoy our platinum spa‚ which will wash away your 'gravity fatigue' and 'cellular nucleus stress from lower-layer atmospheric pollution.'」
At the manager’s respectful words while kneeling‚ Lily desperately swallowed the scream that had risen to the back of her throat.
（……Gravity fatigue? Atmospheric pollution? I was just crawling on all fours through a real garbage dump a moment ago!?）
An amber-colored guideline (Amber Trace) flickering in her vision forcibly overwrote her inner panic‚ fixing Lily’s chin at an arrogant angle.
「……Do as you please.」
She spoke shortly and haughtily in the tone Noah had specified.
As if responding to her voice‚ male shop attendants wearing white gloves reached out reverently‚ as though touching something fearsome. It was the wired‚ scrap-iron junk — the tattered cat — that Lily had been hugging.
When Lily opened her arms with an extremely bored expression‚ the attendant received the tattered cat and placed it reverently atop a highest-grade silk cushion.
The sight of a piece of mud- and rust-covered junk placed alone on a silver pedestal looked like nothing more than a superb cyber black joke that had hacked the aesthetic sense of the wealthy.
（……Hey‚ Noah. That person has a complete “This is avant-garde art” look on his face.）
『Good grief. The seating comfort isn’t bad‚ but I can’t help but feel sympathy for their bloated cognitive distortion. ……And Lily‚ a warning. Do not move more than ten meters away from this terminal.』
（……Ten meters? Is the communication range that short?）
『This magnetic field connecting me and you is an extremely delicate thread designed to slip past Asteria’s surveillance. ……The moment it breaks‚ your forged attribute (profile) of “young lady” will be deleted‚ and you will be burned by security drones as nothing more than slum garbage (low-class citizen). Do not forget.』
The cold voice struck her brain. A single trickle of cold sweat ran down Lily’s spine.
The tattered cat narrowed its amber eyes on the cushion‚ flickering eerily yet gracefully.
「Then we shall take our leave. ……From here on‚ specialized staff will attend to you.」
As the manager left the room soundlessly‚ several female attendants appeared in his place.
They surrounded Lily with perfectly synchronized movements and turned enraptured gazes toward her mud-covered rags — the dress that until yesterday had been soaked in sewage and reeked of iron rust.
「How astonishing…… This intense ‘rupture’ that deliberately tramples upon the golden ratio of aesthetic algorithms. And this decadent fragrance of iron rust combined with the heavy texture of filth……! This is truly the essence of ‘Dead End Chic‚’ the trend whispered among the highest class right now……!」
One of the female attendants touched the tear at Lily’s shoulder with trembling fingertips‚ as if touching a sacred relic.
（……That’s real garbage!）（It’s clearly swarming with hazardous biohazard-level bacteria!）
She was utterly creeped out inside and felt the urge to run away immediately. However‚ Lily recalled the “Swindler’s Code” she had established for herself and clenched her teeth.
——I won’t run. I will become a bug that deceives this world.
With nothing but “a swindler’s pride‚” she coldly suppressed her entire body’s muscles‚ which were screaming under the intense informational pressure from the Amber Trace‚ and advanced toward the pool with perfectly brainwashed elegant steps‚ one by one.
In the center sat a massive pool where‚ instead of steam‚ iridescent molecular mist swirled like a sea of clouds.
The moment she stood at its edge‚ a maddeningly pure mana fragrance that blew away all the slum’s filth assaulted her nostrils.
『Steady your breathing‚ Lily. From now on‚ we will delete the “lowly noise” of the slum from your body.』
At Noah’s signal‚ the female attendants’ hands reached for the fasteners of Lily’s dress.
「Pardon me‚ Miss.」
With a cold click‚ the mud- and acid-rain-soaked rags slid off her shoulders.
The female attendants received the fabric‚ which was steeped in the slum’s stench‚ with reverent hands as if handling a holy shroud‚ creating a tragic contrast with their white gloves.
（……Hyaa‚ wait a second! Don’t stare so intently! My ribs sticking out from malnutrition‚ my scarred calves — they’re not something to be shown……!）
She screamed internally from embarrassment‚ but her body under the Amber Trace’s control obediently shed the “waste” shell.
