Chapter 3
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: The Bear Doll is Cute
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Sitting on the edge of the bed, I swung my legs back and forth.
There was no meaning to the motion. And I'd never had a habit like this before.
Yet my body just moved that way. As if it had always been natural.
What was this body?
Why had shedding the things I'd swallowed turned me into this?
To begin with.
I wasn't human anymore.
That much was certain. I'd crossed the line long ago, and trimming back what I'd swallowed wouldn't bring me back.
"Hm..."
I had no idea.
There was no one to ask. And brooding over it wouldn't yield any answers.
So I gave up thinking. Just existed without a single thought...
"...Cake."
I wanted cake. With lots of strawberries, if possible.
And I had no reason to hold back.
Snap.
I snapped my fingers.
My vision shifted instantly. To the Bald Man. The Cult Leader's perspective.
He was wandering around a palace-like place, dressed in fancy pajamas.
His posing was pathetic.
So I whispered right at the back of his head.
"Hiiiik!"
The Bald Man screamed and face-planted onto the floor.
I couldn't help but laugh at the sight.
Whatever else, his slapstick was top-tier.
Curiosity or not, without that comedy, I wouldn't have followed him this far. I'd have ended it right there.
"A-Are you the Great One?"
The Bald Man belatedly recognized my voice and asked.
He called me the Great One's daughter to his followers. But to me, it was the Great One.
I considered correcting him but decided it was too much hassle.
Right now, I just wanted cake.
"Ah! Cake! I'll prepare it right away!"
"Y-Yes, yes!"
The Cult Leader didn't even try to stand. He just knelt right there and replied.
With that, I switched my vision back.
Of course, in the corner of my sight, I could still see the Cult Leader glancing around nervously on his knees.
I didn't need to focus to perceive it.
Those shadows were part of me, after all.
But I had no more interest in that side.
"Uung."
So, what to do?
Pull out an Anomaly to play with? Or...
"Bear doll?"
The bear doll was pretty soft and plushy, just like a proper teddy bear.
"...Nah."
No, that wasn't it.
I had zero interest in bear dolls. Never owned one, never wanted one.
Guess it wasn't just my speech that was off.
Was my mind being influenced by this body or something?
Though if that were the case, this body wasn't human anyway.
Serious side effects.
"Sigh."
I let out a sigh and pulled out my phone instead.
When there's nothing to do, the phone's the best.
My mental state had been so wrecked earlier that I'd ignored a bunch of calls, but now I was more or less okay.
The dark mood hadn't vanished cleanly.
But it was bearable compared to before.
So.
Phone first.
"Uung."
But once I turned it on, I had no clue what to do.
I peeked into old communities now and then, but the posts stirred nothing in me.
Hobby stuff, humor, sad stories. Nothing registered.
Felt like skimming posts from a topic I couldn't care less about. At least looking at animals was kinda cute.
How was a squirrel so tiny and adorable?
In that world, anything small was either venomous or trying to crawl inside you.
And they didn't even taste good.
Bzzz-!
As those thoughts crossed my mind, my phone suddenly vibrated.
It was a message.
Probably meant for the original owner, so I planned to delete it unread.
But the content was anything but ordinary.
[Would you believe it if I said there's another world?]
Another world.
"Hwooung."
Eh. No harm in checking the contents.
I tapped the message.
A pop-up revealed the full text.
[If so, take a look. HTTP://DA…]
What the hell was this?
Super suspicious. Just phishing spam, right?
But then I remembered: this wasn't my phone. So what if it was phishing?
Click.
I tapped the link, and a page loaded.
Surprisingly, it wasn't asking for bank details or auto-downloading some shady app.
Just a bulletin board. Where people posted.
And the contents were pretty intriguing.
·Lasted a whole 3 hours this time.
·Fucking slender man dog at Exit 3 station entrance!
·Is behind Hanbit Library really safe? It's fucking red as hell?
·On the Dangers of Window Ghosts
At a glance, it looked like game chatter.
