The Cycler with a Post-it note stuck to its nape walked briskly and slipped inside the theme park.
Fortunately, it seemed the mascot-costumed aberrations didn't treat beasts as guests, so they didn't particularly block the Cycler. Thanks to that, the small salamander from the Outer Sea was able to move safely into the theme park. Its sleek back gradually grew distant and soon disappeared.
*The Cycler will move on its own to find survivors. I ordered it to devour anyone who attacks it, or bring them along, so for now, I can roughly leave the rescue to the Cycler.*
Ian held a cigarette between his lips and fluttered the ticket in his hand. The stiff ticket bent with the motion, then returned to being flat.
"Ah, you were a guest! Welcome!"
The aberrations who checked the tickets relaxed their expressions. Those who had been making expressions as if they'd kill just moments ago approached the group with sickly sweet smiles.
Their movements were extremely careful, giving the feeling of service industry employees genuinely greeting guests. For aberrations, they were gentlemanly.
"We wish for all guests to be happy in this joyous paradise! Hello! Might we know the names of the customers?"
The first to speak was the penguin head. If its eyes weren't bulging outward, and a half-crushed human head weren't embedded where its beak should be, everyone would have found it cute and burst into giggles. As it was, it was grotesque enough to make one want to grab and pop it.
There was no benefit to talking at length with the aberrations. Ian immediately shoved the ticket at it and exhaled a puff of smoke.
"Shin Ian."
"One moment, let me check..."
The aberration shoved the ticket into its own nape. A tongue shot out from untied stitches, wrapped around the ticket, and slipped back into place. Moments later, the thing smiled broadly, chewed up the ticket, and swallowed it.
"You've been confirmed, guest! We hope you have a pleasant journey in paradise!"
"Is there nothing else? Like a paper wristband, or a card proving I'm a guest?"
"Our apologies, guest. We don't have such things prepared. But don't worry! All the rides are open to guests! You can enjoy any ride you want, anytime, anywhere!"
"Hmm."
"And... once you enter the theme park, you will automatically participate in the event, so please check the guidebook carefully!"
The thing smiled widely and circled around Ian. It was migraine-inducing, so Ian didn't reply and looked back at his group.
"I'm going in first. Just in case, come in five minutes after I do. If they act forceful, just comply for now."
"Ah, okay. If something dangerous happens, I'll send a signal right away. I'll destroy a building, so you can come that way...!"
"Yeah."
"Y-yeah!"
Yuna nodded vigorously, then approached Ian and held his hand tightly. Warm heat transmitted through his skin.
"You have to be careful... Don't get hurt."
"..."
"I don't want to see you get hurt."
Words spat out clearly without stammering. Ian met Yuna's black eyes looking up at him and let out a short laugh.
"Yeah, wish received loud and clear."
Tap—Ian pushed her forehead. Then he greeted Kim Yul and Han Yuri and entered the theme park first.
Clunk!
As he opened the closed gate and went inside, a chicken-head aberration handed him a guidebook. From its mouth came only a clucking sound instead of a voice.
Slip.
Ian moved forward and opened the book.
A luxurious guidebook, impressive with red and gold.
In the beginning, like when Ian first set foot here, the general rules of the theme park were written. He read carefully, but nothing seemed particularly different.
However, the new rules written below were things even Ian was seeing for the first time.
[Eden Theme Park's New Theme! A Death Game of Friendship and Love lasting one month!]
[A wish for the winner! A job for the eliminated! We sincerely congratulate you on participating in a Death Game where everyone can smile!]
[Below are the rules of this Death Game! Study them well and make sure you become the winner!]
"..."
Ian flipped the page with a stiff expression. With a rustling sound, the smell of blood began to waft. At some point, a jester that had been walking beside him tilted its head at Ian as if something seemed familiar.
[1. Players participating in the Death Game cannot exit the theme park by any means. You must become the winner of the Death Game to be able to leave of your own will.]
