NOVPUBThe token that Mr. Piero gave me transformed into a real hat.
From that hat, I heard a whisper—it was telling me to find the doll.
I couldn’t find any doll among all the many toys here.
As expected, I’ll have to head to the village.
I considered how to get there.
This medicine I got from the dressing table—it seemed to be a sleeping potion when ingested.
At mealtime, I secretly mixed the sleep drug into the soup so that no one would notice.
Before long, the monster that had taken the medicine fell asleep.
I gathered all the items I’d collected into my basket and left the building.
It was my first time seeing this building from the outside—it looked just like an orphanage.
I hurried on, fearing the monster might awaken.
Just as I set foot at the entrance of the village, figures that looked like village residents began to appear.
“Eek.”
I quickly hid.
After all, those creatures—village people served as the evening’s menu—might resemble humans, but they were nothing like real humans.
...As expected, they really aren’t human at all.
It seems finding a doll here won’t be easy.
At least hiding was a good call.
But now, their numbers are beginning to grow.
Where can I run to?
I wondered how great it would be if a knife in my hand could cut through all of them.
It turns out I’m so powerless—this weakness that forces me to be chased by such terrifying beings.
I, overwhelmed by the atmosphere, can barely manage to run and survive.
How can I possibly bring back the club members like this?
I’m worried. And...
...I feel so alone.
“Is this your first time here?”
“Hmm?!”
That startled me! For a moment, I thought I’d been caught by a monster pretending to be a villager.
But what appeared behind me were a boy and a girl, both younger than I am.
...The girl, though, was missing an arm.
“Who are you?”
“I’ll tell you later. Come this way before those monsters spot us.”
I was led by the tiny hand of the girl to a building up ahead.
It’s a doll shop!
It was incredibly close.
Just moments ago, I’d thought it’d be hard to get a doll, but it seems I might be able to get one quite easily.
“Normally, there would be villagers inside the building too, but we took them out. The owner of this doll shop particularly hated us and wouldn’t sell us any dolls. So we gave him a good, spicy dose of our own, you might say.”
The girl missing one arm let go of my hand and, muttering that it was all an old story, grasped the doorknob and opened the door.
Inside the shop, many children were playing with dolls.
Thank goodness—I can get a doll.
“Didn't you ask who I was? My name is Charlotte. And this one is Emily.”
“Hmm?”
Charlotte and Emily—those names sounded familiar.
The monstrous woman had mistaken me for Emily and Charlotte before.
I wondered what connection these kids had with that woman.
Noticing my puzzled gaze, Charlotte said,
“Yeah, it’s a name that sounds like a girl’s even though he’s a boy, isn’t it?”
“No, it just feels strangely familiar.”
At that, the boy called Emily responded to my vague answer,
“Murmur-murmur...”
It was hard to understand; it wasn’t so much that his pronunciation was clumsy as if he couldn’t use his jaw at all.
“Right, that’s how it is. He has an underdeveloped jaw, so he can’t speak well. Let me translate: Emily says that your name sounds familiar to him too.”
Emily? But I’d never seen these kids before.
After all, this was my first time here.
Where on earth have I been dragged? This doesn’t seem to be the world I once knew.
“What? A newbie, huh?”
From a corner, a girl with one eye and one leg—using crutches—approached.
Looking closer, all these kids seemed to have disabilities.
“...There’s something familiar about them.”
The girl looked at me and turned pale with shock.
“Eek! That—that kid is the one who hangs out with that woman, isn’t he?!”
“Which woman?”
“That crazy blonde bitch! We saw her walking around with someone named Mary. What was her name again...?”
“Blonde? Tell me in detail, Poel.”
The blonde girl—ugh, she was the one I’d only vaguely remembered before...!
I felt as though she was a friend, a dear friend, because fighting those supernatural forces with her had been fun.
Who was she...!
“Ugh... why can’t I remember? Anyway! That bastard slaughtered the spider monsters! Luckily, none of us died... but he might still be dangerous!”
“Well... even if you say that, I can’t tell who you’re talking about. Could you be more specific... like his name or his way of talking?”
“You were the one who used to hang out with him, so how don’t you know?”
“...”
I had nothing to say.
The girl called Charlotte—and another girl known as Poel—continued talking about how, for some reason, they were drawn to that blonde woman, then suddenly said,
“I’m against letting this guy come in here.”
Poel spoke with a strict, solemn, and serious expression.
I admired that sense of resolve.
I smiled broadly, trying to clear up any misunderstanding.
“Look, I’m not planning to settle here. I just need to get a few dolls.”
“A few dolls? ...I think there are about four unpopular dolls here. They’re not in great condition or anything... Alright, then, as soon as you get them, get out!”
