Author note: Updated
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I walked forward, slowly.
Magic Bunny's Fantasyland.
Everything had stopped, and it was dark.
A silent amusement park, in itself, was enough to conjure up truly terrifying thoughts.
All the more so if I was the one walking at the very front.
'Huuuu…'
Is this what it would feel like, hiding in a haunted house, dressed up as a ghost?
I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry about the fact that I was searing a Security Team uniform now.
One thing was certain. The strange sense of stability I'd felt inside the mascot suit was now gone.
…It has its pros and cons, but I couldn't help feeling the tension rising.
[Ah, a midnight infiltration! What a tense and delightful situation!]
[And, if I may, let me say this once more. What a spectacle that was earlier! A gigantic trap to hunt a gigantic monster! Destruction is, after all, one of life's most primal joys. What a wonderful show it was!]
Hmm.
Hearing Braun's voice through the receiver, I felt a familiar, easygoing comfort, and a faint sense of relief.
'Should I be glad that at least you're enjoying this?'
If the storyteller from a ghost story had said it was boring after I'd promised him entertainment, I would've broken out in a cold sweat.
And even aside from that, this was a moment to be glad and relieved.
Everything was proceeding according to plan.
Splash.
Behind me, following along, was the Blue Mascot.
No, not the mascot, but whoever had taken off the mascot suit.
Just thinking of them sent a chill down my back, but at the same time, someone inside me let out a sigh of relief.
Terrifying, but at the same time, it felt like having a whole army at my back.
'It's a relief we reached an agreement right before the ceremony.'
At first, I'd wanted to ask them to attack the Magic Bunny zone right after the park closed for the night.
To tell them, 'Attack the Red Zone while my resort is under siege. Eat it.'
But the timing would have been off… and if the Blue Mascot lost, it would be a disaster.
'It seems like the two of them are evenly matched.'
I suspect the Blue Mascot thinks that the Magic Bunny is just as powerful as they are, which is why those two had maintained this mutual standoff.
If either one made a move, it could mean mutual destruction.
'Given that the crazy Red Mascot never invaded the Blue Zone, there must be some kind of balance of power.'
So, I had to set the stage so they could safely devour Magic Bunny.
'It needed to proceed step by step.'
That's why I took the most cautious approach that had the most probable chance, and it led to this very moment.
The employees and I hid in the shelter, and bombed the resort itself.
Then, together with the powerful Blue Mascot, we invaded the Magic Bunny's zone.
Of course…
'There were conditions.'
N e v e r
L o o k B a c k
'...'
Still, I couldn't help but listen intently.
Splash.
The sound of water behind me, the tail dragging on the ground, something massive dragging its belly as it walked, following behind.
It was audible.
It sounded like the roar of a giant wave, or a snake moving, or something strange— maybe even like wings or whiskers brushing by. Or like something sticky, dragging itself across the floor.
Following behind, the being who'd taken off the Blue Mascot suit… something.
Splash.
My nerves were instinctively on edge.
Maybe… unlike the Magic Bunny, the Blue Mascot hadn't had their entire identity sucked dry by the theme park, hadn't lost their outer form.
The sounds suggested they were at least maintaining some kind of shape.
Of course, I couldn't turn around to check.
'There must be a reason.'
I kept the smoky letters, 'Never look back,' floating ahead as I walked. Ah, at some point, I started being able to do this. Was my own costume influenced by the mascot in return?
Anyway, we kept moving forward.
The destination was the center of the Red Zone.
Magic Bunny's Fantasy Castle.
"..."
"..."
I hadn't even warned them to be quiet, but even the civilian being rescued by the Disaster Management Bureau was keeping her mouth shut, treading carefully.
'There's really no need for that.'
But maybe because of the anxiety, our steps became more like a near-run.
The brightly colored castle-shaped building of the amusement park loomed rapidly out of the darkness.
The largest, most important facility in this zone.
'…Something must still be there.'
Even though the Magic Bunny's main body and its horde had invaded the Yellow Zone, been struck by lightning, and buried under the rubble, there were surely scraps left in the Red Zone.
