I Became A Ghost In A Horror Game-Chapter 74: Long-nosed

Ariel was sensitive to emotions.

Even if Mephistopheles hadn’t directly mentioned Alice, the faintest trace of affection he held for her was enough to shake Ariel’s heart.

Yes. Ariel was jealous of Alice, who was favored by Mephistopheles.

So, she decided to play a mischievous little prank.

Not by doing anything drastic—just by not revealing what she knew.

For example, what Pinocchio might do with the things he obtained through his trades.

Of course, if things actually spiraled out of control, it would be a problem for her too.

But watching Alice’s face twist in frustration after getting stabbed in the back...

That would be quite entertaining.

-----

"...The table’s broken."

Alice pulled out her wallet.

She had about 30,000 won on her.

With an awkward expression, she apologized to the café staff.

The staff reassured her that it was likely defective furniture and that she didn’t need to compensate them.

But Alice insisted on paying and asked for the price.

...It was more than 30,000 won.

Alice hesitated for a moment before making a call.

"...James. I’m really sorry, but..."

"Hmm. You nuked an entire factory and its underground facility, and yet, you’re flustered over breaking a single table?

I really don’t get you."

James commented as he drove.

I could feel my face heating up.

I quickly came up with the most minimal excuse.

"I’m low on allowance."

James let out a short chuckle.

Which only made it worse.

I gestured for him to change the subject, and thankfully, he did.

Though... what he brought up was quite heavy.

"So I hear you’ve encountered quite the monster.

I’ve never seen something with such a high security level in all my time working for the Organization."

The Dominator.

A creature capable of triggering an apocalyptic scenario on its own.

It wasn’t surprising that James, not being a research director, didn’t know much about it.

"It knows about the children.

It must have seen the threads of fate connecting me to them."

Another battle to protect the children was inevitable.

I expected James to offer his help again.

But when he saw my expression, he leaned back in his seat and spoke in an uncharacteristically defeated tone.

"...Honestly, I don’t know if I’ll be of any help this time."

James, the man who had even stood against that colossal demon, was saying this?

I was stunned.

"What are you saying, James?"

"I’m not always full of confidence.

I won’t run away, but the bigger the battlefield, the harder it is for individual strength to matter.

This is going to be tough."

If a full-scale battle broke out, James' role would likely be suppressing lesser creatures.

But if the Machine God, larger than a building, fully revealed itself...

A single person’s bullets wouldn’t even scratch it.

I tried putting myself in James' shoes.

...If this were a war, then he was a foot soldier.

And if that was the case, then his fear was understandable.

I tried to comfort him.

"Don’t worry, James.

If you want, I’ll protect you."

I flashed my most friendly smile.

Though I was a demon, after all.

Would hugging him cheer him up?

I was considering it when—

"What if I don’t want that?"

"Huh?"

His response completely threw me off.

For a moment, I felt like a complete idiot.

As I awkwardly wiped away the sweat forming on my brow, James sighed and tried to end the conversation.

"I appreciate the sentiment, but I’ll pass.

Sorry for bringing it up in the first place."

"O-oh... okay."

I wondered if I had said something wrong and glanced at James for clues.

Even while driving, he stole a quick glance at me before speaking again.

"Don’t dwell on what I just said.

I’m human, so of course I feel uneasy.

But that doesn’t mean I want to be protected.

How should I put it...

As long as my actions change something, I can charge forward without hesitation.

I’m just afraid of reaching the end... and realizing it was all for nothing."

His fear was entirely justified.

If nothing awaited him at the end of his struggles...

That would be the most devastating thing of all.

If a god really did exist, I thought, they should descend in the final moment and reward those who fought for something.

There were demons, yet no gods?

That didn’t seem fair.

"I see... ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) I’m sorry. I didn’t realize."

I pretended not to care too much, but I kept a close eye on James’ emotions.

I wanted to ease his burden, even if only a little.

James shook his head.

"I told you not to dwell on it."

"..."

Why does he always notice?

A brief silence followed.

James tapped his fingers against the steering wheel.

He seemed to be choosing his next words carefully.

His next question...

It felt like something that had been on his mind for a long time.

"Alice. Do you really want to protect the children?"

I tilted my head at the obviousness of the question.

"Of course.

I want to protect them and keep them safe."

"I see..."

James muttered something under his breath.

So quietly that no one else would have heard it.

But I did.

"...She’s changed a little."

"...?"

I didn’t understand what he meant.

What about me had changed?

The next day.

"Alice!"

Soo-ho was unusually energetic today.

