May 5. Tuesday, 10 a.m. Ian arrived at the entrance of the theme park. He hung his helmet on the motorcycle’s side mirror, cut the engine, and looked back at the tunnel.
It was a place he had been to once before, so he had no particular impressions to speak of.
It was still repulsive, and evil spirits were peeking their heads out. With an indifferent expression, Ian parked the motorcycle roughly off to the side and took out a cigarette, putting it between his lips.
Chk.
As he lit it, acrid smoke surged into the air. Ian’s gaze rose with the gas that defied gravity.
The sky was extraordinarily clear. Huge clouds drifted gently along the wind, and the blue sky revealed the sun without a filter. The temperature was not all that hot either. It was about time to enter early summer, but for now it was still fairly cool.
‘I might as well check the plan until the others arrive.’
Ian sat on a nearby rock and exhaled cigarette smoke into the air. A sweet lemon candy scent spread faintly.
‘Once we go in, the first priority is rescuing Han Yuri. If the starting point is the same as when Yuna and I first entered, there won’t be much of a problem, but if not, we might end up scattered. It’d be better to take some blood in advance for that possibility.’
Click.
Ian took the “Blood-Tracking Compass” out of his pocket.
For now, it was merely pointing toward the pole like an ordinary compass, but the moment it drank someone’s blood, the compass would track that person until the owner of the blood died.
It was originally a tool used to pursue prey, but it was also more than useful enough for determining an ally’s life or death and location. If he fed it Han Yuri’s blood, he would be able to find her easily even inside the complicated theme park.
There was no reason not to use it. Thinking that he would take Han Yuri’s blood once she arrived, Ian leaned his upper body slightly forward.
‘The other survivors besides Han Yuri. These people are the problem…….’
His eyes narrowed on their own.
According to the Management Bureau, of the one hundred people who had posted on the community, everyone except a small number had not been located. That meant they were all inside the theme park…… but honestly, he was not sure whether he could rescue them all.
Of course he would make an effort. As long as there were innocent people inside the theme park, he had no intention of carelessly releasing high-grade creatures of the Outer Sea. He planned to secure at least a minimum level of safety before moving in earnest.
‘But there’s no guarantee things will go according to plan. People will definitely die. Before I can do anything, or without me even getting the chance.’
Most of the people who had flowed into the theme park were ordinary civilians with no power whatsoever. They had not received training like Management Bureau agents, nor were they even used to the mysteries like vampire hunters.
There was no way people like that were passing their time laughing happily inside a theme park crawling with anomalies. They were surely dying even now.
He had no idea what the new “theme” the theme park spoke of was, but at the very least, he was certain it was not human-friendly.
Even if he did rescue them, the gap between mages and ordinary people was enormous. There might be stragglers in the process of moving with them.
And if he thought about it coldly from a mage’s perspective, abandoning them was the correct choice. He suspected that was what he would actually do as well.
Rather than sacrifice several people to save one, would it not be better to cleanly abandon that one?
‘I don’t feel anything like guilt. We’re not the Management Bureau, and we’re not a rescue squad either. If we can save them, we save them. If not, we give up without lingering regrets. I refuse to get myself into trouble playing hero for no reason.’
Thinking that, Ian rubbed out the spent cigarette against the rock. Then he crumpled the butt roughly into a portable ashtray. Perhaps because he had washed it out thoroughly once recently, the ashtray was fairly clean.
He checked the tomahawk and revolver attached to the inside of his coat, then sat and read through his grimoire until the others arrived. The Deep Sea Travelogue, being read for the first time in a while, vibrated as if pleased.
“Ah, th-there he is.”
“…….”
Not long after, the Han sisters appeared. The two, who had climbed the mountain with tense expressions, confirmed Ian’s presence and moved toward him. Ian immediately closed the grimoire and looked back at them.
“You got here sooner than I expected. The meeting time is eleven-thirty, isn’t it?”
“I-I was going to come early. You came early too, didn’t you……?”
“I figured I’d eat lunch or something before going in. My disciple packed some gimbap for me as a good-luck sendoff.”
He gave a faint laugh and took three rolls of gimbap out of his bag. Seeing the gimbap neatly wrapped in foil, Yuna’s eyes widened.
