Everything is red.
It is because of the countless red things pouring in from the gate connected to the forest.
Those who followed Magic Bunny's parade.
-♩♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪
-Ahahaha!
Things holding snacks made from their own ribs, headbands decorated with eyes they plucked out themselves, and balloons made from intestines that were once their family's.
Unfortunate people driven mad by the horrific show unfolding in Magic Bunny’s zone and the cruel, disastrous demands of Magic Bunny.
Now having become anomalies inhabiting the Red Zone, they surge haphazardly into the Yellow Zone.
And they shout.
“They said they’d give a mask prize! They said they’d give a mask prize!”
“I wish everyone would become like me.”
“Havea-pleasant-time-in-the-Magic-Bunny-Zone! It’s fun! I told you it’s fun! Please! It’s fun!”
…The most dangerous things, which I had tried so hard to block to keep them from being drawn into the resort.
Dozens, hundreds of entities.
They surge in.
‘No.’
G o B a c k
I hastily pushed the employees back and made the standard-grade mascots swarm toward the gate.
‘Let’s block them.’
If I can just control this somehow and proceed with the illumination as planned….
“It’s a yellow mascot!”
“It’s him!”
“Ahahaha!! Hahahahahaha”
The visitors with horrific appearances rush madly at the Flower Golden Mascots.
‘…!!’
I lifted my head.
Beyond the surging, bizarre crowd, the red Magic Bunny at the gate lifts a sign.
Prize Event
Tear off the flesh of the yellow mascots!
1st Prize: The Great Magic Bunny
2nd Prize: The Great Magic Bunny
3rd Prize: The Great Magic Bunny
Ah.
“It’s yellow!!”
The red visitors cling to the standard-grade mascots, scratching them with bare hands and gouging out flesh with objects bearing the Magic Bunny logo.
Eyes are plucked from the mascot heads.
It hurts.
Horns are torn off, stuffing bursts, and internal organs made of felt are ripped out.
The yellow mascots struggle pitifully as they are torn apart. No… I am being torn apart!!
“I ripped it off!”
“Hahahaha!”
“Lookatthis,it’ssparkling??Kkakakakaka!”
These rude, insignificant, and vulgar penniless addicts from the Red Zone dare to do this in my zone!
I could not tolerate them doing such disgusting things, acting as if they were still in the Red Zone! Never!! Never!
You all.
D I E
The red visitors raise both hands and strangle themselves.
The ceremony event is soon; do not do such inconsiderate things as staining the garden with red, and do not even think about being swallowed by me to become nourishment for the resort.
D i e
These ill-mannered trash do not deserve to be visitors to my resort.
I will not even send them back to the Red Zone.
Even if it takes a little time, death by suffocation will be the cleanest and most pleasant to look at.
This feeling, like seeing a swarm of ants appearing in the office and gnawing on documents and supplies at will.
Rage welled up until my eyes turned bright yellow. No, not rage, but a sense of rejection when something absurdly unreasonable happens.
So….
D i e
The mutants of the Red Zone slam their heads against the floor while streaming tears of blood. The existing guests of the resort watch with interest at that silent rhythm.
Yes. It would be better to use this as a spectacle before the illumination for a more successful ceremony ritual….
“Mr. Roe Deer.”
…….
“Mr. Roe Deer.”
Huh?
I turned my head.
An employee wearing a lizard mask was looking at me.
What did he just call me?
Lowering that insensitive voice, he whispers close enough so that others nearby cannot hear.
“Do you remember your own name?”
…….
So,
K i m
“Do not speak it.”
Ah.
I shut my mouth.
Speaking one's real name in a ghost story is not a good thing to do.
And I am……. I mean, my name is….
…….
‘Kim Soleum.’
Yes. That’s it.
The yellow mascot I wore was just a mask. Flower Golden was a made-up name, and I was just disguised as an anomaly.
Inside, there is the real me.
I am a human.
‘…….’
S t o p
“Huuuhhk!”
The Red Zone visitors who were strangling themselves let go of their hands.
“Hic, hiiiiic….”
“Iwantaprize,ifIgetaprize, pleasereturnour ■■, please.”
Watching them either burst into paroxysmal laughter, cry, or crawl on the floor while desperately rushing toward the yellow mascots, I said gloomily.