But some titles grabbed my attention instantly.
[Found a tree absolutely dangling with corpses;;;]
[Vibe was off so I noped out hard, be careful guys]
-Idiot? Who gets close to that shit
-Sometimes safe zones hide in fucked-up spots, gotta check
-Looks dangerous af. Thanks for the info.
Like that one.
[Went into some village and creepy fuckers everywhere]
[Looked empty so I entered and suddenly hundreds staring at me from nowhere, heart legit stopped]
-Where at?
-Near Hanbit Library
-Got it, adding to map
Such posts.
"...I've seen this."
The memories hit as soon as I read them.
The tree festooned with corpses like red flowers.
The village packed with creepy things. All from that world.
"Explorer..."
I glanced at the community name again.
Explorers. Probably meant people exploring somewhere.
And the message arriving right when I picked up the phone? Suspiciously perfect timing.
The thing I'd killed had zero ties to urban legends. No eerie aura at all.
Could be mass-spammed like junk mail.
But this board looked clean.
There were crazies, sure, but hardly anyone questioning what the place was for.
Random spam wouldn't be like that.
"Uum."
Interesting.
If these posts really pointed to that world, and they stuck to facts.
One thing was clear.
People here could come and go from that world freely.
I'd wandered endlessly searching for a way home and found nothing.
Yeah.
This world was different somehow.
What created the gap?
I needed to find out.
Chasing that might uncover clues to getting back to my real home.
Knock knock.
That was the Bald Man Cult Leader's voice.
"Come in."
I'd already tossed the phone aside.
Cake came first.
The door opened, and the Cult Leader entered with two women.
Each carried a tray—one with cake, one with black tea.
Strawberry cake that looked mouthwateringly good.
"From a famous bakery. Tastier than yesterday's, for sure."
The Cult Leader grinned nervously and gestured to the women.
They set the trays down on the table with utmost care.
"Oh, and one more thing."
He glanced around, then cleared his throat and signaled outside.
Another woman entered, carrying something huge.
A massive bear doll.
"Bear doll!"
Whoa, this is insanely cute—no, what the fuck?
The exclamation slipped out before I could stop it.
I'd sworn I had no interest in bear dolls.
"D-Does it not please you?"
He must've seen my face twist—the Cult Leader blanched, along with the woman holding the doll.
Fine. The Bald Man aside, those women were innocent.
"No. Set it down here."
"Y-Yes. Anything else you need?"
"Nope."
"Then please enjoy your meal!"
"Ung."
I waved them off without a glance, and they scurried away.
Obvious why they brought the doll. They'd overheard me muttering while bugging the place and rushed to procure one.
I already knew about the surveillance.
They'd brought a terrifying entity here to use, so of course they'd have safety measures.
Just annoying that it was a bear doll.
...But the bear doll itself was innocent.
I dragged it to the bedside—not because I liked it, but because the bed looked too lonely otherwise.
Cake first, anyway.
I shelved probing my own confusing feelings and shoveled in a huge bite.
"Mmm!"
What was this?
Way better than yesterday's.
Best cake I'd ever tasted in my life.
This was bliss.
Two slices weren't enough—I could've gone for three. Should've asked for three from the start.
No, next time I'd have them stockpile it daily so it never ran out.
As I demolished the cake in a daze.
My shadow was still nestled in the Cult Leader's.
It relayed everything he saw, said, heard. All to me.
The man who'd been sweating bullets delivering cake and doll now wore an irritated scowl as he headed underground.
He was alone now.
"Fuck! Schmoozing sucks."
Alone, the Cult Leader spat curses and stomped off somewhere.
"At least she's not eating humans. Phew. Gotta show the next miracle soon."
He soon arrived at a place holding someone captive.
Stepping inside casually, he picked up a whip from the side.
A man inside—gagged and bound hand and foot—writhed at the sight.
The Cult Leader grinned and raised the whip.
His personal stress relief.
I watched it all, even mid-bite.
"Hee hee."
Laughter bubbled up.