“D-disciple? You had a disciple?”
“I took one in recently. She’s pretty versatile. She even got up early this morning and packed gimbap for me without me saying anything.”
“Ah…….”
“If you haven’t eaten, you should have some too. It’s too much for me to finish alone anyway.”
Ian placed one roll of gimbap in Yuna’s hand. With a somewhat sour expression, she fiddled with the warm gimbap, then nodded and sat down beside Ian. Han Yuri also took a seat next to her.
Rustle, rustle.
When they opened the foil, gimbap cut into uneven pieces revealed itself. A few had burst completely, their contents spilling out to the side.
No matter how one looked at it, it was gimbap made by someone unskilled at cooking. Yuna, whose cooking skills were unexpectedly excellent, let out a small laugh as she picked up a piece.
“Y-your disciple. I guess she’s not very good at cooking. Her knife work is way too clumsy…… I-I can make most foods, though…….”
She said it in a strangely smug voice. Ian answered calmly.
“She’s only fourteen, so that’s how it is. She’ll probably get better with time.”
Munch.
Ian put a piece of gimbap into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed.
“It tastes fine, so try it. If you’re not going to eat it, give it to me.”
“……N-no. I’ll eat it…… She was fourteen…….”
An age where she would only just be entering middle school. At the realization that she had unconsciously felt superior to such a child, Yuna’s fingers trembled as she picked up and ate the gimbap. As Ian had said, the taste was decent enough.
The meal took place in a quiet atmosphere. Aside from Ian and Yuna exchanging a few words now and then, the mountain was generally still. There was barely any birdsong or the sound of insects in the grass.
“…….”
Han Yuri did not say a word from the beginning of the meal until the end. She was forcing herself to eat the gimbap, but fear she could not hide showed plainly on her face.
It was only natural.
An ordinary person who was neither a trained soldier nor used to the mysteries was walking toward a place of death with her own two feet. How could she calmly crack jokes? Honestly, just making it this far was worthy of praise.
Of course, if she had not come, her chances of dying would have risen even higher.
In any case.
Ian finished his meal roughly and handed Han Yuri the pentagrams he had brought. She had been staring blankly at the ground, and when she received the heavy metal talismans, her body flinched.
“These are…….”
“They’re talismans imbued with defensive magic and stamina-enhancing magic, respectively. The defensive magic will absorb most ordinary impacts in your stead as long as you have it with you, and the stamina-enhancing magic will let you keep running for a long time without getting tired. However, the effect will end ten minutes after activation, so use it carefully.”
“Ah…….”
She stared blankly down at the talismans, then squeezed her eyes shut and nodded.
“……All right. How do I activate them?”
“Bite them lightly. Then the magic will activate on its own. I’ve already confirmed that the effects are usable, so there’s no need to worry.”
Defensive and stamina-enhancing pentagrams.
Both were items Amelia had made. She still lacked proficiency, so they had the drawback of requiring only expensive materials such as emeralds, diamonds, jade, and rubies, but the effects themselves were quite decent. They were more than enough for an ordinary person to use.
Perhaps Yuna had also handed Han Yuri a pentagram she had made herself, because Yuri was wearing a round pentagram set with a blue gem like a necklace.
Its effect was…… probably increased healing speed. Like the ones Ian had given her, it was not an especially amazing item, but it was still far better than having nothing.
To begin with, items with better performance than that could not even be used by someone who was not a mage. Even if one pushed oneself to make Solomon’s Pentagram, it would be meaningless. So this was the best they could do.
Ian took one step back from Han Yuri, put pieces of anomaly flesh into his pocket, and spoke.
“We don’t know what variables there might be once we go inside. If we land in the same place, there won’t be much of a problem, but if we’re separated by any chance, the situation gets a little complicated. We’ll have to start by finding you, Yuri.”
“Ah…….”
“But I have a tool that can determine your location. If I use this, I should be able to find you without trouble, so if you don’t see us after entering, hide immediately instead of doing anything else. I’ll find you quickly.”
“O-okay.”
Yuri nodded. Ian slipped the axe toward her and continued.
