“Summing up, here are our optionss.”
Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae, eyes bright and clear, laid out our choices.
Option 1.
“Figure out so way to clear the ‘Forest of Final Monts’ in the concourse above the stairs and see if we can return!”
And option 2.
“Follow the tracks to find the train and head to another station! We saw people on the train!”
…Well then.
“Neither one’s easy…”
Agreed……
Watching the veterans let out their sighs, I felt the sa helplessness, and at the sa ti, a kind of gratitude.
‘If we had soone experiencing a ghost story for the first ti, soone would’ve already freaked out and tried to chase the train on their own…’
No troll-like impulsiveness, no dog-like brawling. In that respect, at least, my mind was at ease.
“Got a cig on you?”
“Aigoo, I quit recently. And even if I had one, probably better not to smoke in a situation like this.”
Agent Bronze, who’d been silently watching the two smokers, declared.
“It would be better to eat sothing.”
“Ah.”
And so we began a light al.
“I do keep a few things like this on .”
“Ooh. You’ve co prepared?”
“You think only governnt folks do that?”
Given the nature of our jobs, where the need for ergency rations cos up often, most of the group had so shelf-stable food.
I used to as well. I rembered sweeping a bunch of instant food into my tattoo-inventory when I went into Looky Mart…
“Oh, puffed rice.”
“They don’t sll and they store easy. Hahaha! Bronze doesn’t like them though.”
I was the only one who had nothing.
Of course.
Up until just now, I’d had a ‘body that didn’t need to eat’.
So I was on the receiving end of a unilateral distribution.
‘…At tis like this, I kind of miss it, actually.’
That body that didn’t need food, it’s a bit…
“Roe Deer-nim!”
“…!”
When I turned my head, Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae, face bright with a smile, was holding sothing out.
A small, individually wrapped yakgwa.
“Here. It’s my favorite snack!”
“Then you should have it, Dolphin-nim…”
“I want to see your reaction!”
“……”
In the end I took it with a wry smile.
“Thank you.”
And as I put it in my mouth, I realized it was the first food I’d eaten in six months.
“……”
Sweetness, a toasty richness.
Texture.
‘Ah.’
Right.
This is what it feels to taste sothing.
“Is it good?”
“It’s very good. Thank you.”
They also shared their biscuits and chocolate bars with .
And lighthearted banter.
“Grapes-ie. When we get out, let’s go eat sothing spicy. We should go back to that tripe hot pot place, yeah?”
But,
After getting out of this place, I…
……
“Yes. Thank you.”
I couldn’t let my mind go there now.
‘Focus everything on escape.’
Earn my keep.
Amazingly, once the calories hit, my brain started working again.
I realized I’d been operating under extre tension and hollowness.
It was only because my head had finally gone clear for the first ti in ages that I hadn’t noticed how off my condition was.
‘I was wringing myself dry, huh.’
And the sugar in my brain quickly brought to mind more things to check.
The tattoos.
Are they intact?
‘I actually thought about them monts ago and then sohow didn’t check.’
If the lodge keeper tattoo still functioned, in a pinch I might be able to pull everyone out to the resort.
I subtly lifted my sleeve and the inside of my shirt collar to check the tattoos.
‘…They’re there.’
For now, everything seed to be in place.
And if I check the urgent lodge keeper tattoo’s function first…
……
‘It probably won’t work.’
More precisely, the ‘inventory’-like function seed to be sowhat alive, but I couldn’t check if it’s still linked to the resort.
At the very least, I could tell I wouldn’t be able to send other living beings from here to the resort via the tattoo…
‘Hmm.’
Feeling a faint regret that the easiest escape route might be gone, I took my hand away.
But.
[Oh, isn’t there another thod left?]
Yeah.
‘Honestly, this also… might not work either.’
But I’d at least confird it exists. No harm trying.
I felt under my tongue once, then looked around at the still-eating group and spoke.
“About Option 1 that Dolphin-nim suggested earlier.”
“Ahh. Clearing the Forest of Final Monts?”
“Yes.”
That one.
“If we have the right supplies, since we have experienced people here, there should be a few approaches we can try. Even without a manual.”
“…That’s true, but.”
“Why, did a good idea pop into our Grapes’s head?”
After a brief hesitation, I nodded.
“I might have a way to obtain items that can serve as required supplies.”
“Oh?”
“Reallyy?”
“Yes. But… this attempt also needs prep.”
“What is it?”
I avoided direct eye contact.
“Does anyone have sothing we could turn into cash?”
“……”
“I take cash too. About… five thousand.”
“……”
“……”
“Is this so kind of scam…?”
“Oho.”
I nearly cried from embarrassnt.
* * *
Fortunately, despite my recent track record (spy, disappearance, identity swap), the group trusted a fair bit.
So I finally attempted it. Naly…
‘Space Shopping Mall.’
Using the VIP cell mounted under my tongue to do personal shopping.
“……”
I’d felt this once before.
I rembered perceiving the cell and pressing it, but everything after that was hazy, like I’d nodded off for a mont…
“Dear custor.”
I raised my head.
There, beside the subway platform where my companions had sohow vanished, stood soone in a suit.
A lizard’s head turned toward .
“Shall we begin personal shopping?”
Good.
“Yes.”
‘I thought the odds were high it wouldn’t work out here, since we’re ‘outside’.’
But since it’s implanted in the body, I figured it might, so I’m glad I tried.
With a small, satisfied unclenching of my fist, I t the lizard’s eyes.
Hm.
‘This ti it’s dark brown.’
Below the blunt-looking vertical pupils, the lizard’s mouth opened.
“For smoother shopping, we recomnd proceeding sowhere with a table.”
“……Right.”
Given the environnt, this is what we’ve got.
“By the way, how are we connected? Out here, any item or gear that draws power from an external source doesn’t work.”
“You an this is a space where external, unreal influence is cut off?”
“That’s right.”
“The Space Shopping Mall is not an unreal, imaginary space. It is a real, actually existing store of ours.”
Um. Then.
‘Aliens… count as real entities…?’
Co to think of it, Section Chief Lee Jaheon was extracting Dream Essence without issue. That ans they’re judged as people.
‘…Hmm.’
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic… sothing like that?
My interest perked up, but this wasn’t the ti to dig into it. I nodded.
“Thank you for the explanation.”
“Yes, dear custor.”
And from here… the conversation got harder to start. I spoke very carefully.
Because the mont I realized the Space Shopping Mall existed, a mory struck like lightning.
Debt!!
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