I Became A Ghost In A Horror Game-Chapter 93: Oz?

"Is that wound related to that Mephistopheles?"

Ariel was wrapped in bandages.

At a glance, anyone could tell it wasn’t a minor wound.

The Story’s Demons were of a fairly high rank, meaning their regenerative abilities should be quite advanced... What exactly had happened for a wound like that to remain?

When I asked, Ariel responded.

"Oh, this? The answer to your question is 'no.' Last time, when the Machine God appeared, there was a clash between the Church and the Organization. You know about that, right?"

"Yeah, ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) I know."

The Church had suddenly appeared when the Organization was trying to suppress the Machine God's followers, launching an unexpected attack.

From what I inferred, if the Machine God and I fought, one side would inevitably lose, and the winner was probably meant to be eliminated using the "Holy Spear."

Since the Organization could interfere with that process, they seemed to have wanted to remove any potential variables... and the one who had placed that suggestion on me likely had more interest in killing me than the Machine God itself.

Why do these guys hate me so much?

More than even the Dominators... That’s a bit shocking.

"There was nothing I could do for you as a member of the Tea Party. The Dominators are too strong, and I’m weaker than Jack. Among the Story’s Demons, I’m probably the weakest."

Since she wasn’t strong or bold enough to challenge the Dominators directly, she must have tried to help me in a more discreet way.

I focused, waiting for Ariel to continue.

She seemed to interpret my gaze differently and furrowed her brows slightly.

"...Only in terms of potential, that is."

...?

"Anyway! At the very least, I tried to protect your kids from the Machine God. But tada! The so-called priests suddenly ambushed the Organization forces that were on standby!"

She had tried to protect the children at school while I was fighting...

So she judged that this would be the best way to help me.

Good judgment. I liked it.

"I got caught up in the mess and ended up killing some so-called High Priest, but thanks to being struck by holy power, I ended up like this. Go ahead and laugh at me if you want. In the end, it wasn’t much help anyway."

"..."

"In the end, I just left the kids to make their own way out of the school... The best I could do was use a skill called Healing Air Bubble to help them maintain their stamina and life force even if they were injured."

Ariel shrugged as if saying she hadn’t done much.

I found that attitude slightly odd.

No, honestly, it had helped.

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Thinking back, the reason the kids managed to reach me in such a battered state was thanks to Ariel.

If I had been weakened and surrounded by priests focusing their attacks on me, I would’ve been in real danger.

The fact that they withdrew was probably because Ariel had killed their High Priest.

"No wonder I didn’t feel as exhausted as I should have."

"And our wounds healed pretty quickly too."

After seeing the kids' reactions, I turned to Ariel and spoke.

"...I have to say this. Thanks, Ariel. I owe you one."

"..."

Ariel abruptly turned her head away. Judging by the redness of her ears, she was embarrassed.

Since poking at someone’s embarrassment wasn’t a good idea, I decided to pretend I hadn’t noticed.

"She’s embarrassed! So, she is weak to this kind of thing after all!"

But Jack, ever the tactless one, teased her mercilessly.

"Shut up, Jack."

Ariel popped open a snack, took a bite, and then got back to the main topic.

"Alright, let’s move on. Mephistopheles is currently looking for something called 'Oz.'"

"Oz?"

Oz.

It sounded familiar.

I had heard it somewhere before, but where?

"Yeah. I got this information by hacking into the Organization’s servers, so it's reliable."

Ariel spoke proudly, and Pinocchio, who had been quietly listening, reacted.

"That’s impressive. The Organization’s security should be at an extremely high level."

It seemed Pinocchio had once attempted to infiltrate the Organization’s servers and failed.

Honestly, I was surprised that Ariel had succeeded where Pinocchio had failed.

She didn’t seem like someone who had anything to do with computers.

"Wait, are you a hacker?"

"No, I’m not a hacker."

With that, Ariel pulled out a battered old laptop from under the table.

Humming to herself, she turned it on, and several lines of data appeared on the screen.

As we stared at it in fascination, Ariel, looking more confident, grinned.

