Do you know what it feels like to die from having your blood run dry?
It is a term used mainly when one suffers long and persistent physical or mental pain, meaning to die from extreme anxiety and distress.
That is exactly what we are experiencing right now.
The feeling of one's blood drying up.
“…….”
“…….”
For three days.
I am experiencing firsthand the state of a human who has been trapped in a ghost story, feeling the fear of death, waiting for a party that never arrives, and unable to sleep or eat properly.
Did you know?
If a person cannot sleep properly for three full days, normal thinking gradually becomes impossible.
We take turns napping for an hour at a time in the 2nd-floor food court, but even that has reached its limit. We are in a repeating cycle of having our nerves on edge, sensing a threat to our lives every hour.
‘It’s the perfect recipe for going crazy.’
……Especially if your companion is a minor caught up in a ghost story for the first time.
“Hic! Wh-where are we now….”
“…It’s 10:56. Let’s move.”
The high school student I have to rescue stood up, limping.
His mental exhaustion must be far more severe than mine. He has begun to stagger from dizziness rather than his ankle, and instead of crying, he has started muttering nonsense into the air.
He has lost even the energy to cry or get angry.
‘Since we can’t eat properly, either.’
Naturally, the safe food items available in this damn mart are very few, and most are things a high school student wouldn't normally touch.
……Things like rats or cockroaches.
Things that anyone can see are not treated as products of the mart.
‘Up until three days, it’s the kind of lineup where you’d just choose to starve.’
On rare occasions, items lost by shoppers who already checked out are found intermittently in the food court, and we had to find food among those.
I’ve seen it exactly once in three days.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see a banana in my life.
‘To put it another way, a banana is the only thing we’ve eaten in three days….’
It was madness.
Whether by luck or misfortune, we hadn't encountered any missing persons other than ourselves on the 2nd floor yet, so there were no competitors.
Perhaps that was only natural. The missing persons….
‘Most of them… are on the upper floors.’
“…….”
Anyway.
This was the limit.
‘The high school student I’m responsible for is at the end of his rope, both physically and mentally.’
Filling our stomachs with water from the food court’s water dispenser also has its limits.
At this rate, in about two days, we really will end up catching and eating rats or bugs.
‘Of course, if things continue like this, there’s a higher probability that something will… go “wrong” before we even eat a cockroach.’
Right now, we are waking up every hour to go back and forth to the restroom, and if someone oversleeps or collapses and this rhythm gets messed up…….
That’s the end of it.
‘…We’ll end up encountering an employee.’
Whether it's an employee coming to the food court to take an order, or an employee pretending to clean the restroom.
Escorted outside. Processed as missing.
We would become a single line in an Exploration Records, disappearing after leaving behind only those words.
A mixture of revulsion and chills runs down my spine.
“…….”
Honestly, surviving on such a razor's edge for three days while carrying a minor with an injured leg was a stroke of luck.
Of course, I’m no fool. I didn’t create this situation on purpose.
‘I never imagined I wouldn't be able to meet Agent Bronze for three whole days…!’
Right.
My senior Agent has evaporated.
It's driving me crazy.
“…….”
On the first day, I thought our timing just didn't match up.
‘Did he wait for us on the 2nd floor and then move on while we were hiding under a display stand for dozens of minutes?’
If he didn't have a leg injury like the high school student I’m with, he might have been more aggressive in preparing for an escape.
So, after much deliberation, I decided to keep waiting on the 2nd floor.
‘There’s a high probability he’ll return to the 2nd floor to rest.’
In fact, I didn't have much of a choice.
Moving up and down the floors again with a high school student with an injured leg was close to a suicidal act.
I chose to wait on the relatively safe 2nd floor for the time being, and I believe it was a rational decision.
But he didn't come.
So, from the second day, I began searching the other floors.
I couldn't search for long. It felt like the injured high school student would die if I left him alone for even a few hours.
But the situation didn't change, even after I committed the madness of pushing myself to go down to the 1st basement floor.
