Chapter 10
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Meeting the Goddess
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The origins of anomalous art are said to trace back to the Surrealist movement that began at the end of the 19th century.
The advent of photography spelled the downfall of realism.
Artists who painted realistic pictures simply couldn't compete with the camera, a machine far more precise than any human hand.
Born from the corpse of realism was Surrealism, which abandoned realistic logic and reason.
The rise of Surrealism brought massive change to the relationship between the anomalous and art—things that had been rejected up until then.
If even on canvas they no longer had to follow reason and logic, why bother with such things in reality?
Images that photography couldn't capture.
Sculptures that factories couldn't mass-produce.
Movements that monitors couldn't depict.
Phenomena that advanced science couldn't explain.
Pure art that only uncorrupted humans—only the human soul—could create.
It was more than enough charm to captivate artists who refused to accept technological progress.
But even works utilizing anomalies couldn't escape one chronic flaw of all art.
No matter how profound the meaning infused within...
"You have to see the work itself for it to mean anything."
This was an unavoidable limitation of art.
After all, a work existed to share the meaning contained within it with others.
This was also the greatest weakness of anomalous artists. Most anomalies only activate when observed.
What about the Renaissance Virus, which evolved on its own without anyone watching and tried to wipe out humanity?
That's why it's disaster-class—it moves even without eyes on it.
So anomalous artists fight by creating situations where their enemies have no choice but to behold their art.
In this case, their method was mirrors.
"Unleash the 'exhibition'!"
Ten anomalous artists released their anomalies simultaneously. The walls of the hexagonal corridor turned a deep indigo, then transformed en masse into mirrors.
I stood still, watching the spectacle. True to its name of "exhibition," the world reflected in the mirrors was like a kaleidoscope, flawlessly displaying their works from every angle.
Name:Artist's Kaleidoscope
Creator:Anomalous Artist Jang Bar
Background: A work needs viewers. After agonizing over how to make people look at his art, Anomalous Artist Jang Bar devised this mirror world.
Trait: An ordinary mirror. Not easily broken.
"Oh..."
I glanced sideways, and my reflection appeared.
Indigo dress and beret. Simple, yet somehow cute. My silver hair reaching my waist was neatly arranged.
The trait said it was just an ordinary mirror with no special anomaly, right?
So, the idea was to reflect their works within it, forcing viewers to see them?
To be honest, I could shatter it anytime I wanted.
I could corrupt the anomaly set into the mirror, then summon Peanut to smash the whole thing.
But I had a simple reason for holding back.
"Ahaha, don't worry. Whether it's paintings or sculptures or whatever, I'll take a good look."
"...What?"
"I'm curious. What kind of artworks do this world's anomalous artists create?"
Even in open-world games, players rarely had 100% freedom.
In the game Anomaly Management Bureau, the anomalous artworks wielded by artists all looked pretty similar.
So what would their original creations feel like? I'd always wondered.
"You're insane."
The man at the front, Jang Bar, spat the words as he slammed one foot hard against the floor.
Ripples spread in a circular wave, like droplets falling into a still lake. Then, images began to form on the mirrors.
"Die insane."
The first thing to appear on the mirror surfaces was the white-and-red striped curtain typical of a circus troupe. I watched it with interest, and it slowly parted.
But beyond the curtain wasn't a glamorous circus performance.
"Ah?"
In pitch-black emptiness, dozens, hundreds of eyes blinked all at once.
Just optic nerves floating in the air—it was grotesque and nothing more.
I startled back a step, and a status window popped up before my eyes.
Name:Fun Performance!
Creator:Anomalous Artist Jang Bar
Background: Why is the viewpoint in performance paintings always that of the audience? Pietà's artist Jang Bar offers viewers a fresh perspective with this work.
Status: You are a circus troupe member! Swing on the trapeze, tame beasts, breathe fire, juggle, ride a unicycle, spin plates, wear a clown mask, make people laugh, flip in the air, and entertain the audience to your heart's content!
An urge surged up.
The obsession to entertain the audience as a clown, to dance and perform until those eyes smiled.
I glanced sideways.
My reflection in the mirror was utterly changed.
A metal rod with a plate balanced on one hand.
An animal-taming hula hoop in the other.
A clown mask on my face, fire spewing from my mouth. A unicycle beneath my feet.
The compulsion hit hard: to satisfy the audience, rush through every circus act as fast as possible.
To keep them from leaving, show everything you have at top speed.
An ordinary person would have clumsily tried to do it all, gone mad, and torn themselves apart.
Name:Rene
Background: Your second devotee, granted a new chance by you.
Trait: A virus specialized in mass brainwashing.
Status: This anomaly, which sought humanity's end 300 years ago, is more proficient in mental manipulation than most modern anomalies. As long as Rene protects you, mental attacks can't affect you much.
...If I were an ordinary person, that is.
Once Rene intervened, the mental corruption faded fast. My reflection returned to normal.
Following Jang Bar's example, I lightly tapped the floor with my toe.
The anomaly imposed on the image began to overlay with corruption.
