‘This is insane.’
The gold mark near the chin of the A-squad employee’s butterfly mask glinted.
“If there’s something dangerous that you want to try, just make those guys do it first. But sometimes they misunderstand the orders and end up dying. That just drives me nuts.”
“Ugh, uuugh…”
“Well, if they had enough sense to understand properly, they wouldn’t have been assigned to a team like that, would they?”
The insults continued casually, ending with the tired voice of someone suppressing their irritation, like a weary office worker.
“Why do they even bother applying to jobs like this and being a burden? Every time it’s just… lunatics, cultists, criminals…”
“……”
No doubt, they deliberately placed individuals with personality defects in the Round-Off Team.
It was a plot device to lower the psychological barrier for people reading the ghost stories.‘It’s like it feels better when someone evil or flawed dies as a tool rather than a kind and normal person…’
Seeing it in reality, though, left a bitter and disgusting feeling.
What did the employee in the cow mask do wrong to deserve being treated like a suicide squad member?
“Even that pathetic coward…”
Yeah, a coward…
“……?!”
…W-Wait just a second.
Hold on, Assistant Manager!
I feel like I just heard something huge…
“…Did you just say ‘coward’?”
“Yeah. Can you believe there’s a coward who passed the entry exam and still whines like that? Like that newbie from Y-squad.”
……
‘That’s it?’
Seriously?
That newbie in the cow mask got assigned to the Round-Off Team because he’s a coward?
Being scared was considered that big of a flaw?
Then…
‘What about me?’
…Aren’t I a coward too!
Suddenly, memories from my first day at work flashed like a panorama. The things I said to my superiors after running away from the ghost at the convenience store.
– Uh, actually… I ran out quickly because I was scared.
“……”
Now I realize.
I was so lucky they didn’t believe me.
‘So cowards get marked as trash and ostracized in the company…!’
Not just shunned discreetly, but officially pushed into death traps!
‘I just thought I needed to hide my weakness… but it’s worse than that!’
I could almost hear my survival rate plummeting in surround sound.
No way!
“Anyway, there’s nothing specific to order him to do right now. He’ll just be in the way, so let’s move, just you and me. Got it?”
Hell no!
If I go alone with you, I feel like I’ll be exposed as a coward in five minutes!
I can already see my future, where Employee Kim Soleum ends up exiled to the Round-Off Team after Assistant Manager Jin from A-squad testifies, ‘What, this guy was a coward too!’
“In that case, please go ahead first.”
“W-What?”
For the first time in my month here, I broke the rookie’s ten commandments.
I defied my superior.
And my reasoning was pretty solid.
“I’ll bring my teammate along.”
“……”
Assistant Manager Jin from A-squad paused.
For a moment, I worried that this superior might use the Y-squad newbie to get rid of me.
“This moron…”
The butterfly mask assistant manager seemed to choose to cut ties with me and disappear instead.
But… well, here’s the thing.
‘You won’t be able to go alone anyway.’
========================
Cheerful Theme Park User Guide (Applicable up to Exploration Record #64)
2- Make sure to stay together with teammates of the same color inside the theme park!
If you are more than 5 meters apart while not riding an attraction, you will be executed. You will be strangled. It hurts, so don’t move further apart. Don’t do it.
========================
‘There’s no way they’d just let someone with your nerves wander off with their eyes open…’
You need to be our tank.
The butterfly mask assistant manager made a choking sound and stopped, as if grabbed by the nape of her neck.
“You damn… ah!”
A red cord.
Like a leash, the line connecting us stretched taut above our heads, but when the assistant manager smartly backtracked and closed the distance, it disappeared again.
“You…!”
“Assistant Manager Jin.”
I made a gesture, placing my index finger to my lips.
And I rolled my eyes.
The mascots around the parade were all staring directly at Assistant Manager Jin.
“……”
The A-squad assistant manager quickly calmed down.
It’s really convenient when someone competent gets a grip fast…
“Could it be that the teams were split like this…”
“Yes. Didn’t we draw the red pieces together? We were grouped as a team, and it seems there are physical restrictions as well.”
“…No way.”
Assistant Manager Jin looked at me, then asked meaningfully.
“Did you… anticipate this?”
……?
I mean, I just read this ghost story in advance…
But I decided to roll with it.
I assumed a serious tone and began to speak.
“As you may recall… there were four civilian survivors.”
“So?”
“Weren’t they probably on the same team?”
I spoke earnestly.
“Since we were also assigned as a team of four, I thought it was likely the same for them. It seems most probable that a whole team survived together.”
“……”
“So, for now, I suggest that we look out for each other, assuming this is how we’ll get out of this Darkness safely.”
After a brief silence.
“…Makes sense. Fine.”
Luckily, the A-squad superior seemed to accept the logic.
“Kim Soleum-ssi, thank, thank you…”
“It’s nothing. Let’s work together and do our best.”
The cow mask colleague also seemed moved, but this is no time for sentimentality, my fellow coward.
‘Let’s see.’
I took an objective look at this team.
A superior drenched in a sense of elitism.
Cowardly Dumb and Dumber.
And an extra employee from another department tagged along.
‘Haha, what a mess.’
If this were an actual story from the <Dark Exploration Records>, everyone would be dead at the start of the record, and the POV would switch to Section Chief Lizard.
But there’s still a way to survive with this team…
‘There is.’
If we follow the rules carefully and aim for an escape route!
“…Do you remember, by any chance?”
“Remember what?”
“The phrase written on the <Cheerful Theme Park> board game box.”
– Be the first team to ride all three fantasy attractions with your teammates and win spectacular prizes!
The eyes beneath the butterfly mask narrowed.
“Three attractions… I see. There are exactly three slots on this wristband, too.”
“Right.”
I nodded.
“For now, I believe we should proceed as it is. Following the demands hinted at by the Darkness is the standard method for clearing.”
“…A newbie who’s been here a month talks like an expert, more than someone like me who’s been at this company for three years?”
Oops.
“Well, I’ve been sent into Darknesses without manuals for the past month, so… um, I guess I’ve developed a habit of making these kinds of guesses.”
“Sure, whatever.”
Fortunately, the A-squad superior casually nodded.
It seemed she hadn’t said it out of spite.
“Your hypothesis is persuasive.”
“Yes.”
She appeared to accept it reasonably enough.
I raised my hand and politely made a suggestion.
“So, I think we should go ahead and ride the attractions.”
Luckily, one of the signs nearby had the attraction I had been aiming for.
[Fantasy Train]
Literally, a magic train.
“…Isn’t this the attraction the civilians talked about?”
“That’s right.”
I nodded calmly, and the panicked researcher shouted hysterically.
“They said everyone who rode it died!!”
Yes.
This is the hellish train of doom with a 3% survival rate!
‘But that doesn’t mean I’ve lost my mind.’
For veterans of <Dark Exploration Records>, there’s always a way!
…A less scary way to clear it.
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