Chapter 155

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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One whiny rookie, two teary-eyed superiors.

All three of them 8 years old.

The situation was smoothly worsening.

‘Damn it!’

This isn’t a clarification but being overwhelmed first…!

With a mind that wanted to bite my tongue, I tried hard to explain the reason for my ‘I don’t want to, let’s search more’ only then, but I was already right on the verge of being influenced by the two people.

Because tears are also quickly contagious among children…!

“A-although there is still more time left, you said according to the rules it’s only for two days. So I thought there is still time left to search safely without being polluted….”

“…Right.”

“Then I want to look for just one more person. There might be someone we haven’t found, right?”

Child Agent Choi sniffles.

“S-shall we? Then about two more days….”

“Agent Choi!”

Child Agent Bronze, whose eyes had become red, stepped forward and glared at Agent Choi, then turned to me and said firmly.

“You cannot.”

I want to argue, ‘Why can’t I!’

“Why can’t I!”

Going crazy.

Agent Bronze also shouts out loud.

“Because it can be dangerous! The agent’s life always comes first. If you overdo it while breaking the rules….”

And his voice swallowed his nose.

“I-I have seen agents die like that. There are many seniors who could not return again.”

“…….”

“So, you shouldn’t start in the first place. Following the rules is right.”

‘……Phew.’

This side’s words also make sense.

And Agent Bronze glances at my arm.

“Do not forget that that arm also must be charged once every three days.”

“We brought a separate one for charging too! T-then how about this? Let’s stay just one night, just one more night.”

Agent Choi spoke while holding up his index finger.

“And if we aren’t sure there is a kid to rescue by tomorrow afternoon, we just go. Yes? Delaying the mission by half a day is… actually just adding a line to the report.”

“…….”

We both reflexively looked at Agent Bronze.

“Jae-gwan….”

“Agent, um….”

“Do as you wish.”

And Agent Bronze closed his mouth.

Only leaving these words.

“I have never agreed.”

It seemed so.

Because he couldn’t hide his sorrowful and aggrieved look, and his face was red hot.

However, because it was also an implicit declaration that he would not argue further, Agent Choi immediately wrapped up.

“Good. Then we look for just one more day!”

The three children promised that if it still didn’t work, they would immediately give up and go.

And we scattered to the children’s sleeping quarters in our respective assigned areas.

Agent Choi near the palace, Agent Bronze near the central fountain, and I… toward the entrance of the village.

What was slightly frustrating was that in the midst of this, our paths overlapped, so I came to walk together with Agent Bronze.

“…….”

“…….”

“Um, I am sorry….”

“…It is fine.”

Agent Bronze says while sighing.

“If you think of other cases that transformed through Dokkaebi tricks… it was wrapped up quite logically and well.”

“I-is that so?”

“Yes. There are also agents who cried and fought and rolled among themselves.”

I-I see.

“…That’s why rules are necessary. In this kind of supernatural situation, even if it is not convincing, following discipline is important. Because as a result, you will confirm that it is more right.”

Agent Bronze took another breath.

“Of course, Agent Grape is not at fault. Because it is something a rookie agent experiences once. However, because the person in charge could not properly explain and instead agreed…!”

“…….”

You have an excellent talent to shut the mouth of a rookie employee who succeeded in a deal to do just one more day thanks to that person in charge….

At any rate, Agent Bronze’s expression was still not good, but as we scattered to our respective destinations, the atmosphere recovered to the point where he could advise me.

“Children will all fall asleep before midnight anyway. Do not waste your physical strength and sleep too, Agent Grape.”

“…Yes.”

The Twinkling Dragon Palace changes day and night based on the bell toll of the city’s clock tower.

When night comes, sleepiness comes to fit the child’s sleep cycle, everyone falls asleep before midnight, and rises to cheerful music when the sun rises.

It was a ghost-story-like supernatural structure.

I walked through the village covered in soft navy and white sparkle past the ecstatic red-golden light, and entered the lodging I was in charge of.

A sign at the entrance tells.

[Dreamland Bed]

[for Children]

Inside, in a giant space charmingly decorated like a child’s bedroom, over ten fluffy beds with draped canopy were placed.

…The children in the bedroom were already all asleep.

Because I spent time until the very last moment searching for children who could be rescued, I had used the time to the limit.

Drowsiness poured over me too.

