Chapter 179: Ch 179: Summoning help
It’s all red.
Because of the countless red things pouring in through the gate connected
to the forest.
Those who have followed Magic Bunny’s parade.
-♩♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪
– Ahahahahaha!
People holding snacks made from their own ribs, headbands decorated with
their own plucked-out eyes, balloons made from the intestines that were
once part of their family.
The wretched people driven mad by the horrifying shows of the Magic
Bunny zone and Magic Bunny’s cruel, brutal demands.
Now, those who have become monsters inhabiting the red zone are
recklessly flooding into the yellow zone.
And they shout,
"They’re giving out a mask prize, a mask prize!"
"I wish everyone could become like me."
"Enjoy your time in the Magic Bunny zone! It’s fun! I told you, it’s fun!
Please! It’s fun!"
...The most dangerous things I’d worked so hard to keep out of the resort
were now pouring in.
Dozens, hundreds of them.
’No.’
G o B a c k
I hurriedly moved the staff to the rear, and had the standard mascots gather
near the gate.
’Block them.’
If I could just do some crowd control somehow and proceed with the
illumination as planned...
"The yellow mascot!"
"It’s him!"
"Ahahahahahaha!! Hahahahahahahahaha!"
Horrifyingly-shaped guests leap madly at the Flower Golden mascots.
’...!!’
I looked up.
Beyond the surging horde of monsters, the red Magic Bunny at the gate
raises a sign.
Prize Event
Bring back pieces of the Yellow Mascot’s flesh!
1st prize: The Great Magic Bunny
2nd prize: The Great Magic Bunny
3rd prize: The Great Magic Bunny
Ah.
"Yellow!!"
The red guests swarm the standard mascots, scratching with bare hands and
digging out flesh with Magic Bunny-branded items.
Eyes are torn out of the mascot suits.
It hurts.
Horns are ripped off, stuffing bursts, the felt-made organs inside are torn
out.
The yellow mascots writhe and are torn to pieces in agony. No... I’m being
torn to pieces!!
"Got it!"
"Ahahahaha!"
"Lookitsparkles??Kkakkakkakka!"
These rude, pathetic, penniless, red-zone trash addicts, how dare they, in my
zone!
Still thinking they’re in the red zone, doing this disgusting act. I cannot
allow it! Never!! Absolutely not!
You all.
D I E
The red visitors raise both hands and strangle their own necks.
It’s almost time for the ceremony. Don’t do anything so disgraceful as to
stain the garden red. Don’t even think about being absorbed by me and
becoming nutrients for the resort.
D i e
These disrespectful pieces of shit have no right to be guests at my resort.
I won’t send them back to the red zone, either.
Even if it takes a little time, asphyxiation will be the cleanest and most
pleasing way.
It’s like watching an ant swarm invade the office and gnaw away at the
documents and supplies as they please.
I was furious, my vision blazing yellow. No, not fury—this was the
revulsion that comes when something absurdly unfair happens.
So...
D i e
The red zone mutants, with blood pouring from their eyes, bang their heads
on the floor.
The other resort guests watch with interest at this quiet rhythm.
Fine. If it’s a spectacle before the illumination, it will make for an even
more successful ceremony...
"Mr. Roe Deer."
...
"Mr. Roe Deer."
Huh?
I turned my head.
An employee wearing a lizard mask was looking at me.
What did he just call me?
In a low, impassive voice, so others wouldn’t hear, he whispered,
"Do you remember your name?"
...
That is,
K i m
"Don’t say it."
Ah.
I closed my mouth.
It’s not a good idea to say your real name in a ghost story.
And I... That is, my name is...
...
’Kim Soleum.’
Yes. That’s it.
The yellow mascot I wear is just a costume. Flower Golden is a made-up
name, and I’m only disguised as a monster.
The real one is inside.
I am... human.
’...’
S t o p
"Huuhhk!"
The red zone visitors, who had been strangling themselves, let go of their
throats.
"Hiic, hiiiiic..."
"Givemeaprizeifyougivemeaprizepleasereturnour■■please"
Even as they burst into manic laughter, or wept, or crawled desperately
across the floor toward the yellow mascot, I spoke gloomily.
L e a v e
Regardless of whether the yellow mascots are being torn apart, I push them
toward the gate.
