One rookie throwing a tantrum.
Two supervisors on the verge of tears.
All three are eight years old.
The situation was deteriorating beautifully.
'Damn it!'
This wasn't a discussion, it was just an expression of overwhelming emotion…!
I finally tried to explain the reason behind my 'No! We gotta keep looking!' with the intention of biting my tongue if necessary, but both of them were already getting swept up by the mood.
Tears spread quickly among children…!
"W-We still have time left, and you said we're only doing two days because of the rules. So I thought that meant we still have time to explore safely without getting contaminated…"
"…That's true."
"Then I'd like to keep looking, sir. Just one kid. Maybe they're here, and we just didn't find them!"
Child Agent Choi sniffled.
"Th-then maybe just… two more days…"
"Agent!"
Agent Bronze, eyes red at the corners, stepped in and sharply glared at Agent Choi before turning to me with a firm voice.
"No."
I wanted to say, 'Why not?!'
And I did.
"Why not?!"
I'm going crazy.
Agent Bronze shouted back.
"Because it's dangerous! An agent's life always comes first. If we push past the rules…!"
His voice caught in his throat.
"I've seen agents die from that. So many sunbaes never made it back."
"..."
"That's why… we should never start something like this. Following the rules is the right way."
'...Huu.'
He's not wrong either.
Then, Agent Bronze glanced at my arm.
"Don't forget that arm of yours needs to be recharged every three days."
"I brought a charger for it! Th-then how about this? Just one more night. Just a single night."
Choi raised one finger.
"If by tomorrow afternoon we're not sure we can rescue anyone, we'll just leave. Okay? Delaying the mission by half a day is… it's something you just mention in a single line of the report."
"..."
Both of us instinctively looked at Agent Bronze.
"Jaekwan-ah…"
"Agent, um…"
"Do whatever you want."
And then Agent Bronze shut his mouth.
Leaving only those words.
"I never agreed to it."
It certainly seemed that way.
His face was flushed red, unable to hide his frustration and bitterness. Still, it was also an unspoken signal that he wouldn't protest further, so Agent Choi wrapped it up right away.
"All right. Then just one more day!"
So, the three of us children promised this: if we still found nothing, we'd give up and leave right away.
And so we each returned to the sleeping quarters of the children in our assigned areas.
Agent Choi took the area near the palace, Agent Bronze stayed near the central fountain, and I… headed toward the town entrance. The annoying part was that our paths overlapped, so I ended up walking with Agent Bronze.
"..."
"..."
"Um, I'm sorry…"
"…It's fine."
Agent Bronze let out a sigh and spoke.
"Compared to other cases of people affected by dokkaebi tricks… this was a pretty rational outcome."
"R-Really?"
"Yes. Some agents ended up bawling and wrestling with each other."
O-Oh, I see.
"…That's why we need rules. In supernatural situations like this, even if it doesn't make sense in the moment, following protocol is important. You'll eventually realize it was the right call."
Agent Bronze took a deeper breath.
"Of course, you aren't at fault, Agent Grapes. Every rookie goes through something like this at least once. But the person in charge failed to explain things properly and went along with it, so…!"
"..."
You're really skilled at shutting up the rookie who just successfully negotiated for one more day thanks to that very person in charge…
Anyway, although Agent Bronze still didn't look happy, the mood recovered enough that he gave me advice as we split up.
"All the kids will fall asleep before midnight anyway. Agent Grapes, don't waste your strength. Get some rest too."
"…Yes."
In Twinkle Twinkle Ocean Palace, day and night are determined by the chimes of the town clock tower.
When night falls, a drowsiness appropriate to children's sleep cycles sets in. Everyone falls asleep before midnight, and cheerful music plays at sunrise to wake them.
It was a distinctly supernatural structure, fitting for a ghost story. I walked past the dazzling reddish-gold hues of the palace district, into the softly glowing navy and white-lit part of town, and entered the lodging I was assigned.
A sign at the entrance read:
Dreamland Beds
for Children
Inside was a huge, whimsically decorated room fitting for young kids, with a dozen or so fluffy canopy beds.
…All the children in the room were already fast asleep.
Because I had spent every last possible moment searching for a child I could still rescue, I had pushed time to its limit.
