Chapter 135

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The high school student trapped in Looky Mart.

Jang Min-seo, who had requested rescue from the Paranormal Disaster Management Bureau, blocked his own mouth under the mobile display stand.

His heart was pounding.

An incompatible sound was heard right nearby.

Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak.

The sound of things mimicking employees moving.

‘Did they see?’

Me hiding under the display stand.

No, they wouldn’t have seen since they didn’t follow right behind.

‘I came straight in after turning the corner.’

They couldn’t have seen, surely….

However, the sound was getting closer.

Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak.

“Huup, huuuup…”

Tears kept falling.

‘Why did I come here of all places.’

He shouldn’t have followed his friend. The high school student poured all kinds of curses toward his friend, then stopped because it was meaningless.

Fear had already overwhelmed his mind.

The approaching sound grew louder and louder….

Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak.

It was right next to him.

His body froze.

From the gap at the bottom of the display stand, he could see the shadows of feet passing right next to him.

Dozens of feet moving squeakingly with their ankles twisted, walking abnormally.

Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak.

The high school student held his breath.

But unfortunately, that was not the end.

Between the shoes of the employees walking in numerous bizarre steps passing by the display stand he hid under, something unfamiliar was seen….

Worn sneakers.

“…!”

Between the abnormally waddling shoes of the employees, worn sneakers were seen being dragged along.

“S-Save me…!”

The high school student got goosebumps to the top of his head.

It was a person.

Someone had been caught.

“I’ll pay! I’ll pay, the money, the money is here, I’m a customer! A customer…!”

“Welcome to Looky Mart!”

However, instead of politely guiding the pitiful missing person outside, the employees were dragging him along.

Because….

You cannot purchase items in this mart with currency used in the Republic of Korea.

Please keep in mind. You do not have the ability to pay.

“Save me!”

The moment this fact is discovered, the employees no longer view you as a customer and classify you anew.

In most cases, you mainly become the mart’s fixtures.

Clatter.

The high school student froze.

And he slowly turned his gaze upward.

…The mobile display stand he hid under was shaking.

Clatter, clatter, clatter.

The employees were surrounding the display stand.

And….

Whirrrrr.

“Aaargh!”

The sound of a blender and screams began to echo from the display stand.

“It is a truly great product, isn’t it?”

The high school student realized.

Those things were mimicking a sales demonstration.

Using the missing person as a fixture, grinding him alive in a blender.

“Uuuup.”

The high school student covered his mouth. Fortunately or unfortunately, the sound was barely transmitted due to the blender’s noise and screams.

“Aaaargh! Huuuup, aaaa-gaaargh!”

“Thank you always, customer!”

“It is a truly great product, isn’t it?”

“Welcome to Looky Mart!”

Plea, scream, blender sound, scream, employee’s greeting, scream, blender, I absolutely can’t stand it, I will scream, I must get out of here, tell me the way out! Guide me…

Someone grabbed his shoulder tightly.

“…!”

Hot body temperature, and the vibration of a trembling hand.

It was the hand of the agent who had pushed him under the display stand.

The one who came after receiving the rescue request.

“……Huuup.”

The high school student’s breath slowly returned.

Amidst the noise that felt like it would drive him crazy or make him faint at any moment, the high school student endured tens of minutes that felt like tens of hours under the display stand, relying on the body heat.

The blender sound and the employee’s repeating introduction continued, but the screams disappeared at some point.

And….

Whir… click.

“…….”

It became quiet on the display stand.

The promotional mimicry was over.

Squeak, squeak, squeak…

“…….”

The sound was gradually moving away.

The feet visible through the floor gap, the dragged sneakers, everything moved far enough that even their shadows were no longer visible…….

“…….”

“…….”

“It’s okay now.”

“Huuup.”

At the words of the agent who checked the outside, the high school student let out a long sigh and began to sniffle again.

The agent wearing glasses looked at him with a troubled face.

“…….”

For reference, he felt similarly inside.

‘This is driving me crazy…’

Indeed.

The rookie agent, Kim Sol-eum, was left alone with the high school student he had to rescue…….

