Chapter 4

Chapter 4. The Book That Records Mysteries (2)

The book repeatedly opened and closed, making strange noises.

I had no idea why it was behaving like that.

Still, it didn't seem like it was trying to attack me. I could sense a strange will coming from the book.

At the same time, I could also feel faint emotions.

Joy at seeing me, happiness, satisfaction, and longing poured out of the book and washed over me.

It felt bizarre, almost like communicating telepathically with an alien.

At this point, things like this didn't even surprise me that much anymore.

I stared at the book.

“Why did you come here?”

At my question, the book hummed.

A thick mist began to puff out from it.

The book repeatedly opened and closed like it was flapping its wings, then slowly flew toward me.

Its intentions flowed directly into my mind.

In that instant, I understood the reason behind everything the book was doing.

I nodded and reached out toward the approaching book.

The book gently landed on my hand like a bird.

It felt strangely cold.

Its texture was particularly memorable, like someone had taken a cloud and hardened it into a solid object.

The book fluttered a few more times on top of my hand before opening wide.

Its pages rapidly flipped by, revealing what was inside.

The hundred or so pages making up the book were completely blank, without even a single letter written on them.

Then the very first page opened.

Letters slowly began engraving themselves onto it.

The sight of glowing letters appearing by themselves while scattering faint light was truly mysterious.

As expected of some strange life-form.

Suppressing my amazement, I looked down at the first page.

And what I read contained far more than I had imagined.

[Prologue]

[─ Regarding Mysteries

1. Scq999 - Regression, Possession, Reincarnation

2. Scq001 - A World Containing Mysteries

3. Scq602 - Zombie Virus

4. Scq000 - Regression, Possession, Reincarnation Gallery

5. Scq102 - Curtain

6. Scq??? - ???

7. Scq172 - The Book That Records Mysteries]

“What the hell is this...?”

A low groan escaped my mouth.

The prologue filled my vision with both familiar and unfamiliar terms.

After staring blankly at the book for a moment, I quickly realized what those words represented.

It seemed to be listing the strange phenomena and bizarre creatures I had encountered so far, in the exact order I had encountered them.

And apparently, the book referred to those things as Mysteries.

I had thought nothing could surprise me anymore.

But the contents of this book were shocking on a completely different level.

I moved past the prologue and tried to turn the page so I could read the actual contents.

But no matter how much force I used, the page refused to turn.

When I kept trying, an intention came from the book.

Apparently, I didn't meet the requirements to turn the page yet.

“What are the requirements?”

The book slipped free from my hand and fluttered through the air.

Feeling its intentions pouring into my mind, I carefully stroked its cover.

Flutter!

The book flapped even more energetically, seemingly delighted.

This was the requirement?

Just... petting it?

I asked again, but the meaning conveyed by the book was exactly the same.

I think I understood the general idea now.

It seemed the book had chosen me.

And if I wanted help from the book that had chosen me...

I needed to raise its affection toward me.

[How Would You Rate the World I Reincarnated Into?]

[Author: ㅇㅇ]

[I'm the reincarnator anon who reincarnated, had a zombie virus break out, got trapped in a bathroom, and then awakened a Black Flame Dragon.

Yesterday, while browsing the Gallery, I got chosen by a book. Thanks to it, I finally figured out what kind of world I reincarnated into.

(Photo of the book's prologue)

Looks like this is a world overflowing with Mysteries.

Anyone wanna come visit?

(GIF.jpg of the book fluttering around cutely)

You might even get chosen by a cute book too, hehe.]

└This is viral marketing!

└Why is a book better at acting cute than my cat? Why am I the only one without a cute book?

└Humblebrag detected. Blocked;;

└Scq? Mysteries? The lore is finally moving forward, lol. Upvote if the basement-dwelling Gallery users are grinning because they finally got new content after 500 years, lol.

└I'll start with myself~

└Time to analyze the worldbuilding~

└Great Mage, 310 years old, male. Looking for someone to analyze this world with me.

└Infinite regressor, physical age 23, female. May I join the discussion?

└Whoa, noona, just bring that body of yours ^^

└Physical age 23. Mental age 2,300. Ninety percent chance she's mentally unstable.

└She's basically an old hag...

└Old hag or not, you're from different worlds anyway, so you can't even meet her, lol.

└Is this actually real? You're seriously saying this isn't fake and it's a completely new world? And it even has Scq classifications?? I fucking love this kind of stuff. I'm hyped as hell, lol. Please give us more information, lol.

└Season 4 of "Fake Post" has officially begun, damn.

└No, fuck, I wasn't saying it's fake! That was just an exclamation;;

└And once again, the Gallery's average IQ drops.

└It's tilting downward~

└Looks just like my crypto portfolio falling, fuck...

“Will this do?”

I looked at the book sitting on top of my head.

