Chapter 8
Chapter 8
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: ●
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What should I buy?
Honestly, nothing really jumped out and grabbed my attention.
Your average Anomalous Gallery user would be drooling over the "Rule Fragment" or "Safe Return Ticket."
But for me? Eh. I rewind to the entry point if I die anyway.
For them, it's a death game where they have to stake their one and only life—figure out the rules.
They have to observe closely, deduce, and make the final call to survive.
But I don't need any of that complicated process.
Think.
Act.
Done.
Then just smash headfirst into it until my skull cracks open and I learn the lesson.
*Oh, so that's how I get fucked.*
...Or not.
On second thought, the Safe Return Ticket might actually be somewhat useful.
I scanned the items in the Anomalous Shop.
If I had to pick one, though, the thing that caught my eye was the Recorder's Pen.
Especially that word "permanent" in the description about storing records.
If the records stick around even after my ability triggers, I won't have to force-memorize the rules anymore.
Just jot them down with the pen and pull it out whenever I need to read them.
The problem? There's a pen but no paper.
No matter where I searched in the shop, no paper for sale.
Search function, scroll down—nothing.
Does it work with the pen alone? Any paper? Or do I need to combine it with another item?
Ambiguous.
So, purchase on hold for now.
I can buy anytime just by logging into the gallery anyway.
Finished window-shopping, I took a quick peek inside the Anomalous Gallery.
In the meantime, with nothing better to do, most of the posts were plastered with Moderator exposés.
-Posted by: Hell Hurts
-Posted by: Not Human
: Wow. Check out the Moderator's personality.]
-Posted by: No Conscience
How can you tell a newbie to fuck off and die?
[Recommends 521][Disrecommends 1]
[Not Human]: For real lol
[Anomaly-Calling Forest]: For real lol
[LolClap]: I saw it! Asked the newb how it was, and Moderator went "Fresh meat?" all sarcastic as fuck.
[Flayer Emperor]: For real lol
-Posted by: Spectator No.1
-Posted by: Dark Meter
: Moderator's personality hits all-time low today]
-Posted by: Kyaru is Truth
Newbie comment excerpt:
'It's the Moderator. Nice to meet you. Like all the other cool folks here, I'll strive to be a member the Anomalous Tale Gallery can be proud of.'
Analysis:
'It's the Moderator.': Estimated to be a term of respect that's gone extinct in our gallery.
'Nice to meet you.': Polite greeting.
'Other cool folks': Veiled insult.
'Anomalous Tale Gallery can be proud of': Cool ambition.
Nothing anywhere that warrants a 30-second ban.
Moderator's response.
'30-second conversation ban.'
...No words.
[Recommends 612][Disrecommends 1]
[Real Ru]: For real lol. Didn't realize that was a term of respect?
[Future SCP]: Moderator is already an anomaly. I salute you. Gotta keep grinding.
[Solo Nick Friend]: Ugh! As expected of the Moderator—that level of personality. I'm still far from Moderator material.
ㄴ[You Too Me Too]: You too? Me too.
[Food Waste Bag]: Moderator. Wanna come in here? Still warm. Food waste just went in.
ㄴ[Food Waste Bag]: Ahh..! Sorry.
-Posted by: Meh Indigo
: Know what's the ugliest thing right now?]
The ones who go around giving every single post one disrecommend because it doesn't qualify for deletion or takedown.
lololololololololololololololololollol
[Recommends 552][Disrecommends 1]
[Floater 151.13]: Hmm. I think some righteous soul is just stepping up out of pity for the misunderstood Moderator, who had some unspeakable circumstances forcing that behavior.
ㄴ[Happiness Repository]: Moderator apprehended.
ㄴ[Floater 151.13]: I'm not the Moderator?
ㄴ[Veteran84]: ..Pathetic. Moderator. Come on. Let's be a little more honest.
ㄴ[Floater 151.13]: I said I'm not!
ㄴ[Record-Breaking]: My fingers are cringing. Classic Moderator. Always doing what others can't, more boldly than anyone! Is this the Moderator's dignity? I could never.
ㄴ[Floater 151.13]: This fucker?
I watched the self-proclaimed "Not the Moderator" valiantly battling the gallery ghosts.
