Chapter 55: Theme Park (6)

The man with only bones left was restlessly wandering around the room.

Clang clang.

The sound of metal pieces colliding kept ringing every time the man walked.

This man seemed to have some kind of anxiety disorder, unable to stay still for even a moment.

"T-The rules seem harder than I thought."

"I-I'm a genius. Why can't I figure it out? Is something wrong with me?"

He kept muttering to himself without pause.

On top of that, his self-rationalization and boastfulness were severe.

And the strangest point was that he had gathered all the nails in the room and put them in a table drawer that he carried around.

I thought this overly strange person would fail right away, but...

Unexpectedly, he managed to pass the room's trap rules.

But seeing how he agonized over the room's problem for over 10 hours, it will be difficult for him to pass through to the end.

As the man rejoiced at passing the room, I acted according to the prescribed rules.

Congratulatory greetings and stamping.

Clap clap clap.

"Congratulations, guest!"

***

Finally!

I barely managed to open the room door.

Looking in the mirror, I saw my drenched appearance covered in cold sweat.

What an unsightly display.

Looking in the mirror, I keep using my hand to push up my glasses slipping down.

Seeing my bony, emaciated wrist, I pull my sleeve down to cover it again.

"Heh, heheh. This place seems prepared for intellectuals like me, doesn't it? Right, Miss Mannequin?"

"Wow, that's right, guest."

The female mannequin standing next to me, Miss Mannequin, clapped in agreement.

Why 'Miss Mannequin'?

Because she told me to freely call her what I want.

Though her face looked too scary, if I think of it as wearing a doll mask, it's quite alright.

The quiz from the room was simple.

Is this supposed to be a murder quiz?

It was too easy for such a question to come up.

For someone like me who was once obsessed with those kinds of puzzle games, it was way too ez.

Should I say EASY MODE?

They should give me proper propositional logic problems to solve, then there would be a sense of accomplishment.

As I stepped out of the room, the sound of huge fireworks welcomed me.

The refreshing night breeze cooled my sweat-drenched body.

Looking at the large map set up at the theme park entrance, I discussed the plan with Miss Mannequin.

"Heh-heheh. First, since I GOT one stamp from the room, it's better to strategically aim for similar puzzles."

Pointing at the Food Court, I asked Miss Mannequin.

"This place called FOOD COURT has puzzles similar to the room, right?"

"Yes, guest. The quizzes are so similar, you'll be amazed."

"Goo-good. Then let's go there."

Clang clang.

The sound of blades colliding as I walked was pleasing to hear.

Not walking far, the Food Court I arrived at was a wide one-story building.

As I opened the Food Court door and went inside, the door closed with a bang sound.

I tried shaking it to open, but it didn't budge at all.

"A-As expected. The same structure."

With an uneasy feeling, I stroked the knife I had put in my arms.

Inside the Food Court, numerous mannequins were cooking food.

There were 7 stores:

A red sushi restaurant.

An orange Japanese tonkatsu restaurant.

A yellow budae-jjigae restaurant.

A green fast food place.

A blue pizza place.

A navy bakery.

Not sealed, packaged dishes but freshly cooked warm dishes!

A red tteokbokki specialty store.

An orange apple pie specialty store.

A yellow fast food store.

A green world snack specialty store.

A blue pudding specialty store.

A navy world candy specialty store.

A purple cake specialty store.

It was such an abundant lineup that made me wonder what to eat.

It seemed orders were placed through kiosks.

Hop hop.

The problem was the kiosks were too high, so I couldn't see the contents well without jumping.

I hopped and selected the purple store!

First, my favorite strawberry cake!

After choosing the strawberry cake, I scurried over and stood in front of the purple store.

I leaned over the purple food court counter and stuck my head out to watch.

The cake took so long to make that the mannequins inside moved as if they were going ten times faster.

Maybe I should acquire an ability like that too.

It looks cool and convenient.

As if time itself was moving at 10x speed, the cake was ready and in my hands in no time.

Let's eat well!

Omnom nom~

***

After finishing one cake, the mannequin stamped another stamp for me.

Now I have 3 stamps!

I raised the paper with the stamped faces.

Three smiling doll faces.

Not particularly cute faces, but it was quite fun collecting stamps this way.

However, even if I go around the whole theme park, that's only 9 stamps.

The destruction condition for the Theme Park Invitation Doll was 10, so what's the last one?

Actually, I had a rough guess.

That one time I held up the paper to the mannequin, it was extremely startled, and that's when I realized.

This big circle in the middle.

The same size as the mannequin's face.

Hehe.

***

Park Seo-ah POV:

---

Kek-Kek.

Kek-Kek.

The Theme Park Invitation Doll's behavior changed again.

Like a thief whose hidden treasure location was discovered.

Acting as if it had lost all hope in life.

Just sitting quietly in the corner, looking out of the isolation room.

Already exceeding 5m in size.

But not rampaging, just slumped over.

Kek-Kek.

Kek-Kek.

The doll's eerie laughter now sounded sorrowful.

What's happening inside?

The highest probability is that the highest danger level gray Reaper is doing something.

"Well done, gray Reaper. Just kill that doll."

Hearing the mumbling of the Lee Sehee Research Institute director, I opened my notebook.

<Grey Reaper Mental Contamination Report.>

<Director Lee Se-hee.>

<Muttering with excitement about an incident that appears to involve the Gray Reaper.>

<Grade 4 mental contamination?>