The Red Room will make you fear the Internet.

'Anata wa ~ suki desu ka?'

Hey guys!

Recently, I've been reading a LOT of Japanese urban legends. The Kisaragi station, the fatal fare, Aka Manto, Teke-Teke, and Toire no Hanako are some of them. One urban legend in particular really interested me, however.

It's the Red Room. And it's creepy as hell.

Why is it creepy, however?

The original urban legend goes like this: You browse the internet, you encounter a pop-up that says 'Do you like ___?', you try to exit the pop-up, the pop-up turns to 'Do you like the Red Room?', and after that, it's all a blur. The next day, you're found in your own room, claimed to have committed suicide, and painting your entire room red. Hence the name 'Red Room'.

Someone made a flash animation that walks through the encounter with this pop-up. This is how the flash goes...

It starts off with two teenagers talking about the Red Room urban legend. The more skeptical of the two decided to do some research about the Red Room and finds nothing. He goes on his usual web activities when the pop-up shows up. Things play out like the urban legend, however, after the screen goes red, names start appearing. These names are the names of those who have fallen victim to the Red Room curse. The main protagonist notices two names in the end: his friend's name, and his name. He then notices an ominous presence behind him...

The next day, he is found dead, having 'committed suicide' and painting the room red with his own blood. When the flash finishes, if pop-ups aren't disabled, a pop-up similar to the one in the story appears.

Scary? Probably. Unnerving? Highly possible. But then again, it's all fiction. NOTHING WRONG can happen because of this flash...right?

But then the Sasebo Slashing happened.

The Sasebo Slashing is...really, really disturbing. Imagine a 12-year-old girl murdering her classmate because said classmate insulted the girl.  The classmate was murdered with a utility knife, and her body was slashed to pieces...

The 12-year-old girl, known as Nevada-tan, admitted to murdering her classmate.

Investigations happened, and we find out that the number-one bookmark in Nevada-tan's computer browser is the Red Room flash animation.

...yeah...creepy as hell...

So...

Anata wa akai heya ga suki desu ka?

Iie. Watashi wa akai heya ga kirai desu!

...don't sue me, I'm self-teaching myself Japanese with anime and Vocaloid.