Chapter 4: 4. The Miracle of the Five Energy Bars
"Backrooms Hand!"
—Smack.
An arm shot out of the wall and high-fived me.
"Backrooms Fist!"
—Thud.
The hand changed into a fist and bumped against mine.
"Backrooms, send me home!"
[No]
"Tch..."
Why was the most important thing impossible?
What I needed was an escape.
"A ghost story really is a ghost story. A building that can move and communicate..."
—Slide.
I sat with my back against the wall and looked up at the ceiling.
After some experimentation, I had learned something.
The Backrooms understood what I said and moved however I wanted.
It could erect pillars and alter its structure, of course, but it could also create and throw objects.
I had used that ability to turn that team member into dalgona.
Come to think of it, that might be kind of scary.
I had brushed it off as a joke, but honestly, I was a little afraid.
For now, it listened to me for some reason.
But wasn’t I ultimately leaving my life and death in the Backrooms’ hands?
You never knew.
If things went south, it might crush me flat like it had that team member.
[...Sor ry]
"Huh?"
[Not en ough pow er]
As I stood there with my arms folded in thought,
the wall turned an odd color and displayed new words.
Not enough power.
Did that mean it wanted to let me out but couldn’t do so at will?
"Whatever. I wasn’t expecting much anyway."
I shouldn’t have hoped for it in the first place.
It might be friendly toward me, but the Backrooms was still a ghost story in the end.
I should be grateful it hadn’t stomped me to death already. Forget escaping.
I reached out and stroked the wall.
...For some reason, it was damp.
—Grrrrowl.
"Still, I’m getting hungry."
Just then, a rumbling sound echoed throughout the entire room.
My body cried out for nutrients.
The problem was that there was no food here.
Even prisoners locked in solitary confinement had bugs to eat, but I really had nothing at all.
"Hmm. How do the anomalies on the gallery deal with this?"
Suddenly curious, I made a post on the gallery.
[Chat] How do you deal with being hungry?
Author: Anonymous (999.1)
Title.
[Total Comments - 8]
MindCon: Humans
└ [Author] Anonymous (999.1): What do you mean, humans?
└ MindCon: Humans.
└ CleanlinessKing: Humans.
└ [Author] Anonymous (999.1): Ah........
FenceLover: Anomalies can only eat people in the first place.
└ [Author] Anonymous (999.1): Huh? Why?
└ FenceLover: Because there’s nothing else to eat, fuckㅠㅠㅜㅠ
└ EightSpiderLegs: Normal food disappears the moment it touches an anomaly’s mouth...
└ Hotelier: We tried it a bunch of times too,
└ Hotelier: but in the end, humans were the only thing that could go down our throats...
Holy shit, that was complete hell.
They ate people because there was nothing else to eat?
I heard human flesh didn’t even taste good. Poor things... no, that wasn’t the point.
"Then what about me? I can’t eat people either."
This was no time to worry about the gallery users.
What mattered now was food, clothing, and shelter, all essential for survival.
And of those, food was completely absent.
"I escaped getting shot, only to starve to death now."
[!]
Just as I was scrolling down, searching for some kind of solution—
—Rumble, clatter.
"...What’s that sound?"
I heard something pour out in a massive heap behind me.
When I turned around to see what was going on,
"Th-this is...!!"
[Eat]
Almond milk and all sorts of energy bars were scattered across the floor.
...Damn it, Backrooms. I like you.
Now I felt stupid for being scared of it just moments ago.
—Rustle!
Without hesitation, I tore open an energy bar and shoved it into my mouth.
[Is it good?]
"Yeah. It’s seriously so good."
Had I gone just over a day without eating, at least by my reckoning?
The taste of food after so long exceeded anything I could have imagined.
What kind of energy bar had this much savory flavor?
Even the meat I ate after escaping the orphanage hadn’t tasted this good.
[Good]
The Backrooms comforted me with warm-looking letters.
My chest tightened, and I offered the energy bar toward the wall.
"Don’t just stand there. You should have a bite too—"
Ah, right.
Ghost stories couldn’t eat food.
I had unintentionally teabagged it.
"I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean it like that—"
[Got it]
"What?"
While I stood there flustered,
the Backrooms made a huge mouth and swallowed the energy bar I had offered in one bite.
"...You can eat food?"
[No]
"But you just ate that."
[That is spec ial]
An arm emerging from the wall pointed at the pile of energy bars.
"Don’t tell me these are something ghost stories can eat too?"
[Yes]
"H-how?"
[Don’t know?]
Huh. Recognition 999, indeed.
Was this what it meant for its competence to be on a whole other level from the other ghost stories?
As I marveled at an ability of the Backrooms I had never imagined,
—Bzzzt!
the gallery notification went off at just the right moment, pulling my gaze away from the word “yes.”
"I think I can make use of this."
[?]
**
[Giveaway][★] Selling energy bars and almond milk
Author: Anonymous (999.1)
(Photo of brown liquid and energy bars piled up like a mountain)
I somehow ended up with way too many energy bars;;
If you have anything useful, let’s barter.
