I rushed to the adjacent tent.
Then, from the three remaining Nostalgia Candies, I took one and fed it to the unresponsive student lying there.
The student named Lee Soobin.
Unlike the others, this student had gone missing days earlier—before the initial rescue request was even made.
Go Yeongeun had suggested that a familiar face nearby might help ground him, so the other high schoolers stood beside me, anxiously watching.
I tore open the wrapper and placed the Nostalgia Candy into Lee Soobin’s mouth.
“S-Soobin? Are you okay?”
Drip, drip. Tears streamed down his face.
“It’s okay, i-it’s okay…”
The high schoolers rushed in, hugging him tightly.
…Nostalgia Candy restored a person’s body and mind to their peak condition, but it didn’t erase their painful memories.
I stood back and let them help him recover, checking the time.
And then, when we couldn’t afford to wait any longer—
“Student Lee Soobin.”
“To be honest with you, to get out of here faster, we need your help.”
I handed him the smartphone with the emergency request attachment.
“Write down your name and ID, then type ‘Looky Mart’ and send the rescue request.”
With trembling hands, the student took the phone.
And then, he frantically started typing.
[HelpmepleaseI’mtrappedinLookyMartIlivein■■districtplease]
It was a message filled with pure desperation. Tears dripped from his eyes as his fingers moved.
“You did well. Try to rest now.”
I couldn’t bring myself to tell him to spit out the Nostalgia Candy.
…If my theory was wrong, then maybe I would need to save it after all.
Leaving the students behind, I stepped outside the tent.
Go Yeongeun, who had been sitting nearby, looked up at me.
I sat down beside her and kept checking my watch.
Waiting for that time.
For 10:00 AM, the opening hour.
Agent Bronze began preparing to retrieve the protective item.
I calculated how long we could hold out in the second-floor food court if we failed.
In the worst case… who should receive the two escape items?
The moment approached.
All three of us lifted our heads, staring at the ceiling and the air above.
Waiting for the signal.
“Agent Grapes, are you alri—”
Na-na-na-na, na-na-nan-na-na-na, na-na-nan~
A chime-like melody suddenly filled the store.
– Looky Mart’s doors are now open. We welcome our valued customers with bright smiles today~
A cheerful announcement.
The familiar store jingle played without distortion, ringing through the mart loud and clear.
Flicker, flicker, flicker.
Bright fluorescent lights flickered on.
Sunlight began streaming through the glass windows.
And the grotesque employees vanished as if rewinding.
With an eerie, creaking noise, they were sucked back into the staff-only area, disappearing through the gaping metal doors…
The doors slammed shut.
Every single one of them was gone.
Not a single trace left behind.
The supermarket… had finally reopened.
I collapsed onto the floor.
“It worked! It actually worked!!”
Go Yeongeun, looking more excited than I had ever seen her, clapped me on the shoulder, her face flushed with relief as she glanced around the mart.
“How in the world did you— No! It doesn’t matter! Let’s just get the hell out of here first and talk later!”
But Agent Bronze, who had been staring at the store in a daze, suddenly turned to look at me.
“The emergency request… This was…”
Had he figured it out?
I finally smiled and answered.
“The store has to be open for a rescue agent to enter.”
‘Kind of like reverse logic.’
I forced the mart into a situation that ‘made sense’ where it had to reopen.
Right… by changing the conditions.
“You said before that there’s no way to stop people from entering Looky Mart.”
It wasn’t just in the agent handbook I received. The also stated it explicitly.
A known method to end or seal it does not exist, and proactively preventing disappearances is likewise impossible.
Even the entry conditions were documented.
Looky Mart entry condition : Roam around for over twenty minutes, within a 3km radius of the old Lucky Mart location, searching for the store.
‘As long as someone follows that condition, they will be pulled into this cursed Looky Mart ghost story.’
But now, let’s flip that logic.
“Then, if someone is about to enter, Looky Mart must be open for business.”
—Looky Mart must be open for new victims to enter.
“That means… a new agent is coming today.”
Go Yeongeun blurted it out, her face flickering between shock and realization.
“Because the high school student sent a rescue request—a new agent will be entering!”
So, if the Disaster Management Bureau had received that request and sent someone…
“Yes. Today, the store had no choice but to open.”
Go Yeongeun briefly smiled along—but then, confusion settled into her expression.
“…? Wait. Then doesn’t that mean the cause and effect are reversed?”
“It’s not that the store opens, and people go missing. People need to go missing for the store to open, so it starts business every morning.”
“That’s completely out of order.”
“That’s why it’s a ghost story.”
A bizarre, twisted reality that doesn’t follow the laws of logic…
Just like how the infinitely repeating third floor made no sense.
“Yeah, that makes sense.”
The confusion on Go Yeongeun’s face shifted into grim understanding.
She looked like she wanted to run out of this supermarket immediately.
…Honestly, I felt the same.
So let’s get out of here.
We quickly got up and started preparing to leave.
‘We have gift certificates. We have escape items.’
That was more than enough to get all three high schoolers and the three of us out.
As we packed up, Agent Bronze whispered quietly.
Then, with a glance, he motioned toward the three students stepping out of the tent, faces lit with hope.
“These civilians… are being rescued thanks to you.”
Honestly? That wasn’t true. If either Agent Bronze or Go Yeongeun hadn’t been here, we all would’ve died…
Still, just as I was about to thank him—
Suddenly, I had a strange thought.
It felt too easy to speak.
The usual obstruction in my mouth… was gone.
And I realized I could no longer taste the sugary sweetness of the Nostalgia Candy.
The candy had completely dissolved.
Agonizing pain exploded from the right side of my body.