Chapter 156
Chapter 156
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 156
Chapter Title: Even If I Fall Into a Ghost Story, I Have to Go to Work
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The employees of Daydream Corporation's Field Exploration Team were people who risked their lives at work because they desperately wanted to achieve their wishes.
What this meant was that most of the staff were the type prepared to exploit colleagues, civilians, or even insane ghost stories for the sake of fulfilling their own wishes!
People for whom only the welfare points needed for their wishes mattered.
Three such prime examples were standing right in front of me.
Of course, their personalities weren't entirely due to their wishes... or so it seemed.
"Deputy Manager, what about the ones who fell behind when we encountered those baby mermaids earlier...?"
"Not interested."
"Lizard, sir, of course those who got caught are truly unfortunate... but it's their fate. Should we press on quickly? We need to find that item..."
"Right, right. But they might've dropped some gear while getting dragged off, so let me just take a quick look... hahaha!"
"......"
Truly consistent people...
'Telling those guys that baby mermaids are actually kids wouldn't make a difference...'
It wouldn't get through to them at all. They'd probably just start scheming how to exploit that info even more. Acquaintances or not, it was useless.
No, even from the start, I couldn't reveal myself in my current form, so familiarity was pointless anyway.
Hidden in the black shadow cast by a fallen streetlamp, in the form of a street animal, I observed the Daydream Corporation employees rummaging through the alleys.
But then...
"Quiet."
Jin Nason stopped in her tracks and crouched down.
"Mermaids."
"......"
"Babies."
The three employees all held their breath and pressed against the alley wall.
A sound echoed.
Like the laughter of a child.
'Ha.'
My whole body froze cold... but I had to confirm it.
I very cautiously contracted my four legs softly and leaped silently onto the top of the wall.
The moment my view opened slightly to the other side of the alley, the 'baby mermaid' finally came into sight...
Something was off.
It was bizarre. Small bodies mimicking humans were walking down the shattered main road of the infected city.
Some were refined, even grinning like they were imitating human expressions, but others had faces swollen with ulcers, pulsating on their own.
And beneath them, the horrific mucus!
Every time the mucus pulsed in sync, a wind-like hiss escaped, resembling a child's laughter.
Pink ulcer lumps, greenish flesh masses, polluted blobs trailed down their legs like long tails, dragging along.
The dead's belongings and clothes haphazardly draped on them, as if desperately trying to deceive people...
Even to my eyes, knowing they were innocent children.
"......"
Cold sweat dripped, my spine and whiskers bristling.
Instinct told me.
The Infection Fluids came bounding down the main road like a grotesque parade. Me and the Daydream employees in the alley all held our breath.
Then someone burst out from another alley.
A person encountered the Infection Fluids.
"......!"
But that person was already covered in infectious mucus, joints overtaken by ulcer lumps, being controlled.
A hopeless sight.
The infected was no longer sane but could still scream.
Because they had a mouth.
"Agh!! Aaagh! Agh!"
The Infection Fluids burst into laughter and charged.
The tentacle-like tail masses surged forward disgustingly.
The ulcer on the infected's stomach burst open, spewing blood, mucus, and unspeakable things.
"Agh, haaaagh, heuugh......"
Having their 'honey' harvested, harvested...
I curled my paws and endured that time.
Eventually, the screams faded.
"......"
Passing the deceased, the Infection Fluids—now with their tail ulcers filled with blood and mucus—resumed their march.
Toward the mermaid statues.
As infection tumors, as clusters of biological hazards.
"......"
Only after the sound completely vanished did the three employees in the alley start moving again.
"...Getting caught by that tail means it's over for you, right?"
"Yeah."
That was the reason to flee.
Anyone hearing this might wonder how this ghost story got a C-Grade rating.
'Because there's a very clear clear condition.'
And like the two sides of a coin, the clear method lies with those infected bodies too.
A strange sound came from the main road again.
But this time, not Infection Fluids.
Full-grown human-like shapes.
But as they grew larger, their refinement was crushed. The wriggling things had no expressions left.
The tail-like ulcer strands had become vein-like, connected to each other... stretching far up the main road.
Connected to the cluster.
Having almost shed their human form, shaped like bait the cluster used to lure people.
...Presumed to be the final mutation form of Infection Fluids.
A spark of motivation returned to the Butterfly Mask Deputy Manager's eyes.
"There they are."
