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Chapter 355

The exit leading to the surface.

The crumpled paper that left my hand flew in a parabola toward that place

where the distorted figures were reflected...

and was swallowed.

"Oh."

"...Could you see the paper go through?"

"Not really, it just disappeared."

Hoo.

'Did that actually make it outside?'

I held my breath and waited.

The silhouettes outside the exit rippled as if a pebble had been thrown into a

spring, and then...

...Thud.

"...!"

The crumpled paper came back into the railway tunnel.

I resisted the urge to pick up the thing rolling on the ground, leaving it for a

moment, and only after confirming there was nothing else amiss did I

hastily grab it. "How strange. It was like it disappeared for a second, then hit a wall and

bounced back."

"...I see."

And the same words were written on the paper I unfolded.

I see.

...Manager.

Did you escape to the outside?

And the moment I read that sentence, I saw the Manager's handwriting

disappear from the crumpled paper.

"...!"

...As if it were being dragged back to the surface of the sealed Segwang

Metropolitan City.

"..."

I pressed down hard and wrote a reply below the vanished words.

Yes.

I quickly wrote that I was able to get out with the Counselor's help, and that

I was safe.

"Are there people out there who haven't woken up yet?"

"Yes."

And...

Was it impossible to escape through the outskirts?

...The three of them have still not woken up. 'Circumstantially, the escape... failed.'

It seemed that, unlike with the train, there was a problem with leaving the

city on foot.

'Is it because it was through the ground and not through the air?'

And when I thought about why these people were standing at this railway

exit...

Perhaps Manager Lee Jaheon had a similar idea to mine.

So you came here to find a way back into the subway using the passage

the Train Shelter came out of?

This maintenance railway was the only way we had experienced getting

from the underground to the surface.

So he must have been researching whether it was possible to return to the

subway, not to May 4th, by going in reverse...

Sure enough, a short answer was written on the paper I sent.

Yes.

Escaping through the outskirts is not suitable for those two.

So that was it...

Wait a minute.

'Does that mean he met those two over and over and brought them all the

way here each time?'

How many times did you try?

Have you been trying continuously while May 4th repeats?

I anxiously crumpled it up again and threw it outside. Once again, the paper was swallowed by the outside, and then it returned.

However.

It has not been repeating.

...Huh?

My mind went blank the moment I read the next words.

2 hours and 17 minutes have passed since Mr. Roe Deer disappeared

from the collapsed station facility.

Wait.

You mean it's still

the same day I escaped?

....

Yes.

I steadied my mind, which had been on the verge of reeling.

[Oh, my goodness! It's as if only the time over there has frozen!]

What... on earth is happening?

But the moment I saw the exit, shimmering and reflecting the silhouettes, a

prediction flashed in my mind.

An unstable seal.

'Did an issue with the Sealing Ritual cause May 4th to become fixed...?'

Like a cracked hourglass. As if a hole had formed in the flow of time that was supposed to return to

the morning of that day, letting the sand leak out so it never fills.

It seemed as if May 4th was slowly solidifying inside there...

Wait, just a moment.

'This raises the difficulty of the termination attempt...'

My original plan was to run to City Hall early in the morning, the moment

the disaster began.

I would use the Cheerful Research Institute's Segwang Station floor, dash

through the corridors of that place before it burned down, and take the

emergency stairs to the rooftop.

That way, I could end it when it was least dangerous, before the disaster

alerts spread and pandemonium broke out.

The safest and most plausible method.

But if this is the case...

'That becomes impossible.'

I would have to carry out the termination attempt in the afternoon in

Segwang Metropolitan City, with the disaster in full swing.

Breaking through the rooftop where the cocoons have already swelled.

'...Damn it.'

It was dizzying just to imagine.

And even if I were to succeed.

'That's the end.'

The May 4th I experienced would become fixed. The dead agents and people would remain as they were.

...The Counselor, too, would end up in the state she was in after sending me

off, melted down.

"..."

Perhaps it would be better.

'Should I just let the Disaster Management Bureau... reseal it...?'

Should I make May 4th repeat again?

Then I could attempt the termination on the morning of that day. Under the

best conditions...

'No!'

Sinking into thought, I froze cold.

'The moment it's resealed, I'll forget everything about Segwang

Metropolitan City too.'

It's an impossible plan to begin with!

From that point on, information and awareness about Segwang

Metropolitan City would be erased once more, so perhaps this time, not

only I but also Ho Yuwon might forget about Segwang Metropolitan City.

'Then it's just over.'

Everything about the Cheerful Research Institute, about Segwang

Metropolitan City... all of it.

Besides, that wasn't the only thing that bothered me.

'...I don't know what the hell Agent Choi might pull in the meantime.' That man seemed to be aiming for the resealing attempt itself to cause some

kind of trouble.

....

'Ha.'

Feeling like my brain was about to burn out from stress, I took a breath.

This is driv-

"Ooh."

...?

"This looks about right."

I turned my head.

Deputy Lee Seong-hae, who had been next to me at some point, was

rummaging around near the tracks.

After looking over the fallen materials here and there, she picks up a long...

piece of rebar...?

"What, what are you doing?"

"Making something to try out. Ugh-cha!"

Seong-hae smiled, holding out the rebar, which was easy to grip.

"Try sticking this outside!"

I reflexively looked back at the exit.

And it hit me like a bolt of lightning.

"You mean to have them grab this from the other side?" "Yep. They seemed to recognize the paper, right? So I thought they'd

recognize the rebar too!"

"...!"

It was definitely worth a try!

"I'm strong, you know. Hurry."

I reflexively took the rebar.

"Dolphin, you said you couldn't perceive the exit, right?"

"Yep. So you have to stick it out, Mr. Roe Deer! If they grab it from the

outside, we'll give it a pull!"

"Understood. Just a moment."

I will stick out an iron rod, please grab it. We will try to pull.

I threw the paper beyond the exit, then waited a moment.

Time seemed to flow properly only when I was communicating, so a short

wait should be enough.

And after the paper returned.

Yes.

I grabbed the rebar and stuck it out of the exit.

"...!"

A strange resistance.

Or a feeling of being sucked in. When the rebar was about halfway out, I

tightened my grip on it.

"Oh, it looks like it's completely halfway gone." Over my hand, Deputy Lee Seong-hae's hand joined mine in gripping the

rebar.

And after waiting a moment.

We slowly began to pull the rebar.

...A heavy resistance could be felt.

"Pull harder!"

I had no time to answer and just pulled the rebar. With a crackling sound,

the scenery outside flickered into sharp focus and then distorted again. I

kept pulling, pulling on the rebar...

A limp right hand shot out of the exit.

"...!!"

Seeing the pale white hand resting on the rebar, I pulled even harder. After

it came an arm, a left hand, a shoulder, and then...

The moment the rebar came completely out of the exit.

The bodies of two people hanging from it tumbled onto the tracks.

"Heup,"

I let go of the rebar and immediately grabbed them both with my hands....

Cold.

"..."

Cold, stiffly hardened, limp human forms were in my hands.

Beside me, Deputy Lee Seong-hae lifted Assistant Manager Eun Haje's arm

and let it go. Thud.

"Oh dear, they're corpses."

"..."

I looked at the corpse of Agent Bronze that I had caught as it fell toward

me, at the pale complexion of the deceased.

The bodies of the two who had died in Delusion Home Shopping were in

my hands.

"~!"

I endured the goosebumps and terror crawling up my arms. And slowly,

slowly, I laid the two of them on the ground...

My heart was pounding violently.

But in the space left by the shock, a positive signal flashed briefly.

'...Is this a success?'

Right.

Originally, if you died in the subway, you were supposed to wake up

outside, so for them to return as immobile corpses... isn't that actually

normal?

'It seems like a sign that they woke up outside.'

It had been strangely twisted because of the Delusion Home Shopping

contract, but looking at the situation now... it seems that passing through

the even more distorted surface of Segwang Metropolitan City might have

released that restriction.

Perhaps they both woke up in reality.

My head cleared at that assumption. '...But why can't I see Section Chief Lee Jaheon?'

I hurriedly lifted my head and stared at the sunlit exit...

....

"I can still see the silhouettes."

"Huh?"

There were still three of them.

I was holding the two corpses in my hands right now, but the two figures

behind Section Chief Lee Jaheon that I had seen outside the exit were still

visible.

"..."

My blood ran cold.

I put down the bodies and wrote a note with fumbling hands.

The bodies of the assistant manager and the agent have come through.

But why do I still see three figures?

And did you intentionally not grab the iron rod, Manager?

A cold sweat ran down my back.

But the reply, this time too, was clear.

Yes.

"..."

I placed the two of them on the iron rod first. Considering the difference in our physical strength, it was a decision

made in case Mr. Roe Deer's plan did not proceed as predicted.

...It seemed he sent the two of them first in case I was dragged outside by

Lizard's own insane physical strength.

I could understand that much. But...

However, the iron rod disappeared again at the exit, and the two of

them fell into the subway tunnel.

They have now returned to their original positions.

Can you see them?

I can.

So, the dead bodies of the two people, judged as 'objects' via the rebar,

came over here...

But they are also over there.

Reporter Eunhaje and high school student Ryu Jaegwan.

'...What on earth is this?'

What are they?

[My, what a puzzling situation!]

['What comes inside but also remains outside?' If this were a nonsense quiz,

the answer would be something like a button, but unfortunately, the

situation is quite literal.]

A literal situation.

I looked at the two bodies in my arms, then looked outside again...

And a thought occurred to me. Wasn't my premise wrong?

'...They weren't alive in the first place.'

The two of them were dead bodies even inside the train.

It was just that their minds were trapped here, bound by the Delusion Home

Shopping contract.

So, the conditions were different for them than for me or Section Chief Lee

Jaheon from the very beginning.

Already trapped beings.

'Entering May 4th as corpses...'

And the two people I met were in a completely past state, with no

memories, unlike the two of us.

That... perhaps.

It wasn't that they lost their memories.

'Were they truly beings from the past from the very beginning...?'

Were the minds of high school-era Ryu Jaegwan and reporter-era Assistant

Manager Eun Haje truly dragged into that place and trapped...?

-Escaping through the outskirts is not suitable for those two.

"..."

Was it impossible to escape through the outskirts... because of this twist in

time?

'This is insane.'

What the hell is the sequence of events? No, first of all...

Are the two of them safe?

Is there anything else wrong?

I threw it toward the exit again.

And I opened the paper that came back.

Agent.

...It's high school student Ryu Jaegwan's handwriting.

The slightly trembling script, as if holding back fear, was written with firm

pressure.

Both the reporter and I are fine.

I'm glad you're safe.

"..."

A sigh escaped me unconsciously.

'...How can I save them?'

First- first, I need to assess the situation.

"Deputy Manager Dolphin, could you please check for news from the Fox

Counseling Room? I'd like you to see if Deputy Manager Falcon has woken

up."

"You want me to go check by myself?"

"Yes. I'll stand guard here. There are people right outside, so I need to be

prepared in case of an unexpected situation." But I wouldn't keep communicating with the outside just because I was

anxious.

If the time on the surface of Segwang Metropolitan City was truly

solidifying, it would be better not to communicate unnecessarily and cause

more time to pass.

I watched the letters disappear from the returned paper.

