I looked at the prospective staff in front of me… No, at a hopeful guest who had run out of money.
The person, whose eyes were sunken but who still looked human, anxiously rummaged through their pockets, then began to sob.
“I—I don’t have any… I don’t have any money…!”
Oh!
I held out my hand in welcome and spoke kindly.
T h e n
W o r k
Labor counts too!
“Hiiiieeeek!”
I could only hope that they’d hurry up and leave the park before business hours were over. I clicked my tongue and looked at my front paw.
‘Recruiting even one last person… it’s hard.’
Failed to hire in lieu of lodging fee.
Still, I figured if I kept at it, at least one more person would get roped in.
‘…How much longer will it take?’
I was starting to feel a little anxious at how much time it was taking, but I suppressed it. This isn’t the time to panic in fear.
I am a mascot right now.
And then…
– See you again next time~
‘It’s closing time again.’
Theme park operations have ended.
End of Day 2.
“Aaaaah!”
“It’s the resort!”
The last guests rushed in through the doors, and the standard mascots began to prepare to close, lining up on both sides.
Section Chief Lee Jaheon was apparently still being trained, as the standard mascot wielding the baton had him standing behind, giving instructions.
‘The chief as a rookie…’
As I was thinking about how it was a rather amusing sight, at that moment—
Thud.
“…!”
Someone forcefully pushed through the glass doors and appeared in the lobby.
“Welco— hiiek.”
Next to me, I heard Jang Heowoon gasp and struggle not to throw up.
…I also, at first, thought it was a monster.
A lump of flesh with human arms sprouting in place of its own.
But on closer inspection, it was a small person dragging two others along by each hand.
…You could have called it a gruesome sight.
If what they were holding in both arms hadn’t been corpses, with every limb broken and heads smashed, dragged along like trash.
“Uurrp—”
Harvest Mouse, who had been cleaning, clapped a hand over his mouth. This was pure fear, not of the supernatural, but a primal terror for survival.
Leaving two thick trails of blood behind, it barreled through the other guests and approached the front desk at terrifying speed…
“……”
Wait.
Instead of fear, a strange emotion welled up.
Displeasure.
‘You shouldn’t cut in line.’
Isn’t that quite rude?
And what reason is there for blatantly dirtying the floor like that?
If they’d left the corpses in the lobby, or asked the standard mascots, they would have been courteously ushered!
How lacking in class.
This does not suit our resort.
The standard mascots and I all stared at it together.
‘……’
However, this odd and sudden displeasure vanished the moment our eyes met at the front desk.
The small, blood-soaked figure, gasping for breath, looked up at me at the front desk…
“One room, please.”
‘…!!’
A dolphin mask.
…it was Supervisor Lee Seonghae of the elite team!
‘Why, why are you here?’
Weren’t you supposed to have left yesterday? Why are you still here, and more than that…
‘How did you even survive the night?’
In the closed theme park.
Dragging two dead bodies behind you.
‘……Wait a minute!’
I managed to get a good look again at the horrifying bodies in Lee Seonghae’s hands.
Masks and suits.
They were the teammates who, like Lee Seonghae, had drawn the red piece.
A chill ran down my spine.
‘They died, so she had to carry them.’
If you let physical distance grow, you get strangled to death.
‘……’
It felt strange somehow, but as a mascot, I responded with polite service.
“Ah.”
Thud, thud.
Supervisor Lee Seonghae dropped the corpses on the floor and held out to me a small bloodstained golden object.
“Um, how about this?”
It was pure gold.
Probably something that used to be a decorative item, now broken up.
‘Gold, huh.’
If it were the old me, I would have gladly accepted it, thinking what a windfall this was when funds were tight.
But as a mascot, I can’t do that… Huu.
N o
T h i s
I took out a plastic coin, a Cheerful Coin, from under the desk and showed it.
But Supervisor Lee Seonghae didn’t react. Of course, it looked like she didn’t have any coins…
Ah.
In that case.
T h e n
W a n t T o W o r k ?
Maybe it’ll work this time.
I nervously watched her mouth.
Lee Seonghae opened her mouth……
“Sure!”
Wow!
“But both of my legs are fractured, so… is it okay if I do a desk job? Hehe.”
‘……’
How can you say that so cheerfully.
Now that I look, she probably cut the line because she could barely move, not out of any awareness of others.
In any case, she really needs to rest for now.
‘I’ll ask for the details tomorrow.’
I quickly handed over the employment contract, and Lee Seonghae carefully read through it…
“But there’s no salary clause?”
Ah.
Right. From an employee’s perspective, that’s the most important part.