I remember the moment I first opened my eyes in the subway of Se-gwang Special City.
The relief of waking in a human body, the confusion, and the hair-raising terror.
All the way to the wretchedness of dying with a noose cinched around my neck at the end.
But at some point, all those sensations dulled and went blunt.
Because I’ll come back anyway.
Like a game.
Even as I considered the things I experienced in this Se-gwang Special City horrific, I wasn’t walking a tightrope feeling the fear of survival the way I did back in the original darkness.
Swallowing an Euthanasia Pill to die had, before I knew it, started to feel like a means of transport to the outside.
That unconscious complacency that no fatalities would occur even in the worst case.
And thus I face the result.
Explorers trapped in a ghost story with consciousness left intact inside a dead body.
...Deputy Eun Haje, and Bronze Agent.
[Oh, even in a dead body, they’ll think and move here as if alive.]
[Even if the whole body rots away and only bones remain, those bones might clatter around moving; or perhaps as the nerves and muscles rot they won’t be able to move? Come to think of it, if the brain and bones are separated, we could find out which side retains consciousness!]
[Oh, friend, isn’t it a heartbreaking yet fascinating inquiry....]
“......”
No.
No.
There must be a way. For it to end like that...
In fact, that’s a common thing in this world.
I froze.
A person gets disappeared by a ghost story, dies, suffers a fate worse than death, and even after death slowly has their self crumble in eternal pain.
Or endures it all with a sound mind.
All those things that make your skin crawl just imagining them, aren’t they the very meaning of existence in this world.
That’s what makes the thrill of the what it is.
Inside an “exploration record,” anyone at all can meet an unthinkably horrible ending.
Without any context or grand significance.
And if this is that ending....
No.
I ground my teeth. That’s an exploration record; this is reality. No—even an exploration record can be changed if you append a plausible explanation!
Things I can do.
What I can, somehow, try to do....
—Noru. You are not a studio. You do not operate a site in this isolated place; how will you “free them from here”?
I lifted my head.
To the one and only notice pasted to the empty space after Delusion Home Shopping was “confiscated.”
Rental Inquiries
■■■■-■■■-■■■■■
“...What if I lease this place?”
[Oh!]
If I take over this empty space of Afternoon Station.
“If I operate this place like Delusion Home Shopping, then in Se-gwang Special City I’ll have a ‘site I operate.’ Then from this ‘site I operate’ I can release the two. Right?”
[A persuasive deduction, Noru!]
I immediately strained to read the contact number written below the rental inquiry.
■■■■-■■■-■■■■■
...it doesn’t read well. My head felt strangely muddled, nausea rising.
But my hand was unconsciously dialing the censored number on my smartphone.
The unreadable, censored number even showed on the screen, and I hit the call button.
A strange, monotonous machine connection tone rang.
Tuuuu—
Click.
[Blood Broadcast Station. If you want to rent space press ■. If you want to redeem blood-price debt press ■. If you want to appear on a broadcast press ■.]
I pressed ■ for space rental.
[Confirmed. We will text you the cost for the rental space at your location. Thank you.]
Clack.
The call cut and a text arrived.
On my smartphone screen, words flickered and sizzled in a bizarre way....
Rental Space: Commercial Use
(Shop & Office)
Payment Item: Fresh Blood (Sapient Being)
Security Deposit: 7999 L
Monthly Rent: 59 L
“...!”
I understood why this station’s name is Blood Broadcast Station.
The cost... is blood.
A chill crawled up my back at that abnormality, whether malice or distortion.
[Hmm, not bad. We’ll lose a bit converting gold to blood... but given the poor location it’s impressively cheap!]
Cheap?
That?
They say a human body has roughly 4 L of blood.
If so, that amount is the equivalent of squeezing every last drop out of about fifteen people....
“...If I use all the remaining survival prize money except for two day-labor contracts... can I buy as much blood as that deposit?”
[Unlikely. You won’t even get two-tenths!]
“......”
[But don’t worry....]
[You can borrow from Brown again, can’t you.]
The one offering kindly advice set a warm hand on my shoulder.
“......”
I looked up.
“...First, I’m going to try asking about the rental again.”
[Good. How much do you want to borrow, friend?]
