Come to think of it, it's a strange thing.
That tragedy that occurred when a Disaster Management Bureau agent had forcefully loaded an infected child into an Escape Pod before.
Acute molting progresses, ulcers grow across the entire body, and vital signs are lost.
The contamination spreads rapidly, resulting in death.
This is far too... like the behavior of a Source of Infection, to be something an Escape Pod commits in order to eliminate internal threats.
That's right.
It must be interpreted as the work of 'Biohazard-Merfolk.'
The disposal of a host that dares to distance itself from, to escape from, the colony.
The recovery of energy.
However, only the agents of the Disaster Management Bureau knew about this incident, and conversely, only the employees of Daydream knew more detailed information about the Escape Pod....
Fragmentation of information.
That is why no one could rationally predict this situation.
"Oh."
The child raises a hand.
"It's the Little Mermaid!"
BOOM!
A mass crashes through the ceiling with a deafening roar, smashing the station.
Kyahahaha-!
The sound of ulcers colliding, resembling a child's laughter, fills the station.
And countless tentacle-like strands of tumorous masses step on the space like feet, spewing horrific mucus.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Thudthudthudthudthud!
Like a spider web hanging down, the fleshy mass secreting mucus extends its tentacles to all four walls of the shattered station, hanging on and revealing its form.
The most massive tumorous mass from the enormous colony of infection, the terrible shape that had been coiled before the 'Dragon Palace.'
Kyahahaha-!
It covers the station and strikes down with its flesh.
Thud!
"Fuck!"
Baek Saheon had been standing stupidly screaming, but when a staff member tried to push him aside, he pushed back and quickly retreated.
The sound of the staff member's head being crushed as they were caught by the fleshy mass, of blood and mucosa being sucked, rang out.
'Get away!'
He gripped his bag containing the Conch Shell tightly and tried to dash straight for the Escape Pod.
But at that moment.
Someone grabbed him by the back of his neck.
"...!"
Mermaid Spawn.
No, what he had confirmed through Halo but absolutely couldn't speak aloud, the identity he had been holding back....
'Kim Soleum!'
The infected Kim Soleum grabbed the back of his head and slammed him to the ground.
"Ack!"
At that instant, a mass of flesh flew over his head. Baek Saheon swallowed his spit.
'If I run recklessly, I'll die.'
That infected mass was openly coiled with the Escape Pod at its center.
Then, for some reason, Kim Soleum began looking up at the grotesque infected fleshy mass with a strange expression.
'What.'
"Why are you...."
The surroundings were eerily quiet.
"......."
Baek Saheon hurriedly looked around.
...The Mermaid Spawns were all looking at the sky with identical expressions, raising their hands.
"Princess!"
"It's the princess!"
The gazes of the two agents also reached the enormous thing that had appeared in the station after breaking through the ceiling.
Instantly, both of their eyes glazed over.
Come here
A dazzlingly beautiful, enormous mermaid figure appeared from the station ceiling like sunlight pouring down, filling the empty white space.
Beautiful.
Like a statue of the Little Mermaid come to life, an enormous mermaid with an overwhelming Halo shining there existed.
An overwhelming sense of awe and admiration that should be sent to a great existence, a fascination with beauty, occupies the mind.
Come here
The empty white space of nothingness is covered by the beautiful Sparkling Dragon Palace. The small coral-colored plaza flashing with golden light is like a chapel. Praise and worship and love, look up at your master with all of it, child. But there is no such thing as an Escape Pod. This place is a chapel. Pray to the Little Mermaid
"Damn it."
Agent Choi raised his Suncatcher with difficulty to cover his vision. Beside him, his Hubae made a similar motion while spitting out blood. He had bitten his tongue to momentarily come to his senses.
But again, the great gaze looking down....
Come...
"Elder!"
A flash burst from Agent Choi's grasp.
A flame roaring within a lantern.
Red and blue light drove away the ecstatic golden halo of the mermaid.
Dokkaebi House.
Dokkaebi Flame blazed, creating a realm of illusion.
Where the fire shone, tile-roofed houses flickered, and the Human Figures of dokkaebi dancing and singing flickered.
A brief moment of driving out Anomaly with Anomaly.
"We can't hold out long, during this time...!"
They had to cut off as many children's tails as possible and put them in the Escape Pod.
The mermaid, no, the fleshy mass, struggled trying to approach the Escape Pod again, but it circled near the ceiling as if the space was distorted. Taking advantage of this gap...
Swish.
Adults in suits rushed frantically toward the Escape Pod.
Those wearing animal masks.
The human forms of Daydream Inc.
"......."
Agent Choi's gaze darkened.
And at the same time.
'I need to follow...!'
Baek Saheon was watching the same scene, grinding his teeth.
