Chapter 31: Baekya Land - Attraction (2)

[2. Each ride has its own set of rules. Be sure to check them before boarding, and take care not to displease Him.]

The background music, woven together with the sound of the flute, had stopped.

The silence was so complete that it felt as though the entire amusement park had frozen in place.

Before long, however, the metallic clatter of the moving rides shattered that illusion.

"What do we do now?"

Ju-hee asked Su-myeon.

Su-myeon was slowly growing accustomed to the others relying on him.

And in a situation like this, he was the only one who could tell them what came next. That much was undeniable.

"They're not actually going to find the missing person for us, right?"

"Obviously not."

Han-su answered Du-pal almost reflexively.

Su-myeon agreed. There was no chance they would.

"This isn't a real amusement park. It's just something wearing the skin of one."

There was no reason to expect any service beyond what the rules explicitly provided.

The announcement had existed for one purpose alone: to deliver a message to Shin Hyeon-seok himself.

And once they found him, they would have to get him out immediately. There would be no time to stop and explain everything.

"He must have realized. He'll be waiting for us."

Ju-hee spoke with something that sounded halfway between hope and conviction.

Su-myeon could only pray she was right.

"Then how are we supposed to find him in a place like this?"

Han-su spoke into the eerily quiet park, where the only sound came from the mechanical hum and clatter of the rides.

There were plenty of people moving around them, yet every single one looked stiff and lifeless, like a wax figure.

Like robots endlessly repeating pre-programmed routines.

Buying food with no warmth to it, boarding rides, wandering aimlessly from place to place—they were all the same.

The lively bustle one would normally expect from an amusement park was nowhere to be found.

At most, there were only around a hundred people in the entire park. Far too few for a place this size.

Were they supposed to inspect every single one?

"I'd prefer to spend as little time here as possible, but I want to hear what you all think."

At Su-myeon's question, Du-pal frowned slightly before answering.

"Whichever option is safer?"

"From what I can tell...... both are about equally dangerous."

Then the choice was obvious.

"In that case, why don't we go with whichever one gets us out of here faster?"

At least spending less time in this place would make them feel a little safer.

Han-su and Du-pal readily agreed with Ju-hee's suggestion.

Once the decision was made, Su-myeon immediately pointed toward the center of the park.

"Then let's start by getting somewhere high up. That."

He was pointing at the Ferris wheel standing in the middle of the park.

<Ferris Wheel 'Eye of Baekya' Rules of Use>

For safety, please board in even numbers. In the event of an odd number of riders.

"......"

Whatever instructions had followed regarding a lone rider had been buried beneath layer upon layer of bloody handprints, making the rest impossible to read.

And beneath them, a single phrase had been crammed into every remaining inch of the sign.

'He'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatching'

Repeated dozens of times, the words covered the rules board from edge to edge.

As if that were not unsettling enough, there was the Ferris wheel itself.

Its frame was stark white, with a crude eye-shaped ornament planted squarely in the center.

And then there was its name.

"Eye of Baekya."

Not a single thing about it inspired confidence.

"At least we have an even number of people, but......"

Su-myeon's gaze shifted toward the cat plush sitting quietly on his shoulder.

Cheshire.

"......"

Would asking whether he counted as a passenger offend him?

Catching Su-myeon's pointed stare, Cheshire snickered.

"You already know the answer, don't you~?"

Su-myeon considered those words for a moment.

If the answer he had in mind really was correct......

"Do we have to wait in line for that?"

Han-su's question cut through his thoughts.

Several wax figures were lined up in front of the Ferris wheel.

There were fewer than ten of them, so unfortunately, they would not have to wait long.

With the prospect of boarding almost immediately, Su-myeon quickly gave the others their instructions.

"Once we're up there, Han-su and I will search the right side. You two take the left. Ajeossi, you saw the employee ID, so you know what he looks like, right?"

Du-pal nodded, his expression hard with determination.

"I'll help the five of you board!"

A staff member with a cheerful voice reached out and opened the door to one of the Ferris wheel cars.

The passengers who had just completed their rotation began to file out.

Ju-hee instinctively hunched her shoulders, careful not to brush against them as they shuffled past with stiff, unnatural movements.

She immediately started toward the open car.

But then,

"Ngh, nnngh. Nnngh......"

A sound came from inside.

Ju-hee jerked back in shock.

By now, the reaction was practically instinctive. The instant she flinched, she slapped a hand over her own mouth.

Inside the car, 'someone' had melted completely into the seat and wall.

"Nngh...... nnnnngh......"

A low, unending groan of agony leaked from the figure.

Its upper and lower jaws had already shifted out of alignment, fused helplessly against the window of the car.

Its nose had melted away long ago, leaving behind nothing but two dark, gaping holes.

Its eyelids had run down over its face and sealed shut.

Whether there were even eyes left beneath them was impossible to tell.

"We'd like to ride together. All of us."

Su-myeon quickly addressed the staff member.

The employee turned toward him, still wearing the same pleasant smile.

That staff member, too, had a second face wired and stitched to the back of his head.

"Of course! Since there are five of you, the numbers will work out perfectly if you all board together!"

The bright, cheerful voice seemed to prompt another snicker from Cheshire.

It grated on Su-myeon's nerves.

Before any of them had time to properly steel themselves, the car began to move.

Four people and one plush doll hurriedly scrambled inside.

The door closed.

With a groaning metallic clatter, the Ferris wheel began to turn.

"Haah...... Wh-what...... what the hell is this?!"