[2. There are a total of 2 victory conditions for the Death Game. Become the last one standing, or kill a total of 200 people to become the winner. The winner will receive a Golden Ticket capable of granting any wish once.]
[3. Players must commit murder at least once every 3 hours while awake. Otherwise, you will be judged as having no will to participate and will face sanctions from the theme park staff.]
[4. There are no ethical rules in this Death Game. Forming teams is possible, and you may move individually and kill other players. However, keep in mind there is only 1 winner.]
[5. The restaurants and restrooms of this theme park are combat-free zones. Violence in these zones will result in immediate sanctions. All food provided in the restaurant must be eaten.]
[6. Dead players will be reborn after two days as staff members of the theme park.]
[7. To obtain items helpful for murder, you must safely clear the rides. Crafting your own weapons and stealing others' weapons are also permitted.]
[8. All players must enjoy the Death Game. Good luck.]
The rules concluded at number 8. Below that were only pictures of jesters dancing and tedious, pedantic descriptions of the rides. Ian let out a deep sigh and roughly tossed his cigarette butt to the ground.
*A death game with ordinary civilians gathered together. There's no end to this bad taste.*
Most people don't commit felonies in their entire lives. Let alone theft, they can rarely bring themselves to commit rape, arson, murder, or the like.
And these very people were facing something that would only appear in fiction, right here in reality. If they didn't kill, they died instead; the law had degenerated into toilet paper only fit for the restroom and been stuffed in the trash can.
In such a situation, how could untrained ordinary people easily keep their sanity?
The longer one stayed here, the more this place was no different from an aberration training ground where humans turned into aberrations.
The theme park, which used to simply invite people and kill them cruelly, had advanced a step further to the level of opening its own farm to secure aberrations.
*Aberrations evolve too. How absurd.*
Ian clicked his tongue and pulled out his grimoire. The ink-black grimoire emitted the scent of roses in his grip.
This wasn't the first time he had encountered an evolving aberration. It had already been a few months since he confirmed that the urban legend called "Monkey Dream," which should only exist in dreams, had appeared in a real subway.
Monkey Dream was an aberration Edie had personally raised and cultivated. That meant there was a sufficient possibility that this theme park was also someone's creation.
"...Hoo."
Was it Laplace's doing, or another third party?
He didn't know.
To find out, Ian began to move in earnest.
Thud, thud.
Walking on the stone floor, Ian looked around. At that moment, his gaze collided head-on with the jester that had been following him.
"..."
"..."
Ian didn't avoid its gaze. Rather, he stared holes into it and slipped his empty hand into the gun holster inside his coat. The heavy weight of the firearm and the cold sensation of metal traveled through his skin, tingling all the way to his brain.
The silence lasted until Ian arrived in front of a huge sign reading [Welcome! To Eden Theme Park!].
"I was right after all?"
The silence broke. A frivolous woman's voice popped out of the jester's maw. Its thorn-studded tongue drooped down under gravity.
"Haven't you been to our theme park before?"
"..."
"Surely back then you shot the manager dead and plundered his hea—"
BANG!
The jester's voice was devoured by the gunshot and vanished. The thing with a highway paved across its head fell backward, and Ian immediately stomped on its head and popped it. Whether it lacked a skull or not, the head was crushed like pudding with a sickening squelch.
"Damn it."
Ian looked down at the thing that had become a corpse in an instant and cursed.
"I didn't know memories would remain. If so, won't they recognize Yuna too?"
Muttering to himself, he habitually put a cigarette in his mouth. Then he holstered his gun and took out a lighter.
Then, someone's voice called out from inside the theme park.
"Hey, you! Did you just get here? Newbie?"
"..."
Ian turned his head in the direction of the voice. A man with short-cut hair and his entire body covered in tattoos was staring at Ian with a grin. Ian stared back with an expressionless face.
*Wooden club in hand. Bloodstained. Meaning he's already committed murder.*
Fshh.
He lit the cigarette. Pungent smoke rose, and the man who met Ian's cold eyes flinched.
