When you think about it, it's strange.
The disaster that occurred when a Disaster Management Bureau agent once tried to forcibly load an infected child onto the escape pod.
Acute molting occurs. Ulcers erupt across the entire body, and all vital signs are lost.
Contamination spreads rapidly, resulting in death.
If this were the escape pod attempting to eliminate internal threats, the reaction was far too... deliberate.
It was more like the action of the infection source itself.
Right.
It makes more sense to interpret it as the doing of the 'biohazard-merfolk'.
A punishment dealt to a host that dares to break away from the hive. A retrieval of energy.
But this information was known only to the Disaster Management Bureau agents, while, conversely, more detailed intel about the escape pod was only available to the employees of Daydream Inc...
Fragmented information.
And that's exactly why no one could've reasonably predicted what was happening now.
"Ah."
A child raised a hand.
"It's the Mermaid Princess!"
BOOM!
With a thunderous crash, a mass pierced through the ceiling and smashed into the terminal.
Kyarararara—!
A sound like children laughing—no, like ulcerated tissue colliding—filled the entire station.
Countless tumor-like tendrils, spewing horrid mucus, descended and braced themselves like feet.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!
Like spiderwebs hanging down, flesh masses that excreted mucus extended limbs like tentacles and clung to every wall of the shattered terminal. From the massive infected hive came its most grotesque core was a monstrous shape that now coiled before the 'Ocean Palace'. Kyarararara!
It slammed its meaty mass down, blanketing the terminal. THUD!
"Fuck!"
Baek Saheon stood frozen, screaming, then shoved back the employee who tried to push him forward and quickly retreated.
A company employee was snatched by the fleshy mass. The sound of a skull cracking, blood and mucous being sucked out. 'Gotta get out!'
Clutching the bag containing the conch shells, he bolted toward the escape pod.
But at that moment—
Someone grabbed the back of his neck.
"...!"
A young mer-child.
No, he'd already confirmed who it was through that halo, but had kept quiet until now...
'Kim Soleum!'
The infected Kim Soleum slammed the back of Baek Saheon's head to the floor.
"Agh!"
In that moment, a mass of flesh flew past overhead.
Baek Saheon swallowed hard.
'Move recklessly and die.'
The infected mass had very clearly wrapped itself around the escape pod at the center.
Then Kim Soleum, with a strange expression, began looking up at the grotesque mass of infection.
'What is he doing.'
"Why are you—"
The surroundings turned disturbingly quiet.
"..."
Baek Saheon frantically looked around.
...All the mer-children were looking up at the sky with the same expression, raising their hands.
"Princess!"
"It's the Princess!"
The two agents also turned their eyes to the massive figure that had burst through the ceiling into the terminal.
Their gazes blanked.
Come here.
A dazzlingly beautiful mermaid form appeared, as if sunlight had poured in from the terminal ceiling— Filling the empty white space. Beautiful.
Like a living statue of the Mermaid Princess, the enormous mermaid glowed with a divine aura.
Overwhelming awe, admiration, and enchantment filled their minds— emotions that one should rightly feel in the presence of a being so great.
Come here.
The empty white void is overlaid by the beautiful Twinkle Twinkle Ocean Palace As mall golden fang shaped plaza glimmers like a chapel Fill it with praise worship and affection and look up to your master child But there is no such thing as an escape pod here This is a place of prayer A place to pray to the Mermaid Princess and
"Damn it."
Agent Choi lifted his suncatcher and barely managed to block his view.
Beside him, his hoobae mimicked the action and spat blood, having bitten his tongue to jolt himself back.
But again, the gaze from above...
Come...
"Elder!"
A flash burst from Agent Choi's hand.
A flicker of light, burning within the lantern.
Red and blue fire pushed back the golden glow of the mermaid's halo. Dokkaebi House.
The Dokkaebi House blazed, creating a space of illusion. Where the flames reached, tile-roofed houses wavered, and the shadows of dancing, singing dokkaebis flickered.
A fleeting moment where anomaly repelled anomaly.
"We won't last long, during that time...!"
They had to sever as many tails as possible and get the children into the escape pod.
The mermaid—no, the fleshy mass—raged and tried to reach the escape pod again, but the space around it distorted, forcing it to circle near the ceiling. Now's the chance...
Whoosh.
The adults in suits scrambled toward the escape pod.
Those wearing animal masks.
The employees of Daydream Inc.
"..."
Agent Choi's eyes darkened.
At the same time—
'I have to follow...!'
Baek Saheon was grinding his teeth, watching the same scene. Now was the time to run, but the problem was that Kim Soleum still had his hand gripped tightly around Baek Saheon's head, holding him down. 'Fucking hell.'
Cunning flashed in Baek Saheon's eyes.
