Chapter 257: Ch 257: Oh no...?
I looked around the wedding hall, which now resembled a crime scene.
My mind was in a state of confusion.
’How many people died?’
There were still, unfortunately, ’experiential trainees’ seated in the guest
area. People who had been caught up in this insane Groom Lesson ghost
story.
Every one of them wore a blank, hollow expression, as if their minds had
snapped.
...I counted the empty seats.
Out of fifteen, eleven were dead.
Not even a third remained.
’A thirty-percent survival rate...’
Well, it’s still better than being vaporized by the ’Sacred Fire’ bombardment
of alien reptiles.
In any case, I had already judged it impossible to save everyone. And I had
expected there would be casualties no matter what I did... but being killed
as part just to set the tone of a TV show?
...
[Apologies for responding late, Friend. It seems you’re still basking in the
afterglow of the live broadcast!]
At the same time, I fully realized this.
’There’s no point asking Braun something like, ’Was that really
necessary?’...’
If you hand over control to a ghost story talk-show host, someone who will
do anything at all for a successful broadcast, you should have expected this
outcome.
Especially after receiving a warning just moments before.
’...At least it wasn’t total annihilation. The fact that a few survived is, in the
end, a good thing.’
But, the bitter part about this?
I’m no longer that shocked when I see people die.
Not because I’ve grown used to it.
But because my mind is being held together only by a little bell, barely
maintaining sanity while trapped in an amorphous body.
Under such circumstances, the fact that I can still feel even mild bitterness
over the dead is something to be grateful for.
...
’Focus on making sure the survivors get out safely.’
And.
– Braun.
[Hmm.]
To Braun’s question of ’What do you think?’, this was the right response.
– As expected from a legendary host.
[...!]
– I knew you’d wreck the wedding, but I didn’t expect you to tear it apart
and rebuild it even more successfully.
– Thanks to you, even the bride seemed satisfied.
From what had happened moments ago, I understood.
’If we simply sabotaged the ceremony and ran, who knows what might have
happened.’
The situation had resolved more smoothly and peacefully than expected
because the being called the ’bride’ was satisfied.
However...
– You’re not... thinking of making this into a whole series, are you?
The fact that Braun was so pleased with the live broadcast ratings.
I couldn’t stop worrying about it.
What if he tries to incorporate this into Late-Night Talk Show as a new
recurring series? If the Groom Lesson ghost story mutates into something
even higher-grade because of that...
[Mr. Roe Deer.]
Braun’s cheerful voice spoke kindly.
[You’re being overly cautious about something completely obvious!]
...!!
[Of course I’m considering producing a next season, as long as the
conditions permit it. A producer must never miss the timing when the
audience reacts well. The fact that you caught that, oh indeed, my friend
truly has such a keen sense for broadcasting.]
– Braun.
[What is it, Friend?]
– But you know the Late-Night Talk Show is far more fun, right?
A brief silence.
[Oh, of course. You state the obvious, Mr. Roe Deer!]
[You needn’t worry that I’ll neglect the Late-Night Talk Show. I only meant
the possibility is open, should the conditions align.]
[For now, we’ll wrap things up by airing the epilogue.]
Phew.
[All right, the crew will begin striking the set.]
Clap, clap.
At the sound that echoed through empty air, the cameras, lighting rigs, and
band equipment installed in the wedding hall were dismantled swiftly and
neatly by faceless staff.
Even without features, a few of them somehow looked familiar... No, don’t
think about it.
’If I go too deep, I might get dragged in again.’
Just mentioning it had already made me feel uncomfortably close to the
edge.
As I avoided focusing on the staff, my gaze naturally drifted to something
that caught at the edge of our shared vision.
The destination at the very end of the long white-velvet carpet.
The place where the wedding vows would be made.
The altar.
’...’
It was shattered to a grotesque degree, with only burst-apart fragments of
stone scattered everywhere.
Scars gouged into the floor.
A torn stretch of carpet.
And beneath where the platform had stood...
A black hole.
A depth.
Darkness so deep that nothing could be seen below.
’...’
Moments ago.
The ’bride’ had come out from there.
Even though my perception had been censored through Section Chief Lee
Jaheon’s vision, the sensations had been a mangled blur. Something that had
been sleeping down there, something barely constrained and interpreted
through the frame of a ’wedding’...
"Mr. Roe Deer."
