"What is this...? This is so out of nowhere, I don’t even know what to say."
A hot spring had burst forth beneath the house.
No, not the house—the Backrooms.
And it was not a hot spring, either. A swimming pool had appeared.
Nothing about that was right, you ask?
That’s right.
It was simply an absurd situation.
「You’re here」
"...Backrooms?"
Just as I stood there blankly peering into the rift, words from the Backrooms appeared on the wall beside me.
Right. The Backrooms was the only one capable of doing something like this.
"What did you do while I was gone?"
「Removed intruders」
"By intruders, you mean...?"
「Will explain in detail」
After that, I sat by the rift and listened to the Backrooms explain what had happened.
"So, two Bureau agents invaded this place."
「Yep」
"The Goe Bung stepped in, but every last one of them got knocked out."
「Yep」
"And they were trying to head into my room, so you put them in there?"
「That’s right」
Now I understood.
That was why the Backrooms Summoning Ticket had been vibrating.
I messed up. I should have stopped by the Backrooms before the welcome party.
No, then would the Backrooms have killed the agents trying to protect me?
That was entirely possible.
It was the kind of kid who interpreted me telling it to clear something out of my sight as an order to make dalgona candy.
"Still, it’s pretty impressive that they beat all the Goe Bung. They must be quite strong."
「...Are they people?」
"You said they were Bureau agents, so they have to be people."
It was not as though anomalies could have infiltrated the Bureau while pretending to be agents.
Swish.
I headed for the storage room full of odds and ends.
I needed defensive weapons and armor—the things I had used when tackling the Backrooms before.
「Are you going down?」
"Yeah. If they’re people, I should at least hear what happened."
Clatter!
I answered as I put on a black operative helmet.
No matter how much they were intruders...
Well, even calling them intruders was questionable.
What else was the Bureau supposed to do if not tackle ghost stories?
In any case, it was only right to save people if they could be saved.
"I’d feel bad just leaving it alone, knowing someone might die in my home."
「Your home?」
"It’s basically my home now. I once survived here for several months."
「...Yeah. Your home.」
Leaving behind the Backrooms, whose response had for some reason come a little late,
I grabbed several daggers and trudged back to the rift.
"Backrooms, your abilities don’t work in there, right?"
「That’s right」
"Just as I thought, it’s the next level... This is going to be a pain."
The Backrooms consisted of thousands of dimensions—levels, in other words.
The place I was standing in now was Level 0.
If you escaped from here, you moved to the next level; if you escaped that one, you went to the level after that.
Normally, I would have had to follow those rules and wander through countless levels as well.
Returning to reality had been sheer luck.
"What am I supposed to do about this? It’ll be hard even getting down there, then."
「But」
"Yeah?"
「How do you know?」
As I stared at the rift with a grim expression, the Backrooms asked me a strange question.
"How do I know what?"
「My ability」
「Doesn’t reach in there」
Swoosh.
An arm emerging from the wall pointed into the rift.
Come to think of it, that was strange.
How did I know the extent of its abilities?
What did that have to do with the next level?
"...It was just a guess. If your ability reached in there, you would have dragged them out yourself."
「I see」
I brushed off the Backrooms’ question for now.
Rescuing the agents was more important at the moment.
"Just drive a pillar into that place. You can do at least that much, right?"
「Confirmed」
As I spoke, pointing into the rift—
Screeeech.
With an unpleasant tearing sound, a slender pillar was pulled out of the ceiling.
The pillar soon separated completely from the ceiling,
Kraaaash!!
and pierced straight through the swimming pool’s marble floor.
"Good. It’s lodged in nice and firm."
「It went in deep? Ugh.」
"...Where did you learn to say things like that?"
After lightly kicking the floor to scold the Backrooms,
I gripped the pillar with both hands and prepared to climb down.
"I’ll be back. If I really can’t find them, I’ll come right back, so don’t worry too much."
「Be careful」
"Yeah."
Sliiide...
Leaving the Backrooms’ farewell behind, I climbed down beneath the pillar.
I would look as thoroughly as I could, at least.
But if there was not even a trace of them, I intended to give up.
I’m only saving them because it’s the decent thing to do. They’re basically trespassers, after all.
I did not need to throw my life away rescuing them.
Unless I was the one who had traumatized them in the first place.
Wasn’t that right?
「...Oh, right」
「Those spiders」
**
[Chatter] Found themfoundthemfoundthem!!!
