I Became A Ghost In A Horror Game-Chapter 80: The crocodile in Neverland makes a ticking sound.
I opened Uncle Peter’s study.
Inside, the room was filled with old books, gunpowder, and unidentified herbs.
The smell made the other kids scrunch up their noses in discomfort.
Strange antique objects with demonic symbols carved into them stood out, but—
Among everything in the room, one thing caught our attention the most.
Standing at the front, Soo-ho’s eyes sparkled as he pointed at something on the desk.
“Look at this!”
All eyes turned toward it.
I stepped forward to examine it.
This was...
“It’s a map. A treasure map!”
The treasure map described a hoard of gold and jewels—
And a mystical orb that could grant any wish.
The location was detailed, with a safe route carefully marked—
As if all it took was a little courage to claim the treasure.
An adventure.
At a time when we were all getting restless,
Something this exciting was as tempting as a jar of honey to starving children.
The others chattered excitedly, their eyes gleaming.
But I wasn’t the type to be satisfied with what was obvious.
There were far more interesting things in this room.
My friends always thought it was weird how I searched every corner of new places—
But I enjoyed it.
So, I began rummaging through Uncle Peter’s study like a detective.
And in the end—
I found something hidden.
I moved a pile of old relics,
Poked a suspiciously different-colored wallpaper,
And dug through a strangely soft ‘concrete’ wall with a spoon—
Clang!
"What is that?"
Beyond the fake concrete, there was a safe.
It had a keypad lock, requiring a number code.
So, I started hunting.
I searched everywhere—
From Uncle Peter’s birthday to the number of spoons and chopsticks in the house.
I was determined to crack it by brute force if I had to.
Until—
“...This is it.”
With a click, the safe unlocked.
The code had been written on the back of an old photograph—
A photograph of a young woman, long dead.
It had been hidden deep inside the study,
But that was a mystery for another time.
I eagerly opened the safe.
Inside—
There was a book, stained with blood.
The title?
"Tinker Bell."
A book of rituals and alchemy.
I quickly grabbed a bag from Uncle Peter’s study (technically, I stole it),
And stuffed the book inside.
Along with anything else useful.
The bag was heavy,
But my heart felt satisfied.
When I turned around, the others were already back in the living room.
"Are you done now? What were you even looking for?"
The others looked impatient, their faces slightly pouting.
I scratched my cheek awkwardly.
"Hehe... sorry. I got a little too into it. I also had to clean up a bit."
"So, Ha-rim—are we going?"
"Huh? Going where?"
"To find the treasure, obviously!"
I blinked.
"Wait. Didn’t you guys just say there was no need to take ‘risks’?"
"Yeah, but this is different! This treasure is totally worth it!"
Kyung-min, you greedy little—
Well, I couldn’t blame him.
Who wouldn’t be tempted by gold and riches,
If all it took was a little courage?
“...Alright! I’m in. Everyone agrees, right?"
Soo-ho and Eun-jung responded.
"I’m only going so you guys don’t get hurt... but yeah, I’m curious about the treasure too."
"If you’re all going, then I’ll go too!"
We really made a good team.
Maybe we should form a club,
Stick together permanently.
For that... maybe I should give them these necklaces.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the red flower necklaces.
"Here! Take these."
"What are these for?"
"We get along pretty well, don’t we? So let’s form a team.
These will be our symbol."
Each of them took a necklace.
For some reason, they all said it felt familiar.
And then—
Someone noticed something.
"Why are there five necklaces?
Did you want to give one to someone else? Maybe Uncle Peter?"
I frowned.
"...I don’t know. But I’m sure there was supposed to be one more person..."
But we’ve been the only ones here from the start.
...Right?
"Whatever. Let’s just get going!"
We stepped out into the open.
Our feet sank slightly into the soft asphalt.
We passed people casually drinking alcohol and taking medicine like snacks.
The thick scent of smoke filled the air,
And sometimes, the plants whispered at us as we walked by.
