Chapter 141
Chapter 141
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 141
Chapter Title: Checking Out
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Nostalgia Candy returns me to peak condition.
To put it another way, it's still me. It doesn't make me any smarter or more perfect.
That means I can't let my guard down just because I trust the condition it gives me...
I knew that.
"...!"
I gritted my teeth against the searing pain radiating from my right arm—no, from the empty space where my right arm used to be.
I'd missed the dosage timing.
Damn it.
I got hasty.
With the safe spot vanishing in less than an hour, and a sudden way to unlock the mart doors popping up, my focus slipped.
The price was excruciating agony.
The severed arm I'd cauterized to stop the bleeding.
Every single word of that description tore into me like raw, visceral pain.
"Hngh."
My legs buckled for a moment, nearly sending me crashing to the floor. I instinctively tried to catch myself with my right arm, realized it was gone, stumbled, and barely managed to prop myself up with my left hand at an awkward angle.
But it was fine.
"Agent...!"
"Just... a moment."
The Bronze Agent stepped up behind me to support me. I gasped through the torment.
Go Yeongeun came rushing over in a panic. She checked if I was still conscious and urged me on. What was she saying?
"That thing! Where's that candy?!"
Oh.
"Hurry!"
I fumbled for my jacket pocket with my remaining arm. But Go Yeongeun beat me to it, quickly rifling through and pulling out the candy, ripping off the wrapper.
Just eat that.
That's right...
"......"
"Agent?!"
For some reason, maybe due to the endorphins, a thought crossed my mind.
Nostalgia Candy. I only had two left.
Who knew what other ghost stories I'd have to dive into?
...Do I really have to use it?
Couldn't I tough it out with Happy Maker?
The arm was already cauterized and stopped bleeding.
And my original plan accounted for escaping just fine even with one arm missing, as long as operations resumed.
But I'd already gotten operations back on track.
Thinking about the item's versatility...
In that case, better not to waste it here...
"......"
I took the candy and slipped it back into its wrapper.
"Wh-what are you...?"
Then, with effort, I shoved my hand back into my pocket, stashed the wrapped candy, and pulled out the stick-shaped item.
Happy Maker.
This one instead.
Yeah.
I went to jab it in right away, then realized I couldn't roll up my sleeve to expose bare skin.
I had no arm to roll it up with.
"...Agent, sorry, but could you... give me the injection?"
"......"
"It's a painkiller."
But from her hardened gaze, she seemed to know this item's shady origins. ...Fantasy Home Shopping, that is.
In times like this...
"Please. Just this once..."
"...!"
Thankfully, the Bronze Agent didn't argue. She took a deep breath, rolled up my remaining sleeve, and injected the Happy Maker.
Pik.
With a small sound, the drug raced through my veins.
Ah.
The pain faded, and a sense of calm settled in my mind.
Serenity.
Anxiety and panic shattered into dust motes and drifted away, leaving my chest feeling empty.
Ha.
I stood up steadily, with normal steps, no staggering.
"Thank you."
But a heavy silence fell around me, deathly quiet.
"Why...?"
"It won't impair my movement right away, so I'm trying to tough it out for now."
"......"
The item was too precious.
Go Yeongeun seemed to read those words in my eyes.
"Sigh."
My old colleague from Daydream Corporation, who'd rolled through hell with me, turned away from my situation with a complicated expression.
...She got it, to some extent.
But one person was different.
"...You've been walking around in that state?"
"......"
The Bronze Agent stared blankly at my injury, then snapped to attention and looked at me.
"That drug."
As expected.
She'd realized the original purpose of the regeneration potion I'd given her.
"......"
"Are you insane?!"
"I'm not."
Thanks to Happy Maker, my head was clear.
I steadied my breathing and even managed something like a smile for her.
Complete with a convincing explanation.
"Hear me out. It was a rational choice."
"What?"
"I wouldn't die without immediate treatment, but you were about to."
"......"
"And if a veteran like you hadn't joined us, the citizen who requested rescue would have been in danger too."
Yeah.
Originally, I hadn't counted the two high schoolers the Bronze Agent was protecting.
My plan was built around three people who could hold the landing.
Me, Go Yeongeun, and my assigned high schooler.
Three total.
...Abandoning the Bronze Agent, that is.
But finding the sign she'd left changed everything.
Instead of the Bronze Agent, two high schoolers—one unpredictable, one already shell-shocked—joined us.
...It was tough.
If they were just adults, I might have cut them loose without a second thought.
But they were only 15, 16 years old. Cutting bait felt impossible... with modern sensibilities.
In the end, the best answer was right there.
Save the Bronze Agent.
And I can't burn through unlimited Nostalgia Candy, so the regeneration potion fit.
Overall—even excluding my personal big picture—it was a rational judgment as a Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau rescue agent.
"So... I think my decision was rational."
"......"
But the Bronze Agent's expression darkened.
She forced her mouth open.
"...Why in the world..."
At that moment.
Crash!
"...!"
All three agents' heads whipped around.
"Ah, crap."
Someone peeked out from behind a tent, flustered at catching our eyes. They'd dropped a camping cup by accident, hurriedly picking it up and putting it back.
...One of the high schoolers the Bronze Agent had been watching.
Oh boy.
