The rookie employee has been infected.
"Agent?"
Ryu Jaekwan had already experienced similar situations several times.
An agent who, with only one step left, made a mistake with the numbers and stepped on the wrong stair; an agent who held out for two days without a single drop of water, only to be contaminated by a raindrop falling onto the mucous membrane of their eye….
They just disappear.
Just like that.
Without context or warning.
People usually call stories whose creepiness is considered entertaining "ghost stories"….
But to those involved, it naturally felt like a common tragedy.
Just like now.
"Bronzie."
At that moment, his senior tapped his shoulder and quickly put an arm around him.
"…!"
And he began writing letters on his back with a finger.
So that it wouldn't look unnatural to the rookie agent in front of them.
Stay calm.
"Grapes-ie! But we have to go. Your hand will be gone soon, too."
"Ah…."
The rookie agent, Kim Soleum, who had been staring at his right arm that had been cut off and disappeared, replied quite brightly.
"I’m okay! The Mermaid Princess said she’d give it back to me. I'll be fine!"
"…Is that so?"
"Yes! Look. I even received these…."
Kim Soleum held up a few items he had received from the children, showing them off proudly.
In reality, they were all worn out and pathetic objects; even from the perspective of the Sparkling Dragon Palace, they were just toys that a child, not a full-grown adult, would like.
"…Right. Hold on a second."
The two of them left Kim Soleum to mingle with the children for a moment and had a brief, urgent conversation.
"I don't know what on earth he did, but the contamination is too deep."
Tumors covered half of his face, and the Source of Infection, manifested as a tail, had grown excessively.
Usually, there were no cases of this happening in just three days.
Did he perhaps actually enter the 'Dragon Palace' itself? Or did something go wrong while he was in contact with the children, or maybe Kim Soleum's body itself was particularly vulnerable to Biological Disasters?
Either way, there was a slight possibility a rookie could experience it, but it was difficult to confirm immediately through the rookie, whose mind also seemed to be contaminated.
Or else….
"Could it be that cat…."
"……."
A more dangerous entity might have intervened.
To pressure them.
Ryu Jaekwan's face turned pale for a moment before he snapped back.
"The Conch Shell."
The cure.
"We have to bring it. Now!"
"Wait a minute."
Agent Choi grabbed his arm.
"It seems like that cat gave the cure to save the kids."
"Right now, Agent Grapes's exterior is also a child…."
"Listen to me. If that cat is a high-risk phenomenon of a higher grade than the Dokkaebi's Trick our elder put on us… it might not count that guy as one of the 'kids' anymore."
"…!"
Ryu Jaekwan almost yelled, 'So you're saying we should just stand by and do nothing?'
However, his boss, Agent Choi, was looking at 'Agent Grapes' with a strange gaze, as if thinking about something.
"……."
After calming his junior down, he approached Kim Soleum among the children again.
"Grapes-ie."
"Yes?"
"Then it's okay for you to just stay here, right?"
"Yes!"
Ryu Jaekwan couldn't take it anymore and grabbed the back of Agent Choi's neck.
"Seonbae!!"
"Hey, hey, I only asked to check the degree of contamination. …It's serious. Not just the infection, but even his way of thinking…."
"……."
"Let's get him out immediately."
"Then…."
"No, I mean the way we usually use!"
Agent Choi sighed and patted his junior's back.
"Bronzie, Bronzie. Get a grip. Our escape method isn't based on contamination; it's based on the timing of the disappearance."
"…!!"
That was right.
A child who does not turn into foam and disappear through the Disaster Management Bureau's escape method is one whose disappearance has not exceeded 1,000 days.
Agent Grapes, who had only stayed for three days, more than met that criteria!
"We just need to persuade him properly to leave. I'll go send him off, so you just keep a good eye on the kids so they don't scatter."
Then, looking back at the infected Kim Soleum, he spoke in a bright voice.
"Let's come back to the Dragon Palace next time, Grapes-ie! Instead, shall we play with balloons as we go? We'll float up just like when we came here!"
It was the escape route identified by the Disaster Management Bureau.
Do you remember?
Was it not said that children's books containing an appendix page detailing 'How to go to the Sparkling Dragon Palace' were found throughout the playrooms?