“Phew.”

I chose one of the empty beds moderately and lay down. An unbelievably fluffy and warm bedding snugly wrapped around my head and body.

And briefly, the ugly scene shown just now passes through my head… wow.

I threw a tantrum? Me?

‘I don’t think I was like that even when I was really young.’

And if I think of the personalities, it must have been the same not only for me but also for Agent Choi or Agent Bronze.

Whether it’s because the Dokkaebi trick is not real rejuvenation but deception, it felt strangely like being transformed into the concept of a ‘child’.

So what is important now is to proceed calmly without being influenced by the excessive characteristics of this child’s body.

Because the goal did not change in the end.

I slowly resolved with a hazy mind.

‘…Rise early and search immediately.’

At least one person.

At least one, perhaps I could take them out….

…….

…….

[Grape.]

…Hmm?

[Grape. I think you will become a very good agent. Your arm also thinks so.]

A somewhat nostalgic and warm voice was heard.

No, listening again, it also sounded reliable and strong.

What is it?

[It is your dream.]

Is it.

Come to think of it, I did fall asleep.

A sparkling light wavered in front of my closed eyes. Like a warm flame….

[And in dreams, thoughts that cannot be thought of in reality naturally come to mind, don’t they. Because you are free from the constraints of reality.]

…….

Things that do not come to mind in reality.

Certainly, as I was conducting the rescue mission while being a child to match the entry conditions, I can review things I missed now.

In the dream, I calmly recalled several doubts.

The doubts of an adult.

For instance….

‘Why do more than half of the children we meet change each time the agents visit?’

If all the children changed, I could rationally guess the setting, thinking ‘there are several similar places by the nature of this supernatural phenomenon’.

But that more than half of the children changed was completely different.

To put it in another sense, it meant more than half disappeared from here.

At least in a form where they could not meet the agents.

And….

‘Why do the agents not feel doubt about that?’

Eerie but simple and clear two possibilities also come to mind at the same time.

Either they themselves are being influenced by this ghost story.

……Or there is a fact they purposely concealed and did not tell me because I am a rookie.

Or both.

‘In that case….’

…Do I not have an item useful in this situation?

An item that will supplement my realization.

Without having to request it from the other two people.

[Indeed! You are smart. Grape. A wise idea is a treasure of all ages.]

[Let’s wake up tomorrow without forgetting what you obtained in the dream.]

I felt as if a wrinkled hand stroked my head as if to encourage me.

Ah, thank you. Elder.

…….

…….

“Ah.”

Giggle!

I heard the toll of the bell and the laughter of children.

A new golden morning had begun.

“Let’s go see the Little Mermaid!”

“I want to play hide and seek.”

The children are talking energetically and rising from the bedroom to leave.

Originally, it was a situation where I had to immediately chase them and dig up their information, but my mind clearly came up with an idea.

Something concluded in the dream I had last night.

“…….”

Putting my hand inside the thick coat, I carefully pulled out what I had kept so it wouldn’t break.

None other than the ‘Children’s Detective Syrup’. This syrup manufactured by pressing the emoticon button in the Dream Cultivation Chamber.

At Daydream Co., they called it like this.

Detection Potion

: When consumed, it brightens your eyes so that you can see what you need most right now.

If I drink the detective syrup, the child who can be rescued will be immediately visible.

Because right now, my mission goal, my ‘most needed thing’ is child rescue.

‘Good.’

Originally, I would have calculated this and that… but no matter what, it’s child rescue, and doing so made me feel like I was a scumbag of humanity.

‘Because I also had to check the effect once.’

I opened the sealed cap of the syrup and gulped it down.

As written on the label, the syrup with artificial cherry aroma and sweet taste passed down my throat….

“……Phew.”

I put away the empty bottle.

A miraculous change that stood out like the regeneration potion was not physically felt, but my heart beat and I became calm.

‘Now let’s check.’

I checked by alternately looking at the children remaining in the living room and the children running on the street through the window.

To find the ‘child who enters my eyes’.

But….

“…….”

Why is there none?

The children running out, the children playing near the fountain with a smile far away.

They were just children. They did not stand out exceptionally.

I was right at the moment when a chill was about to run down my spine, wondering if it was because there was really not a single target.

‘…Uh?’

I felt a presence of existence from somewhere else.

On the outer edge of my vision, something clear and bright was captured.

