Chapter 8 Shopping Mall (3)

[8. None of the mannequins placed in our hotel have eyes. Therefore, if you discover a mannequin that resembles you, never make eye contact with it.]

Most of the shopping mall was occupied by perfectly ordinary stores, but scattered among them were bizarre sights that made absolutely no attempt to blend in.

“Ugh....”

Just like the clown Security they had encountered earlier, with its obsession with hands and radios, some of the stranger shops seemed dedicated to collecting a single kind of thing.

The worst was a store whose every surface—walls, floor, even ceiling—was covered in all kinds of hair.

“Hup....”

Go Ju-hee, curious whether it was real human hair or some kind of animal hide, leaned in for a closer look before recoiling in horror.

“There are eyeballs hidden inside the hair...!”

Muttering that whoever had designed this place had truly disgusting taste, Go Ju-hee rubbed both arms furiously as goosebumps rose across her skin.

If possible, Su-myeon would have preferred to move on without looking at any more of these sights, but with Go Ju-hee beside him, he had to pretend this was his first time exploring the shopping center too.

If he wanted to at least look as though he were searching for a store, he had no choice but to glance inside each one.

A shop filled with organs of unknown origin.

Another completely drenched in blood.

Only after passing one ominous storefront after another did the two of them finally find a normal shoe store.

“They aren’t made from human skin or something... are they...?”

At Go Ju-hee’s ominous remark, Su-myeon stared at her.

She shrugged.

“I’m just saying. Even if they are... I guess I’d still have no choice but to wear them....”

No. If they’re that kind of shoes, I’d rather go barefoot....

Keeping the thought to himself, Su-myeon headed toward the men’s section.

After glancing over at Go Ju-hee, who had moved toward the display cases holding the women’s shoes, Su-myeon opened the app again.

‘I think I’m the only one who can access this shop.’

When they had exchanged codes earlier, Su-myeon had also taken a quick look at the apps installed on everyone else’s phones.

Their screens were exactly like the ones he remembered from the game.

The Secret Shop, however, existed only on his.

Drawing even more attention to himself would be the worst possible outcome.

If he could, Su-myeon wanted to keep whatever made him special hidden.

Without hesitation, he pressed the purchase button for the item he had already chosen.

[Nemean Lion Hide (3 Coins)]

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

He had already made up his mind when he first saw it.

Whatever the other item might do, in a place where blood and chunks of flesh went flying at every opportunity, an indestructible jacket seemed far more useful than some strange heart.

Tap, tap.

At the sudden sound above his head, Su-myeon looked up sharply.

A black hole about the size of a soccer ball had appeared in midair.

Something black poked its head through.

“...Huh?”

A cat...?

No.

More precisely, it was a black cat doll.

“......Huh?”

The doll repeated Su-myeon’s exclamation back at him.

Startled, Su-myeon sprang to his feet.

The black cat doll slowly floated down as though gravity meant nothing to it, then opened its mouth.

“.........Ah.”

Ah?

Its mouth remained open.

And open.

Why wasn’t it saying anything?

What the hell was wrong with it?

Why was this so frustrating?

It was a strange creature with a strangely cute appearance, one Su-myeon had never seen before.

Though before even considering that, he was not entirely sure whether it could be called a living creature at all.

Either way, it was something outside his knowledge.

Which meant Su-myeon had no idea whether he should be cautious of it.

Unable to decide how to react, he stared silently into its green button eyes and took a hesitant half-step backward.

Only then did the doll speak again.

“It’s product deliveeery~”

Dragging out every syllable, the cat suddenly grabbed the zipper running down its belly and pulled it open.

Unfortunately, the inside of the doll was lined in vivid red fabric.

The result looked unpleasantly like it was tearing open its own stomach and digging through its entrails.

And then something began emerging from that tiny body.

Something far too large to have physically fit inside it.

“Hup.”

With a small grunt, the doll pulled out a black sukajan jacket embroidered with an elaborate golden lion.

