Chapter 7
--
ㄴ Anonymous 5 : What do you have against us?
ㄴ Anonymous 1 : Hang in there, anomaly. Do you want to get a message from a newbie and die like that too?
ㄴ Anonymous 5 : 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.
--
Why are you doing this to us?
Send me a message. I'll accept it.
“...”
Seeing what Anonymous 5 had written, I fell into thought for a moment.
I wondered whether this guy would actually come to Belliard Library if I sent Anonymous 5 a message-
“Hmm?”
--
[Newbie, read this post first.]
It's obvious you're trying to send a message to an anomaly.
Stop fucking around and take your hands off the keyboard.
[Comments - 22]
Anonymous 1 : Newbie, we need to tie up all four of his limbs too, for real.
ㄴ Poster : You really won't untie me even during exchange time?
ㄴ Anonymous 1 : ????? No, fuck, how the hell do you know!!!!!!!
ㄴ Anonymous 3 : Your nickname is visible!!!!!!!!
ㄴ Anonymous 1 : Ah, seriously, cut the bullshit.. If my nickname were showing, the anomalies would've already come to eat me;;
Anonymous 2 : ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Even if the newbie says he knows nothing, would he send a message to an anomaly knowing that?
ㄴ Anonymous 3 : ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Even if the newbie says he knows nothing, would he tear apart and kill an anomaly that came to him?
ㄴ Anonymous 2 : Is this for real?
ㄴ Anonymous 4 : Why does it say it's real?
ㄴ Anonymous 5 : This is fake.. I told you I didn't kill it?? (edited) (deleted)
ㄴ Anonymous 3 : I didn't kill it - > But I pulled out all its eyes and teeth. From the anomaly's perspective, the latter sounds more insane, lol.
Anonymous 5 : Anyway, thanks for worrying about me. To be honest, I was considering sending it a message, but I should listen to what the people here say. (edited) (deleted)
ㄴ Anonymous 1 : ????????????????
ㄴ Anonymous 3 : ??????????????????????????
ㄴ Anonymous 4 : ????????????????????????????????
ㄴ Anonymous 2 : Don't harass our newbie with a hook.. ????????????????????????
ㄴ Poster : Look at this. I thought our newbie would act like that because he still doesn't know how scary anomalies are.
ㄴ Anonymous 3 : He doesn't know how scary anomalies are? Dunno.
Anonymous 6 : Send me a message.
Anonymous 6 : Send me a message.
Anonymous 6 : Send me a message.
Anonymous 6 : Send me a message.
Anonymous 3 : What? You want me to send a picture of my nipples?? You fucking perverted anomaly..
ㄴ Anonymous 6 : When did I?
ㄴ Anonymous 3 : If you happen to receive a picture, send it to me too, hehe.
ㄴ Anonymous 6 : ?
ㄴ Anonymous 5 : ?
ㄴ Anonymous 1 : This one seems like we need to tie up all four limbs too?
Anonymous 6 : Send me a message.
--
Seeing how worried the people in the community were, along with how excessively excited Anonymous 6 was about telling me to send a message,
I felt that I had to abandon the idea of sending Anonymous 6 a message altogether.
It wasn't as though I had thought about sending that anomaly a message without any basis at all.
‘Fight fire with fire—the Belliard Library seemed likely to deal with that anomaly for me.’
Rule 5 of Belliard Library's rules stated the following.
5 ) Visitors must maintain silence at all times in the library.
Absolute silence in the library.
However, the blue Anonymous 10 anomaly had pounded on the door so loudly it could shake the library apart.
Perhaps some entity in the library, angered by the anomaly's failure to remain quiet, had disposed of it.
That was why I considered using the fifth rule to deal with another anomaly from the community, but..
‘Maybe that one is an anomaly that can pass through walls.’
Since I had no idea what kind of anomaly that thing was, I realized there was no need to make a reckless gamble with my life for no reason.
‘I guess I'll just sleep.’
It was disappointing, but this was reality, not a game.
From then on, I resolved to think of the other party as an anomaly before every action and exercise the utmost caution.
“Phew.. I guess I'd better sleep.”
To prepare for tomorrow's librarian shift at Belliard Library, I decided to go to sleep a little early tonight.
“Yaaawn.. Maybe it's because I went to bed too late yesterday, but I was so tired I thought I was going to die.”
Before falling asleep, I decided to leave the people in the community a message thanking them for helping me today.
--
[Thanks, everyone, for today]
Thanks to the people on the forum, I got a lot of help in various ways today.
But I feel a little tired today, so I've decided to go to bed early.
Maybe it's because I stayed up late on the community yesterday, but I almost fell asleep in the middle of my afternoon librarian shift at the library today.
Good night, everyone.
I'm off to bed.
