Free Web NovelBaek Saheon’s mad sprint, his arms stuffed with the coins and prizes that had poured out of the jackpot slot machine.
And behind him, the frenzied pursuit of the casino legend’s missing persons, who had traded away most of their limbs for coins.
Their destination... us!
That bastard.
The sight sent a chill down my spine.
Of course, given the numbers on our side, if Baek Saheon wanted to survive, running this way was the rational choice—but how was this any different from that whole serial killer cabin fiasco?!
We’ll settle this later, you little shit.
I swallowed hard and hurriedly prepared to respond.
But facing dozens of deranged, long-term missing persons head-on was...
“Get out! For now!”
“Spread out into open ground!”
“No!”
“...!”
“If we go outside, they’ll chase us until we’re dead! We have to keep running inside the casino and hold out as long as we can!”
At Ko Yeongeun’s voice, the people who had been rushing to secure the exit froze.
“If there’s a disturbance in the casino... will ‘measures’ be taken?!”
“...! Yes! So we have to avoid as much as possible, and /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ aim not to damage the casino....”
Those who weren’t hearing about ghost stories for the first time instantly grasped the situation.
As long as we can hold out until one of those crazy casino officials comes to control the disturbance...
We can survive!
Then, among us, the one with the best mobility and strength would be...
“Section Chief! Please pick up the goat bastard!”
“Yes.”
“Argh!”
Baek Saheon screamed, but we ignored him.
And we started running like mad, dodging the long-term missing persons.
Where to?
A flash of inspiration struck.
“Let’s head for the dealer room!”
With a fifty-coin limit in place, there was a high chance that the long-term missing persons holed up in the slot machine zone couldn’t enter at all!
“This way!”
I bolted. As soon as we cleared the slot machine room and rounded the corner—
Thud.
A missing person burst through the door alongside me, brushed past me by a hair, and slammed into the wall.
“...!!”
The sound of dozens of bodies crashing into the wall, unable to fight inertia. The sound of the Section Chief vaulting over them and landing with explosive, inhuman power to keep running.
And the sound of the decrepit casino crumbling under the rampage of the missing.
“Huff—”
Next to me, Ko Yeongeun, her stamina weakened from her period of disappearance, gasped for breath. I hastily supported her as we ran.
The dealer room’s wide-open door came into view.
“Going in!”
The agents, without engaging in a full fight, tripped or shoved the missing persons just enough to block them as they crossed into the dealer room.
And then—
“It’s... blocked, right?”
“Yes.”
Quite a few of the long-term missing stopped short at the dealer room’s entrance.
Bingo.
But reality never matches theory.
Some of the missing began forcing their way into the dealer room after all.
Damn it.
They crawled, staggered, pushed through the halted ones, and resumed chasing us.
But the dealers still didn’t intervene. Why?
“...Roe Deer, is there a chance they’re all being counted as one party, so their total is over fifty coins?”
There was.
That was how we ourselves had been introduced to the dealer room!
Shit!
Still, the fact that their numbers had thinned drastically gave us some breathing space.
“Huuh...”
With a bit of leeway secured, people began circling the tables, trying to put distance between themselves and the missing.
But it turned out unnecessary.
Because all of the missing were chasing only Section Chief Lee Jahaeon, the one carrying Baek Saheon.
“...Wait.”
Agent Choi vaulted over a broken table and swiftly snatched the coins from Baek Saheon’s arms.
“What—!”
“Citizen, just a moment.”
He flashed the coins from the slot machine jackpot around, then hopped back over the table.
“......”
But the missing still only pursued Lee Jahaeon.
“Why aren’t they taking the bait?”
“They’re not after the coins.”
Just as Agent Cheongdong said.
They’re chasing the jackpot winner no matter what?
Seeing the missing stick to Section Chief Lee Jahaeon made my stomach tighten with unease.
There was an obvious limit to how long we could shake them in this closed space.
Then—
“Visitor.”
The dealer’s voice.
“Visitor?”
He was addressing us.
...!
“Section Chief, pass right by that table.”
“Yes.”
I ran in front. Section Chief Lee Jahaeon followed close, almost brushing against the table.
The dealer stood behind it.
The missing chased us right through.
But just as they had all crashed into the wall before, this time they slammed into the table—
Thud—the table overturned, splintered apart. They scrambled to run over the wreckage—
“Please stop.”
The dealer raised a hand.
Looking at his own broken table.
“......”
“......”
Astonishingly, at that moment, the missing inside the living casino all froze.
Like mice before a cat.
“I’m sorry, but disruptive behavior is prohibited inside the casino. And also...”
The dealer drew something from his breast pocket and raised it.
A sheet of paper.