“To make the tool work, I need your blood. I’ll only make a small cut, so could you hold out one finger?”
A tactical axe with its blade openly exposed. It looked extremely vicious, but Yuri gulped and slowly held out the little finger of her left hand. Ian lightly pricked her skin with the very edge of the axe blade.
“Ugh.”
Along with a sharp pain, a drop of blood fell from the wound. Ian skillfully caught the falling blood with the compass.
Drip.
The compass, which had turned bright red, spun like mad before soon beginning to point precisely at Yuri. Ian nodded and stepped back.
“It’s working normally. That’s a relief.”
“Th-then now…….”
“Yes. Once Kim Yul arrives, we’ll go in right away.”
“…….”
At Ian’s unhesitating answer, Yuri bit her lower lip hard in tension. Yuna soothed her. It was the complete opposite of their usual situation.
“Ah, I’m the last one? I thought I came earlyyy…….”
A little while later, Kim Yul also arrived at the scene. Ian checked all of the party’s tickets, then turned toward the tunnel.
“We’re going in. Don’t get separated.”
The current time was 12:24 p.m.
It was earlier than the one o’clock time they had reserved, but entering a little early was far better than arriving exactly on time or late. And so the four of them slowly began walking through the tunnel with their tickets in hand.
One step.
With a splashing sound, he stepped into a puddle. The sky was clear, and there had been no rain in this area recently. Even so, there was a puddle inside the tunnel. A heavy metallic smell wafted from it.
Two steps.
The strength left Han Yuri’s legs and she staggered. Yuna supported her, and Kim Yul shrugged. The glass bottles hanging at her waist knocked against one another, producing a clear sound.
Three steps.
From far away, the sounds of trumpets, castanets, triangles, cymbals, and the like began to drift over. Along with them, pure white fog billowed forth. Their vision was obscured, and the sound of the instruments grew louder.
At last, four steps.
The fog lifted, and the tunnel that had been blocking them in on all sides disappeared. In its place appeared a red sky and a massive amusement park.
“H-huaaaa……!!”
“Wow, so this is the theme park. It’s bigger than I thought.”
Han Yuri screamed in fright, and Kim Yul admired it with pure amazement.
Ian and Yuna, who had been here once before, immediately looked at the costumed anomalies standing as if guarding the entrance to the theme park.
A bear, a cat, a bird, a mole, and more. The heads of all kinds of beasts were planted right where human heads should have been. Around their necks, obvious traces remained as if they had been crudely stitched together with thread.
“Happy, happy! Children, teenagers, and adults alike! Eden Theme Park, where everyone can have fun, welcomes you!”
“A grand reopening after a full five months! While reopening, we updated all sorts of systems and even made loads of new attractions! Dazzling and safe rides are waiting for you!”
“You absolutely must attend the parade! Please take the guidebook here!”
The monsters shouted loudly in voices that seemed half bestial growl and half human speech.
Whether that was fortunate or not, there were no other guests at the theme park entrance aside from Ian’s group. There were only monsters in mascot heads, a clown holding balloons, and worms with nothing but heads attached to their intestines, wriggling about.
Admittedly, that alone was already quite gory. Because of that, Han Yuri squeezed her eyes shut and trembled, her legs shaking violently.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck….”
“U-Unnie! Get a grip!”
Yuna comforted her. Ian glanced back at them and placed a cigarette in his mouth.
‘Fortunately, we weren’t transported separately. Less trouble finding everyone.’
Fshhh.
As he lit the tip of the cigarette, Kim Yul approached with brisk steps and pressed her cheek against Ian’s side, muttering.
“Now what? We managed to get in, at least.”
“You and Yuna take Ms. Han Yuri and focus on rescuing people. I’ll move around looking for the central hub of this space or any traces that look artificially made. I’ll basically handle all the monsters.”
Ian said. Kim Yul furrowed her brow.
“Alone? Won’t it be hard?”
“It can’t be helped. If I get involved in rescuing people, destroying this theme park space becomes harder. And my magic is more focused on killing than saving people, so even if I tried to rescue them, it wouldn’t be very efficient.”
“….”