"Hehehe... Music breaks down walls and lets us understand different things. I just applied that principle."

"Ah, she’s deliberately making it hard to understand so she can sound cool."

"Jack, shut up."

That was an impressive ability.

If I really wanted to, I could extract some data myself, but using virus-based anomalies would mean destroying 9 pieces of data just to retrieve 1, making it inefficient.

"Mephistopheles created a powerful reality-altering device called 'Oz.' Though it’s called a device, no one knows if it’s biological or mechanical."

"A reality-altering device..."

"However, the Organization caught on and launched an all-out assault to seize Oz from Mephistopheles. They succeeded... but then Oz suddenly vanished, never to return."

Vanished?

Did it literally walk away?

Why did Mephistopheles create Oz in the first place?

Honestly, if I could, I’d want to make something like that too.

After all, who wouldn’t want the power to manipulate the world as they saw fit?

But... is that really all there is to it?

The reason my predecessor created the Story’s Demons... and the Dominators... Maybe they were all connected to Oz.

"...That 'Oz'—is it the same Oz from The Wizard of Oz?"

Eun-jung asked, and Ariel nodded.

"It seems likely. Just like how our names are linked to fairy tales."

"Oz, huh..."

"Then does that mean there’s a Dorothy too?"

Kyung-min glanced at one of the vacant seats as he spoke.

"That’s all I can tell you. If we find Oz first, then Mephistopheles will go tada! and show up right in front of us."

"I see... But how exactly do we do that?"

When Pinocchio asked, Ariel fell silent.

"Uh... um..."

She looked troubled.

It didn’t seem like she didn’t know, but more like she was deliberately hiding something.

Since I wasn’t completely sure, I didn’t press her on it.

Still, just as my gaze started to sharpen slightly, Jack chimed in.

"Ah, stupid Ariel spoke up without thinking again. She always acts all smart, but she doesn’t know a thing!"

"Hah...! You little—!"

Ariel, unable to contain her anger, lunged at Jack’s throat.

However, Jack, being stronger, easily brushed her off and ran toward me.

"Waaah! This is why you can’t deal with female demons! They always go to extremes!"

Whack! Whack!

That was an incredibly sexist remark, but Pinocchio and I instinctively lowered our heads at the same time.

"..."

"..."

One of us had erased memories in an attempt to "protect" the children.

The other had assaulted the Organization to gain powerful reality-altering abilities in order to "reconstruct humanity."

Both of us were no better.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

"Uuuuuugh!"

I shouldn’t have done that... I shouldn’t have done that..."

No matter how many times I regretted it, what was already done could never be undone...!

At least I was able to recover somewhat thanks to the kids comforting me, but Pinocchio didn’t seem to have that luxury.

While Eun-jung, unable to watch him any longer, went to console him, Jack ended up getting caught by Ariel.

"You’re the only one who isn’t a girl, you idiot!"

"Stop hitting me!"

Watching Jack get beaten one-sidedly, the kids burst into laughter.

Of course, they completely ignored Jack’s protests that he wasn’t supposed to be the laughingstock.

"Heheh... They look close."

"Just like us and Alice."

"Let’s play with them next time."

Hearing the kids’ reactions, Ariel scoffed.

"Hmph. I have no interest in playing with children."

"I do! Next time, I’ll come visit!"

"...Alright. Ariel, do you have any other information?"

Ariel fell into thought.

She seemed to be sorting through what she could share.

She knew quite a bit, it seemed—I’d have to ask her things more often.

"You know those demons wandering outside? Yeah, the ones that can’t even speak properly. Are they really demons?"

Ariel’s sudden statement made me frown in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"I don’t know, it’s just a feeling. They’re definitely like us, but... they seem off. This isn’t information—it’s just a hunch. That’s all! Tea party’s over."

Ariel dismissed us, saying she’d shared everything she knew.

She waved us off while happily munching on the remaining snacks.

When I tried to take back some chocolate cookies, she refused.

Greedy woman...

"Keep an eye on the Church, Alice."

