The Child Who Owns the Cage

Item 4 was about the pet service.

If there was any possibility at all, it was that item.

While I reread item 4, Won-gyeong checked the clock hanging on the hotel room wall and spoke.

“It’s 3:30 p.m.

That’s not late, so the management center should be open.

Since it says you only need to bring an ID card if you want the adoption service, it sounds like we should be able to visit without one.

What do you want to do?”

Won-gyeong looked at me as he asked.

Nothing would change if we just stayed in the room.

Looking at Won-gyeong waiting for my opinion, I nodded.

“Let’s go.”

***

On our way to the management center, we reviewed whether everything we’d discussed so far was true.

When we first left the room, we didn’t encounter any staff or guests for about five minutes.

That was because every time we were about to run into someone, Won-gyeong half-dragged me away from the area.

We hid ourselves for several minutes to avoid staff members who kept circling the same spots, but in a place with no blind spots, we eventually ran into one.

The staff member who found us greeted us with a wide smile and asked where we were headed.

After we answered that we were going to the management center, we began encountering an oddly large number of staff and guests.

“It feels like they shared our location.”

“Definitely.”

Keeping our voices low, I walked while Won-gyeong held my hand tightly.

“But doesn’t walking hand in hand make it harder to deal with sudden situations?”

“Not really. It’s not difficult.”

“You said it was earlier….”

“Ah.”

I’d caught him in another lie.

Still holding my hand with his fingers interlaced, Won-gyeong smiled awkwardly.

Being caught lying twice clearly embarrassed him.

Since this had happened back when there was no favorability involved, I let it slide with just a sideways glance.

Glancing at a guest passing by us, I asked Won-gyeong,

“If we steal a guest’s ID card, the queen bee will notice, right?”

“If it’s within the consciousness-transfer range, she’ll notice.”

“So there are places outside that range?”

“The monsters were wandering around the rift outside the hotel.

The external rift doesn’t fall within the range, which is why she couldn’t call them back.”

Oh. I see.

No matter how powerful the transfer medium was, there seemed to be limits.

While I was thinking about how far those limits extended and how we might escape them, we arrived at the management center.

***

Even before entering, I had to suppress my discomfort at the grotesque sounds coming from inside.

Something inside was wailing.

It sounded eerily similar to a human scream.

If I could hear it faintly, then Won-gyeong probably couldn’t hear it at all.

He casually opened the glass door with his free hand and waited for me to enter.

A staff member stood blankly beside the door, as if he hadn’t even detected us.

Ignoring him, Won-gyeong approached another staff member behind the counter, who was also staring vacantly into space.

“Welcome. Welcome. Welco—me.”

As we got closer, the staff member repeated the greeting like a broken machine.

Won-gyeong and I exchanged a quick glance.

After a moment, the staff member began moving normally.

“Welcome.

We provide pet adoption services.

Please present your ID card if you wish to use the adoption service.”

Won-gyeong released my hand and stepped forward.

“We don’t need the adoption service, but we’d like to look around.”

“An ID card is required. Please present your ID card.”

The staff member spoke mechanically.

He was moving normally, but something was off.

Other staff had been excessively polite to us, but this one kept repeating the same dry demand for an ID card.

I nudged Won-gyeong aside slightly and spoke to the staff member.

“We want to look around before adopting. Looking around and adopting are separate things, right?”

The staff member stuttered for a moment.

After a long pause, he nodded.

“I will guide you inside.”

This staff member was clearly different from the others.

His oddly dull behavior made it feel like we were close to the edge of the rift’s range.

I tugged firmly on Won-gyeong’s collar to get his attention.

‘This feels like a boundary point!’

Mouthing the words, I saw him nod once in agreement.

‘Let’s follow him for now and see what facilities are inside.’

I whispered back an okay to Won-gyeong.

Just as we were about to follow the staff member downstairs—

“There you are. I’ve been looking for you.”

The staff member who had guided us to our room spoke with a pale face and a fixed smile.

Why?

As panic rose, Won-gyeong pulled my hand toward him and wrote the number 8 on my palm.

Ah.
Item 8.

If a ‘Highest’ grade guest is discovered, all services are to be handled by the administrator.

General staff should provide the utmost courteous service possible to guests of this grade.

The administrator had come to guide us personally.

