I Became A Ghost In A Horror Game

"I didn't expect you to cooperate with us. Little Mermaid."

Ariel was having a one-on-one meeting with a man dressed in priestly attire, his eyes narrowed.

Priest Gray. As the leader of the Cathedral, it was unthinkable that he would cooperate with a devil.

"Even though you were the one who suggested it first, you say such things."

Ariel first obtained information about the angel when she was rummaging through the data repositories of the Cathedral and the Institution.

She could vaguely locate the sealed place, but since it was harder to detect divine power than demonic energy, she needed help to get there.

Surprisingly, the helper turned out to be a priest who also handled divine power.

The priests, who appeared at just the right time, contacted Ariel, who had a similar goal, with the intention of freeing the angel slumbering within the Institution.

"I'm the one who killed the priests. Is it okay to cooperate with me?"

That part was unavoidable. If she hadn't, she would have been the one to die.

This is why priests are problematic. They don't think things through, so situations escalate to extremes.

"If you want to hunt, you must be prepared to be hunted. I believe he has gone to a better place."

Ariel almost blurted out that it was unlikely, but she managed to hold back.

She doesn't want to associate with them.

"And such things are meaningless now."

"...?"

After a few business-like conversations, when it was time to end the discussion, Ariel spoke up to confirm one last thing.

"...In return for helping you. The reward for me is certain, right?"

"Of course. A devil simply becoming stronger doesn't mean much to us."

"Good. I don't care as long as I get stronger. If I can get strong enough to meet him."

...

POV Switch - Alice

We headed to a library to follow Ariel to where the angel was.

Is the angel slumbering in a library?

It looks like an ordinary library at first glance, but it seems there's a secret path leading to the Institution.

"What library? Didn't you say it was inside the Institution?"

"That place has tight security, so even I can't enter. But I know how the Institution sealed the angel."

"Sealed..."

"They compressed space hundreds of times and sealed the angel in a maze-like place, cutting it into pieces."

Hoo. It sounds like a backroom.

It was a genre that was once popular.

Well, the space Ariel is talking about seems to be a smaller concept than the backroom.

"Then, this place too?"

"Right. This place also shows similar characteristics. It's a new spot the Institution doesn't know about yet. From past experiments, spaces with these characteristics can resonate. Meaning, they can be connected." ṛΆƝổ₿ÈṠ

Spaces with repeating scenery resonate.

It's an interesting phenomenon.

By the way, if a repeating phenomenon like facing mirrors is happening, it might be possible.

"Got it."

"Good. Shall we go in then?"

Ariel stopped me as I was about to enter.

"Wait, we need to enter at the exact right time. We've been waiting to match a specific day, date, and time. It's almost time, let me time it."

What, was that it?

I thought we were doing something complicated since preparation was needed, but it was just about timing.

Then Ariel must have known about this space before.

"Hey, hey, Kyeong-min. I've been curious, you know Ariel's lower half is a fish, right? What kind of fish do you think it is?"

"Hmm. You can find these things with AI searches these days. Let's see. It looks like a carp?"

"Ooh..."

While waiting for the timing, the kids chatted, and Ariel warned me.

"...Are you really planning to take those kids with you? It would be better to stop since it's dangerous."

"If they decide to go on the adventure despite the danger, I plan to go with them."

"...If you say so."

Ariel gathered us in one place as the time came and counted down.

"...One... Two... Now!"

We jumped into the entrance in unison.

Then we entered a space filled with countless bookshelves, seemingly infinite.

As the name of the library suggests, it was dead silent, making me think that being alone here might drive one insane.

"Um, how do we find the way?"

"Leave it to me."

Ariel made a very small sound and spread it.

Similar to how bats use echolocation to find their way, Ariel found where the reflected sounds abnormally clustered.

"That way."

We walked between the bookshelves as Ariel pointed.

I can't tell where is where.

Even the path we're taking is long, making it unbearably boring.

"How boring. The books lying around have nothing written on them. And it's too quiet around here. I bet there aren't many spaces as dull as this."

[Silence.]

As I complained loudly, a neatly dressed monster jumped out from between the bookshelves.

Is it a monster living here?

A librarian monster that comes when it hears noise... It's clear because it's a library, right?

I feel better. It's like being in a theme park.

The monster immediately rushed at us.

Even though it's fascinating, it doesn't make a sound despite running so fast. It must have some kind of anomalous ability.