The book seemed to be reading my Gallery post before releasing a faint puff of mist.

That meant it was extremely happy.

By now, we could communicate surprisingly well.

I stroked the book while thinking.

It had already been a full day since I obtained it.

It wasn't a long time, but I had learned quite a bit about the book during that period.

One of those things was how to increase its affection.

I had tried several different methods.

The most effective one was praise.

The way it completely melted from even the smallest compliment was strangely cute.

That was also why I had written something about the book at the end of the post I'd just uploaded.

Thanks to that, the book was showered with praise from countless people.

I had no idea how, but the book could apparently read Gallery posts.

It had even been reading the comments together with me just now.

So it had to be in an extremely good mood.

“Then can I read the next page now?”

Unlike when we'd first met, I spoke casually instead of using polite speech.

This was also one of my methods for making our relationship more comfortable and closing the distance between us.

I never thought I'd end up grinding affection points outside a dating sim.

Even less so with a book.

But this was necessary.

If it meant I could read the book's next page, I'd happily grind as much affection as necessary.

Flutter!

The book gave one short flap.

It was refusing.

I stroked it while writing and uploading several more posts to the Gallery.

[101 Reasons Why a Pet Book Is Better Than a Pet Dog or Cat]

[Healing GIFs for Lonely People]

[Book MAD Movie]

[Regarding the K-Mystery That Shocked Martial Artists and Mages Alike, While Dragons and Spirit Kings Desperately Covet It!]

After uploading all those posts, notifications began ringing.

The comments were just as passionate as before.

└Has this guy finally gone insane?

└Surviving a full day in an Scq apocalypse world is honestly pretty impressive, yeah...

└I wanted information, but this wasn't what I meant;;

└The fact that this garbage is still reaching the Best Posts section is terrifying, damn.

└You think we'd treat a new toy after 500 years like it's nothing? lol

└When the fuck were we shocked?

└We were shocked... Just not by the book...

└I was shocked when I saw the book though?

└We've passed through the age of spirit-fetishists and dragon-fetishists, and now we're entering the age of book-fetishists, lol. Is this the Gallery of Abnormal Fetishes or what? lol

└What's abnormal about being into spirits?

└Bro...

└Info) Except for the highest-ranked ones, spirits all take the form of animals. And humans can only form contracts with spirits up to the high rank...

└Furries count as normal sexuality in our Gallery though?

└My vote says this bastard is a regressor;;

└When there's a weirdo in the Gallery, pointing at a regressor is correct ninety-nine times out of a hundred...

The response was so passionate that it went beyond hot and practically became scorching.

The book released smoke once again.

This time, the smoke was much thicker than before.

With this much...

Maybe it would work.

“Hey, can I read the next page now—”

Flutter!

Rejected again.

Just how much affection did I need to build up?

Well, I'd fill the bar eventually.

After thinking about it for a moment, I reached toward the book.

It fluttered before willingly allowing itself to be caught in my hand.

I opened the first page.

The prologue I had already seen countless times yesterday and today appeared once again.

By now, I knew it so well that I could recite it without even looking.

[5. Scq102 - Curtain

1. Scq??? - ???

2. Scq172 - The Book That Records Mysteries]

I fell into thought for a moment.

“If the Mysteries are recorded in the order I encountered them, then Curtain was probably the bathroom.”

The Mystery that had once controlled the bathroom and had now essentially become my makeshift glove.

Since yesterday, I had already been halfway convinced that its name was Curtain.

That conclusion had already been settled.

What mattered now was the Mystery listed below it.

A Mystery whose number and name were both displayed entirely as question marks.

Apparently, after encountering Curtain, I had unknowingly encountered another Mystery.

There was something that came to mind.

“Book. You don't have the ability to control shadows, right?”

The book fluttered in affirmation.

After encountering Curtain, but before meeting the book...

The only Mystery I could think of was that human-shaped shadow.

At first, I'd thought the shadow had been one of the book's abilities.

After learning that the book didn't possess any such ability, I had assumed I'd simply imagined it.

But now I knew.

The shadow I'd seen yesterday hadn't been an illusion.

There was still one more Mystery somewhere inside my house that I hadn't found yet.

The moment I properly recognized that fact, the book began to glow.

New words appeared.

[6. Scq632 - Confirmation Bias]

It seemed that for a Mystery's name to be engraved into the book, I first had to properly recognize that Mystery's existence.

I had discovered another rule.

Still...

I had already encountered seven Mysteries.

Considering only a single day had passed since the apocalypse began, that number was absurdly high.

Once again, I reached the same conclusion.

The world would be destroyed in the near future.

If I wanted to survive for a long time, I needed to prepare in advance for the world after its destruction.

And I already knew how.

I would learn from the Gallery.

“But first, I'll deal with this new Mystery.”