Ch.54The Wanderer’s Library (2)

I am Jack Usher.

Born in Detroit City, 1975. I’m a man, and I’m old as the dust under the bed.

It’s been roughly 5 days since I entered the Library-

[Actually, it had been 6 days and 12 hours at this point : Translator’s note]

-I’ll start keeping records from now on. I found this book on the Library shelves, and it transforms whatever I think into something like a novel.

It’s not useful for much else, but it could serve as a survival journal.

I just hope whoever reads this knows English.

[Contrary to Jack’s concerns, the book’s contents automatically translate to match the reader’s language : Translator’s note]

*

[Library Survival Day 1]

I have no idea why I’m here. That day I just went to the library to watch some news and read a few novels I’d been into lately, and then this mess happened. The surroundings transformed into something like a medieval library, and the exit completely disappeared. And, fuck.

The corridors here never end. Is it even possible to get out of here?

*

[Library Survival Day 2]

I’m thirsty. And fucking hungry. You could say I’m experiencing the fate usually reserved for unsuccessful writers. Dying of starvation surrounded by piles of books.

*

[Library Survival Day 3]

God. It seems there’s no law saying I have to die. First, I found something to drink. I guess I momentarily forgot that there are bathrooms in libraries. Water flows freely from the clean bathroom sinks. Drinking tap water might give me an upset stomach, but a few bouts of stomach pain are better than dying of thirst.

And this is truly unbelievable. There was a message written in lipstick on the mirror.

= Cafeteria: 50 sections toward

where the CLASS B Philosophy shelves are =

Was someone else here before me?

Thanks to that, I found food. There was an empty cafeteria with quite a bit of food left.

And by ‘section,’ they meant one bookshelf row.

Bags of snacks and frozen pizza. Packaged spaghetti. I devoured the long-awaited food in a hurry.

I’m a damn Black man, so I guess it’s okay if I steal a little.

*

[Library Survival Day 4]

For the first time since arriving here, I found an artificial structure.

Someone pulled shelves together to form pillars and stacked books like bricks to build a fortress. From a distance, it looks like Sauron’s fortress.

There wasn’t much to salvage. Everything was smashed. There are signs of destruction and burn marks. When I run my palm over it, soot comes off.

The fact that I can tell this much…

I feel uneasy.

*

[Library Survival Day 5]

My instincts were right. I can see people in monk’s habits in the distance.

I noticed smoke rising between the shelves.

I was about to go straight to another structure I found, but now I’m hiding and watching secretly.

The monks are busy destroying a tower built by people.

Like the Roman soldiers who took Jesus away, they keep repeating that no one should enter here.

And the nuns.

These whores are transporting corpses on carts, chatting energetically among themselves.

One more thing.

The books in this library are strange.

A book fell from the shelf, and this thing writes automatically according to my thoughts.

It must be an item from the Harry Potter world. Or maybe I’ve entered the wizarding world. The one where Voldemort fucked over the Ministry of Magic. Fuck.

*

[Library Survival Day 6]

Since finding this journal, I’ve been immediately pulling out and reading any suspicious-looking books from the shelves.

You never know. There might be some kind of magic book shelved here that will send me straight outside the moment I open it.

*

[Library Survival Day 7]

I found another person.

His name is Marvin, he’s from Chicago, and he’s a white cop.

As if things weren’t shitty enough, Marvin drops an even shittier bombshell.

He says he’s been here for 13 months.

Fuck.

***

The record ends here.

I closed the book and moved on to find the next one.

As I went deeper into the shelves, I found Choi Serim sitting among the books.

“Dabin. Did you find anything?”

“It’s a journal recorded by someone who came here before. Apparently the book automatically records your thoughts.”

I grumbled as I crouched down next to Choi Serim.

“But I guess it’s not very useful?”

“Yeah. I already remember all of Dabin’s thoughts.”

I mentally locked my thoughts behind a barrier.

If her claim about reading my thoughts wasn’t a lie, Choi Serim immediately reacted.

“Huh? I can’t read them anymore.”

“Yes. Now I roughly know how it works.”

“What? Show me your thoughts, Dabin!”

Choi Serim makes fists and lightly punches my chest.

“No way.”

I pushed away Choi Serim as she lunged at me, and glanced at the book she was reading.

“What are you reading, noona?”

“Just some writing guides about composition.”

“Writing guides?”

“Yes,” Choi Serim nodded.

“I was thinking that our escape from the apartment could be considered the ending, in novel terms.”

There are three main pieces of information we need to find here.

First, information about what kind of place this apartment is. We need to understand this place properly to assess the situation and respond accordingly.

Also, information about the ending of the outside world. According to Choi Serim, the world outside the apartment was almost on the brink of destruction. Since we can’t live in a destroyed world even if we get out of here, we need to know exactly what state it’s in.

Lastly, the reason for the destruction. This is the most important. We need to know the reason to prevent it in advance.

“I thought there might be something, but it doesn’t seem to be here.”

Choi Serim speaks in a calm voice as she closes the book and puts it down on the floor.

“It just says that it’s okay to write terrible endings for web novels. The author says they’re inherently rude, so they won’t be polite to readers either.”

“That’s a bad person.”

“Indeed.”

At the same time, I think about what Choi Serim just said.

If this were a novel, escaping the apartment would be the ending.

I don’t think I’m the protagonist.

Many people died trapped without escaping, but new people still enter the apartment.

Choi Jun-gi, who led the survivors, and Park Sungjin, who was said to be a veteran explorer, couldn’t reach the ending.

I’ll probably end up the same way.

Still, the reason I risk my life exploring is because I want to see the possibility.

People died struggling to get out of the apartment. But escape might have been impossible from the start.

Isn’t a story that ends like that truly a bad story?