There's an interesting point, so it's good to observe more, but.

Bang!

"You're not that important in this journey."

I'm also curious what kind of power it might be hiding.

But I don't want to drag it out, so I destroyed it in one go.

Seeing the bone fragments and minced meat twitching, it seems its life force is strong.

We soon passed the librarian and headed to the next room.

"Phew."

This time, a swarm of librarians came.

I'm not one to be overwhelmed by numbers.

I immediately used the monsters in the mirror to kill them one by one.

The last one, I killed with a squish, as if exploding it.

Then, a key that seemed to lead to some secret place fell from one of the librarians, but I immediately discarded it.

Eh, not interested. This is just a place we're passing through.

Ha-rim picked up the key I discarded and put it in her bag, but it didn't matter much.

"I'm starting to understand what these librarians are."

"You're catching on pretty fast."

"Now, quiz time. What do you think these guys are for?"

I threw the question to test the kids' observation skills.

The first to raise her hand was Eun-jeong.

"Answer. Their role is to keep us quiet."

"5 points."

"Hmph."

Next, Suho spoke without raising his hand.

"It seems like they're trying to eliminate intruders."

"That's also 5 points."

Next, Ha-rim and Kyeong-min matched their opinions and spoke.

Their answer was this.

To maintain silence.

"10 points!"

The librarians in the library are sensitive to sound.

They rush at us even at the sound of us walking.

It was an attempt to eliminate the source of the noise.

But in this library space, sound is a concept that doesn't disappear.

Meaning, even after eliminating the source of the sound, residual sound remains.

The librarians eliminate the source of the sound and also send the remaining residual sound somewhere.

That's how they maintain the silence of the library.

"Where are they sending it?"

"Wouldn't you throw trash in a trash can?"

If you can't eliminate it, push the sound to the noisiest place.

Quite a fresh idea.

Ariel added one more thing after hearing our idea.

"They hate the sound of crying the most."

"The sound of crying. Who's crying here?"

"Well, wouldn't it be the angel?"

"Hoo."

Seeing Ariel's reaction, our idea seems to be correct.

The noisy crying sound from another space and the concentrated sound of the library space might be magically connected somehow.

The interlocking of characteristics. Is this what Ariel calls resonance?

...Why is the angel crying?

Even though the angel clearly exists, why did Carol say there was no angel?

And what is the relationship between Tale Devils and angels?

Such questions swirl in my head.

What broke my train of thought was the librarian monster, which could no longer move and lay like a corpse.

"Huh. This guy's appearance."

The librarian had wings growing abnormally, making it seem like it couldn't support its body properly.

Erosion... Judging from the structure, it probably can't fly... What meaningless wings.

"We've arrived."

A boundary. A line drawn on the floor divides the library and the angel's space.

Crossing the boundary, a different air and atmosphere could be felt.

But there was an undeniable sense of emptiness.

This was also felt in the library.

There's no way to know if it's a characteristic of these repeating spaces or if the angel's sense of emptiness is being transmitted to us.

"We'll have to split up here."

Ariel said that the angel is physically divided, so to meet the main body, we need to gather all parts of its body.

Shall we start looking for the body parts?

"There are seven in total, so good luck."

With those words, Ariel swam through the air and disappeared.

"Let's go."

Since we're not in a hurry, we walked slowly, looking around.

This place also has rooms with repeating scenery like the library, but the scenery was crudely drawn heaven, apples, and human models.

Then, occasionally.

Waaah~

The sound of a child crying sadly could be heard.

"...Hmm."

"I feel comfortable but also gloomy. It's like..."

"It feels like it's hinting at memories that won't ever return."

The kids each shared similar impressions.

And me too.

Somehow, it feels nostalgic, sad, and even strangely terrifying... It's a space that makes you feel complex emotions.

"This is where the Institution's managed area begins."

Seeing bloodstains and some equipment lying around broken, it seems there was a big fight here.

At the same time, we could guess that a part of the angel was here.

"Hmm..."

There was only one book visible here.

Yet, the powerful presence emanating from that book...!

Not touching this would be admitting you're a coward.

As I touched the book, it opened on its own.

Whoosh...

Something glowing slipped out of the book, shining.

But the glow seemed to be just for show, as I felt nothing.

It seems to hint at something.

I turned the page.

The book, triggered by that action, projected an illusion into the air.

"It's more like a projector than a book. It records what happened here and even shows it."

