Shutter Down
"So you're telling me one of those doors is the way out?"
"Kiiiek!"
"But you don't know which one?"
"Kiiieeek!!"
"......"
I almost smacked the back of its head, but held myself back.
Right. That's exactly why it's a low-intelligence anomaly. If it actually knew where the exit was, it would've bolted out ages ago and been out there tearing people apart.
Just in case, I asked the Backrooms.
"Hey Backrooms, do you know which one's the exit?"
「......」
Thump. An energy bar dropped from the ceiling.
Okay. So that's a no.
I tore into the energy bar and crouched down to observe the endless sea of doors.
"Let me ask first — the exit door doesn't glow or anything, right?"
「A L L T H E S A M E」
"So there's no choice but to open them one by one, huh."
I got to my feet and stood in front of the door dead ahead.
Creeeeeak. After a small, steadying breath, I turned the handle and peered inside — and the instant I did—
"......Eheheheh?? And who might you—"
"Yeah, that's enough."
BANG!!
I had glimpsed a grandfather figure drenched head to toe in blood, grinning at me, and I slammed the door shut with the reflexes of a decorated soldier.
「W H O A」
"Different anomaly in that one, huh. That's a real game over."
The situation was genuinely dire.
Everything that had kept me alive up until now was pure luck.
Thanks to the Backrooms, my Recognition had been inflated sky-high and I'd been mistaken for some primordial monster of an entity. Thanks to the Backrooms, I had food and hadn't starved to death. Thanks to the Backrooms, the Wire Anomaly hadn't escaped.
"......I really owe the Backrooms a lot. Seriously, thank you."
「Y E S ?」
Anyway. The point is: Kim Goeboong had accomplished exactly none of it himself.
I'm no anomaly. I'm just a human. A perfectly ordinary human who's good at writing and good at watching scary things.
The anomalies on the other side of those doors would probably try to kill me the second they laid eyes on me.
The raw power to take on the hundreds of entities lurking beyond those doors? I don't have it. I'd be ground meat in three seconds flat.
"Backrooms, can you attack what's inside from out here?"
「I M P O S S I B L E」
"Thanks for the answer."
To find the exit, I had to open doors — and opening doors meant wrestling whatever came out. As I was racking my brain over what to do—
"Oh."
「O H」
"......Grrrk?"
A sturdy body. Obedient and well-trained. And above all, someone who could take the danger in my place.
"Wire Anomaly Goeboong-i! You're the chosen one!"
"G-gigi-gik??"
"Mmhm. Wire-wire."
Goeboong-i had caught my eye.
Crunch, crunch!
"Backrooms. Any chance you can make something besides energy bars?"
「A L M O N D W A T E R」
"......Thanks for the answer."
I lamented my lot in life while tearing into my hundredth-season energy bar.
People really are shameless creatures. The moment life gets a little more comfortable, we start demanding other food. Wasn't I full just now? I absolutely was.
As I was giving my foolish stomach a good talking-to—
KWAANG!
"Oh, you're back."
"Grrrk......"
"Judging by the reaction, that wasn't the exit either."
Goeboong-i kicked the door open and marched out — covered, in every last corner of its wire body, in a green liquid.
I walked over and shook the stuff off it. The way it clung stickily to every inch of my hands didn't feel great.
"What is this? The texture's kind of gross."
"Kiik?"
Eh, whatever. Bet it popped a Gatorade bottle or something in there.
"Stop squirming. If you're done with your hello, get to the next door."
「H U R R Y」
"Even if you run into a human or another anomaly, don't fight. Got it?"
"Grrrk!!"
Goeboong-i let out a spirited metallic clang and bounded toward the next door, wearing the bright, innocent smile only a low-intelligence anomaly could — no mouth, technically, but you know. That was the general vibe.
BANG!
Just as I was seeing Goeboong-i off into the next room—
「B U T」
"Hm?"
「T O O S L O W」
The Backrooms pointed out a flaw in my strategy.
"Hmm. So you're feeling it too."
「I N E F F I C I E N T」
Inefficient. That word hit the nail square on the head.
Rough headcount said there were still thousands of doors left, but Goeboong-i took a full hour to clear each room.
"It does take a while. Probably because I told it to avoid fights at all costs?"
Meaning: even if I repeated this routine for a month straight, there was no guarantee I'd ever find the exit.
Finding a needle in a haystack, literally. About the same difficulty as finding a shred of humanity in Hitler.
"Okay, so how do I handle this? It's not like I can split Goeboong-i into a dozen copies."
...Or could I? Its body is wire. Cut it, and wouldn't it just divide?
If that doesn't work, I'll have to ask Gyoboong-i for a decent item or two. Might as well catch up and see its face while I'm at it.
"Come to think of it, Gyoboong-i hasn't dropped by lately. How lonely."
「I ' M H E R E」
"I can't have a proper conversation with you, though. You're not exactly a person-shaped presence."
「......」
"But I appreciate the sentiment. Without you, I'd have lost my mind ages ago."
「Y O U ' R E W E L C O M E」
I was chatting away with the Backrooms when—
DOOM-KWAAANG!!
A door burst open in dramatic fashion, and Goeboong-i came flying out of it, slamming straight into the wall.
「!?」
"G-Goeboong-i!?"
"Chiiiik......!!"
I rushed over in a panic to check on it.
Goeboong-i was hissing out steam, wracked with pain. Gashes scored its body here and there, and some of the wires dangled loose, one breath away from snapping.
I was scrambling around wondering if I should fetch a bandage when—
"Sssss......"
With an eerie hiss, Goeboong-i's body slowly began to repair itself. The gashes faded, and the frayed wires knit together like fresh skin growing over a wound.
"Hey, you okay?"
"Krrrk!!"
「L O O K S F I N E」
Goeboong-i was back to full spirits, as if nothing had happened.
Major injuries healed in seconds — is this just standard-issue for anomalies? Or maybe Goeboong-i is special even among them.
"Glad you're okay, but...... next expedition's going to have to wait."
"Grk?"
"Because. I can't send you out like that."
It hadn't made a full recovery, after all. There were still afterimages of the wounds, and above all, that arm was hanging loose.
Door exploration would have to be postponed until it healed.
"Zzing! Ziiiiiing!!"
"What? Why are you whining......"
Just then Goeboong-i started hopping up and down, pointing at something.
I turned my head on reflex — and had no choice but to doubt my own eyes.
"......A Goeboong-i family?"
A cluster of wire anomalies, each one a dead ringer for Goeboong-i, was peeking out and staring at us.
"Krrrk!"
"No way. You're telling me to use those guys instead of you?"
"Kigegegek!!"
"Come on, even for you that's a bit......"
......Actually, that's fine?
"Backrooms. Lower the shutters behind them."
「O K」