However‚ the attendants’ reaction was completely different from what she expected.
「It’s wonderful…… As expected‚ the skin of a true young lady is completely different from ours.」
There was no human warmth in her enraptured voice. Their eyes were perfectly synchronized with the system’s UI‚ mechanically announcing even Lily’s emaciated‚ shabby body as “sublime‚ calculated minimalism that fits the aesthetic protocol.”
Dizzy from the absolute cognitive distortion that even made shame misfire‚ she advanced toward the edge of the pool where the iridescent mist swirled.
The physical distance from the tattered cat on the cushion increased.
The amber-colored vision (Amber Vision) projected on her retina flickered‚ and cold text was etched at the edge of her sight.
『――Warning. Distance from main unit: 8.5 meters. 1.5 meters remaining until limit. Communication (link) strength degradation detected.』
If the connection was severed‚ she would be instantly burned as “waste.” That deadly tether tightened around her neck like an invisible collar.
What lay there was not ordinary water.
It was ‘skincare liquid’ containing high-density mana‚ rippling with a melting luster at the boundary where it shifted from amber to deep honey color.
「……I’m supposed to enter this?」
『Slowly from your feet. Carve the pleasure of drowning in the sea of information into every cell of your body.』
The tattered cat on the cushion emitted a mechanical whirring sound…… and precisely focused its camera lens on her naked body. There was not a shred of consideration or emotion toward organic life — only the cold gaze of an observer inspecting “data.”
（……I’m dying of embarrassment over here! That cat is looking at everything from my body fat percentage to the thickness of my subcutaneous fat as nothing more than graphed numbers‚ right!?）
Resolving herself‚ she lowered her foot into the liquid.
「……Nn‚ hot……?」
No‚ it wasn’t hot.
The viscous warm liquid clung with heavy pressure‚ forcibly enveloping every inch of her skin.
As she lowered her hips deeper into the pool‚ the liquid’s heat spread through every pore‚ invading deeper and deeper inside.
At that moment.
Countless nanomachines lurking in the liquid simultaneously began ‘mastication’ of her body.
「……Ah‚ ……a‚ kun……っ」
A voiceless sigh spilled from her lips.
It was the complete opposite of pain — an extremely minute yet excessive stimulation.
Hundreds of millions of tiny intelligences crawled across her skin‚ physically “deleting” the hardened keratin from the slum’s acid rain and the heavy metal grime stuck in her scars.
（What is this…… It feels like tiny fingers are groping every pore on my body……っ. Going deep inside‚ stirring everything around……）
The liquid’s high density sharpened her skin’s senses to an abnormal degree.
The mana-saturated liquid crossed the delicate boundary of her skin and pulsed with heat from within. Sonic wave vibrations that caressed and loosened her entire body brought a numbness that pierced her spine.
『……Lily‚ your heart rate has recorded 145. Pleasure pulses in the brain have exceeded the threshold. At this rate‚ your consciousness will be swallowed by the information vortex and burned out.』
「……But this‚ ……is impossible……っ‚ my body is moving on its own……っ」
『Good grief. This is why organic lifeforms are inconvenient. ……And I already have extra trouble jamming Asteria’s jealousy (noise). I will directly hack the biological signals to the hypothalamus and forcibly tune your vitals to “serenity.”』
With a sharp crack.
The warm liquid enveloping her was instantly rewritten into absolute-zero cold air‚ and a red-black glitch burst at the edge of her retina. Asteria’s violent aesthetic algorithm had leaked physical killing intent through a gap in the barrier.
The instant a thin layer of ice formed on the pool’s surface‚ the female attendants did not panic; instead‚ they let out enraptured‚ ecstatic sighs.
「My…… To make one experience the slum’s harsh cold period through a sudden drop in water temperature on the skin. What intense‚ blasphemous beauty that even the system cannot define……!」
（……No‚ that was genuine killing intent! The blind faith in your system has already reached horror territory!）
Before she could even utter a scream-like retort‚ Noah’s cold intellect intervened deeply into her brain and forcibly crushed the noise.
