Chapter 171
Chapter 171
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 171
Chapter Title: New Mascot?
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'What the hell is this?'
I jumped away from the desk right then and there. But nothing changed.
The message didn't change.
And in the management office of the ruined Flower Golden Resort... I'm the only one here.
Wearing a suit that looks like a monster.
"...".
Did it judge my costumed self as a local of the ghost story and just hire me on as the Jolly Theme Park's mascot...?
It was a chilling guess, but the logic felt somehow half-baked.
'This place was for non-humans to visit in the first place.'
Even in a ghost story, there's got to be some plausibility. It was weird for it to suddenly target just me like this to be the mascot. There had to be a reason...
Ah.
I recalled what I'd done the last time I entered this theme park.
The already ruined yellow zone.
I was the one who activated the gate leading there.
So, strictly speaking, I was the one who had 'reopened' this resort.
'...'
This is insane.
I swallowed hard.
'So I became the mascot? Me?'
I hurriedly checked my appearance, but it was still the monster form protruding from my combat uniform.
'Another hint.'
I examined the desk where the card with the message had been placed.
Next to the card was an inkwell.
And a fancy feather quill stuck into it.
"...".
Did it write the congratulatory message with this pen?
I sat down at the desk, recalling gimmicks from various ghost stories. Maybe if I politely wrote 'I decline' or something on a document with this pen, I could escape the situation.
But the moment I picked up the pen.
'...?!'
...My hand moved on its own, writing words.
This is crazy.
My hand kept scribbling. The sentence continued.
Utter nonsense. But...
...'Guests arriving outside'?
That was when it happened.
"Where...?"
"This isn't... a resort?"
Voices came from outside the door.
A chill ran down my spine as I looked at the closed door.
The Daydream Corporation employees who drew the 'yellow horse' with me had been dropped here too...!
'Damn it.'
I stood up immediately and opened the door.
Slam.
The moment our eyes met through the open door, the employees jumped in fright and froze solid.
"Gasp...!"
"Ugh."
They didn't scream thanks to their Darkness Exploration experience, probably.
The two employees sent tense, terrified glances from behind their masks as they shuffled back against the wall and looked up at me.
At least Jang Heo-un's face merely paled; he didn't blatantly stick to the wall. Had he heard who I was from Manager Ho?
Either way, my head throbbed.
Inside the theme park, I couldn't stay too far from these people.
'...Last time, the ones who drew the same phrase were teleported nearby too.'
If you go beyond the set distance, strings appear and a noose tightens around your neck until you pass out.
'Gotta stick with them for now.'
And the escape method was clear too.
Just ride the three attractions and get a stamp from the mascot.
The problem being that the mascot was me.
"Um."
Jang Heo-un spoke to me.
"There don't seem to be any rides here worth boarding... How about we head to another zone and ride the attractions there?"
I turned to look at Jang Heo-un.
"Eek!"
For some reason, I heard the other employees gulping.
'I'm agreeing!'
But as I slowly nodded, only Jang Heo-un nodded back, his face still somewhat pale.
"Then let's move..."
Whew.
We stepped outside.
We had been in a corner of the lobby attached to the front of the largest building.
We headed straight through the bleak resort ruins toward the outdoor gate.
I took the lead. Toward the gate I'd escaped through last time.
"Th-that thing... knows the way."
"Shut up."
The gate I'd come out of last time... was thankfully operational. The lights flickered unstably, but some were still on in the gate.
...Just as I'd left them.
And entering the theme park from the resort was possible with just a ticket for three attractions...
But.
"...".
I stopped in front of the gate.
'I can't leave...!'
Cold sweat trickled down my back.
An immense pressure bore down on my limbs.
I mustn't interfere with other zones. That would be a horrific violation threatening my very reason for being. I can't. No...
My bizarre identity, now defined as the mascot, constricted me.
'But I need to get out of here to ride any attractions!'
There were no attractions in this damned Golden Resort.
It was ruins!
I looked at the gate to Blue Dream Waterpark.
Cold sweat flowed down my back.
'...Even if I die and turn into a corpse, this won't work.'
Just imagining my corpse being lugged around like luggage while they rode rides in the blue zone made my hairs stand on end.
But this wasn't about accepting such a doggy death or not.
'Not even sure if dragging a dead mascot to another zone is allowed.'
No, I didn't even know what would happen to this zone if the mascot died...
Or to those people.
'...'
In that case.
I turned to the employees.
"Eek!"
The ladybug mask clamped over the field mouse mask's mouth as it tried to scream.
Ignoring the scene politely, I blocked the gate.
"Uh...?"
And pointed in one direction with my finger.
Back to the indoor room where we'd started.
