“A body part of a named dangerous entity from a Special Zone.”
“If you wear it properly, some dangerous entities will mistake Mr. Otter for a higher-ranked dangerous entity.”
Hanging upside down in an unsightly state, I prayed that Baek Sa-ra’s words were true.
Please, please.
BEEP—!
The 「Shelf-Stocking Employee」 holding my ankle suddenly made a sound.
BEEP-BEEP-BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP—!
A mechanical alarm repeated rapidly, as if some kind of error had occurred.
Then, in the end, it released my ankle and hopped back.
CRASH—! I, whose body had been lifted all the way to my lower back, fell straight to the floor.
But I could not even pretend to be hurt. I immediately got up and pulled my body back against the wall.
Then I checked the state of the 「Employees」.
The 「Shelf-Stocking Employee」.
It had retreated about 5m away from me and was still beeping.
The 「Sampling Counter Employee」.
It was also keeping a similar distance.
It did not make a sound.
Instead, it was pointing sharp scissors and tongs toward me.
Finally, damn it, what is that now?
There was one more 「Employee」.
The 「Information Desk Employee」.
The one that had originally been stationed at the information desk in front of the entrance.
It was “looking” at me from inside the desk.
-That was a good judgment.
Cha Si-eon muttered through the earpiece.
His voice pretended otherwise, but it was mixed with a relieved sigh.
-As you are, we will retreat toward the mart again. Put your back to the wall and move slowly to the left.
I took one step left as he said.
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP—!
The 「Shelf-Stocking Employee」 made sounds as if having a seizure.
The 「Sampling Counter Employee」 also twitched its body toward me.
With this, it was certain.
Just as Baek Sa-ra had explained, they were mistaking me for a higher-ranked dangerous entity.
But that did not mean they obeyed me.
Those 「Employees」 still wanted to remove me.
They were merely hesitating at a distance because they were afraid.
“If I show an opening, I think they’ll attack again.”
-Under the current circumstances, rescue team deployment is impossible. Put distance between yourself and the 「Employees」 by any means.
At Cha Si-eon’s demand, I began walking again.
BEEEEEEP—!
Damn it, what am I supposed to do?!
“It won’t work. They’re too on guard. And the traps? When I check the traps, I don’t think those things will just watch.”
To avoid traps I could not see, I had to examine various things.
There was no way the 「Employees」, who were waiting only for an opening to drag me away, would give me that kind of leeway.
In fact, I was uneasy even now.
If those things launched a coordinated attack.
No, if they merely worked up courage.
I, who had only borrowed the presence of a higher-ranked dangerous entity, would die in an instant.
As I was tied down and fretting, Cha Si-eon offered an alternative.
-We will select personnel to lure the 「Employees」 and send them in.
“What…….”
Did I hear wrong?
Personnel to lure them?
Was he saying he would send someone to be chased by the 「Employees」 in my place?
Surely, trained agents have some other method, right?
……No.
If there were a method, it would already be written in the Survival Rules.
Then was he really saying he would send a sacrifice?
Is he insane?
My head felt as if it would burst.
Why did things end up like this?
It had clearly been going well. Why?
The bird.
Everything got tangled when the bird came in.
But the one that fought the bird was the 「Sampling Counter Employee」.
And the one that found and grabbed me was the 「Shelf-Stocking Employee」.
Why did that thing appear in front of me in the first place?
They said it only wandered around the first floor above ground.
Could it be because it was the 「Shelf-Stocking Employee」?
Because the downstairs floor had become a mess, it came to clean it up?
If so, that is truly a maddening sense of professional duty.
And yet it treats customers this coldly?
What a complete mess of a…….
No, wait.
“When did the 「Shelf-Stocking Employee」 move to B1?”
Just in case, I asked urgently.
-5 seconds after the 「Sampling Counter Employee」 completely destroyed 3 storage racks. The movement took approximately 14 seconds.
……Don’t tell me, is that really it?
Half in doubt, I recalled an old memory.
A few years ago, when I visited a warehouse club with the manager who sat in front of me.
I looked back at the 「Employees」.
Then I moved a little to the left, the direction of the sales area.
BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP—!
This time too, a neurotic warning sound rang out.
So this time, I moved to the right, where the entrance was.
……There was no threat at all.
I exhaled the breath I had been holding and whispered to Cha Si-eon.
“Team Leader, please pause the personnel selection.”
-What is the reason?
Instead of answering, I moved another step to the right.
This time too, the 「Employees」 did not show hostility.
They merely moved in the opposite direction in response, as if trying to maintain distance from me.
I kept moving while checking the 「Employees」’ reactions.
Like that, I passed the entrance and arrived in front of the information desk.
The 「Information Desk Employee」 that had been here had long since left its place to avoid me.
Holding open the hand with the ring on it, I searched through the information desk with my other hand.
-Mr. Seo Do-un, what are you doing right now?
“Please wait a moment.”
Soon, I found what I wanted.
I considered taking only one, but then I simply grabbed a whole bunch and shoved them into my pocket.
Beep—
At that moment, a barcode-scanning sound came from beside me.
A sound made by the 「Employees」.
It sounded a little different from the deranged noises they had been making until now.
Thinking perhaps their guard had lowered, I cautiously approached the sales area.
There was no threat.
But they still retreated while maintaining a certain distance from me.
The red lights on those things were also still “watching” me.
Why?
……Is it because of this ring?
I picked up the glove I had dropped by the entrance.
-Mr. Seo Do-un.
Cha Si-eon called me, but I paid him no mind and put the glove back on.
-Mr. Seo Do-un!
