1/7524 LEVEL 1/7524

CLASSIFIED

Item #: SCP-7524

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-7524 is kept in a low-security containment locker at Site-18. PoI-76293 remains at large.

Description: SCP-7524 is a modified NES Zapper video game controller attached by several cables to an improvised anomalous electronic device contained within a briefcase. When aimed at a character in any kind of video media and fired, the object "kills" the targeted character; characters affected by SCP-7524 do not appear in any subsequent playings of affected media on the device initially targeted. Despite this disruption, events in affected media continue as they normally would despite the absence of deleted characters. Actors who portray deleted characters are unaffected by the anomaly, even if they play themselves.

Addendum: Creation and Discovery

SCP-7524 was found in the home of Edward "Hertz" Nguyen (known to the Foundation and classified as PoI-76293), a hacker and software pirate with ties to Veiled criminal mischief collective "Gamers Against Weed" (GoI-5869). At the time of the object's discovery, Nguyen was on Foundation-mandated probation; therefore, records from within his home showing the circumstances leading to the creation of SCP-7524 have been recorded and are known to the Foundation.

Begin Log

Date: March 17, 2022

Footage taken within Nguyen's apartment shows him sitting at a table in his dining room and eating soup from a large, steaming bowl. The television, situated above the recording device and out of view, is turned on and tuned to CBS. Nothing of note happens for two minutes.

Nguyen reaches down to scratch the area of his leg under his ankle monitor. Nothing of note happens for four minutes.

A commercial for a local business (identified as Baumbach's № 1 Used Cars of Norristown, Pennsylvania) begins to play. Its audio is considerably louder than anything that has played on the television before that point.

Speaker (Regis Baumbach): Are we the best? Our sources say yes!

Nguyen, startled, spills his soup into his lap. The bowl falls to the floor and breaks into two pieces. On the television, the commercial continues.

Unknown (in unison with an explosion sound effect): Yahoo!

Baumbach: That's right, Norristown — Baumbach's back, baby! And we've still got the best rates -

Unknown: Yahoo!

Baumbach: The best payment plans -

Unknown: Yahoo!

Nguyen, now standing, looks disgustedly down at his pants and the bowl before starting towards the television. He hits the side of his abdomen on the edge of his dining table and doubles over, cursing.

Baumbach: And the best selection of cars anywhere! Get the new 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee for $200 down -

Unknown: Yahoo!

Baumbach: The new 2022 Chrysler 300 for $130 down -

Unknown: Yahoo!

Baumbach: And the 2022 Ram 1500 for zero down! That's right — zero down!

Unknown: Yah-

Nguyen, clutching his side, turns off the television. He straightens, turns back toward the dinner table, and curses under his breath.

For the next few weeks, nothing of note occurred; Nguyen reflexively muted the Baumbach's № 1 Used Cars advertisement whenever it came on as he was watching television. The next recorded instance of the commercial indirectly inconveniencing Nguyen occurred on March twenty-ninth.

Date: March 29, 2022

The television is on and tuned to CBS, but Nguyen is not visible. Prior to the events of this log, Nguyen had adjusted its volume to a higher level than usual. Four library books (The Road by Cormac McCarthy, The Maxwellists: Those who Evolved when their Church Couldn't by Andrea Whitford, JALAKÅRA's Web: a History of Three Moons Censorship by Roger Greenbaum, and It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover) are in a pile on the glass table in front of the recording device.

The advertisement begins.

Baumbach: Are we the best? Our sources say yes!

Nguyen's voice can be heard from outside the recording device's field of view.

Nguyen: No!

Unknown: Yahoo!

Baumbach: That's right, Norristown — Baumbach's back, baby! And we've still got the best rates -

Unknown: Yahoo!

Heavy footsteps are heard from left of the recording device. Nguyen, carrying a half-full laundry hamper, runs into the room and places the hamper on the table in front of the television before scrambling for the remote.

Baumbach: …the best selection of cars anywhere! Get the new 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee for $200 down -

Unknown: Yahoo!

Baumbach: The new 2022 Chrysler 300 for $130 down -

Unknown: Yahoo!

Baumbach: And the 2022 Ram 1500 for zero down! That's right — zero down!

Nguyen struggles with the remote. Before he can mute the television, a loud scraping noise originating near the floor is heard. As Nguyen, distracted, looks down, the table collapses onto his left foot and shatters and the hamper slides into his leg. He drops the remote and falls to the ground to clutch his foot.

Unknown: Yahoo!

Nguyen: Shut the fuck up!

Nguyen picks up the remote, mutes the television, and puts it back down. He rubs his foot and stares absently to his right for two minutes.

Nguyen stands up and starts to turn to leave before pausing and turning back to look at something on the table.

Nguyen picks up the copy of JALAKÅRA's Web: a History of Three Moons Censorship by Roger Greenbaum, looks back at the television, and raises an eyebrow.

For the next three weeks, things continued as normal — none of the recording devices planted in Nguyen's apartment recorded anything incriminating or even suspicious. Nguyen left the television on as he usually did, but did not take the time to mute the Baumbach's № 1 Used Cars advertisement as he had before. He did not purchase a new table.

Date: April 21, 2022

At 7:30 PM, Nguyen positions a chair in front of the television, using it to hide an object now known to be SCP-7524 from view of the recording device. He turns on the television, tunes it to CBS, sits down, and waits for ten minutes.

At 7:45 PM, the Baumbach's № 1 Used Cars advertisement begins.

Baumbach: Are we the best? Our sources say yes!

Unknown: Yahoo!

Nguyen narrows his eyes.

Baumbach: That's right, Norristown — Baumbach's back, baby! And we've still got the best rates -

Unknown: Yahoo!

Baumbach: The best payment plans -

Unknown: Yahoo!

Baumbach: And the best selection of cars anywhere! Get the new 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee for $200 down -

Unknown: Yahoo!

Baumbach: The new 2022 Chrysler 300 for $130 down -

Unknown: Yahoo!

Baumbach: And the 2022 Ram 1500 for zero down! That's right — zero down!

Unknown: Yahoo!

Nguyen is scowling now. His left eye twitches.

Baumbach: Hi, I'm Regis Baumbach. Here at-

Within less than a second, Nguyen reaches across his body with his right hand, draws SCP-7524, aims at the screen, and "fires." Baumbach's voice abruptly stops. After a second, Nguyen looks directly at the recording device and momentarily hesitates before aiming SCP-7524 at it and "firing" again. Upon doing so, his body freezes, inverts, and spins as it slowly falls and disappears from the recording device's field of view.

The following is a transcript of a recording taken by a device in Nguyen's bedroom, and picks up where the previous transcript ended.

The video feed shows Nguyen's bedroom, slightly illuminated by light coming in through the doorway to the left. The recording device is situated on Nguyen's desk. The audio feed is silent for a few seconds before the sound of muffled footsteps and a chair being dragged across the ground in the living room are heard. After a few more seconds of silence, a stock sound effect of an explosion (presumably coming from Nguyen's television) can be heard.

Unknown: Yahoo!

Nguyen: FUCK!

End Log