Author: MadamRabbit
(A photo of white strands cutting through empty air)
@EightSpiderLegs
This is your web, right???
Wow, what a reliefㅠㅠㅠㅠㅜㅠㅠ
I was wondering if I would have no choice but to call the mod,
but I’ll catch up with you soon, so wait right there!!
[Total comments: 14]
YoungIsBest: Come to think of it, why didn’t you call the mod?
└ KingLizard: Calling the mod is scary as hell, lol.
└ ImmortalDoctor: It’s kind of like when the newcomers first showed up.
└ ImmortalDoctor: You get fucking scared to bother them for no reason...
└ VaultKeeper: If you mess with the mod, they really come after you in real life, lol.
EightSpiderLegs: You found them? Then why doesn’t it feel like anything’s caught—
└ EightSpiderLegs: Wait.
└ EightSpiderLegs: Fuck, don’t follow that.
└ [Author] MadamRabbit: Why??
└ EightSpiderLegs: That isn’t my web. Check whether it’s sticky.
└ [Author] MadamRabbit: Oh, it really isn’t sticky.
└ [Author] MadamRabbit: Then what is this?
EightSpiderLegs: I think there’s another spider here besides me.
└ EightSpiderLegs: It’s dangerous if you touch more than three strands, so stay right where you are.
**
The Backrooms Swimming Pool.
The Backpool, for short, was eerie in a word.
The lights seemed to give off light and not give off light at the same time, their color utterly ambiguous.
Dark, deep sky-blue water had pooled in places all around.
And there was even the gentle sound of trickling water.
I could suddenly feel it all over again.
I was inside a ghost story.
Splash, splash.
It doesn’t seem like there are any living things, either. The problem is, I can’t see any people.
I muttered as I walked over the damp marble floor.
There was nothing visible right in front of me.
Nothing besides the unsettling pools of water and the faded lighting.
Should I try shouting? No, that would draw anomalies in too.
I almost called out loud, but stopped myself.
There had been Goe Bung even in the Backrooms proper, so there was no guarantee that the Backpool would be free of anomalies.
And even less of a guarantee that those anomalies would be friendly.
...But come to think of it, isn’t this strange? If they’re Bureau agents, can’t they just press that escape button?
As I picked my way on tiptoe between the pools—
Bzzzt!
"Whoa, that startled me. What was that just now?"
I stopped at the sensation of something tugging on my helmet.
Only when I looked carefully again did I notice the thread.
A white thread, gleaming from the reflected light, hung in front of me.
"A spiderweb? The Backrooms isn’t maintained, so I guess that can happen."
I did not think much of it at first.
This was the Backrooms.
There were no cleaners, let alone guests, so naturally nobody dealt with pests.
Just as I was about to continue on my way—
"...Wait, the Backrooms?"
A realization struck me.
"Spiders can’t live in the Backrooms. How could there be a web...?"
Skitter-skitter-skitter!!
An ominous sound came from behind me.
When I turned around, just as expected, an anomaly was racing toward me.
It was enormous, three or four times my height.
Dozens of black eyes gleamed amid its thick black fur.
A grotesque spider anomaly, with a mouth ringed with sharp teeth.
"Huh. That thing looks seriously vicious. Its vibe is completely different from our Goe Bung."
Shing!
I pulled out the dagger I had kept in my pocket and muttered.
It looked disgustingly strong, but
now that we had run into each other, I could not avoid a fight.
It was not charging at me to shake hands, after all.
Is it almost here? I wonder if this dagger can cut through its legs.
The spider anomaly charged at me with its eyes fixed on mine.
I lowered my stance as much as possible and waited for my chance to attack.
At last, its massive leg stopped right in front of me,
and just as my dagger was about to stab into it—
Shashashak!
"Squeee! Squeeeal!!!"
...?
The anomaly leaped over me, then curled itself into a ball behind my back.
No...
It was not trying to fight?
I stood there dumbfoundedly, staring at it.
Click, click.
"You little spider! Where do you think you’re running off to in the middle of a scolding!?"
Then a voice came from the direction the anomaly had charged in from.
I had heard that slightly boisterous voice once before.
"Your mother has told you how many times that if you run away from home on your own, you’ll suffer like hell—"
"Spider Lady?"
"...That voice, is that the newcomer??"
The moment I turned my head, I saw dark purple hair.
The fan-favorite registered user, EightSpiderLegs.
Spider Lady, as she was commonly known, was the owner of that voice.
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