Chapter 103: Trap (3)

“Aaagh! Aaaagh!”

“Aaaaagh!”

Letting out horrifying screams, an employee collapsed in front of the group, blocking their path.

A man and a woman wearing pink overalls and green overalls on the front and back screamed from their respective mouths while their backs were joined together.

And the wolf monster that had driven its claws into the chest of one of the two tore into the back of that one’s neck.

“Aaaagh! Aaagh!”

The one that survived continued to scream.

At that sight, the group had no choice but to stop where they were so as not to attract the wolf’s attention.

Having witnessed it directly, Su-myeon became certain of his guess.

The two ghost stories were currently fighting each other in order to monopolize the story.

The wolf monster that had been baring its teeth threateningly eventually noticed the group.

Grrrr-

But when Mu-yeon stepped in front of the group as if he had been waiting for it, the creature also lowered its body slightly.

A strangely shaped wolf monster that walked on all fours with its limbs bent backward, its chest and stomach facing the sky.

It had no tail, but if it had possessed one, it looked as though it would have tucked it tightly down.

It was obvious that Mu-yeon, who had the form of a more realistic wolf rather than the crude shape of a monster, was of a higher class.

“......Let’s keep going.”

If that was the case, it was fortunate amid the misfortune.

If The Mountain of the Red Cloak, after losing its own territory, was trying to devour White Night Land, which had been absorbed after losing its own place.

Thinking of it that way, White Night Land’s miserable condition made sense.

And in the meantime, because they had Mu-yeon with them, even the wolves lowered their tails first on their own.

For the moment, the group was essentially near the top of the food chain inside this ghost story.

“The Ferris wheel will come up soon! If we go just a little farther from there, it’s the entrance!”

Along with Hwi-yeon’s urgent voice, the group ran without stopping.

Screams and wolf howls continued from every direction.

Spider-human employees having their arms and legs torn off right in front of them, and wax figures being crushed under the wolves’ powerful claws.

There were occasionally wolves that were beaten by mops or tree branches held by employees who had formed groups.

But the situation was clear. The wolves had the upper hand.

‘Is this actually better?’

They were fighting each other for sovereignty over causality and reducing the other side’s numbers.

Before they knew it, the open area containing the Giant Ferris Wheel appeared.

Until they had passed by it a little while ago, only a few employees had been wandering around there, but now countless monsters had gathered and were fighting each other in a chaotic melee.

Perhaps because it was the most conspicuous and brightest place, it seemed to be the center of this battle.

“Ugh.”

Cheshire caught a torn-off piece of some creature’s body that came flying toward him, made a disgusted face, and shook his hand.

Creeeak-

At that moment, Su-myeon raised his head at the metallic sound that suddenly reached his ears.

The Ferris wheel, which had already been so rusted and decayed that it looked as if it were on the verge of breaking apart, was swaying violently.

The Ferris wheel, turning unstably, looked weak enough to collapse at any moment even when he looked at it again.

“......Wait!”

Su-myeon hurriedly stopped the group.

Countless monsters had gathered around the Ferris wheel and were fighting each other in groups.

To be precise, they were gradually gathering in front of the Ferris wheel.

Because there was a high hill behind the Ferris wheel, they were fighting while tearing each other’s bodies apart in the empty space spread out like an open field in front of it.

Since they were searching for each other, grabbing, tearing, and biting each other.

They naturally seemed to be gathering more and more toward the side where there were more opponents.

So, if they used that well....

“Couldn’t we bring the Ferris wheel down toward the front?”

Su-myeon immediately spoke aloud the plan that had come into his head.

Escaping immediately would be good too, but if they could bring down the Ferris wheel here and deal with the monsters on both sides all at once...?

‘If this goes well, it might even be possible to end the ghost story....’

At Su-myeon’s words, the expressions of the group changed drastically.

Jae-hak, who could hardly understand the situation, looked horrified, hunched his body, and began trembling.

“......Oh.”

Cheshire looked at the Ferris wheel with interest.

“If we can bring it down....”

“It seems worth trying.”

Hwi-yeon and Ju-hee also murmured as though they understood Su-myeon’s plan, while Han-su merely nodded.

With their support, Su-myeon changed direction and ran toward the Giant Ferris Wheel.

Because the structure was already unbelievably flimsy, bringing it down itself did not look difficult.

“It seems like we’ll need to get the direction right....”

The key was bringing it down in a direction where they could be certain this side was safe.

At Hwi-yeon’s words as she examined the condition of the structure, Su-myeon also raised his head and looked over the Ferris wheel.

“Y-you’re... really going to bring that down...?”

Jae-hak, who had only been trembling until now, finally managed to speak.

“We can’t keep running all the way to the exit. If we can clear things out once before we go, that would be good.”

There was no time to comfort him.

Su-myeon gave him a suitable reply, and Jae-hak said.

“Well, if you calculate the center of gravity properly... it does look like it could be toppled with just one large force....”

Of course, if the calculation was wrong, it would fall in the opposite direction....

At Jae-hak’s timid muttering, Su-myeon felt as if his eyes had suddenly opened wide.

Come to think of it, he was a doctor!

Among everyone here, whatever else might be the case, it was obvious that he was by far the smartest when it came to science.

“Can you tell? Where should we break it so that it will be safe?”

For Su-myeon, safety was more important than the plan succeeding.

If the probability of the Ferris wheel falling in the direction they wanted was low, it would be better not to try at all.

Fortunately, however, Jae-hak swallowed dryly several times and pointed out a few places.

He was still nervous, but once he started using his head, it felt as though the light was returning to his eyes instead.

“From what I can see, if we cut even one of those wires, all the supporting pillars look like they’ll crumble....”

