Beneath the shelf, a narrow storage compartment.
Curled up and stuffed inside, I held my breath.
A musty stench of dust and mold stung my nose.
‘If I were a man, I never could’ve hidden in a place like this.’
The thought struck me suddenly.
It takes both smallness and flexibility.
So there are some advantages to changing from a man to a woman.
A smirk escaped me before I knew it.
Because I was happy?
No. Because this was fucked up.
What the hell was good about becoming a woman? Nothing. Fucking nothing.
Having to hide in a mold-filled place like this made my blood boil.
If this body were a man’s, huh?
I’d have hidden behind that door and taken those bastards out one by one as they came out—whack, whack, whack!
I would’ve smashed their damn skulls in!
— *Hiss, hiss.*
Only after defeating the enemies in my imagination did I realize.
Even if I’d been a man, I couldn’t have done that.
It’s not like I was Ma Dong-seok or something.
*Hoo.*
Calm down and think. Calmly.
‘Actually, me being a woman or a man isn’t the issue here.’
Gender has nothing to do with it whatsoever.
This is simply happening because I’m an idiot.
‘I believed too easily.’
The Terminal Station Lost and Found Center.
It was just a comment link, posted carelessly on the Gallery.
It wasn’t registered as an official procedure, and the rules were sloppy.
I was actually lured in by that very fact.
‘It was practically begging me to tackle it!’
A rulebook riddled with holes like some idiot’s.
A chance to publicly crucify the author—how could I resist?
Earn money and crucify the author!
I thought it was killing two birds with one stone.
‘Idiot.’
Yeah. I was an idiot.
An idiot who had fully trusted the Urban Legend Survivors Gallery.
I slowly retraced my own psychology.
So that I would never fall into such a trap again.
Why had I trusted people whose faces I didn’t even know?
Perhaps it was because I had felt a vague sense of belonging and trust toward the ‘Urban Legend Survivors Gallery’ community.
A sense of kinship with people whose faces and names I didn’t know, yet who were going through the same hell.
And the welcome and attention they had shown me.
‘Thanks to that, I missed an important fact.’
They were ‘survivors’ who had experienced urban legends and lived.
They had seen, experienced, and survived all sorts of irrational and horrendous things.
To expect ordinary moral values or goodwill from such people?
Absurd.
Rather, how cheaply must human life look to them?
A mere ten million won. Their world must be so twisted that they could lightly weigh a human life against that paltry sum.
— *Creeeak.*
Eventually, the door to the lost and found center opened.
“By now, she should’ve drunk the tea and passed out, right?”
“Ha. This is sweet, really. If only newbies like this came in every day.”
“Honestly, how many newbies let you take ten million won right from the start?”
“Gotta hit the lottery like this sometimes to make this job worthwhile.”
I focused on the voices and footsteps.
Three... no, four?
All men.
Fortunately, they seemed to think I’d already escaped; there wasn’t a shred of vigilance in them.
‘Good.’
If they all went deep inside, I would slip out through the entrance in that gap.
That was the clearest and easiest escape plan I’d come up with.
“Let’s go!”
“Let’s hurry up and rob her and get it over with!”
The bastards moved.
I watched them through the crack in the narrow drawer, the corner of my lips rising.
‘Good. Hurry up and get lost.’
I had figured out all of your rulebooks.
I didn’t drink the tea, didn’t fall asleep, and I’m wide awake right here, you pathetic losers.
I’ll escape just like this and flood the Gallery with mockery posts! Khehehe!
“Boss, aren’t you coming?”
“You guys go by yourselves.”
“Why? So you can sit back and lap up the honey alone?”
*Smack!*
A rough crack of a hand striking the back of a head echoed.
“Hey, you bastard. Didn’t you see what that newbie wrote on the Gallery? She’s smart, even for a newbie. We gotta be prepared just in case. So you guys go.”
“Ah... yes.”
One stayed behind while the remaining three shuffled off toward the center.
No. Wait.
‘Go. You go too.’
I prayed over and over in my heart, but the hulking brute simply sat down on the stairs, staring blankly toward the passage.
‘Ugh!’
I mentally tore my hair out.
Because I’d seemed too smart, this was happening!
‘I should’ve acted a little stupider when posting on the Gallery!’
It was too late for regrets.
Resolving to act a bit dumber from now on, I pondered a solution.
A situation where the only entrance was also the only exit, now blocked.
‘Can I subdue him?’
I shook my head. Impossible.
Right now, I was a slender girl barely over 160cm.
That guy was a robust adult man.
One fully prepared to hunt newbies, at that.
‘Charging head-on is suicide.’
There was no way.
I quietly opened the Gallery window.
Countless users were worried about me.
Posts were pouring out in real time.
— Still no response. She might really be dead.
— Newbie hunters just need to get their asses beaten..!
— I think she’s just lurking, pretending she went for attention.
Should I report that I was alive and ask for help?
I hesitated for a moment, but soon gave up on the idea.
Those thugs were most likely monitoring the Gallery as well.
If they found out I was alive, the search would become even more meticulous and persistent.
I desperately rummaged through Gallery posts to find a way.
But there was no escape method anywhere for when surrounded by hunters at the ‘Terminal Station Lost and Found Center.’
Of course.
Because no one had survived that situation to come back and tell the tale.
Then, the sound of a walkie-talkie came from outside.
— “Nobody in that area either?”
— “This brat really seems to have escaped!”
