I Became A Ghost In A Horror Game-Chapter 104: Red Riding Hood – Where the Monsters Live

Shin Ha-rim’s Perspective

“...I thought it would be a good idea to split up from Alice and investigate another area... but I honestly have no idea where to go.”

The only reason I left was because I believed following someone who was clearly hiding something wasn’t efficient.

In truth, I didn’t have a solid plan of action.

Looking back now, maybe I should have brought Soo-ho along.

In an emergency, I could always contact Alice using the hand mirror—so for the moment, it should be fine.

I walked and walked through the city that had become a forest.

At some point, I sensed something and headed deeper into the woods, where fewer buildings were visible and the moon shone clearly.

The moon?

Right, it had just turned to night before we arrived here.

Given the time difference, it must be early morning here.

For some reason, seeing the moon stirred something uneasy in me.

It felt like someone was pushing me from behind.

I couldn’t pinpoint what this feeling was, but I had the sense that staring at the moon for too long wouldn’t be good.

I looked away and continued deeper.

That’s when I saw a wolf.

Here, a wolf didn’t mean a regular animal.

It referred to a monstrous transformation—humans turning savage, baring fangs and claws at everything.

Though to be fair, their appearance wasn’t too different from actual wolves.

“...Huh? On closer look, it’s not a wolf.”

It was actually a wolf statue—shaped like a wolf looking up at the moon.

‘Why is it staring at the moon?’

Sure, werewolves are linked to the moon... but is it really that simple?

The thought gave rise to questions.

And questions, if not always, usually brought me closer to answers.

I hid my body as I pondered. It’s better to think while concealed—being lost in thought made one too vulnerable.

Step. Step. Step.

‘...Huh?’

I thought I heard footsteps.

Multiple footsteps, even.

They sounded heavier than an average person’s, each thud thick and weighted.

I pressed deeper into the bushes, trying to mask my presence.

If they weren’t human, their senses might be sharper.

I peeked toward the direction of the sound to get a look—but only vague shapes entered my vision.

It wasn’t my eyesight causing the blur.

They were formless, wavering figures, like mist given movement.

That was my first impression.

‘Are those... made of fog?’

No. That couldn’t be it.

There’s no way something so weightless could make such heavy footsteps.

They were probably using some kind of spell to obscure their forms.

As I squinted to make sense of them, I started to faintly see the shapes of wings. Were they birds?

I dubbed them Smog Birds in my mind and kept my guard up.

Were they part of the same group as the Plague Doctor Alice followed?

They approached the wolf statue.

Symbols like that were often used for worship, or as guardian objects... or even as focal points for rituals.

A city turned into a forest, humans turning into wolves...

And now, a wolf-shaped statue.

This couldn’t be a coincidence.

CRASH!

Just as I was thinking that, the winged figures shattered the statue.

And the moment it broke, the moon rippled—just for a second.

‘There’s something inside that statue...’

While I was considering that, another strange occurrence followed.

A chilling wolf’s howl rang through the air.

The Smog Birds raised their weapons—though they were hard to see, they clashed against the mist with a metallic clatter, sharpening their blades.

They immediately prepared for combat, but some of them were torn apart in an instant by wolves that had suddenly appeared.

Unlike the ones I’d glimpsed before, this wolf stood on two legs.

Still savage, but its eyes seemed focused.

It was wearing torn, tattered pieces of ordinary clothes, as if it had once been human. A pair of sunglasses rested on its head—an odd detail.

Didn’t look like James... so probably not him.

Awooooo—!

The battle was one-sided.

Each swing of the wolf’s arm sent the Smog Birds flying.

Even when they used magic, it bit through the spells like they were paper.

I was so intrigued that I almost took out some popcorn from my bag.

That’s when the tide shifted.

From the opposite side of the wolf, something appeared in a blink.

It was still blurry, but I could tell it was about twice as large as the other Smog Birds. I also heard the light clinking of small metallic ornaments—it might’ve been wearing accessories.

That’s when I realized something.

‘Its presence... is faint?’

This larger Smog Bird looked like an upper-tier version of the others—and definitely stronger.

