Chapter 180: Ch 180: Important Advice
I remember it exactly.
It’s vivid and unforgettable. It was an event that marked a turning point in
my Daydream Inc. days.
The Good Friend summoning ritual.
1- On a smooth floor, dip your finger in water and draw a hexagram
using the enclosed design.
I ran to the bathroom, got some water, poured it on the office floor, and
began drawing the pattern with my finger.
Strangely enough, I could recall the design with perfect clarity, as if
someone had etched it into my mind.
In no time at all, the floor was covered with the damp outline of the
hexagram.
But there was one difference...
B i g g e r
The hexagram was big enough to cover the entire office floor.
I placed the nonfunctional Magic Bunny mascot suit in the center of the
completed hexagram.
And, as carefully as I could, I reached for a coin...
’...’
But I couldn’t get the coin out.
The original ’Silver Serpent Coin’ used to summon a good friend... it was
inside my mascot costume, inside the Security Team’s uniform under that,
and all the way down in the pocket of my regular clothes.
But I couldn’t take off the mascot suit.
’...In that case!’
I opened the office drawer and took out a Cheerful Coin.
’This is a coin too.’
Even though it’s a plastic token, it’s still definite currency, and it fits the
intent of ’coin’ in this ritual.
It doesn’t have to be a real metal coin, it just needs to be a small, round
object with monetary value.
I made sure the mascot’s glove was completely dry, then picked up the coin
and placed it on the mascot suit’s belly.
’Done.’
I hurried on to the next step.
So...
’Salt!’
4- Hold a tablespoon of salt in your mouth and burn the item related to
a friend using fire.
5- When the ’Good Friend’ starts to speak, swallow the salt and return
the greeting kindly!
If the coin has disappeared, the ritual was successful! You have met a
reliable friend. Always keep them close and cherish them!
※ If you cannot swallow the salt, tastes strange, turns to ash, or if blood
comes out, run away.
There was little time left.
The standard mascots came running from the room service storage, carrying
salt. I snatched the salt up outside the office and put it in my mouth...
...
Would it work, putting it in my mouth while I was wearing the mascot suit?
’Let’s try.’
I cautiously opened the yellow mascot’s mouth and poured the salt inside,
then closed it.
Now, there was one last thing to do: burn something.
Last time, I’d used my necktie, but I didn’t have one now.
’This will do.’
I took off the yellow bowtie from around the mascot’s neck and held it in
my hand.
Then I brought it to the flame of a prepared candle.
Whoosh.
The bowtie flared up in the fire.
The oddly tall flame brought back memories of the time I had summoned
Good Friend before.
A huge shadow fell across the pink mascot suit.
And it wavered.
Shake.
Shake.
I watched, anxious.
I know that that as long as you used a suitable medium, it would come.
So it should work.
Shake.
Shake.
The shadow seemed to move as if the mascot suit itself was about to stir.
Any moment now. Any moment.
Shake.
Shake.
Within the dark shadow...
...the massive mascot suit opened its mouth.
– My resort!
...
What?
– My resort has called me back! Hahahahaha! Hahahahahahaha!
Hahahahahahahahahaha! My resort! My resort! Myyyyyyy
resooooooort! Beautiful Flower Golden Resort!
In the center of the hexagram, the mascot suit shook with spasmodic
laughter. I watched, frozen.
Thunk.
Its upper body sat up.
It twisted its head around to look at me.
– Give it
The Cheerful Coin placed on its belly sizzled as it burned, then was sucked
into the mascot suit.
The stench of burning plastic filled the facilities office.
– My
– Resort
The water on the hexagram vibrated, and blood flowed.
From the eyeholes and mouth of the mascot suit, something like melted
plastic dripped out.
It rose to its feet on the hexagram.
– Give it
’...’
Something’s wrong.
I needed to end the ritual—right now!
’Swallow it.’
I tried to swallow the salt. If I just got the saltwater down my throat...
...
What?
Why... don’t I have a throat?
– Hahahahahahahahaha!
I looked down at myself.
And realized something shocking.
’I don’t have a body.’
Inside this mascot suit, I was filled with stuffing. And the reason was—
I hadn’t returned to ’my own body’.
