I Became A Ghost In A Horror Game

"Today is also quite uneventful."

Weekend evening.

I was feeling particularly bored today.

Perhaps it's because I've been spending time with Alice lately.

The sense of loneliness that I was familiar with now feels a bit unfamiliar.

Today, even Eun-jeong, Suho, and Kyeong-min are all busy.

This kind of thing happens often. Actually, quite a lot when I think about it.

But if Alice isn't busy, it's also a day when I can have her all to myself.

With a sense of anticipation, I tapped on the mirror.

"Let's play together~"

As if performing a summoning ritual I found on the internet, I spoke to the mirror, and it rippled, connecting me to Alice.

"Oh my. Are you bored again?"

"Ehehe... If you're not busy, let's play. Or even just talking like this would make me happy."

Just seeing Alice's face makes me happy.

Because she's pretty!

Her eyes used to be red, but now those mysterious and deep blue eyes calm and comfort my heart.

In response to my request, Alice habitually stroked her chin.

She seemed to be pondering what we should do today.

"Hmm... Then, how about visiting the Institution today?"

An unexpected suggestion came from Alice.

The Institution!

A group that controls and manages all occult matters behind the scenes of society, protecting humanity.

It was a topic that made my heart race, something I had only heard about from Alice.

Erasing memories sounds scary, but... I didn't want to miss this opportunity.

"The Institution? That big occult organization? Is that really okay?"

"Huhuhu... It's a secretive organization, but they're lenient with kids, right? Honestly, I don't think we'll get in trouble no matter what we do."

"It's a bad thing to say, but... As long as we don't get caught, it should be fine, right?"

"Honestly, even if we get caught, I think it'll be okay."

It was a somewhat bad act for a child to go to such a secret and official place just for fun.

But I still wanted to go.

Understanding my intentions, Alice connected the mirror to her location.

"Come on over to play."

Without hesitation, I jumped into the mirror.

Then, a room filled with carefully arranged and cute items came into view.

The bed and floor were all covered with soft, fluffy things!

"So this is Alice's containment room. It's super cute."

"It's not my taste. Carol put all this here without asking."

"Who is that person? I heard about them before."

Carol... I've heard that name from Alice.

And also from Jack O'Lantern.

I wonder what kind of person they are.

I might want to meet them someday.

Looking at this room, it's clear they care deeply for Alice.

"She's someone who really likes me and cute things to a suspicious degree. An adult who's old enough but still acts spoiled around me. You shouldn't be like that when you grow up, okay?" ℞𝓪ŊΟ𝐛ĚŠ

"Can't I?"

"...I'll let it slide sometimes."

Alice, showing at least some sincerity, created a clone of herself and left it in the containment room.

The clone waved its hand, telling us to have fun.

Alice and I quickly exited the containment room through the mirror portal and walked down the hallway.

Seeing that the surveillance cameras were working, it seemed like they were just letting us play.

So, we became even bolder.

"This must be the cafeteria."

We stopped where a delicious smell was coming from.

Grumble...

Come to think of it, I haven't had dinner yet.

I couldn't resist and peeked inside the cafeteria.

People in suits and special equipment were visible.

Mostly dressed in black.

It felt like I had entered a world of black.

"Surprisingly normal... No, actually, there's a lot of delicious-looking food!"

It was a buffet-style meal setup, with an incredible variety of food.

The types of food here were as many as all the school meals I've seen combined!

"If the Institution was a company, it would be a mega-corporation, right? Given the hard work they do, it's only natural that they get to eat well."

"It must be super tasty..."

"Then why don't we just eat?"

"But I don't deserve that, do I? That food is the reward for their hard work."

For people dealing with dangerous tasks, they deserve proper compensation.

I think it's more about welfare than money.

If they have to be extra vigilant while working, they should be able to relax just as much during their breaks.

Eating delicious food is part of that relaxation, but is it okay for me to join in?

"How much have we contributed! It should be fine. And it's not strange to get a meal in a place that protects people, right?"

Is that so?

Honestly, the Ruler we faced with Alice was a super strong monster, right?

Even though Alice did most of the work, one meal shouldn't hurt, should it?

Objectively, that seems right.

"...Maybe so!"

So, we entered the cafeteria, and Alice boldly asked an adult nearby.

"Give us food!"

Here, to get a meal tray, you need an ID card or something that shows you belong to the Institution.

If you're inside the Institution, aren't you all coworkers? I had that question, but I convinced myself that you never know.

Anyway, that's why they asked for a card.

The man we caught looked troubled and subtly tried to activate a small radio in his pocket.

"Stop trying to check if Carol gave permission. Wouldn't that be disappointing? I've helped you guys a lot. Even if you report me, I won't get punished much, but making me raise my hands is annoying."

"No, if I pretend not to know, I'll get a pay cut..."

"If we go by that logic, everyone here is an accomplice."

When I looked around, the people who were staring at us quickly turned their heads.

"Ahem..."

It seemed everyone had received help from Alice.

They all knew but pretended not to.

I felt even more confident in such an environment. Ahem.

A secret organization-approved dinner!

"...Thank you!"

Grabbing two meal trays, Alice and I served ourselves the food we wanted.

"Tonight's dinner is a manly meal: pork cutlet and stir-fried pork. And chocolate cake!"

