Chapter 23

After untold hardship, we had finally escaped the insane red mascot's territory and reached the Blue Zone.

There I found the welcome sight of Team D... with Team A's leader dangling limply over Section Chief Lizard's shoulder.

"..."

I barely managed to ask.

"Um, the corpse on your shoulder, sir..."

"Oh, just unconscious."

Aha.

So he was carrying the leader to safety. Just as relief was restoring my sense of camaraderie...

Team D's deputy jerked a thumb toward the enormous inner tube he and the supervisor had been dragging.

"The corpses are over there."

"..."

To think I was witnessing corpses being stuffed into an inner tube and dragged around...

"We wrapped them up well, but some of them were in pieces."

Please spare me the description.

"No, seriously, it was horrifying. Wow..."

"Roe Deer, be careful. The mascot here acts like some incarnation of justice."

"Sorry?"

The explanation that followed went like this.

The mascot here utterly despised teammates hurting or killing one another.

"But that deputy from Team A, the one in the mantis mask, went and caused trouble in the name of experimenting."

While riding the first attraction, he had sent the Team Y employees to their deaths one by one, snickering all the while.

Unbuckle your seat belt. Stand up. Sing along. Do a handstand and get down onto the tracks...

"All three from Team Y died that way. The last one cried and begged, and he didn't even bat an eye... It was pretty disgusting."

"..."

And apparently their companions weren't the only ones who felt that way.

Team D's deputy frowned.

"When we got off the ride, the mascot was waiting for Mantis Mask. Called him a 'Naughty Child.' And then..."

Description omitted for the sake of my sanity.

"I thought I was going to throw up."

"..."

"Well, frankly, he had it coming! ... Though that section chief didn't agree."

The supervisor discreetly pointed at Team A's leader, slung over our lizard team leader's shoulder.

"Speaking of which, why exactly is the team leader unconscious?"

"Well... our team leader, uh..."

"..."

W-wait a minute.

Surely not.

"Actually, we were getting some pretty unreasonable demands at the time. I think the idea was to save that teammate somehow."

And when that went too far...

"Our team leader delivered a chop to the back of the neck."

"..."

"Listen. Our story is that high blood pressure caused a collapse, so keep your mouth shut too, Roe Deer."

"Yes, sir."

I'll take it to my grave.

"Oh, and as for why the Team Y employees get treated like that..."

"I've heard the gist. From her."

I glanced meaningfully at the deputy in the butterfly mask.

"... You have? Okay."

The supervisor looked a little better. He seemed relieved to skip a subject so dark he found it uncomfortable to discuss himself.

"But are the people on your team okay?"

Oh.

I hurriedly checked on Cow Mask with his perforated shoulder and Butterfly Mask with her blistered face.

"Some of us need first aid. Could you help?"

"Yes."

Section Chief Lizard suddenly dropped the load on his shoulder... Team A's leader, onto the ground.

Then he started shaking the leader's shoulders.

"W-wait a moment, sir!"

"Urrgh!"

"...?!"

Having shaken T-Team A's leader awake, Section Chief Lizard spoke with perfect composure.

"Section Chief Seok. We have employees in need of treatment."

"W-what..."

The dazed expression on Team A's leader abruptly gave way to full alertness, followed by an accusing finger aimed at Section Chief Lizard.

"You!! You!"

"Yes."

"What happened to Deputy Lee! The one in the mantis mask..."

"He is dead."

"..."

"..."

"... And what were you doing while he died?"

"We waited until he died, collected his remains, and boarded the next attraction."

Good God.

For a moment, Team A's leader looked speechless, then barely managed to stammer out a response.

"Y-you stood there watching someone from my Team A die?? Lee Jaheon, are you out of your mind?? How are you going to take responsibility! For this loss...!"

"? I am Team D's leader. Team A is not under my jurisdiction."

The lizard's pupils narrowed in apparent puzzlement.

"Any losses resulting from the death of Team A's Deputy Lee Seokjong are your responsibility as his team leader."

"..."

T-to think I'd actually see someone say something like that at work.

Even with the same rank title, someone from an Elite Team had to outrank him.

A rather different kind of chill ran down my spine.

"..."

Team A's leader stared silently at Section Chief Lee Jaheon with bloodshot eyes.

"We took you on all three attractions while you were unconscious, so you have met the clearance requirements as well. Now, treat the employees and fulfill your responsib—"

"Team Leader."

That wasn't someone stopping Section Chief Lee Jaheon.

It was the butterfly-masked deputy calmly addressing Team A's leader, who was on the verge of losing it.