Her racing heartbeat suddenly calmed‚ as if immersed in cold water.
However‚ the “violation” her body felt did not stop.
And what surged up after the pleasure receded was an indefinable‚ primal terror.
What the nanomachines were erasing was not mere mud.
They were the records of her desperate survival in the slum. The proof of crawling on cold ground‚ enduring hunger‚ and hardening her skin for protection — all of it was being forcibly removed by the system as “inappropriate noise.”
The hell she had lived through was melting away without a trace inside this luxurious golden liquid.
——Loss. Those two characters were sharply etched into her brain as amber noise.
（My…… I am disappearing…… If everything inside is rewritten like this‚ will I stop being “me”……?）
『Do not forget that terror. It will become the only anchor you have to resist the king known as the system.』
8.5 meters from the edge of the pool. The tattered cat sitting on the cushion flickered its amber eyes at maximum luminosity.
The liquid produced pearl-colored bubbles‚ redefining her skin as “white porcelain.”
The death of a slum girl and the birth cry of a young lady.
At that boundary‚ she could only surrender herself to the hot sea of information.
The nanomachines’ “violation” came to an end‚ and she slowly rose from the pool.
Soft ion hot air instantly swept away the droplets sliding across her skin‚ and even the slightly moist air was rewritten into the scent of pure ozone.
（……No way‚ it dried instantly without even needing a towel. Actually‚ is this skin really mine? It’s so smooth it feels like it would break if touched…… and it’s glowing?）
When she stepped onto the mirror-polished marble floor‚ there was no trace left of the former “waste.”
The fingertips once stained with mud had transformed into an unnaturally translucent white porcelain‚ and each individual nail held a pearl-like luster.
Behind her‚ the female attendants had begun spraying a fragrance optimized for her DNA data (of course‚ a forgery prepared by Noah) as a delicate mist over her entire body.
「Miss‚ please partake. This is organic fruit water sourced from the Seventh Environmental Protection Zone under Lady Asteria’s direct jurisdiction‚ which balances your skin’s moisture from within.」
An attendant holding a silver tray approached soundlessly.
On it rested a Baccarat crystal glass filled with amber liquid that seemed to have captured the evening sun.
Even the water droplets sliding down the glass wall sparkled beautifully like meticulously calculated jewels.
『Lily‚ stay conscious of the ten-meter boundary. You’re too far from the junk on the cushion.』
（……I know. But this looks incredibly delicious……）
『Of course. One drop costs more than a month’s rent for the alley you lived in. ……But do not forget. This is not hydration. It is a visual ritual to show those around you that “I am already tired of this level of luxury.”』
While brushing off Noah’s warning through the earpiece‚ she picked up the glass with trembling fingertips.
What illegally occupied the depths of her lungs was a heavenly sweet fragrance impossible to imagine from the slum’s murky tap water.
She let a mouthful of that “gold” slide down her throat.
（……っ！？ What is this…… It’s not even on the level of “delicious”! The moment it touched my tongue‚ the fruit’s sweetness slammed directly into my brain’s synapses! Everything I’ve been drinking until now was just muddy water……!?）
Supreme flavor permeated her five organs and six entrails. Every cell in her body seemed on the verge of frenzy with joy.
Her natural expression almost collapsed‚ and tears threatened to overflow from overwhelming emotion — at that instant.
With a sharp crack.
The amber-colored guide (Amber Trace) deployed on her retina became an intense electrical signal that bound her facial muscles‚ forcibly fixing her face into the mask of “a dissatisfied‚ sneering young lady.”
Inside she was screaming 『If this came out of a faucet‚ I’d become a slave here for life!』‚ yet on the outside she roughly returned the glass to the tray with a clink‚ following the “arrogant script” Noah had specified.
「……It’s a little lacking in acidity. This sweetness is somewhat…… vulgar for my current mood.」
While looking down at the attendant who had turned deathly pale and prostrated herself‚ she trembled at the perfection of her own performance (the system).
