Tutorial (2) - The Bathroom Mimic
The low growl reverberated through the space. Grrrrrrrrrrr!!! The rectangular room slowly condensed into a damp, cylindrical shape. Jagged teeth burst outward from between the lumps of flesh. The entire transformation happened in roughly three seconds.
“What the fuck!” The instant I sensed something wrong, I bolted straight for the exit.
-Clackclackclackclackclack!!! The insane anomaly that had completely forgotten its duty as a bathroom began spinning its body, teeth grinding against teeth and spraying sparks everywhere. Its form contracted from the far end inward. A living, psychotic blender. To make things worse, the entrance was slowly narrowing too.
“Uwaaaak!!!” I screamed and threw myself toward the shrinking opening.
And then—
“Oh, you made it out~?”
“Huh?”
-Poof!
The senior caught me with both arms wide open as I leaped. I was alive!
“Junior~ Are you okayyy~?”
“Yes? Ah, yes. I’m fine.”
Surprisingly, it wasn’t nearly as terrifying or tense as I’d expected. What the…? Not only had I covered that distance in a single burst, but my muscles weren’t even slightly fatigued after such violent exercise. Just as that strange sense of disconnection started to hit me—
Ah… Right. This isn’t my body.
The body I’d possessed was apparently quite sturdy with excellent motor reflexes. That was genuinely fortunate.
I secretly glanced through the gallery comments before straightening up properly with my senior’s help.
“I told you to work together with me, didn’t I~?”
“Ah, sorry. By the way, that thing…”
“Mhm~ Go ahead and ask~”
“It… can’t come out, right?”
“Aigoo, you already forgot the manual~? You were so confident after saying you memorized everything~”
Senior lightly tapped my head and pulled a thin booklet from her coat.
“The ones we’re catching today are all escapee entities, so the manual and rulebook are ready~ Here~”
Description: This anomaly hides in secluded locations and disguises itself as a restroom. It particularly lures passersby by taking the form of an unusually refined and clean bathroom. The reason it chooses this shape remains unknown. However, if a restroom appears unnaturally clean and bright compared to its surroundings, the probability that it is this entity is high. Exercise extreme caution.
Countermeasures: If you discover a clean, brightly lit restroom that feels completely out of place with the environment, do not enter under any circumstances. If you enter by mistake, never fully relax, show fear, or display any agitation as if you have noticed its presence. The entity will react. If you have already entered the anomaly, there are two methods.
1. Never show surprise or fear. To the anomaly, human terror is like a sweet snack. The fear and despair emanating from you will help it realize its disguise has been discovered. If you cannot control your emotions and the entity reveals its true form, run toward the exit with all your strength. While the entity maintains the form of a restroom, it cannot exit beyond the area clearly recognized as the bathroom. It may release its transformation to attack, but it is fully aware that the moment it drops its disguise is when it is most vulnerable. Therefore, it will not release its mimicry while being observed. Successfully exiting the restroom means you have survived. Continue monitoring the entity. If escape fails, our condolences. The mimic will grind you alive and store you in a food pouch. Use the provided suicide pistol or poison capsule. It will help you finish quickly.
2. Calmly locate the core hidden inside the restroom. Striking the core—its weakness—will render the entity at least immobile or unconscious. With luck, it may even contract into an easily recoverable state. If the entity does not react, calmly search for the core. This is the most efficient method of suppression or capture. Use the provided sensor to locate the object with the highest essence concentration and strike it.
Just as the manual described, the thing didn’t come outside. The madly spinning grinder stayed strictly within the boundaries of the hallway without crossing it. Senior spoke without taking her eyes off it.
“Did you check the manual again~?”
“Yes, I just finished reading it.”
“Good~ Then you’ll finish it quickly, right~? I’ll go get a cage~?”
“…Pardon?”
“Senior believes in our junior~ Fighting!”
Senior dashed down the stairs without looking back, leaving me alone with the anomaly that had switched into full “if you come any closer I’ll rip you apart” mode.
I was wondering how the hell I was supposed to catch it when—
That’s right, the gallery!
The notice had definitely said the gallery members would help. Maybe asking them would get me some information.
