Anomaly: Deep Warehouse #5
Lee Cheol-won had learned a thing or two in his ten years at the Anomaly Management Bureau. One of them was that human intuition was far more helpful than one might think. A prickling chill. An emptiness. A coldness. Why now? Suddenly, that same sensation from the day he'd become lost in the universe was resurfacing.
He glanced around, but there was nothing. Why was this unwelcome feeling blooming again?
"Hoo. Hoo."
"Sir, are you okay?"
"No. I'm not."
"Pardon?"
"...We need to get out of this space. Fast. My gut's screaming at me."
He didn't know exactly where the feeling came from, but it seemed wise to hurry out of this Deep Warehouse. There was no reason. His intuition was just telling him to. And Lee Cheol-won, who had saved his life more than once thanks to that gut, wanted to bolt right then and there.
"Understood."
Lee Kyung-seong felt a flicker of puzzlement at his superior's words but nodded obediently soon enough. With injured team members in tow, they needed to head outside anyway, at least once.
The two exchanged signals and burst out from behind the equipment racks.
But something was off.
"Sir."
"...Fuck."
There wasn't a single ball-person in sight. Not one of the swarms of ball-people that had been shattered into pieces earlier. It was as if the sea had receded from the beach just before a tsunami—nothing like a ball anywhere around them.
A blatant anomaly.
Alarms blared in Lee Cheol-won's head. But he immediately fired a couple shots into the empty air.
Bang! Bang!
Then...
...Bang! Bang!
"It's the other team members!"
"They're alive. I don't know what's going on, but let's regroup now!"
The space that had been hostile to them just moments ago had gone eerily quiet. He had no idea why, but this was their chance. Soon, Lee Cheol-won's team reunited with the two injured members battered by the ball-people.
They returned to the previous equipment racks and retrieved the fainted elementary school students. They even found the entrance they'd come through—but there was a problem.
"Where's Agent Kim Seo-young?!"
"She's not here!"
Kim Seo-young, who should have been waiting right by the entrance, was nowhere to be seen. If she'd retreated early due to some situation, that would be fine... but the issue was the splatters of blood nearby.
"...Damn it."
"Sir."
"...Agent Lee Kyung-seong. Take everyone back to headquarters. Request a follow-up team. I'll go look for Agent Kim Seo-young."
"What? But..."
"If this space had stayed hostile, maybe not—but in this eerie quiet, it feels like we have a shot at saving her. So get out of here, now!"
"Got it. We'll get back as fast as we can."
The three team members, supporting the two elementary students and the severely injured, slipped out through the entrance. As the six of them left, the interior plunged into silence in an instant.
"...I'm insane."
In the past, he might have just left a team member behind, no matter what. But perhaps because he felt a twinge of guilt toward Seo Yun-ah, the former rookie, it wasn't so easy to abandon her colleague. In the end, Lee Cheol-won turned his back on the entrance and began tracking what he assumed were Kim Seo-young's bloodstains.
Crossing several zones, Lee Cheol-won followed the trail of her blood deeper in. Even then, the balls that had carpeted the floor were nowhere to be seen.
Where the hell did you go, Agent Kim Seo-young?
Wasn't this insubordination? He'd drag her back alive to headquarters and make her write a formal apology. Muttering to himself like that, Lee Cheol-won tried to ignore the strange chill wrapping around his body. That sensation still pressed heavily on his intuition.
The atmosphere of this "deep space" was unsettling enough, but it paled compared to the feeling of existence erasure.
As he pressed on, Lee Cheol-won began to hear bustling noises. At the same time, Kim Seo-young's bloodstains grew fresher and more vivid.
"..."
Click.
Before advancing, Lee Cheol-won scanned the nearby equipment racks for cover. If he used them right, he could slip past without drawing attention.
Crossing a few more zones like that, he spotted Kim Seo-young collapsed on the ground. Blood streamed from a heavy blow to her head. At that level of injury... even immediate treatment might leave severe aftereffects. He needed to get her out now—but the problem was she wasn't alone.
A girl stood in front of her. He couldn't quite read the expression on the girl in the pure white dress. An anomalous entity.
...The last missing person?
As expected. In a way, this anomalous entity might even be the cause of the Deep Warehouse. And her standing before Kim Seo-young suggested a connection to the "sacrifice" the elementary students had gasped about before dying.
