Chapter 137

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Go Yeong-eun was a calm colleague.

That was an established fact. I had confirmed it when we opened our eyes in the crazy subway during our entrance exam, and later when we escaped the insane exhibition where the eyes of visitors were gouged out.

However, Go Yeong-eun, who was standing on the stairs climbing to the ‘fourth floor’—the main culprit of the disappearances in this bizarre mart—was….

“A-A person, r-right…?”

She was too calm.

Her pale face did not waver even upon seeing the high school student screaming and questioning her.

There were no words.

My expressionless coworker was standing on the stairs, looking down at us….

Hold on.

‘…Standing on the stairs?’

Wait a minute!

The moment one climbed the stairs, didn’t the door leading back disappear? If so, we wouldn’t be able to go back to the third floor by our own strength.

If that was the case.

‘Just since when has she been here…?’

No. In the first place.

‘Why is she here?’

Ms. Go Yeong-eun could be one of the two agents who entered earlier. In fact, the fact that there were two people was a hint in itself. Agents of the Disaster Management Bureau usually moved alone or as a team.

Two people usually meant a senior-rookie pair.

But.

Why on earth was a rookie of the Disaster Management Bureau standing alone on the stairs leading to the fourth floor, where people went missing?

Without her senior.

For at least a week.

Trapped on this… staircase.

“…….”

A chilling premonition climbed up my spine.

I opened my mouth.

“Agent?”

There was no answer.

“Mountain Sheep…?”

Go Yeong-eun on the stairs opened her mouth.

“Welcome to Looky Mart!”

I grabbed the high school student and pushed him behind me.

And gripped the door.

“Agent.”

“Thank you always, customer!”

The expressionless figure stumbled down the stairs.

Go Yeong-eun.

No, an employee… in the shape of Go Yeong-eun.

‘Dammit…!’

I was about to open the door immediately, take the high school student, and run out, but then I realized something strange.

‘Sound.’

No squeaking was heard.

…Ms. Go Yeong-eun’s attire was not an employee uniform either. It was her agent uniform as it was.

If so….

‘Pollution?’

I checked the shape on the stairs again.

The form of Go Yeong-eun, a clear human figure, was descending the stairs.

“……Hold the door handle.”

“Y-Yes?!”

I ran forward.

And grabbing Go Yeong-eun, who had just stepped onto the landing, I pinned her down.

“…!!”

“Welcome to Looky…”

It worked.

Her body was definitely still human.

…If so!

While pinning her shoulder down with one hand, I pulled out the remaining Blue Soda Churros from the tattoo on my wrist with my other hand.

And somehow shoved it into Go Yeong-eun’s open mouth.

“!”

The opponent didn’t even struggle. She merely tried to keep walking somehow and repeat the same line.

And in the process, because her teeth moved naturally, the churros would have been crushed, and a portion would have gone down her esophagus into her stomach.

I watched that scene, breaking into cold sweat…….

After a moment.

“Bleeegh!”

Ms. Go Yeong-eun began to throw up water like crazy.

I patted her back somehow. Black water gathered on the landing.

Although the amount of water was not enough to suffocate her to the level of the month I spent in Brown’s talk show… it was an abnormal and bizarre sight enough to terrify the high school student.

I supported Ms. Go Yeong-eun as she vomited the last of the near-blue water and collapsed, losing her strength.

“Heuk, heuuup, heuk…….”

“Agent.”

I called my colleague.

“……!”

Her eyes, which had regained their sanity, looked at me.

And her pupils dilated, beginning to tremble like crazy.

“…R-Roe Deer.”

Her reason had returned.

Her reason reacted to the title ‘Agent,’ and because we were in a ghost story, she called me by my alias instead of my name.

‘Thank goodness….’

“A-Aaargh!!”

“…?!”

Aaargh!

I hurriedly grabbed Ms. Go Yeong-eun as she tried to crawl up the stairs again in a surprise move.

“Heur-eur-eur, aargh, this damn mart! Even the hallucination is real! Aargh!”

“…….”

“I-I won’t be fooled. He’s dead, Roe Deer is dead…”

Ah.

Right.

“Excuse me, I’m not dead, Agent.”

“…?!”

