Chapter 247: Ch 247: Borrowing power from another numinous being
Borrow money from Braun?
Then use that money... to buy an item from the Space Shopping Mall?
"..."
No.
’I wouldn’t be borrowing.’
I’d be getting an ’advance.’
And an advance means...
[Of course there will be no burdensome dunning. We’re friends, after all!]
[It would simply be deducted someday from the wages for the day we work
together. That much shouldn’t be emotionally taxing for you, Mr. Roe
Deer...]
He’s saying he’ll hire me again.
[Well, how about it?]
...
First things first.
"Braun, how are you even here?"
I need to buy time.
I looked at the host in a suit, seated on the platform.
"This is a personal-shopping space. Other customers aren’t allowed to come
in."
[Come now, mass media aren’t customers, they’re family! Oh, that warm
sense of everyday life a TV brings to the living room.]
His gloved hands opened, courteous and benign.
[This Braun is family to my friend, part of your laughs and tears. It’s only
natural that I accompany you during your shopping.]
[Do you doubt it? Then let’s ask the personal shopper here! Go on,
explain... why am I present in this place?]
The lizard’s addendum came.
"That sapient entity is a portion within the customer’s mental system,
instantiated on site to facilitate smooth shopping."
[There you have it! Oh, of course Mr. Roe Deer, if you were heartlessly to
say that you would not bring this pitiful friend along for shopping, I would
have no choice but to vanish...]
[Will you utter something so cruel?]
My head cooled.
’Braun is now speaking to me freely even without the Good Friend
plush...’
Just like during that previous personal-shopping session, when my
contaminations manifested.
It seems clear that after the Good Friend plush’s constraints were removed.
Or, after it was re-summoned, some deep linkage formed.
Even here in Sekwang City, where external influence is blocked, he can still
talk to me.
’Has Braun’s ’Good Friend’ persona become part of me outright?’
I couldn’t be sure. In any case, feeling a basic relief that I’d grasped the
situation, I analyzed...
An advance?
’Wouldn’t work.’
That’s a statement premised on my labor. I don’t want to work at that talk
show again. The thought that he’d be pleased to have me working there
made my stomach churn all the more...
’...He doesn’t seem to read thoughts I wish not to be read.’
I swallowed as I watched the host, seated unruffled, fingers moving with
elegant poise.
No other way? Another way...
Ah!
’What if I ask for the wages I was supposed to be paid for my work as staff
on the midnight talk show...’
No chance!
I blew that studio in half with the Sacred Fire bombardment and ran.
Frankly, from the host’s perspective, the fact he didn’t shove a bill in my
face the next time we met might already be ’being generous’!
’In that case...’
[Take your time thinking it over, Mr. Roe Deer. We have all the time in the
world...]
Huu.
’Maybe I should just sell an organ...’
If my organs were actually in a sellable state, that is. Clutching my
throbbing head, a thought popped into my mind.
"There’s one more thing to check."
I turned to the lizard.
"The Space Shopping Mall only accepts payment in currencies that actually
exist in reality, correct?"
"Yes."
The lizard agreed at once.
"Only currencies that exist in reality and are used on Earth can be used."
"You mean not only won, but dollars, euros, rupees, and so on?"
"Yes. Real-time solar-calendar exchange rates apply."
As I thought.
"Braun, you heard—"
[Oh.]
[You’re thinking the coins of the peculiar folk that I pay as wages have no
real value here, so any money I hand you would be meaningless... is that it,
Mr. Roe Deer?]
Ah.
[Ha ha, surprising fixed ideas is part of the fun of a show!]
[Now then, would you prefer crisp U.S. dollars or gold? I’ll pay in
whichever you favor. That’s the virtue of a good patron, isn’t it?]
"..."
With a stiff neck I looked back at the lizard.
"Is that... possible?"
"Yes. However, for dollars paid by that sapient entity, a special exchange
rate applies, making them far less efficient than ordinary dollars."
[Remarks like that only goad the consumption of luxury goods. These
knife-hands have a hidden talent for commerce.]
The lizard gave no reaction.
The host gladly rose from his seat.
[Now then, Mr. Roe Deer.]
[All obstacles have been removed.]
"..."
Before I knew it.
The suited host was leaning against the chair... right beside me.
A hand extended.
[Will you accept an advance from this host, from the Late-Night Talk
Show?]
...Wait.
Hold on, that’s...
No, but if there’s truly no catch, survival comes first. By priority, I should
accept it, right? Stay calm. Make the wisest call here...
[My, my.]
[I’m kidding!]
...
Huh?
[I was only teasing for a moment. An advance, really!]
[That would hurt a friend’s feelings.]
As when hosting the talk show, the host’s hand neatly patted my arm, as if
encouraging a contestant.
[My friend dipped into his pocket money to provide a bathtub for my
cotton-stuffed body. And if this once-in-an-era entertainer were to give that
friend nothing more than an advance, why, that alone would be headline
material. Therefore...]
[For this shopping, the payment will be my favor. A gift. How about it?]