“What the hell? I thought they were supposed to help.” Instead of helping, they seemed desperate to mock me.
I scrolled down and finally found a somewhat helpful comment.
“At least this person seems willing to help?” I replied with a sliver of hope.
“What the hell is this…” The manual only said ‘Activate the sensor and strike its core.’ And that method was only useful ‘when the thing hasn’t noticed you yet.’
“It already noticed me, though?”
I flipped through the manual again but couldn’t find any more information on the Bathroom Mimic.
-Tap tap.
“Oh?” It actually worked.
“Does that even make sense?” I was supposed to just beat that hideous thing and it would die? They should at least say something believable.
“Still… this gallery member explained everything kindly, so…”
It didn’t seem like they were lying. Earlier they had even desperately commented for me to hurry up and get out of the thing’s stomach. And—
This body seems better than I thought.
When I escaped from inside it, I hadn’t expected to be able to display that level of athleticism and reflexes.
“Whatever. I’ll just give it a try. As long as I don’t give it any distance, I won’t die.”
Baseless confidence surged up inside me.
-Click!
I gripped the truncheon and walked right up to the anomaly. Then—
“Stay right there.”
I swung with all my strength.
-CRACK!!!
-Kyaaaaaaaah?!
The anomaly’s teeth shattered and its gums burst. It frantically wriggled its pink tentacles, but they couldn’t reach outside the bathroom.
“Huh, this is easier than I thought.”
It was boring because it was just repeating the simple motion of swinging, but the difficulty itself was exactly as easy as the gallery members had said.
-Crack! Crunch!
“Ugh, why are there so many teeth?”
I swung again and again without stopping. Some fragments flew toward me, but they weren’t particularly annoying.
-Kyaaaaaaaaah!!!
It let out a horrifying scream and struggled desperately. But—
“What can you even do!”
It couldn’t cross the boundary. It occasionally stretched out its tentacles to grab or block the truncheon, but—
“As if!”
I slammed it down, embedding the baton into its teeth, then swung again, tearing out a huge chunk of teeth along with it.
“This is! Really! Nothing! Ugh! Just die already! Die!”
-Kiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaah!!!
I lost track of how much time had passed.
“Hmm~ You’re working really hard~?”
I ignored Senior’s voice as she returned and continued swinging, smashing, and swinging again. By the time I couldn’t even remember how many times I’d swung—
-Kieeeeeek…
-Thud!
The anomaly that had finally been stripped of all its teeth let out a deflated sound and collapsed. Humanity’s victory, you damn anomaly bastard.
But then—
-Kehk!
It stretched out a thin tentacle and offered something.
“A picture frame…?”
It was a small frame like the kind you’d see above a urinal, with a poem or some famous quote written on it.
“Our junior is pretty impressive~?”
“Pardon?”
“This is the first time I’ve seen an anomaly that escaped once surrender out of fear~”
…Surrender?
I put back on the glasses I had taken off because of the sweat. Thanks to the sensor I had left on, I could see what I hadn’t noticed with the naked eye. A faint yellow glow emanated from the anomaly’s surface. And that bright yellow light was especially intense and vivid on the frame it had offered me.
Ah, so this is the core.
Offering me its core—its heart and greatest weakness—probably meant—
Please just kill me…
I had no taste for dragging things out, so I immediately swung and finished it.
-Crack!
-Pop!
With a strange sound, the anomaly vanished. In its place sat a small treasure chest model about the size of a fist.
“Is… is it over?”
“Yep yep~ Good work~ Take a little break~ Senior will clean this up~?”
Senior gently stroked my head and then examined the anomaly that had reverted to a toy form. Meanwhile—
Tutorial Stage 1 Cleared!
Choi Minhyuk has received 500 EXP points!
Level Up!
Current Difficulty: Hell Fire
Level: 5LV
Awakening Ability: None
Stamina: 300 / Agility: 500 / Strength: 250 / Essence Affinity: 70 / Fear Resistance: 30% / Mental Interference Resistance: 20%
You can now share photos, videos, stats, and vision with the gallery!
Oh? Should I give it a try?
Since I could upload photos and videos, and even stats, I posted a picture of the defeated mimic. But—
“?” The gallery members’ reactions were a little strange.