I backed away.
In the hallway outside the old Daydream office, a black silhouette was butchering the stuffed doll of 130666.
Its eyes were fixed on me.
The Daydream Mascot Character.
What was once a classically deformed yellow dragon had it's limbs, head, and face warped into a grotesque mess, as if they had been broken and reassembled.
Like a mascot costume that had been shattered to pieces and then crudely and crookedly sewn back together by a child!
I saw something squirming in every crack of that distorted doll.
Tiny bugs.
Worm-like things writhed in clumps, squirming out of the mascot costume.
A wave of nausea rose in me, and goosebumps prickled my skin.
That black Daydream character was drenched in a dark, golden liquid that had burst like blood from the butchered body of 130666.
In the glint of that liquid, something was momentarily revealed.
On the chest of that figure, something was attached, just like on mine.
They were…
Identities.
A bow tie, glasses, a cat tail, a fragment of a childcare teacher's manual, a school uniform name tag, a silver badge, a tattered barcode…
My Contaminations.
My selves.
The symbols of who I was were attached like medals, smeared with the dark yellow liquid.
And in that fleeting instant, I understood.
It's hunting me, one by one.
-Then shall we make you not a Good Friend?
My identities as a Good Friend.
Me, embodied by those stuffed dolls.
Snip.
A moment passed.
Then the office scissors in the Daydream Mascot Character's hand plunged deep into the center of the stuffed doll's chest.
A fountain of blood burst upward.
The stuffed doll of 130666 raises its hands as if crying out in its final moments.
And then.
It fell.
"….."
Good Friend
Where, oh where are you hiding?
I slammed the door shut.
Thud!
…A tremor ran through it, the door had closed just in time.
And then, I saw a small, sharp sliver of silver emerge from the center of the door…
The blade of a pair of office scissors.
"..."
…Snip.
Snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip
The sound of the door being cut apart.
I swallowed a scream and ran, shoving the nearest office desk against the door. Chairs, a filing cabinet, a planter full of soil — anything I could grab — i dragged them over and built a barricade.
But I knew.
'It won't hold for long…!'
I wiggled my arms and hands, now nothing more than lumps of cotton, desperately trying to find a solution to escape this situation.
A solution…
....
This is the world of the
And the ghost stories recorded in it all share one trait.
A trait born from the fact that their creator wrote them for the 'Exploration Records.'
'There are always rules.'
I will figure them out.
Figure them out, and devise a way to escape.
Just like I always have.
[Oh ho!]
I think.
If this were a ghost story I had read in the Darkness Exploration Record…
Snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip
A familiar place from my past, a terrifying situation, the fact that I was just 'swallowed' by a massive Darkness entity…
My form, turned into a plush doll.
The description label on my chest.
These outward forms that reveal my inner identity as a 'Good Friend.'
"..."
In my mind, I write down a page.
??? (Working Title: Someone's Nightmare)
: A ghost story appearing in the Darkness Exploration Record, identification code for Daydream Inc. is undetermined.
A Darkness that occurs upon being caught by the bizarre hand gesture of Director Cheongdalrae, head of Daydream Inc.'s development department.
The explorer is pursued by the company mascot in an old Daydream office, and their intimate identities appear in a materialized form.
These identities are presumed to be the characteristics within the explorer that Director Cheongdalrae is tracking.
Do not get caught.
Do not get killed.
If this were the Darkness Exploration Record, it would definitely be described this way.
Yes. And reading this from the perspective of a wiki enthusiast, I realize something.
'It's a classic mental world, all right.'
A lucid dream, an inner world, a materialized nightmare… something like that!
Either way, it means this is a ghost story that affects the explorer's mental identity.
And these kinds of ghost stories always have a cliché.
The 'waking up cliché' to escape from this place.
Exploration Record #??
Assistant Manager Kim Sol-eum deployed solo.
The employee confirmed that his various personas were embodied in the form of stuffed dolls.
Attempted to standardize and use escape methods from similar types of ghost stories.
First.
1) Falling
A method of waking up by falling from a high place (e.g., a rooftop). Mainly used when waking from a dream.
I checked the window, covered by vertical blinds.
…I can't see the outside properly. Besides, it's hard to see this as a simple dream, so the risk is too high.
'Next.'
Second.
2) Death
A method of disappearing by choosing death.
Mainly used through circumstantial reasoning that this place is a mental process, not a real physical world.
It was a cliché I had experienced while exploring the Segwang Special City Subway.
But this time, I was swallowed by Director Cheong's maw. And if I thought , 'Let's just die before I get torn apart by scissors,' I might actually just die for real.
Think.
'Quickly…!'
Last.
3) Using an Exit
A method of finding a properly implemented exit in this mental world (tentative name) and leaving through it.
