There are a great many books in the Mystic Library.
And among them, a little over half possess strange powers.
Of those, the books that can move by their own power and communicate with me in simple ways number only about a hundred or so.
These hundred-odd books each strive to achieve the goals they desire, fight or play with the books around them, and tend to be extremely fond of my book management.
Since they are among the few active beings in the library, they have naturally become closer to me than the other books that remain still.
Of course, even among those hundred-odd books, there are some that are especially close to me.
A representative example is [The Giant of the Swamp Universe], which previously refused to critique my novel.
I roughly call that one [Swamp].
Flutter. Flap, flap. Flutter.
Swamp has several characteristics, but first of all, there is its distinctive green cover.
And compared to other books, it moved in a way that looked especially like it was rolling around.
So when it came time to manage it, there were often bits of dust and the like stuck here and there on its pages.
And as for the book’s contents… it is a fairy tale about the daily life of a giant buried deep in a swamp, rolling about.
Among moving books, which tend to have unusually complicated contents, its story was simple, so I was able to become close to it quickly.
Next is… [Earth Religious Studies 1].
It can be seen as a reference book on religion, with an impressive octagram drawn on its cover.
As one can tell from the title, it covers everything from Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam to local beliefs from thousands of years ago that we cannot easily know about.
Since it is a relatively thick book, it cannot roll around like [Swamp], so it is a friend that creaks along on two legs.
Its nickname is [Jijongi].
And lastly, unlike [Swamp] or [Jijongi], there is a black book that floats around.
The title of this fellow, which looks like a grimoire at a glance, is [The Darkness Beyond the Door That Traverses the Universe].
I call this friend [Unumuneo] for short, and as for its contents… I couldn’t properly understand them.
How should I put it? Should I say it depicts an imaginary future? Or is it just a fantasy novel?
Because all it contained were passages in which various events were briefly written down alongside some specific years.
Each one was so full of absurdity that I was essentially treating it as a fantasy novel.
“Swamp, Jijongi, Unumuneo.”
Splat. ……Flutter!
Flap, flap. Flutter.
Shrrrrk.
At my call, the three books that had been playing war with other books nearby hurried over.
Seeing how they kept glancing back behind them, it seemed they had been enjoying their war game quite a bit.
For reference, Jijongi’s forces had been in the middle of attacking Swamp’s forces, while Unumuneo’s forces were taking advantage of the situation.
“I’m going to leave the stacks empty for a bit, so could you manage the others for me?”
Meanwhile, these three books were not simply friends to me.
How should I put it—my assistants? Subordinates? Trustworthy colleagues to whom I could entrust a bit of work?
In any case, that was what they were.
Flap, flap!
“No, I’m not leaving the library… I’m going to visit another room, not those stacks.”
Shrrrrk.
“That’s right, that’s right. It’s about time I started preparing to manage the entire library.”
It was a slightly embarrassing fact.
For the past few months, the area I had actually managed in the library had been limited to the lobby and the stacks.
The reason was simple.
Grandmother had told me to manage those first.
She had probably said something along the lines of, “Even managing the stacks alone may be difficult at first, so as you gradually become more at ease, look around one place at a time.”
And now that it had not been long since my first visitor came… I thought the time had come.
“So… please take care of things for just a little while? I’m only going to look around and come right back anyway.”
Flap, flap.
Shrrrrk!
The three books each waved one page and saw me off.
Trusting the three books, I left the stacks.
.
.
.
Shrrrrk.
Flutter.
After the true ruler of the library had left, the three books quietly stared at the entrance.
It was to guard against the possibility that the ruler had laid a trap and would suddenly enter again after a short while.
Then, hearing the sound of footsteps as the girl went up to the second floor, the three books looked at one another.
Of course, books do not have eyes.
And soon… the three books returned to where they had been just moments ago.
Flap, flap!
Flutter!
Shrrrrrrrrk.
There lay a vast battlefield made of countless books and bookshelves that could not speak.
The soldier and general books of each camp were waiting for the return of their commander books.
When they returned, the war began to continue as if stopped time had started flowing again.
That’s right. In truth, they had no intention of managing the stacks as the girl had asked.
To be precise, it was true that they liked the girl who genuinely cherished them.
But right now, they were extremely fond of this war game.
So in order to fulfill both the girl’s request and their own pleasure… they made a choice.
Clank.
Rrrrrumble.
Click.
Wouldn’t it be fine to just temporarily block the library’s entrance?
After all, the management the girl had entrusted to them only applied when there were visitors.
It was such an authority that only the library’s manager should have been able to use, but the three books were also able to use it without issue.
Because the authors who wrote their books were no ordinary beings.
In the end, from the moment the library’s librarian briefly left her post and the books began to grow feverish over their war game, the entrances connected to the library from every universe and dimension vanished.