“...More than that—could you relay what I say to the other party, Brown? You’re more of a business expert than I am.”
[My, such an apt request is hard to refuse!]
“...Thanks.”
Wiping the cold sweat beading on my forehead, I watched the host’s gloved hand in the dark start dialing on my smartphone.
...What first came to mind, honestly, was drawing funds from the resort.
But that’s no good.
Pouring in resort coins at an even more astronomical scale was impossible.
That would... negatively impact resort operations.
And as the mascot I cannot commit an act that blatantly harms operations.
Scattering some coins and gifts falls under the domain of promotion, so I’ve been doing it without strain, but once it reaches a “deposit” scale the story changes.
This is just an isolated city subway station with almost no promotional utility for a theme-park ad.
Investing that level of money is impossible while bearing the mascot identity.
And then that numb, strange voice I’d heard earlier came out of the smartphone.
[Connected.]
“Thanks. Then ask this for me.”
I swallowed.
“...Is it possible to rent only a portion of the space? About one-tenth of the total area—no, even one-twentieth.”
[Hoo!]
Right.
If I can’t rent it all, a part will do.
What matters is that a site exists, and then I can naturally assume the day-labor contracts...
[They say it’s possible.]
I clenched my fist.
[They’ll provide the deposit and rent.]
And Brown conveyed the following:
Rental Space: Commercial Use (1–20)
(Shop & Office)
Payment Item: Fresh Blood (Human)
Security Deposit: 499 L
Monthly Rent: 3 L
[Hmm, a modest sum.]
Done.
Not exactly one-twentieth, but this I can surely cover with the prize.
[Shall I deduct it from your prize, friend?]
“...Yeah. Please use that for the deposit.”
And in that instant—
The rental notice moved.
And in its place, a “space” appeared.
“...!”
The notice that had been right beside the stairs had somehow relocated to the opposite wall, and inside the glass door where the notice had been affixed, a dark red line had formed.
A small, rectangular space.
The size I said I’d lease, a space minuscule compared to Delusion Home Shopping.
And in the corner, a red mailbox had appeared at some point.
Instead of the usual envelope logo, the mailbox was smeared over as if someone had swiped a finger with dried-blood color to draw a dark red inverted cross.
Along with the caption:
Blood Broadcast Station
Monthly Rent: Unpaid
It seemed this is where I’d pay the rent.
If so—
[Now then, shall I deduct the rent from your prize as well?]
“Wait.”
I began to pay the rent myself.
[...Noru?]
I shoved my arm into the mailbox slot.
Then, from the supplies I’d brought, I took out a military knife and cut that arm.
With pain, my blood poured into the mailbox.
“...!”
But urgency and tension blunted the pain’s force.
This reminds me of what I did with the Bloodlust Tub.
I heard the sound of liquid dripping from the hand I’d inserted into the slot.
[Good heavens, friend! What are you doing?]
“Saving my prize.”
Right before I almost blacked out, I slowly downed a low-grade regeneration potion.
So it would recover gradually.
Only after the bleeding stopped did I pull my hand from the box.
...About half, it seemed, had been paid.
“Brown, could you deduct only the remaining unpaid amount for the rent from the prize?”
This way, I could take a bit more stuff from Delusion Home Shopping.
I can’t miss this chance.
I had to do everything I could.
I must not be complacent anymore.
[Oh my...]
[The viewers must have fainted dead away. That’s a truly shocking thumbnail shot.]
I gave a bitter smile. I heard Brown’s sigh and the snap of his fingers.
And—
Monthly Rent: Paid
The inverted-cross mailbox vanished along with its marker, and lights came on inside the little space I’d leased.
“...!”
And at the same time, the giant host’s black silhouette that had been beside me in the dark was gone before I knew it.
But his voice, as always the “good friend,” remained at my side, continuing to chat even in the lit space.
Still lamenting what I’d just done.
[All right. In any case, you do have a little space you can operate, Noru.]
[But what kind of shop will you run? Above all... who will you have run it? My friend has a lot to do in this area and can’t hole up in a tiny shop to mind the counter!]
[Yet if you poach that rustic lodge keeper from the resort, your lovely, humble resort will be without a manager. In the end they’ll call for you....]
“......”
On that point, there was exactly one thing.
A method that came to mind....
I reached into my tattoos.