Yet its presence kept slipping from my perception unless I deliberately focused on it.

Was that its special ability?

The stronger it is, the harder it is to perceive?

Clang—!

The wolf charged the monster—but its attacks didn’t connect at all.

The larger creature crushed it effortlessly.

It slammed the wolf into the ground, and though the wolf kept struggling, it didn’t seem fatally injured.

Then, the higher-tier one raised its iron mace—or whatever it was—and shattered the wolf’s limbs and head.

“......”

I was frozen by the brutality of the scene.

Even as its body lay mangled, the wolf still growled fiercely, refusing to stop.

Why was it going this far?

It was as if something—someone—was driving it forward with overwhelming rage.

It reeked of madness, far beyond mere instinct.

Updat𝓮d fr𝙤m ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com.

The upper-tier creature began collecting the bodies of the fallen Smog Birds into a sack.

Then, the remaining ones erected a new statue in place of the wolf one—this time resembling a Smog Bird.

Once again, the moon rippled.

What was the purpose of this...?

As their work concluded, the higher-tier Smog Bird opened a portal, and the group began to step inside, one by one.

“...!”

I ran on instinct and managed to slip through the portal just before it closed.

..............

“Phew...”

I arrived on the other side of the portal and immediately entered the closest door I could find.

Had I been even a little slower, I would’ve been caught by the monster that arrived first.

‘Where... am I?’

I jumped in on impulse, trusting that I could return at any time if I had Alice’s mirror.

I began slowly investigating the room.

Judging from all the random junk, it seemed like a storage space.

I gathered a few things that looked useful, and carefully stacked the rest into a sort of makeshift barrier—something to hide behind in case someone entered.

Rustle. Rustle.

As I was working on that, I heard something squirming.

When I went to check the source, I found... a pumpkin head rolling around.

A pumpkin...?

“Help me out, would you?”

“!”

It spoke!

Startled, I dropped it—and it immediately scolded me, warning me to be more careful next time.

Why was there a talking pumpkin in a place like this?

Could it be food? Or maybe some rare loot?

Better hold onto it just in case.

Slip.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?”

I’d been trying to stuff the pumpkin head into my bag, but it seemed to hate that—so I stopped.

Instead, I held it in my hands and looked it in the eye.

“Oh? Your skin looked soft, so I figured you were young—but you’re a kid, huh?

How could a kid like you be perfectly fine in a place like this?”

“My name’s Shin Ha-rim. I’m an elementary schooler, though I’ll be a middle schooler soon.”

“I see! The name’s Jack O’Lantern. For some reason, my legend still floats around in the modern world.

I’m probably the Jack O’Lantern you’re thinking of.”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

If he really was Jack O’Lantern, then that made him the ghost who lost his own head and wandered in search of it.

There were multiple versions of the legend, but the most well-known one was that he played tricks, got decapitated, and even swindled the Devil, dooming him to roam the world as an undying spirit.

Now I realized why the pumpkin head felt so familiar—it was identical to the decorative pumpkins used on Halloween.

But why was someone like that here?

“What were you doing in a place like this?”

“You’re not all that surprised. Are you used to non-human beings? Well, if you must know—I got baited.”

“Baited?”

Did he mean someone tricked him?

Or was it more literal, like he was hooked like a fish and reeled in?

His answer was vague, so I tilted my head. Jack O’Lantern added more:

“That’s right! When those human monsters baited creatures, not realizing they were dealing with man-eating fish, I got caught up in it! Like a fish myself! No, wait—my head is a pumpkin, so maybe I was harvested instead?”

Fish? Man-eating monsters?

“I think I need to hear this from the beginning. First of all... those winged armored things—what are they?”

“Those guys? They’re enemies of the fish monsters. They’ve been locked in a territorial war for ages. Real bitter rivals.”

He brought up fish again.

Fish...? Not wolves, but fish were their sworn enemies?

Then why were the wolves hostile toward the winged ones?

“What are those fish?”

“Never seen one? Well, they don’t have wings like those fellas, and they hide their faces and blend in with crowds. Hmm... have you ever seen someone wearing a mask similar to a plague doctor’s, but with fish-like features? Slightly different in shape?”

