The agents dashed for the escape pod, dragging the children with them.
And then.
“Seriously, what a drag.”
Amazingly, Daydream Inc.’s elite team member also sprang into action, quickly grabbing children and running straight into the escape pod.
“…!”
She even barked orders at her fellow employees.
“Grab them.”
“Yes. Yes?”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“If you send the escape pod out first and I’m not back yet—know that you’re dead.”
At that shout from the elite team, the employees inside the escape pod clenched their jaws and helped get as many children onboard as possible.
For those bleeding badly, they applied the conches.
The chaos was barely controlled, but time was running out.
“There are still some outside!”
“Now…”
[Verification complete.]
“All aboard!”
“Okay!”
Having also consumed his dokkaebi trick and returned to adult form, Agent Choi sprinted in last and slammed the escape pod door shut.
[Boarding confirmed]
And then—
[Beginning transport to destination]
Chiiiiik—
With a hiss of steam from the machinery, the massive escape pod began to launch from the tunnel.
“Ah…!”
Through the pod’s window, they saw the giant mass moving to block the launch gate once again.
THUD!
Hundreds—no, thousands—of ordinary infected creatures surged into the terminal.
But it was too late.
The escape pod slipped through just in time and shot out beyond the city.
[In transit]
“Ha…”
They’re alive.
As people relaxed slightly and slumped in their seats.
“There!!”
Far off in the opened view of the city…
“It’s moving…!”
The massive cluster that had once clung to the castle called Twinkle Twinkle Ocean Palace…
Was lurching forward.
BAM.
The tremor reached the escape pod.
The hive of the biological disaster was not limited to what they had seen.
“W-What is that?”
It had burrowed underground, had spread across the entire city.
Endlessly crawling to the surface, it covered the city’s center and spilled outward.
Flesh.
“Ugh…!”
The monstrous mass of flesh, now above ground, smashed the castle it had infested and hurled itself toward the escape pod in a final frenzy.
It slapped its sticky mass down on the ground with heavy, thudding weight, twisting itself forward.
The grotesque, horrifying, massive biological disaster reared up and revealed the mouth that had once been flush with the ground. A gaping hole lined with rows upon rows of massive, jagged teeth opened, roaring toward them.
Hurled flesh like missiles.
Sticking.
Latching on.
Catching—
Thunk.
“…!!”
The escape pod shook as it was struck by the ejected flesh.
“Aaaagh!”
“Quiet!”
But it didn’t crash.
“Hrrk.”
Agent Choi clamped a hand over an unknown staffer’s mouth and looked back out the window.
“It’s not as close as it looks. Everyone calm down!”
And then those who were finally able to gauge the biological disaster’s scale realized something.
…It was so massive that it surpassed the range of human comprehension. The numbers were astronomical, so much so that it distorted all sense of distance.
“…Ha.”
“Huff… huff, huff…”
In the end.
The enormous hive of the biological disaster couldn’t leave the city’s entrance and collapsed.
Kyararararara—
Leaving behind a strange vibration, like the sound of children laughing.
The city’s underground foundation began to cave in, pulling the disaster down with it.
Into the deep sea.
“Ha…”
“……”
The escape pod quickly distanced itself from the scene, safely shooting up through the water.
People exhaled hard, cold sweat on their faces.
And then, not long after.
[Please board your capsule.]
“We’ve arrived…!”
The Daydream Inc. employees promptly began entering the capsule devices attached to the escape pod.
Once inside, a person would be enveloped in a bubble-like sphere of strange air and launched toward the surface, losing consciousness in the process.
When they woke again, they’d be back in reality.
That was the ‘escape method’.
The agents, having overheard this procedure while managing the company employees through both carrot and stick, followed suit.
First boarding the children, then themselves.
Naturally, the youngest agent went first.
“Grapes-ie.”
Because his contamination was so severe, they’d used a conch shell to prevent him from bleeding out.
He’d avoided death and recovered somewhat, though he still looked exhausted.
And since he still had the appearance of a child bearing remnants of an infected mer-form, he looked all the more pitiful.
“Um… Did it all work out?”
“Of course!”
Agent Choi grabbed his hand tightly.
“You did so, so well. Bet you were scared, huh? You can sleep now. We’ll be heading back soon.”
“Yes… Thank you.”
Kim Soleum, blinking slowly, climbed into a capsule.
Soon after, he closed his eyes and took a deep, steady breath.
We did it.
As the capsule sealed shut, I barely suppressed a sigh of relief.
‘I almost lost my mind.’
The aftereffects of reading the Necronomicon nearly shattered my sanity.
If I hadn’t used the conch, who knows what might’ve happened… but it was a gamble I had no choice but to take.
‘What else could’ve cut all the kids’ tails at once, incite the Daydream employees, and shake off the biological disaster!’
It had been sheer luck that I’d been connected to the children via infection-based telepathy.
In a state where the hallucination of ‘Twinkle Twinkle Ocean Palace’ had already weakened under madness and fear… And then, someone yelling ‘Cut your tail!’ inside your mind?
Of course kids would follow for sure…
‘I feel sorry for scaring them, but…’
But this was the only way to save everyone.
I just hoped the shock wasn’t too deep, and that with memory suppression and proper treatment afterward, they’d recover.
I bit down on my lip.
Still… I felt a bit more at ease.
Because I’d brought every last child with me.
‘And now that the entire city’s been buried, it’ll be a lot harder for anyone to start snatching kids again.’
Maybe this really was the end of the Mermaid Grave. Of the Twinkle Twinkle Ocean Palace.
And if Daydream Inc.’s Research Team threw a fit about it?
Honestly—not my problem.
‘Those psychos can deal with their own fallout…’
I swallowed another sigh and let the growing haze of unconsciousness wash over me.
A success was a success.
‘Now, once I get back to reality…’
……
Wait.
They did say we were going back to ‘reality’, but where exactly is that?
The coast?
Well, not really my concern.
‘The veteran agents will handle it, right…?’
I believe in you, sunbaes.
Even as I realized my right arm was still gone, I accepted the drowsiness with a strangely peaceful mind.
Escape.
……
“Oho? What’s this!”
Huh?
I opened my eyes.
All around me were unconscious adults and children who had yet to fully wake.
And near me stood a single man, completely awake.
White lab coat. Glasses.
He stood in front of a now-awake Agent Bronze, grinning brightly, his eyes twinkling with fascination.
“Ah, government agents, are you?”
A familiar face.
‘…Kwak Jaekang!’
Research Team Section Chief of Daydream Inc.
Goosebumps spread across my entire body.
‘Wait a minute.’
No way… this place—
I looked around.
White-walled office. Laboratories. A modern, pristine corporate interior I knew too well.
Yes, it was familiar. Because…
‘This was my workplace until just a few months ago!’
We had escaped… right into the heart of Daydream Inc…!
T/N: Fave comment here lmaoo
> Faked your own death, escaped, switched careers, yet still came back to your old company
That’s the real ghost story here isn’t it