From a month to a year of meticulous work—the time it took to corrupt their anomaly was one second flat. Before the authority of the Goddess of Art, no code, however intricate, held meaning.
Status: You are a circus tro■pe member! ■■ the trapeze, tame be■■s, breathe fi■■, juggle■, ride a uni■cycle, spi■ plates, wea■ clown ma■k, make peop■e lau■■, do air fli■s to your hea■t's content and entertai■ the audie■ce!
Holes riddled the intricate anomaly code. Pure horror washed over Jang Bar's face.
"Wh-what...!?"
"An interesting perspective. The performer's viewpoint instead of the audience's."
I meant it sincerely, but Jang Bar's face paled. It felt weird, like seeing an ordinary person face an anomaly.
No, even if I'm anomaly-adjacent, I'm still human first...?
He's the one closer to an anomaly, right? Casually scattering anomalies that can cause permanent damage under the guise of an "exhibition"?
"But... rushing anything leads to indigestion."
Hasty meals always upset the stomach. No matter how much you want to show, order matters.
"So, how about slowing the tempo a bit?"
Hands clasped behind my back, head tilted slightly, a faint smile as I tapped my toe on the floor.
Ripples spread twice.
The holed code vanished in an instant, overwritten by my own rules.
Name:Fun Performance!
Creator:Anomalous Artist Jang Bar
Editor:Anomalous Artist Baek Eunha
Background: Hasty eating leads to indigestion.
Status: You are a circus troupe member! Show off your feats one by one with all your heart!
The audience returned to normal.
No longer just eyes floating in the air, but ordinary spectators in a proper theater.
"This... what... impossible..."
I stared straight at the stammering Jang Bar, asking in a playful tone.
"Now, shall we all smile?"
Stardust gathered in my hand, forming a stainless steel hula hoop.
I hurled it into the air with all my might and shouted.
"The show begins!"
A massive lion burst from the hula hoop, signaling the true start of battle.
"Impossible. My work... the work into which I poured my soul..."
An artist beside Jang Bar dropped to his knees.
His works had already fallen completely under the girl's control.
Watching it, Jang Bar felt his sanity slipping.
"What... am I seeing right now?"
Anomalous artists resemble programmers.
The core of anomalous art is embedding anomaly code into the framework of a work to make it move as intended.
Just as code isn't whipped up with a mouse click, infusing anomalies takes time.
Long contemplation, long refinement—only then does the anomaly take root in the work.
"But this..."
This was unreasonable.
To rewrite anomalies they'd agonized over for years in a single stroke.
Something like that would take thousands of artists pooling collective intelligence.
How could she possibly be an ordinary artist?
No... she's more like a goddess.
The Goddess of Art that 150 artists had vowed to create.
Maybe that goddess was this girl?
As the thought spread among them—
"Take this, monster!"
One artist gnashed his teeth and raised a violin.
Desperately denying the thoughts filling everyone's heads.
The corridor filled with atonal dissonant chords, beautiful yet sharp as jagged stone edges.
Diamond crystals sprouted across the girl's body as she closed her eyes, savoring the music.
Left alone, the crystals would root inside her, tearing her apart.
But her expression showed no crisis—only interest, appraising the music.
"Trying to express sharp threats hidden in beauty, I see?"
Snap.
She flicked her fingers lightly, and the melody warped by force. The sharp chords hidden in the beauty dulled like a blunted blade.
"But... if that sound kills people, it's not a hidden threat—it's just a murder threat."
The diamond crystals growing on her body clattered to the floor.
She picked up a large one, tilting her head with a pretty smile.
"Still, I'll keep this diamond. It's pretty."
"My... my music..."
The violin fell to the floor, and the artist collapsed to his knees.
Exactly ten minutes since the battle began.
Dozens of artworks hadn't even touched the girl, and Jang Bar still hadn't regained control of Fun Performance!.
Before they knew it, none of the ten artists remained standing.
All knelt, robbed of will.
The mysterious girl approached them.
"Still, it was a performance I enjoyed."
Baek Eunha meant it with pure admiration.
Experiencing artworks infused with the artist's life, beliefs, and heart—especially in full 3D—was quite fun.
But to the artists whose works had all been negated, her words felt like a lifeline.
An overwhelming being had affirmed their art. That alone filled the void in their hearts.
"Stand up. You're not the kind of people who should be kneeling like this."
So Jang Bar couldn't take her outstretched hand.
How could a mere insect grasp the hand of a transcendent being?
"...We cannot."
Instead, he bowed his head low.
As if ready to lick her feet.
"Your humble artist Jang Bar greets the Goddess."
Ten anomalous artists bowed deeply behind him.
"Eh...?"
Baek Eunha alone wore a blank look, unable to grasp the situation.
"'Cognitive Dissonance' dispersal complete. In about five minutes, Management Bureau personnel will lose their grip on reality and fall into mental collapse."
Meanwhile, atop the Management Bureau's ventilation system.
Twenty soldiers in gas masks prepared for the full invasion of the bureau.
Utterly unaware that the anomalous artists meant to draw their aggro had all submitted to Baek Eunha.