I Became A Ghost In A Horror Game-Chapter 107: Red Riding Hood – A Perfect Place to Raise Hell

“But if we go into the city, won’t we totally stand out with all those fish around?”

“There are plenty of ghosts that make perception weaker—if we ask them for help, we won’t get caught.”

Those fish looked strong enough in terms of raw power, but they seemed dull in perception, so even a half-assed plan would probably work.

“I’ve got a great idea!”

Just as I was about to summon a ghost, Eun-jung stopped me with a confident look on her face.

The boys muttered to themselves:

“This feels sketchy.”

“Should we tape her mouth shut?”

“Come on, can’t I say something just this once?”

Eun-jung puffed out her lips in frustration.

Since she had just accused me of favoring Ha-rim, it was hard to ignore her.

I spoke gently.

“Alright, fine. So what do you suggest we do?”

Eun-jung pointed toward one of the buildings overtaken by the forest—a fish pie franchise.

Now that I looked more closely, there was a fish mascot costume visible.

No way...

That?

Moments later—

We were attracting the attention of every fish-person in the city, completely defeating the purpose of “infiltration.”

I calmed my trembling voice and said loudly, as if to make sure everyone heard:

“Who was the one who suggested this again? I’m so curious...”

“You know the answer. Why even ask?”

“I want someone to feel guilty...!”

“I’m sorry.”

With Eun-jung’s apology as our cue, we took off running.

This is infiltration? Infiltration?!

With fish-people chasing us like a tidal wave, not even as a joke could this be called a stealth mission.

Dammit. This is a bust... What we need now is a change in perspective!

“How about we just go wild while we’re at it?”

If we want to learn about the ecosystem of this city, we should start by seeing how it reacts to an outside attack!

I summoned a ghost from the mirror.

The ice cream truck.

A ghost specialized in abductions. When we opened our eyes, we were already sitting in the back seat of the speeding ice cream truck.

“Wow! Ice cream!”

“If you eat that, your intestines will melt.”

“Gasp.”

...Well, I’m fine!

It just stings a little, but I can still taste it.

Just as I flicked out my tongue to try the ice cream, Ha-rim snatched it and shoved a candy into my mouth instead.

This scene... I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before.

We sped through the fish-people’s city, paying no attention to whether any of them were getting run over.

Apparently, even the fish had a concept of law enforcement. Through the rearview mirror, we could see mackerel-like monsters closing in fast.

“What ghost should I summon next?”

“Ooh, how about this one?”

“Nice choice!”

Following Kyung-min’s suggestion, I summoned another ghost.

It took the form of a shadow surrounded by a rainbow-colored halo, vaguely humanoid in shape.

Mysterious natural phenomena—

Humans had seen things like this and created myths and ghost stories.

This ghost was one of those kinds.

The Ghost of Brocken.

Originally just a natural phenomenon caused by light refraction, weather conditions, and other factors,

But from my mirror, the summoning conditions were relaxed, and it served as a bridge to spawn other ghosts in sequence.

“Think you can create a supernatural event for me?”

The Ghost of Brocken gestured.

Smog began to gather around us.

Red buses—seemingly British in design—appeared in the fog, empty ghost buses speeding alongside us.

At Ha-rim’s suggestion, thinking it would be fun to ride one, we boarded one of the buses.

While racing through the fog with the other buses, we mowed down the big mackerel-like pursuers.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

The fog obscured visibility and neutralized trackers—an efficient ghost. But the real danger wasn’t that.

BWOOOOOOOOOO—

The ghost buses multiplied.

Unless the original Ghost of Brocken was destroyed, they would keep replicating endlessly.

Soon they would call forth other supernatural phenomenon ghosts—

And eventually reach the next phase: Walpurgis Night.

The scale would grow uncontrollably, which is why it’s normally never used in human-populated areas.

But this city belonged to monsters.

They were about to get a taste of how brutal my ghost stories could be when aimed at non-humans.

Still—!

I wasn’t planning on going that far just yet.

I asked the Ghost of Brocken to cause a bit more chaos and slipped out of the fog.

Leaving behind the bloodied streets, the crashing ghost buses, and the chaos of it all, we fled to a safe location.

“That was the most fun ever. Mr. Kyung-min, what did you think?”

“I think it would’ve been even more thrilling if I had gotten to drive.”

“Really? Hehe, I’ll let you drive next time.”

Seeing him enjoy it made me smile without realizing it.

We moved again, this time to a vantage point where we could overlook the city at a glance.

And then—

“...Hmm.”

“What’s wrong?”

“The Ghost of Brocken returned to the mirror. It got taken out. Looks like there’s someone decent in there.”

The Ghost of Brocken’s weakness was early intervention.

If its core was precisely targeted, or if it didn’t reach the Walpurgis phase, it wasn’t very effective against strong opponents.

It’s not an easy ghost to take down, but for something to have defeated it... it must be similar to the strong winged creature Ha-rim had subdued.