“Okay. I’ll do that.”
Poel went off to fetch the dolls.
Even though she was missing one leg and one eye, she marched on confidently without asking anyone for help.
Kids with disabilities usually shrink away from others because of how differently they’re viewed, but judging by the way she carries herself, she must have been raised with plenty of love.
“She's always been a bit hot-headed. In other words, she's lively, which is good. Heh heh heh... If you weren’t here, where would you be?”
Charlotte asked with concern. Not wanting to worry them, I replied honestly,
“I came from that orphanage over on the top floor.”
“What...?”
Charlotte and Emily both jumped and waved their arms in surprise.
“Th-that’s for real?! You were with your mom?”
“Murmur! Murmur!”
“If it’s your mom, then she’s the one with four arms...”
“Right! Ugh, I miss my mom... I even drew so hard...”
Emily, with tears in his eyes, showed the drawing he had made.
It was a picture of his mom and the orphanage kids enjoying a picnic.
There were even people who looked like villagers in it.
“In that case, we can just go, right? It’s not that far.”
“...But mom doesn’t love us anymore.”
“...”
I couldn’t find the words to respond to the tearful expression on Charlotte’s face, whose backstory I could only guess at.
I patted her shoulder comfortingly.
That’s when one of the kids suddenly burst through the door and shouted,
“Emergency, emergency! Mom is coming down to the village!”
It seems the medicine’s effects have worn off! I never expected her to follow us all the way down to the village—the thought sent chills down my spine.
Yet, unlike me, the kids reacted as if they’d received good news.
“What?! She’s coming down even though it’s not mealtime?”
“Word is, this time she’s coming deep into the village!”
Hearing this, Poel, carrying the four dolls, moved quickly and caught my eye.
“Let’s go immediately! And hey, take all these with you!”
“Whoa.”
As I took hold of the four dolls, I stood there in stunned silence, watching most of the children in the shop rush outside.
Isn’t it dangerous with the monster out there?
“Don’t worry.”
Charlotte didn’t follow us out.
“We might get hurt, but we won’t die—at least, not in this space.”
“...”
The moment I secured the four dolls, Charlotte grabbed my hand and we went outside.
Then, I saw a figure—known only as Mom—hunting down those village-monsters.
The once-peaceful village was now blazing, filled only with screams.
“Have you taken my kids again? I won’t forgive you. I won’t forgive you!! They are my children!!!”
Kids were running toward the rampaging monster.
I wanted to stop them, but there were too many.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
“Mom! Mom, over here! Mom!”
“Look this way!”
“Disgusting spiders. How gross...”
“Eek!”
The children were swept away by the monster’s single wave of its hand.
They ended up with minor injuries, but none of them died.
Charlotte watched the scene with a sorrowful gaze.
“...I don’t know why. At some point, Mom just turned out like that. So, you’re heading back to the orphanage for now?”
“Yeah.”
“Here. Do you think you could show this to Mom later? I worked hard on this drawing.”
“Yeah... I’ll pass it on. I promise.”
Even though I had no time to really keep promises, the earnest look on Charlotte’s face made me promise nonetheless.
I tucked Charlotte’s drawing into my basket.
“Thank you... I’ll show you a secret shortcut that’ll get you home safely. I don’t know what your situation is, but it seems you mustn’t be caught by Mom.” 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘱𝘶𝑏.𝑐𝘰𝑚
I managed to return to the orphanage safely.
“You were told to get a doll, right? Somehow you ended up gathering four of them.”
Now, what to do...
I pulled out one of the dolls and placed the hat—the one from which that voice was coming—onto it.
In an instant, the doll, which had once resembled an ugly bear, transformed into a miniature Mr. Piero-like clown.
The doll spoke to me.
“Congratulations, Ha-rim. It is I—the amusing Mr. Piero!”
“Sir!”
“I’ve come to extract you from this mental realm... but what about the others?”
“They seem to have bodies, but their insides are empty. I ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) need to find what fills them from now on.”
“Do you have any idea where?”
“...the basement.”
That monster had said it locks up the disobedient children in the basement.
If they’ve been captured, they must be there.
The basement should be down the stairs.
But when I went a little down, the basement was blocked.
“Blocked?! Why?!”
“It appears someone who reached the basement—someone like you—has hidden its location.”
“...What should we do?”
“I’m truly sorry. In this place, outsiders are prevented from offering solutions. Even if you could resist by force, the power contained in this doll is already designated for a specific use. It cannot be wielded arbitrarily. You must devise a method on your own...”
“Still, as a hint: How about recalling memories of someone you haven’t thought of until now?”
Someone you haven’t thought of until now.
That was the blonde girl.
She was with me ever since I was dropped into this world full of monstrosities.
