Chapter 24

Breaking into a cold sweat, I stared at the bracelet.

[◎ (Gaiety) Fantasy Land Membership ◎]

But the lettering, changed from admission ticket to membership, stayed that way. So did the strangely luxurious, more ornate material.

R-right...

This was unexpected, but it didn't change what I had to do.

Scan my bracelet at the gate and leave.

'Membership or whatever, I just have to never come back.'

“Thank you.”

I swallowed.

“Um... I'd like to head home now, too.”

The blue mascot tilted its head slightly to one side.

I stepped into the gate to scan my bracelet.

But the mascot blocked my way.

'Please.'

Why were you doing this to me?

I wanted to cry.

“I'm not as good a child as you think I am...”

G o o d C h i l d

Y o u a r e

The blue mascot's claws settled ever so gently over my bracelet.

Then a voice rang out.

To one who knows honor,

There is worth.

...!!

“Cough.”

A cough burst from my mouth.

Blood.

'W-what just... happened?'

Could it be... because it had changed from an admission ticket to a membership?

When I coughed up blood, the blue dragon mascot fidgeted as if flustered, then pulled something from inside its clothes and offered it to me.

[Blue Soda Churros]

It looked like a snack sold inside the theme park.

“... Thank you for the food.”

Yeah. I was never eating this.

“But I'd like to go home and eat it there.”

Play

More

The mascot was adamant.

How adamant? It turned off the gate.

“...!!”

The lights blinked out. A shutter descended over the darkened north exit.

I watched in a daze.

It was going this far?

I couldn't begin to understand what was happening.

But I wasn't stupid enough to argue.

'I could end up like the researcher.'

That was the one thing I wanted to avoid.

For now, for now... I wasn't in immediate danger of dying in here. Let's look for another way.

I backed away from the gate.

The blue mascot kept watching as I ran off...

* * *

“This is driving me insane.”

I went into the water park's locker room and sank to the floor.

I was scared to death.

“What the hell is this?”

To sum things up, the mascot had suddenly called me a 'Good Child,' given me a membership, and lowered the gate's shutter.

In short, I was trapped here.

“...”

Trapped.

No, what did 'Good Child' even mean in the first place?

The researcher was a Naughty Child, and I was a Good Child...

Oh.

'... Is it because I saved my teammates a few times?!'

Right. That was the most plausible explanation.

I'd ended up looking out for people a few times in emergencies... and as a reward, it was going to let me play at the theme park forever? Was that it?

'I'm going to lose my mind...'

I was inside a B-grade Darkness.

No matter how friendly that mascot was, or how safe it seemed, there was no telling when or where some danger or bizarre, insane shit might happen.

Besides.

'... There aren't even any exploration logs of anyone staying more than twenty-four hours.'

That meant everyone died or went missing once twenty-four hours passed.

The most optimistic interpretation was that admission tickets were only day passes, and I might be fine with a membership. But the important thing was that I had no information at all.

'Damn it.'

Feeling like biting my own tongue, I racked my brain.

Maybe it was the exhaustion of the past few hours, but my thoughts moved sluggishly...

'What can I do?'

It wasn't as if I could fight the mascot and win.

I couldn't sneak in and turn the gate back on, either.

'I used up all my coins earlier.'

When I'd seen Team Y's recruit, Jang Heoun, fall, I'd panicked and thrown whatever came to hand. That had been my mistake. I pressed my eyelids.

I didn't have a button to communicate with the outside, either, so I couldn't count on Team D's help.

'The items I have... '

The Smile Sticker? Not something to use when excessive affection was already the problem.

The 2x potion and 0.5x cookie were no different. Those were only useful if there was an effect they could work with.

'Is there really nothing?'

The more I thought, the deeper I seemed to sink into a mire.

As I sat there sinking into despair, a light flashed above my head.

[Records of Dark Exploration Real Goods Box]

-New merchandise usage rights unlocked! (!)

“...!!”

The black notepad. The Goods Box.

'Please!'

Without even pausing to breathe, I pressed it.

Was this a lifeline? No, anything would do. I needed even the smallest hint, anything...

THUD.

The merchandise dropped.

'...!'

I picked up the item in its clear plastic wrapping.

Small enough to fit in my palm, soft and fluffy.

A stuffed animal.

* * *

Records of Dark Exploration / Daydream Inc.

/ ■■■■■

Good Friend

Your cute animal plushie. It will always come along with you and keep you safe.

Always.

—Item description on the packaging,

'Gaiety Theme Park Souvenir Shop'

* * *

Oh.

I remembered the words on the board game box.

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

The first team to ride three attractions at 'Gaiety Theme Park' could take one of the various items in the souvenir shop as a free prize.

'Come to think of it, the supervisor said earlier that he'd gotten a prize, too.'

And of course, bizarre items were far from rare among the wares in a ghost story's theme park souvenir shop.

'There was even an exploration log with a separate, organized list of the prizes people had taken... '

And this was one of the most famous items on it.

Good Friend.

In the original work, it had been a stuffed animal just the right size for a small child to hold. Turned into merchandise, it had been reborn as the little plush keychain in my hand.

'So you had to be a Gaiety Theme Park visitor to use this merchandise.'

For anyone who hadn't visited the theme park in person, it was just a stuffed animal with no function. Apparently, using up my admission ticket had granted me the rights.

And this stuffed animal's ability was...

* * *

A strange item that invites someone from the Other World to place a portion of their mind inside the doll, making them your friend.

Appears rarely in the souvenir shop of <Gaiety Theme Park>.

See below for detailed invitation records.

* * *

This was it.

“...”

Normally, I would have thought it through very carefully and found some way to put safeguards in place before trying it.

'Invites someone from the Other World.' Wasn't that the perfect opening to a chilling ghost story?

