Stuck in the Wall Bunny Girl (4): Glimpses Through the Wall
My body was being forcibly dragged in. From head to waist. It happened so suddenly that I had no time to react. No—that wasn't quite right. If I'd kept my wits about me, I could've responded. This was inexperience. A mistake born of my own immaturity and complacency.
With my upper body completely swallowed, I had no intention of meekly becoming prey. So I started pushing back with raw strength… and to my surprise, it actually worked. As the strange stalemate dragged on, I even found the presence of mind to look around.
‘Something feels off. Time and space are all jumbled together…’
Within the pitch-black space, I could see events from other places and other times. The scale wasn't particularly large—just the interior of Daon Mart. Time-wise, it seemed to span only a few hours before and after the present.
Amid the disjointed scenes, a familiar face appeared. Focusing my attention, I could observe from a much closer vantage point.
‘Huh. That guy. He's the one who ran off after I filed a complaint.’
The massive red-skinned figure was huddled in what looked like a break room. According to the rulebook, his name was the Butcher. His upper body kept twitching… Was he crying?
The next figure to appear was the Manager in a black suit—the same arrogant anomaly who'd criticized my outfit. He seemed to have taken quite a beating earlier; bandages wrapped around his body.
The Manager spoke in a sharp, mocking tone.
"What's this? Butcher, are you crying right now?"
"N-no, I'm not. I'm sorry, Manager."
"I don't understand. Why would you cry? You're having it easy right now, aren't you?"
"?"
"You made a complete mess of things and now you're resting in the break room. Whimpering like that. Must be nice."
"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry."
"How wonderful for you. You still get your full paycheck even like this. Watching you cry while collecting your salary, I have to wonder—were you an actor before this, Butcher?"
"Waaah… Hic, hic, I'm sorry."
"Honestly, I'm jealous of you, Butcher. Back in my day, I'd have gutted useless parasites like you and laid you out on the display shelves."
A shocking scene—an anomaly of higher rank openly tormenting another. True to their nature, unbound by human rights or labor laws, the insults flew freely.
"Come to think of it, Butcher. Didn't you lose a human last time too? Ah~ Maybe you like humans? Is that your preference?"
"No! It's not like that at all. Please believe me, Manager."
"Then do your job properly so I can believe you! I don't care if you're keeping a pet human at home or whatever little games you're playing—just do your work right! You got smacked and sent flying by that person too. Why take it out on some random… well, another anomaly?"
‘To think I'd ever feel sympathy for an anomaly.’
They learned bad habits quickly. Even anomalies had absorbed the darkness of our society. Maybe… ghost stories weren't so far away after all. If this wasn't a ghost story, what was? Perhaps to them, our society had always been hell.
Watching any longer made me uncomfortable. Even if they were anomalies, seeing someone bullied to the point of tears wasn't pleasant. The force trying to pull me in was still manageable, so I kept peering deeper into the hole.
"I'll cut your hair for you, customer."
"Wow! It feels so refreshing now that the useless head is gone!"
"Of course. I'm a skilled hair designer!"
"Hahaha!"
"Hohoho!"
It hadn't been intentional, but this was turning out better than expected. Being able to scout the inside of the mart in advance was invaluable—not just for finding an escape route, but also for locating any possible survivors. I'd already found one other person besides myself. Where there was one, there could be two or three. At the very least, I wanted to save anyone within my reach.
‘No living people here. Moving to the next location…’
The beauty salon only contained an eight-headed hair ghost and severed heads. The skincare shop was no different from a butcher's, and the restaurant showed no signs of people either.
Then a sound reached my ears—one I couldn't possibly ignore.
"Customer… Our Kids Cafe is a No Kids Zone."
"Rule violation! Bringing a child is against the rules!"
"Penalty! We must issue a penalty! If you brought a child, you must take responsibility!"
Setting aside the absurdity of running a Kids Cafe as a No Kids Zone, there were other survivors. At least two. A child accompanied by a guardian.
"Mom. It's cramped in here. I'm scared…"
"Just a little longer. Hold on a bit more, sweetheart. Even if you're scared, you have to stay quiet and wait. Promise Mommy."
"Until when?"
"Mommy will definitely come save you. Without fail. So you have to stay hidden and quiet no matter how long it takes. Understand?"
I had to move immediately. As much as I wanted to keep searching, I had to give that up. Compared to the area I'd already scanned, traces of people were extremely rare. I couldn't abandon the person right in front of me just to hunt for others who might not exist.