“You can’t replace a scalpel with a greatsword. Even if they’re both blades, you have to use them for their proper purpose.”
“Does that mean Yuna and I are about scalpel-level?”
“I didn’t go that far.”
Ian gave a bitter smile and opened his grimoire. Then he took out a pen and quickly drew a magic circle on the ground.
“If someone stirs things up, someone else has to do the rescuing. I’ll also wander around and rescue people when I can, so don’t worry too much.”
“Hmph… Fine, I got it. I’ll follow your plan. What’s the detailed explanation?”
“First, I’ll go inside and openly wreak havoc. In the meantime, you scour the theme park and rescue as many civilians as possible. If you judge that you’ve rescued enough, break through the walls of the theme park and escape outside.”
“Outside?”
“Yeah. From experience, outside these spatial-type entities, there’s usually a normal empty lot or an abandoned city spread out. Of course, escaping doesn’t mean you’re outside the monster’s domain, but you’d at least be out of the limited theme park space. Even if I seriously flip the theme park upside down, you’ll be able to avoid it.”
Click.
Ian closed his pen and stood up, throwing the pieces of monster flesh from his pocket onto the magic circle.
There were three in total.
“The complete annihilation of the spatial-type entity called the theme park. Since that’s what we want, I need to destroy everything that composes the theme park first. To the point where repairs are impossible. Without a trace.”
“….”
“It’s something you can’t do. That’s why I have to.”
“Are we baggage?”
Kim Yul asked with a slightly dejected expression. Ian looked back at her with a surprised expression, then soon smiled gently and stroked her hair.
“That’s not it. If I thought you were baggage, I wouldn’t have brought you in the first place.”
“…Really?”
“We have to rescue people anyway. If I focus on one thing, you take care of the other. No need to overthink it.”
“…Tch, you sure know how to talk.”
Kim Yul grumbled. Then she suddenly stood up and lightly bit Ian’s nape.
“Ugh?!”
Ian furrowed his brow at the sudden attack. Regardless, Kim Yul stepped back and placed her hands on both cheeks like she was mimicking a tiger.
“Rawr! It is the attack of a ferocious shark! The flavor is excellent, male!”
“…What.”
“Come on, let’s go in already. How long are you going to dawdle? They’ve started staring holes into us over there.”
Kim Yul pointed at the mascot monsters with her finger.
Just as she said, the monsters had fallen silent as if their noisy chatter had been a lie, staring at Ian and the rest of the group.
A spine-chilling sight. Ian stared back at them for a moment, then reached his hand toward the magic circle.
“O thou who cycles. O thou who crawls through the eons. As Her proxy and husband, I command thee. I have personally prepared a feast for thee, so come hither.”
As the incantation concluded, a thick bloody mist spread out. And from within it, a small salamander-like creature poked its head out.
[Pkak!]
The Cycler, who had yet to experience death, greeted Ian happily.
Ian roughly stroked its smooth body with his finger and wrote something on a post-it note. Then he stuck it onto the Cycler’s nape. Not satisfied with just that, he even secured it with tape so it wouldn’t fall off.
“Phew, is this roughly finished?”
Ian wiped the sweat from his forehead with a satisfied expression.
The Cycler scratched at the tape on its body with its front paw as if stifled, but at Ian’s “Tsk!” it whimpered and lowered its body.
Ian also lowered his body and earnestly implored.
“Don’t drop that no matter what. Even if you die and transform, don’t drop it. Got it?”
[Pkak!]
“Yes, yes. Daddy really likes children who listen well. If you don’t listen, I’ll send you straight to Mommy.”
[Pkak, pkaaak! Pkak! Pkakpkakpkak! Pkak!]
“Good. From now on, you’re a rescue dog. Got it?”
[Pkaaak! Pkakpkak!]
The Cycler hopped up and down, nodding its head repeatedly. Ian smiled softly and stroked its head.
“….”
Kim Yul watched the scene with a wry expression.
The post-it note attached to the Cycler’s nape.
The sentence written on it.
[Our puppy is a bad puppy. Touch it and it bites. Follow it without touching and you can escape. Touch it and get bitten, kill yourself.]
At the simple yet absurd sentence, Kim Yul shook her head.