Chapter 22

Chodam Park—West Gate (1)

“So there really was a ghost story here.”

I picked up a pebble rolling along the ground and threw it outside. It vanished without a trace.

It was a “boundary,” just like a window or a door.

But why were we at the east gate instead of the west gate?

The geography visible from the entrance also resembled what we had seen from the east gate, except that the vegetation here was severely overgrown.

The undergrowth, seemingly untouched for years, rose as high as our ankles and nearly obscured the path. A pond lay deeper within the park.

Bzzzt—

The app updated with a new objective.

[Completion Condition: Clean the ghost story, Chodam Park ■ ■■.]

The exit is the west gate.If you discover an anomalous phenomenon, you must use the east gate. If none is discovered, you must use the west gate.

Reward: 2 questions

Some sections were obscured again. They would probably be revealed once I fulfilled certain conditions. The same likely applied to the achievements.

“Hmm…”

“What is it?”

The rules seemed excessively clear and yet strangely vague. Discovering an anomalous phenomenon appeared to be the key, but since we hadn’t explored the place yet, it was too early to be certain.

“It’s nothing. We’ll find out once we look around.”

Creeeak. Creeeak.

Amid the rustling of leaves in the wind, a metal panel swayed back and forth.

Written on the thin sheet of metal were the words:

[Chodam Park Guide Map]

“The pond is in the middle, with a path circling around it?”

“I think this is where we are.”

Myeong Haebin pointed to an upside-down teardrop-shaped marker that appeared to indicate our current location.

“This place is more of a walking trail than a park.”

The pond depicted on the map was shaped like a snowman. A path marked with arrows circled around it.

Several symbols had been placed along the path, but none of them contained any writing—only pictures.

Let’s think about this in broad terms.

This spot, marked as the starting point, was the east gate. Following the path would take us past a circular area off to one side, after which there would be stepping-stones across the pond. Farther along was some sort of square-shaped object.

“That’s strange.”

“What is?”

“The gate on the west side should be the west gate. But there’s only one gate shown here—the east gate.”

“Huh, you’re right. There aren’t any other gates.”

We couldn’t learn everything from the illustrations alone. We couldn’t even be sure that this map accurately reflected the actual park.

[Our Pond Is Currently]

[Parched] … [Insufficient] … [Average] … [High] … [Abundant] … [Perfect]

“…”

“Does this mean the pond in front of us?”

“It doesn’t look that dry. Maybe the gauge is broken?”

The indicator wasn’t particularly trustworthy, considering it was covered in moss and rust.

Its needle was pointing clearly at [Parched].

“It must be here for a reason. Let’s just keep it in mind.”

We slowly began walking along Chodam Park’s single path.

Weeds sprouted between stretches of the dirt trail, while grass growing beyond its edges spilled over the boundaries. Still, as though the park were determined to fulfill its basic purpose, benches and streetlights stood at irregular intervals.

“Do you think there’s something in there too?”

On the opposite side from the pond—to our right—stood a dense cluster of unusually black trees.

“There’s already a path, so why would we go in there? That doesn’t look like somewhere people are supposed to walk.”

“True. The arrows on the guide map only followed the path too.”

I briefly looked up at the sun blazing directly overhead.

“What kinds of ghost stories usually appear in places like this?”

“In parks? All kinds. Since there’s water here, we might encounter a drowned ghost. Or maybe a jogger?”

“What’s scary about a jogger?”

“You know the story. You see someone running ahead of you, but then it turns out the person is a faceless ghost.”

I felt like I had heard an urban legend like that before.

But I had to remember that going in with preconceived notions would only make the shock worse.

“That must be the exercise area.”

It was probably the circular area marked off to one side on the map.

The place looked as if a section of the small forest had been cleared away. It contained the kinds of exercise equipment commonly found in parks.

Air walkers, waist-twisting machines, sit-up benches, and the like.

“Then what’s that booth?”

