Chapter 29: Missing Person Search Plan (2)

[Loading.......]

The discovery that Ju-hee's missing person had been found inside an urban legend stirred something in the others as well.

"Wandering around blindly isn't going to get us anywhere."

Even without Ju-hee asking, everyone naturally gathered again, each of them harboring the hope that perhaps their own missing person could be found too.

"Since we've all experienced things that are impossible to explain, I'd appreciate it if you could just trust my sources and leave it at that."

Given how things had unfolded, Su-myeon decided to take a firmer stance.

At this point, trying to explain everything or persuade them was pointless.

Even though his account left out a great deal and remained vague in places, Ju-hee believed him.

Seeing that, Su-myeon felt reassured in turn.

He had earned more trust from these people than he had realized.

Just as he'd hoped, they nodded as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

"If I planned to question your sources, I wouldn't have come in the first place."

"Exactly, hyung. Just explain it however you're comfortable."

At Du-pal and Ha-min's responses, Su-myeon nodded.

"What we confirmed this time is that the missing people were pulled into urban legends somewhere."

They had confirmed the identity of the man Ju-hee said was an executive director at her company.

Su-myeon placed Shin Hyeon-seok's employee ID in the center as he continued.

"But the important part isn't simply that he was there. It's that he was on his way somewhere else."

Han-su picked up where Su-myeon left off.

"Right. As we followed him, the scenery around us kept changing. Exit 4 may have been nothing more than a passage leading somewhere else."

Listening to the two of them, Young-cheol raised a question.

"So urban legends can connect to one another? Ellis Hotel felt like a completely isolated space."

He wasn't wrong.

Ellis Hotel had been the kind of place that trapped you entirely within itself.

But there was a slightly different relationship between Exit 4 and Baekya Land.

"That's because Exit 4 and Baekya Land originally share the same......"

Distributor.

They were games released by the same creator.

But saying it that way wouldn't mean anything to the others, so Su-myeon paused to choose his words.

"Let's say they were born from the same creator...... Would that be easier to understand?"

Seeing Su-myeon struggle to explain, Young-cheol simply nodded and let the matter drop.

The fact that someone could offer even a vague explanation for these phenomena was already more than enough to be grateful for.

And as he spoke, Su-myeon found himself agreeing with his own phrasing.

The spaces inside urban legends didn't seem to follow the normal concept of a "place."

They appeared to stretch on without limit, while the spaces themselves changed and evolved endlessly.

'Almost like a living organism......'

If an urban legend itself was some kind of entity, then there had to be something that created it, gave birth to it, and released it into the world.

Come to think of it, there was no real way to know whether Ellis Hotel was truly isolated either.

"Anyway, Exit 4 is connected to Baekya Land."

Having followed that train of thought far enough, Su-myeon brought the discussion back to the matter at hand.

"So the person Ju-hee is looking for most likely crossed over into Baekya Land."

The next question was how to rescue him and get back out.

It wouldn't be easy, but Su-myeon had a fair amount of confidence.

"He looked like he'd lost his sense of self, but I think some part of his will was still there."

Su-myeon remembered the faint spark of human awareness he had caught in Hyeon-seok's eyes.

"When I took his employee ID, he looked straight at me."

The way Hyeon-seok's face had suddenly lunged toward him had nearly made Su-myeon lose control of his bladder, but that wasn't the important part.

Hyeon-seok had reacted to what Su-myeon had done.

And when spoken to, his eyes had trembled with agitation.

There was a strong possibility that some part of his human identity still remained intact.

There was one more detail Su-myeon found encouraging.

"By the way, do executives at that level usually walk around with their employee ID hanging from their neck?"

Even Su-myeon, who had no work experience whatsoever, thought there was something strange about that.

Wouldn't someone at the executive level normally keep it in a wallet or a pocket?

At Su-myeon's unexpected question, Ju-hee nodded.

"No. Normally, they wouldn't wear it around their neck."

"Then maybe the fact that he was wearing it means he deliberately chose to display his identity at some later point. What do you think?"

Ju-hee nodded slowly.

"Now that you mention it, I did think it was strange that he had it around his neck. That's definitely possible."

If they could establish that some sense of self still remained in him, then rescuing him would actually mean something.

Once they had confirmed that most important point, Han-su asked,

"Then how do we get into Baekya Land?"

Exit 4 had been a method of entry that depended almost entirely on chance.

You had to be passing through at the exact moment the flute sounded, then either fail to notice it or deliberately ignore it and keep walking.

The fact that you had to hear the flute in the first place made the entire process dependent on luck.

By comparison, Baekya Land had a definite entrance that Su-myeon knew about.

"......There's a fixed way in."

So the problem wasn't how to enter.

"The real question is who's going."

***

Late at night.

Even the usually bustling streets around Sadang Station had gone quiet.

Across from Exit 4 stood an abandoned building covered in bright red banners declaring that a lien was being exercised over the property.

Construction had been halted for years after misfortune struck both the workers and the owner every time someone tried to continue the project.

"The original landowner who tried to put up the building died of cancer, and the children who inherited it all died in accidents or from illness too."

After that, workers began dying in accidents of varying severity during construction.

The compensation payments and mounting losses from the stalled project left the property buried in debt.