So, if the encountered threat wasn't an Infection Fluid but a general infected body...
"Catch it."
Eliminate it and collect proof.
The three employees stepped out, luring and killing the infected body.
General infected bodies surprisingly withered and died easily once severed from the cluster's connection.
"......"
Presenting the proof allows boarding the remaining escape shuttle in the city to clear the darkness.
Which meant... the children.
Used while infected, and once the ulcer-like creatures spread fully across their bodies, they lost their minds and turned into monstrous organisms.
The reason kids vanished every time agents visited.
Once fully infected and dead, they connected to that grotesque biological hazard cluster as a part of it...
'...Fuck.'
I suppressed the urge to vomit and clenched my front paws tight.
Curses welled up.
There was no saving them at that stage, and even though I'd read about it multiple times in the exploration records, the physiological repulsion made my fur stand on end.
"Proof collection complete!"
"Shut up."
"Ah, yep yep."
Eventually, the three succeeded in hunting the 'mermaid' and extracting what seemed like a sensory organ from its tail as proof.
That sight oddly overlapped with the baby mermaids harvesting blood and mucus from the infected person.
Now they could escape this place.
But instead of rushing straight to the escape shuttle, they kept searching alleys and advancing.
'...Because they have a second objective.'
Anyone familiar with Daydream Corporation employees' behavior patterns would realize it immediately.
'The item.'
The reason this C-Grade darkness wasn't assigned to regular squads.
Judged that 'given its scale and clues, greater secrets might be hidden,' it remained under the research team.
Explorations proceeded with volunteers... and there was never a shortage of them.
'For a reason.'
Because of the item discovered here, which was a 'clue' in itself.
In this ruined city, there existed a very mysterious and wondrous remnant of civilization.
Commonly known as...
'Angel's Sigh'.
"Argh, screw that sigh or whatever, it's not here."
"Quiet."
A Daydream Corporation employee in a suit and bizarre mask grumbled from a corner of the alley.
Coming to this place—where a mysterious civilization once existed but now only ruin, monsters, pollution, and terrifying assaults remained—wasn't just for points.
In fact, this expedition consisted of volunteers more interested in the loot than survival.
Angel's Sigh.
A conch-shell-shaped item occasionally found inside and around houses in this city's residential areas.
Its true value emerged when held to the ear.
The beautiful humming from within calmed the mind, healed wounds, and restored energy.
A healing item.
Naturally, as one of the few items helpful for darkness explorations that Daydream Corporation bought up, employees scoured eagerly for it.
But after dozens of expeditions, it was no longer easy to find.
They had to venture deeper into riskier central areas or uncover secret spots others missed.
And getting caught by infected bodies was commonplace.
Just like those employees now.
"Aaagh!"
'Idiot fucker.'
Baek Saheon heard the scream from the alley they'd passed earlier and felt brief satisfaction with his chosen companions.
'Good thing I shoved them ahead.'
These people weren't in their right minds, but obsession with items kept them from short-sighted stupidity.
He fiddled with the escape shuttle admission ticket extracted from the tail, smirking subtly.
'Clear prep done.'
Now, hunt for items, and if needed, feed the others to the mermaids and bolt...
Wait.
Just now.
Something passed by?
'...Huh?'
Baek Saheon blinked.
Clearly, something had darted from the streetlamp shadow below the alley and around the corner, caught in his peripheral vision.
He quickly checked his companions, but they showed no reaction.
'Did I imagine it?'
Having always relied solely on his senses and judgment, Baek Saheon couldn't accept that.
Nor did he want to tell the A-Squad deputy manager.
...He was the type hard to manipulate into acting.
'He'd totally do it.'
Ah, fuck. No time for item hunting either.
Regrettably, he gritted his teeth and decided to stay alert at the alley corner.
That was when.
A shadow flitted past the alley streetlamp.
Definitely the black something he'd seen earlier. That silhouette was...
Triangular ears, streamlined body, four legs.
......Phew, what.
Familiar.
'Just a kitten.'
Baek Saheon exhaled in annoyed relief. It was just one of those pesky strays common on the streets.
So he thought...
'......Huh?'
In that instant.
A chill ran down Baek Saheon's back.
In a darkness where no life except mermaid biohazards had ever been found.
There couldn't be a stray cat.
"...!"
Calculations raced through Baek Saheon's cold-sweat mind.
