A man, reduced to nothing but skin and bones, scurried around the room in a frenzy.

Clank, clank.

The sound of metal clashing echoed with every step he took.

This man seemed to suffer from some form of anxiety, unable to stay still for even a moment.

"R-rules... they seem harder than I thought."

"I-I’m a genius, though. Why can’t I figure it out? Is the problem wrong?"

He never stopped muttering to himself.

His self-rationalization and boasting were relentless.

The strangest part was that he had gathered all the sharp objects in the room, wrapping them in a tablecloth, and carried them around with him.

He was so odd that I thought he would fail immediately...

Surprisingly, he managed to pass the trap hidden in the room’s rules.

But seeing how he struggled for over 10 hours with the room's puzzle, it was clear he wouldn’t make it much further.

As per protocol, I congratulated the man for passing and stamped his card.

Clap, clap, clap.

"Congratulations, sir!"

Finally!

I had managed to open the door to the room.

Looking into the mirror, I saw my face drenched in cold sweat.

What a pitiful sight.

I adjusted my glasses, which kept slipping down, as I stared at the mirror.

Noticing the bony, skeletal wrist peeking out from my sleeve, I quickly pulled it down to cover it again.

"Hoo, hoohoo. This place seems tailor-made for an intellectual like me. Don’t you think so, Mannequin-chan?"

"Yes, indeed, sir," replied the female mannequin standing beside me, clapping in agreement.

Why call it Mannequin-chan?

Because I was told to call it whatever I liked, so I did.

The face was terrifying, but if I thought of it as a mascot suit, it was actually quite charming.

The puzzle outside the room was simple.

Is this supposed to be a murder quiz?

It was so easy it was laughable.

For someone like me, who was once obsessed with puzzle games, it was a breeze.

EASY MODE, you could say?

I wish they’d give me a proper logical deduction problem so I could feel the thrill of solving it.

As I stepped out of the room, I was greeted by the loud sound of fireworks.

The cool night breeze helped cool down my sweat-soaked body.

Looking at the large map erected at the theme park’s entrance, I discussed my plan with Mannequin-chan.

"Hmm, hoohoo. I’ve already got one stamp from the room. It would be strategic to go for similar puzzles."

I pointed to the Food Court on the map and asked Mannequin-chan,

"So, this place called 'FOOD COURT'—you said it has puzzles similar to the ones in the room?"

"Yes, sir. The puzzles are so similar that it’s almost surprising how much alike they are."

"G-good. Then let’s head there."

Clank, clank.

The sound of metal blades clashing with each step was oddly satisfying.

It wasn’t long before I reached the Food Court, a large single-story building.

As I entered the Food Court, the door slammed shut behind me with a bang.

I tried shaking the door to open it, but it wouldn’t budge.

"As expected, the same setup."

Feeling anxious, I patted one of the knives I had tucked inside my coat.

Inside the Food Court, numerous mannequins were busy preparing food.

There were seven food stalls:

A red sushi stall.

An orange Japanese pork cutlet stall.

A yellow budae-jjigae (army stew) stall.

A green fast food stall.

A blue pizza stall.

An indigo bakery.

A violet fried chicken stall.

You could place your order at a kiosk and receive the food you wanted.

"This is the pride of Smile Theme Park—the Food Court. It offers a variety of dishes tailored to the tastes of each guest."

"Well, I do like all of these foods."

So, the colors on the stalls must correspond to the tags, just like in the room.

Seeing the similarities to the puzzle I had solved in the room made my earlier nervousness feel foolish.

At this rate, I’ll breeze through these puzzles, and my acquittal will be almost guaranteed!

There was also a piece of paper with the rules and an eraser labeled "DELETE" in the Food Court.

"This is too easy."

Smile Theme Park Food Court Rules.

Welcome to Smile Theme Park!

Food Court usage is free!

All food provided is made with care by our staff.

However, to exit the Food Court, please eat at least one dish as a token of appreciation for the staff’s effort.

The following rules apply to free users.

Please review them carefully!

