I Became A Ghost In A Horror Game-Chapter 27: Nightmare

Knock, knock, knock.

A sound echoed—someone was knocking on the mirror.

From a distant place, someone was tapping on the mirror that connected to me.

The presence was indistinct, but I thought it might be Ha-rim.

Yet, Ha-rim was right in front of me, trapped in a nightmare.

It made no sense.

She was fast asleep, and yet she was the one calling for me?

Even so, if Ha-rim was calling from the other side, I had to go.

I used Mirror Travel to move to the distant mirror connected to me.

Though the movement should have taken no more than an instant, the time it took felt unusually long.

When I arrived, I found myself inside a train.

This must be the domain of a supernatural entity derived from the infamous ghost story, [The Monkey Dream].

A nightmare where eerie beings line people up and slaughter them one by one.

The urban legend ends with the protagonist escaping the dream—only to repeatedly relive it, their turn coming closer and closer each time.

It was an incredibly dangerous entity. The odds of encountering it should have been low.

Was Ha-rim okay?

This chapter is updat𝙚d by freeweɓnovel.cøm.

I stepped out from the mirror.

And immediately, I saw Ha-rim. She had been right next to me.

She was unharmed.

But a single tear rolled down her cheek.

Her eyes were swollen and red. She looked utterly pitiful.

...Ha-rim was crying.

I was shaken to my core.

Because Ha-rim crying was something I could never have imagined.

Even when she was being chased by supernatural horrors, even when she first realized she was trapped in this world, even when her friends wavered in fear—

She had always remained unshaken, her mind as solid as steel.

And yet, now, she was crying?

Then, I noticed—she wasn’t even looking at me.

Her gaze was locked onto the train window, staring into the distance.

What was she looking at?

I turned my head and followed her gaze.

What I saw was... the End.

Past, future, or some other world—I didn’t know.

But what lay beyond the window were the conclusions of every timeline Ha-rim had reached within this game.

Simply put, they were the endings of the original story.

A parade of futures so utterly bleak it made me sick.

In one of those endings, I saw—

Kyung-min’s head being severed.

Soo-ho being stabbed through the chest.

Eun-jung suffocating, wrapped in a cocoon of spider silk.

Yet, in every world, Ha-rim survived.

She kept going.

And at the end of her journey, standing beside some mechanical contraption, she witnessed it—

A colossal demon, breaking through the world itself, escaping into the outside.

A being of absolute power, proclaiming to all that the fate of her friends had always been despair.

And Ha-rim, with dead, hollow eyes, merely watched.

In every possible timeline, she had always been the sole survivor.

Losing her friends one by one, surviving only to witness the birth of a monster—

And watching, helplessly, as the people she loved in the outside world were slaughtered.

Stripped of everything, every version of Ha-rim collapsed at the same time, sitting there in stunned silence, waiting for death.

No matter how many times I saw this, I wanted to throw up. My brow furrowed instinctively.

"Ha-rim."

...No response.

"Shin Ha-rim! Stop looking!"

I grabbed her shoulders and forcefully turned her to face me.

Only then did she seem to register my presence.

"Ella...?" she murmured blankly.

And then, like a person on the brink of madness, she clung to me, her voice desperate.

"Ella, Ella! What the hell is that?! Is that really our future? Is that what’s waiting for us?!"

"Calm d—"

I tried to reassure her.

But before I could even finish speaking, she choked out her next words.

"I want to believe it’s just a nightmare. But—but...! I can feel it. Their emotions. All of them. Every single Ha-rim that might be me!"

This was dangerous.

She was breaking.

The despair from every version of herself was flowing into her.

If I didn’t bring her back now, her mind would collapse.

I spoke quickly.

"It’s just a dream."

But Ha-rim didn’t believe me.

"Lies! You’re lying! Kyung-min, Eun-jung, Soo-ho—they all die! Even if I survive, everyone outside will be dead!"

Ha-rim was ruthless when it came to survival.

She never hesitated.

She was the type of person to act first, to cling desperately to life.

And yet, she was saying something she should never say.

"If this is the result of all my struggles—if I can never change this outcome—then... there’s no point in trying anymore..."

Ha-rim was the protagonist of this game.

A girl who had fallen into the world of supernatural horrors, who had lost everything, and yet still refused to give up on life.

And yet, she was also the perfect victim of cosmic horror—

A pawn crushed under the weight of an uncaring, predetermined fate.

The developers must have deliberately designed this to shatter her will.

I refused to let them win.

"You idiot!"

Ha-rim flinched at my sudden outburst.

"It’s just a dream, Ha-rim! Don’t ever say something like that!"

"But—!"

"But what?! Look closely, Ha-rim. Do you see me there?"

Her eyes widened.

I wasn’t there.

Because I was something outside the game’s original world.

