Strange M-Mart (2)
He bolted upright.
In a damp, pitch-dark room, a man scrambled desperately to his feet.
"Wha— wait, wait, wait!"
He pounded at his own body, then, realizing he was still alive, broke into tears.
"I'm… I'm alive…!"
The man's name was Kim Changsik, twenty-seven years old.
The events leading up to the moment he opened his eyes inside the BMS had been nothing out of the ordinary. He'd stopped by a nearby convenience store, and when he came back out, every light on the street was dead. It was strange, but he headed home anyway. No matter how far he walked, home never appeared. Just as his bladder grew urgent and exhaustion started to set in, a familiar big-box supermarket rose into view ahead of him.
"That's an M-Mart…"
I'll go in and rest for a bit. I must be more worn out than I thought today.
As if something had taken hold of him, Kim Changsik walked straight into the store.
"Where's the restroom… oh, there. But it doesn't look like there's anyone around…"
Inside the stark white supermarket, not a single person was in sight. Clearly abnormal — but right then, that barely registered with him. There was something off about Changsik's eyes.
Of course a supermarket would be empty at this hour, he thought.
He used the restroom, and when he came back out, the door he'd entered through was gone without a trace.
"Huh?"
He wandered endlessly, searching for a way out, until an automatic door appeared before him. The thought that he absolutely should not cross that threshold had just brushed through his mind when a strange sound rolled in from far away.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
"Uh… uhhh?!"
Something enormous was charging toward him, smashing everything in its path. Terror drove Changsik through the doorway — and the world flipped.
When he opened his eyes again, an ordinary supermarket stretched out before him.
What was that? Did I fall asleep?
"What did I even come here for?"
Right — he'd come to buy a drink. Changsik shuffled off toward the beverage section. Everyone around him looked happy.
"Man… I wish I could be that happy too."
"You want to be happy? Then come with us."
A little kid holding a balloon spoke up from beside him.
Come with us? What does that mean?
It felt like ice water dumped over a foggy mind.
Why am I even here? I was definitely on my way home…
The thought didn't get far. The corners of the child's mouth tore open in a grotesque grin.
"Uh… uhhhhh?"
"Youwanttobehappy?Youwanttobehappy?Youwanttobehappy?Youwanttobehappy?"
At the same instant, every person nearby had their necks snap sideways at unnatural angles.
"Comewithuscomewithuscomewithuscomewithuscomewithus."
The child's arms and legs stretched impossibly long and coiled around Changsik's throat. The moment he looked into the eyes of the thing that had been a child, Changsik blacked out.
And then he was back.
Changsik remembered. BMS. The BMS phenomenon he'd only ever heard about. A spatial type, at that. If it was spatial, there was at least a sliver of a chance he could get out.
What do I do? How do I survive this?
Somehow he forced his trembling body upright and looked around. Dark space. His field of vision was short. He groped forward at random, and something caught against his arm.
"What is that?"
The moment he grabbed it and pulled it free, Changsik nearly screamed. A human arm — half-dissolved.
"Bleeeegh!"
He managed to choke back the scream, but the wave of nausea was unstoppable. Only then did Changsik understand. A stomach. This place was a monster's stomach — and he was being digested.
No wonder the feel of his shoes had been strange, like water slowly seeping in. He took a step forward.
Splish.
Ah. He was finished. His shoes had melted away. Next it would be his feet — and once that happened, he would never leave this place for the rest of his life.
Changsik ran. He had no idea which way was which, but he ran.
I want to live.
He still hadn't paid off his student loans. He still hadn't landed a job. He still hadn't taken the trip he'd planned, still never known real love. From that moment on, a single thought filled Changsik's head: get out of here alive, no matter what.
But that will was broken by something that wasn't him.
"Gwoooooooar—."
A considerable number of footsteps sounded up ahead. The monsters from before.
Why?
Why were they here? Weren't they supposed to be out there hunting other food besides him? Something was wrong. Changsik slowly backed away.
Thud.
Something caught his foot. He went down hard right where he stood, and the impact rang out loud.
Boom!
At once, a massive surge of footsteps answered.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud.
Ah… this unfilial son is on his way out.
Changsik looked up toward a sky he couldn't even see and let the tears fall.
I still don't want to die.
Zzzzzzt—.
That was when it came — a sound like nails dragged across a chalkboard, scraping into Changsik's ears.
"What—?"
The moment Changsik lifted his head, his eyes met a man's.
"Found you. A survivor."
It was Sunghyun.
"Huh?"
Changsik made a stupid little sound and scrambled back from him.
Who is this guy? Is he part of the BMS too?
But no matter how he looked at him, that didn't seem right. Just an ordinary man. And around him, sparks that looked half yellow, half blue, flickered at the edge of sight.
"An ability user?"
Ability users all belonged to the Management Bureau, didn't they? In that case—
"I'm saved! Thank you, sir!"
Sunghyun tilted his head at the sudden, unfathomable shift in attitude.
"I don't know what you're thinking, but yeah — I did come to save you. So duck your head for a second."
"Sir?"
The moment Changsik started to say something, Sunghyun threw a punch.
Zzzzzzt!
Luckily, Changsik had already lowered himself, and he felt something tear past his back — a searing wave of heat skimming over his spine. He pushed himself up and looked behind him.
