Anon (999.1): (Photo of a map with a route marked on it)
└Anon (999.1): Come here.
└Anon (999.1): And don’t let anyone spot you on the way.
└EightSpiderLegs: Yesyesyesyesyes.
“She should be here soon.”
This was the mountain behind my neighborhood.
A place with little foot traffic, where the odds of running into anyone were low.
I sat in a pavilion—not that kind—and waited for EightSpiderLegs.
“Still, I’m a little worried. What if she turns out to be some huge-ass spider monster when I actually meet her?”
Just as I was steeling myself not to scream even after meeting her—
KABOOM!!
“Whoa, that startled me.”
Something fell from the sky with a tremendous crash.
Dust scattered in every direction.
A dark brown mist concealed the figure of whatever had landed.
As time passed, it slowly dispersed, revealing her form.
“Rookie! I’m here!”
“Spider Sis?”
It was EightSpiderLegs.
I waved the dust away with my hand and walked toward her.
“You look human, surprisingly?”
“I came out to meet you, Rookie. If I’d come in my true form, I would’ve had to look way down at you while we talked. Couldn’t have that.”
Her true form, huh.
So did that mean that woman’s body was something she had created?
Sure enough, her appearance was far too beautiful to be nature’s handiwork.
Her hair, falling all the way to her waist, resembled the night sky.
The broad smile on her face made her already lovely features shine even brighter.
Above all, those breasts loosely wrapped in nothing but webbing…
Sssip. I’ll skip that topic.
“Have a seat, EightSpiderLegs…?”
“Just call me Spider Sis. I’m more awkward with formal speech, so talk casually.”
“Sure, sis.”
“Gasp.”
Definitely a big sis.
What a refreshingly straightforward personality.
I returned to the pavilion and took my seat again.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you sitting?”
“Oh, y-yeah! I should sit…!”
Spider Sis sat across from me, but for some reason, her face was a little red.
Had she caught a cold?
Could anomalies even get sick in the first place?
I’d have to give that some serious thought later.
“Ahem! So, what did you need? You didn’t call me out just because you wanted to see my face.”
Spider Sis placed her hands on her knees and asked me.
“Well, that was part of it.”
“…Are you seriously teasing your sis?”
“Almost had you.”
Swipe.
I raised my phone and showed Spider Sis the screen.
“I called you because I’m trying to find this gallery member’s location. I was wondering if you knew anything.”
“Hmm, let’s see…”
Spider Sis studied the screen intently, a finger resting against her lips.
A moment later, she spoke with a short exclamation.
“Huh. No wonder he looked familiar.”
“You know this anomaly?”
“He’s the guy who got a warning from the head mod before. He posted pictures of himself turning various anomalies and humans into meat.”
Spider Sis frowned and tapped the gallery member’s username.
“He didn’t make them to eat?”
“Not at all. We can literally only eat humans. Capturing anomalies was just a sick hobby of his.”
“Holy shit…”
So this guy was even more disgusting than I’d imagined?
I could understand eating people, at least. You had to eat to live.
But he killed anomalies too, all for his own satisfaction.
And turned them into meat?
I’d never planned to let this slide, but now it looked like I really needed to pay him an IRL visit.
“Do you know where he lives?”
“No. But there’s a way.”
Swipe.
Spider Sis closed her eyes and rose from her seat.
She drew in a deep breath, then abruptly opened her eyes wide.
“Puuuuuff…!!”
“?”
She pushed her lips out long, as if she were going in for a kiss.
Then spider silk began flowing out of her mouth.
Carried by the wind, it passed between the trees and flew so far away that its end was nowhere in sight.
“Eoing-eoing-eueng!”
“I have no idea what you’re saying.”
“Ueeng.”
With the web clenched between her teeth, Spider Sis pointed repeatedly into the air.
EightSpiderLegs: Follow this, and you’ll find him.
└Anon (999.1): Oh, I see.
No, that wasn’t something she could say so casually.
If she spat out a thread from her mouth, it would fly straight to some complete stranger?
That tracking ability was insane. Were all the regulars on the Ghost Story Minor Gallery capable of this much?
Anon (999.1): So can we go now?
└EightSpiderLegs: Yep.
└EightSpiderLegs: But why are you talking through the gallery?
└Anon (999.1): It’s fun.
I put my phone in my pocket and thought it over.
If I followed this, I could definitely kill the anomaly.
But was that enough?
He was a lunatic who had killed not only humans but other anomalies too. Wouldn’t simply killing him be too generous?
As thought after thought piled up—
“…Oh?”
A brilliant idea came to me.
“Spider Sis. You said he posted pictures of himself killing gallery members, right?”
“Mm-hm.”
“Let’s do that too.”
“…Mm-hm!?”
An eye for an eye.
A ball for a ball.
I’d pay him back in exactly the same way he’d done it.