The design was a little old-fashioned, but the gold embroidery was so large and striking that the jacket actually looked pretty good.

Meanwhile, half of the black cat doll’s red inner lining was hanging out of its open stomach.

“Heeere~ the thing you bought~”

“Ah, thank you....”

Seriously, what the hell does this crazy game want to be?

Creepy or cute?

Pick one....

Su-myeon turned the item over, examining it from several angles, then slipped on the sukajan jacket.

It fit him perfectly.

Compared to wearing nothing but a white short-sleeved T-shirt, the jacket gave him a definite sense of security.

Su-myeon spent a while inspecting his purchase with satisfaction.

But the cat doll did not leave.

It simply remained there, watching him.

Eventually, Su-myeon glanced back at it.

Its green button eyes were fixed on him as though it wanted something.

They were only buttons, so there was no actual gaze to feel.

And yet Su-myeon somehow knew beyond doubt that it was staring straight at him.

In the end, unable to bring himself to simply tell it to leave, Su-myeon cautiously spoke.

“Um, are you... Belle? ...Do you personally make every delivery...?”

Its voice sounds more like a handsome man than a beautiful woman....

At Su-myeon’s question, the cat doll let out a weak,

“Aaaah~”

Then slowly replied,

“Nooo~? I’m just helping with deliveeeries~....”

The doll had been speaking slowly but with apparent sincerity when it suddenly paused.

Then it tilted its head.

“Ah, it’s been sooo long since I said my name~ ......I forgot it, see~?”

What?

At this rate, I’m going to forget the beginning of the sentence before you reach the end.

Only when Su-myeon was on the verge of dying from frustration did the cat finally seem to remember.

“I’m Cheshire. The Cheshire Cat~”

The corners of the doll’s mouth stretched upward into a broad grin.

It was actually a fairly cute expression, but....

Su-myeon finally gave in.

He reached forward, stuffed the dangling red lining back into the doll’s belly, and zipped it shut.

“Wooow~ I forgot about thaaat~! Thank yooou~ You’re kind, aren’t yooou~?”

Then Cheshire tilted its head in the opposite direction.

“You know~? Be careful~”

All of a sudden?

Of course there were countless things to be careful about in this place.

But the abrupt turn in the conversation was difficult to follow.

“The Mad Hatter really loves new things, you see~”

Su-myeon did not need to ask who that was.

He already knew about the Mad Hatter.

He was the general manager of this shopping mall.

Whenever someone exceeded their spending limit, the Mad Hatter would cut off body parts equal in value to the excess and turn them into merchandise.

He was especially sensitive to theft.

If anyone stole something, he flew into a rage.

A rage so violent that he would track down the thief, cut them into pieces, and process every last bit of them into his own products.

“It’d be a shame~ if you became one of his products~”

There was a reason the rule recommended stabbing yourself in the heart.

What the Mad Hatter called “processing” was that horrifying.

But as long as nobody stole anything, he would not appear.

Su-myeon was just about to ask why Cheshire had suddenly brought him up—and whether the cat knew anything about how to defeat him—

when every light in the store abruptly turned red.

“Ack! What is this?!”

Go Ju-hee shouted from the other side of the store, where she had been choosing shoes.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

The shrill alarm screamed without pause.

Su-myeon immediately understood what had happened.

Some damn bastard had—

again!

Again!

—broken a rule and gotten caught!

Originally, the person who caused trouble during this stage had been San-hyeok.

Since San-hyeok had failed to make it up from the previous floor, Su-myeon had assumed this section would be safe.

“Mr. Su-myeon!”

He heard Go Ju-hee rushing toward him in alarm.

Would it have been better to drag everyone around together and personally watch them make every purchase?

Su-myeon hurriedly snatched up the first pair of sneakers he saw.

A price tag reading 99,900 won dangled from them.

“Should I help you a little~?”

Beneath the pulsing red lights, only the Cheshire Cat’s smile remained floating lazily in the air.

