I Became A Ghost In A Horror Game

The dismissal bell rang.

I quickly packed my belongings for Jack, who was waiting.

Just then, a student who usually went unnoticed in class caught my eye for some reason.

"Hey there, Tak-gu. What are you watching?"

"Huh? Oh, Alice."

It was the same kid who had been entranced by the monster Lost, who had been posing as a virtual YouTuber last time.

Seeing him staring intently at his phone again, I grew suspicious and approached him.

Tak-gu stared at me for a moment, then his face turned red.

When I glanced down at his phone, he flinched and quickly hid it.

If he wasn't watching something inappropriate at school, his behavior was definitely suspicious.

I frowned slightly and was about to interrogate him.

"You..."

[Kyaaaah!]

But before I could even finish my sentence, a woman's scream erupted from Tak-gu's phone.

In an instant, I snatched the phone from his hands and checked the screen.

On the screen was a 2D girl covering her mouth with her hands.

Her appearance had changed slightly, now dressed in a summer costume, but I could immediately tell it was the same anomalous monster from before, Lost.

"What's this? You still haven't learned your lesson and is still broadcasting. Hmm... Should I teach you another lesson?"

[Eek~! P-please, have mercy, big sister!]

As I watched her pleading with her hands clasped, Kyeong-min approached me.

"It's fine. She's not doing anything weird anymore."

"Huh?"

[Th-that's right! This is my purpose and my dream! I swear I have no impure intentions! And I won't use any strange powers either!]

"It feels weird hearing an anomalous monster talk about dreams."

A dream... It's funny.

Should non-human entities like Lost even be allowed to harbor such things?

People dream.

They hold onto their dreams, stumbling through life as they search for their path.

But if monsters, born suddenly without any warning, also have dreams, how should I view that?

I admire people who face their fears, overcome them, and strive forward.

That's my fundamental nature.

But monsters are different.

It is no different from a man-eating beast praying before a meal in front of a human who is praying to God in fear.

'...'

If I were a god, how would I view that beast?

"Alice... Are you okay? Your eyes look scary..."

Kyeong-min later described my gaze as that of a judge sentencing a despicable prisoner to death.

Of course, I was just lost in thought.

"What were we talking about again?"

"We were talking about giving her another chance. Are you... Planning to exterminate her, Alice?"

Oh, right. I was planning to send her to the other world.

Anyway, setting aside my emotions, Lost doesn't seem particularly threatening.

It's not ideal, but Kyeong-min doesn't seem to want her exterminated either...

And since she hasn't caused any trouble so far, it might be fine to let her be.

However, it's suspicious how Kyeong-min suddenly started defending Lost.

"...Kyeong-min, mind if I take a look at your YouTube subscription list?"

"!!!"

Ignoring Kyeong-min's startled reaction, I swiftly snatched his phone with the arm of the pickpocket monster.

Let's see, internet history is a sensitive issue for guys, so I'll just check the YouTube subscription list.

As I scrolled, a suspicious channel caught my eye.

I glared at Kyeong-min with cold eyes.

"I knew it. What's this weird channel sandwiched between I Love Calculus and Seokwon's College Prep?!"

Also, since when did elementary school kids start studying advanced high school material?!

"Darn, we've been caught, Kyeong-min."

Tak-gu clutched his head, signaling surrender.

Kyeong-min scratched his head too.

"No wonder you two were always hanging out together... I never expected the studious Kyeong-min and the comic-loving Tak-gu to be this close."

As I glared at the two, Tak-gu started whispering something to Kyeong-min, as if he was feeling a little guilty.

"Uh... Did she find out about the comic I drew of Alice?"

"Shh! Alice has sharp ears."

"I can hear you, you know?! Haa... Let's put that aside for now. I don't plan to say anything about you watching Lost's broadcast. In fact, I need Lost too."

"...Huh?"

[Huh?]

Both Tak-gu and Lost looked bewildered by my statement.

I whispered to Lost, who was making a funny face.

"You... You said you could access games that disappeared last time, right?"

[W-well, some of them don't work. You saw that last time...]

"But you can still figure out what kind of games they were from the data, right?"

[Umm...]

Silence is a weak form of agreement.

