Free Web NovelThe silent corridors of Hanbit Library.
The Guard Captain stood still, head bowed, staring at his hands—
as if recalling the moment he’d raised those black, monstrous forepaws of contamination to subdue the Wolf Leader...
or perhaps reliving the instant before that attack, when he had bitten through his tongue to slip the restraints loose.
“......”
I gathered every experience I’d lived through as Golden, Podo, and Roe Deer within this library—
and made them all my own.
Then maybe the Guard Captain, too...
“Mm......”
“...!”
His lips parted.
And—
“So this is what it is.”
A quiet voice.
Without thinking, I called out:
“Wolf Leader?”
He lifted his head.
Then turned toward me, speaking again.
“Hey... I’d rather you not... call me that anymore. It’s confusing....”
Ah.
His limbs hung limp; his eyes were dull and tired.
The Guard Captain was still the same.
“The two of you... have become one again, haven’t you?”
“Mm......”
He seemed to be searching for words.
“In book terms... even if you know that page is part of you... when it’s been blotted with ink or crumpled, you can’t read it like before....”
“......”
“The one who restored that page... was probably this library’s power....”
...For J3, who remembered almost nothing of himself before the contamination,
his time as the Wolf Leader had been a damaged page.
And a damaged page could never again be read.
But still—
“The sense you had while traveling with me must have stayed with you.”
“......”
“That’s why you said, ‘So this is what it is.’ You felt something different—didn’t you?”
About his own past.
He’d merged with the self that knew, the self that hadn’t yet been ruined.
And then—
“Yeah...”
“...!”
At last, a different emotion crossed his face.
Not numbness.
The kind of quiet that appears when someone long accustomed to failure and pain,
finally feels that pain again.
“I remember... what that felt like...”
“......”
I didn’t know.
Was that good, or bad?
If recalling a forgotten, dulled version of himself only brought crushing pain—
maybe time had to pass before he’d know the answer.
After he digested that pain—what would remain?
What would J3 reclaim?
I thought of the question I’d asked him more than half a year ago.
—Mr. J, what wish made you join this company?
...Maybe, someday, I’d finally get to hear the answer.
But for now, instead of asking, I stepped closer and bowed my head.
“You’ve done well.”
“......”
“And thank you. You saved my life more than once in there... Mr. J.”
“No...”
The Guard Captain adjusted his dental mask—
the exact same motion that his past self, the Elite Team’s Wolf Leader, had used to fix his mask.
“......”
“...So what was all that about, Roe Deer?”
Ah.
“Deputy.”
The rest of the group, who’d stayed quiet out of respect for the mood, finally began to ask in low voices.
I started explaining what had happened—
everything with the Wolf Leader, our exploration of Se-gwang Technical High School,
the realization before I ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) became the Librarian, and our eventual reunion into one self.
“Quite the adventure.”
“Sure was.”
For reference, the version of Team D that had been with Podo had gone through things very differently from my side.
—Everyone, stay alert.
—Our rookie Badger, be careful here.
—Y-yes, sir...!
That was when Team D—the version without me—had appeared in another corridor.
They’d recognized themselves immediately from the hairstyles and nicknames,
and rushed to uncover the library’s truth faster,
while also struggling not to encounter their own doubles—me included.
“Our Captain looked exactly the same. I thought I’d split in half.”
“Hahaha...”
Even Section Chief Lizard had appeared as two identical reptilian heads, completely indistinguishable....
—C-Captain?
—Yes.
—Yes.
—Holy sh—he’s answering from both sides! Run!
“......”
Come to think of it, those reptilian beings were said to be almost immune to contamination.
Perhaps Section Chief Lizard had been identical on every page all along....
Anyway, it’s a relief we all merged safely.
And the next surprise—
“There it is. The exit.”
My thread of yarn had functioned properly, guiding us back to the entrance.
As if all the bizarre horrors we’d gone through following it were lies,
we now stood before the same platform door we’d entered through.
“I thought the library needed a Librarian—that it was trying to trap us like a flytrap.”
“I thought so too.”
Then something clicked in my mind.
The usage rules:
Gaze into the window.
Do not descend underground.
When you gain one thing, leave.
“What if that was... a test?”
“A test?”
“Yes. To determine if we were qualified to use the library.”
“...!”
In myths and legends, places that stored knowledge often tested whether the visitor was wise enough to receive it.
It made sense, even in an urban legend.
“When you gaze into the window and split into multiple forms existing at once—
only the person who doesn’t destroy or sacrifice the others,
but realizes the truth, earns the right to be a user.”
No wonder there were doppelgänger myths all over the world—
facing a being identical to yourself invokes an instinctive rejection,
making it a formidable test of mind.
“So the ones who fail their mental training get forced into being Librarians?”
“A kind of labor-reform penalty. Hmm, Roe Deer’s theory makes sense.”
Chief Park Minsung agreed.
And then I remembered the final rule.
When you gain one thing, leave.
Maybe it didn’t mean when you obtain a Librarian.
Maybe it meant when you’ve realized the truth and regained the unified self—then you can leave safely.
Hmm.
That interpretation made Hanbit Library feel different from other tales we’d faced.
Almost sacred. Less malevolent horror, more of an overwhelming awe before an incomprehensible will.
Perhaps that’s the nature of the being that made the library its sanctuary—one you must bow to.
Of course, we could only speak so calmly because we’d passed the test.
“Either way, there’s the exit. Let’s head out, shall we, Captain?”
“Yes.”
We agreed to leave Hanbit Library and return to reality.
There was a mountain of findings from this expedition that we had to verify outside.
