Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Even If I Fall into a Ghost Story, I Still Have to Go to Work
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Four people burst out of the Fantasy Train's exit and ran.
“Pant, huff!”
The characteristic heavy breathing of those running for their lives echoed from both sides.
It couldn't be helped.
Mascots were pouring out.
Die...
“Aaaah!”
“Hngh, hnghk...”
From every attraction entrance, every shop, every signpost, bizarre and heterogeneous bubbles boiled up, spitting out sticky mascots.
And those mascots flipped their snouts inside out to reveal countless teeth embedded in their innards as they chased us in grotesque shapes.
Intermittently, their bodies shook as fully melted tentacle-like things drooped from their ears and arms.
It was noisy everywhere.
The theme park's music and laughter overlapped in dizzying spins, creating eerie noise from all directions.
Loud, scary, chaotic, horrific—these sounds!!
Every element made my head ache and robbed me of my sense of direction. But...
“This way! This way!”
I gritted my teeth and turned in the direction of the coordinates etched in my mind.
At that moment.
Thwip.
Splat.
The mucus from a flying tentacle tip barely grazed my head.
Sizzle.
“...Hoo.”
I could feel the splashed mucus melting my hair, the stench of burning filling the air.
This is insane.
Cold sweat poured down.
But my feet didn't stop. No—they couldn't stop.
The moment I stop, it's over.
I'd die. Or worse—my instincts sent chills racing up my spine.
The only silver lining was that the destination was right nearby!
Even the researcher was running, drooling instead of whining.
Go...
“G-get away! Get awayyy!!”
“Shut your mouth!”
The Butterfly Mask yelled. Her eyes screamed regret that she couldn't toss the researcher as bait to buy time.
It couldn't be helped.
Too close.
The zombie-like mascots were multiplying like mad, and some were spawning dangerously close.
And they were fast.
Faster than humans!
Damn it, damn it, damn it!!
The moment terror made the hairs on my back stand on end.
“Kghk!”
Finally, someone got caught.
“Kak, urk...”
The Cow Mask collapsed.
Fuck.
I didn't look back as I somehow flicked a coin from my pocket to summon the glove.
Then I hurled several 500-won coins like projectiles, creating translucent shadow hands in midair.
Whoosh.
The shadow hand flew through the air and shoved the grotesque mascot's head aside.
“Run!”
The Y Squad newbie, his shoulder riddled with holes, crawled out on all fours like his life depended on it and started running.
“Pant, huff, th-thanks...”
“Later!”
There was no time to staunch the bleeding. Dedicated gear? Who cared!
Anyway, the shadow hands vanish beyond a 3-meter radius...
Left Hand: CRUSHED & MELTING
Dedicated Gear Feedback
“~!!!”
I nearly clutched my hand and rolled around sobbing.
This sensation of my hand being crushed and melting alive in a spiked press...
Dedicated gear!
I realized it instinctively.
The hand I'd summoned into thin air had met a gruesome end in the mascot's maw or tentacles.
It was the moment I first grasped my dedicated gear's weakness.
If the glove-spawned hand got wrecked, my hand hurt exactly as much!
But there was no time to scream. I ran like a madman.
And I shouted.
“There!”
The target point came into view.
It was a massive door.
Painted in garish colors, in the typical theme park style...
A decorative piece.
A decorative door affixed to the wall encircling the theme park's west side.
“It's blocked!!”
“Stick to the bottom!”
I was the first to plant my feet under the decorative door without hesitation and turned back.
Almost simultaneously, two others tried to do the same. The A Squad deputy and the Y Squad newbie.
The researcher was behind them—a risky spot...
“Move, fucker!”
“Ugh!”
Thud.
The researcher shoved the A Squad staffer with every ounce of strength, using the recoil to propel himself forward.
“...!”
The suddenly flung slender body slammed into a mascot.
Die...
From the half-melted crawling mascot's eye, black-red mucus poured down onto the Butterfly Mask.
“Aaaah!”
Sizzle.
The searing sound rang in my ears.
“Deputy!”
The A Squad staffer lay pinned under the horrific mascot, limbs trembling uncontrollably.
Her face, uncovered by the Butterfly Mask, was already bubbling into a mess.
What I saw were eyes of resignation.
Eyes that had clearly calculated there was no chance of rescue.
The instant our eyes met.
“Nail!”
I shouted.
“Deputy, nail here!”
I extended my left hand palm-forward. The A Squad deputy widened her eyes, then thrust out her right index finger.
Pew!
The launched nail stabbed dead-center into my palm.
“...!”
But I didn't flinch.
It was already wrecked pain anyway!
My hand, numb from greater agony, gripped the nail without trembling.
And yanked.
Whoosh.
With a short noise, the Butterfly Mask's body was pulled free.
Go...
Mascot teeth barely stabbed into the empty spot, mucus pouring down.
“Pant, heeeek...”
“Hoo...”
We collapsed on the floor beneath the door, gasping for breath.
And right in front of us.
Numerous rabbit mascots shedding mucus like bloody tears stood densely packed with empty pupils, forcibly halted.
“Hik!”
As if an invisible wall blocked their path.