“I was assigned to the same job as you.”

“?!”

To Ms. Go Yeong-eun, who thought I had gone missing in a ghost story for a month and had been processed as dead.

Convincing her that I was alive and well and had been deployed as a spy took several tens of minutes after that…….

“T-Thank you…. I really survived thanks to you.”

“Not at all.”

Fortunately, as soon as Ms. Go Yeong-eun regained her composure, she compared a few pieces of circumstantial information with me and accepted the situation.

It seemed that explaining it without leaking strange information to the high school civilian was more difficult in terms of difficulty….

I felt a bizarre sentiment looking at the now-empty churros paper wrapper.

‘This churros… is really useful.’

In Brown’s Late Night Talk Show, things progressed so frantically that I didn’t pay attention, but if it could purify pollution in one shot like this, it was an incredibly amazing item.

‘To be recorded in the Records of the Dark Exploration… it is an item that is way too good for the world setting.’

In any case, escaping from this crazy mart was the priority now.

Still, since a person, and an encouraging colleague at that, had joined, I felt a bit energized.

So, verification first.

I shifted my body slightly and clearly revealed the door leading to the 3rd-floor mart to Go Yeong-eun.

“Can you see the entrance?”

Go Yeong-eun nodded.

“Yes.”

Whew.

“To be precise, I can’t see the door itself, but I can see the light coming through the gap. …I think we can go out if someone opens it, though.”

“Then it’s fine.”

The moment I thought it was a relief, Go Yeong-eun covered her face with one hand.

“But… I won’t be able to get out of the mart anyway.”

“Excuse me?”

“…Because I damaged a product.”

“…! It’s fine. Since this is outside the mart, as long as you aren’t witnessed, even if you ate food…”

“No. I was caught breaking it in the mart.”

“…….”

“Although it wasn’t me but another agent who did it, it seemed they processed it as if we did it together.”

I kept silent and then asked.

“…Where is that senior agent?”

“He’s dead.”

“…….”

“No, I think of him as dead. ……Because he went up there.”

Go Yeong-eun pointed to the stairs.

“It seems his family went missing here. But the last trace ended with climbing to the fourth floor… so he came with the intention of entering there in the first place.”

“No, I don’t even want to use honorifics. Isn’t he crazy? He should have died alone, why when I entered…… Ah.”

“…….”

“Anyway, as soon as he opened the fourth-floor door, I covered my ears and sat here. …Even so, I could hear it.”

The logo song.

And not long after, she had become like an ’employee.’

“…….”

“Excuse me.”

“You can call me Grape.”

“Yes. ‘Agent Grape’.”

Go Yeong-eun rubbed her face and raised her head.

Her face showed that she had organized her mind.

“Since I’m doomed anyway, I will act as a bait when you two go out. I almost starved to death trapped here and polluted, so that much is…….”

“No.”

I contemplated for a moment, then backed up and pushed the high school student forward.

“Uh? Agent…?”

“Rather than that, can we get some help. …He hurt his ankle.”

“Ah.”

We barely persuaded the high school student, who said he was scared and wouldn’t spit it out, to take the candy out of his mouth for a moment.

And when I earnestly handed over the first-aid kit I had brought, Ms. Go Yeong-eun fixed the high school student’s ankle and performed emergency treatment with a skill twenty times more professional than mine.

“But if I eat that candy, won’t this just be a hindrance? Um, the candy…”

“Just keep it on for a few hours.”

I soothed the high school student, who had returned to a state of exhausted mental and physical strength and was on the verge of panic.

And I pulled out the bait.

“Let’s eat this first.”

“…!! Food…!”

The high school student’s eyes grew twice as large.

The instant food items I pulled out as if they had been inside the bag I brought disappeared into the three mouths in an instant.

‘Since we are in a place that is not the mart, we can finally eat.’

These were things I couldn’t pull out because only ‘safe’ food could be eaten even in the food court.

Even though I pulled out only things without strong smells just in case, to be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever eaten anything so fast in my life.

I emptied the sterilized milk in two seconds and swallowed the castella in about thirty seconds.

‘I feel like I’m finally living.’

And I put the high school student to sleep.

