Bailonz Street 13-Chapter 178.1
The Black-Tortoise Unit of the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau are people who experience all sorts of bizarre ghost stories firsthand.
Their job is a bit different from the Preliminary Investigation Unit or the Site Cleanup Unit. In the process of rescuing survivors, they often end up soaking in the ghost story itself, experiencing its full ‘flavor’.
But today was a rare case.
“T-Team Leader.”
“Shh.”
Team Leader of Black-Tortoise Team 3, codename Haegeum
[1]
, pressed down her team member’s head.
[Flower Golden Resort]
It had already been five hours since they arrived at this strange place.
And the agents had noticed quite a few bizarre signs of incongruity.
All the staff members at this resort are human.
And except for the rookie from the Disaster Management Bureau they found at the front desk, most of them seemed to be maintaining their sanity.
No. At least, that’s how it looked on the surface.
Is that even possible in a supernatural disaster?
“B-But. There’s another weird one.”
The team member whispered.
“The staff who takes the room service calls!”
The two of them turned their gaze toward the side of the front desk.
“Hello, I’m the room service staff, Ladybug!”
The staff member who introduced himself as Ladybug in a cheerful tone over the phone was wearing a mascot mask imitating the resort’s mascot. He’s anything but a real ladybug.
…Just like the rookie from the Site Cleanup Unit.
‘What on earth happened in this place?’
Only those two seemed to have lost their human identities, wearing mascot masks.
When they asked if it was because they hadn’t done their jobs properly and got ‘corrected’, everyone shook their heads.
“That’s not it!”
“If you have to call it something… goodwill?”
Goodwill?
A strange choice of words brought a wave of unease.
But no one could give a proper answer as to what exactly had happened.
“Mr. Mascot said no.”
“Check the employee work rules.”
Yeah, those damned work rules.
R e a d
The team leader, opening the ‘Resort Employee Handbook’ that the mascot
kindly
provided, had squeezed her eyes shut the first time she saw it.
The rules went up to 37.
The densely written pages all hinted at gruesome outcomes that could occur while working at this resort.
“Textbook case, right, Team Leader?”
That’s true. But still, somehow…
“Welcome!”
It was all too peaceful.
The staff seemed totally unfazed by the pressure and anxiety the work rules should have brought.
Even after seeing the two people who’d lost all self and become just accessories of the resort, no one was scared. They calmly went about their assigned tasks.
They greeted the mascot, even chatted with him.
Sometimes, when talking among themselves, if anyone from the team approached, they would glance over and quietly disperse.
“……”
It was a strange feeling.
Dangerous, bizarre guests kept pouring into the beautiful resort, but as for her, she only had to greet them at the entrance.
Absolute division of labor.
Her team member had been assigned elsewhere. The civilian to be rescued was also placed in another area.
Isolation.
But you could go greet them anytime. The work rules were ‘recommended’ for staff, not forced.
‘Strange.’
Time passed extremely naturally and calmly, but oddities crept in as if seeping through the cracks.
“……”
Slap—!
The team leader slapped her own face.
‘I have to stay alert.’
Even if today’s mission was simple rescue and not closing the supernatural disaster, this resort was bizarre in a way fundamentally different from other disasters…
They’d have to stay on their guard for two days.
And a few hours later—
– See you next time~
“Aaaagh!”
“Let me in! Let me in!”
Ignoring the figures desperately pounding on the door outside, the hotel’s operations ended for the day.
That eerie madness appeared for just a moment, then disappeared, and the staff didn’t even glance over, just calmly continued their conversations.
“Is it okay if I go to bed now?”
“I’m sleepy.”
That was even scarier.
No matter how crazy that cult company they came from was, this was strange.
‘These bastards are the type to cling desperately to their own lives.’
She managed to coax a staff member in a harvest mouse mask with a cigarette and got a bit more of the story about this ghost tale.
“Ah! This was originally a theme park ghost story, but suddenly a new resort was built…”
A newly made place.
“Anyway, as long as you work as staff, you can leave!”
“Who?”
“Huh?”
“Who said we could leave? That’s not in the handbook, is it?”
“Uh… it was Mr. Mascot!”
Even when she asked the other employees, their answers were similar.
– As soon as the third facility opens, we can all leave.
– We’re just waiting for the third facility… Huh, scared? I was scared before, yeah, but now I think it’s fine… because Mr. Mascot takes care of everything.
– ? Yes. That’s right.
“……”
It really was just… so bizarre.
The crowning touch was the reaction from the civilian they were supposed to rescue, who’d been working elsewhere.
The person who’d cleaned the spa hallway looked strangely relieved.
“Mr. Mascot helped me… And, well, the work isn’t hard… There’s only one day left, right? He even said he’d give me a gift when I leave.”
“……”
“He said we’ll be able to leave soon!”
This lukewarm goodwill, the peacefulness that soaks in, the bright and luxurious resort, the creeping sense of psychological unease.
The team leader genuinely craved a cigarette.
There’s nothing like it to drive away the eeriness.
‘This kind of thing is my weakness, fuck.’
She was, if anything, the type who could handle traditional ghosts and shamanic supernatural disasters well.
But the assignment couldn’t be helped.
In fact, if the rescue signaler hadn’t used such a special device, the Black-Tortoise Team wouldn’t have dived in so quickly.
A rescue signaler that, when pressed in a supernatural disaster, even indicates the exact route by which the person entered—a device that’s practically equipment-grade.
Such a high-level device is used by people in high government positions or ‘VIPs’, but… most of the time, the rescuee is someone with a special status.
For example, the dearest relative of a fallen agent, or someone like that.
‘…Huu.’
…Knowing this, it was psychologically hard to give up on the rescue and just escape on their own.
And the person they were here to rescue wasn’t the only one weighing on her mind.
“Hey.”
“Yes, Employee!”
The team leader met someone waiting in the third-floor hallway.
A male employee with long, dark brown hair.
Emerging from the elevator was a front desk employee in a yellow mascot mask, smiling kindly, just as he was leaving work.
The team leader clenched her teeth for a moment.
…It really was the rookie from the Site Cleanup Unit.
Note/s:
[1]
Haegeum – a traditional Korean string instrument similar to the Chinese ehru. ↵
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Chapter 178.1
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