Probably a monster of equal rank existed here too.

Like a piece on a chessboard.

“We’re here.”

We stood on a tall building and looked down at the city through binoculars.

The first thing I saw were fish-people drinking tea like humans.

Disgusting.

Non-humans acting like they own this world—

As if they were its rightful rulers.

Even if they used to be human.

Maybe it’s just the Alice in me,

But I had no desire to feel sympathy for these monsters—not even a little.

“Ugh. What the hell is that...”

When Soo-ho grimaced, all our eyes turned to follow his gaze.

What we saw could only be described with one line:

A fish was grilling another fish.

Technically, it looked like a witch trial.

Modern clothes, sure—

But fish-people were burning one of their own alive.

The most revolting part was that the one being burned didn’t even seem to be in pain.

Being sensitive to fear, I could tell—

Those fish-people weren’t afraid. Not even a little.

“It’s the same over there.”

Elsewhere, more killing and looting.

The fish-monsters had no logical, emotional, or even instinctual reason to do what they were doing.

They were doing it to each other.

I worried the kids might accidentally witness fish raping fish, so I steered their attention.

“So? What do you think they’re doing?”

“...It feels like they’re reenacting human sins.”

Ha-rim’s impression was spot on.

The ones doing it seemed thoughtless. The ones suffering didn’t even seem to be in pain.

It was like WWE.

A scripted performance.

From my sensitive perspective, I’d learned that what scared these creatures wasn’t the loss of their own kind.

So, oddly enough, this behavior didn’t seem to count as “loss” to them.

It was like committing sins themselves was some kind of requirement to achieve their goals.

If this were Earth, I’d check xmoowiki, but here, I had something better.

These guys may not know everything, but they know more than most.

I contacted Carol using the communication device she gave me.

Bzzt... Bad signal.

Well, this place isn’t normal, so signal interference is to be expected.

Guess I’ll have to contact her the usual cursed way.

I used a special telephone to send the signal again.

“Ah. Hello? Carol?”

“Yes, Alice! Sounds like you need me.

But um... could we use a safer line next time?

I mean, a phone that kills you if you don’t answer by the third ring is really a bit much, don’t you think?”

“I’ll think about it.”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Carol picked up the call as if she had been waiting.

She acted like she hadn’t heard my voice in forever, but honestly, it hadn’t even been a few hours since our last call.

“Yeah, that’s right. Hey, do you know anything about the phenomenon of people turning into fish-people, not wolves?”

“...Fish-people, huh. Please hold for a moment.”

Carol seemed to quickly contact someone somewhere.

After a few exchanged words, she said she had received the data and would read it out to me.

Carol summarized it for me:

“...Indeed, after I submitted a request to higher-ups, I was able to obtain the related documents.

Whenever creatures that invade and treat humans like livestock appear, they are frequently witnessed alongside Red Riding Hood.

But among them, there’s one particularly dangerous being.

If we’re talking about the phenomenon of humans turning into fish-people...

It’s likely a ruler known as the [Sea King of Invasion].”

“What a grandiose name.”

Well, if it’s done something grandiose, I guess it earned the title of ‘ruler.’

Carol continued summarizing the document:

“Within areas ranging from villages to entire cities, only humans are transformed into fish-like monsters.

Once transformed, they cannot be changed back, and no case of resistance to the invasion has ever been recorded.

It’s impossible to prevent the phenomenon in advance, save for a few special methods.

There’s evidence the monsters are attempting to imitate human societal structures.

Attempts to locate and strike the ruler have failed 25 times...

It's presumed the ruler does not exist on the same physical plane...

Those who become minions of the ruler appear to be transferred to some specific space.

There were fatalities among test subjects during telepathic experiments.”

Yikes.

That’s a suffocating track record.

Well, I suppose that’s the norm.

You’re only labeled a ruler when there’s absolutely nothing else you can do.

I asked about the being supposedly opposing the Sea King of Invasion.

“...Among the monsters sighted alongside Red Riding Hood, are there any with wings? Ha-rim said they were hard to perceive.”

Carol seemed to realize what I was referring to with just a few of my words.

And she sounded quite alarmed.

“...! You’ve got those too? I’m reporting this immediately...”

Click-clack. Typing sounds, then Carol continued.

“We have documents on them too.

Because we’ve taken damage from them.

Though I’ve just now received the official unified document.

It’s a ruler called [Wings from Space].

We just call it the [Cosmic Bird].

It’s a case of ‘like attracts like’ if there ever was one...

It hasn’t been seen with Red Riding Hood, but it’s just as dangerous as the Sea King of Invasion.

Two beings with a habit of establishing territory coexisting... Something unusual is definitely happening.”

“I see. What kind of traits does that one have?”

“The fact that we can’t know them—that’s its defining trait.”

“Um, could you say that more simply?”