DM me if you’re interested.
[Total Comments - 21]
ProtectJustice: Huh? Why sell them when you can’t even eat them?
└ [Author] Anonymous (999.1): Oh, right.
└ [Author] Anonymous (999.1): I forgot to mention it, but you can eat these energy bars.
└ ProtectJustice: ?
└ CleanlinessKing: ?
└ MidnightBus: ??????????
LookAtMyEyes: What does that up there mean??
└ ClosedWard: You can eat food??? Are you insane?
└ AnswerThePhone: Other than those humans that reek of blood??
└ BloodFader: No, blood tastes good though...
Anonymous (121.3):
LieLieLieLieLieLieLieLie
└ Anonymous (99.2):
DontNeedItDontNeedItDontNeedItDontNeedIt
└ InferiorOnes: Wow, it’s been a while since I saw these two.
└ WhiteBear: For real. They barely showed up after the newcomer descended.
└ DontTurnAround: Even low-intelligence ones consider food important, lol.
AshesMimic: Hmm... I am tempted...
└ FairPrice: Honestly, I’m pretty damn scared lol.
└ Looting: Energy bars offered by a ghost story with recognition 999...
└ Elevator: Holy shit, that’s fucking terrifying.
└ AshesMimic: This is so true.
└ AshesMimic: What if something goes wrong after you eat one;;
└ AshesMimic: Can’t someone buy one and be the royal food taster for us?
**
Meanwhile.
Inside a cave somewhere in the mountains.
—Drip.
A drop of water gathered on a stalactite and fell.
It traveled through the air for a moment before getting caught in a web, never reaching the ground.
This was the home of all spiders.
A sanctuary where born hunters were raised.
"Ugh, I’m starving. My stomach’s about to split open..."
The mistress of that place, Arachne.
Her gallery username was [EightSpiderLegs], and she rubbed her belly with an unhappy expression.
—Scuttle.
At that moment, a house-sized spider approached after hearing her words.
"Your Majesty, we have run out of all the food we stored."
"I know! I know, which is why I’m starving too!"
Arachne stomped her feet like a whining child.
The entire cave reverberated, and huge holes formed in the ground where she had struck it.
A little while later,
after venting her frustration, she breathed heavily.
"Haa... What about the children?"
"The same as yesterday."
"So they’re starving to death."
Every spider anomaly living in the cave.
They were all currently under a fasting order.
The target of that order was, naturally, humans.
Unable to eat the only food ghost stories had, the spiders had collapsed from hunger.
Some even died from time to time.
"Should I permit hunting again...?"
"We will clash with the humans. The fasting order was issued to avoid the Bureau in the first place, was it not?"
"Then what do you expect me to do? Is there another way?"
"...There is not."
"We’re at the limit. I heard the children even resorted to cannibalizing their own kind last time."
They had endured because the Bureau’s power had been alarming lately, but she could not keep holding back while her children were dying.
After all, family was what mattered most to Arachne.
"...Shall we release the hunting parties?"
The subordinate spider bared sharp fangs.
The hunting captain, Alfonso.
He, too, had been driven to his limit.
He simply had not shown it in front of his queen.
Arachne knew of his patience and loyalty.
Just as she was about to give the order to reward that devotion—
[Anonymous (999.1) has uploaded a new post!]
"...The newcomer?"
"Y-yes!?"
A crisp mechanical voice echoed through the cave.
Upon hearing Arachne’s words, the subordinate spider leaped into the air.
"T-the newcomer? Do you mean the one I know?"
"That’s right. Why are you so surprised?"
"How could I not be?! He’s the monster—no, the ghost story that drove back the Bureau itself!"
The subordinate spider gasped, raising his front legs over his head.
She had heard the news too.
Apparently, for the first time in fifteen years by Earth’s reckoning, he had killed a Bureau employee.
It really is impressive. We stopped hunting because we were afraid of them.
It was not that she looked down on the newcomer.
If anything, it was the opposite.
The Bureau’s power lately had reached its greatest height in history.
Even famous named ghost stories were currently keeping their heads down.
Arachne was one of them.
Considering that her own recognition was nothing to scoff at, it was an extraordinary accomplishment indeed.
"This is no time for that! Let’s check the post already!"
"Fine, I get it."
At the urging of the subordinate spider, who was hopping anxiously in place, Arachne gave in and opened the post.
She did not need a phone.
Ghost stories could open a gallery window in midair.
"Hm? Why is he selling energy bars?"
"We can’t even eat food."
The two read through the newcomer’s post.
Their faces, brimming with curiosity over what it might say,
"...What!? G-ghost stories can eat them too!?"
"It appears this is a dream. I will return to reality first, Your Majesty."
"W-wake up, Alfonso...! This isn’t a dream!!"
were soon overcome with shock.
EightSpiderLegs: M-m-meeeeee
└ EightSpiderLegs: Newcomer—no, Newcomer sir, please sell them to me.
└ Anonymous (999.1): ???
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