NOVPUB"Ha-rim! What are you thinking about?"
It was the free time after lunch.
Even in such a short period, the students, like the social creatures they were, were busy chatting with each other.
However, for some reason, Shin Ha-rim was staring out the window, lost in thought.
"Ah, Eun-jung. Oh... I was just thinking about what I did during the summer break. It feels like it passed by in an instant."
No matter how hard she tried to recall, she couldn't remember much.
Only bits and pieces of happy memories and lonely moments from the break remained.
Because of that, she failed to complete her summer vacation homework, which required keeping a journal, and ended up getting scolded by the teacher.
"Now that you mention it, I can't really think of anything either. I feel like I just ate, slept, and wasted time the whole break."
Well, maybe that was a kind of happiness in its own way?
"Ugh... I regret it. People really need to do something with their time. From now on, I'm going to plan my life properly."
Saying that, Ha-rim took out a notebook.
With her pencil, she drew a square labeled [To-Do List], and for item number one, she wrote: "Decide what to do."
"So, what should I do?"
She started to think.
Her eyes wandered to another page in her notebook.
It was filled with her doodles.
Most of them were sketches of horror-related figures—characters from urban legends that she had imagined in her own way.
And in the middle of them, randomly placed, was a sketch of a hand mirror.
Ha-rim's eyes lit up.
"...I just got a great idea."
"What is it?"
"I'll tell you when everyone's here. Where are Soo-ho and Kyung-min?"
"They're playing soccer right now. I don't get why they enjoy sweating so much, doing that whenever they get the chance."
Before lunch break ended, Ha-rim made her way to the field.
The game was about to end, and soon the boys would be changing out of their sportswear.
When she arrived, Soo-ho and Kyung-min were taking a break, drinking water.
"So, you guys were resting."
"Oh, hey, Ha-rim. What's up?"
Kyung-min wiped his sweat with a towel as he asked.
"It's nothing major, but I feel like I wasted my summer break, so I want to do something fun now. I thought we could do it together as part of our club activities."
Kyung-min and Soo-ho tilted their heads, thinking about their own summer vacations.
They realized they couldn’t recall doing anything particularly memorable either.
It was one thing for Eun-jung, but for even them to have spent the break in a similar way felt unusual.
"Yeah, I get what you mean. What kind of thing are you talking about?"
Ha-rim grinned.
"Have you guys heard about the latest urban legend?"
"Hmm... are you talking about the recent mirror ghost story?"
After a moment of thought, Kyung-min quickly remembered.
Ha-rim realized that, in a way, Kyung-min was the second most dedicated member of their club after her.
"Of course, you know about it, Kyung-min!"
Mirrors were a staple in horror stories.
There were a few common types of mirror-related ghost stories—ones where the reflection moved on its own, mirrors that acted as portals to another world, and tales where something terrifying appeared within the mirror.
This particular story belonged to the last category.
It was called "Alice’s Mirror."
"Eh? I’ve never heard of it. What kind of story is it?"
Eun-jung asked, and Kyung-min adjusted his glasses.
"It’s ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) like Jangsanbeom. One of those urban legends that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Apparently, a figure named ‘Alice’ has been showing up in mirrors."
Kyung-min shared one of the stories he had read online.
There was a student who had been bullied and was about to commit suicide.
Standing on the rooftop, they were ready to jump.
But at the last moment, they turned back—for the sake of a friend who was also being bullied.
And in their hand was a small hand mirror.
They didn’t think much of it and started heading downstairs.
But they lost their footing and fell.
At that moment, they saw a strange-looking woman with blonde hair and blue eyes appear in the hand mirror.
When they opened their eyes, they were on the first floor, unharmed.
"[What a strange thing.]"
For some reason, that phrase kept echoing in their head.
"Whoa... for a recent urban legend, that’s really absurd. But at least it ended on a good note."
Ghost stories about simply seeing a spirit were boring, but people still believed in them.
However, stories like this—ones that seemed too unrealistic—had little credibility.
They usually didn’t gain much traction.
Kyung-min understood Eun-jung’s skepticism but explained why this story was different.
"It does sound absurd. But the weird thing is, a lot of people claim to have experienced it."
"Oh..."
There was an old saying: “If three people claim there’s a tiger in the streets, even if there wasn’t one before, there will be one now.”
If enough people repeated a lie, it would start to seem real.
Eun-jung seemed to grow more interested.
"Also, since her name is Alice and she always says ‘what a strange thing’ to the person she appears to, people started linking her to Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Now, there’s tons of fan interpretations online."
"Ugh..."
She hadn’t expected that.
Kyung-min pulled out his phone and showed them some of the related posts.
"Look at this."
There were creepy drawings of a girl with multiple arms and a monstrous face.
