NOVPUB“...Hey, Ella. We just need one more talisman. Can’t you wait a little longer?”
Ha-rim spoke gently, careful not to offend me. I could already guess what she was misunderstanding.
I finished wiping my knife, still stained from slashing the rabbits that attacked them, and corrected her.
“You’re wrong. We’ve already gathered them all.”
I pulled out the final talisman and handed it to Ha-rim.
With all four talismans gathered, they emitted a brilliant glow and ascended into the sky, spreading outward from the schoolyard.
A transparent barrier formed, covering the entire school and even reaching the convenience store in front of it.
This barrier physically prevented any supernatural entities from invading.
In the original game, where save-load mechanics existed, it wasn’t particularly meaningful—but in reality, it was an essential survival measure.
For now, we could breathe a little easier.
The kids, who had been staring in awe at the barrier, turned their eyes back to me, clearly curious about what I had just done.
“With this, no monsters can physically enter. You can relax.”
At those words, Ha-rim’s tense expression softened.
She let out a deep breath and collapsed onto the floor.
The others rushed to support her.
“...Thanks for helping us, Ella.”
“...Yeah.”
I nodded at her weak voice.
It was only natural to be exhausted—stress could drain people even when they weren’t physically exerting themselves, let alone when they were running for their lives.
They needed to rest.
I stretched and let out a fake yawn.
“Ah~ I’ve been outside the mirror for too long. I’m tired~ I’ll be in the full-length mirror in the classroom. See you later.”
And with that, I retreated into the mirror.
It was more comfortable in there anyway.
And besides, they wouldn’t be able to rest properly with me around.
-----
“Haah... We survived.”
As soon as Ella disappeared, Kyung-min let out a sigh of relief.
Everyone collapsed onto the cafeteria floor, too drained to move.
Their eyes eventually landed on me, clearly expecting an explanation.
So, I explained everything to them.
“Ella agreed to help us? In exchange for snacks and games?”
“...Yeah. Somehow, that’s how it ended up.”
Soo-ho still looked skeptical.
Sure, Ella had helped them, but in the mansion, she was a murderous spirit drenched in blood.
It was much easier to believe that this was just another one of her whims—that she was simply toying with them before eventually killing them.
“She told us to see her at night, right? What if we have to play another game with her? What if it’s another death game?”
Kyung-min’s face screamed I don’t want to go through that again.
He probably had PTSD from the hide-and-seek incident.
So, I made a proposal.
“Let’s become real friends with Ella.”
Their reactions?
Pure confusion.
I opened the diary I had taken from the mansion and explained.
Ella might be a vengeful spirit now, but she was once a normal child who had suffered abuse.
Sorrow and pain had twisted her.
If we could fix that, she wouldn’t be dangerous anymore.
“If she truly just wanted friends and saw murder as a game... then maybe we can survive by teaching her normal games.”
“...Kyung-min, you’re really sharp.”
“Now that I think about it... Ella is kind of pitiful.”
Eun-jung, ever compassionate, was already forgetting her fear in favor of sympathy.
Seeing her reaction, the others started leaning toward agreement as well.
“...Without that barrier, we’d still be running for our lives right now. And she did save us from the rabbits... Alright. Let’s give it a shot.”
Kyung-min clenched his fist, determined.
Growl~
But his stomach betrayed him with a loud rumble.
“...Let’s eat first.”
Hahaha!
Even in a different world, some things never changed.
Just being together was enough to make them laugh.
Would there ever be a day when we could laugh with Ella like this?
I tried to imagine Ella smiling.
But what came to mind was her sneering with a bloodstained knife in hand.
...Could we really tame her into a friend?
Well, we’d figure it out after eating.
“The barrier reaches the convenience store. Let’s go grab some food!”
“But... we don’t have any money. Is it really okay to just take it?”
Eun-jung, ever the rule-follower, hesitated.
Normally, she’d never even jaywalk, let alone steal.
But this wasn’t our world.
It was an empty, parallel version of it.
At least, that’s how it seemed.
I doubted anything we did here would affect the real world.
Hearing my reasoning, Eun-jung nodded reluctantly.
So, we raided the convenience store and brought back food.
Some of it needed hot water, so we went to the home economics room to boil it.
Despite being another world, electricity and gas were still functioning.
This place made no sense.
As we ate, we began planning how to deal with Ella that night.
-----
Full-length mirrors really are the most comfortable.
It’s a good place to think.
Time to organize my thoughts.
We exorcised the spirits, activated the barrier, and secured the kids’ safety—at least to an extent.
But we weren’t completely safe.
The barrier only blocked physical intrusions.
If a beast-like creature tried to storm the school, it would be stopped.
But beings like me, who traveled through reflections, could still get inside.
So could entities like Slender Man, who teleported.
Routine patrols might help...
But there was one more problem.
Some creatures could simply break through the barrier with sheer force.
Those were the “bosses.”
There were four bosses in total.
Excluding myself—[Mirror Ella]—that left three.
I remembered testing something in the game once.
I had tried escaping to the barrier-protected school while being chased by a boss.
The result?
The barrier shattered.
The so-called “safe zone” was obliterated in seconds.
The developers clearly planned for that to happen.
Damn those twisted devs. That damned clown.
So, could I, as a boss, break the barrier too?
Absolutely not.
[Mirror Ella] was a tutorial boss.
In other words—weak.
Sure, the game presented me as a boss, but I wasn’t actually that strong.
The difficulty level was completely different.
Honestly, one of the reasons I initially wanted to leave everything to the original protagonists was because of the bosses.
Back in my mansion, where I was strongest, I had still struggled against Slender Man—a mere miniboss.