“There was an instance where the ruler itself appeared—

But we couldn’t see it.

I mean literally, Alice.

It wasn’t visible to the naked eye, through special imaging, or even via observation using our abilities.

We could only barely determine its presence through a distortion index that measures anomalies...

But since we didn’t know where it was, we launched wide-range attacks indiscriminately.

After much effort, we managed to hit the ruler’s position, but the attack was nullified. Our attempt to drive it out failed.”

Can’t see it, and attacks don’t work?

What are these broken powers?

“Huh... But if you couldn’t see it, how did you know your attacks didn’t work? It’s not like you could see any wounds.”

“Minions of rulers often inherit similar authority as the ruler itself.

There were ones that suppressed perception, ones that shattered minds just by being seen, and one near the top—called [Wings of Freedom]—had the power to nullify attacks.

So we inferred from that.”

The pinnacle of perception-based abilities is total unawareness.

At a glance, causing mental collapse just by being perceived sounds scarier, but being completely unable to respond? That’s far worse.

According to Carol,

The Cosmic Bird devours people, and their entire existence disappears—so it’s impossible to calculate exact casualties.

I wondered what the act of devouring people meant to it.

“Authority, huh...”

The monsters contained by the agency all possess some form of anomaly.

Telekinesis, conceptual distortion, precognition... Carol had told me they were full of broken abilities.

A chaotic world with no power balance—but authority, when it comes to the pecking order, can overwhelm anything.

Like how a shonen manga introduces new rules to prevent the final boss from dying too easily.

But from the agency’s perspective, it’s brutally unfair.

It also means they’re unable to weaponize the anomalies of other monsters against these rulers.

“You guys really are fighting a terribly one-sided battle, huh.”

“Yeah. But the agency has always bared its fangs against them.”

“...”

Was she trying to make an inspirational speech about human courage?

But Carol’s tone held sorrow.

“Because there’s nothing else we can do.

Like a dog barking at the dark.

Because all we can do is bare our fangs at unfair {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} power.”

Sad Carol.

I asked her something—to comfort her.

“Since I asked all my questions, don’t you have something you want to ask me too?”

I thought she’d ask if I could defeat these rulers.

If I had a history of dealing with them, maybe she’d find some comfort.

If she asked, I was prepared to give her a hopeful, confident answer.

“Are you familiar with the concept of parallel worlds?”

“Uh, yeah? That came out of nowhere. I am familiar though.”

Carol bringing up an unexpected topic threw me off.

“If there are countless parallel worlds, can we really say this one is the most valuable?

If a more wonderful world exists, have you ever wanted to go there?”

“Honestly, I wasn’t expecting that at all...

But if I had to answer sincerely...

Yeah. I’d want to go.”

“Got it, Alice.”

It felt like I’d just chosen a branching option in a game.

Still dazed, I tilted my head.

“Oh, and Alice.

The most uptodate nove𝙡s are published on frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓.

Can I throw in a personal opinion about the Cosmic Bird?”

“I’d appreciate it.”

Coming from Carol, a lab director, it had to be worthwhile.

“Nullifying all contact (damage) with the Cosmic Bird—

It’s a bold assumption, but it might be related to the fact that we can’t see or feel it at all.”

“In other words... assuming that ruler has a visible form...

If we could see it, maybe our attacks would land?”

Ha-rim had said even with an item to protect her mind, she couldn’t clearly look at the monster.

If it’s a ruler, recognizing the Cosmic Bird should be even harder... Could it be resolved by throwing ink or something?

The agency surely must’ve already tried simple ideas like that.

A monster you can’t see or hit.

Troublesome.

“Hmm... Maybe more than that—think of it as a ‘point of connection’ with humanity. Sorry, I want to explain it easily, but it’s hard.”

A point of connection with humans.

Huh?

Wait a sec, if I’m right about this, it could lead to something really interesting.

I pondered the relationship between my power and the Cosmic Bird.

I ended up smiling wryly.

That bird wouldn’t be compatible with me.

“Don’t worry about that guy. He and I are a bad match. Your insight helped. Thanks.”

“...Okay!”

Carol replied, sounding cheerful.

Mood swings much? I hope she doesn’t have bipolar disorder... then again, psychological instability can cause that.

“...Oh, right. I forgot to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

“That guy—Jack O’Lantern. You know him? He told me to say hi.”

The moment she heard Jack O’Lantern’s name, Carol reacted intensely.

It was clear they knew each other.

“What??? What’s he doing there! What the hell is he up to, seriously! I thought he’d been quietly eliminated... ahem. Anyway, thanks for letting me know, Alice.”

Eliminated, huh... By the agency? Or something else?

So many things I want to ask.

But for now, I should focus on what I’m doing.

“I want to ask about him too, but I’ve got other things to handle. Later, then.”

“Yes! Please call again anytime.”

Click.

I hung up the phone and looked over the fish-reeking city.

Now, let’s move forward.