L e a v e
Whether the yellow mascots were torn apart or not, I pushed them toward the gate.
“AAAAHHHHHH!”
As I pushed them with force, they, who were not in a normal state to begin with, were pushed toward the gate one way or another.
Watching the broken pieces of the yellow mascots rolling on the floor, Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae spoke quietly.
“Should we chase them?”
I shook my head.
My heart thudded and raced, but at the same time, it went cold.
‘Just now.’
What was I about to do just now?
‘I’m being assimilated.’
It was dangerous.
I have to get out, quickly. Fast.
As soon as the safety of the employees is secured….
‘The ceremony!’
I had to start the ritual!
I looked at the gate anxiously.
…But what was more horrific was what happened after returning those visitors who had swarmed in back across the gate.
“Priiiize….”
Magic Bunny welcomed those returning across the gate with open arms and kindness.
And.
“Urgh.”
He plucks off their heads.
“…!!”
He pulls out their intestines and snaps their waists.
As if letting them ride attractions in turn, as if playing a prank or showing a show, he killed the visitors one by one as they crossed the gate.
“Bleghhhh!”
“…!”
I heard the voices of the Disaster Management Bureau agents taking care of the civilians in the back. A level of gruesomeness that even the Daydream employees, who were almost immune to horrific sights, were momentarily overwhelmed and frozen.
Even while watching that, they throw themselves at the gate.
“Give me a prize!”
“I ripped this off, please, a prize!”
And a ‘prize’ is given.
Cr-crack, crunch
The empty bodies of the dead who fell like toys mutate violently into cute animal mascot suits.
Right.
Those who get lost or die in the theme park are recycled into the bodies of mascots.
So, inevitably, in the Red Zone… there can only be an insane number of mascots.
‘……Ha.’
A fact that makes my spine go cold.
Even though I stopped driving visitors away with standard-grade mascots due to that death procession turning into mascots at Magic Bunny’s playful gestures, the Red Zone visitors still do not stop.
They clutched the flesh of the yellow mascots and kept throwing themselves at the gate.
“AAAAHHHHH!”
The gate has already become a sight too gruesome to behold.
And it doesn’t end there.
Magic Bunny is using a toy merchandise that looks like a long magic wand to stab even the visitors who haven’t crossed the gate yet.
“…!”
“Stop it, you disgusting…!”
Thump.
A red visitor with a snapped neck rolled into the garden.
In the Yellow Zone,
They became a corpse.
However, since it was Magic Bunny who thoroughly contaminated that visitor, and it was also Magic Bunny who killed and disposed of him.
That figure twists.
“…!!”
“Hieek, a, a Red Mascot…!”
A Magic Bunny mascot, having molted from the corpse, stands up in the Yellow Zone.
And it approaches madly toward the employees and me.
“Aaak!!”
However, mascots cannot cross into other zones.
Thud.
The Magic Bunny mascot that was walking became limp as if it were a balloon slowly losing air, and soon collapsed on the floor and stiffened.
“…….”
“I-It stopped….”
However, the Red Mascots do not stop that behavior.
Playful rabbit dolls strike the heads of the unfortunate ones.
“Ack! Aaaack!”
“The Great Magic Bun….”
Those who died caught in the gate turned into Magic Bunnies and rushed over, only to keep collapsing and stopping.
Overwhelming waste.
Overwhelming cruelty.
…Not long after, dozens of corpses of Red Mascot Variants piled up in the resort garden.
The employees watched the scene, frozen, unable to even breathe….
“…….”
“…….”
I lifted my head and looked at Magic Bunny beyond the gate.
And I realized.
This performance is a threat.
A kind of entertainment intended to make me angry or scared and overreact, so he can enjoy what happens next even more.
F u n !
Fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun
The Magic Bunnies beyond the gate clap their hands.
-Kyahahaha!
A few of the guests in my zone laugh along.
…Laughing?
They laugh while seeing this sight? Those who are laughing even though they might not be able to see the enchanting illumination seem to be ill-mannered ones as well!
B e Q u i e t
The guests covered their own mouths.
The Magic Bunnies poked their heads out of the gate as if they wanted to see the situation more closely.
‘You shut up too.’
I violently threw one of the limp Magic Bunny mascots from this side.