Agent Bronze was nowhere to be found.
At least, not within the range I could reach within an hour.
Three days passed like that.
And….
‘The whole time, the mart did not resume normal operations…….’
One of the reasons why escape before closing time is strongly encouraged.
The main culprit that turns this mart into a hell and lowers the civilian survival rate.
The shortest period recorded for the mart to resume operations is one day, and the longest is 20 days.
The fact that no one knows when operations will resume.
That’s right.
No one knew when a new day at Lookie Mart would begin.
Sometimes operations resume normally in just one day, but other times, a day does not pass even after what feels like hundreds of hours to a human.
‘Because of this, there were… speculations that the time gap with reality would widen until Lookie Mart’s time became the distant past.’
Regardless of how correct that speculation was, the important thing was the reality we faced.
The fact that we have been trapped here for three days.
…I am starting to fear what thoughts might be crossing the high school student's mind.
“W-we actually came here to find a kid who lives in the same apartment complex.”
I heard a faint, delirious muttering just then.
“…You came to find someone?”
“Ye-yes. He went missing after DMing that he was going to Lookie Mart. So we said things like it's like a ghost story, we'll find him….”
Good grief.
“But it was a stupid thing to do. He’s probably dead already…. Wh-what if he was ground up in a blender?”
“…Let’s not think too far ahead.”
I patted the high school student’s shoulder.
“For now, you’ll be able to get out today.”
“…Huh?”
I had a reason for my confidence.
I recalled the record I assumed belonged to Agent Bronze.
An unexpected situation occurred, and contact with the relevant Agent was lost for three days.
Result: Rescue failed. Agent returned alone.
Reconstructing this….
‘It means contact was established with the Agent after three days passed.’
The Agent had escaped alone then.
Even though the rescue failed, the Agent would have certainly made an attempt to rescue the civilian.
‘He would have tried to hold out until operations resumed.’
So, statistically, there was a very high probability that the doors would open today at the time operations resumed.
“C-could it be, right now….”
“Yeah. Just wait a moment.”
Filled with hope and anticipation, I calmly looked at my wristwatch.
[ 09 : 59 ]
My heart pounded.
Soon, when the time changes….
[ 10 : 00 ]
The hour.
Silence.
“……?”
I waited a bit longer.
But nothing happened.
No logo song played, no Announcement Broadcast came on, and the lights did not return.
……The entrance doors did not open.
“…….”
The mart, once again, did not resume operations today….
‘Fuck.’
I blinked.
A cold, dull shock echoed in my sleep-deprived head…….
“I-is it over?”
“…….”
“Uh, uhhh…….”
“It’s okay. There’s another way….”
I turned my head.
The high school student was rustling something.
A receipt.
It’s the notice from the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau disguised in that form. It was likely the paper where the student had discovered the number for rescue requests.
‘Why that….’
Was he looking for a method that might serve as advice?
However, instead of looking at the contents of the receipt, the student peeled something off from inside. And he was about to toss it into his
mouth…….
“…!!”
I slapped the student’s hand away.
“Ah!”
I forced his hand open and snatched what was inside. He resisted, but I ignored him.
“Don’t…!”
…A white capsule-shaped pill.
‘This.’
I recognize this form.
It was the… euthanasia pill that the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau once included when placing notices in high-grade ghost stories.
If it becomes too agonizing, please take the enclosed capsule.
It guarantees a peaceful end.
My bad premonition was proven correct.
‘Damn it, damn it, damn it!’
It had been included in the notice this kid saw.
“I-I’m sorry.”
The student said, sobbing.
“Look, I can’t do this anymore. I don’t want to be ground in a blender. I-I’m so scared and dizzy, I can’t do it. I want to die peacefully….”
I felt suffocated.
“I’m sorry, are you doing this because I’m trying to find peace alone? Then, if maybe even half a pill will kill me, if we share it….”
“No.”
I looked at the high school student who had begun to babble incoherently and grit my teeth.
