Melting Shampoo (3)

I stared blankly down at the Melting Shampoo lying on the floor for more than ten minutes.

As my fear gradually subsided and my mind calmed down, I began wondering where that shampoo had fallen from.

‘Where on earth did it fall from..?’

I looked around the room, searching for the spot where the shampoo seemed to have fallen from..

Contrary to my expectations, I soon found the spot where the shampoo had fallen.

‘..What the hell is that now?’

There was a tiny hole in a secluded corner of the ceiling, as though something had melted through it.

Apparently, the Melting Shampoo had fallen from that spot in the ceiling.

I wondered whether I should walk beneath the ceiling and inspect the area above the hole, but.

‘Is it regenerating?’

The ceiling was slowly writhing as it regenerated the part of itself that had melted away..

Since I had no courage to approach a moving object, all I could do was stare blankly as the ceiling repaired itself.

After another twenty minutes or so, the ceiling had completely healed and looked perfectly fine, as if it had never melted in the first place.

I began to think that perhaps this house itself was a living organism.

‘I’m not going to get digested while I’m here, am I..?’

Now that I was considering the possibility that this place might be inside a living organism, I couldn’t help worrying that I might be digested.

I decided that if I felt anything even slightly wrong with my body, I would press the Return button without hesitation.

I cautiously got up from my seat and closely examined the Melting Shampoo lying on the floor.

‘This just looks like ordinary shampoo..’

Although it didn’t look particularly bizarre, judging by the review left by the customer who had contacted the customer service center..

This shampoo was absolutely not something an ordinary person should use, so I decided not to touch the Melting Shampoo lying on the floor for now.

‘I should check this first.’

Before finding out more about this place, I decided to first check the new IY function in the status window.

--

[■] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

--

‘What are you, exactly..?’

I opened the IY window in the status window and cautiously began moving my finger toward the filled square.

With my nerves taut, I planned that if something appeared, I would throw the Melting Shampoo at its face and press Return..

When I pressed the filled square button with my finger.

--

[An Awl Made from Teeth]

An awl crafted from two teeth.

It also increases the user’s maximum Mentality by 3.

--

‘..An awl?’

I saw an awl with an extremely simple name.

‘..An awl made from two teeth..? No way..?’

When I read the description saying it had been made from two teeth, I realized that these were the two teeth of Anonymous 10’s anomaly that I had used to stab the status window.

When I placed my finger on the status window once more, an extremely hard awl was somehow already in my hand.

‘At least it made something hard easier to stab with..’

What’s more.

‘It raises maximum Mentality by 3 too?’

Seeing the description saying that it also increased maximum Mentality, I immediately opened the status window’s main screen.

--

Mentality : 13 / 103

[Available Returns] : 1

[Available Crafting Attempts ] : 0

Input:

--

I could really see that my Mentality, which had previously maxed out at 100, had increased to 103.

‘Oh.. Ooooooh..’

Seeing this..

‘I should brag.’

I couldn’t resist humblebragging.

--

[Ah.. This is Mentality 103]

(Photo)

A photo? Problematic.

The method? Classified.

[Comments - 18]

Anonymous 1 : What? Seriously, what? How did you do that?

Anonymous 2 : Mentality 103? 103?? 103??? 103????

ㄴ Anonymous 4 : Hello, I live in Building 102, and Building 103 is way too noisy. Please stop repeating the same thing.

ㄴ Anonymous 1 : ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Why is someone living in Building 102 filing a complaint against someone in Building 103? ㅋㅋㅋ Unless someone living in Unit 102 went over there ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Anonymous 3 : Are you seriously making it obvious now that you’re not human?

ㄴ Poster : I already proved I was human last time..

ㄴ Anonymous 2 : From what I can tell, you evolved from a human into another species.

ㄴ Anonymous 5 : Why is this guy actually evolving? ㅁㅇㅇ??

ㄴ Anonymous 1 : Our newbie.. Did he decide to become an anomaly to catch anomalies..??

ㄴ Poster : I’m human..

Anonymous 5 : But seriously, I think you need to prove it. If you keep this up, we might decide you’re an anomaly, tell the head mod, and get you banned.

ㄴ Poster : Is there really a head mod here?

ㄴ Anonymous 5 : Yeah, there is.