When the ring was covered by the glove, Cha Si-eon shouted.
But I had no time to answer.
Ready to take off the glove at any moment, I checked the 「Employees」’ reactions.
No, I tried to check them.
The 「Employee」 was already beside me.
“Urgh……!”
Horrified, I pulled at the glove.
But before the glove could even come off, the 「Employee」 passed by me.
Frozen, I followed the 「Information Desk Employee」 that had passed behind me with my eyes.
It had returned to the information desk where it had originally been.
I turned my head toward the sales area too.
There was nothing there.
Neither the 「Shelf-Stocking Employee」 nor the 「Sampling Counter Employee」.
They had all already disappeared.
“……Ha.”
I lived…….
Laughing only with my breath, I sank to the floor on the spot.
Then Cha Si-eon immediately pressed me.
-Please explain the current situation.
His voice sounded rather pissed.
Let me catch my breath…….
You’re watching my heart rate, aren’t you?
Clutching my heart, which was on the verge of bursting, I exhaled long.
“Before, you said Type 1 Special Zones imitate real spaces, right?”
-Correct.
“Then is this place’s model CoXstco?”
-……?
For some reason, Cha Si-eon’s silence felt like an insult.
But only for a moment.
-……It is CoXstco.
Cha Si-eon answered in an oddly humiliated tone.
Fortunately, my guess had been right.
If I had been wrong, I would already have crossed the Jordan River.
Clink—
I took out what I had collected earlier from the information desk.
Then I held it high so it could be seen from anywhere.
It was none other than a membership card.
“CoXstco operates on a membership system.”
The warehouse club CoXstco, which the manager who sat in front of me had shown me.
No entry without a membership.
-In that situation…….
Cha Si-eon, who had been silent, spoke as if dumbfounded.
-How did you know you needed a membership in that situation?
“Because the 「Shelf-Stocking Employee」 grabbed me first instead of cleaning up the powdered milk.”
-Please say that in a way I can understand.
“So the purpose of the 「Shelf-Stocking Employee」 coming downstairs was cleaning and organizing. But after it found me, it prioritized grabbing and dragging me away.”
When I struck the first-floor display stand and knocked over the TV.
The 「Shelf-Stocking Employee」 had fussily rushed there.
It was an employee truly faithful to its role.
But when it found me, that thing put off the organization that was its role.
The severed storage racks, the sawdust scattered messily.
Even the shelves that had fallen because of my struggling were pushed aside.
“At first, I thought it was because killing humans came first. But after I took out the ring, it seemed that wasn’t it either. During the standoff earlier, the 「Employees」 only got angry when I went toward the sales area, and if I went toward the door, they stayed still.”
At this point, I began to suspect it.
That their purpose might not be “killing humans,” but “removing them from the sales area.”
“So I wondered whether this might not be malice or a killing instinct, but part of their work. Then the information desk caught my eye, and I remembered that there are warehouse clubs that operate on a membership system.”
-Haa…….
As he listened to me, Cha Si-eon let out a long sigh.
It was a sigh that contained, “I have a lot to say, but I will not say it.”
-Mr. Seo Do-un, this is a message from Agent Baek Sa-ra.
“Is Ms. Baek Sa-ra there with you too?”
I asked, happy.
If it had not been for Baek Sa-ra’s ring, I would have died without being able to do anything.
So I wanted to at least say thank you, that I had survived thanks to her.
-She asks whether you heard her words about taking care of your own life with the back of your ear. Please explain separately after you return.
……I should thank her later.
I pointlessly watched my mood, then asked Cha Si-eon again.
“Is the rescue team still on standby?”
-Correct.
I thought briefly.
If I say this, I feel like Ms. Baek Sa-ra will scold me even more.
But well, it cannot be helped.
“Then could you give me some time?”
-What are you trying to do this time?
“I want to try finding an escape method.”
Even to me, it was a statement that made me wonder whether I had gone mad wanting to die.
But it was not bravado.
It was an extremely rational calculation.
I had literally risked my life to find the membership.
I had also discovered that the 「Employees」, who had only been treated as dangerous entities, were actually neutral entities.
With this, my range of action had widened, and destroying this place now would be a massive loss.
Whose loss, you ask?
Naturally, my loss.
Because I was the one who never knew when I might get dragged into a Special Zone with an exploration rate of 0 percent, let alone 17 percent.
I thought through a long list of rebuttals in preparation for when Cha Si-eon opposed me.
It was a needless worry.
-Will it be possible?
For once, our opinions aligned.
It seemed Cha Si-eon also thought this was a waste.
So if he asked whether it was possible, well.
“I’ll give it a try.”
Perhaps things that are possible and things that must be done are separate.
It was too much of a waste to simply blow away this 17 percent.
I also did not like the idea of the rescue team taking damage.
More than anything, I was just beginning to adapt to this space horror story.
■ Exploration Report on the 「Membership Warehouse Mart」 (formerly 「Trap-Installed Warehouse Mart」)
Exploration Round: 12th
Exploration Date: March 5, 20XX
Exploration Personnel: 1
Personnel Returned Alive: 1
Exploration Results
1. Secured 12 「Membership Warehouse Mart」 membership cards.
2. Discovered 8 methods of interaction with the neutral entity 「Employee」.
3. Confirmed the use of the 「Coupon Book」 issued by the information desk.
4. Confirmed purchase of 3 products in the deli & bakery section.
5. Discovered ‘Escape Route A. Sufficient Shopping.’
Final Exploration Rate: 48%
Notes
1. Failed to track the bird that had intruded into the Sampling Counter.
2. Save the Otter Campaign Headquarters members surpass 150☆