Mephistopheles: I am not afraid of this wager in the slightest. On the day I achieve my goal. Please allow me to shout out loud at the top of my lungs. I will feed that guy garbage. And I’ll make him eat it with relish. Just like the famous serpent of Eden, who was my own flesh and blood.

As the devil taunted, God spoke.

God: If you wish to talk again, come whenever you please. I have never hated your kind. Among all the spirits that practice denial, The least burdensome is a trickster like you. Human activity is too prone to slackness, and they are apt to love unconditional rest. Therefore, I give them a companion, It is the duty of devils to stimulate them and make them come to their senses. You too are true sons of God. Enjoy this beauty!

The devil speaks.

Ha!

Sometimes, seeing that old man isn’t so bad.

ㅡ(From the play Faust)ㅡ

…

“In the end, I failed to see that old man’s face.”

Mephistopheles mutters as he looks at the world that has returned to normal.

“I should have somehow stopped Alice’s children.”

Mephistopheles was lost in thought for a moment.

“…”

And then he laughed, realizing it was a foolish thought.

If this huge flow was to be swayed by mere children, the result would have been the same no matter what.

If whatever evil he committed was bound to become a more valuable good, then perhaps this derived world was also under that old man’s influence.

In truth, no one could know.

No one but God.

Part of the Institution also joined Mephistopheles’ plan to build a nation that would not meet the end of a derived world, a nation that would not disappear.

Dorothy also denied reality and spun the Ferris wheel in her illusion.

Alice, too, had her eyes covered and tried to create an ideal heaven where the children’s adventure would continue.

Lewis Carroll too, and all those who harbored desires, reached out towards the original world, but in the end, the brats who insisted they were human chose to live by striving in the moment rather than an eternal future.

Mephistopheles chuckled on the spot and then disappeared.

The last place he appeared was in front of Lewis Carroll’s grave.

It was a simple whim.

He hadn’t formed any particular bond with Lewis Carroll, and was rather indifferent.

Nevertheless, the reason he bothered to visit this place was because her end, burning her body to block him, had been quite impressive.

He looked at the grave, where white flowers and a broken lantern lay, and was about to turn back.

Then, someone walked up behind him.

“I didn’t know you were smart enough to predict my movements.”

That someone was Alice.

“Unfortunately, it’s a coincidence.”

In Alice’s arms were a handwritten letter and a colorful bouquet of flowers to put on the grave.

This meant that her and his meeting was truly a coincidence.

“Since we’ve met, let me know. Why did it have to be me?”

This was a question about why all this had happened only to her.

If he had tried, he could have found many others in similar circumstances to hers.

To that, Mephistopheles replied.

“Such a question is meaningless. What would you say if a guy who’s unlucky enough to get hit by a meteor asked that question? It was just a coincidence.”

“…Is that really all?”

“…”

She looks at him earnestly.

Even though it was a question not worth answering, he felt strangely reluctant not to answer.

Mephistopheles recalls his memory of the original world, not his own…

God: If you wish to talk again, come whenever you please. I have never hated your kind.

Mephistopheles: Sometimes, seeing that old man isn’t so bad.

His brief recollection ended.

He muttered that he understood Faust’s despair, and then spoke softly.

“Talking to you wasn’t so bad. That’s all.”

“…Thank you. It won’t justify the evil you’ve committed… but it feels a little better. I’m quite happy. That all the stories so far have led to friendship.”

Alice, who heard the nonsensical answer, smiled in relief as if that was good enough.

Mephistopheles looked at her and then hid his presence again.

Alice speaks to him as he disappears.

“Then let’s meet again. My first friend. It’s because it’s in front of a grave, but if we meet again somewhere else, my fist will fly first. Be warned in advance. I’ll lock you in the basement and keep hitting you.”

“Ha! I made one good devil. Farewell, Han Yoo-hee.”

Mephistopheles disappeared again and did not appear for a while.

…

POV Switch – Ha-rim

This is what happened after the world completely returned.

Our world was quite different from before.

The singularity Alice had held back… No, perhaps because she overcame the arrogance of the derived world, it almost lost its power.

As a result, beings with ruler-like power no longer appeared.

However, the number of anomalies increased, so the head of the Institution still leads a busy life.

And a while ago, a scout offer came to us.

It was said that they wanted to raise us as agents of the Institution, even though we are elementary school students. Wow! I don’t have to worry about employment!

But it’s quite a dangerous job, so I’ll have to think about it a lot.

If I get married, I’ll have to protect my child rather than working for the Institution…

Is it too early to be thinking about such things? Hehe.

Come to think of it, they say it’s good to find your career path when you’re young, so I should try various activities besides the Institution…

Immediately after the Alice incident.

Other tale devils also returned, and after hearing the circumstances, they were all surprised.

Dorothy’s reaction was also impressive.

She looked a little sad.

Perhaps because a big incident had occurred, they also enjoyed their own daily lives.

Pinocchio’s precious child.

The child named Cassie seems to be entering the 5th grade soon.

She complained that her back was bent from earning money and raising a child due to spending a lot of money on private education.

Well, I don’t know about other countries, but private education costs in Korea are expensive.

Maybe she’s half crazy.

Peter Pan is said to be playing the role of mediating peace in the Institution.

With force, that is.

He seems to like this role.

He said.