Eventually, fearless newcomers moved in, hoping to rebuild after the price had fallen considerably, but nothing changed.

Now the property sat listed for public auction, its ownership unclear and the sale repeatedly failing to attract a buyer.

"If the price keeps falling, someone else will probably jump in without thinking twice."

Su-myeon finished his explanation and slipped through the building's entrance, which had been roughly sealed off with tarps.

The bare concrete frame inside was covered in spray-painted graffiti.

There weren't just signs warning against trespassing or illegal dumping.

Juvenile, chaotic scribbles that looked as though they had been left by delinquent teenagers only deepened the sense of abandonment.

"This way."

After wandering through the interior for a short while, they found a staircase leading underground.

The sight of the descending steps unsettled everyone, but they had already made their decision.

They headed straight down into a basement thick with the smell of stale dust, where tickets lay scattered across the floor.

< Lights of happiness that never go out, even at midnight! >

— Baekya Land Free Pass —

"......They're really here."

Ju-hee, who had followed Su-myeon down, carefully picked up one of the tickets.

"Everyone take one. Preferably one with a normal-looking number."

"What exactly counts as normal?"

At Du-pal's question as he came down behind her, Su-myeon began choosing the tickets himself, picking out enough for everyone.

"I'll just choose them for you."

He avoided anything containing the universally unlucky number 4, long strings of 6s, or the number 13.

While Su-myeon gathered the tickets, Han-su approached the barred iron gate at the far end of the basement.

"Are we really sure we can just go in like this?"

The gate was sealed with chains wound tightly around it.

Du-pal glanced at the no-trespassing signs posted around the basement.

Han-su, however, simply picked up a brick from the floor.

"Legally speaking? No."

With that, Han-su brought the brick down and smashed one of the chain links apart.

"......Thank you."

The others were civilians.

If they got caught, they could simply accept whatever punishment followed.

Han-su, however, was a detective.

Ju-hee spoke apologetically, but Han-su didn't seem bothered.

If breaking the law to this extent could save someone's life, then as far as he was concerned, it fell within the limits of what he could overlook.

In the end, the group heading into Baekya Land consisted of four people: Su-myeon, Ju-hee, Du-pal, and Han-su.

Ha-min was still young, so everyone had talked him out of coming, while Young-cheol had obligations at work.

They felt guilty about it, but they couldn't ask either of them to throw away everything in their lives for a mission that had no guarantee of success.

'More people doesn't necessarily mean more help, anyway.'

In fact, adding members they couldn't control might only make things more complicated.

Once the chains were removed, the group carefully stepped through the gate.

They moved through the darkness in a tight group, relying on one another's presence to keep their bearings.

"By the way, that doll you brought, Su-myeon...... what is it?"

Ju-hee's tone was deliberately light, as though she were trying to ease the tension.

Su-myeon lifted the doll.

"This?"

Then he checked the time.

[00:00]

The instant midnight arrived—

POP.

Lights snapped on all around them.

The darkness vanished beneath a flood of dazzling brightness.

FWEE— FWEE.

A shrill flute pierced their ears, accompanied by the bright, cheerful music unique to amusement parks.

By the time their eyes adjusted and their surroundings came into focus—

"Mmm......"

The plush doll in Su-myeon's hands—Cheshire—squirmed as though waking from sleep.

The round cotton doll's short limbs began moving freely, suddenly filled with life.

"......!"

Ju-hee and Du-pal nearly jumped out of their skin.

But both were quick enough to clamp a hand over their own mouths.

"Oh......"

Cheshire, meanwhile, looked at the two of them staring wide-eyed and gave a soft giggle.

A more natural introduction would have been preferable, but Su-myeon decided efficiency mattered more right now.

"For now, let's just say...... he's someone who wants to watch us......"

At Su-myeon's explanation, Cheshire wiggled his plump cotton paws and settled comfortably onto Su-myeon's shoulder.

Ju-hee and Du-pal looked as though they had a mountain of questions about the moving doll, but neither asked them.

Experience had taught them that Su-myeon never withheld information they actually needed.

And when he couldn't explain something, there was always a reason.

What mattered now was that their surroundings had completely changed.

Behind them, the iron gate they had just passed through was gone.

In its place stood the grand entrance to a theme park.

Beyond it, a steep staircase stretched upward.

As though telling them they were free to leave whenever they wished, the stairs leading back to the surface gave them a strange sense of reassurance.

"My phone......"

Around then, Ju-hee checked her phone.

It had transformed back into a Heartphone.

Su-myeon confirmed that the change had occurred properly and said,

"Check your Inventory."

At his instruction, everyone opened the Inventory app.

The items Su-myeon had bought for them back at Ellis Hotel were still there.

Han-su, who had already inspected the contents while wandering through Exit 4, remained the calmest among them.

"What the hell......"

Du-pal stared in disbelief at the flashlight he had somehow pulled out of his phone.

The cheerful theme-park music continued to pour in from every direction.

Yet despite the lively music, the place itself felt like an aging amusement park straight out of the 1990s.

"Look over there!"

Ju-hee, who had been examining their surroundings as calmly as she could, suddenly pointed.

A sign read Sadang Station Exit 4.

And from that direction, people were beginning to file in one after another.

Right on cue, a new message appeared on the Heartphone.