"Can't let that happen."
As her superior, he couldn't just stand by and watch a subordinate become a sacrifice. With that, Lee Cheol-won pulled a flashbang from his bag and hurled it at the girl.
Boom!Weeeeee—
The moment it hit directly, he dashed out, hoisting Kim Seo-young onto his back.
"Wh-who are you?!"
"Her boss!"
"That's my sacrificeeeee!!"
"Ngh!"
The girl shielded her eyes with both hands from the flashbang, yet charged at Lee Cheol-won, her white dress fluttering. No visible weapon, but an intensely ominous aura emanated from her.
Then, the girl pulled something from her bosom. A single physical education textbook.
Lee Cheol-won instantly knew it was the source of the dread.
...It's become a grimoire!
The textbook's cover depicted humans with limbs torn off and skin flayed, diligently engaged in sports. The inner pages were stained red, dripping blood. A blatant grimoire.
The Bureau called books containing irreverent, perverse content—like this—grimoires. Come to think of it, he'd sensed a few similar auras in that Shinbi Library. Faint, but they apparently handled grimoires there too.
Anyway, the girl was dangerous, but that physical education textbook was the real threat.
As if agreeing with his assessment, the book flipped open, spewing blood fountains and several chunks of human corpses.
Splat. Splat.
With the sound of moist meat hitting the ground, the corpse chunks writhed, merging into skinned human forms. Not perfect humans—more like parts hacked from multiple bodies forcibly stitched together.
The skinned corpses clenched and unclenched their fists, checking their state, then charged at Lee Cheol-won.
"Ngh!"
Setting Kim Seo-young down momentarily, Lee Cheol-won barely dodged the corpse's punch. On closer look, it wasn't mindless—it assumed a proper boxing stance, bobbing lightly as it glared at him.
Does the physical education textbook cover boxing too?!
But if it was just hand-to-hand, Lee Cheol-won had his own expertise.
Shing.
He drew a dagger from his bosom, gripping it reverse, and took his stance. Field agents at the Anomaly Management Bureau were required to train in martial arts and weaponry, of course. And Lee Cheol-won excelled in dagger techniques.
Slash!
Dodging another punch, he severed the corpse's arm. But the problem was it continued attacking unfazed.
And that wasn't all.
"Mister, come play with us too! This warehouse is cozy and perfect for dodging the teachers' eyes!"
"Ngh...!"
As the girl muttered and approached, a splitting headache began.
"The art room and music room have lots of friends too! I have the music and art textbooks ready, but seeing your athleticism, your corpse goes in the physical education one!"
With that, she summoned another corpse from the textbook. Now two opponents, plus the girl's mental attacks—Lee Cheol-won was struggling to hold on.
Just a bit longer, and the follow-up team will arrive...!
By now, his team had surely contacted headquarters from the entrance. The follow-up team would race here. So he just needed to endure a little more. Then both he and Agent Kim Seo-young could make it.
But the corpses' martial prowess was too refined, and the mental assaults too overpowering.
Thwack!
"Guh...!"
Finally taking a vital hit, Lee Cheol-won collapsed.
As if waiting somewhere, balls began rolling in from all directions, surrounding the fallen man and Kim Seo-young.
Ngh...!
"Now, let's all become one."
The girl reached out—and nothing happened.
"Huh?"
"You're here."
Clack. Clack.
"Wh-who... the hell...?"
The poor girl began to tremble.
"N-nooo. I don't wanna shake...!"
She said that, but terror gripped her from below, making her quake uncontrollably. With each approaching step, she stumbled, her stance crumbling.
"Eek, eek, eek."
The girl whimpered, glancing at her friend, the physical education textbook—but it had shut tight long ago.
"Ah, ah."
Like a broken toy, she smiled up at the approaching figure. Black bob hair to the shoulders, neat attire, beige cardigan. Sneakers clacking, ancient tome clutched to her chest. Standing before the kneeling girl was someone who didn't belong in this space.
Lee Cheol-won had been staring blankly at her presence from moments ago. Now he understood why his intuition had screamed so violently.
He had no choice but to know.
The Librarian. The librarian of the Shinbi Library. The girl who had erased his existence in an instant... and then revived him. She had descended upon this place.