And any of those could become the Magic Bunny.
Now I knew. That's the nature of mascots.
And over time, those scraps could start functioning as a new main body.
We had to take care of it before that happened.
"…We've arrived."
I stopped first, hearing Supervisor Lee Seonghae's whisper.
The back side of the Fantasy Castle was visible.
Yes. We'd approached from the rear, and as befitted an exaggerated fairytale palace, there was a cleverly concealed back door finished with modern technology.
"..."
I didn't stop Section Chief Lee Jaheon from forcing the door open.
Crack, screeeech.
The door swung open, revealing a gaudy, silent interior in all its colors.
Things that looked horrific, yet were displayed as if they were just theme park props, appeared in the darkness and then disappeared again as soon as my lantern light passed.
Gulp.
I heard someone behind me swallow.
[Now, search to your heart's content, Friend…]
I thoroughly searched every wall, making my way to the gate where the red rabbit mascot would have stood to greet guests.
And then, what I'd been searching for appeared.
[Authorized Personnel Only]
"This is…"
"…Looks like a staff area, maybe?"
That's right.
Even the resort had an office for authorized personnel only.
Remembering how I'd found operational documents and stamps in there, I figured the red zone must have a similar space.
If there was any place where I could be recognized for conquering the red zone…
'This must be it.'
"Is this our destination?"
I nodded.
Section Chief Lee Jaheon, without hesitation, forced open the locked door again.
Down below.
A modern-style staircase leading underground appeared.
The stark design looked corroded here and there, as if rusted by blood.
"..."
With smoke, I presented everyone with options.
Choose freely
▶ Wait here
▶ Go down
"Huh…?"
And I quietly stood at the stairway leading into the 'Magic Bunny Only' area.
'Please, let at least a few strong ones follow me.'
The thought of walking down in silence, unable even to look back, with whatever had taken off the Blue Mascot suit, made me break out in a cold sweat. But surprisingly, everyone came along.
"W-What if I stay behind and accidentally look 'back' while I'm waiting!"
"In situations like this, the stragglers always die."
"..."
Hm. That was a pretty convincing argument.
Anyway, the darkness exploration began again.
As we descended, we passed doors with strange names: 'Supply Room', 'Freezer', 'Magical Storage Room', but I ignored them and kept going.
I could feel it.
[Oh, is that the instinct of a former mascot?]
Something like that.
The others followed me, doing their best not to even look through the glass set into those doors.
At last, when we reached the bottom, I saw a rusted nameplate.
[Mascot Development Lab]
The door was half-open.
Found it.
"Excuse me, sir. Just a moment. 'Mascot Development'… what does that—"
I grabbed the doorknob and flung the door open.
"…!!"
I heard the employees clamp their own hands over their mouths to stifle screams.
No wonder. What was in front of us was…
[My, how avant-garde!]
In the center of the huge Development Lab, a gigantic red body, only half-stuffed with cotton, was visible.
It was a gigantic, monstrous… thing. Hind legs with sharp claws, grand and sinister membranous wings, a severed tail, only the lower half remaining.
"Urrrp—"
People froze with fear.
Then, a lively voice piped up beside me.
"Oh, it's a mascot suit!"
"…!"
"But it looks unfinished, doesn't it? There's only half of it."
That's right.
On closer inspection, the half-finished lower body on display was empty inside, with bundles of cut hair stuffed in to substitute for cotton here and there.
Traces of trying to create a mascot suit in-house.
'Huu.'
With my lamp-lit vision, I inspected the lower half of the strange beast more closely.
It was covered in dense scales.
Those were human fingernails.
'…Ha.'
And that wasn't all.
All over the spacious 'Development Lab' were parts that had never been assembled, just left scattered about.
A yellow, vertically slit eyeball, small fin-like membranes, huge birdlike foreclaws, a tongue, bits of flesh from a snout.
Remnants of mascot development. Many of the materials hinted at their disturbing origins, making me nauseous.
