I Became A Ghost In A Horror Game-Chapter 113: Break Time.

“Thanks to you, Red Riding Hood got to join the tea party too.”

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Ariel said this while sitting at the center of the tea party, stealing the snacks the children had brought.

Jack, sitting beside her, was practically inhaling the treats.

You two must really be short on money.

At this point, it’s kind of pitiful.

Well, not that I’m in any position to talk, considering I still rely on Carol for pocket money...

“I’m sorry about that time. I was a bit out of it.”

Before drinking the tea in front of her, Red Riding Hood apologized to Ariel first.

Apparently, when Ariel and Jack had gone to visit her, she had punched them away during one ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) of her episodes.

It might be understandable given that she had lost her senses, but apologizing was still the right thing to do.

Ariel, who had been scarfing down the snacks, flipped her hair with a haughty flick and spoke.

“It’s fine. It didn’t even hurt that much. It was like getting hit with a cotton ball.”

“Excuse me, but... you looked like you were in a lot of pain.”

“Are you looking down on me because I’m weak?!”

“Ah, n-no, that’s not what I meant...”

Seems like Ariel has a bit of a complex about being weak.

I remember when I was up against the Machine God, she said she couldn’t help because she was too weak, and she got pretty beat up during the fight with the clergy too. So it’s probably not a lie.

Didn’t she even say she was weaker than Jack?

Although, back then Jack couldn’t even use his powers properly.

Hmm... When Ariel got upset at Red Riding Hood, Soo-ho—who was standing beside me—stepped in to mediate.

“Don’t push her too hard. She probably just wanted to apologize sincerely.”

“Mind your own business. And why are you guys here so naturally, anyway? Only Story’s Demons are supposed to come to this place.”

Now she brings that up?

Also, considering you’ve eaten most of the snacks we brought, isn’t it a bit shameless to say that?

“The snacks you’re eating are the ones we brought!”

When Eun-jung snapped sharply after getting her snacks stolen, Ariel pretended not to hear and instead pulled out a crystal.

“If you buy this crystal with my song inside, I’ll allow it. 10,000 won each. I’ll give you a discount if you pay in dollars.”

“Unbelievable, this girl...”

When Soo-ho muttered in exasperation, Ariel scoffed, “I won’t sell it then!” and shoved the crystal back into her pocket.

Red Riding Hood gave Soo-ho a thank-you nod for defending her.

Soo-ho smiled brightly... ah, men!

“Did Peter Pan not show up again? I thought he’d come since he helped when that Freeman guy went wild.”

Seriously, what is that guy thinking?

If he’s planning to open Neverland Season 2 again, I’ll beat him down—but he doesn’t seem like he’s heading that way.

“He seems to be wandering. Still full of doubts.”

It was Pinocchio—so docile now compared to when we first met—who answered my murmur.

Judging by the flowers blooming on his wooden antlers, he seemed to be doing well lately.

He was probably living peacefully with that girl named Cashy and crafting weapons and useful tools under subcontract for the Organization.

Considering everything he’s done, I thought he would’ve been arrested, but it seems they’re just keeping him under surveillance.

Strange guys.

So Peter Pan’s still lost, huh...

I hope someday he can resolve the contradictions and questions he carries.

“Ooh, Alice! Forget that, look at this! Red Riding Hood’s wings are so cool!”

Jack, who had been spinning around the new member Red Riding Hood, grabbed her wings and spoke excitedly.

Red Riding Hood’s wings were basically bat-like in shape, but had patterns resembling crescents, half moons, and full moons—they looked quite pretty.

Hm, since accepting herself as a demon, wings that didn’t exist—or weren’t fully formed—had appeared.

What does that mean?

I, too, had grown wings during my fight with Peter Pan.

When Jack got too handsy with the wings, Red Riding Hood fled from his touch.

“S-sexual harassment...”

“...What.”

Even Jack, with his childish mentality, froze at the sudden accusation of sexual harassment.

Eun-jung patted Jack on the back and asked,

“Do you have wings, Jack?”

“I didn’t originally, but now I can summon them. They kinda look like plant vines, though—not very cool.”

“If we’re talking about that, mine are just chunks of wood.”

Jack and Pinocchio both revealed their respective wings.

Compared to theirs, my wings looked really pitiful.

I flapped mine once.

Flap flap.

Transparent wings fluttered limply.

Tsk...

“Peter Pan’s were just a cape, I think...”