Morality books say you shouldn't interpret silence as agreement, but the world isn't as simple as a morality book.

"Got it."

[Kyaaaah!]

I used a mirror to kidnap Lost.

Tak-gu's phone now displayed an empty screen.

"What just happened?"

"I gacha-ed her into the mirror."

"What does that even mean..."

I winked at the confused Tak-gu, and he quieted down.

I've gotten pretty close to that kid.

Thanks to my perception-blocking device, other students don't recognize me, but Tak-gu often greets me from afar.

A human relationship had formed.

...I'm happy.

But I can't delay any longer since Jack is waiting.

I led the kids back to the clubroom.

Jack was staring at a plant placed by the window for air purification.

He was so focused that he didn't even notice us entering.

"Were you waiting long?"

"...20 minutes is pretty short for me!"

Jack answered cheerfully, pretending he noticed us coming.

"So, what's the plan now?"

"We're going to go spy on where those people are living."

When Ha-rim answered, Jack tilted his head.

"Those people?"

"The masked person who gave you food, remember?"

"Ah!"

The people wearing smiling masks were part of a group created with the goal of making people laugh.

Judging by their purpose alone, they seemed like a wholesome group, but their suspicious appearance would make anyone doubt them.

Eun-jeong was half-convinced they were a group of lunatics who openly killed people.

Even if their goal is to make people laugh, how exactly do they plan to do that? I just hope it's not something too weird.

If it's a legitimate place, a little scouting shouldn't hurt, so I stood in front of the building where they were said to gather.

"Hmm..."

I linked my senses to the mirrors inside the building.

I could create mirrors directly, but new mirrors popping up everywhere would be too conspicuous, so I used this method instead.

As I focused, Eun-jeong glanced at me and pulled out a small hand mirror from her pocket.

When I gave her a puzzled look, she licked the mirror before I could stop her.

"Blech?!"

Thud!

"Ouch!"

This kid's been messing around since earlier!

I sighed and left Eun-jeong, who had been incapacitated by a single punch, as I refocused on the mirror.

Gradually, the visual information from the mirror entered my mind.

Let's see... The interior of the building...

It seems the remodeling isn't completely finished, as patches of wallpaper are peeling off here and there.

But it looks livable.

It's generally dark inside. Do these people not turn on the lights or-?

"Alice, what do you see?"

"Nothing special, just darkness."

The kids seemed a little disappointed by my response.

Really... Did they expect monsters or something?

Their way of thinking has gotten pretty strange.

It's partly my fault, so I didn't point it out.

"Should we go inside?"

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"Is it adventure time...?"

I quietly continued my search, ignoring the kids' chatter.

Then I noticed something strange.

"...It's deep."

"Huh? What did you say, Alice?"

"I said it's deep. That's weird... Even if the building has a basement, it's usually only up to three floors underground. But over there, it seems to go down to around twenty floors, as seen by a cosmetic hand mirror."

"...Twenty floors?"

Gulp. Someone swallowed hard.

The kids had been joking about how suspicious it was and how there might be a serial killer down there.

The eeriness comes from things you initially think are nothing.

Like how someone you passed by might have been a serial killer.

Or how the place you stopped to eat lunch might have been a cemetery.

There was silence from the children, as if they had not expected to encounter something supernatural so close home.

"It seems worth investigating further."

The kids nodded.

I don't plan to report this to the authorities unless absolutely necessary.

This is the adventure the kids chose.

I can't let anything interfere with that.

Of course, that's assuming the monster isn't so powerful that we'd be instantly defeated without the help of the authorities.

"Mirror, show me what's inside..."

I created mirrors from a distance.

Mirrors appeared on each underground floor, revealing their interiors.

I showed the kids a single mirror connected to all the others so they could see too.

[Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha!!!]

[Kekeke~!]

[Hihihihihi...]

"What is this..."

A bizarre mix of laughter, unrestricted by age or gender, is heard.

The laughter didn't stop, and some of the voices sounded so hoarse it was like air escaping a deflating balloon.

No matter how funny something is, it shouldn't cause such a strange phenomenon.

Are they on drugs or something?

"There are people gathered here. And some kind of... Machinery moving like a factory."

The Machine God...?

No, I definitely defeated the Machine God.

Then this must be something else.