Time spent in gallery = life spent.
Looked like the Moderator's rage meter was about to hit critical.
Part of me wanted to jump into the Korean folk game of group roasting, but I'm not oblivious enough to miss the last bus.
Tossed my phone on the bed and played a round of the game.
***
[Defeat!]
[Defeat!]
[Defeat!]
"Ah. Jungle diff is insane."
Time was already 3 a.m.
More importantly, what happened to the gallery?
Logged back in, and all the gallery dwellers who'd been sprawled out earlier were gone.
Right then, a fresh hot-off-the-press question post caught my eye.
...? Why's the gallery so quiet? Did some world-ending anomaly invade?]
-Posted by: RealLifeTooBusy
Exactly as the title said.
This time of night should be exploding with shitposts and bait.
[Recommends 0][Disrecommends 1]
[Not Human]: Moderator just snapped from the roasting and did a sword dance.
ㄴ[RealLifeTooBusy]: Why the sudden Moderator roast?
ㄴ[Not Human]: Moderator acted for a very justified reason, but it didn't come across right to others. Sad.
ㄴ[RealLifeTooBusy]: What was it then?
ㄴ[Not Human]: Quick question lol—if you greet someone and they curse you out, what do you do?
ㄴ[RealLifeTooBusy]: Think they're a crazy bastard?
ㄴ[Not Human]: Not curious why they cursed?
ㄴ[RealLifeTooBusy]: Fuck would I talk to a crazy bastard for! Ask after pounding them with my fist.
ㄴ[Not Human]: lmaoooooooo bye.
[This post has been deleted.]
Tsked at the ghosts baiting the clueless newbie in the midst of it all.
They need personality lessons.
Did my pre-sleep routine of checking email, then got up from my seat—only to plop right back down.
"What the. Email?"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Acceptance Notice]
Thank you sincerely for applying to our company, Kang Do-yoon.
Congratulations.
You have passed the final stage of our recruitment process.
■ Company: Segwang TechSolutions, Inc.
■ Workplace: Seoul Gangnam-gu ○○-ro 123, Segwang Tower 3F
■ Position: Sales Management / Client Response & Performance Management & Personnel
■ Start Date: 202X-XX-XX (Tue) 9:00 AM
■ Items to Prepare: Resident registration extract (1 copy), Bank book copy (1 copy), Proof photo file
Further schedules and details will be announced via separate email.
Congratulations once again on your acceptance. We look forward to growing together.
Thank you.
HR Team, Segwang TechSolutions, Inc.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"Finally, the end of unemployment life."
Since retiring, I'd sent out dozens of applications.
None got back to me, so my self-esteem was rock bottom.
Company name rings a vague bell... but I'd applied to so many.
Whatever, it must be legit.
At least my name's spelled right.
Went to the Jobseekers Gallery I usually lurked and dropped a celebratory post.
: Thanks for all your hard work.]
Was thinking of grinding hard, but bam—acceptance text came, so after some agonizing, I took the job.
Hope the rest of you land great spots too.
Fighting!
Left the Jobseekers Gallery.
Now I'm a working stiff again.
Not everyone reincarnated into a dark horror fantasy has to solve anomalies, right?
One guy living a normal life, eating well, living happily ever after.
Stories like that exist too, yeah?
What anomaly? Pfft.
***
I stood in front of the main entrance, resume in hand.
'...Is this the place?'
Checked the text on my phone.
■ Company: Segwang TechSolutions, Inc.
■ Workplace: Seoul Gangnam-gu ○○-ro 123, Segwang Tower 15F
■ Start Date: 202X-XX-XX (Tue) 9:00 AM
Location matches.
But the building's condition...
Peeling paint in spots on the exterior, yellowed and grimy. Company logo half-eroded, barely readable.
From afar, just "Segwang Te...tions" or something.
"Is this... really a company people work at?"
The faded sign was barely legible.
Anyway, I watched people going in.
Auto doors working, at least.
Time: 8:57.
9:00 commute time soon.
Can't stand here forever, so decided to head in.
What could go wrong?
"Not like anomalies are punching bags or anything."
Here goes.
The moment I stepped forward and entered, a deep chill seeped into my body.
"Fuck?"