The inside of the shop smelled faintly of dust, but it was warm.
It had that cozy feeling unique to old spaces.
Living up to its name, Dalcom Stationery also emitted a sweet scent that felt somewhat comforting.
The tension and strength that had filled my shoulders began to relax…… No, I can't let that happen!
'Let's not let our guard down.'
I bit the inside of my cheek once and moved forward again.
Iron shelves filled the walls, surrounding the narrow space like a maze, and various snacks were piled up on every level.
At the very front of the fairly large display stand in the center, the names of popular products were written.
Oblivion Cotton Candy
Softie Cookie
Taste of the Sun Chips-Chips
Danggeun-Iji Coke
Upside-Down Bubble-Tuck Gum
Nostalgia Candy SOLD OUT!
I walked quietly, scanning the snacks quickly with my eyes.
I didn't see the 'Good Child Chocolate Bar,' but I saw several familiar names and appearances.
Among them were some that were relatively safe and useful.
'Good. Since I'm here, I'll use the change here.'
They were decent as items and good to exchange for side income.
The atmosphere wasn't too bad when I parted with Agent Bronze last time, so I might be able to restore the 'ghost story-derived food' sales route through him again….
Since I had been cleaned out even of my gold bars, I needed a way to make money.
-You're picking quite a lot, Friend! You must be careful not to let your teeth rot.
I quickly picked out a few snacks.
Then, I turned back to look at the Lizard, who had been following me with minimal steps, standing blankly.
"…Manager, are there any snacks you need or would like to buy? I'd like to give them to you as a token of my gratitude."
"Yes."
Surprisingly, Section Chief Lee Jaheon did not decline. He glanced around and grabbed a snack.
Upside-Down Bubble-Tuck Gum
If you blow it like a balloon in your mouth, your body will grow as big as a building!
Cheerful Research Institute Genuine Certification Completed
(Beware of low-quality imitations sold at street stalls!)
"……Will you be alright with this?"
"Yes."
Does he perhaps want to become a giant lizard?
I suppressed my useless imagination.
'Let's just pay.'
Holding the snacks I had chosen in both hands, I headed toward the counter at the back of the store.
I scanned every corner of the interior on the way, but the 'Good Child Chocolate Bar' was still nowhere to be seen….
'Hmm.'
Eventually, I arrived at the counter first.
"Hello."
A human figure sitting at the iron counter nodded slowly.
The being, who was likely the owner of this shop, wore a hat pressed down and scruffy casual clothes.
At first glance, he looked like an ordinary stationery store owner, but six arms were tapping on the counter….
'Phew.'
I made sure never to try and identify his face and politely placed only the snacks I intended to purchase on the counter.
Then, I quickly held out the coins.
"Here you go."
I didn't want to be mistaken for participating in a 'barter' by any chance.
I recalled the Dark Exploration Record of the first successful purchase here.
Item Purchased: 1 Danggeun-Iji Coke
Cost: Memory of the second day of a family trip in 1997
Yes.
This stationery store was a shop that took memories as payment.
From happy memories that made you smile just by thinking of them, to terrible traumas you wanted to forget.
The type of memory lost depended on which snack you purchased.
'That's why the exploration boundary was wide, ranging from strangely heartwarming records to chilling ones.'
I didn't want to gamble on which side I would end up on. Especially in this ghost story worldview where the information in my head was vital.
'Let's just find the Good Child Chocolate Bar.'
I even felt like asking the owner for the location. However, as long as something presumed to be me was drawn on the wrapper, I didn't want to cause any unnecessary associations….
"Tell me the display location of the chocolate bars."
Manager!
I almost grabbed my direct superior by the collar.
But the shop owner simply pointed to a shelf without a word, still leaning deeply back in his chair….
'Phew.'
Apparently, the drawing on the wrapper wasn't similar enough to me to be recognized at a glance.
'I wish I were even half as bold as a lizard….'
I should have bought a liver at the Raw Organ Butcher Shop. Murmuring such nonsense to myself, I leaned over the counter to retrieve the snacks I'd paid for and the remaining coins….
And then I saw it.
'Huh?'
There was something behind the counter.
Standees and decorative papers that seemed to have been put away in a hurry.
A sign and… a blue box containing chocolate bars.
Theme Park Collaboration New Product Release!
