I Became A Ghost In A Horror Game-Chapter 86: Final Atonement for Karma.

*At this point, the story shifts to an earlier time.

Carol opened the door to the containment chamber.

Inside, a talking pumpkin head was being held in isolation—a strange entity that the Organization had stumbled upon by chance.

A talking pumpkin, huh? How ridiculous.

But this was no ordinary pumpkin head.

This thing was a soul that had returned from death.

One of the more well-known vengeful spirits, even in modern times.

Carol had a general idea of what it was.

"Hello. It seems you've woken from a long slumber. How are you feeling?"

"My body? Not bad. Ah, but more importantly—would you mind giving me your head for a bit? I’m not sure if this head is actually mine. Let me try cutting off your neck and putting your head on my body. If it doesn't fit, I’ll give it back."

Was that a threat?

Carol, based on her experience, judged that there was no real malice behind it.

"Hmm. Just like the legends say, you have quite the sharp wit, Jack-o'-Lantern."

"Wit? I'm being serious."

"......"

Since Carol didn't respond, Jack-o'-Lantern started rambling on his own.

As expected of a spirit that lost its head due to a prank gone wrong, he could talk endlessly to the point of making her ears ache.

"Wow, this place is amazing! So many new types of magic and tools! This place is full of fun tricks to play with!"

Tricks, huh?

Any "trick" played by a supernatural entity in this place would be far more than just a simple prank.

Carol needed to change the topic quickly.

Looking around for something to talk about, she noticed Jack-o'-Lantern's body shivering slightly.

"...Are you cold?"

"Of course, I am. The dead have no warmth from life. But it's bearable because... I have this wonderful lantern, given to me by those friendly demons!"

Jack-o'-Lantern proudly showed off his lantern.

There were multiple legends about it, but one common version was that Jack had tricked demons repeatedly during his life. However, after dying and shivering in the cold, he humbled himself and begged them for a lantern, which they granted.

Strange how they took pity on him after all that trouble.

"Man, those demons are really kind!

Even after all the pranks I played on them, the moment I begged on my knees, they made me this lantern! Wahahaha!

Even demons are God’s creations, you know! We all help each other out! Long live our kind-hearted existence!"

Carol found herself curious about how the lantern was made.

"Hmm... So, did you meet the Lantern Demon?"

Jack-o'-Lantern tilted his head, looking at her like she'd said something absurd.

"The Lantern Demon? A demon is just a demon—what do you mean 'Lantern' Demon?"

"Oh? But if a demon has the power to create lanterns, wouldn’t that make it a Lantern Demon? It fits the theme..."

Carol was caught off guard by his reaction.

Considering he'd tricked demons and even received a lantern from them, he should have extensive knowledge about them...

"Hold on, hold on. I don’t get it. A demon is just a demon. Why are you slapping a title on it?

What, are you giving them nicknames now?

Those little no-name demons don’t need fancy titles!

And what do you mean by 'fitting the theme'?"

"Well... Aren’t demons born and shaped by ‘themes’ or ‘stories’?

If a demon satisfies a particular theme, doesn’t it develop according to that theme?

I thought you of all people would know, considering your past interactions with them."

"What nonsense is that? What kind of being is born like that?

You talk like demons are some kind of fictional characters!

Oh—I get it. This must be some kind of modern joke. Hold on, let me analyze it!"

"......"

"Demon... story... theme... Got it."

"Got what?"

"That your joke-telling skills are terrible!"

"..."

Carol remained unamused, and Jack-o'-Lantern awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

Then, out of nowhere, he grabbed the bowl of porridge meant for his meal, dumped it onto the floor, and started squishing it with his hands.

"So it wasn’t a joke?

Well, if that’s the case, I guess I was just mistaken.

Hmmm... If demons really were born that way, that’d be hilarious.

Here, look! I’ll make a demon too!"

Of course, no demon emerged from the spilled porridge.

"You lied. I was trying to make a completely nonsensical demon."

"...I’ll show you some materials about other demons, so let’s move on to the experiment first."

"Fine. But you better keep your promise."

"Yes... As long as you cooperate with the experiment.

And we’ll need to have a lot of personal discussions too."

-----

"Hey, Alice. I was waiting so long, I thought I’d turn to dust!"

