This Is Anomaly Girl — 2
I studied the long-haired girl for a moment.
The girl who, strangely enough, had never once appeared in Anomaly Girl's posts.
Had the shot simply missed her by chance? Letting it go that easily felt far too suspicious.
Now that I look again, the angle of the photo is almost the same.
It was exactly the composition you'd get if someone had taken the picture from the spot where that girl was standing. There was no reason to leave only her out of the frame on purpose. This had gone past suspicion and into certainty.
At the very least, that one was an anomaly.
Then, as if she'd felt my gaze, the girl tilted her head and smiled—a smile so pretty it raised the hair on my neck. Was it because I'd realized what she was? Just looking at her sent a chill racing down my spine.
"Hm? Why are you staring like that? Is there something on my face?"
I couldn't bring myself to answer straight, and kept my mouth shut. I was being careful not to let the wrong words slip. I smoothed my expression as best I could.
"Hello? Aren't you going to answer?"
"......Ah. It's—it's nothing."
"Nothing? Then why were you looking?"
"I just thought I'd seen you somewhere before."
"Oh my. Hitting on me, in a situation like this?"
Hitting on her, my ass.
Was she mocking me? I swallowed my irritation and cut the conversation short. I had the faint sense of being laughed at from somewhere, but that wasn't worth my attention. I had something else to think about.
Some time has passed since this started.
If so, hadn't she put up a post by now? I quietly opened the gallery and scrolled through it. Fortunately, just as I'd expected, something new was up.
The post itself did nothing but put me in a foul mood. Still, I'd gotten one thing out of it. That girl was Anomaly Girl—the Juddak of Ghost Story Gallery. No question about it. That certainty would be useful from here on out.
I can't stick with her.
Traveling as a pair, especially, looked dangerous. I left a single comment and closed the gallery.
She was probably getting riled up and hammering out a reply right about now. That wasn't my problem. I ignored it and took a more careful look around.
Yeah. Nothing but forest.
There was no path anywhere, nothing of the sort. Just trees and undergrowth, and the grass came up nearly to my shoulder. Wandering around without a plan was a perfect way to get lost.
"Excuse me?"
Anomaly Girl raised her voice enough to pull every eye to her. Whether she hadn't seen my comment or simply didn't care, she called the others over with a perfectly unbothered face. Still sunk in confusion, every one of them obeyed and drifted toward her.
Once they were all gathered, she spoke in a kindly voice.
"First, shouldn't we introduce ourselves?"
Introductions? Out of nowhere? It was such a leisurely suggestion that everyone but me was thrown. Wasn't this the moment for something practical?
"It's not like there's anything we can do right now. And we can't just wander off anywhere, either. So until something happens, why don't we introduce ourselves? That's all right with everyone, isn't it?"
The whole group glanced around awkwardly and nodded. Only then did Anomaly Girl smile, satisfied, and go on in a bright voice.
"Then I'll go first. My name is Yoo Ari. I'm seventeen, a high school student. My hobby is watching horror movies. Please take good care of me."
An introduction so cheerful and bright it didn't belong in this situation at all.
Yoo Ari, huh.
Probably not her real name. Did an anomaly even have a name to begin with? I just kept my eyes on the girl. Finished with her introduction, Yoo Ari—Anomaly Girl—went on, smiling sunnily.
"I know. I know how scary this is. But that's exactly why we should stay positive, don't you think? Let's lighten the mood."
There was something strangely alluring in that innocent voice. As if it might bewitch you.
"Ha, she's right!"
The man who'd spoken to me so roughly earlier stepped forward.
"If even a student can smile, shouldn't I be smiling too? So the next introduction is mine! I'm Kang Joohyuk. Twenty-eight—almost thirty. I work as a fitness trainer, so if you ever need muscle, just leave it to me."
His booming voice planted itself firmly in my ear. Starting with him, the introductions rolled on as if they were the most natural thing in the world, meshing and turning like gears, as if someone had written the script in advance.
First, a girl who looked as if she'd only just become a middle schooler stepped up.
"I-I'm Lee Nari. I-I'm fourteen! Please look after me!"
After that rather cute introduction came a more mature woman's.
"I'm Park Jihye. Twenty-four. Just an ordinary office worker."
The next one was just as quick. A young man who looked a little younger than me stepped out, tattoos plastered over his body and a strangely eye-catching watch on his wrist.