...
"Mr. Roe Deer. Do not attempt to turn your gaze."
...!
I snapped back to my senses.
...Before I realized it, I seemed to be trying to seize control of Section
Chief Lee Jaheon’s body in order to turn his gaze away.
– ...Thank you.
"Yes."
After remaining silent throughout the entire broadcast, Section Chief Lee
Jaheon now regained control of his body the moment the live show ended.
And he was calmly surveying the wedding hall’s current state.
I was grateful that he had quietly watched, without protest, the insane
spectacle of his own body winking at cameras and hosting a live program.
As expected of a veteran of the Field Exploration Team, his judgment was
impeccable.
Even now, he didn’t interrupt Braun, instead quietly waiting until
everything got wrapped up...
"Mr. Roe Deer. Do you require advice?"
...
– ...If I were to say I did, what advice would you give me?
"Yes. Remove the talk-show ghost called Braun from your mental system."
Aaagh!
[Oh, if it weren’t for the live broadcast, this lowly blade grunt sure speaks
without any shame, even though he surely would’ve ended up as a
wedding-cake decoration.]
N-Now, wait a minute.
– Section Chief. At least it’s certain that, thanks to this situation, we can
now escape without the Sacred Fire bombardment. Isn’t that right?
"Yes."
Phew.
[And who do you think made this ’situation’ possible! Why, the host of the
Late-Night Talk Show, an entertainer capable of putting together a live
broadcast program in a single day. Anyone with half a brain would be
offering their gratitude.]
"That is true. Thank you."
[...]
"Now remove it."
For the first time, I witnessed the ghost story talk-show host momentarily
lose the ability to speak...
– B-But... his work was pretty helpful, wasn’t it...?
[I hear the sound of someone being erased.]
...
Yeah...
A-Anyway, the tension seemed to have eased somewhat in the grand
scheme of things.
’...Let’s get out of here quickly.’
I needed to separate these two, pronto.
For many reasons, I was exhausted...
– For now, it looks like we can just walk out through the front gate, Section
Chief.
The boarding school’s main gate, as if declaring surrender to the live
broadcast, had reappeared and been forced wide open to allow the filming
crew to move through.
I watched as Section Chief Lee Jaheon first escorted the surviving trainees
out, and I let out a sigh of relief.
’He really does make ethical choices.’
Thank goodness.
Then Section Chief Lee Jaheon also stepped through the gate.
Glimmer.
Through our shared vision, I saw light pouring in beyond the door.
Something never seen in this gloomy academy ghost story.
Sunlight.
We stepped into it, and...
...
"Dear customer."
I opened my eyes.
A white space. Before I knew it, I was sitting in a strange place made of
light and three-dimensional shapes.
And in front of me was...
"We have confirmed the attempt and successful rescue of the entity ’Lee
Jaheon’ from the Space Shopping Mall."
A lizard from the Space Shopping Mall.
This time, a grayish green one.
It seemed I was facing these alien reptiles through a mechanism similar to
the VIP personal shopping session once again.
"So Section Chief Lee Jaheon has returned safely?"
"Yes."
"I’d like to speak with him directly."
"Yes. That is why ’we’ are here."
It took me a moment to understand the sentence, but then it clicked.
These alien reptiles considered speaking to ’us’ to be the same as speaking
directly to Lee Jaheon.
Because Lee Jaheon is ’us’.
Because they shared one enormous mental system, one collective
experience and judgment.
Which made it sink in even more.
’They probably have no sense of having ’cut off’ a specific member named
Lee Jaheon at all.’
To them, it’s just... no different from giving up just one part of the whole
body.
Like pulling out a broken nail, scraping off burned flesh, severing a
festering wound.
They might feel regret, but not guilt.
Because that’s who ’we’ were.
The feeling was truly uncanny.
"I’m sorry, but I would like to speak with the specific individual known as
’Section Chief Lee Jaheon’."
"Our experiences and judgments do not differ."
"Please, I would still like to request it."
A brief silence.
"Understood. The Lee Jaheon entity shall contact you directly in the real
world."
"Yes. Thank you."
It seemed certain that he had returned safely.
"Then, does that mean I can return to my own body now?"
When I went to rescue Section Chief Lee Jaheon, the Space Shopping Mall
had explained that this would be the final operational step of their ’We Can
Help!’ item.
"Yes."
