I Became A Ghost In A Horror Game-Chapter 40: [Side Story] XXX is a girl

Today, Ella gave us an order.

She told us to find a book somewhere inside the school.

When I asked what kind of book, she glanced at Soo-ho and Kyung-min before smirking and saying it was a secret.

Ella split us into two teams—Kyung-min and Soo-ho on one side, and Eun-jung and me on the other.

And so, without really knowing why, Eun-jung and I set off to search for the book.

Thinking about books, the first place that came to mind was the library.

But that was like searching for a tree in a forest.

If it was a special book, then it wouldn’t be here—I should have realized that before we wasted time searching through every single shelf...!

This chapter is updated by freēwēbnovel.com.

Completely drained from searching, Eun-jung and I trudged along the hallway when we suddenly stopped.

We could hear voices from beyond the teacher’s office.

It sounded like Ella and the boys’ team were talking.

Peeking through the gap in the door, I saw Ella giggling, while Kyung-min and Soo-ho looked flustered, desperately trying to explain something.

And then I noticed—

Soo-ho was holding a book in his hands.

A book with an oddly peach-colored cover...

Wait a second.

Was that... an adult book?!

"Oh my~! Kids these days sure are fast! I asked you to find a book, and look what you picked!"

"NO! This was in the teacher’s bag! We just found it while searching, that’s all!"

As Soo-ho flailed in panic, Ella deliberately stepped back, teasing him with, "Oh no~! How scary~! I should tell Ha-rim about this~!"

Uhh... Hmm.

So this was one of Ella’s pranks.

I quickly figured out the situation and stepped into the room.

Ella and the boys froze at my sudden entrance.

Seeing Ella’s reaction, I was certain—she had been messing with them on purpose.

Honestly, she had a cute side. She was nothing like she had been when we first met!

"That’s a pretty mischievous prank!"

I said it with a big smile, and Ella awkwardly looked away.

Adorable.

I then took the adult book from Soo-ho’s hands.

The cover featured a blonde foreign model posing in a rather revealing swimsuit.

There was an age label on it too—20 years old.

Despite her mature face and body, she was still incredibly young.

At the mention of a blonde Western woman, I instinctively glanced at Ella.

Now that I thought about it, Ella was also far too mature-looking for her supposed age.

Especially in certain areas...

"Where are you looking?!"

Ella, flustered, quickly turned away.

She always did that when she was embarrassed.

It was probably a habit.

Thinking this was enough punishment for Soo-ho and Kyung-min, I turned to Ella and asked:

"This is the book we were supposed to find, isn’t it?"

Hearing my question, Ella turned back around with an intrigued look and smirked slightly.

"You figured it out? As expected of Ha-rim."

Ella then explained this anomaly to us.

By now, we had fought so many anomalies that we had gotten used to exorcisms.

"This time, the anomaly is the Molester Spirit!"

"The... what?"

"Eh, it’s nothing special.

It’s not dangerous, and honestly, it’s not even a meaningful fight.

I’ll take care of it myself—you guys can just watch."

Ella described the Molester Spirit as a ghost formed from the fear of sexual predators in subway stations, mixed with a Bachelor Ghost—a type of spirit that dies single and lingers with regrets.

Apparently, because it was a Bachelor Ghost, if you offered it comfort, it would exorcise itself.

Ella led us to the subway station and told us to wait for a bit.

The club members all looked at me with worried expressions.

Their eyes were practically screaming—

"Is this really okay?"

I mean, I couldn’t deny that the thought had crossed my mind.

Ella was a girl, after all, and the idea of her facing something like that was unsettling.

Even Soo-ho and Kyung-min had tried to stop her.

But Ella just tilted her head, completely clueless, and mumbled something under her breath.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

“There’s nothing inappropriate to worry about. Trust me, it won’t target you guys. That kind of event was never ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ even a possibility. If it had been, this world wouldn’t have existed in the first place.”

Ella said this before I could even ask if she was talking about herself, then stepped into the subway.

With a metallic clank, the doors shut behind her.

Now then... what would happen?

At first, everything was quiet.

Was nothing really going to happen?

Ella was a girl, but she was also strong.

If she spread out her energy, wouldn’t other anomalies be too wary to even approach her?

“Huh? W-wait, why me?!”

Then, a startled voice rang out.

“KYAAAAAAAH?!”

...Wow.

I had never heard Ella scream like that before.

I started to get worried.

We rushed to the closed subway doors, pounding on them with our fists.

“Ella! Are you okay?!”

“......”

Crunch... Creak...

The doors were forcibly pried open.

Ella said nothing.

Her entire body was drenched in blood.

The knife in her hand was still gleaming.

She had completely torn it apart.

Her expression was a dangerous mix of shame and rage, as if she was about to explode.

We didn’t say a word.

We just stepped aside to let Ella pass.

BANG!

Still furious, Ella kicked a vending machine, shattering it on impact.

“...Ella doesn’t seem very aware of the fact that she’s a girl. She sits down with her legs wide apart like she’s wearing pants, for example.”

“Yeah... Then I guess I should fix that!”

“...You, Eun-jung?”

“Hehe~.”

The next day, Ella was running away from Eun-jung.

She could have escaped through a mirror—that way, Eun-jung would never catch her.

But Ella was too soft-hearted to run away like that.

Maybe Ella was the type to easily get dragged into things by pushy friends?

Not that Eun-jung was a bad friend, of course!

Ah.

Ella just got caught.

“....Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Hm? Oh, nothing.”

The day after that, Ella suddenly seemed more reserved.

When I asked Eun-jung what she had done, she grinned and said:

“This is a secret, but... if you strongly believe that Ella smells like roses, the scent actually gets stronger. So...”

“So?”

“So, in front of Soo-ho and Kyung-min, I hugged Ella, rubbed my face against her, and kept whispering over and over, ‘She’s such a girl.’”

“...”

I had no idea what to say.