Chapter 17
I stared down at the water boiling furiously in the pot for a moment.
‘This should be enough, right?’
Just as the community instructed, I completed all five tests to determine whether the water was safe for humans to drink.
And since they said to boil it vigorously if I was still worried, I had been boiling it for an hour now.
Deciding that it should be safe enough to drink, I slowly cooled the thoroughly boiled water and took a sip.
‘The water is drinkable, at least.’
I didn't have the confidence to eat the canned food in the refrigerator, though.
Since I wasn't desperately hungry, I decided to fill my stomach with water for now.
Then I turned my head again to look at the leather I had been sewing.
‘That is almost finished, too.’
The morning after getting a good night's sleep.
With nothing in particular to do here, the only thing I had been doing was searching the house for a sewing kit and making leather armor.
Of course, it probably wouldn't be as effective as the leather armor used in a game.
But it was better than nothing; it was tough and could absorb a moderate amount of impact, so it should be able to block some kinds of attacks reasonably well.
‘I should finish it.’
After wetting my throat a little.
I sat back down on the floor to continue making the armor and focused hard on sewing for about three hours.
‘Oh..’
The upper and lower pieces of the leather armor I had spent half a day making were finally complete.
‘Not bad.’
The joints, such as the knees and wrists, weren't properly protected because I wanted to be able to move them freely.
But since the insides of the two or three layers of leather also contained bits of the metal plates from the computer, it should be able to block the anomalies' attacks to some extent.
‘Hmm!’
Now that I had produced something I could be immensely proud of, what else was there for me to do?
‘Show it off!’
Naturally, there was nothing else to do but show it off.
I took a picture of my painstakingly made Leather Armor No. 1, uploaded it, and showed off my finished work to the people in the community.
--
[Ta-da~ I tried hard to make some armor. What do you think?]
(Photo)
Awesome armor!
Just having this means?! Even if I get hit by something like a knife, I won't die!
There's even metal plating inside, so maybe it can block stabbing attacks too?!
[Comments - 41]
Anonymous 1 : Oh, you made that pretty well, newbie. I'll praise you for it. Come here!!
Anonymous 2 : Awesome armor?
ㄴ Anonymous 3 : Leather armor.
ㄴ Anonymous 2 : Ah, thanks.
Anonymous 4 : Newbie, are you a woman? How did you sew that so well?
ㄴ Anonymous 5 : PleasebemalePleasebemalePleasebemalePleasebemalePleasebemalePleasebemalePleasebemalePleasebemalePleasebemalePleasebemale
ㄴ Poster : I'm a man. I did a lot of sewing with my parents when I was young, so I guess my body remembers it.
ㄴ Anonymous 5 : Hooray! Femboy supremacy!
ㄴ Anonymous 1 : ?
ㄴ Anonymous 3 : ?
ㄴ Anonymous 2 : ?
ㄴ Poster : ?
Anonymous 6 : ㄱㅈ? The newbie was a family-abusing bastard..
ㄴ Anonymous 2 : That's “family.”
Anonymous 7 : Ah, what was that thing called again.. The thing we say when our situation gets insanely tangled, like, “Ah~ we're screwed.” Is that it?
ㄴ Anonymous 3 : That's “fucking shit.”
Anonymous 4 : Ah~ The thing about living at home?
ㄴ Anonymous 2 : That's “residence.”
Anonymous 1 : Aha!! I really got it now! The thing shaped like a black guy's di1k?!
ㄴ Anonymous 8 : That's an eggplant.
Anonymous 3 : Ah~ That thing. The place where they mass-produce identical goods?
ㄴ Anonymous 1 : That's a factory.
Anonymous 4 : Ah! I remember now. The insanely delicious part of a pen shell?
ㄴ Anonymous 4 : That's the adductor muscle.
ㄴ Anonymous 3 : Why are you having a conversation with yourself? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Anonymous 1 : Ah, that thing? The thing you do before taking it from behind?
ㄴ Anonymous 3 : That's an enema.. Jeez..
ㄴ Anonymous 1 : What? Why are you sighing?
Anonymous 9 : Oh, Anonymous 1?
ㄴ Anonymous 4 : That's an eunuch.
ㄴ Anonymous 3 : ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Anonymous 1 : You little shits.
Anonymous 1 : Ah, that insanely arousing beast-person?
ㄴ Anonymous 2 : I'll give dogfolk a pass.
ㄴ Anonymous 3 : Dogfolk really know what's hot.
ㄴ Anonymous 6 : Furry, furry..
ㄴ Anonymous 2 : Furries and beastfolk are different.
Anonymous 3 : Jokes aside, can I buy that? I'd kind of like to have one.
ㄴ Poster : Huh? You want to buy it with something like food?
