Chapter 63
"Ha-rim! What are you thinking about?"
Time left after lunch.
Students are busy talking to each other even if for only a short period of time, as is their nature as social animals.
But for some reason, I kept being lost in my thoughts while looking out the window.
"Ah, Eun-jeong. Uh... I was just thinking about what I did during vacation. It seems like it went by so quickly."
No matter how much I think about it, I can't remember what I did.
Even the memories of being alone and lonely during the vacation were only partially present.
Thanks to this, I was scolded by my teacher for failing to complete my summer vacation homework of writing a diary.
"Now that I think about it, I can't remember anything in particular. I feel like I spent every day eating, sleeping, and being lazy."
Maybe that was happiness in its own way?
"Haa... Hmm. I regret it. After all, I think people have to do something. From now on, I have to systematically plan my life."
I took out my notebook while saying that.
Then, with a pencil, I created a box called [To-Do List] for today and wrote decide what to do in item number 1.
"Then what should we do?"
I began to worry.
And then I turned my eyes to another page of the notebook.
The place was full of my own sketches.
It was mainly drawings depicting scary things, and characters from ghost stories were drawn from my own imagination.
And suddenly, a hand mirror doodle appears in between.
My eyes lightened up.
"...I got a good idea."
"What?"
"I'll tell you when we are all together. Where are Suho and Kyeong-min?"
"They're playing soccer right now. I wonder what's good about being sweaty from sports."
I went to the playground before lunch time ended.
Soccer is over and it's time for the students to change out of their gym clothes and into their regular clothes.
When I went to the playground, Suho and Kyeong-min were drinking water and resting.
"You were resting."
"Hello Ha-rim. What's wrong?"
Kyeong-min asked, wiping his sweat with a towel.
"It's nothing special, but I wasted my vacation so much that I want to do something fun right now. I'm inviting everyone to join us as a club activity."
When Kyeong-min and Suho heard those words, they tilted their heads and thought about their summer vacation.
Apparently there wasn't really anything that came to mind.
Aside from Eun-jeong, it is pretty unusual for them all to spend their vacation in the same way.
"Sure. What is it?"
I smiled brightly.
"Do you know the ghost story that has been popular lately?"
"Hmm... Are you talking about the recent mirror ghost story?"
Kyeong-min seemed to think for a moment, then quickly remembered.
I thought that, in a way, Kyeong-min was second only to me in searching for ghost stories.
"As expected, Kyeong-min knows!"
Mirrors were the stuff of ghost stories.
Among them, there are representative types, such as the reflection of oneself in the mirror moving at will, an entrance to another world, and something strange appearing in the mirror.
This ghost story is the last type.
That's the ghost story called Alice's Mirror.
"Huh. This is my first time hearing it. What kind of ghost story is it?"
When Eun-jeong asked, Kyeong-min raised his glasses.
"Like Jangsanbeom, it's a ghost story that suddenly started one day, and it seems like a person named Alice appears in a mirror."
Kyeong-min listed one of the things he saw on the Internet.
A student who decided to commit suicide after being bullied tried to jump off the roof.
But at the last moment, when they turned around again for the sake of their friend who was also being bullied, there was a hand mirror in their hand.
At first, they tried to go back without paying attention, but they lost their footing and fell.
In their hand mirror, where they reflected themselves, a woman with grotesque blonde hair and blue eyes appeared.
When they woke up, they were on the first floor of the building.
"They said that the words that's weird kept ringing in her head for some reason."
"wow... For a ghost story, it has a pretty nice ending."
Although stories about seeing ghosts are generic, people still believe them, even if they are not very fun.
However, these types of ghost stories are so unrealistic that no one believes them.
Naturally, it's hard for it to become popular.
Kyeong-min agreed with Eun-jeong's thoughts, but it was true that it was popular and he knew why, so he told Eun-jeong.
"It's unrealistic. But what's special is that there are quite a few people who have experienced this."
"Oh..."
Three People's Gossip. Just as the saying goes that if three people say there's a tiger, even if it's a lie, a tiger will appear, similarly, if many people say something, it gains credibility."1
Eun-jeong seemed interested.
"The name is Alice, and the main character of the story always says that's weird, so it is linked to the fairy tales of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, and secondary creations are quite widespread on the Internet."
"Huh..."
That's unexpected.
Kyeong-min showed his related data on his cell phone.
"Look at this."
A drawing of a strange girl with a scary face and many arms and legs.
A girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, like Alice from the fairy tale.
And she was wearing an apron.
Although she is portrayed as grotesque, as befitting of characters from ghost stories, there were many who depicted her as ordinary, beautiful figures.
"Uh. There are many that look scary and some that look pretty."
"There's a related video on YouTube."
It's dangerous. The story will leak. I changed the subject.
"Anyway. We're going to investigate the Alice ghost story."
"How?"
"We could go to the place where Alice supposedly appeared. Maybe we can do some necromancy or something."