"..."
[You will accept my gift, Friend.]
[Oh, the moving power of friendship!]
A powerful hunch struck me.
This.
’If I make one wrong move here, I’m fucked.’
This feels riskier than a salary advance.
The being in front of me dangled the word ’advance’ just to lead me to this
conclusion, so that when he then said it would be ’a gift’, it would tug me
toward thinking, "Well then it’s fine, isn’t it."
...
But.
"Alright. I’ll ask you a favor just this once."
Ditching something necessary for survival out of fear would be stupid.
’Time to walk the tightrope properly.’
"I appreciate it. Really."
[Think nothing of it!]
[Now then, send the bill to me and—]
"But."
I cut in.
"I’d feel too guilty taking it as a gift... I’d rather treat it as a loan. Is that
possible?"
[Hm?]
Not an advance. A debt.
’I have to settle this as a money matter.’
A gut feeling says I mustn’t leave it as an emotional IOU, or a vague
obligation payable ’someday’.
"I’ll pay it back within six months."
I smiled as best I could. Damn it.
"Money’s not something you make into a gift. If I want a present, I’ll ask
you when something specific comes to mind."
...
After a cold sweat-inducing silence.
[Very well, Mr. Roe Deer!]
...!
[But six months? There’s no need to rush. Oh yes, indeed... We have time,
and we’ll still be friends.]
"...Right. Thanks."
Huu.
’Done.’
I forced a laugh and tacked on, jokingly,
"Interest at the statutory rate, yeah?"
[Haha! I can’t possibly charge a friend interest. I’ll take principal only.]
"Haha... I appreciate that too."
Huu.
Looking again at the host patting my shoulder, I found myself replaying the
dizzying memories of the Tuesday Talk Show...
Still, I was grateful. Because thanks to him, I could buy this.
[Hooh. Now I’m truly eager to see what splendid escape episode you’ll spin
with such a small item, Mr. Roe Deer.]
That...
’I can deliver on.’
After Braun got the unintelligiblepaymentaddress from the lizard personal
shopper and took care of something.
"Billing has been completed."
The lizard declared as much and handed me the item.
"...Thank you. I’ll be in touch."
"Yes, dear customer."
And that wrapped the shopping.
Presently, I opened my eyes.
As if waking from a brief doze.
"...!"
Where the platform had been empty during personal shopping, my
companions were now watching me with a calm but anxious look. I must’ve
looked catatonic while I was ’shopping’.
"Agent Grapes."
"I bought it."
I held up the hard-won purchase.
A glint passed through the two agents’ eyes.
It was...
Something hanging from a cord.
It looked like those who’d hanged themselves from the trees in the fog-
shrouded concourse, yet with the opposite aura.
A tiny carved pollack made of persimmon wood.
A rustic, slightly rough fish figurine, tied to a bundle of white silk thread,
swaying gently.
"It’s an evil-warding pollack talisman."
"Ready?"
"Yepp!"
Hearing the team’s voices, Eun Haje lifted her hand toward her lips, then
remembered she had no cigarette and lowered it.
The involuntary abstinence had been dragging on, but nothing was more
pressing than the present situation.
We could actually die here.
Pooling together whatever they could monetize to at least attempt some
plausible escape, they’d shoved it all into the kid’s hands when he said he
’might have something’.
Amazingly, Kim Soleum had closed his eyes for a moment... and actually
came back with something effective.
"This one definitely doesn’t borrow power from another numinous being~
Right, Bronze?"
"...Yes."
And exquisitely spot-on, at that.
Even more surprising, after all that money and goods we’d scraped together
from everyone, he returned them intact.
"..."
Whether that could be believed was something to ponder later. First, they
had to escape before they could grill him.
"Then let’s move out."
Now, with all discussion finished, the group set off toward the platform.
’And the team lineup...’
Well, not bad.
All a bit of a hodgepodge, but still.
Holding the very rear was the surly-looking young man from the Disaster
Management Bureau.
He’s called ’Agent Bronze’, it seems.
Though Eun Haje teased those guys as geezers, this kid was actually a
decent sort.
’A bit straight-laced, but that tendency shows up in those who haven’t been
soaked too long in society’s grime, and often means a good heart.’
His resentment toward Daydream is plain, yet he keeps it tamped down,
maintains courtesy, even shows a measure of empathy. Standing at the back
like this, he even gives off a whiff of public spirit.
’And paired with him is Sir Highborn Civil Servant...’
Agent Choi.
He’s near the very front.
– I found another way to pay.
"Grapes-ie, careful."
Playing it off as nonchalant, but you can tell. Being dropped into a high-
grade ghost story tied to his own bureau, anxious with so many civilians to
protect.
It’s also pretty obvious he’s trying to soothe and subtly steer the broadly
neutral Kim Soleum.
’He’s exactly like a detective offering carrots to a delinquent youth.’
No idea what kind of killer ’spy persona’ Roe put together to get him that
far, but for now Eun Haje was just watching. She and that guy were fellow
smokers, after all.