Some depicted a blonde girl with blue eyes, dressed like Alice from the fairy tale.
She was often drawn wearing an apron.
While some artworks made her look eerie, others portrayed her as simply beautiful.
"Hmm. Some are terrifying, but some are really pretty."
"There are even videos about her on XTube."
That was dangerous. The conversation was straying off course.
Ha-rim quickly redirected it.
"Anyway, we’re going to investigate the Alice urban legend."
"How exactly?"
"We can go to the places where she supposedly appeared. Or maybe try a summoning ritual."
"A real ritual? That’s serious. It’s not like it’ll actually work, but..."
If it did work, that would be a problem in itself.
But it sounded fun, so Kyung-min agreed.
"We don’t have many options, so we might as well try. It’s not like we can bungee jump off a rooftop."
"If it fails, we can just collect stories and document them."
"Then it’s settled. Is everyone free today?"
Ha-rim looked at them with eager eyes.
But the others avoided her gaze.
One by one, they spoke up.
"Ah... I have cram school right after this."
"I’m going out with my parents."
"What?! Eun-jung, what about you?"
"I’m free tomorrow, but today’s my family’s dining-out day!"
So, in the end, no one was available.
Ha-rim sighed.
"...Fine. We’ll investigate tomorrow! It’s a promise!"
"Of course. Let’s do it together tomorrow."
That night, Ha-rim sat at her desk, scrolling through XTube.
Eventually, she typed into the search bar:
"Alice... Alice... Urban Legend..."
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
There are quite a few related videos.
Especially considering that urban legends aren’t exactly a mainstream topic.
Alice. In the video called Collection of Imaginings, several drawings appear.
Though many of them are grotesque, those very features end up igniting the imaginations of children.
— “It kind of looks cool...”
That’s because scary and grotesque = strong! A weird but common equation.
— “Blonde hair, doll-like pale skin, blue eyes. At a glance, just an ordinary foreigner, but when she gets angry, her face distorts grotesquely. Hmm. Is it even okay for an urban legend to be this pretty?”
This wasn’t part of the original legend, so why do people keep adding their own interpretations?
At this point, it feels less like a horror figure and more like a character.
If you search on XTube, you’ll find plenty of examples of monsters from famous urban legends—like Slenderman, the Killer Clown, and Mothman—being turned into characters and thrown into animation battles against each other as part of fan-made content.
— “I wonder if there’s one...”
I scrolled down.
...There is?!
— “...This kind of versus battle isn’t scary at all... It’s just a game they made up themselves.”
But even as I said that, I clicked on the video.
After all, I was still just a kid at heart.
I watched for a while, until I finally fell asleep at the moment Alice smacked Mothman’s face in the middle of a sloppy motion graphic animation.
— “Ha~am.”
I went to bed late.
So, uncharacteristically for me, I kept yawning. This was dangerous.
At this rate, I’d fall asleep during a boring class.
— “Everyone, we have a new transfer student! Come on now, quiet down and focus!”
Luckily, right as I was about to doze off, the homeroom teacher brought in a transfer student.
A transfer student? That’s a first!
— “Wow...”
Standing next to the teacher, the transfer student was so pretty it left me breathless.
Golden blonde hair. Doll-like pale skin. Shimmering blue eyes. She was so unrealistically beautiful that it would be weirder not to see her in a magazine.
A beautiful foreign transfer student! That’s super rare!
— “Hello. I recently moved, so I transferred to a school nearby. I may not look like it, but I’m mixed, and I’ve lived in Korea for a long time. Nice to meet you.”
Ah. So she’s mixed.
— “...?”
But something felt off about the class’s reaction.
A girl this stunning had just arrived, and yet none of the boys or girls were reacting particularly strongly.
They were treating her like any other transfer student.
The only murmurs I heard were the occasional comment from a few boys about how nice her voice was.
It was like they were looking at something entirely different from what I saw.
Wait... But look at Eun-jung, Soo-ho, and Kyung-min—they all have their mouths hanging open.
— “Oh, right! My name is Alice. You can just call me Alice, or Ally if you want.”
— “...!”
Blonde hair, blue eyes... and Alice?
No way.
But... could it be that Alice from the urban legend?
It was completely absurd. But something about the aura she gave off... felt off.
If—just if—she really was that Alice...
Just the thought of it sent a thrill through my chest. My sleepiness and boredom evaporated instantly.
— “Everyone, be nice to Alice! And Alice, if anything happens, let us know! Now, let’s see... To help you adjust, you’ll need a little mentor. Does anyone want to be Alice’s buddy?”
This was my chance!
I shot my hand up.
— “I want to do it!”
— “?!”
Alice turned to look at me.
Her eyes widened. Her pupils trembled, as if she were flustered.