Then pulled out, from inside them, the dismembered corpse I still hadn’t disposed of.
Kim Heoun.
Skkk—
...A new hire who died sliced in two in front of the main-building elevator by a brilliant nameless-cult executive.
He grew up in the same facility as Jang Heoun, then was brought back to life when Jang Heoun’s wish was granted by a wish-ticket.
And—
—Like you took in Jang Heoun, could you take us all in too?
The person who had begged to be employed by me.
[Oh, but this is... a corpse, isn’t it? A corpse can’t sign an employment contract!]
Correct.
“But this person already verbally expressed the intent to join.”
In that case, I can hold an “interview” to ask whether that intent is unchanged even now.
If what I’m creating here is a part of Flower Golden Resort.
If it’s that magical space.
[Impressive! Then... will you begin now?]
“......”
I nodded, then, inside the “space” I’d leased, placed a hand over my chest.
And I summoned the contamination of Flower Golden Resort.
A yellow mascot.
A thick mascot head engulfed me, that heavy wad of cottony softness settling into place.
I
will
start
I thumped my chest in a showy way befitting a mascot.
But inside the head, my hand trembled.
Is this right?
To try to bring my party back by making someone who died miserably live and move again as something inside a ghost story.
I had even plainly seen that Jang Heoun, after death, could not recover from contamination, and yet to do something like this... is it really right?
I even thought maybe I should call Jang Heoun instead, but calling Jang Heoun would mean giving up any chance that person could recover as a person.
Nailing them here would mean halting the Disaster Management Bureau’s treatment.
I felt I was making an irreversible choice, but there was no other way. Somehow, by today, I had to obtain the day-labor contracts and release the two from a hellish ending.
Do it, do it...
I have to carry it.
And the resort is a good space. I will treat employees very humanely. Very, very....
So let’s do it.
He re
I lifted a forepaw and declared:
Re sort
Sou ve nir Shop
The little space sparkled.
On the area declared part of the resort, the magic of YuKwae Theme Park began to settle.
A ghastly, delightful, cheerful, beautiful piece of the resort.
The interior hadn’t gone in yet, but the declaration alone was enough for now.
And I called for it.
The resort employee employment contract.
“......”
I looked down at the body cut in two and asked his intent.
Will you work?
Then the body began to mend.
Upper and lower halves joined, and across the seam, like an interviewee’s neat belt, a strap cinched with the YuKwae Theme Park logo embossed.
Soon color returned to his face, and like tape winding, a hairstyle and outfit suitable for a resort job applicant magically wrapped his body.
And he opened his eyes.
Hel lo
I braced myself.
That the dead self of this person, fully contaminated into the YuKwae Theme Park Resort, would respond to me like a mass-produced mascot.
Thus I would use a dead person as an employee to operate this space and...
“Employee?”
......
......!!
“Employee? This is... no, where exactly am I? Did you... hire me?”
A flustered face.
A gentle expression and tone.
And confused gestures and expressions.
I realized.
He is in his right mind.
Not a contaminated, subordinated mind.
“I’m sure my waist... Uh, huh?”
Kim Heoun, who had gone pale as if he’d recalled being cut in half and was fumbling at his waist, soon lifted his head with a look of dawning comprehension, expectation and tension mixed.
“Did you... fix me?”
Close
“Th-thank you.”
And I realized.
Even though he had only ever seen me as 130666, he recognized me in one go in my Golden Mascot state.
He is certainly not in an ordinary human state. And yet—how does he look so... rational and like an ordinary person.
As if not contaminated....
...Wait.
It felt like lightning flashed through my head.
Chief Minseong, too, had his self restored the instant he came in here from an extreme contamination state.
If that... isn’t a condition limited to the living.
No way.
No way......
“......”
I called a name.
Now that a resort zone existed here, I could “connect” and summon my employee.
Wild Ox
"Yes, Mascot!"
I turned my head.
A dark-brown long-haired man, fully dressed in a resort uniform with yellow accents, was standing there.
But unlike the bright, cheerful staff voice I’d heard at my ear, he wasn’t wearing that bizarre, beaming grin.
“...Mascot?”
Trembling eyes.
“...Heoun?”
A pale gaze.
It was Jang Heoun, standing there in his right mind.