Editor’s Survival Guide - Chapter 24

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Editor’s Survival Rules Episode 24

ep5. Shopping! Warehouse-style Mart! (4)

-It’s a body part from a named dangerous entity in the Special Zone.

-If you wear it well, some dangerous entities will mistake you for a higher-level dangerous entity.

I hung upside down disgracefully, praying that Baek Sa-ra’s words were true.

Please, please.

Beep-!

The Product Organizer gripping my ankle suddenly made a sound.

Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep-!

Rapidly repeating mechanical sounds as if some error had occurred.

Then, it finally let go of my ankle and backed away.

Thud-!

I, who had been lifted up to my back, fell straight to the floor.

But I couldn’t even pretend to be hurt and immediately got up and pressed my body against the wall.

Then I checked the status of the employees.

Product Organizer.

It backed away about 5 meters from me and kept beeping.

Tasting Corner Employee.

Similarly keeping its distance.

It wasn’t making any sounds.

Instead, it was pointing sharp scissors and tongs in my direction.

Lastly, damn, what the hell is that?

There was one more employee.

Information Desk Employee.

It was originally stationed at the information desk in front of the entrance.

It was ‘looking’ at me from inside the desk.

-That was a good decision.

Cha Si-eon muttered through the earpiece.

A voice mixed with a sigh of relief, though he pretended otherwise.

-Like this, we’ll retreat back toward the mart. Please move slowly to the left with your back against the wall.

I took a step to the left as he said.

Beepbeepbeepbeep-!

The Product Organizer made sounds as if having a seizure.

The Tasting Corner Employee also flinched toward me.

This confirmed it.

As Baek Sa-ra explained, they were mistaking me for a higher-level dangerous entity.

But that didn’t mean they would obey me.

Those employees still wanted to evict me.

They were just hesitating while keeping their distance out of fear.

“It seems like they’ll attack again if I show any weakness.”

-Rescue team deployment is impossible in the current situation. Please somehow increase the distance from the employees.

At Cha Si-eon’s request, I took another step.

Beeeep-!

Damn, what am I supposed to do!

“It won’t work. They’re too wary. And about the traps, I don’t think they’ll just watch while I check for traps.”

To avoid unseen traps, I’d need to examine this and that.

There’s no way the employees, who are just waiting for a chance to bite, would give me such leisure.

Actually, I’m anxious even now.

If they coordinated an attack.

No, if they just mustered some courage.

I, who only borrowed the presence of a higher-level dangerous entity, would die instantly.

As I was stuck and anxious, Cha Si-eon offered an alternative.

-We’ll select and send personnel to lure the employees.

“What…”

Did I hear wrong?

Personnel to lure them?

Are you saying you’ll send someone to be chased by the employees instead of me?

Surely, trained agents would have other methods, right?

…No.

If there were methods, they would have already written them in the manual.

So you’re really going to send a sacrifice?

Are you insane?

My head felt like it would explode.

How did things turn out like this?

Things were definitely going well, so why?

The bird.

Everything got tangled when the bird came in.

But it was the Tasting Corner Employee that fought the bird.

And it was the Product Organizer that discovered and caught me.

Why did that thing appear in front of me in the first place?

It was supposed to only roam the ground floor.

Could it be because it’s a Product Organizer?

Because the lower floor became a mess, so it came to clean it up?

If so, that’s really insane work ethic.

Yet it’s this ruthless to customers?

What kind of mess is this…

No, wait a minute.

“When did the Product Organizer move to basement 1?”

I asked urgently with a hopeful thought.

-5 seconds after the Tasting Corner Employee completely destroyed 3 display stands. The movement took about 14 seconds.

…Could it really be that?

I recalled old memories with half-belief.

A few years ago, when I visited a warehouse-style mart with the manager who sat in front of me.

I looked around at the employees again.

Then I moved slightly to the left toward the store.

Beepbeepbeep-!

This time too, an irritated warning sound rang out.

So this time I tried moving to the right where the entrance was.

…No threat at all.

I exhaled the breath I’d been holding and whispered to Cha Si-eon.

“Team Leader, please pause the personnel selection for a moment.”

-What’s the reason?

Instead of answering, I moved another step to the right.

As expected, this time too the employees didn’t show hostility.

They just moved in the opposite direction as if trying to maintain distance from me.

I continued moving while observing the employees’ reactions.

I passed through the entrance and arrived in front of the information desk.

The Information Desk Employee that had been here had long since left to avoid me.

I showed my hand with the ring while searching through the information desk with my other hand.

-Seo Do-un, what are you doing right now?

“Wait just a moment.”

I soon found what I was looking for.

I was going to take just one, but ended up grabbing as many as I could and stuffing them into my pocket.

Beep-

That’s when I heard the sound of a barcode scanner from beside me.

A sound made by the “Employees.”

It sounded a bit different from the insane noises they’d been making until now.

Wondering if their guard was down, I cautiously approached the store area.

There was no threat.

But they still maintained a certain distance from me and backed away.

Their red lights were still ‘watching’ me continuously.

Why?

…Is it because of this ring?

I picked up my glove that had fallen by the entrance.

-Seo Do-un.

Cha Si-eon called, but I ignored him and put the glove back on.

-Seo Do-un!

As soon as the ring was covered by the glove, Cha Si-eon shouted.

