Phew.
Sure enough.
The books were being territorial again.
I’d definitely told the books this even in ordinary times.
[Don’t act territorial for no reason toward patrons who follow the rules. Got it?]
But just a moment ago, I’d seen the books around a middle-aged man making a whole fuss at him.
And sure enough, they were doing the same to the two relatively younger people as well.
It wasn’t that I was telling them not to be territorial at all.
I also hated patrons who didn’t follow the rules.
I couldn’t just stand by and watch innocent books get damaged because of people who refused to observe rules and etiquette.
However, judging by their behavior so far, those three weren’t bad patrons.
If anything, I could see them quickly grasping the rules and trying to respond accordingly.
‘…Maybe they aren’t ordinary people?’
For ordinary people, they had adapted quickly to this library, which even I found strange.
Especially in the case of that man, considering the book that had been tempting him earlier was a rather strong one, his mental fortitude seemed considerable as well.
This wasn’t something that could simply be explained away as him being superhuman or having a calm personality.
Based on my life as a librarian so far… most of the books in this library were mystical things.
‘And the authors of the books aren’t ordinary humans either.’
Perhaps because they were written by beings that, from an ordinary human perspective, could not be sufficiently defined by words like “evil” or “frightening,” many of the contents were also far from normal.
Still, since not a single book had ever harmed me so far, I had tried to stay as hands-off as possible… but at this rate, my position as the librarian was practically in danger.
Taking advantage of the moment when the three patrons were absorbed in their books, I whispered to all the books.
“From now on… if you bother those three without a reason… I won’t take care of you for a week.”
-……!!
At that, I felt the books on the shelves stir.
My threat had worked.
With a confident smile, I slowly looked around the entire archive.
The reason I used book care as a threat was because that was what the books liked most.
To explain the process simply, it involved things like smoothing out crumpled pages, dusting them off, and wiping their covers with a dry towel.
And these books… absolutely loved the care I gave them.
So when I said I wouldn’t do that for an entire week, they all trembled in fear.
I sat in my chair, swinging my feet that barely reached the floor, and discreetly observed the three of them.
Judging by the wounds they had when they entered the library earlier, it seemed they had gone through something before coming in.
The man’s wounds in particular were quite deep, but perhaps he could still endure it, because he was somehow managing to read.
Meanwhile, the three of them were dressed very similarly.
You might ask what similarities one could find in mere suits… but the three of their suits were exactly the same.
In effect, it probably meant they were on the same team or belonged to the same force.
‘Company people?’
Hmm, the most likely possibility was… that they belonged to some underworld organization I didn’t know about.
Like the mafia or something.
That would explain why they had so many wounds and why they were so unusually calm.
‘Don’t tell me it’s some kind of gang war in a back alley…?’
If so, wasn’t this quite an interesting scene?
Especially for me, someone trying to write a novel, they could be considered very attractive characters.
Recently, while writing my novel, I’d been struggling to make my imagination feel convincing, so wouldn’t it be comparatively easier if I had realistic interviews with people like that?
But of course, I had no intention of asking them directly.
This was closer to etiquette I had to observe.
What could be more burdensome than approaching a patron who had only just started using the library for the first time and acting overly friendly?
‘Still, for mafia, they have good manners.’
If people with savage faces were reading the books savagely too, I would have been very angry.
Fortunately, those people were reading the books neatly.
It was while I was doing my own work, watching the first patrons to ever visit, that it happened.
Creeeak. Clunk.
“……?”
From outside, I heard the sound of the library door opening.
But what was strange was the reaction of the three people.
Every single one of them was visibly tense and flustered.
No way…
‘An opposing organization?’
If so… as the keeper of the library, I had to mediate.
If a fight broke out inside the library for no reason, it would only mean more work for me.
When I opened the archive door and went out to the lobby, I saw the newly arrived patron.
It was not human.
* * *
Creeeak…
When the department head heard the entrance outside the lobby open, he felt goosebumps rise all over his body.
It was “that thing.”
‘Fuck. It came all the way in here?’
It was the being that had killed half of the department head’s team, which had started with six members.
And it was the being that had chased the remaining three and left the department head critically wounded.
The department head hurriedly tore his gaze away from the book and searched for the other two.
And the other two were also looking at him with flustered expressions.
They had noticed its presence as well.
‘How much time has passed?’
It had certainly been far more than ten minutes.
Then why had no support from the Bureau arrived?
