The four of us bolted out of the exit of the 'Fantasy Train' and ran.
"Haah… haah!"
The sounds of desperate panting came from both sides, the kind of breathlessness only achieved when running for your life. It couldn't be helped.
The mascots were pouring out.
Die
"Aaaaaah!"
"Huu, huuuuk…"
From every attraction entrance, store, and sign, strange, unsettling bubbles of ooze burst, spewing forth grotesque mascots.
They chased after us, mouths peeled back to reveal rows of teeth embedded deep in their innards, giving them a horrifying appearance.
Occasionally, their bodies would lurch, and gooey, tentacle-like things would protrude from their drooping ears and arms.
♩♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪♩♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪♩♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪♩♪ ♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪♩♪♬♬~♩♬♬~♩♪♪
Hahaha! Hahaha! Hahaha! Hahaha! Hahaha! Hahaha!
The noise was deafening.
The theme park music and laughter swirled together, creating a disturbing cacophony all around.
It was chaotic, frightening, disorienting, and utterly terrifying!! The overwhelming sounds were disorienting, making it hard to think straight. But…
"Here! This way!"
I gritted my teeth, turning in the direction I'd memorized with determination.
At that moment—
Flick.
Squish.
The slimy end of a tentacle just barely grazed my head.
Hiss.
"…Huuk."
The hair where the slime touched started to melt, and I caught a whiff of something burning.
'This is insane.'
Cold sweat dripped down my back.
But my feet didn't stop moving. They couldn't.
'Stopping would mean the end.'
I'd die. Or worse, I had a gut feeling I'd end up in an even more horrifying state.
The only relief was that the destination was close!
Even the researcher, instead of whining, was drooling as he ran in desperation.
Boring
"Get away! Get awayyyyy!"
"Shut your mouth!"
The butterfly mask shouted. She looked like she wanted to throw the researcher to buy time but couldn't bring herself to do it.
It was understandable.
'They're too close.'
The mascots swarming toward us were multiplying like crazy, and now, some of them were getting alarmingly close.
And they were fast.
Faster than humans!
'Damn, damn, damn!!'
In the moment that terror gripped me—
"Urgh!"
Someone got caught.
"Aaack… ugh…"
The guy in the bison mask went down.
'Fuck.'
Without even looking back, I managed to flip a coin in my pocket to summon the glove. Then I tossed a few 500-won coins to create a semitransparent shadow hand in mid-air.
Whoosh.
The shadow hand flew forward and shoved the head of a grotesque mascot.
"Run!"
The Y-squad newbie, who'd barely escaped, staggered up and scrambled to run.
"Huff… ha… th-thanks…"
"Later!"
There was no time to stop the bleeding. My special equipment wouldn't be of any help at this point!
'The shadow hand will disappear once it goes beyond the three-meter range…'
A searing pain shot through my left hand.
"—!!!"
I almost dropped to the ground, clutching my hand and screaming in pain. It felt like my hand was being crushed and dissolved in a spiked press.
'Specialized equipment!'
I realized instantly. The shadow hand I'd summoned in mid-air must have suffered some horrible fate in the mascot's maw or tentacles. In that moment, I discovered the flaw in my specialized equipment: if the hand created by the glove was destroyed, my own hand would feel the exact same pain!
But there was no time to scream. I sprinted like mad.
"There!"
The target point came into view.
A giant gate.
Painted in bright colors, following the style of a typical theme park…
[FANTASYLAND (WESTSIDE GATE)]
A decoration.
An ornamental gate attached to the castle wall encircling the western side of the theme park.
"It's blocked!!"
"Get underneath it!"
I quickly stepped under the ornamental gate and looked back. Almost immediately, two others tried to step in: the A-squad assistant manager and the Y-squad newbie.
The researcher, being behind, was in a more dangerous spot…
"Fuck, move already!"
"Ugh!"
Thud.
The researcher shoved the A-squad assistant manager aside, using the momentum to propel himself forward.
"...!"
The slender body of the assistant manager, caught off guard, collided with a mascot.
Die
The black-red ooze from the partially melted mascot dripped onto her right then.
"AAAHHHHH!"
Hiss.
The sound of sizzling flesh echoed in my ears.
"Assistant Manager!"
The A-squad employee was pinned beneath a grotesquely distorted mascot, her limbs shaking uncontrollably.
Her face, partly visible beyond the butterfly mask, was already blistered and ruined. In her eyes was resignation—the look of someone who knew they couldn't be saved.
The moment our eyes met—
"Nail!"
I shouted.
"Assistant Manager, your nail—here!"
At the same time, I stretched my left hand forward. The A-squad assistant manager's eyes widened, and she reached out, extending her index finger.
Ping!
The nail shot out, embedding itself in the center of my palm.
"...!"
But I didn't flinch.
'It already hurt like hell before!'
Ignoring the pain, I gripped the nail tightly, pulling her towards me.
Whoosh.
With a short, abrupt noise, the butterfly-masked body was yanked forward, barely missing the snapping jaws and oozing slime from the mascots.
"Haah… haaaah…"
"Huff… huff…"
We collapsed under the archway, gasping for breath.
Right in front of us, countless rabbit mascots, oozing like they were crying blood, stared blankly with empty eyes, frozen in place as if held back by an invisible barrier.
"Gah!"
It looked as if an invisible wall had stopped them in their tracks.
Cheerful Theme Park User Guide (Applicable up to Exploration Record #64)
5- Enjoy the various zones!
Has the appearance of the mascot or the attraction color changed? You're in a new zone now.