A temporary booth had been erected in front of the exercise area.

It was one of those structures built by forming a frame from hollow poles and barely holding it together with banners.

Someone was inside.

No, I should correct that.

There was an anomaly inside.

Its face was difficult to make out, as though someone had forcibly painted over it with television static.

It spoke to us.

“Hello. Do you love the environment?”

Out of nowhere?

Still, the voice wasn’t entirely unfamiliar. It had the calm, friendly tone of a volunteer who offered people stickers at crowded stations or on busy streets.

If only it hadn’t been for what it was saying.

“Haebin.”

I lightly tugged her arm, signaling that we should keep walking.

There was no reason to let it stop us. Our feet weren’t immobilized, and none of the rules mentioned this thing. For now, we should pretend we hadn’t noticed it and walk past.

At least, that was what I intended to do.

“Are you garbage?”

Until it said that.

A chill crawled up the back of my neck.

A powerful premonition—no, an instinct—told me that we shouldn’t ignore it.

[Responsible Environmental Guardian Campaign]

Let’s Keep Our Park Clean Together

Regretting Yesterday’s Littering Is Already Too Late

I read the sentences printed on the booth’s banner, then finally turned back.

“What can I help you with?”

The anomaly beamed at me when I returned.

It was a strange sensation. I clearly couldn’t see its face, yet I could vividly sense the corners of its lips rising and even the neat row of white teeth revealed by its smile.

“Do you love the environment?”

What business did an anomaly have caring about the environment? This entire place wasn’t even part of reality.

I almost let out a disbelieving laugh, but kept it from showing on my face.

Should I say no?

But when I had tried to walk past, it had asked whether I was garbage.

What would happen if an anomaly classified me as garbage?

“…I think I love it.”

“That answer is rather vague. Are you garbage?”

So ambiguous answers didn’t count either. Damn it!

I squeezed my eyes shut and blurted out my answer as if telling it to take what it wanted.

“I love it. I love the environment so much that I even work as a cleaner.”

“And what about you?”

The anomaly turned to Myeong Haebin with a bright smile.

“I absolutely love it too! The environment rocks! The environment is the best!”

Sweating profusely and watching me for cues, Myeong Haebin quickly raised both thumbs.

“I see. Then what about these?”

The anomaly’s gaze dropped below Myeong Haebin’s face.

What exactly was it looking at? Myeong Haebin and I were the only two who had entered this place.

The anomaly asked the question but didn’t wait for an answer.

“They’re garbage.”

I couldn’t tell what it had looked at to reach that conclusion.

It twirled the pen in its hand, then signed a document taken from beneath the booth just like a real volunteer.

The instant the pen left the paper, my shoulder flared with heat before suddenly becoming lighter.

“Urgh…”

The heat hadn’t merely been a sensation. The fabric over my shoulder had been scorched black, and the skin underneath appeared to have suffered a minor burn.

That alone wasn’t a serious problem.

But the cleaning-supply bag I always carried as though it were part of my body had vanished, seemingly swept away by the heat.

In its place was a small mound of unfamiliar, pitch-black ash on the dirt.

Don’t tell me the thing that anomaly was asking about was…

Our cleaning-supply bags?

They weren’t even living creatures.

“Thank you for participating in our campaign. Chodam Park does not permit unnecessary garbage to be brought inside.”

I was dumbfounded.

My belongings were gone. Not only the tools I hadn’t even had the chance to try, but also all the detergents and the standard garbage bags I had gone to the trouble of bringing. Every last thing had vanished without a trace.

Did it have any idea how much all that had cost?

Calm down.

Persuasion! Right, I should try persuading it.

“That wasn’t unnecessary garbage. They were cleaning tools, including brand-new products that hadn’t even been opened.”

“That wasn’t all you had in there, was it?”

How did it know?

The bag hadn’t contained only tools. Following the lesson I had learned at Hwaae High School, I had packed quite a few snacks as well.