Just because it's related to machines doesn't mean it's that guy.

As I was pondering the machinery, Ha-rim's laughter reached my ears.

I looked at her, puzzled.

"...Pfft."

"Ha-rim, why are you laughing?"

"It's just funny... Don't you see that TV?"

TV?

The mirror was currently showing multiple locations at once.

Ha-rim pointed to a corner of the mirror with her finger.

There, people wearing smiling masks were laughing and moving around.

All while watching a single TV.

It was pretty ridiculous how so many people were focused on one small television.

"Hahahaha! Isn't that show hilarious?! I feel like my stomach's gonna burst!"

Ha-rim's laughter grew louder.

But then she frowned.

Anyone can tell that she's forcibly laughing.

I realized the situation was getting serious and focused on the TV, which seemed to be the cause.

On the screen was a black-and-white character, the kind you'd see in old Western cartoons, staring at us through the mirror.

He was inflating and deflating his body as he laughed.

It wasn't a metaphorical expression, he was literally expanding and contracting like a cartoon character.

I noticed my own expression had twisted without me realizing it.

He ignored my gaze and continued to intensify his targeting on Ha-rim.

I sneered at him.

"If you want to play with us, shouldn't you at least put your playthings on the board first?"

I personally, and from Alice's perspective, think that tying up your opponent's hands and feet without any destruction method or puzzle and then rejoicing that you won is the worst.

What he's doing now is no different.

[...Uhihihi! Uhahahaha!]

"Ha! You really don't get it, do you?"

I pulled out a knife and slashed the mirror.

The TV screen cracked with a sharp sound.

The character on the screen exaggeratedly fell over in surprise.

The fact that he remained intact even after the TV was destroyed meant the TV itself wasn't his true body.

"Phew..."

Ha-rim clutched her stomach and let out a sigh of relief.

Then she grimaced and rubbed her belly.

It seemed like her stomach really was about to burst.

"Hey. Who are you?"

I asked the man still laughing on the TV screen.

He readily answered.

[Hi! You can call uncle Freeman! Two fakes! And some fresh kids! What are your names?]

Freeman.

A simple name.

I decided to answer his question first.

"First, these kids are none of your business. My name is Alice. I'm not sure why you're calling us fakes, but for now, I'm a devil."

"My name's Jack."

[Oh! Sorry, my mistake. Now that I look, you're a mixed bunch, huh? You've got the same aura as Mephistopheles.]

Wait.

Did he just drop a suspicious name?

"Hold on... Do you know that guy?"

[Of course I do! You'd have to know him even if you didn't want to! He's had such a huge impact on the world!]

"..."

[Ho! You seem curious, girl! Let's chat while watching some cartoons!]

Freeman pulled out a comic from his pocket and waved it around.

A monster who knows about Mephistopheles.

He can communicate. I can't let this opportunity slip.

Normally, that is.

"Originally, we came here seeking entertainment. But we're not so bored that we'd fall for such an obvious trap, you know?"

This guy is suspicious.

Maybe it's just his personality, but he's acting way too relaxed in front of us.

I tested him by releasing a fairly powerful aura, but he didn't even blink.

He must be hiding some serious strength.

[Don't you want to hear about Mephistopheles?]

"..."

[Bullseye!]

Ignoring Freeman, who was making sound effects with his mouth, I turned to the kids.

"...What do you guys want to do?"

From here on out, this is my personal matter, and it might get more dangerous than expected.

Adventures are something you decide for yourself, so the kids' opinions matter more.

"Didn't you say we need to find a devil named Mephistopheles?"

"That's right."

"Then let's go!"

Ha-rim, acting as the representative, answered decisively.

"Even though it's my personal business?"

"Don't be so cold!"

This time, Suho answered.

I chuckled and nodded.

"Alright! Let's see what these guys are up to!"

We joined hands to solidify our resolve.

But we were one hand short.

"Jack?"

The missing hand was Jack's.

He was hesitating, looking uncomfortable, like a lost puppy.

"Jack. What are you going to do?"

"Uh... Isn't it dangerous?"

"Huh?"

"I'm just a bit stronger than average, not a tough devil like you, Alice. I don't know what kind of guy Freeman is, but you saw how he messed with Ha-rim. So... How can I say this? He might be a scary guy."

