Chapter 251: Ch 251: Going back alone
The dokkaebi flame.
The being inside a lantern that the Disaster Management Bureau lent me
after I lost an arm on a mission.
It also stayed by my side up to the very moment I drank the Wish Ticket
potion.
After that, I sometimes worried about how it was doing, whether it made it
safely back to the bureau...
’...Thank goodness.’
Since it is right in front of my eyes now, it means it did get back safely.
I looked at the dokkaebi flame that had come out of the lantern and was
circling before the traditional paper sliding door.
I was glad to see it.
But that didn’t mean I should expect it to recognize me. What I look like
right now is...
Fwick.
The dokkaebi flame flew over and stuck to my head.
’...!’
No, I mean, it really shot straight through the paper of the sliding door and
practically hit dead on between my horns. Enough that a splat would not
have sounded out of place...!
’Ah, no.’
Flustered, I raised a hand to gently take it off, but the dokkaebi flame
climbed along my horns and formed a shape.
...A warm blue fire giving a thumbs-up.
Before long it pressed itself against my horns and began to trickle down.
As if it were crying.
’...’
So you recognized me.
"D, Dokkaebi friend! If you act so rudely..."
Gratitude : A good meeting
"...!"
I let the dokkaebi flame roam around on my horns as it regained its vigor.
Today’s duty officer in charge of me saw the scene, and instead of being
startled, quietly pushed up their glasses and began to watch us in silence...
And then.
Knock, knock.
"Agent Sumaksae[1], Gomyeong-ie asked me to tell you that you promised
a late-night snack and why aren’t you showing up."
Beyond the sliding door, a silhouette I’d grown somewhat familiar with
revealed itself.
And looked back at me.
"Oh, seems you’re doing well."
Agent Haegeum!
"Looks like your compatibility with the dokkaebi flame is decent. Hong-
unnie really has a knack for this."
Then she perched near the sliding door and spoke casually to today’s duty
officer.
"If it’s because of the dokkaebi flame, I’ll stay here, so go keep your late-
night snack promise."
"Ah...!"
The officer thanked Agent Haegeum several times in a row, then, without
much worry or hesitation, vacated the spot.
"Thank you!"
The agent even glanced at me and the dokkaebi flame and gave an awkward
little wave.
The moment the staffer completely departed into the corridor that should be
beyond the sliding door.
"...You saw, right? People are now willing to trust your temperament to
some extent."
...
"From here on out there will be folks who’ll try putting various items in to
see how you react, so I’d appreciate it if you don’t view them too unkindly.
It’s because they’re trying to choose what offering you’d like."
Question : Target of the offering
"Obviously you."
R-Right.
I held back a sigh as I watched the dokkaebi flame, which had been playing
near my horns, peep around the yellow lamp near my ribs.
"Well... I suppose I’ll be getting asked all sorts of questions about what you
used to like when you were still a mascot."
Ack.
"So if there’s anything you’d like to receive, you can tell me now."
No.
Just helping me get my head on straight and letting me use this place
without rent is already doing a lot for me...
Of course I know the Disaster Management Bureau isn’t just trying to
humor me.
’They want my assistance as a supernatural being.’
All the more so if this agent, who already knows I’m the master of Flower
Golden Resort, has added her testimony.
Borrowing power from a supernatural being friendly to humans is already a
systematized disaster-response method at the bureau.
Like the dokkaebi flame, the Baridegi Workshop, or the Tiger General, I
suspect I’m being treated as a candidate among cooperating spirit-beings...
The problem is that I am in no state to do that.
Not only was I originally human, but as I am now I’m not something
numinous... I feel more like some kind of unclean composite hunk of
flesh, which makes me unfit, doesn’t it.
...And.
"It looks like you haven’t completely been freed from that wretched
company yet."
...
"How about settling down at the Disaster Management Bureau? I don’t
know what got you tangled up with them, but we can look for a way to get
you out of it together."
A way to escape the employment contract I made with Director Cheong...
together?
That’s...
I don’t know. Is that even possible? No matter how I look at it, Director
Cheong wasn’t an ordinary being.
Even if it were possible, it would require an enormous investment, and I’m
not a supernatural entity holy or valuable enough to justify the cost.
Just thinking about escaping from that employment contract makes my head
fill with a blaring rules-violation announcement, ringing in my brain until it
feels like it’s leaking fluid—
Flicker.
’...’
The dokkaebi flame softly drifted around my head.
Overlapping the phantom announcement came a hum, the sound of a bat
tapping, and cheerful footsteps.
The sounds of a dokkaebi.
...
Thanks
By the time the announcement faded, I gently tapped the dokkaebi flame
clinging to my shoulder.
Agent Haegeum, who had been watching the scene quietly, smiled and
touched the hilt of the Four-Tiger Evil-Slaying Sword.
"Right. So at the very least, you can throw a few punches if it comes to that.