After meeting the blue mascot, and after Supervisor Lee Seonghae killed
Ladybug, when I rushed back to the resort, instead of moving my original
body, I’d started using one of the standard mascot bodies as if it were mine.
And I’d kept doing that.
So, so...
I had forgotten that I even had an original body.
Right now, I’m using a standard mascot’s body.
’...!!’
Then... where is my original body?
Don’t tell me... When the Magic Bunny attacked earlier, was it torn apart as
one of those standard mascots...?
Ah, no.
If my real body had been torn up, there would have been blood and real
entrails, not just stuffing and cloth organs.
There was no yellow mascot like that. My body must be somewhere...
...
But then, where?
– Hello?
And the thing summoned by the Good Friend ritual, whose call had it
responded to?
I realized.
My reasoning was right.
A mascot costume was indeed a suitable medium for the invitation ritual.
But there’s a flaw.
’Undefined purpose.’
Because it’s not a plush sold at the souvenir shop.
It has no ’Good Friend’ seal or restriction.
– Hello? Hello? Hello? Answer me. Answer me.
The mascot suit twists, transforming into something grotesque.
...That’s not a ’Good Friend’.
It’s just something from the other side.
– Greet me warmly and accept me, you hollow thing.
...Wait a minute.
’My resort’? Don’t tell me that’s...
– Behold the true mascot!
...!
The being within the hexagram begins lurching out of the mascot suit.
Petals of a bizarre, fractal structure, shining in dirty gold, burst upward and
fall back down, threatening to pierce its head.
...Flower Golden.
– Accept me.
The silhouette from the ruined resort’s sign.
The mascot resembling a golden flower was inside.
The invitation ritual, performed by a ’standard mascot’, had awakened and
called the deceased original owner of this resort—who knows where they’d
been since dying.
– Accept me.
The papers on the desk tremble.
A pen, all alone, dances across the document that once celebrated my
appointment.
The true owner of the resort has appeared.
I was nothing but a pitiful interim manager, just holding his seat until
now. Now, I must humbly hand over everything I’ve built to him and step
aside.
Everything was undoubtedly prepared for this moment!
The document floats toward me.
The pen scribbles furiously in my own handwriting.
He will perform the ceremony. The great Flower Golden will personally
take back the mascot position and run this resort!
Up until now, I had been borrowing his power! I dared to take the seat of
a temporary manager, but it’s all over now.
Ah.
Accept him.
Completely accept him, become part of him, and follow the mascot.
Accept him.
– Accept me.
I stumbled backward.
The mascot suit moved to the edge of the hexagram, peering at me.
– Accept me.
The ritual had failed. I needed to run.
But where could I run to?
And, up until now, I’d been following the excellent advice of those
documents. Now that it’s been revealed that these documents were following
the true mascot’s will all along, surely the right thing is to submit to the true
mascot!
Yes, that must be—
...
’No!’
I looked at the other documents on the desk.
Work regulations, employment contracts, guest policies—all things I’d
written while fighting against the will of the mascot that wanted to run the
resort in its own monstrous way.
I...
...
N o
I looked at the being inside the hexagram.
Th i s I s
M y R e s o r t
I grabbed the document and stood before it.
My head was pounding, but I could handle it.
Because I’d realized something.
Y o u A r e
N o t Q u a l i f i e d
– Ooooooooooooh?
How dare you say such a
I crumpled up the document.
Y o u L o s t
– !!!!!!
Right.
You’re a specter who lost your territory by dying to another mascot.
And now.
I t ’ s
C o m i n g
The very being who killed you and turned this resort into ruins is right
outside the garden, ready to re-enter this zone and start hunting again.
Let me show you proof.
H e r e
I flung open the office door.
Directly across the hall was a large window.
Through that window, where it was too dark outside to see much, the bright
office was reflected instead.
There it was, clearly visible. The silhouette atop the hexagram in the
reflection.
The red rabbit.
M a g i c B u n n y
I s H e r e
You.
– ...
The mascot suit touched its face, reached up to its head, and checked for the
two ears sticking up.
And then, looked down at its own hands.
Red fur. Rabbit paws.
– Magic Bunny.
Its hands trembled violently, and its limbs twisted with terror.
-Magic Bunny! Uwaaaah! Aaaaaaah! Save me! Save me!! Please save
me! Don’t take out my guts! My resort! Resort!