Before she could say anything, I pulled her into an embrace.

As warmth spread from my body, her trembling slowly subsided.

"That demon is just showing you a bad dream. It wants to break you. But listen—no one has died yet. Not a single one of you! Am I right? Or am I wrong?"

Ha-rim’s voice was still shaky as she answered.

"You’re right... Ella, you... you helped me... You saved everyone... Because ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) we’re friends."

"That’s right."

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Ha-rim fell silent before pulling me into a tight embrace.

Her mind, pushed to the brink of extreme stress, sought relief by pouring all of her emotions into me.

The tide of feelings surged in a single direction.

Sharing emotions is one of the reasons people live.

To keep Ha-rim from breaking down completely, I urged her to speak.

To let everything out—every lingering sorrow and every fear, no matter how small.

She hesitated for a moment before opening her mouth.

"Ella... You know... I get lonely easily. Maybe it’s some kind of attachment issue. My parents died in an accident when I was really young."

I had never known the backstory of Ha-rim, the protagonist.

For the first time, my own emotions wavered slightly.

No, I couldn't let that happen.

I steadied myself and listened carefully.

"My uncle took care of me instead. But he was always busy and told me I had to learn to do everything on my own. I didn’t know anything, so I turned to books. They helped a lot."

Ha-rim spoke effortlessly about her past.

The mistakes she made because she wasn’t used to handling things alone, the moments she felt hurt, the things that embarrassed her.

"..."

"One day, I finally made friends. Kyung-min, Eun-jung, Soo-ho... When I was with them, I never felt lonely."

Her voice trembled again.

"But when I went home, I was alone. Always alone! And that was unbearable."

I asked her,

"Did you ever tell them? If you had talked to them about it, maybe it would’ve made you feel better."

Ha-rim hugged me even tighter as she answered.

"My uncle said talking about not having parents wasn’t a smart idea. And I read something in a book once."

"It said that sharing negative emotions with your friends would only make them suffer, too. That they might even leave you. So I figured... it was better not to say anything at all."

She had finally revealed her secret.

Her voice had lightened considerably.

"..."

"Ella, you once asked me why I started the club, right? This is why. When you're somewhere scary, the tension keeps you from feeling lonely. And if I made a club, I could spend time with my friends even after school! I gave myself a reason."

She cherished her friends deeply, so she never shared her burdens with them.

Telling them that she had no parents was a weighty subject—one that could create discomfort between them.

Just as small things could form friendships, small things could also drive people apart.

Ha-rim had learned that far too early.

She had let her emotions spill out now, but she still seemed unstable. I couldn't just leave her like this.

"...I’m sorry, Ella! I shouldn't have said all that! You’re my precious friend, too, and I made things awkward!"

I gently pushed her back just enough so that we could meet eyes.

"It’s okay to tell me."

"...Why?"

"Because I’m the same."

At my words, Ha-rim seemed to realize something.

I didn’t know exactly what she was thinking.

Or how she interpreted my words.

I had only spoken the truth.

I, too, had lost my parents in an accident.

They hadn’t been loving parents, but the loneliness that came with their absence was indescribable.

Maybe, in some way, Ha-rim and I were the same.

And that thought made me a little happy.

-----

Ha-rim, after listening to Ella, thought to herself—

Ella is a ghost, warped by suffering.

Her wounds must be far deeper than mine.

She must have carried her pain alone, never able to share it with anyone.

Just like me.

Then...

Could it be okay?

If we both had scars, could we become the kind of friends who could soothe each other’s wounds?

A friend she could share her negative emotions with without holding back?

Someone who could always appear from the mirror and talk to her, a secret friend.

Seeking unspoken confirmation, Ha-rim gazed into Ella’s eyes.

They were gentle, understanding.

There wasn’t a trace of discomfort.

She must have been thinking the same thing.

Ella didn’t know how Ha-rim was interpreting their conversation.

Ha-rim didn’t know who was truly inside Ella.

But the gears between them had begun to align.

And since this dream was no longer a nightmare, it slowly began to crumble.

Sensing that the dream was coming to an end, Ha-rim whispered to Ella.

"Ella, I have a request."

"Anything. Tell me."

"I don’t think those worlds were just dreams."

"..."

"But if everything I saw is what’s supposed to happen... Then I want you to change it. Turn the horrors we’ll face into an adventure."

The determination in Ha-rim’s eyes erased the traces of her tears.

Ella smiled softly.

And as if making a vow, she answered, "I will."

With that, Ella and Ha-rim had become the closest of friends—friends who wouldn’t lose to anyone.

Ella relished in that feeling.

And so did the other presence resting inside her body.

Ha-rim woke up.

It was still nighttime.

Ella was beside her, watching her closely.

Ella spoke first.

"Was it a nightmare?"

Ha-rim answered without hesitation.

"No!"