[Comments - 16]
Anonymous 1 : You're not tired from staying up late yesterday; aren't you tired from popping the anomaly's eyes and pulling out its teeth?
ㄴ Poster : Huh?
ㄴ Anonymous 3 : Ah, this shit lolㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Anonymous 2 : You almost fell asleep in a horror-story library?? No matter how tired you are, you almost fell asleep?? This guy doesn't seem human.
ㄴ Anonymous 1 : Are you only figuring that out now? He's an anomaly. We're being toyed with by an anomaly right now.
ㄴ Anonymous 4 : A highly evolved newbie is indistinguishable from an anomaly. Making a note of this..
Anonymous 5 : I'm still confused. Is this guy really human..?
ㄴ Anonymous 1 : I told you, he's an anomaly?
ㄴ Anonymous 5 : The anomaly is you, the one with your limbs tied up..
ㄴ Anonymous 6 : ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Ah, so my nickname wasn't visibleㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Fucking hell, you bastards, I was so scared thinking my nickname was showing!!!!
Anonymous 7 : I think Anonymous 5 should be punished.
ㄴ Anonymous 1 : Agreed.
ㄴ Anonymous 2 : I object.
ㄴ Anonymous 1 : What is your reason?
ㄴ Anonymous 2 : Punishment is too lenient. I think he should receive the TS treatment after a harsh punishment.
ㄴ Anonymous 4 : Why are there so many anomalies..
--
Fortunately.
If I hadn't had the forum.
If I hadn't been able to access this community..
‘I would've been barely surviving in a miserable world by now.’
Ugh..
It's horrifying just imagining it.
“I should get to sleep.”
…
‘They say being a library part-timer is an incredibly easy job; I guess there's a reason people say that.’
My fourth day working as the librarian at Belliard Library.
‘Maybe “People these days don't go to libraries” was just as true of anomalies.’
Only eleven entities had visited the library in total over the four days.
‘I only have two and a half more days to tough it out.’
Now that I only had to hold out for roughly another three and a half days, I would be able to return to the place with the guidebook.
“I ate well again today.”
With a slightly happier heart, I closed the lunchbox while muttering to myself, unaware of whether anyone was listening.
The moment I stepped out of the room for my afternoon shift..
‘Hmm?’
While I was popping the blue anomaly's eyes, I saw that the mannequin-like anomaly that had stared fixedly at me from beyond the door was standing in front of the librarian's desk.
‘..What is this?’
Normally, the visitors who used Belliard Library had shown no interest in me at all.
As if to prove they had come to the library solely to read books,
the visitors here had not uttered a single word, focusing only on their books all this time..
‘..Why? Why is it looking at me..?’
The mannequin-like anomaly before me.. was staring fixedly at me, not a book.
I couldn't help growing increasingly anxious, but..
What could I do?
There was no way I could attack that anomaly with my powerless human body.
Creeeak..
I sat silently in the seat where I was supposed to sit, lowered my eyes quietly, and prayed for the visitor to disappear. That was the only thing I could do.
“...”
A quiet silence flowed.
“...”
An eerie stillness lingered.
“...”
The entity standing in front of the desk.. showed no sign whatsoever of intending to leave this place,
“...”
It kept..
Without saying a word.
Without doing anything at all..
When it kept its head fixed on me,
Sob.. sniff..
I realized I could hear someone sobbing.
“...”
Why had it suddenly burst into tears.. I'm the one who wanted to cry right now..
My head began to ache.
Since absolute silence was the basic rule in the library, I first had to tell it not to cry-
‘..Huh?’
I raised my head and looked at the mannequin anomaly staring at me, but..
The mannequin anomaly that had been staring at me was no longer looking at me..
When I too looked at the scene that mannequin was looking at, there..
‘..Why does she have to cry in a library of all places..’
There was a woman sitting at a library desk, crying.
‘She's crying so bitterly..’
What a pitiful woman she was.
To think she was crying so sorrowfully over losing a cherished book..
Naturally, there was only one thing I had to do when a woman was crying sorrowfully in the library, wasn't there?
I had to hurry over to comfort the crying woman, so I decided to take the book she liked from bookshelf 52.
I rose from the librarian's desk and walked toward the woman-
Creak.. Creak..
The mannequin, making strange sounds from its joints whenever it moved, approached the woman.
Creak.. Creak..
The strange sounds coming from its joints whenever it moved made me frown in discomfort.
Creak.. Creak..
The strange sounds coming from its joints whenever it moved.. I swear, I was going to chew that thing up-
Thud!--
“!..”
When the mannequin-like anomaly stopped in front of the crying woman..
At the same time as a sudden roar filled the library, whatever had been clouding my mind began to vanish completely.
‘..What was I just.. ..about to do..?’