In fact, there is an additional description there.
On the very last page of books where 'How to go to the Sparkling Dragon Palace' is written, 'How to return from the Dragon Palace' is rarely discovered.
The page consists of high-level vocabulary and steps comparable to professional texts, requiring a level of reading comprehension impossible for a preschool child to understand.
All attempts to find the materials needed for the 'How to Return' ritual from the Sparkling Dragon Palace have failed.
Thus, to actually use this escape method, agents carried the materials with them.
Fortunately, as much as the entire preparation process was irrational and full of interference, narratively, the escape method itself was the correct way.
Until this very moment.
"It's not floating…."
"…!!"
This time was an exception.
Agent Choi almost looked at Kim Soleum hanging from the balloon with an expression as if he were about to bite his tongue, but he managed to control his facial expression.
Originally, a child hanging from a 'Go Home Balloon' would close their eyes and float up into the sky, then fall when the balloon burst at some point.
Then they would be found having tumbled down from a slide.
That was how it was supposed to be….
But the balloon didn't float at all.
This was something that had never happened before.
Because, in the first place, an agent had never been this heavily infected…!
Furthermore, the severity of the infection usually coincided strangely with the year and date of disappearance, so children who could escape floated up on balloons without exception.
But now, a new Irregular had occurred.
-If the subject is severely contaminated, the balloon cannot float into the sky at all, rendering the escape method useless.
As if the parasite were tightly holding onto the host it had infected.
Kim Soleum's tumorous tail, sprouted from ulcers, was positioned heavily on the ground, writhing.
'...Is it practically connected to that mass of ulcers?'
Agent Choi's eyes flickered as he thought about that bizarre cluster that appeared to be the Dragon Palace.
Even so, he spoke casually.
"Sorry~ Hyung didn't put enough air in! Let's go another way."
"Okay…."
And Ryu Jaekwan, who had been holding the children, began to move as soon as the two returned empty-handed.
"Bronzie."
"We must go get the cure immediately. Prepare…."
"Bronzie!"
Agent Choi paused for a moment, then spoke slowly….
"Have you considered that if Grapes were in his right mind, he would have given up his spot to a kid?"
Ryu Jaekwan stopped his hands.
"I have."
"…!"
"Because the majority of agents have that tendency, we must put them as a higher priority. Otherwise, they easily… give up their own lives."
"……."
"More people live if we save the agent."
His senior fell silent for a moment as if lost for words.
Then he let out a small sigh.
"I… don't know. It's not like we're grading human lives…. Wouldn't it be better to just want to save him because he's a colleague?"
"……."
"Was our organization… always like this? It felt a bit different before…. Everyone started staking their lives on those principles at some point."
"Everyone realized that it was necessary."
"……."
Ryu Jaekwan also knew that Agent Choi's silence was closer to denial than agreement.
However, Agent Choi also surrendered with a small sigh.
"Anyway, fine. We have to save Grapes."
"…!"
"Let's go meet those pseudo-company bastards."
Before that.
The number remaining from the eleven Conch Shells, excluding the one for the agent.
"We must select ten children."
"……."
Agent Choi's eyes darkened, but he approached Grapes anyway.
"You said you categorized the children by era, right? Can you tell us?"
"Yes!"
Agent Grapes diligently categorized the children.
Somehow, he had gathered all twenty-something children scattered throughout the city.
'...Did he become able to communicate with them as he became contaminated and connected to the cluster?'
Leaving behind that chilling speculation.
"These ones know all the same songs!"
The children were categorized.
From children of the 2010s to a child from the 1960s.
And a few were explained slightly differently.
"These ones… seem like friends who came from a slightly different place."
Either they had six fingers, had no whites in their eyes, or claimed to be from countries that didn't exist on Earth.
Agent Bronze immediately placed them at the bottom of the priority list. This was because they were highly likely not to be 'Civilians.'
…It didn't feel good.
Grading human lives.
Ryu Jaekwan felt a deep sense of fatigue that he had momentarily forgotten.
…He was exhausted, as always.
And he implicitly selected the children whose disappearance dates were relatively less distant.