Apparently, they had never managed to officially introduce or use this as a mascot for the theme park.
This was, after all, the zone of the red rabbit, Magic Bunny.
That majestic and overwhelming form simply didn't fit this cute, colorful amusement park.
Cheerful Theme Park would never have allowed it.
"Instead of the rabbit, did it… want to use that as the new mascot?"
"...Who knows."
I could hear the agents whispering.
[Developing a new image! A cliché but classic idea. What's your take, Mr. Roe Deer?]
Hmm.
'…I think it might be the opposite.'
[Hmm?]
'I mean, maybe it was trying to restore its original form with that suit.'
The Magic Bunny had completely lost its original form inside the mascot suit.
'So I think it tried to remake the suit in the image of its true self.'
Whether by instinct or calculation.
But in the end, it failed.
'And judging by those fragmented pieces, the original identity of Magic Bunny was…'
At that very moment, something moved.
"AAHHH!"
I quickly grabbed the civilian by the back of the neck and tossed her toward the agents.
Ssssslurp…
The scaly tail the civilian had been staring at intently started to move, dripping some viscous fluid.
"Huuuhk."
A remnant of Magic Bunny.
It had been clinging to the inside wall of the tail-shaped mascot suit, writhing.
No limbs.
No collection of organs or limbs harvested from missing persons and guests.
Just the residue from inside the mascot suit, having lost its original shape.
But its cunning and aggression seemed unchanged.
And then.
Creakcreakcreakcreak.
Sounds began echoing from all around.
All the mascot suit parts in the Development Lab began to vibrate.
And the huge mass in the center started to twist its joints, following the tail.
Beneath the red costume, even redder things were writhing and swelling.
"AAHHH!"
Some screamed, others hesitated on the stairs, unsure whether to run because they couldn't look back, and agents took defensive positions with the civilian between them…
"Should we destroy it?"
"I feel like we could actually fight this one?"
N-No, that's not it!
I quickly shook my head and manipulated the black smoke again.
I sent it toward the huge figure that had quietly waited in one corner of the lab, the one that had followed us from the very back.
The true body of the Blue Mascot.
"…!"
The one who had shed the Blue Mascot suit was engulfed in my black smoke, momentarily hidden from everyone's view.
'Now!'
I gestured for everyone to evacuate up the stairs.
The employees rushed to the stairs in a panic, and I followed, taking up the rear and pressing my back to the lab door.
Standing the same way, backs to the lab and sweating coldly, I drew back the smoke I'd sent to the Blue Mascot and formed new words.
Never look back
And then.
Splash.
A sound came from the Development Lab.
"..."
The one who had been inside the Blue Mascot moved.
To do what had been promised.
A massive, powerful step moved slowly. An oceanic presence. The master of the deep. There was a grinding sound, as if, with a sense of regret, it surveyed the scattered mascot suit pieces and their contents…
At last, this moment has arrived
O wicked seed of a foreign land
It devours.
"…!!"
The remnants of Magic Bunny's contents in the Development Lab were crushed and sucked in, as if by a raging tidal wave or vortex.
Just like the 'bad child' who'd been sucked into their mouth at the water park.
Devoured.
Grotesque screams, monstrous emptiness.
"Huuhhk."
"Urk!"
Instinctively, people clamped their ears and bowed their heads, not wanting to witness or accept what was happening.
But…
Someone was looking at me.
The one wearing the yellow mascot mask.
Jang Heowoon was smiling faintly.
As if he were already completely subsumed by something else, as if he no longer capable of feeling fear in this situation.
As if he could turn around at any moment if he wanted and look directly at what was happening now.
A different kind of chill ran all over my body.
But even behind me, the immense presence reached its peak.
A huge surge of something lashed around the lab like a massive whip or tail. And then.
It vanished.
"..."
"..."
Those who'd had their ears covered slowly lowered their hands.
From behind us, a will that seemed to try to be gentle could be felt.
It is done
"..."
And then.
The staircase began to move.
"Huuuuh?!"
