Farewell, Dear Patron
Section Chief Lee couldn't comprehend the situation.
Just moments ago, he had lost his very existence to that girl. His ears had gone deaf, his vision blacked out, and his nostrils clogged shut—like stepping into a decompression chamber under high pressure. It was unmistakably the sensation of oblivion.
Yet when he opened his eyes, he was in the middle of the universe, sucked into some building hurtling at lightspeed, collapsing right before the very girl who had tried to erase him.
"Wha... how..."
The girl was quietly prodding Section Chief Lee's side with the tip of her quill pen, as if testing whether he was truly alive.
Section Chief Lee quickly scanned his surroundings. Was the White Mother here too, having returned through the same process? But that distinctive elongated, ghostly pale body was nowhere in sight.
One might think he should be wary of the girl before him, who had tried to eliminate him. But Section Chief Lee thought differently.
A great ocean was less an enemy to humans than the great white shark within it. Could anyone truly call the ocean itself hostile?
The girl was like that ocean.
But at the same time, he was curious. About everything.
"Are you alive?"
Her soft, clear voice echoed then—a more human tone, laced with faint emotion, unlike when she had dealt with Section Chief Lee's team and the White Mother before.
"...Are you speaking to me?"
The being before him now seemed less the Librarian girl and more the girl Librarian.
So Section Chief Lee cautiously asked back.
The girl nodded with an impassive expression.
"Looks like it worked, fortunately."
"...?"
"I don't know if you'll visit the library again, but if you do, please follow the library rules."
At her words, Section Chief Lee felt a momentary surge of injustice. But he had no choice except to accept it.
Rules were, in a way, an anomaly that prioritized results.
To this library and the girl, the fact that Section Chief Lee had been gravely wounded by the White Mother was irrelevant. What mattered was that the gravely wounded Section Chief Lee had collapsed, soiling books and making noise.
Thus, he had received the same punishment as the White Mother: erasure of existence.
But that's precisely why Section Chief Lee was curious.
From the circumstances, it was clear the girl who had erased him had also revived him.
Why?
But... he couldn't ask.
The wisest course was simply to thank her whim and escape this place quickly.
How could a mere human question the whims of a god?
Soon, the girl rose slowly from her squat.
"Farewell, dear patron."
With that, she snapped her fingers.
A tremendous force instantly began dragging Section Chief Lee away.
"Wh-whoa!!"
Just like when he'd been pulled in from the universe, he was sucked out through the entrance in a flash.
And the moment he exited that portal, Section Chief Lee experienced something no human could easily endure.
Faster than light, hurtling past clusters of galaxies billions of light-years away, entering the Milky Way, the solar system, past Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Moon...
And arriving on Earth, tumbling down the stairs of Goru Bookstore, the very place he'd entered.
Thud thud thud!
Unable to control that speed with a human body, tumbling down the narrow stairs was par for the course.
Finally regaining his senses, Section Chief Lee crawled up the stairs on hands and feet, groaning, and opened the door. Inside was just a dusty old bookstore.
"What am I, a kid...? Could've gone easy on me."
His whole body aching, Section Chief Lee slumped on the stairs with a sigh.
Of course, compared to his White Mother wounds, a full-body ache was preferable. In reviving him, the girl had healed all his injuries.
Having suffered a profound reality check through the ordeal, Section Chief Lee rummaged through his inner pocket.
But aside from the glistening White Mother saliva, it was empty.
"Cigarettes... cigarettes... Damn that White Mother bitch."
In the end, without even mental healing, Section Chief Lee hauled his heavy body up.
No sounds from the surroundings meant the Anomaly Management Bureau support team had already left.
Which meant... the other two had returned safely.
"Heh heh, can't wait to see their faces."
Working at the Bureau for so long, he'd discovered this odd pleasure: appearing hale and hearty before colleagues who thought you dead.
Especially Seo Yun-ah, the newbie in Team 3... she'd probably be a mess of tears and snot.
Thinking of that eased his cigarette cravings bit by bit.