‘I think the decision to split up itself was correct.’

But it was so scary…!

He had a strong premonition that he would meet the sound of a person being ground alive in his dreams again. Kim Sol-eum’s back was already damp with cold sweat.

‘I almost fainted.’

But he couldn’t show it. Because a terrified fifteen-year-old teenager was sticking next to him!

“W-What should we do. *Sob*…”

“No. It’s okay.”

Kim Sol-eum spoke to the high school student as gently as possible.

Before he knew it, he was speaking informally, but he was not in the right mind to care about such things, and he judged that being a friendly adult would be better for reassuring him.

‘…The security leader played a much bigger role than I thought in the Mountain Lord ghost story.’

However, looking at the high school student who still looked anxious, he finally opened his mouth again.

“Shall I tell you a secret?”

“…….”

The high school student was still breathing heavily with tears streaming down, but at the word ‘secret,’ he raised his head unconsciously.

And the agent really told him a ‘secret.’

“Actually, I am the agent who knows this mart the best.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah.”

However, the high school student instead felt a pinch in the midst of fear.

‘No matter how anyone looked at it, he was a raw rookie.’

From his glasses and disheveled hair to his mumbling way of speaking.

Compared to the neat and capable agent who seemed to be his boss, he was like a clumsy sidekick attached to a superhero.

However, the other party diligently continued speaking as if he really wanted to reassure him.

“Because I searched very hard. What is dangerous, and what is not dangerous. I know all the things that other agents don’t know well.”

Shaggy hair. His eyes met the eyes under the glasses.

‘Huh?’

Instead of the naive eyes he had expected, a cold and neat gaze was revealed and then disappeared.

“…….”

Somehow.

All those words sounded like the truth.

“So I will also find the safest and fastest escape route in the current situation.”

“Is, is there still a way out…?”

“Of course.”

The problem was that crazy things with a higher probability of death accounted for more than half, though.

Kim Sol-eum swallowed the remaining words and added more useful contents.

“Do you remember the other contents on the back of the notice? Behavioral advice after closing.”

“……Yes.”

The high school student, Jang Min-seo, recalled the content he had read as if possessed.

After closing, it is recommended to give up escaping.

Almost all opportunities that seem to allow escape are traps.

Prioritize survival and hold out until business hours.

The safest floor currently identified is the second floor.

Second floor.

This was the first floor.

“Um, then do we just need to go up… one more floor from here?”

“Right. Since the other agent and your friend must have gone up too, let’s not worry.”

“……Yes.”

Reassured by the firm tone, the high school student sniffled and calmed down.

And the agent checked the outside and pulled himself out.

“…Good. It’s safe now. Let’s go out now.”

“Sniff, yes.”

The high school student did not refuse the agent’s support and accepted it, carefully pulling his body out of the display stand….

“Ah!”

He hurriedly covered his mouth.

Fortunately, the sound was not loud. However, the culprit that caused the sound was still there.

‘My ankle…’

It throbbed.

It seemed he had sprained it while running and getting under the display stand.

“…Does your ankle hurt?”

“Yes…….”

“…….”

Kim Sol-eum’s head spun quickly.

And he reached a cold conclusion.

‘I shouldn’t give him an item now.’

It didn’t fit this ghost story.

A powerful painkiller like Happy Maker might cause the adverse effect of making the high school student use his leg recklessly, rendering him unable to move at all.

And Nostalgia Candy… was a no.

‘Because it’s food.’

Please do not eat any products unless you are in the food court. There are no exceptions, even for food you brought in.

The employees cannot distinguish, and upon witnessing it, they will charge you the price of the food.

You do not have the ability to pay.

And this rule applied even if it was not food sold in the mart.

Because the Looky Mart ’employees’ could not distinguish between the two.

Worse, as for shoving the opponent into his own wrist tattoo, he couldn’t guarantee what kind of pollution or bizarre deformation would remain, and it would also be a situation difficult to explain to the Disaster Management Bureau.

“…….”