"Wouldn't it be better to discuss this outside? Let's clear this before any more complications arise. You still need to see that lunatic from Research Team 1."

"... Yes. That's right."

The eyes behind the mallard mask blinked, then slowly settled.

The primary target of that fury seemed to have been fixed once more.

But there was still one parting remark.

"Team Leader Lee Jaheon, we'll talk outside."

"Yes."

The supervisor leaned over and whispered to me.

"It's fine. Apparently our team leader hears that sort of thing every year."

"..."

Was it really... fine?

'One thing's certain: I'm nowhere near senior enough to get involved.'

Let's just keep my mouth shut and stay out of sight.

In any case, Team A's leader used Exclusive Equipment to treat the butterfly-masked deputy.

Watching the skin around her jaw and head regenerate as though time were rewinding was astonishing.

"Hardly anyone has Exclusive Equipment like that. I'm jealous."

Me too.

'Is there some way to get one?'

Something like that alone would improve my odds of survival considerably.

I studied Team A's leader's Exclusive Equipment, a healing ring, quite closely.

'Healing, huh...'

After checking that the butterfly-masked employee had been healed up quite nicely, Team A's leader was about to walk past the Team Y employee with holes all through his shoulder without a second thought, but...

"Could you treat these two as well? We have to move together, and I'm concerned their injuries might slow us down."

"...!"

To my surprise, Team A's deputy had discreetly put in a word for me and the Team Y recruit to be treated.

The Team Y recruit, whose shoulder had been healed before he quite knew what was happening, blinked beneath his cow mask.

"... Thank you."

Team A's deputy gave a slight nod.

'Does she really base everything she does on efficiency...?'

Once she understood how this ghost story worked and had secured both safety and a means of escape, her decision-making had shifted toward minimizing risk.

'Is that what makes you an elite in this company...?'

For now, I resolved to pay close attention to Team A's equipment and characteristics and remember them. ... And ideally forget the corpses in the inner tube while I was at it.

"All right, let's get you on two of the attractions we rode and get out of here."

"Oh, thank you."

As soon as treatment was finished, the red team headed for the attractions to fill the remaining empty slots on our admission ticket bracelets.

The others came along instead of leaving.

"Don't worry. It'll only take thirty minutes."

They seemed to be waiting both to keep an eye on things and to look after their rookie.

I appreciated it, but considering the corpse-filled inner tube tagging along, having them leave might have been less frightening...

"Like I said, the mascot here is remarkably moral for a monster."

Hmm. I'd actually suspected as much since the phone call.

'There's only one reason they could have finished three attractions that fast.'

A generous mascot whose demands weren't beyond reasonable human limits.

These teams had lucked into such a zone against staggering odds.

"It even answered questions like what was inside the attractions, nice and politely. And it gave us souvenirs for being the first to ride three."

Must be nice, having it so easy.

Meanwhile, some of us had been running ourselves ragged in that lunatic Magic Bunny zone...

Oddly enough, though, the red team had actually had more survivors, since every one of us was still alive.

In any case, the red team soon reached an attraction entrance featuring a smiling blue dragon character riding a dolphin.

When we went inside... we saw a humanoid figure with a cutely exaggerated blue dragon head.

A blue mascot wearing a life jacket.

[Hello]

The mascot waved a greeting sign.

I dipped my head in greeting. The mascot returned it.

"Hmm."

Next, I boarded the flume ride called Blue Mountain. It was a typical amusement park ride where you sat in a boat and enjoyed the flowing water as it carried you along.

The other two Field Exploration Team employees boarded safely too.

The last person, however, was a problem.

"Fuck."

The researcher's mouth twitched, and he spat a curse at the mascot.

Seeing a similar but less frightening mascot seemed to have finally unleashed his hatred and fear of Magic Bunny.

"You fucking disgusting bastards..."

"Please get on. Quickly."

"Yeah, yeah."

The researcher glanced back at the mascot and boarded the ride.

The blue dragon mascot's buttonlike eyes silently watched him.

"..."

And after we finished the remaining attractions without incident:

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

"Finally...!"

"Whew."

At last, all the slots on our admission tickets were filled.

"The exit is to the north. Let's move."

"Yes!"

We were wet, but who cared? What mattered was that we could finally escape this damned theme park.

'I don't want to come within a kilometer of an amusement park for a while...'

[Have a Safe Trip Home]

A typical farewell sign glowed above the gate machines at the northern exit.

Beside them stood another blue mascot, this one in formal attire.

"Apparently we just scan our completed admission tickets here and leave."

The blue mascot politely indicated the gate machine with one hand.

"All right, let's have the team leaders go first. Please, go ahead."

