I Became A Ghost In A Horror Game-Chapter 96: Fly, Jack!

"Are you watching cartoons, Jack O' Lantern?"

Carol chided Jack O' Lantern, who was leisurely munching on candy while watching an animated show.

Every day, he would summon her with cryptic phrases about uncovering the secrets of the world, only to end up just goofing around when she arrived.

"Ah, well. Yes, I am. It's by some guy called ‘Yetou Junji’ or something. Quite entertaining."

Jack O' Lantern shoved the comic book toward Carol as if urging her to read it. Unfortunately, the part he showed was the most gruesome scene.

Carol grimaced in disgust.

"Ugh... It's horrifying. Why would you even watch something like this?"

"You're judging it by appearances without understanding its essence! Look at this!"

Jack O' Lantern pointed at the corner of the comic, where a cute(?) little snail was drawn.

"Isn’t it ridiculous?"

Carol, her expression dull and unimpressed, shrugged as if she had no choice but to agree.

There were many times when she didn’t understand Jack O' Lantern, but she still considered him a friend in her own way. That’s why she often played along with his antics.

After escaping death, Carol had found herself in an unfamiliar world filled with strangers and damned monsters. With her sanity fraying, she had nothing she could truly call a "friend."

"It’s disgusting. But... now that I look at it again, maybe it's a little cute... Still, this is definitely not something kids should be watching."

"Nonsense! The scarier it is, the better for them. Fear-stricken children are the most entertaining audience!"

"So it’s you who’s enjoying it."

"Of course! Just like how you, despite once being a man, scream in a very feminine way every time I startle you."

"If you prank me one more time, I’ll kill you. For real."

Jack O' Lantern averted his gaze, pretending not to hear Carol’s murderous warning.

She sighed deeply, but before she could say anything else, Jack O' Lantern continued talking, his pumpkin-scented breath filling the air.

"But this story isn't all that shocking."

"You’re saying this isn’t shocking?"

"I’ve read this author’s other works. His previous ones were much more grotesque and gruesome. That made them even funnier, too. If it were him, this scene could have been taken to a whole new level of disturbing creativity..."

Jack O' Lantern trailed off in thought, and Carol recalled something.

"Ah, it’s probably because of censorship."

"Censorship?"

"Editors. They cut out scenes that are too violent. After all, there are ethical lines that shouldn’t be crossed."

Jack O' Lantern trembled all over in horror at the tyranny of editors.

Carol, meanwhile, made a mental note: He used to just shake his head when he was only a floating head. Now he has hands, so he shakes those too.

"Unbelievable! That’s just unfair!"

"People always say something is ‘like a fairy tale’ or ‘like a comic book.’ Just accept it."

"Tch. Do editors think they’re gods or something?"

"Well... From the perspective of the characters inside the story, that wouldn’t be wrong. In fact, they’d be the ideal kind of gods."

-----

A loud KUGUNG! shook the building.

Eun-jung flinched at the sound, her face tightening with anxiety as she looked around.

This wasn’t from a gas explosion or an earthquake.

The tremors weren’t erratic or sequential.

Just in case, I tapped on the mirror, trying to reach Alice.

No response.

"Alice must be fighting. She’s not responding even when I call her through the mirror."

That guy who introduced himself as Freeman...

He seemed suspicious, and now it was clear—he was bad news.

"Is Alice okay? We need to help her."

Soo-ho looked worried.

If someone was strong enough to fight Alice, they had to be incredibly powerful.

Even if it was a monster capable of shaking an entire building, it shouldn't stand a chance against Alice.

If we recklessly jumped in, we’d end up like shrimp caught between fighting whales.

"Of course we need to help, but if we don’t know what’s going on, we’ll just get in the way."

"Yeah. I saw Alice fighting the Machine God! Even as a fellow demon, I wouldn’t dare interfere."

According to Jack, when Alice fought the Machine God, he and Ariel didn’t join the battle because their abilities weren’t suited for it.

Just because they were demons from the "Story" didn’t mean they were all-powerful. And even if they had abilities, what use were they if an overwhelming force could just crush everything in its path?

The ability to counteract a strong opponent was a form of power, after all.

Jack added that if the Machine God had been more like a programmed AI, Ariel would’ve been able to take it down.

"Then does that mean Alice is actually a good match against it?"

"No. She’s just fighting with sheer force and numbers. Among the demons I know, nothing should be this powerful."

KUGUUNG—!!!

Another tremor rattled the building.

At this rate, if left unchecked, the whole place could collapse.

Evacuating was an option, but we couldn’t just leave Alice to fight alone.