Unfortunately, mascots from other zones can't exist in the new zone. Say goodbye warmly!
I looked down at the ground.
'…The bricks are a different color.'
As if by magic, two white brick lines were under the decorative archway. The mascots couldn't cross from the red brick floor beyond.
Boring
I glanced down at my admission ticket.
[(Cheerful) Fantasyland Admission Ticket ■□□]
[(Cheerful) Fantasyland Admission Ticket ■□□]
Not fun
The voice faded away. The mascots clustered in front of us stood perfectly still, and then, in a blink…
Vanished.
"..."
"..."
The sound of our gasping breaths filled the now-silent air. I swallowed hard.
"…It seems this is the end of Magic Bunny's Fantasyland."
We survived.
"We made it. We escaped."
"Aah…!"
"Huuuuh…"
The Y-squad newbie collapsed to the ground, clutching his shoulder in relief and pain. I leaned my head back against the wall, gazing up at the sky, catching my breath.
'I thought I was done for…'
My heart was pounding out of my chest.
I'm alive, huh.
The A-squad assistant manager glared icily at the researcher who had pushed her, but then, glancing at the nail-shaped wound in my hand, regained her composure. It seemed she'd decided there was no need to get worked up over killing the researcher right now.
It was impressive how calm she remained, despite the intense pain she must have felt from the acidic liquid splashed over her head.
"Anyway."
"Yes?"
The A-squad assistant manager took a deep breath.
"Thanks. I owe you my life."
"..."
I hadn't expected that.
"It's nothing. You survived thanks to your specialized equipment…"
"There's no point being modest here. Just say, 'Got it.' You've landed yourself on the right side here."
Ah, yes.
"Unlike some idiot."
"..."
The researcher desperately avoided her gaze.
The A-squad assistant manager gave him a brief look before returning to business.
"This place seems like a sort of buffer zone. Was that your plan? But it's too cramped to just stand here… what's the next step?"
"This isn't the destination."
"Hm?"
After catching my breath, I turned completely to face the decorative gate.
"Did you know that large theme parks sometimes have more than just the amusement park itself?"
"…Something else?"
"Yes."
Technically, this area under the archway wasn't in Magic Bunny's territory or any other mascot's.
It was a blank zone in the theme park, so they wouldn't come after us for damaging property here.
I rapped my knuckles on the wall that was made to look like a door.
Thunk.
It sounded hollow.
"Assistant Manager, can you use your special equipment to pry this open?"
"..."
The assistant manager silently raised her hand and extended her fingernail again, wedging it into a crack in the wall and yanking it hard.
"Gah!"
Thump, thump.
One of the brick panels cracked open, and a gust of fresh air flowed in, carrying… the scent of water.
Ahahahaha!
"...!!"
The sound of refreshing splashes, a boat horn, and seagulls filled the air, along with a lively marching tune.
Through the crack in the bricks, I glimpsed open space and sunlight streaming down.
Enormous, swirling water slides descended into a pool below, shimmering in different shades of blue as water and inner tubes streamed down.
[Blue Dream Waterland]
"This place…!"
A water park, the summer zone of this large-scale theme park.
"It's the Blue Zone."
The Y-squad newbie whipped his head around to look at me, eyes wide with shock.
"H-How?!"
"When I looked at the Fantasyland color map earlier, there wasn't a single water-themed attraction."
"...!"
"So I just guessed that there must be a large water section located separately elsewhere."
I took a deep breath.
"And I also figured it wouldn't be accessible through regular routes. They typically sell separate tickets for water parks, after all."
"…So that's why you pried open the wall?"
"Yes."
I recalled my earlier conversation with Squad Leader Lee Jaheon.
…the west.
The west.
Of course, the squad leader had probably meant the west side within Waterland itself. But since we were at the far western edge of Magic Bunny's Fantasyland, it allowed me to deduce the existence of a separate Blue Zone.
'The east side was blocked by the forest, the north led to the entrance, and the south was a cliff…'
Really, the only plausible place for more space beyond Magic Bunny's Fantasyland was the west.
My guess was right.
"It seems the blue mascot, exiled from Fantasyland, created a new zone here."
"Aha…"
"For now, let's get through as quickly as possible."
"Y-Yes, let's!"
Hands busily pried away the remaining bricks. Even the Y-squad newbie, injured as he was, used his one good hand to help.
Meanwhile, the researcher lingered in the corner, looking sly, as if he'd finally noticed things were going in his favor.
And within a few moments—
"It's open!"
One by one, we began crawling through the now-exposed gap. I was the last to emerge, standing on both feet in Waterland, gazing at the blue pools and bright sky above.
A breeze, heavy with moisture, brushed by.
'This sunlight…'
It felt so unbelievably good.
And as I stood, momentarily feeling a strange sense of liberation, I spotted people waving and running toward us from afar.
"Roe!"
"...!"
The members of D-squad.
"Are you alright?!"
"Assistant Manager!"
The D-squad members bustled over, each carrying some bulky load, likely inner tubes or other gear.
Relief surged through me, perhaps from the familiarity of seeing the people I'd been working with for the past month.
"How have you all been!"
I greeted them happily and stepped forward, wondering if I should help take some of the load off the squad leader's shoulder, as any proactive newbie would…
Wait.
'That's a person.'
It wasn't equipment.
Hanging limply off the lizard squad leader's shoulder was a human body.
'…A casualty?'
Looking closer, I realized the person wore a teal duck mask. It was the A-squad leader.
"..."
No.
Nooo!!