He should bolt at this timing, but the problem was that Kim Soleum was still pressing down firmly on his head.
'Fuck.'
Cunning flashed in Baek Saheon's eyes.
Is there no way to push him away?
This brat... if he's in child form, wouldn't he be weaker than me? No. Since he's contaminated, he might be even stronger.
But what was certain was that usually contaminated individuals often showed a lack of human intelligence.
Because madness and bizarre rules dominated their minds!
"Excuse me. Shouldn't you be more concerned about that enormous being up there rather than me? Can't you see they're not getting in right now. Shouldn't you be cheering them on?"
He was trying to lure him.
Ah, since he's a Mermaid Spawn, does he not understand my words? Then let me write on the ground!
But the moment he tried to write the same content on the dust-covered floor with his finger, the pressure pressing down on his head disappeared.
"...!"
It worked!
As Baek Saheon sprang up to run, Kim Soleum pressed down on his back again.
"Ah!"
'Why again!!'
And he writes on the floor.
-Carry me.
"...?!"
-Carry me and run.
"What kind of dog...."
Baek Saheon, now alert, reflexively retorted.
"Where to?"
Kim Soleum turned his gaze.
The opposite side of the Escape Pod.
The passage leading outside.
"...?!"
At the same time.
"Are they idiots?"
Jin Nasol twitched her temple as she watched the General Team employees clinging desperately to the Escape Pod.
Even if they got on that now, how did they plan to escape? That filthy Biohazard mass was blocking the Escape Pod's ejection passage.
It was the judgment of punks who had come in with their eyes blinded by money rather than Points.
"Oh! Isn't there something like a laser beam on the Escape Pod??"
Jin Nasol ignored the money-crazed rookie's words and assessed the situation.
'...Why do I have to do this kind of thing?'
She felt dirty because it seemed like the General Team employees were getting a free ride, but there was no other way to escape.
'That fleshy mass seems to be convulsing because it's bringing the Mermaid Spawns.'
Hmm.
She tried, as a test, grabbing one Mermaid Spawn by the scruff of its neck to throw it at the Biohazard colony....
Smack.
"You're not in your right mind."
"What."
An agent with fierce blue light flashing in his eyes stopped Jin Nasol.
Agent Bronze. He had quickly performed an impromptu ritual while Agent Choi was defending, ending Dokkaebi's Trick and returning to adult form.
Because the situation was taking an unusual turn, it had been an excellent decision.
He spoke to the Butterfly Mask employee as if chewing and swallowing his words.
"You must have clearly seen they were originally children!"
"If they can't use the Conch Shell, they're just contaminated monsters, right?"
"Even without that! If we just cut their tails, they can board. So right now...."
"Hey."
Jin Nasol barely suppressed her irritation and cut off the civil servant's words.
"I'm asking what you're going to do after boarding them. Can you tear them off at the Escape Pod's ejection port?"
"......."
"I'm asking if you brought a mortar or something. No, right?"
They didn't have one.
To begin with, it wasn't even certain whether human firearms would work. Even if it wasn't a ghost but a Biological Disaster.
"Let's just throw a few outside to disperse their focus and escape. We can take the rest."
"Assistant manager! But Lord Cat told us to take them all, didn't he? If we don't take them, we might get cursed or not receive our compensation... there's also the saying about a cat's favor... ugh!"
"Who cares about curses when we're about to die? Worry about that after we get out."
After all, that cat wasn't showing itself. There was a high possibility it was a one-time Irregular phenomenon.
"So cat or whatever...."
"Please cooperate with civilian rescue."
A suppression cord was pulled from Agent Bronze's hand. Jin Nasol snorted and grabbed her Exclusive Equipment.
'There's no time.'
She had to neutralize her opponent as quickly as possible. Agent Bronze ground his teeth as he watched Agent Choi's flames. The infected colony's call was gradually breaking through the spatial distortion and invading the flames.
Come here
The ecstatic golden light captured the children again.
Somehow, quickly, no, even if they cut all the children's tails, he couldn't see how they could escape from here....
...Should they, select?
Agent Bronze reached out with dark eyes
Found it
An ominous gaze struck the space.
The description of a terrible and powerful existence occupied and swept through the space like a majestic advent.
That's right. It was descending.
It was descending!
"Lord Cat!"
A voice of madness steeped in ecstasy came from the Pony Mask.
All humans stopped.
Bell sounds, horse sounds, laughter, deception, the call to that beautiful distant land, eternal decay, corruption, service without self!
Behold
The children, who had been enthralled by the Biological Disaster, staggered and bowed their heads.
The collective mental confusion of the hosts shook the infected colony, and the great image of the Little Mermaid wavered.
And telepathy.
Sever it
Compulsion.
Sever it
The children began tearing off their own tails.