Team D's deputy took charge, wisely choosing to send the bosses off as quickly as possible.

People went out one by one, and soon it was time for the deputies and everyone below them to leave.

"Now, Deputy Jin, if you'd go fir—"

"M-move!"

The researcher shoved past the employees and charged into the gate first.

"What the..."

The supervisor and deputies looked rather incredulous, but seemed to dismiss it with an attitude of, Well, that's a civilian for you.

It wasn't as if leaving a few seconds later would cost them anything.

Oblivious to their reactions, the researcher frantically tried to get the gate to read his admission ticket bracelet.

'That looks like a habit.'

Honestly, it made me frow—

N a u g h t y C h i l d

"... Huh?"

The researcher turned his head.

The blue dragon mascot was holding his admission ticket bracelet in its claws.

The paper bracelet crumpled.

Y o u

RIP

N a u g h t y C h i l d

R-RIP

Y o u r e a l l y a r e

It snapped.

The pieces fluttered down.

The researcher stared stupidly at the scraps of bracelet falling to the floor, as though unable to comprehend them.

And then.

"Haaaaaagh, aaagh!!"

The blue dragon's mouth gaped open.

"Help me! Help me!"

He was being sucked inside.

Beside me, Cow Mask muttered as if possessed.

"Oooohhowterrifyingtheseagodiswrathfulanevilmanissuckedintothattidalwavehowterrify..."

I covered the Team Y recruit's mouth and pushed his head down.

I lowered my own head too, refusing to look.

"Aaaaaaagh!!"

So it ended like this after all...

Moving into another zone cleared the aggro you'd drawn from the previous zone's mascot.

But your actions accumulated.

* * *

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

6. Don't forget that the theme park is a shared space!

Observe proper etiquette and manners when using public facilities! Countless eyes are watching you, and no one forgets.

Look, the mascot is behind you.

* * *

Every mascot knew everything that happened inside Gaiety Theme Park.

Which included what the researcher had done earlier.

["Move, fuck!" ]

Even the way he'd shoved Team A's deputy toward the red mascot while fleeing, leaving her to die in his place.

'It probably intended to let him off once, considering the extreme circumstances...'

The problem was that he'd done the exact same thing again.

'Karma, I guess.'

The researcher's screams ringing in my ears were turning into howls.

"That fucking bastard tried to kill me too!! Why only me, only me!! You piece of trash, tra—"

True.

But Team A's deputy had never actually gone through with it. She'd listened when I reasoned with her.

'But you didn't.'

At this point, even I, a resident of the cowards' shelter, thought he'd brought it on himself.

"H e l p m e a a a a a a a a a a a a g h..."

The researcher's voice stretched like taffy, leaving an eerie chill in its wake.

'Ugh.'

As my cowardly heart reacted on instinct and my body jerked...

"Don't."

"..."

The Team A employee grabbed my arm and held it down.

Then spoke as if to dissuade me.

"You can't save him."

Um... I hadn't even considered trying.

In any case, I stayed put as instructed.

Soon the screams faded, and the strange feeling around us subsided.

When I raised my head, the blue dragon mascot stood there politely, just as neatly dressed as before.

It was hard to believe it had just killed someone.

That made it a little more chilling.

'Its standards are... stricter than I thought.'

We really were inside a ghost story.

This mascot seemed to have beliefs and standards of its own. Ones that went beyond simply not harming your teammates.

'Let's tread carefully.'

"... Let's try leaving again."

"Yes."

Once again, the remaining people filed out, one after another.

I'd held out a little hope, but of course we were going by seniority.

"See you outside."

I gave up and let my superiors go first.

After seeing my fellow coward off as well,

I finally stood at the gate beside the blue dragon mascot.

"..."

The dragon, sculpted in cute, stylized proportions, gazed at me with round eyes.

Um, could you please not look at me?

I'm actually really scared. Being the last one left here is terrifying too. I'm pushing myself so no one finds out what a coward I am.

Then it happened.

Y o u ' r e a G o o d C h i l d

"...!"

W-was it reassuring me?

The mascot's voice didn't sound eerie the way the others had.

'The property damage... It does seem to be letting that slide.'

Thank goodness.

"Thank you."

I bowed and tried to pass.

But the mascot moved to block my way.

"...?"

F o r a G o o d C h i l d

A g i f t

The blue dragon reached out.

Then gently took hold of my wrist.

More precisely, the admission ticket bracelet around it.

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

The bracelet seemed to grow slightly warm, and when the mascot finally took its hand away...

[◎ (Gaiety) Fantasy Land Membership ◎]

The wording had changed.

L e t ' s k e e p p l a y i n g

... Huh?