"I'm Baek Kigon. Twenty. Aspiring rapper."
True to the aspiring-rapper bit, he swaggered in a full circle and returned to his spot. After him came a man in his forties.
"I'm Choi Jiwook. Just into my early forties. I work at a company. Please look after me."
Then, smooth as water, my turn arrived—and in that instant a wrongness cold enough to pierce my spine ran through me.
But why do these introductions feel so artificial?
Why were they chaining together like this? Because Yoo Ari told them to? I could understand that much, but why was it so stiff? As if they were acting.
Did she do something.
Just a guess, but it seemed like Yoo Ari had done something. The whole situation felt like she was deliberately trying to pull our information out of us. I couldn't just let the current carry me. At the very least, I had to hide my own.
......Not that there's much I can do.
I didn't want things to go the way she intended. But if I refused to introduce myself, I'd leave a bad impression on the others, and if we had to cooperate later, I'd be the one at a disadvantage. Ignoring it wasn't an option.
That didn't mean I was going to just stand there. If I couldn't stop it, there was only one thing to do. I drew a short breath and opened my mouth.
"......Lee Jun. Twenty. Please look after me."
And with that, the introduction was over. Name and age, stated plain. Of course, mine wasn't a normal introduction.
Better to hide it for now.
I'd deliberately lied through the whole thing. My real name, even my age—all of it made up. The name, especially, belonged to the protagonist of a web novel I'd read once; it had popped into my head, and I'd blurted it out. I couldn't reveal my information to that anomaly, of all people. This much ought to serve as the bare minimum of insurance. Of course, I could be wrong.
The moment the introductions ended, Yoo Ari opened her mouth as if she'd been waiting.
"Mm, so now that we've all exchanged names...... what should we do? Does anyone have any ideas?"
No one could answer her. Of course they couldn't. No one here knew what actually needed to be done, so they all just stayed quiet. As if she knew that, Yoo Ari continued.
"You know that flyer we got? I have a feeling the next part will be given to us somewhere. So maybe we should all just stay here and wait for the next instruction. If we move carelessly, it could get dangerous."
The suggestion was reasonable enough. Moving through a place you'd never seen before really was dangerous, and more than that, nothing here posed any great threat. No one would want to leave a safe spot without a reason. Everyone had no choice but to agree.
Which was exactly why I had to be suspicious.
Why is she trying so hard to lead people right now?
From the suggestion to introduce ourselves, all the way to telling us to wait quietly—I could see her subtly steering everyone, again and again, as if she meant to become the leader of this group. That was a serious threat.
If I just follow along, this is going to go very wrong.
Not right this second. But the moment she led us somewhere dangerous later, we could die on the spot. If everyone only followed Yoo Ari's orders, things would unfold exactly the way she wanted. That situation could never be allowed. I had to prepare somehow.
Then.
I drew a breath I didn't really need.
I step up myself.
I had to refuse Yoo Ari's orders and stop her from becoming the group's leader. And the only person who could do that was me—the one who knew she was an anomaly.
Damn it.
I hate stepping out in front of people. I hate taking responsibility even more; left to myself, I'd just quietly go along with whatever everyone else said. But if I did that, I'd die. If I wanted to survive, I had to do it whether I liked it or not.
Turning that over, I opened my mouth.
"Hold on. Isn't just staying put like this actually more dangerous?"
Yoo Ari looked startled, as if she'd never imagined anyone would speak up. Eyes wide, she turned toward me.
"What? Why would it be dangerous?"
"The person who kidnapped us is the one who dumped us here, isn't he? And you want us to just sit still until he shows up? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? We cannot stay here."
Yoo Ari listened in silence, her eyes narrowing. The smile that had been lifted at the corners of her mouth came down—the look of someone searching for something.
"......Then what?"
"We should move. Obviously."
"And if we get lost while we're moving?"
"We don't even know where this is. What problem is getting lost going to be?"
As I said it, I looked toward the others. Talking only to Yoo Ari wasn't going to persuade anyone. From here on, the people I needed to convince weren't Yoo Ari—they were the other humans.
"Think about it, everyone. Someone who can kidnap us this suddenly—you think they don't have a weapon? Frankly, if they've got a gun, we're finished. We have to get away from that kidnapper."
I steadied my breath.
"Staying still is the more dangerous option. Let's move."