Faces filled with madness and terror looked at the sky and screamed, then cried as they tore off their tails.
Blood and mucus splattered, unfolding a hellish spectacle.
"...!"
An Anomaly was devouring an Anomaly...!
Ryu Jaekwan barely raised himself and performed first aid on several children. However, his head began to slightly understand the language of another dimension, and the terrible truth of this other world—don't you want to know? Madness shall set you free—shook his thoughts.
.......
What?
So this world right now is....
"Bronzie!"
Ryu Jaekwan suddenly raised his head.
The evil scripture sounds had already disappeared.
What remained were children standing stiffly from mental shock, bleeding from where their tails had been....
Kyahahaha-!
And a massive tumorous mass writhing.
That monster, with all its connections to hosts severed, screamed and expressed something—whether rage or the instinctive reflex of something whose survival was threatened.
Agent Choi's Dokkaebi House began to collapse....
'No.'
Priority.
Agent Bronze quickly checked personnel. That is, the agents first....
Grapes was gone.
"...!"
Where did he go? He tried to find the agent among the children, but he was truly gone.
'Could it be.'
At that moment.
He heard the sound of someone running from over there.
From the opposite side of the Escape Pod, the passage—whether someone had fled there, a Daydream employee was running from there.
A black Goat mask.
"...!"
And Kim Soleum, with his tail completely torn off, covered in blood, limply slumped over the employee's back.
Dripping blood, the employee shouted.
"Move aside!"
What?
"Move aside, fuck!"
Swish.
In a parabolic arc, something sparkling thrown from the Goat mask's hand cut through the air.
Ryu Jaekwan turned his head.
Against the tumorous mass of the Biological Disaster, an opened glass bottle collided, and from its opening, a viscous magenta liquid poured out.
Children's Surprise Syrup
(Grapefruit flavor)
★★★★
The potion Kim Soleum had picked based on the Sergeant's advice splashed onto the tumorous mass with a brilliant sound.
If converted to Daydream Potion terms, its effect was....
Exposure Potion
: The target briefly loses their mind and, in a neutralized state, exposes their most emotional and honest secret.
Neutralized.
Kyahahaha-!
The image of the Little Mermaid collapsed.
Twisting its body, it slumped to the ground.
Countless tumorous strands writhed within the ulcers, calling to the children, but the connection to the children had already disappeared.
However, this potion was manufactured for human targets.
Therefore....
"It's not very effective on that!"
A very brief opening.
"Run!"
The agents took the children and dashed for the Escape Pod.
And.
"So annoying, really."
Surprisingly, Daydream Inc.'s Elite Squad moved quickly, gathering several children and running toward the Escape Pod.
"...!"
And they barked at other employees too.
"Take them."
"Yes. Yes?"
"Yes sir!"
Having witnessed the insane situation that just occurred, they had upwardly revised the probability that abandoning the children would be fucked, and quickly changed their judgment.
"If you launch the Escape Pod before I return, you all die, understand."
At the Elite Squad's shout, the employees inside the Escape Pod also gritted their teeth and helped the children get into the Escape Pod as quickly as possible.
They pressed Conch Shells to children with severe bleeding, and while minimum order was being restored, things moved frantically.
"There are still some outside!"
"Right now...."
[Authenticated.]
"Everyone's boarded!"
"Okay!"
Agent Choi, who had similarly consumed Dokkaebi's Play to return to adult form, ran in last and quickly closed the Escape Pod door.
[Boarding confirmed]
And then.
[Commencing transport to destination]
Chiiiiiiik.
With the sound of steam escaping from the machine, the enormous Escape Pod began to exit through the ejection port.
"Ah...!"
Through the window of the departing Escape Pod, they saw the enormous mass moving to cover the ejection port again.
Thud!
Hundreds, thousands of General Infected swarmed in, pouring into the station.
But it was already too late.
The Escape Pod narrowly escaped the station and was shot out toward the outside of the city.
[In transit]
"Ha...."
They survived.
The moment people briefly relaxed and sank into their seats.
"Over there!!"
Beyond the spread-out cityscape.
"It's moving...!"
The enormous colony that had been parasitizing the castle, appearing to be the 'Sparkling Dragon Palace.'
Poured forward.
Thud.
The vibration reached even the Escape Pod.
The size of the Biological Disaster colony that had been visible externally wasn't everything.
"Wh-what is that?"
It had dug underground and spread throughout the entire city.
Endlessly crawling up to the surface, it covered and overflowed the central part of the city.
Flesh.
"Ugh...!"
The monster that had revealed its enormous fleshy mass to the surface, destroying the castle it had parasitized, poured toward the Escape Pod in a frenzy.
Pressing its sticky flesh against the ground with heavy thuds, twisting that enormous fleshy mass, it crawled this way.