📖 JOLLY THEME PARK USER GUIDE ⚙
(Exploration Record up to #64 Applied)
I looked at the floor.
...The brick color was different.
Lying there were exactly two rows of stark white bricks beneath the decorative arch, like a main gate.
The mascots hadn't been able to cross beyond them onto the red brick floor.
Go...
I looked down at my ticket.
Boring...
The voice faded away.
The mascots packed right in front of us stood utterly still, then vanished the moment I blinked.
“...”
“...”
Panting breaths flowed through the now-quiet air.
I swallowed hard.
“...Magic Bunny's Fantasy Land seems to end here.”
We survived.
“Escape... success.”
“Aa...!”
“Hnggg...”
The Y Squad newbie collapsed, clutching his shoulder with groans of relief and pain.
I leaned my head against the wall, stared at the sky, and caught my breath.
I thought I was dead...
My heart was pounding too hard.
I'd bought this life.
The A Squad deputy shot a chilling glare at the researcher who'd shoved her, but after glancing at my palm—gouged in the shape of her nail gear—she regained her composure.
We'd survived, at least, and she seemed to judge there was no time to make a fuss over killing the researcher right now.
Impressive that she stayed calm despite the immense pain from having acid-like muck dumped on her head.
“Anyway.”
“Yes?”
The A Squad deputy took a deep breath.
“Thanks. I lived thanks to you.”
“...”
It was unexpected.
“No big deal. Thanks to your dedicated gear, Deputy...”
“No point being humble here. Just say 'got it.' You got lucky.”
Ah, yes.
“Unlike some fucking idiot.”
“...”
The researcher desperately averted his eyes.
The A Squad deputy eyed him for a moment before steering back to business.
“This is like some leftover scrap space, right? You aimed for it? But it's cramped just standing... now what?”
“This isn't the destination.”
“Hm?”
Once I'd fully caught my breath, I turned completely to face the decorative door.
“You know how big theme parks often have stuff besides the amusement rides?”
“...Stuff?”
“Yeah.”
Strictly speaking, beneath this door was neither Magic Bunny territory nor any other mascot's—it was empty space.
A blank spot within the theme park, so they wouldn't chase us down to kill us for damaging fixtures.
I knocked on the door-shaped wall.
Thud.
A hollow sound echoed.
“Deputy. Think you can pry this out with your dedicated gear?”
“...”
The deputy silently raised her hand and extended her index nail again.
She wedged it into a wall crack and yanked.
“Gasp!”
Pop.
A brick-shaped panel slid free with a groan, and wind rushed in.
What wafted through was... the smell of water.
“...!!”
Splashhh—the sound of cool water spray poured in, accompanied by ship horns, crying seagulls, and a jolly march.
Through the brick gap, I saw sunlight pouring into an open space.
Towering cylindrical slides swirled through the air, all in vibrant blues, spewing water and tubes.
“Here...!”
A waterpark.
The summer zone that formed one pillar of a massive theme park.
“The blue zone.”
The Y Squad newbie whipped his head around as if his neck might snap, staring at me in shock.
“H-how?!”
“The Fantasy Land color map we saw earlier had zero water attractions.”
“...!”
“So I figured there'd be a big separate section somewhere else.”
I took a deep breath.
“I also reasoned normal access would be tough. They usually sell separate tickets for it.”
“...So you tore open the wall?”
“Yes.”
I recalled my phone call with Squad Leader Lee Jaheon earlier.
-West side...
West.
Of course, the squad leader had meant west within the waterland.
But since we'd luckily been at the far west end of Magic Bunny's Fantasy Land, I could infer a separate blue zone existed.
East blocked by forest, north has the entrance, south is cliffs...
The only direction beyond Fantasy Land where space could exist was west.
That's how I'd interpreted it...
And I nailed it.
“The blue mascot chased out of Fantasy Land must've made this new zone.”
“Ah...”
“Anyway, let's hurry over.”
“R-right!”
Hands worked busily to tear out more panels. Even the injured Y Squad newbie pitched in with one hand somehow.
Meanwhile, the researcher lurked in the corner, eyes darting, slyness returning to his face.
He'd caught on that things were going smoothly.
And a few seconds later.
“It's... done!”
Finally, with a hole big enough for people, we started slipping through one by one.
As the last one out, I stood in the Waterland on my own two feet, gazing at the blue pool and blue sky.
Whoosh, a misty wind blew.
The sunlight...
It felt ridiculously good.
The moment a strange sense of liberation washed over me,
I spotted people far off who'd seen me—they waved and came running.
“Deer!!”
“...!”
D Squad.
“You okay?!”
“Deputy!”
Each carrying bulky loads—tubes or the like—D Squad rushed up.
Spending a month together had clearly left its mark; relief flooded me.
“Hope you all did well?!”
I approached with a glad greeting.
And pondered whether I should take something off the squad leader's shoulder to show some newbie hustle...
Hold on.
That's a person's body.
Not luggage.
A human form dangled limply from the Lizard's shoulder.
...Hunt?
Looking closer, it wore a teal duck mask.
The A Squad leader.
“...”
No.
No!!