After calming down, we looked at each other.
"Hey, get up already."
"Screeeech!!"
"I said I’m not going to kill you."
"Grrrrrrk..."
No, to be exact, only I had calmed down.
Unlike me, lying comfortably with my chin propped on my hand,
the anomaly had been lying flat on its stomach ever since, unable to even think of getting up.
"Why are you so scared? We only just met in the first place."
[Coward]
Poke, poke.
I poked the anomaly’s wires.
Whenever my finger touched them, the anomaly flinched and curled itself further inward.
"Ssscreee..."
After repeating that for who knew how long,
the anomaly pulled an arm out from its body and lightly jabbed at the air.
An ambiguous gesture that seemed neither like an attack nor resistance.
As I silently watched the wires wave about—
Ding!
Anonymous (220.3): sparemesparemesparemesparemesparemesparemesparemesparemesparemespareme
"Huh."
The anomaly had contacted me through a private chat.
A sentence made up of nothing but a short repeated word.
I remembered reading about that manner of speech in an informational post.
[Info][★]: About Low-Intelligence Anomalies
Author: Archivera
(Photo of a bearded man wearing sunglasses)
Wow~ Hey, friends! It’s Uncle Archivist!~
Today, we’re going to learn about those things most ghost-bros despise!
That’s right: low-intelligence anomalies.
You’ve probably seen them at least once.
The anonymous users who only repeat weird words in bold.
Those are low-intelligence ghost stories!
Their minds are consumed by desire.
Not only can’t you communicate with them, they try to attack everything they see.
You can literally think of them as being stupid.
But here’s the problem...
Their aggression isn’t limited to humans.
To them, we look like chunks of meat too, yeah.
They have barely any notoriety, yet they strut around like they’re something special. How irritating do you think that is?
That’s why everyone is so busy tearing them apart whenever they see one.
Anyway! If you see a low-intelligence anomaly, don’t hesitate—take it out.
They’re no help to the world at all!
[Total comments - 4]
LovePlease: The tone is cheerful, but the content is seriously way too cruel, lol.
└Elevator: But it’s true they’re useless.
└Elevator: They keep smashing down my door sometimes, and it pisses me off to no end...
└VaultKeeper: Killing them like the post says is better for the world, though.
"Did it say killing them was better for the world?"
"Screeekekek!!"
Anonymous (220.3): sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry
When I murmured that quietly,
the anomaly left an apologetic comment and curled itself up again.
It was clearly terrified.
I hadn’t been certain, but it seemed this thing used the gallery too.
It must have mistaken me for a powerful anomaly after seeing my anonymous username.
"Why do anomalies only show me the tops of their heads..."
[Cool]
I got up and whispered beside the anomaly’s ear.
More accurately, it had no ears, so I just spoke roughly beside its head.
"Hey. If you don’t get up now, I’ll cut your wires off."
"Screeeech—!?"
With a sound like metal scraping, the anomaly sat upright in perfect posture.
That sure worked.
As expected, it was the threat—no, the strategy—that had calmed Kim Goe Bung down in an instant too.
"Grrrrk..."
"But what am I supposed to do with this thing? It only repeats one word in chat, so I don’t think we can have a conversation."
[Low Intelligence]
Since threats worked on it, the anomaly apparently understood what I was saying.
The problem, however, was that I couldn’t understand the anomaly’s language.
To begin with, I wasn’t even sure that was a language.
How was I supposed to know whether those metal-scraping noises were words or just cries?
"Hmm. In times like this, there’s only one thing to do, right?"
[Ghost Gallery Teachers]
[Chat]: Help me, Ghost Gallery Marines!!!
Author: Anonymous (999.1)
(Photo of an anomaly sitting obediently in perfect posture)
I just captured this low-intelligence anomaly alive, yeah.
I want to squeeze some information out of it,
but every time I speak to it, it just makes metal noises, so I can’t understand a thing...
Is there any way to talk to this thing??
[Total comments - 14]
EightSpiderLegs: Holy shit, how did you capture it alive??
└Anonymous (999.1): I just caught it. Why?
└CleanlinessKing: There’s nothing left in their heads except destructive impulses,
└CleanlinessKing: so killing them is easy, but subduing them is hard... Wow...
└InferiorOnes: Even low-intelligence anomalies browse the gallery, lol.
└PureCombatManiac: Before overwhelming terror, even intelligence that didn’t exist can emerge.
DontTurnAround: You can’t talk to it, yeah. It can’t speak to begin with.
└Anonymous (999.1): But it screams while scraping its wires?
└DontTurnAround: That’s probably just a cry.
└BeQuiet: Why do you think they’re called low-intelligence?
└BeQuiet: They don’t have enough intelligence to use language.
└ProtectJustice: It’s unfortunate, but just killing it would probably be better for the newbie too, yeah...
Anonymous (220.3): pleaseletmelivepleaseletmelivepleaseletmelivepleaseletmelivepleaseletmelivepleaseletmelive
└FenceLover: Now it’s even using polite speech, lol.
└MindCon: Lol, at this point, I think this one could actually hold a conversation?
"Why did you leave a comment?"
"Sc-screech?"
"Stop. That metal noise is loud, so don’t cry."
"...Screek."
The anomaly scraped the floor with the wires that seemed to be its fingers.
Now that I knew it was a low-intelligence anomaly, even that looked kind of dumb.
"Heh. You really are a ghost-bro yourself."
