I Became A Ghost In A Horror Game-Chapter 117: The Little Mermaid – Dragon Gate (Episode Complete)

“Onnie. What are you going to do if you succeed?”

“Well, I guess I’ll live like a dragon—free and noble, looking down on everyone else.”

“Ugh... that’s so gross.”

At my blatantly arrogant remark, my junior made a disgusted face.

Does she still not know what kind of person I am?

This is who I’ve always been.

Bloop bloop.

Ignoring her reaction, I tapped on the phone screen.

But my junior deliberately leaned her face in between the screen and my line of sight,

openly showing curiosity.

Move.

“What is it? A rhythm game? I thought you didn’t do those since you’re practicing singing.”

“I rest my voice sometimes too, you know? Some guy asked me to review it. Pretty good-looking, actually. I figured you’d like him, so I got his number.”

“Eh? Why are you giving me that number?”

“You know I’m not interested in dating. And I was hoping my dear junior would slack off on practice while falling in love and then get eliminated in the prelims.”

“Sigh. What even is that!”

I was serious.

She was one of the strongest candidates to win the prelims.

The contest we were entering was huge—perfect for amateur singers to get recognition and gain popularity.

There were so many participants that even getting past the prelims would be difficult, and there were even trainees already signed with agencies, making the competition even more intense.

To succeed, you had to pass the prelims.

If you wanted any screen time on the broadcast, you had to at least make it through the prelims.

Otherwise, you’d be lucky to get five seconds on air.

“Hmph. I’ve always been materialistic. And I can only enjoy life if someone’s looking up at me. So of course I’ll eliminate my competitors.”

“Wow. You’re insufferable... No wonder I’m the only person left around you.”

I can guess who she’s talking about when she says ‘people around me.’

I have zero intention of getting along with them.

People who talk behind your back can’t possibly be decent.

“They’re just jealous of a talented rookie like me, that’s all.”

“Come on. If you were just a little nicer, they wouldn’t be like that. From what I see, you’re just lacking love.”

“Love?”

“Not romantic love, ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) I mean like... love for humanity.”

“What a joke.”

Is her head filled with flowers or what?

No, she was clearly teasing me, trying to get a reaction.

I know her well.

She sings well, she’s polite, and she even helps people with their problems—at least in small ways.

The kind of person whose face might as well have ‘kindness’ written on it.

But I don’t believe in that.

Of course not. Humans are selfish by nature.

What looks like altruism is just another form of selfish behavior that follows natural instinct.

Even if it seems like there’s nothing to gain from me, maybe she’s just playing with me to relieve stress,

or maybe that girl, who’s already in a well-known agency, secretly laughs at me—who has nothing—

or maybe she just finds some sort of emotional satisfaction in it. She’s getting something out of this, for sure.

This chapt𝙚r is updated by freeωebnovēl.c૦m.

Still, I suppose you could call her a ‘friend.’

She brings useful info and tips about the entertainment world, so I let her stick around.

I think you’re useful.

So there’s no need to pretend you were a fan or whatever. No need to lie.

“You told me to try love? You need to be on the same level to love someone.

Even if I’m just a carp now, I’ll become a dragon someday.

Then I’ll look down with dignity on all the little people.

And only then, I’ll give love, kindness, or affection to someone worthy. So stop caring.”

“It’s just a polite comment, but... good luck. Just a polite comment.”

“Hey.”

Before I knew it, the long-awaited prelim date arrived, and the prelims began in earnest.

Despite facing a fair number of strong opponents, I proudly made it to the top ranks of the prelims.

Of course—it’s me we’re talking about. When it comes to singing skills, I’m the best!

But my opponent was the problem.

“Too bad for you, but there’s no way I’m going to lose!”

Damn junior. I hoped she’d fail by pure bad luck, but being the strong contender she is, she climbed up easily.

Unlike me, my junior was from a major agency.

My junior, who’s blood-related to an executive of that agency.

My junior, who—annoyingly—can sing incredibly well.

Maybe it was inevitable that I got a lower score from the judges.

“Hmph. That brat.”