Whack!
The Magic Bunnies who were hit in the head fall backward.
“Gasp!”
At that moment.
Swish.
The Red Mascots who weren’t hit in the head turn their heads all at once and stare blankly at me.
Hahahahahahahahahahaha
As if to kill.
Hahahahahahahahahahaha
Silently.
…A chilling fear washes over me. Still, I feel a little better now.
Every time you try to do something like that, I’ll have to do this….
“Mr. Roe Deer.”
Even if you don’t keep calling me that, I remember it was my former name.
“Mr. Roe Deer.”
I know!
I turned back to the one who called me.
Section Chief Lee Jaheon.
“It seems you need help.”
But who could help me?
…Ah, wait.
…….
By any chance.
—We Can Help.
Is he talking about… that button-type item, that emergency escape object I received great help from before, where that reptilian alien controlled my body?
It was certainly useful. But it’s not something I can use right now. Besides, I didn’t have any money, so I couldn't use the cosmic shopping mall….
B u t t o n
I D o n ’ t H a v e I t
“I see.”
Section Chief Lee Jaheon looks at me without any sign of agitation.
“Think about this conversation again after business hours are over.”
…….
“When business hours end, you must rest too. Have you rested at all lately?”
N o
“Take off the mascot head and rest today.”
I can’t.
Once the ceremony ends safely today, I will come out and stand guard. The Red Mascot will surely pull some other stunt.
‘…I might die if I’m not careful.’
No, it would be a massacre.
It’s a mascot that was clearly described in the attraction as having murdered other mascots.
He surely knows how to kill a mascot and will try to execute it.
I C a n ’ t T a k e I t O f f
“You can take it off.”
I hear Lee Jaheon’s dry voice.
“When the theme park’s operation ends, your working hours also end. If so, it is okay to rest with an identity other than that of a mascot.”
I’m saying that’s not the problem…….
Wait.
Wait, wait.
I think… I just heard something strange.
‘So, after the theme park’s closing time, he’s saying I can exist in a state other than a mascot….’
……!!
I remembered.
The visitors who, after the theme park’s business hours ended, couldn’t get into the resort and begged while knocking on the lobby door.
-Let us iiiiinnnn!
People who disappeared as if fleeing in terror. All those countless people who entered the theme park through board games and went missing because they couldn’t leave by closing time.
…Unless it was a special case like Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae.
‘And Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae also said it herself.’
-After the business hours ended, some weird sounds came from the theme park, and that crazy rabbit chased me in the forest, though he was a bit slow.
If it were a sound that could normally be heard in a theme park, such as the sound of repairing an attraction, she wouldn’t have specifically referred to it as a ‘weird sound.’
That was… a sound that normally shouldn’t be heard in the theme park.
So….
A sound that doesn’t belong in a theme park.
And in the Red Zone, where there are no employees with other egos and only the Magic Bunny mascot exists, it’s only natural that it was the one making that noise after closing….
‘…….’
I looked at the Red Mascot beyond the gate, wearing the rabbit mascot suit.
What if?
What if a mascot could take off its suit and roam around after business hours?
If Section Chief Lee Jaheon’s explanation is correct.
The reason that thing could chase Lee Seonghae into the forest was not only because it was not the territory of another mascot….
But because it wasn’t wearing the mascot suit?
What if it could cross into other zones because it was judged to be in a state other than a mascot?
But if it couldn’t break through that forest in a single night and reach this place while securing enough time, so it intentionally expanded its territory to that point.
‘…….’
No.
I realized.
How Magic Bunny was able to kill other mascots.
-He comes to kill after the theme park closes.
Then, today, when the gate to the Red Zone is installed right in front of the resort….
‘…!!’
“Mascot?”
I started cleaning up the garden like crazy.
‘I have to do the ceremony right now.’
I had to open the third zone now and escape before the theme park closed.
T o d a y
“Yes?”
I t ’ s C o m i n g T o d a y
I pointed beyond the gate.
W h e n I t C l o s e s
I t W i l l C o m e
“…!!”
He will attack the moment it closes.
Instead of asking how that’s possible, the employees’ faces turned pale.
It was because they had already seen Magic Bunny’s crazy acts.
“Th-then….”
