NOVPUBI’m only now posting my review.
Honestly, I never thought someone as inconsistent as me could write up to 50 chapters, but somehow, I did.
The driving force behind this was definitely the overwhelming flood of comments!
How do other authors even do this?
Are they even human?
Inspiration
The concept of "Ghost in a Horror Game" originally took inspiration from the RPG Maker game Ib.
Mary, a character from Ib, is an antagonist but still has the potential to reach an ending alongside the protagonist. She’s a compelling character.
And I thought—what if a character like that fully sided with the protagonist? Wouldn’t that be interesting? And if she were a tsundere, even better.
So, Ella’s inspiration comes from Ib’s Mary.
For the original game’s protagonist group, of course, I based them on the Mystery Exploration Club.
Kyung-min, in particular, ended up very similar to a certain glasses-wearing character.
However, the original game’s protagonist, Ha-rim, has two additional sources of inspiration beyond the Mystery Exploration Club.
The First: The Player
There are quite a few games where a child is the protagonist. But I always wonder—how do these kids manage to save the world or escape horrifying situations?
We, as players, have save-load features, but within the game’s original timeline, no matter what kind of trap, monster, or crisis comes their way, they always manage to overcome it.
That’s Ha-rim’s exceptional nature.
The Second: Faust
The theme of Faust is “A human who continues to strive will ultimately find salvation.”
But since this game was created by Mephisto, it aligns with his taste. In the standard route, even though Ha-rim suffers from losing her friends and refuses to give up, she ultimately breaks down in the face of overwhelming despair.
Mephisto, that bastard, still holds a grudge over losing a bet to Faust.
In the story, Ha-rim is the opposite of Faust—she doesn’t receive salvation from a god.
And the one who corrects that is Ella (Alice).
From the perspective of Faust, Alice is like the god who delivers salvation! (Foreshadowing~)
Things I Regret While Writing
It’s messy! Absolutely chaotic! My vocabulary is limited!
The phrasing is awkward! It’s cringeworthy! Readers probably found it incredibly frustrating. I’m sorry. I’ll do better next time.
The lore is way too excessive.
I’m not the type to plan everything out in advance, so I write each chapter on the fly.
As a result, the scale of the story got out of control... send help.
I also should’ve put more focus on the relationships between the kids.
Each of them should’ve had their ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) own dedicated episode, but I rushed through the story’s progress instead of properly building those moments. Character appeal is important, yet I skipped through the process of collecting items, which was a big mistake.
The typos were bad, but the biggest issue was... rushed pacing!!!
Since I was writing while in the military, a single chapter took too long to complete, so I tried to finish everything while on leave. That ended up... well, like this.
I intended for the plot to move fast, but I didn’t even manage to properly resolve the foreshadowing, so everyone was left going, “Huh?”
Sobs... Sorry! But I’ll never do a remake, not even if I die.
Writing on my phone also drained me halfway through... adding illustrations killed the rest of my stamina...!
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
Explaining the Lore (Boring, But Might Help!)
Some people didn’t understand how Alice was born, so here’s an explanation.
In this world, if you gather enough sacrifices and fulfill a certain story’s conditions, you can create a specific demon.
The protagonist fulfilled several of these stories—here are a few examples:
First, Entities (Gu-i, 怪異). These beings are formed from humanity’s sinister thoughts, stories, and fears.
Throughout the story, it’s mentioned that they can be perceived as entertainment, much like people enjoy horror games.
Even Piero saw them as puzzling little amusements.
So, there’s this idea that Entities are a form of entertainment.
Next, Alice in Wonderland.
In Alice in Wonderland, Alice explores a strange world. If you’ve read the original story, you’ll know that it’s filled with puns and wordplay.
Wordplay = Entities.
Thus, Wonderland = A world filled with Entities.
I used this as a connecting point.
Now, let’s talk about Alice herself.
In Chapter 33, the protagonist refers to Alice as an extraordinary individual.
From a normal person’s perspective, Wonderland might seem bizarre and unsettling, but Alice, as the protagonist of the fairy tale, perceives it as an adventure rather than horror.
Thus, Alice is someone who turns fear into adventure.
The protagonist ended up trapped inside a horror game where despair was the only possible outcome. But by twisting the situation into a happy ending, they transformed the children’s fear into an adventure (a form of entertainment).
Therefore, the protagonist = Alice.
With all these elements combined, the protagonist was reborn as the Alice Demon.
There were other factors too—since the protagonist was inside Ella, their soul changed to fit the vessel. They originally had black hair as a young man but transformed into a blonde woman. Their emotions became more expressive. Their soul reverted to that of a child. They developed a deep connection with mirrors. And so on.
If I unraveled all the foreshadowing, we’d be here forever...!
What Happens Next?
The game was cleared, and the world where the protagonist and the children existed collapsed.
Technically, Alice was born by consuming that world.
In the end, the children returned to reality, had their memories erased by the organization, and went on to live their separate lives.
And Alice... what will they do next?
That’s what Part 2 is about!
Roughly speaking, Alice will probably be on the run from the organization—haha.
Part 2 will be released within a month.
Thank you all for reading up to this point!
If you request any side stories, I’ll try my best to write them.
Once again, thank you so much for reading!