If escape is difficult, I at least want to see the possibility.

As I’m making this resolution…

“No, don’t open strange books!”

Jung Haewon’s voice comes from the shelves over there.

From what I can see, he’s arguing with Yoon Daju.

“Huh? Why is this strange?”

“I told you some books are dangerous just to read! Memetic Kill Agent!”

“We should feel the real danger firsthand. If we just avoid it blindly, the danger doesn’t feel real, does it?”

While making this plausible nonsense, Daju pretends to open the book.

“Aaaack!!!”

Jung Haewon closes his eyes tightly and screams.

I had pointed out the characteristics of dangerous books earlier, but I didn’t expect it to be used like this.

It was when we first entered the Library.

Now it’s become a habit to observe anomalies whenever we arrive at a new floor.

The familiar dizziness.

When I focus my mind, black noise fills my vision.

■

■

And soon letters flow into my mind.

[The Wanderer’s Library]

= Manual for Librarians who have entered this place.

Appropriately supplemented from =The Librarians of the Wanderer’s Library=.

To protect the stored books and anomalous entities, some content has been intentionally edited or access restricted.

■

■

As stated, most of it was censored, and there were limits to the accessible information.

I tried to read as much content as possible, engraving the intact letters in my mind.

//////

– This is an infinite archive where all information in the world flows in.

– Beware of people in monk’s habits. They do not like unqualified visitors to the library.

– All lights in the library turn off and on at 12-hour intervals. You should not remain in darkness for too long. When making a fire, useless books can be used as fuel.

– Some information is very dangerous. Just by reading, you can become addicted to information, lose your sense of self, or mentally die and become another host of an information hazard. This is a common danger of self-replicating information, but most information is safe. Only information that has evolved very rapidly over a long period of time poses a significant risk.

– Dangerous and safe books are distinguished by the color of their covers.

> Pink cover: Very dangerous information hazard.

> Khaki cover: Information hazard that can be tolerated with an appropriate level of anomaly resistance.

> Sky blue cover: Memes that keep circling in your head. Caution needed if you have no resistance or are mentally unstable.

> Other colors are safe.

– You can identify the characteristics of the surrounding area through graffiti engraved on the shelf walls.

[Access Restricted: To prevent Foundation personnel from accessing, we share only a few symbols excluding the essential ones.]

//////

I closed my eyes and opened them again. The letters that had been stretched out in the air disappeared as if they had never been there.

“I’ll draw the symbols separately to show you.”

As I moved to find a notebook, I momentarily lost my footing due to dizziness.

“Ah.”

“Got you~”

It was Yoon Daju who caught me.

“Oppa, good job!”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

I tried to get up after briefly thanking her, but Yoon Daju’s hands remained firmly attached to my waist.

Squeezing.

“Take that off.”

I brushed away Daju’s arm and moved to Choi Serim’s side.

Just as I was about to do so, Jung Haewon grabbed me and asked.

“Wait, why does Daju noona call noona ‘oppa’?”

“There’s a reason for that.”

It’s a bit awkward to explain myself. Since it’s come to this, I guess it doesn’t matter.

Daju is also smiling like she’s having the time of her life.

“Ask Yoon Daju to explain it to you later.”

I substituted my answer with a suggestion to ask when they’re alone together.

“Okay. I don’t know what’s going on, but I understand!”

Jung Haewon continues in a playful voice.

“But it’s interesting that all information has potential danger.”

“Only a few are actually dangerous, so don’t worry too much.”

“But theoretically they’re all dangerous, right?”

How should I explain this?

I thought of various examples in my head.

For instance, apple seeds.

Apple seeds contain cyanogenic glycosides. When these go through the digestive process, they become the famous poison, cyanide.

That’s what they say, but you won’t die from eating them. You’d have to roast and eat a handful to get a slight stomach upset.

Maybe information feels similar?

Yoon Daju, who had been quietly listening, softly hums a line from a song.

“Amyl Man~”

“Ah. I get it now. It won’t leave my head.”

It seems Jung Haewon gets along better with Daju than with me.

Back to the present library.

“Stop the information terrorism!!!”

Jung Haewon screams with his eyes tightly closed from across the shelves.

Daju is opening and closing the book in front of him like she’s playing a game of chicken.

“Now. What will happen if you read this? Come on, don’t avoid it, look straight at it!”

Judging by the sky blue cover, the danger level itself is low, but…

Playing around with it is another matter.

“Ah. Daju shouldn’t be doing that.”

Leaving Choi Serim behind as she muttered worriedly, I stepped forward.

“Noona, wait here for a moment.”

With a 40-page book in hand, I walked briskly forward and…

Thwack!

Hit Daju on the head with the spine of the book.

The reaction came quickly.

“Ow!”

Daju screamed, covering her head with her hands.

“Wow. How does hitting someone’s head make a metallic sound? Is it a tin can?”

“Ah. I was just joking, why are you like this, oppa?”

“Are you risking your life for a joke?”

I raised the book again.

“Okay! I get it! You can stop now…”

Covering her head, Daju sulks and mutters.

“A man hitting a woman like that…”

Thwack!

I hit her once more.

“I’m a woman now too. Happy?”

That feels better.

“Yoon Daju, stop crossing the line. Jung Haewon, tell me if she bothers you again.”

“Yes, noona.”

After resolving the situation, I returned to Choi Serim.

“Okay. Let’s look for books again.”

“Dabin.”

Choi Serim is just smiling silently.

“Yes?”

“You’re cool.”

There was a lingering feeling at the end of Choi Serim’s words as she looked at me.

Three hours into our exploration.

Choi Serim stood up.

“Let’s go find something to eat now. We also need to find a place to light a fire at night.”

To survive here, we had to keep moving, as always.