"We need to pass that theater first."
The theater.
The one Uncle Peter mentioned—
The one with a horrifying performance.
But it wasn’t as interesting as the treasure hunt.
So, we planned to take a shortcut past it.
"...?"
"What is it, Eun-jung?"
"I feel like... someone’s there. Inside the theater."
I looked toward it.
She was right.
There was someone inside.
Someone our height.
Someone who looked...
Sad.
"...Maybe it’s just your imagination?
I mean, how could you sense someone inside a building?"
As we hesitated—
The presence suddenly vanished.
We stared for a moment, but—
We had to keep moving, avoiding a crowd of smokers gathering nearby.
Our destination was still far ahead.
As we walked, I examined the book from Uncle Peter’s study.
The contents were... shocking.
I had suspected this world was strange, but—
This place was completely insane.
And the book...
It told me how to influence it.
Even for a moment, I had thought about not going back—
And now?
I felt like a fool for ever thinking that.
My face hardened.
Soo-ho noticed.
"Ha-rim, what are you reading?"
"Huh? I’ll tell you in a bit."
I was still bothered by how obvious the treasure map had been.
But if the treasure was real—
It could be our way out.
"So this is the entrance?"
We stood before a sewer grate, covered in vines.
"It stinks! ...Wait. No, it doesn’t?"
We climbed inside.
It was huge—
A maze, full of twisting paths.
Without the map, we would easily get lost.
Even so, I kept reading as we walked.
"Special herbs help separate one’s existence from Neverland...
When brewed into tea, they aid sleep... and have a distinct minty taste."
That was...
Uncle Peter’s tea.
What was he trying to do to us?
Then, as we reached two-thirds of the way in—
"Ha-rim..."
Eun-jung looked uneasy.
"Yeah?"
"...Do you hear that?"
The others stopped walking.
Their excitement cooled instantly.
Tick.
Tick.
A clock.
And then—
A heavy splash.
A sound like four-legged crawling.
The footsteps of a beast.
The sound was getting closer.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
“...It’s coming this way?”
“Guys, hold your breath and stay quiet!”
Thud—! Tick. Thud—! Tick.
We hid behind the wall.
A moment later, the massive crocodile passed through the corridor we had planned to use.
Its body was larger than an elephant, and from inside its stomach,
We could hear a clock ticking.
After it passed, we all looked at each other—
Faces pale as ghosts.
Soo-ho was the first to speak.
“What the hell...?”
That was a mistake.
The Clock Crocodile was massive, meaning its footsteps boomed as it moved.
Normally, the sound of its steps should have faded gradually as it got farther away.
But this time—
The booming footsteps stopped suddenly.
That meant—
“RUN!”
Tick.
It had stopped to listen.
Waiting for us to make a sound.
“I memorized the route! This way—this is the exit!”
Kyung-min shouted.
Running for the exit was the obvious choice when facing a predator.
But—
This wasn’t just one enemy.
“It’s not alone!”
More than one.
A chilling realization settled in.
If we hesitated,
If we made one wrong move,
We could be trapped—
Cornered from both sides and torn apart before we even reached the exit.
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
We felt the vibrations through the walls.
It was hard to tell how many were coming—
But by listening to the overlapping ticks,
I could estimate it.
...Three.
“We can’t let them surround us! Instead of heading straight for the exit, we need to find a path that lets us dodge them first!”
“HOW?!”
I looked at the map.
We had already gone off the normal route.
Three crocodiles.
All approaching from different directions.
They were faster than us.
If they kept closing in,
We’d have two terrible options:
All three converge behind us.Two from the front, one from behind.Either way—we’re dead.
To prevent that—
“We need a distraction.”
Kyung-min was right.
Inside my bag—
I had stolen (borrowed) a ton of Uncle Peter’s herbs.
I told the others.
“I grabbed a bunch of strong-smelling herbs from Peter’s study!”
