"So one of those is the exit?"
"Screeeech!"
"And you don’t know which door is the right one?"
"Screeeech!!"
"..."
I stopped myself just before smacking him upside the head.
Right. Why else would he be a low-intelligence ghost story?
If he knew where the exit was, he’d have left ages ago and started tearing people apart.
Just in case, I asked Backrooms too.
"Backrooms, do you know which one is the exit door?"
"..."
Thud.
An energy bar dropped from the ceiling.
Okay.
So it didn’t know either.
As I tore open the energy bar and ate it, I crouched down to study the countless doors.
"Just asking, but the exit door doesn’t glow brighter or anything, right?"
"They’re all the same."
"So we have no choice but to open them one at a time."
I got to my feet and stood before the door directly ahead.
Creeeeak.
After taking a small breath, I turned the knob and looked inside.
"...Hehehehe? And who might yo—"
"Okay, that’s enough."
Bang!!
I saw an old man grinning with blood all over his body.
And promptly slammed the door shut.
"Holy shit."
"Another ghost story, huh? This is seriously fucked."
The situation was truly bleak.
Everything that had kept me alive until now had been nothing but luck.
Thanks to Backrooms, my notoriety had been blown out of proportion and I’d been mistaken for some monstrous anomaly.
Thanks to Backrooms, I had food and hadn’t starved to death.
Thanks to Backrooms, Wire Goe Bung hadn’t been able to run away.
"...Backrooms, you’ve really helped me out a lot. Thank you, seriously."
"Huh?"
Anyway.
The important thing was that I, Kim Goe Bung, hadn’t accomplished a single thing on my own.
I wasn’t an anomaly or anything else. I was human.
An ordinary human who was good at writing and good at watching scary things.
Those anomalies would probably try to kill me the second they saw me.
Did I have the combat ability to deal with the anomalies behind hundreds of doors?
No.
I’d be turned into a lump of meat in three seconds.
"Backrooms, can you attack inside there?"
"Impossible."
"Thanks for answering."
I had to open the doors to find the exit, but that meant I’d have to wrestle with anomalies.
As I rolled my eyes, trying to figure out what to do—
"Oh."
"Oh."
"...Grrrk?"
Sturdy body.
Obedient.
And, above all, someone who could take the danger in my place.
"Wire Goe Bung! You’re the one!"
"K-kreeeak??"
"Tsk, Wire, Wire."
Goe Bung caught my eye.
**
[Chat] I had a weird dream earlier.
Author: PureCombatManiac
I was resting after having a no-holds-barred sparring match with an acquaintance, weapons allowed,
when I saw a human in the locker where I keep my workout clothes...
I asked who they were, but they suddenly shut the door.
When I opened it again, they’d vanished without a trace.
Is the Bureau messing with me?
It was fucking terrifying...
It’s time to sleep, but I still can’t close my eyes...
[Total comments - 12]
Baker: What a scaredy-cat, lol. You picked a username that makes you sound like you’d slice up every human you see.
└[Author]PureCombatManiac: That’s completely separate from thisㅠㅠㅠㅠ
Archivera: Hmm... was it really a human?
└[Author]PureCombatManiac: What do you mean?
└Archivera: There’s been talk going around the gallery.
└Archivera: Apparently some low-intelligence anomaly popped out somewhere, picked a fight, then ran away.
FenceLover: Yeah, I saw the post the comment above is talking about too.
└FenceLover: Apparently it was suspiciously strong, and most gallery users lost to it.
└Archivera: But apparently it wasn’t trying to kill anyone either?
└[Author]PureCombatManiac: Holy shit, that’s even scarier... I’m sleeping with my mom tonight.
└Facting: You even have a mom?
└[Author]PureCombatManiac: Let’s fight.
**
Crunch, crunch!
"Backrooms, can’t you make anything besides energy bars?"
"Almond water."
"...Thanks for answering."
I lamented as I tore open and ate my hundredth energy bar.
People really were greedy.
The moment life got a little more comfortable, I was demanding different food.
I’d gotten way too spoiled.
Just as I was patting my foolish stomach—
Bang!
"Hmm, you’re back."
"Grrrk..."
"Judging by your reaction, that wasn’t the exit."
Goe Bung kicked the door open and came out.
But green liquid was smeared all over his wires.
I walked over to Goe Bung and shook the liquid off him.
It clung stickily all over my hands, and it didn’t feel particularly pleasant.
"What is this? It feels pretty gross."
"Kree?"
Whatever.
He must have burst a Gatorade or something somewhere.
"Why are you dawdling? You said hello, so hurry up and move on to the next door."
"Hurry up."
"Even if you meet a person or an anomaly, don’t fight them. Got it?"
"Grrrk!!"
Goe Bung gave a spirited metallic shriek and ran toward the door beside it.
He looked like he was wearing the bright, innocent smile befitting a low-intelligence anomaly.