"AAAAAHHH!"
As I forcefully push them, these people, who weren’t normal to begin with,
are somehow driven back through the gate.
As she watched the broken pieces of yellow mascot suits rolling on the
ground, Supervisor Lee Seonghae spoke quietly.
"Should I go after them?"
I shook my head.
My heart thundered in my chest, and at the same time, it turned cold.
’Just now.’
What was I about to do just now?
’I’m being assimilated.’
It’s dangerous.
I need to get out, quickly. Quickly.
As soon as the staff are safe, immediately...
’The ceremony!’
I had to start the ritual!
I anxiously looked toward the gate.
...But what was even more horrifying was what happened after I pushed
those guests back through the gate.
"Priiiiiize..."
Magic Bunny welcomed those coming back through the gate with open
arms.
And then.
"Uck."
He pulls out their heads.
"...!!"
He pulls out their entrails, snaps their waists.
As if letting them ride each attraction one by one, as if playing or putting on
a show, the guests are killed one by one as they cross the gate.
"Blaaargh!"
"...!"
I could hear the voices of the Disaster Management Bureau agents tending
to the civilians in the back. Even Daydream Inc.’s employees, who were
almost immune to gruesome sights, were overwhelmed and froze at the
horror.
And yet, they still throw themselves at the gate.
"Give me a prize!"
"I brought this, please, a prize!"
And then, the ’prize’ is given.
Cruuuuuunch
The empty body of the dead, toppled like a toy, is crudely transformed into
a cute animal mascot suit.
Right.
Those who get lost or who’d die in the theme park are recycled into mascot
bodies.
That’s why, inevitably, in the red zone... there can only be an insane
number of mascots.
’...Ha.’
This was the chilling truth.
At Magic Bunny’s playful gestures, they die and turn into mascots in that
death march. Even when I stopped pushing visitors out with the standard
mascots, the red zone visitors did not stop.
They continued to grip at the yellow mascot’s flesh and fling themselves at
the gate.
"AAAHHHHHH!"
The gate had become a sight no one should ever have to see.
And it doesn’t end there.
Magic Bunny, using a long magic wand-like toy merchandise, was even
stabbing visitors who hadn’t yet crossed the gate.
"...!"
"Stop it, you disgusting...!"
Thunk.
A red visitor’s neck is snapped and they roll onto the garden.
In the yellow zone...
...they became a corpse.
But the one who thoroughly corrupted that visitor was the Magic Bunny,
and the one who killed and disposed of them was also the Magic Bunny.
Their form twists and distorts.
"...!!"
"Eek, r-red mascot...!"
The Magic Bunny mascot, having shed its corpse, rises up in the yellow
zone.
And, drawing terrifyingly close, it rushes madly toward the staff and me.
"Aaaack!!"
But mascots cannot cross into another zone.
Thunk.
The advancing Magic Bunny mascot, like a balloon slowly losing air,
staggers and then collapses, stiff on the ground.
"..."
"I-It stopped..."
But the red mascots don’t stop their actions.
Playful bunny dolls bash the heads of the unfortunate.
"Ack! Aaaah!"
"The Great Magic Bu—"
Those who died caught in the gate transform into Magic Bunnies and, as
they rush forward, they keep collapsing and stopping in place.
Overwhelming waste.
Overwhelming brutality.
...Before long, dozens of corpses—red mascot mutants—piled up in the
resort garden.
The staff watched, frozen in place, not even daring to breathe...
"..."
"..."
I lifted my head and looked at Magic Bunny beyond the gate.
And I realized it.
This performance is a threat.
It’s meant to make me get angry or scared and overreact, so that what
happens next will be even more fun for them—a kind of prelude to their
amusement.
F u n !
Fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun
fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun
On the other side of the gate, the Magic Bunnies clap their hands.
– Kyaahahahahaha!
Some guests from my zone laugh along with them.
...Laugh?
They’re laughing after seeing this scene? Even though they might miss the
dazzling illumination, even those people laughing seem to have no
manners!
Q u i e t
The guests hurriedly covered their mouths.
The Magic Bunnies poked their heads through the gate, as if wanting to get
a better look at the scene.
’You too, shut up.’
I grabbed one of the Magic Bunny mascot suits lying around on this side
and hurled it hard.
