I rushed to the adjacent tent.
Then, from the three remaining Nostalgia Candies, I took one and fed it to the unresponsive student lying there.
The student nad Lee Soobin.
Unlike the others, this student had gone missing days earlier—before the initial rescue request was even made.
Go Yeongeun had suggested that a familiar face nearby might help ground him, so the other high schoolers stood beside , anxiously watching.
I tore open the wrapper and placed the Nostalgia Candy into Lee Soobin’s mouth.
“……”
“S-Soobin? Are you okay?”
Drip, drip. Tears stread down his face.
And then, he started sobbing.
“Huuhp, hiiiic…”
“It’s okay, i-it’s okay…”
The high schoolers rushed in, hugging him tightly.
…Nostalgia Candy restored a person’s body and mind to their peak condition, but it didn’t erase their painful mories.
I stood back and let them help him recover, checking the ti.
[ 09 : 22 ]
And then, when we couldn’t afford to wait any longer—
[ 09 : 43 ]
I finally spoke.
“Student Lee Soobin.”
“Hiiiic… Yes…”
“To be honest with you, to get out of here faster, we need your help.”
I handed him the smartphone with the ergency request attachnt.
“Write down your na and ID, then type ‘Looky Mart’ and send the rescue request.”
“……”
“Please.”
With trembling hands, the student took the phone.
And then, he frantically started typing.
[HelppleaseI’mtrappedinLookyMartIlivein■■districtplease]
It was a ssage filled with pure desperation. Tears dripped from his eyes as his fingers moved.
Then… he sent it.
“……”
“You did well. Try to rest now.”
I couldn’t bring myself to tell him to spit out the Nostalgia Candy.
…If my theory was wrong, then maybe I would need to save it after all.
‘For now… we wait.’
Leaving the students behind, I stepped outside the tent.
Ziiip.
Go Yeongeun, who had been sitting nearby, looked up at .
I sat down beside her and kept checking my watch.
Waiting for that ti.
For 10:00 AM, the opening hour.
[ 09 : 51 ]
Agent Bronze began preparing to retrieve the protective item.
[ 09 : 54 ]
I calculated how long we could hold out in the second-floor food court if we failed.
[ 09 : 58 ]
In the worst case… who should receive the two escape items?
Then…
[ 09 : 59 ]
The mont approached.
All three of us lifted our heads, staring at the ceiling and the air above.
Waiting for the signal.
And…
[ 10 : 00 ]
Ti was up.
“……”
“……”
“Agent Grapes, are you alri—”
Na-na-na-na, na-na-nan-na-na-na, na-na-nan~
“…!!”
A chi-like lody suddenly filled the store.
– Looky Mart’s doors are now open. We welco our valued custors with bright smiles today~
A cheerful announcent.
The familiar store jingle played without distortion, ringing through the mart loud and clear.
Flicker, flicker, flicker.
Bright fluorescent lights flickered on.
Sunlight began streaming through the glass windows.
And the grotesque employees vanished as if rewinding.
With an eerie, creaking noise, they were sucked back into the staff-only area, disappearing through the gaping tal doors…
Thud.
The doors slamd shut.
Every single one of them was gone.
Not a single trace left behind.
“……”
The supermarket… had finally reopened.
“Hahhh…”
‘…We survived.’
I collapsed onto the floor.
“It worked! It actually worked!!”
Exactly.
Go Yeongeun, looking more excited than I had ever seen her, clapped on the shoulder, her face flushed with relief as she glanced around the mart.
“How in the world did you— No! It doesn’t matter! Let’s just get the hell out of here first and talk later!”
But Agent Bronze, who had been staring at the store in a daze, suddenly turned to look at .
“The ergency request… This was…”
“Yes.”
Had he figured it out?
I finally smiled and answered.
“The store has to be open for a rescue agent to enter.”
“…!”
Yes.
‘Kind of like reverse logic.’
I forced the mart into a situation that ‘made sense’ where it had to reopen.
Right… by changing the conditions.
“You said before that there’s no way to stop people from entering Looky Mart.”
It wasn’t just in the agent handbook I received. The also stated it explicitly.
A known thod to end or seal it does not exist, and proactively preventing disappearances is likewise impossible.
Even the entry conditions were docunted.
Looky Mart entry condition : Roam around for over twenty minutes, within a 3km radius of the old Lucky Mart location, searching for the store.
Which ant—
‘As long as soone follows that condition, they will be pulled into this cursed Looky Mart ghost story.’
But now, let’s flip that logic.
“Then, if soone is about to enter, Looky Mart must be open for business.”
—Looky Mart must be open for new victims to enter.
“And…”
“That ans… a new agent is coming today.”
Go Yeongeun blurted it out, her face flickering between shock and realization.
“Because the high school student sent a rescue request—a new agent will be entering!”
Correct.
So, if the Disaster Managent Bureau had received that request and sent soone…
“Yes. Today, the store had no choice but to open.”
I smiled.
Go Yeongeun briefly smiled along—but then, confusion settled into her expression.
“…? Wait. Then doesn’t that an the cause and effect are reversed?”
Exactly.
“It’s not that the store opens, and people go missing. People need to go missing for the store to open, so it starts business every morning.”
“That’s completely out of order.”
“That’s why it’s a ghost story.”
A bizarre, twisted reality that doesn’t follow the laws of logic…
Just like how the infinitely repeating third floor made no sense.
“Yeah, that makes sense.”
The confusion on Go Yeongeun’s face shifted into grim understanding.
She looked like she wanted to run out of this supermarket imdiately.
…Honestly, I felt the sa.
So let’s get out of here.
We quickly got up and started preparing to leave.
‘We have gift certificates. We have escape items.’
That was more than enough to get all three high schoolers and the three of us out.
“Well done.”
As we packed up, Agent Bronze whispered quietly.
Then, with a glance, he motioned toward the three students stepping out of the tent, faces lit with hope.
“These civilians… are being rescued thanks to you.”
Honestly? That wasn’t true. If either Agent Bronze or Go Yeongeun hadn’t been here, we all would’ve died…
Still, just as I was about to thank him—
“……”
Suddenly, I had a strange thought.
It felt too easy to speak.
The usual obstruction in my mouth… was gone.
‘Ah.’
And I realized I could no longer taste the sugary sweetness of the Nostalgia Candy.
“……”
The candy had completely dissolved.
Which ant…
“……!”
“Agent!”
Agonizing pain exploded from the right side of my body.
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