I Became A Ghost In A Horror Game - Chapter 27

Knock knock.

I hear a knock on the mirror.

Someone is knocking on a mirror connected to me from far away.

It is not clear who it is, but I feel it’s Ha-rim.

But she is having a nightmare in front of me.

It’s a situation I can’t understand.

Right now, Ha-rim is sleeping, but it was Ha-rim who called me.

Still, if she was calling from the other side, I decided that I should go.

I used mirror movement to get to the mirror connected to me from far away.

It took a considerable amount of time to travel, and the mirror was dusty.

The destination was inside of a train.

This must be a supernatural space derived from the famous ghost story [Monkey Dream].1

It begins with strange beings lining up people in a dream and brutally killing them in order.

Afterwards, the ghost story ends with the main character barely escaping from the dream, afraid of having the same dream again as he knows it would be his end.

It is a very dangerous monster. The odds of meeting it is obviously low.

Is Ha-rim okay?

I got out of the mirror.

Immediately after that, I see her. She was right next to me.

Fortunately, she wasn’t injured.

However, a single tear trickled down her cheek.

The eyes are red and swollen, looking pitiful.

…Ha-rim is crying.

I was greatly perplexed when I saw it.

Because it was unimaginable for her to cry.

When she was being chased by a monster, when she first fell into this world, when the children were agitated.

She showed strong mental strength that was unshakable to the extent that I wondered if she was influenced by something.

She is crying?

I noticed that she wasn’t looking at me.

She was just staring at the window.

What are you looking at?

I turned my head and looked outside.

There was an “end”.

It may be the past, the future, or a different world, but the world lines that Ha-rim reached in the end of this game were spread out.

Simply put, the original endings.

Fucking dark endings.

I saw the world line in one of them.

Kyeong-min’s throat was cut.

Suho was stabbed.

Eun-jeong was suffocated by being wrapped in a spider’s web.

However, Ha-rim survived and moved on.

After moving forward, she stops next to some mechanism and witnesses a huge demon destroying this world and moving outside.

The Devil, an absolute being who shouts that the end of the children are despair.

Ha-rim who looks with dead eyes.

In all world lines, Ha-rim always survived “alone”.

As she lost her friends one by one, the result of surviving is the birth of the Devil and the sight of precious people outside dying.

Ha-rim of all the world lines, deprived of even a place to return to, sits down at the same time and waits for death in a daze.

No matter how many times I watch it, it’s a disgusting ending. The middle of my forehead crumples on it’s own.

“Ha-rim.”

“…”

She didn’t seem to hear.

“Shin Ha-rim! Stop looking at it!”

I forcibly turned her shoulders and made her look at me. Only then did she, who noticed my existence, muttered.

“Ella…?”

And then grabbed me like a crazy person and said.

“Ella, Ella! What the hell is that? Are all the futures we will experience like that?”

“Calm…”

I was trying to tell her to calm down.

But before I could say it all, Ha-rim spoke like she was vomiting words.

“I want to believe that this is just a dreamscape. But, but! Emotions are being passed on to me. The feelings of everyone who might be me!”

Dangerous. Her mind is shaking. The negative emotions of each Ha-rim of different world lines are flowing into her.

If she doesn’t calm down right now, her mind will break.

I hastily said.

“It’s just a dream.”

She didn’t believe it.

“Lie! It’s a lie! Kyeong-min, Eun-jeong, and Suho all die. Even if I survive alone and go out, everyone outside will die!”

Ha-rim was relentless when it came to matters of survival. She’s the type of person who doesn’t hesitate and acts once she sees it.

The obsession with life is on the bigger side.

Even so, she said something that shouldn’t be said.

“If this is the result of working hard every moment without giving up… If we are waiting for results that can never be changed… There’s no point trying to live…”

Ha-rim is the main character of this game.

She is truly the perfect image of human will who doesn’t give up on life even after falling into the world of monsters and losing all her friends.

However, she was also a victim of the cosmic horror that was the appearance of the gigantic demon.

A story that has no way to explain other than the creators deliberately wanted to trample on such a human figure.

I pushed her hard.

“You fool!”

Ha-rim was startled by the louse shout and cowered.

“It’s just a dream, Ha-rim! You shouldn’t say that!”

“But!”

“But what! Take a good look. Am I over there?”

Ha-rim’s eyes widened. I wasn’t there.

This is because I was an outsider from the game world.

I hugged her before she could say anything.

As my warmth was transmitted, her fear began to subside.

