I Became A Ghost In A Horror Game-Chapter 87: Question time!

"Alright then... The Mystery Exploration Club’s First Official Regular Meeting is now in session. Applause, please."

"Waaah~!"

Clap, clap, clap...

This is the clubroom.

Today, I had arranged a schedule to answer the kids’ questions.

Ha-rim, standing next to me, wrote First Regular Meeting on the chalkboard.

I had been through enough meetings in the previous world to last a lifetime, but since I had lost count of how many there had been, I decided to start over from the beginning.

Once Ha-rim returned to her seat, four pairs of eyes turned to me.

"From now on, it’s question time. If anyone has something they’re curious about, raise your hand and ask."

As soon as I finished speaking, Kyung-min was the first to raise his hand.

"Ella, why did you become Alice?"

The first question—about Alice.

Of course.

I had expected this would be the very first question.

The problem was, I couldn’t give a clear answer, even if I wanted to.

I had some guesses, at best.

"I don’t fully understand it myself. But I’ll share what I think."

"First of all, in this world, there are beings called demons."

Everyone nodded.

We had encountered demons before.

Among the two we had faced, the one that had revealed its form was the Radio-Head Demon.

Though now it was no longer a demon but a pure anomaly that lent me its strength, at the time, its massive body charging at us to kill us had been downright terrifying.

"According to what James told me, demons are born when a story or narrative is fulfilled."

"For example... If something barks, walks on four legs, and generally seems like a dog, then a demon of a dog could be born."

"Well, of course, an evil ritual or some sacrifice would likely be involved, but still."

Ugh... Even I thought that was a terrible explanation.

It wasn’t like I was joking around or anything.

But no better example came to mind.

The kids also looked doubtful.

"Then does that mean Ella became Alice’s demon by fulfilling the narrative of the Alice in Wonderland series? And that’s why your name is Alice?"

I nodded.

Honestly, I had no idea what part of me was similar to the Alice series.

Aside from my blonde hair, there was almost nothing in common.

"You don’t find it convincing, huh? Truthfully... I don’t either."

"This is hard to understand. You used up all your power trying to save us and seemed to have disappeared... But was that actually the process of you turning into a demon?"

I shook my head.

"No, that wasn’t it. I definitely died back then. My soul remained, but my presence had already stepped off the stage of life."

The kids’ expressions grew even more perplexed.

I struggled to explain it properly.

Rambling, I laid out my theories.

"Hmm... Maybe I needed to die once in order to be reborn."

"Or maybe when you all defeated that half-formed demon, it triggered something later than expected."

"But one thing is certain—I didn’t intend for this to happen."

"So Alice was forcibly turned into Alice... There are too many unnatural factors at play."

"There’s no way you just happened to fulfill Alice’s story and become a demon."

"Maybe someone planned this from the start."

As expected, Ha-rim was sharp.

It was undeniable that I had become a demon because of someone’s intention.

That half-formed demon.

The one I had later named Jabberwock.

It had asked me for a seed.

That seed must have sprouted inside me, and with everything that flowed in from the outside—all the anomalies offered as sacrifices—I was created into what I am now.

At this point, they were probably wondering—Who planned all this?

Of course, I knew.

That person was my senior at school and the creator of this game.

M.P.

And his other name was Mephistopheles.

If I remembered correctly, he was a demon from Faust.

A high-ranking demon, without a doubt.

But what was his goal?

Why was he creating the demons of stories?

Pinocchio. Jack. Ariel. Peter Pan. And me.

All of them were Story’s Demons.

Back when Pinocchio betrayed me, putting me in danger, Mephisto had appeared and told me:

The demons of stories were created to stop the Dominators.

But why me?

Why did it have to be the demons of stories?

And what would a demon like Mephistopheles gain from stopping the Dominators?

Did he actually want to save people?

"That’s right. There is a mastermind behind all of this. And I know his name."

"!"

The kids’ eyes widened at my sudden revelation.

Their expressions turned more serious, their ears perking up to hear the name.

"His name is Mephistopheles. The demon from Faust."

"What?! That’s actually real?"

Hearing the familiar name, the kids were shocked.

Understandable.

It was one thing to hear a legend, but quite another to see it manifest in reality.

"I always thought it was just a play!"

This would be a moment that shattered their preconceptions.

The limits of their imagination would break, and they would have to prepare themselves to face things beyond their comprehension.

"There’s still so much we don’t know, and it’s frustrating... But I don’t know his true goal either."

