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Silence ensued.

“Icheol-Soo, keep an eye on the right.”

“Yes.”

“Park Hyun-Young, watch the left.”

“Understood.”

“I’m facing forward while Kim Jae-Heon watches the back.”

“Got it.”

Stay calm. Even though a person just died, they walked forward without a shred of hesitation or sadness.

“Do you think this is strange?”

She spoke to me while looking ahead.

“Well, yeah.”

“It’s quite understandable.”

She replied matter-of-factly, checking the balloon tied around her wrist.

After the incident earlier, we decided to keep the balloons close to our bodies.

The issue was that if they were helium balloons, they would float above us.

I could hide mine in my clothes since I had a gun, but others might not have that luxury.

“What do you see behind us?”

“…Nothing at all.”

There was nothing in sight.

Only a red streetlight flickering ominously stood there.

“Nothing on the right.”

“Left is clear too.”

“Got it. I can see straight ahead.”

After a brief silence, she spoke again.

“People, non-people, and those in costume.”

“What’s the danger level?”

“Unknown.”

Then it was time for me to step up.

“Let’s switch.”

“Understood.”

Without any hesitation at my words, Aileen replaced me.

Our eyes briefly met, and she opened her mouth.

“This is the protocol. From now on, normal assessments and orders will be maintained by me, but in urgent situations, incomprehensible scenarios, or emergencies, Kim Jae-Heon’s opinions will take precedence.”

“Understood.”

The two responded mechanically to her words.

What on earth are they basing this trust on? I thought, just as she spoke again.

“I’ll explain later. For now, I’d like to know what you see.”

Indeed. There wasn’t time to share curiosities with her right now.

I squinted, gazing ahead.

The park still oozed a disturbing melody, glowing red.

There were exactly three types of people.

First, there were those who seemed typical.

People walking around, holding balloons, chatting away merrily.

Then, there were those in costume watching them.

Lastly, there were the torn and mangled individuals.

Soon, information began to appear above their heads.

[Name: Guest]

[Age: X]

[Specialty: Guest]

[Talent: Guest]

[Background: This person is a guest as they hold the symbol of guests.]

[Weakness: They are just ordinary people. They will die if killed.]

First were those happily laughing with their balloons.

With grotesquely torn mouths, they walked like children, flailing their arms and legs bizarrely.

The balloons they held were no different from ours.

I turned my gaze to those in costume.

Each costume was disturbingly odd.

A cat costume with a single eye and a dog costume with one ear were plenty to make the viewer feel uneasy.

Soon, my eyes started extracting information.

[Name: Costumed Being]

[Age: X]

[Specialty: Expelling non-guests]

[Talent: Finding non-guests]

[Background: They chase away guests without balloons.]

[Weakness: A mascot must sometimes complete their assigned task.]

“…”

They seek out and expel guests.

Next, my gaze naturally fell upon the torn individuals.

Of course, I couldn’t see information on corpses, so they provided me no information at all.

“…Let go—!”

I suddenly looked up at a voice I heard from afar.

It was a punk-looking guy in a baseball cap.

A featureless duck costume was dragging him over.

“Hey, do you know who I am! Tell me!”

He shouted wildly, and simultaneously, three others joined behind him.

“Shall we intervene?”

“No.”

In response to my words, Aileen sharply answered as she stood by my side.

“Ugh!”

One of the costumed beings roughly took him down to his knees.

“Wait. Is that… blood?”

He turned pale upon seeing the pool of blood on the ground.

“This has to be a joke, right?”

“Guest.”

A low, scraping voice that seemed to come from the duck costume made him freeze.

“What’s going on! What’s happening here?!”

“You need a balloon to enjoy the amusement park.”

“What—”

Before he could finish, the yellow beak of the costume gaped wide open.

“Ah… Ah! Aah! Aahhh!”

Seeing the ‘something’ inside made him scream madly, bolting upright, and—

–Crack!

Half of his body vanished into the duck’s mouth, leaving only his lower half to wobble before falling to the ground.

Blood splattered everywhere, but the guests danced around, undisturbed, grinning widely.

– Welcome to the delightful Sora Land~!

To a bizarre song, people twirled around the man’s corpse.

The costumed beings didn’t even bother to look.

“…”

The duck costume stared at his severed lower body for a moment before turning away and moving on.