Was there a way to push him off?
This little... Since the fucker looked like a child, maybe he's physically weaker than him? No, wait. He's contaminated. He might be even stronger. Still, one thing was clear. Most contaminated individuals often lacked signs of human intelligence.
Madness and bizarre rules governed their minds!
"Excuse me. Shouldn't you be more worried about the big one above me? She can't come in right now. Shouldn't you be cheering her on?" The bastard was baiting him.
Ah. Did turning into a mer-child make him unable to understand words?
Then Baek Saheon could just write on the ground!
But just as he tried to scrawl the same message on the dusty floor with his finger, the pressure pinning his head down vanished.
"...!"
It worked!
Baek Saheon shot up, ready to bolt... only for Kim Soleum to press him back down again.
"Argh!"
'Why, again!!'
Then Kim Soleum began writing on the floor.
– Carry me.
"...?!"
– Carry me and run.
"What the actual f—"
A dazed Baek Saheon blurted out without thinking.
"To where?"
Kim Soleum turned his gaze.
Toward the opposite side of the escape pod.
The passage going out.
"...?!"
At the same time—
"Are they all morons or what?"
Jin Nasol twitched her temple as she looked at the Daydream employees clinging to the escape pod like moths.
Even if they got inside, how exactly did they plan to get out? The path for the escape pod's launch was completely blocked by that filthy biological disaster mass.
They were acting like clueless punks blinded by rewards instead of reading the room.
"Ooh! Is there like, a spot on the escape pod where we can shoot a laser beam or something??"
Ignoring the money-obsessed rookie's nonsense, Jin Nasol assessed the situation.
'...Why the hell am I the one stuck doing this?'
It soured her mood to think she was doing all the work while the regular team staff loafed around, but if she wanted to escape, she had no choice. 'That flesh lump started going berserk the moment the mer-children were brought near.'
Hmm.
As a test, she grabbed one mer-child by the scruff of the neck and prepared to toss it toward the biomass— Smack.
"You're out of your mind."
"Excuse me?"
The sharp glare of a furious government agent stopped her. Agent Bronze.
Having completed a quick emergency ritual under Agent Choi's protection, he had shed his child form through the dokkaebi trick and returned to his adult self.
A necessary decision, as the situation was escalating fast. Clenching his teeth, he growled at the employee in the butterfly mask like he was spitting poison.
"You saw him as a real child, didn't you!"
"If he can't use the conch, he's just an infected freak, isn't he?"
"Even without it! If he just cuts off the tail, he can board the pod. So stop —"
"Hey."
Jin Nasol interrupted, barely suppressing her irritation.
"Even if you board, then what? You think you can pry that thing off the launch gate?"
"..."
"So, do you have bombs stashed in your pocket or what? No? Yeah, I figured."
Of course not.
And it wasn't even certain whether human firepower would work, whether it was a biological disaster or a ghost.
"Let's just throw a few of them outside and scatter the focus, then make a run for it. Take whoever's left if you want."
"But Assistant Manager! The cat told us to take all of them! If we leave any behind, we'll get cursed or lose our reward... There's even that saying, 'a cat always returns a favor'— Ugh!"
"We're about to die and you're worried about a curse? Go cry about it when you're outside, yeah?"
That cat hadn't shown itself again.
Chances were, it was a one-off irregular phenomenon.
"So forget the cat or whatever—"
"Please cooperate with the civilian rescue."
The capture cable sprang out from Agent Bronze's hand. Jin Nasol scoffed and grabbed her own special equipment. 'No time left.'
He had to incapacitate her fast.
Agent Bronze gritted his teeth, glancing toward Agent Choi's flames. The infected hive's call was beginning to pierce through the warped space and infiltrate the illusion of fire.
Come here.
The mesmerizing golden light began to take hold of the children once again. Somehow, please, just hurry. No, even if they cut every child's tail, it was becoming impossible to see how they could all escape from this place... Did they... have to make selections?
With grim eyes, Agent Bronze reached out his hand—
F O U N D Y O U
A malevolent gaze slammed into the space.
A description of a terrible, overwhelming being filled the room like a divine descent.
Yes. It was descending.
Descending!
"Lord Cat!"
A voice soaked in rapturous madness burst from behind the pony mask. All the humans froze.
Bells, voices, laughter, deception.
The call to a beautiful Germanic land to eternal rot decay and mindless servitude!
B E H O L D
The children once enthralled by the biological disaster staggered, lowering their heads.
Their collective psychic disarray shook the infected hive, and even the towering image of the Mermaid Princess began to tremble. Then came telepathy.
C U T I T
A forceful command.
C U T I T
The children began tearing off their own tails.