...The bodies, perhaps because they originally belonged here, weren't

sucked back in.

"Just a moment."

Click.

When I turned my head, a toy handcuff was fastened to my wrist and

connected to the railway track.

"...?!"

The strangely rusted plastic thing had the eerie graffiti 'Tagging Ghost' on it.

My hand felt strangely cold. As if caught by a ghost.

"Ah, it's a simple restraint item. You asked me to hold you so you don't go

out the exit, so I'm leaving something to do it for me!"

"...Thank you."

She's incredibly thorough...

"I'll be going then!"

And Deputy Dolphin walked away behind the tracks.

And so, I was left in the sunlight with the two bodies.

"..." Silhouettes were still visible outside the exit.

Worried that I might affect the time, I intentionally sat with my back to it

and thought.

...My head feels heavy.

'No, I still have to do it.'

There's still time, and I will find the best option in this situation.

"I can do this."

Saying it out loud made me feel a little better.

Okay, first...

My deductions.

"First. Time on May 4th in Segwang Metropolitan City is currently flowing

very slowly."

The day I experienced is continuing, so it's impossible to aim for the

morning of a repeating day to enter before the seal ends.

...The current situation. I have to enter in the afternoon and break through.

By whatever means necessary.

"Second. The reporter and the high school student are truly people from the

past."

The fact that Assistant Manager Eun Haje and Agent Bronze's bodies were

recovered by the subway, but those people didn't come over, means their

minds didn't originate from the subway in the first place.

It seems that the moment May 4th restarted, it revived the bodies and, to fill

the void in their consciousness, it truly summoned people from the past...

And in all this, my task hasn't changed. "Before it's resealed, termination..."

....

And.

If those two are really people from the past, will they return to their own

bodies at that past point in time the moment the seal is broken?

How on earth did people from the past get in? Were only their minds drawn

in?

"Was it mixed with a different past?"

"Since the Segwang Metropolitan City Sealing Ritual deals with time, it's

possible for beings from the past to appear jumbled up inside. ...Grapes-ie."

...!!

I turned my head.

I saw a figure walking up from down the tracks.

Not short and petite like Deputy Lee Seong-hae, but a person with a much

taller frame.

It was Agent Choi.

"..."

I reflexively almost backed away, then stopped when I realized the surface

of Segwang Metropolitan City was behind me.

The handcuff on my wrist rattled.

Seeing it, Agent Choi's expression turned strange.

"What in the world is that..." "..."

"No, it's fine. Whatever."

The bewilderment on Agent Choi's face was momentary, and it soon settled

back into a weary complexion.

It was a completely unexpected encounter, but I clenched my fists instead.

'This is an opportunity.'

This must be the time.

I will somehow get this person's cooperation and improve the situation.

This wasn't the time to be emotional. It was a situation where I had to reach

an agreement, share all the information I had, and persuade him.

'...I have to get something out of him.'

I stared at him with a clear mind.

Agent Choi gazed at the tracks and opened his mouth.

"...You weren't at the counseling room."

"..."

"I figured, if it was you, you'd probably be checking for a way in by now."

"..."

"...Want to sit there?"

With my back to him, I cautiously asked, preparing for any contingency.

"Did you come here to talk?"

"Yes." And Agent Choi sat down first.

In a distant spot, at least twice an adult man's height away from me.

'How should I start?'

I chose my words calmly.

...This person doesn't believe me. If so, wouldn't it be better to say

something that's easier for him to believe?

But the moment I thought that far.

"I'll tell you everything you wanted to hear."

...!

"Everything, right down to what I'm trying to do."

Agent Choi began to speak in a low, numb voice.

About the method he intended to use.
_____________
Chapter 356

From Agent Choi, who stood below the tracks, came a story told in a level

tone, as if he were merely explaining something.

A shocking truth.

"The Segwang Metropolitan City Re-sealing Ritual is already underway."

...!

"A ritual this massive takes at least three days. It's already started."

My head grew cold as I understood.

There was no way the obliteration of an entire metropolis could happen in a

short amount of time...

Especially not when a 300-day countdown had been given.

It was no surprise that it had already begun and was in full swing.

"Of course, the method is different from a typical gut1

or rite, but the

sentiment of 'giving it your all' is similar. Everything works out better when

you put in the effort."

"..."

"It's a matter of timing, to align perfectly with the moment the seal breaks

two days from now. Professional agents, who have already completed their

seven-day Anban Gut 1and purification, are already holding their Divine

Blades.2" Agent Choi described it as if he could see it.

"The magic weapon to be used in the ritual is a myeongdo." Think of it as a

brass mirror. They'll carve incantations on the Sun-and-Moon Blade to

symbolize Segwang Metropolitan City, cover it with the fresh blood

symbolizing the sacrifice, and flip it upside down on the floor of the jeon-

an...."

From somewhere, I thought I could hear the sound of gongs, of voices

shouting at the top of their lungs, of drums, of bells ringing like mad....

And Agent Choi was looking at me.

"My plan was to switch the sacrificial blood that would be poured on the

myeongdo."

My hair stood on end.

"...Don't tell me, with your own blood?"

"That's right."

"Are you out of your m...."

"Keep listening."

Agent Choi cut me off, continuing to speak nonchalantly.

"That would change the direction of the sacrifice. They probably prepared

the blood of a spiritually powerful animal whose fortune was aligned to

symbolize the citizens of Segwang Metropolitan City... but now, that

killing curse will come for me."

"..."

"Of course, that alone isn't enough. So, from the moment the seal breaks, I'll

perform a separate ritual. Hmm, in the words of kids these days, you could

say I'll be drawing aggro." "How were you planning to substitute for the citizens of a metropolis all by

yourself?"

"It's simple. I just have to match the numbers."

"..."

A sense of foreboding hung in the air.

"What's needed is the moment a life is severed, so... this is a sacrifice

where cutting a life short is what's important. So I...."

"You're saying you'll die that many times?"

"..."

"You're going to die over and over again, as many times as there are

people?"

"That's right."

Agent Choi said it calmly.

'Wait a minute.'

What kind of number was that, exactly?

'Hundreds of thousands of people are dying every day, so he's going to

repeat that alone, every day....'

The number was so astronomical that it brought on a cosmic horror.

The hair on the crown of my head stood on end.

"Of course, the ritual wouldn't be completed just because anyone did it. I

have my own credentials, which is why I'm even attempting something like

this."

"A-are you crazy?" Is he insane?

Is 'insane' even the right word for this situation?

"No. It's actually bearable. I won't have any memory each time I die, so I

won't go mad."

Agent Choi said with a sigh.

"Of course, it's not like I intend to endure this state forever, or become some

kind of living totem of suffering. I... I was planning on leaving hints, just

like Team Leader Hong did at Saegwang High School."

"...!"

"Then you guys would come and save me someday. Right? Bronze and

Grapes."

"..."

"Not a reckless attempt like this one, but after more research. It would be a

bit different with Bronzie around."

The faint smile that had spread across Agent Choi's face changed back to a

weary impassiveness.

And his gaze shifted to the corpse that lay between us.

To be precise, the corpse of Agent Bronze.

"...Agent."

"Don't worry. How many times do you think I've seen a colleague's corpse

on a dispatch? ...I know he's sleeping soundly outside, too."

But Agent Choi looked at the motionless Agent Bronze as if he were a son

or a younger brother who had died in battle, then reached out, stroked his

hair, and quietly lowered his hand. "...Seeing as the body hasn't disappeared yet, he probably hasn't woken up

outside. ...The ritual on the surface of Segwang Metropolitan City must be

holding him."

"..."

"When the seal holding the citizens is released, Bronzie will get out, too."

He said it as if making a vow.

Then, he glanced briefly toward the tunnel exit, which probably looked like

nothing to him, before looking back at me.

"Shall we continue our talk, then? You were also curious about what I did to

get you out of Daydream's Underground."

"..."

"It's simple. It's a kind of secured loan."

Agent Choi rubbed the back of his neck, then lowered his hand.

"If I fail to offer a suitable gift within a few years to... hmm, the 'certain

someone' who found you for me, a few parts of me will disappear."

This is insane....

"It's a bit tough to find a gift that would satisfy them. If I can't, I'll have to

try and guide it to my organs. Then I might end up living with a Goblin

Fire, or I could become like one of the elders."

"..."

"There, that's everything."

I looked at him, feeling as if I'd been doused with cold water.

"Anything else you're curious about? If so, say it now." Having nonchalantly spewed out a story that made my brain tingle, Agent

Choi looked at me without a change in expression.

"The reason I didn't tell you all this until now is because hearing it would

only make you worry, and there's nothing to be learned from it."

"..."

"Right? It's not like you're going to learn gut like me."

His usual banter barely managed to mix into his voice.

I stared at him intently.

"Don't lie to me."

"..."

"Isn't it more that you just didn't want to deal with my worrying or

opposition? Because you have no intention of regretting or changing your

decision anyway."

"...If you insist on putting it that way, then yes."

"Does Agent Haegeum know about this decision? Did she agree?"

"It doesn't matter if she agrees or not. I'm the only one among us who can

interfere with the Sealing Ritual."

Agent Choi's voice grew rough.

"This is a method I'm fairly confident I can pull off."

"..."

"But you decided to just do as you please, trust Lee Kangheon's note on

your own, and said you were going to haul the Potion Maker to City Hall."

"Because persuasion wouldn't work." "That goes for you, too."

"No, it's different."

I clenched my teeth.

"You don't believe a word I say, so there's no way for persuasion to work."

"Right. Because simply trusting someone contaminated by a Supernatural

Disaster is a suicidal act!"

"..."

"We could both end up in danger. Do you have any idea how many agents

have gone missing after following another missing agent? You...."

Agent Choi caught his breath.

"...Right. You said you were from another world."

"..."

"You know what? It's not like I didn't try to believe you."

Agent Choi's voice lowered.

"It hasn't been just a day or two since you disappeared, Grapes-ie. It's been

293 days. You could build a road in that time. Do you really think I

wouldn't have even tried to check if what you were saying was true?"

...!!

"...You checked?"

"Of course."

Agent Choi gave a bitter smile, which then faded. "The Ritual Site I prepared isn't just for peeking at the Sealing Ritual. ...I

picked a day with good weather and had my fortune told. To see if what you

said was the truth."

I sucked in a breath.

Tension constricted my body.

"I chose the sentence carefully, too. I crammed in everything I could and

followed the proper format...."

"Could it be, 'His bones and flesh were not born in this place, and is he a

lost child wandering this world?'"

Agent Choi looked at me.

"An answer came down. Instantly."

"..."

"When I interpreted it, it was a very short and simple expression."

"No."

"..."

"It sounds like that when put into words, but it was actually a negation of

every description I presented."

Agent Choi raised his hand as if he wanted to hold a cigarette, then lowered

it and clasped it again.

"Grapes-ie."

"..."

"A few days ago, I... I was frustrated and impatient, and I chose my words

poorly, didn't I? I went too far." I looked into his blue pupils, which shimmered as if faded by the sun.

He looked exhausted.

"But, that's how little time and leeway I have right now. And... I want you

to know that I'm not lying."

"..."

"You're from here. You were born here, and you're not lost on your way

home."

A bitter smile reappeared on his lips.