The most moderate and realistic escape method.
It's practically a formula now – going beyond cliché.
It's so intuitive that it needs no explanation. It's also the method most commonly used in horror games if there are no tricks.
The only problem is how to reach the exit.
…And I can't use it right now.
'Because I'm trapped in this office!'
And it's not uncommon for there to be dead-end ghost stories with no exit at all…
Or for it to be hidden very, very well.
[Oh dear, then all three methods are quite unsuitable for the situation… Oh, my!]
Thud!
I quickly raised my head.
…The doorknob had fallen off.
Snip.
Through that empty hole,
the character's eyes stare straight at me.
Snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip.
Fuck. Ah, this is driving me insane… Calm down, stay calm.
[Which method will you choose, Friend?]
....
I.
'I never said I'd try one of the three in the first place.'
[Hmm?]
What matters is standardization.
And finding the pattern within it.
The common element that appears in all of them—'Falling, Death, Using an Exit'!
The core principle, that is…
'Symbolism.'
A clear symbolism of escaping this situation, this world.
A recognition.
[Oh ho!]
For example, the sentence 'I fell from a high place and woke up from a dream' is so familiar and universal. It's a 'clear recognition' that everyone has experienced at least once.
Death is the same.
'There's no act with a clearer recognition of disappearing from this world than death.'
Leaving through an exit was similar.
Because it's a universal escape method in reality, it's an escape method in ghost stories too.
It just comes with the ghost-story-like condition that 'one must find the correct exit by overcoming all sorts of adversities and analyzing hints.'
[How interesting! But how will you find a 'symbolic method' to escape this situation? There are no other hints, and no more time here!]
That…
It starts with this question.
'…Braun.'
[What is it, Friend?]
....
'How did you follow me all the way here?'
So, here's the thing.
If this really is a mental world created by Director Cheong, she would have noticed Braun intruding here. Since it's a world she created.
So, what I mean is.
'Did you perhaps secretly follow me in?'
[Oh, to that question… I can say 'no.']
In that case.
'…You were here from the beginning, weren't you?'
....
[Correct!]
I knew it.
A space where my 'Good Friend' Braun was originally present.
This place is…
'This place is not Director Cheong's mental world at all, but mine.'
Right.
I'm in a situation where I'm being chased by the 'Daydream Mascot' that has infiltrated my own mental world…!
[Oh, brilliant!]
And Braun's reaction just now gave me even more certainty.
[oh ho.]
Now, the conditions have changed.
??? (Working Title: Someone's Nightmare)
: A ghost story appearing in the Darkness Exploration Record, identification code for Daydream Inc. is undetermined.
A Darkness that occurs upon being caught by the bizarre hand gesture of Director Cheongdalrae, the head of the development department at Daydream Inc.
The explorer is chased by the company mascot in an old Daydream office, and their intimate identities appear in a materialized form.
/This is an unknown place implemented based on the explorer's psyche,/ and these identities are presumed to be the characteristics within the explorer that Director Cheongdalrae is tracking.
Do not get caught.
Do not get killed.
Do you know what this means?
It means I no longer have to agonize over various case studies of 'how to escape a mental world.'
Because I already have a standard.
'Me.'
Because this is my dream.
So let's think.
Do I have something like that?
A waking cliché.
A symbolic method, established through experience.
....
'I do.'
I yanked open a company cabinet and rummaged through it like a madman.
Thud!
Behind me, the pounding sound of the door being torn apart echoes, and finally, the door gave way and collapses. But I don't look back. I continue to search the cabinet until–
I found it.
A personal item commonly seen in an office during winter.
"…!"
And I frantically draw several outlines on it with a black marker.
Thud!
I cover the insides with correction fluid, and finally, I dot two spots on each with a red ballpoint pen…
And so it is completed.
Thud!
A white Lizard blanket.
The very method I used to escape when I was trapped in the May 4th loop of Segwang Metropolitan City.
Crack.
Without a moment to check the white lizards with red eyes covering the old blanket, I immediately threw it over my head…
Snip.
I realized that the arm that was supposed to grab the blanket hadn't moved.
I looked down.
My cotton-filled arm was rolling on the floor.
A pool of golden liquid soaked the floor…
A sharp pain tore through my shoulder.
'!!'
Snip.
It hurts like hell. It hurts!
Snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip.
But there's no time to flinch in pain. The Daydream Mascot seized my head. I somehow manage to shove it away with all my might and grab the blanket with my remaining arm…
And cover my head.
The moment that old cloth covers my head and upper body, and darkness falls.
The floor gives way.
…!!
As if being sucked into a giant swamp, I was pulled down as if falling into a sinkhole.
The sharp sensation of the scissors that stabbed my shoulder is imprinted on me, following me down…
....
