I Became A Ghost In A Horror Game-Chapter 30: Pristine Outside

A Secret Organization Protecting Humanity

Anyone interested in urban fantasy has probably heard of them at least once.

A massive organization that secures, isolates, and protects anomalous entities and phenomena dismissed as mere urban legends by the public.

In the beginning, they were merely capturing and imprisoning unidentified creatures, but as their scale grew, they evolved into an entity twisting and contorting itself to shield humanity from the brink of destruction.

Of course, that’s only in fiction.

The people in front of me may not be exactly like the secret organizations from those stories, but given that they possess technology advanced enough to breach into this world, I’d say their level is about the same.

More than anything, I can clearly see where they got their concept from.

...So the developers just copied an existing idea, huh?

Feels like this horror game has grown way beyond its intended scale.

The genre itself seems to have shifted.

...I really hope I won’t end up being chased by these guys later.

“Who are you?”

The one speaking was a man in a special forces uniform... That’s too long, so let’s just call him an agent.

One of the agents, receiving remote commands through a communication device, directed a question at me.

Now that I think about it, this is the first time I’ve spoken to an adult since becoming like this.

Normally, I’d use formal speech, but for some reason, it feels awkward.

It seems like Ella, as a being, simply doesn’t use honorifics unless she’s teasing someone.

“A person who lives inside a mirror. Right now, I’m speaking from a parallel world.”

“...Parallel world?”

“I don’t know if this will help, but I can at least give you an address.

Kyung-min, can you read out the address for me?”

Unexpectedly called upon, Kyung-min, despite the situation, responded calmly, as if he were reporting to the police.

“We’re communicating from XX Elementary School, located in XX-dong, XX City. My name is Lee Kyung-min, and the people with me are Shin Ha-rim, Kim Eun-jung, and Yoo Soo-ho. We’re trapped in a world filled with monsters. Please help us!”

As he continued speaking, his emotions became more pronounced.

Facing adults, the desire to rely on them must have overwhelmed him.

No matter how much I stand by their side, I can never truly replace an adult.

That thought left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Just as I was about to open my mouth to relay more information—

On one of the two screens, a prisoner’s mouth suddenly split apart, and he died.

The grotesque sight made the kids flinch and recoil.

This could only mean one thing.

"Holy shit! That bastard just died!"

"Shut your mouth if you don’t want to end up like him, prisoner."

[Oh? Who are you guys? Are you ignoring me? Ignoring?]

It’s Smile Man.

Since I don’t know much about him, I kept my guard up.

A creature with special abilities... What should I call him? A monster?

He doesn’t fit within the concept of ‘anomaly’ as defined by this world, so defining him is tricky.

“Can’t you wait a bit while we finish our conversation? Wouldn’t it be nice if we, as fellow non-humans, showed each other some courtesy?”

[Nope. You’re carrying a tasty-looking seed.]

It looks like this conversation isn’t going to last long, thanks to this interruption.

Smile Man’s head twitched like a glitched-out program.

I instinctively knew something was coming.

A sharp presence emanated from beyond the screen. A curse? No, that’s not it.

It was the same type of force that allowed me to exert physical influence outside of the mirror.

I drew my sword and neutralized it.

Clang—!

[How did you do that? How?]

Smile Man’s head spun around in circles, as if in confusion.

Now that I get a better look at him... he’s kind of cute?

The organization seemed just as surprised by what I had done.

The agent’s attention wavered as he listened to the flood of orders coming through his earpiece.

A mischievous thought popped into my head.

“Looks like you’re busy?”

The agent froze slightly at my smirking expression.

Ah, this isn’t good. If I make a bad impression, I’ll seem suspicious!

I quickly changed my expression.

Hopefully, I don’t look like some erratic lunatic.

“We’ve checked all the names you provided. They’re listed as missing children. Are you the one protecting them?”

So they confirmed the kids’ identities. That’s a relief. At least they’ll believe me now.

“Protecting...? More like cooperating. But yeah, I am keeping them safe.”

“Do you want them rescued?”

“Yeah. If possible, I’d like you to get them out of here.”

“...Are you human?”

How am I supposed to answer that?

If I say, "My mind is human," that’d sound weird...

Just as I hesitated, the second prisoner on the screen suddenly had his eyes torn apart and died.

Impatient bastard.

[Ignoring me again! Again!]

“You’re not attacking them?”

“...”

Smile Man wasn’t targeting the agents.

Why?

Is he afraid of law enforcement, so he only preys on criminals?

...That’s ridiculous.

As I looked at him with suspicion, Ha-rim seemed to have realized something.

“Maybe it’s because of the exposed areas?”

Now that she mentioned it—

One of the prisoners was wearing sunglasses.

The other had a mask on.

Meanwhile, both agents had covered their faces with both masks and sunglasses.

I see!

That’s Ha-rim for you.

But isn’t that kind of a weak ability for a monster?

My tension dropped /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ a bit.

And my mouth started itching again.

“So you can’t use your powers if someone covers up? What a weakling.”

[What did you say?]

Smile Man’s face twisted grotesquely, and the screen vibrated violently.

But my mouth wouldn’t stop.

“Didn’t hear me? Weak. Loser. Low-tier trash. Ugly bald freak~”

[You. Are. Dead.]

He disappeared from the screen.

And reappeared instantly—targeting the kids instead of me.

This bastard—?

[Kyaaaaaaah—!]

I twisted his arm and grabbed him by the throat.

“You don’t get to touch them.”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

And then, I crushed his throat with my fist.

