Editor’s Survival Guide — Chapter 24
Episode 5. Shopping! The Warehouse Mart! (4)
—A body part from a named hazardous entity in the Special Zone.
—If you keep it on, some hazardous entities will mistake you for a higher-level entity, Otter.
Hanging ignominiously upside down, I prayed that Baek Sa-ra’s words were true.
Please. Please.
Beep-beep—!
The 「Stocking Employee」 holding my ankle abruptly made a sound.
Beepbibipbibibibibibibibibi—!
An electronic noise repeated rapidly as though some kind of error had occurred.
Then, at last, it released my ankle and leaped back.
Thud—!
With my body lifted as far as my lower back, I dropped straight to the floor.
But I had no time even to act hurt. I immediately stood and backed against the wall.
Then I checked the condition of the 「Employees」.
The 「Stocking Employee」.
It had retreated about five meters from me and was still beeping.
The 「Sample-Counter Employee」.
It too was keeping a similar distance.
It made no sound.
Instead, it had pointed its sharp scissors and tongs at me.
And last of all—damn it, what was that now?
There was one more 「Employee」.
The 「Information-Desk Employee」.
The one that normally remained stationed at the information desk in front of the entrance.
It was “staring” at me from behind the desk.
—That was good judgment.
Cha Si-eon murmured through the earpiece.
His voice held a sigh of relief, though he pretended otherwise.
—As you are, retreat toward the store again. Keep your back against the wall and move slowly to the left.
I took one step left as instructed.
Beepbeepbeepbeepbeep—!
The 「Stocking Employee」 made a sound like it was having a fit.
The 「Sample-Counter Employee」 lurched toward me too.
That confirmed it.
Just as Baek Sa-ra had explained, they were mistaking me for a higher-level hazardous entity.
But that did not mean they obeyed me.
Those 「Employees」 still wanted to expel me.
They were merely hesitating and keeping their distance because they were afraid.
“I think they’ll attack again the moment I show an opening.”
—The rescue team cannot enter under the current circumstances. Put as much distance as possible between yourself and the 「Employees」.
At Cha Si-eon’s demand, I took another step.
Beeeeep—!
Damn it. What was I supposed to do!?
“It won’t work. Their guard is too high. And what about the traps? I doubt those things will stand back and watch while I check for them.”
Avoiding invisible traps required examining all kinds of things.
There was no way the 「Employees」 waiting for a chance to bite would give me that kind of latitude.
Truthfully, I was uneasy even now.
If they launched a coordinated attack.
No, if they merely found their courage.
I, who had only borrowed the aura of a higher-level hazardous entity, would die in an instant.
When I found myself rooted to the spot in helpless anxiety, Cha Si-eon offered an alternative.
—We will select and send someone to lure the 「Employees」 away.
“What……?”
Had I misheard him?
Someone to lure them away?
Did he mean they would send a person to be chased by the 「Employees」 in my place?
Surely a trained agent would have some other method, right?
……No.
If such a method existed, it would already have been written in the rulebook.
Then was he truly saying they would send a sacrifice?
Was he insane?
My head felt ready to burst.
How had things come to this?
Everything had been going well. Why?
The bird.
Everything had gone wrong when the bird appeared.
But the 「Sample-Counter Employee」 was the one that fought the bird.
The one that found and caught me was the 「Stocking Employee」.
Why had that thing appeared in front of me in the first place?
Wasn’t it supposed to roam only the first floor above ground?
Could it be because it was the 「Stocking Employee」?
Had it come down to clean up because this floor had become a disaster?
If so, that was truly deranged and infuriating professional dedication.
And yet it treated customers this heartlessly?
What kind of incoherent mess was……?
No. Wait.
“When did the 「Stocking Employee」 move to basement level one?”
I hurriedly asked as a possibility occurred to me.
—Five seconds after the 「Sample-Counter Employee」 completely destroyed three storage racks. It took approximately fourteen seconds to relocate.
……Could that really be it?
Half in doubt, I recalled an old memory.
My visit to a warehouse mart with the manager who sat in front of me several years ago.
I looked at the 「Employees」 again.
Then I moved a little to the left, toward the sales floor.
Bibibibibip—!
An agitated warning sounded again.
So this time, I moved right, toward the entrance.
……There was no threat at all.
I released the breath I had been holding and whispered to Cha Si-eon.
“Team Leader, please pause the selection process.”
—Why?
Instead of answering, I took another step to the right.
Once again, the 「Employees」 displayed no hostility.
They merely moved in the opposite direction to match me, as though trying to maintain their distance.
Watching their reactions, I continued forward.
I passed the entrance that way and reached the information desk.
The 「Information-Desk Employee」 that had occupied it was long gone, having fled from me.
Keeping my ringed hand spread wide, I searched the desk with the other.
—Seo Do-un, what are you doing right now?
“Just wait a moment.”
I soon found what I wanted.
I considered taking only one, then simply grabbed as many as my hands could hold and stuffed them into my pockets.
Beep—
The sound of a barcode being scanned came from beside me.
The 「Employees」 had made it.
It sounded a little different from the deranged noises they had been making until now.
Thinking they might have lowered their guard, I edged toward the sales floor.
There was no threat.
But they still backed away while maintaining a set distance from me.
Their red lights also continued to “watch” me.
Why?
……Was it because of this ring?
I picked up the glove I had dropped by the entrance.
—Seo Do-un.
Cha Si-eon called me, but I ignored him and put the glove back on.
Read only on MUGEX
—Seo Do-un!