Ju-hee had barely settled into her seat before letting out a strangled cry, pressing herself as far away from the thing fused to the wall as she possibly could.

Su-myeon, however, was already leaning close to the window and scanning the park below.

He answered without looking back.

"I don't know either. And wouldn't it be better if we didn't?"

He knew things like this existed.

They were horrifying to look at, and their suffering was painfully obvious.

But they did not directly harm anyone.

Sometimes, depending on their condition, they would spend the entire ride cursing at the passengers or desperately begging for help.

But they could not move.

"......"

Su-myeon had told Ju-hee he did not know what it was.

That was a lie.

He knew.

It was a 'person' who had wandered Baekya Land for far too long.

"Ngh, nnngh......"

If there was any mercy to be found in the horror, it was that this one had melted so badly it could no longer speak.

Su-myeon forced himself to look away and turned his attention outside.

"Let's focus on finding him first."

Two days ago, when they had seen Hyeon-seok inside Exit 4, he had still looked perfectly intact.

They needed to find him quickly.

The longer he remained here, the greater the chance that he, too, would deteriorate into something like this.

Su-myeon's words snapped the others out of their daze.

One by one, they turned toward the windows.

The amusement park was fairly large, but not so enormous that surveying the whole thing was impossible.

It was an indoor park with roughly ten rides in total.

From the very top of the Ferris wheel, almost the entire interior came into view.

"You said he was wearing a suit?"

Du-pal asked while carefully scanning the crowd.

Su-myeon nodded.

"Yes. A full three-piece suit. All black."

The people wandering the park wore all kinds of clothing.

Plenty of their outfits looked out of place in an amusement park, but someone dressed in full formalwear was still unusual.

And Hyeon-seok had a solid build and a fairly handsome face.

He should stand out.

"Ju-hee! Ju-hee!"

Su-myeon, who had been sweeping his gaze across the park like a scanner, suddenly called out.

"Over there! Isn't that Shin Hyeon-seok?"

He pointed toward one side of the park.

Ju-hee rushed over and pressed herself against the window beside him.

The moment she followed the direction of his finger and spotted the figure below, she forgot she was standing inside a Ferris wheel car.

She sprang to her feet.

"That's him! That's him!"

"Whoa, hey!"

The car rocked violently.

Du-pal grabbed the safety bar in alarm.

"Isn't he standing in line for a ride?"

Han-su, apparently having located Hyeon-seok as well, narrowed his eyes.

The ride Hyeon-seok was waiting for was......

"......Horror Maze?"

Of all places, he was standing in line for what appeared to be a haunted house.

But Su-myeon had already reviewed every ride before coming here.

"It's fine. If we head straight there the second we get off, we might be able to catch him before he goes inside."

"But if we're too late......"

At Ju-hee's worried words, Su-myeon bit his lip.

If it had been any other ride, they could have simply waited for Hyeon-seok to finish and come back out.

"Then we'll follow him in."

The inside was built like a maze.

They could not simply stand around outside and wait.

There was no telling what might happen to him in there.

Especially if he was a company man.

That made it even more dangerous.

"No other choice, I guess."

Du-pal nodded in understanding.

The Ferris wheel had already passed its highest point and begun its descent.

"Wait. Before anything else, we need to stay together. Everyone remember that."

Su-myeon had once rushed ahead inside the Hotel's maze and ended up isolated.

He had absolutely no desire to repeat that mistake.

So he made sure to drive the point home.

Han-su nodded.

"I won't let anyone fall behind."

Protagonist material, indeed.

Hearing him say it so firmly was strangely reassuring.

The Ferris wheel descended little by little.

The haunted house where Hyeon-seok had been standing was some distance away.

Before long, he disappeared from view.

Ju-hee bounced impatiently on the balls of her feet.

"I'll take the lead."

She was confident in her running ability.

"I'll bring up the rear, so just run as fast as you can."

They were already preparing to sprint the instant the door opened when Su-myeon suddenly felt something seize his ankle.

"...!"

He looked down sharply.

The melted figure that had been groaning against the wall had somehow moved what little remained of its hand.

One or two finger joints at most.

Those ruined fingers were clutching the hem of Su-myeon's pants.

He grabbed his pant leg and tried to yank his foot free.

The grip was terrifyingly strong.

"What the—?!"

Han-su noticed Su-myeon's struggle and immediately reached down.

He pried the grotesquely shriveled fingers away from Su-myeon one by one.

CLINK.

Something dropped from between them.

"......What's this?"

Du-pal bent down and picked it up.

It was something he had seen before.

A Rose Coin.

Su-myeon took the coin from him, confusion washing over his face.

Trapped in Baekya Land for who knew how long.

Turned to wax.

Melted and fused into the car.

Something that had once been human.

That was all Su-myeon knew about it.

"Are you...... trying to help us?"

But the object it had pressed into his hand made him wonder.

Perhaps, even after everything that had happened to it, some fragment of its original self still remained.

"......Nngh, ...ngh."

All it could produce were faint, broken groans from jaws that could no longer open.

Meanwhile, the Ferris wheel reached the ground.

"Please watch your step as you exit!"

At the staff member's lively announcement, the car door opened.

There was no time to waste.

Su-myeon tensed, ready to bolt.

He had no idea whether the thing behind him still possessed ears capable of hearing.

Even so, he felt compelled to say it.

If only for his own peace of mind.

"......Thank you. I'm sorry."

And then the door opened fully.

With Ju-hee leading the way, the group burst out of the Ferris wheel.

Her stamina and running form had been honed over years of training.

Without hesitation, she sprinted straight toward their target.