ㄴ Anonymous 3 : We do have our own currency here, so I'll buy it with that.
ㄴ Poster : Oh.. Then I guess I should try making more things.
--
The fact that everyone was making jokes about it meant I had made it pretty well, didn't it?
Feeling proud, I decided to carry out the plan I'd made up my mind to follow the previous evening.
I gently picked up the Melting Shampoo I had placed on the living-room table.
‘I guess I can experiment with it now.’
Since I was wearing the leather armor, I felt confident that I could withstand an anomaly's attack to some degree.
--
[Experiment Log #1 Begins]
(Photo)
I'm going to apply the Melting Shampoo to the cut hair.
Before this, I came to the tentative conclusion that the “black thread” mentioned in the computer's inquiry history was probably hair.
From now on, I plan to check what kind of reaction the Melting Shampoo shows when it comes into contact with hair.
I have my handmade awesome armor, so I should be able to withstand most attacks.
If it seems dangerous, I intend to press the Return button immediately.
Well.. I'll begin the experiment.
[Comments - 7]
Anonymous 1 : Hey, hey, wait a second; seriously, just wait..!
Anonymous 2 : Is he insane? No, you could just stay put in the house, couldn't you?? Why are you deliberately trying to gamble with your life??
ㄴ Poster : If the Melting Shampoo is an anomaly, I need to find out whether I can beat it if I fight it.
ㄴ Anonymous 1 : Why are you trying to beat an anomaly? What the hell are you talking about??
ㄴ Poster : I made the armor so I could beat it.
ㄴ Anonymous 3 : You made it to protect yourself, not to beat it, you fucking moron.
Anonymous 4 : Wow.. I'm speechless.. By the time I post this, this thread will already be buried, so I can't say much more, but just be careful.. Post updates regularly so we know whether you've survived.
--
After writing the experiment log on the community, I squeezed out a very small amount of Melting Shampoo onto the hair I had cut in advance.
Plop..
A drop of clear shampoo fell onto the hair.
When the shampoo touched the hair, I kept my distance and watched the changes taking place on the table.
‘Is it going to evolve into an anomaly now..?’
Even after ten minutes had passed since the experiment began, there seemed to be no change in the hair.
Just as I was about to conclude the first experiment as a failure.
‘..Hmm?’
The strands of hair lying on the table.. unlike at first, seemed to have grown slightly thicker.
How should I put it?
Would it be right to say that the roughly thirty strands had fused into ten strands and become thicker?
‘Is that why they said the hair had become stiff?’
Thus, the result of the first experiment was that the Melting Shampoo melted the hair and fused it into a single mass.
‘I definitely shouldn't use this.’
Thinking back to the customer service inquiry, it didn't seem that the Melting Shampoo had the power to melt skin.
If the scalp had melted away, the person who wrote the complaint wouldn't even have had the leisure to write an inquiry full of curses.
‘At least it doesn't turn into a monster.’
Another fortunate thing was.
The fact that the shampoo didn't turn hair into an anomaly when it came into contact with it.
Personally, the thing I had been most wary of was my hair turning into an anomaly.
From that point on, I would have had to begin a battle for my life, so if the anomaly had been even a little strong, I would have pressed Return immediately.
‘I got quite a lot out of that.’
I was able to obtain many results from the first experiment.
When I shared every one of those results with the community without leaving anything out.
--
Anonymous 5 : So the Melting Shampoo itself isn't an anomaly; it seems that whatever gets covered in Melting Shampoo becomes the prey.
ㄴ Anonymous 2 : Why do you think that?
ㄴ Anonymous 5 : Looking at the inquiry history the newbie posted yesterday, there's this part.. But it's too long. I'll make a new post. Hold on.
--
One of the people in the gallery suggested the theory that the Melting Shampoo itself wasn't an anomaly.
Rather, it seemed that whoever used the Melting Shampoo became prey for an anomaly.
‘Became prey?’
Curious about why they thought that, I decided to wait a little.
As promised, Anonymous 5 immediately made a post, so I clicked on it.
--
[I get the feeling the Melting Shampoo kinda designates its victims as prey for anomalies]
Looking at the Melting Shampoo inquiry the newbie uploaded, in the June 18 inquiry, there's a line that says.
‘You should be careful, because the smell of this shampoo does not go away for two weeks.’
What I focused on here was the word ‘smell.’
It smells for two weeks, and they told him not to wash his hair for two weeks. They also asked him to refrain from going outside.
The reason you must never get it wet is that the “smell” seems to intensify when it gets wet.
My guess is that anomalies smell this scent and come hunting.
[Comments - 16]
Anonymous 1 : Oh.. This actually sounds pretty plausible.
Anonymous 2 : Look at those deduction skills. This isn't merely plausible; I think this is really it.
Anonymous 3 : Wow.. Your deduction really.. hit the “core”..