“Wasn’t that not even a real wing?”

Now that I think about it, Peter Pan’s wings were hard to even call wings.

Given the journeys Jack, Pinocchio, and Red Riding Hood had gone through, Peter Pan seemed to be the only one who hadn’t resolved his inner conflict.

That must be related.

“There must be a condition to growing wings...”

Ha-rim and Kyung-min started discussing what the condition might be.

For these kids, demons are a pretty fascinating subject.

Look at their eyes sparkle.

They’ve truly embraced their role as the Occult Club.

Fufufu...

I laughed to myself, listening to their debate.

“Well... everyone’s condition is different. Maybe it’s due to some kind of lack.”

“...A void. Conflict. Maybe it’s something emotional...”

“Maybe Peter doesn’t have wings because he still hasn’t found his answer.”

While sharing thoughts, the kids realized they’d forgotten something.

There was someone among them who didn’t have wings, wasn’t there?

Their eyes naturally turned toward one person.

“Wait, why are you all looking at me?”

It was Ariel, munching on snacks.

She’d never shown her wings, not even once.

The kids all swarmed around Ariel.

“If you don’t have wings, then you must be lacking something!”

“We’re staging an intervention! If there’s something bothering you, confess right now!”

The kids started forcing a counseling session on Ariel.

Have you had depressing thoughts lately? Do you know over 1,000 species of grasshoppers? Have you had any extreme thoughts?

Overwhelmed by the barrage of questions, Ariel yelled toward me.

“What’s with these brats?! Alice, help me out here!”

“...So? Is there anything hurting your heart these days? Some unspeakable past, perhaps?”

Ariel stared at me in disbelief.

Honestly, most of the Story’s Demons seem to have some kind of psychological screw loose.

At this point, it’s reasonable to assume Ariel’s got her own issues too.

Well, just having wings doesn’t mean you have a well-adjusted mind—look at Pinocchio.

“Sigh. Fine, fine. I’ll show you my wings, happy now?!”

Though she sounded bold, Ariel shyly revealed her wings made of water.

They didn’t have a solid form—more like weightless water floating in zero gravity.

“There, satisfied? Just plain old water wings. Not impressive or unique.”

“Hm, maybe we misunderstood. Here, have more snacks.”

“Just this once.”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Ariel went back to munching on snacks with Jack.

Since each demon’s wings are different, even vaguely shaped water wings weren’t all that strange.

While the kids lost interest in wings, I quietly approached Ariel and whispered:

“...So? That dark and tragic past of yours?”

“You still haven’t dropped the suspicion, huh. What past... Sure, the Story’s Demons all got sucked into a game, went through hardship, awakened as demons, and came out, but I never went through any hardship or anything.”

“Huh? No hardship at all?”

“Of course not. Come on, you’re the Alice of horror games. I’m a professional singer-in-training. There’s no way I’d lose in a rhythm game. I won, claimed my power, and came out a demon. Hmph. That’s how amazing I am.”

Ariel proudly showed off her singing skills and offered me one of her song crystals.

I’m not buying it.

I stared slowly into Ariel’s eyes.

She didn’t seem to be lying.

“Alright. I’ll stop doubting.”

“Though I don’t get why we’re whispering like this. Is it about the game? Or... the kids?”

Each Story’s Demon had entered a different game, overcame it, and emerged into this world.

But that part... I didn’t want the kids to hear.

It had to do with my fear.

It still wasn’t time to face it.

“Please. Don’t tell them about that.”

I looked Ariel in the eyes and spoke sincerely.

Realizing how serious I was, she gave a small nod.

“...Alright.”

After hearing her agreement, I returned to my seat.

“So then... aside from Peter Pan, everyone’s here now.”

Ariel shook her head and disagreed with me.

I looked at her, confused.

“Nope. Not everyone. You’re forgetting someone.”

“Who...? Oh. Right.”

Dorothy. I remembered.

She was the only one none of us had ever met directly.

Even Ariel, who’d been going around inviting everyone to the tea party, hadn’t encountered her.

“Dorothy. The last remaining Story’s Demon is Dorothy. I was almost sure when I looked through the Organization’s server. Her access was even more restricted than ours.”

“I had a hunch the moment you mentioned Oz. So it’s confirmed.”

Alice – horror game.

Red Riding Hood – management game.

Jack – raising sim.

Peter Pan – war game.

Ariel – rhythm game.

Pinocchio – crafting game.