By borrowing the strength of another supernatural being, that is. They even
mended your uniform, didn’t they?"
I glanced down at my arm. A patch-like layer of silver thread had been sewn
over it.
The ripped zipper on my Security Team uniform had already been repaired
by the time I came to.
Someone from the Baridegi Workshop must have come and stitched it up.
’I do feel some strange aura from it, though.’
I’ll have to check it later. Anyway...
Gratitude for the proposal
: Considering acceptance
That’s a lie.
"Of course. It’s an honor, Mr. Mascot."
I was grateful. Even if it was a suggestion made without knowing that I
used to be a corporate spy as Agent Grapes.
Of course, it’s not a situation where I can actually accept it.
’Still, I do want to leave something behind to help.’
After thinking for a moment, I slightly unzipped my sleeve and slipped my
hand inside.
Into the inventory tattoo.
Of course, to the other person, it must have looked like I was suddenly
shoving my hand into my own body.
"...!"
’This connects to the resort.’
And now, to the lodge keeper who had become its manager as well.
’When I called Jang Heowoon, I could feel that the decision was passed on
to the manager.’
If that’s the case, then this should work too.
I sent a few signals, instructing the manager to place several items from the
resort into the space linked to the tattoo...
Of course, the resort itself isn’t a sacred site.
So I ordered things that wouldn’t spread contamination on their own,
wouldn’t suddenly pull anyone into the resort, and were safe while still
within my control.
I withdrew my hand from the tattoo on my arm.
In the black-gloved palm, colorful plastic circles shimmered.
"Those are..."
Cheerful Coins.
Compensation for treatment and accommodation
Recipient : Disaster Management Bureau and Agent Haegeum
"...!"
I poured the coins in front of Agent Haegeum, beyond the sliding door.
She shot to her feet.
Usage :
Resort lodging
Theme park souvenir shop
Theme park restaurants (Not Recommended)
’With these, they should be usable even within the bureau.’
Since people occasionally fall into the resort and agents come to rescue
them, there must be other entry routes connected to the theme park.
If they have Cheerful Coins, it’ll make the agents’ movements much easier.
And within my domain, the souvenir shop mainly sells items that are
relatively safe even for humans, so they could purchase and use them.
This quantity isn’t enough to harm the resort’s operation, so there’s no
reason for refusal either.
Compensation item : Cheerful Coin ×30
Caution : May cause mild contamination symptoms upon possession.
Recommended to store in isolation.
"No..."
Oho, please, just take them.
I felt like a humble citizen handing over a bribe as I slipped the Cheerful
Coins to the agent.
’This should count as some kind of repayment, right.’
Once the dokkaebi flame returned to its lantern, I quietly nodded to myself
as I watched Agent Haegeum carrying the lantern and the pile of coins
away.
Vaguely thinking that this settled the accounts between us.
...But that was only my assumption.
Starting the very next day, all sorts of items from the Disaster Management
Bureau began arriving before me as offerings.
’...?!’
And then I realized.
’...They’ve confirmed my usefulness!’
If the agents who entered the theme park testified to the effectiveness of the
Cheerful Coins, then now they were trying to figure out how to use me.
To exchange for the Cheerful Coins in the most effective way possible!
Rejection
Recommendation : Give it to a child
Today marked the third rejection. I reluctantly refused a basket full of
children’s toys.
’Is it because they think I’m a ghost story that governs an amusement
park...’
They kept offering various amusement park-related items. Or sometimes
resort-related ones.
Incidentally, during all this, the dokkaebi flame was permanently assigned
to me. I heard it insisted quite strongly on it itself.
I was grateful, but at the same time I was beginning to regret having given
away so many Cheerful Coins in return.
’What if they start introducing me to more supernatural beings as
’friends’...!’
Just as I was worrying that they might even be dragging in Jang Heowoon-
ssi to conduct interviews, when he’s still supposed to be undergoing
contamination treatment.
Things inevitably reached this point.
"They said this came from your resort. Is that true?"
...
...!
"Looks like it is."
Through the sliding door, I saw what was sitting in the basket.
A pink body, round pebble-like black eyes. A plush rabbit doll, clean and
soft, as if well cared for...
’Good Friend...!’
W-Why on earth is that here?
And then—
[Friend! I have returned.]
’...?!’
Wait.
’Braun?’
[Who else would it be! Oh, at last we meet not as a cheap piece of
merchandise, but in this splendid body that you yourself chose, Mr. Roe
Deer.]
[Behold this silhouette, and look. Inside this belly is even the coin you once
used!]
I was dumbfounded.
As I clumsily lifted the plushie from the basket with both hands, I realized.
’Don’t tell me... this was what all of this was for?’
[Oh, precisely so.]
That pleasant voice rang with a hint of mischief.
[A true entertainer knows how to wait for the moment of a grander
reunion!]
[Someone discovered that this cotton-filled body originated from your
modest, picturesque resort, and believed that one day this Braun would be
guided back to you, Mr. Roe Deer. Oh, what a magnificent, serendipitous
meeting!]