I hurriedly dumped salt over the office floor.
’Erase it.’
White salt poured over the blood and black plastic drawing the hexagram,
erasing the pattern.
As it was erased, the mascot suit was gradually pushed toward the center,
clutching its head and screaming.
– Run away! Magic Bunny is coming! The red mascot is coming! It’s
coming along the red path! Aaaah! Aaaaahhh!
– Save me! It’s infiltrating! The wriggling red ■■ inside the suit ate me!
Only the dregs remain underground! Save me!
– Disappear, red thing, disappear, red thing,
disappearredthingdisappearredthingdisappearredthingdisappearredthi
nplease
The summoned one, who had been tearing at its head...
Cruuuunch.
...finally tore its own head off.
With both hands, as if wishing to get farther away, or in awe, or in terror, it
lifted the mascot head high into the air. Raised it up.
And then.
Thud, it collapsed to the floor.
...
...
’Haah.’
I sank down onto the office floor.
’I thought I was done for.’
I almost got absorbed and ended with the standard mascot ending.
Even though this body is just stuffing, my heart felt like it would burst.
Still, somehow... I managed to handle it, and it feels like I achieved
something impressive, but what’s important now...
’...Time!’
How much is left?
I looked at the clock.
20:11.
’49 minutes left until closing.’
Should I be dismayed or relieved that all this chaos only took ten minutes?
What matters is one thing.
I failed to summon a good friend.
’...’
No.
This definitely means something.
I gained something.
I learned the true identity of what was forcing me to run this resort.
And I got rid of it.
I straightened the crumpled document and picked up the pen.
...I didn’t feel that odd sense of control anymore.
’I’ll be able to write the operating rules more freely now.’
Even things I couldn’t write before, things that would harm the ’successful
operation’ of the resort, I think I can now implement as I wish.
...Just like the crazy things Magic Bunny does.
’It’ll be useful.’
I stood up.
...Still, if only I’d had a bit more time, maybe I could have succeeded. That
lingering regret clung to my back.
Was it the coin that was the problem, or the bowtie, or...
’...Maybe he just decided not to answer.’
Maybe the fatal flaw was that I didn’t summon it with my original body.
’Huu.’
I gathered up the documents, looking for even a little bit of extra protection,
and set out to find the blue mascot...
Driiiing—
"..."
I froze.
Driiiing—
I turned my head.
The telephone on the office desk was ringing.
Driiiing—
I stared at it, frozen.
Had the phone ever... rung at this resort before?
’No.’
Room service calls use a walkie-talkie that plays a calling melody.
Summoning a mascot makes a real bell sound.
But this was an old-fashioned ring.
...Someone was calling.
Driiiing—
’...’
I walked over to the desk and picked up the old-fashioned receiver.
Click.
A dark brown, elegant wooden phone.
A cheerful and pleasant male voice sounded out from within.
[Hello! What a fine night. Oh, I’d be very grateful if you could connect
me to the talented and cheerful mascot of Flower Golden Resort.]
...!
[Oh, it’s you. Perfect. Actually, I’d like to rent your simple and beautiful
resort for a few days.]
[As you know, a celebrity needs a private place to relax. So I was thinking
of spending my summer vacation at your resort...]
...
N o
[Hmm?]
I ’ m Q u i t t i n g
R I g h t N o w
[Oh my, but why didn’t you hand over the resort to that fellow just now?
He seemed so desperate!]
[I’m kidding. Hahaha! It’s quite unpleasant that such a crude person
tried to snatch away the resort you’ve nurtured.]
The distinctive voice of the Host comes from the phone.
[Mr. Roe Deer.]
’...’
[It was an excellent idea to try to summon me, but you were so deeply
immersed in the show that you overlooked a few things.]
Over...looked?
[Of course, that’s the talent of a performer fully immersed, and it’s fitting
for the genre, but if it goes on too long, it gets boring. Now it’s time for
the perfect advisor for you to appear—at the perfect moment for fun.]
[So from now on, your friend will offer you a few kind words of advice...]
The voice on the phone lowers.
[Now, hold the receiver and listen carefully to the amazing voice of this
Braun.]
The Host’s friendly advice began to flow from the telephone.