Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Happy Playroom (3)

[13. The children’s guardians must identify themselves with their assigned name tags. A guardian without a name tag is not a guardian. Please keep that in mind.]

“Ah.”

“So… that’s how it is?”

While Han-su admired Su-myeon’s words, Du-pal wore a confused expression.

When Su-myeon raised the gun and aimed it, the head, which had seemed like an enormous structure, sensed danger and began to move.

Ah— aaaah.

Like the groan of someone whose throat was terribly hoarse.

A broken, halting sound echoed from inside the enormous mouth.

“I guess they really are parent and child.”

A huge mouth like an enormous hole, large enough to swallow a human whole and still have room to spare.

Du-pal made an unfunny joke about how it was the spitting image of the little brat they had seen earlier.

It looked like a bold act, but Su-myeon knew why he was doing it.

Du-pal tended to become proactive whenever a problem involved children.

“It’s this big. Can you kill it with bullets?”

Han-su reflexively pulled Du-pal and Su-myeon backward, as though protecting them.

However, Su-myeon stood his ground and said to Du-pal,

“Please shine the light inside that thing’s mouth. It’s a monster either way, but it still has the shape of a living creature. It should have something like a weak point. For example….”

If that was a head, then there was one weak point that could be thought of through common sense.

“Something like a brain.”

At Su-myeon’s words, Du-pal’s flashlight understood the target precisely and adjusted its direction.

The roof of the “guardian” monster’s mouth.

The place where a brain would be, right above it.

“Please step back.”

There was no fool present who would argue with the person holding a gun.

Du-pal hurriedly stepped back while still properly illuminating the upper area.

BANG—!

Soon, a gunshot rang out.

BANG, BANG, BANG!

Then Su-myeon fired three more shots in succession, as though making sure.

The bullets struck the roof of the mouth properly, and from the places where they had buried themselves, a tremendous amount of blood poured down.

It was a success.

“Get out! Get out!”

In a hurry, Su-myeon turned around and dragged Han-su and Du-pal out.

When they closed the door they had hurried through and evacuated outside, all the fluorescent lights in the corridor had gone out before they knew it.

Du-pal’s flashlight brightly lit only the area around them.

A roar like a waterfall pouring down came from inside the Guardian Lounge.

“Ugh….”

Even if he tried not to imagine it, what he had seen at the end mixed with the sound and stimulated his imagination.

A surging wave of blood must be sweeping through that dark room.

Su-myeon waited until the sound of water disappeared completely and silence arrived.

How many minutes passed?

The fluorescent lights in the corridor came back on again.

Click.

Su-myeon opened the lounge door again.

The enormous head that had filled the room had vanished.

Even the sound of water and the blood they had heard moments ago had all disappeared as if they had never existed in the first place.

“Honestly… saying this is a dream would sound more logical.”

Or maybe I’ve gone insane.

Du-pal muttered as he shone the flashlight toward the ceiling of the lounge again.

Surprisingly, once that enormous head disappeared, the lounge had grown bright enough to make the flashlight seem pointless.

The blue-painted ceiling with white clouds drawn on it and fluorescent lights attached to it could be seen clearly.

“Then, since there is no guardian now, has it become safe?”

Since the “guardian” had disappeared, did that mean they could kill the caterpillar-like brat monster and move on?

Before answering Han-su’s question, Su-myeon walked inside.

At his feet, four fallen shell casings struck against his shoes, and surprisingly, four Rose Coins were mixed in among them.

“Huh? Those coins….”

When Su-myeon bent down and picked something up, Du-pal recognized it.

Su-myeon was instead a little surprised.

“You know what these are?”

At Su-myeon’s question, Du-pal rummaged through his pocket.

“No, I don’t know what they are. I picked one up over there earlier.”

Saying that, Du-pal pulled out one Rose Coin from his pocket.

For a moment, Su-myeon fell silent.

So these aren’t only visible to me?

While Su-myeon was momentarily speechless, Du-pal asked again,

“They look like coins. Will they be needed later?”

For a moment, Su-myeon felt tempted to lie and subtly get it from him, but Su-myeon had no talent for lying.

He simply told the truth as far as he could explain it.

“Yes. They’ll definitely be useful somewhere.”

After hearing Su-myeon’s words, Du-pal handed him the coin without hesitation.

“Then you take it. I didn’t mean to do this for that reason, but….”

Du-pal seemed to feel guilty because he thought the situation had gotten twisted because of him.

However, Su-myeon knew why Du-pal had suddenly touched the ice cream machine, so he did not particularly want to blame him.

The backstory of an extra, an NPC in a game, might just be long-winded and tiresome, but still.

“Anyway… I’m sorry to you too, Detective. I was worried I’d put everyone in danger for nothing…. In any case, since the bigger one disappeared, I feel relieved thanks to you.”

Still, what mattered was that Du-pal was not particularly malicious or a bad person.

Facing Du-pal’s trusting gaze, Su-myeon also nodded.

“Yes. For now, it seems safe.”

Su-myeon bent down again and picked up one more unfamiliar object.

It was a name tag with “Guardian” written on it.

“…Don’t tell me.”

When Han-su trailed off at that sight, Su-myeon attached the name tag he had picked up to his T-shirt, inside his clothes.

“Yes. It’s probably exactly what you’re thinking.”

***

Ha ha ha ha!

“…….”

As though it had never cried, the young baby monster was roaming through the playroom with a bright laugh.

Ha-min had folded his body almost in half to hide his large frame beneath a children’s table.

Ju-hee had climbed to the ceiling by grabbing the horizontal bars placed around the area and hid inside a vent.

“…….”

But it would not be strange if either of them were caught at any moment.