And then there was Dorothy – RPG. Everyone was curious about her, this mysterious figure veiled in secrecy.

“...Actually, I’ve seen her before.”

“Y-You’ve seen her?!”

Yes. I had seen Dorothy.

Well, not directly, but through the parallel universe television I watched with the kids out of boredom.

She called herself Dorothy, and she certainly seemed like one of the Story’s Demons.

“Where...?”

Ariel leaned in, wide-eyed, cautiously asking.

Something about her reaction struck me as odd.

“Why are you so surprised?”

“Because no matter how much I searched for Dorothy, I could never find her. No server records. No eyewitness reports. But one thing’s certain... whenever Dorothy appears, something major happens.”

“Something major? Like what?”

“That’s the thing—we don’t know. It’s not that Dorothy causes those things... it’s like she only appears when they’re already happening. So—where did you see her?”

“If I were to explain...”

I told them about what I saw of Dorothy and our brief conversation via the parallel world television.

Ariel listened carefully and exhaled in relief.

“So it was a future... a possible timeline. That’s fine then. Not something current. Still, based on what you said... she’s terrifying. Probably the farthest from normal among us.”

“She’s clearly tied to Oz, the one Mephistopheles is looking for.”

“Yeah... there’s no doubt.”

“Sorry, but that’s as far as we can go with Dorothy. Any further and we’re just speculating.”

Ariel seemed eager to wrap things up. But before the tea party officially ended, she asked:

“Anything else we need to share before we close this meeting of the Story’s Demons?”

I raised my hand.

“Yeah. There’s one thing.”

Only one topic remained that needed to be brought up here.

What the Dominators Red Riding Hood fought against truly desired.

“What do you all know about hell?”

“...Hell? That’s random.”

“Hmm. Never really thought about it.”

“If Ariel doesn’t know, then I’m too dumb to know anything, Alice.”

“Geez. Well, at least now I know you all don’t know. Honestly, if not for Red Riding Hood’s experience, I wouldn’t have noticed either.”

According to that Jack O’Lantern guy, the Dominators wanted both the highest and lowest place—hell.

Why cloak that in metaphor? Maybe there’s a reason.

Usually, things like this tend to be literal.

Red Riding Hood, having actually been there, raised her hand.

“Hell is real. I’ve been there. I don’t know how I got there or how I got out, but I experienced a ‘blended hell’.”

“Blended?”

Pinocchio’s question prompted Red Riding Hood to explain how the beast hell and the hungry ghost hell were merged in the space she was in.

A question lingered—why did her game’s setting happen to be hell, of all places?

“Even though we’re demons, we never really thought about hell. Aren’t you curious? What kind of place it actually is?”

We tossed around theories about hell, but they were all vague. No one got closer to the truth.

Until Jack threw in a random thought.

“If hell exists, doesn’t that mean heaven does too? And angels?”

Angels.

It’s common logic—if demons exist, then so must angels.

Though Carol once said they didn’t exist.

But I don’t fully trust Carol. Not because she’s evil—just because her position might require her to lie.

Would demons even know anything about angels?

I didn’t expect much.

Then Ariel said something unexpected.

“...They exist.”

“What?”

“Angels. I said they exist.”

I hadn’t expected such a clear answer.

I’d seen all sorts of odd demons before, but never once sensed an angel’s presence.

Still, her words grabbed everyone’s attention.

“There’s an angel sleeping in one of the Organization’s most classified locations.”

Here, “classified” meant that even Ariel didn’t know the exact location.

But she said there was a way to reach it—some sort of portal-based movement, perhaps.

“If we demons don’t understand hell, maybe angels... maybe they do.”

“That’s a fresh take.”

Maybe it was time to investigate the angels.

But just as I thought that, Ariel warned me.

“Remember this, Alice. Trying to uncover the truth about angels... it’s incredibly dangerous.”

“...I understand. But I have to go. I can’t just stand still.”

We’re all part of an ongoing adventure. And even adventures come to an end.

To meet that end well, we have to take steps now.

“Fine. If you want to find that secret place, we’ll have to time it right. When the time comes, I’ll come get you.”

“Alright.”

With that final agreement, the tea party came to an end.

Leaving the mermaid’s personal space behind, we stepped outside and pondered what to do before I returned to the Organization.

“Wanna hit up karaoke?”

“Karaoke?”

Yeah. After a big adventure like this, it’s time to rest a little.