Now, delete one line from the following rules:

Of the seven colors of food, at least six are poisoned.

The red, orange foods are all poisoned.

The yellow, green foods are all poisoned.

The blue, indigo foods are all poisoned.

The red, violet foods are all poisoned.

The red, indigo foods are all poisoned.

The yellow, blue foods are all poisoned.

The green, orange foods are all poisoned.

The Smile Theme Park Food Court Rules were almost identical to the room rules.

The only difference was that the conditional statements revealing which foods were poisoned were grouped in pairs instead of threes.

"Violet again, huh? Well, I do love fried chicken, so I’m not complaining."

I erased the line that said The red, violet foods are all poisoned.

Mannequin-chan said nothing, just stared at me.

Something felt off, but my solution was flawless!

It was only logical to erase violet, as it wasn’t repeated.

I ordered one of each type of chicken from the kiosk.

The trays of chicken arrived in an instant, looking absolutely delicious.

"Well, let’s dig in."

I took a bite of a drumstick from the fried chicken.

Suddenly, the world spun.

"Ugh… I feel dizzy."

I looked at my palm and saw it was turning violet.

No, that wasn’t it.

The world, everything I saw, was turning violet.

Did Mannequin-chan deceive me?

I tried to pull a knife from my coat, but I couldn’t muster the strength.

I collapsed onto the table.

Looking up from where I lay, I saw Mannequin-chan watching me.

"Why?"

Mannequin-chan said nothing, just continued to stare at me.

Step, step.

As I opened the door and entered the Food Court, a sweet aroma filled the air.

Wow!

"Welcome! This is the pride of Smile Theme Park—the Food Court. It offers a variety of dishes tailored to each guest, so we’re sure you’ll be satisfied."

Just as the mannequin had promised, the Food Court was a paradise.

Not sealed, packaged meals, but freshly prepared, warm dishes!

A red tteokbokki stall.

An orange apple pie stall.

A yellow fast food stall.

A green international snack stall.

A blue pudding stall.

An indigo international candy stall.

A violet cake stall.

There were so many options that I had trouble deciding what to eat.

It looked like you placed your order through a kiosk.

Hop, hop.

The problem was that the kiosk was so tall that I had to jump to see the menu.

I hopped up and selected the violet stall!

First, a strawberry cake—my favorite!

I picked the cake and ran over to the violet stall.

Hanging off the counter, I peeked inside to watch.

The mannequins inside were working so fast, they moved like they were at ten times normal speed, probably because cakes took a while to prepare.

I should try to get an ability like that.

It looked cool and convenient.

With time seemingly sped up tenfold, the cake was finished and handed to me in an instant.

Thank you for the meal!

Nom, nom, nom.

After finishing the cake, the mannequin stamped my card again.

Now I had three stamps!

I held up the card, showing three smiling doll faces.

They weren’t particularly cute faces, but collecting stamps like this was actually pretty fun.

However, even if I visited every ride in the park, I would only end up with nine stamps.

But the Theme Park Invitation Doll’s destruction condition required ten stamps. What was the last one?

I had a guess.

The one time I held the card up to Mannequin-chan’s face, it had been shocked. That’s when I realized something.

The large circle in the middle.

It was the same size as Mannequin-chan’s face.

Heh-heh.

Cackle, cackle.

The Theme Park Invitation Doll’s behavior changed again.

It was as if a thief had been caught with a hidden treasure chest.

It now acted as if it had lost all hope in life.

It just sat in a corner, staring out of the isolation room.

Its size had already exceeded 5 meters.

But it wasn’t rampaging anymore, just slumped over.

Cackle, cackle.

The doll’s eerie laughter now sounded sorrowful.

What was happening inside?

The most likely scenario was that the top-grade danger Object, the Gray Reaper, was up to something.

"Well done, Gray Reaper. Go ahead and finish off that doll."

Hearing Director Sehee’s muttering, I opened my notebook.

Gray Reaper Mind Corruption Report.

Director Sehee.

Muttering with apparent delight at the actions attributed to the Gray Reaper.

Grade 4 Mind Corruption?