When I asked if something good had happened,

he grinned and asked how I knew.

The truth was—everyone had noticed.

Even though his voice sounded normal,

somehow, everyone could just tell.

It wasn’t really a big deal.

"Today’s club activity day!"

They were still the same as ever.

Dear protagonists of this horror game... Maybe you should think this through?

You’re going to run into a real monster at this rate.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

"You guys never get tired of this, do you?

What are you planning this time?

As long as it’s nothing dangerous, I’ll allow it."

As soon as I said that, the kids blinked at me in unison, staring.

...What’s with this atmosphere?

Did I say something weird?

Soo-ho chuckled.

"Since when did Alice become our mom?"

"..."

Once again, my face turned red.

I covered my face with my palm, but anyone could tell I was embarrassed.

Lately, I’d been feeling humiliated way too often.

Just wait, you little punks.

"Hehehe..."

Ha-rim laughed, clearly amused.

I gestured at Soo-ho to hurry up and explain.

"Alright. So, what’s the plan?"

"We’re going to investigate a new urban legend.

Kyung-min mentioned it before—the one about living machines."

"...!"

Living machines.

Could this be the influence of the Machine God?

That was fast.

I became more serious.

"Alice? What’s wrong?"

"It’s nothing. Keep going."

This time, Kyung-min took the lead in explaining.

If it was about knowledge, he probably knew even more than Ha-rim.

"Hmm... judging by your face, Alice, you either forgot the story or zoned out while we were talking.

This time, listen carefully.

It’s a classic rumor, but apparently, there used to be a lot of graves around this area."

"Graves? Seriously?"

Eun-jung must not have heard about it either, because she gasped.

Kyung-min huffed in mild irritation.

"I don’t know. That’s the thing about urban legends—you can’t tell if they’re true or not.

Anyway, the story goes like this:

The souls of the dead never moved on, lingering around and possessing objects, making them move on their own at night."

"That sounds like Japan’s Tsukumogami."

(Tsukumogami: Spirits born from old objects that gain sentience after a hundred years.)

Of course, the reality of the situation was probably very different.

But people always try to give a logical explanation for supernatural events.

That’s just how urban legends work.

Still, this was bound to be far more dangerous than the kids assumed.

"Whoa. Do they really move?

If those things are hiding around us, how do we find them?"

Eun-jung seemed excited.

Kyung-min explained how to identify them.

"According to recent sightings, people have heard them crying out in pain.

But because it’s always dark, no one’s seen them clearly.

At first, people described them as looking like wooden dolls or mannequins...

But now, that part is kind of unclear."

"Crying out in pain? That’s terrifying.

What if that’s actually the screams of people being attacked by a mechanical monster?"

"I want to say no... but after everything we’ve seen, it’s hard to dismiss the idea outright."

"..."

I hesitated.

This was probably a result of the Machine God’s influence.

There wouldn’t be just one monster.

And if they were made of metal, there was nothing the kids could do to even scratch them.

Could they really contribute in this fight?

This wasn’t a game.

And our opponent wasn’t a supernatural entity.

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There were no “mechanics” or “exploitable weaknesses” to rely on.

The horrors in the game had specific, solvable conditions, allowing even children to fight back.

Like a puzzle, every entity could be defeated through a certain ritual or logic.

But would the same apply to an anomaly?

Should I stop them?

I was in a “protector” role.

If this was something they couldn’t overcome, I couldn’t let them get involved.

I was truly conflicted.

"Alice. Alice!"

"H-huh?"

"So, are you coming?"

"Uh... what were we talking about again?"

I scratched my cheek awkwardly.

Kyung-min pouted.

"You zoned out again, didn’t you?"

I gave an apologetic smile, which—oddly enough—seemed to cheer him up.

"Ugh, fine.

Okay, so—there’s a huge scrapyard past the intersection, right?

Lately, people have been hearing crying sounds from there.

The words sound like 'It hurts...' or something similar.

It could be a living machine!"

"So we decided to check it out after school.

What about you, Alice? Are you coming?"

I hesitated... then answered.

"...Alright. I’ll come."

There was no way I could forcefully stop these curious kids.

Even if I was close to them, controlling them outright would damage our relationship.

Even if I succeeded, humans would never be perfect.

As long as their memories remained intact, they would keep making their own decisions.

"Wow! Alice is coming too!"

"Alice should just join the club at this point."

"I have no idea when I’d actually be free for club activities, so... let’s leave that undecided for now."

"Hmph."

After school, we headed toward the scrapyard.