"Not that saying this will convince you."

"..."

A strange feeling washed over me.

'Was that it?'

So that's why... he was so assertive.

Relief, emptiness, frustration, and a surge of resentment mixed together,

kneaded into a strange dough, and scattered in my head.

And then, clarity.

"I understand."

My mouth spoke calmly.

A faint glint of hope flickered in Agent Choi's pupils, but it was

overshadowed by a greater wariness.

Right. I knew it.

That makes sense. "You're right. I've been influenced by too many ghost stories in a short

amount of time and have only recently come to my senses. My obsession

with home is clearly excessive."

I looked at the handcuffs.

"Maybe I'm something like one of the long-term missing persons from a

Supernatural Disaster. Someone who's been suffering from fear and panic

for so long that they can't tell right from wrong."

However.

"But even those people have a home to return to."

"..."

"It's the same for me, Agent."

I looked at him again and smiled.

"You chose the wrong sentence to ask when you had your fortune told."

"...!"

"I'm a case that doesn't fall under that example. If I had to put it one way, I

was invited into this body. I'm not a lost child, I'm a guest."

"...A guest?"

"This sounds just as much like a pseudo religion, doesn't it? In any case,

there's one thing that's certain."

His pupils wavered.

I spoke gently.

"Whether you believe me or not, you can't stop my choice. My choice is my

own, and I will do what I believe is right." "Th-"

"Just as you've already done, Agent."

Right?

"The reason you're being honest with me now is because you've already

finished all the preparations for the Re-sealing Ritual, so I can't interfere."

"...!"

"I'm not angry."

I wasn't angry anymore.

I felt I had heard too much, too honestly, from the exhausted Agent Choi to

be angry....

Even without the handcuffs, I didn't think I would have screamed my head

off, grabbed him by the collar, and asked if he was crazy.

A calm judgment settled in.

"In your eyes, that must seem like the most certain answer. Someone,

including me, could die by mistake, and you can't just choose another

method for fun or because you feel like it."

"..."

"My method seems like an unverified gamble, my idea of going home

seems distorted, and in many ways."

"...Still."

Agent Choi's voice came out slightly cracked.

"Still, I'm always ready to listen to you. About home, or about anything."

"..." For a moment, I was at a loss for words.

"...Thank you."

I knew.

He was passionate, firm in his judgment, chose self-sacrifice over fear, had

a thirst for inquiry, and wasn't easily persuaded by things that weren't

rational.

...He was a good person.

All the traits of an early Management Bureau agent.

He had always been that kind of person....

"But your judgment probably won't change."

The more I spoke, the more certain I became.

"Yes. We cannot convince each other."

Not for now, that is.

"Grapes-ie."

"But...."

I took a breath and gave a bitter smile.

"I still think we can cooperate."

"..."

"I think you're an amazing person, Agent. And until now... hmm. I can't say

I've never lied. I was originally a spy, after all."

"..." "I know I've said a lot of things that can't be verified. So I won't ask for

your trust right now."

Agent Choi's eyes trembled slightly.

"I was just wondering if we could make a promise."

I made a pinky-promise gesture with my uncuffed hand.

"I'd like for us to cooperate so we can each attempt what we want in this

Segwang Metropolitan City affair. Without interfering with the process, and

by helping each other in earnest."

"..."

"If even one of us succeeds, it's a good thing for the citizens. And if we

don't cooperate, the probability of each attempt failing will only increase."

I deliberately stared him down.

"Even if it all looks like a suicide mission because you can't trust me, you

can at least increase the survival rate, can't you?"

"You...."

"I'm kidding. But I am asking for your cooperation."

"..."

Looking at Agent Choi, whose head was bowed, I spoke bitterly.

"If you won't, then there's nothing to be done. I'll just have to try without

any cooperation."

....

"You cheap bastard."

"Sounds like you're introducing yourself, Agent." [Hahaha!]

I heard Braun's laughter, but Agent Choi was only letting out quiet breaths.

Then, a low voice emerged from beneath them.

"What do you want?"

"Let's write a contract. And you, Agent, can swear an oath to a supernatural

being using your equipment."

"And you?"

"I'll stake my supernatural identity."

And so, I wrote on a piece of paper.

The two who vow below this paper must cooperate to achieve each

other's goals and cannot interfere with one another.

This can be terminated by mutual agreement.

I first wrote beneath it.

GOLDEN

"Sign it."

"..."

Agent Choi met my eyes, did some sort of calculation... and finally,

clenching his jaw, he stamped the hilt of his Executioner's Sword onto the

paper.

A strange stain was left on it in place of a name.

As the 'Mascot of the Flower Golden Resort,' I could sense that the

signature was valid. [Excellent, my friend!]

'...Thanks.'

I feel like some octopus witch getting a signature from the Little Mermaid.

But I did it.

'Hoo.'

I felt like a mental wreck, but...

I tried to ignore Agent Choi, who had gone completely silent after signing,

as if in regret....

At that moment.

"Do you... have to do this?"

....

"...Yes."

I looked at the silhouettes that were still beyond the exit, and at the corpses

on the tracks, and collected my breath.

"I'll start explaining now."

"..."

"How I'm going to install the Potion Maker."

And so, the next day.

I stepped out alone through the tunnel exit onto the surface of Segwang

Metropolitan City.

It was the day right before the seal was to be released. 1. 'gut' (pronounced 'goot') : traditional

shamanism ritual (Ty kirinkirinki)

2. originally "Shinkal" kirikirinki: shinkal: divine swords used for

shamanic ritual

3. anbangut : basically the pre-gut gut, it's what you do to get ready

for the main ritual
____________
Chapter 357

High school student Ryu Jaegwan held his breath.

It had already been several hours since they had started moving through

Segwang Metropolitan City, following the researcher named Lee Jaheon,

whose features were so perfect they were unsettling.

...It had also been several hours since the agent who had saved him had

vanished beneath a pile of concrete rubble.

-Agent!

The shock of that moment still lingered, but another shocking event had just

occurred.

"..."

Ryu Jaegwan looked at the subway tracks before him.

Just a moment ago, he had communicated with the agent, who had

disappeared, through a piece of paper that had suddenly appeared from that

tunnel.

He had no idea how it was possible, but a piece of paper had definitely

popped out of thin air....

Relief and confusion washed over him.

"This is some spooky business."

"..." "Hey, Researcher, are you sure we just have to wait here like this?"

"Yes."

In truth, following the agent's last words, they had intended to take the

subway to a station as far from the city center as possible and then escape

through a nearby mountain path.

But after many twists and turns, as they approached the edge of Segwang

Metropolitan City, beyond the mountain path....

A strange phenomenon occurred.

-Do not gaze.

...When he came to his senses, he and the other person were a good

distance away from the mountain path, being carried by the researcher.

All he could remember was a powerful signal that said, 'there is nothing.'

An existential terror.

The memory of his mind nearly being consumed by that place made his

heart pound like crazy....

-We will change our destination.

In the end, following the researcher's guidance, they had forged a new route

and broken through to this place.

The entrance to a maintenance track.

Though it was relatively near Segwang Station, the place, with only service

tracks for an empty station, was desolate.

They had all turned off their smartphones long ago, and the strange 'march'

was circling the downtown area, not here, so they could catch their breath. The researcher had said that this place had the potential to regain its

function as an exit to the outside....

That hard-to-understand statement hadn't come true, but a note from the

agent had arrived.

But now, a good while had passed since he'd sent the last note, and there

was still no reply.

"Hmm."

Ryu Jaegwan watched Reporter Eunhaje, the light in her eyes not yet

extinguished, as she went in and out of the subway tunnel, exploring here

and there.

But she soon came out, shrugging.

Her eyes, though trying to remain calm, looked confused.

"Doesn't seem to be anything special."

Anxiety crept up his legs.

But at that moment.

...Thump.

Something abruptly appeared out of thin air at the entrance to the subway

tunnel.

A dress shoe, then a long leg in a suit pant, slid out.

Supernaturally.

"...!!"

The lower half emerged, followed by the torso above the waist. And then,

what was revealed was.... A face.

"Hello."

"..."

"I'm glad to see you're all safe."

It was the agent.

...The man he thought might have died, crushed under a pile of concrete

and rebar, turned to the three of them with a faint smile, impeccably dressed

and with a clean face.

He was perfectly fine.

For a moment, a wave of relief and gladness surged up, but....

"We don't have much time."

The agent urgently grabbed their shoulders and pushed them into the tunnel.

"You need to be in the safest place possible. Get inside the tracks for now.

That is the Subway Domain."

"Ah, okay."

Ryu Jaegwan looked back as he entered the tunnel.

He could hear the conversation between the researcher and the agent next to

him.

The content, seemingly hinting at something, fueled his questions.

"Mr. Roe Deer."

"It's alright. ...I received help from 'We Help' as well. I am ready."

What kind of preparation is he talking about? What in the world happened?

If he really went outside like the researcher said, is it okay for him to come

back in?

How did he get so clean in just a few hours?

But before all those questions could be answered, the agent was already

moving.

As if without a shred of hesitation.

As if he had already finished all his mental preparations.

"I'll be going now."

The agent, after patting the rescued person's shoulder one more time, was

already in the distance.

The figure in the suit ran beyond the tracks.

He was now wearing a mask he hadn't had on before. A mask with horns.

His last words remained in his ears.

"Before this day is over, you will be able to get out safely."

* * *

I ran forward.

Towards City Hall.

[It seems the grand finale is approaching once more. Let's get a move on,

my friend.]

The surroundings were strangely quiet.

There were no more disaster alerts around Segwang Station. Only the sound of people marching echoed.

Perhaps, this was the point in time when the 'lump' I had seen when I fell

from the train was being created....

'Could that lump be born from the Cocoon at Segwang City Hall?'

I lifted my head and stared at the City Hall.

...The Cocoon was now,

absurdlyswellingupwhatisthatabnormalabnormalstrangeit'sswellinginastran

gewaybiologicaldisaster1

!abiodisasterisspreadi2

[Action!]

...!

[Here's the alarm you requested, friend! Mr. Roe Deer asked me to let him

know immediately if he stared at today's destination. Now, our protagonist

is ready to run again.]

'...Thanks.'

[My pleasure!]

I immediately took a candy from my pocket, unwrapped it, and put it in my

mouth.

Nostalgia Candy.

My body and mind regained a clean and sharp state.

It melts quickly, but that's fine.

'I just have to keep popping them in.'

My pocket was full of them. This was what it meant to have the full cooperation of the Daydream

Director, Ho Yuwon.

-Mr. Roe Deer. If there's anything you need, I'll prepare it, whatever it is.

The moment I succeeded in persuading Ho Yuwon, I used the Daydream

Director's capital to buy up all the necessary items.

Items that could be used in Segwang Metropolitan City, as they weren't

borrowed from an external being.

Verified ones.

This didn't mean I had read about other people's use cases and effects in the

Darkness Exploration Records.

It meant things I had used myself over time.

All those things I had carefully selected and experienced the side effects

and benefits of in this strange and frightening world.

I now know what is effective and what can be used in this situation with

minimal side effects.

There are also plenty of people around me to ask.

-Yeah.... The Nostalgia series... should work....

-Right. Miraculous Objects from the same origin don't easily affect each

other. Even if one is unilaterally more powerful. It's worth a shot to aim for

that gap.