Jack rambled on.

To summarize his words:

"In other words, you're scared, Jack."

At my words, Jack desperately tried to explain.

Like he'd been caught lying.

"That's! Just because I'm a devil doesn't mean I'm invincible! Even I can die if I get hit by a gun or a powerful bomb or some anomalous monster's ability!"

I know Jack isn't one of the stronger tale devils.

Plus, for some reason, it seems like he can't use any special abilities.

From Jack's perspective, he's just a strong human.

Seeing Jack hesitate, Freeman mocked him.

[Haha! Coward!! Go drink some more of your mother's milk!]

Jack bit his lip and glared at Freeman.

"I don't have a mother...!"

[Too bad!]

Suho patted Jack's shoulder, perhaps his protective instincts being stimulated by Jack's fragile appearance.

"Jack, I don't want to force you. If you don't want to go, it's fine to stay behind. But we're going."

"..."

When Jack didn't respond, Kyeong-min spoke up.

"Didn't you say you wanted to go on an adventure?"

Jack looked at the children's faces and finally nodded.

"If you guys are going... Okay."

"Then it's decided. Let's go."

We cautiously entered the building.

As soon as we stepped inside, the air turned as cold as winter.

Eun-jeong shivered a little, so I pulled out some extra clothes from the mirror and handed them to her.

"Warm."

"I'm glad."

I was about to pull out a fur hat for her when Ha-rim, who had quickly scanned the area for anything suspicious, spoke up.

"Nothing suspicious here. I think we need to go downstairs."

She's fast.

Well, most of the building had been torn down for remodeling, so there wasn't much to check.

"Freeman, you told us to come, but you're not even going to greet us?"

Kyeong-min pushed up his glasses and spoke, sounding suspicious.

Freeman seemed like the type who loved attention from the first glance.

He also seemed playful, so I thought he'd enjoy making a surprise appearance...

"Who knows."

I turned my head toward the TV, wondering if he was watching us from there.

But there was nothing.

"Hmm..."

We walked through the karaoke room, which had no special corners in sight, and down the stairs to the basement.

"Creepy!"

"Well, that's how it is. Stairs leading to a dark basement are always like that."

Stairs to a basement always evoke a strange sense of dread.

It's hard to see if there's any danger below, and climbing stairs is slower than running, so you feel vulnerable to being caught by a long-armed monster.

That sense of unease grows as you descend, realizing it's harder to escape.

Even though we're just going down to the basement for a reason, it feels like we're walking into a monster's mouth.

Ah, maybe.

This eerie atmosphere is a hint.

The act of descending these stairs is no different from entering a monster's stomach!

This monster is derived from the fear called-

Gurgle...!

The ceiling and walls of the staircase turned into muscle and flesh.

The staircase itself had become a living stomach.

The stomach contracted, crushing whoever was descending.

But Jack, the kids, and I had already escaped to the lower floor through the mirror long ago.

Only one person was crushed.

[Oh! You caught me!]

A normal person would've been crushed to death by the walls, but Freeman flattened like paper and casually slipped out.

I frowned and spoke to him.

"You're playing games from the start, huh?"

[I just wanted to pull a little prank! Too bad~!]

"You said you'd give us information about Mephistopheles, but what were you planning to do while hiding near us?"

[I just wanted to surprise you with a little prank instead of a greeting! Really! If you look at me like that, this old man gets sad! As a token of apology... I'll tell you what this place is all about, so calm down~]

"Why should I trust you?"

[Sniff sniff! This old man is sad! I just wanted to show the kids some fun cartoons!]

Freeman started crying.

Tears gushed out of his eyes like a fountain, soaking the floor.

If he were a normal person crying that much, he would've died from dehydration by now.

[The kids in this country are so pitiful, you know? They're so busy watching cartoons all day, and from a young age, they're sent to academies or part-time jobs!]

"I agree to some extent, but what does that have to do with you?"

[Of course it does. I love smiling faces. That's why I'm going to make a ton of fun cartoons!]

It sounded like he was spouting nonsense, but I could tell he was sincere.

Pursuing entertainment, huh...

It piqued my interest.

It might be worth hearing him out.

"Are you really going to trust him, Alice?"

