Chapter 6
After thoroughly washing the sticky blood off my body.
“So even things like you have red blood.”
I naturally sat at the desk and opened the lunchbox so I could eat first.
“..Huh?”
I could see the torn notepad I'd put away that morning lying inside the lunchbox.
That too..
“..?”
Beneath the letter paper where I'd written my apology, there was a strange emoticon-like drawing...
--
- Thank you for always providing delicious meals.
The reason I was leaving the meat was a personal one, and absolutely not because the cooking was bad.
However, this time, I would like to borrow the steel chopsticks from the lunchbox for a little while, if possible.
I am truly sorry.
Once again, thank you sincerely for always preparing such delicious meals for me.
:>
--
‘..What is this? Does it mean something like ‘I'm going to kill you soon’ in their language..?’
At first glance, it looked like a smiling face..
But who knows? To anomalies, it might be an ambiguous expression meaning they were going to kill me..
‘..Maybe that's taking it a little too far?’
Regardless of what it meant.
I was relieved that the entity making my lunchbox didn't seem particularly angry about my saying I wanted to borrow the chopsticks.
‘They even put in new chopsticks.’
Seeing the new chopsticks inside the refilled lunchbox..
It seemed they had no intention of taking back the chopsticks I'd taken that morning.
So I decided to put these chopsticks to good use, and this time I would just eat the rice.. Huh?
“..What the hell?”
The contents were exactly the same as usual.
Rice and.. a decent selection of side dishes, along with some mysterious stir-fried meat.
However..
“..Why does it smell a little different from usual?”
That day, I realized that the smell coming from the lunchbox was giving off an incredibly familiar scent..
‘..Should I try it?’
With that thought in mind, I tasted a very small amount of the meat..
I realized that this was meat we'd eaten from time to time.
“..Pork?”
The fat wasn't greasy, and it slid smoothly down my throat.
The moderately spicy seasoning tingled in my mouth, and I could taste that familiar combination of ‘spicy and delicious’ on the tip of my tongue.
“..Is it because I only ate a little?”
Just like when you go to a tasting booth at an ordinary supermarket.
When you eat only a tiny amount of food, you can only taste its umami, making you feel as if the food is unconditionally delicious.
This time, I put some well-seasoned meat on top of the rice and shoved it straight into my mouth..
“..It's delicious.”
I tasted spicy stir-fried pork that was both spicy and delicious—the kind of flavor that could only be described as delicious no matter who ate it.
‘..So I need to build up my affinity with the lunchbox maker too..?’
That meant..
If I wanted to keep eating food this delicious in the future.. I had to get on the good side of whoever delivered my lunchbox.
‘..What would happen if I gave them a gift too?’
I turned my head and began looking for something I could give as a gift..
‘..But even so, would giving them a corpse be taken as a declaration of war..?’
…
“..Twenty minutes left.”
After spending an hour trying my hardest to butcher the anomaly's corpse, I slipped out of the bathroom and checked the clock.
I realized that I had to go to work the afternoon shift in twenty minutes.
“Forget it.. I won't. I can't. Screw it.”
I gave up after spending an hour desperately trying to cut off the anomaly's arm.
I looked down at the corpse of the strange creature lying there.
‘..What the hell am I supposed to do if this bastard wakes up?’
I was terribly worried.
If this thing woke up while I was working at the library.. there would be absolutely nothing I could do.
‘..Should I really have tried submerging it in water..’
I opened the status window and began carefully rereading the posts the people in the community had written to help me.
--
[This is a method I came up with for you, newbie.]
Set it on fire.
If you set the corpse on fire, that bastard can't do anything.
[Comments - 13]
Anonymous 1 : You're telling him to start a fire in the library. Are you determined to see the manager tear our newbie to pieces?
ㄴ Poster : Why can't I set the library on fire?
ㄴ Anonymous 2 : You.. Never mind.. Just stay tied up.
ㄴ Poster : No, fuck, how does everyone know this stuff, anyway??
ㄴ Anonymous 5 : I told you, your nickname is visible??
Anonymous 3 : I'm kind of against setting it on fire.
Anonymous 4 : Even I don't think setting it on fire would be a good idea. (edited)(deleted)
Anonymous 5 : I'm a newbie, but I'm blocking the poster.
ㄴ Anonymous 1 : Newbies don't say things like that.
ㄴ Anonymous 5 : Then what do they say?
ㄴ Anonymous 1 : They say they're gonna fuck you, yeah.
ㄴ Anonymous 5 : That makes sense.
ㄴ Anonymous 4 : What the hell do you think I am, anyway?? (edited)(deleted)
--
First of all.
There had been a suggestion to set the fallen corpse on fire.
Aside from the question of how I was supposed to get a fire here, if I started one in a place overflowing with paper..
Whatever served as the owner of Belliard Library might really tear me to pieces like a book.
So I decided to pass on this method.
--
[If there's a bathtub in the Belliard Library bathroom, how about leaving it in water?]
I can't see a nose or any other respiratory organ on it, but monsters usually die when submerged in water.
[Comments - 7]
Anonymous 1 : Water knows the answer.
Anonymous 2 : What if that dead anomaly is actually water-type and revives after being submerged?
ㄴ Anonymous 3 : Korea is a water-scarce country, so it's fine. The newbie's water-type too, that's why.
ㄴ Anonymous 5 : This bastard seems like he's trying to put the newbie in the bathtub too.
Anonymous 4 : Since I can't see a nose, putting it in water might just make things dangerous for no reason. I'm against it.
ㄴ Anonymous 6 : 22
ㄴ Anonymous 2 : 33
--
As for the second method, there had been a suggestion to leave the thing in a bathtub.
Not only was there no bathtub capable of holding water in this bathroom..