Ha-rim, unusually, was complaining.

I found her reaction refreshing and let out a small laugh.

"You’re actually rushing me? Did you miss me that much? We’ve been seeing each other all the time since Neverland."

Ever since the Neverland incident, the Organization had been placing the bare minimum restrictions on me.

Because of that, I could show up whenever I was requested, without worrying about time constraints.

It was strange how their attitude had changed, but I didn’t want to think about that right now.

Because today was a day to play with Ha-rim!

"Today, it’s just the two of us! Our own private date!"

I perked up slightly at an odd word choice.

"Date? Do you even know what that means?"

"Yeah. It’s when friends hang out together, right?"

...Was it?

Well, I suppose ‘date’ didn’t necessarily have to mean something romantic.

Guess I overreacted.

When I didn’t respond right away, Ha-rim seemed to realize something, her expression turning a little embarrassed.

"That’s... not what I meant, Alice."

Her reaction made my face heat up as well.

"...Huh? Haha. Of course. So, where should we go for our date?"

I deliberately let out a laugh and continued the conversation.

At my question, Ha-rim eagerly responded as if she’d been waiting for it.

"An amusement park!"

"Oh..."

The other kids had suggested meeting up at home, but Ha-rim was going all out.

Feeling intrigued, I followed her to the amusement park.

Its name was Strange Park.

An old amusement park that had been remodeled and expanded with new rides. Lately, it had been drawing in a lot of visitors.

After getting our tickets, we entered the park.

With an excited expression, Ha-rim pulled me toward a particular ride.

"This is the new roller coaster! It’s super tall and has a lot of loops—people say it’s terrifying!"

"Terrifying, huh..."

Some people might dislike scary things, but I knew Ha-rim’s personality well.

"Then, of course, we have to ride it."

"As expected, you really get me, Alice."

Hand in hand, we waited in line.

When it was our turn, the staff carefully checked our height before letting us on.

The roller coaster climbed higher and higher.

Just as I started wondering if it was too high, the ride paused for a moment—then suddenly plummeted!

"Whoooaaaa!"

Some were thrilled, others screamed in genuine fear.

I glanced at Ha-rim, who was grinning brightly, and I found myself smiling too.

But... it wasn’t enough.

This level of thrill was something we experienced every day.

For Ha-rim... she’d enjoy this even more.

As the roller coaster passed through a shadowy tunnel, I conjured a mirror.

A dark figure flickered in the reflection—

A shadow in the shape of the ride itself.

The shadow rippled.

"Make this more fun, won’t you?"

The shadow slipped out of the mirror and merged with the roller coaster.

It twisted excitedly, responding to my call.

Of course—it was an entity born from the fear of roller coasters.

"Uwaaahhh?!"

"What the hell?!"

The roller coaster sped up—faster and faster.

People began to realize something was off just before the 360-degree loop.

But by the time they noticed, it was already too late.

The roller coaster spun at a speed that could practically centrifuge its passengers.

They looked as if their souls had left their bodies—

Wait. Their souls were actually leaving their bodies?!

"Hey! Don’t you think you’re overdoing it?!"

...

The souls returned to their rightful places.

This was exactly why dealing with supernatural entities could be such a hassle.

I let out a sigh of relief and then waited for the highlight of this ride.

The broken rail.

People finally noticed it, and their screams filled the air.

"Kyaaaaah!!!"

But—nothing happened.

We crossed the rail without a problem.

Because, in reality, there was no broken rail.

It was just an illusion created by the entity.

Among the passengers, now left panting like rodents that had barely escaped death, Ha-rim turned to me.

"Alice... was that you?"

I dismissed the entity back into the mirror and answered.

"Yeah. I just added a little extra thrill."

"You're the best, Alice!"

"'The best'? We still have plenty of rides left, you know."

At my words, Ha-rim’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

Like a true child, she couldn’t contain her enthusiasm and rushed ahead to the next ride.

Adorable.

“...Next up is—”

The Viking ship.

We easily met the height requirement and took our seats.

The ship swayed back and forth in a pendulum motion.

It built up momentum with each swing.

But still, it wasn’t thrilling enough.

So once again, I summoned a mirror.

"How about adding some battle energy?"