I didn’t actually want to kill him, but his limbs were longer than I expected, and I had no choice but to use extreme measures to prevent him from harming the kids.

The agent watching the scene seemed to come to some sort of understanding.

My strength had answered the very question he had asked earlier.

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And then—zzzt—static began to flicker across the screen.

Now that Smile Man was dead, the communication link he had maintained was disappearing as well.

I had suspected this might happen. No matter what we did, Smile Man would have attacked us eventually, so I knew holding a long conversation was impossible.

It’s a shame, but this is where we part ways.

Before the connection cut out completely, I decided to say everything I needed to.

“A great demon is growing in this world. When enough time passes, it will break free and wipe everything out. It might be powerful enough to obliterate an entire city in an instant. You need to act before we all die. First, evacuate the civilians. Then, rescue the kids. Finally, eliminate the demon... I’m counting on you.”

And with that, the transmission was cut off. The screen went black.

Beyond the agent’s sunglasses, I could see a flicker of unease in his eyes—my message had been received.

Sorry for suddenly dropping a bombshell about a colossal demon, but if I didn’t push them like this, they might underestimate the danger and end up getting everyone killed.

“Ella, what do you mean? A demon is growing?”

Kyung-min asked with a grave expression.

...This was something I had already prepared myself for.

From the moment I decided to make contact with the outside world, I knew this would happen.

Once we encountered that organization, they would find out sooner or later.

I had kept it hidden until now, but I had already resolved to twist the original storyline beyond recognition in order to stop it.

And for that, I needed to take action—I couldn’t keep it a secret any longer.

I took a deep breath and explained to the kids.

A great demon is growing in this world, and it is the same kind of entity as the one that attacked us.

Once the full thirty days pass, it will destroy this world and emerge into reality, reducing everything to ashes.

As for how I knew all of this... I told them it was because I was a resident of this world.

I shut my eyes tightly.

Even though I had known the truth, I had still kept it from them.

In other words, I had lied.

Will they resent me for it?

But surprisingly, none of them did.

They simply looked more serious than before.

Unable to bear the heavy silence, I asked them myself.

“You don’t hate me?”

“What are you talking about, Ella?”

“I kept everything a secret. While you were all imagining a hopeful future, I was deceiving you from behind the scenes. Even if you don’t want to get angry, you’re allowed to curse at me.”

I looked at Ha-rim. She must have been disappointed, right?

Back in the dream, I had promised to turn the dangers ahead into an adventure for them.

But now, the only thing I was bringing them was despair.

Even I would have been disappointed.

Yet, instead of blaming me, Ha-rim tried to comfort me.

“No, Ella. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“...Even so.”

Ha-rim took my hand. I could feel the warmth from her palm.

“You asked the adults for help because you wanted to save us, didn’t you? How could we possibly say something cruel to someone who’s helping us? Right, Kyung-min?”

Kyung-min still looked bewildered, but at Ha-rim’s words, he adjusted his glasses and spoke.

“When everyone is suffering, I don’t think we should push the responsibility onto someone else. Especially when it’s an accident, a disaster, or something none of us could have predicted.”

“...Why do you think that?”

“Because instead of blaming someone just to vent our emotions, it’s more productive to support the person beside us and encourage them to keep going. And...”

“And?”

“It’s not right to dump such a heavy burden onto someone you care about.”

Wow. The kids are more mature than me.

It was heartwarming... but also frustrating, as if I had lost to them.

I smirked slightly and asked:

“Kyung-min, am I someone precious to you?”

“Of course. You’re... y-you’re my friend, so you’re important to me.”

“Hmmm... Is that so?”

“It is! Stop teasing me!”

Ahaha! Teasing Kyung-min is the best!

As the tension eased, Soo-ho approached me with a determined expression.

After glancing at his shield, he asked:

“Ella. What should we do next?”

“You already want to do something? Aren’t you scared, Soo-ho?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe my brain just can’t process something this huge. A ‘great demon’ is such an abstract concept, you know? I think everyone feels the same.”

“I see. Well, I guess that’s better than being afraid.”

“Yeah, exactly.”

To me, it seemed like their courage had already increased significantly.

But since they weren’t aware of it themselves, there was no need to point it out.

“Actually, there is something we need to do. This place is absurdly strange to all of you, right? But it’ll be just as unfamiliar to the backup forces arriving soon.”

“So you mean...?”

“We need to prepare to welcome the adults.”

The adults will enter this bizarre world, rescue the kids, and defeat the demon.

...But I don’t expect things to go that smoothly.

-----

Report

Location: XX Elementary School, XX-dong, XX City.

Target subjects: Not found.

No traces of Entity D-888 detected.

Agent James requests authorization to use the C-Class Dimensional Distortion Detector.

Committee: Authorization granted.

C-Class Dimensional Distortion Detector activated.

Distortion response: None detected.

Agent Maria requests authorization to use the Detection Cross.

Committee: Authorization granted.

Detection Cross activated.

Demonic response: None detected.

Evacuation request submitted.

Committee: (One hour later) Evacuation request denied.

037 Branch is ordered to initiate Ritual ‘Faust.’

Proceed with risk assessment and report casualties.

(30 minutes later)

Ritual activated.

Risk encountered.

Casualties: 0 dead, 10 critically injured, 5 minor injuries, 2 reporting psychological trauma.

Total loss of all spiritual energy within the branch.

Report

Weak reality-warping response detected.

Faint demonic presence confirmed.

Demon Code: MP.

Committee: Initiate False Wartime Protocol.

037 Branch is to deploy the Special Task Force and execute SR Procedures.

Personnel mobilized.