"W-what, you son of a bitch. Aren't you gonna open your eyes pretty?"
"..."
"You came in here, so you've seen the rules already. I'll skip the explanation. I need a lot of points, got it? So you need to get out of here. Sit still and I'll smash your head clean, so why don't you sit there first?"
Behind the man stood a number of men and women who looked similar to him. They seemed to have found each other inside the theme park. Seeing that they had no hesitation in killing, they were either gangsters from the start or had gone crazy from extreme stress.
Either way, they were definitely ordinary people dragged here. Ian exhaled cigarette smoke and moved his lips.
"I've come to rescue you. If you follow me, you can escape safely. So put down your weapon."
Ian spoke in as kind a voice as possible. The man scoffed.
"Talking out your ass. Shut up and kneel. Before you die, spit out everything you know about that gunshot just now."
"Hmm."
"I'll give you 3 seconds. Hurry up and kneel."
The man twitched his wooden club. Ian burst into a short laugh.
"A gunshot was heard here, and there's a corpse on the ground. Isn't it obvious who shot it without even looking? Your intelligence level is truly unbelievable."
"...What?"
"There's a rule in the Administration Bureau regulations. Personnel likely to become major obstacles to escape or missions can be excluded from rescue targets at the team leader's discretion."
"What has this bastard been saying?"
"I'll try to save as many victims as possible, but someone like you who's so eager to kill wouldn't be worth saving. You'd only cause trouble if left with the survivor group."
"What the fuck?"
The man slammed the wooden club on the ground. A man behind him stopped him with a bewildered expression.
"B-Boss, something's strange. That bastard's vibe is a little—"
"You shut up! I'll handle it!"
"B-Boss, but—"
"I said shut up!"
The man glared. The one who offered advice bit his lips and stepped back. Having silenced the man with overwhelming force, he turned back to Ian.
And then, a blood-red magic circle already completed entered his vision.
"As His love reaches my feet, His favor floods like the sea."
Gurgle.
As he chanted the spell, pieces of aberration flesh thrown atop the magic circle evaporated. Blood bubbled, and a black maw popped out from the center of the magic circle. Eyeballs in place of teeth, it faced Ian exactly and extended a long tongue toward the group standing before him.
"U-uh..."
Sensing that something was wrong, the man's face hardened deathly pale.
Ian brushed the dust off his coat with a nonchalant expression and stepped aside.
He didn’t bother to look at the result of the magic.
It was obvious even without looking.
“N-now, wait a—”
Kwaaaaaaah!!
Before the man could finish, black seawater radiated out in a fan shape from the tip of a tongue extending from the magic circle. The water covered the theme park’s central hall in an instant, cleanly devouring every bit of organic matter present before vanishing. Monsters were, naturally, among them.
Waaaaaaaahng!!!!
A siren blared from the speakers installed throughout the theme park. Regardless, Ian tapped off his cigarette ash with a calm expression.
*It may be twenty million per head, but I’m only receiving that as a formality anyway. It’s not like I’m short on money right now, so there’s no need to drag garbage out of a landfill just to save them. Nor do I want to.*
What Ian sought to save were strictly *victims*—not those who had grown accustomed to death games and killed people indiscriminately.
Had his opponents been decent people with a slightly sharp attitude, Ian would have done his best to persuade them. But there was no reason to waste his time on those who were nothing of the sort.
[Violator detected. Violator detected. All theme park employees are to immediately locate and neutralize a male by the name of ‘Sin I-an.’ Violator detected. Violator detected. All theme park employees are to immediately locate and neutralize a male by the name of ‘Sin I-an.’]
Waaaaaaaahng!!!
The siren continued to blare.
Ian set aside his thoughts, put the cigarette back in his mouth, and stretched.
“……Hoo. Shall we get started?”
There was no need to make a fuss about becoming the theme park’s target. He had come here for that very purpose, and this wasn’t his first time dealing with them.
With a calm expression, Ian drew a magic circle on the wall and summoned creatures from the outer sea to serve as his escorts.