Because, with the information the agents currently had, those children were most likely to be suitable for escape.
"…Still, we'll take them all for now."
"……."
Ryu Jaekwan nodded slowly.
"Alright. Grapes-ie. Now, the kids might be scared, so shall we walk while playing together? Meet the Mermaid Princess tomorrow, and play with Hyung today."
"I understand!"
They decided to protect Agent Grapes from Daydream Inc. as much as possible by hiding him among the children.
If it was discovered that he was an agent, it would become a weakness. Because the elite squad of Daydream Inc. would likely know that the Disaster Management Bureau prioritizes the lives of agents over civilians.
'A contaminated agent… is an easy target.'
At least until they could steal the Conch Shell and cure him, it had to be that way.
Thus, they hurried their steps.
And a short while later.
"Ohh! Over here!"
They saw the employee in the Pony Mask waving from the promised location and the rest of the employees looking this way with wary attitudes.
'They didn't run away.'
Ryu Jaekwan confirmed that the tracking device Agent Choi had attached to the Conch Shell was signaling that it was intact, and joined the people from Daydream Inc.
They flinched upon seeing dozens of 'Mermaid Spawns,' but perhaps because the cat's influence still remained, they didn't act rashly.
They merely kept a clear distance.
-This way.
After a brief Written Conversation, the two forces moved while keeping a wary eye on each other.
Towards the lower parts of the city.
"This is… a place children hardly ever go."
Even from the perspective of the 'Sparkling Dragon Palace,' it wasn't particularly beautiful or distinctive.
A shaded area under an underpass.
In reality, there was a small door next to a stream of contaminated black liquid flowing under a rusted iron bridge that had somehow managed not to collapse.
However….
"We can't see it."
To the contaminated children, the door was not visible at all.
Just as the Conch Shells were invisible.
"……."
In that case.
Agent Choi, conscious of the gazes from Daydream Inc. as if they were trying to capture their opening, calmly closed his eyes and reached out.
…Yes. It passes through.
"Ah. This works if you just deceive your senses entirely. We can just go in with our eyes closed."
The only problem was that they had to make 28 children do this.
"Everyone! Let's have a contest to see who can walk the longest with their eyes closed."
"Uh…."
"I'm scared."
Usually, they were children who played along excitedly, but some were strangely hesitant.
As if they were instinctively feeling a sense of rejection.
'Damn it.'
…A stinging sense of foreboding that they might have to leave behind the unselected children from here on out flashed through the agents' minds.
But just then.
"Are you a coward?"
"…!"
"N-No, I'm not!"
"Then try closing your eyes!"
Kim Soleum began to egg the children on.
"There's that sparkling thing you see when you close your eyes, right? You don't see it?"
"No, I see it!"
"Look closely. If you can't see it, just walk forward a bit."
Surprisingly, he succeeded in inducing all the children to walk with their eyes closed.
"……."
"Agent."
"…Ah, let's go."
Agent Choi, who had been watching the scene in a bit of a daze, soon snapped back to his senses.
He tapped the shoulder of the anxious Agent Bronze and moved his feet.
"Let's go!"
The children, with their eyes closed, safely passed through the 'wall' and came inside.
And then.
"Hah."
A place that was not the 'Sparkling Dragon Palace' revealed itself.
In the view seen by Daydream Inc., that is, the view of the ghost story 'Mermaid Tomb,' it was merely a chilling iron passage that was slightly less rusted than the outside.
It looked like an emergency passage for staff had been hastily constructed.
But in the eyes of a child….
'There's nothing.'
Just a white rectangular path.
In other words, it looked as if all the original textures had vanished.
As if even this place couldn't implement the hallucinations of the 'Sparkling Dragon Palace.'
To speculate, it was a space slightly isolated from the contamination.
'...This is getting increasingly significant.'
A veteran knew that the more this was the case, the higher the probability of it being the correct answer, so he hurried his steps.
"Do I keep my eyes closed?"
"If you open your eyes, you'll see something amazing, you know?"
Fortunately, the children followed without sitting down or wailing in fear. Agent Grapes soothed or diverted the attention of any children who cried.
"……."
The end of the passage came into view.