The items I'd prepared rattled in my pocket. Instead of the inventory tattoo,

which was packed full with the Potion Maker, my actual pocket was

stuffed.

And from my waist, a bell chimed.

...It was Agent Choi's equipment. After the signing, as if he'd never hindered me, Agent Choi had crammed

countless 'pro-tips' into my head. It was a fast-track lesson so persistent and

thorough it made my head spin.

And at the end, he handed me this.

An agent-issue item he owned.

-It's a bell I kept in my Goblin Hat. It changed its properties on its own,

even though I didn't pray to anyone for it.

-If you wear this, you'll encounter fewer corrupt things. Like how you'd

slightly avoid those people on the street shouting 'Do you believe in the

Way?'

-Now, you have to wear it from the start. You'll be a goner if you try to

save it for later. Got it, Grapes?

I press straight on.

Perhaps thanks to the bell, both the crowd and the bizarre gazes pass me by.

But this bell alone won't be enough to reach the center of an Extinction-

class Disaster.

So I take out my next tool.

The most crucial guide.

-I need Yeongeun's cooperation for the termination attempt.

-Just tell me what to do. No, I want to go in myself this time.

That was impossible, as everyone went mad if they heard the music box.

While desperately persuading Yeongeun, I also asked her colleague to

create an item. An object that had lit my path and protected my companions several times

when we fell into large-scale Darkness.

-Once more, please.

The Mysterious Candle Kit.

A product made by the Cheerful Research Institute, the same place of origin

as this disaster.

Honor, Healing, Meditation, Wound, Lie, Anger, Interference,

Protection, Strike, Gaze, Chaos, Dream.

A ritual to create a candle reflecting the properties of three cards drawn

from this deck.

The dispositions and desires of the three people making it are strongly

reflected.

Therefore, there was no one more suitable than Ms. Go Young-eun.

A person with a strong sense of purpose for termination, an official of

Segwang Metropolitan City.

Above all, a proven person.

-Should we do it right away?

This colleague had previously drawn 'Honor' at the Mansion of the Blind

and 'Chaos' at Lookie Mart.

And now, at this point, at the final destination of the journey, the card she

drew was....

[Gaze]

A firm sense of purpose and a will that seemed to pierce a single point.

I accepted it gratefully. But it doesn't end here. These word cards are originally meant to be drawn

by three people.

And I knew the next suitable person.

To safely reach the rooftop, a sense of purpose that prioritized one's own

well-being was also necessary.

-Wh-what is it?

-There's something you need to do. I'm asking you.

Baek Saheon.

That Daydream colleague, with his intense obsession for survival,

eventually came to the counseling office and drew a card with us.

[Protection]

I recall that the card he drew the first time was 'Interference.'

It was a strange feeling.

-....

Baek Saheon finished the task with unusual quietness. It felt like he was

observing me, but that was all.

And at this point, the final person was already decided.

The person who needed this candle.

Me.

"..."

I drew a card. What came into my hand, which had previously drawn 'Lie' and 'Protection,'

was....

[Meditation]

...A state of mind that seeks to reflect on the world, free from prejudice and

pain.

"..."

The three of us, who had been Daydream colleagues, were the same people

who had first made this candle.

But it was combined with entirely different keywords.

And thus, it was completed.

[Gaze, Protection, Meditation.]

A strong sense of purpose for termination.

The desire for self-protection.

And the user's own reflection.

These three elements combined, and the well-hardened candle was now in

my hand as I ran toward City Hall.

"..."

However, I know.

※This toy was created to relieve the fatigue of modern Earthlings.

For safety, aliens, otherworlders, non-sentient beings, gods, and all

other non-human sentient beings cannot use it. :)

...From the beginning, I couldn't light this candle. If I held it, the flame would go out.

Now I know.

'It's true I didn't have the right to use it.'

Because I thought of myself as an otherworlder, having come from a

different world.

...And in the first place, because my body wasn't human.

'And I didn't even know that properly.'

Because I didn't know who I was or how I was here, I couldn't even discuss

my right to use it.

But now I can.

Because now I knew.

'I am....'

I am not an otherworlder now.

As Agent Choi confirmed in the ritual, my blood and flesh were born here.

And I am not a non-sentient being, a god, or a non-human sentient being.

Because I am living as a person.

Because exploring the Darkness extracts Dream Essence, and because I

define myself as Kim Soleum.

'Therefore.'

By all the truths that I know.

And, despite all those truths. If I can think of myself as a person....

I was a person.

I held up the candle.

The supplicant must hold this candle and, by the power of Gaze, reveal a

protected form toward the object of meditation.

A blessing is granted to the supplicant holding the candle.

Explorer in the Darkness.

The flame ignites.

The light of the burning candle is a warm yellow. A small light burning

alone in the darkness.

Following the path illuminated by that light, I was able to move forward.

Towards that destination.

I move my feet.

Now, only what I gaze upon appears correctly. I can ignore the surrounding

environment.

The candle burns.

With a clear mind, I began to run again.

City Hall gets closer.

The flame flickers as if it will go out, and the candle melts at an abnormally

fast rate.

But it did not go out.

I ran down a narrow path toward my destination. Following the path lit by the candle, the emergency stairs appeared.

Traces left by the melted Counselor remained on the stairs. But I did not

falter and moved my feet, heading for the rooftop just as I had with the

Counselor back then.

The small flame burns.

There was no hesitation in the entire process.

I could still faintly hear the music box, but strangely enough, I was able to

keep my wits.

And.

Creeak.

Once again, I open the rooftop door.

The rooftop floor was already swollen and didn't look like itself, but I could

only see the dream incubator.

I went straight ahead.

My feet hit the unfamiliar surface of the Cocoon, or perhaps kicked a fallen

panel of trash, but I don't care.

I run forward, sit in front of the dream incubator, and calmly begin to

disconnect it with one hand.

I did not let go of the hand holding the candle.

I had practiced for hours to do it quickly with one hand.

'I can do this.'

I tear off the panel at the bottom. I cut the power by flipping the switch before tearing out the wires, and then

I disconnect the wires one by one.

'Quickly, quickly.'

Tug, tug. With a tough sound, the heavy cables fall away.

'I can't just rip them out...!'

I have to disconnect them so they can be reconnected. Cold sweat forms on

my palm.

And the moment I disconnect the last wire.

"..."

The light on the incubator goes out.

"...Hah,"

I gasped for breath.

The real problem started now.

...I had to put the candle down for a moment to safely take the giant Potion

Maker out of the tattoo and set it up.

So I had already planned on the assumption that I would have to extinguish

it.

"Gasp."

I took a deep breath, quickly put a new Nostalgia Candy in my mouth, and

spat out the shrunken one.

And as I set the candle down... I immediately thrust my hand into the

tattoo.

The music box sound drills into my head. The Cocoon lurches, endure it.

I can't hear the bell.

I grit my teeth and pull out the Potion Maker, setting it down.

Thud.

I push the powered-down dream incubator aside....

....

It doesn't move easily.

'No.'

I pushedtheincubatorthemelodytomakeevenalittlespace1

Pushed.

Pushed and shoved it, knocking it over to the side....

And then I realized.

[Oh my god.]

The bottom of the dream incubator was connected to the Cocoon.

No, it was as if something that had pierced through the bottom of the dream

incubator had become the Cocoon; the inside, visible through the machine's

breached bottom, was whitely contaminated and caked with the Cocoon....

'...It's okay.'

This, too, is one of the scenarios I had anticipated. I swallow and stop

pushing the half-toppled dream incubator, no, the shell of that Cocoon, and

turn my head back to the Potion Maker, Zzzzzzzk.

.... I knew instinctively.

The Cocoon tore.

Perhaps, when the dream incubator stopped... the supply of Dream Essence

Liquid from it was cut off.

The weakened Cocoon seems to have torn slightly from the force of my

pushing.

Just a little.

A tiny tear.

"..."

I replaced the Nostalgia Candy with a new one. My heart pounded. And I

was about to grab the candle and light it, but....

I stopped.

'Is this actually a good thing?'

Hasn't one of the power sources for the Extinction-class Disaster been lost?

I immediately got back to work.

My head is clear.

'No time to hesitate.'

It was time to make a bet. I left the incubator as it was and started pulling

the wires to connect them to the Potion Maker.

While doing so, I remained vigilant and perceived it.

The Cocoon that had swelled up to the rooftop was deflating.

The silhouette of its bottom is revealed. "...!"

The silhouette that had swallowed so many people.

The lump I had seen, underneath it....

The end has come!

Paradise is here!

We have failed!

The candy completely melted.

I shoved another one in my mouth and continued.

The end has come!

Paradise is here!

We have failed!

It's getting closer.

I kept working. As the Cocoon collapsed, beneath my feet,

humanswriggledwriggledcan they be called human? What is this....

....

There's something there.

The end has come!

Paradise is here!

We have failed!

I looked again at the toppled dream incubator. At its base, what was revealed as the swollen Cocoon in the center subsided

was....

The silhouette of a person.

Revealed through the tear in the Cocoon.

The thing clutching the music box.

Its entire body is connected to the lump, letting out a bizarre scream. The

music box sound rings out. It rings out endlessly.

The end has come!

Paradise is here!

We have failed!

That body, connected to the Cocoon and melting away, is....

It was me.

Kim Soleum.

Invited by the Cheerful Research Institute, I screamed in terror as I faced

the existence of a world without ghost stories.

I screamed.

I screamed. I screamed. I screamed. I screamed. I screamed.I screamed. I

screamed. I screamed. I screamed. I screamed.I screamed. I screamed. I

screamed. I screamed. I screamed. I screamed.I screamed.I screamed. I

screamed. I screamed. I scream

[Action!]

[This is the alarm you requested, Friend.]

[How was it? This encore that I, the Host, added on a whim!] "Gasp."

I exhale.

From my head, tingling with terror, the Host's cheerful and pleasant tone

pops up, clearing my mind.

Fear and questions consume my mind. Why me? I want to know, I want to

resolve this! This impulse that feels like I'm going crazy, like something

tremendous is about to happen any second, like I'm about to explode!

But, but...

I lowered my head.

And again, with hands drenched in cold sweat, I continued to install the

potion-making machine.

Without stopping,

I finished.

1. a bio-disaster is spreadi (cuts off)

2. absurdly swelling up what is that abnormal abnormal strange it's

swelling in a strange way biological disaster

3. pushed the incubator the melody to make even a little space
__________
Chapter 358

(It's recommended to check the comments for images of some parts to help

with visualization)

Segwang Metropolitan City.

May 4th.

City Hall Rooftop.

Sunlight.

A knocked-over dream incubator. Beneath it, a torn cocoon.

Connectedtoamasshuggingthemusicboxrevealedfromwithinthecocoon

risesKimSoleumtheinvitedoneonecalledfromaworldwhereghoststoriesdonot

exist I look away.

1

The sound of the music box.

And....

My hand, installing the Potion Maker. It's convulsing.

"Hk,"

The last wire.

Faster, faster!

Cold sweat dripping, the movement of my fingers connecting the cord, the

fear, the urge to glance at the candle, the upheaval beneath the torn cocoon, my wavering vision, the sound of the music box....

....

Click.