Curious, I quietly watched what the book was trying to show.

The illusion showed the figures of two men.

"Is it going well?"

"Yes, it is."

The man who seemed like a senior was caressing corpses that weren't human.

Bird wings... Generally, from the image, wings that could be called angel wings were sparsely growing... It's probably an angel's corpse.

"I heard from a reliable source... So are these corpses byproducts from the war between angels and devils?"

"Angels and devils at war... That's what is known. But it's wrong. They never fought in the first place."

"But didn't the devils win?"

"Looking at these few corpses, you still don't get it?"

"But..."

The senior could tell from the junior's trailing words who he got the information from.

The man clicked his tongue.

"That bastard Mephistopheles, every time he opens his mouth, it's a lie... I don't like how he wormed his way into the upper echelons. A devil, for heaven's sake..."

Swoosh...

The illusion ended.

The book had turned into a golden bracelet.

It seems to be a part of the angel, as Ariel mentioned.

"Did angels and devils fight?"

"Generally, they don't have a good image together."

"They should try getting along."

"Even if you say that, I've never met an angel. Besides, they didn't fight there, did they?"

Then why are there angel corpses?

If they didn't fight devils, what was hostile to them?

Devils, humans, angels. Broadly speaking, it seems there were these three forces, but if humans had no reason to fight angels, and angels had no reason to fight devils, the only explanation left is the anomalous monsters sealed by the Institution.

They're mysterious beings that appeared without any basis, different from angels and devils.

We might be overlooking this because of the containment fiction genre.

We must not forget that even the so-called Rulers are part of these anomalous monsters.

"Shall we take this? Hmm. It feels similar to Maria's cross. No unpleasant feeling."

I took the angel's part and walked to another place.

The angel's part seemed to react to other fragments, so it could be used like a compass.

While finding our way, when the repeating scenery became tiresome, we found another book.

Whoosh...

"Another illusion..."

This time, there were the two men from before and another man with narrowed eyes.

The man with narrowed eyes... Where have I seen him...

"Then why did so many devils die? Paimon, Lucifer, Beelzebub. Those famous and fearsome beings, why were they found as corpses?"

"How would I know... I've never even seen in my dreams what they were doing when they died."

"Then where are the angels now, and what are they doing?"

"Ha! Those bastards left us and departed this world. Should I say they ascended? Only the devils remained here. Hey, Gray! You're a priest, right! Say something... About this damn situation."

"There must be a reason, right? Not believing in them is no different from giving up hope. Brother."

"Who's your brother, you snake."

"...A reason. There must be a reason."

The illusion ended again, and somehow a gloomy atmosphere began to fill the space.

It seems to be the energy emanating from this book.

The book turned into a golden apple-shaped ornament this time, and I took it again.

Bzzz~ Bzzz~ Bzzz~

I could feel the angel's parts resonating with each other.

"The angels left? What does that mean?"

I threw my question to the kids.

Even if it's not the correct answer, I wanted to hear some guesses.

"Uh, the scope is too big to say specifically... Well, maybe they ran away?"

Suho speculates that the angels ran away from something.

There's a stereotype that angels are incredibly strong, so the idea that such beings ran away from something is terrifying.

"Or maybe they went to find something?"

Eun-jeong guesses.

Looking at it hopefully, angels wouldn't run away without taking care of people under God's command.

Maybe instead of running away from people, they went to find something else for a while.

"Actually, I'm more curious why the devils didn't disappear. Hmm, did they want to torment people when the angels were gone?"

Kyeong-min was more curious about another topic.

That part also caught my attention.

There doesn't seem to be any particular reason... Maybe they didn't know how to leave?

"But it was said that many devils died."

"Alice is fine, though?"

"My origins are a bit complicated."

Mixing up transformed devils and original devils complicates the worldview.

Still, the devils mentioned in the illusion feel completely different from the Tale Devils.

If anything, our side would be the ones without a basis.

But except for Mephistopheles, even Ariel hasn't met original-born devils, including me.

"Shall we go get the next one now?"

The angel's part resonates more strongly. With two parts, we could find the next part twice as fast.

If it progresses quickly, I'm all for it.

I don't like just aimlessly repeating anyway.

It's boring.

Even if it repeats like reincarnation, wouldn't it be more fun if it's new?

"Another book. Hmm... Ariel must have found a few by now. Surely she didn't expect me to find all 7 alone."

Whoosh...