Responding to my call, entities emerged from the mirror.

They took the form of wild warriors—

Spirits born from the fear of savages.

Individually, they were no stronger than human warriors, but they were perfect for setting the mood.

They roared and clashed in battle.

At first, people watched in fascination, thinking it was just an attraction event.

Then—

Thud!

An axe embedded itself into the ground right beside a passenger.

They immediately realized this was not part of the show.

"HELP!!!"

"Don't worry, they won’t kill you."

Next up—

The Drop Tower.

A ride designed to lift people high into the sky and then plummet them down in free fall.

Its essence lay in that brief, blurred line between life and death.

But what if I removed that uncertainty entirely?

"What the hell?! How high is this thing going?!"

I used the entity of height to stretch the tower even higher—far beyond its usual limit.

Then, I let the passengers free-fall all the way down.

To make the experience more convincing, I used the entity of sound to create a massive—

BANG!

A deafening impact echoed, making them believe they had crashed.

Some people probably thought they had actually died.

...Some even passed out.

Oops.

Sorry.

But Ha-rim was laughing—

So please forgive me!

Our "thrill enhancements" continued throughout the day.

"The Top Spin is going way too fast! Slow it downnn!!!"

I maxed out the ride’s speed and added an illusion of the machine breaking apart and flinging people into the air.

"There’s a real ghost in here!!!"

"Well, it is a haunted house."

"That’s not what I meant!!!"

I made real ghosts appear inside the haunted house, keeping just enough control not to cross the line where the Organization might intervene.

"This amusement park is cursed!"

"Wow, the quality here is amazing!"

Reactions were split.

Some realized something was off and fled the park in terror.

Others, instead, became even more excited and immersed themselves in the experience.

The latter group was especially fun to watch.

My ability to amplify fear was also serving to enhance their enjoyment.

Thrill was, after all, one of the core elements of amusement park rides.

Fear was entertainment.

As long as it didn’t endanger their lives or minds—no, even if it left a few scratches—people could still look back on it as a fond memory.

After playing to our hearts' content, Ha-rim and I sat down with ice cream, reminiscing about old memories.

Had the day already come to an end?

But the sun was still shining.

And I still felt like something was missing.

"..."

"Alice, what’s wrong?"

"It’s almost time to wrap up, but I think we need something extra for the finale."

Ha-rim looked like she thought the day had been enough already—

But I knew she was secretly hoping for more.

What would make this even more fun?

Another ride?

No, we’d already been on every scary one.

Oh.

I had a great idea.

I pointed toward the empty viewing garden.

"That garden—it’s completely empty."

"It says ‘Restricted Area.’"

"...Ha-rim. Follow me."

I left Ha-rim waiting for a moment and altered the maze inside.

For someone like Ha-rim, who had played the role of a horror game protagonist—

This was perfect.

Once everything was ready, I called out to her.

"This is a maze. I made it on the spot. There’s even a pursuer, so be on guard."

"A final event, huh?"

Ha-rim’s excitement was clear.

I could practically hear her heart racing.

To meet her expectations, I decided to set the mood properly.

I filled the maze with cold mist.

Despite no corpses being around, I used bone-related entities to scatter shattered skeletons along the path.

Pools of blood in random places.

Ominous crows.

Broken dishes.

All the classic horror elements, beckoning her inside.

Come into the strange maze—

Shin Ha-rim.

"...It's suddenly gotten really creepy. Who’s the pursuer?"

At that, I drew the blade I had always favored.

"Me."

I locked eyes with her, my cool blue gaze holding the faintest trace of killing intent.

Her survival instincts must have been screaming.

"...This feels oddly unsettling."

I’m sorry.

But this is all for fun.

Even if it’s a little scary—just bear with it.

Clumsy as it may be, this is how I show my love!

"...Ah?"

I suddenly realized something.

This must be how supernatural entities felt when they chased after children.

Thinking about hunting Ha-rim was making my heart race so much I could hardly stand it.

Of course—I had no intention of actually harming her!

"Alright, alright—if there are mirrors inside the maze, that means I can appear in them, right? So be careful.

Now then—let’s play, Shin Ha-rim.

Try to escape before I catch you."

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

-----

Alice let out a quiet laugh as she finished speaking—and then disappeared.