（Take back what I said earlier! It’s a lie‚ it’s the most delicious in the world! Wait‚ did I just say “vulgar”!? I’ve completely caught Noah’s sarcastic vocabulary!）
What slipped directly into her brain’s auditory cortex without vibrating her eardrums was Noah’s low‚ icy voice.
『Good reaction‚ Lily. The attendants’ vitals have beautifully shifted to “fear” and “awe.” ……Disparity is not completed through violence‚ but by hammering in “differences in values” like this.』
The tattered cat on the cushion narrowed its eyes boredly‚ its amber pupils shining even sharper.
The highest-grade silk spread at its feet and the slum mud footprints that should have been at hers had now been completely overwritten by the system’s fanaticism into the lie called “noble staging.”
（……Luxury is terrifying. If you enjoyed this every day‚ other humans would start looking like nothing more than “background garbage.”）
With the aftertaste of the cold fruit water still on her tongue‚ she chewed on the vengeful heart budding within her and the even deeper shudder toward the “informational violence” that could repaint even the reality before her eyes.
——Mere data turned real mud into high-class staging and demoted supreme deliciousness to “vulgar.”
If so‚ then just as Noah said‚ everything in this world was nothing but illusion.
「I-I am terribly sorry! We will immediately readjust it to a blend befitting Miss’s refined palate!」
The attendant retreated‚ bowing so deeply it seemed she would scrape her forehead against the marble.
The cold glance she directed at the attendant’s back was that of a “bored ruler‚” calculated by the amber-colored guidelines in her brain to decimal-point precision.
（Uwaaaaa stop it! If you rub your forehead against the marble that hard‚ as a mere slum scavenger (me) it feels like it’s going to open a hole in my stomach instead……っ！）
Noah’s cold tuning purged the petit-bourgeois bewilderment and guilt exploding inside her as “noise.”
Suddenly‚ the warm air enveloping the bathroom was bisected by a crimson flash that seemed to burn her retinas.
At the edge of her vision‚ in the amber information space (Amber Vision)‚ blood-like vivid red warning logs spread out like a spider web.
『――Unpleasant. Extremely unpleasant. Master‚ that filthy bug has begun fabricating (hi-res-izing) beauty that exceeds my calculation tolerance.』
A voice like sharpening blades of ice leaked from the tattered cat’s speaker — Asteria’s.
What came through the link was not mere administrative deletion‚ but raw‚ heated‚ viscous “jealousy” itself.
The tattered cat narrowed its amber eyes on the cushion and responded with a sadistic glow that precisely stroked Asteria’s reverse scale.
『Good grief‚ my beloved barrier. Was your aesthetic algorithm (pride) so fragile that it cannot stand without being jealous of someone else’s toy’s resolution? ……Lily‚ do not move. Her “gaze (scan)” is touching your throat.』
（Scan!? This is definitely not the look of someone seeing a young lady fresh out of the bath‚ right!? It’s the same color as an assassin searching for vital points!）
The instant she reflexively tried to step back from terror‚ the amber boundary (tether) around her neck issued a scorching alarm.
（……っ‚ that’s right! If I move more than ten meters from the tattered cat‚ I’ll be burned to death instantly!）
A sealed room with no escape. The invisible perception waves Asteria emitted became a crimson grid that distorted the space’s light‚ licking across her polished white-porcelain skin as if to dissect it at the molecular level.
Even the shadows falling on the marble floor flickered with sharp‚ blade-like outlines.
With the sole reason of “unworthy of Master‚” Asteria carried the danger of evaporating her with heat rays along with the entire luxurious space.
『Asteria. If that “false radiance” of hers bothers you so much‚ shall I jam your visual logs entirely? Or perhaps have Celes take over the military satellite lock-on?』
『……っ‚ No thank you‚ Master! My aesthetics refuse to allocate any more resources to such garbage!』
Along with Asteria’s humiliated scream‚ the crimson grid covering her vision shattered with a physical impact like breaking glass and dispersed.
Noah had deliberately used Asteria’s massive computational load of jealousy to forcibly apply recognition camouflage (stealth) to her “foreign object‚” turning it into a “landscape too noble to interfere with” — a blind spot in the system.