Sleepiness washed over me too.
"Huu."
I picked one of the empty beds at random and lay down. The absurdly soft and warm bedding gently wrapped around my head and body. Then, briefly, the disgrace I just showed flashed through my mind…
Wow. I threw a tantrum? Me?
'I don't think I ever even acted like that even as an actual kid.'
And judging by their personalities, Agent Choi and Agent Bronze probably felt the same way about themselves.
Maybe because dokkaebi tricks aren't true rejuvenation but more like deception, there's this strange sense that we've been turned into the 'concept' of children.
So what matters now is staying calm and not being swayed by the exaggerated traits of this child's body.
The goal hasn't changed, after all.
With a hazy mind, I made a slow vow.
'…Let's get up early and start searching right away.'
Maybe one.
Just one… maybe I could bring back at least one child.
...
...
[Grapes.]
(T/N: Spoken affectionately; Podo-ya)
…Hm?
[Grapes. I think you'll make a fine agent. Your arm thinks so too.]
A voice, warm and familiar, drifted in.
No, listening again, it sounded reliable and strong.
What is this?
[It's your dream.]
I see.
Come to think of it, I had fallen asleep.
Before my closed eyes, sparkling light shimmered like a warm flame.
[And in dreams, thoughts that don't come to you in reality often rise up. Because you're free from the constraints of the real world.]
...
Things you can't think of in reality.
That's true. Now that I was running a rescue mission as a child due to the entry requirements, there were things I had most likely overlooked.
In this dream, I could calmly review those.
As an adult.
For example…
'Why do more than half the children we meet change every time agents come in?'
If all the children were different, I could logically assume, 'Ah, there are multiple similar places like this due to the nature of the supernatural phenomenon.'
But if more than half change… that's something else entirely. That means more than half of them have disappeared.
At the very least, disappeared in a way that prevents them from meeting the agents.
And then…
'Why aren't the agents questioning that?'
Two eerie but simple and clear possibilities flashed through my mind. Either they themselves are being influenced by this ghost story.
...Or there are truths they're deliberately hiding from me, the rookie. Maybe both.
'If that's the case…'
…Then don't I have something perfect for this kind of situation? Something that could support my insight.
Something I don't need to ask the others for.
[Indeed! Clever boy. Grapes, a wise idea is a treasure for all time.]
[Don't forget what you've learned in this dream when you wake up tomorrow.]
It felt like a wrinkled hand gently stroked my head in encouragement. Ah, thank you, Elder.
...
...
"Ah."
Kyararararara…
Laughter and the sound of chimes.
A new golden morning had begun.
"Let's go see the Mermaid Princess!"
"I wanna play tag!"
Children chattered cheerfully as they woke up and began leaving the bedroom.
Normally, I'd immediately follow to gather information, but my mind was already focused on one clear idea.
Something I'd concluded during the dream.
"..."
I reached inside the thick coat I wore and carefully pulled out what I had packed to avoid breaking it— Detective Syrup for Kids.
The syrup I'd made by pressing one of the emoji buttons in the Dream Incubator.
At Daydream Inc., it was officially called this.
Detection Potion
: When consumed, it brightens your vision to reveal what you need most at the moment.
If I drank the detective syrup, I'd see which child could be rescued. Because right now, my mission—and what I most need—is to rescue a child.
'Alright.'
Normally I'd have weighed this or that option, but…
Come on, this is about saving a kid. Being too calculating about it just makes me feel like scum.
'Besides, I needed to test its effect anyway.'
I opened the sealed cap of the syrup and drank it in one go. Just as the label described, the syrup had an artificial cherry scent and sweetness that slid down my throat.
"…Huu."
I pocketed the empty bottle.
There was no dazzling, dramatic change like you'd expect from a healing potion, but I felt my heartbeat steady and my mind grow calm.
'Now, let's check.'
I turned my eyes to the children still in the common area, then to the kids running outside through the window.
Looking for the one who would 'catch my eye'.
But…
"..."
Why can't I see anything?
The kids running off, the ones laughing by the fountain in the distance. They're just kids. None of them stand out in any way.
For a moment, I started to feel a chill. Was there truly not a single viable target to rescue?
But then.
'…Huh?'
I felt a presence elsewhere.