For the first time in a long while, I felt a chill from Alice.

My heart pounded with excitement, but at the same time, tension crept up my spine, making me instinctively more serious.

Before I knew it, the “Restricted Area” sign had vanished.

I opened the door and stepped into the maze.

The moment my foot touched the ground, crows took off in a flurry of feathers.

Each step carried an eerie sensation, as if someone was watching me.

The maze’s structure ensured that I had no way of knowing what lay beyond the next turn—

And that alone was enough to keep me on edge.

To play it safe, I opted for a straightforward method.

I used my shoe to dig a small mark into the dirt floor, leaving a trail behind me.

After passing one branching path, I came across a metal door.

“...Looks like I need a key.”

I turned back, returning to the split in the path.

There, I scratched a simple drawing of a door into the dirt on the right-side path I had just taken.

Now, onto the left.

Strangely, the left path was filled with dead ends.

I marked each one with an ‘X’ before finally finding the correct route.

At the end of the path, I came across a set of roses in three different colors.

A red rose. A blue rose. A yellow rose.

Above them, a sign was posted with a question written on it:

[What is Alice’s favorite rose?]

A riddle?

The moment I finished reading it, a mirror suddenly appeared.

Mirrors were a sign that the seeker—Alice—might appear.

But even after waiting for a moment, Alice didn’t show herself.

“...So she appears if I choose the wrong answer?”

Silence.

But I could hear the faintest trace of laughter.

Red, blue, yellow.

Red was the obvious answer.

I wasn’t an expert on Alice in Wonderland, but I knew that Alice and red roses had some sort of connection.

I reached out toward the red rose.

Then—

“...Wait a second.”

Was Alice’s favorite rose really red?

Wasn’t that the Queen of Hearts’ favorite?

I had never read the book in detail, so I wasn’t entirely sure.

I didn’t know Alice’s preferences well, but she had worn a red rose as a hair accessory before, so...

Her favorite rose must be—

“...Something just clicked.”

I ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) reached out toward the red rose.

The mirror flickered, and Alice started to emerge.

"Too bad, that's the wrong—"

"Just kidding."

"...Huh?"

Alice stopped halfway through appearing.

"..."

I wasn’t holding a flower in my hand.

In other words, I had chosen nothing at all.

Alice had acted too soon, unintentionally revealing that this was a trap.

I wouldn’t be fooled next time.

“Alice’s favorite flower must be this.”

I lifted the necklace I had worn every day since reuniting with Alice.

A red rose necklace.

It wasn’t a real flower, but it was in the shape of one.

Alice probably didn’t care what color a rose was.

But this one—I knew it was special to her.

"Isn't that right, Alice?"

"...Correct."

A delicate hand reached out from the mirror and placed a key before vanishing.

I calmly picked up the key—

And then ran for my life.

[You caught on pretty fast, didn’t you?]

Alice’s chilling voice rang out from behind me.

She was chasing me—at a slightly faster pace than mine.

Nobody said getting the right answer meant I wouldn’t be hunted.

And that left path—

It had been far too complicated.

I knew it!

Whoosh— Thunk!

A knife landed just behind me.

“Hey! Throwing knives in a chase is cheating!”

[You’re too rigid.]

Clang!

With a narrow lead, I managed to unlock and slip through the metal door.

On the other side, Alice stared at me.

I knew exactly what she was thinking.

“Alice... I know you love breaking doors open, but this one is non-negotiable!”

Doors were meant to be opened with keys—

Not smashed apart!

When I declared that firmly, Alice sulked slightly and muttered:

“...Fine.”

Then, she vanished.

I moved on to the next area.

Here, I found four statues of different shapes.

A dodo, an old man, a flower, and a clock.

Upon closer inspection, each statue had a specific indentation in its surface.

If I found something with the right shape and slotted it in, it would probably trigger an event.

Behind the statues were four separate paths.

I chose the path behind the dodo statue.

It was a straight path—

Except for one major problem:

A huge pit in the middle.

I made a mental note of it before taking a daring leap over it.

At the end of the path, a group of animals was gathered, playing together.

They looked like ordinary animals, but...

Had Alice pulled these creatures out of the mirror, just like before?

I cautiously approached.

A particularly large dodo spotted me and made a declaration.