“Then couldn’t you have taken only the garbage?”

“It was an unavoidable measure necessary to protect our park’s environment.”

Myeong Haebin also tried her best to argue, but the anomaly merely repeated the same response like a parrot.

It’s impossible to reason with this thing.

I wanted to grab it by the collar and demand that it return my equipment, but the anomaly calmly continued, seemingly oblivious to my thoughts.

“As part of our campaign, I’d like to ask you a question to determine whether you truly love the environment. Would that be all right?”

“What happens if it isn’t?”

“You will be considered garbage.”

My burned shoulder throbbed.

Garbage and burns. Judging from those two clues, our bags had been incinerated. It hadn’t mattered whether their contents included liquids or anything else. They had burned to ash in an instant.

Would we be incinerated the same way if it decided we were garbage?

“That’s fine. Please ask your question.”

“Me too! I’m ready as well!”

I poked Myeong Haebin in the side. She immediately pulled one of her hands from behind her back and waved it high to make herself known.

The anomaly reached beneath the booth once more and produced a cylindrical object wrapped in paper.

“How should this be disposed of correctly?”

This bastard had just incinerated my entire bag, and now it was asking us about waste separation?

It was an appropriate question for an environmental campaign booth, but the contradiction was so quintessentially ghost-story-like that it made the back of my neck ache.

“May I pick it up and examine it?”

“Of course. However, you have a two-minute time limit. You said you were cleaners, so that should be more than enough, shouldn’t it?”

“Hmm… Hmm… Hmmmm…”

After cautiously inspecting the object, Myeong Haebin groaned beside me as though it were giving her a headache.

“Um, Senior, we…”

She looked at me as though asking whether she should say it or keep quiet.

I gave her a slight nod, indicating that she could speak. Only then did she open her mouth.

“We don’t really sort recyclables that carefully, do we?”

“…No.”

One could call it a stereotype about cleaners.

People assumed that because cleaners cleaned for a living, they must also be experts at separating recyclables.

“I mean, normally, when we finish a job, we put all the trash in sacks and send it off to a waste-disposal company, right? Then it’s out of our hands.”

“We do sort it into broad categories, but we’re not that meticulous. The standards have also become extremely complicated these days.”

In other words, waste separation wasn’t actually our area of expertise.

But we couldn’t get this wrong.

If we did, we would be incinerated.

“Let’s examine it first.”

Not that we had any other option.

I picked up the long, white object and began examining it.

Its cylindrical white body was dirty with dust and stains, as though it were quite old. Attached to its base was a plastic rod that looked nearly three times as long as the body itself, and a red fuse protruded from the bottom.

“It’s a firework.”

We didn’t have a lighter, so I couldn’t test it, but the body rustled when handled. I was certain it was a firework.

“Should we set it off before throwing it away? No, it asked how to separate it, so should we pull out the plastic rod?”

Genuinely unsure, Myeong Haebin anxiously rummaged through her pockets.

I continued inspecting the firework carefully.

If this really was a firework, there had to be…

“Thirty seconds remaining.”

Found it.

“Soak it in water, then dispose of it as general waste.”

“Why?”

“Because it has expired.”

Fireworks normally had information such as the manufacturer, safety precautions, and expiration date written on their outer wrappers. On the one the anomaly had given us, however, that information was almost invisible, buried on the inside of a curled section of paper.

The manufacturing date was 1991.

Unexpired fireworks were supposed to be used before disposal, whereas expired ones had to be soaked in water first. The information had clearly been hidden on purpose.

“Correct. You two really do love the environment, don’t you?”

The anomaly beamed and pulled both of us closer by our hands.

“I’ll give you a gift for participating in the campaign.”

We didn’t even have time to refuse.

Click.

Green rubber wristbands snapped around Myeong Haebin’s wrist and mine.

Printed on each were the words:

CHODAM PARK RESPONSIBLE ENVIRONMENTAL GUARDIAN