"Nearest connected door... what? 5km? These pioneering team bastards don't do shit right...?"
Unable to hail a cab at dawn, Section Chief Lee walked the 5km and successfully clocked out.
* * *
Debate Topic: Was it the right judgment to restore and revive the existence of the human male who violated the rules?
I was in the midst of a heated debate with the books.
The subject was the middle-aged man who had just left the library.
Since it was beyond my sole judgment, I'd gathered several books as panelists.
Flap. Flap. Flap. Flap.
They seemed thrilled by this new playtime, participating eagerly.
"No, a debate needs two sides by definition... If you're all agreeing with me, it's not a debate...!"
But since they were all siding with me—insisting it was the right call—I'd forced a few to take the opposing view.
"Ahem. To kick off the first debate, the reason I saved that man was..."
Flap flap!
"Oh, self-introductions...? We're all acquainted, do we really...?"
Flap!
"Fine, fine. I am the librarian managing this Shinbi Library, ■■■."
Flap! Flap flap! Clap clap! Tap tap!
"Thank you for the enthusiastic applause. Now, to start the debate and explain why I saved him..."
Of the four patrons this visit, half—two—had broken the rules.
One was an ordinary middle-aged human male, the other a ghostly pale, elongated monster.
The common violation: soiling the books.
Even now, two books on my desk—one spat on, one bloodied—were wailing or flapping in fury.
And the middle-aged man had also made noise, to boot.
In a way, his crime was graver.
But of the two I'd struck through to delete their existences, I'd only revived the human.
The monster's name still bore its strikethrough.
The reason I'd saved the man? I sensed some connection between them.
More precisely, a difference in state.
"I figured the man broke the rules because of that other monster."
Having been human myself, I knew well: people don't just bleed under normal circumstances.
But that man had entered bleeding from the face.
"'Grandmother' taught me to exclude causes, but... since they were first-time patrons, I wanted to cut some slack."
Flap. Flap. Flaaap.
"Yeah, exactly. Sometimes cause matters more than result. Without that monster, the man wouldn't have broken any rules. Then half our first patrons wouldn't have violated them... Right, right. That's why."
Flap. Flap. Swish. Swipe.
I tried steering the debate further, but with the opposition books cheering agreement, our brief playtime ended quickly.
The real reason I'd consulted them? They'd dwelled here far longer than I.
I managed them, but didn't rule them.
I aimed for symbiosis, considering their feelings as much as possible.
"Anyway... for the two soiled books: first, you with the saliva."
[Inorganic Parasite Biology B]
"I'll give you that guy as-is."
I eyed the ancient tome's memo of the monster's name: White Mother, struck through.
I rubbed it out with an eraser.
Thud...
Somewhere in the library, something collided.
-S-S-Section Chieeeef!
-Scaaaaryyy!
"You can eat it."
Then [Inorganic Parasite Biology B], as if it'd never cried, flapped its pages and flew from the stacks.
The watching books seemed envious, but rules were rules.
"Total disposal of the soiler is the book's prerogative. Bear with it."
Flap. Creak. Grind. Craaash!
-S-Save meee!!
-Squeeeeal!!
Sounds of screeching brakes, human screams, collisions overlapped as one being was devoured.
Ignoring the din, I turned to the blood-soaked, angry book.
[196,656 Ways to Make Warm Home-Cooked Meals for Your Wife.]
The one I'd recommended to the man.
I inspected it carefully and reached a verdict.
"I'll suck it clean for you."
Fwump!! Flap! Flap!
My declaration brought joy from the furious book, envy from the others.
"Hey now, this one's pages were heavily soiled—that's why. Ah, nooo! Don't go getting yourself muddied just to...!"
I soothed the books plotting absurd ideas, picked up the bloody one, and headed to the inner room.
There, with professional tools and running water, I carefully began sucking it clean.
"I'll be as gentle as possible—no tearing."
Splash.
The wet book replied affirmatively.
Having emotions really made the books more endearing.
And so, another ordinary day passed in the library.