How the hell was I supposed to fight the actual bosses out here?
If I hadn’t absorbed Slender Man and gained a solid physical form, I wouldn’t have had a chance.
I was in the middle of strategizing when—
The classroom door suddenly opened.
Ha-rim and the others?
They came to me on their own?
I hadn’t even gone looking for them yet.
And their faces...
They looked serious.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
For the first time since becoming a ghost, I felt a little nervous.
For a split second, I even wondered if they were here to exorcise me.
“...Oh my? Coming to me first? What a surprise.”
I slipped naturally into my “Ella” act—smirking playfully, speaking with my usual teasing tone.
There was no hesitation in Ha-rim’s voice as she answered.
“Of course. We came to play a game with you, Ella.”
“...A game?” n𝚘vp𝚞𝚋.com
Oh, right.
I did agree to that, didn’t I?
At the time, rejecting their offer would’ve felt out of place, so I had just gone with it.
Now that they actually followed through, refusing would seem cowardly.
I smiled, intrigued.
“What a lovely surprise. What game are we playing?”
I assumed it would be something simple.
A word game, or maybe a card game.
Even though I had been here for a while, I still knew what modern kids played.
But then—
Ha-rim spoke.
“It’s called house. We each take on roles and play together.”
...What? House?
Wasn’t that something kindergarteners played, not elementary schoolers?
Did I misunderstand something?
Or was I just too old to get it?
This wasn’t even a real “game.” It was more of a role-playing activity.
I couldn’t exactly refuse.
Sigh. Playing house at my age...
No, let’s think positively.
I had never had friends from kindergarten to middle school.
Maybe I should just treat this as making up for lost experiences.
“...Fine. What’s my role?”
Ha-rim’s face brightened immediately.
She answered without hesitation.
“You’re the mom!”
...The mom?!
A wave of self-loathing hit me.
Meanwhile, the others busily prepared.
Did they seriously plan this whole thing ahead of time?
Why were they so serious about this?
While I sat there dumbfounded, Kyung-min suddenly stepped forward.
“Uh... Mom! I’m home!!”
...What the hell.
I knew they were just kids, so it wasn’t that weird, but seeing Kyung-min force himself to act like this felt painfully awkward.
He was even sweating.
Why was he so desperate?
I decided to play along.
“...Welcome home.”
I shifted my gaze to avoid looking at Kyung-min’s ridiculous act—
And saw Ha-rim sitting on all fours.
...What was she doing?
“Woof.”
...I was genuinely concerned that all this supernatural chaos had made them lose their minds.
Too bad there weren’t any mental restoration items in this world.
“Mom! I’m hungry!”
...Kyung-min.
Where was the version of you that tried to protect everyone from me?
Was I supposed to pretend to cook now?
I pulled out my knife.
“U-UWAAAH!!”
“Wait! If a child is hungry, you’re supposed to make food! Not kill something!”
Ha-rim shot up in alarm.
Weren’t you playing the dog?!
I sighed and put the knife away.
Only then did she relax.
Meanwhile, Soo-ho, who had been watching quietly, stepped in.
“H-honey, you must be exhausted today. Don’t worry—I’ll cook this time.”
With exaggerated motions, he pretended to cook.
Then, he simply tore open a bag of snacks, poured them onto the floor, and called it a meal.
The three of them—Kyung-min, Ha-rim, and Soo-ho—sat in a circle around me, as if we were a real family.
Ha-rim handed me a piece of chocolate-covered biscuits.
Crispy, sweet, and creamy.
Probably a new product.
I quietly accepted it and ate.
Soo-ho, watching me, grinned.
“Haha! Isn’t it wonderful for a family to be together like this?”
...His tone annoyed me.
“...Sure.”
“Having your loved ones beside you—that’s true happiness!”
Why was he so persistent with this?
“I’m a robber!”
Eun-jung suddenly burst into the room.
Wearing a plastic bag over her head, she pointed her fingers like a gun at us.
What was this?
Was I supposed to subdue her?
I reached for my knife.
“If you say ‘stop,’ I’ll run away!”
...I was done questioning things.
“...Stop.”
“Gah! In that case, I have no choice!”
And just like that, Eun-jung ran off.
I had no idea where to even begin questioning this.
I stared at them in disbelief.
Kyung-min averted his gaze and quickly delivered his next line.
“See?! Mom loves us!”
...Say that to my face.
“You truly are my dear wife. Protecting ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) your family like this—now we can live in happiness!”
“Woof!”
And just like that, they all laughed to create a happy ending.
“Hahaha!!”
...
Hahaha... ha... ha.
...
Ha... ha...
...
They finally noticed my blank expression.
Awkwardly, they started whispering about ‘failed operations’ or something.
I got the feeling they were trying to show me something through this ridiculous game.
I wasn’t sure what.
But...
It was fun.
If anyone heard me say that, they’d probably look at me like I just laughed at a terrible dad joke.
But this nonsense was so absurd that it was entertaining.
Completely unpredictable.
It made me chuckle.
“Heh.”
It was childish.
So incredibly childish.
-----
Ella laughed.
The operation was a success.
Their goal had been to make Ella value human life—by playing house.
It was a messy, ridiculous attempt.
But in the end, it had worked.
Ella had played the role of protecting a family.
That was enough to plant the idea.
“Well, that was amusing. Let’s call it a day. You guys can go back now.”
At those words, the group returned to their clubroom.
And they celebrated their success.
If they continued to guide Ella toward the right values,
Then maybe, just maybe,
They’d survive all their games with her—
Without anyone getting hurt.
This was one step forward.
One step closer to making Ella a real friend.
And one step further from death.