"I’ll have to figure that out from here on."

"Ah, but I need to correct one thing."

"?"

"When I said I was forced into this..."

"Actually, it was only partially forced."

"I never imagined I’d end up looking like this."

"But in the end, it was my choice to become a demon."

"Mephisto led me to that decision, and I went along with it."

"Not because I had any lingering attachment to life or anything—so don’t misunderstand."

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

The children looked downcast at my words—that I had no lingering attachments to life.

...Damn it. I stepped on a landmine.

"So, Alice was..."

"No, no!!!" I hurriedly interrupted. "I-I mean, you know how old people become at peace with death when the time comes? It’s like that! You’ll understand when you experience it! It’s not that I didn’t want to see you or anything...!"

"Then why did you become a demon, Alice?"

Phew. They believed me. That was close.

I almost ended up hurting them again.

But I didn’t expect them to be curious about that.

Well, it wasn’t a strange question, so it was fine.

"...Do you guys know that Mephistopheles fired a missile at you?"

"...!"

They didn’t.

Just looking at their faces, I could tell.

"What?! Demons use missiles now?!"

"Yeah... apparently, they do. So, if I wanted to protect you, I had no choice. After trying so hard, I couldn’t just let you die like that."

For those who struggle, it’s only right that they receive a fitting conclusion.

If a god existed, that would be a given.

...If a god really existed, that is.

The kids took a moment to process everything.

With so much information pouring in, they were clearly overwhelmed.

I scratched my cheek and apologized.

"Hmm... Sorry. I meant to explain things, but I just ended up giving you even more questions. Are you disappointed?"

Eun-jung beamed at me.

"No! No matter what happened, the important thing is that Alice came back to save us. That makes me really happy!"

"Does it? Hehehe... I feel the same. I’m really happy to see you all again, too."

But Ha-rim had been sitting in silence with a serious expression.

Curious about what she was thinking so deeply about, I asked.

She finally spoke.

"I can accept why Alice looks like this now. But then... where were you, and what were you doing all this time?"

The second question—where had Alice been, and what had she been doing?

She must have been worried.

She probably thought I had been all alone after everything that happened, left wandering without a home.

I missed them, sure. But I wasn’t some kind of drifter.

"Oh. I was taken in and protected by a massive secret organization that practically manages the world. I lived pretty well there."

"...?"

Ah.

Right.

They still thought of James and Maria as government soldiers.

I just dumped another load of heavy information on them again.

"I always thought it was strange... Why would the government send a nun like Sister Maria on a military mission?"

"There were so many weird, unnatural things happening that I just ignored it... but now it’s all coming back to bite me!"

"A massive occult organization was just an urban legend... Are we gonna get our memories erased or something? Ah, wait, that already happened!"

They were taking this harder than I expected.

I thought they’d be used to it by now.

Watching their reaction, I found it amusing but also wanted to reassure them, so I added:

"Don’t worry. If they lay a hand on you, I’ll take half of them down with me—even if that means taking a third of humanity with them."

"..."

Huh?

Why did the mood suddenly drop?

Did I sound too intense just now?

I panicked and asked them:

"Ugh. Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"...It’s nothing."

Alice wouldn’t realize it.

At that moment, as she muttered in a deadly tone with empty, lifeless eyes, she had never looked more dangerous.

Even more than when she erased their memories.

The kids, having glimpsed a fragment of madness, wisely chose to hold their tongues.

"Alright, then. Third question—what was that massive mechanical giant we saw?"

The third question—what exactly is the so-called Machine God?

I decided to share only what I knew.

"Hmm... A Dominator. The Machine God is one of them."

"It desires absolute control.

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"It tried to interfere with your fate and lead you to your deaths."

"Oh, and Dominator is a term used by the Organization."

"They classify beings that could single-handedly bring about the world’s destruction as Dominators."

"Even though this world isn’t a death trap where you can just randomly drop dead like the one we were in, apparently, even more dangerous things are lurking out there."

Soo-ho, looking thoroughly exhausted, let out a sigh.

"These questions are getting scarier and scarier."

The more we talked, the bigger the scale of things became.

And yet, not a single thing was getting solved.

But that’s how exploration worked—each step forward brought more mysteries.

"The fact that Alice can talk about all this so calmly is even scarier. In that case, give me a hug."

Eun-jung... your words are full of contradictions.

But I had no choice, so I hugged her to comfort her and continued speaking.

"It’s not that I’m unaffected... But yeah, the Machine God is basically a terrifying monster."