And standing beside Agent Choi...
"Oh. The pollack’s working nicely."
Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae.
As expected of a Daydream elite.
Slightly unhinged, but highly competent.
Eun Haje had a hunch that a single slip of the tongue could make that elite
employee turn hostile on the spot, but she had too many years under her belt
to overthink that kind of thing.
For now, she was being oddly friendly to everyone in the group.
Especially... to Kim Soleum.
"...."
And Kim Soleum was standing at the very front of the group, holding the
odd little carving he’d obtained, the evil-warding pollack talisman.
’This punk.’
The kid knew how to protect his own item.
It was also the kind of judgment typical of a competent person who finds it
simpler to do it himself. Fastest-track promotion, A-grade Dream Essence
extracted from irregular ghost stories. Of course, he hadn’t lost his edge.
Thus, with silk threads tied strand by strand around each finger as if he
would never let go of the item, Kim Soleum moved through the fog.
And then.
’...!’
As he walked between the trees, mold began to bloom on the evil-warding
pollack swaying from his hand, as if it were rotting.
’So that’s the sign that it’s starting to break?’
Once it was completely covered, the trees with hanged corpses would
probably start drawing close again, or the bizarre hallucinations and voices
would resume.
Its rate of decay was... faster than expected, but it still looked like it would
hold out long enough to complete the ’objective’.
Though it seemed worse because they’d poked at it earlier.
– I was told that this pollack woodblock will ward off ill fortune for anyone
within five paces until it breaks. Since I bought it, I’ll carry it and move.
– Eyy~ Normally, with things like this...
– There is no ’normally’. It’s my item.
– ...
If they weren’t careful, someone might not make it back to the stairs in time
this round.
Just then, when she resolved to hurry—
"Found it."
"...!"
Under the protection of the evil-warding pollack, Agent Bronze, scanning
the surroundings with the glass-like instrument that had finally begun to
function, announced it.
’Good.’
Familiar with subway layouts, they’d already marked candidate spots, but
this was quicker than expected.
"Let’s move."
The five of them moved in step, almost at a sprint along the shortest route.
Their target was...
"Over there."
Transit card reloader.
And, just as they’d guessed.
– What do you think?
– Considering the lights are on and the announcements are playing without
issue, I think anything that runs on electricity is likely still in operation.
Amazingly, the screens of the two transit card reload machines left like
oddities among the trees were lit.
"...."
She heard small, held breaths around them. Tense, Eun Haje reached out a
hand.
’Can’t very well make the guy holding the pollack do it.’
She wasn’t holding a transit card, though. In a ghost story, expecting the
machine to connect to a card company and deduct money would be asking
too much.
What they meant to use was a different function of the machine.
And, written right there in the nameplate above the unit...
The issuance of single-use transit cards.
Five of them, to be exact.
Thuck.
Thuck.
Thuck.
Thankfully, the machine swallowed the bills they fed it and successfully
spat out five single-use transit cards.
’It had been a gamble whether it would take cash.’
And fortunately, the gamble paid off.
Eun Haje was the one who’d insisted, ’There are no certainties here, so
we’ve got to place a bet,’ with a bright grin.
"Let’s move quickly."
As soon as she swept the change into her pocket just in case, the group
quickly moved again at Agent Choi’s signal, who had already spotted their
next destination.
The most important spot in this exploration.
The ticket gates.
"...."
In the fog, several gates installed like randomly placed fixtures were
likewise lit.
’Huu.’
Eun Haje steadied her breath and thought it through.
With no supplies to speak of, how were they supposed to exorcise this fog-
choked, insane concourse?
What the agents called a ’closure’ was, at the moment, a hopeless goal.
So in the end they’d have to clear it in true Daydream fashion.
And a ’clear’ means...
Because the odds were overwhelming that it was a hellscape. A full-blown
annihilation-sanctioned ghost story.
However, since this place was a station, there was another way to depart...
The subway.
"This side is the entrance."
Agent Bronze spoke, having determined the entrance and exit direction of
the turnstile. After a look passed between them, Agent Choi stepped up first
and tapped his single-use card at the gate.
– Typically, clearing a ghost story means escaping from that location.
– Right.
– But we can’t go out there.
– In the end, the only choice left is the train. – The train passed through without stopping. But there was definitely a
condition then.
– ...! It was because there were no passengers. Then perhaps...
– Correct, Agent Bronze.
Dee-ring.
Next, the rest of the group moved through the ticket gates as quickly as
possible, one by one, each holding a transit card. When Kim Soleum, who
was carrying the talisman, stepped forward, an almost complete silence fell.
And when everyone had tapped their cards and entered inside the gates.
♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪
A tune began to play.
An announcement.
It echoed from far away. From the platform.
The train is approaching.
"...."
Passengers are requested to board safely and observe proper etiquette.
– Let’s see what happens if we’re counted as passengers.
There was no announcement about passing without stopping.
Which meant...
"Run."
The group bolted for the platform like mad.