Chapter 180
Chapter 180
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 180
Chapter Title: The Good Friend Invitation Ritual
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I remember it precisely.
It's vivid enough that I could never forget it. It's a turning point in my life at Daydream Corporation, after all.
The Good Friend invitation ritual.
1. Dip your finger in water and draw the hexagram from the enclosed pattern on a smooth floor.
I rushed to the bathroom, fetched some water, poured it onto the resort office floor, and began drawing the pattern with my finger.
For some bizarre reason, the exact pattern came to mind crystal clear. As if someone had hammered it into my brain.
In an instant, the floor was covered in a damp hexagram.
The only difference was...
It was bigger.
Much bigger.
The hexagram spanned the entire office floor.
I placed the deactivated Magic Bunny doll mask in the center of the completed hexagram.
Then, with the utmost caution, I placed a coin on the doll mask's stomach...
'...'
I couldn't take out the coin.
The Silver Coin Serpent I'd originally used to summon the 'Good Friend' was buried deep inside: within the mascot suit, inside the security team's uniform, and in the pocket of my casual clothes underneath.
But I couldn't take off the mascot suit.
'...In that case!'
I opened the office drawer and pulled out a Jolly Coin.
'This is a coin too.'
Even if it was a plastic coin, it was valid currency, fitting the ritual's meaning of a 'coin' perfectly.
It didn't have to be cast from real metal; it just needed to be small, round currency with monetary value.
I thoroughly dried the finger hole of the mascot glove, then placed the coin on the doll mask's stomach.
'Good.'
I hurriedly moved on to the next step.
So...
'Salt!'
4. Put a spoonful of salt in your mouth and burn an item related to your friend with fire.
5. When the 'Good Friend' starts speaking, swallow the salt and kindly return the greeting!
If the coin disappears, it's a success! You've made a reliable friend. Cherish them and stay together always!
※ If the salt won't go down, tastes strange, turns to ash, or draws blood, run away.
Not much time left.
The mass-produced mascots were rushing back from the room service storeroom with salt. I snatched it from them outside the office like a thief and shoved it into my mouth...
......
Could I really do this while wearing the mascot head?
'Have to try.'
I carefully opened the yellow mascot's mouth. Then I poured the salt inside and closed it.
Now, one thing left to prepare.
Burning the item with fire.
Last time, I'd used my necktie... but I didn't have one now.
'This will do as a substitute.'
I yanked off the yellow bowtie the yellow mascot was wearing and held it in my hand.
Then I held the bowtie over the flame of the prepared candlestick.
Whoosh.
The bowtie burst into flames.
The unnaturally soaring blaze reminded me of the time I'd summoned the Good Friend before.
A massive shadow fell over the pink doll mask.
And it shook.
Shake.
Shake.
I watched it anxiously.
It had said it would come if called with the right medium.
So this should work.
Shake.
Shake.
The shadow's movement made it seem like the doll mask itself was about to move.
Any second now, any second.
Shake.
Shake.
From within the dark shadow.
The massive doll mask opened its mouth.
-My resort!
......
What?
-My resort called me back! Hahaha! Hahahahaha! Hahahahahaha! My resort! My resort! Myyyyy resort! Beautiful Flower Golden Resort!
The doll mask in the hexagram's center convulsed with manic laughter. I watched, breathless.
Drip.
The upper body rose.
It twisted its head to look my way.
-Give it back
The Jolly Coin on its stomach sizzled as it burned, then got sucked into the doll mask.
A acrid plastic stench filled the facility office.
-My
-resort
The water in the hexagram vibrated, blood flowing from it.
Melted plastic oozed from the doll mask's eyeholes and mouth.
It fully raised its body over the hexagram.
-Give it back
'...'
Something was
wrong.
I had to finish the ritual first. Right now!
'Swallow.'
I tried to swallow the salt. So, send the saltwater down my throat...
......
Eh?
Why... don't I have a throat?
-Hahahahahaha!
I looked down at myself.