"Necromancy... The real deal. We're going to fail anyway."
To be honest, that was true, but it sounded like fun, so Kyeong-min agreed.
"Since we don't have anything else to do, we'll have to try that, but it's not like we can bungee jump from the roof."
"If we fail, we'll just collect related stories and record them."
"It has been decided. Is everyone free today?"
Ha-rim looked at everyone with eyes full of expectation.
However, they avoided Ha-rim's eyes.
They spoke in order, starting with Kyeong-min.
"Ah.. I can't today. I have to go straight to cram school."
"I'm going to hang out with my parents."
"Ah! Eun-jeong, what about you?"
"I have a lot of free time tomorrow, but today is the day to eat out!"
After all, is there no friend you can be with every day and every hour?
It would be nice to have a friend who would come running to you every day just by calling.
Like a friend you can carry in your pocket.
...That's a selfish thought.
I made an appointment without showing what I was thinking.
"...Then there is nothing we can do. Let's do the research tomorrow! It's a promise!"
"Of course. Let's do it together tomorrow."
After school, I spent time cleaning my house.
My goal was to clean thoroughly and kill time quickly.
That way, I can play with my friends tomorrow.
I get tired of an empty house.
"...Since I do housework, time passes easily. But the day didn't last."
After finishing my cleaning, I sat down in front of my computer.
Should I make time for this again today?
I scrolled through YouTube, looking for something to watch. If I just blankly watch videos, I feel like an idiot, but what can I do?
I have already read all the books at home.
"..."
Click. Click.
As I move the mouse around, it bumps into something.
"Ah. A hand mirror."
A hand mirror with a faded rose pattern that I impulsively bought some time ago.
For some reason, I feel nostalgic when I look at this mirror.
The illusion that someone is waving their hand in the fog.
Maybe I had a dream like that at some point.
"I miss you. Why do I miss you? When I watch movies or cartoons, I feel like I can't just ignore this feeling."
I decided to put the hand mirror in the desk drawer.
I opened the drawer.
There were five red rose necklaces placed there.
It's strange, there are a lot of strange things today.
"This. What was it? I'm sure I made it. Why did I make it? "
I thought for a moment and a reason came to mind.
"Ah! I was planning on giving it to the others! This is a sign that we are in the same club!"
But why five?
I can't think of why.
I put the mirror in and focused on YouTube again.
After two hours had passed, I thought it might not be a bad idea to look into the ghost story we would be investigating tomorrow.
I clicked on the YouTube search bar and typed on the keyboard.
"Alice... Alice... Ghost story..."
There are quite a few related videos.
Even though it's a minor story, it's a ghost story.
Alice. Several pictures appear in the video called Imaginated Collection.
Although there are many bizarre appearances, it is these features that ignite the hearts of young children.
"It seems cool..."
Because scary and bizarre = strong! Because the same strange formula is established.
"Blonde hair and skin as white as a doll. Blue eyes. At first glance, she seems like an ordinary foreigner, but when she gets angry, her face turns into something bizarre. Hmm. Is it okay for a ghost story to be this pretty?"
There was no setting like this in the ghost story, so why do they create their own setting?
It already feels like a character rather than an object of fear.
An example of using monsters as characters is an animated video on YouTube that takes popular urban legends like Jack the Ripper, Chucky, and Mothman and pits them against each other in a secondary creation.
"I wonder if there will be any."
I scroll down.
...There is?!
"...These fighting games aren't scary at all... They're their own secondary creation."
But even though I said that, I was a gamer, so I clicked on the video.
After watching for a while, I fell asleep watching the last scene where Alice punches Mothman's face in a crude motion graphic animation.
...
"Yawn~"
I went to bed late.
So, in an uncharacteristic way, I yawned repeatedly. Dangerous.
In this state, I would fall asleep during boring classes.
"Everyone, a transfer student has arrived! Alright, let's stop talking and focus!"
But fortunately, just as I was about to fall asleep, my homeroom teacher brought in a new student.
This is my first time seeing a transfer student!
"Wow..."
Next to my homeroom teacher, the transfer student was so pretty that exclamations of admiration came out.
Blonde hair and doll-white skin. Sparkling blue eyes. She was the kind of strangely beautiful girl you see in magazines.
A pretty foreign transfer student! Very rare!
"Hi. Due to moving this time, I ended up transferring to a nearby school. Even though I look like this, I lived in Korea longer because I am of mixed race. Please take care of me."
Ah. You were mixed race.
"...?"
However, the reaction from the other classmates is strange. Neither the boys or girls had much of a reaction, even though such a pretty girl just came.
They're acting like they've just met an ordinary transfer student.
All I heard occasionally from boys was that she had a pretty voice.
It was as if they were seeing something different from me.
What. Eun-jeong, Suho, and Kyeong-min are all with their mouths wide open.
"Oh, my name is Alice. You can just call me that or Ally."
"...!"
'Blonde, blue-eyed, and called Alice?'