The true appearance seen through the Sun Catcher item was….
"Hah."
A clumsy station that seemed to have been made in a hurry.
It looked like a place where there were originally seven escape pods in total.
In the spots where the already launched escape pods of an alien mechanical civilization had been, only dust, filth, and dried infected fluids remained.
However, there was only one giant, capsule-shaped escape pod covered in blood.
As they approached, the device on the door announced:
[Please verify removal of infection ■■.]
Hmm.
-You're saying we just need to show a severed tail to this device?
When there was no response as several people from Daydream Inc. only nodded passively, Agent Choi quickly added a sentence.
-50,000 won for the cool person who answers quickly. haha
-I thought it was for the purpose of proving that you contributed to preventing the infection by hunting infected entities! That's how you get the authority to enter the escape pod. haha
At the response that came back immediately, Agent Choi nodded and handed over the cash instantly.
"Yippee!"
And ignoring the employee in the Pony Mask who was giggling, he turned around and spoke.
"Alright. Then… Grapes-ie. Shall we come here? Let the friend Grapes was just talking to come too!"
"Yes!"
Kim Soleum, who had been standing with the children, grabbed one child's hand and approached the escape pod.
Fortunately, the Daydream employees didn't seem to realize that he was an agent as well.
Ryu Jaekwan stood guard and practically snatched several Conch Shells from Baek Saheon's bag and handed them to Agent Choi.
"This…."
The sound of Baek Saheon swallowing a curse in disappointment failed to be delivered.
Agent Choi smiled and approached Grapes while holding up a Conch Shell.
"If Grapes closes his eyes for a moment, it'll be over soon…."
Just then.
"What's that?"
"Wow! It's a real white spaceship!"
The child standing next to Grapes ran towards the escape pod.
"…!"
"Wait for me!"
Grapes ran after the child to the front of the escape pod.
"Don't…!"
If an infected child is forcibly boarded onto the escape pod, Acute Molting will proceed, ulcers will grow all over the body, and they will lose their life response.
Please never attempt this.
By any chance, that shouldn't happen…!
Furthermore, the Daydream Inc. employees immediately took an aggressive stance. Agent Bronze blocked their path.
"Grapes-ie!"
"Huh?"
At that moment, Grapes turned around at the sound of his name.
Naturally, his tail struck the device on the escape pod door.
"…!"
The message being output again.
[Please verify removal of infection ■■.]
"Wow! You were right! It sparkled just now!"
"Right?"
In the meantime, Agent Choi ran over, grabbed the two, and pulled them back.
Agent Bronze, who had been watching the scene through the Sun Catcher, let out a short sigh and gathered his posture from where he had been standing threateningly towards Daydream Inc.
A suffocating tension lingered for a moment.
"Hah. At least the escape pod didn't attack. That's a relief."
Agent Choi held up the Conch Shell without even having time to pretend to wipe off his cold sweat.
But….
"……."
Agent Bronze felt something strange from the scene he had just witnessed.
The device being output again the moment the living tail hit it.
And the words his senior had said.
-At least the escape pod didn't attack. That's a relief.
"…!"
Could it be?
"Now, then, if we treat the kids and give them a severed tail to hold before boarding…."
"No."
"…Bronzie?"
"This… isn't that kind of thing."
Agent Bronze read the text on the device again.
[Please verify removal of infection ■■.]
It reads as if it's asking to remove an infected entity, in other words, a mermaid, and verify it.
But….
"This is already a ruined city. Seeing as the space where this escape pod is located was also hastily made, it seems like it was constructed in a hurry for a final escape attempt in the middle of the destruction."
"If so?"
“They likely assumed that the majority of people entering this escape pod would already be infected.”
“…!”
Agent Bronze turned his gaze back toward the last remaining escape pod.
“Even if it’s the final means of escape, it wouldn’t be strange to assume a situation where everyone is infected.”
“…I see.”
Agent Choi’s eyes sparkled.
“Then, as a minimum measure to prevent the contagion from spreading to other spaces….”
“Yes.”
The two agents’ gazes moved toward the tails.
Abnormal creatures with ulcers that secreted infection mucus.
“It seems to mean we should cut off the protuberances causing the infection before entering the escape pod.”