And realized something shocking.
'No body.'
This mascot suit was stuffed with cotton. And the reason was...
I hadn't returned to 'my body.'
When I met the blue mascot and Assistant Lee killed the ladybug shaman, forcing me to hurry back to the resort, instead of using my original body, I'd piloted one of the mass-produced mascot suits as if it were mine.
And kept doing so.
So... I'd forgotten I even had an original body.
Right now, I was using the body of a mass-produced mascot.
'...!!'
Then... where was my real body?
No way, one of the mass-produced mascots that got torn apart by the Magic Bunny earlier...
Ah, no.
If it had been my body, blood and real guts would have spilled, not cotton and cloth organs.
There wasn't a yellow mascot like that. My body was somewhere...
......
But where, exactly?
-Hello?
And whatever this was that I'd 'invited' with the Good Friend ritual... whose call had it answered?
I realized.
My reasoning was correct. The mascot doll mask was indeed suitable as a medium for the invitation ritual.
But there was a flaw.
'Undefined purpose.'
Because it wasn't a souvenir doll from the gift shop.
No restrictions as a Good Friend.
-Hello? Hello? Hello? Answer me. Answer me.
The doll mask twisted into a grotesque form.
...That wasn't a 'Good Friend.'
Just something from the other side of the world.
-Offer kind words of greeting and accept me, you hollow thing.
......Wait a minute.
'My resort'? No way, was that...
-Behold the true mascot!
......!
Something protruded sporadically from the doll mask.
Filthy golden fractal petals bizarrely surged up and down as if piercing the head.
...Flower Golden.
-Accept me
The silhouette I'd seen on the ruined resort sign.
A golden flower-like mascot dwelled within.
The invitation ritual performed by the 'mass-produced mascot' had awakened and summoned the dead former owner of this resort.
The entity whose whereabouts had been unknown since its death.
-Accept me
The documents on the desk trembled.
A pen danced alone over the document that had celebrated my appointment.
The true owner of this resort had appeared.
I was merely a pathetic interim manager filling its seat, and now it was time to humbly hand over everything I'd built and step aside.
Everything had been prepared for this moment!
Ah.
Accept him.
Fully accept him and become part of him, follow the mascot.
Accept him.
-Accept me
I stepped back.
The doll mask came to the edge of the hexagram and peered at me.
-Accept me
The ritual had failed. I had to run.
But where to?
And until now, I'd acted according to the document's excellent advice. Now that it was revealed to be following the original mascot's will, it was right to humbly follow the true mascot!
Yes! That's...
......
'No!'
I looked at the other documents on the desk.
Work rules, employment contracts, usage guidelines. All written while fighting against the mascot's will to run the resort in bizarre ways.
I...
......
Ah nyah
I looked at the entity in the hexagram.
He re
My re sort
I grabbed the document and stood before it.
My head pounded, but I could endure it.
Because I'd realized something.
You
have no
right
-Eeeeeh?
How dare I say such...
I crumpled the document.
You
lost
-!!!!!!
Right. You're a vengeful spirit who was killed by another mascot and lost your territory.
And moreover.
Right
now
all
The very existence that killed you and turned this resort to ruins is right in front of the garden.
Having re-entered this zone to begin the hunt anew.
I'll show you the proof.
He re
I flung open the office door.
A massive window faced the hallway opposite.
At night, the outside was hard to see through it; instead, the brightly lit office reflected back.
Clearly visible: the silhouette of the doll mask standing atop the hexagram.
Red Rabbit.
Ma gic Bunn y
has
come
You.
-......
The doll mask reached out, touched its face, put a hand to its head, checked the two upright ears.
And... confirmed its own hands.
Covered in red fur, rabbit paws.
-Magic Bunny
Its hands trembled, limbs twisting in terror.
-Magic Bunny! Nooo! Aaaah! Save me! Save me!! Please save me! Don't rip out my guts aaaah! My resort! Resort!
I hurriedly poured salt over the office floor.