It's unlikely, but isn't she Alice from the ghost story?
It's a really absurd story, but the strange atmosphere that she gives off seems unusual.
What if, really, she was that Alice?
Just thinking about it makes my heart pound. Both sleep and boredom flew away.
"Everyone, please be kind to Alice. Alice, if anything happens, tell me right away! Let's see, I guess you need a little guide to fit in well at school. Does anyone wants to be Alice's guide?"
It's my chance!
I raised my hand.
"I want to do it!"
"?!"
Alice looked at me.
And her eyes widened. It seemed as if her eyes were shaking and she was embarrassed.
But soon she returned to her doll-like expression.
'It might be Alice from the ghost story! Well, even if that's not the case, I want to become friends.'
"Okay. Ha-rim would be nice. The seat next to her is also empty."
My homeroom teacher sat Alice down next to me and told her to listen carefully to the class.
I said hello to Alice.
"Hi! I'm Shin Ha-rim! I was lonely because I was in the last seat and the seat next to me was empty, so let's get along!"
Alice smiled awkwardly, turning her head towards me like a rusty robot.
"Okay. Please take care of me, Ha-rim."
And as if her throat was burning, she took out a water bottle and took a gulp.
"You know, Alice. Can you go in and out of the mirror?"
"Spit?! Urgh. Cough! Cough!"
Oh, she spit water.
It was just a random question, but is it really that embarrassing?
...Suspicious. But that's why it's the best!
...
POV Switch - Alice
"You did a great job! As expected from our Alice!"
Carol came into my isolation room and immediately started praising me.
Last time, you rolled over and ran away, and you were so shameless!
Still, it was better to hear Carol's current voice than when she was attacked by the flower-shaped anomaly last time, so I left it alone.
Did Carol also have her own pain?
Maybe I thought Carol was too eccentric.
Carol is human too, so she probably has a sad part in her heart.
But it's until here I feel sorry for her. This is a different problem.
"I'll give you credit for placing the protocol button out in the open for anyone to press. But if they try to use me in the form of voluntary service, I won't stand still."
Despite my harsh gaze, Carol shrugged her shoulders.
"Service? Hmm... I suppose that's what the higher-ups think, but I'd like to reward you properly."
I said to Carol as she narrowed her eyes. What kind of plan is this?
"Compensation? I don't really need anything."
"To... To be honest, it's not the kind of reward Alice needs. Maybe it's better not to know."
"..."
I'm curious! It is said that knowledge is power.
I asked Carol to give it to me.
I felt caught in a trap when the corner of her mouth lifted slightly.
"This. Can you see it?"
Carol brought with her a photo and a map with some markings.
Carol pointed to the photo.
"It's a school."
"Yes. To be exact, it is the school where the children who spent time with Alice attend."
"...What?"
"Children who went missing when the incident occurred. And the kids who were with you until the end. Or so I was told, but anyway, those kids go to this school."
"What do they have to do with it?"
When I reacted harshly, Carol laughed softly.
Then, she unfolded the map and showed several red dots centered around the school.
If my guess is correct.
"No way."
"Yes. These red dots are all places where anomalous objects and phenomena appeared."
I couldn't help but frown. Carol said without caring.
"Anomalous objects began to gather there. This is why James hasn't been seen for a while. He mainly plays the role of exploring unfamiliar environments, but he is a person whos connected with these children, so I included him in it."
"Are you saying that the reason anomalous phenomena occur is because of the kids?"
They are the main characters of horror games.
The perfect people to get caught up in an incident in this world where bizarre beings exist.
I thought that the characteristics of a horror game would have completely disappeared as the space that was considered the game world overlapped with reality!
Fuck. Are we really still in the game? Ah, I don't fucking know, I don't know!
"Not at all! There is no basis. I don't even suspect it, it just happens a lot around this area."
Right? No, it shouldn't.
"Umm. Alice. Isolating and securing anomalous objects is our domain. It's not okay to make you come forward for personal reasons. But you're really anxious to leave it to us, right? Yes? You will feel anxious if you don't do it yourself!"
"..."
"But I'm here to make it happen."
Carol gave me a bankbook, cards, fake IDs, and a script with some background information, and she quietly said,
"This is my reward."
"You're clever."
Instead of leaving me to roam around the world and protect the kids, I have to do what the agency asks me to do in return for that much freedom.
I guess they decided it was the best move for me, who didn't particularly desire freedom.
Damn it, I'm caught up in something I'm not even sure about.
"Haa..."
I held back because I didn't want to see the kids get caught up in something dangerous, and I didn't want to see their normal daily lives collapse.
What if I'm the one to make it collapse?!
I continued to worry. I thought and thought, but eventually I nodded my head towards Carol.
'I need to act covertly as much as possible without being discovered...'
Yeah that's best.
...
"You know, Alice. Can you go in and out of the mirror?"
"Spit?! Urgh. Cough! Cough!"
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