Poster : But there's one more problem here.
ㄴ Anonymous 2 : There's another problem?
ㄴ Poster : The note the newbie received only says to come outside, but it doesn't say anything about washing his hair with Melting Shampoo before coming out, does it?
ㄴ Poster : So the theory that “they track their prey by the smell of the shampoo” might be a little wrong. I'm saying my theory isn't exact.
Anonymous 4 : Oh, thanks, Anonymous 5. This kind of information is great.
ㄴ Anonymous 5 : Aw, haha, you don't have to thank me that much.
ㄴ Poster : They were thanking me.
ㄴ Anonymous 5 : But our newbie clearly said “Anonymous 5,” didn't he??
Anonymous 6 : Wow, I never would have thought of this, but thanks. I got some good information. I'll use this as a reference when I write Experiment Log 2 later. (Edited) (Deleted)
ㄴ Anonymous 2 : Is this guy actually the newbie?
ㄴ Anonymous 4 : ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Poster : Ah ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Just be careful with the experiment anyway, newbie.
ㄴ Anonymous 6 : Thanks for the information. If I make it back later, I'll make you an item that raises your Mentality too. (Edited) (Deleted)
--
I had obtained information I never could have imagined.
The idea that the Melting Shampoo might be nothing more than a simple lure?
‘Then could I use this to lure anomalies?’
In other words.
They said the anomalies outside couldn't enter the house, so if I left the front door open,
Wouldn't that mean I could lure the anomalies in with hair sprayed with Melting Shampoo?
‘If I play this right..?’
As luck would have it, the status window I saw after waking up from a night's sleep once again showed one available crafting attempt.
So if I succeeded in catching an anomaly..
That meant I could make more awl-like weapons from the corpses of the anomalies existing in this world.
‘Could I make more items that raise Mentality?’
Wanting to try hunting with fire, humanity's oldest weapon,
I began gathering the few materials that came to mind—
‘..Huh?’
--
[Why is the newbie playing a fantasy game alone?]
(Photo)
They say he can make items over there?
Is it really possible to craft items, newbie??
Really??
Seriously???
[Comments - 11]
Anonymous 1 : Wait, is the number of available crafting attempts the number of items he can make?
ㄴ Anonymous 2 : Wasn't it for making a baby with the status window?
ㄴ Anonymous 1 : That sounds more like the correct answer.
ㄴ Anonymous 3 : You think? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Anonymous 4 : If you had to name one thing that sets the newbie apart from us, wouldn't it be that he returned from a horror-story world with a reward?
ㄴ Anonymous 4 : The ability he got there must be the item-crafting ability.
ㄴ Anonymous 6 : We do have some people among us who've received rewards.
Anonymous 5 : This is it. Otherwise none of this made sense. Come to think of it, we sell items that raise Mentality too. The one you can buy after saving up for about 400 years.
ㄴ Anonymous 7 : If you calculate it realistically, you only need to save for 70 years.
ㄴ Anonymous 5 : Yeah.. Thanks..
Anonymous 8 : So that's what those unusual abilities they sometimes give you for clearing urban legends were. I've never seen them give anyone an ability this useful before.
--
Uh.. I've been found out.
--
[(Announcement) Hello, newbie. This is the administrator, whom I haven't mentioned until now.]
[Hey, head mod, are you writing an announcement because you're scared?? Fight fair and square in a regular post!!!]
[HelloNewbieIveLikedYouSinceTheMomentIFirstSawYouIWantedToConfessBeforeYouReturnedButIWasAFoolAndDidntHaveTheCourageThenNowInFrontOfAllThesePeopleIveWorkedUpTheCourageToSayILoveOnlyYouEverySingleDay]
[I can really do anything for you. Just give me an item too!!]
[Newbie, you're a man, right?? I'm a woman, you know?? I'll do it. Seriously, I'll do anything.]
[I've believed from the beginning, without a doubt, that the newbie is human.]
[I wasn't planning on going to clear urban legends anyway, so I don't really have a reason to receive an item, but I'd feel a little safer if I had one.]
[Newbie, I can't send you a note right now because your settings are set to reject notes. Could you loosen them a little? I'll send you some nice pictures by note.]
--
“...”
It had already been thirty minutes since I last wrote anything in the gallery.
The people in the gallery, who normally couldn't even send me notes because they suspected I might be an anomaly..
They had sent me several pictures in their notes at an alarming speed.. I mean.. courtship..? Anyway, pictures of that sort.
I temporarily set my note-rejection settings to block everything, then left the hair soaked in Melting Shampoo in front of the door.
Now..
‘Phew.. I hope the fire worked.’
All I had to do was wait for an anomaly that caught the scent of the Melting Shampoo to come here.
Beep- beep-
It came.