— “Damn it! Where the hell did she run off to?”
At the clamor coming through the walkie-talkie, the man guarding the entrance shouted in anger.
“Start searching! Flip over everything—shelves and all—find her!”
My heart sank.
If I kept hiding here, I’d be caught.
What do I do?
◆
— Uwuuu newbies are scary [3]
— Still, she seemed pretty smart. Such a shame [7]
— Recruiting people to go save the newbie [18]
— Ah, seriously, stop with the newbie bait. I told you she’s not a newbie [13]
— I’m at ‘Terminal Station’ right now, I think I’m fucked [37]
[Title: I’m at ‘Terminal Station’ right now, I think I’m fucked.]
Author: Anonymous
[Content]
Surrounded by newbie hunters. Exit blocked. Save me. What do I do?
[Comments]
└[PrepLotsMakeLittle]: Crazy, so it was real?
└[LogicCircuit]: What’s the urban legend like? How many enemies? Any weapons you can use?
└└[Anonymous]: Four. They’re starting the search now. I think I’ll be caught soon.
└└[LiveForToday]: Newbie, tip: humans are weaker than you think. Just smash their heads. Killing is easier than you’d think.
└[FrontalAssault*]: Delete the post immediately. The enemy is likely checking the Gallery too. If a mod deletes it, there’ll be records, so self-delete quickly.
[Title: Sharing how to deal with newbie hunters.]
Author: PrepLotsMakeLittle
[Content]
Just give them all your money and beg.
If a man fights like he’s going to die, they’ll get hurt too, so they’ll usually let you live if you beg. I survived that way once.
[Comments]
└[LiveForToday]: Beg? Fuck that, just fight them head-on.
└[PrepLotsMakeLittle]: Dude, how do you beat four people alone? Make some sense.
└[LiveForToday]: Yeah, you’re the one not making sense. You think they’ll let you live if you beg? They’ll take your money and throw you to the urban legend as bait.
└[PrepLotsMakeLittle]: No, for guys they’ll usually just let you go. If they get hurt, it’s a loss for them too.
└[LiveForToday]: Just swing your dick, you dumbass.
└[PrepLotsMakeLittle]: Yeah, if I can get my life for the price of swinging my dick, I’ll swing it.
└[LiveForToday]: Fucking inferior male bastard.
└[Anonymous]: Guys, but I’m a woman. What do I do?
└└[Santo1kki]: Wow, this guy’s commitment to the bit is insane.
Right then, a new dynamic IP user made a post.
[Title: So you really are here? Where are you hiding? LOL]
Author: 203.38
[Content] Come out quietly and I’ll go easy on you.
[Comments]
└[PrepLotsMakeLittle]: Wow, these bastards are really vicious.
└[LogicCircuit]: They’re checking the Gallery in real-time and waging psychological warfare. Extremely dangerous opponents.
└[FrontalAssault*]: Please stop immediately and release the Gallery user. Don’t you need the Gallery too?
└[LiveForToday]: You bastards, if I ever see you, I’ll turn you all into minced rice cakes.
The Gallery was engulfed in fear.
And shortly after, a meaningful post from ‘Anonymous’ went up.
Title: If I go missing here
Author: Anonymous
[Content]
Someone please find me.
I’ll really believe.
◆
Park Cheolmin.
He was a ‘human hunter’ who made a living backstabbing humans inside urban legends.
Today, he had really hit the jackpot.
According to the info posted on the Gallery, a complete newbie with an A-grade ‘Perfect’ rank crystal. A total pushover.
Of course, there was one slightly bothersome thing.
The rumor that she might be the Gallery’s legendary veteran, ‘LostHandBrainSlightlyFixed’.
Certainly, her first urban legend clear record far surpassed that of an ordinary newbie.
But Park Cheolmin dismissed it as mere coincidence, ‘beginner’s luck.’
Cases where a newbie stumbled backward and hooked a big fish. Such things happened occasionally.
‘Most importantly.’
Judging from the data of newbies he’d caught so far.
Among those guys pretending to be women, not a single one had been sane.
They were all weak prey, their masculinity completely emasculated, unable to distinguish reality from delusion.
He checked the post written on the Gallery with a fishy smile.
A warning that he would find her soon.
The newbie wasn’t leaving any comments.
She must be frozen in fear, too terrified to move.
“Boss! She’s nowhere to be found!”
His subordinates returned after finishing their search and reported.
The men were sweating buckets, looking flustered.
Well, it certainly was unusual.
To have a newbie here who didn’t follow the rules and fall asleep.
But Park Cheolmin snickered.
“You idiots. There’s still a place you haven’t searched.”
The place he pointed to with his finger was the compartment beneath the shelf.
At that moment.
— “Hik!”
Very faintly, the sound of someone swallowing their breath reached him.
The sweet sound of prey.
Park Cheolmin raised the corner of his mouth and slowly walked toward it.
One step, one step.
The moment he reached the shelf, he shoved it aside without hesitation.
“Found you. Our newbie.......”
And seeing the existence crouched there, he couldn’t finish his sentence.
“...A woman?”
Not just any woman, but an unbelievably beautiful one.
Deer-like eyes, wide with terror.
Pale shoulders trembling.
Hair as white as snow.
In the moment Park Cheolmin lost himself in that surreal appearance.
— *Crack!*
The world flashed, and his head turned sideways.
*Clack.*
A few teeth that had fallen to the floor made a sound.