Cha Si-eon shouted when the glove covered the ring.
But I had no time to answer.
Ready to yank the glove off at any moment, I watched for the reaction of the 「Employees」.
No, I tried to watch.
An 「Employee」 was already beside me.
“Urgh……!”
Horrified, I tugged at the glove.
But before I could even remove it, the 「Employee」 passed me by.
Frozen in place, I followed the 「Information-Desk Employee」 that had gone behind me with my eyes.
It had already returned to its original position at the information desk.
I turned my head toward the sales floor as well.
There was nothing there.
Neither the 「Stocking Employee」 nor the 「Sample-Counter Employee」.
They had already disappeared.
“……Haah.”
I survived…….
Laughing with nothing but my breath, I collapsed where I stood.
Cha Si-eon immediately demanded an answer.
—Explain the current situation.
He sounded somewhat angry.
Let a person catch his breath…….
Weren’t you watching my heart rate?
Clutching my heart, which felt one beat away from exploding, I exhaled at length.
“You said before that Type 1 Special Zones imitate real places, correct?”
—Correct.
“Then is this place imitating CoXtco?”
—……?
Somehow, Cha Si-eon’s silence felt like an insult.
But only for a moment.
—……It is CoXtco.
Cha Si-eon answered in a strangely humiliated tone.
Thankfully, my prediction had been right.
If it had been wrong, I would already have crossed the River Jordan.
Clatter—
I took out what I had collected from the information desk earlier.
Then I held it high so that anything nearby could see.
It was none other than a membership card.
“CoXtco operates on a membership system.”
CoXtco, the warehouse mart that the manager in front of me had taken me to see.
No entry without a membership.
—In that situation…….
After a silence, Cha Si-eon spoke in disbelief.
—How did you know that you needed a membership card in a situation like that?
“Because the 「Stocking Employee」 grabbed me before cleaning up the powdered formula.”
—Please explain in a way I can understand.
“I’m saying the 「Stocking Employee」 came downstairs to clean and organize. But after it discovered me, it prioritized grabbing and dragging me away.”
When I had knocked the television over by striking the first-floor display.
The 「Stocking Employee」 had rushed over in a commotion.
It was an employee truly devoted to its role.
But once it found me, it postponed the organization that was its actual duty.
The severed storage racks, the sawdust scattered everywhere.
Even the shelving unit overturned in my struggles—all had become secondary concerns.
“At first, I thought killing a human simply took priority. But after I revealed the ring, that no longer seemed right either. During the standoff earlier, the 「Employees」 only became angry when I moved toward the sales floor. When I headed toward the door, they left me alone.”
That was when I began to suspect.
Perhaps their purpose was not to “kill humans,” but to “remove them from the store.”
“So I thought this might be part of their work rather than malice or a murderous instinct. Then I noticed the information desk and remembered that membership-only warehouse marts exist.”
—Haaah…….
Cha Si-eon released a long sigh as he listened.
It was a sigh laden with, “I have a great deal to say, but I will refrain.”
—Seo Do-un, Agent Baek Sa-ra has a message for you.
“Is Ms. Baek Sa-ra there with you?”
I asked happily.
Without Baek Sa-ra’s ring, I would certainly have died.
So I at least wanted to thank her and tell her that she had saved me.
—She asked whether her instruction to mind your own life went in one ear and out the other. You may explain yourself to her separately after your return.
……I would save the thanks for later.
I glanced around pointlessly, then asked Cha Si-eon again,
“Is the rescue team still standing by?”
—They are.
I thought for a moment.
Ms. Baek Sa-ra would probably curse me even more if I said this.
Still, it couldn’t be helped.
“Then could you give me some time?”
—What are you planning to do now?
“I want to look for a way to escape.”
Even to me, it sounded like something only a person desperate to die would say.
But it wasn’t bravado.
It was an entirely rational calculation.
I had literally risked my life to find a membership card.
I had discovered that the 「Employees」 classified only as hazardous entities were actually neutral entities.
Now that my range of action had expanded, destroying this place would be an enormous loss.
Whose loss?
Mine, of course.
Because I was the one who never knew when he might be dragged into a Special Zone with an exploration rate not of seventeen percent, but zero.
I lined up a whole series of counterarguments in case Cha Si-eon objected.
It was a needless concern.
—Do you believe it is possible?
For once, our opinions aligned.
Apparently Cha Si-eon thought it would be a waste too.
As for whether I believed it was possible—well.
“I’ll give it a try.”
What was possible and what had to be done were separate questions, weren’t they?
It would be a waste simply to throw away that seventeen percent.
And I didn’t like the thought of the rescue team sustaining casualties.
More than anything, I was just beginning to adapt to this spatial horror story.
—
■ Exploration Report: 「Membership Warehouse Mart」 (formerly the 「Warehouse Mart Rigged with Traps」)
Exploration Run: 12
Exploration Date: March 5, 20XX
Exploration Personnel: 1
Survivors: 1
Exploration Results
1. Secured twelve membership cards for the 「Membership Warehouse Mart」.
2. Discovered eight methods of interacting with the neutral entities known as 「Employees」.
3. Confirmed the uses of the 「Coupon Book」 issued at the information desk.
4. Confirmed the purchase of three products from the deli and bakery section.
5. Discovered “Escape Route A. Sufficient Shopping.”
Final Exploration Rate: 48%
Notes
1. Failed to track the bird that intruded into the sample-counter area
2. Membership in the Save the Otter Campaign Headquarters exceeds 150☆
—