Wait.
’So someone had my Good Friend in their possession?’
[Of course, those very agents who shared the dream of Sekwang Special
Metropolitan City with you.]
Ah.
Aahhh!
’So that’s how it happened!’
Word must have spread within the bureau that someone was trying to obtain
an item related to the Cheerful Theme Park to give to me. Maybe an official
notice even went around.
I don’t know how they managed to trace me down, but the agents of Black-
Tortoise Team 1 (who most likely had my Good Friend) must have gladly
handed over the rabbit.
After all, they knew it was only going back to Kim Soleum in the end.
They might even have been satisfied that they could deliver it properly
instead of smuggling it out...
[What do you think, Friend? Do you like my surprise?]
Looking at the rabbit plush that somehow seemed proud of itself, I felt a
strange sense of nostalgia.
Familiar warmth.
’Could this... be the effect of the Good Friend item, too?’
Maybe so.
’Yeah. It left an impression.’
[As expected!]
The rabbit doll rejoiced.
’But hey.’
[Oh? A question?]
’You... knew, didn’t you. That entering Sekwang Special City was a
dream.’
The rabbit plush paused.
’That hundred million... you made me waste it on purpose!’
For your own amusement!
[...Friend! How could you suspect such a thing!]
It’s not suspicion. It really feels true!
[Good heavens. Very well. Then let’s think about it...]
[If, astonished by my brilliant insight, you, Mr. Roe Deer, had told others
that place was a dream, wouldn’t you all have amicably taken your own
lives together?]
’...!’
[Oh, surely my friend wouldn’t expect a story development so implausible
it’d be rejected even in the comedy corner of a show.]
[Obviously, doubt, anguish, and pain would have torn your group apart! It’s
possible even more people would have failed to wake.]
[You wouldn’t have wanted me to cause something that dangerous, would
you.]
That’s...
True, I suppose.
’Still, you could’ve at least told me the evil-warding pollock worth one
hundred million wasn’t necessary...’
Kuugh.
[Mr. Roe Deer, please don’t forget. It was you who insisted on repaying me,
even after this Braun clearly said it was a gift...]
...
Yeah...
’Let’s... make money.’
It’d be impossible to pry out the popsocket still embedded somewhere in
my body, but I can at least search the wiki for any source of income...
[It’s fine to repay me slowly. What matters now is that you restore the trust
you owe me, Friend!]
The fact that, after everything I’ve been through, I didn’t even find those
words irritating... Well, that just proves the ’Good Friend’ really does make
its voice sound more familiar and warm.
’Sigh.’
I tucked the rabbit doll, which somehow felt closer than when it was just
cheap merchandise, into my pocket.
The mind of 130666, dulled by fear, couldn’t even feel a chill toward the
ghost-story host who had become its creditor, and the Good Friend was now
secured somewhere in my front pocket.
"So it really did come from the resort. Looks like you’re quite happy to see
it?"
Let’s go with that...
"Actually... that item originally belonged to someone else."
...Huh?
Agent Haegeum, sounding slightly conflicted, asked,
"By any chance, do you know a man called Agent Grapes?"
...!!
"I get the feeling that agent visited your theme park and got that doll there.
But their whereabouts are currently unknown."
It felt as if I’m about to break out in cold sweat.
"His team members were the ones keeping the doll. ...If you can track that
person somehow, I’d like to ask that you do. Or at least tell me if you learn
anything."
...
Tracking impossible
Reason : Product ownership has already been transferred
"...I figured as much."
You guilty conscience!
Status of the doll’s purchaser
: Alive, stable
"...I see. That’s good to hear."
Agent Haegeum calmly watched as I handed over a few Cheerful Coins in
exchange for the rabbit plushie, along with information (such as the fact
that the doll had been an event prize at the Cheerful Theme Park and was
already discontinued).
Then she smiled and stood up.
"It’s really a relief that you’re friendly toward humans."
...
"Then get some good rest."
Agent Haegeum disappeared once more into the corridor beyond the sliding
door.
Tak.
Hearing the door close, I finally sighed and came to a conclusion.
’I can’t stay here much longer.’
It wouldn’t be wise to give the Disaster Management Bureau the impression
that I’d completely registered here and would be cooperating with them as a
spirit-being. That would just waste their time and money. They’re already a
busy enough organization.
Besides, it’s getting harder and harder to keep ignoring the summons from
Daydream.
But time keeps passing, and Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae still hasn’t
woken up...
’...I’ll have to go back in alone.’
For the rescue mission.
To Sekwang City.
Taking all of that into account, there was only one possible answer in the
end.
And so, a few days later.
During an outing arranged again by Black-Tortoise Team 1, I made my
announcement.
Declaration :
Formation of an independent Sekwang Special Metropolitan City
Exploration Team
(with Ho Yoowon included)
"...!!"