“The lower levels of this area are accessible only to guests carrying ID cards.”

As soon as the administrator appeared, the dull staff member snapped back to awareness.

He stopped trying to guide us and spoke politely.

“Guests without ID cards are not permitted to use this facility.”

We were kicked out just like that.

As we left the management center, I heard a faint scream, as if from far away.

–Pl…ease… s-save me….

At that final moment, I heard the fragile voice of a ‘person.’

Without thinking, I squeezed the hand I was holding and stopped walking.

Both the administrator and Won-gyeong stopped in response to my movement.

I forced a smile and started walking again.

‘There’s a human in there.’

Even after returning to the room under the administrator’s watch, that fragile voice lingered in my head.

It was probably a child’s voice.

The gender was unclear, and the voice continued faintly, as if it could break at any moment.

Crying alone in a place where no one would listen.

My head throbbed.

Maybe it was because I’d been moving nonstop in Jaeyul’s dream.

Even though I’d slept for a long time, I felt like I was suffering from a strange lack of sleep.

Won-gyeong noticed before I did and laid me down on the bed.

“It’s fine. Get some sleep. No matter what happens, you’ll be safe.”

“It’s strange….I definitely slept a lot….”

“It could be because of your ability. When you thought you were sleeping, you were actually somewhere else.”

As his hand gently brushed my aching head, drowsiness washed over me.

I knew I shouldn’t fall asleep in a place this dangerous.

But my body slipped into deep sleep anyway.

***

[Entering Hidden Field ‘Management Center’.]

[Sub-scenario ‘Won-gyeong 1 – Observation’ is in progress.]

[Hidden Field entry detected. Sub-scenario has been altered.]

[Sub-scenario ‘Go Doya 1 – Only Good Will’ is now in progress.]

When I opened my eyes again, I saw a crying child.

The owner of the voice I had heard.

[Objective: Rescue the ‘child’ trapped in the field.]

Fingers scraped raw and red from clawing at the floor.

Long black hair crudely hacked off.

Oversized, ragged clothes that didn’t fit the body.

The child was crying without tears.

Only the intermittent sobs proved the child was still alive.

‘How?’

How was I supposed to save this child?

Was I inside the child’s dream now, like with Jaeyul?

I couldn’t grasp the situation.

Looking around, I couldn’t see Won-gyeong anywhere.

Without him, saving the child was impossible.

That’s what I thought.

But my body was already moving.

Even knowing I couldn’t save the child on my own, instinct drove me to reach out.

The child lay behind bars like a prison, one hand stretched out.

The child’s fingertips brushed against the faint light seeping in.

“P-plea…se….Help… me….”

Sensing my presence, the child muttered without even lifting their head.

As if those were the only words they knew, no other sounds came out.

[You have entered a Hidden Field from within the rift.

Physical abilities increased by 500% based on Rift Training Level.]

[Hidden Field-exclusive ‘Situation Terminal’ is now available.]

As the child finished speaking, system messages appeared.

‘Five hundred percent?’

I clenched my fist hard and felt strength surge through it, letting out a small gasp.

It was completely different from usual.

It still wasn’t overwhelming strength, but it felt like enough to carry a child on my back and run.

‘Might as well try.’

If I had strength, there was no reason not to save them.

I bent my knees and took the child’s injured hand through the bars.

The child flinched violently, trembling as if trying to pull away.

Letting go so as not to scare them, I spoke softly.

“I’ll help you.”

“…Help… me….”

The child repeated the words as if echoing mine.

They seemed able to recognize only pleas to be saved or helped.

I gently brushed my hand over the back of the child’s hand and stood up, scanning the surroundings.

[There is an ‘Owner’ within this Hidden Field.]

[You may escape the Hidden Field by killing the ‘Owner’ or completing the objective.]

[The Owner of this field is the ‘child’.]

[Management Center escape objective:

Rescue the ‘child’ and move to the side of target ‘Won-gyeong’.]

[The player is currently within the rift interior.

Any injury sustained will accumulate 500% damage to the player’s body.]

[Within the Hidden Field, the player will not feel pain from injuries.
Actions impossible in reality may be possible.]

[TIP! Damage accumulated in the Hidden Field is reflected on the real player’s body in real time.]

System messages continued to appear before me as I took in my surroundings.