I also wanted to collapse and sleep for a few hours, but communicating with my colleague, who was equally haggard, came first.

We shared the information we knew, and also chatted to replenish our mental strength for a moment.

“Roe… no, Agent Grape, you are always well-prepared. I uselessly brought only a mart map.”

‘But because the third floor was too wide, the information was too rough and scattered, making it useless,’ Go Yeong-eun muttered bitterly.

“Just in case, I also brought coins used in other Darks, but it seems they don’t count them as currency to pay here…”

Wait a minute.

“Do you have a map?”

“Yes. It’s included in the supplies for the regular exploration team. …They want us to investigate places that haven’t been explored yet as much as possible.”

“May I see it?”

“Of course.”

Ms. Go Yeong-eun pulled out a thick sheet of paper like a well-folded pamphlet from her small backpack.

On the printed building floor plan, I could see various handwritten phrases and drawings in different colors added by people.

‘…The handwriting of the Disaster Management Bureau agents.’

“…….”

Staring at it as if possessed, I discovered a single place name.

A separately marked store.

Some crazy bastards seem to think this is usable, but it’s a suicidal act. Don’t go.

“…Agent.”

“What you said earlier. ‘Currency to pay’.”

“Yes? Yes.”

“I think we can obtain that separately.”

I was about to point to a spot with my finger but held back. It was because I thought the opponent would feel repulsion or be terrified.

Instead, I explained in words.

“Among the places marked on the map you gave, a usable store is visible. There is a hint.”

“…….”

However, Go Yeong-eun took a deep breath and shook her head.

“I… I’m sorry, but I object. The third floor is too wide, so I don’t know how long it will take to get there. And, when returning, I’m a bit afraid of how long it will take until we find the door coming back to this staircase.”

Cold sweat formed on Go Yeong-eun’s calm face.

And the signs of trying hard to hide her fear.

“You two go when the business resumes. I… will wait for rescue. Unless you have another item that can shake off employees or danger now…”

The thing was.

“I have it now.”

“…!”

“Do you remember? It’s an item you’ve used before.”

I pulled out an item from my inventory tattoo after a very long time.

Now that the companions had become three, matching the recommended number of people perfectly, it was an item I could use.

…Something I could use without having to walk on eggshells since Agent Bronze wasn’t here.

[Easy and Fast Candle Making Kit]

Holding the ‘Mysterious Candle Kit’ item box, I smiled slightly from the bottom of my heart for the first time in three days.

“Let’s make a candle again.”

This candle-making item, which had contributed significantly to our escape from the ‘Mansion of the Blind,’ was finally at a point where it could be active again.

* * *

The dark landing.

Three people standing in the narrow space were crouching, looking at the floor.

I spread the black paper enclosed in the box on the landing and drew complex patterns to make a candle.

And invited them.

“Let’s draw cards.”

“Fuuuup.”

“Wow…”

Ms. Go Yeong-eun and the high school student drew one card at random, looking at the back side in turn.

The keywords to become the attribute of the candle were decided.

[Confusion]

[Dream]

‘Not bad.’

The order of the keywords was fine. …Although it felt weirdly related to their states.

Anyway, now it was time to choose the last card. I looked at the cards with all their fronts revealed.

Honor, Healing, Meditation, Wound, Falsehood, Anger, Obstruction, Protection, Blow, Stare…….

‘Last time I chose Falsehood.’

With the keywords of Honor, Obstruction, and Falsehood, we deceived the exhibition guidance machines and pretended to be customers who paid the admission fee properly.

‘Then this time.’

I picked one without hesitation.

[Protection]

A card depicting both hands carefully wrapping a light purple, shining crystal ball.

I burned all three completed cards to make ashes, applied them as if painting over the crayon candle outline I drew, and folded the paper.

Exactly the same as I had done once before.

And after some waiting.

“It is completed.”

“W-Wow.”

Inside the paper, a pale indigo candle fell into my hand.

Of course, I couldn’t use this, and the minor who was surviving on Nostalgia Candy with a hurt leg was out of the question.

And even if that wasn’t the case, wasn’t there an experienced person here?

I turned to Ms. Go Yeong-eun and handed over the candle.

“Please take charge of it this time too.”

“…Yes.”