ㄴ Poster : If I get banned, can’t I see the gallery anymore?

ㄴ Anonymous 1 : Obviously.

ㄴ Anonymous 3 : Seriously, explain yourself. You don’t need to take a picture of your body and upload it, but prove clearly that you’re human.

ㄴ Poster : No.. Why am I the one getting banned when you’re leaving the real anomalies alone..? That’s a little unfair..

ㄴ Anonymous 6 : The head mod only bans anomalies that write posts. The ones that only comment can’t upload photos, so they’re fine.

Anonymous 7 : We usually shoot the shit until dawn and then go to sleep, so prove it within six hours. I still believe our newbie is human.

ㄴ Anonymous 4 : Honestly, for real, you have to be human. If you aren’t human.. I think I’d really lose my mind.

--

So I’m supposed to prove I’m human as punishment for humblebragging..

This is why you shouldn’t humblebrag recklessly.

Because the head mod can threaten you with a ban..

‘I thought the head mod was just a joke, but they really exist..?’

I had never even seen the head mod, so I didn’t know, but apparently even in a world like this, there was some poor bastard working as an unpaid slave..

Could this be the real horror story?

‘But I have to prove I’m human..? ..How am I supposed to prove that?’

Even setting that aside.

They wanted me to prove clearly that I was human?

‘..Should I take a selfie and upload it?’

There was no immediate rush, but I needed to find a way to prove I was human within six hours.

Truly, uploading a selfie would be the easiest way to prove I was human, but..

It seemed like the better choice to give the anomalies viewing the community as little information about me as possible.

‘Let’s think about the proof slowly.’

I decided to think about that slowly, gripping the awl in my hand tightly.

Then I cautiously walked toward the firmly closed bedroom door.

You know that feeling?

When a cool weapon lands in your hand and baseless confidence suddenly wells up.

Of course, that didn’t mean I was going to go hunt anomalies while holding this awl, but.

I thought I could at least inspect the single door in front of me without any trouble.

‘Do you bleed or not?’

I began carefully pushing the awl into the door, which had shown no movement, sound, or reaction whatsoever until now.

Press..

I wasn’t particularly strong, but Anonymous 10’s teeth were incredibly hard, and the awl crafted by the status window was absurdly sharp, so.

Even with only a little force, the wooden door was pierced straight through.

I was briefly taken aback by the awl’s absurd performance, but soon pulled it out of the door and looked at the spot..

‘If this entire house is a living organism, the door should definitely react somehow..’

I could see that the door was neither bleeding nor melting like it had when the Melting Shampoo fell.

In the end.

‘I guess I’ll have to open it.’

Realizing that I had to open that door to obtain more information, I carefully turned the doorknob so it wouldn’t make a sound.

I began opening the bedroom door just a tiny bit at a time, enough to see outside.

‘..Hmm?’

When I looked outside like that..

I had expected this place to be connected to some unusual space like Belliard Library, but..

‘..What? It’s just an ordinary living room.’

All I could see was an ordinary living room.

There was a sofa, a dining table, dining chairs, a kitchen, and a refrigerator..

‘It doesn’t seem like there’s an anomaly..’

There were no windows in the living room either, but the not-so-spacious living room contained everything that should have been there.

Even after continuing to inspect the outside for about twenty minutes, there didn’t seem to be any anomalies at all.

‘Status window.’

I immediately opened the status window, placed my hand over the Return button, and quietly opened the bedroom door to inspect the living room.

It was only after another forty minutes or so had passed that.

I realized that there was no one else in this place besides me.

“Phew..”

I let out a deep sigh and plopped down onto the sofa.

‘I got scared for nothing.’

This was simply an ordinary house.

A plain, ordinary house with one bedroom, one bathroom, and one front door.

The only unusual things were that there wasn’t a single window anywhere inside the house through which I could see outside, and.

The fact that the area around this place was eerily quiet.

There was an elevator outside the front door, but the hallway had no stairs at all, and that was the only thing making me feel a little creeped out.

‘It doesn’t look like there’s any more information to gain, and I’m getting a little tired, so should I just use Return?’

I had continued walking around, but it seemed there was no more information to gain here, so.

I was just about to press the Return button-

Beep-beep-beep-beep-

“...”

The sudden sound of someone entering the front door’s password froze my entire body.