“Crocodiles have insanely sensitive noses.”
“Then they’ll hate strong smells!”
We all realized it at the same time.
There was only one thing we could do.
“We need to use the herbs to block their path!”
I pointed at a spot on the map while running.
“If we scatter the herbs here, they’ll have to take a detour!”
This place was a maze.
Even with incredible senses,
The crocodiles couldn’t see us directly—
Only track us by sound and smell.
As planned—
The crocodiles hesitated at the strong scent.
And we—
Slipped right past them.
They kept chasing,
But their route was thrown off just enough.
To put it simply—
We were dangling a carrot in front of a horse—
But the horse could never quite reach it.
The pattern repeated.
Even though the crocodiles sort of knew we were close,
They couldn’t pinpoint us exactly.
This was our only chance.
We used every second of delay—
Closing the distance to the escape route.
“IT’S WORKING! THEY’RE OFF TRACK!”
The plan was a success.
But—
We couldn’t lose them completely.
And we shouldn’t.
These things had lived here for years.
They knew the maze better than we did.
If we completely lost track of them,
We wouldn’t know where they’d pop up next.
And—
At the final stretch to the exit—
We’d have to face them at least once.
“Don’t let your guard down yet.”
The exit was a straight path.
If they caught us here—
We’d be doomed.
There was only one way to escape.
We had to rig the race.
We ran ahead,
Making sure to mess with their paths one last time.
By the time the crocodiles reached the final corridor,
We had already covered half the distance to the exit.
The setup had worked.
But now—
“THEY’RE COMING!”
The three Clock Crocodiles burst into the passage—
Larger than trucks.
They were fast—
But the narrow tunnel slowed them down.
They crashed into each other as they scrambled forward.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
The sound was unbearable.
“THIS IS IT! KEEP RUNNING!”
“AAAAH! THEY’RE RIGHT BEHIND US!”
“DON’T STOP! IF WE WERE GOING TO DIE, WE WOULD HAVE ALREADY!”
We were terrified—
But we ran anyway.
Because—
We believed.
We believed our efforts would be rewarded.
We believed we could survive.
We threw the last of the herbs behind us.
The crocodiles flinched,
But didn’t stop chasing.
Still—
Even one second of hesitation was enough.
“...We made it!”
We saw the rope.
The one leading up to the surface.
I pushed Eun-jung up first.
Soo-ho hesitated, but I glared at him—
And he reluctantly climbed up next.
Finally—
It was my turn.
Behind me—
A Clock Crocodile lunged—
Its jaws stretched wide open to swallow me whole.
I hurled everything left in my bag into its mouth.
The impact made it clamp its jaws shut.
And in that split second—
I climbed.
I escaped.
“Haah... haah...”
We collapsed—
Drenched in sweat and fear.
“We almost DIED.”
But—
We survived.
And in the end—
This would become just another memory.
I turned to my friends—
Expecting them to be laughing in relief.
But instead—
Their faces were ashen,
As if they had just seen a ghost.
A shadow loomed over me.
Slowly—
I looked up.
Standing there—
Face twisted in fury—
Was Uncle Peter.
“...You really almost died, didn’t you, brats?”
“P-Peter... Uncle Peter?”
“Look at those pale faces... I TOLD you not to do anything dangerous.”
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
Which made it worse.
We could tell—
He was furious.
And we knew—
A punishment was coming.
Uncle Peter grinned.
But—
It wasn’t a kind smile.
"So, have you finally realized it?"
"Have you finally understood—
—how terrible, horrifying, and deadly the risks are—
—when you try to reach for something sweet?"
"Now do you see?
That NOTHING tempts you more than the safety of my walls?"
Uncle Peter thought we were scared of him.
But we weren’t.
We were looking at each other.
We had made up our minds.
And then—
We lied.
“...We want to go home.”
Uncle Peter laughed.
Loud.
"Look at that, Alice. Humans are all the same."
...Alice?
That name felt familiar.