She went on and on about being a fan, and now she doesn’t even throw me a bone.

I was rewatching the prelim broadcast on TV.

Famous agencies and known singers got most of the screen time. The unknown ones only got shown if they passed today’s prelims.

My entire screen time was like 15 seconds during my battle against my junior.

They showed the highlight part of her performance, but for some reason, not mine.

I clicked my tongue at the blatantly biased editing.

This is what I mean.

In this coldly calculated system, what good is love and compassion?

“Love, my ass.”

Still, I guess even 15 seconds is better than nothing.

Bloop bloop.

I had some unexpected free time, so I was just playing a game.

This game... it even had the latest songs in it, so it was oddly helpful.

Not sure how they handled the copyright stuff though?

“...Hm?”

[The winner of the contest is ■■■!]

What the hell? This game has an ending?

The rhythm game I was playing was the basic type—tap tiles in time with the beat.

But the concept was unique.

You’d enter a contest as the main character and get matched against a randomly selected opponent.

I heard there were some really tough opponents, too.

Not sure if I just did really well or what, but anyway—

what surprised me was that the game even had an ending.

The guy who asked me to review it had said it wasn’t finished yet, and that the rival character didn’t even have a face drawn yet, but clearly there was an ending. What a surprise.

[Winner, please ascend the Dragon Gate!]

As the host announced, my character climbed the Dragon Gate.

It was basically a victory performance—a staircase leading to a fancy photo spot.

The player celebrates, showered with congratulations.

“...Well, at least I won here.”

With no regrets about winning the game, I casually tossed my phone aside.

I’ll write the review tomorrow and go to bed early.

That way, I won’t mess up practice or busking later.

........................

And then I woke up in the most absurd place.

A room I’d never seen. A bed I’d never seen. A door I’d never seen. And neatly arranged clothes I was apparently supposed to wear.

They were flashy enough to be worn on a stage.

I figured I must be dreaming.

That I was just dreaming about all this because of the stress from losing the prelims.

So I put on the clothes and stepped out of the room.

And what I saw was a stage—along with a crowd of people that didn’t make any sense.

As soon as I appeared, everyone watched me in complete silence.

I felt like I’d seen this stage somewhere before... Aha. It was identical to the one in the game.

So this really is a dream.

Then around now, the host should announce the start of the performance.

[It’s a showdown between the pretty young lady who failed the prelims and the karaoke king—Mr. 90 Points! Let the battle begin!]

Mocking me for failing the prelims? This dream has some nerve.

And my opponent is some amateur guy who probably gets excited about scoring 90 points at karaoke? Not thrilled about that... but since I’m having a lucid dream anyway, maybe I should enjoy it.

The theme song was selected,

and I began singing, just as the host pushed me forward.

The audience—too dark to make out clearly—swayed side to side in waves, in time with my song.

Their response was satisfying.

If I’d made it through the prelims and reached the finals, I would’ve faced the competition while looking down at the audience instead of nitpicky judges.

On the other side, the amateur guy was awkwardly trying to sing, visibly unsettled.

Aha. So it’s because my singing is that good.

With a slight smirk, I continued singing smoothly.

Then suddenly, the man stopped mid-song and shouted toward me.

“P-Please, miss! Spare me! I’ve got a wife and kids!”

“What?”

What kind of nonsense is that?

You sing badly and now you’re acting like you’re going to die?

As I stared in disbelief, the music suddenly stopped.

“That expression... You... today’s your first time here—”

Click.

A strange sound came from the man’s throat.

It came from the necklace he was wearing—and I realized I was wearing the same one.

The moment that click sound echoed, the man’s face turned deathly pale, and he reached toward me.

Not with any clear purpose—more like a reflex.

Pop!

“...Huh?”

The man’s head exploded.

Chunks of flesh and blood splattered across my face, still warm.

My thoughts froze, and I noticed that the big screen was zooming in on my blood-splattered face, displaying the audience vote count.

Exactly like the game.

Except... in the game, it never showed what happened to the loser.

“Urgh...”

I gagged. This wasn’t some joke. I’d never had such a senseless nightmare.