An invoice.
“Costs have been charged for the damage.”
And then—
Thump.
Thududududu,
thudududududu....
The missing’s limbs and organs fell away.
“...!!”
“Table damage, door damage, slot machine damage, entrance lights and fixtures confirmed broken. The corresponding costs have been charged to the responsible parties.”
Some of them collapsed right at the stairs, never having entered; others, still barely on their legs, fled back toward the slot machine room.
But what was certain was that the severed organs and body parts twitched and then vanished.
Hhh.
Even after all the scenes I’d seen, the sight made bile rise.
And those who lost too much of their bodies to ever rise again...
Were simply left on the floor.
Only twitching fragments remained.
“......”
“......”
“Are you all right, visitor?”
I turned my head. The dealer—wearing Deputy Lee Seonghae’s head—was smiling.
“...Yes.”
“No need to worry. None of you caused the disturbance or the damage! Please enjoy the rest of your time at the casino!”
“Thank you.”
Baek Saheon’s eyes darted, as though calculating whether he could squeeze more out of playing the ‘wronged customer’ role—but in the end, he went quiet.
He had clearly concluded that making a fuss would more likely get him killed. Infuriating, but I almost had to respect the survival instinct.
Anyway, we settled in a corner of the now-calmed dealer room to regroup.
“......”
Section Chief Lee Jahaeon dropped Baek Saheon without a glance. Baek Saheon avoided everyone’s eyes and leaned against the wall.
And then...
“Ms. Goat.”
“...Yes?”
“Why so startled? I was just going to thank you.”
I smiled and patted Baek Saheon on the shoulder.
“You brought in a lot of funds for the team.”
“...!”
“I was so grateful the honorifics just slipped out. Really.”
“No, I...”
“Right?”
I leaned close to Baek Saheon’s face.
“You’re not about to claim you spun the slots alone while everyone else was gathering intel, just to hoard coins for yourself and dump all the danger on the team, are you.”
“......”
And once things reached this point, Baek Saheon had no choice but to force a smile and reply.
“...Of course not! I’m glad I could contribute to the team.”
“Wow.”
Deputy Eunhaje let out an admiring noise. I felt a little embarrassed....
But honestly, it wasn’t even coercion. From a basic sense of ethics, this was just obvious.
I stifled a sigh.
Anyway, once the job’s done, he can hand back whatever extra he kept.
I was starting to get a sense of which carrot and stick would work on him.
[Excellent, my friend!]
Thanks.
“Then let’s tally things up.”
“Yes.”
We huddled together and pooled all the coins we had.
Adding the jackpot coins Baek Saheon had gotten on top of our starting funds...
“Two hundred fifty-six coins.”
A hefty sum.
“Glad I helped you all escape barefoot. Isn’t that right, citizens?”
“Haha...”
At Agent Choi’s comment, as he clapped Agent Cheongdong on the shoulder—the latter had shredded both coat and shoes blocking the missing—everyone gave a weak laugh. I was impressed.
God, the way he protects the common fund....
The coins were thus sorted and entrusted to Deputy Eunhaje.
And what remained was—
[Ah, the prize. Of course, one can hardly expect anything grand from a cheap slot machine!]
Exactly.
“A slot machine prize, it seems.”
It looked like an ordinary packaged box, except the lettering on it was unreadable.
“Here.”
I handed it to Baek Saheon, who hesitated but unwrapped it.
Inside was—
A neatly plastic-wrapped...
...electronic device?
A small blue plastic rectangle with two push buttons.
Its shape immediately evoked one thing.
“Looks like a recorder.”
“Yes.”
But flimsy-looking, and small—likely disposable.
“Hmmm.”
Then Baek Saheon spoke, his voice oddly soft, almost somber.
“You’re not going to take even this prize away from me, are you?”
Oh?
“Anyone can run away. You’re all veterans. But hitting a slot jackpot—only I achieved that. I’d like to at least keep this much....”
[Hmm. His acting isn’t bad.]
So that was it.
He’d adjusted his approach based on how many of us were present.
But—
Ko Yeongeun, her face pale, shook her head first.
“Um, actually, it would be best... not to use that prize.”
“Yes?”
...A bad premonition rose.
“You recognize it?”
“...I’ve ‘heard stories.’”
She glanced nervously at the item.
“...That most of the people who can’t leave the casino—it’s because of slot machine prizes.”
“...!”
Wait.
“So they chased us because...”
Because of the prize?
“Now that I think about it... maybe. If it wasn’t for the coins.”
“......”
“Sa-nyang, do you know what that item does?”
“...From what I’ve heard.”
Ko Yeongeun swallowed and spoke.