“You said you don’t have a balloon.”

“Correct.”

Aileen calmly said, pulling out a notebook from her pocket to start taking notes.

Why not record it in the manual?

Momentarily questioning this, I turned to look at the balloon in my pocket.

Then, is this like a pass? That guy came without a balloon?

“Is there another way?”

“There isn’t.”

“Neither is there on this side. There are trees outside the fence, but they look a bit… odd. Almost as if something is perched on top.”

“Better not go there. Are you absolutely sure there’s no other route?”

“Confirmed.”

“Got it.”

After Aileen nodded, she gazed at the guy named Icheol-Soo with the balloon tied around her wrist.

“Icheol-Soo.”

“Understood.”

He nodded and slung his gun back.

“Then I’ll go first.”

With confidence, he stood tall, took a deep breath, and marched forward.

Does he feel no fear? Or is this just the response team’s method?

He strode ahead, holding his balloon high.

With a steady pace, he walked forward, just like everyone else, and soon the costumed beings turned their gazes toward him.

“…”

“…”

Should we get ready to fight at a moment’s notice?

There’s still no critical here.

Holding my gun and butane gas, I held my breath.

Before long, the costumed beings looked at him, then turned away, going back to ignoring him.

“Go straight in.”

She marched closely, raising her arm with the balloon, and I followed her in.

Although the costumes glanced our way, none of them seemed particularly concerned, only giving us cursory glances.

“We shouldn’t stay for too long.”

“I agree.”

I whispered to Aileen, and she whispered back.

What worried me wasn’t the costumed beings.

It was the ‘guests’ wandering around with smiles, holding balloons.

Though they hadn’t died, they were far from normal people.

Soon, a familiar map typically found in amusement parks came into view.

[Welcome to Sora Land!]

The rusted metal sign was hard to read, but I managed to decipher the text.

<Land of Adventure>

A faceless cowboy holding a human head in the picture.

<Land of Fantasy>

A horse with twelve legs devouring a person in the image.

<Together with Nature>

All the drawings here were scratched out to the point I couldn’t even make them out.

So this is all it is.

Just as I was about to inform others, a recent inscription caught my eye.

In neat and beautiful handwriting, as if someone had put in great effort, it was clearly engraved on the plate.

<Must go to the Land of Adventure!>

I recognized the owner of this handwriting.

“… Team Leader?”

Despite the age and gender, it boasted very elegant handwriting.

I even teased her about having high school girl handwriting back then.

Only then did my heart start to race with a mix of tension and relief.

I wondered if the others were okay. Were there any injured?

I shared this information with the others, and Aileen made a quick decision.

“Got it. Then let’s head to the Land of Adventure.”

“Are you alright?”

“To be honest, when I heard your teammates had gone in here, I doubted they would survive.”

She said to me with a serious look.

“But now that you’ve confirmed it, it’s only right we try to save them as much as we can.”

“They’ll be fine.”

Those are not people who can easily fall.

Heading toward the spot labeled <Land of Adventure>, we walked on.

As we carried the balloons, no one bothered us, and thanks to that, we reached the Land of Adventure safely.

But then who popped the balloon?

Soon, a sign appeared before us.

<Welcome to the Land of Adventure!>

It was the cleanest sign so far.

<Sora Land’s Land of Adventure is a place that ignites the adventurous spirit of its visitors! We hope you leave here with thrilling and beautiful memories!>

<In the Land of Adventure, there are a total of three attractions. However, one is currently under construction, so we shall have it ready for you as soon as possible!>

<Try your speed and adventure spirit at Cowboy Adventure!>

<Join the gallant ride at Gallop Chollima!>

While the descriptions for the two attractions were well-written, the explanation for the third attraction was blacked out.

With narrowed eyes, Aileen stared at the sign.

“In similar situations, sometimes the attraction itself serves as an escape, and other times you must ride the attraction to qualify for escape.”

“…”

“What do you think?”

“My opinion, huh.”

My gaze naturally fell toward the attraction labeled <Cowboy Adventure>.

The surroundings of this attraction were quite dilapidated.

Walls had massive holes, and there were bloodstains everywhere.

Interestingly enough, there wasn’t even a trace of corpses.

“Shall we head that way?”

People capable of leaving such peculiar traces aren’t as numerous as one might think.