"I'll have omelet rice and udon. And one exotic dish with a name I don't know!"

We each took a bite of the food we had chosen.

So soft! The sauce and the eggs in the omelet were incredibly soft.

Even though it was pre-made, it was as soft as if it had just been made. How does that work?

While enjoying our meal, someone patted my head.

"Ah, Uncle James!"

"Good to see you. And Alice, you're getting bolder by the day."

"So what? Maybe we're all starting to get comfortable."

"Well, if there's no punishment, rules lose their meaning, don't they?"

"Huhuhu... Do you think so too?"

Uncle James and Alice still get along well.

Hmm... Both are the type who dislike complicated things, it seems.

Uncle James's meal was just bread and soup. Simple.

"Are you teaching something bad?"

Then Sister Maria joined us.

I heard she transferred from the Cathedral to the Institution, and she seems to be doing well.

Sister Maria also likes sweets, so she only took an ice cream instead of a meal.

"Little Red Riding Hood didn't come?"

"She hesitated, saying it's bad to go out recklessly. Should I say that's typical of her? She didn't hesitate when going out to play with Alice, though."

"That's true. From her perspective, going out to play with friends isn't a bad thing. Uhuhu..."

We chatted about various things while having our meal.

The warm conversations going back and forth made this moment very pleasant.

As the meal was almost over, Uncle James stood up first.

He seemed to anticipate what we would do next and patted my head as he spoke.

"Don't mess with anything too dangerous."

"Okay!"

"Got it! Wait? Why are you patting my head too?"

A moment later.

We were sneaking into another containment room.

Because we're curious!

Alice's monsters are diverse, but sometimes I'm curious about other flavors.

Alice showed me a list she had taken from somewhere.

"Wow... Are all these the anomalies in the containment rooms? There are so many. But what's the difference between these anomalies and devils? I've always wondered."

We've discussed this topic several times with Alice and the others, but it always ended vaguely.

Probably this time too.

Alice answered my question like this.

"Well, maybe it's the difference between breaking the rules and not breaking them?"

"Then do devils and angels not break the rules? Who decides that?"

From a human perspective, both devils and angels are supernatural, so...

"From my perspective, it's just the way it is."

Anyway, we connected to the containment room through the mirror and peeked inside.

There was an object made up of small squares like Tetris blocks, constantly changing shape.

"It looks like it might explode if it forms a straight line."

"There should be related documents here somewhere. Found it. It's in a locked drawer. The security level is low since the threat level is low."

According to the document, it really does explode if placed near square buildings.

Wow, there's all sorts of things in the world.

I couldn't help but laugh, but the names of the victims from the explosion were also written in the document, so I quickly stopped.

"...Ahem! Shall we look at something else?"

Alice quickly led me to another containment room.

In this one, there was a mysterious-colored jellyfish floating in an aquarium.

"It's pretty..."

"It must be a hallucinogenic jellyfish."

It has anomalous properties but doesn't seem very threatening.

So we could watch it comfortably.

After staring at it for a while, we moved on to the next containment room.

"There's a person here?"

What I saw was a man dressed as a chef, staring at us through the mirror with a soulless gaze, like a mannequin.

"Don't look too much. That's a chef who cooks people. How unlucky. Should we just get rid of him?"

It looks like a human, but it doesn't seem to be a human.

I didn't bother opening the file containing photos of the dishes he cooked.

I could roughly guess what atrocities that monster had committed.

I shouted at the monster.

"Rot in there forever!"

Then it stared at me coldly.

Alice, seemingly displeased, warned him.

"Lower your gaze. Do you want to disappear without a trace?"

Then the monster lowered its eyes!

Feeling somewhat relieved, we continued on.

It felt like we were at an exhibition.

I felt like I was looking at a well-made piece of modern art, and it was enjoyable without any sense of rejection.

"Alice, you're enjoying this too, right? I wish this moment could last forever."

"I feel the same. But when night falls, we have to sleep, right?"

It seems a lot of time has passed.

My legs are starting to hurt, but my heart still wants to play.

Still, I didn't want to trouble Alice, so I gathered my thoughts and suggested we peek into one last containment room.

Alice smiled and agreed.

"Alright. This is the last one."

In the last containment room we peeked into, there was a girl sleeping.

She was sleeping so peacefully that at first glance, it was hard to tell what was anomalous about her.

But then I noticed a small toy pony circling around her like the moon around the Earth.

"Let's see, skipping the identification code, the alias is Sister's Toy."

The document stated:

After a sudden car accident left the girl in a coma, a toy pony started floating around her one day, and it has the characteristic of eliminating anyone who poses a threat to her.

There was a suggestion that the comatose girl might be unconsciously controlling the toy pony, but analysis showed no correlation.

However, the toy pony was the same one her older sister, who died in the accident, used to play with, leading researchers to speculate that the sister's soul might have inhabited the toy.

But no soul has been detected, so it remains a mystery.

■■■ Researcher commented that will and soul might be different things.

"The accident is tragic, but it's really touching.

To leave behind the will to protect her sister even after death."

"Yeah... That's true."

"Personally, the fact that no soul was detected suggests that she didn't defy death and went peacefully to the afterlife. Protecting her sister and not defying death, isn't that the best possible outcome?"

I shared my thoughts, waiting for Alice to chime in.

But Alice remained silent, just staring at the sleeping girl.