Thunk!
The Magic Bunnies that got hit in the head toppled backward.
"Huuk!"
At that moment.
Whip.
The red mascots who hadn’t been hit all turned their heads at once and
stared right at me.
Hahahahahahahaha
As if to kill.
Hahahahahahahaha
Silently.
...A chilling terror swept over me. Still, I felt like I could breathe again, just
a bit.
Whenever you try to pull something like you did earlier, I’ll just have to do
this—
"Mr. Roe Deer."
Even if you don’t keep calling me, I remember that was my old name.
"Mr. Roe Deer."
I know!
I turned to the one who called me.
Section Chief Lee Jaheon.
"It looks like you need help."
But who could possibly help me now?
...Ah, wait.
...
Maybe.
That button item, the emergency escape tool, the one that reptilian alien
used to control my body before. Is he talking about that?
It was certainly useful. But I can’t use it now. Besides, I don’t have any
money to use the Space Shopping Mall...
N o B u t t o n
"I see."
Lee Jaheon replied, looking at me without a hint of agitation.
"Please reconsider this conversation after business hours are over."
...
"When business hours end, you need to rest as well. Have you gotten any
rest lately?"
– We Can Help.
N o
"Tonight, take off your mascot suit and rest."
C a n ’ t
If tonight’s ceremony ends safely, I’ll come out and stand guard. The red
mascot will definitely try something else.
’...If I’m careless, I’ll die.’
No, it’ll be a massacre.
This mascot was very clearly depicted as killing other mascots in the
attractions.
He definitely knows how to kill mascots and will try to do it.
C a n ’ t T a k e O f f
"You can take it off."
Lee Jaheon’s voice was utterly flat.
"When the theme park’s operations end, your shift ends as well. That means
you can rest as yourself, not as a mascot."
That’s not the problem, though...
Wait.
Wait, wait.
Just now... I feel like I heard something strange.
’So, after the theme park closes for the day, I can exist in a state other than
the mascot...’
...!!
I remembered.
After the theme park’s operating hours ended, the guests who couldn’t get
back into the resort, begging and pounding on the lobby door.
People vanishing in terror as they ran away. All those people who entered
the theme park via the board game and never made it out before closing
time, eventually going missing.
...Unless they were a special case like Supervisor Lee Seonghae.
’And Supervisor Lee even said it herself.’
– Let us innnnnnn! – Once business hours end, there were weird noises from the theme park,
but even if that crazy rabbit chased me into the forest, it was a bit slower
there.
If it was just normal sounds you’d expect from the theme park—like
attraction repairs—she wouldn’t have called them ’weird noises’.
That means... they were sounds that should never be heard in the theme
park.
So...
Noises that don’t belong in the theme park.
And, with no other employees possessing separate selves, only the Magic
Bunny mascot exists in the red zone after closing hours, so it’s only natural
that it would be the one making those noises...
’...’
I looked at the red mascot in the rabbit costume on the other side of the
gate.
Then.
Then maybe, after operating hours, a mascot can take off their suit and walk
around.
If Section Chief Lee Jaheon’s explanation is right.
The reason it was able to chase Lee Seonghae through the woods wasn’t
just because that was a space outside another mascot’s territory...
But what if it wasn’t even wearing the mascot suit?
If it was counted as ’not a mascot’, maybe it could move into other zones?
But in just a single night, it wouldn’t have had enough time to cross the
forest and reach here. Unless it deliberately expanded its territory all the
way here.
’...’
No.
I realized.
How Magic Bunny was able to kill the other mascots.
– After the theme park closes, it comes to kill.
Then, today, with a gate to the red zone set up right in front of the resort...
’...!!’
"Mr. Mascot?"
I frantically began tidying up the garden.
’I have to start the ceremony right now.’
I need to open the third zone and escape before the theme park closes.
T o d a y
"Yes?"
I t ’ s C o m i n g T o d a y
I pointed beyond the gate.
W h e n I t C l o s e s
I t W I l l C o m e
"...!!"
The moment the park closes, it’ll attack.
The employees didn’t even ask how that could be possible, their faces just
went pale.
They had already witnessed Magic Bunny’s insanity.
"Th-Then..."
"Wait, so if we just do this ceremony quickly, we can escape, right?"