I first made sure to cover the stump of my missing arm properly with my jacket.
"...Let's talk after we get out of the mart."
"......"
The Bronze Agent's mouth twitched, then she bowed her head with a look of regret and quietly headed to the end of the camping section.
Go Yeongeun glanced between me and the Bronze Agent, sighed, and followed her.
"......"
Then, the high schooler who'd been glancing around hesitantly shuffled over to me.
"Um, sorry..."
"...I know you didn't mean to eavesdrop. It's fine."
"No, it's just..."
The high schooler hesitated, then spoke up properly.
"It was my fault. What I did."
"......"
"You know... that."
From the conversation they'd just overheard, they seemed to fully grasp that the agents were risking their lives to save them.
Enough to reflect on their own mistakes and outbursts.
"......"
Sigh.
Even adults act out emotionally in extreme situations— what could you expect from minors?
The fact they apologized was already above expectations.
Even if half of it stemmed from terror like, What if they get annoyed and ditch me to escape?
"Got it. Apology accepted."
"......"
"Just hang in there a bit longer till we get out."
"Um,"
The high schooler piped up once more.
"This time when we leave, I'll steal properly. The... stuff."
Oh.
"It's fine."
I patted their shoulder with my remaining arm.
"No need to steal this time."
"...?"
We wouldn't take that risk.
The high schooler looked puzzled for a moment but soon nodded and quietly returned to their friend.
My surroundings fell quiet for a bit.
"......"
It felt awkward.
...Was I too used to having friends who perfectly understood and empathized with me in times like this?
Anyway.
Sigh.
Now, really, just the final touches left.
And this would work.
...Even with extra people, we have two escape items.
We could do it.
I felt inside my jacket for the item I'd stored most securely.
Two white envelopes.
Gift certificates.
I sat quietly in place, reviewing the reinforced version of my original plan once more.
Until everyone was ready.
A moment later.
"Candy in your mouths?"
"Yes! Both of us have it."
"Good."
I confirmed the high schoolers checking each other, then turned to the agents.
The two who'd neatly restored the camping section met my eyes with grim faces.
All briefings done.
Now...
Time to go.
Our group of six left the third floor and calmly descended.
Outdated pop songs, laughter, the sound of carts rolling.
"Haha!"
"No, too expensive. Put it back."
Lively chatter from shoppers around us. Hard to believe it was only four or five days—felt so welcoming.
Of course, they were phantoms from the past who couldn't see, hear, or sense us, so the eerie chill lingered.
The tension too.
"......"
"......"
"Um."
One high schooler spoke up.
"Behind us..."
"Shh."
I hushed them and sent them ahead quietly.
I'd already seen what they spotted.
At the end of our descending escalator, someone stood staring blankly at us.
Bloodshot eyes, filthy clothes, mumbling strange words.
A person who once looked normal, dressed like they'd popped out for a late-night mart run—still wearing the same outfit months later.
A long-term missing person.
I pulled the high schooler's shoulder close.
"...Don't smile, don't look scared."
Smile and they might follow, thinking it's the way out. Panic and they might follow, seeing you as easy prey.
......We can't save them anyway.
No need for hope or fear over the impossible.
The high schooler swallowed hard and nodded, ducking behind me.
"......"
One long-term missing person watching us dragged their disheveled hair and broken leg, boarding the escalator too.
Wanting to leave.
But that wasn't all.
...I felt eyes on us.
Behind the butcher counter, event displays, mumbling next to staff, crying, laughing, staring blankly.
Trying to board the escalator down.
...The first floor must be crawling.
Eventually caught by staff, turned into "merchandise," and vanishing.
By evening, the lower floors would be "cleaned" that way, new victims wandering the low levels like they alone entered this past mart...
"......"
The chill crept down my painkiller-numbed back.
Neither too fast nor slow, we pressed on via escalator. And we returned to where we'd entered.
First floor.
In front of the registers.
"...Let's start quickly."
I took my assigned high schooler...
And headed straight for the registers instead of the exit.
We each grabbed a snack and a canned drink from the ones placed in front of us.
Beside me, the high schooler panted, trying to calm down.
On a weekday afternoon, the mart still sparse, we reached the cashier without waiting...
"......"
I pulled out the gift certificate, placed it forward, and lightly tapped the counter.
"Excuse me."
"Huh?"
The cashier whipped her head around to face me.
Yes.
She recognized me.
"Oh, a customer!"
"...!"
This was the power of the gift certificate.
Being recognized as a legitimate mart customer.
-You can just walk out after using the gift certificate.
-...!
No need to trick the mart.
"Please ring these up."
"Sure!"
Beep, beep.
The cashier cheerfully scanned my items and took the gift certificate...
"Um, we can't give change for anything less than 100 won on gift certificates, but if you give me 600 won in cash, I can make it even thousands."
"...No need. Just keep it."
"Really? Got it~"
The cashier gave me change: four 10,000-won certificates and eight 1,000-won ones.
I immediately passed a few 1,000-won certificates to the high schooler, who repeated the process.
With a trembling voice.
"Ah, wait—one more!"
To avoid raising suspicion, even though our items were rung up together, we adjusted so the change wasn't too much.
And...
"Thank you."
"Thank you~ Come back to Lucky Mart soon!"
We passed.