Distorted World: Studio Apartment (5)
I shut the front door, then padded backward on light feet.
If the Distortion Entity on the other side heard my footsteps, things could get ugly.
Once I'd put as much distance as I could between myself and the front door, I looked down at my smartphone and opened my mouth. I kept my voice as low as it would go.
"Everyone. Didn't they say you only run into Distortion Entities every now and then, and only if you're unlucky?"
"...For something that's supposed to be rare, I seem to be running into them pretty easily. I haven't even been in this Distorted World that long."
The last chatter had it right.
No two Distorted Worlds were going to be the same. Every space born from a Distortion Phenomenon got lumped under that one name, but each of them was its own world, running on its own rules. Those rules could even shift from moment to moment. Distorted Worlds were higher-dimensional places that sat outside common sense to begin with.
So in the end, neither internet intel nor Escaper interviews are going to be much help.
I could use them as a rough reference, maybe. Nothing more.
I was turning that over when Ppang-ayeon's message popped up.
"Then this must be a Distorted World with quite a few Distortion Entities in it. Thanks for the info."
I thanked Ppang-ayeon, then reached into the stream settings and made a small change: donation messages would no longer be read aloud.
In a situation like this, where making noise could get me killed, some idiot might still send a donation message. People with no sense — or people who just enjoyed watching someone else's misery — existed everywhere.
"Error, you too. Thanks. You saved my life."
I thanked Error as well. If it hadn't warned me, the thing being chewed up on the other side of that front door right now wouldn't have been a mattress. It would have been me.
"And sorry for doubting you."
I figured I could trust Error a little now. If it had wanted to hurt me, it would have put me in danger a long time ago, one way or another. The fact that it had helped me instead probably meant it really did think of me as a friend.
This was the worst-case assumption, but it was possible some Distorted Worlds had no exit at all.
As I'd said before, the rules of a Distorted World — its laws — were different in every one of them. A world with no way out wouldn't even be strange. So, just in case, I asked Error. If anyone would know, it would be this thing.
"Error. I wanted to ask you something. Is there an exit in this world? Something that leads back to the real one? You don't have to answer if you don't know."
Error answered. Fortunately, there was an exit.
For the record, I had already asked it to type in chat from now on instead of stopping the stream. If it ever had something urgent to say, it could send a donation message. Even with the voice readout off, donation chats still jumped off the screen. And it wouldn't need money to donate — not when it could already mess with the stream itself.
"Yeah. Silver lining, I guess — this Distorted World actually has an exit."
I skimmed the chat, then called Error again.
"Error. Then could you guide me to the exit?"
Hmm. Guiding me all the way there might be too much to ask. It would be a shame, but I'd live. Even if that was impossible, it could still keep warning me about dangerous Distortion Entities. The fact that it had already known where the floor monster was meant there was a good chance it knew where the others were, too.
"No answer yet."
Ten seconds crawled by. Why was it taking so long this time?
I was still wondering when Error's chat finally appeared. Instead of answering my question, it asked one of its own.
Our house?
Since when was this our house. It might be yours, but it sure as hell isn't mine, pal.
...Yeah, probably not the best thing to say out loud.
I had no idea how to answer. It was obvious Error didn't want me to leave. That was the whole reason it had asked. I was still turning over what to say when another message appeared — before I'd even opened my mouth.
It would guide me, so just trust it and move?
Which meant it knew where the exit was — and it wasn't going to stop me from leaving this world.
"For real?"
I was stunned. I hadn't expected much.
Error, you... you were an incredible Distortion Entity all along, weren't you?
"Seriously, thank you, Error."
Alright. From today on, we were best friends.
Of course, if it didn't actually guide me to the exit, I was revoking that.
The viewers poured into chat the second they saw my reaction. I glanced at the messages, then made a casual request.
"Ah, Error. Can you show yourself to the other viewers too? They keep wondering what you're saying, and I'm getting tired of answering for you every time."
So it was possible. It had been hiding on purpose, then. A shy kid, maybe?
"Why not?"
"I'm asking you, Error. My very best friend."
A strangely unnatural string of exclamation marks appeared.
It worked. Error was surprisingly easy to handle.
And just like that, the Distortion Entity Error officially joined my stream as a viewer.
I moved under Error's guidance. First I crossed through the bathroom door into the studio on the other side.
I didn't search the place. Why would I? Error already knew where the exit was.
Error kept pointing out the passages into the other replica studios, too. I didn't have to find them myself the way I had before.
"I've dropped the suspicion completely. For now I'm going to trust it with my life. If it weren't for Error, I'd have already lost that life anyway."
I shoved the mattress aside. Below it, another replica studio came into view. No gravity inversion or anything like that — the floor of this studio was simply the ceiling of the one underneath. In other words, I was basically dropping down to the apartment below.
I eased my lower body in first, then gripped the floor of the current studio and hung there, dangling.
I let go.
"Heave-ho."
I landed on the floor without a scratch. It wasn't high enough to need a break-fall.
And so I came down into a new replica studio. I was turning my head, sweeping the room, when I stopped.
"Huh? What's that?"
A doll sat in the corner. A doll with the exact same face and body as mine.