The high school student had no way of knowing this fact, but seeing the silent agent, a cold anxiety brushed past his back.

‘Could it be…’

Is he leaving me behind?

Did he think it was difficult to rescue him? Or did a dark imagination of both of them getting caught while carrying him on his back whip through his head….

“Don’t worry. We will move to a place where we don’t have to run.”

A solid voice caught him.

The high school student raised his head.

“Let’s go to the escalator first.”

“…….”

“However, instead of going up, we will go to the down escalator. Got it? Toward the escalator coming down from the second floor.”

Did it not matter either way since the operation must have stopped after closing?

Even so, why was he trying to go to the escalator coming down from the second floor of all places?

“…Yes.”

However, instead of asking questions, the high school student nodded for now.

The agent supported him and slowly began to move….

“If you hear the sound of an employee, tell me immediately.”

“Yes…!”

The high school student tried hard not to check the display stand he had hidden under.

And listening intently to the sound of the employees, he moved very carefully following the agent.

Although he frowned in pain a few times, he endured.

The agent led him calmly past the checkout counter to the escalator that had stopped operating. The high school student followed him as quickly as possible.

However, at the place they finally arrived….

Ziiiiiing.

Thump, thump, thump….

One side of the escalator was operating.

Precisely the escalator connected to the second floor, which was their destination.

“…!”

Inside the dark store after closing.

The rail moving slowly.

And at the top of the escalator… the back of a standing person was seen.

No.

Not a person,

An employee.

After closing, the escalators are shut down and blocked.

However, they are operated when the employee is inspecting them depending on the time.

Do not approach.

He seemed to be mimicking ‘inspecting’ the escalator.

However, with his head bent sideways, staring blankly down at the floor, the back of the employee standing on the escalator was bizarre and strange.

And that figure… was drawing closer along the escalator operating downward.

Backward.

“R-Run….”

“It’s okay not to run.”

Beside him, Kim Sol-eum took out the item he was carrying on his waist.

The fishing line with the red goldfish model at the end.

Bait Play.

‘…Surely, they inspected the 2nd-to-1st floor down escalator right after closing.’

So he had deliberately sought out the escalator under inspection.

Although it was originally an item he intended to use to easily break through the entrance… now there was no other way.

It was no use regretting.

‘I must use it now.’

Kim Sol-eum threw the fishing line.

Swish.

To the point of not matching physical laws, as if cast with a fishing rod, the transparent wire flew and headed above the escalator.

And it caught on a billboard.

“…!”

The fishing line wrapped around the billboard and hung below it.

And the red bait dangling at the end.

The moment it would enter the vision of the employee who was coming down backward on the escalator.

Squeak, squeak.

Squeak, squeak.

“…!”

The back of the employee began to move.

Toward the bait.

Climbing up against the flow of the escalator.

Squeak, squeak.

Kim Sol-eum carefully adjusted the fishing line. His hands were damp with cold sweat, but the swinging fishing line moved according to his intention.

The bait began to shift from the center of the escalator billboard to the side.

More and more.

The bait went to the far left edge of the escalator.

The employee stumbled and walked sideways.

And just as he was sticking close to the side of the escalator, with his head extending over the handrail….

Squeak, squeak, squeak……

Kim Sol-eum let go of the fishing line.

Flutter.

The fishing line unspooled and fell from the billboard. The moment the red bait fell between the two escalators….

Thud.

The employee plunged headfirst between the escalators.

He had thrown his head following the bait.

“Huuup…!”

“Let’s go quickly. Before he pulls himself out.”

The agent immediately began to move.

“Give me your shoes, and use your knees instead of your feet… crawl up. Quietly.”

The high school student took off his shoes, handed them to the agent, and crawled up the escalator on all fours.

He felt neither embarrassment nor physical pain.

It was just reassuring that crawling made less noise and didn’t enter the vision of the employee looking at the ‘bait’…!

Still, his throat tightened from the tension that he might pop out, but he successfully went against the escalator.

“Huuup.”

The moment he placed his arms on the second floor, tears welled in his eyes.

The agent supported the high school student as he stood up.