It shifted like a wave, pushing people gently up the stairs as if being remodeled in real time.
"W-What is this?"
At last, the 'Authorized Personnel Only' door opened, and as they burst out into the open… they witnessed something astonishing.
"Uh…?"
All the red rabbits had disappeared from Magic Castle!
The grotesque symbols he had created were still there, but every rabbit character that used to fill the Magic Castle was completely gone.
Instead, a new image was appearing.
Blue Dream.
Here and there, the figure of a cutely deformed blue dragon was showing up, as if hurriedly renovating before opening hours.
"…!"
"I-It worked?"
The staff glanced at me, somehow, and I nodded.
The Magic Bunny zone had been overtaken by another mascot.
Completely!
Now
Safe
"Ah!!"
"We… We did it!"
Seeing the words I wrote in smoke, people let out sighs of relief. Some even smiled or laughed with joy, though they still couldn't look back, so the sound just escaped their mouths.
"Um, thank you."
"Thank you!"
They said, directed at the Blue Mascot.
The shadow behind me, cast by my yellow lantern, seemed to sway happily.
That shadow…
"…A dragon?"
"Team Leader?"
"A dragon or an imoogi[1]… No, never mind."
The team leader started to say something, then stopped herself.
"..."
A thought crossed my mind.
'I was forced to take up the mascot role, too.'
If the one behind me was something else before becoming the Blue Mascot…
And if that mascot suit just now really was Magic Bunny's true original form, now lost…
What if… Cheerful Theme Park had captured powerful beings from other ghost stories or legends and forced them into contracts as mascots.
"..."
Didn't the board game you play to enter the theme park also come from Cheerful Research Institute?
'It's an odd feeling.'
Anyway, it's not something to worry about right now.
What matters is…
The Magic Bunny is gone now.
Even if someone remains in the resort, there's no longer any chance of being killed by the Magic Bunny.
'It's done.'
My heart felt lighter at that.
[You're the one who worked the hardest, Mr. Roe Deer!]
[Thanks to you giving all the credit, that mascot, who now thinks he's the star of a drama, will probably get even more full of himself.]
Huu.
'Still, it'll be fine.'
I led the staff out of Magic Castle.
Dawn was breaking.
Note/s:
[1] Imoogi – a creature from Korean mythology that's a mix of a land god, a snake and a dragon, and it's sort of a pre-evolution of a dragon (like dratini -> dragonite). Read more over here: https://namu.wiki/w/ ↩
Cheerful Theme Park would soon open for business.
We returned to the connecting gate to the yellow zone, but the gate we'd used was no longer the entrance to Blue Dream Waterland.
It was the gate Magic Bunny had installed.
But now, a different sign hung there.
[Blue Dream Fantasyland Gate]
The Blue Mascot, who had put their mascot suit back on, now waved from what was now their own territory.
The staff clumsily waved back.
[Good heavens, it's like Stockholm syndrome.]
…That's probably what Braun would have said, if he'd been there.
But with the arrival of dawn, the receiver had lost its function, and the connection with Braun had already been cut.
Still, I was sure we'd meet again soon.
I hung the receiver on my belt.
Just then, Supervisor Lee Seonghae came up to me.
"Um, does this mean you have to go back into your mascot suit now?"
I just looked at her.
If there was no other solution, that's what I'd have to do.
And then, unable to follow the others out, I'd remain in this theme park as a mascot forever…
If I quit being a mascot, there would be nothing left of me. …I would disappear.
But then.
– Cheerful Theme Park is now open!
As lively music signaled the start of operations, my Security Team uniform was overlaid with a resort staff uniform.
But it wasn't a mascot suit.
"Huuh?!"
A neat suit uniform, with a yellow bowtie.
"A… staff member?"
That's right.
Finally, the horns on my mask were smoothed down, and I stood there as a fully-fledged employee of Flower Golden Resort.
"Mr… Mascot?"
Um.
Strictly speaking, no.
This body was an employee.
Since when, you ask?
Since just before the illumination show started!