The moment the last wire connected.

I pressed the Potion Maker's power button. At the same time, I grabbed the

candle with one hand.

"...!!"

I can breathe again.

In my trembling hand, the candle cast a faint light, illuminating only the

Potion Maker.

I took a deep breath and backed away, pressing myself against the machine.

To get away from the cocoon revealed beneath the dream incubator.

To get away from... it, revealed through the torn cocoon!

[Oh, this is quite a splendid success, Friend!]

Don't look around. Don't listen to the music box! As the candle melts away

at a frantic pace, I barely manage to get a grip, get a grip....

....

Finally, the Potion Maker's panel lights up.

◇HELLO FUTURE!

Beginning identity verification.◇

I let out a ragged breath. A clean font appears on the modern panel.

I try to hold up Kwak Jegang's ID card, which I had prepared in advance.

From now on, there's no telling what will happen. It's all within the realm of

prediction and speculation. So, I must react calmly....

◇Operational error detected!◇

My body freezes.

◇Auto-recovery in progress Error detected Unknown overpower

stateeeeeeeeeeeeeee◇

I hold my breath.

◇Preparing for automatic system shutdown... Failure ◇

◇Preparing for automatic system shutdown... Failure ◇

◇Preparing for automatic system shutdown... Failure◇

◇Failurefailurefailurefailurefailurefailurefailurefailurefailurefailurefail ◇

◆

◆HELLO FUTURE!

Beginning identity verification. ◆

◆HELL■ ■■TURE!

Begin■ing iden■■■■■■■■. ◆

◆Turn around◆

I turned my head. Kim Soleum, who was in the cocoon, is behind me.

Below his waist, a mass made of countless human bodies is visible.

The connected one.

No, countless human bodies are holding onto him, and Kim Soleum, a mass

formed below his waist, looks at me, hugging the music box.

I look at the hand grabbing my foot.

The hand of a Segwang Metropolitan City civilian, protruding from the

mass, was holding me.

I turn my head.

The last flame of the completely burnt-out candle in my hand was dying.

....

Kim Soleum approaches.

The music box in his arms gets closer and closer.

Kim Soleum comes even closer.

I can see inside the music box in his arms.

A fantastical music emanates from within the wide-open music box. A

sound that is serene, lovely, that activates cells and restores the body, but it

is not for humans, and so the human body mutates into a being that can hear

more of this music box melody, they malocclude and tangle together until

they become greater, yes, I know.

....

That's right.

I know! How do I know?

◆I am telling you◆

The Kim Soleum before me 'whispers'. This phenomenon was currently

happening because a backflow was occurring in the Potion Maker.

The Potion Maker cannot withstand the rooftop setup for the dream

incubator.

Because Daydream had modified the dream incubator to reduce the power

and Dream Essence Liquid needed for the machine's operation, and created

the Potion Maker as a degraded version of it.

So this degraded version cannot withstand the powerful output equipped for

the purpose of creating another world.

Thus, the machine was overloaded....

The being inside the cocoon used that.

This machine, which handles the mysterious energy source called Dream

Essence, has the potential to be either sacred or malevolent in itself.

Kim Soleum, who had been trapped inside the dream incubator, inside the

cocoon, can now communicate with the being before him-me-through

the Potion Maker, which has become overloaded, lost control, and fallen

into his hands.

Through him, through the music box, the amplified truth of the world is

flowing into me.

He is telling me the truth.

But I am already immune to the dark truths of this world.

The chilling truth that this is the world of <Darkness Exploration Record>,

and that even the letters on a mere page were born for entertainment, is a

truth that would likely only affect the residents here, is it not? It has nothing to do with me.

So I'm fine. What is he saying? No? So that means....

....

....

Huh?

Huh?

Huh huh huh huh?

I've figured it out!

Yes.

Heeheeheehee!

I got it!

I've figured it out!

I looked at the person before me, nodded, and chuckled.

"So Kim Soleum was summoned to Segwang Metropolitan City just fine!"

The Kim Soleum before me is the summoned Kim Soleum! The person

summoned from a world without ghost stories to this world of ghost stories!

An innocent citizen!

"And he's gone completely crazy because of the music box!"

The Angel's Sigh Melody isn't for humans, so it just contaminates anyone

who listens to it for too long, right!

So Kim Soleum, being human, became prey for the Biological Disaster and

became its central host. "Just like the mermaid princess in the Mermaid Tomb!"

He became a ghost story himself!

A terrifying being!

It grows bigger and bigger, devouring the citizens of Segwang Metropolitan

City every May 4th! It spreads by disseminating 'the frightening truth of a

world without ghost stories,' fusing with people, and growing inside the

cocoon to be reborn as an even greater Lord ■■!

It sends out Disaster Alerts to deceive people!

Yes, it was Kim Soleum!

"Right. Kim Soleum read <Darkness Exploration Record> on his

Smartphone, so he used that phone to send Disaster Alerts to the citizens

and effectively contaminate them!"

....

But then,

"Then... what am I?"

( it's a bigger blank space here, might mean something idk)

"Ah, you're telling me about that too!"

Yes.

At some point in time after this incident!

One of the researchers from the Cheerful Research Institute who survived

and escaped this Segwang Metropolitan City conducted follow-up research

afterward.

"Uh-huh, I already knew that." Because after I drank the Wish Ticket, I woke up in that broken dream

incubator.

Lord Name Invitation Research

A bizarre ghost story that spontaneously arose at Daydream's headquarters

due to the influence of the dream incubator that Daydream stole.

The 'past Cheerful Research Institute' in the basement of the Daydream

Main Building.

The research conducted by a Cheerful Research Institute researcher who

had hidden there.

A success case.

Me.

They succeeded in awakening Lord Name's mind inside a glass tube.

Whose mind is it?

Who is Lord Name?

Did I just vaguely think it was me?

He says he'll give me a precise description here. Right, so, that is....

The very Kim Soleum of this Segwang Metropolitan City.

....

....

"Ah?"

Yes. The researcher, in the basement of Daydream, tried to extract the mind of

Kim Soleum from the sealed Segwang Metropolitan City....

The resident of the 'world without ghost stories' they had already invited!

The ego of the insane Kim Soleum!

The necessary conditions for invitation and contract confirmed so far are

as follows:

Maintain Lord Name's existing identity.

1. Forget existing attachment relationships.

2. Provide a survival objective.

3. Remove all sense of dissonance.

And so, the one they chose.

This is called by the product name 'Good Friend'.

Yes.

"So I was the Good Friend version of the Segwang Metropolitan City

World-ending Class Disaster!"

Just like how I summoned Braun, the host of the ghost story talk show, into

the Rabbit Doll and made him a Good Friend!

Just like the friendly, dependable, approachable, and communicable Rabbit

Doll was in my daily life!

I am a Good Friend who can communicate like a moderate, everyday

person, without being crazy, who just wants to go home!

A friend who feels no dissonance from not remembering what happened

after being invited from Segwang Metropolitan City! And so, I was completed!

A human ego dwelling in a body made by recycling Daydream's Dragon

Mascot!

"I see!"

Now I know!

The place I was originally from is inside that Kim Soleum's head!

If I die, I return to that Kim Soleum!

I can't go home!

I'll be devoured!

I'll go back!

ThesensationofdespairandunificationboilsuuuupinsidetheconnectedmindIfee

l likeI'mbeingcontaminatedwhatisthisistheend1.... No, I won't collapse,

because, because....

[Friend.]

The Rabbit Doll moves.

[The timing we've prepared together is approaching.]

....

Ah.

Do you remember?

This Plush doll can move within a ghost story.

[Hoh, that's right! This was the place.] The Plush doll bizarrely moves its own arm out of my front pocket,

unfastens a button, reaches inside my jacket, and pulls something out for

me.

[Here, here you go.]

A candle.

The Rabbit Doll hands it to me.

I... grip the spare candle I had prepared.

The fire ignites again.

"...Heok!"

I back away.

I'm drenched in cold sweat.

But the candle of meditation, gazing, and protection makes me focus on a

single point in my mind.

It makes me reflect.

"Hwoook,"

[An excellent preparation, Mr. Roe Deer!]

But I realize.

There's no telling how long this candle will last either.

Here at the city hall of Segwang Metropolitan City, where the 'world

without ghost stories' is arriving in a distorted form, Items are also

beginning to fail to exert their mysterious powers....

Just as the Counselor disappeared while climbing the emergency stairs. The Good Friend, too.

[No need for thanks. Instead I'll await your applause after this session of

filming is finished!]

[...Hmm, I'm terribly tired. It wasn't like this even when I did a live

broadcast for a fortnight! Oh, back then, the camera light never went out,

not even in broad daylight or for a moment at dawn....]

The Rabbit Doll, having stopped moving, nearly tumbles out of my front

pocket.

I hastily catch the Rabbit Doll with one hand and quickly put it back into

the front pocket.

And I look at the burning candle.

A short reprieve.

◇The candle will soon go out◇

....

I tell myself while I'm still sane.

...speaking to myself, in many ways.

Like before.

"You ask if I didn't expect this? ...Of course not."

My, I... no, let's stop thinking. Panic feels like it could consume my mind at

any moment. It feels like I could be sucked into that thing screaming, as if

by gravity.

But.

But, I mean. ....

"I expected something else."

I raise my head and surmise what's beyond the rooftop.

The ground that must be below,

And below that, the... subway.

"The possibility that when I installed the Potion Maker, something

unexpected would happen and I'd be in danger."

That included the probability that I would be contaminated, or become

unable to maintain my sanity.

....

What that means is.

"Of course I prepared for everything."

I raised my hand.

* * *

Lee Seonghae raised her head.

A strange tremor was being detected from the tunnel wall.

"Hmm?"

A few others who were waiting nearby also shot up or showed signs of

alarm.

Kim Soleum had recommended that the Project members wait outside as

much as possible, saying 'you never know,' but most of the initial Project

members had remained in the subway. In the maintenance tunnel, at that.

And....

It had already been over a full day since Kim Soleum entered the surface

through this part of Segwang Metropolitan City.

-The flow of time is different, so even if I secure just about 20 minutes on

the surface, a full day will have passed in the subway.

According to Lee Seonghae's calculations, it was probably about 25 minutes

past on the surface.

And after more than a full day had passed, this vibration she was feeling

now....

It was coming down from the exit, through the walls.

Lee Seonghae looked at the exit.

From that place that had been perceived as 'nothing there'....

Suddenly, sunlight began to pour in.

"...A sign that the seal is breaking."

"..."

The agent named Haegeum looks back at her fellow agent.

"Choi."

"Yeees. You are precisely correct, ma'am."

The agent called 'Choi' stood up from his spot.

The one who had been stubbornly sitting in the tunnel closest to the exit, as

if telling a fortune, tossing and catching something, gets up and dusts

himself off without any lingering attachment. There was no trace of panic, but his mask-hidden face showed no hint of

what expression he was making.

"Please take care of Bronze, if you can."

"...."

"...I'll be going now."

"Wait."

Haegeum, who had been looking at Agent Choi with a complicated

expression, speaks as if giving advice.

"Our minds will be flung back to our outside bodies soon anyway. ...Just

wait a little longer."

"...."

Lee Seonghae saw that one of the agents called 'Choi''s hands was clenched

so tightly that the veins stood out and it had turned white.