Good Child Chocolate Bar (Cinnamon Churros Flavor)
Oh my god.
'Found it!'
I observed the chocolate bar wrapper as quickly as possible.
The hairstyle, mask, and suit were much better realized on the wrapper than I had thought.
Did they put it away because the counter promotion ended? It looked like it had been cleared away strangely fast for that to be the case….
"……."
Wait a minute.
I looked into the wrapper of the chocolate bar again.
And I realized.
That product didn't use me as an advertising model, nor was the wrapper decorated with a character of a similar appearance.
That was…….
Please find this good child.
We are waiting for sightings.
It was a missing child poster.
"……."
I broke out in a cold sweat and took a step back.
If so…….
Trrrrring.
…….
I turned my head creakily toward the top of the counter.
The shop owner was holding a telephone.
The ringing sound was going somewhere, and then….
Click.
The moment it connected.
H e r e Y o u A r e !
I turned around, grabbed Section Chief Lee Jaheon, and bolted.
H e r e Y o u A r e ! H e r e Y o u A r e ! H e r e Y o u A r e !
I didn't even have the leisure to curse. Unable to even breathe properly, I ran across the store as far as possible from the counter.
And I grabbed the door I had entered through and pulled it…….
H u h ?
W h y A r e Y o u T h e r e ?
Click.
The door was locked.
"……."
I turned my head and looked back at the shop owner standing at the counter.
"We are trying to leave now. Please open it."
After a short silence.
I t ‘ s O k a y .
The shop owner's voice echoed in my ears….
From the telephone he was holding, a stream of black water was leaking out and dripping onto the floor before I knew it.
Becoming thicker and thicker.
Glug, glug.
The thin stream of water suddenly turned into a mass, and as if clay were being molded, a shape twisted and built up in the air.
I ’ v e C o m e T o G e t Y o u B a c k .
……In the form of an animal wearing a mascot costume, which I had seen somewhere before….
"…!!"
I desperately turned my body and pulled the shop door. But it didn't budge at all, you damn son of a….
"Take your hands off."
Ah.
The moment I let go of the door, Lee Jaheon struck the doorknob with his left fist.
Crack, thud!
As if by magic, the handle fell to the floor.
The door, which he then kicked in succession, swung wide open, revealing the alley outside.
Lee Jaheon and I didn't hesitate and sprinted outside immediately.
M y D o o r ! !
A heavy sound of water came from behind. Splash, splash, splash!
Mixed with the angry voice of the shop owner, the sound of water was following us into the alley. Chills shot up to the top of my head.
'Braun!'
-It seems you need my help, Friend!
Yes!
'Turn off the lights! Manager Lee Jaheon too!'
-That man as well? Fine. I shall make this my gift!
Snap!
A cheerful sound of fingers snapping came from the stuffed doll, and once again, a heavy shadow covered me.
That feeling of myself becoming blurred.
"!"
Section Chief Lee Jaheon's vertical pupils whipped around to look at me.
"Mr. Roe Deer."
"I'll explain when we're done. For now, run!"
Splash, splash, splash….
From behind, the sound of water hitting the gaps in the alley walls with force was getting closer.
'Damn it, damn it!'
…What happens if I'm caught?
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't know. The fact that it was an unknown result made me even more frantic.
I-I bit my lip.
'Avoiding it was the right answer.'
The problem started when I came here thinking I'd find something out!
This was a ghost story. It meant it was a worldview where confirming the truth could be a shortcut to death rather than an answer key.
'I should have just passed it off saying I didn't know…!'
No, save this self-reproach for later!
Don't give up on your body!
Steps remaining: 3441
I had to endure for 400 steps.
'Whatever the next alley is, I have to run that way…!'
Now, I could hear the residents of the alley, caught up to their ankles in the torrent right behind me, chatting.
"Wow, how fun~ what is this?"
"A mascot came on the water for a parade! It's fun! It's fun!"
"They say you can ride a flume ride in Waterland! Let's eat chocolate and win to go to Waterland! Let's find the good child!"
"Wow, a good child……."
"……."
"……."
"Is it him?"
Fuck.
"Who?"
"Where is he?"
"I don't see him…."
Drenched in cold sweat, I made my way through the alley through the crowd of ghosts.
-Oh, yes. A star is a star even when all the lights shining on them disappear. And the pursuit of obsessive fans is a situation that must be fatefully endured!