“The Devil is giving you bad dreams. It’s trying to break your mind! No one has died yet. None of you! Isn’t it? Am I wrong?”

Ha-rim replied in a trembling voice.

“That’s right. Ela… Thank you for helping everyone. You helped me because you are my friend.”

“That’s right.”

She was silent, then hugged my body.

Her mind, driven by extreme stress, tried to pour out all her emotions on me to ease the pain.

Emotional turmoil takes on one direction.

Sharing your feelings is one of the reasons people can live.

I made her say anything so her spirit doesn’t break.

Everything from the main problem and fear in her heart to the smallest things!

Ha-rim hesitated for a moment before opening her mouth.

“…You know, Ella. I’m actually very lonely. Maybe it’s a lack of affection. My parents died in an accident when I was very young.”

I didn’t know the past of Ha-rim, the main character.

This time, my emotions were fluctuating a bit.

No, it shouldn’t be like this.

I calmed down and listened.

“Instead, my uncle took care of me. But my uncle was busy and said I had to do everything myself. I read books because I didn’t know anything. It was quite helpful.”

Ha-rim unraveled her own past.

Mistakes she made because she wasn’t used to doing things on her own, things she felt sorry for, things she felt ashamed of.

“…”

“Since the day I made a friend. Kyeong-min, Eun-jeong, Suho… I never felt lonely when I was with them.”

Her voice trembles once more.

“But when I get home, I’m alone. Always alone! That was so painful.”

I asked her.

“Didn’t you tell the kids? It would have made you feel better if you had explained the situation and talked to them.”

She hugged me tighter and answered.

“My uncle said it wasn’t a smart idea to talk about not having parents. And I read a verse in a book.”

“If you share negative emotions with your friends, they will suffer just as much. It even said my friends might leave! In that case, it would be better not to tell… I thought so.”

She revealed her secret.

Her voice became lighter.

“…”

“Ella. You asked why I created a club? This is why. In a scary place, tension arises, so it isn’t lonely. Besides, if I make a club, I can play with my friends after school! I’ve found justification.”

Because she values her friends so much, she doesn’t share her negative feelings.

Sharing the heavy topic of not having parents with friends was a problem that could cause discomfort between them.

Just as a trivial thing can make you a friend, a trivial thing can distance you from a friend.

Ha-rim found out about it at a very young age.

She poured out her emotions.

Even so, I couldn’t leave her alone because she still looked dangerous.

“…I’m sorry Ella! Sorry for telling you everything! Ella is also a dear friend! I told you an embarrassing story.”

I pushed the self-blaming Ha-rim away a little and looked at her face.

“You can tell me.”

“…Why?”

“Because I am the same.”

She seemed to realize a lot from my answer.

I don’t know what she was thinking.

In what way was it conveyed?

I was just being honest.

I also lost my parents in an accident.

Even if it was the parents who didn’t love me, I can’t explain the loneliness of not having anyone anymore.

Maybe Ha-rim and I are of the same kind.

I was a little happy about that.

POV Switch – Ha-rim

Hearing Ella’s words, I started thinking.

Ella is a ghost twisted by being abused.

It was clear that she had more scars than myself.

She wouldn’t have been able to tell anyone about her hidden scars.

Same as myself.

Then… Can I tell you?

If we have big wounds, can we have a relationship where we heal each other?

An existence I can share my negative thoughts to my heart’s content.

A secret friend who can always jump out of a mirror and talk to.

I looked into Ella’s eyes to seek tacit agreement.

It’s a warm stare that looks at the same kind.

There is no sign of discomfort to be found.

You must be thinking the same as me.

POV Switch – 3rd Person

Ella did not know how Ha-rim understood her.

Ha-rim did not know who was inside Ella.

But their gears meshed and turned.

The dream was slowly crumbling because it was no longer a nightmare.

Ha-rim, realizing that this dream was over, whispered to Ella.

“Ella. I have a favor.”

“Tell me anything.”

“I don’t think those worlds are just dreams.”

“…”

“But if the things I saw are going to happen in the future, I want Ella to change them. To an adventure to get through the frightening things we are about to experience.”

When Ha-rim’s crying face became serious with the will to move on, Ella smiled a little.

As if declaring, Ella said “yes.”

And as a result, Ella and Ha-rim became close friends to the extent that they would not lose to anyone.

Ella enjoyed it.

And it was the same with another person sleeping in her body.

Ha-rim woke up from her dream and opened her eyes.

It’s still night.

At the bedside, Ella was looking at her.

Ella asked.

“Was it a nightmare?”

Ha-rim replied vigorously.

“No!”