If that were the case, the device’s message took on a completely different meaning.
[Authenticate the removal of the infection protuberance.]
‘It wasn’t telling me to attack and kill other infected entities; it meant to remove my own source of infection—my tail!’
Thus, only intelligent beings who lacked a tail and could ‘authenticate’ the severed tail were allowed to enter safely.
“Wait, that means in the end….”
“Yes.”
For the first time today, a faint smile of joy spread across Agent Bronze’s face.
“There’s no need to be completely cured of the infection. If the children simply cut their tails and authenticate them, they can board the escape pod even without a Conch Shell.”
“…!”
“And if we use the Conch Shells only for the children whose lives are at risk from excessive bleeding when their tails are cut….”
If only they could distribute them properly.
“We can all leave together.”
Without leaving a single child behind.
They could be rescued from this supernatural disaster.
‘That’s it!’
I clenched my fist tightly, making sure it wasn’t noticeable.
Since I was among the children, I wouldn’t be caught, but I had to suppress the sighs of relief and joy that kept trying to escape my lips.
‘It worked.’
I had to naturally blend the knowledge of Daydream Inc. with that of the Disaster Management Bureau to lead the people to a decision similar to the deduction I had made.
How hard had I worked to guide them toward this conclusion in the least suspicious way possible…!
It had been a truly grueling day.
I swallowed hard.
‘…Getting infected was a wise choice, too.’
It would be a lie to say it wasn’t horrific and disgusting.
However, it was difficult to give up the various advantages gained by being infected.
From completely hiding my identity from Daydream Inc. employees by covering my face with tumors, to ultimately providing the direct hint for the conclusion that ‘cutting the tail allows entry into the escape pod.’
It was the single right answer that allowed me to break through every obstacle naturally without being suspected.
And….
‘…I can also slip off the list of suspects.’
That cat.
Agent Choi knows that I can transform into a ‘stray animal.’ After all, it was an item he recommended.
Of course, the effect of the Fake Necronomicon would make it hard to link the two immediately, but I might have been suspected after the escape.
‘It’s better to cover it up with a stronger impact.’
That’s why I… tried getting infected ‘as far as my reason could withstand.’
By gradually increasing the amount of infection mucus and consuming it artificially.
‘This was the limit.’
This current state, with half my face covered in tumors.
Being able to understand the hive will or the strange telepathy with the children, while still not losing my own self.
…Strangely enough, the Dokkaebi trick that made me look like a child actually helped. Perhaps it was because it forcibly fixed me as ‘the child version of me.’
Anyway, I had also calculated that I would take a Nostalgia Candy if things went south during this process… but looking at things now, it doesn’t seem necessary.
‘Very good.’
I believed in you, Agents…!
As expected, the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau is different from that damn psychopathic potion company!
It was actually quite touching.
‘It’s the early-style Management Bureau solution that became hard to see after the Dark Exploration Records grew larger…!’
Striving to save as many people as possible and ultimately succeeding.
Perhaps because I was in a child’s body, my heart felt somewhat overwhelmed with emotion. Sniff.
Of course, since this was a ghost story, about half of such attempts usually ended in a shock twist where everyone was annihilated, but things had proceeded smoothly this time.
Now, if we just coordinate and escape together….
Tingle.
‘…Eh?’
It was then.
A strange sensation surged up through my tail.
Tingle.
‘Above?’
I snapped my head up.
…Beside me, a child in a blue dress muttered.
“It’s strange.”
It was just as she said.
“It’s strange.”
No, it wasn't just that child.
All twenty-seven children standing around me raised their heads and were staring into the empty air.
Every single Mermaid Spawn… that still had a tail.
“The Mermaid Princess… is angry.”
It seemed so.
Every host was in a place that should have been undetectable.
A threat to survival.
In the end, she was searching for where they had been detected.
And she found it.
The Mermaid Princess.
Tingle.
“Grapes-ie?”
“Right now.”
Goosebumps rose from my spine.
My mouth opened urgently.
“The Mermaid Princess is coming.”
CRASH.
The ceiling collapsed, and hundreds of strands of tumorous masses began to surge in.
Discussion