The intersection was in that annoying middle-ground—too far to walk comfortably, but not far enough to justify taking the bus.

The kids decided to walk, even though it would take time.

"It’s already getting dark."

"Yeah. It feels like the sun set earlier than usual today."

...A bad omen?

Without drawing attention, I silently summoned the Eavesdropping Horror.

It whispered to me.

[It hurts... It hurts...]

...!

There really was a monster there.

The rumor the kids heard wasn’t just a story.

I couldn’t let them get hurt.

I suddenly asked them:

"If we ran, how long would it take to get there?"

"Hmm... It’s too close for a bus, so... maybe eight minutes if we sprint?"

"Then, how about a race?

Last one there buys everyone ice cream."

"Huh?"

"On the count of three. One. Three."

Without waiting, I took off running.

The kids were caught off guard, but that didn’t matter.

As I ran, I created a mirror in their blind spot.

"Wait—why are you so fast?!"

Inside the mirror, a tall, faceless man appeared.

A gaunt, eerily thin figure, as if a single gust of wind could blow him away.

"Slender Man.

You can protect the kids without being noticed, right?"

Slender Man nodded and vanished in an instant.

He was the first horror entity to ever attack them.

But now, he was the best choice to watch over them.

"...This is worse than I expected."

Having trespassed into the scrapyard, I stood face to face with a towering monster—its head just barely clearing the walls.

Unlike the living machines from the factory, this one was a single, unified entity.

It had a massive arm, easily weighing a ton.

An upgraded version?

I approached, intending to deal with it and grant peace to whatever human consciousness was trapped inside.

But then—

"...Huh?"

I stopped in my tracks.

The machine was already fighting something.

Clang—!

Wooden bodies.

Metal weapons.

They were battling the living machine.

"...Wooden dolls?"

They were puppets.

Not ghosts, but anomalous creations from a workshop.

So the mannequins and dolls from the rumors referred to these things.

Their partially mechanical designs could have easily been mistaken for machinery.

But...

why were they fighting the living machine?

I whispered a silent apology to the entity crying out in pain.

'Sorry. Just give me a moment.'

The wooden puppets coordinated their attacks like a party of adventurers.

Each had a role—striker, support, defense.

But against such a massive enemy, their efforts had little effect.

Whoosh—!

With a single swing of its massive arm, several puppets were sent flying.

The living machine had the upper hand.

"!"

But then—

More wooden dolls began pouring over the walls and through gaps in the fence.

One by one, they piled onto each other, their bodies merging into a giant wooden construct.

...A technique very similar to the living machines.

Boom—!

The massive wooden construct now rivaled the machine’s size.

It drove a hand straight into its core—

the heart of the mechanical entity.

The machine collapsed, defeated.

The puppets had won.

"...Why are you looking at me?"

The giant puppet turned its head toward me.

And, of course—

It charged straight at me.

I let out a deep sigh and summoned a mirror.

"Since you’re made of wood... you should be weak to high heat, right?"

From within the mirror, blue flames flickered to life—

Ghostly, floating will-o’-the-wisps.

"Burn it down."

As if in response, the flames flared brightly and shot toward the puppet.

The moment they touched its wooden limbs—

Fire spread instantly, consuming its arms.

The puppet frantically tried to smother the flames, but when it realized it was pointless, it charged at me again.

I created another mirror.

"Not enough.

I need one more."

This time, I summoned—

A burning wheel with the face of a screaming man.

An ancient yokai from Japanese folklore, still occasionally appearing in modern media.

A wheel from a chariot of the underworld.

"Wanyūdō."

The flaming wheel burst out of the mirror, spinning like a raging biker gang’s motorcycle.

It rushed toward the puppet at a speed far beyond what its massive frame could match.

In the blink of an eye,

Wanyūdō raced up the puppet’s leg, leaving a trail of flames.

Its head. Its body. Its arms.

Flames consumed it, illuminating the scrapyard.

!!!

The puppet collapsed, reduced to nothing but metal scraps and ashes.

I stared at the charred remains.

Then—

Clap. Clap. Clap.

A slow, heavy applause echoed from atop a pile of shattered machine parts.

A dull, wooden sound.

Because the hands clapping weren’t flesh.

From a distance, it could be mistaken for a human—

But it wasn’t.

It was a puppet.

A wood-and-metal construct with a long, pointed nose.

Unlike the other puppets, this one spoke.

"A strange monster lives inside the mirror.

How fitting, Alice."

A familiar feeling.

A fellow anomaly.

A crafting game entity.

"You’re..."

"Pinocchio.

Call me Pinocchio."