I Became A Ghost In A Horror Game-Chapter 29: Twisting the Flow

"Over there!"

Eun-jung shouted, pointing toward a spot hidden behind bushes and flower pots.

The entity she had spotted—a Rokurokubi, a yokai with an unnaturally long neck—whipped its head forward, stretching its grotesque form to strike her.

But behind Eun-jung, Soo-ho was already waiting.

With a swing of his shield, he slammed the creature away before it could land a hit.

The creature, stunned by the unexpected attack, scrambled to flee—but the chains shot up from the ground, wrapping around its body.

Kyung-min’s artifact, [Grimoire of Restraint], had activated.

Kyung-min studied the captured entity, flipping through his notebook.

"Hmm... It’s a Rokurokubi. Seems closer to a living creature than a ghost."

Hearing that, Ha-rim rummaged through her bag.

"Then this should work."

What she pulled out was an injection-type item obtained from the hospital nurse ghost.

It had the ability to exorcise weaker supernatural beings.

Without hesitation, she plunged it into the yokai’s body.

The creature writhed, letting out a silent scream, but the group didn’t stop there—

They scattered purifying salt over it for good measure.

And finally, Soo-ho smashed it one last time with his shield, erasing it completely.

"Not bad."

Clap, clap, clap.

I applauded them.

They had become full-fledged exorcists.

It honestly sent a chill down my spine just watching them work.

Ha-rim picked up the dropped item from the creature and stuffed it into her bag.

I told them we should head back soon.

The kids, like workers finishing a shift, smiled in satisfaction.

Another day of farming for items.

I kept my guard up as we walked, just in case Mary was lurking nearby.

The kids were growing stronger.

The item collection was progressing well.

And yet...

Something felt wrong.

It was natural to feel this way.

The original story’s timeline was already broken.

The Demon was targeting us.

The Bosses were moving unpredictably.

We had no idea how to defeat the Demon, nor if killing the Bosses was even the right move.

All we could do was gather items and prepare.

And yet, all we could do now was wait for "them" to make their move.

It was frustrating.

But more than anything—

That promise haunted me.

I glanced at Ha-rim.

The most uptodate nove𝙡s are published on frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓.

She had asked me to turn this hopeless future into an adventure.

A promise I might not be able to keep.

Before, I would have resigned myself to that fact—

Felt guilty, but ultimately given up.

But now—

I couldn’t give up even if I wanted to.

In such a short time, I had grown attached to these kids.

I couldn’t bring myself to lead them into a future of despair.

Something in me kept pushing—telling me to change something, to act.

Piero was actively fighting the Demon...

Did he know something we didn’t?

I couldn't just sit back and react.

I needed a game-changing move.

A major variable to twist the flow—

I was so deep in thought, I didn't notice the kids whispering among themselves.

They were murmuring about how I looked troubled—about how to cheer me up.

Then, as if coming to a decision, Soo-ho approached me.

"...?"

He turned around and crouched down slightly.

"Hop on, Ella."

Wait.

What?

I blinked at him, confused.

Soo-ho added a reason when I didn't immediately react.

"My little sister likes this when she's upset."

...

My height was small, sure, but I was still taller than the girls, and about the same size as Kyung-min.

I didn’t look like a little sister at all.

But...

I had never been carried before.

Curiosity won out.

I climbed onto his back without complaint.

"..."

"Well? Feeling better?"

...Oh.

Oh, wow.

This was really comfortable.

Warm. Calming.

I melted into the warmth, pressing myself closer as I whispered in his ear.

"Yeah. Thanks, Soo-ho."

"Uhm... I-I see."

(‘Why does this feel different from my sister...?’)

I caught a glimpse of his slightly reddened face.

...Was I too heavy?

I asked, but he shook his head.

If he said it was fine, then it was fine.

But we were still outside, and it was dangerous.

If our tank (Soo-ho) and guardian (me) were like this, it wasn’t ideal.

I slipped off his back and scanned the area.

No threats.

We were safe for now.

My eyes wandered to Kyung-min.

He was writing in his notebook again.

Even outside the school, even here, he was still constantly recording information.

Curious, I asked if I could see his notebook.

He handed it over without hesitation.

The pages were worn.

He had written a lot.

It contained notes about the Bathroom Ghost, the Rabbit Ghost, the Frog Ghost—

Everything we had encountered.

And then—

There was a section about me.

Most of the notes from when we first met were about how I seemed terrifying.

It also mentioned my ability to move between mirrors.

But then, at the bottom of the page—

In small, almost forgotten handwriting—

"Pretty."

Kyung-min suddenly froze.

He must have forgotten he wrote that.

I smirked.

Raising an eyebrow, I teased him.

"Oh? So you think I’m pretty?"

