I walked between the bookshelves, following the library patron.
"Jeong-jin, there's a book around here I wanted to recommend to you."
It came to a stop in the fantasy section.
Of course, every title crammed onto those shelves was twisted, radiating a vibe like If you try reading this, you're in for it.
Pretending to browse under its guidance, I periodically glanced toward the clock at the center of the library.
We were pretty far from it now, so I couldn't stop any tampering, but I had to at least note what time it was being set to.
"This is the one, Jeong-jin."
It obsessively called my name every time it spoke.
Not that it was my real name—just some fake one I'd slapped together—but it still sent chills down my spine.
Anyway.
The cover of the book it handed me boldly read Label Library, with elegant cursive English script beneath it spelling out something that meant "About Time."
In the game, you had to bulldoze through the entire Label Library storyline before details on the book unlocked and you could find it. But knowing the game inside out, that didn't matter to me.
"Oh, thank you so much. This is exactly the book I was looking for."
Now came the tricky part.
I gave a slight bow of thanks and naturally turned to walk away.
Please don't talk to me.
"Jeong-jin. I'm looking for a book too. Would you help me find it?"
Yeah, no way that wouldn't happen.
The patron guiding you to a book was a fixed event, but any conversation beyond that was pure RNG.
They rarely approached a player just standing around, but if you initiated or acted familiar, they'd almost always engage.
I could ignore it and bolt, but that wasn't natural behavior for a library patron.
So if I could survive the next nine hours or so without getting caught, it was worth a shot.
I took a short breath.
"What book should I look for?"
"I want to read a delicious book."
A delicious book, huh.
Still, that was a more manageable request than I'd feared.
These things weren't going to ask for anything normal anyway—the game's requests were always some warped nonsense like this.
At least this one had a clear theme. I was lucky.
Once, it just demanded a blue book with zero explanation.
Failing to deliver the right book on a "find this for me" request? They saw it as unnatural and game over.
"Shall we head this way, then?"
For a delicious book, obviously a cookbook.
As I led it toward the cooking section, I glanced back and spotted something black clinging to the clock.
Then an arm—human-like—burst from the black mass, bending unnaturally to yank at the hour and minute hands.
Faint burn scars like those on a real person marked the arm, a sparkling earring dangled from an ear dripping down it, a ring glinted on a finger poking from the earhole, and the mouth gaped, seeming to mouth something at me.
Save... me...
Urk!
I jerked my head down on reflex.
I felt my fragmented mind slowly steadying.
Stared at the patron too long.
"What's wrong?"
Keeping my eyes glued to the floor to avoid repeating the mistake, I replied.
"Nothing at all."
When I risked another look at the clock, there was just one person sitting there, reading a book.
The clock hands had definitely moved.
3:23.
Last check was 1:37, and about twenty minutes had passed since, so real time was around 2:00.
But to play it safe in case of miscalculation or memory lapse, call it 1:50.
Counting time in my head as I walked, we arrived at the cooking section before I knew it.
Now just find the right book—but grinning like an idiot and cracking one open here would shatter my sanity.
Whatever you did, remember the rules first.
Rule 5 was perfect for this.
⚙ LIBRARY RULE ⚙5. Do not read any books in the library, including those on the shelves.
—If you glimpse the contents, you won't be able to maintain your sanity.
The easy way was stocking up on mental resistance items from the start, but I had none.
Couldn't get any in the early game anyway.
But there was a workaround without items.
I pulled a random book and showed it to it.
Its body started writhing.
A sure sign it wanted to kill me.
"Hm. This one's no good."
The moment I closed the book, the twitching stopped.
That's right—keep doing this.
I didn't know its patience limit, but in the game, as long as you didn't miss its reactions, you could drag it out forever without issue.
Around 2:10 by my internal clock, it eyed the new book I'd pulled and seemed utterly relaxed.
"Thank you so much. Time to dig in!"
The words barely left its mouth before it started chewing the book.
Something crunched like muscle and bone, but I decided to blank that out.