Then, with the most relaxed expression I could muster, I patted his arm.
“It’s okay. There’s another way out.”
“How?! We haven’t slept for three days, we haven't eaten, we can't do anything….”
“We can do it.”
I gripped him firmly.
“Until now, we used a method of holding out as safely as possible because I thought operations would resume soon. If the doors won't open soon, there’s another way.”
“R-really?”
“Yeah.”
It was the truth.
…As long as I made one decision.
—Abandon Agent Bronze.
The worry that he might be unable to escape because he’s looking for us, the pressure of having to confirm each other's survival, and the hope of receiving help.
For now, I abandon them all.
In any case, there’s a record that Agent Bronze himself escapes on his own.
…Though the rescue ends in failure.
‘Trying to look after the civilian who followed him as well… is a delusion.’
Get a grip.
I chose to do the best I could within my capabilities.
‘If only the two of us have to hold out until operations resume….’
Priorities shifted rapidly in my head.
Because I had been contemplating it for the past three days, the next plan was decided quickly.
“We’re going up.”
“Huh…?”
“Don’t eat this, just keep it in your mouth for a bit.”
I immediately distributed a Nostalgia Candy to the high school student.
A strange Item that fixes one in their best state.
“Whoa…!”
The student’s eyes changed as soon as he put the candy in his mouth.
“M-my leg is fine!”
“You have to think of it as letting it melt very slowly. It only works while you’re eating it.”
“Yes…!”
The high school student, whose condition improved rapidly, stood up with a bright face. Even his mental state seemed to have returned to its ‘best time.’
I was prepared for him to demand why I hadn’t given him something like this sooner, but he seemed too excited by the mysterious item that instantly improved his physical condition to think of that.
“Um, the 3rd floor of the mart is the top floor. Are we going there because there’s a way to escape? Can we escape through there? Are we going to escape?”
“We’re going to ‘prepare’ for an escape.”
And….
“The 3rd floor is not the top floor.”
“…What?”
“Sometimes a door leading higher than the 3rd floor appears.”
However.
“I-it said on the receipt not to go there….”
He was right.
This mart is a 3rd-story building, and the mart spans from the 1st basement floor to the 3rd floor.
We repeat. Even if you witness an emergency exit leading to the 4th floor, do not believe it. The 4th floor is not the mart.
Lookie Mart 4th floor.
This was also a Gimmick that was used almost like a meme in the <Dark Exploration Record>.
‘It’s a disappearance keyword.’
Went up to the 4th floor.
Everyone disappears after this sentence.
It doesn't matter what kind of desperate, nail-biting, and exciting exploration they did before that. As if possessed, they vanished vainly and hollowly.
That’s why it was scarier.
No one ever wrote exactly ‘why’ they went missing or what was on the 4th floor until the very end.
It was a tacit agreement.
Even the case that covered the disappearance process in the most detail was the same.
I recalled it.
The challenge of an Agent who realized all the rescue targets were dead.
/Start of Recording
Agent Choi: So, I’m on the 3rd floor now. I’ve found the door to the 4th floor.
Agent Choi: I’m just going to peek inside the door and come back. I’m not crazy. We can’t just leave the 4th floor like this. Aren't there almost triple digits of people recorded as missing after going up to the 4th floor?
(The Agent leaves personal excuses and a will.)
Agent Choi: Opening the door to the 4th floor now. And… it’s open. Ta-da!
(Sound of a door opening, sound of entering, sound of a door closing heard in succession.) Agent Choi: It looks normal? It’s just a slightly worn-out emergency exit. There are stairs…. It’s really no different. The exit door is right there, too.
(Several more minutes of observation, but no peculiarities.) Agent Choi: Alright. Now I’m going up.
(Echo of footsteps heard. Presumed to be the sound of climbing stairs.) Agent Choi: Let’s see. The exit door is still there, perfectly fine… Ah. …… It’s gone. I guess there’s no choice but to keep going up. Here I go!