-If they know the star's exterior characteristics particularly well, wouldn't they try to find only those more tenaciously?
Exterior characteristics.
I recalled the drawing on the wrapper.
'……The mask!'
I tore off the mask I was wearing and stuffed it into my tattoo.
Then I pulled out a face mask and a hat and pressed them onto my face.
Naturally, my pace slowed down and the water current grew closer. In my gaze looking at the ground, I saw the wave that had come right behind me….
No. The speed difference is too great.
'In that case….'
I checked another direction.
Above my head!
"…Manager, the utility pole!"
"Yes."
I clung to the utility pole right next to me and quickly climbed up. I had never climbed anything so desperately fast in my life. Whether my palms were scraped or not, somehow, somehow….
'…I did it!'
The water hits the spot where I was.
But I successfully climbed up to just below the wires of the utility pole.
"Ha…."
I tightened my grip on my hands, which had almost loosened in relief.
'For now, it's okay.'
Just as I was about to twist my body and rest my legs against the alley wall to stabilize my posture.
Tuk.
From my suit pocket,
The smartphone, with its screen turned on, slid out.
Splash.
It fell into the water that had filled the floor.
Water entered through the smartphone screen, which had developed fine cracks from hitting the stone floor, and the app's screen flickered.
Don't give up on your body!
Steps remaining: 3210
And…
The screen turned off.
"……."
"Mr. Roe Deer."
Only a black surface remained on the broken smartphone.
The black water masses in the shape of grotesquely moving mascots filled the dark, narrow alleyway, peering into the shop windows here and there.
My smartphone was swept away by that current.
It moved to a corner of the alley before I knew it, then moved again… and disappeared among the crowd following the mascot-shaped masses.
The torrent passed by the utility pole I was hanging from, toward the other side of the alley….
Along with the escape method that had been prepared for me.
"……."
I'm screwed….
"Mr. Roe Deer."
I turned my head, frozen.
The Lizard, who was hanging by one hand from the utility pole section right below me, was reaching out to me.
He was showing me something.
It was the screen of his own perfectly fine smartphone.
Way out of Death Road →
Move along the arrow!
Section Chief Lee Jaheon had successfully completed the ten thousand steps at this moment.
I stared blankly at the page of the app on Section Chief Lee Jaheon's smartphone, where the route guidance was already activated….
However.
"Take it."
"…Pardon?"
The Lizard held out his smartphone to me.
"Escape by following the app's route guidance."
"…!"
A lifeline had been lowered.
"The app does not recognize even if the possessor changes. As long as you do not deviate from the guided path, you can escape."
"……."
I reached out toward Lee Jaheon's smartphone. And….
I gritted my teeth and refused.
"I can't do that."
"?"
"Manager. That strange black water just now… it was definitely trying to find me. It's still searching this alley even now."
I barely avoided it by taking off my mask and hiding my presence.
But.
"If I move along the app's route guidance, I won't be able to avoid the black water even if I encounter it. …Because I must not deviate from the path."
While moving according to the app's route guidance, never take your eyes off the screen for more than 3 seconds or deviate from the guided path.
Failure to comply will result in being processed as missing.
This rule applied exactly the same way on the way back.
"So… the probability of me leaving here safely without going missing is extremely low."
For me to be safe, the route guidance should have been activated at least after taking refuge in another alley.
'Ha….'
"…I think it's more likely that I'll escape by finding another way instead."
Lee Jaheon looked at me silently with his vertical pupils.
"I see."
"Yes. So Manager, you should escape with that…."
Then he shut down his smartphone.
"…!!"
Is this lizard crazy?
"What are you doing?"
"I am following the 2-person team recommendation manual."
He's talking nonsense.
"Then why did you try to hand over the escape route to me earlier?? You would have been left alone, not as a 2-person team!"
"I followed the manual's priorities. If you want a more detailed explanation, request it after we escape."
Lee Jaheon said plainly.
"From now on, the priority of all conversations and questions will be survival and return from this Darkness."
"……."
"Mr. Roe Deer, please devise a new escape method that you can infer, even if it is not listed in the current manual."
Oh my god.
"…Yes."
I barely managed to answer.
A moment later.
We climbed down from the utility pole.
And we began to walk again on the floor of the alley that the torrent had swept through.
Without route guidance, without an escape method.
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