These little—
I put them in charge of managing the stacks, and because it was a bother, they locked the library doors altogether?
In the end, I sentenced the prime suspects—Swamp, Jijongi, and Unu Octopus—to [One Week Without Care].
At that, the three books wept and wailed (or pretended to), putting on a protest, but my mind did not change.
Flutterrr!
“Why are you pretending to blow your noses with tissues when you don’t even have noses? You can’t even shed tears.”
Tap! Tap!
“Unbelievable. You three were the ones who led it in the end, weren’t you?”
These guys. I gave them punishment so they would reflect, and now they were demanding that I punish the other books too.
Apparently dozens of books had participated in that war game earlier.
When I glanced over the shelves, I saw several books flinch and tremble.
But I said it clearly.
“The ones I asked were only the three of you, weren’t they?”
Flutter.
Flop.
At my firm words, the three books finally despaired.
In Unu Octopus’s case, it had been floating in the air before falling to the floor with a splat.
At times like that, I would pick it up and dust it off, but...
Hmph. I won’t do it now.
Take this chance to reflect a little.
Leaving behind the three books that had created a sea of tears (paper dust), I headed deeper into the stacks.
The inner part of the stacks was a space solely for the librarian, where even the books could not enter.
It was also where I mainly lived, slept, rolled around, and read whenever I wanted.
It was a small studio-like space, and it sometimes reminded me of the room I had lived in alone before my body changed.
But that was not all this room was worth.
In truth, the room called the “management office” contained several things that could be called the essence of the library.
Among them, the most representative was a book that allowed me to check information about the other spaces connected to the library.
Unlike the books outside, this inorganic book served to monitor and record, in real time, the countless entrances connected to the library.
You could basically call it CCTV.
For reference, this was something even the books outside did not know about.
It was also one of the things Grandma told me to keep absolutely secret.
It seemed she thought that if those curiosity-filled books found out, they would make many attempts to set their sights on this management office.
I was curious whether any users had tried to come during that brief moment when the books locked the doors and I had gone to another room.
Overall, since the number of weekday users converged toward zero, I did think there probably weren’t any...
Flip, flip, flip.
Slide.
Slide.
“As expected, there mostly aren’t any...”
If someone knocked on the door or tried to open it, it would be recorded, but judging by the lack of records, it seemed there had been no users trying to use the library.
Ah, for reference, there were certain conditions to becoming a library user.
Broadly speaking, there were three, involving a thirst for knowledge and realization.
The first was when a person happened to be passing near an entrance, and at that moment, that person wanted to know something.
Then the library, through a kind of bewitchment, would guide that person to an entrance they could enter through.
From what Grandma told me, most users came that way.
And the second was... like the three guests who visited the library before, realizing on their own that this place was the Mystic Library and coming to visit.
Grandma had told me this as well, and she said it was a method only slightly special beings could use to enter.
‘Then, now that I think about it, were those three special people?’
But I could not know whether that “special” meant people who truly possessed outrageously unique talent, or whether it meant something “abnormal” that deviated from the ordinary, like the Mystic Library or that monster that had tried to kill me.
For now, it seemed more like the latter, though.
And lastly... those who could create a door themselves and enter.
I heard that, while rarer than the second type, there were those who, through their powerful will and the like, somehow connected the entrance of the Mystic Library to an unfamiliar door.
“...Huh? What’s this? There was one record?”
Just as I was about to close the surveillance book, I belatedly discovered a record written there.
In the scene drawn as an illustration, a blond woman and... a woman with a familiar face were attempting to open the door of [Goru Bookshop].
It had happened a few minutes before I returned and realized what was going on.
“That person is... the woman among the first users?”
I recognized the person drawn in the illustration at once.
If so, judging from the circumstances... it seemed she had come to find the library again.
And with someone who looked even more special, at that.
Beneath the illustration, a short line of text was recorded.
[Two members of the Anomaly Management Bureau attempted entry through the entrance of [Goru Bookshop]. Entry failed due to entrance closure.]
Seeing one word written there so plainly, I put on a puzzled expression.
“Anomaly Management Bureaau...?”
What’s that?
* * *
“Now then, welcome. To Team 3 of the Field Response Division under our Anomaly Management Bureau’s Anomaly Handling Headquarters, that is.”
Clap, clap, clap.
Clap, clap, clap.
At Section Chief Lee’s halfhearted congratulations, the five people sitting there responded with dry applause.
They were Deputy Manager Lee Gyeongseong and the four newly arrived members.
In the end, Staff Member Seo Yuna was unable to return to Team 3 and remained at the Anomaly Pioneering Headquarters.