Something distinct and bright registered at the edge of my vision.
"..."
I turned my head to check what it was.
My coat's opposite pocket.
The one holding the item I'd bought at the faceless market in the manhole.
'Why is this…'
I reached in and pulled it out.
It was a sheet printed with four vintage stamps.
They looked like cheap fundraising seals or promotional stickers, each showing an old Korean street scene.
And if you looked closer, you could see things in the background that weren't human.
Pigeons, rats, stray cats, sparrows, cockroaches.
Creatures that coexisted with people on the streets.
Street Stamp
: A strange stamp that allows the user to disguise themselves as one of the animals commonly seen on the streets of Yeongdeungpo-gu, Korea, during the 20th century.
Crafted by the Today's Artifacts Dealership.
…I'd picked it up just in case I needed to run or hide while spying. I'd even broken into a cold sweat when Agent Choi suggested it himself. And sweated more sorting through non–Daydream Inc. items to trade for it.
Anyway, the core ability of this item is exactly that.
'I can transform into a non-human street animal.'
Sounds useful?
Of course, there's a fatal side effect.
If the stamp's effect lasts more than 2 hours continuously, the user's body may begin to mutate into something from the stamp.
Not simply becoming an animal, but rather having their body infected with features from that animal.
Like something out of a bio-horror game.
Imagine growing a pigeon's beak out of your jaw, or sparrow eyes on your forehead.
'Ugh.'
Just thinking about it made my skin crawl. I vowed again never to exceed the time limit.
But… transforming into an animal in a ghost story that requires the form of a child to enter… was that really 'what I need most' at this very moment? I felt uneasy.
But also something colder. A gut feeling told me I needed to check.
'Daydream Inc. never scams people with their potions, even if they lie about other stuff.'
Their effects are always spot-on. There's no need to fake it.
'Alright.'
If something feels off, I'll spit out the stamp immediately and return to my child form.
I took a deep breath and peeled off one of the stamps. Then placed it in my mouth.
"…!!"
My field of view dropped.
Even lower than when I'd turned into a child.
My back hunched, and I stood on all fours.
I felt fur. My ears rose. Whiskers twitched.
'A cat, huh.'
I lifted my head.
It might've been more useful to be a pigeon, at least I could've flown. But at least I didn't turn into a cockroach or a rat, which was comforting enough…
...
'Oh.'
The golden city collapsed.
The blissful blue ocean, the fairytale-like brick houses and wide boulevards, the beautiful banners all lost their color and decayed.
And in their place, horrifying sights appeared. Rusty metal pipes. Flickering, broken streetlamps. Half-collapsed buildings. Scribbles of blood and filth. Grotesque, bulging, ulcer-like masses filled the cracks in the bricks and lampposts, pulsating and oozing.
The whole space is infected! It's wrong! It's wrong! It's everywhere! I'm contamin—
Spit it out!
I had to spit out the stamp. Something's wrong—
...
No.
'That's… not it.'
This was the shock of falling from paradise into a nightmare. I wasn't contaminated.
"Hhu."
I caught my breath.
The panic faded as I adjusted to my environment. Then, shivering, I looked around with a cold, adult mind.
A grotesquely collapsed civilization. Flesh-like infected masses embedded across a ruined cityscape.
I recognized this.
Yes. 'Twinkle Twinkle Ocean Palace' wasn't a ghost story I didn't know, nor was it an unrecorded one left out of the . It simply didn't look the way I remembered.
The one I knew was…
…a horrifying ghost story from Daydream Inc.
Dark Exploration Records / Ghost Story [Mermaid Grave]
: A ghost story featured in
: Daydream Inc. identification code – Qterw-C-1642
A story of wandering a strange city submerged deep into the sea. Victims are chased by swarms of grotesque lifeforms and, when caught, have all blood and mucus drained from them to death.
That one.
The city is already in a ruined state, and remaining records suggest that it fell due to infection from a biological disaster.
Traces of what was once a beautiful city now contrast starkly with the current apocalyptic state brought on by a tragic and horrific biological outbreak.
As the records within the city refer to the biological disaster as 'merfolk', the site has been registered in the database under the designation 'Mermaid Grave'.