Applause echoed around me.

It came from the audience seats, packed with black silhouettes.

I ran, bolting back to the room I came from.

It’s a dream. It has to be.

Probably because I wanted to watch that new death game drama so badly—I’m dreaming something like it now.

Come on, wake up. Get out of this nightmare!

“...”

This world... was not a dream.

------

Since ending up here, all I’ve learned is despair.

First: This is a place you absolutely can’t escape from.

I tried breaking a hole through the wall of the room—but there was a metal plate behind it, so no dice.

Then came the idea of jumping off the stage to run away.

I didn’t try it, but one of my opponents did—and the moment he jumped off, his head exploded.

Second: The audience and host aren’t human. No matter how hard I looked, the audience just appeared as black masses. I couldn’t even clearly see legs or hands.

As for the host, even when speaking at length, I never once heard a single breath.

I’ve battled several times now—I’m sure of this.

Third: It is possible to meet your opponent beforehand in the waiting room—

if both sides agree, that is.

You can’t kill each other.

But apparently, slicing out someone’s vocal cords is fine.

I learned that thanks to a sweet offer whispered through the door.

If that woman’s movements had been just a bit quicker, she would’ve used the dinner knife to carve out my throat.

Since then, I’ve never agreed to open the door again.

These bastards are all just waiting for the perfect chance to save themselves.

And I’m no different.

“I will survive no matter what.”

What did I do wrong?

The rules are as dumb as they are brutal—sing well and survive, sing badly and die.

It’s like some twisted god is playing with lab rats.

I didn’t survive all this time just to die like this.

Watching the heads of those who lost to me explode... It never got easier.

So I looked away.

Isn’t that how everyone lives?

People believe it’s fine for others to be sacrificed as long as they climb higher.

So what I’m doing is natural.

So I’m not the bad guy.

“You’re...”

My next opponent was a singer from a famous company—one who passed the prelims.

The guy was rumored to have been pushed forward thanks to a backdoor deal.

And I beat him without mercy.

Ah, that’s right. In this place, connections don’t matter.

All that matters is skill.

Maybe I hated that guy.

No—I did hate him. I probably wanted things to be decided purely by talent.

Then why didn’t it feel satisfying?

I should be happy... I beat a cheater and survived!

After that, I kept running into people I knew.

I beat all of them—crushing their heads to climb even higher.

I climbed a staircase painted in blood.

But that’s not evil. No, I’m not a bad person! Everyone’s doing the same!

And finally—

It was time for the ending.

One last battle. If I won this, I’d win it all.

I guessed there was only one way to escape this goddamn game alive:

Reach the ending and trigger the credits.

I swallowed a handful of black nuts that were served for the meal, and stepped out the door.

“...Senpai.”

The person waiting onstage was the girl who used to call herself my junior.

She wore an exhausted, frail smile.

I bit my lip and said nothing.

Don’t waver.

She’s got strong skills.

But judging from her worn-out face, her condition is bad—she’s not unbeatable.

“Senpai... I killed so many people to get here.”

So did I. And so did you.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

All those fancy words you used—compassion, love—they mean nothing in this artificial hell.

I’m the one who didn’t falter, who didn’t feel guilt, who kept surviving.

I am the kind of person who deserves to live.

So don’t look at me with eyes like that.

“I killed so many. But... I valued myself more. So I had no choice.”

“...”

“But... I’m glad I got to see you here. Now... I think I can stop.”

“...!”

“I was a fan, Senpai. Since your very first busking performance.”

Pop!

Her wide, unblinking eyes rolled on the floor, staring up at me.

The corners of my mouth neither lifted nor fell—they just stayed still.

I was only barely standing on trembling legs.

[The winner of the contest is ■■■!]

[Winner, please ascend the Dragon Gate!]

Like magic, the stage shifted and formed a straight path.

At the end of that path, I saw the Dragon Gate.

With a blank mind, I stumbled toward it.

Right. You won. That means you were right.

I repeated it over and over to myself as I walked.

Waaaaah!

Congratulations!

I knew you could do it, Senpai!

