Tutorial (6)
A pair of hands, cold as ice, clamped down on my right wrist.
“Kihihihit!!!”
The thing yanked me forward, trying to drag me into the anomaly field known as the Staircase Maze. But—
“Hup!”
I quickly regained my balance, planted my feet, and held my ground with every ounce of strength in my legs.
“Ki-kihik?!”
“Life… or rather, ghost-life, doesn’t go the way you want it to. That’s just common sense, you bizarre little freak.”
I’d thought it was confident when it suddenly grabbed my arm, but—
“You’re weak. Ridiculously so.”
The creature kept grunting and tugging for a while, but—
“Not even close.”
If I braced myself like this, what could it possibly do?
While it struggled, I let go of the expandable baton in my right hand, grabbed it with my left, and swung again.
Whoosh!
The sound of air being sliced rang out, but once again the baton passed straight through the anomaly’s body.
“Doesn’t work on this one either?”
I gave up immediately, folded the baton, and shoved it into my pocket. Then I clenched my left fist and punched the thing square in the head.
Thud!
“Kiiit!!!”
It clearly hurt, but it still wouldn’t let go of my wrist.
“Even better.”
After all, hadn’t it said I just needed to grab it and hold on for more than three seconds?
I opened my right hand, twisted my wrist, and—
“Kihit???”
—snatched its wrist right back.
“Ugh, it’s freezing.”
It felt like touching slimy, half-melted ice. Still, holding it for a little while didn’t hurt or cause any real discomfort. The weird texture was just mildly unpleasant. And even that wouldn’t last long.
Once I finished the capture, the anomaly would be dispelled and the second stage of the tutorial would be over.
“Get over here!!!”
I pulled with all my might.
But—
Squelch!
“What the—?”
In that brief moment, a slippery mucus had oozed from the anomaly’s arm, and my grip slid right off.
“Ki-kihiieeeeet!!!”
Thump-thump-thump!
The creature scampered away on all fours, making a racket as it fled up the stairs.
“Tsk. The rulebook didn’t mention anything like this.”
If I’d managed to grab it cleanly, this would’ve ended in seconds. What a shame.
Oh well. It was already gone. At least I now knew it wasn’t as tough as I’d feared. Even if it was a bit of a hassle, I could just go catch it again.
“Senior.”
“Yeah!”
“I’ll be right back.”
“Take care~”
Without hesitation, I stepped into the emergency stairwell.
*
My vision blurred for a moment before returning to normal.
You have entered the anomaly field Staircase Maze.
You are currently unable to escape the anomaly.
Analyze the conditions required for the anomaly to form and destroy them.
After checking the system window, I looked around.
Dingy gray concrete stairs, railings barely hanging on, and flickering fluorescent lights that buzzed and threatened to go out at any moment. It was the very picture of a gloomy, eerie emergency stairwell.
“Kihiiiiiiiet?!”
The anomaly’s panicked voice echoed from the floor above. It sounded roughly like, “I didn’t think you’d follow this fast?!”
They’d said the space would collapse if I stayed still too long, so—
“Let’s just follow it up for now.”
To conserve stamina, I climbed slowly after the creature.
At the same time—
“I should ask the gallery folks.”
If something not listed in the rulebook had happened, maybe the gallery users would know why. I opened the gallery and started a new post.
Title: The anomaly attacked first, what the hell
(Auto-recorded video of the anomaly reaching out with its arm)
The thing suddenly charged at me. It wasn’t strong enough to drag me in, but the rulebook said something different so I’m confused…
“What the hell? Why are these people sympathizing with the anomaly?”
I was the one who needed help here.
Title: Uploading the rulebook
(Photo of the Staircase Maze rulebook)
This good?
“What’s going on?”
Only after reading the additional comments that followed did I understand why everyone was reacting this way.
The fact that other difficulties didn’t have information contamination in the tutorial…
“Yeah, that makes sense.”
So humans were treated like toys. The tutorial was basically a prototype test run?
I couldn’t be sure, but the theory sounded plausible enough to leave a bitter taste in my mouth.
Even though I answered like that—
“Well, even if it got stronger, it’s still a weakling that only knows how to run away. How much stronger could it possibly be?”
According to the rulebook, the thing was supposed to come to me. All I had to do was snatch it the moment it did. I climbed the stairs with plenty of leisure.
And then—
Peek.