If we didn’t have information, we’d just have to get some.

I turned to the others.

"Let’s head further underground. There’s bound to be something important down there."

KUUNG—!!!

"That sound is getting closer!"

Kyung-min urged.

As always, there was no time to hesitate.

I led the group deeper underground.

But then, a man wearing a mask stood in our way.

He was already poised for battle, making it clear he had no intention of letting us pass.

[Beyond this point is restricted to authorized personnel only.]

"Let’s go!"

At my signal, we charged in all at once.

From my bag, I pulled out one of my notebooks—the one filled with doodles—and hurled it at the masked man’s face to obstruct his vision.

"See? I can draw too, so now I’m ‘authorized personnel’!"

[Your skills are... somewhat lacking.]

Even with his sight blocked, the masked man swelled his body with ink, ensuring he wouldn’t lose track of anyone.

Soo-ho raised his shield and charged. The masked man, finding it laughable, didn’t even bother dodging.

"Jack!"

At that moment, Jack, who had been hiding behind Soo-ho, suddenly leaped out and threw a punch as Soo-ho changed direction.

BANG—!!

Jack’s fist pierced straight through the man’s chest. Ink gushed out in thick spurts.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem like he was human.

Otherwise, I would’ve been haunted by guilt for the rest of my life.

Jack, exhilarated by the success of our impromptu strategy, bounced up and down excitedly as we pressed forward.

The labyrinthine passages continued, but by putting our heads together, we managed to find a staircase leading to the next level.

Just as we were about to descend—

Click!

A faint sound came from beneath our feet.

For a split second, I felt an icy chill, wondering if we’d stepped on a landmine.

But then, from behind us, the sound of dozens of masked figures rushing toward us filled the corridor.

"Phew."

"This is not the time to relax!"

Kyung-min hurriedly summoned chains to block the passage.

But the ink creatures, with their fluid bodies, easily slipped through the gaps in the barrier.

Eun-jung grimaced.

"Ugh... That’s disgusting."

She rang her sacred chime, increasing our movement speed.

Jack, watching us wield strange items, looked fascinated—yet also a bit dejected.

Maybe he felt that, despite being a demon, he had yet to showcase any remarkable abilities.

I hadn’t spent much time with Jack, but one thing was clear.

Just like Alice, he was the type to wear his emotions on his sleeve.

"Huff... huff... huff..."

"Phew... huff... huff..."

We were out of breath from running so frantically.

We had dodged monsters countless times before, but it had been a long while since we had run this hard.

Realizing this, a sense of unease crept in.

"Something’s wrong."

We had shaken off the masked creatures and entered a white room—everything from the floor to the ceiling and walls was pure white.

Then, spotting another black door in the distance, we had sprinted toward it.

But what the hell?

No matter how much we ran, the door wasn’t getting any closer.

A bizarre phenomenon was unfolding right in front of us.

No matter how hard we pushed forward, we weren’t making any progress.

If the trigger we stepped on had activated some kind of defense system in this building, then this must be a trap designed to keep us stuck.

"Let’s stop for a moment."

We halted and tried to catch our breath.

And then, just like being on a conveyor belt, our bodies were automatically dragged back toward the entrance.

No matter how fast we ran, the floor moved in the opposite direction at the same speed.

We had been running in place like idiots.

"Damn it, what do we do?"

Running in place without even realizing it—what a ridiculous sight.

As I was thinking about this, a laugh echoed through the air.

[Keh. Keh. Keh. Keh. Keh.]

It was the sound of the ink monsters laughing.

Where was it coming from?

We hurriedly searched for the source.

"...Where are you guys looking?"

Jack tilted his head and pointed at one of the walls.

Only then did we finally notice the monsters laughing at us.

They were standing behind a transparent glass wall, watching our foolish antics with glee.

The fact that we hadn’t noticed this until now was downright humiliating.

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"Jack, can you break that?"

At my question, Jack slowly walked over to the wall and punched it.

CLANG—!!!

A deafening sound rang out, but the wall didn’t have a single scratch.

They could observe us, but we couldn’t interfere with them.

It felt like a projection of the fourth wall.

Of course, from our perspective, the barrier was already breaking down, but still.

"We can’t move forward. The walls are shifting, so we can’t drive spikes into the floor to advance or use chains to pull ourselves forward."

"Maybe there’s a way to stop the movement?"

"Hmm..."

If both the walls and floor were moving, there should have been some kind of gap between them.

But no matter how hard we looked, we couldn’t find any openings.

As we stood there contemplating, Jack stomped his feet impatiently.

He must have felt like he had to do something.