And depending on each of their situations, the three books experienced mixed joy and sorrow.
* * *
Click. Click.
“Hm?”
The blonde woman looked at the locked door of [Goru Bookshop] and made a puzzled expression.
Then, making the sound of dress shoes, she descended the narrow stairs and spoke to Seo Yuna, who was standing below with a blank look on her face.
“Employee Seo Yuna, the door won’t open?”
“…Pardon?”
“Didn’t you say it would definitely open?”
At the woman’s question, Seo Yuna hurriedly opened her terminal and checked the report she had written.
Just in case, she rummaged through everything, including the report Lee Gyeongseong had written and the additional report submitted by Section Chief Lee, who, as it turned out, had actually been alive.
And in the information Section Chief Lee had conveyed, Seo Yuna was able to confirm one sentence.
“Y-yes… It says that although the connection was certainly severed, the interior of the original bookshop was visible…”
“It’s locked. No, to be precise… it feels as though there is physically a wall beyond the door.”
“Umm…?”
“The owner?”
“There isn’t one. It says [Goru Bookshop] is a bookshop that has been abandoned since 1950…”
“Hmmm…”
The woman hummed through her nose, hands in her pockets, and bent down to examine the exterior of Goru Bookshop.
Beyond her sunglasses, her eyes were shining.
“Employee Seo Yuna, first… let’s add one more thing to the report. This [Goru Bookshop] is also an anomalous space.”
“Uh… Goru Bookshop too?”
“Yes. If you’re at the regular employee level, it may be hard to notice. But, well, it doesn’t contain any vicious rules or entities.”
Tap, tap.
Following the woman’s words, Seo Yuna began writing a report on [Goru Bookshop] into her terminal.
“First, its type is space. It could also be viewed as a phenomenon, but since it is limited to a specific space, it would be accurate to classify it as an anomalous space.”
[Anomaly Name: Goru Bookshop]
[Form: Space]
“The danger level and management level are…”
“Both safe. There’s nothing that appears particularly hostile.”
“Pardon? Then why is it an anomalous space?”
“The answer is simple. This bookshop is causing perception interference.”
“Perception interference…”
“You said it had been abandoned for over seventy years, didn’t you? But Employee Seo Yuna, where are we right now?”
“Pardon? This is Seoul…… Ah.”
“That’s right. The land prices are extremely high. And recently, this area nearby has even been slated for redevelopment. But if you look it up, I’m sure only this exact place—the area near Goru Bookshop—has been left out of the redevelopment.”
At those words, Seo Yuna used the Bureau server to look through internal agenda items of the South Korean government.
And she was able to confirm that what the woman said was true.
The entire surrounding area was included in redevelopment, but precisely the area around the building that contained Goru Bookshop had been neatly excluded.
It was not only excluded entirely, it was not even marked on the map.
“Y-you’re right…”
“Then why has the perception interference been lifted now? It’s probably because of that anomalous space called the Mystic Library.”
“Aha…”
“To be precise, this [Goru Bookshop] is classified as a subordinate anomaly of [Mystic Library].”
“……!!”
“And the reason it’s blocked like this right now is…”
Bang. Bang.
“Mm, it seems they’ve blocked it from above. The entrance.”
“Pardon?”
“Could they have known we were going to come…? This has become troublesome. Does that mean the librarian’s influence extends even outside the anomalous space…?”
As a new employee, Seo Yuna could not understand everything the woman was muttering.
In the end, she mechanically carried out the one thing a new employee could do: “I don’t know what this is about, but I’ll nod for now.”
“This will be… a little annoying.”
“Because we don’t know when it will open again?”
“Yes. That too, but they could even invalidate this entrance entirely.”
“Aha…”
For the Anomaly Management Bureau, this was the only method to reach the immeasurable anomalous space known as the “Mystic Library.”
But if the anomalous entity called the librarian were to close the entrance to “Goru Bookshop” forever… then until a new entrance was found, entry or research would be as good as impossible.
“What a shame. Then it can’t be helped. Employee Seo Yuna? Let’s head back! Today, let’s just submit the report and go straight home. I’ll speak to the team leader for you.”
“Ah, yes! Thank you!”
“Then get in the car! I’ll give you a ride.”
But Seo Yuna could not bring herself to get into that car.
What had happened inside the car on the way here?
Seo Yuna believed that the woman’s driving skills were on par with an anomalous phenomenon.
Of course, she did not do the insane thing of saying that out loud.
And naturally, she also could not refuse the woman’s goodwill.
Thus, after the car that began racing like a storm vanished, a short while later—
Click.
Rrrrrumble.
Clank.
“You guys…! I told you to manage things, and you locked the door…?! I won’t let you get away with this…!”
An angry girl’s voice came from inside Goru Bookshop, but the two people had already disappeared.