With faces twisted in madness and terror, they screamed toward the sky. Then, sobbing, they ripped their own tails off.
Blood and mucus sprayed in all directions. It was a hellish sight.
"...!"
The anomaly was devouring the anomaly...!
Ryu Jaekwan struggled to his feet and began stopping the bleeding of several children. But his mind had begun to comprehend the language of a different dimension. Wouldn't you like to know the horrific truth of this world? Madness shall set you free. It shook his thoughts. ...
What?
So this world is actually...
"Bronze-ah!"
Ryu Jaekwan jerked his head up.
The sound of that malevolent scripture had vanished without him realizing. All that remained were the children standing stiff from mental shock, bleeding from the spots where their tails had been— Kyarararara—!
—and the giant tumorous mass, writhing violently.
The creature, now severed from every single host, shrieked in rage. Or perhaps, in instinctive panic at the threat to its survival.
Agent Choi's Dokkaebi House was starting to collapse...
'No.'
Priorities.
Agent Bronze quickly scanned the group. That's right. First, the agents— But Grapes was missing.
"...!"
Where had he gone?
He looked through the children, but the agent was truly gone. 'No, it can't be...'
At that moment—
He heard the sound of someone running from the far end. From the opposite side of the escape pod, the corridor leading out, a Daydream Inc. employee was sprinting toward them.
Black goat mask.
"...!"
And slung on his back, covered in blood with his tail completely torn off... was Kim Soleum, limp and unconscious.
Dripping blood, the employee shouted.
"MOVE!"
What?
"MOVE, YOU FUCKERS!"
Fwick—
Something glittering arced through the air from the goat-masked employee's hand.
Ryu Jaekwan turned his head.
The glass bottle struck the tumor mass of the biological disaster. From the mouth of the bottle, a thick, purplish-pink liquid began pouring out.
Surprise Syrup for Kids
(Grapefruit flavor)
★★★★
It was the potion Kim Soleum had picked, based on the security chief's advice.
If you converted it into Daydream Inc. terms, its effect would be...
Expose Potion
: Target temporarily loses reason and, while incapacitated, reveals their most emotional and honest secrets.
Incapacitation.
Kyarararara—!
The Mermaid Princess's figure, now doused in syrup, began to collapse. Twisting violently, it slumped to the floor.
Dozens of tumor tendrils writhed inside the ulcers, calling to the children, but the connection was already severed.
However, that potion had been made for humans.
Which meant...
"That stuff doesn't last long!"
Just a very short opening.
"RUN!"
The agents dashed for the escape pod, dragging the children with them. And then.
"Seriously, what a drag."
Amazingly, Daydream Inc.'s elite team member also sprang into action, quickly grabbing children and running straight into the escape pod. "...!"
She even barked orders at her fellow employees.
"Grab them."
"Yes. Yes?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
After witnessing the insane events just now, they recalculated the risks of leaving the children behind and made the snap judgment to comply.
"If you send the escape pod out first and I'm not back yet—know that you're dead."
At that shout from the elite team, the employees inside the escape pod clenched their jaws and helped get as many children onboard as possible. For those bleeding badly, they applied the conches.
The chaos was barely controlled, but time was running out. "There are still some outside!"
"Now..."
[Verification complete.]
"All aboard!"
"Okay!"
Having also consumed his dokkaebi trick and returned to adult form, Agent Choi sprinted in last and slammed the escape pod door shut.
[Boarding confirmed]
And then—
[Beginning transport to destination]
Chiiiiik—
With a hiss of steam from the machinery, the massive escape pod began to launch from the tunnel.
"Ah...!"
Through the pod's window, they saw the giant mass moving to block the launch gate once again.
THUD!
Hundreds—no, thousands—of ordinary infected creatures surged into the terminal.
But it was too late.
The escape pod slipped through just in time and shot out beyond the city.
[In transit]
"Ha..."
They're alive.
As people relaxed slightly and slumped in their seats.
"There!!"
Far off in the opened view of the city...
"It's moving...!"
The massive cluster that had once clung to the castle called Twinkle Twinkle Ocean Palace...
Was lurching forward.
BAM.
The tremor reached the escape pod.
The hive of the biological disaster was not limited to what they had seen. "W-What is that?"
It had burrowed underground, had spread across the entire city. Endlessly crawling to the surface, it covered the city's center and spilled outward.
Flesh.
"Ugh...!"
The monstrous mass of flesh, now above ground, smashed the castle it had infested and hurled itself toward the escape pod in a final frenzy. It slapped its sticky mass down on the ground with heavy, thudding weight, twisting itself forward.
The grotesque, horrifying, massive biological disaster reared up and revealed the mouth that had once been flush with the ground. A gaping hole lined with rows upon rows of massive, jagged teeth opened, roaring toward them.