“Ah!”

That man Alice had been following—he was wearing a mask just like that.

He’d seemed suspicious, but I guess he wasn’t human after all.

Which meant...

...Alice was probably beating the crap out of him by now, right?

Given what I’ve seen of her combat skills, unless he’s absurdly strong, she wouldn’t lose.

Though, she does end up in dangerous situations a lot... but then again, if something could put Alice in danger, it’d be the kind of thing that could level an entire city. So maybe worrying’s pointless?

“Do you know anything about the wol—”

Just as I was about to say “—ves,” my vision suddenly went dark.

A cold shiver wracked my body. Darkness swirled, and whispers flitted at the edge of hearing.

My skin cracked with a sharp zzzt-zzzt, as if it were no longer mine. The sensation of parasite-like fish scales growing from within muddled my thoughts.

The whispering urged me to shed my form and be reborn as something else entirely.

My stomach churned, a wave of nausea rising.

I couldn’t throw up—not now.

No one could say for sure whether I’d be throwing up food... or my soul.

“What’s going on with y—oh, no. Hahaha! You’re about to become fish bait with a dash of salt and seasoning, eh? What a shame. Looks like you’ve just been lucky up to now, walking around here in human form. Would’ve been better if you’d turned into a wolf—at least that’s still kind of human!”

His voice grew faint.

Right now, I was gripped by the overwhelming urge to sink, to fall endlessly into the bottom of something black and deep.

And then... a voice.

It was the most disgusting sound I’d ever heard in my life.

I knew I shouldn’t listen—but as long as I had ears, I couldn’t not hear it.

So quietly, calmly, I tried to—

—and then another voice cut through.

Grumbling, youthful but oddly composed.

A girl’s voice.

Wait, was that—Alice?

I could hear Alice chastising someone.

My vision filled with light, so bright I had to shut my eyes. When I opened them again, Jack O’Lantern was in front of me, visibly shaken and wide-eyed.

“...? Did something just happen?”

“What the—was that holy power? No, how...? Are you a cleric or something?”

Holy power.

It was that again.

I didn’t know why Alice had anything to do with that, but I couldn’t deny it was convenient.

Hmph. I guess demons are God’s creations too, so maybe they can use similar abilities?

“I really thought I was turning into a wolf. Like those ones wandering outside. But a fish? Ugh! I swear I can still taste fishy slime in my mouth.”

“Turning into a wolf would’ve been much cooler, honestly. But anyway, it looks like the leader of those fish monsters failed to assimilate you. That’s odd—you’re human, so their power should’ve been too much for you to resist.”

Jack O’Lantern murmured something under his breath, probably just to himself.

Talkative types are the best.

You don’t even have to ask—they just spill everything.

“Anyway, back to what I was saying—those fish monsters are fighting the winged ones over territory. Whenever they run into each other, it’s all-out war.”

Winged ones...

I’d assumed those misty figures had wings.

Guess Jack saw the same thing.

But then—

“Why are birds and fish even fighting over territory?”

Birds live in the sky, fish live in the sea.

They shouldn’t even encounter each other.

Jack answered my question:

“Because the fish want to live in the deepest place they can find. It’s their instinct.”

“And the birds?”

“They want to live in the highest place possible.”

So they’re exact opposites.

This story made no sense.

Where in the world could be both the deepest and the highest?

Might as well say hell and heaven are the same place.

It was pretty obvious Jack O’Lantern was being deliberately vague.

Especially with that sly smile he tried to hide halfway through.

What was it Alice said to do with people like this?

“Anyone who talks in riddles deserves a beating.”

“...Alright, that’s it.”

I quietly pulled a hammer from my bag.

Jack O’Lantern flinched and started frantically rolling his head around to dodge my swing.

“Whoa now! I was being honest, and you’re trying to smash my skull in?! Kids these days sure are feisty! Alright, alright—let’s do this instead.”

Faced with a smashed pumpkin, he offered a compromise.

“If you want to hear more, I’ll need a favor. Just one thing—retrieve something for me!”

“What is it?”