"Last time, I fought it evenly, but I lost in the end. If a similar situation happens again, I won’t lose next time."

The Machine God had been turned into gears by Pinocchio’s ability.

A somewhat anticlimactic conclusion.

But... somehow, I had a feeling it wasn’t truly over.

Maybe... No.

That was too baseless a thought.

I’d have to see for myself.

"Yeah! Next time, we’ll take it down together!"

"Heh... Thanks."

On to the next question.

"Fourth question—who is Mr. Peter?"

The fourth question—who is Peter?

I answered clearly.

"He’s Peter Pan."

"Peter Pan? As in the fairy tale Peter Pan?"

"Of course, he’s not exactly the same. Like me, he became one of the Story’s Demons. So yeah, you could say he’s my kind."

"I see... I never imagined a Peter Pan in military uniform."

Even though I looked like Alice on the outside, I wasn’t the same as the Alice from the fairy tale.

From the moment I became Alice’s demon, I was already far removed from the original.

Peter Pan, though... He was even more extreme in that regard.

"His goal... was probably to create a world without horrible things like war."

"That’s why he tried to create Neverland... Hmm."

"But the way he went about it was severely twisted."

"One day, he’ll show up in front of us again. But whether he’ll be an ally or an enemy... no one can say for sure."

Ha-rim glanced at her bag and mumbled to herself.

"I don’t think he’s a completely bad person... He even gave me a present."

"Huh? What was that, Ha-rim?"

"Ah. Hehehe... It’s a secret."

"...?"

Ha-rim was dodging the question. Suspicious.

But I had my fair share of secrets too, so I wasn’t in a position to complain.

I let it slide and moved on to the next question.

"Alright, next question. That dragon Alice called Jabberwock... was that the half-formed demon?"

Oh, right. Kyung-min had asked about this earlier.

So Ha-rim was curious about it too.

"That’s right. He has several names—Jubjub Bird, Bandersnatch, and Jabberwock."

"But the most fitting name is # Nоvеlight # Jabberwock."

"Back then, he was a powerful monster that could have rivaled a Dominator. But now, he’s my little pet."

"Can you summon him right now?"

"Nope. He never listens to me. Even if I call his name in the mirror, and I know he can hear me, he never answers."

Jabberwock, you ungrateful bastard!

For a moment, I thought he had reformed when he helped us, but now he just ignores me entirely.

Technically speaking, he was supposed to be wiped out, yet he clung to existence by relying on me.

Show some gratitude, you damn lizard.

"That’s a shame. He looked insanely strong."

"He has conditions that need to be met before he can appear, so he’s not exactly a trump card. Unless it’s a special place like Neverland, I doubt I’ll be able to summon him again."

Why did all the powerful anomalies come with so many restrictions?

If I could freely control even one of them, I wouldn’t have had such a hard time against the Machine God.

"For the last question... Hmm, yeah, this one works. You mentioned Story’s Demons, right? So aside from Peter Pan and Alice, are there more?"

The final question—about the demons of stories.

"Yeah. There’s Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk. Ariel from The Little Mermaid."

"And that backstabbing little—cough... Pinocchio."

"You were about to get really mad just now."

"So you got screwed over by him, huh?"

"Shut up!"

"As far as I know, that’s it. But according to Ariel, there are probably two more."

"So? Are your questions answered now?"

The kids exchanged glances before nodding.

They didn’t look relieved, but at least they had a general grasp of my situation and the dangers of this world.

"I guess... Sigh. But now what do we do? After all that talk, it feels like we’re just sitting around, powerless."

Soo-ho was shifting restlessly.

He wanted to prepare for danger.

Soo-ho was the kind of kid who blocked attacks head-on with his shield—sturdy, reliable.

At the same time, he had sharp instincts and could deflect or evade when needed.

I understood his unease.

"Hehehe... All we need to do is focus on living our lives."

"There’s no need to wander around looking for danger without a purpose, and no reason to be afraid in advance."

"If a trial comes, we’ll face it with everything we have."

I had decided to stay with these kids.

Through all the twists and mistakes along the way, our bonds had only grown stronger.

What I lacked, they would make up for.

...Alright. You’ve kept me waiting long enough.

Pinocchio.

Isn’t it about time you made your move?

Without a word, I gazed out the window.

Past the buildings, past the mountains—staring into the distance, my blue eyes gleamed sharply.

And the next day—

While I was at school, my portable [Alice Protocol] suddenly began to ring.