But I didn’t have time to respond.

I prepared to remove the glove at any moment and watched the “Employees'” reaction.

No, I tried to watch, but.

The “Employee” was already right next to me.

“Ugh…!”

I was startled and pulled at my glove.

But before the glove could even come off, the “Employee” passed right by me.

Frozen in place, I followed the “Information Desk Employee” that had passed behind me with my eyes.

It had already returned to its original position at the information desk.

I also turned my head toward the store area.

There was nothing there.

Neither the “Product Organizer” nor the “Tasting Corner Employee.”

They had all already disappeared.

“…Ha.”

I survived…

I laughed breathlessly and then collapsed onto the spot.

Then Cha Si-eon immediately interrogated me.

-Please explain the current situation.

His voice sounded somewhat irritated.

Let me catch my breath first…

You must be watching my heart rate anyway.

I clutched my heart that was about to burst and let out a long breath.

“Before, you said that Type 1 Special Zones mimic real spaces.”

-That’s correct.

“Then is this place modeled after Costco?”

-…?

Cha Si-eon’s silence somehow felt like a curse.

But that was only for a moment.

-…It is Costco.

Cha Si-eon answered in what seemed like a humiliated tone.

Fortunately, my guess was right.

If I’d been wrong, I would have already crossed the River Styx.

Rustle-

I took out what I had grabbed from the information desk earlier.

Then I held it up high for everyone to see.

It was none other than a membership card.

“Costco operates on a membership basis.”

The warehouse-style mart Costco that my section chief had shown me around.

Entry impossible without a membership.

-In that situation…

Cha Si-eon, who had been silent, spoke as if incredulous.

-How did you know you needed a membership in a situation like that?

“Because the ‘Product Organizer’ didn’t clean up the baby formula but came after me first.”

-Please explain so I can understand.

“So the ‘Product Organizer’s’ purpose for coming down to the basement was cleaning and organizing. But after discovering me, it prioritized catching and dragging me away.”

When I knocked over the display on the 1st floor and toppled the TV.

The “Product Organizer” had rushed over there frantically.

It was truly a dedicated employee to its role.

But when it found me, it postponed its role of organizing.

The severed storage rack, the sawdust scattered messily.

Even the display shelves that had fallen from my struggling were put on the back burner.

“At first I thought it was because killing humans came first. But after taking out the ring, that didn’t seem to be the case either. During the standoff earlier, the ‘Employees’ only got angry when I went toward the store area, but stayed still when I went toward the door.”

This is when I became suspicious.

That their purpose might not be ‘killing humans’ but ‘getting them out of the store.’

“So I thought this might not be malice or murderous instinct, but part of their job duties. Then I noticed the information desk and remembered that there are warehouse-style marts that operate on a membership basis.”

-Haah…

Cha Si-eon, who had been listening to me, let out a long sigh.

It was a sigh that implied ‘I have a lot to say but won’t.’

-Seo Do-un, this is a message from Agent Baek Sa-ra.

“Is Baek Sa-ra there too?”

I asked with a glad heart.

Without Baek Sa-ra’s ring, I would have died for sure.

So I wanted to thank her for saving my life.

-She asked if you ignored her advice to look after your own life first. Please provide an explanation after your return.

…I’ll have to thank her later.

I looked around meaninglessly, then asked Cha Si-eon again.

“Is the rescue team still on standby?”

-Yes.

I pondered for a moment.

If I say this, Baek Sa-ra will probably curse at me even more.

But well, it can’t be helped.

“Then could you give me some time?”

-What are you trying to do now?

“I want to try finding an escape method.”

Even to me, it sounded like I was dying to get myself killed.

But it wasn’t bravado.

It was an extremely rational calculation.

I had literally risked my life to find the membership card.

I had also discovered that the “Employees,” who were only treated as threats, were actually neutral entities.

This expanded my range of movement, and destroying this would be a huge loss.

Whose loss?

Obviously my loss.

Let alone 17%, the person who could be dragged into the Special Zone with 0% at any time is me.

I thought through all the rebuttals I could make in case Cha Si-eon opposed.

It was an unnecessary worry.

-Would that be possible?

For once, our opinions aligned.

Cha Si-eon seemed to find this valuable too.

So if he asks whether it’s possible, well.

“I’ll give it a try.”

Possible tasks and necessary tasks might be separate things.

It would be a waste to just throw away this 17%.

I also don’t like the idea of the Rescue Team suffering losses.

Most of all, I was gradually getting used to this spatial ghost story.

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■ 「Member-only Warehouse-style Mart」(formerly 「Warehouse-style Mart with Traps」) Exploration Report

Exploration Round: 12th

Exploration Date: March 5th, 20XX

Exploration Personnel: 1 person

Survivors: 1 person

Exploration Results

1. Secured 12 「Member-only Warehouse-style Mart」 membership cards.

2. Discovered 8 methods of interaction with neutral entity 「Staff」.

3. Confirmed usage locations for 「Coupon Book」 issued at Information Desk.

4. Confirmed purchase of 3 product types from Deli & Bakery Section.

5. Discovered ‘Escape Route A. Sufficient Shopping’.

Final Exploration Rate: 48%

Notes

1. Failed to track the bird that intruded into the Tasting Corner

2. Otter Rescue Operation membership surpassed 150 people☆

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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