I nodded.
The Disaster Management Bureau agents rushed over to help clean up the
garden.
I assigned tasks to the other staff as well.
My mind was almost breaking from anxiety.
It felt like listening to a countdown before a nuclear explosion.
’No.’
More information... Right. Maybe I can hear something helpful.
Just in case, I sent one of the standard mascots toward the gate where the
Blue Dragon was.
Since the blue mascot had boasted about it, they’d definitely help.
But...
’...So much for the Good Friend.’
There was no time left to get it.
If I successfully escape today, I’ll have failed my original goal for coming
here.
And... there’s no more time to figure out a way to get out a staff member
who’s been revived from the dead in a ghost story, while they’re still alive.
...
N e e d . . .
"What do you need?"
...!
I turned my head. Supervisor Lee Seonghae, still busily cleaning, had also
been watching the Magic Bunny gate I was looking at, and as she stroked
her chin, she spoke.
"Do you, uh, need anything from over in the red zone? You keep looking
over there!"
!
"Oh, I guessed right. In that case..."
Supervisor Lee Seonghae whispers.
"Should I go get it for you?"
What?
"I’ll hurry and do it while you’re running the ceremony! I’m probably the
fastest one here with both legs still working. I may not be as strong as
Section Chief Lizard, but I’m smarter!"
She glances at the gate.
"I think it’s because of me that that crazy mascot figured out how to get
here..."
...
I opened my mouth.
I t ’ s O k a y
I couldn’t send her to a place of certain death on the off chance that she
might succeed.
L e t ’ s J u s t F i n i s h U p
Just hurry, let’s conduct the ceremony as planned, as quickly as possible.
"...Yes, yes."
I began cleaning up the now-ruined garden once more.
’There’s no time.’
Faster, faster.
The ceremony is an event held right before closing, and of course I’d
prepared it to match that time, so there wasn’t much time left until closing
now.
Any moment, the announcement might play.
-♩♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪
– Hahahahaha!
My staff and I frantically cleaned up the area.
Dozens of Magic Bunnies were staring at us from just beyond the gate, but
weren’t doing anything crazy like before.
Still, the sense of tension lingered.
I sent the employees to give gifts to the guests, and I personally used the
standard mascots to clean up the mess near the gate.
. . . . . .
On the other side of the gate, the Magic Bunnies stared at me as I cleaned.
’Don’t show it.’
They seemed like the kind who would enjoy it more if I looked rattled. I
quickly finished cleaning up the horrible blood and flesh and backed away.
’Is there still enough time?’
-♩♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪
– Hahahahaha!
This area’s good, that area’s good.
Everything is ready for the illumination.
I anxiously scanned the garden. The only things left were the Magic Bunny
mascot suits that had lost function, like kites with broken strings.
Let’s hurry up and clear them.
The standard mascots picked up those rabbit mascot suits and carried them
away.
’It’d be great if I could turn them into my own mascots instead.’
But that didn’t seem possible.
These seemed to be recognized as something unique, originating from
Magic Bunny, the red zone.
’Like a souvenir, maybe.’
It was disgusting, but that’s how it seemed.
’...’
No, wait.
Wait a second!
I stopped in my tracks.
And looked down at the Magic Bunny mascot suit I was holding.
’Souvenir.’
A thing made from a guest’s corpse, with the appearance of a mascot. A
plush toy filled with soft fur and stuffing, with a cute look—something you
can only get at the theme park.
There was one other thing that matched this description exactly.
’...Good Friend!’
♩-♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪
Then, could a non-functional mascot suit essentially be treated the same as
a Good Friend...?
– Attention, please! Our theme park will soon be closing for the day~
...!!
"Mr. Mascot!"
I had to make a decision.
If the ceremony didn’t go well and closing time arrived, it would all be
over.
And just in case, right now... we needed a trump card.
If it were someone who knew a lot about the nature of ghost stories, who
had various abilities, and who was on my side...
’...’
– We hope all guests inside the park enjoy Cheerful Theme Park until the
very end!
I gritted my teeth and made up my mind.
"Mr. Mascot...?"
I immediately grabbed one of the Magic Bunny mascot suits, dragged it,
and dashed like mad into the resort. Then...
– One hour until closing!
I began drawing the Good Friend summoning circle.