If that side gets caught….

I’ll lure it away.

Ju-hee and Ha-min prepared themselves, neither knowing that the other was thinking the same thing.

Ha ha ha ha!

Along with the laughter, the sound of the monster crawling closer grew more explicit.

It was the unpleasant, sticky sound of heavy flesh pushing against the ground to move forward.

As they focused on the approaching sound, another noise mixed into their ears.

Lighter than the monster’s movements.

Footsteps.

The urgent sound of about three people running….

“…!”

With relief, Ha-min nearly twisted his neck as he looked toward the direction of the sound.

“Tee-hee?”

Unfortunately, however, what met his eyes first was an enormous head and an innocent voice.

Before he knew it, the baby monster had crawled over, and its head was bent halfway down as it looked beneath the table where Ha-min was hiding.

“Aaaaaagh!”

Ha-min screamed without realizing it and hurriedly crawled out from under the table.

And just as he was about to run away.

“Stop!”

Su-myeon, who had run over in time, shouted while catching his breath.

At Su-myeon’s voice, the monster that had been about to charge excitedly at Ha-min flinched and stopped.

“Woo?”

In contrast to its still grotesque appearance, the monster was making the bright voice of a young child.

“Ooooh?”

As it moved its enormous mouth, it slowly approached Su-myeon.

Then, soon enough, it flipped over on the spot, exposed its belly, and began acting cute.

At that sight, Du-pal turned his head away as though refusing to look.

“Behave and go play on that slide over there.”

When Su-myeon spoke firmly as though scolding a child, the monster obediently accepted it.

Truly like a child who had merely wanted to play a little.

Though it briefly sent him a lingering gaze full of regret, the baby monster listened, and seeing its back, Du-pal felt a little relieved.

Ju-hee, who was similarly relieved, also revealed herself.

The only one in bad shape was Ha-min, who had once again screamed at the top of his lungs all by himself.

“Hueeeng….”

Ju-hee patted the back of the high school student, who was completely wedged into the children’s table and looking ready to cry, then asked,

“But how did you do it?”

Though her appearance was still intact, she was pressing her chest as if her heart was still pounding with tension.

After giving them a moment to calm down and catching his breath, Su-myeon pointed at the name tag attached to his T-shirt.

[Guardian]

It was a somewhat old metal badge, with the three letters engraved into it and painted yellow.

“It seems to think the side that has this is the guardian. I went and took it.”

At Su-myeon’s words, everyone stared at the name tag.

Under the group’s gazes, Su-myeon wondered whether it might seem like he was monopolizing items too much and asked,

“Do you want to have it instead?”

Young monsters only appeared here.

From this point on, this would not be particularly useful in the hotel.

It would be meaningful to share suitable things in order to gain the group’s goodwill and keep the things he truly needed.

However, no one wanted to become the guardian of such an ominous monster.

While everyone shook their heads vigorously at Su-myeon’s suggestion, unexpectedly, Du-pal raised his hand.

“If nobody wants it, can I have it?”

Su-myeon looked at him for a moment, then nodded.

“Yes, go ahead.”

Ownership of the Guardian Name Tag passed to Du-pal.

After seeing Du-pal attach the name tag to his suit jacket, the group gathered together again and began moving.

“Then let’s go up again.”

The play equipment in the maze-like Kids Club had traps laid all over it.

However, they could figure out how to avoid them in an unexpected way.

“The places that monsters go are usually where the dangerous things are laid out.”

The weights that had dropped onto the stairs earlier were only the basics.

The slide that appeared if they climbed up from there had blades lining the floor like a grater.

As if, being a monster, it only felt those blades as something a little bumpy, the baby monster was playing while laughing brightly.

The traps in this place were nothing more than fun toys to that monster.

The group wore awkward expressions as they watched the baby monster crawl around while avoiding spikes that shot out here and there.

“But.”

Ju-hee, who was watching that sight, suddenly spoke.

“What about Ki San-hyeok’s group that went ahead earlier? Do you think they’re okay?”

At her words, everyone fell silent again.

How had they gotten through this place?

Had they gotten through it at all?

Before those thoughts could deepen, the group discovered the stairs going up and found traces of Ki San-hyeok’s group.

“My God….”

What they came across was a torn bag and rows of bloodstains.

When Han-su carefully lifted the bag, all sorts of items were inside.

Several bottles of water had burst, but there were also clean ones remaining.

While they were taking the chocolate bars and drinking water in the bag despite their discomfort, Su-myeon furrowed his brow.

“This…. I don’t think that side has any supplies left now.”

As though Ju-hee had noticed the same thing as Su-myeon, she cautiously said,

“The person who was carrying all the luggage either died or disappeared after leaving it all behind.”

The two of them had directly checked the clothing and condition of Ki San-hyeok’s group.

Now, at best, Ki San-hyeok’s group would only have the items in their pockets.

“For now, we might be in danger too, so let’s move.”

At Han-su’s words, the group, who had stopped for a moment, began moving again.

No matter how unlikable Ki San-hyeok was, he was leading far more people than their side in his own way.

No one wished for all of them to die horribly.

“They won’t be able to eat or drink anything recklessly here.”

Su-myeon did not answer Ju-hee’s words.

Before they knew it, the group had safely found the stairs and climbed to the next floor.

Han-su, who was walking at the front, answered,

“…At least drinking shouldn’t be a problem.”

At Han-su’s words, Su-myeon raised his hand and stretched out a finger.

Now, finally, they were on the fifth basement floor.

They had come about halfway up.

Su-myeon’s fingertip pointed at the sign written outside the stairs.

[POOL]

“Next is the pool.”