Chapter 7. Shopping Mall (2)

[7. Theft of hotel property cannot be forgiven. If you have triggered a store alarm, find a sharp object as quickly as possible and stab yourself in the heart.]

Looking at the two people who were clearly wondering why he had gone to such lengths to set this up, Su-myeon finally asked his question.

“Um, by any chance... where did you two originally live?”

Unable to think of anything more appropriate on the spot, Su-myeon blurted out the first question that came to mind.

“Ah, where I live? Pangyo.”

Go Ju-hee answered at once, and Han-su followed just as calmly.

“I live in Jongno. But why are you suddenly asking?”

Since it was Su-myeon asking—the person they had come to rely on in this unfamiliar place—they answered readily enough, but the question was undeniably out of nowhere.

Seeing their puzzled expressions, Su-myeon decided to be honest.

“Ah, well... all of this feels too unreal to me too. I just wanted to make sure this really is reality.”

It was not a lie, so he had no reason to feel guilty.

Hearing the names of real places put him somewhat at ease, but it still was not enough to be certain.

Thinking he ought to check a little further, Su-myeon continued.

“Then, by any chance, do either of you know much about games?”

“Ah, sorry. Games are... Ah! I do know that one. The one with that famous pro gamer.”

“I... don’t know anything about them at all....”

Even UTG being a famous horror game was really only common knowledge among people who were interested in games.

There was nothing strange about someone who had no interest in gaming having never heard of it.

Even so, Go Ju-hee clearly seemed to come from the same world as he did, judging by the way she talked about recently popular e-sports and other current topics.

Han-su, on the other hand, knew almost nothing, as though he had spent his entire life cut off from the outside world.

“Ah, then....”

But after exchanging a few more references to things that were popular these days, Su-myeon became certain.

Go Ju-hee definitely recognized the real world.

Which meant she was not simply a character inside the game.

As Go Ju-hee chatted with Su-myeon about trivial things like real-world celebrities and popular memes, she too seemed to relax a little.

“...I’m sorry.”

Just what kind of life had he been living?

Han-su knew absolutely none of the things the two of them were happily talking about.

He quietly apologized, looking rather dejected that he had been of no help.

Su-myeon silently patted the downcast protagonist on the back.

No matter how indifferent to the world someone was, could a person really know this little about it?

The thought crossed his mind.

But then again, protagonists being saddled with absurdly elaborate backstories and extreme character traits was practically fate.

‘Still, if this really is reality, then there’s hope.’

He decided that was all he needed to know about the connection between the game and reality.

There was no point digging any deeper.

What mattered was that if he escaped this hotel, he could go home.

At that moment, Su-myeon flinched as something vibrated in his pants pocket.

‘...A Secret Shop notification?’

Beside him, Han-su still looked strangely gloomy.

Su-myeon gave him a sidelong glance before casually adding,

“If you feel that bad, go buy me a boxed meal or something.”

I’ll save that money and buy shoes.

He already knew very well how essential a good pair of non-slip shoes would become in the stages ahead.

Besides, he wanted to check his phone while the others were away.

“Ah, I’m hungry too. Then I’ll go with him and buy something. Is there anything you can’t eat?”

At Su-myeon’s words, Go Ju-hee finally pressed a hand to her stomach and stood as well.

Seeing that, Su-myeon added one more thing.

“No. Anything’s fine, but shouldn’t you buy new shoes too, Ms. Go Ju-hee?”

Perhaps because she was short, Go Ju-hee was wearing fairly high heels.

Thinking back on how she had not only overtaken him in those things but had actually run at the very front, Su-myeon had to admit it was impressive.

Still, they had a long way to go.

There was no chance she could make it all the way in heels.

At Su-myeon’s suggestion, Han-su glanced down at her shoes as well, then said,

“I’ll buy your meal too, Ms. Go Ju-hee.”

“Pardon? Ah, you don’t have to....”

“I’m lending you the money, Ms. Go Ju-hee.”

Go Ju-hee, who had been about to refuse, awkwardly scratched her cheek at Han-su’s immediate response.

“Ah, yes. Then please lend it to me.”

Watching Han-su trail after Go Ju-hee as she hurried ahead in quick little steps, Su-myeon looked around.

True to its appearance as something modeled after a large hotel shopping mall, cushioned benches stood between the rows of stores lining both sides.

“Nice.... Lying down really is the best....”

Su-myeon quickly claimed one of the benches, stretched out against it, stared up at the impossibly high ceiling, and pulled out his phone.

<Beautiful Belle’s Secret Shop>

Two products appeared on the screen.

[Nemean Lion Hide (3 Coins)]

[A lion hide reborn as a stylish sukajan jacket! A jacket that cannot be damaged by anything.]

[Tin Woodsman’s Heart (3 Coins)]

[A heart made of warm red silk. It gives you a heart that has a mind, yet never tires.]

Their names sounded like things straight out of fairy tales, but judging from the descriptions, both seemed fairly useful.

The problem was that with the coins he currently had, he could afford only one.

As Su-myeon debated what to do, his eyes naturally drifted shut.

The moment his head settled against the bench, sleep came rushing over him.

Maybe if I fall asleep like this and wake up again, I’ll find myself back in my cozy room.

He had just begun entertaining that cruel little hope when Ha-min returned.

“Um, Su-myeon hyung! Here’s your coffee...! Uh... a-are you asleep...?”

“I’m not sleeping. Is there a straw?”

Understanding immediately what Su-myeon wanted, Ha-min opened the coffee, inserted a straw, and placed the cup in Su-myeon’s hand.

With the cool cup in his grip, Su-myeon remained sprawled out and somehow managed to drink through the straw without spilling any.