[Ah! You’re here! The race begins now! Stand in line! If you lose, you go extinct.]

“...A race?”

[That’s right. If you lose, you go extinct.]

I spotted a mirror behind the dodo.

I see.

Losing the race must mean Alice would appear and declare my game over.

The animals and I lined up on the race track.

It was shorter than a school field track—

But I still had to win.

How, though?

A human had no chance of outrunning animals.

As always, I had to get creative.

“...Can I make a suggestion before we start?”

[What is it?]

“This is my first time on this track.

But you guys are already familiar with it.

That gives you an unfair advantage.”

[Not fair?]

“Exactly. So let’s all blindfold ourselves before running, to make it fair for everyone.”

[That makes sense. Agreed.]

The animals all tied blindfolds over their eyes.

Of course, I did the same.

“Oh, and by the way, what’s 120 plus 32?”

[Easy. It’s 37.]

Just as I thought—this bird was an idiot.

“Alright then~ I’ll announce the start and end of the race. Ready? Start!”

The animals all took off at once.

Since they were blindfolded, many tripped over each other, but they still managed to stay on the track.

I watched for a moment—

Then, just as the leading runners reached about three-quarters of the way—

"...Race over!"

The dodo’s eyes widened in disbelief.

[W-What?!]

[It’s true. That human is at the finish line.]

[Humans are that fast? No wonder we went extinct...]

[The Red Queen’s going to be furious!]

I had never even moved.

The starting and finish lines were the same spot.

With everyone blindfolded, nobody could tell if I had actually run or not.

There hadn’t even been a referee.

From the very beginning, the fact that I was the one announcing the start and end should’ve been suspicious.

Too stunned to react, the dodo remained frozen as a smaller animal handed me a rectangular block.

The dodo statue had an indentation of the same shape.

I just had to fit the piece in.

Alice hadn’t appeared from the mirror.

Satisfied, I turned my back to leave—

[I DON’T ACCEPT THIIIIIIS!!!!]

The dodo twisted its neck and legs into unnatural angles and lunged at me.

Goosebumps shot up my arms.

Without thinking, I ran.

The dodo was fast—far faster than I had expected.

It nearly caught me.

But then—

It plummeted straight into the pit.

I returned to the statues and slotted the block into the dodo statue.

A slip of paper fluttered to the ground.

[What do these statues symbolize? Absolutely nothing! Just kidding~]

What a letdown.

Next, I moved forward, passing behind the grandfather statue.

The path was simple again.

When I arrived, I saw an old man sleeping in a bed.

I had seen this guy before.

...It was Sandman!

I never expected to run into him here again.

"Hey..."

I shook Sandman to wake him up.

Sandman frowned in annoyance and glared at me.

Was he about to attack me?

I tensed up, but instead, Sandman tossed me a triangular block and went back to sleep.

"That's it?"

That was way too easy.

I picked up the block and, just in case, stepped aside and hid behind a corner to watch Sandman.

I wasn't entirely convinced he had given me the right block.

I was suspicious that he might suddenly jump up and announce Alice’s failure.

As I observed him, Alice stepped out of the mirror and started arguing with Sandman.

"Sandman! I told you to give a quiz! What are you doing just handing it over and going back to sleep?!"

[...!]

"I can't believe this! I even got you a bed! I'm taking it away!"

[...!!!]

"Ah, fine. Seriously... I was just joking. I won’t take it, so stop crying."

Alice is way too soft-hearted...!

And Sandman was only pretending to cry, yet Alice fell for it so easily.

Now that I had confirmed the block was real, I returned to the statue and placed it in.

Another note dropped.

[Sometimes, facing fear directly is also a way forward.]

What does that mean?

The next statue was flower-shaped.

I proceeded through the path behind it.

After winding through a curvy road, I arrived at a place overflowing with flowers.

They were chatting amongst themselves, but their voices were too garbled to understand.

As I lingered around the flowers, I noticed something strange.

There were no mirrors.

That’s odd. Without mirrors, Alice wouldn’t be able to track me.

...That means I have to do something with these flowers.

But what?

"Should I burn them?"

[...]

"The atmosphere just got really tense..."

I approached the silent flowers and asked,

"Do you know where the block is?"