“…….”

I turned my eyes and checked it.

The opposite pocket of my coat.

It was the place containing the item I purchased from the faceless market in the manhole.

‘Why is this….’

I reached my hand in and pulled out the item.

It was a paper printed with four old postage stamps.

It looked like charity stamps or advertising seals with reduced cost, but a Korean street of the old days was drawn on each dim stamp.

And looking closer, things that were not human drawn there were also visible in the background.

Pigeon, mouse, stray cat, sparrow, cockroach.

Organisms coexisting in the human street.

Street Stamp

: A bizarre stamp that allows you to disguise yourself as one of the animals routinely witnessed on the streets of Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, in the 20th century.

Manufactured by Today’s Relic Shop.

…I was keeping it in preparation for when I had to flee or hide while spying, but Agent Choi had recommended it in reverse, which made me sweat coldly.

I sweated again because I had to pick out items that did not originate from Daydream Co. as exchange items.

At any rate, the essential ability of this item is ultimately that.

‘That you can change into a non-human street animal.’

Sounds decent?

Naturally, there is also a fatal side effect.

However, when receiving the effect of the stamp continuously for more than 2 hours, your body may mutate into something in the stamp.

It was not a comfortable story that you literally become that animal.

It meant that the characteristics of those animals would manifest on the human body as if infected. Like a biohazard horror game.

You can think of a pigeon beak or a sparrow eyeball growing next to your jaw.

‘Ugh.’

Just thinking about it was terrible, so it made me make a resolution once more to never violate the usage time.

But… that doing the appearance of an animal is ‘what I need most right now’ in a ghost story where ‘the appearance of a child’ is the entry condition?

I felt doubtful but at the same time felt a chilling sensation.

A hunch that it was unusual and I had to check.

‘…Even if Daydream cheated in other things, they didn’t cheat with potions.’

It must be that there was no need to do so because the effect was so certain.

‘Good.’

If the sign is strange, I can immediately spit out the stamp and return to the child form.

After taking a light deep breath, I tore off one stamp and put it in my mouth.

“…!!”

My vision lowered.

Even more rapidly than when I became a child, toward the floor.

My back bent, and I stood on four legs.

The texture of fur was felt, ears rose, and a bizarre feeling of having long whiskers.

‘Is it a cat.’

I raised my head.

It would have been more useful if it was a pigeon because I could fly. At any rate, in terms of avoiding cockroaches or mice, it was a psychological relief…….

…….

‘Uh.’

The golden city crumbles from my vision.

The ecstatic blue sea, the fairy-tale-like brick houses and avenues sparkling like heaven, the beautiful banners all lose light, fade, and break.

And instead, grotesque things began to be visible. Rusted metal pipes, a streetlight flickering while broken, a half-destroyed building, graffiti of blood and filth. Things like grotesque tumor masses protruding and pulsing fill the gaps between bricks and streetlights! It’s completely infected in this space! Strange! Strange! It’s all around! I got infected…

Spit it out!

I must spit out the stamp. Something went wrong with this….

…….

No.

‘It’s… not that.’

It’s because of the shock of falling from an ecstatic place… to a terrible place.

I didn’t get infected.

“Hee-uu.”

I collected my breath.

Adapting to the environment, the rapid panic ended. Trembling my body as is, I looked around with a cold mind that had escaped the child.

Masses of biological tissue infected here and there in the grotesquely ruined civilization and city.

This is a description I know.

Yes. ‘Twinkling Dragon Palace’ was not a ghost story that was not recorded in the Records of the Dark Exploration.

Only, it was just not the appearance I knew.

What I knew was….

……Daydream Co.’s terrible ghost story.

———————=

Records of the Dark Exploration / Ghost Story

[Mermaid Tomb]

: A ghost story appearing in the , Daydream Co.’s identification code is Qterw-C-1642.

A ghost story wandering around a grotesque city that sank to the seabed.

The victim is chased by a swarm of grotesque creatures, and upon being caught, all of their blood and mucous membrane are sucked out and they die.

———————=

This.

The city is already in a ruined state, and it can be estimated from the records left here and there that it was destroyed by being infected with a biohazard.

It was also a delicacy to see the contrast between the ruins of the currently destroyed apocalypse by a miserable and terrible biohazard and the traces of the city that must have once been beautiful.