"That’s—!"

I grinned mischievously.

"Where exactly do you think I’m pretty? Tell me."

Kyung-min, flustered, rubbed the back of his neck.

Then, reluctantly, he admitted—

"...Your eyes. I think your eyes are pretty."

I was at a loss for words.

I hadn’t expected such an honest answer.

...It’s embarrassing.

Even the girls were reacting with an “Oh my!” kind of response.

Sensing the awkward atmosphere, I cleared my throat and returned to scanning through the notebook.

At a glance, everything seemed familiar—no, wait a second.

Among the various urban legends, I spotted an unfamiliar name on a relatively clean page.

[Smile Man]

What is this? Another urban legend?

I had never heard of it before.

“What’s this ‘Smile Man’ about?”

I turned to Kyung-min.

Adjusting his glasses, he answered.

“Oh, that? It’s a recently spreading rumor from before we ended up here. A monster that appears in video chats.”

I had never heard of such an urban legend.

And it wasn’t one of the entities programmed into this game.

...

My instincts were telling me—

This was a clue that could have a major impact on everything.

I asked Kyung-min for more details.

Summarizing his explanation, the Smile Man was a monster that appeared on video chat sites.

It had a humanoid form, but its eyes and mouth were stretched into a permanent grin, resembling an emoticon.

While people were video chatting, their screen would suddenly shift, showing a strange and unfamiliar world—then, with a cheerful “Ta-da!” Smile Man would appear.

After encountering it, the users—whether one person or multiple—would rip their own eyes and mouths open before disappearing without a trace.

A recently emerging urban legend...

There were plenty of stories like this. I could even recall a few creatures that operated similarly.

But the Smile Man itself—I had never heard of it before.

When I had previously analyzed the nature of these entities, I concluded that they were abstract beings given form only within this world.

But could something like that also exist outside?

An unsettling thought struck me.

"If monsters exist outside, then how does the fear of seeing them influence this world?"

Let’s take Jangsanbeom as an example and form a ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) hypothesis.

[Hypothesis 1]

If Jangsanbeom truly exists in reality, then the fear created by witnesses spreading its story manifests as an entity in this world.

In other words, the Jangsanbeom we fought was merely a reflection—its original version still exists outside.

[Hypothesis 2]

The Jangsanbeom we fought is the very same one from the urban legend, which somehow crossed into this world.

If Hypothesis 2 were true, then every other entity we had defeated was still lurking in the outside world.

I had already ruled out creatures that were more like phenomena rather than physical monsters, so those didn’t fit.

That left Hypothesis 1—

The theory that the monstrous entities we fought had an original source somewhere in reality.

Logically, it made no sense. Believing that such monsters actually existed in the real world was absurd.

But then again... my own body had turned into an entity, so it wasn’t entirely impossible to believe.

What if Smile Man really existed?

“Kyung-min, does Smile Man attack only one person at a time?”

“Hm? No... I heard it can show up even when four people are video chatting together.”

I see... so that’s how it works.

“Well, then—we have something we need to do.”

“What is it?”

“We’re going to summon Smile Man.”

As soon as we returned to the school, we headed straight to the teachers’ office and tampered with one of the computers.

“This is called ‘clicking,’ you know.”

...Kyung-min, you little—!

Did he just treat me like some old-fashioned ghost who didn’t know how to use technology?

Maybe I should change my outfit or something.

...Could I even do that?

I listened to Kyung-min’s brief explanation on how to use the computer, then accessed the internet.

The school still had electricity, meaning the internet technically worked.

However, no matter which site I visited, all I saw were broken text and distorted images.

If I tried to post something on a forum, the upload button wouldn’t work at all.

Even launching a game resulted in a twisted, glitched-out mess.

“Hm... Is there some kind of filter blocking us?”

“It’s too soon to say for sure.”

One thing was certain—communication with the outside world was impossible.

In fact, it was to the point where I seriously questioned whether the "outside" even existed.

It felt like something was deliberately preventing us from reaching out.

If connecting through normal means was out of the question...

Then what if we borrowed Smile Man’s power?

According to Kyung-min, the scenery shown in Smile Man’s video chats was never consistent.

It could be an ordinary beach, a family home, or even a bizarre and twisted landscape.

When it attacked, it would disappear from its own screen and reappear on its victims’, assaulting them in their own reality.

The interesting part was that even though Smile Man’s screen always showed a bizarre space, it still managed to connect through video chat.

Which meant it had the ability to establish a connection with others.

If we could somehow join a chat room created by Smile Man...

“Kyung-min, how do we encounter Smile Man?”

“It only appears in random matches.”

So it was up to chance, huh?

At least we could access the site.

I clicked on a random match and waited.

Connection successful.

But the screen remained blank, and no chat messages appeared.