[A block? If you answer my question, I’ll tell you where it is.]

"What is it?"

[Between Ella and Alice, which one do you like more?]

"...Huh?"

I was caught off guard by the unexpected question.

Why would this flower ask something like that?

It was unsettling.

[Alice isn’t here. You can be honest~ If you tell me what you don’t like, I can tell Alice to fix it!]

...Ah.

This flower.

It's not really a flower, is it?

"Hmm... really? Then come closer. The truth is..."

I leaned in and whispered as if sharing a secret.

The flower trembled slightly, as if it was ticklish.

[Ohh~]

"I like you."

[?!]

"I won’t say ‘either one is fine.’

I just like you. I have fun when I'm with you. I don’t want to be apart from you.

Being pretty is nice, and sometimes the creepy moments are exciting, too.

But none of that matters.

The memories we’ve built so far say it all.

New n𝙤vel chapters are published on novelbuddy.cσ๓.

I really, really like you."

I poured out my words without hesitation, and the flower shrank back, unable to lift its head.

The flower spoke.

[I'm embarrassed...]

"You idiot. If you ask something like that again, I’ll get mad. Got it, Alice?"

[...Yes...]

The flower handed me a trowel.

I dug right below and found the block.

Picking up the star-shaped block, I returned to the statue and placed it in.

As expected, another note fell.

[No chatting in the library.]

Hmm...

The last one was the clock-shaped statue.

The path was open in all four directions—forward, backward, left, and right.

I picked a direction and walked, but strangely, I never reached the end.

Visually, I could see the clock in the distance, yet I couldn’t reach it.

Like a mirage.

But looking closely...

"The second hand is moving in reverse."

Ah, so it’s a simple puzzle.

I moved in the opposite direction—left, back, right, forward—once each.

Then, I finally reached the place where the clock was mounted.

When I touched the clock, clink, a round block dropped.

I picked it up and returned to place it in the statue.

Thunk.

"The last note, huh."

[Do not be bound by time.]

Thud—!

A massive door, a mirror, and a clock appeared.

So inserting the final block must have triggered the event.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Along with the door, a timer began counting down.

The time limit was one minute.

Four seconds had already passed.

I figured there must be a hint somewhere and quickly started searching my surroundings.

It didn’t take long.

I found a pickaxe carelessly left against the wall, along with a sign.

[Find the button.]

"...Find the button?"

The only thing breakable with a pickaxe was the statues.

Did this mean I had to pick the correct statue and smash it within the remaining 30 seconds to find the button inside?

I grabbed the heavy pickaxe and struck the clock-shaped statue.

Clang!

...It didn’t break.

Time left: 20 seconds.

I needed another method.

Another method...

Was there a hint somewhere?

Ah.

I recalled the notes that had fallen from the statues.

[What do these statues symbolize? Actually, nothing at all!]

[Sometimes, facing fear directly is also a way forward.]

[No chatting in the library.]

[Do not be bound by time.]

I had only 20 seconds left to think.

It wasn’t enough time for deep analysis.

But because of that, my answer became more instinctive.

After making up my mind, I confidently turned to face the mirror.

-----

"Ha-rim, unfortunately, it’s a timeout~"

I stepped out of the mirror and searched for Ha-rim.

Would I finally be able to make Ha-rim lose this time?

I might be getting a little excited.

Ha-rim is a human who, even in the original story, survived against countless supernatural horrors.

For me to be the first one to make her game over... that could be quite enjoyable.

"Better be on guard. I really might cut you down—"

But then—

"Now, where could you be—?"

Where was she?

There was nowhere to hide in this place!

While I was scanning my surroundings, my heightened senses kicked in.

The moment Ha-rim realized I had caught on, I suddenly felt a strong presence behind me.

By the time I turned around, Ha-rim was already charging at me—with a mirror.

The same mirror I had just stepped out of.

Like the saying goes, "The darkest place is under the lamp." It had never even crossed my mind that she would hide behind the very mirror I emerged from.

I mean, who even pries a mirror off the wall with a pickaxe just to use it as a hiding spot?!

Fine. But even so...

‘My reflexes and speed aren’t on the level of an ordinary human. If she just rushes at me, I’ll catch her easily.’

I reached out to grab Ha-rim.