Because the biohazard is recorded as a mermaid in the records of the city, it is said that it was registered as ‘Mermaid Tomb’ in the database.

So… here, the children of the Twinkling Dragon Palace.

In the heart of the city, there is a grotesque mass which is the core colony of the ‘biohazard-mermaid’ infection source, and infected larvae coming out of this chase the explorer endlessly.

Upon being caught, they enter an infected state and become the host of the mermaid.

I staggered and walked the completely broken street on four legs.

Frozen in bizarre postures here and there in the dark deep-sea streets, corpses moving by being dragged by something like strange tumor masses are visible.

No… half-living, half-corpse.

Moving stiffly and weakly like dolls.

‘Those water fountain decoration dolls.’

[Children]

[please receive honey!]

Doll decorations of various appearances from soldiers to elephants.

‘They were human.’

People who were dragged into this crazy ghost story and infected.

Then, that honey came out of the faucet attached near the belly….

Actually, it is blood drawn from a person’s belly by that tumor-like mass.

‘…Ugh.’

I ran.

Kicking off with four legs, I run through the ruins of this grotesque, deep-sea-submerged old city where infected life wrapping rusted machinery wriggles.

And so, I arrived at the heart of the city.

…What had appeared as a beautiful Dragon Palace… was…

A colony of giant tumor masses.

Thump, thump.

A mass of flesh of dirty orange, green, and pinkish white, whose pulsation was transmitted all the way here, hung here and there on the ruined giant building, towering giggly like an avant-garde structure.

And what was attached in the very front, like a bumpy egg sack with tentacles.

An observing eye could recall a similar silhouette.

The statue of the Little Mermaid.

The infected larvae draw the host explorer’s blood and mucous membrane to supply it to the colony in the heart of the city, and the colony spits out infectious slime and dregs.

The dregs were confirmed as indigestible fibers and plastics.

Yes.

…The toys, clothes, and fairy tale books that the Little Mermaid statue gives when children offer ‘honey’ in ‘Twinkling Dragon Palace’… were the worn-out belongings of the people who went missing here.

It is just deceiving the children to make it appear that way.

This ghost story.

And it was infecting the children. These terrible infected larvae, commonly called baby mermaids in the Mermaid Tomb exploration records, in the end….

In the end….

“…….”

No.

‘This… this.’

Let’s return first, I must not meet the children in this state. I staggered and barely turned my body.

At that moment.

Wroooooong!

Along with a strange sound, the tumor mass on the floor shot slime at me.

“…!”

It was infectious slime.

If that clings to me, I will also have a faucet attached…!

‘Damn it.’

Fortunately, a cat knew how to run quickly.

As if it were a lie, my four legs moving in perfect adaptation to the cat’s body run through the dusty and rusted alleys. Was this why Agent Choi recommended it?

‘At any rate!’

So, so.

What on earth do I do about this?

Should I let the agents know? If I let them know, how far should I let them know?

How should the rescue proceed? No, in this situation, is it right for the agents to continue being children?

Is the child’s form really safe?

The judgment that living here is better than turning to foam is, now….

“This way. There are no baby mermaids.”

…!

“Move.”

“Yes, Assistant Manager!”

I stopped my feet.

Three figures currently entering the alley.

A calm tone. A familiar word seen in exploration records. A title called by rank.

…It is Daydream Co.

‘The field exploration team was inside…!’

Yes, in the first place, because most of the long exploration records of the Dark registered in that company were written by the field exploration team employees, it was natural to witness company people inside here.

…In that case.

Couldn’t I perhaps utilize them?

‘If it’s a Daydream Co. employee, they must have at least one or two special equipments.’

A way to break through this situation might be visible. Or at least an idea…!

Even if it wasn’t, increasing the hand of cards to play was unconditionally necessary.

‘Let’s go.’

Holding my breath, I approached the alley where masks and suits brushed past.

“…said.”

“A. This.”

Their conversation caught my sharp hearing, and the three figures that finally revealed themselves around the corner were….

…….

Masks I know.

“…Hmm. It doesn’t look useful.”

“Eh? It seems like it will make money. I will take it.”

Goat Baek Sa-heon, Pony Kang Yi-hak.

And….

“Be quiet.”

Butterfly, A-group Assistant Manager Jin Na-sol.

“…….”

‘Damn it.’

It was a killer lineup.