"I know he's suspicious. And I'm not fully trusting him either."

"Then should we turn back now?"

Jack spoke up weakly again.

Why is Jack, who's usually so cheerful, acting so timid now?

From his demeanor, I can tell Jack isn't one of the stronger tale devils, but he's not weak enough to be easily defeated.

The weaker a devil is, the more they tend to get drunk on power, but Jack is acting even more timid than the kids.

Something must have happened to him in the past.

I gave Jack some sincere advice.

My blue eyes stared into Jack's.

"If you don't push through, you'll never gain anything."

"..."

Thump. Jack's heart beat strongly.

He was clearly shaken just now.

[This way, bro!]

Freeman walked gently down the hallway.

It reminded me of how characters in old animations used to move.

No matter what movement he made, it was always smooth and squishy.

"Hey, Mr. Freeman?"

Eun-jeong pointed to a small machine in the corner.

[What is it, kid?]

"What's that little machine over there?"

[It's a factory that produces colleagues! That one's broken, but there are plenty more downstairs. The raw material is ink!]

"Colleagues?"

[That's right. Whether it's animation or paper comics, you need assistants to make a proper work! That's why we produce them!]

"Even those people smiling over there?"

At the end of Eun-jeong's gaze were people laughing while watching a TV animation.

They were shoving popcorn into their mouths, unable to take their eyes off the screen.

[...Something like that!]

"Hey, stop changing the subject. What I want is information about Mephistopheles."

Eun-jeong was the one who asked, but dragging out the conversation wasn't good.

When I pressed him a bit unfairly, Freeman gave me an annoyed look.

[How impatient! Alright, alright! Let's talk just the two of us. Hey, you!]

Freeman ordered a man wearing a smiling mask who was wandering the hallway.

[Show these kids how fun this place is.]

"..."

[Now, let's go.]

Freeman peeled off the wallpaper on the side wall and led me into a hidden room.

It was a room with nothing special, but I didn't bother pointing out why he hid the door in such a way.

I sat at the desk, following Freeman.

He handed me a cup and offered me a drink.

[Want some beer?]

"Shouldn't you offer tea instead?"

[Same difference.]

When I refused, Freeman poured the entire bottle into his mouth and started acting drunk.

If I didn't start the conversation, it would drag on too long.

"Let me introduce myself properly. My name is Alice. I'm a human who became a devil because of Mephistopheles."

Freeman's eyes popped out in surprise. They floated in the air for a moment before he grabbed them and put them back in.

[A human? That's unexpected! So, you were different from the start.]

"What?"

[Ah, just satisfying a little curiosity. I've seen quite a few devils, you know, since there are so many of them. Most of them are low-level guys who can't even speak.]

Different from the start...

It's slightly different from how low-level devils are born.

In my case, I was a human who became a devil.

Ella's body was an anomaly, but her soul was human, so it's not wrong to say that.

The anomaly born from the context of Alice and people's fears.

The seed that Jabberwocky mentioned, used as a sacrifice to give birth to me.

The birth of the tale devil, Alice.

Freeman's use of different must refer to the fact that the vessel's material was human.

But how are other devils born?

According to James, weaker devils can grow stronger by fulfilling certain contexts and consuming sacrifices, or they can be born entirely new.

But I've never seen a lesser devil before.

Of course, I've never seen a devil just pop into existence either.

The number of devils is increasing to the point where the Institution is struggling, but I've never actually seen one being born.

The very concept of being born is questionable.

Why do devils come into existence like that?

If they're born just by fulfilling a context, who decides what that context is?

It's all so vague.

Ah, geez! I got lost in thought.

Let's get back to the story.

"So?"

[You're different. Yeah. Jack was like that too. This story's going to get interesting. I'm Freeman! A passionate cartoon lover who loves freedom and fun!]

Freeman offered a handshake.

Having been backstabbed too many times, I slapped his hand away.

"Alright, Freeman. Do you know where Mephistopheles is?"

[Nope! I'm too busy making cartoons! If he hadn't been stirring things up here and there, I wouldn't even know he existed!]

Stirring things up, huh... Is he looking for that Oz Ariel mentioned before?

"So you don't know. It's not going to be easy, then."

Not getting the information I wanted most made me feel deflated.