Hurled flesh like missiles.
Sticking.
Latching on.
Catching—
Thunk.
"...!!"
The escape pod shook as it was struck by the ejected flesh. "Aaaagh!"
"Quiet!"
But it didn't crash.
"Hrrk."
Agent Choi clamped a hand over an unknown staffer's mouth and looked back out the window.
"It's not as close as it looks. Everyone calm down!"
And then those who were finally able to gauge the biological disaster's scale realized something.
...It was so massive that it surpassed the range of human comprehension. The numbers were astronomical, so much so that it distorted all sense of distance.
"...Ha."
"Huff... huff, huff..."
In the end.
The enormous hive of the biological disaster couldn't leave the city's entrance and collapsed.
Kyararararara—
Leaving behind a strange vibration, like the sound of children laughing. The city's underground foundation began to cave in, pulling the disaster down with it.
Into the deep sea.
"Ha..."
"..."
The escape pod quickly distanced itself from the scene, safely shooting up through the water.
People exhaled hard, cold sweat on their faces.
And then, not long after.
[Please board your capsule.]
"We've arrived...!"
The Daydream Inc. employees promptly began entering the capsule devices attached to the escape pod.
Once inside, a person would be enveloped in a bubble-like sphere of strange air and launched toward the surface, losing consciousness in the process. When they woke again, they'd be back in reality.
That was the 'escape method'.
The agents, having overheard this procedure while managing the company employees through both carrot and stick, followed suit.
First boarding the children, then themselves.
Naturally, the youngest agent went first.
"Grapes-ie."
Because his contamination was so severe, they'd used a conch shell to prevent him from bleeding out.
He'd avoided death and recovered somewhat, though he still looked exhausted.
And since he still had the appearance of a child bearing remnants of an infected mer-form, he looked all the more pitiful.
"Um... Did it all work out?"
"Of course!"
Agent Choi grabbed his hand tightly.
"You did so, so well. Bet you were scared, huh? You can sleep now. We'll be heading back soon."
"Yes... Thank you."
Kim Soleum, blinking slowly, climbed into a capsule.
Soon after, he closed his eyes and took a deep, steady breath.
We did it.
As the capsule sealed shut, I barely suppressed a sigh of relief. 'I almost lost my mind.'
The aftereffects of reading the Necronomicon nearly shattered my sanity.
If I hadn't used the conch, who knows what might've happened... but it was a gamble I had no choice but to take.
'What else could've cut all the kids' tails at once, incite the Daydream employees, and shake off the biological disaster!'
It had been sheer luck that I'd been connected to the children via infection-based telepathy.
In a state where the hallucination of 'Twinkle Twinkle Ocean Palace' had already weakened under madness and fear... And then, someone yelling 'Cut your tail!' inside your mind?
Of course kids would follow for sure...
'I feel sorry for scaring them, but...'
But this was the only way to save everyone.
I just hoped the shock wasn't too deep, and that with memory suppression and proper treatment afterward, they'd recover.
I bit down on my lip.
Still... I felt a bit more at ease.
Because I'd brought every last child with me.
'And now that the entire city's been buried, it'll be a lot harder for anyone to start snatching kids again.'
Maybe this really was the end of the Mermaid Grave. Of the Twinkle Twinkle Ocean Palace.
And if Daydream Inc.'s Research Team threw a fit about it? Honestly—not my problem.
'Those psychos can deal with their own fallout...'
I swallowed another sigh and let the growing haze of unconsciousness wash over me.
A success was a success.
'Now, once I get back to reality...'
...
Wait.
They did say we were going back to 'reality', but where exactly is that?
The coast?
Well, not really my concern.
'The veteran agents will handle it, right...?'
I believe in you, sunbaes.
Even as I realized my right arm was still gone, I accepted the drowsiness with a strangely peaceful mind.
Escape.
...
"Oho? What's this!"
Huh?
I opened my eyes.
All around me were unconscious adults and children who had yet to fully wake.
And near me stood a single man, completely awake.
White lab coat. Glasses.
He stood in front of a now-awake Agent Bronze, grinning brightly, his eyes twinkling with fascination.
"Ah, government agents, are you?"
A familiar face.
'...Kwak Jaekang!'
Research Team Section Chief of Daydream Inc.
Goosebumps spread across my entire body.
'Wait a minute.'
No way... this place—
I looked around.
White-walled office. Laboratories. A modern, pristine corporate interior I knew too well.
Yes, it was familiar. Because...
'This was my workplace until just a few months ago!'
We had escaped... right into the heart of Daydream Inc...!
T/N: Fave comment here lmaoo
Faked your own death, escaped, switched careers, yet still came back to your old company
That's the real ghost story here isn't it