As Jae-hak began making rational judgments and calculations, he seemed to calm down a little.

With his voice gradually becoming steadier, Han-su and Cheshire moved toward the places he directed them to.

“A little farther back... yes! If you strike the lowest part from there, it should work......!”

Following Jae-hak’s instructions, Han-su brought his axe down on the clasp securing the wire.

At the same time, Cheshire struck the metal pillar holding the wire in place with his fist.

The facilities, already half-rusted away, could not withstand the two forces, and the weakened sections snapped apart.

Bang!

The severed wire sprang upward with a vicious sound and produced a tremendous crash.

If they had calculated it even slightly wrong, it would not have been strange for someone caught by that to have an arm or leg cut off.

Screeeeech-

A sharp sound rang out as the rusted metal pieces slid and ground against each other.

Matching the enormous noise, the other pillars supporting the Ferris wheel also began to crumple as though being crushed and tilt to one side.

The employees of White Night Land and the wolves of The Mountain of the Red Cloak that had been fighting each other all stopped moving at once.

Just as Su-myeon had wanted, the Ferris wheel began tilting and falling toward the monsters that had gathered in the open area and were fighting one another.

Screeeeech-

BOOM!

With a horrifying metallic sound, the Ferris wheel struck the ground heavily and fell.

No, it had not simply fallen.

The Ferris wheel, toppled by the force of the fall, scraped across the ground and slid several meters before finally stopping.

Sand and dust rose everywhere, and at the same time, the noises stopped.

The sound of the flute, the sound of the wolves, even the screams, all stopped.

The things crushed beneath it had surely been smashed so badly that they could not even have retained their proper shapes.

“We did it...!”

Before Ju-hee could even finish her exclamation.

The shadows of enormous beings began to appear beyond the cloud of dust.

If the fighting until now had been a desperate struggle between foot soldiers, the masters of the ghost stories, who had not yet appeared, still remained.

“Get out, let’s get out! Hurry!”

Su-myeon hurriedly urged everyone on.

Rose Coins were scattered all across the ground, but there was no time to pick all of them up.

Cheshire immediately began sweeping them up from the ground, but Su-myeon grabbed his clothes and pulled him along as they ran together.

“Huh?”

Hwi-yeon, who had been running ahead, suddenly stopped short.

Again, the structure had changed.

It had changed completely from the path she remembered.

“The causality decreased, so the ghost story became smaller!”

Realizing why Hwi-yeon had stopped, Su-myeon hurriedly looked around as well.

Surely, if it had become smaller, the entrance should have become closer rather than farther away.

<Dream Arcade>

Su-myeon’s gaze stopped on a structure whose sign was blinking as if deliberately showing itself off.

Surprisingly, Dream Arcade alone had the same modern facilities it had possessed the first time he had seen it before.

“Why is that....”

“It definitely wasn’t there earlier!”

Just hearing Han-su and Hwi-yeon’s bewildered voices was enough to know.

Those two were the people Su-myeon trusted the most when it came to ghost-story exploration.

To the point that even if he sent only those two without himself, he judged that at the very least they would not die and would return.

So, it could not have been a mistake.

“Su-myeon!”

Ju-hee’s voice urging him to make a choice reached him.

Behind them, dust once again rose violently and blew in until it obscured their vision.

Along with sounds as though something enormous was fighting violently against something else, their silhouettes appeared between the dim lights.

A parasite extending long legs from the back of something that looked human, and the form of a giant covered in an enormous robe....

“Move!”

The gigantic Pied Piper grabbed one of the parasite’s legs and threw it toward them.

The group that had been gathered together scattered to avoid the monster flying toward them.

BOOM!

Screeeeech-

The monster slammed onto the ground and let out a sharp sound as though in pain.

In a hurry, the group checked one another’s condition and searched again for somewhere to flee.

Could they search the surroundings for the exit while avoiding those things?

Su-myeon, who had been looking at the masters of the two ghost stories with that thought, suddenly froze.

The human being being used as a host by the wolf parasite.

The moment Su-myeon saw the appearance of that human, he covered his mouth.

Ju-hee, who had fled in the opposite direction, also saw the same thing, and a small scream escaped her.

Of all people, of all people.

That host was the small child who had been Seung-min and Hye-won’s son.

“.......”

Beside him, the sound of Han-su grinding his teeth could be heard clearly.

As though it had deliberately aimed at human weakness.

The monster that had torn its way out of the child’s body writhed, its long legs twitching.

But there was no time even to remain in shock.

Among the surrounding structures being smashed apart by the monsters’ movements, Su-myeon looked at Dream Arcade, which alone remained perfectly intact.

It was not merely intact.

Whenever even one of the parasite’s long arms came close to touching the arcade building, it hurriedly pulled its body back.

“...It looks like those things are avoiding that building?”

Cheshire, who had been watching the situation, said it to Su-myeon first.

To Su-myeon as well, that was how it looked.

He did not know the reason, but neither the Pied Piper nor the wolf parasite was able to leave even a scratch on the arcade building.

“Would you like to use the arcade, guest?”

As though it had noticed their dilemma.

From the arcade came a clear, neat, high-pitched voice peculiar to the service industry.

Startled, Su-myeon and the group turned their heads, and saw the being inside the booth made to resemble a ticket counter at the entrance of the arcade.

It was the Heart playing card they had seen at Dream Arcade before.

Even one of its arms was still severed exactly as it had been when Han-su cut it off.

“For your information, Dream Arcade is under Lady Alice’s jurisdiction and is not subject to the rule of White Night Land or the Red Mountain.”

With a heart symbol drawn on its pure white head and possessing nothing but a long slit of a mouth, the playing card continued speaking in a friendly tone.

“We have been waiting for you, Su-myeon.”