Failed.

I tried another random match.

Failed again.

“Should we keep going?”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

"Yeah."

Kyung-min kept clicking the random match button as I instructed.

It wasn’t working.

“...Ha-rim, take out all the loot we got last time.”

Ha-rim looked at me in surprise.

I was referring to the items with [Luck] attributes.

Most of them were single-use—once used, they couldn’t be retrieved.

Her expression seemed to ask, Are you sure it’s worth wasting all those hard-earned items on this?

I answered her with a serious expression.

Seeing the determination in my face, her own expression hardened in response.

She reached into her bag and retrieved the items.

[Lucky Stick], [Protective Talisman], [Cat Doll], [Pig’s Head]

I arranged them in a circle around the computer, forming a ritual-like setup.

A heavy tension settled in the air.

The others must have realized that this wasn’t just some experiment born out of curiosity.

Ha-rim, the one carrying the luck artifacts, sat in Kyung-min’s place and took control of the mouse.

Click. Click. Click.

Still no success.

The items hadn’t even activated.

...Was it impossible for in-game artifacts to affect the outside world?

Or was Smile Man nothing more than a fabricated rumor, not a real entity?

After all, this entire attempt was based on the assumption that Smile Man actually existed.

My expression darkened, but Ha-rim, sensing my frustration, spoke gently.

“Ella, I don’t know exactly what you’re trying to do, but it’s really important, isn’t it?”

I nodded.

“Yeah, it’s very important.”

She smiled and guided my hand toward the mouse.

“Then let’s not give up. Let’s keep trying, as many times as it takes.”

I stared at her face.

Once again, I recalled the promise I had made.

A promise to turn their terrifying experiences into an adventure.

To change the flow, the atmosphere, and even the theme of this game.

That was an enormous responsibility.

It wasn’t possible.

I wasn’t capable of doing something like that.

How could I change a world that had always been like this?

Adults always said that when something was impossible, you had to accept it and move on.

But still—

Wasn’t it fine to be stubborn, just a little?

Even if it turned out to be meaningless.

That thought crossed my mind.

I clicked the mouse.

Click. Click. Click. Click!

I didn’t stop. I kept hammering the random match button.

The speed of my clicks increased, my grip tightening.

I was clicking so hard that I worried I might actually break the mouse.

To anyone watching, I must have looked like a frustrated kid throwing a tantrum.

Like someone desperately forcing an outcome that refused to happen.

Ella was acting recklessly, purely on impulse.

And then—a strange power began to surround us.

Bzzzz—

The items reacted.

What had been faint vibrations now turned into violent rattling as they unleashed their energy.

Ha-rim suddenly noticed that even her necklace was reacting.

Crackle—Flash!

The necklace and the artifacts erupted in light.

Rattle! Rattle! The desk, the door, the curtains—

Everything shook.

A powerful wind rushed toward the computer!

“Whoa?!”

“There’s so much light!”

“This is a classroom—why is there wind?!”

Even at a glance, it was obvious—this wasn’t normal.

The light grew brighter and brighter.

As my vision was swallowed by the glow, I felt an odd force stirring inside me.

...The light faded.

We turned to look at the monitor.

Four screens had connected in a random match.

On the first and second screens, a pair of men were visible—one in a prison jumpsuit, the other in tactical military gear.

The third screen showed us.

And the fourth...

A figure stood there, its eyes and mouth torn into a stretched, unnatural grin, like an emoticon.

Smile Man.

Success.

What made me grin even more, though, were the backgrounds of the first and second screens.

That wasn’t a normal household. Was it a laboratory?

No... a containment facility?

"What the fuck—who’s that kid?!"

"Unexpected event detected... static... Understood. Prisoner No. 21, hold position."

A man received some sort of order from a higher authority and told the prisoner to stay put.

Meanwhile, the prisoner frantically pointed at the screen.

"Shit, an unexpected event?! We're screwed! I’m gonna end up like that freak, aren’t I?!"

"Shut up, 21."

Their uniforms—

They were the exact same as the ones I had seen before.

It was such a cliché that I almost thought I was imagining it, but... I had a feeling.

I had only hoped to make contact with the outside world.

If I had been able to reach someone, that would have been a miracle on its own.

I had never expected this.

I looked at the men, watching their confusion spread.

Then, with a grin, I spoke.

"Hello, dear members of the organization!"

My reflection on the screen smirked wickedly.

"I’d like to make a rescue request. Could you get me your superior?"

These were the people who only showed up in the very last stages of the game.

The ones who had died without knowing what was happening.

The ones who had left behind their mysterious machines.

If I wanted to uncover the truth behind them all—

I needed to do this.

I had to invite them to this bizarre wonderland.

Earlier than the original story ever intended.