The most fun is peaceful troublemaking… I also haven’t forgotten the thrill of setting fire to Peter Pan’s factory, so I deeply sympathized.

Ariel, while enjoying the boredom of a relatively peaceful world, was also bored, or perhaps chasing her dream again, she was earning money by streaming on the internet.

She changed her appearance to be ordinary, but she sometimes mesmerizes viewers with her songs, so the Institution doesn’t seem to like it very much.

She seems to have become half a ghost story on the internet, so I wanted to try exorcising her.

Jack seems to be doing volunteer work by finding fertile lands with his fruit-bearing power, harvesting the fruits, and then delivering them to countries suffering from famine.

Contrary to Ariel, who became an internet ghost story, Jack seems to have become something like a land fairy in that country.

He rather liked it.

He seems to be satisfied, saying that he is living a fulfilling life just by alleviating his past guilt.

Dorothy still misses her real home, but she seems to have accepted her new home with a bittersweet smile.

Still, her frequency of playing with us has decreased.

Currently, she spends her time annihilating anomalous entities with the Institution.

She occasionally sends pictures, saying she did something meaningful, but her smiling face in the always blood-soaked appearance was creepy.

“Haa…”

Snow falls from the sky.

Winter has already passed… White breath appears in the air and then disappears.

Going to school on a day like this.

I wonder if I can take a break.

It hasn’t been long since I entered middle school, and meeting new friends is fun, but the cold weather is really not good.

Suho, Eun-jeong, and Kyeong-min, who coincidentally ended up in the same class, also seemed to hate the cold weather, as they bought a lot of hot packs and shook them around.

It seems a bit excessive… Anyway, at school, we discussed whether to create an occult club here too while thinking about our future careers.

Our country, crazy about education, probably won’t allow it like in elementary school.

I’m thinking of disguising it as a study club.

After school, we headed to my house.

Until the club-related matters are resolved, it was judged more reasonable to meet at my always empty house.

Opening the door.

Alice welcomed us.

“Nya nya… Are you back?”

Wearing cat gloves on her hands, she was imitating a cat.

“Hey, kids. How long do I have to do this imitation…?”

“Alice is a cat, so you have to add nya at the end of every sentence!”

Alice had to be punished for a while.

Just like when she tried to erase our memories during the Neverland incident.

She swore she wouldn’t do anything like leaving us, but even if she was caught in a trap, she committed the same mistake twice, so the price was severe.

“Ha-rim… Please help me. Eun-jeong is forcing me to wear a swimsuit! And then she asks me to go outside!”

Alice, on the verge of tears, clings to me.

I smiled brightly at Alice’s feelings.

“Yes, I see. Alice, you hate that?”

“Of course!”

Alice shrugged her shoulders as if asking why I was asking such an obvious thing.

I asked Alice that.

“If you don’t like it, are you going to leave us and disappear again?”

“Huh?”

“Why? Alice likes to disappear.”

“That’s… not true…”

“Even if not, you’re still being punished. Just shut up and make cat noises.”

“…Nya nya~”

Alice trembled and tried to appease me by doing things she would never normally do, like rubbing against me.

Actually, I wasn’t that angry.

Still, I feel like she won’t leave us on her own if I punish her like this.

We’ll eventually forgive me, but it’ll take a little longer to clear the karma.

Still, Alice only has to imitate a cat for 2 hours a day.

She can regain her dignity for the rest of the time.

“Really…”

Alice, who had finished her punishment time and changed her clothes, stood beside us who were chatting with tired faces.

“It’s all over.”

That’s right.

The big incidents are all over now.

It’s true that the story has ended, and we’re just living a peaceful daily life like an epilogue.

Suddenly, Alice’s blonde hair turned black.

Alice said that it happens sometimes because she’s no longer afraid of waking up from a dream.

Alice changed her hair back to blonde and acted nonchalantly.

I told her.

“Hmm, a black cat wouldn’t be bad either.”

“…Just don’t put a leash on me.”

“Just kidding! The punishment time is two hours a day!”

“I wish you’d say you wouldn’t do it at all…”

A comfortable and peaceful conversation with Alice.

An epilogue after everything is over.

Oh, maybe this is the end of the story?

It should be fine.

It doesn’t mean our misfortune, and even if the story ends, we will continue to live.

Alice, who remained not as a god but as our own mirror ghost… This ideal ending will lead to another beginning.

I recalled the adventures so far.

And I decided to record them in my diary since I remembered.

Recalling what I couldn’t write in my diary so far, I started writing.

Alice who fell for Mephistopheles’ trick, Mister Jack O’Lantern who guided us, and sister Lewis Carroll who helped us… Eventually, even saving Alice.

And I have to write about today’s events too… Since there’s a lot of content, I could barely fit in saving Alice and the world returning to normal on the last page.

I inserted a sentence to indicate a break in the middle and decided to take out a new diary.

I pondered what to write as the last sentence of the first diary.

I soon decided and started writing.

[Alice was saved, and our world returned to normal. The last page of the diary has ended, but our adventure continued…]

Arrow pointing, continued in the next diary!

I inserted a photo and closed the diary.

I Became a Ghost in a Horror Game. (Complete)

Finally, I Became a Ghost in a Horror Game is complete!

I’ll see you in the afterword.

Were there any memorable chapters or characters?

I hope there were!

As always, if you spot any mistakes, feel free to let me know—and I hope you enjoyed the read!

—Chi