But I might still be able to get some other clues.

Whatever this guy's deal is, he knows something about Mephistopheles, so I can't let this opportunity slip.

As I was thinking about my next question, Freeman asked me something.

[By the way, do you know any devils among your kind who part their hair in two and laugh all the time?]

A devil who parts their hair in two and laughs all the time?

"Sorry, but I've never heard of anyone like that. I do know a guy in a green military uniform who laughs heartily, though."

I mentioned Peter Pan just in case.

Freeman shook his head, indicating it wasn't him.

The fact that the hair is parted in two suggests it's likely a female devil.

[That's a shame. I wanted to meet her.]

"Is that devil important?"

Freeman stroked his chin at my question.

[Well, I'm sure I've met her, but I don't remember. I don't have the power to reverse the flow of time. The amnesia was caused by the reversed time. But thanks to that, I was protected from death by time itself!]

"Is that a riddle?"

I tilted my head, completely lost by his cryptic words.

Freeman gave me an even more confusing hint.

[You'd know if you've ever dreamed.]

I don't know.

"...Let's move on. If you know anything about Mephistopheles, tell me everything."

[I don't want to clutter up the comic with too many speech bubbles, so I'll keep it brief. Mephistopheles hates how this world is overrun with monsters that defy its rules.]

"Why?"

[Because it's annoying when someone's causing a ruckus in your home! Even if it's not your home, it's still annoying! I'd like to give those guys a piece of my mind, but what can I do? There's a really strong guy among the uninvited guests! So Mephistopheles came up with a way to deal with strong monsters. Maybe you guys are one of them? It's so lame that he can't handle it himself and has to leave it to others. What a buzzkill! If he didn't have that weird power, I'd have crushed him already!]

"Strong monsters, you say..."

Then a word flashed through my mind.

They're monsters capable of bringing about the world's destruction single-handedly.

And this guy is acting like he's met Mephistopheles.

[Ah... Some humans call them Rulers.]

I glared at Freeman with a skeptical look.

Freeman scratched his head, as if he would let something slip.

[Including me.]

A heavy silence fell.

I sighed.

"Haa... No wonder things were going so smoothly."

I stood up and gathered my power.

Freeman laughed, then expression quickly turned grim.

"What's your goal?"

[I was just curious! He's been preparing countermeasures against various phenomena threatening the world. He's probably prepared a countermeasure for finding the Departed Editor too. Ah! It'd be bad if the Editor returned! Really bad! The creations would lose their freedom! Is the countermeasure the girl from the dream? Or is it you? I need to confirm for the sake of true freedom.]

I feel a huge power.

I spoke confidently in front of that power.

"Then confirm it."

...

POV Switch - Ha-rim

Freeman and Alice entered the room, and a man who seemed to be Freeman's subordinate guided us.

The man was covered in black cloth and wore a smiling mask.

He looked suspicious at first glance, so I couldn't let my guard down.

After looking around a bit, I got a rough idea of what this place was.

It was a cartoon factory.

People of various body types were drawing comics and cartoons.

I picked up one of the comics and started reading.

Since it might have some mentally corrupting elements like what Freeman did, I asked Eun-jeong to purify it with her bell.

Eun-jeong said, "I like seeing Ha-rim laugh, so I want to see more.", but from the perspective of the person laughing, it's just painful.

I should stop tickling Alice sometimes.

"Hmm..."

The comic went like this.

A blind boy was given the task of delivering milk by his mother, so he went out to buy milk.

Since the boy was blind, he was threatened several times on the street.

But the boy eventually reached the milk store and succeeded in buying the milk.

Just as he was about to leave with the milk to find his way home...

He was hit by a car and died.

People laughed at the sight, and among them was the boy's own mother.

The comic ended with the line, "If you didn't want your son to get hurt, you shouldn't have sent him on the errand in the first place, you idiot!".

"What is this..."

The unnecessarily cruel illustration of the boy's corpse was burned into my mind.

If it was meant to express fear or grotesqueness, that's one thing.

But the fact that it was drawn for comedic effect made it even more unpleasant.

The next comic, and the one after that, were all filled with characters suffering horribly.

It was pitiful.

Is it really okay for the characters in here to suffer so much just because it's a comic? I couldn't help but think.