And that’s when it happened.

She pressed the mirror she was holding against my hand.

Normally, when a person crashes into a wall, even if it's made of something soft, they instinctively stop themselves.

Even though shattered glass wouldn’t harm me, my instincts kicked in, and my hand reflexively slipped inside the mirror.

My hand went straight through.

With that, she had sealed away one of my hands.

"You used the mirror against me?!"

With just one hand, subduing her would be difficult.

If I wanted to restrain her with only one arm, I’d have to apply force, and rough resistance would end up hurting Ha-rim.

That would be a problem, so I had no choice but to step back for now.

"The button is right here, isn’t it?!"

But suddenly, Ha-rim shoved her hand into my mouth.

"Mmngh?!"

And then—

Beep!

I heard the sound of a button being pressed.

"...Total defeat. Ugh... I can’t believe you figured out it was inside my mouth."

"You gave me all the hints."

The first note had implied that the statues were meaningless.

The second note suggested facing the seeker head-on.

The third note hinted at a "mouth."

The fourth note revealed that a timeout didn’t necessarily mean failure.

And of course, there was the pickaxe trick.

She had pieced all of those clues together to reach this moment.

I had planned for this outcome, but I never actually expected her to go through with it.

"No matter what, it’s kind of scary that you shoved your hand into my mouth without any hesitation. ...At least hesitate a little."

There was no beating Ha-rim.

This time, I really wanted to win, so I chose my mouth as the hiding spot for the button.

"Your hand’s covered in spit, isn’t it? Let’s go wash up."

"Hmm... That was my first time putting my hand in someone else’s mouth. But you know, it actually felt kind of nice. It was warm and soft. And it smelled like cotton candy."

"You?! Stop saying weird stuff and just go wash your hands already!"

I shoved Ha-rim toward the sink so she could clean her hands.

Unbelievable.

Even Ha-rim, like Eun-jung, had her strange quirks.

With that, the final event had come to an end, and I sat with Ha-rim, drinking some juice as we watched the evening sunset.

It was time to say goodbye.

I opened my mouth, intending to bring it up.

"The sun is starting to set."

"Alice. Are you happy?"

Ha-rim suddenly asked.

Maybe it was because of the golden light of the sunset, but her question about happiness stirred something in me.

"Yeah. I’m really happy. Because I met all of you."

Ha-rim blinked, as if satisfied with my unwavering answer.

Then she smiled brightly and said,

"Me too! That’s why... can I ask you for a favor?"

"What kind of favor?"

"There’s one thing that scares me... It's the thought of saying goodbye to you, Alice."

"......"

"I like you, Alice.

Even when my memories were erased, I could still recall fragments of them in my dreams.

They were so faint that all I could make out was golden hair, nothing else.

But the dreams were so vivid that my chest ached from them."

"...."

"Alice. I know that we might not be able to stay together forever.

It’s the same for Soo-ho, Kyung-min, and Eun-jung.

I might just be a kid who isn’t even in middle school yet, so maybe it’s silly for me to be saying this.

But please, Alice.

Until I can overcome that fear... never, never disappear."

So, leaving her memories erased had been the wrong answer after all.

Trying to erase them in the first place had been wrong.

She was that sad about it.

She was worrying about things far too heavy for someone her age.

A golden afternoon.

A dreamlike atmosphere.

Words exchanged with warmth.

All of these things were like a boat, floating along a gently flowing river.

And one day, that boat would drift toward the horizon, disappearing from sight.

Are you afraid of that, Ha-rim?

To be honest, I am too.

So, Ha-rim, write down your memories in a journal.

A long journal that will take you forever to reread.

Even if you forget, you can always go back and remember.

I already know you’ve been writing one in secret.

If you find a place to keep those memories close, one day, that fear will transform into something bittersweet.

And in the end, it will become a part of the joy of remembering.

"Since you’ve come back to me, Alice, you’ll grant my request, right?"

The answer was already decided.

Indulging the whims of someone dear to you—well, even if it was just whining, it wasn’t so bad.

"Of course."

Today had come to an end.

And it had been the best day.

Ha-rim.

Like Ella, Mary, Madam Spider, and Piero.

In the end, I hope you will be my final chapter.

My black-haired heroine.