“When you listen to the sound it plays... your mind calms, your energy returns, your wounds heal.”
An unbelievably good effect.
“Oh?”
“Better than our agency’s standard meds, then.”
But she finished on a chilling note.
“At first, yes.”
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No way.
“They say it’s immensely addictive.”
“...Ha.”
So that was why the Darkness Exploration Log called the casino missing “addicts.”
Not just gambling addiction.
They were enthralled by whatever came out of this disposable recorder.
Even without arms, legs, or a face, they’d crawl into the casino to pull slots.
“......”
Baek Saheon turned the prize over in his hands, his expression sour.
“...How many times can one use it safely?”
“Three. Beyond that... they say there’s no return.”
Ko Yeongeun’s face was tense.
“But I don’t know much more. I only heard the rumor.”
“...I see.”
Baek Saheon finally set the thing down.
And I noticed—
On the back of the recorder, embossed in relief, was a pattern.
What’s this?
I focused, and the outline emerged. Curves, spiraling shapes—
A conch shell.
“...!”
“Roe Deer?”
I looked up reflexively.
Baek Saheon’s eyes met mine, his pupils trembling—he’d seen it too.
He knew.
...The Mermaid’s Grave.
The conch-shell artifact we’d seen there.
The Angel’s Sigh
“......”
Why was it here?
But with the word “recorder,” a foreboding thought surfaced—it fit too neatly with “melody.”
And I knew one way to confirm it.
Brown.
[I know what you’re about to ask, Roe Deer.]
[Shall I read the inscription on the box?]
If you would, thanks.
[But of course!]
A gentlemanly clearing of the throat, and then his smooth, pleasant voice:
[“The Angel’s Sigh.”]
...!!
[...Cassette recording. ‘Experience heaven’s auspicious melody at an affordable price.’]
[So it says. Ah, the usual sales pitch.]
A recording?
Then maybe the conch from the Mermaid’s Grave was the original, and this was a copy.
But...
The conch didn’t have such side effects.
Addiction?
[The limits of a knockoff, perhaps?]
[You can’t just mimic a recipe with inferior ingredients and expect the same dish, Roe Deer!]
...Could be.
A convincing guess—but something about it still felt wrong.
Remember? In the Mermaid’s Grave legend, the conch had been a bad trigger.
A biohazard.
The disaster that ruined that undersea city, turned it into the “Shining Dragon Palace”—it had entered disguised as a conch.
Even the tattooist from Moonlight Tattoo Shop came to mind, my thoughts a tangled mess.
What was the connection?
Why was an item with the same name as the Mermaid’s Grave’s conch showing up in the Se-gwang Special City subway casino?
...I want to dig deeper.
But for now, we’d confirmed the recorder’s function. That alone was valuable.
I’ll remember this for later.
While I brooded, Agent Choi’s voice came from beside me, interrogating Baek Saheon.
“Citizen, how did you win the jackpot, exactly?”
“Just luck.”
“Really? You were watching the machines pretty intently....”
Agent Choi’s gaze flicked to Baek Saheon’s purple eyes. The ones I’d brought him from the Death Road.
Through that gear, dangerous beings showed up as halos in hotter colors.
But Baek Saheon’s reply was curt.
“You think it’s omnipotent? It can’t tell me how to win. Just...”
“Just what?”
“I could read the slots’ danger levels.”
“...?”
The agents looked puzzled, but I understood immediately. A chill ran through me.
The slot machines were being recognized as ‘beings.’
Entities in the ghost story.
Which meant the slot machines’ true nature was... ha.
No. Don’t think about it further.
I wasn’t planning on chasing slot jackpots anyway.
The dealer room is the way.
The previous case had already proven it.
Deputy Lee Seonghae.
—One day he exchanged another body part for coins, then in a single day in the dealer room made hundreds.
I retraced his steps.
He lay low for days, then suddenly exchanged coins.
Not killing time idly—he was observing.
Even if the VIP rooms were closed, the dealer room’s doors were open.
So he could keep observing inside the dealer room.
And once that observation ended, he rushed in and made hundreds of coins in one day.
Which means the dealer room holds some secret.
The very place we were in.
I looked around: the battered tables, the blinking rainbow bulbs dangling from the ceiling, the decrepit casino left unrestored, its age exposed.
And the dealer’s shuffling hands.
“......”
Ah.
“So—does anyone have an idea what to try with our funds?”
......
I raised my hand.
“Oh?”
“I’ve got something we can attempt.”
I think I’ve figured it out.
The method Deputy Lee Seonghae used.
***
Seventy-three minutes later.
“Our current holdings... nine hundred twenty-four coins.”
“...!!”
Our funds had tripled.