[Cruel]
"Now, now."
I covered the words carved into the wall with my hand and thought.
A low-intelligence anomaly that couldn’t even talk.
In other words, there was no information I could get from it.
As I’d said earlier, it was impossible to converse through chat, too.
"There’s no point interrogating it like this..."
[Interrogate What?]
"An exit. If it lives here, it might know where one is."
[Ah]
Just as I was scratching the back of my head in disappointment—
"Sc-screek!"
"...Hm?"
The anomaly got up and stood neatly at attention.
Its back was ramrod straight, its hands pressed to its sides.
Swish!
The anomaly, trembling like an aspen, pointed somewhere.
"Don’t tell me you know where the exit is?"
"Grrrrrk!!"
[!!]
The wires around its head shook wildly.
I was right...
That was probably the right way to interpret it.
"Why didn’t you tell me that sooner? Do you want to die?"
"G-ggrrrrrk...!!"
"No, no, I was joking, so don’t run away."
After doing my best to stop the terrified anomaly from fleeing,
I patted its back and pushed it forward.
"Hurry up and lead the way. If we get there safely, I won’t kill you. I’ll let you go."
"Screee!? G-ggrrk!!"
At my bluff-laced words, the anomaly was overjoyed and ran toward the next room.
Times like this, being mistaken for an anomaly was a good thing.
**
Conference room, Bureau Korea Branch.
The room was obsessively white from every direction.
Even the air hanging in it felt stern.
"Whew... A Catastrophe-rank ghost story. Why did a monster like this suddenly appear?"
The heads of each city branch sat around a circular table, staring at documents containing information on two ghost stories.
The Catastrophe-rank ghost story, Void.
And the Nightmare-rank ghost story, The Untouchable.
"Everyone, give your opinions. How should we deal with these two?"
Rustle.
A middle-aged man in a black suit pointed to the documents as he spoke.
"I believe firm measures are necessary here. How about we gather the elite personnel from each branch and mount an operation?"
"Isn’t it standard practice not to provoke Catastrophe-rank ghost stories?"
"It’s a newly emerged Catastrophe-rank, isn’t it? Leaving it alone is more dangerous."
"I’m against it. Our branch is too occupied with an ongoing operation against another ghost story to participate. My opinion is..."
The meeting grew more heated as time passed.
Many opinions were voiced back and forth,
but no method capable of handling the two ghost stories emerged.
"...It seems we won’t be able to reach a decision today."
Tap, tap.
The middle-aged man sighed as he organized the documents.
"We’ll conclude discussion of this agenda item here. Does everyone agree?"
The other branch heads nodded one by one.
In the end, every one of them agreed to defer a decision.
And just as the middle-aged man was about to pass out the documents for the next item—
Scrape!
"Wait. Please allow me a chance to speak."
A woman pushed back her chair and stood, drawing everyone’s attention.
Her strange hair was black on the outside and turquoise within.
She looked fairly old at first glance,
but her peculiar aura made it difficult to guess her exact age.
"Branch Head Yoon Chaewon of Seoul, why are you speaking only after the agenda item has moved on?"
"It’s more dramatic this way, isn’t it? I was waiting on purpose."
"..."
While the speechless middle-aged man sighed,
Chaewon placed a hand over her ample chest and spoke as though telling everyone to focus on her.
"These ghost stories. I’ll take them on myself."
"Are you joking? You’re saying Seoul will handle an agenda item submitted by another branch?"
"No, not Seoul. Just me alone."
"... ?"
The room erupted at Chaewon’s words.
People said that the Seoul branch head had finally gone mad.
That this was why young people should not be put in high-ranking positions.
Most of the conversation was disparaging Chaewon.
Then one of the branch heads pointed a finger at Chaewon.
"Nonsense! How could anyone mount an operation against a Catastrophe-rank ghost story alone!?"
"Oh, the newcomer Kang Seoyun will be accompanying me."
"You really are...!!"
Just as the branch head was about to circle the table and approach Chaewon—
Step!
"D-Director?"
"I think you’re being rather hasty in your judgment."
The middle-aged man, the director of the Bureau Korea Branch, stepped between them and blocked his path.
"Branch Head Yoon Chaewon, can the two of you really carry out this operation?"
"Trust me. You know what I’m capable of, Director."
"True enough. I’ve seen your abilities until I was sick of them, inside a Root-rank ghost story."
The director slid the documents across the table to Chaewon.
[Void & The Untouchable Operation Report]
[Person in Charge: ]
"Sign it. I’ll leave those ghost stories to you."
"Hehe, I’ll do my utmost to clear them!"
Chaewon smiled foolishly as she signed the person-in-charge field.
The other branch heads did not look pleased, but with no better alternative, they silently watched her.
"Then let’s move on to the next item. This ghost story is of the monster type..."
Even the faintly lingering suspicious gazes
naturally disappeared as the meeting’s topic changed.
But—
the branch heads should not have let it pass so easily.
Inside Chaewon’s pocket, her phone was switched on.
On the screen giving off a blue glow,
[Ghost Story Minor Gallery]
the name of a certain gallery was displayed.
**
At the end of the path I had followed the wire ghost-bro down—
"Ghost-bro, you’re saying this is the exit?"
"Grrrk!"
On the way here, I had expected there to be a door leading outside.
And I had been roughly right.
"...Where?"
There was a door in front of me.
There was a door beside me.
And there was a door behind me.
There were... just fucking tons of doors.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register