Another illusion unfolded.

It was the two men from before, excluding Gray.

"But what does the Institution plan to use this for? It looks like a corpse no matter how you look at it."

"If you process and gather the meat fragments well, it might become useful... What was it... Something made from devil corpses... Oz, was it?"

"Oz? Like the Oz from The Wizard of Oz?"

"The name is just borrowed randomly. Why don't you know anything? Is it because of strict control? Still, the more you struggle here, the more you'll learn the knack for uncovering secrets, so if you're curious, live longer."

"Ahem. Anyway, are you saying that we're going to make this like Oz?"

"Yes. The quantity is ridiculously small, so it might not work, but who knows, this might also be useful. If there's something called Oz, you can eliminate all those rootless monster bastards, so if we can make something similar, it would be a jackpot!"

"Sorry to interrupt your illusion, but the corpses are starting to twitch. It seems like they're reacting to some kind of drug..."

The senior turned around in surprise at the twitching corpses, and a worm-like monster had already eaten the junior.

The worm was crying sadly, and the man hurriedly called the response team, ending the illusion.

Although it was omitted, considering the bloodstains we saw earlier, there must have been more sacrifices.

After seeing the illusion, we naturally thought the same thing.

"It seems like we shouldn't wake it up."

"It's an angel! An angel!"

"Like how zombies aren't human, maybe it's similar?"

We shouldn't wake the angel.

I was just curious if I knew anything about hell in the first place.

If we can't communicate, we can't ask.

"It's not good to push for results out of curiosity. Alright, let's end it here this time too."

The kids agreed with my opinion.

Ah, these good kids.

Yes, you should know when to stop at the right time, my children.

As I was about to open the mirror to go back.

"You can't do that, Alice."

"..."

Ariel blocked my way.

The atmosphere seemed unusual.

She looked at the angel's part in my hand and said.

"As expected, you can touch it."

"?"

"Its divine power is strong. As a devil, I can't touch it."

You can't touch it?

There's a sense of alienation, but not to the extent of not being able to touch it.

Rather, I would say that I feel comfortable.

"You have a similar kind of power. Divine power. Even if it's not the same kind of divine power, it's very similar..."

"What are you talking about? I don't understand at all. I've already decided to stop collecting the angel's parts. I don't plan to find the rest, so what are you going to do?"

Ariel frowned at my attitude.

I admit it was a bit unpleasant.

But seeing this atmosphere, I think what's coming has come.

So it's okay to take a somewhat aggressive stance.

"Don't worry. There are only three angel parts in total. The seven I mentioned earlier was a lie."

"I didn't know that..."

I was fooled!

"By the way, the angel that will be resurrected by combining the fragments you have isn't completely without intelligence, as you think. It's just that it's so consumed by sorrow that it's become ferocious."

"You know a lot. How do you know all this?"

"These people told me."

Priests in priestly robes appeared behind Ariel.

Seeing the moisture on their bodies, it seems Ariel transported them.

"Betrayal!"

The kids protested.

No wonder she knew so much about the angel.

"It's the Cathedral. If you can't touch the parts because you're a devil, why don't you have those people do it?"

"Strong divine power burns even humans."

"Aha."

"So pick up the last part, Alice."

I don't know why Ariel is so fixated on the angel's parts.

Seeing her gaze fixed more on me than the angel's parts, it seemed more important to make things difficult for me.

If what Jack said is true, this woman is definitely targeting me.

"...Hurry."

"What if I don't?"

Her gaze momentarily shifted to the kids.

But she quickly looked away and glared at me.

Bubble bubble...

Bubbles formed on Ariel's hand, and a trident popped out.

And she aimed it at me.

"...I'll use force."

"How absurd... Well, fine. Here."

"...?"

As Ariel requested, I picked up the last part and gathered the three parts in one place.

Rumble...!

Due to the divine power, the surrounding space shook, and a huge being began to breathe.

The fragmented parts stuck together like rags to form a body, and the body resembled a larva.

Waaah~

The angel cried sadly.

Then, ignoring us, it turned its body translucent and rose to the ceiling.

Is it planning to go to the surface in that manner?

It was like ascending to heaven, to be able to easily escape this space.

"You never said anything about taking the children hostage until the end, so I'll listen to you just this once. Do you feel better now?"

Ariel silently took out a crystal ball and checked where the angel was.

Fortunately, the angel's location was in front of the library building where we first entered.

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