Chapter 29

Chapter 29 - Missing Person Search Plan (2)

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The fact that Ju-hee's missing person had been found inside an urban legend.

That revelation stirred the hearts of the others as well.

"Wandering in blindly isn't going to accomplish anything."

Even without Ju-hee asking, everyone gravitated back together naturally, each hoping their own missing person might be found too.

"Since we've all experienced phenomena that are hard to explain, I'd appreciate it if you could just take my information sources on faith and move on."

Given how things had turned out, Su-myeon decided to take a firm approach.

Explanation and persuasion were meaningless at this point.

Despite how much was omitted and how vague parts of his explanation were, Ju-hee believed him.

Watching her response, Su-myeon found reassurance of his own.

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

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

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

"Exactly, hyung. Just say it however's comfortable."

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

"What we confirmed this time is that the missing people got pulled into an urban legend somewhere."

They had confirmed the identity of the person said to be Ju-hee's company's executive director.

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

"But the important thing isn't just that he was there—it's that he was in transit."

Han-su added to Su-myeon's point.

"Yes. As we followed him, the surrounding scenery changed. Exit 4 may have been nothing more than a corridor leading somewhere else."

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

"So these urban legends can connect to each other? Ellis Hotel felt like a completely isolated space."

He was right—Ellis Hotel had been a format that trapped you entirely within it.

But Exit 4 and Baekya Land had a slightly different distinction.

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

Distributor. They were games distributed by the same creator.

But putting it that way wouldn't make sense to anyone, so Su-myeon paused to choose his words.

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

Since Su-myeon was struggling to explain, Young-cheol nodded and let it go at that.

The mere fact that someone could offer even a vague explanation of these phenomena was something to be grateful for.

And Su-myeon, too, found himself agreeing with his own phrasing.

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

They seemed to stretch on infinitely, and the spaces themselves evolved and transformed without end.

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

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

And come to think of it, there was no way to know for certain that Ellis Hotel was truly isolated either.

"Anyway, Exit 4 connects to Baekya Land."

Having followed that train of thought, Su-myeon steered back to the topic at hand.

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

Then the question became: how to rescue that person and get out.

It wouldn't be easy, but Su-myeon had a reasonable degree of certainty.

"He seemed to have lost his sense of self, but there appeared to be some will left."

Su-myeon recalled the moment he'd caught the faintest glimmer of a living human's light in Hyeon-seok's eyes.

"When I snatched his employee ID, he looked right at me."

The sudden face shoved into his nearly made him lose control of his bladder, but regardless—Hyeon-seok had reacted to Su-myeon's action.

When spoken to, his eyes had wavered with agitation. There was a strong chance that his sense of self as a human being still remained.

And there was one more thing Su-myeon found hopeful.

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

Even Su-myeon, with zero work experience, thought something seemed off about that.

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

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

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

"Then the fact that he was wearing it suggests it was a deliberate choice to display his identity—made at some later point. What do you think?"

Ju-hee nodded at Su-myeon's words.

"Now that you mention it, I did think it was odd that he had it around his neck. That's a real possibility."

Confirming that there was still a sense of self, and that rescue would be meaningful—

After establishing that most critical point, Han-su asked.

"Then how do we get into Baekya Land?"

Exit 4 was an entry method that was essentially left to chance.

You had to be passing through when the flute sounded, and then fail to notice or ignore it while continuing forward.

The very premise of needing to hear the flute in the first place was luck-dependent.

By comparison, Baekya Land had a definite point of entry that Su-myeon knew.

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

So the problem wasn't how to get in.

"The question is who's going."

***

Late at night. A time when even the ever-bustling area around Sadang Station had fallen quiet.

In front of Exit 4 stood an abandoned building plastered with bright red banners declaring a lien was being exercised.

Construction had been halted for years after misfortune struck both the workers and the property owner with every attempt to proceed.

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

After that, workers died in various large and small accidents during construction.

The resulting compensation costs and losses from the stalled project left nothing but mounting debt on the lot.

Eventually, fearless newcomers swooped in to try rebuilding after the price had dropped significantly, but nothing changed.