"I hate you, but I’ve realized that I need you after all~"

Ariel said that before slamming the door shut.

The space surrounding us dissolved into bubbles.

Pinocchio, standing beside me, spoke up.

"...The space is fading. I came here because I heard you were associated with this place, but that Ariel girl is definitely hiding something. Don’t trust her too much."

"I’ll keep that in mind."

When we opened our eyes, we were back where we had originally been.

-----

"Wahaha! That was fun! And the snacks were delicious!"

"Hey, don’t eat mine too!"

After the tea party ended, Jack and Ariel continued munching on the leftover snacks.

Ariel and Jack were both broke since they had no real source of income!

Of course, they didn’t need to eat or sleep, but it wasn’t easy giving up the indulgences they’d enjoyed in their human days.

Once Ariel was satisfied, she handed the rest of the snacks to Jack.

Jack happily stuffed his mouth with them.

"Hey, Ariel."

Jack spoke up again.

Jack always started stupid conversations.

This was probably just another meaningless chat.

Ariel wiped her greasy hands with a cloth and answered.

"What?"

"Didn’t you already expect that Pinocchio would use Alice?"

"..."

Jack’s unusually serious expression made Ariel’s face stiffen.

Even though he was eating like a kid, his voice didn’t match his childish actions at all.

"Because of that, Alice nearly died. And Pinocchio got strong enough with the Machine God’s power to plow through most of the Organization’s divisions."

"..."

"What were you hoping for, Ariel? That Alice would die, and Pinocchio would raze the Organization to the ground?"

"...Why are you suddenly like this?"

Gulp. Ariel swallowed dryly.

Right now, she wanted to avoid Jack’s gaze at all costs.

She never thought she’d feel this kind of pressure from little Jack again.

Just like in the beginning...

"I just... I like you, Ariel. You were the one who took me in when I was alone... I don’t want to ride some weird beanstalk just to meet a miserable end."

"I knew Pinocchio would betray Alice. It was all going according to plan!"

Ariel finally cracked under Jack’s piercing stare and spilled the truth.

"Alright, alright! I didn’t expect the Church to interfere! I didn’t know Alice would be so physically and mentally weak at the time! What the hell was that Red Holy Spear, and why the hell did Peter Pan show up too?!"

She flopped onto her back in frustration.

Jack stared at her, dumbfounded.

He never expected her plan to be this sloppy...

"Uh... I know I’m an idiot, but wow, you’re an even bigger idiot."

"Aaaaargh! It’s infuriating! I’m jealous that Mephisto swooped in to save Alice! And then he crushed Peter Pan and even beat Pinocchio, who had gotten stronger! I’m so jealous! So jealous!"

"Wow..."

Jack concluded that Ariel was lacking in more ways than one.

-----

"How was the visit?"

"It was fun. They said a bunch of weird stuff, though."

"Honestly, I didn’t really get most of it."

"As long as you had fun, that’s what matters."

Fortunately, everyone seemed satisfied.

We’d probably run into other Story’s Demons often, so it was good to at least get familiar with their faces.

Noticing how late it had gotten, I checked the time on my watch.

Even though our club often operated at night, this was way too late.

"It’s gotten late. Time to head home."

"Aw, that’s too bad. I wanted to look into some of the other rumors we’ve been hearing about."

Even so, it was time to go home.

Time to part ways~

Though, knowing me and Ha-rim, we’d probably end up talking all night anyway.

"Well, we’ve got tomorrow’s plans set. See you tomorrow."

I waved at them as we each went our separate ways.

I had to head back to the Organization.

"...Huh?"

Just as I was about to call an agent, my phone rang first.

"Hm? Hello?"

"Waaah! Alice! It’s me, it’s me! Carol!"

Carol. It had been a while since I heard her voice.

She sounded excited just from hearing me pick up.

I could even hear her bouncing up and down in place.

"You’re back."

"That’s all the reaction I get?!"

Listening to Carol’s complaints, I got into the agent’s car and headed back.

Today sure was full of unexpected reunions.