“My lantern. My warm and precious lantern. Those creatures took it. Get it back for me!”

“Okay.”

I accepted without hesitation.

“Bold one, aren’t you! You’re really growing on me!”

Since I didn’t know what his lantern looked like, and I didn’t want to confuse it with something else, I decided to bring Jack along and carried him with me.

Creak...

I slowly opened the door.

A hallway appeared beyond it, showing a new view of the outside.

...Wait a minute.

This wasn’t what it looked like before I entered the storage room.

“This place seems to have its space all jumbled up. Typical bird-brains—probably built their home the way birds gather twigs to make a nest.”

That explanation made things easier to understand.

It’s comforting having a non-human companion around when you’re just a regular person like me.

It’s like having a different perspective to rely on.

Even back when Alice was still Ella, we got through many situations thanks to her unique insight.

As we crossed the corridor, Jack O’Lantern explained the bizarre phenomena we encountered along the way.

And the way he explained things—it was clearly tailored for someone without much knowledge of this kind of world.

Which probably meant... he’d had a partner before meeting me.

While walking down the hallway, I came across a few doors. Most were locked, and even the ones I managed to open only revealed pitch-black voids, making further exploration nearly impossible.

“I found one room that wasn’t sealed... but there’s only a chalkboard in here.”

With nothing else to do, I went over to check it out.

It was covered in a completely unfamiliar language—I couldn’t read a single word.

But there were pictures.

A girl with blonde hair—this probably represented Alice.

She was heavily circled and marked with emphasis.

Almost like... a warning?

Next to her, connected by an arrow, was a wolf wearing a red hood.

Beside the wolf was a drawing of a fish.

That section of the board was filled with dense writing, and from the layout, it seemed they were planning something together—the fish and the hooded wolf.

But what?

Could it have something to do with them destroying the wolf statue?

I made a mental note to remember all of it.

Once again, I resumed walking down the hallway.

But this time, no matter how far I went, there were no doors in sight. Only silence.

So, to break that silence, I asked my companion a question:

“Is that lantern of yours really that important?”

“Of course! To me, the lantern is a symbol of love.”

“A symbol of love?”

When I echoed his words, Jack O’Lantern cleared his throat—

—despite not having a throat.

In any case, he warned me to open my ears wide and listen carefully, as he was about to sing.

‘Seriously...?’

🎵

“I am Jack O’Lantern, a youth who loved mischief~

None understood my noble pranks, and oh! Alas! My sighs grew heavy~

My tricks grew worse and worse~

Till dong, dong, dong the demons came a-knocking.

They said, ‘We’ve come to collect a wicked soul!’

But clever Jack, I fooled the devils, never went to Hell.

A youth with nothing to fear,

One day sent fifty prank letters to the Queen out of spite~

My head went slice slice!

Couldn’t even die,

Now doomed to wander the living world in grief,

A headless ghost~

Chilled by death, the demons took pity,

O! What a blessing.

They couldn’t understand my jokes, but they /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ gave me love~

With the warmth of a lantern and a pumpkin for a head,

I wander the earth, I am Jack O’Lantern!”

🎵

Clap clap clap!

“That was... actually a pretty good song.”

“Thank you, young lady.”

“Didn’t you just call me a brat earlier?”

“If you acknowledge this noble self, then you’re a lady in my book.”

Me? A lady?

People always told me I acted like a boy... and honestly, it always bugged me a little.

But this felt... kinda nice.

“Yay!”

Jack O’Lantern really was a good kind of monster.

Chatting with him made me forget all about the tension, and before I knew it, we had reached the end of the corridor.

There was another door—this one clearly more important than the rest. It looked locked. I really didn’t want to pass it up...

Pat pat pat...

Just then, a white rabbit scurried past.

Jack O’Lantern didn’t seem to notice it.

I searched the area where the rabbit had passed and spotted a pretty stone. When I looked underneath—

A key.

“Wow, lucky.”

“Well! Isn’t this just the strangest coincidence. And to think those winged idiots were supposed to be guarding it. Utter fools.”

I didn’t bother correcting him.

Because honestly, I agreed with that take.

Creak...

Once again, I carefully opened the door.