“Wait, we just have to do that ceremony thing quickly, right? Then we can escape?”
I nodded.
Disaster Management Bureau agents rushed in and helped clean up the garden.
I assigned tasks to the other employees as well.
I felt anxious enough to lose my mind.
It felt like listening to a countdown to a nuclear explosion.
‘No.’
Other information… right. I might be able to hear something helpful.
Just in case, I sent a standard-grade mascot toward the gate where the Dragon is.
Since he talked big, he will surely provide help.
But….
‘…Is this the end for the Good Friend?’
I don’t have the luxury to save him.
If I escape successfully today, I will have effectively failed the purpose of coming here.
And… I won’t be able to find out more about how to get the employee who died and was revived out of the ghost story alive.
…….
N e e d . . .
“What is it?”
…!
I turned my head. While busy cleaning, Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae also looked carefully beyond the Magic Bunny gate I was staring at, then said while stroking her chin.
“Is there something you need from the Red Zone over there? Because you keep looking!”
!
“Ohh, I guessed right. Then….”
Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae whispers.
“Shall I go get it for you?”
What?
“Quickly while you’re doing the ceremony! There’s probably no one as fast as me with my healthy legs here. I’m not as strong as Section Chief Lizard, but I’m smarter!”
Then she glances at the gate.
“I also feel like that crazy mascot found out how to come here because of me….”
…….
I opened my mouth.
I t ’ s O k a y
I couldn’t send her to a place where she would die horribly based on low odds.
L e t ’ s J u s t F i n i s h U p
Let’s just proceed with the ritual according to plan as quickly as possible.
“…Ye-yep.”
I started reorganizing the garden, which was already a mess.
‘There is no time.’
Faster, even faster.
The ceremony is an event right before closing, and since it was naturally prepared for that time, there isn’t much time left until closing now.
It felt like an announcement broadcast would come out at any moment.
-♩♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪
-Hahahaha!
The employees and I cleaned up the surroundings madly.
Dozens of Magic Bunnies were staring blankly at the scene from beyond the gate, but they didn’t do anything crazy like before.
Still, the eerie tension remained.
I sent the employees to give gifts to the guests and personally cleaned the mess near the gate using standard-grade mascots.
. . . . . .
Just beyond the gate, the Magic Bunnies stare at me as I clean.
‘I shouldn’t let it show.’
He was the type who would enjoy it more if I seemed vulnerable. I quickly cleared away all the horrific blood and flesh and stepped back.
‘Is there still enough time?’
-♩♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪
-Hahahaha!
This part is okay, that part is okay.
It’s in a state where illumination can be done.
I scanned the garden anxiously. All that remained were the Magic Bunny mascots that had lost their function like kites with severed strings.
Let’s clear them away quickly.
The standard-grade mascots pick up those rabbit mascot heads and move them.
‘I wish I could just change them to my mascots.’
But that doesn’t seem possible.
Apparently, these were recognized as Magic Bunnies, something unique originating from the Red Zone.
‘Are they like souvenirs?’
It was disgusting, but it seemed so.
‘…….’
No, wait.
Wait, wait!
I stopped in my tracks.
And I looked down at the Magic Bunny Mascot costume head I was holding.
‘Souvenir.’
Made using the corpses of visitors, it has the appearance of a Mascot. A Plush doll filled with fluffy fur and cotton, with a cute Exterior, a commemorative item that can only be found at the theme park.
There was one more thing that matched this description exactly.
‘…Good Friend!’
♩-♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪
Then, can a Mascot that has ceased to function essentially be treated the same as a Good Friend…?
-Attention, please! Our theme park is approaching closing time soon~
…!!
“Mr. Mascot!”
I had to decide.
If the Ceremony is not successfully carried out and closing time arrives, it's over.
And just in case, We Help needs… a move right now.
If that someone is well-versed in the nature of ghost stories, possesses various abilities, and is friendly towards me.
‘…….’
-We hope the Admitted Guests in the park enjoy our Cheerful Theme Park until the very end!
I grit my teeth and made a decision.
“Mr. Mascot…?”
I immediately pulled and grabbed one Magic Bunny Mascot and ran into the Resort like crazy. And….
-One hour until closing!
I began to draw the Good Friend Summoning Circle.
Discussion