Half a floor above, a ghost with long, disheveled bangs poked its head out slightly and stared at me.
‘Now!’
I charged instantly.
But—
Shiiiiiiing!!!
“What?!”
Right before my hand could touch it, the ghost vanished with the sound of rushing wind. My outstretched hand twitched uselessly in empty air.
Title: So this is what “strengthened” means?
(Short auto-recorded video right before catching the anomaly)
It’s way too fast?
Just as I was about to share the current situation with the gallery and ask for advice—
Peek.
“?”
The thing poked its head out between the railings again, half a floor above. Then—
“Kihihit!”
It let out a short laugh and disappeared.
“Oh?”
Was it taunting me?
The gallery veteran was right. It wasn’t jumping down the stairs; to catch it I’d have to run up. But the moment I started, it would vanish with a whoosh. How was I supposed to catch something like that by running? I decided to stop wasting energy and conserve my stamina.
When I checked, there was a small button in the settings window.
Activate vision sharing?
[YES / NO]
I immediately pressed YES.
Then—
“Oh?”
A clean window appeared at the edge of my vision, neatly organizing the gallery users’ real-time comments.
“Right, you can’t leave midway.”
“Thanks, everyone.”
That’s how I chased the creature as efficiently as possible.
“Ha!”
Capture attempt 5, failure.
“!!!”
Capture attempt 12, failure.
“Uraaaah!”
Whoosh!
Capture attempt 23, spectacular failure.
“Huff, huff, huff.”
My thigh muscles were pulled tight. My ankles and knees were starting to creak too.
“Why isn’t this working!!!”
I took a short break and checked the new comments.
It turned its body and clothes incorporeal so I couldn’t grab it? What kind of cheap trick was that?
“What the hell kind of monster is this!”
While I was lying spread-eagle catching my breath—
“Kihihihihit!!!”
The anomaly boldly stuck its head out from half a floor above and cackled openly.
“When I catch you, I’m not gonna go easy!”
“Kihihihihit!!!”
Whether it heard me or not, the creature seemed confident. It slowly began creeping down the stairs.
“Oh?”
But it wasn’t completely relaxed. It would descend one step, check my reaction, then descend another.
‘Just a little more. Just a little more!’
When I stayed completely still, lying there defenseless with my stomach exposed, the thing got excited and came down faster and bolder.
Tap!
The moment it finally reached my floor—
“Ki-kihihit!”
It twisted its head with a mocking grin and approached me.
When I judged it was close enough, I lunged forward and aimed for its ankle.
But—
Whoosh!
It was still too fast. I failed to grab the ankle.
However, right before I let go—
‘Please! Please, anything, just let me grab something!’
I reached out desperately, thinking that—
The user’s desperate wish has been confirmed.
Ability Possible has been activated.
“Got it!”
Thanks to the ability activating? Something white and thin filled my hand. I didn’t know what it was, but I wasn’t about to let go. I wrapped it around my hand and held on tight.
Then—
Riiiiip!
With the sound of fabric tearing, the more I pulled, the more thread kept coming.
‘But seriously, what’s the point of grabbing a few threads? It’s not like pulling on them will drag the anomaly over…’
The moment I thought that—
“Ki, kihng! Kihiiiiing…”
“Hmm?”
The anomaly that had run away returned to the half-floor above and poked its head out again, whimpering.
The hem of its soot-stained gray skirt had been torn away quite a bit. Just to check, I gave the thread wrapped around my hand a hard yank.
Riiiiip!
“Ki, kiiing! Kiing, kiing…”
As its clothes tore, the panicked anomaly waved both hands frantically, begging me to stop.
This was ridiculous.
‘Even though it’s a female ghost, is having its clothes torn embarrassing?’
I snorted and stood up. Then, wrapping more of the thread around my right hand, I slowly walked up the stairs.
“…You said if I caught you, you wouldn’t go easy on me, right?”
It was time for payback.
“Go ahead and try running away.”
If it ran the moment I got close, its clothes would completely unravel. If it didn’t run, it would get caught and captured by me.
The creature was now trapped in a literal hellish dilemma.
“Ki, kihihihit?!!!”
Whooooosh!!!
The terrified anomaly instinctively fled upward like always.
Riiiiiiip!!!
“!!!”
The thread pulled taut, and the entire back of the skirt tore away in an instant, fully exposing its underwear.
“Kihiiiiiiiiiing!!!”
The ghost anomaly wailed in despair.