So… the children of Twinkle Twinkle Ocean Palace—
At the city's heart lies a grotesque mass, the central cluster of infection for the 'biohazard-merfolk', from which infected fluids endlessly pursue any explorer.
If caught, one becomes infected. A host of the merfolk.
I staggered forward on all fours, walking along a shattered street. Scattered throughout the dark deep-sea city, I saw bodies frozen in strange positions—half-alive, half-dead—drawn along by ulcer-like lumps. They moved stiffly, like dolls, swaying as they walked.
'Those decorative figurines on the fountains.'
Children,
Please take your honey!
Those colorful soldier figurines, elephant-shaped ones too.
'They were once human.'
People infected after being drawn into this cursed ghost story. Then the faucet sticking out of their stomachs that spewed honey… That was actually blood, extracted from the bellies of those people by those ulcerous growths.
'…Ugh.'
I ran.
Kicking off with four legs, I sprinted through the sunken ruins of this once-seaside city, now crawling with twitching, corrupted biomechanical filth.
And finally, I reached the heart of the city.
…What had once looked like a beautiful Ocean Palace—
Was a mass of festering ulcerous clusters.
Thump, thump.
The pulsing of the vile mass could be felt even here. A sprawling, pus-colored flesh conglomerate, in dirty red, green, and pale pink hues, clung to crumbled buildings like some grotesque art installation.
And at the forefront, an oozing sac, covered in tentacles, like a deformed egg nest.
To anyone who's seen it before, its silhouette is unmistakable. It resembles the statue of the Mermaid Princess.
The infectious fluids extract the blood and mucous membranes of explorers who have become hosts, delivering them to the central cluster at the heart of the city. The cluster then expels infectious mucus and residue. Residue has been identified as indigestible materials such as fibrous matter and plastic.
Right.
…The toys, clothes, picture books that were gifted to children when they offered 'honey' to the statue at 'Twinkle Twinkle Ocean Palace'. They were the worn belongings of those who had gone missing here. It only appeared beautiful to the children, a seductive illusion.
That's what this ghost story does.
And it was infecting the children. Those horrific infected fluids, called 'mer-children' in the , were, in the end…
In the end…
"..."
No.
'This is… this is…'
I have to leave. I can't make contact with the children like this. I turned around, staggering.
But at that moment.
Wrrggghhhgh!
With a repulsive sound, one of the ulcerous growths on the floor shot mucus at me.
"…!"
Contagious fluid.
If that sticks, I'll end up with a faucet on my belly too…!
'Damn it.'
Thank god cats can run fast.
Moving on instinct, I dashed between rusted alleyways and rotting ruins, fully adapted now to this feline body. Maybe this was why Agent Choi had recommended it after all.
'Anyway!'
So the question is.
What the hell do I do about this?
Should I report this to the other agents? And if I do, how much do I say? How do we even rescue the children now? Should the agents even remain in child form in this situation?
Is being in a child's body… really safe anymore?
Is it really better to let these kids keep 'living' here rather than turning into bubbles?
"This area's clear. No mer-children."
…!
"Let's move on."
"Yes, Assistant Manager!"
I froze.
Three figures had entered the alley.
Calm voices. Phrases I recognized from the . People addressing each other by job positions.
…Daydream Inc.
'So a squad of the Field Investigation Team really was dispatched…!'
Of course. Most of the long entries in the Dark Exploration Records had been written by employees of the company. So it only made sense I'd run into them here.
…Which meant.
Maybe I could use this.
'If they're Daydream Inc. employees, they've gotta have at least one or two special equipment, right?'
Something that could help resolve this. Even just an idea…! Even if not, it was better to have more cards to play.
'Let's go.'
I held my breath and crept toward the alley the masks and suits had passed through.
"…is what I heard."
"Oh. This thing here."
Their conversation filtered through my sensitive feline ears. And when I rounded the corner, finally seeing the three figures clearly—
...
Familiar masks.
"…Hmm. Doesn't look useful."
"Huh? Looks valuable to me. I'm taking it."
Goat, Baek Saheon. Pony, Kang Yihak.
And.
"Pipe down."
Butterfly, Assistant Manager Jin Nasol of the A-squad.
"..."
'Goddamn.'
An absolute nightmare lineup.