'Erase it.'
White salt covered the blood-water of the hexagram and the black plastic, wiping away the pattern.
As it erased, the doll mask was forced toward the center, clutching its head and screaming.
-Run! Magic Bunny's coming! The red mascot's coming! Following the red path! Aaaah! Aaaaaaah!
-Save me! It's infiltrating! The red ■■ wriggling inside the mask ate me! Just the scraps left underground! Save me!
-Disappear, red thing, disappear, red thing, disappearredthingdisappearredthingdisappearredthingdisappearredthingdisappearredthingplease
The invited entity, tearing at its head, finally,
Plop plop plop.
tore off its own head.
Both hands lifted the mascot head into the empty air, as if desperate to distance it, in reverence, in horror. Held it high.
And then.
Thud, it collapsed to the floor.
......
......
'Haa.'
I sank to the office floor.
'Thought I was done for.'
I'd nearly gotten absorbed, ending in a mass-produced mascot bad end. Even in this cotton-stuffed body, my heart felt like it would burst.
Still, somehow... I'd managed to salvage it and achieve some dramatic result, but right now, the important thing was...
'...Time!'
How much was left?
I checked the clock.
8:11 PM.
'49 minutes until closing.'
I didn't know if I should feel deflated or relieved that this chaos took only 10 minutes, but one thing mattered.
I'd failed to summon the Good Friend.
'...'
No.
This definitely meant something.
There was a harvest.
I'd uncovered the identity of what had been forcing this resort's operations.
And eliminated it.
I smoothed out the crumpled document and held the pen to it.
......No strange coercive force.
'I can write the operation rules more freely now.'
Things I'd been blocked from writing before, things harmful to the resort's idea of 'successful operations' from its perspective, I could now implement as I wished.
...Like the crazy stuff Magic Bunny does.
'This will be useful.'
I stood up.
...Still, a lingering regret clung to my back: if I'd had just a bit more time, would it have worked?
Was it the coin? Or the bowtie? Or...
'...It just decided not to respond.'
Since I wasn't summoning in my original body, that might have been a fatal disqualification.
'Hoo.'
I gathered the documents, intending to find some safety measures and head for the blue mascot...
Ring ring ring-
"...?"
I froze.
Ring ring ring-
I turned my head.
The phone on the office desk was ringing.
Ring ring ring-
I stared at it rigidly.
Until now, had the phone in this resort ever... rung?
'No.'
Room service calls used a walkie-talkie melody. Actual mascot summons used a real bell.
But this was a classic bell ring.
...Someone calling.
Ring ring ring-
'...'
I approached the desk and picked up the old-fashioned receiver.
Click.
An elegant mahogany telephone.
A cheerful, pleasant male voice emanated from it.
[Hello! What a fine night. Oh, connecting me to the talented Jolly mascot of Flower Golden Resort would be much appreciated.]
...!
[Oh, it's you. Perfect timing. The thing is, I'd like to rent out your modest, beautiful resort in full for a few days.]
[As you know, celebrities need private retreats. So, I was thinking of spending this summer vacation at your resort...]
......
No
don't
[Hm?]
No room
sto p
[My word, why didn't you hand over the resort to that poor soul just now? They seemed so desperate!]
[Kidding. Hahaha! For such a vulgar thing to try stealing the resort you nurtured—utterly distasteful.]
The host's distinctive voice came from the receiver.
[Mr. Deer.]
'...'
[Trying to call me was excellent judgment, but you've immersed yourself too deeply in the show and overlooked a few things.]
Overlooked... things?
[Of course, that's the talent of an entertainer in the moment, and the fun fitting the genre. But if it drags on, it gets boring. Now's the time for your perfect advisor to appear for maximum enjoyment.]
[So, from now on, your friend will offer some kind words of advice...]
The voice in the receiver lowered.
[Now, hold the phone tight and lend an ear to the Amazing Brown's voice.]
The great host's kind advice began flowing from the telephone.