Moving directly from here to there… was impossible. I couldn't tell whether the scenes I'd just witnessed were from the past or the future. But arriving quickly at any scene was never a bad thing.
I pulled both hands out and grabbed the edges of the hole. It was firmly fixed, making it easy to brace myself. I poured every ounce of strength into it—pushing with such force that my arm muscles screamed.
My body slowly began to emerge as the tentacle let out a shriek.
"Kkigik. Kkiiiiiik!"
It took only eight seconds to sever the tentacle completely. The moment I heard the thud, an intense gaze swept over me. It was an anomaly on a level far beyond "strong." Its presence was incomparable to anything I'd encountered before.
It had no form, yet it clearly existed—and once it latched on, it would never be easy to shake off. I couldn't say exactly what it was, but that was the feeling I got.
With that gaze as the final thing I sensed, the black hole vanished. The corrupted rulebook completely lost its power and fluttered to the floor. I'd been pushing so hard that I nearly flew backward.
"W-whoa!"
I'd almost crushed Yu Seo-gyeom beneath me. That had been dangerously close. My strength was greater than most anomalies. If an ordinary person had been hit, they wouldn't have survived.
"You shaved ten years off my life. That was dangerous. Why were you there?"
"I was trying to help. It looked like you were being pulled away."
"I appreciate the thought, but don't ever do that again. Your life comes first, Seo-gyeom. Got it?"
"H-how could I do that? You helped me, and besides, the rulebook I gave you…"
"Being kind is a flaw sometimes. Anyway, listen to me."
Apparently, he'd been pulling me from behind the whole time. When I suddenly shot out, he'd nearly been flattened. Now that I thought about it… what kind of position had I been in exactly?
The hole had opened around my chest. I'd been sucked in up to my waist, with my feet barely touching the floor. I'd been bent at a ninety-degree angle, struggling desperately. From behind, that posture would have looked…
"Eep!"
"Eep…?"
"I-it's nothing. Nothing at all."
I really couldn't live like this. I was going to die of embarrassment!
* * *
Seo-gyeom knew where the Kids Cafe was. He'd passed by it before meeting me. Fortunately, Daon Mart's layout wasn't particularly complicated. The exit's location changed every time, but fundamentally it wasn't much different from any other large supermarket.
The surprising part was that the anomalies inside the mart weren't chasing me again. Given my distinctive outfit, I'd expected to be attacked immediately… Ah.
‘It must be because of my skill. This thing is way more useful than I thought.’
The skill Mysterious Bunny Girl! It applied a perception-distortion effect whenever I was in bunny girl attire. It had been the root cause of the haunted video incident, but it had proven beneficial in many ways. I'd mostly used it for protecting my privacy, but apparently it worked on anomalies too.
Still, it probably wouldn't work on the Butcher or Manager, who'd directly confronted me. I'd have to be especially careful to avoid those two.
"Customer. Would you like to try our Kids Cafe?"
"We're currently operating as a No Kids Zone, so adult customers can enjoy it as well."
The state of the Kids Cafe matched what Seo-gyeom had described. A single employee was soliciting customers while holding a human head. The interior of the Kids Cafe was completely invisible from outside. It had an atmosphere that made you never want to enter, but I had a clear purpose.
"What kind of experience can I have inside?"
"Ah, customer! Inside you'll enjoy a fun game of hide-and-seek and…"
Alright, that was enough. I didn't need to hear more. It meant they were playing a game of hide-and-seek where getting caught meant real death, all disguised as "fun." That wasn't particularly surprising in this type of ghost story. Once inside, blood-soaked killers would be playing tag. Typical.
I'd already studied that much of the repertoire.
"Sounds good. I'm really looking forward to it. I want to go in right now!"
"Yes, customer! Please have a wonderful time!"
However, the scene inside the Kids Cafe was quite different from what I'd expected. My prediction had been accurate—the cafe was filled with anomalies wearing dog and cat masks, wandering around with chainsaws. Those were probably the "it" players I'd imagined.
Chunks of flesh scattered across the floor. The bloodstains on the overturned mascot heads made for a reasonable deduction. I'd planned to turn the situation around with force… but unfortunately, that didn't seem possible.
"Hic, h-hic, hiiiiik! Go away! Go awaaay!"
"This isn't fun! It's not enjoyable at all!"
"Kieeeeh!"
Inside the Kids Cafe, the roles of tag had already reversed. The mascot heads were desperately fleeing while a blood-covered anomaly chased after them.
"■■ is ■■■■…… ■ollowing ■■……"