Chapter 19

The psychopath doctor had shoved his own researcher into a ghost-story exploration as a sacrificial lamb. He probably wanted to observe how the researcher's involvement would produce a synergistic effect, making the Field Exploration Team members die in even stranger ways.

The problem was, I was on that researcher's team.

'Whew...'

I pulled myself together. My ears registered the ghost story before my eyes did.

-♩♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪

The jaunty sound of a melodica and an orchestra. Typical theme park background music.

"Gasp!"

When I opened my eyes, we were in the middle of an old-fashioned, brightly colored theme park.

"Hahahaha!"

Children's laughter rang out. But there wasn't a single bare human face in sight. Only mascots wandered around us. There seemed to be visitors in mascot costumes off in the distance, but if we approached, they would vanish as though they'd never been there.

'That's the kind of place this is.'

I immediately checked my wrist.

[(Gaiety) Fantasy Land Admission Ticket □□□]

Three empty boxes.

'Just as I thought.'

This was the amusement park inside that insane board game, where you had to go on three rides to escape.

* * *

Records of Dark Exploration / Ghost Stories

[Gaiety Theme Park!]

: A ghost story featured in <Records of Dark Exploration>. Daydream Inc. identification code: Qterw-B-11.

An amusement park inside a board game themed around various fantasy lands.

After entering this ghost story, participants can return home by using three major attractions.

This ghost story became better known through its appendix, the 'Gaiety Theme Park User Guide,' written in a delirious state by people who played the board game.

If you are looking for the game based on this ghost story, follow this link.

* * *

There were plenty of amusement park ghost stories. But this one was among the entries in <Records of Dark Exploration> that had gained particular fame for its bizarre peculiarities and relentless horror.

'The pop-up store had merchandise based on this theme park, too.'

Its appendix, the <Gaiety Theme Park User Guide>, had also attracted a cult following. Was that what people called a 'Napolitan ghost story'?

'And it's B-grade.'

A Dim-grade Darkness.

Civilian survival rate... 2%.

The civilians who survived before us must have been extraordinarily lucky for as many as four to make it out. If someone cross-checked the lists of people who had quietly gone missing before that, I suspected they would find quite a few groups that had all died in this ghost story.

Cold sweat trickled down me.

'... The others on Team D might be in danger.'

Of course, I had more than enough trouble of my own right now. We were the ones saddled with the variable of 'a researcher gets dragged in'!

"Aaaagh, haaah... L-let me out. This is wrong, all wro—!"

"Quiet!"

I clamped a hand over the hysterical researcher's mouth and forced him to duck.

At that instant, everything abruptly stopped.

The theme park's countless mascots all turned to stare at the researcher who had been screaming.

"..."

* * *

Gaiety Theme Park User Guide (Updated Through Exploration Log 64)

3. Please refrain from negative, intense displays of emotion, including crying, wailing, and screaming!

They do not belong in Gaiety Theme Park.

* * *

This was a nightmare come true.

I fought the urge to squeeze my eyes shut.

3.

2.

1.

The noise returned.

"Hahahaha!"

-♩♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪

Their gazes turned away. As the theme park around us sprang back to lively motion, I slowly released the researcher.

The Team A employee struck him in the jaw.

"...!"

THUD.

After that short, dull sound, she seized his jaw, brought her butterfly-masked face close, and spoke in a low, menacing voice.

"Hey."

"...!"

"Whine one more time, and I'll kill you before we do anything else."

"E-eek."

The researcher stumbled backward in terror, then sank to the ground and clutched his head. He seemed to be muttering things like 'This is a dream' and 'It's a lie,' mixed with curses. He appeared to be panicking.

"... Wasn't that a little excessive?"

The Team Y recruit spoke cautiously, but the Team A employee ignored him. Instead, she asked me a question.

"You there, rookie. You were the top recruit, weren't you? You've got decent judgment."

"... Thank you."

"Got your Exclusive Equipment yet?"

Hmm. So she was willing to treat me as a fellow employee, at least.

'Because I'm the top recruit, even if I'm not on an Elite Team?'

Her standards struck me as far too one-dimensional, but I kept that to myself and answered respectfully.

Exclusive Equipment? I did have that.

"Yes."

"What is it?"

"A finger capable of remote touch. There are limits on duration and number of uses."

I'd leave it at that. And I ought to ask this much myself.

"What weapon do you use, Deputy?"

"None of your busi— Hmm. All right."

The Team A employee pulled on her index fingernail. It was a false nail used for nail art. Something sticky stretched from the back of the detached nail: a translucent thread.

"It stretches endlessly, and it's pretty strong."

"... That sounds extremely useful for a wide variety of purposes."

"Hmm. Well, it is."