'Because I signed an employment contract!'
Employer: GOLDEN
Employee: Roe Deer
That's right.
I brought my original body, which had been waiting by the blue gate, and made it sign an employment contract.
So that I would be separated from the mascot!
'As long as the being is alive, you can make it an employee.'
Since the mascot ceremony had not yet been performed, not all of my mind and body existed for the mascot.
But the mascot's will was so strong that even a standard mascot suit could serve as a body, so this separation was carried out perfectly.
Thus, my original body was separated as an employee!
That's why, even while I was buried inside the shelter, the Magic Bunny couldn't notice me.
Because I was not a mascot, but an employee.
"Uhhh…"
I felt a little sorry that, as part of the Security Team concept, I couldn't even manage a smile for the few staff who stared at me in confusion.
'Still, I have to do what needs to be done.'
…Of course, there were problems with this process.
Namely, that my consciousness was split in two.
Experiencing the death of the 'me' in the standard mascot suit was not pleasant.
But I could endure it.
No, I had to endure it.
For this result!
'Now I can leave.'
All the yellow mascots except for a few standard ones were dead, and even the resort had collapsed.
Taking advantage of this moment, when the mascot's power was weakened, I could quickly resign as an 'employee' and leave this theme park.
As for the part of my consciousness that would remain behind, torn apart as a mascot and left in a ghost story… It was horrifying, but I had to accept it.
If, as Braun said, I'd dumped all of this on another employee, we both would have been torn apart by the Magic Bunny.
'…If I'd tried that, my already weakened self probably wouldn't have survived.'
In fact, this whole expedition into Cheerful Theme Park had been a special event arranged at my request by Director Ho.
Even if everyone had volunteered, especially Jang Heowoon… I kept thinking Director Ho had hand-picked him.
So, if I had to bear something, it was better this way.
I took a breath.
And from the ruined resort, I had the me inside the standard mascot suit escape…
'Let's have everyone resign first, then rebuild the resort.'
If I poured in the Cheerful Coins we earned by taking over the red zone, it would be easy.
Then the remaining employees would have a workplace again, and we could all escape quickly.
There shouldn't be any problem.
Or so I thought.
Good Child
The Blue Mascot, standing beyond the gate, looked at me in silence.
Then, raising their hand to the air, they pointed toward the zone conquered by Magic Bunny, where they now stood.
Hm?
Here
Good Child
Take It
'…?!'
W-Wait a minute.
But it was already happening.
The color of the zone transferred by the blue dragon began to change.
The paths that had turned blue now began glowing gold again.
And the golden light, spreading along half the path, began to occupy 'Fantasy Land'.
'Oh god.'
Nearly a third of the entire 'Fantasy Land', the parts serving as resort facilities, were dyed in golden light.
And everywhere, cat mascot decorations with flower crowns on their heads began to appear.
Good Child
For You
No.
No!! I had utterly no plans to expand the yellow zone at all…!
'All I wanted was a bit of money to rebuild the resort!'
I barely stifled a scream at the expectant face of the Blue Mascot watching me.
Now there were five—no, seven—yellow zone facilities!
'I'm going crazy.'
I could feel it.
The mascot's consciousness was swelling far too much.
Wait, at this rate, I won't be able to resign…!
'The mascot is getting too powerful!'
Compared to when I just had just the resort facility, overwhelming things were pouring into my mind, pushing aside my employee self and making me want to shift my vision back to the standard mascot.
No!
'If I resign now, will I… will I even be left?'
On the verge of being overwhelmed by terror, and in that maddening moment when the mascot's joy surged over me—
Light began to shine through my Security Team uniform.
"…!"
I looked down.
Light was leaking from my wrist in the shape of letters.
: :
The tattoo that acted as my inventory.
And that light detached from my skin and formed an object.
Its shape was…
'The employment contract!'
The words that had been blurred there began to come to life.
A person of inherent, existential nobility.
The strikethrough, which had previously been drawn across it in denial…
A person of inherent, existential nobility.
…disappeared.