You had no choice! You lived—so let’s have a drink!

Applause, praise, cheers—filled the air.

All the people who had died until now, their heads floating alone, were affirming me.

As if I had truly done the right thing.

Some even shed tears of joy.

“Stop it...”

You did great!

We’ll keep cheering for you!

What is this feeling?

They’re all telling me I was right, that I made the right choice—but why do I feel no happiness at all?

Didn’t you want to become a dragon looking down on others?

This is your dream coming true!

But the voice inside me was saying something completely different.

Don’t forgive me. Don’t praise me. Don’t validate me.

Curse me instead!

It was all a lie.

The truth is—I never accepted any of it. I was never okay with any of it.

Even when I beat that singer who got in through dirty money, I didn’t feel satisfied.

No one can stay sane after killing that many people.

If I could just wrap it all up in the phrase “there was no choice,”

If I believed everyone lives selfishly,

If I convinced myself I was right—

I thought I could erase guilt and grief.

I thought I’d be fine, because I was selfish and arrogant by nature.

I firmly believed I was a cold-blooded person.

I insisted that even if people kill each other, if there’s a reason, it’s justified.

But when I experienced it myself—it wasn’t like that at all.

Curse me! Tell me I was wrong!

Does a carp look back when it ascends the Dragon Gate?

Does it hesitate?

A carp that struggles with everything it has to become a dragon may be worthy of it.

But I wasn’t.

I wasn’t worthy of victory. I wasn’t worthy of surviving.

Then what should I do?

A voice inside me whispered—

Wouldn’t it be atonement if I died more painfully than the others?

“Ah... I see.”

Ariel accepted those words.

Twisting the game’s path, she became the Little Mermaid who had lost her memories and escaped.

[Winner, please ascend the Dragon Gate!]

Waaaaaaah!

“So don’t stop me! Alice! Tear me apart instead! Let me die in the most painful way possible!”

Ariel, holding a trident, snarled at me like a beast.

This was within Ariel’s mental landscape—the place where her trauma was deepest.

The Dragon Gate that had appeared in her mind radiated its presence.

As her trident came swinging at me, I read her heart.

Ariel wanted to escape from that Dragon Gate.

But I thought she needed to face that fear head-on.

I didn’t care about getting injured. I stepped toward her gently.

As I approached, Ariel backed away, step by step.

“What... what are you trying to do?!”

Ariel’s sorrow poured out like crashing waves.

She had always believed herself to be a cold-hearted person without love.

But now, facing such an extreme situation, she didn’t want to accept that she felt pity.

Maybe it was a kind of defense mechanism.

A spell she cast on herself in order to survive.

She was just a little more stoic and patient than most people.

Someone who tried to forget her steps while walking in the cold rain of guilt.

But even if she was strong against the cold rain—when faced with the warm encouragement echoing in the game—she broke down.

She had denied love for so long, but what finally broke her was the bare minimum love of treating others as people.

In the end... she couldn’t become a villain.

“Take up a blade and stab me! Don’t push me toward that place!”

The Dragon Gate loomed closer. Driven into a corner, Ariel thrust her trident with all her strength.

Clang—!

I knocked it away with my bare hands.

The trident flew off into the distance and disappeared.

What I did next was push Ariel all the way to the destination before she could even think of reacting.

“...!”

She was weak. Ariel, inside her own mind, was this weak.

Easily pushed back, she ended up at the steps before the Dragon Gate, tears falling from her eyes.

“I came back here again in the end... why... why did you bring me here?!”

Tears streamed down Ariel’s cheeks.

As if responding to her tears, it began to rain in the inner world.

Her crying face pained me... but I had to speak firmly.

“Climb those steps. You don’t have to meet a miserable end.”

“Don’t be ridiculous...! What meaning is there in a path paved by stepping over others?!

There’s nothing left for me but to suffer their pain and await a wretched end!”

You’ve been soaked to the bone by the rain of sorrow.

You no longer try to shield yourself from it. You’ve let yourself sink into a puddle, staring blankly up at the sky.

Even if your sorrow came from the kind of love where a person cares about another—

You have to cut that love off.