Then Go Ju-hee’s horrified voice rang out over the alarm.

“The shutter is closing!”

The shoe store’s security shutter was descending.

The instant Su-myeon heard her shout, he moved before he even had time to answer Cheshire.

The fear of being trapped made the body react before the mind could judge.

The instinct not to let oneself become isolated ran deep.

Su-myeon grabbed Go Ju-hee just as she was about to dash outside.

“Why....”

Before she could finish asking why he had stopped her, Su-myeon grabbed the high heel that had fallen onto the floor and hurled it forward.

The shoe flew beneath the descending shutter—

BANG!

Go Ju-hee flinched violently in Su-myeon’s grip.

The shutter slammed down like a guillotine.

The high heel had been sliced cleanly in half.

“Th-that could’ve been us just now, right?”

That would’ve been {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} you.

Why are you including me?

Staring at the severed heel, Go Ju-hee went pale.

The strength seemed to drain out of her legs, and she sank to the floor.

Around them, red lights continued flashing in time with the alarm.

Whatever faint trace of familiarity had remained in the strange shopping mall had disappeared entirely.

“Shh.”

At Su-myeon’s brief warning, Go Ju-hee immediately clapped a hand over her mouth.

She had learned something thoroughly through repeated experience.

If Su-myeon told her not to do something, then for the sake of her own survival, it was best not to do it.

THUD! THUD!

Heavy footsteps echoed through the shopping center.

There were other strange noises mixed in among them.

Su-myeon and Go Ju-hee frowned and concentrated, trying to distinguish the sounds.

The relentless beeping of the alarm only made it harder.

“Hahahaha!”

...Laughter?

They heard it at the same time.

Su-myeon and Go Ju-hee looked at each other.

It was not a sound they had finally managed to pick out after concentrating.

No.

They could hear it because the laughter was getting closer.

“Mr. Su-myeon, that voice....”

Go Ju-hee whispered cautiously.

“Isn’t that bastard?”

That bastard?

At her words, Su-myeon listened more carefully.

Now that she mentioned it, the voice did sound familiar.

Ki San-hyeok.

Still, Su-myeon could not be certain that it was really him.

“.......”

He crouched and carefully peered through the narrow gap beneath the closed shutter, looking out into the darkened shopping center.

Unable to suppress her curiosity, Go Ju-hee lowered her head beside him and peeked out as well.

If that really was San-hyeok, how the hell had he survived the floor below?

“For now, hiding is probably the safest option.”

The Mad Hatter was hunting the thief.

And only the thief.

Of course, in his rage, he might grab anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path and put on an impromptu dismemberment show.

But the important part was that he had a specific target.

“The person who triggered the alarm is the target. So as long as we, who had nothing to do with it, stay hidden here properly, we should be safe....”

Su-myeon stopped himself before saying they were definitely safe.

Then corrected the sentence.

“I think.”

It was unfortunate that a shopping center they could otherwise have explored comfortably had suddenly turned into a giant game of hide-and-seek.

But as always, the rules still contained clues to survival.

Go Ju-hee seemed to remember the rule as well.

She nodded.

Then, without warning, her eyes caught something.

She ducked down and yanked Su-myeon behind a shelf.

Su-myeon barely had time to wonder how she could possibly be that strong before he was dragged along with her.

“Hey! Don’t spill anything, and make damn sure you take care of it!”

The two of them held their breath.

The voice was much closer now.

Ki San-hyeok passed in front of the shoe store where they were hiding, cackling loudly, accompanied by several other people.

San-hyeok was by far the noisiest among them.

But he was not the one who drew Su-myeon’s attention.

Go Ju-hee clenched her teeth and muttered under her breath.

“That bastard again....”

Ki San-hyeok was roughly shoving someone forward by the back.

The person was a young man with a gentle-looking face.

He looked close to tears as he dragged one limping leg behind him and struggled to keep moving.

And as if that were not enough, he was carrying an enormous bag stuffed full of items stolen from somewhere.