But—who was she?
"Come now... I trust you've reflected enough. Stand up. There won’t be any more frightening things ahead."
I took Uncle Peter’s hand and pulled myself up.
Looking back now, it was obvious—he had expected us to open his study.
That’s why he had left the treasure map out in the open.
Even if we had made it to the destination,
There was never going to be any treasure.
I hated how smug his back looked.
We returned to Uncle Peter’s house, exhausted.
I headed straight for the shower.
This chapter is updated by freēwēbnovel.com.
Warm water washed over me.
I had heard somewhere that cold showers were good for immunity,
While hot showers helped with stress relief.
Yeah. I liked the latter.
I looked into the mirror, watching water drip from my hair.
Something about my reflection felt...
Empty.
“...?”
The mirror changed.
Dark, ominous shapes flickered across its surface.
Whispering.
I staggered back.
Then, the creatures spoke.
[Alice... You must save Alice...]
"Alice? Who’s Alice?"
[You must save her... You must bring her back...]
The dark figures began to fade.
Panic surged in my chest.
I stepped forward, calling out—
"Wait! Okay, okay—I get it! But how do I save her?"
[Give Alice a rose... A red rose...]
“...!”
One hour later.
I was in the kitchen preparing food.
Uncle Peter had demanded I make him a sandwich,
Claiming he deserved it after all the trouble we caused.
Ridiculous.
We were the ones who had almost died.
But we had broken the rules,
So I had no excuse.
So, I made the sandwich.
And then—
"Ha ha ha! Delicious! Ha ha ha!"
...Annoying.
Uncle Peter finished his sandwich and almost instantly fell asleep.
Like ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ he had been drugged.
...Which he was.
Good night, Uncle.
Maybe you should’ve laughed a little quieter.
You were starting to get on my nerves.
I glanced out the window.
Somewhere out there,
The creatures in the mirror were waiting for Alice.
And...
So was I.
The others crept out of their rooms.
One by one, they gathered around me.
I asked them—
"How much do you remember?"
"Only fragments... But even that is enough to know that we have to find her."
"I see."
We all touched the red flower pendants around our necks.
"Then let’s go."
-----
"Huuuaaaah...! What a good nap. Ha ha ha!"
The herb Ha-rim had slipped into his sandwich should have been a lethal dose for a normal person.
But for Peter Pan—
It had just been a refreshing nap.
He yawned and stretched.
"Alright, let’s see... The kids should be sleeping."
He opened their doors—
Saw the bulging blankets on their beds—
And smirked.
Satisfied, he closed the doors quietly.
Next, he headed for his study.
The moment he opened the door,
His eyes twitched.
"...What a mess."
The study was completely ransacked.
Books scattered.
Shelves emptied.
His secret storage—thoroughly searched.
Peter clicked his tongue.
"I let them get curious on purpose, but this is excessive."
Curiosity.
Rebellion.
Greed.
The inevitable sins of humanity.
That’s why he had set this all up.
To lure them in.
To let them fall for temptation.
And then—
To teach them fear.
He wanted Alice to see it.
To show her—
That these children, left to their own devices,
Would always choose to retreat into the safety of his home.
But.
Something felt off.
Peter’s brows furrowed.
The kids had been obsessed with the treasure map.
It should have been enough to distract them.
So why—
Why had they torn apart the entire room?
A sudden thought struck him.
He hurried to his vault.
Entered the code.
The door swung open.
"...No."
The vault was empty.
The books.
The herbs.
The relics.
All of it—gone.
Peter whipped around.
Stormed to the kids’ rooms.
He yanked back the blankets.
Only to find—
Trash.
Just trash, piled up to mimic sleeping bodies.
A cheap trick.
And yet—
They had fooled him.
His blood boiled.
His hands clenched into fists.
He marched to the window.
Looked outside.
His fury reached its peak.
"Those little shits—"
Beyond the boundaries of his world—
Neverland was beginning to unravel.