“Even so—you have to climb.”

I spoke even more firmly to Ariel.

Her eyes trembled fiercely.

Maybe, just maybe—my certainty sparked a tiny sliver of hope in her.

Another way to escape from the guilt that tormented her.

“...Do you really know? Do you really know a reason to climb the Dragon Gate, even while carrying all the sins I’ve committed?”

An answer.

Looking at the Little Mermaid, I thought of the Imoogi.

Among its legends, there is one where it becomes a dragon by sacrificing countless humans.

She, the carp, had climbed over many people—but refused to become a dragon and remained an Imoogi.

And an Imoogi brings rain.

However, an Imoogi can only bring the rain—it cannot control the weather.

Controlling the weather is something only a dragon can do.

Didn’t they say the Little Mermaid, as told widely in Korea, ends in tragedy?

If she, too, like an Imoogi, can only carry the rain of sorrow with her, then there was only one answer I could give her.

Even if what she stepped on to climb was evil.

Even if this wasn't the ending she had wished for.

She had to ascend the Dragon Gate.

Because—

“Only a dragon can stop the rain.”

An Imoogi, unable to command the weather, cannot make the rain stop.

If you remain an Imoogi, you’ll never be able to change anything, Ariel.

“Even if the steps I climbed were made of evil.”

Ariel repeated my words to herself.

I gently pushed her back as she hesitated.

At last, she shed the form of the mermaid and, as a human again, began to climb the steps.

She murmured.

I really just wanted to escape the sorrow.

In the end... I’m such a selfish creature.

But hey, Junior. Why were you always so kind to me?

Why did you give up your life just to lift me up?

I killed so many people to get here—this ugly, wretched me—why in the world would you...

And the moment Ariel reached the top of the Dragon Gate—

[I'm your fan!]

“...”

[The final winner is Ariel!]

The Little Mermaid severed the sorrow born from love.

------

“I think this is my limit now.”

As per Alice’s request, Red Riding Hood and Pinocchio had been lying in wait and sprang into action the moment the angel appeared.

Red Riding Hood trapped the angel in the forest, and Pinocchio reinforced the barrier even further.

Even that wouldn’t have held this long without the support of the special containment unit dispatched from the Organization.

And yet, it was still difficult to endure the angel’s power.

Though Red Riding Hood displayed overwhelming might, the angel’s nature wasn’t one of domination or violence—it was sorrow. A sorrow so vast, it flooded all things.

Because of that mismatch in affinity, her strength wasn’t enough to stop the angel.

If the barrier disappeared, the rain that melts people and absorbs them would fall.

And the damage... would be catastrophic.

“I’ll contact Alice. We can’t delay this any longer.”

“There’s no need.”

Before either of them could respond, a completely different Ariel appeared from behind.

Before they could even react in surprise, Ariel lunged forward with her trident.

So you too are suffering from sorrow born of love.

But that rain—will end.

Even a wicked dragon like me can stop the rain.

Let this wickedness—

become part of something greater.

Ariel’s trident shot like lightning, and when it struck, the rain ceased.

In its place, clear skies greeted Alice, the awakened Jack, and the children.

Looking up at the clear sky, Ariel turned to Alice and the group and spoke.

“I’m really sorry, Alice. And to Jack... and the kids too. I don’t have the right words, even with ten mouths to speak. I don’t even have the shame to apologize, but... still, I am. Can you forgive me?”

“...Just this once, you idiot.”

She’d intended to ruin the mood and smack her upside the head, but in front of that relieved and bitter smile, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Thanks to Red Riding Hood and Pinocchio, there were no casualties, so maybe it could be let go.

Together with the Organization, we went after the Church, who were deeply involved in this disaster.

We apprehended a man named Gray Fox, who appeared to be their leader, and asked him:

Why go so far as to cooperate with Ariel—and drag so many people into it—just to kill me?

“A false people, unable to be the real thing. That shallow faith shown as imitation—that is all it is.”

Immediately after that, he activated the bomb implanted in himself and committed suicide.

Sigh...

Nothing but incomprehensible words to the bitter end.