Is he worried about Mr. Roe Deer?

Maybe that's why he's conflicted, unable to do something he needs to do!

'He's a good person.'

She liked that the agents were all decent people.

That included Ms. Go Young-eun who was sitting next to her....

Huh?

Why isn't she here?

"Hey!!" The voice of the person who had disappeared from next to her rings out

from below the tracks.

"Something's wrong with the subway!!"

"...?!"

Yeongeun's flustered and stiff voice rings out, as if she had gone down to

check the situation.

"What's wrong?"

Lee Seonghae immediately ran down without delay. She could hear people

following behind her, but her eyes were fixed straight ahead.

And so she was the first to see it.

The subway tracks were aging.

"...."

As if being hit directly by the passage of time, dust was accumulating on

the tracks in real time, and they were wearing down.

The surfaces exposed to the air were also starting to rust.

"...The time that's passed is being reflected! Everyone, back away!"

The effect of the seal breaking.

And that wasn't all.

Two people are standing at the far end of the tracks.

"Hello."

"Hello."

They approach. A man in a well-tailored yellow uniform, with a cow mask and long, dark

brown hair.

He was familiar.

Especially to Lee Seonghae.

"Oh, hello to you both!"

"Former employee Dolphin! A pleasure to see you."

"Do you wish to be rehired? If so, please speak to the Mascot!"

Familiar faces greet them cheerfully.

But unlike Lee Seonghae, the agents behind her are frozen.

Agent Haegum asks the employee of the ghost story Resort, once called

'Agent Hwagak.'

"...What are you doing?"

"We are acting under the Manager's orders."

"And the Manager's orders come from the Mascot."

"What are those orders?"

"It's very good news!"

The employee who had been assigned to the Pop-up store, Bison, smiled

and announced kindly.

"The Golden Flower Mascot has selected this place as the site for a theme

park."

At that moment. The golden architecture of the Flower Golden Resort began to devour the

subway tracks, pushing its way in.

1. Connected to a mass, hugging the music box revealed from within the

cocoon rises Kim Soleum the invited one. one called from a world

where ghost stories do not exist (cuts to normal) I look away.

2. The sensation of despair and unification boils uuuup inside the

connected mind I feel like I&#39;m being contaminated what is this is

the end

_________
Chapter 359

A fantastical and bizarre moment.

The Segwang Special City Subway tracks mutated as if being devoured.

"Ah...!"

As if the stalled years were all collapsing at once, the rapidly aging subway

tracks flipped over, glittered gold in the air, and settled back on the ground.

They looked like an exquisite toy.

Elegant lines sparkled on the black and white floor, and the stained, shabby

arched walls of the track took on a rapturous, smooth ivory hue.

That fantastical wave of change, pushing in from the far end of the visible

rails in an instant....

Finally, it swept over the exploration team members.

"...!"

It brushed past all sides of the people who had reflexively stepped back or

raised their equipment.

"Oh."

Lee Seonghae sniffed the air.

Even the smell had changed. Instead of the damp, stuffy underground air, there was a sweet and pleasant

fragrance.

The scent of Pleasant Theme Park's golden zone.

The two figures in Flower Golden Resort uniforms, who had watched the

entire scene without moving a muscle, spoke with a smile on their lips.

"Construction is complete."

"Confirmed."

The employees from the ghost story turned around after confirming that

even the tracks had been neatly transformed.

And they walked back along the exquisite golden tracks.

"Wait...!"

Go Youngeun dashed out as if urgently pursuing the two.

'Hmm.'

Lee Seonghae followed her.

The two twin-like employees, striding along the tracks at an unnaturally fast

pace, eventually headed for the nearest station.

...Segwang Station.

"...!!"

Go Youngeun stopped in her tracks, dumbfounded.

What stood there was not a modern platform.

Monorail City

Flower Golden An antique and elegant sign glittered in the train station.

The station was elegant and melt-in-your-mouth sweet, as if one had walked

into a theme park painting, with rapturous golden lights, ivory pillars, and a

purple velvet carpet on the floor.

All of it....

"Oh! It's really the Flower Golden Resort."

"...Are you talking about that pop-up store that was at Twilight Station?"

"Yep!"

Lee Seonghae approached the two bizarre resort employees without

hesitation and asked amiably.

"What are you doing?"

"We are performing business maintenance, Dolphin!"

"We're about to check the train's operation. Would you like to watch with

us?"

And at that moment.

♩♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪

A melody like a clear bell rang out.

It was an intuitively recognizable sound.

The signal for a train's arrival.

From the other end of the tracks, a train riding the golden rails began to

come into view, entering the station.

"...!" Go Youngeun held her breath.

Chiiiiik-!

The subway had become an exquisite monorail.

Golden ornaments and crystal lights sparkled warmly on its glossy white

body, and the head of the very first car was adorned with the face of a

deformed feline character with a flowering tree for horns.

It was the Golden Flower Mascot.

The fantastical train stopped at Segwang Station, no... the 'Monorail City'

station.

And, as the platform screen doors, which had at some point turned into

antique glass doors, opened, someone was disembarking from the first car

of the monorail....

A yellow, round body with soft fur.

It was the Conductor Mascot.

The mascot, which looked identical to the head of the monorail, diligently

stepped down and stood in Segwang Station.

"Mascot!"

"This is a truly wonderful space. I'm delighted to be working here!"

The two employees ran over joyfully.

"Oh!"

And when even Lee Seonghae also ran up to greet it, Go Youngeun felt

even more peculiar.

"..." When she lifted her head, the 'Mascot' in the conductor's uniform looked at

her, then took something out from its chest and held it out.

As if calling to her.

"...!"

Go Youngeun hesitated for a moment but eventually moved her stiff legs

and walked forward....

What the Conductor Mascot held out was a flyer.

Pleasant Theme Park

Flower Golden Resort No.2

Monorail City Branch

Enjoy the attractions at each station by riding the cute monorail.

Stay in a special room with the theme of your favorite attraction.

With this coupon,

you can stay at the resort with no additional charge.

Applicable Rooms:

Suite (Attraction Garden View)

"Ah, you've received a coupon. Congratulations, Sanyang."

"A lodging guide for our Monorail City branch guests is currently in

production."

The two employees' voices sounded faint, as if echoing in her head.

Go Youngeun, who had been blankly holding the flyer-like coupon, raised

her head. With a strange premonition.

...A mascot with horns.

A certain person who knew an uncanny amount about the new pop-up store

at Twilight Station.

A person who showed a bizarre sense of guilt about Jang Heoun's

Contamination.

....

"...Mr. Roe Deer?"

The mascot did not answer.

The large eyes of the character costume head, with its unchanging

expression, stared at Go Youngeun for a moment, then tapped the back of

its hand a few times.

As if to pat her comfortingly.

And then it boarded the train again.

The mascot, sitting in the driver's seat, tipped its hat in greeting, and the

train began to depart.

"There are people on the tracks...!"

"It's alright! The Flower Golden Monorail runs while avoiding obstacles on

its own."

'Jang Heo-un's' gentle voice was heard.

Go Youngeun reflexively turned her head.

She saw the corner of the gently smiling employee's mouth.

"Do you have any other questions, guest?" "..."

It was a familiar face she had seen just a few days ago.

Over the past few months, Go Youngeun had occasionally stopped by the

pop-up store and chatted with the two of them. She had even brought books

for Jang Heo-un, in case he might be bored....

But.

"...Mr. Bison?"

"Yes, guest Sanyang! I am a reception desk employee named Bison!"

It was different.

Something was different.

It felt like looking at something deeply contaminated.

He was clearly the same person, with the same body and memories, yet he

seemed like a different being. As if the things that make a person human

had vanished....

Was this what Jang Heoun was like when he was quarantined at the Disaster

Management Bureau for Contamination?

Why did he suddenly return to this?

'Because the Special City has been unsealed...?'

Or, because this resort, which had been a pop-up store, grew larger...?

Just as she had an eerie premonition.

"Oh! You're here too!"

"...!" "Isn't this place quite unique?"

A few new people appeared on the platform.

It was Kwak Jegang and Researcher Lee Yeonhwa.

"This is very interesting. Isn't one Darkness consuming another? To be able

to directly observe such a phenomenon without it being artificially grafted!

Haha! Very interest-."

Go Youngeun quickly looked away from Kwak Jegang and made eye

contact with Lee Yeonhwa in greeting.

Now that she looked, it seemed they had gotten off from the back of the

monorail, and a mascot holding a Flower Golden Resort flag was leading

the way as if to guide them.

Behind them, the drooping figure of the Security Chief trudged along with

unmotivated eyes.

In his hand was a flyer coupon similar to her own, and within it, a handful

of strange coin-like things could be seen.

Coins?

"Um, Security Chief. What is that...."

"Hmm...."

Although the two had hardly ever spoken, the Security Chief answered

obediently.

"Mr. Roe Deer... gave it to me..."

"...When?"

"Before he left... when I asked if there was anything I could do to help...

he told me to hand them out... later.... Hmm." The Security Chief held out what was in his hand. Go Youngeun, who took

it in a daze, read the word written on the golden coin.

No, it wasn't a coin, but a small badge.

EARLY

ACCESS

Early Admission.

"What is, this...."

The two employees answered cheerfully, as if they had been waiting for the

question.

"It's an early access pass. The holder can enjoy this wonderful Flower

Golden Resort Monorail City branch for today only, before the official

opening!"

...!

"It is an honor to host you! If you are satisfied with your stay, may we ask

for a short review upon check-out...."

"W-Wait a moment."

Unable to bear it any longer, Go Youngeun opened her mouth.

"It's okay. I'll be leaving now."

If the lockdown was being lifted, she couldn't wait.

Whether she left through the maintenance track Mr. Roe Deer had used, or

went out to the real world and re-approached from there, she was

determined to get to the surface.

...Because she felt she couldn't bear it if she didn't find her parents. 'My house....'

Before Auntie lost her memory, she had already told her the address. She

was still repeating it to herself now.

She wanted to go there right away and find her mom and dad.

And, and if possible, she wanted to confirm Mr. Roe Deer's safety as

well....

'What on earth is he doing?'

Was the termination attempt proceeding safely?

Was this resort his doing?

If so, what on earth was he preparing for?

Guilt, anxiety, resentment, and worry all mixed together as Go Youngeun

looked urgently at the two employees.

However....

"..."

"..."

"Excuse me?"

The two employees with brown, long hair and bow ties smiled faintly in

unison, like a painting.

"There is currently no way to exit the Flower Golden Resort Monorail City

branch."

"...Excuse me?"

"The guest entrance and exit gates have not yet been constructed, guest." "What does that...!"

A rough voice cut in.

"That's probably literal."

"...!"

"The maintenance track is completely gone. And the entrance at the end of

it is blocked. Oof."

Agent Choi's mouth was chattering away as if making a fuss, but his actions

were swift.

He opened the glass door to the track and strode out as if he were about to

grab the person opposite him by the collar, yet in contrast, he spoke

smoothly.

"Employees, what's going on here? Why did the track that was here

suddenly disappear?"1

"We do not think! This is a matter decided by the Mascot."

Agent Choi's eyes narrowed.

"...Is that so? Then there's a new door where the original maintenance track

entrance was. Why won't that door open?"