Her mood seemed to have improved a little. I promptly nodded and asked,

"May I ask your name?"

"Just call me Deputy Jin. Why make it awkward with introductions?"

Wasn't that basic courtesy when two people met...?

Anyway, her surname was distinctive enough for me to identify her immediately.

'Probably... this employee.'

-Deputy Jin Nasol infiltrates the murderer's bedroom and sets the clock to 4:44.

-The cucumber responds seriously to Deputy Jin Nasol's question, 'Do you harbor any particular ill will toward carrots?' Nothing unusual noted.

-Severs the teddy bear's limbs (Performed by: Employee Jin Nasol).

And so on.

There hadn't been much description from which to infer her personality in detail, but I thought she had been portrayed as a fairly capable, coldhearted employee.

Then the Team Y recruit quietly asked me,

"... What exactly is Exclusive Equipment?"

Oh, right. It made sense that he wouldn't really know about it yet.

"Oh, the company lets you use Darkness to customize equip—"

"Hey. Let's get moving. Observation comes first in a Darkness this big."

"..."

"What are you doing, top recruit? I said let's move."

She'd cut me off without even trying to hide it.

I followed Team A's Deputy Jin, who had started walking without waiting another moment, and answered,

"Yes. I'll explain our current situation to my fellow recruit as we go."

"What? Why bother looking after th— Oh."

The mouth beneath the butterfly mask curved into a strange smile.

"You don't know, do you?"

"..."

"Well, suit yourself."

I didn't argue. Instead, I gave the Team Y recruit a rough explanation of Exclusive Equipment. To make things feel less divisive within the team, I added,

"I agonized over it before spending quite a few points to get mine. I'm scared of what might be ahead, too."

"... I see."

I nodded and continued.

"Come to think of it, I should have introduced myself sooner. I'm Kim Soleum."

"... I know."

A slightly gloomy voice emerged from beneath the cow mask.

"I'm... Jang Heoun."

"Yes. It's nice to meet you."

Given the circumstances, I also tried speaking to the researcher still sitting on the ground, but all I got back was near-panicked whining.

"No, no, I can't walk! Help me!"

"I can support you, of course... but that would restrict your movements, Supervisor."

I added, as though concerned,

"That would increase your chances of dying."

He got up as if by magic.

'Thought so.'

The Team A deputy glanced at us disapprovingly, but didn't interfere, simply walking on and studying our surroundings. I picked up my pace and looked around as well.

The theme park was dazzling yet somehow dizzying and oppressive, like something out of a dream.

'Is red the theme here?'

The flags, buildings, and even tents in this section of the park all bore red symbols.

'We must have landed in this area because we drew red pieces.'

On the flags, a cute rabbit smiled with one hand raised.

[Magic Bunny Arcade Zone]

Literally, a space for magic rabbit adventures...?

'It really does sound like a theme park.'

That was when the rabbit mascot in question blocked the Team A deputy's path.

"Ugh, out of the wa—"

"One moment."

I stopped her as she tried to slip around the mascot. Because...

"... I think it's a parade."

A rope barrier went up behind the rabbit mascot, and all sorts of flamboyant rabbits appeared in the distance to jaunty music.

But I wasn't excited in the slightest. I struggled not to cover my face with both hands.

'It's started...'

* * *

Gaiety Theme Park User Guide (Updated Through Exploration Log 64)

7. Please cheer on the parade with a happy face!

Everything that happens in Gaiety Theme Park's parade is delightful and never negative. Never, ever negative.

* * *

The parade drew closer. A rabbit mascot in a dress waved from atop a palace, then...

POP!

It struck a nearby carrot with a multicolored wand. All sorts of glittering red things rained down over the mascots.

"Woooo!"

Candy, jewels, confetti, firework effects!

But that wasn't all.

POP!

The next one burst in quick succession, spilling new red things.

Blood, intestines, organs!

"Hahahahahahahaha!"

They came tumbling down. More and more. The mascots danced, churning through the intestines. The stone paving right in front of me turned red... Wow, I was seriously going to lose it.

'This is the problem.'

This insane theme park spewed out things no human sensibility could find funny, like glitches, but if you screamed or cried at them, you got [REDACTED]!

"Wooooo!"

SPLAT.

Blood soaked the fronts of my shoes. Something rolled over and bumped my toe.

An eyeball.

'!@#$!@%!%'

Aah!! Aaaah!!!

A silent scream tore up my spine.

'I-I'm going to throw up.'

I narrowed my eyes as much as possible. Without really looking ahead, I tried to act unperturbed and endure the situa...

"Urk."

"...?"

Wait. That... wasn't me, was it?

I glanced sideways and saw Cow Mask covering his mouth.

'Could it be?'

"... Do you have trouble looking at gore?"