"Oooooh!!! I—I’ll try something!"

For a second, I thought maybe Jack could fly like Alice, but instead, he just started sprinting at full speed.

As he pushed off the ground, the impact was strong enough to make the space tremble slightly.

Jack dashed forward with all his might.

But the floor simply moved in the opposite direction to match his speed.

In the end, all of us, unable to overcome the moving floor, practically slammed into the wall.

"Ow!"

As we all tumbled to the ground, Jack drooped his head and apologized.

"I’m sorry..."

"Ow, ow... It’s fine, Jack. Sometimes simple solutions do work. There might be a time when your method is exactly what we need."

"GASP!!! You’re so kind!!!"

My ears hurt...

Jack, moved to tears, started crying.

In fact, his tears dripped onto the floor.

"...Tears?"

An idea came to mind.

If I hadn’t thought of something soon, I would have used the power in my necklace—but thanks to Jack, I wouldn’t have to waste it.

I immediately started rummaging through my bag.

"Ha-rim, what are you pulling out?"

"An item called [Surely Not on a Day Like This]!"

I mimicked a certain robotic cat’s voice as I pulled out the item.

Among the various objects Alice had given me, I had stuffed as many as possible into my bag to prepare for every possible situation.

Alice had told me, with an exasperated expression, that I didn’t need to carry that many things, but having a lot of options felt reassuring.

"An item?"

"Well... Alice said it's more like an anomaly turned into an item, but whatever!"

The object I took out was a stone carving in the shape of a frog.

I placed it on the floor and started my act.

"Wow, the weather is perfect today. Not a single cloud in the sky, and no chance of rain!"

"...?"

I looked up at the ceiling with a bright smile, even though there was no actual sky visible.

The others tilted their heads, not understanding what I was trying to do.

But Kyung-min seemed to have caught on.

Or maybe he was just playing along.

"Yeah, you’re right. Clothes will dry well today. No way it would suddenly start raining while they’re out drying, right, guys?"

"Huh? Uh... Yeah. The forecast said it would be clear."

"That’s why today was chosen as the perfect day for the sports festival."

The others went along with the act, and I continued to build up the lie.

But there was one crucial phrase I didn’t leave out.

"Yeah! There’s no way it would rain on a day like today!"

Alice had told me that this item came from an anomaly of probabilistic misfortune.

People fear even the slightest possibility of disaster.

Imagine if there were a button with a 1% chance of destroying the world.

Would you press it for fun?

Even if it were only a 1% chance, the mere possibility of catastrophe would keep people from touching it.

But what if someone were to spam the button?

Most would want to beat that person senseless.

But some would think: I’d rather let them press it and watch them regret their decision for the rest of their life.

Alice once told me that people have an innate desire to label and judge those who go against ethics, beliefs, and social norms.

Even if it means using extreme methods.

This anomaly worked in a similar way.

We recklessly denied any chance of rain.

Through our act, we exaggerated the situation further and further.

We started saying that not only would our clothes get wet, but the dam would burst, and people would die.

But ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) we laughed as we said it.

Because the odds were so small!

[...#..₩*...×@@...]

It responded.

A sinister aura began to surge.

Dark clouds loomed over the pure white room.

Like a disaster god trying to teach those who underestimated probability the true terror of chance.

The frog-shaped stone swelled in size and turned jet black.

"Jack! You say it too!"

"...?"

We pulled Jack into our circle, and together, we began chanting around the frog.

Grinning as if mocking the anomaly, we shouted in unison:

"""""There’s no way it would rain on a day like today!"""""

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

The frog turned completely black.

Swoooosh—!!!

A torrential downpour erupted, and the white room quickly began to flood, water rising rapidly around the blackened frog.

"Whoa!"

In an instant, a third of the room’s height was filled with water, forcing us to swim.

If we weren’t fast enough, we’d drown.

[!!!]

Beyond the glass, the ink monsters, unbound by the conveyor belt’s physics, saw us swimming freely and panicked. They hurriedly ran off somewhere, likely preparing to resume their pursuit.

We reached the far end of the room, and with a single punch, Jack shattered the door. The accumulated water surged forward, carrying us along like a waterslide, and we successfully escaped.

"Yahoo!"

"This is actually kind of fun."

To an outsider, it might seem strange for us to be saying this while being chased by enemies, but none of us could stop the grins tugging at our lips.

"Onward!"

Just as we were about to break into a sprint, the building trembled violently once again.

This time, the quake was far more intense than any before.

KUGUGUGUUNG—!!!

It seemed like Alice and Freeman’s battle was escalating.