He didn’t have a mouth, of course...
But that was the general impression.
Bang!
Just as I saw Goe Bung off as he entered the next door—
"But..."
"Yeah?"
"It’s kind of slow."
Backrooms pointed out the flaw in this plan.
"Hmm. You felt that too, huh."
"Inefficient."
Inefficient. That was exactly the word for it.
There were still thousands of doors left, even by a rough count.
Meanwhile, Goe Bung took an hour every time he cleared a room.
"It does take a while. Is it because I told him to avoid fighting whenever possible?"
In other words, even if we kept this up for an entire month, there was no guarantee we’d find the exit.
It was literally like looking for a needle in a desert.
About as difficult as finding humanity in Hitler.
"What am I supposed to do? It’s not like I can split Goe Bung into several of him."
Or can I?
His body was made of wire. It seemed like he might divide if I cut him.
If that didn’t work, I’d have to get some useful items from Goe Bung.
And see his face while I was at it.
"Come to think of it, Goe Bung hasn’t come over to visit. I’m lonely."
"You have me."
"But I can’t talk with you normally. And you don’t even have a human form."
"..."
"Still, I appreciate the thought. Without you, I think I would’ve gone insane a long time ago."
"Don’t mention it."
Just as I was chatting idly with Backrooms—
Kabooom!!
The door suddenly flew open with tremendous force,
and Goe Bung was launched out of it and smashed into the wall.
"!?"
"G-Goe Bung!?"
"Ssssss!!"
I hurried over to check Goe Bung’s condition.
Goe Bung writhed in pain, making a hissing steam-like sound.
There were cuts all over his body, and some of his wires dangled as though they were about to snap.
As I panicked, wondering if I should get bandages—
"Ssssss..."
With a strange sound, Goe Bung’s body slowly began repairing itself.
The cuts faded, and the gaps between the wires filled in as though fresh flesh were growing back.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"Grrrk!!"
"Tough, aren’t you?"
Goe Bung regained his energy as if nothing had happened.
Did all anomalies heal serious wounds in seconds like that?
Or maybe Goe Bung was just special.
"I’m glad you’re okay, but... we should put off the next exploration for a while."
"Grrk?"
"Why? You can’t go in there in that condition."
But he hadn’t fully returned to normal.
He still had minor wounds, and above all, one of his arms was dangling loose.
It seemed we would have to postpone exploring the doors until he recovered.
"Zing! Ziiing!!"
"What is it? Why are you throwing a tantr—"
Then Goe Bung began hopping in place and pointing somewhere.
I reflexively turned my head.
And afterward, I had no choice but to doubt my own eyes.
"...The Goe Bung family?"
Wire anomalies that looked exactly like Goe Bung.
They were peeking their heads out and staring in our direction.
"Grrrk!"
"Don’t tell me you want me to use them in your place?"
"Kekekek!!"
"No, even so, that’s a little..."
...That’s great.
"Backrooms. Lower the shutters behind them."
"Okay."
**
[Discussion] Does anyone know what these guys are doing?
Author: Doppelganger
(Photo of Bureau employees keeping a wary eye on their surroundings)
I saw them while passing the Seoul Special City Branch,
and something about their movements seems seriously off.
An anomaly suddenly came out of a pocket dimension used as a break room.
Three A-ranks were taken out, and they only barely managed to repel it after the branch chief stepped in.
There was a person beyond the door the anomaly came through.
I overheard this much. Does anyone know anything?
The Bureau has been acting shady lately, so I think we need to analyze stuff like this too, yeah...
[Total comments - 19]
AshesMimic: It came out of a door?
└AshesMimic: Isn’t this about that low-intelligence ghost story that’s been going around the gallery lately?
└InferiorOnes: I think that’s right, yeah.
└FenceLover: The part about it being strangely strong makes it exactly them.
AnalysisIs: Going by the circumstances, it seems that low-intelligence ghost story made it all the way to the Bureau.
└AnalysisIs: But they repelled it? They didn’t kill it?
└[Author]Doppelganger: Yeah, apparently so?
└[Author]Doppelganger: Oh, wait, they’re saying something again.
└ProtectJustice: Ooh, what are they saying?
└[Author]Doppelganger: They ran what the anomaly said through a language translator.
└[Author]Doppelganger: "I’m sorry, Master." Those are the only two words they could make out.
WindWind: Huh, isn’t the person beyond the door the master?
└AnalysisIs: Holy shit, that’s it.
└Whistle: Rather than a person, that sounds like a humanoid ghost story.
└Whistle: Wait.
└Whistle: A humanoid anomaly that can put on that kind of performance is...
└FenceLover: Holy shit.
└[Author]Doppelganger: Holy shit.
└AnalysisIs: Fuck, OP, delete this post now!!!!
└ProtectJustice: I didn’t see anything...
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