And quietly, without alerting the others, he slightly lifted his eyepatch... to check the danger with the purple glow of the hidden reverse eye.
And then.
He saw the danger.
"...!"
A horrific red halo rippled beyond the alley corner.
Visible even in the shadows. Rats, cockroaches, wings, teeth—like swarms of lowly vermin spotted on streets, undulating.
No.
Not a cat!
That's not a quadruped. Something's wrong! Mermaids! No, more dangerous than mermaids, that halo shape looks familiar from somewhere...
'......Kim Sol-eum?'
Baek Saheon snapped his head up.
"What're you doing."
"N-nothing."
He stiffly turned back to the alley corner...
The shadow was gone.
The red halo beyond the corner had vanished like a lie.
"......"
Pretending to search, he moved his stiff legs toward the corner.
His heart pounded.
And rounding the corner, he saw it.
......On the ground, words scratched into the dust with sharp claws or nails.
"......!!"
Whew.
'Atmosphere set.'
This laid the foundation to guide the Daydream Corporation employees if needed.
I ran through the alley, holding back a sigh.
'Baek Saheon's eyes are sharp as expected.'
The eye gear I gave him worked reliably. Honestly, it felt like a bad trade compared to the brainwashing fountain pen I got in exchange.
'Never used it once fearing spy suspicions...'
Valuable items make you think all sorts of things.
Anyway, I'd grasped the situation firsthand. ...A hell where infected bodies rampaged, kids and adults killing each other.
Hell.
'...Gonna puke.'
The bigger problem... was the shortage.
Time, info, power.
All of it.
'...How the hell do I save the kids here?'
Shock faded, reality set in.
No answers.
'If I tell the agents, they might say humane execution is better...'
Even protecting myself seemed overwhelming.
Plus. Once the sun sets today, I'd leave this supernatural disaster with the agents anyway.
I knew.
Knowing this horrific truth didn't burden me with saving them, and with my own neck on the line, ignoring it was easier.
Just lay low, kill time till evening, and bail seemed sensible.
But...
'...Feels ominous.'
I'd already seen this duality.
Could I really escape unscathed, treated as a kid under the Disaster Management Bureau protocols...?
'...Might not.'
Better to dig deeper and prepare countermeasures.
If I could save even one more kid in the process... great.
And this ghost story had so many intriguing corners; digging might yield items or info useful for my survival later.
'...Alright.'
I'll try as far as I can.
For now, before the promised afternoon time, Black Tortoise Team 1 agents wouldn't seek me out even if I stayed hidden.
With kids scattered in this vast space, not running into them wasn't odd.
'A method, something viable...'
I rummaged through my hazy memory of the [Darkness Exploration Records] for hints.
Not just on the mermaid grave itself—similar ghost stories might spark workaround ideas...
Oh, wait.
"...!"
Ah.
'There it is.'
Another entry mentioning this mermaid grave in the Darkness Exploration Records...!
And that darkness... I'd already experienced it.
'...Good.'
I'll try it.
I started moving on four legs again.
I ran.
Dangers lurked everywhere in the city ruined by monstrous infections, but this nimble quadruped body helped.
'Small size makes dodging easy.'
My destination, evading mucus and ulcers, was clear.
'Western outskirts.'
Far from the infection cluster.
Especially... where ulcer masses were scarce, feeling relatively safe.
But not the residential area with items, so no Daydream employees searched here.
No baby mermaids either.
Thus, exploration lagged here.
'Somewhere around here... yes.'
Found it.
Amid half-collapsed rundown buildings, the ground caved in, burying a small brick house's semi-basement. Its door was visible...
And peering closely at the door's corner revealed these words.
"...!"
More ornate script than what I'd seen before, etched small at the door's edge.
"......"
Found it.
Moonlight Tattoo Shop's back door.
One of the various sightings about Moonlight Tattoo Shop.
But most accounts had the door closed to entry, and Daydream's secured visit logs—excluding my 'Vacant' use—were none.
The small glass window for checking outside was completely covered by a note.
This one.
'...Not exactly reserved.'
I politely knocked with my front paw, then shoved a prepared note under the door.
Tough writing with paws.
"......"
And seconds later.
A sound came.
The back door's lock disengaging.
"...!!"
Got it.
I jumped up with my hind legs, grabbed the doorknob, opened it, and slipped inside before it closed.
Into Moonlight Tattoo Shop.