...!

"Was that also the Mascot's decision?"

"That is correct, guest."

"..."

Agent Choi paused before speaking.

"...What if I'm not a guest?" "Pardon?"

"What if I have no intention of staying at this resort at all?"

"..."

The employees looked at each other.

"In that case, we regret to inform you that for security reasons, you must

remain in the restricted access area until the grand opening."

It meant they were going to lock them in.

"Do you perhaps have no intention of staying?"

Go Youngeun noticed it.

She felt a gaze.

...The yellow mascot that had guided the researchers was looking this way.

No, now that she looked... throughout the platform, or rather, what had

now become a rapturous theme park resort station.

Mascots of the same appearance had appeared here and there.

A mascot holding a balloon, a mascot wearing a monocle, a mascot waving

from the stairs.

All of them were looking this way.

"..."

Deputy Manager Lee Seong-hae's bright voice was heard.

"Nope! We'd all like to book a stay for now. Um, once the entrance is built,

we'll be free to come and go, right?"

"Of course, guest Dolphin!" A chill ran down her spine, and Go Youngeun swallowed.

She felt a sense of dread and a strange premonition.

"Do you think... Mr. Roe Deer did this?"

"Yep. Seems like it."

"Of course he did. That fellow is the owner of this place, after all!"

Following that, Agent Haegum also climbed onto the tracks.

"...Nunim1

."

"I've checked the other stations. It seems this entire subway has been

transformed. And...."

Agent Haegum's eyes sank as she looked at Agent Choi.

"You, you tried to open the door to the surface, didn't you?"

"Yeeep. That's right."

Agent Choi, admitting it readily, was calm.

"It's not like it's a big deal with the seal being lifted and all. This subway

would have disappeared anyway, and the May 4th subway side would have

remained...."

"..."

"Agent Choi?"

"So, he deliberately is keeping us, who would have bounced out to

wherever once the city is unsealed, inside here, and..."1

His voice hardened. "He took over the entire supernatural phenomenon that was supposed to

disappear when the seal was lifted."

"..."

Agent Choi approached one of the mascots.

"What is all this?"1

....

"Why are you trying to trap people here?"

But the mascot had no answer.

The mass-produced mascot just drooped its ears and tried to give him a

flyer, as if telling him to have fun.

"You...."

"Just a moment."

Go Youngeun cut in urgently.

She was sorry to interrupt the interrogation, but her personal objective was

urgent. And the question that would be most effective for her was....

To become an insider.

"I'm interested in working at the resort, so I have something I'd like to ask!"

"Ah!"

The employees showed immediate interest.

"You've come at a good time. We are currently recruiting new personnel!"

"Yes." Go Youngeun said calmly.

"By what means did you manage to turn this place into a resort so quickly?

And also... are you planning to do this to the surface as well, not just the

underground?"

"...!"

She could feel people's gazes on her.

The researchers' gazes, filled with interest.

"Yes! I will answer."

Go Youngeun swallowed.

"To the extent that I am permitted to tell you, the Mascot has already

completed the surveying of this place. Thanks to that, such rapid progress

was possible."

"...!"

"By visiting all the important areas, inspecting all the tracks, and also

evicting any groups or entities that were leasing or illegally occupying this

property."

Ah.

Go Youngeun realized.

'He's talking about Kim Soleum's exploration...!'

Kim Soleum had visited almost every single station in Segwang Special

City, and had either cleared or temporarily concluded a majority of them.

That act... had come back to help bring about this result....

"However, in the case of the library entrance, since it is a public facility, he

did not acquire it through agreement!" "And as for plans to expand to the surface, there are none yet."

....

"I- I see. Thank you."

Go Youngeun staggered back.

Her head was spinning.

The result of the exploration.

Or what could be seen as a reward... a terrifying and rapturous resort

expansion area.

Her jaw trembled.

Because no matter how she thought about it, this was not a reward a human

could receive and carry out.

"...Is it really okay to do something like this?"

"Pardon?"

"I mean, that person, the Mascot, isn't he overexerting himself?"

"Absolutely not!"

The two employees chorused.

"The Flower Golden Mascot will become more powerful and great. His

domain is gradually expanding!"

"So many guests will come from so many places. We've already received

reservations. A celebrity, a talk show Host, is also on their way now!"

"IhopeMascotcomesquicklycomesquicklysoallofuscanbetogetherinthebeauti

fulGoldenFlowerResort...."1 Ah.

"I understand."

Agent Choi yanked Go Youngeun back, pulling her away from the

employees.

"So if you expand the resort... the one called the Mascot becomes more

powerful, is that it? I understand!"

Following that, as if to ward off evil, a light, ritualistic act was performed

with his fingertips.

"Heup!"

In that instant, Go Youngeun could breathe freely again.

And.

"Nunim."

A low voice was heard from beside her.

"I... just had a thought."

"..."

"The more powerful the Goblin Fire's are,the more likely it is that even if

only a few body parts are replaced... The person will become an Elder. "

"..."

"This situation right now, wait a minute, don't tell me this damn bastard...."

"Right."

Agent Haegum's anxious voice rang out through her clenched teeth.

"He's deliberately increasing his own Contamination, that bastard...!"1 * * *

I knew.

'Humans go mad when they hear the Music Box.'

So, if a moment came when I felt I would go mad because of the Music

Box... I just had to escape the premise.

-Become a non-human existence.

Wouldn't I then be free from the malevolent influence of the Music Box's

melody?

However, I couldn't bring myself to abandon this identity I had barely

reclaimed.

I had endured until now by thinking of myself as human.

'I want to remain human.'

Therefore....

-Instead of giving up on my own, what if I were naturally swallowed by

Contamination?

To a precarious level.

A level from which I could recover, given time.

But on the surface of this Segwang Special City, which rejects ghost stories

other than its own, it's not easy to increase one's Contamination.

'Besides, if I become too contaminated, I might just disappear as a ghost

story.'

Just like the Counselor did.

So, I needed just one moment. A single moment where I am overwhelmed by a more powerful

Contamination.

So that even if I were already mad or contaminated by a Segwang Special

City Ghost Story, that state could be momentarily pushed back.

How is that possible?

It's simple.

One of the ghost story identities I already possess just has to become

extremely powerful, shatter the balance, and overwhelm me.

And so I did it.

By expanding the Flower Golden Resort.

'Ah.'

My mind and body twisted.

A domain twice as large.

A much grander role.

Down below, somewhere close, I become aware of the distorted subway of

Segwang Metropolitan City, the Flower Golden Resort built within it, and

my role.

A golden-lit Resort.

The Golden Flower Mascot.

The moment all those sensations overwhelm me as a person.

My body distorts and twists into the shape of the Mascot.

At the same time, it melts. I

must aim for this moment.

I am actually

I threw my body into the torn Cocoon.

And....

Inside the Cocoon, I tore the Music Box from Kim Soleum's arms with both

hands.

1. When Choi speaks with the mascots he doesn't use honorifics, he is

speaking like he is talking to Grapes.

2. "......누님." - "...Sister." (Specifically Nuna, a term used by a younger

male for an older female). idk why the tool I use chose nunim and not

nuna

3. ty kirikirinki

4. or punk, but bastard is funnier

5. Choi is speaking politely with honorifics to the Heouns

6. I hope Mascot comes quickly comes quickly so all of us can be

together in the beautiful Golden Flower Resort
_________
Chapter 360

The music box touches my hand.

From between its decorations, black as ebony and intricate as a skeleton, a

rich and lovely sound flows.

The sound of heaven, which brings vitality, happiness, and heals wounds,

surges between my fingers like a stream.

Like a fragment of audible light.

But at the same time, I can sense it from the creature inside the cocoon-the

mass of Kim Soleum and the civilians.

The sense of the advent of a 'world without ghost stories.'

It's pressuring to erase the existence of Flower Golden Mascot, a being from

a ghost story!

My body is melting.

'I know.'

Here, people go mad and ghost stories disappear.

It's a double trap.

The elaborate malice of the one who planned this strangles me no matter

which path I choose. A mental limit that keeps me from moving an inch.

My body, having barely escaped that murderous malice, takes the music

box.... Tududuk1

.

From the cocoon,

I completely remove it.

The last thread of the cocoon that was holding on, Kim Soleum's left index

finger, falls away, and the music box comes completely into my melting

hand.

It settles.

....

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

SOUNDSOUNDSOUNDSOUNDSOUNDSOUNDSOUNDSTOPTHEPEA

CETHEMUSICBOXGIVESMELTINGMELTINGINTHETHEMUSICBOX

TRUTHOHCALMPURE1...

I closed the music box.

Thump.

....

....

Silence flows through my head.

At that moment.

Something tries to crawl out from the crack of the music box.

"...!!"

[Clatter.]1

I held shut the music box that was trying to open again. [Clatter, clatter.]

The music box moves.

[Clatter, clatter. Clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter. Clatter, clatter. Clatter,

clatter. Clatter, clatter. Clatter, clatter.]

Something is squirming inside the music box. It's trying to open wide again

to let out the sweet Angel's Sigh. It's trying to return to its host, to the Kim

Soleum inside the cocoon. I....

[Clatter, clatter. Clatter, clatter. Clatter, clatter. Clatter, clatter, clatter,

clatter. Clatter, clatter. Clatter, clatter. Clatter, clatter. Clatter, clatter.]

I frantically slammed my hand down on the music box.

CRASH! CRASH!

The Mascot's powerful strength shatters the box.

[Clatter-AAAAH! Clatter, clatter. Aah-clatter, clatter. Clatter, clatter-

aah-clatter, clatter. Clatter-aah-clatter-aah. Clatter-cla-aack. Clatter,

clatter-aah. Clatter, clatter-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.]

A bar or two of the melody escapes, but it ends like a death rattle as the

silver gears and parts break and scatter onto the floor.

[Aah-clatter-clatter-aah-clatter-aah]

Something slimy flows out from the cracks of the broken music box. Like

red tar, the parasitic creature flows out, mashed to a pulp. Bruises and

wounds cover my hand, but I don't even breathe, desperately striking it

again and again.

CRASH!

I strike.

CRASH! I strike!

CRASH!

And, and....

It grew quiet beneath my hand.

"..."

I lifted my hand.

Beneath my fist, covered in bodily fluids and bruises, the completely

shattered remains of the music box were revealed.

'Ah.'

The box that once held the Angel's Sigh had stopped moving, its traces

scattered in pieces on the floor.

Biological tissue, blood, bodily fluids, and sparkling silver parts.

Only a single part remained intact.

A cylindrical, pure silver cylinder.

The core component that formed the melody, with braille-like bumps

protruding from it, rolled across the floor and came to me.

"..."

I picked it up.

Inventory... no, I can't put it in the tattoo that no longer functions, so I

barely manage to stuff it into my suit pocket.

My hand is trembling.

'...I did it.' What's left....

Is just one thing.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Inside the cocoon.

The moment the peace-inducing melody was cut off, the civilians of

Segwang Metropolitan City, clumped together in a mass, are screaming in

agony.

Before they mutate again into some unpredictable, bizarre existence, I must

end this disaster....

To do that,

'The finishing touch... is what's left....'

The core host inside the cocoon.

The mutated Kim Soleum.