...I also want to confirm the train Yeongeun mentioned.
My mind was restless, but thinking of Se-gwang Technical High School made it impossible to delay.
Then—
“Uh, maybe I should stay here?”
“Excuse me?”
Chief Park stopped walking.
“It’s just, I’m perfectly fine here... Maybe I could stay and do backups or something! I’ve got both hands, my mind’s clear—”
Ah.
Section Chief Lee’s voice cut in firmly.
“Denied.”
“......”
“Probability of surviving alone for over fifteen nights in this darkness is minimal.
Too many uncontrollable variables. Return immediately.”
“Oh...”
Park’s voice trailed off.
“Your treatment’s surely continued in reality—you’re likely far more recovered than before.”
“That’s true. We’ll see soon enough....”
“Come on, Badger.”
“...Yes.”
And so the situation was settled.
Whew.
[Ah, at last, an ending. Quite the intriguing expedition.]
You—ugh, forget it.
Not the first time you’ve pulled this.
Still, since things ended well, I decided to let it go.
We left Hanbit Library and swallowed the euthanasia capsules.
“When we wake up, we’ve got a lot to do.”
Thus the Se-gwang Special City expedition concluded—
for the first time, without urgency, with everyone safe.
***
Moments earlier—just before everyone took the capsules.
“......”
J3—the nameless one—looked back.
At the book-lined corridor, the strange library’s entrance, and everything within.
He remembered—
The hidden passage.
Walking through it bound and binding another,
leading the team down that black-red corridor to make them Librarians,
to worship the library’s master.
And at the dead end, the signboard he’d seen—
· ■료■자실
→■자상■영
←■■■■료
↑■자실료■
The others hadn’t noticed.
But with eyes that pierced the darkness—inhuman eyes—he had.
It wasn’t a single signboard.
Each direction had its own small supplementary plate.
And the one on the right read—
■자상■영
: 전중작■명영Ⅱ동■화
Reconstructed, it became—
Video Archive Room
: Screening — World’s Great Fairy Tales II
“......”
He remembered now.
Long ago, during Baekilmong, he’d once lost a similar entry in a fairy-tale horror project.
Entry Method:
Through viewing a certain videotape purchased at a secondhand shop
in a redevelopment alley on the outskirts of ■■ City.
(Viewing follows the special exhibition protocol developed by the research team.)
The tape’s title:
He recalled it.
World’s Great Fairy Tales.
“......”
“Mr. J, let’s go.”
“Yeah...”
The expedition was already over,
and J3 had long since lost the will to act for his own desires or emotions.
So he obediently took the euthanasia capsule.
At least this time.
***
“You’re awake.”
I opened my eyes.
Hoyo-won stood before me with that same faint smile—an all-too-familiar scene.
“What did you experience this time? And what did you discover?”
The barrage of obsessive questions began,
but first, I had to check something.
Check: Dream Extractor
I pulled out the item I’d carried with me, just in case.
Inside it—
glimmered golden liquid.
“...!”
It had collected.
Evaluation: Visual Appraisal
Hoyo-won’s eyes narrowed.
“B-grade... almost A. No, it might even be A.”
‘...!’
Better than expected.
If we’d met the library’s master directly—or at least felt its presence—it might have reached S,
but that level of risk hadn’t been necessary.
Even this was an extraordinary result.
A dream-based expedition yielding high-grade potion extract, with zero casualties?
This is a breakthrough.
We’d brought back four Dream Extractors in total.
Even excluding the one I left with the Guard Captain, three would be enough to report as major initial results...!
But the real surprise came when everyone woke up.
While checking the extractors, the Guard Captain produced his as well—
“Wait, that’s....”
“......”
Golden light shimmered inside his too.
The extractor I’d only handed to him for safekeeping—
now filled with liquid.
My God.
We hadn’t expected that—he’d been too contaminated to handle it properly.
But then Hoyo-won’s words clarified the situation.
“Hmm. Its purity’s a bit lower than the others....”
Ah.
It must’ve registered as collected during his Wolf Leader state.
That would match the timing—our exploration of Se-gwang Technical High, and our escape.
“......”
Still, before Hoyo-won retrieved it,
the Guard Captain stared at the filled extractor for several silent seconds—
as though feeling something.
“......”
Out of respect, I looked away,
and instead asked about one of our missing teammates.
Inquiry: Status of Badger
“Oh, he woke up—but conversation’s still difficult. Still contaminated.”
Ah.
“His arms, sadly, haven’t regenerated.
Though he keeps trying to summon his training manuals from nowhere and grab them, as if they’re there.”
“......”
Of course.
It seemed Chief Park could only stay sane and whole within Se-gwang Special City.
Still... maybe with time, treatment, and regeneration potions, he’ll recover.
I forced myself to think that way.
Black smoke drifted from me as I shifted focus.
“So... can you tell me now?”
Hoyo-won’s eyes gleamed again.
“What did you find this time in Se-gwang Special City?”
......
I moved the smoke, forming words.
Question:
Regarding the Emergency Response Unit of the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau.
“Oh, those agents? They’ve been calling nonstop.
Demanding I notify them the moment you wake up—quite pushy.
Rude, but I suppose that’s my burden to handle. Anyway, what happened in Se-gwang....” ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
......
I wrote another line—more specific.
Question:
Regarding the Emergency Response Unit of the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau.
Team Blue Dragon.
Hoyo-won froze.
As if struck through by a spear, or crushed beneath a building.
Then a voice broke the silence—
“At last.”
A voice full of rapture.
I lifted my head.
“You’ve found it.”
A wide, ecstatic smile spread across Hoyo-won’s face.