....
"Heok."
I raised my head.
Silence.
I looked behind me, but the Daydream Character was nowhere to be seen. The blanket that had been covering my head was also gone.
'Did I… get out?'
I hurriedly tried to get up.
Then, I turned my head at a strange sensation.
Golden liquid was trickling down from where my left arm had been.
And the stabbing pain radiating from my shoulder.
"…!"
I frantically fumbled with my remaining right arm to feel the outline of my shoulder.
…A pair of office scissors was lodged deep in it.
[Goodness! Are you alright?]
There was no time to whine even if I wasn't.
I barely managed to grab the office scissors and pull them out, then tore off the cloth suit jacket wrapped around my cloth body and wrapped it around my wound.
It didn't seem to be stopping the bleeding either way, but the immediate hemorrhage was blocked by the cloth.
Since my cloth body contained that liquid in the first place, perhaps it was only natural that wrapping the torn part with cloth was enough…
'Hoo.'
I pulled myself together and looked around again.
But I realize.
That something is strange.
"..."
I am standing in a dark, formal hallway.
This isn't the hallway of the old Daydream office.
It's an old but elegant and elaborate space, with faded golden decorations here and there.
A rather large, stately wooden hallway continues on, covered with a reddish-gold carpet.
From above, a flower-shaped chandelier with golden leaves reflects the light opaquely.
"..."
I approached the chandelier and gently brushed away the accumulated dust with my remaining right hand, as if wiping it off.
My cloth hand wipes away the dust, revealing the letters within.
FLOWER GOLDEN
"..."
Flower Golden Resort.
However…
'This isn't my Resort.'
It was different.
The style and arrangement were different.
Only the structure was similar…
'But it looks familiar.'
I know the reason for that, too.
Because I've seen this Resort in a state of abandoned, ancient ruin before.
Right before I became a Mascot.
'…The ruined yellow zone.'
And so I realize.
This is the original Flower Golden Resort.
This must be what it looked like before it closed down after the previous Mascot died.
Or right after it closed.
'…Wait a minute.'
If the method of using the 'white Lizard blanket' as a trigger worked and I escaped from the old Daydream office.
'Could this place be… my mental world, influenced by that Daydream Character Mascot?'
The Daydream Character is a yellow dragon.
Thinking of that, an idea naturally comes to mind.
'Both the blue and red zones of the Pleasant Theme Park are presumed to have originally had dragons as mascots…'
Then was the one in the yellow zone before… also a yellow dragon?
And when I met the 'Kim Soleum in the Cocoon' I realized something else: a good portion of the components making up my 'Good Friend' body were recycled from that Daydream Character, the yellow dragon…
'Did Director Cheong turn the yellow dragon into the Golden Flower Mascot, and then recycle it into my body after it was killed by Magic Bunny?'
I feel like throwing up. My stomach should be churning, but a plush doll's body doesn't do that.
Somehow, that was even more horrifying.
'Hoo.'
In any case, I had to move quickly.
'Director Cheong won't let me go that easily.'
She will definitely come after me again.
I ignored the sharp pain in my shoulder as much as possible and got up.
And I staggered down the hallway.
This time, my destination was very clear.
'The Resort exit…'
This time, I was planning to use the most intuitive method....
[Oh, a familiar door.]
I stopped in my tracks.
In the middle of the hallway, I see a nameplate on a lone door.
Authorized Personnel Only
It's the Resort management office.
The very core of this Resort, where I had begun to function as a Mascot.
"..."
What could be in there?
Fear clawed at me, screaming to run, to find the Resort exit right now. That this time, I might really get out of here.
Even if not, it tells me to choose the safer path.
But.
'Even if I escape this place, my chances were slim.'
I'll end up facing Director Cheong anyway.
Director Cheong will try to eliminate 'me as a Good Friend' in other ways.
And she wouldn't hesitate — not out of effort, but out of sheer willingness to use anything, no matter how desperate or deranged, to force that employment contract into effect.
If that's the case…
'Wouldn't it be better… to find more hints here?'
Since I realized this place originated from my own mind. I might be able to uncover something useful.
It should be easier to explore one's own dream than someone else's.
'....'
I made up my mind.
And I raised my one remaining, stiff arm,
and opened the 'Authorized Personnel Only' door.
Creeak.
With a soft scrape of the hinge, the door swung open, revealing the dark Resort management office.
Machines.
A chair.
A desk.
Everything is deathly still.
"..."
I approached the desk.
And I recall what was in this desk drawer.
'…The Resort employee employment contract.'
With a strange, sinking intuition, I pulled the drawer open.
Rattle.
The wooden interior is revealed, and the paper inside shows itself…
Employment Contract
My contract.
The Security Team employment contract that Director Cheongdalrae held out and I signed.