Whenever Alice fought using anomalies, a cacophony of sounds would follow—everything from animal roars to the blare of static-laden radios, human screams, and even the sound of spaceships launching.

It was a shame we couldn’t watch up close.

As we casually entertained that thought, we continued evading the ink creatures and descended to the next level.

We had already placed a barrier talisman, so we had some breathing room.

"Wait! There’s no path ahead!"

Jack, with his keen eyesight, noticed a massive door in the distance, separated from us by a gaping chasm.

We came to a stop, realizing we’d have to figure out how to cross it.

The place sure had an endless array of traps to stop intruders...

"Wow. That door’s enormous."

"That must be the most important room here."

Kyung-min tried to extend his chains across the gap, but they weren’t long enough to reach.

If that area was a critical section of the facility, there had to be a way for other creatures to get across.

Since the floor was flat, the most reasonable assumption was that a plank or bridge was meant to extend from one side to the other.

However, the pit seemed hastily dug, making it unlikely that any hidden mechanisms were in place.

"Hmm... Do we have any items that let us fly?"

As I rummaged through my bag for anything useful, Jack walked closer to the pit, likely testing if he could jump across.

That’s when it happened.

As Jack approached, something invisible suddenly revealed itself.

"Right in front of the pit... there are rakes."

...Rakes?

Just as Jack said, countless rakes were scattered across the floor.

Why the hell were farming rakes here of all places?

Could they be a hint for crossing the chasm?

"It’s been a while since I’ve seen these..."

Jack tapped at one as if reminiscing about an old memory.

Then, absentmindedly, he stepped on the rake’s tines.

SMACK!

The force made the handle spring up and slam right into Jack’s face.

"Ow!"

Jack clutched his face and stumbled backward—

Directly onto another rake.

WHACK!

It smacked the back of his head this time.

"Ow!"

"Pfft—!"

Eun-jung barely stifled a laugh.

But that laughter didn’t last long.

Because Jack had stepped onto yet another rake.

And then another.

And another.

Like some slapstick routine, he was caught in a never-ending loop of stepping on rakes and getting hit in the face, then stumbling backward into another one.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!"

By this point, his nose was bleeding.

"...He’s stuck in a loop."

"Jack... that must hurt..."

"If Jack’s already bleeding, it’d be way worse if we got caught in that."

We tried various ways to pull Jack out, but the rule of the loop was absolute—

(Step on a rake, get hit, stumble backward, step on another rake, repeat.)

Physical force wasn’t working.

This was getting frustrating.

"...Doesn’t this feel familiar?"

Kyung-min, observing Jack, suddenly spoke up.

I took a moment to think.

And then it hit me.

"Ah!"

I remembered.

"That one old cartoon with the cat and mouse constantly chasing each other?"

That was it.

The ink creatures we had encountered were fluid, exaggerated, and exhibited odd behaviors that weren’t necessarily efficient for pursuit.

When Soo-ho had once struck one with his shield, its face had briefly retained the exact shape of the shield before looking utterly dumbfounded and passing out.

Other attacks didn’t work at all, yet this did.

And when they saw that ridiculous moment, they had laughed.

If these creatures followed the logic of cartoon physics, then it all made sense.

Jack being stuck in a loop wasn’t just an accident.

We were handling this the wrong way.

"...Jack, this is going to hurt a bit, but bear with it."

I pulled a lighter from my bag.

Soo-ho immediately gave me a suspicious look.

"Why do you even carry that around?"

"It’s an essential survival tool? Why?"

"You carried it last time too... I get the feeling you’re just looking for an excuse to burn things."

"..."

I had nothing to say to that.

...Because he was half right.

Burning down the factory last time had been fun.

And I’d like to do it again.

I smirked slightly, and Soo-ho gave me a look like I was a criminal.

So rude.

After explaining the plan to the others, I approached Jack, who was still hopelessly stuck in the rake loop.

Then, I held the lighter to his butt.

In cartoons, when a character got burned, they’d usually scream and rocket into the air...

So, naturally, I was very curious to see if it would work.

I flicked the lighter on and lit Jack’s backside on fire.

"Sniff, sniff... What’s that delicious smell—?"

Jack finally realized what was happening.

"AAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

"NOW! GRAB HIM!"

Jack launched into the air like a rocket.

Kyung-min immediately used his chains to latch onto Jack, and we grabbed hold as well.

Using Jack as our propulsion system, we soared straight toward the door.

"You bastards! Who the hell uses someone as a mode of transportation?!"

"Sorry!"

Even as we apologized, we couldn’t help but laugh joyfully.