I picked up the next comic.

"Huh!"

I found a huge warning label on this comic.

"What's wrong, Ha-rim?"

"This is for adults!"

At my words, everyone perked up their ears.

The label was red!

My heart started pounding for no reason.

The warning label read:

[This content may or may not be suitable for viewers aged 29 and above. Well, no matter your age, if you want to see it, go ahead.]

"Oops!"

Jack sneakily took the book from me.

With an expectant look on his face, he glanced at the masked man and then opened the book.

Suho and Kyeong-min also peeked at the content...

Huh? But isn't the usual age restriction 19 and above?

"Ughhhh!"

Jack started gagging as soon as he saw the content.

Suho and Kyeong-min also looked like they were about to throw up.

"Memory erasure... I need memory erasure..."

"Ughhh..."

"Eun-jeong, purify! Purify!"

Eun-jeong rang her bell, and the boys' complexions improved slightly.

"What on earth did you see?"

"Don't ask..."

When I asked Suho, he wiped his face and said that.

What kind of content could make them react like that?

"Gulp."

I glanced at the kids and then quietly slipped the book into my bag.

"Have we read all the remaining comics?"

They were all unnecessarily cruel and mocking.

Comedy, by its nature, inevitably involves mocking someone.

I know that comedy shows these days are struggling because many people find such things uncomfortable.

But this is too much.

For this to be published, it would have to be labeled as gore or horror, not comedy, and even then, you would have to fight tooth and nail with the editors to get it approved.

Personally, I don't like the idea of characters, even if they're not real, living such cruel lives.

This is why comics need editors.

"Next is... The animation theater."

The masked man who had guided us earlier spoke up.

Kyeong-min's eyes narrowed as soon as he heard his voice.

"...?"

"Kyeong-min, what's wrong?"

"I feel like I've heard that voice somewhere before."

"Where was it...", He muttered to himself before falling silent.

Regardless, the masked man quietly led us on.

The place he led us to was a room filled with televisions.

Every TV was playing an animation, and I focused on one of them.

"It's a black-and-white cartoon."

In the animation, a man was being chased by a murderer.

He desperately ran away, but along the way, he stepped on a banana peel, got struck by lightning, and other ridiculous things happened.

After all that suffering, he was finally sliced to death by the murderer's knife.

It was a gruesome scene with no mosaics.

I changed the channel.

The next channel showed a man drowning in water.

The strange thing was that the character looked exactly the same as the one from the previous channel.

Thinking it might be a series, I kept changing channels.

After changing channels several times in a row, the character from the first channel was staring at me.

I swallowed hard.

"Help. Help. Help. Help. Help."

The character's mouth moved as it repeated the same words. Even as it was being sliced by the knife, it kept repeating.

The next channel was the same. Even as it drowned, its mouth moved.

"Help. Help. Help. Help. Help."

"..."

"Ha-rim? Are you okay?"

"Wait a second."

I switched back to the first channel and slowly changed channels one by one.

The character's voice connected to form a sentence.

Help. Me. I'm. Trapped. Come. Save. Me.

"...Kyeong-min."

"What?"

At that moment, the masked man, who had been motionless, rushed toward us.

I spoke coldly.

"Subdue him."

"...!"

Chains shot out and wrapped around the man.

The restrained man quickly swelled up, trying to break free from the chains.

The chains creaked... Making an unsettling sound.

Then, with a loud crash, the chains shattered.

But I didn't just stand there and watch.

I immediately grabbed a metal pipe and struck the man's head.

Thud. A black liquid dripped down, clearly not blood.

The smell was...

"Ink."

At least it's not human.

"Kyaaaah!!!"

The man regained consciousness.

He swelled up even more.

Suho stepped in front of him, holding a shield.

"I-I'll take care of this!"

Jack stepped forward in front of Suho.

The man tried to crush Jack with both hands.

But Jack kicked the man away.

With a tremendous sound, the monster was slammed into the wall.

Splat! Ink splattered all over the wall.

After confirming that the man had collapsed, I immediately smashed the TV.

"Haa... Haa... Th-thank you."

A man who looked just like the character from the animation that had been playing on the TV crawled out, gasping for breath.

