Chapter 20.2

Chapter 20.2

I quickly flipped a coin, summoning a translucent glove, tossed a 500-won coin, and gestured to merge them.

‘Five seconds will be enough.’

My hand floating in mid-air moved toward the back of the partially exposed platform.

The target... a lever.

MIN MAX

∥ ----------------- ∥

▲ .

“Hold on a moment, Soleum-ssi. What is that? That label...”

“Hold on tight.”

“Excuse me? Hold... what?”

“Grab onto the train seat handle—”

My hand pulled the lever all the way down.

“And hold on tight.”

MIN MAX

∥ ----------------- ∥

. ▲

At that moment, the train shot forward at a crazy speed.

Screeeeech!!

– The Fantasy Train is departing!

“Ugh!”

“What the hell?!”

Clutching the train seat handle tightly, I shouted back.

“I pulled the speed lever! To maximum speed!”

“Why the hell would you do that, you crazy idiot!”

Because I have a plan.

“If we rush through, it won’t have time to mess with the train!”

“......!”

It’s all about skipping the events.

‘A dark ride usually moves slowly, letting you see and experience the decorated interior.’

But if you speed through it like a maniac?

‘You’ll skip over everything!’

The interior decorations, the effects...

And even the life-threatening dangers that come with them!

In the <Dark Exploration Records> I read, there was a case where they used it to slow down a roller coaster, but the key point was the ability to control speed!

I figured there was a high chance it would work here, too.

‘Good!’

It’s a success!

However... the next step is the problem.

I glanced outside.

Screeeeech!

I could feel the wind pressure.

It was almost as fast as a roller coaster.

This was clearly a speed meant only for safety checks.

...Meaning, it wasn’t designed for actual operation.

‘...If someone gets scared and faints, they might get thrown off the train.’

In that case, it would mean certain death.

You could call that the side effect of this runaway train ride.

For a coward like me, it was a fatal flaw...

‘But there’s a backup plan!’

Afraid you might faint?

Just don’t look!

[Dear passengers, welcome to beautiful Fantasyland!]

As the narration began, I shouted,

“I’m closing my eyes!”

“What?!”

I shut my eyes tightly, acting crazy.

“This narration seems important, so I’m going to focus on it as much as I can!”

“......!”

“If you feel like you’re about to die let me know!”

“This guy is totally insane, huh?! Haha, fine!”

Just as the A-squad assistant manager’s laughter was trailing off, the narration whizzed past my ears.

[How did this Fantasyland come to be?]

[A long, long time ago, 403930291928494 hours ago, a yellow flower, a blue dragon, and a red rabbit lived together on this land.]

“Ah. I get it now.”

“...What?”

“It’s like an initiation ceremony for new employees, huh? Making them kill each other... Classic.”

What is she even talking about?

“You saw it just now, right? The rabbit killed all its friends. Oh, you had your eyes closed, so you missed it. But you heard the narration, didn’t you?”

It was the calm voice of the A-squad employee.

When I turned my head, I saw the butterfly-masked employee looking at the rabbits on the windows, as if this was an everyday occurrence.

“So, who should we kill?”

“What...”

“Shh.”

The eyes beneath the butterfly mask turned sinister.

A gaze that assessed value.

“Hmm.”

Y-squad.

The researcher.

Me.

Y-squad.

The researcher.

Y-squad.

The researcher.

The researcher.

Y-squad...

“You.”

Singled out.

The Y-squad newbie’s jaw turned pale blue for a moment.

The A-squad assistant manager’s finger pointed.

“Grab that guy in the white coat.”

The researcher.

“......!”

A death sentence.

“Uh, uh...”

Snap.

The Y-squad newbie, with a stiff, unnatural motion, grabbed the researcher’s limbs and restrained him.

“W-What are you, what... wait, wait a second.”

“Cover his mouth. Oh, and keep yours shut, too.”

“Mmmph!”

“Ah... do we have to kill one each, directly? Hey, top recruit.”

I reflexively looked at her.

“Why don’t you kill this one? I’d like to observe.”

“Mmm! Mmmmmm! Mmm!”

“Don’t use your specialized equipment, do it yourself... Ah, right. Earlier, that rabbit threw the dragon off the cliff, right? Try tossing him out of the train. Let’s see if that counts, too.”

Me?

“Go on.”

I slowly turned my head and glanced out the window, then quickly snapped it back.

‘The mascots are crying blood...!’

Look at them, stuck all over the windows.

There’s no way in hell I’m opening that train window. If I did, I’d collapse and become a screaming mess.

Besides, what... you want me to kill someone as casually as eating instant noodles?

No, no. Putting that aside...

‘...This is a death route!’

I realized it now, after another irregular event threw everything into chaos and scared the wits out of us, but it was clear.

‘If we comply with the mascot, we’re all dead!’

This... if we go down that path, we’ll all be killed!

But how do I convince her?

If I say, ‘I’ve seen over 70 exploration records from the future,’ she’d probably decapitate me on the spot.

‘So, so...’

To hell with it!

“Wait a moment!”

“What?”

“This is a trap.”

I decided to lie my way out.

I started spouting a lie without even a drop of hesitation!