"Wh… what the hell is that?!"
The monsters he'd seen earlier had their entire upper bodies melted clean away. Residual sparks clinging to their bodies lit the space, and for the first time he could make out where he was.
A sewer?
Water filled the floor below, and branching passages ran every which way — it really did look like a sewer system.
"This is a problem. Smashing everything in a place like this probably isn't going to work. Hey! Get over here."
Sunghyun scooped Changsik up under one arm and checked his status window.
"Illuminate the path I need to take."
Thoth's Book — Navigation Mode
➤ Path indicated
A new status window bloomed across Sunghyun's vision, shaped almost exactly like a navigation display. Thoth's Book marked the way with arrows, pointing him toward the space he needed to reach.
Off to the side, the monsters whose upper halves had been blasted away were already hauling themselves upright. Apparently, regeneration was constant in this place. He could have stopped the regeneration itself, but that would have been a waste. The man he was carrying couldn't cling to him the way Artem could once he turned into lightning — and knowing that, Sunghyun simply ran on the power of his own two legs. Even that alone was an incredible speed.
Changsik felt his whole body tremble under the sheer force of the acceleration.
Who even is this person?
With power like this, he had to hold a high position in the Management Bureau.
Why would someone like that come all the way out here?
That wasn't something an ordinary civilian like him could know. Changsik simply closed his eyes and surrendered himself to Sunghyun's movement, hoping that when he opened them again, he'd be somewhere normal.
Sunghyun's mouth curled at the sight.
"Trying to deny reality, huh. Might actually be better that way."
Following the arrows, they came out into a cavern. The space looked like a supermarket warehouse, and at its center sat an enormous heart.
Thump— thump—.
The massive pulse was strong enough to make the entire chamber shudder in time with its beat.
"So this is the heart of the supermarket monster?"
The whole space trembled. Feeling the chamber itself reject him, Sunghyun licked his lips.
"Hahaha! This makes me look like the villain. You're the monster here, you know."
Sunghyun set Changsik down for a moment and forged a spear of lightning in his hand.
Zzzzzzt—.
"I'm going to kill you."
The spear gradually turned black. Killing intent was seeping into the lightning. At that, the space began to shake even more violently. Before long the monsters arrived at the cavern as well. They charged Sunghyun on their elongated limbs — and were burned out of existence by the lightning circling around him.
"Don't interrupt. This is the important part."
Changsik lay beside Sunghyun with his eyes squeezed shut. His ears were still open, so he could hear every sound — and so he prayed.
…God, please, if You're out there, please grant this man Your blessing, please…
He had never been a man of faith, but in that moment he needed it desperately.
The instant the lightning spear in Sunghyun's hand went fully black, it shot from his grip.
KRAKOOOOOM—!
A spear that shredded everything in its path as it flew. The moment it struck the heart—
BOOOOM—!
The heart burst outright, collapsing from the inside under a force it could not withstand. At the same time, the space around Sunghyun and Changsik began to cave in. The earlier space reappeared — the world from before they'd entered the supermarket.
Only then did Changsik open his eyes and roar.
"AAAAAAAH! I'm alive! I'm aliiiiive!!!!!"
Sunghyun left the howling beast behind him and checked his account.
"So a Rank 4 threat pays out this many coins. Juicier than I expected."
Five hundred thousand coins — the haul from taking down a single Rank 4 monster. Coin equivalent to a dragon. If Rank 4 was considered ordinary around here, he could only look forward to how many coins a higher-ranked monster would drop.
Sunghyun looked over at Changsik, still screaming at the sky.
"You're having fun. Hey."
At Sunghyun's call, Changsik whipped his head around.
"Yes, sir!"
"I've got a few questions."
Changsik looked at him with shining eyes.
"Ask me anything, sir! I'll answer everything I know!"
Asking Thoth's Book would give him most of the answers. But there was such a thing as gut feeling.
"What's your name?"
"Kim Changsik, sir!"
"How'd you end up trapped in here?"
"I bought something at a convenience store and was on my way home when I suddenly got lost. By the time I came to my senses, I was already in that place!"
Suddenly… suddenly, huh. So there's no real pattern to when a BMS appears?
"Before you got here, did you do anything unusual? Anything different from your normal routine?"
"No, sir! Absolutely nothing of the sort!"
"Right… Look, Changsik, it's not a big deal, but your big brother's got nowhere to go right now. Mind if I come home with you?"
There was plenty more he wanted to ask, after all.
Changsik started to answer at once, then stumbled over his words as something about it struck him as odd.
"Yes! Y-yes? H… home, sir? Uh… if you're with the Bureau, you'd have plenty of money, so why…?"
Bureau? Aha. I think I know what this kid's imagining.
Sunghyun waved a hand.
"You just got hit by a BMS today. This is the post-incident review, so lead the way. I'm usually a busy man — I'm doing you a special favor here."
At that, Changsik teared up as if deeply moved.
"I… I had no idea there was such a profound reason… I'm so sorry, sir! I'll escort you right away… this way, please."
Changsik turned and took the lead. Sunghyun directed a wicked little smile at the back of his head.
Day one in the BMS Dimension: five hundred thousand coins and one slave acquired.