The grotesque terrible great Biological Disaster raised its body, and the oral cavity that had been attached to the floor was revealed. A hole packed with countless enormous teeth opened toward them like a roar and charged.
Flesh is fired sticks sticks caught...!
Tap.
"...!!"
The Escape Pod shook from being hit by the sprayed flesh.
"Aaaack!"
"Quiet!"
But it didn't crash.
"Huff."
Agent Choi covered the mouth of a nameless employee and looked out the window again.
"It's not as close as it looks. Everyone calm down!"
And those who had gauged the size of the Biological Disaster realized.
...It was so enormous, an astronomical scale beyond human comprehension, that their sense of distance was lost.
"...Ha."
"Huff, hufffff...."
In the end.
The enormous Biological Disaster colony couldn't leave the city's entrance and collapsed.
Kyahahaha-
Leaving behind a strange vibration like children's laughter.
The city, with its underground foundation collapsed, began to sink together with the Biological Disaster.
Into the deep sea.
"Ha...."
"......."
The Escape Pod quickly distanced itself from that sight and safely soared up through the water.
People caught their breath in cold sweat.
And some time later.
[Please board the capsule.]
"We've arrived...!"
The Daydream employees began entering the capsule-shaped devices attached to the Escape Pod in unison.
When boarding these capsules, they would be wrapped in a strange air bubble-like sphere and shot up toward the water surface, losing consciousness in the process.
And when they regained consciousness again, they would return to reality—this was the 'escape method.'
The agents, having heard this story while being led with carrot and stick, first put the children in the capsules, then moved to board themselves.
Of course, starting with the youngest agent.
"Grapes-ie."
Since the contamination had been so severe that he had used the Conch Shell for fear of dying from excessive bleeding, the youngest agent had narrowly escaped death and recovered to some extent.
But he looked exhausted from having experienced too much.
Still in the form of a child with traces of the infected Mermaid Spawn remaining, he looked even more pitiful.
"Did we... resolve it well."
"Of course!"
Agent Choi gripped his hand tightly.
"You really worked hard. Surprised, right? Now get some good rest. We'll be going back soon."
"Yes. Thank you...."
Kim Soleum, blinking his eyes, boarded the capsule.
Then, he soon closed his eyes and quietly steadied his breath.
It was done.
The moment the capsule closed, I barely managed to hold back a sigh of relief.
‘I almost lost my mind.’
I felt dizzy thinking about what would have happened if I hadn't used the Conch Shell... but this gamble was unavoidable.
‘How else could I have possibly removed the kids’ tails all at once, incited the daydream employees, and even evaded the Biological Disaster!’
It was also lucky that I was telepathically connected to the children due to the Contamination.
In a state where the ‘Sparkling Dragon Palace’ hallucinations were pushed back by insane madness and terror, someone starts yelling in your head to cut off your tail?
Children were bound to follow along....
‘I feel a bit sorry for scaring them, but....’
This was the only way for everyone to survive. Hoping it was a shock that could be improved if they received proper memory removal and treatment after getting out, I smacked my lips bitterly.
And... I still feel a bit at ease.
Because I brought back every single child that was there.
‘And since the city itself has been buried, it’ll be difficult for them to just kidnap kids like they’ve been doing, at the very least.’
Perhaps now, both the Mermaid Tomb and the Sparkling Dragon Palace are over.
Then the research team at Daydream Inc. will throw a fit? Frankly, I couldn't care less.
‘Those psychos can figure it out for themselves....’
Holding back a sigh, I enjoyed the haziness of my mind.
In any case, success is success.
‘Now, once I return to reality....’
.......
Wait. Come to think of it, I said I’m returning to ‘reality,’ but where exactly am I going?
The beach?
Well, it wasn't something I needed to worry about too much.
‘Won’t the veteran Agents take care of it....’
I believe in you, Seonbaes.
Even as I felt my right arm was gone, I accepted my fading consciousness with a fairly stable heart.
It was an escape.
.......
“Oho? My goodness!”
Hmm?
I opened my eyes.
I saw adults and children who had fallen over, not yet having regained consciousness.
And... there was one person standing perfectly fine nearby.
A person in a white coat wearing glasses.
Standing in front of Agent Bronze, who had just regained consciousness, he was grinning, his eyes gleaming as if he were extremely intrigued.
“You must be the civil servants!”
It was a familiar face.
‘...Kwak Jekang!’
The Section Chief of the research team at Daydream Inc.
Goosebumps broke out all over my body.
‘Wait a minute.’
Is this place, by any chance....
I looked around.
A white office and a laboratory. The interior of a modern, clean conglomerate building with a familiar layout.
Yes. It was familiar. Because....
‘It’s the place I used to commute to until just a few months ago!’
We... had escaped right into the heart of Daydream Inc...!
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