“Good job.”

“T-Thank you…”

Kim Sol-eum looked down at his empty hand where the fishing line had disappeared a few times, then cleared his mind and stared ahead.

Second floor.

What was visible immediately upon coming up the escalator… was a giant food court.

In the dark store, only the sign of the food court shed an eerie light, and strangely, the sound of cooking food was heard.

As for the employees walking around….

‘There are none.’

Surprisingly, it was a safe zone in its own way.

“You can stay comfortably here for a moment.”

The 2nd-floor food court is an area where mart employees do not patrol.

However, do not sit without ordering for more than an hour.

Kim Sol-eum guided the high school student to sit near a bibimbap specialty shop in a slightly distant corner.

“Um, why here of all places…”

“It is safer in a place without meat menus.”

The high school student swallowed.

The agent looked calm. Sitting on the chair, he let the high school student catch his breath and rest his painful ankle for a moment…….

A calmness that wouldn’t make one think he was the person who had just performed acrobatics on the escalator.

‘…Amazing.’

Indeed, he was a person who was much more skilled and knew much more than he thought.

Just as he had guaranteed.

The high school student spoke, wanting to ‘look good’ to him.

“Um, that… my name is Jang,”

“Let’s not speak it.”

“…!”

“It is better not to speak your real name in a place like this. Be careful.”

Gulp.

The high school student swallowed.

“Um, then what should I call you, Agent?”

“…Would you call me Grape?”

“Yes, Agent Grape.”

The high school student let out a deep sigh of relief, sitting on the chair.

Was an agent an agent after all? He thought that perhaps he had such a naive appearance because he poured all his stats into agent work.

‘…I think we can escape.’

Even with his ankle injured, the high school student held hope. So he was able to ask in a slightly brave tone.

“U-Um, then we are okay here, right?”

“Yeah.”

Agent Grape nodded.

The high school student felt a deep sense of relief….

“It’s okay.”

It was a lie.

That alone was not enough.

‘…Even on the second floor, the probability of dying or disappearing still exists.’

Even though he pretended to be calm outwardly, Kim Sol-eum was frantically searching for that specific round in the <Records of the Dark Exploration> in his head.

His brain, which had barely escaped the emergency situation, readjusted its priorities and began to dig through the data.

‘We must get out.’

Had there ever been a time when such an irregular occurred?

‘Labor Day, early closing, anything…!’

And.

The business hours closed early due to ?? reasons.

“…!”

He found it.

Kim Sol-eum struggled to recall that case more concretely.

The exploration record, with some concrete numbers and names already flown away, was reconstructed in his head….

Exploration Record #3?

The dispatch agent entered the mart around 7 PM after receiving a civilian’s rescue request. (Dispatcher: ???)

Looky Mart’s business hours closed early due to ??? reasons. An unexpected situation occurred, and contact with the agent was lost for three days.

“…!”

This was it.

He anxiously recalled more memories.

So, the result it brought was…….

Result: Rescue failed. Agent returned alone.

“…….”

No wonder he couldn’t remember it well.

‘Because it ended in one line.’

There were tons of records like this.

Records where the idea was interesting, but the following detailed story was considered a ‘duplicate,’ so it was left to the reader’s imagination and omitted.

A simple one-line processing marked as success or failure.

However, the meaning was clear.

“……Ha.”

-Agent Bronze fails the rescue.

So if he joined Agent Bronze again.

In Looky Mart, no matter what judgment that person made, Kim Sol-eum had to oppose it unconditionally.

And he had to persuade him to escape the way he planned.

‘…This is driving me crazy.’

No, it wasn’t me, the difficulty was crazy.

Suppressing his groan, Kim Sol-eum scanned the surroundings from the corner of the food court where he sat with the high school student, trying to look calm.

‘Let’s wait.’

Since Agent Bronze would obviously come up to the second floor if he had any sense.

He resolved to think as positively as possible.

‘We can decide after meeting.’

* * *

And three days passed.

Kim Sol-eum did not meet Agent Bronze anywhere in Looky Mart.