But right now, I had neither the time nor the breathing room.

'Let's try it.'

I desperately needed advice from someone who knew how ghost stories worked.

For the first time in a while, I took out my smartphone with the Memorial Griptok attached and opened the 'Good Friend' tab in <Records of Dark Exploration>.

The supplies were as follows.

* * *

· Supplies for the Invitation

Matches (or a lighter)

100 ml of water

One spoonful of salt

A coin (clean)

An item related to your friend

* * *

And a quiet space.

'This locker room happens to fit the bill.'

Outside was noisy with music and splashing water, so this was probably the best place available.

As for a lighter, water, and salt, I could probably find those somewhere in the theme park. I could steal them from a shop or ask for them.

The problem was the last two.

A coin (clean)

An item related to your friend

I'd used up all my coins.

And an item related to your friend... That requirement was really there to make the ghost story more entertaining. Use a fairy-tale book, for instance, and a monster based on that fairy tale would come.

'What would be the safest option?'

No, I didn't feel comfortable offering anything from this theme park as the item related to my friend.

Wasn't this place itself already a ghost story?

“...”

After much deliberation, I finally settled on two items.

Praying these substitutions would work.

A little later.

“Whew.”

I set the torch and salt I'd obtained on the floor in the farthest corner of the locker room.

'That was unsettling.'

I'd gotten everything from a snack truck. Seeing 'Roasted Marshmallows' on the menu had given me hope, and sure enough, they had both.

'... They saw my membership and gave them to me for free.'

Far from making me happy, it only made things feel more ominous.

I wiped a hand over my mouth, then opened my smartphone again.

I had to get started.

* * *

· Invitation Ritual

1. Dip your finger in water and draw the hexagram from the enclosed pattern on a smooth floor.

2. Place 'Good Friend' in the exact center of the hexagram.

3. Place the coin on 'Good Friend's' belly. Make sure no water remains on your fingers.

4. Hold one spoonful of salt in your mouth and burn the item related to your friend.

5. When 'Good Friend' begins speaking, swallow the salt and return its greeting warmly!

If the coin has disappeared, you've succeeded! You've met a dependable friend. Always stay together and cherish them!

※If you cannot swallow the salt, if it tastes strange, turns to ash, or you begin bleeding,

Run away.

* * *

“Whew.”

First, I drew a hexagram on the locker room's marble floor, matching the image exactly.

It was a little complicated, but not difficult.

'... It's strangely shiny.'

Yet the finished hexagram was unnaturally smooth, its surface gleaming without a single splash mark.

After thoroughly drying my fingers on the edge of my clothes, I picked up the 'Good Friend' keychain with a trembling hand and placed it in the hexagram's central section.

'Of all things, it had to be a rabbit.'

It made me uneasy, but remembering how I'd bought it at the pop-up store thinking the little guy was cute made me feel a bit better.

And for the coin...

'This.'

I placed my item, the Silver Snake, on top of it.

'This is definitely... a coin too, right?'

I'd figured an item from the Alien Shop in reality would be safer than something obtained inside this ghost story.

Given its price range, it seemed quite valuable. I was busy convincing myself it might even have a better effect.

Then, with salt in my mouth, the last step.

'An item related to my friend.'

This absolutely had to be something that didn't belong to this ghost story, either.

And that was... me.

“...”

I loosened my tie and took it off.

'If it's mine, it definitely doesn't belong here.'

A friend associated with a tie? Whoever it might be, surely it would be better than someone associated with a kitchen knife.

I lit the torch.

Then held it to the end of my tie.

WHOOSH.

The fire caught with unbelievable ferocity, its flickering flames casting a shadow from the stuffed animal on the hexagram.

The shadow sways.

Back.

And forth.

At some point, everything around me has gone dark.

All I can see is the fire consuming my tie, the hexagram reflecting its light, and the stuffed animal in the center.

Back.

And forth.

My dazed mind does not melt away.

Instead, salt dissolves in my mouth, its brine stinging my tongue.

Amid it all.

Back.

And forth.

The mouth of 'Good Friend,' clutching the coin, opened.

-“Behold!”

-“I am the owner of a million masks, the Lord of Chaos, the pinnacle of madness, the dream of pleasure and play, the instigator of war, the parent of science, the lowly four-legged beast,”

...!!

Too loud.

It feels as though my brain is being churned to mush.

I want to cover my ears, but I have no hands free. I'm holding the tie and the torch!

What is this?

-“The desire of the crawling one, the lord of stars, the abyss of illusion, the mouth of wisdom, the roar of impulse, the far side of the moon...”

The stuffed animal is convulsing in the hexagram's center.

A round, silver thing is burning up in the middle.

'The Silver Snake.'

Did I use the wrong coin?

-“I am...”

My head hurts so much, so much...

-“Friend.”

-“Are you hurt, friend?”

I raised my head.

-“No.”

Kind, gentle words flow out through 'Good Friend.'

-“You mustn't be hurt...”

“...”

The swaying subsides.

My tie burns away, and the fire dies.

The coin that had rested on the convulsing rabbit plushie had disappeared before I knew it.

So had the water that had formed the hexagram.

“...”

Silence.

Watching 'Good Friend' lie motionless, I swallowed the salt.

But I heard nothing.

'Don't tell me.'

“It failed...”

-“Mr. Roe Deer?”

“...!!”

A cheerful, pleasant voice rang out.

But...

-“Mr. Roe Deer?”

I knew that voice.

I spoke before I could stop myself.

“... Host?”

-“Ah, it is you, Mr. Roe Deer!”

The Tuesday Quiz Show.

The voice of the TV-headed host who had run that ghost story's live broadcast was coming from the doll.

-“A pleasure to see you, my friend!”