Ms. Go Yeong-eun grabbed the completed candle.

“This time, I will do it more properly.”

Leaving a strange nuance.

The candle lit in my colleague’s hand began to burn.

The pray-er must hold this candle to display a protected appearance toward a confusing existence, aided by the dream-inducing authority.

A blessing is given to the pray-er holding the candle.

Visitor in the Mist.

Whoosh.

The light illuminated us.

“Ah…”

I stood behind Ms. Go Yeong-eun with the high school student.

It reminded me of when Brown turned off the lights, but it felt colder and lighter than that.

It was as if a cool mist wrapped around us following the candle light….

“…….”

We slowly opened the door and stepped onto the third floor.

Our figures holding the lamp should have been conspicuous in the dark store, but weirdly, we dissolved naturally as if a mist had formed.

And the employee we encountered.

“Hic.”

I blocked the mouth of the high school student who made a sound.

The employee waddled toward us, and then….

“…….”

Passed by smoothly.

“Ha.”

Ms. Go Yeong-eun gasped.

However, relief was mixed in rather than fear.

‘Thank goodness.’

This time too, the item from the Alien Shop played its part well.

However, the time limit of the item was tighter than at the exhibition.

…Because we had to brace ourselves for a long time until the business resumed.

“Since it’s over once the candle burns down, if we want to use it again after the business resumes later, we must move quickly.”

“Yes. Where should we go?”

“Here.”

I pointed to a location on the map Go Yeong-eun had brought.

Go Yeong-eun, who glanced at it carelessly, was startled.

“…! H-Hold on….”

“It’s okay. Let’s move.”

“…….”

Since she was already holding the candle, she couldn’t extinguish it by struggling or arguing.

Eventually, Go Yeong-eun began to move, though her body language showed she had a lot to say.

Whew.

‘Thank you….’

She had reason to react that way.

Because my destination….

[Sell Flesh, Looky Mart]

Was a bizarre event store with this crazy sign attached.

“…….”

If other stores seemed to mimic the event display stands of the past Lucky Mart, those with such bizarre signs looked strange, as if generated by an error.

In this case, only dozens of grills were lined up on the empty white floor.

And in the silence, they were sizzling, burning something….

“Hic.”

“Be quiet.”

I held the high school student’s shoulder as he began to tremble.

The kid was not making a fuss over nothing.

“Ha.”

On the grill displayed right in front of the event store.

Charred meat parts were being grilled as a demonstration…… and anyone could see that it was in the form of a familiar bipedal animal placed randomly.

…The missing persons processed as fixtures.

‘I feel like throwing up.’

But I endured.

And a banner was attached above.

…Just like the agent’s handwriting.

Instant BBQ Event!

Enter alive and receive a coupon unconditionally

Coupon.

Why would anyone do such a crazy thing to get a coupon here? You attract attention and get attacked by long-term missing persons. They can hardly be considered human anymore, so give up on rescuing them.

But we were currently temporarily avoiding gazes and protected by the mist inside this mart.

I patted Ms. Go Yeong-eun’s shoulder gently.

“Could you move to the side for a moment? So I can stand in front of the empty grill.”

“Yes? …Hold on. This…”

“It’s okay.”

In fact, it wasn’t okay.

A powerful impulse rose that I wished someone other than me would do all this instead….

‘Would one even be human if they didn’t feel that way?’

But.

One of my companions was a person who had been trapped in the staircase polluted for over a week, and the other was a civilian minor.

It meant they were not suitable targets to pass the work to.

Moreover, this was an opportunity.

‘I must have the coupon.’

Only by taking the initiative would it come into my hand as currency that I could use dominantly.

‘To push my opinion on the escape with what I obtain here, I must do it.’

I clenched my teeth.

…First, to prevent shock death, I injected Happy Maker. My hands trembled.

‘Calm down, calmly.’

And I calmly grabbed one item I had stolen while coming here, trying my best not to let my hands shake.

A giant butcher knife.

The sharp blade gleamed in the light.

“That…!”

“It’s fine as long as you return the item in its original undamaged state after using it, as they won’t perceive it as a purchase.”

“That’s not the problem, no, Agent…!”

I brought down the butcher knife on my right arm.