(Footsteps continue for 30 seconds.)
Agent Choi: Phew… I’ve arrived. In front of the 4th-floor door.
Agent Choi: It doesn't look much different from the outside. It’s just a steel door.
Agent Choi: …Then, I’ll open it.
(Sound of a steel door opening. Simultaneously, the Lookie Mart jingle begins to play.) Agent Choi: Huh?
(The jingle gets louder. It becomes distorted.)
Agent Choi: Wa-wait.
(Indescribable screams. Roars. Strange sounds like wind rushing in, pleading sounds, the sound of rubbing a balloon, popping sounds, 12 types of unidentifiable sounds and ■■■ ■■.) Agent Choi: (Silence)
Agent Choi: Welcome to Lookie Mart!
Nothing was recorded for the following 24 hours. Recording ended as the battery ran out.
The Agent’s recorder was later found in the electronics department on the 3rd floor of Lookie Mart.
“…….”
It was a record enough to make anyone resolve never to open the Emergency Exit leading to the 4th floor.
But.
“It’s okay. I’ll tell you what to do once we find the door.”
That is our destination.
“……Yes.”
Whether it was thanks to the trust built over the three days or the mysterious power of the Nostalgia Candy, fortunately, the high school student nodded obediently.
“Let’s move quietly.”
We left the 2nd-floor food court.
And we walked up the stationary escalator, quietly ascending.
We avoided the escalator maintenance time for that section, but to avoid attracting the employees' attention by making even the slightest noise, we took off our shoes and moved very carefully in our bare feet.
Conversation also ceased for a while.
We move each footstep slowly and silently, enough to break out in a cold sweat.
And the 3rd floor that finally revealed itself was….
“Ah…….”
It was strange.
Originally, the 3rd floor at Lookie Mart was said to be a space for event stands.
On different dates, various discount display stands with various themes were arranged in rotation.
And the 3rd floor we are seeing now.
“Wh-what is this…?”
Those display cases are repeating endlessly.
An endless mart.
If the floors below the 2nd floor of Lookie Mart were unsettling because they recreated the past exactly, from the 3rd floor up, the space was… bizarrely expanded to infinity.
The number of event stands on the 3rd floor of the mart reported to date is 3,611, and the area is 232㎢.
Always check your starting point.
If you lose your way, you will never find the escalator leading to the floor below.
The endlessly repeating display stands and special product displays, which felt like being inside a giant maze or the plan or drawing of a madman, were perfect for driving a person insane.
But to put it another way, it meant it was a good place to hide or shake off employees.
It was said that in some distant stands, employees might not appear for months.
‘It’s also a good place to secretly steal food or daily necessities.’
…If, that is, one gives up on escaping.
So, missing persons, whose numbers couldn't even be properly grasped, must be scattered inside here….
Perhaps, Agent Bronze as well.
“…….”
“…….”
“We have to stick to the wall. If you spot an emergency exit there, tell me immediately.”
“Y-yes…!”
We moved slowly, sticking to the wall behind the escalator.
And so, we entered the dizzying path together, made of display stand shelves that seemed to have no end.
The corners repeated endlessly within the display stands of the dark department store where only the emergency lights were on after closing.
[Camping Gear Special Sale]
[Winter Season Outlet Event]
[Housewarming Gift Event Price]
[Lookie Mart Flesh Sale]
[Spring Kitchenware Grand Discount]
Eventually, bizarre words began to appear. Every time I saw such a display stand or sign, I turned around and walked back.
It was when we were crossing from section to section while checking the position of the escalator for several dozen minutes.
A small sound was heard.
Somewhere beyond the display stands, a dull, echoing sound.
-…….
I quickened my pace.
But the sound gradually became more specific, and finally….
-Huh? Is someone….
“Eh?”
The high school student suddenly looks up.
-Who is it? Can I help you?
A voice speaking from a distance.
“Over there, a person….”
“Shh.”
I lowered my body along with the high school student.
And I warned him in a very low voice.