「……Haa‚ haa. Noah‚ I really thought I was going to die just now……」
While cold sweat once again wet her skin‚ she desperately held her trembling knees steady.
『Use the terror as fuel‚ Lily. Now that Asteria has processed you as a “landscape she cannot look at directly‚” every “number” in this shop is yours to take. ……Now then‚ shall we begin the final arming? It is time to paint over your mud-covered life with vibrant lies.』
The tattered cat on the cushion purred in satisfaction.
The highest-grade silk spread at its feet and the silhouette of the “white-porcelain girl” standing in the mirror.
Two different lies were now scattering amber sparks as they headed toward the final stage of birthing a single “sacred swindler.”
Before the massive tri-fold mirror that filled her vision‚ she stood frozen.
Standing inside the mirror was a “someone” with polished white-porcelain skin whose name she did not know.
The skin that should have been scorched by the slum’s acid rain and covered in mud now absorbed the room’s vibrant colors and emitted a pearl-like luster.
（……Is this me? No way. Where did that miserable girl who was crawling through sewage just a while ago go?）
Overwhelmed by the transformation‚ she tried to reach her fingertips toward her cheek — at that moment.
「Shuu——」
As if slicing through the silence‚ groups of silver-glowing automatic dressing arms descended smoothly like snakes from gaps in the ceiling.
The ozone scent drifting in the air instantly changed‚ and a sharp heat that seemed to scorch high-density mana brushed her skin.
The tips of the arms grasped amber mana silk and began spinning at high speed around her body.
While nearly overwhelmed by the intense movement‚ she desperately focused on the amber log flickering at the edge of her vision — 『Distance from main unit: 9.2 meters』 — and dug her toes into the marble floor so as not to cross the deadly boundary (tether).
『Do not blink. From here on is the final finishing touch — painting over the “fact” of you with the “supreme lie.”』
Noah’s voice echoed heavily‚ vibrating the earpiece.
The arms‚ synchronized perfectly down to the nanosecond‚ danced through the air. Amber mana silk cascaded from her shoulders like a waterfall‚ changing shape to cling to her curves.
It was less fabric and more like fluid texture woven directly from causal threads and light itself.
Next‚ liquid metal lace was sprayed from the arms‚ spinning spider-web-like delicate yet razor-sharp geometric patterns along the hem and chest of the dress.
（……Heavy. This isn’t so much a dress as…… armor. Aggressive camouflage (jamming) that saturates the opponent’s retinas with vibrant colors and massive numerical brilliance to conceal the essence. Informational armor to repel the jealousy and desire of the entire world.）
Every time the liquid metal touched her skin‚ tiny sparks of magical power scattered with a sting‚ fixing her spine perfectly vertical.
It was also a physical restraint device designed by Noah to maintain the “perfect young lady.”
The moment the final piece — a necklace embedded with a gemstone like crushed and melted sapphire — was fastened around her neck‚ her attribute information was completely overwritten from “waste (Dead End)” to “sacred swindler (Amber Doll).”
What stood in the mirror was no longer a girl who needed protection.
Wearing an amber dress and armed with cold beauty‚ she was a “weapon” itself meant to deceive the world.
「……Noah. How much does this cost? It feels heavy enough to buy two slum districts.」
『Hmm. To think such a magnificent “trap” could be completed with the loose change from the bishop’s hidden account. Not a bad calculation‚ even if I do say so myself. ……Listen‚ Lily. What is heavy is not the dress. It is the mass of the “greatest lie in history” you carry.』
The tattered cat on the cushion narrowed its amber eyes and purred in satisfaction.
The light in its eyes overlapped for an instant with the faint amber shimmer deep within the sapphire-blue eyes of the girl in the mirror.
『Now then‚ the funeral for the mud-covered you is over. ……Lift your face‚ Lily Ardent. From here on‚ it is time to let you hear the birth cry of a swindler (lady) before whom even gods would prostrate themselves.』
Toward the mirror reflecting herself‚ she produced the most arrogant and beautiful smile possible.
The mud footprints at her feet were now hidden beneath the golden carpet and no longer existed anywhere.
（Chapter 03.2: Dress-Up Dead End — End）
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