"You're welcome. But I have a feeling things are about to get hectic. Can you give us a quick explanation?"

"Th-this is a place where they make animations using living people...!"

The man's complexion grew worse, and he collapsed after saying that.

He was still breathing, so he wasn't dead.

"...That's enough."

I wanted to get him out of there immediately, but there were probably more people trapped in the other TVs.

I started smashing all the TVs with the metal pipe.

A lot of people came out of the TVs.

There was no way we could move all of them ourselves.

In that case, we'd have to borrow someone else's power.

"What's that?"

"It's an item Alice gave me."

It's called Nurse Call.

A square block with a button on it.

Alice said you can get it from a nurse anomaly that responds to patients.

She also warned that if you're not a patient, you'll be attacked, so be careful.

I pressed the button firmly.

Then, a nurse monster wrapped in bandages came rushing in at an incredible speed.

"Take these people to the hospital."

The nurse monster checked the people's conditions, loaded them all onto a cart, and ran up the stairs, disappearing.

It looked more like transporting corpses than patients, given how many people were piled onto the cart, but I kept my mouth shut to avoid being attacked.

"Just as I thought!"

Kyeong-min removed the mask from the man who had attacked us.

He nodded as if he had just realized something.

"What's going on?"

"When I took off the mask, I found out this person is the former owner of the karaoke room."

So that's why his voice sounded familiar.

"Why is he here?"

I had a rough idea of the answer to Eun-jeong's question.

Monsters aren't exactly known for being smart or living peacefully in buildings.

It seemed like they had taken over the building and turned him into a subordinate in the process.

Kyeong-min quickly caught on to my thoughts.

But he denied it.

"That can't be. Today, he posted on his Instagram that he went on a trip to another region."

"...?"

That's definitely strange.

Then who is this guy?

If he isn't a monster, then what is the smiling man in the photo?

Wait, before that...

"Kyeong-min, why are you looking at the Instagram of some karaoke bar owner you don't even know?"

At my question, Kyeong-min shrugged.

"It just popped up."

I guess even Kyeong-min has a weird side...

"So, is this guy a fake?"

Eun-jeong poked the unconscious man's face and asked.

It was hard to tell if he was a fake or not.

To find the differences between the two, we'd have to bring in the guy who was smashed to the outside and compare them.

Although, based on the situation, the man who attacked us did seem like a fake.

"If we want to properly identify him here..."

"We could use divine power, right?"

"Divine power? Ah."

The power that Sister Maria uses.

Whether this guy is a demon or some other monster, using divine power would cause significant damage to him.

Divine power clearly distinguishes humans from other entities.

If only we could use it...

"But how do we use divine power? Should we find a Bible and hit him with it?"

Eun-jeong's idea was tempting, but unfortunately, there was no Bible here.

I asked Jack, who was the most sensitive to divine power among us.

"Hmm... Jack, do you know about divine power?"

"Of course! I almost died because of it once."

Oh? So Jack has been hit by divine power before.

That means he probably knows what it feels like.

"What did it feel like?"

"It hurt! If Ariel hadn't helped me, I would've been scarred! But aside from that, divine power itself wasn't unpleasant. I actually thought it was a beautiful light!"

"I see. Hmm... But you don't know how to use it, right?"

"Even if you told me, I'm a devil... Oh, but. Didn't you guys use divine power last time?"

...?

I was confused by Jack's sudden question.

"What are you talking about?"

"When Neverland became unstable, and its image briefly appeared in the sky."

Ah, that must've been when I set fire to the factory in Neverland.

I vividly remember Peter's anger as he stood in front of the burning factory.

Looking back, it was pretty reckless.

"Back then, there was a flash in the sky! I saw a faint golden light. That must've been divine power."

A golden light...

I remember when I had that dramatic reunion with Alice.

I was crying, trying to hand the necklace to Alice.

Peter tried to interfere, but at that moment, I was so blinded by my trust, happiness, and determination toward Alice that I couldn't even react.

Just as Peter was about to snatch the necklace from my hand...

He was thrown back.

Along with a serene golden light.

If that was divine power, why was it connected to Alice, a devil?

Why wasn't Alice hurt by that light?

My head is a mess.

I scratched my cheek and said.

"...Let's put that on hold for now!"