“It might not be a person.”
“…!”
“And…… even if it is a person, would someone who’s been here this long even be sane?”
“…!!”
There’s no way they’re sane.
The chances are insanely slim.
Especially if they’re speaking in such a friendly manner.
‘A hazard.’
It was scarier if it was actually a person.
-Hey. You’re human, right? I’ll help you.
We ran while leaning against the wall.
The friendly voice offering help continued to be heard.
-The staff will follow because of my voice. I know a way out. I’ll help you.
Sweat beaded on the back of the high schooler’s neck. I kept moving my feet, gauging the distance from the voice.
-Hurry. The staff shouldn’t see you.
‘Fuck.’
Should I try to subdue them for a moment? No, if the staff swarms in while I’m doing that… right, if it’s a person, it was right to leave them alone until they were caught by the staff.
I have to bear it and move… wait.
‘That.’
The moment I suddenly raised my head, something appeared on the wall we were following.
An iron door.
An emergency exit with a green light. And….
A sign.
[ 3F ↗ 4F ]
“Th-That…!”
It appeared.
‘The emergency exit to the 4th floor.’
I immediately ran over and grabbed the handle of the iron door.
Then I hurriedly cautioned the high schooler.
On the most important thing.
“Never go up the stairs.”
“Huh?”
“Once the door opens and we go in, you just stand right there. Got it? You must never move.”
The high schooler nodded with frightened eyes.
Right.
This was my hypothesis.
Agent Choi: It’s normal, though? It’s just a somewhat worn-out emergency exit. There are stairs…. It’s really nothing different. The exit door is there, too.
‘…But the moment the staff climbed the stairs, the door suddenly vanished.’
Then, guessing the opposite.
—As long as one doesn’t climb the stairs, the door to the 3rd floor won’t disappear.
Because one hasn’t left the 3rd floor yet.
And if this idea was correct, there was no place safer than this.
‘There were no records of staff trying to go up to the 4th floor.’
Because it’s not a mart.
Ultimately, the inside of the 4th-floor emergency exit becomes a safe zone where only humans open the door and pass through.
Then everything becomes much easier.
‘I can even eat the food I brought in my tattoo there.’
Because once you open this door and step out, it’s not a mart.
I just have to open the door from the landing every time it hits 10 o'clock to check the outside and see if business has resumed.
‘Betting on this is the safest.’
To escape with an injured high schooler, this was the best option unless Nostalgia Candy was being supplied infinitely.
All sorts of disappearance stories about the 4th floor remained in my head, making me scared, but I had to do it.
I gritted my teeth and opened the iron door.
Screeeak.
The door made the same sound as described, and the old stairwell inside revealed itself.
“Let’s go in, carefully.”
“Ye-Yes…!”
I went inside with the high schooler.
And to prevent a potential mishap, I very slightly wedged a piece of paper torn from my notebook between the emergency exit door so it wouldn’t close.
Just enough so that it wouldn’t be noticed as open from the outside.
‘Phew.’
With this, I could lose that crazy bastard who was chasing us.
And just as I was catching my breath.
“A-Agent Grapes…!”
The high schooler called me with a voice that sounded like they were about to faint, pulling on my arm.
And then pointed upward.
“There…!”
Above the stairs.
I raised my head with a chilling sensation.
Someone was standing on the stairs leading to the 4th floor.
A woman with short hair, a pale complexion, and hollow eyes.
“…A-A person!”
Go Yeongeun.
My colleague and a former medical student.
“…….”
‘……What?’
My mind couldn’t process what this situation was.
But in the next moment, the person’s attire caught my eye.
An Iron Badge attached to the collar.
It was the identification for Agents of the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau.
‘Ah.’
Certain words from my memory flashed through my mind.
—However, the two agents who entered previously are currently in a state of short-term disappearance within that Supernatural Disaster.
The two missing agents mentioned by Agent Bronze.
“…!”
One of them was my colleague, who had infiltrated the Management Bureau as a rookie.
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