Distorted World: Studio Apartment (4)
I stood there, staring blankly at my phone.
Every other viewer's messages had evaporated from the chat window. The only thing still appearing on that empty screen was Error.
I assessed the situation as calmly as I could.
Error was probably the cause of this, too. Maybe they'd pulled this stunt just to make their own messages stand out.
"...You actually know how to type a decent chat, huh?"
Every final consonant was spaced out, which made the whole thing look vaguely grotesque — but compared to their previous messages, this almost counted as proper chatting. They were using actual words to say exactly what they meant.
Ah. So they'd been studying.
Guess that was as clean as they could get. Maybe they just hadn't finished learning yet.
Error called me friend.
Since when am I your friend. When did we even meet, you weirdo.
I swallowed the thought before it could leave my mouth. Denying it wouldn't do me any favors. What if they suddenly turned on me?
Not my friend? Then die!
That was a real possibility. We still hadn't confirmed whether they could physically hurt me, so caution was the only sane approach. Maybe they weren't gentle at all. Maybe the only reason they weren't messing with me was because they currently believed I was their friend.
Error's messages stopped.
And then —
Zzzt—
The chat window snapped back to normal.
Chat poured in at a sprint. Skimming the messages, it looked like the stream itself had frozen. Chat had still been working the whole time, though.
"I'm fine. I think Error just wanted a private conversation, so they interfered with the stream."
"Yeah. They typed in actual Korean. Nobody messed with me, so don't worry."
"They said it's dangerous over there because there's a bad friend."
I raised a hand and pointed toward the front door, then made sure the camera caught it too.
"What should I do? Trust Error and skip the front door?"
Was there actually something dangerous over there? Or was it a bluff, like some of the viewers suspected — just a way to keep me from escaping?
No idea.
Well. I'd find out if I checked. There was a way to test it without going over there myself.
I went straight to the fridge, opened it, and pulled out a loaf of bread that had been sitting inside.
"I'm not eating it. I pulled it out so I could throw it into the studio past the front door."
I lined up my aim toward the front door.
Whish! I hurled the bread with everything I had.
The bread sailed through and landed safely on the floor of the studio beyond the door.
And then... nothing happened.
"Everyone. It's still too early to call it a lie."
"There could be a Distortion Entity hiding in there that doesn't react to inanimate objects. Or maybe the bread was too light and too small to trigger a response."
I looked around. Then the mattress caught my eye.
Volume: pass. Weight: decent enough. Not heavy, but not exactly light either. It was a fairly thick mattress, after all.
"Guess we should try that next."
Obviously. I did not have the superhuman strength to hoist a mattress over my head. So I stood it on its side and shoved it, heave by heave, all the way to the front door.
"Hah. That's a workout."
"How is Poppy supposed to do this. Say something that makes sense."
"Isn't that a dog? The name sounds like a small breed."
"..."
Was this person insane. I never should have engaged. I decided to ignore them cleanly and move on.
I put both hands back on the mattress, drew a deep breath, and shoved it toward the studio beyond the door with everything I had. When it was about three-quarters of the way across, I kicked it the rest of the way through.
The mattress slid into the other studio. I edged backward, step by careful step. Something might come lunging out, after all.
I was watching the far side when it happened.
Rrrrrumble—
A vibration started up in the studio beyond the door. Only that floor was shaking.
The shaking grew worse. Then the entire floor heaved —
Sssssplit—
And in a single instant, it tore itself in half.
Along both faces of the split, teeth of every size were packed in countless rows. From the hole below, a long, thin tongue came lashing out.
The studio floor had become a monstrous lifeform in the shape of a giant mouth.
No — not become. It had been camouflaged the whole time, hadn't it?
Either way. The monstrous lifeform — no, the mouth-shaped Distortion Entity — snatched the mattress with that long tongue, dragged it down into the hole, and then —
THUD. THUD. THUD.
It slammed its mouth open and shut with reckless, violent force, chewing the mattress and its own tongue right along with it.
"......So it wasn't a lie."
Right. There was no guarantee that mouth would settle down once it finished digesting the mattress. That long tongue could stretch all the way into my studio.
I approached the front door as quietly as I could, killing every footstep. Then slowly — very, very slowly —
Creeeeak. Thud.
I eased the door shut.