Now the property had become a public auction listing with uncertain ownership, repeatedly failing to sell.

"If the price keeps dropping, someone else will probably jump in without a second thought."

Su-myeon finished explaining and stepped through the building's entrance, roughly covered by tarps.

The concrete skeleton of the building was covered in spray-painted graffiti.

Not just signs warning against trespassing on private property or illegal dumping.

Juvenile, chaotic scrawls that looked like the work of young delinquents added to the atmosphere of decay.

"This way."

A bit of wandering through the interior soon revealed a staircase leading downward.

The descending stairs gave everyone an uneasy feeling, but they had already made up their minds.

They headed straight down into a basement reeking of stale dust, where tickets were scattered all over the floor.

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

— Baekya Land Free Pass —

"......They're actually here."

Ju-hee, who had followed Su-myeon down, carefully picked up a ticket.

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

"What counts as a normal number?"

At Du-pal's question as he came down behind her, Su-myeon picked up the tickets himself, enough for each person.

"I'll just grab them for you."

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

While Su-myeon collected tickets, Han-su approached the iron-barred gate at the very back.

"Are we really sure it's okay to just walk in like this?"

The gate was sealed shut with chains wrapped tightly around it.

Du-pal eyed the no-trespassing signs posted throughout the basement, but Han-su picked up a brick from the ground.

"Legally speaking, it's not."

With that, Han-su brought the brick down and smashed apart the chain link.

"......Thank you."

The others were civilians and could simply take whatever punishment came, but Han-su was a detective.

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

If it meant saving someone, this degree of lawbreaking fell within his range of flexibility.

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

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

They felt guilty, but the group couldn't ask them to abandon everything in their lives for a mission with no guaranteed chance of success.

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

In fact, more uncontrollable members could complicate things.

With the chains removed, the group carefully stepped inside.

They shuffled through the dark interior, relying on each other's presence to guide their steps.

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

Ju-hee's question came lightly, as if trying to ease the tension, and Su-myeon held up the doll.

"This?"

Then he checked the time.

[00:00]

The moment it hit midnight.

POP.

The sound of lights clicking on from every direction, and the surroundings became blindingly bright.

FWEE— FWEE.

A sharp, piercing flute bored into their ears, accompanied by the bright, cheerful music unique to amusement parks.

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

"Mmm......"

The plush doll in Su-myeon's hands, Cheshire, squirmed as if stretching awake.

The round cotton doll's stubby limbs moved freely, filled with life.

"......!"

Ju-hee and Du-pal were startled out of their skins, but—quick on the uptake—each one clamped a hand over their own mouth.

"Oh......"

Cheshire, in turn, looked at the two of them staring wide-eyed and giggled.

A more natural introduction would have been nice, but Su-myeon decided to prioritize efficiency.

"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 onto Su-myeon's shoulder.

Ju-hee and Du-pal looked like they had a mountain of questions about the moving doll, but they held back.

Experience had taught them that Su-myeon never omitted necessary information, and when he couldn't explain something, there was always a reason.

What mattered to them right now was that their surroundings had completely changed.

Behind them, instead of the iron gate they'd just passed through, stood the grand entrance of a theme park.

Beyond the entrance, a steep staircase stretched upward.

As if to say they could leave whenever they wished, the stairs leading up to the surface put them strangely at ease.

"My phone......"

Around that point, Ju-hee checked her phone, which had morphed back into a Heartphone.

Su-myeon confirmed the properly transformed phone and spoke.

"Check your Inventory."

At his word, they all opened the Inventory app.

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

Han-su, who had already gone through the contents while wandering Exit 4, was the calmest of them.

"What the hell......"

Du-pal, who had somehow produced a flashlight out of his phone, muttered in astonishment.

The lively theme park music continued to stream from every direction.

The overall atmosphere, however, felt like a dated, 90s-era theme park.

"Look over there!"

Ju-hee, who had been surveying her surroundings as calmly as she could manage, pointed.

A sign reading Sadang Station Exit 4. And from that direction, people were filing in one after another.

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