Two Messengers rolled across the floor and greeted him.
[Kkiek!]
[Kkek!]
Compared to the Cycler, their cries were far more bizarre. But Ian smiled and walked alongside the two.
“Let’s go, kids. Take a walk with Daddy.”
[Kkiek! Kkik! Kkek-kkek!]
[Kkieeeek!]
The Messengers somersaulted through the air and rolled after him. Monsters that suddenly popped out beside them were promptly pierced by tentacles and turned into skewers.
He didn’t have a specific destination in mind. But since he intended to find something akin to the theme park’s core, he figured it would be best to start by sweeping through its key facilities.
“Then…… shall we start over there?”
Ian stared at the longest building in the theme park—the tower where the administrator resided—and smiled.
The Messengers giggled and smiled back at him.
*
[Ppyak!]
The Cycler, who had been hopping around with clip-clop sounds, sprang up in surprise upon sensing its siblings and mother. Then, realizing its mother was not nearby, it let out a sigh of relief.
After pausing to catch its breath, the Cycler began sprinting through the streets again, clip-clopping. It caught the scent of a group of humans and zipped after them, discovering a group of foreigners in a small warehouse.
A group made up of Chinese, Mexican, and Turkish people. They were giggling among themselves as they disassembled a human in real time.
It was a sight Ian would have immediately recreated had he seen it, but the Cycler, knowing nothing of human ethics, ran toward them and proudly presented the nape of its neck.
[Ppyak!]
“……? What the hell is this lizard thing?”
A woman who spat the words out in Chinese looked down at the Cycler.
She checked the Post-it note attached to the Cycler’s nape and tilted her head.
“Shit. What’s written on that? Is it Korean?”
“Yeah, it’s Korean. Roughly translated……”
Her colleague wiped the blood from his face and continued.
“‘Our puppy is a bad puppy. Touch it and it bites. Don’t touch it and follow it, and you can escape. Touch it and get bitten, then kill yourself.’ That’s what it says.”
“What kind of dogshit is that?”
“Damned if I know. Some crazy bastard playing a prank, I guess.”
“Sigh…… It was fun, but way to kill the mood. Let’s just catch and eat it. Lizard barbecue has to taste better than the slop they serve here.”
The woman tossed aside the wire saw she was holding. The Turkish man nodded.
“Grilled lizard is actually quite tasty. I’ll prep it.”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
The others stepped back, and the Turkish man lifted the Cycler high, smacking his lips.
“It’s pretty big. It should be quite delicious.”
[Ppyak.]
No one knew, but the Cycler, who was actually female, furrowed her brow openly in displeasure at the man’s rough grip. And she recalled what Ian had said.
The command to devour anyone who attacked her, and otherwise to lead them along.
And the Cycler clearly interpreted the man’s actions as an attack.
[Ppyaak!]
The Cycler howled.
She opened her mouth wide. The man let out a snicker.
“Hahaha! What a cute little cr—”
Crunch!
The man’s body was rapidly compressed to about the size of a billiard ball. Blood burst like a bomb, and the Cycler gulped down the crushed corpse. The sound of bones and muscles being pulverized rang out distinctly.
“……”
“…….”
The group froze dead in their tracks at the unexpected turn of events.
Regardless, the Cycler ran toward them with her mouth wide open, pattering along on her short legs.
[Ppyak! Ppyak-ppyak! Ppyaaaaak!!!]
Clip-clop-clip-clop-clip-clop!
Cute cries and footsteps filled the space.
“U-uaaaahk, shibal!”
“G-get away, you bastards! I’ll go first, I’ll get out fi—”
Crunch-crunch!
“Kyaaaaaaaah!!!”
From inside the theme park’s warehouse, screams and the sound of something being crushed continuously leaked out.
Moments later, the Cycler squeezed out from under the firmly shut door, flattening her body. She tapped her slightly plump belly with her front paws, then set off again toward where the human scent was coming from.
Clip-clop-clip-clop.
Her smooth footpads pleasantly tapped the floor.