As Anonymous 4 had said, there didn't seem to be any particular organ that it used to breathe.
It seemed best to refrain from doing something pointless that might splash water on it and help the monster awaken.
“Haaah.. But I can't cut off its limbs, either..”
I couldn't think of any other plausible methods.
Just as I began wondering whether I would have to die without being able to resist at all if it woke up..
Suddenly.
I noticed that its mouth had been sewn shut with something like thread.
‘..Will this come undone?’
With a faint glimmer of hope, I tried cutting the thread with the chopsticks.
Tuk.. tuduk.. tuk..
Unlike the creature's unbelievably tough flesh..
The thread sewing its mouth shut snapped with ease.
In less than ten seconds, I was able to inspect the structure of its mouth.
“Ugh.. What are those teeth..”
It was an anomaly with hundreds of teeth embedded densely across the roof of its mouth.
I didn't know why its mouth had been sewn shut despite having all those teeth.
But if I pulled them all out before it came to, it would surely help me when the time came.
“Sss.. Can these teeth even be pulled out..”
With that thought, I first tried pulling out one of the teeth in its gums..
“Huh? They come out incredibly easily.”
Its teeth came out far more easily than I'd expected.
So I began pulling out the monster's teeth one after another without any particular order, but when I looked at the clock outside, I realized that only three minutes remained before my librarian shift began.
“At least it won't be able to chew anything properly now.”
I figured that even if it woke up, the blood flowing from the roof of its mouth would soon make it collapse from massive blood loss.
Of the roughly fifty teeth I'd pulled out, I put two into the lunchbox and wrote a note saying they were a gift.
Then I left the room so I could hurry to my work at the library before I was late.
…
Even the afternoon shift of my second day as a librarian at Belliard Library came to an end.
There had only been two entities using the library today as well, so it hadn't been a particularly busy day.
‘Phew.. I should hurry and pull out Anonymous 10's remaining teeth before I go to sleep.’
I was going to finish pulling out the monster's teeth in the bathroom and spend a little time on the community, but..
“..What the hell?”
When I opened the bathroom door.. I saw that there was nothing at all where the anomaly's corpse was supposed to be.
“..!”
The chill that ran down my spine lasted only a moment.
I thought the anomaly might be hiding somewhere in this space, so I immediately began searching the nearby area.
‘Where are you..! Where the hell are you..!’
I carefully searched the room with a chopstick clenched in each hand, but..
It didn't seem as though the anomaly was hiding anywhere in particular, so I looked around the bathroom again.
‘..What? Did it not revive?’
The bright-red bloodstains that should have been there had disappeared as well..
It didn't seem that the anomaly had revived.
I had the feeling that someone had cleaned up the anomaly's corpse.
--
[Some kind angel cleaned up the anomaly's corpse.]
(Photo)
Look at this.
This horrible monster that used to be here?!
(Photo)
Ta-da~
It's gone!
I guess there's some kind of system that automatically cleans it up if you leave it in the bathroom.
Phew.. If I'd known this would happen, I wouldn't have done something so stupid as pulling out the anomaly's teeth.
(Photo)
These are Anonymous 10's teeth. What should I use them for?
For reference, since it had so many teeth, I wrote a post saying they were a gift and put about two of them in the lunchbox.
I got bread for dessert tonight, too.
I'm going to keep trying to build up my affinity with the entity that brings the lunchboxes, yeah.
[Comments - 21]
Anonymous 1 : Ta-da?? Ta-da????
Anonymous 2 : ????????????????????
Poster : Why do you guys keep bullying me by putting question marks on my posts?
ㄴ Anonymous 1 : I'm asking this seriously, but are we bullying you? Or are you bullying us?
ㄴ Poster : Obviously you're bullying me, the newbie.
ㄴ Anonymous 4 : New?bie
ㄴ Anonymous 1 : Bro.. We don't call someone who tore a monster apart a newbie..
ㄴ Poster : Well.. I didn't technically tear it apart, but I can't tell you how I dealt with it because the anomalies might see it and take precautions.
ㄴ Anonymous 7 : You popped all four of its eyes and pulled out around fifty teeth.. And you're saying, ‘I didn't tear it apart?’ Well, you didn't tear it apart. You just killed it.
Anonymous 1 : Newbie bro, you're seriously fucking likable. Make sure you survive so we can meet during the next exchange.
ㄴ Poster : Even if we meet, I won't untie whatever's binding you.
ㄴ Anonymous 1 : No, fuck, how does everyone know??? What the fuck is going on?? Seriously, what is this??
ㄴ Anonymous 4 : Your nickname shows up!!!!!
Anonymous 3 : You pulled out its teeth?? If the anomaly had come to while you were pulling them out, wouldn't your arm have been severed right there?
ㄴ Poster : Ah, right.
ㄴ Anonymous 2 : This crazy bastard is just sitting there saying, ‘Ah, right.’ Fuck, are you an anomaly??? You anomaly bastard?? Mod!! We need to ban this guy!!!
ㄴ Poster : No.. Why are you doing this to me..
ㄴ Why are you doing this to us?
ㄴ Anonymous 1 : Hang in there, anomaly. Do you want to get a message from the newbie and die like that too?
ㄴ Send me a message. I'll accept it.
ㄴ Anonymous 7 : Look at this idiot sitting there telling people to message him, lol. Do you want to have all your eyes and teeth pulled out like that short little Ao Oni over there?
Anonymous 6 : I'm saying this now, even if it's late, but don't send messages to anomalies, newbie. That's the rule we need to follow to survive.
ㄴ Anonymous 3 : Come to think of it, we've never told the newbie the survival rules.
ㄴ Anonymous 4 : It's not that we can't tell him. If we leak our rules and the anomalies see them, we're screwed.
--