I checked out the book and headed back toward the clock, settling into a nearby chair.
6:27.
"Tch."
Time had changed again.
While finding its book, it'd messed with the clock once more.
Had to keep eyes on the patron's reactions, so tough to watch elsewhere.
Figure around 2:20 for safety.
Now just wait till 9:00.
About seven hours left.
Nothing happening would be nice, but unlikely.
I added the minute hand's progress to my mental tally.
Three hours later, around 5:20 internal time, something glinted faintly under the opposite bookshelf.
If I were the protagonist in some B-grade horror flick, curiosity would've dragged me over. But no point investigating when waiting it out was the plan.
Then two more hours passed, and the worst happened.
Another library patron approached me.
"Hello? Jeong-jin."
Calling me by a name I'd never given it was bad enough—the first one looked tame by comparison.
What was it? A body like a swirling mass of flesh.
"Hello. May I have your name?"
Since conversation was inevitable, I tried a question not on the game's choice list.
"I'm Kim Hyuk-jung, thirty-two years old, living in unit 301, building 5, Shinseong Apartments, 21 Sinseong-ro 21ga-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul Special City."
Way too much detail, right?
"Ah, Kim Hyuk-jung. So, what can I do for you?"
"I think I lost my locket. Will you help me find it?"
A locket was a necklace pendant with a lid for photos.
And I'd glimpsed some accessory like that earlier.
"Sure thing."
I reached straight under the shelf I'd noted before.
Something cool and metallic came away in my hand—a rusted, coppery locket.
The photo inside was so faded from age I couldn't make out details, but it showed a boy around five.
"Is this it?"
"Ah, yes! Thank you so much."
"By the way, who's in the photo?"
It glanced at the picture and said,
"My son."
What?
"My son."
"My son."
"My son."
It kept repeating the same phrase, then its body shuddered violently.
"Son? How long has it been? Too... too long. I can't remember my son's name!"
"Quiet down, you're being too loud!"
"..."
A sudden silence—not even the sound of turning pages. Looking around slowly, every library patron was staring at me.
Even Kim Hyuk-jung, who'd been seizing in front of me moments ago, gazed back like nothing happened.
"The library demands silence."
"You must be quiet in the library."
"You broke the rules!"
"You broke the rules!"
"You broke the rules!"
They started closing in on me.
"No, I wasn't the loud one!"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Damn it."
A disaster from a totally unnecessary question.
Almost an hour since I'd fled them.
They advanced at a steady pace—not fast, not slow.
Speed wasn't the issue.
It was their numbers.
Over a hundred, easy.
I'd dodged so far, but I was cornered now.
Anyone who hadn't figured out what capture meant was an idiot.
I'd become one of them.
No way in hell.
Better to off myself than get absorbed by a Tale.
The once-human things closed in.
I whipped my tentacles like lashes, and a patron's flesh burst like fireworks.
But killing them changed nothing.
"Finally... I can die!"
Their final ecstasy triggered recombination—the flesh reformed into a revived patron.
They came back no matter how many times I killed them.
"No, no! Kill me!"
Their despair echoed through the library.
Capture meant I'd end up like that.
Only about two meters to the door behind me.
What time was it exactly?
Probably closing in on 9:00.
Tightening my loose estimates, it'd hit right around then.
Just five more minutes—safe zone.
But space was too tight to hold out that long.
They kept squeezing me in.
I lashed tentacles to fight back.
It barely slowed them.
Three minutes to safety.
I glanced behind.
No room left to run.
Exhaustion hit—tentacles barely moved.
They gaped mouths till faces split and blood sprayed.
I squeezed my eyes shut and slowly pushed the door.
About two minutes left, probably.
As their maws lunged to swallow me, I threw myself through.
Space warped, blackness yawned.
Did I fail?
"..."
"..."
"..."
Long silence. Then a red doll squeezed through the black void.
"Return due date: two weeks from now."
"Hah—!"
The blackness receded. I lay in the library—not the Tale, a normal one.
I stared at the book in my right hand and muttered,
"I survived."
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