"Um, by any chance... we can't leave? Do we have to go back?"
Nod.
"If, if we go back, is there another way?"
Nod.
"...!"
The employees' faces turned ashen.
"N-No...!"
"Haha, uh, we just follow it? Right?"
The ladybug employee blocked the field mouse employee's mouth and backed away slowly while staring at me.
'Damn it.'
At least they were listening. That was a relief.
I held back a sigh and returned to the original building's interior where we'd come to our senses.
Then I opened the door to the office I'd come out of.
"Ah...!"
I blocked Jang Heo-un, who tried to follow, and pointed to the worn nameplate.
Rule violation.
No matter how I thought about it, they couldn't just barge in.
Slam.
I deliberately slammed the door shut, went inside, and squeezed my eyes shut.
Whoa...
'This is insane.'
...I considered taking off this suit to be rejudged as human and stripped of mascot status.
But the horrific ending where the ghost story remodels me to fit the role felt all too plausible.
No, that was probably more orthodox for a ghost story.
'Ha.'
In the end... judging by the hints given now.
There was only one way for the group that drew the yellow horse to escape this Jolly Theme Park.
'...Get this resort running so we can use three attractions.'
And what's needed is...
I approached the desk again and looked at the document card there.
"...".
I opened the desk drawer.
Sure enough, there was the employment contract as described in the document.
It was a creepy document like something for illegal test subjects.
'Can't leave it like this, no matter what.'
I immediately grabbed the pen and edited the contract.
I erased anything that could be ambiguously interpreted as much as possible.
'Can't overlay new sentences.'
The pen refused. I barely managed to cross out and delete, then scribbled in small writing in the blanks for additional clauses.
I took the finished contract, the original document card, and the quill pen, then headed back out.
Click.
The employees, huddled tensely in the hallway whispering, looked at me.
Jang Heo-un alone stood a bit apart, quietly, as if excluded.
'Whew.'
I held out the employment contract I'd prepared to them.
"What is this...?"
"...".
"...!!"
Like confirming something horrific, the employees peered at the contract with trembling eyes, then froze in shock.
It was telling them to get a job at the theme park.
"Y-You're telling us to sign this...?"
"Uh...".
Of course, in ghost stories, signing an employment contract ends in horrific disappearance over half the time.
Their eyes changed, knowing that.
The eyes of veterans searching for an escape.
"Um... I already have a job, so signing suddenly is tough. Can I think it over a bit?"
"M-Me too. Please...!"
So they'd buy time to find a way to run or frantically prepare gear to subdue me temporarily.
'Field Exploration Team vets must have some hidden lifesaver move.'
Couldn't let them stall.
'No choice.'
I silently stared at the first one who'd spoken.
"Uh, uh...?"
And held my breath.
"...!"
Black smoke gathered thicker around my suit instead of being sucked in with my breath.
The uncollected smoke heavily flowed around the employee's legs and waist.
If you don't sign, something bad will happen.
It hit their senses intensely.
So they'd feel they'd die right now if they tried to stall.
I lowered my face close to the field mouse employee.
Very close.
Enveloped completely in black smoke and the dim yellow lantern light, the employee's hand shook.
"H-Hic...".
In the end, the field mouse employee teared up profusely, reached for the paper, grabbed the pen I offered with trembling hand, and signed in the employee section.
'Please don't use your real name.'
I was ready to snatch it back and guide to a nickname if they tried real name, but fortunately, 'Field Mouse' was written.
'Whew.'
I immediately inhaled again, withdrawing the black smoke.
"Ah...!"
The field mouse employee collapsed against the wall and bowed their head to me.
And the ladybug employee, who'd watched this by rolling their eyes, used the opening to slyly back away and...
"Ugh!"
...shoved Jang Heo-un and bolted down the hallway trying to flee.
But.
"Gah!!"
The running ladybug employee tripped, a string wrapping around their neck.
'Tried to leave the yellow horse team.'
The yellow line strangled their neck...
So I was still recognized as part of the yellow horse team. Even the board game entry rules applied to me.
I held back a sigh and approached.
Fortunately, they knelt in the hallway instead of running further.
"S-Sorry. I thought I saw something over there... If it was an intruder, I was gonna chase it off, haha..."
I silently held out the employment contract again.
"...".
The ladybug employee swallowed, then squeezed their eyes shut and signed the paper.
Ladybug. Good.
And finally...
"...".
Jang Heo-un glanced up at my face briefly, then hurriedly bowed his head and signed the paper.
'Thank you.'
That made three signed employment contracts.
'Finally...'
Employer. My turn to sign.
I chose the most fitting pseudonym.
That instant.