"..."

The cow mask slowly nodded. The lower face it left uncovered had already gone deathly pale.

'A kindred spirit...!'

My heart almost warmed. At last, someone else was experiencing the insane terror of this insane situation!

'Hey, you're actually holding up pretty well!'

I was on the verge of saying we should dodge things together and get through this ordeal in our own similar way when...

"Oh, for fuck's sake... What are you talking about?"

The voice was brimming with irritation.

... The Team A deputy.

"Can't handle gore? How do they not realize a fuckup like this isn't a backup life, just dead weight?"

"...!"

"Hey, top recruit. I'm telling you this because you've got potential. That thing."

Her index finger pointed at the Team Y recruit. He flinched.

"Don't waste your time getting friendly with the bastards labeled X, Y, or Z."

"..."

My direct superior had said something similar just before we came here.

["Roe Deer. As a rule, just keep things civil with the people from the other teams you saw today. All right?"]

... I already knew why.

'The Field Exploration Team assigns each team a letter.'

And their order meant something.

Teams A, B, and C were Elite Teams. Teams D through W were ordinary teams.

And X, Y, Z...

* * *

Records of Dark Exploration / Daydream Inc.

/ Field Exploration Team

Cleanup Teams

Field Exploration Teams composed of personnel who passed the recruitment test but possess some flaw that prevents them from performing normal exploration duties.

Primarily deployed to experiment with special situations.

Usually designated by the last three letters of the alphabet (X, Y, Z).

* * *

"The last three letters are where they dump nothing but bastards like that. They're just meat shields. Think of them as spare lives for employees who actually know how to work. Don't bother with them."

"... Sorry?"

"They don't seem to explain it properly to the rookies, something about eliminating variables, but that one's going to die here anyway, so it shouldn't matter."

The cow-masked employee froze.

"W-what do you..."

"Cleanup Team Cow Mask. Raise your left hand."

"!"

As if by magic, Jang Heoun thrust his left hand into the air.

"...!!"

The lower half of his face, exposed beneath his mask, went white with bewilderment.

"Wh-what...!"

The Team A employee lifted her chin.

"Meat shields. That's how you use them."

* * *

Employees of a certain grade or higher who enter a Darkness with Cleanup Team employees may demand their unconditional obedience to orders.

Cleanup Team employees will invariably carry out those demands.

* * *

Right.

'... A device for producing crueler, more dramatic exploration logs.'

In short, they were slaves or a suicide squad. But seeing it in person was even more grotesque than I'd imagined, especially since Cow Mask seemed to be trying to resist.

'This is insane.'

The gold mark near the jaw of the Team A employee's butterfly mask gleamed.

"If there's something dangerous you want to try, you make one of them do it first. But some of them interpret things however they want instead of following instructions and get themselves killed. Drives me crazy, you know?"

"U-urgh..."

"Then again, if they had enough brains to understand, they wouldn't have been assigned to those teams, would they?"

The abuse continued in a matter-of-fact tone, ending in the voice of an exhausted office worker trying to suppress her irritation.

"Why the hell do they get jobs here just to be a nuisance? Every damn time... Nutjobs, cultists, criminals..."

"..."

They must have deliberately populated the Cleanup Teams with flawed personalities. It would have been a device to lower the psychological barrier for readers of the ghost stories.

'Watching bad, flawed people die feels a little better than watching decent, normal people get used up like tools...'

But seeing it in reality felt so sordid it left a bitter taste in my mouth. What had Cow Mask done that was so wrong he deserved to be treated as part of a suicide squad?

"And that fucking coward, too..."

Right, a coward...

"...!?"

... W-wait. Hold on, Deputy!

I thought I'd just heard something staggering...

"... Did you just say coward...?"

"Yeah. There are sniveling little cowards even among the people who passed that recruitment test. Can you believe it?"

The Team A employee jerked her chin.

"Like that Team Y rookie."

...

'That's it?'

Seriously? You dumped that cow-masked recruit in a Cleanup Team because he scares easily?

Being a coward was that serious a disqualification?

Then...

'What about me?'

... I'm a coward!

In an instant, what I'd told my superiors after running away from the convenience store ghost on my first day flashed through my mind like a panorama.

["Uh, actually... I was trying to get out quickly because I was scared."]

"..."

Only now did I realize how incredibly lucky I was that they hadn't believed me.

'So cowards get branded useless and ostracized at work...!'

And it wasn't just quiet dirty looks behind your back. They officially shoved you into situations where you'd die!

'I-I'd only been thinking I shouldn't let anyone discover my weakness...'

It was much worse than that!

For a moment, I heard my survival rate plummeting in surround sound.

No!

"Anyway, there's nothing in particular to order them to do right now. They'll only get in the way, so you and I are moving on alone. Got it?"