But then, she quickly schooled her expression back into a doll-like blankness.
She might really be Alice from the urban legend! But even if she’s not, I still want to get close to her.
— “Alright! Ha-rim would be a great choice. And the seat next to her is open, too.”
The teacher had Alice sit in the empty seat next to me before leaving with a final reminder to pay attention in class.
I turned to Alice with a bright smile.
— “Hi! I’m Shin Ha-rim! I sit in the very back, so it gets kind of lonely, but now we can sit together!”
Alice stiffly turned her head toward me, like a rusty robot, and gave an awkward smile.
— “Sure. Ha-rim, nice to meet you.”
Then she pulled out a water bottle and took a long drink, as if she were parched.
— “Hey, Alice. Can you, by any chance, go in and out of mirrors?”
— “Pffft?! Ugh—cough cough!”
Oh no, she spat her water everywhere.
I mean, it was kind of a random question, but was it really that shocking?
...Suspicious.
But that just made it even better!
-----
— "You did such a great job! As expected of our Alice!"
Carol suddenly burst into my containment room, showering me with praise.
This was the same person who had rolled away in panic last time—how shameless.
Still, compared to the way her voice had sounded after getting caught by that flower-shaped anomalous entity before, this was a much better tone. So, I let her be.
Maybe Carol had her own struggles, too.
Perhaps I’d been thinking of her too much as just an eccentric.
She was human, after all. She must have her own hidden sorrows.
But feeling sorry for Carol was one thing—this was something else entirely.
— "I can understand placing the protocol button where anyone can access it. Fine. But if you try to use me as some kind of voluntary service worker, I won’t just sit back and take it."
Even under my sharp gaze, Carol simply shrugged.
— "Service? Hmm... The higher-ups might think of it that way, but I’d like to offer you a proper reward."
I narrowed my eyes at her.
What was she scheming?
— "A reward? There’s nothing I particularly need."
— "Eh... To be honest, it’s not really a reward that you need. Maybe it’s something you’d be better off not knowing."
— "..."
Now she was just making me more curious.
Knowledge is power, isn’t it?
I demanded that Carol show me.
The moment the corners of her lips twitched upward ever so slightly, I felt like I had walked straight into a trap.
— "Here. Can you see this?"
Carol pulled out a photograph and a marked-up map.
She pointed at the photo.
— "It’s a school."
— "Yes. More specifically, the school where the children you spent time with are attending."
— "...What?"
— "The children who went missing when everything happened. The ones who stayed with you until the very end. According to reports, they’re all going to this school now."
— "What do they have to do with anything?"
My voice sharpened. Carol let out a small chuckle.
Then, she unfolded the map, showing multiple red dots clustered around the school.
If my guess was right—
— "No way."
— "Yes. These red dots mark all the places where anomalous entities or phenomena have appeared."
My expression twisted.
Carol didn’t care and continued speaking.
— "Anomalies have started concentrating in this area. James’s absence for a while? That was because of this. He usually handles scouting unfamiliar environments, but since he has a connection with those kids, I included him in this case."
— "Are you saying these incidents are happening because of those kids?"
They were the main characters of a horror game.
In a world where grotesque beings exist, they were the perfect magnets for supernatural incidents.
I had thought that, since the game’s world had overlapped with reality, its horror-game mechanics would have vanished completely—
But now...
Damn it. Are we still inside the game? Damn it, damn it, I don’t know!
— "Not at all! There’s no evidence, and I’m not even suspicious of them. It just so happens that these events are happening a lot in that area."
That... made sense, right? It had to.
— "Hmmm. Alice. Containing and securing anomalous entities—that’s our job.
We can’t have you interfering for personal reasons.
But... leaving it entirely to us makes you uneasy, doesn’t it? It bothers you not to be involved, right?"
— "..."
— "But with my authority, I can make it possible for you."
Carol slid some items toward me—a bank book, a card, fake identification, and a script detailing a fabricated background.
And with a sly smile, she said:
— "This is my reward for you."
— "You’re cunning."
In exchange for letting me roam freely outside to protect the kids, I’d have to carry out tasks for the organization.
For someone like me, who had never even wanted freedom in the first place, it must have seemed like the perfect deal.
Damn it. I’m getting caught up in something uncertain again.
— "Haah..."
I had been holding back all this time because I didn’t want to see the kids get dragged into danger.
I didn’t want to see their normal, everyday lives collapse.
And yet, if I stepped in myself—what then?
Alice agonized over the decision.
She kept thinking. Kept hesitating.
But in the end, she nodded toward Carol.
I’ll have to act while keeping my identity hidden as much as possible...
Yeah. That’s the best course of action.
— "Hey, Alice. Can you, by any chance, go in and out of mirrors?"
— "Pffft?! Ugh—cough cough!"
