Mad Hatter's Guide to Clearing The Game
Chapter 104: Ch102. Pain as a teacher (26) - Who’s really in control?

Chapter 104: Ch102. Pain as a teacher (26) - Who’s really in control?

The fire crackled between them, the eerie blue flames casting flickering shadows against the ruined walls. Miles kept his gaze fixed on Kurt, waiting, his muscles tense despite the exhaustion settling into his bones.

It was not pain, no. That was healed by the [Ether Teapot] just a while ago.

It was sheer exhaustion, making Miles’ bones feel as heavy as if they were made of iron.

How long had it been since he had slept properly? How long had it been since he slept at all?

Still, he had asked. And now, he needed answers.

Kurt leaned back against a rusted beam, arms crossed, chewing over his words before speaking. He was rarely ever silent unless he was calculating something.

"Wonderland," Kurt finally said, voice steady but distant, "isn’t just a place in the game."

"Yeah, I figured that part out." Miles exhaled sharply.

"Did you? Because from where I’m standing, you look about one bad revelation away from a goddamn breakdown." Kurt smirked.

"Just talk." Miles clenched his jaw.

Kurt gave a small, amused huff before continuing.

"Here’s the thing about the game. It has rules, a system, and in it, everything has a place, a function, a reason to exist." He gestured vaguely around them. "Even this hellhole, The Horizon, has rules. Even though they’re just fucked up."

"And Wonderland doesn’t have rules?" Miles narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, it does." Kurt’s silver eye gleamed in the dim firelight. "Just not the ones the game gave it."

That made Miles pause. He frowned, thinking back to his time in Wonderland – the shifting landscapes, the way the world itself seemed alive in its own grotesque way, how nothing ever felt static.

"Then where did its rules come from?"

Kurt let the question hang between them before answering.

"From the story that came before."

Miles’ fingers twitched.

"What do you mean ’before’?"

Kurt sighed, rubbing his temple.

"I mean that Wonderland isn’t a dungeon like the ones you’re going to watch emerge from whatever hell the game controls. It’s not some hidden zone waiting for players to find it. It’s not even an event. It’s something the game just couldn’t... Erase."

The words hit Miles harder than he expected.

The game had control over everything – or so he thought. But if Wonderland was not created by the system if it was not even meant to be there...

Then what the hell was it, then?

"...The game couldn’t erase it," Miles muttered, trying to process it. "Then what did it do?"

Kurt tilted his head.

"Same thing it does to anything it can’t fully control. It buried it, twisted it. It turned it into something players couldn’t interact with because it was safer than letting it run wild."

The realization settled into Miles’ gut like lead.

"So... Wonderland wasn’t a part of the game from the start, and was never meant to be one."

"Ding ding ding!" Kurt smirked.

Miles ran a hand through his hair, exhaling sharply. The puzzle pieces were coming together, but the picture they formed was something even more terrifying.

If Wonderland predated the game...

If it was something that existed before the system took over, just not in the fable Miles had read in his tender youth...

Then what the hell was The Glitch actually trying to replace?

His stomach churned. He wanted to push further, demand more, but there was a more pressing question clawing at the back of his mind, even though his head was already spinning dizzyingly from exhaustion.

"The Hatter," Miles said, voice quieter now. "Where does he fit into all of this?"

"Skipping straight to the good part, huh?" Kurt clicked his tongue, looking mildly impressed.

"Kurt..."

"Alright, alright," he sighed. "The Hatter is different. And I mean really different."

Miles waited, watching the shift in Kurt’s demeanor. He was not just teasing him anymore. He was thinking, carefully weighing his words.

"There are stories," Kurt began, his voice lower now, "about anomalies in the game. Things that don’t follow the system’s logic. Some of them disappear before people can figure them out. Some of them get ’patched’. It’s like the game wipes them out, or turns them into something different." He leaned forward slightly. "But the oldest story is about him. About the Hatter."

Miles swallowed.

"They say he was the first anomaly. The first thing the game tried to erase... And failed."

The crackling fire suddenly sounded much louder.

"But he’s dead." Miles’ fingers curled into fists.

"You know better than anyone else that he’s not." Kurt raised an eyebrow.

Miles opened his mouth, then closed it, because he did know.

Even though he had told himself that the Hatter was nothing more than a legacy, a power he had inherited that came with a price too high. But if that was true, then why was his voice talking in Miles’ head now?

Kurt watched Miles carefully, reading his expression.

"See, this is where things get tricky. You ever wonder why your artifacts don’t work like normal items?"

"What?" Miles frowned.

"You know it yourself. Your mask, the Hatter’s items... None of them are in your inventory."

Miles froze.

The realization struck like a hammer to the skull.

Miles wished he could open his inventory to check it out, but for some reason, he knew Kurt was right.

He recalled not having seen any of those items showcased in his inventory. And if it was true, then it meant that...

The game never acknowledged them.

He never equipped them like normal items, like he recalled doing before taking his first step into the [Hidden Quest], never stored them through the system’s interface. They had always just... Been there.

As if they weren’t items.

As if they were a part of him.

"Now you’re starting to get it." Kurt nodded at his expression.

Miles felt his pulse pounding in his ears.

"What does that mean?"

Kurt exhaled sharply.

"It means your fancy little friend’s gear isn’t just a bunch of artifacts. It means your your mask, his gear, all of it... It’s not just gear." He tapped a finger against his temple. "It’s him."

"That’s not—" Miles’ breath caught in his throat.

"Oh, it is," Kurt cut him off. "You haven’t been carrying the Hatter’s legacy, kid. You’ve been carrying him."

Silence followed, as Miles felt utterly unable to speak a word.

The fire flickered, throwing long, twisting shadows across the chamber. Miles clenched his fists, his mind racing.

The way the Hatter had spoken in the hidden chamber. The way the artifacts felt alive. The way he had lost control.

All this time, he had thought he was just using the Hatter’s power.

Kurt stood, dusting off his coat.

"Summon his gear."

Miles swallowed, his throat dry.

"What?"

Kurt looked at him for a long moment. Then, he sighed.

"You heard me," he said. "You need to figure out who’s really in control."

Miles shivered.

Because he wasn’t sure he wanted the answer.

The fire burned lower, flickering against the cold metal walls.

Miles said nothing.

But deep inside, he knew.

The Hatter was listening, his grotesque, stitched grin growing unnaturally wide as expectation seeped into its soul.