‘Sigh, how is a mere section chief supposed to stand up to a headquarters director?’
And all for the sake of helping one new employee, no less.
If he thought positively about it, the Pioneering Headquarters might actually be safer.
After all, the anomalies handled by the Anomaly Pioneering Headquarters were those that had a “possibility” of cooperating with humanity.
Anomalies that were hostile from the start, or that showed no such possibility, did not go to the Anomaly Pioneering Headquarters.
They came to the Anomaly Handling Headquarters instead.
But if he thought negatively...
‘She got on that headquarters director’s bad side.’
And of all people, that eccentric headquarters director.
After offering a final prayer for Staff Member Seo Yuna’s soul, Section Chief Lee erased her from his mind.
Because now, the five people before him were his team members.
“Have you all grasped the information on one another?”
“Yes, we confirmed it through the documents this morning.”
“That kind of stiff greeting will do for now. Let’s get to know the rest after handling today’s anomaly, over a team dinner. Now then, about the anomaly we received a support request for today...”
Including the section chief, Team 3 began flipping through the paper documents.
“The linked divisions are Team 1 of the Anomaly Investigation Division and Team 4 of the Emergency Support Division.”
Deputy Manager Lee Gyeongseong took over from Section Chief Lee.
“Anomaly name: Deep Warehouse. Its form is spatial. The manifestation location is the gym storage room of XX Elementary School. Photos are attached.”
Rustle. Rustle.
At Deputy Manager Lee Gyeongseong’s words, the new members flipped through the documents and checked the photos.
A small storage room door beneath the platform in the elementary school playground was the anomaly target this time.
“It was originally a small storage room used to keep physical education equipment. Roughly three to four pyeong in size, but starting three days ago, the interior space is said to have expanded drastically.”
“When you say drastically, to what extent do you mean?”
At the new man’s question, Section Chief Lee answered.
“Bigger than a supermassive logistics warehouse.”
“Mm...”
“You should think of it as at least ten logistics warehouses combined.”
“At the time of discovery, three sixth-grade elementary school students who had gone to retrieve balls from the storage room on the gym teacher’s errand are said to have gone missing.”
“We blocked information as soon as the missing persons report was filed, and Team 1 of the Anomaly Investigation Division took over. But it looks like a problem occurred this time.”
“What kind of problem?”
“All of Team 1 went missing.”
“......”
“......”
At the words “all missing,” everyone’s eyes turned slightly dull, but that was all.
Because “all missing” was one of the very common phrases in the Anomaly Management Bureau.
To begin with, Team 3 of the Field Response Division had also once gone all missing.
“And Team 4 of the Emergency Support Division as well.”
“Mm...”
But when they heard that even Team 4 of the Emergency Support Division had all gone missing, the four people’s expressions changed.
In a bad way.
Because... as befitted its name, the Emergency Support Division received the most support so that it could support Management Bureau teams dispatched first in any situation.
They were plastered with all sorts of firepower and the latest weapons, so the fact that even they had all gone missing meant the danger level of this warehouse was extremely high.
“...But, Section Chief, can our team handle this on our own...?”
The new team member’s question was reasonable.
Even that powerful emergency support team had gone missing, and they were supposed to handle it with only six people?
A space like ten logistics warehouses combined?
“Yeah.”
“......”
“I’m joking. Additional teams will be attached. Teams 6 and 10 of the Field Response Division, Team 6 of the Emergency Support Division, and Team 4 of the Emergency Medical Division too.”
With that much manpower... it was reassuring.
“But they’re follow-up. We still have to go first and take initial measures. That doesn’t change. Those teams can’t attach themselves immediately, either. And above all, it’s because the status of the two teams isn’t dead, but all missing.”
All missing meant, in other words, that they could still be alive.
Especially in the case of this anomalous space, since the space had expanded drastically, it could simply be that they had lost their way and could not come out.
But in the end, it was still true that they had to resolve things among themselves for now.
Once again, the complexions of the new team members darkened.
All of them had built up no small number of years of experience, but that did not mean any of them liked walking into a death trap where many people had gone missing.
“Well, even so... what can we do? Everyone, get ready.”
“Understood.”
With that brief briefing over, Team 3 gathered their clothes and began preparing to head out on external duty.
.
.
.
“B-Bureau! Bureau! Respond!! All members of Emergency Support Division Team 4 are dead!! Team 1 of the Anomaly Investigation Division is also all dead!!”
Slaaash!
Clatter. Claaang~!!
“Bureau! Damn it! Communications don’t work here! Fuuuck!!”
Bang! Bang, bang, bang!!
Shunk.
“Guhk...”
Clang. Clang, clang......