Whoosh.
The employment contracts burst into flames and turned to ash.
And stuck to the three people's foreheads.
"Ah...!"
Now, ornate cursive letters resembling the alphabet 'G' were etched on the Daydream employees' foreheads.
"...".
I looked at the first document I'd brought from the room.
The moment I raised the pen over it.
The surroundings began to rumble.
"...!!"
The dilapidated ruins we were in collapsed, revealing something new.
Shiny gold.
Bright, beautiful wooden and gold interior decorations enveloped a stylish, comfortable hallway.
Fancy little chandelier lights swayed from the ceiling, and at the end of the hallway, a massive, ecstatic lobby came into view.
A space like something out of a cartoon fantasy, with golden stairs, magenta velvet, and sparkling yellow crystal crafts blooming like flowers.
And...
Elegant cursive letters appeared on the Flower Golden Resort sign, revealing the Jolly Theme Park's ecstatic resort in full.
"...!"
The pen moved on its own.
The document updated by itself.
And.
The moment that sentence was recorded.
My appearance began to change.
"...!!"
Something warm, cozy, and stifling wrapped around my suit.
Soft fur covered it, naturally enveloping my entire body like skin and forming a thick shape.
"...".
I looked at my reflection in the glass of the now clean, sparkling hallway.
The mascot was there.
"...!"
A feline something with branch-like horns... deformed into a baby toy shape.
The Jolly Theme Park's new mascot costume.
But I wasn't the only one changing.
"Aaah!"
The employees' bodies twisted and transformed. Into mass-produced mascot forms. Wait...!
I gritted my teeth and grabbed the pen with my stubby mascot hand, scribbling on the document.
"Hah!"
The transformation stopped.
Instead, the employees' suits changed into formal uniforms with golden bow ties.
I withdrew my sweaty hand.
Seemed I could write as long as it didn't go against resort operations.
And me... I'd be fine. It wasn't my flesh turning into a mascot; I was just wearing a mascot costume.
...Probably.
'Whew.'
I took a deep breath and waddled toward the lobby.
Horrifyingly, mascots in my likeness were already waiting there.
"...!"
Bellboys, cleaners, guards, receptionists—all in various uniforms, standing there.
No... I was standing there.
...Just as written.
I knew what every version of me was doing. If I wanted.
'Gonna puke.'
My stomach churned. This didn't feel like human sensation.
But I had to keep working. It was the only way right now anyway.
I approached the largest front desk in the lobby. Avoiding eye contact with the mascot at the reception desk, I scanned the desk.
A golden stamp.
'...!'
Definitely for confirming attraction use.
Seemed we could get stamps in the resort via attached facilities.
"By any chance, this..."
I tried to lift the stamp to ink the others' wristbands, but strong resistance blocked my hand.
'No!'
Stamping a guest who hasn't enjoyed the attractions yet?! Such insolence can't be allowed! It violates operating rules!
I panted for breath.
And offered them the lodging registry.
"...!"
The employees seemed confused by how far off-manual this was, but they wrote their nicknames in the registry upon seeing the stamp.
"I-I'm good!"
Except the ladybug employee.
"...".
I stamped the wristbands of Jang Heo-un and the field mouse employee who'd filled out the registry.
"Ah...!"
"It's real."
The mood lightened a bit.
The ladybug employee glanced over regretfully but said nothing for now.
'Create an atmosphere for voluntary signing later.'
Right now, they'd bolt or neutralize me at the first chance, so dragging this out was risky.
I wasn't real security, nor did I have some superhuman otherworldly power.
'One wrong move and we're done for and dead.'
Had to somehow keep this group stable.
And besides.
'What if we stay three nights like this? Can we escape?'
It said three attractions, so maybe staying in different room types counts.
I raised the pen to the document, hoping for hints.
Okay.
...What?
I blankly stared down at the pen.
'...Of course.'
Resuming resort operations meant receiving guests.
And this theme park's guests were originally...
'Not human.'
Which means...
Sunset would bring non-humans swarming here.
'...!'
Had to get out before then.
'Expand!'
Needed to add attractions now. Open other resort areas to find new ones!
A new page appeared in the document, text writing itself.
Damn it!!
'Where do I get three more?'
People in other zones would finish rides in Blue Dream Waterpark and escape if sane.
No reason to come here!
As I anxiously bit my tongue.
...If we opened for business like this, who knew what the guests would do.
'That's a ghost story in itself.'
Then.
My pen moved again.
"...!"
Like the red mascot pursues endless stimulation and slaughter.
Like the blue mascot values kindness and honor.
My mascot values.
'In that case.'
I immediately scribbled.
Troublemakers forbidden.