At first, she frightened me, but eventually I grew fond of her—she was strong and reliable.
...No, there was an even more decisive time.
A memory that only I shared, apart from the other club members.
...It was when the creature attacked me in a dream.
“...in the dream... the creature!”
The keyword suddenly came to mind.
I dashed to the room where the club members were.
With a bright, single smile, I passed the members—who still seemed like empty shells—and reached the bed they used.
I gathered the strands of hair that had fallen there.
Mr. Piero’s doll asked, clearly puzzled by my actions.
“What are you doing?”
“...‘Hide and Seek Alone’ is a famous urban legend. This place is said to be a mental world, right?
I believe that if the creature appears in dreams, we can also summon it here.
And when it comes to tracking down traces of the target, nothing beats a creature like this!
The conditions are: the target’s hair, something sharp, grain, red thread, and a doll!”
“Hide and Seek Alone” is an urban legend—and a kind of necromancy—that claims if attempted, the doll becomes possessed by a spirit to hunt down and kill the hidden one.
Moreover, all the items required for the attempt are among the things we’ve already collected.
“Hooh... as expected of the protagonist of this stage.”
I slit open the doll’s belly and filled it with grain (flour) and hair.
Next to it, I roughly placed some shards of glass from a broken flowerpot, threaded them with red thread, soaked them in water, and muttered an incantation.
Three of the dolls, clutching the sharp glass shards, moved off toward somewhere.
They stopped in front of an ordinary wall.
Yet the dolls passed right through it and arrived in a hidden room.
Over there!
“Kids!”
Behind that wall were three spider-web cocoons.
I sliced through all the webs with my knife.
Then, the souls trapped within found their places and flew off.
“With this, somehow...!”
I immediately dashed back to the original room.
There, the club members who had come to their senses greeted me.
“Ha-rim! You did it!” “You survived, as expected of you, Ha-rim!”
Sorry about this, but it seems the doll-creatures I summoned are barreling toward us to kill—we won’t have a chance to exchange pleasantries!
As I was about to wave a hasty greeting and run off, Kyung-min, who was stuck to the window, shouted:
“Hey... wait a minute, something’s leaping up!”
“Forget the dolls and get out of here!”
“No, I’m talking about the female monster!”
“Eek!”
“...There’s no time! Hurry and grab ■■. This is really not good—whatever item that’s been bothering you, grab it now!”
Whatever item was bothering me...
...The dressing table!
We rushed up to the second floor and stood in front of the dressing table.
Then, we peeled off the metal plate that faced us when we sat at the dressing table.
“That came off surprisingly easily. Now what?”
“I can’t say in detail because we’re being interfered with, but you can use it to get out. I’ll create the opportunity! For your information, there will be no second chance!”
When the Mr. Piero doll snapped his fingers, the space began to distort.
The boundaries of objects blurred, and everything seemed to merge in a nauseating display.
“Whoa... whoa!”
“What is this? It’s bizarre!”
“This, too, is a mental attack.
Every object in this world will become ambiguous!
That plain red square made of paper, by virtue of its redness, assumes the properties of fire.
That single blade of grass, for being thin and sharp, will become a knife!”
The properties of things became vague. They were simplified. How am I supposed to use that?
“Soo-ho, suddenly you’ve got a coat on!”
“Reset. The world is about to reset. The Arachnid, having noticed the change, is attempting to return to the beginning. If we miss this opportunity, we’ll never get out. Hurry before it’s too late!”
Under the influence of the reset, the world began to crumble.
Even the floor collapsed, and we fell to the very bottom of the world.
“Ugh...”
“We’re... falling!”
“Eeee! Save me!”
“There is a hint in our memories! Use that metal plate!”
A hint lies in our memories.
In this wild, chaotic moment, I focused my mind.
Memories—this was a continuation of a recollection that came flooding back.
I had once crumbled when, in a dream, I met a creature and witnessed a horrifying future.
At that time, you became the light.
Just like a writer who changes the script of a terrifying play, you promised me
that you’d transform our fear into an adventure.
You were my confidant.
And I believe that back then, we became true friends.
And the friend I longed for more than anyone.
I hate loneliness.
But with “this,” you can always be by my side!
Where could there be a friend more wonderful than that?
I pulled a pencil from my pocket.
Then, I sketched my own figure onto the metal plate.
It wasn’t a masterpiece—but the ambiguous properties of things made this absurdity possible!
“This metal plate holds my image! In other words, it is an object that reflects me!”
“...Then this is a ‘mirror’!”
The metal plate shifted and transformed, taking on the complete form of a mirror.
“Hurry and come get me.”
“Ella!”
—That’s correct, Ha-rim.
“Let’s go home.”