Soon, he understood the reason.
This place, the Mystic Library, was outside the surveillance network of the Bureau.
Even if a support team had arrived nearby, there was a high chance they wouldn’t be able to find them.
It was a disaster.
If he had known this would happen, they should have wandered the alleys somehow and searched for a way.
‘The methods we can use in this situation are…’
For now, it wasn’t as if they had no time at all.
Because the girl called the librarian of the library had gone out to greet it.
If she was an entity with powerful authority in this anomalous space… there was a good chance she could deal with it.
‘Even if killing it is impossible, she should at least be able to buy us some time.’
If so, finding a way during that time was the right course of action.
However, there was something he had not expected.
Creeeak… Clunk.
Contrary to his hopes, no sound came from the lobby.
Instead, the girl with a calm face returned to her seat and began reading the old book again.
‘……?’
And through the door from which she had emerged first, that thing slowly began to reveal itself.
Unruly long black hair that reached down to its knees.
Pale, wrinkled white skin that looked emaciated, as if its eyes and cheeks had been hollowed out.
A body so long that it had to bend its knees just to enter through the archive door.
And arms so abnormally long they reached its feet.
The “White Mother.”
A high-risk-or-higher entity belonging to the third-lowest danger rating, [Danger], and management grade [Difficult].
A vicious entity that constantly maintained a hostile attitude for the sake of the “White Child,” while also adapting quickly to situations.
That thing had appeared once again.
‘Just… why…’
Unable to voice the vague question he wanted to ask the librarian, the department head blankly looked up at the entity.
Having fully entered the archive, the thing surveyed the three prey it had missed with its characteristic slow gaze.
Throughout that entire process, the librarian did not cast even a single glance at it.
She merely looked quietly at the old book.
‘…Don’t tell me she accepted the White Mother as a patron of the library too?!’
Otherwise, it made no sense.
But thinking about it… anomalies were originally a collection of things that did not make sense.
He had let his guard down.
The library’s rules had been far too ordinary, and the librarian was also too close to human, so he had let his guard down.
This library was no longer a space that could protect the three of them.
“M-M-M-M-Manaager Lee.”
“……”
The White Mother was calling him.
Before he knew it, the thing was standing beside the department head, its knees folded the wrong way as it leafed through a book.
“P-P-P-Please save meee.”
The thing, imitating the voice of a dead team member… pushed its white face up to his ear and whispered.
This meant one thing.
The “White Mother” had understood the rules of the library.
-1. Please remain quiet in the library.
Otherwise, there was no way it would have approached him in a whisper instead of devouring him from the start or peeling all his flesh apart.
Was the White Mother’s adaptability so outstanding that it could adapt even to the rules of other anomalous spaces?
Slap. Slap.
The thing’s long tongue stroked the department head’s shoulders and back as if consoling him.
And the reason it did not immediately kill the three of them and use them as ingredients for its child… was probably also because of the library’s rules.
-7. Do not disturb other patrons who are reading.
To the judgment of the library and the librarian, it seemed this act was not considered a disturbance.
“M-Mihi, mihi, M-Manager Lee. Mihihik.”
“……”
But perhaps because of that, the department head’s eyes instead sank coldly.
And he quietly changed the objective circling in his mind.
From the survival of all three people to the survival of two.
Outside, the Anomaly Management Bureau’s support team was certainly searching for the three of them.
And since information about the White Mother had already been passed along, they must have prepared a method of response as well.
In other words, simply leaving this library would be the same as increasing their chances of survival.
So the other two had to leave while he drew the White Mother’s attention.
The department head sent a signal through the mechanical device that looked like a wristwatch.
At that, the devices of the two people across from him began to vibrate.
Escape first.
At those words, the two of them were about to grit their teeth and head outside.
Slap. Slap.
From the tongue that had been caressing Department Head Lee, a single drop of saliva splattered onto the book.
“I’m certain it was written that dirtying the books is prohibited.”
“M-M-M-Manaageer Lee…?”
“You have broken the rules.”
The young librarian calmly announced that to the “White Mother,” then drew a line through the White Mother’s name with her pen.
The next moment, the White Mother disappeared. With no warning and no physical law at work, it vanished as if it had never existed.
“……”
“……”
“……”
The three of them stared blankly at the librarian after witnessing what had just happened.
And the girl in question… picked up the book stained with saliva, returned to her seat, and began wiping it with a dry towel.