(Not that dick.)
[Chat] : Ding-dong~ Open the door~
Author: Anon (999.1)
Yes, it’s been a while.
I’m short on time, so I’ll keep this brief.
(Photo of a butcher shop deep inside a back alley)
(Photo of a woman smiling and making a V sign beside the butcher shop)
The butcher shop in the picture is the habitat of a certain low-intelligence anomaly.
I’m going to kill that low-intelligence anomaly now.
Have a good one.
[Total comments - 10]
CleanlinessKing: ???
└CleanlinessKing: All of a sudden?? Who are you killing???
└Anon (99.3): Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah
└Anon (99.3): Save me save me save me save me save me save me save me
└ProtectJustice: It’s obviously this guy lol.
Doppelganger: But why is there suddenly an IRL raid?
└Doppelganger: Did that guy do something wrong?
└[Author]Anon (999.1): He kidnapped an acquaintance of mine and tried to kill her.
└FenceLover: Ahh…
└LookAtMyEyes: Ahh…
└ElectricalEngineeringNeeded: Come to think of it,
└ElectricalEngineeringNeeded: Isn’t he the guy who got warned by the head mod?
└CleanlinessKing: You’re right? Guess he couldn’t kick the habit. Tsk tsk tsk.
[Chat] : Ding-dong~ I’m coming in~
(Photo of the inside of a butcher shop, with meat strewn everywhere)
(Photo of bloody footprints leading to the kitchen)
So you ran in there?
[Total comments - 3]
DontTurnAround: Tsk, hold on.
└DontTurnAround: This isn’t what I think it is…?
└VaultKeeper: Looks like it is? Hahahahaha.
[Chat] : Ding-dong~ I’m at the reception desk~
[Chat] : Ding-dong~ I’m in front of the kitchen~
[Chat] : Ding-dong~ I’m in front of the slaughterhouse~
[Chat] : Ding-dong~
Author: Anon (999.1)
(Photo of an anomaly hiding in a corner and trembling)
Found you.
**
Meanwhile, at a GS26 convenience store.
Clack, whirr.
“Mm-hm~ Mondays are the best~”
Han Seoa was humming as she arranged the shelves.
She was even wearing earphones, fully enjoying herself.
There was only one reason she was in such high spirits.
Rookie had returned after breaking his long silence.
“Hehe, when he comes to switch shifts at dawn today, I should casually run into him~”
Just as she wore a bright smile, imagining the future—
Ding!
The automatic door opened, and two people entered.
“Boss! I’m here!!”
“Oh, Seoyun?”
Kang Seoyun ran toward Han Seoa like a puppy out for a walk.
And then—
“Hehe, I think this is the first time I’ve seen her this excited.”
“Excuse me, but who are you…”
“I’m Kang Seoyun’s superior at work.”
Yoon Chaewon walked in, lazily fanning herself.
Startle!
Han Seoa’s eyes flew wide open at Chaewon’s words.
“S-Seoyun, you got a job?”
“That’s right! And at quite a major corporation, too!”
It wasn’t a lie.
The Bureau had branches all across the world.
At that scale, it could be called the greatest corporation in the world.
“Eek! That’s amazing!!”
“Hehe, now you won’t need to take my part-time shifts for me anymore, Boss.”
Han Seoa vigorously ruffled Kang Seoyun’s hair.
As she watched Kang Seoyun smile proudly,
Yoon Chaewon lightly patted her back.
“Employee Seoyun. Now isn’t the time for that, is it?”
“Ah, sorry!”
Kang Seoyun took something from her handbag.
Flutter.
“Here, please take this.”
“This is…”
A single sheet of paper with a man’s face printed on it.
Han Seoa recognized that face at once—a face whose only distinctive trait was being handsome.
“Rookie? How do you have a picture of him…?”
It was the face of Rookie, her recently returned part-timer.
“Just as expected, he was hiding here.”
“This is creepy. To think he was this close…”
“Don’t hate it too much. Thanks to that, we found him quickly, didn’t we?”
Click, click.
While the flustered Han Seoa could only stare at the paper,
Yoon Chaewon picked up a pen and paper, approached her, and politely asked,
“Ma’am, what is your relationship with this man?”
“H-He works part-time at our convenience store.”
“How long has he worked here?”
“About three years… But why are you asking me this?”
Han Seoa pressed a hand to her temple and asked her.
It looked like an interrogation to anyone watching.
She was worried that Rookie might have gotten caught up in something bad.
“Ah. Don’t worry. It isn’t anything bad.”
“Then what is this?”
“Hmm, well…”
At her urgent question,
Yoon Chaewon answered with a suspicious smile.
“You could call it a simple job change investigation.”
“…What?”
[Bureau New Employee Recruitment Form]
That was what was written on the paper Yoon Chaewon held.
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