Dealing with that will be the last step.

I drag my melting body forward.

The Potion Maker's panel flashes.

[I actually]

Don't look.

[I actually know everything]

Don't read it.

I didn't look before, either. Don't be deceived. Those are messages sent by

the Kim Soleum in the cocoon to stop me. Don't read it. Don't read....

[There is no 'Kim Soleum in the cocoon']

"..."

[It's myself]

Ah.

[I already know that the Kim Soleum in the cocoon is not a separate

personality]

No.

[I know. Right?]

"..."

Actually.

The truth is....

'There's no way I couldn't have known....'

A truth I could have inferred but chose to ignore.

The Kim Soleum inside the cocoon.

Me, the Good Friend, Kim Soleum.

Different, separate souls and beings....

There's no such thing.

Because 'Good Friend' doesn't work that way.

I already knew from Host Braun, who burst out from the Rabbit Doll's

body...!! -The Good Friend ritual wasn't about summoning just a part of a non-

human entity and trapping it in a doll to make a friend.

It was that the entity was only partially and restrictively revealed through

the filter of the plush doll.

Filtering!

Good Friend is just a filter and a translation tool that strains the other's

consciousness to make it easier for the inviter to communicate!

So there is no separate 'original Kim Soleum's mind' inside that cocoon.

It's just....

Me.

The crazed mind that was suddenly summoned here, listened to the music

box with a bare body, and became the host inside the cocoon.

That is fundamentally me.

I'm just here, projected in a well-adjusted state that allows for normal

thought.

That's what I'm explaining.

To myself.

[So if I destroy the Kim Soleum in the cocoon]

"..."

[It's effectively suicide.]

[It's destroying my real body that I'm supposed to return to!! And after

that, I don't know what will happen to my mind or where it will go I'll

be trapped in this Good Friend's body I'll have to keep living in a non-

human body I don't want that! Isn't there some way to recover and use my original body isn't there something I can do maybe there's a way to

reverse this I got rid of the music box so if I go back to my original

body now I can return to my original body, let this city take care of

itself]

I reached out my hand.

[No!]

Just as I tore off the music box, I prepare to tear Kim Soleum's body off the

mass.

Just like Section Chief Lee Jaheon, who chased after me when I fell from

the train, tore me off the mass when I was stuck in a loop.

Of course, I died right after that, left with only my upper body.

That's exactly what I'm aiming for.

[No! Please!]

A human body truly couldn't survive with only its upper half. Especially

now that the music box is gone.

[Please]

There's no time.

I'm still melting.

The Mascot that swallowed the entirety of that distorted ghost story, which

flowed separately from the surface in the subways of Segwang

Metropolitan City, and built a beautiful resort.

By the bloated identity of Flower Golden, by the ghost stories of Segwang

Metropolitan City that still haven't stopped.

'I have to hurry.' Even if my hesitation is expressed through the panel, nothing changes.

The initiative of consciousness is with me. With me, who can think and act

with a clear mind.

I plunged my hand into the cocoon.

[I'myouyouyouyouyouyouyouyouyouyouyouyouyouyoume me me me

me me me me me me me

meoneandthesameyou'reyouonlyoneit'syouI'mtalkingtomyselfrightnow

I'msoscaredwhy amIlikethislet'sstopthisistoo

cruelIknowI'mthesameIcan'tdothisIdon'twanttodieIdon'twantittoendI

wanttogohomeIwanttogohom]1

I grabbed the upper body inside the cocoon with both hands as if to pull it

out,

"Just a moment."

....

"Have you perhaps considered another way?"

I stopped my hands.

A voice comes from behind me.

"Patient-nim."1

* * *

A few minutes earlier, in front of the maintenance track.

"What is it now?"

Reporter Eunhaje realized that some kind of commotion was happening far

away, on the roof of City Hall. Probably at the destination of the 'Agent' who had suddenly reappeared

from the maintenance track.

Curiosity and worry intersected.

Both awakened her professional instincts.

But....

"Do not stare."

"I got it, Mr.Researcher."

Because of this advice, and because the situation was so insane it was hard

to believe it was real, she didn't look back at the rooftop.

Still, her mind tried to analyze with all five senses.

'...A vibration?'

And for some reason... a chill kept running down the back of her neck.

'What in the world is happening?'

As the desire to investigate and the instinct for survival intersected, creating

a surge of dopamine, Reporter Eunhaje reflexively gave a bitter smile and

swallowed.

And just as she was about to ask a question to her temporary companion

who (frustratingly) had some information....

"Mr.Researcher?"

'Researcher Lee Jaheon' stood stock-still in front of the track.

Just like before, when he received the 'note' from the Agent from beyond

the empty tracks.

"What are you doing....?" Just then.

The shape of a door emerged from the shadows of the maintenance track.

"...!"

It was a fantastical moment.

The exquisite, ivory-colored door glittered with gold decorations, and a soft

light shone down from a glass-like crystal lamp in its arch.

Antique and magnificent.

And it completed its nameplate.

* * *

FLOWER

GOLDEN

Flower Golden?

"What is this...? Do you know what this door is? If you know, tell me."

"Yes. It is the door to the Resort."

"Resort...."

She was so dumbfounded she was at a loss for words.

"How do you know that?"

"I have work experience at said resort."

What kind of explanation was that....

Eunhaje could only sigh. And Ryu Jaegwan, the high school student who had been watching the door

form with wide eyes, carefully asked.

"Should we go in?"

"Yes."

...!

"After entering, you must act with proper etiquette within the Resort area."

And Researcher Lee Jaheon really did grab the gold-wrought doorknob.

Click.

Without the sound of a hinge, the door opened smoothly, revealing the

interior....

"...!!"

A dazzling interior revealed itself.

As if exploring a corridor in a fairy-tale palace or castle, it was made of

sparkling crystal lamps, golden pillars, and exquisite, antique wooden walls.

There was no trace of the maintenance track's musty appearance.

"What is this....?"

"Hello."

"...!"

Ryu Jaegwan reflexively took a step back.

At the start of that fantastical space.

A person standing right next to the door was looking at them. An adult male.

The man, wearing a slightly shabby blue jacket, had a rough and worn-out

feel to him, as if he had been cut out and pasted alone into this dazzling

space.

He could see a rather old blue jacket.

And bright blue pupils... and a large scar on his neck.

The person's eyes met his.

For a moment, he was about to become wary....

But the adult with the scar on his neck, upon seeing him, widened his eyes

in surprise for a moment... then smiled warmly.

"...Nice to meet you, Jaegwan."

"You know my name?"

"I do."

The next moment, the high school student Ryu Jaegwan realized that the

blue jacket he was wearing was the mark of an 'Agent.'

Ah.

"Are you, by any chance, a colleague of the Agent? I mean... the Agent

who just went into the city."

"That's also correct."

The person, approaching him with a smile, answers in a warm voice while

examining the group with eyes that seem to be examining the group for

their condition and injuries.

"This Hyung is an Agent on the same team~ I'm his superior." His eyes looked at the golden door that had opened and closed.

Ah.

"Are you perhaps... going to help now?"

"Yep."

"..."

"I'd really like to. I really...."

As the Agent was about to grab the doorknob with a scarred hand.

"This door is for employee use only, and is restricted for guests. Please use

the gate."

"..."

The Agent let go of the handle and smiled with a shrug.

"Of course. Understood. Wait for the gate it is!"

"Yes."

"Are you going to meet the Mascot?"

"Yes."

"Excellent. Then let's go together, quickly~"

With that, the Agent began to walk in front of Ryu Jaegwan.

As he walked in silence, to keep from freezing up with tension in the new,

bizarre environment, Ryu Jaegwan swallowed and caught his breath....

"You okay?"

"...what?" A calm, warm voice came from the Agent, whose back was turned.

"You must have been surprised by all this happening so suddenly."

"Ah, no. I'm fine...."

"Hey. ...It's okay not to be okay."

"..."

"You're still a student, but you've come this far so calmly."

A reassuring voice.

"Don't worry. You, student citizen, will be able to return home safely. Don't

worry. You, student citizen, will be able to return home safely. ...My hubae,

too."

Ryu Jaegwan realized that, embarrassingly, he was tearing up with relief.

"...Yes."

The Agent in front turned his hand and patted his back.

And he heard him exclaim.

"Alright, we've arrived."

At the end of the promenade... was a monorail boarding station.

If you wish to board the monorail

Please push the button

"Button?"

"He means press this. Ugh-cha!" When the Agent pressed a thick button with a horned cat drawn on it and

waited a moment, an antique and elaborate monorail appeared from the

other side.

"...!"

♩♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪

The monorail stopped, its doors opened, and a resplendent passenger car,

wider on the inside than the outside, revealed itself.

"This is insane."

Reporter Eunhaje's words echoed in the air.

The Agent shrugged his shoulders and spoke like a guide.

"Well, you civilians have pretty much chartered the whole thing. If you take

this and get off not at a stop but at a place called a station...."1

His voice stopped.

"..."

"Agent?"

"Hm?"

And Reporter Eunhaje, looking inside, muttered.

"There's someone else inside."

"Yes?"

Ryu Jaegwan also reflexively looked inside.

Inside the monorail train that seemed to have popped out of a story, sitting

in a cute and elegant passenger seat was.... "We meet like this."

A very pleasant-looking young man in a gray suit.

"...!!"

Ryu Jaegwan recognized him at once.

He was someone he had been with just a few hours ago.

"Counselor!"

"...!"

A surge of relief once again washed over Ryu Jaegwan's heart.

"I'm so glad you're safe...."

"Wait."

The Agent blocked the high school student's path.

As if to protect him.

"...How are you here?"

...?

The 'Counselor' sitting in the cabin turned his eyes to look at them.

And Ryu Jaegwan felt a sense of dissonance.

Something....

"You speak very threateningly."

Unfamiliar.

"But I'll answer you. It's because I have an employment contract with the

Mascot here." "..."

"I can enter as an authorized person, you see?"

A smile filled with ecstasy spread across his lips.

"You...."

"Unfortunately, it seems you are not qualified, Agent. It happens."

Ryu Jaegwan reflexively realized two things.

The Agent and that 'Counselor' were not on good terms.

And....

"But I, in many ways, am qualified."

That Counselor had decided on something.

1. [I&#39;m you you you you you you you you you you you you you you

me me me me me me me me me me me me one and thesame

you&#39;re you only one it&#39;s you I&#39;m talking to myself

right now I&#39;m so scared why am I like this let&#39;s stop this is

too cruel I know I&#39;m the same I can&#39;t do this I don&#39;t

want to die I don&#39;t want it to end I want to go home I want to go

hom]

2. kirikirinki: well, you could almost say you have the whole place to

yourselves, citizens. If you ride this and get off at what they call a

<station(*eng: 스테이션)>, not a station(*정류장 - jeongryujang)...

(Choi&#39;s saying that the stations here are not called

&#39;station&#39; in kr(jeongryujang), but &#39;station&#39; in

eng(station), lol)

3. apparently how the counselor used to address Soleum

4. red text

5. something being ripped away

6. SOUND SOUND SOUND SOUND SOUND SOUND SOUND STOP

THE PEACE THE MUSIC BOX GIVES MELTING MELTING IN THE THE MUSIC BOX TRUTH OH CALM PURE