The reception lizard nodded again as expected.
Then I should hurry and return...
"Will you be receiving the reward at a later time?"
– Upon successful rescue of the caller, the mind of the entity who
responded to the call shall return to its original coordinates.
"If by reward, you mean..."
"Our compensation for rescuing the Lee Jaheon entity."
...!
"You mean the Space Shopping Mall is giving me a reward?"
"No."
The lizard looked at me with an oddly friendly gaze.
Something more... significant.
"’We’ will reward you."
...
A designation far more encompassing than ’Space Shopping Mall’.
"What is it that you want?"
My mind snapped sharply awake.
’This.’
This was no ordinary opportunity.
"...Would it be possible to receive help rescuing someone in Sekwang
City?"
"We do not recommend it."
I expected that.
’Pressing the ’We Can Help!’ button back then wasn’t recommended
either...’
If I set aside that immediate, urgent matter then would be...
’...I need to think more carefully.’
I shouldn’t answer rashly.
I thought with painstaking care, then finally chose one.
...
...
Among the goals I set in the Daydream underground containment room, this
was the clearest.
"I... want to regain a human body."
I want to become human.
I want to take back my body.
"When you say ’a human body’, do you mean the body of a 21st-century
contemporary human of Earth?"
"Yes. ...Is that possible?"
An immediate answer came.
"It is possible."
...!
"With what method??"
"Use the body of a human whose sense of self has been lost."
Wait. So that means...
’They’re suggesting a body switch?’
Such an alien way of thinking. And for me, nearly impossible to carry out.
...Let me try shifting the nuance.
"Would it be possible to use my current body as if it was human? Like I did
when I was a supervisor at Daydream Inc.?"
I swallowed and fixed my eyes on the lizard’s snout.
Its mouth slowly opened and spoke...
"Yes."
...!
"Then I’d like your help with that."
"Yes. We will deliver our reward once preparations are complete."
Great.
Feeling the urge to clench my fist in triumph, I was about to say I would
take my leave when...
A thought occurred to me.
Maybe?
"Um, is it true that helping to rescue me also saved ’us’ the cost of a Sacred
Fire bombardment?"
"Yes."
"In that case... could my assistance also be counted the same way and
applied as purchase credit toward Space Shopping Mall rewards?"
The lizard met my gaze, then nodded.
"We have judged your statement to be a rational inference."
And then.
"Congratulations on your membership upgrade."
It handed me something.
’A VIP appreciation card?’
That’s what it looked like.
Could it be that I was upgraded to a tier above VIP?
’There was a tier higher than that?’
As expected of a shopping mall.
I opened the splendid, gold-colored card...
I Am a Space Shopping Mall VVIP!
Astounding Upgrade!
~ Appreciation Cells Included ~
"..."
"..."
"...About, uh, the shopping mall’s design."
"Yes."
"Do you... do it yourselves?"
"Yes."
Hmm.
I suddenly understood many things...
"Thank you. I’ll be going now."
"Yes."
I carefully took the appreciation card.
"Until we meet again."
And then I was swept out of the shopping space, far into the distance.
* * *
A gentle sensation.
"Grapes-ie."
I opened my eyes. At some point, I was...
"Are you awake?"
...lying on a wooden porch.
This was the lodging prepared for me by the Disaster Management Bureau.
And with the paper door fully slid open, the agents’ faces were peering in at
me.
Black-Tortoise Team 1.
’Ah.’
I made it back.
I lifted my hand. The thermometer and the heart-rate monitor dropped off
with a clatter. It seemed they had been slipped in through a slightly opened
zipper.
They must have had a hard time trying to find a spot where a pulse would
register.
’They prepared so much.’
Feeling a small swell of emotion, I sat up.
And immediately reported.
Gratitude & Report :
► Returned safely
► Successfully rescued Section Chief Lizard
A thoroughly satisfying result.
"Oh~ Impressive?"
Agent Choi laughed and patted my shoulder.
"Then can I ask you just one more thing?"
Affirmative
"Okay! Take a look at this, yeah?"
Agent Choi lifted something.
It was the little rabbit doll I kept in my pocket.
"Your friend, Braun."
Right.
’Come to think of it, the agents said they delivered it to me.’
I’d meant to thank them at least once. It must have slipped from my pocket
again, and they picked it up for me...
"He’s that talk-show host, right?"
...
...!!