No way!

If I went off alone with you, you'd call me out as a coward in five minutes!

I could see it now: Employee Kim Soleum exiled to a Cleanup Team tomorrow on the strength of a Team A employee's testimony—'What the hell, this bastard's a coward!'

"Then please go on ahead."

"Wh-what?"

For the first time in my month at the company, I broke the Ten Commandments for New Recruits. I defied a superior.

I even had a plausible justification.

"I'll look after our teammates and bring them along."

"..."

The Team A deputy stopped moving. For an instant, I worried she might use the Team Y recruit to take my head off.

"You idiot..."

But the butterfly-masked deputy seemed to choose to cut me off and leave instead.

The thing was... uh, well.

'You won't be able to go alone anyway.'

* * *

Gaiety Theme Park User Guide (Updated Through Exploration Log 64)

2. Teammates of the same color must stay together inside the theme park!

If you move more than 5 m apart while not on an attraction, you will be executed. You will be strangled. It hurts don't move any farther away don't

* * *

'As if I'd just stand here and let someone as fearless as you leave...'

You had to be our tank.

The butterfly-masked deputy stopped with a choking gasp, as if she'd been caught by the scruff of her neck.

"You fucking—!! Ah!"

A red cord.

For a moment, I saw that leash-like line stretch taut above our heads, connecting us. Then the deputy caught on and backed up, closing the distance, and it vanished again.

"You...!"

"Deputy Jin."

I mimed holding my index finger to my lips, then shifted my eyes toward the parade. Every mascot around it was staring at her.

"..."

The Team A deputy quickly calmed down. Competent people really did make life easier...

"Don't tell me the team assignments..."

"Yes. We all drew red pieces, didn't we? It seems we're still bound together as a team... and probably subject to a physical restriction."

"... Don't tell me."

She looked at me, then asked meaningfully,

"You... figured this out beforehand?"

...?

I'd just read this ghost story before...

But I should make the most of the opportunity.

I adopted a serious air and spoke.

"As you'll recall... there were exactly four civilian survivors."

"And?"

"Could they have been on the same team?"

I spoke earnestly.

"We were assigned four people to a team, so I thought it would have been the same for the civilians. It seemed most likely that one entire team had survived together."

"..."

"So for now, I'd like us to act on the assumption that all four of us need to look after one another to escape this Darkness safely."

After a brief silence...

"... That makes sense. All right."

Fortunately, the Team A superior seemed to have accepted my reasoning.

"Kim Soleum, thank, thank you..."

"Not at all. Let's do our best together."

As a side effect, my fellow recruit in the cow mask seemed moved, but this wasn't the time to get sentimental, my cowardly comrade.

'Let's see.'

I assessed this team objectively.

A superior steeped in elitism. The cowardly Dumb and Dumber. And an employee from another department thrown in as a bonus.

'Ha ha. What a shitshow.'

If this were <Records of Dark Exploration>, this lineup would warrant everyone dying as soon as the log began, followed by a viewpoint switch to Section Chief Lizard, wouldn't it?

But even with this group, there was a way to survive...

'There is.'

If we followed the rules closely and aimed for the way out!

"... Do you happen to remember?"

"What?"

"The words printed on the <Gaiety Theme Park> board game box."

- Be the fastest to ride three fantasy attractions with your teammates and win a prize!

Her eyes narrowed beneath the butterfly mask.

"Three attractions... Right. This bracelet has exactly three boxes, too."

"Yes."

I nodded.

"For now, I'd like us to do just that. When a Darkness hints at requirements, following them is the standard approach to clearing it."

"... A rookie who's been here a month sounds like more of an expert than me, and I've worked here three years?"

Oops.

"I've spent that whole month being sent into Darknesses without manuals... Hmm, I think I've developed a habit of making these sorts of guesses."

"Well, all right."

Fortunately, the Team A superior gave a casual nod. Apparently, she hadn't said it because she was offended.

"Your hypothesis is persuasive."

"Yes."

She seemed reasonably convinced. I raised my hand and made a very polite suggestion.

"So I'd like us to start by going on an attraction, too."

Luckily, one of the nearby signs listed the attraction I was after.

[Fantasy Train (Fantasy Train)]

Literally, a magic train.

"... Isn't this the attraction the civilians mentioned in their testimony?"

"That's right."

I nodded calmly, and the researcher, who had been panicking, burst out with a frantic shout.

"Th-they said everyone who r-rode it died!!"

That's right. This was a hellish train of unimaginable cruelty with a 3% survival rate!

'That doesn't mean I've gone insane.'

A veteran of <Records of Dark Exploration> had a way to handle anything!

... A slightly less terrifying way to clear it.