“You know, hyung. I was scared there might be monsters in the store too, but it was unmanned. I was so relieved.”

Ha-min sat on the floor with his back against the bench Su-myeon was lying on and began chattering away as he opened his boxed meal.

Truthfully, Su-myeon wished this unfamiliar version of Ha-min would just go somewhere else and eat by himself.

But he could not quite bring himself to tell him to leave, so he gave a vague response instead.

“...I see.”

Su-myeon had already known the store would be unmanned, which was precisely why he had sent Ha-min there alone.

Apparently, though, Ha-min had needed to gather a considerable amount of courage before entering the convenience store.

Soon, Go Ju-hee and Han-su returned as well, each carrying boxed meals.

Su-myeon had wanted nothing more than to rest by himself, but once the coffee had soothed his throat, the smell of bulgogi and spicy pork assaulting his nose from every direction eventually forced him upright.

No matter how he looked at it, the hotel itself was unmistakably Western in style, yet in places like this it was pointlessly well localized.

“Which one is mine?”

“Please choose. I didn’t know what you liked, so I bought one of each.”

Han-su laid out no fewer than five boxed meals.

Bulgogi, spicy pork, pork cutlet, bibimbap, and even fried rice....

“No, the voucher is limited. If you spend it like this....”

Su-myeon stopped mid-sentence.

Ah.

Right.

That was true.

“If you choose one, I’ll eat the rest.”

Han-su was a big eater.

“I’ll take the spicy pork.”

“Yes. I’ll eat the rest.”

As Go Ju-hee and Ha-min giggled at the exchange between the two men, Su-myeon picked up the still-warm boxed meal.

Whether it was because Ha-min was young and innocent or because his ability to recover mentally was simply absurd, the boy really was something else.

Once warm rice filled his empty stomach, Su-myeon began to feel human again too.

Just as he finished the rest of his coffee, someone from outside their group approached, watching them cautiously.

It was a middle-aged man.

“Excuse me, but... is this place really safe?”

He was looking directly at Su-myeon as he asked.

The protagonist is sitting right next to me. Why are you asking me?

Su-myeon was too tired even to say it aloud.

Still, considering the reputation he had already built by repeatedly stepping forward, he could guess why.

Finding the man’s expectant gaze unbearably heavy, Su-myeon answered quickly.

“As long as we follow the rules, it should be safe, shouldn’t it? I think we should buy whatever supplies we need from the stores around here.”

It was an obvious answer, yet it seemed enough to reassure the man, who nodded.

Pulling out his phone as though to check the rules again, the middle-aged man, Park Du-pal, said,

“Ah, another rule appeared.”

“...You saw what happened earlier, right? If even one person breaks a rule, everyone could be put in danger.”

At Su-myeon’s reminder, meant as one final warning just in case, the group split neatly into two camps.

Han-su and Go Ju-hee looked ready to begin exploring immediately.

“Then I’m not buying anything.”

“Eh, me neither.”

Ha-min and Du-pal chose the simplest option: staying exactly where they were.

Su-myeon deeply sympathized with the desire not to move.

Unfortunately, his own circumstances were different.

“I’m going to buy shoes.”

To Su-myeon, this shopping mall was a fairly familiar area.

It would be far too wasteful to simply pass through it without taking advantage of what it offered.

After leaving this place, it would be quite a while before they reached another area where they could properly replenish food and supplies.

Because of that, spending several days in the shopping mall, gathering a large stockpile of food and other necessities before continuing upward, was actually a fairly common strategy.

‘Of course, I’m not planning to stay that long.’

My strategy is a speedrun.

“For now, let’s look around and meet back here in two hours.”

As Han-su spoke, Su-myeon added,

“And since we all have phones, why don’t we exchange contact information while we can? Then we can message each other.”

When he pointed out that it would also let them contact anyone who went missing and track them down, everyone readily agreed.

There was only one problem.

These were not their original phones.

“...But what’s this phone’s number?”

“Uh... it says you add friends by entering a four-character code. Where do I find that?”

Naturally, Su-myeon already knew.

Still, he pretended to fumble around for a moment, matching the others as they searched through their phones, before showing them.

“It’s under My Info after you open the message app. My code is....”

Then Su-myeon froze.

He stared at the code displayed in the app.

Everyone turned toward him when he abruptly stopped speaking.

“...#####?”

When Su-myeon read his own code aloud in a bewildered voice, the others hurried to check theirs.

“Uh... mine says #LOVE.”

After Go Ju-hee spoke, Ha-min and Han-su followed.

“Mine... says #BASE?”

“Mine is #WOLF.”

Everyone except him had a code made up of a four-letter English word.

Go Ju-hee was a character who died very early in the original game, so this was the first time Su-myeon had ever learned her message code.

He already knew the codes of the others, however, because in the original game they had exchanged them with one another in this very shopping center.

“But why is only Mr. Su-myeon’s like that?”

Just as Go Ju-hee pointed out, only Su-myeon’s code had a different format.

Still, it caused no actual problem when they invited one another and exchanged messages.

The others seemed to dismiss it as nothing more than an odd little quirk.

Su-myeon, however, could not shake the strange unease creeping over him.

‘It’s like they’re treating me as an error code....’

Was he simply being oversensitive because he was the only one who recognized this world as a game?

Suppressing the discomfort, Su-myeon saved the five codes other than his own and headed off in search of a shoe store.

Once Su-myeon made the first move, the others scattered according to their own plans.

“Let’s go together. I need to buy shoes too.”

Go Ju-hee followed after him.

He had been the one to suggest she buy shoes in the first place.

With no reason to refuse, Su-myeon nodded.