Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work Novel - Chapter 101

In a double-sided mirror in the elevator, among countless reflections of myself, shrinking repeatedly, a single anomaly.

My reflection’s back, having lost a game of rock-paper-scissors to me.

The ‘thing’ in the mirror cranes its neck, looking back at me and laughing.

Clang.

I barely regained my composure at the elevator’s noise.

I have a fist.

What the reflection has… is a cloth.

‘…I lost.’

First, since I lost, I have to play again.

Until I win.

[5F]

The elevator is going up.

*Note: According to most accounts of those who performed this ritual, the ‘reflection’ has an unnaturally high win rate in rock-paper-scissors against oneself.

With trembling hands, I raise my fist towards the mirror again.

“Rock, paper, scissors.”

My reflection, whose head is twisted in laughter, randomly changes its hand.

I’m a scissor.

The reflection shows a fist.

…Again, I lost.

Clang.

…The elevator going up momentarily stops, then continues as if nothing happened.

Certainly, in reality, that was all.

But in the elevator reflected in the mirror….

The door is now slightly ajar.

Suddenly.

A white hand appears from within.

“…….”

[7F]

The elevator is going up.

“Rock, paper, scissors.”

It’s a tie.

[7F]

‘Just one more time.’

I just need to win once. Before reaching the top floor of this building, the 12th floor…!

“Rock, paper, scissors.”

I’m scissors, the ghost shows a fist.

‘I lost…’

Clang.

The elevator shook briefly.

That’s the end. Nothing changes in reality.

But in the elevator reflected in the mirror… the door is now more open.

Someone’s arm and leg are visible.

“…….”

The torso is half-way into the elevator, appearing almost to touch me……….

But it’s still invisible in reality. Only the mirror reflects that strange scene, so I can’t look away from it.

‘Please, just one more time!’

Just one win, and it’s all over.

3. Congratulations. You’ve now reached the question stage.

It means you can follow these instructions.

‘That’s the way to go.’

That’s the least scary and fastest way. Please, please….

“Rock, paper, scissors.”

It’s a tie.

[10F]

“…Rock, paper, scissors.”

…….

I raise my head.

My hand, clenched into a fist.

And in the mirror, I see my face smiling with its palm open.

[12F]

I lost.

13. You never won.

You can’t get off on the top floor. Too bad.

Clang.

The elevator stops.

All the buttons’ red lights go out, and the interior darkens. I barely manage to suppress a scream.

‘Crazy, crazy….’

I barely manage to lift my head.

In the huge mirror reflecting this dimly lit elevator….

“…….”

The elevator door is completely open.

1930819F, a strange floor number is displayed on the indicator. And beyond the wide-open door in the mirror, only emptiness is visible.

And….

A ghost is standing beside me.

“…….”

I gasp for breath.

The ghost from the far-off mirror, the one I was playing rock-paper-scissors with, has opened the elevator door and entered, now at the mirror right in front of me.

I only rolled my eyes to look to the side.

I saw the old and dark interior, the elevator with its door firmly closed, with no one else there.

But looking in the mirror,

From the darkness of the wide-open elevator door, another me, smiling with a split lip, stands beside me, looking back and staring intently….

…….

You failed the ritual.

From now on, you should be careful whenever you ride an elevator. The reflection will seek you out and try to meet you.

Fortunately, you still have a chance to ask a question.

But….

: Go to number 6.

The smiling something in the mirror lowers its hand.

6. From now on, the entity in the mirror will conduct the ritual.

Soundless lip movements.

Rock, paper, scissors.

And it extends a fist.

“……!”

I sweat profusely as I look at my hand extending a fist in time.

If you don’t respond to rock-paper-scissors with the ‘reflection’, it will willingly accept a default win.

In this case: No further instructions will be given. May you rest in peace.

You have to match it.

Rock, paper, scissors.

Once more, I extend my hand.

The opponent is rock. And I…

Scissors.

“…”

I lost.

Now I must pay the price of defeat.

I raised my head, sweating profusely.

Not me.

The being in the mirror will ask the questions.

In the mirror, a ghost in my image moves its fingers, leaving marks on the mirror.

What’s your name?

Damn it.

With trembling hands, I wrote in the mirror.

Kim Soleum

He chuckled.

The ghost in the mirror beside me laughed.

…I have to endure this.

If you give a false answer: There’s no further instruction. May you rest in peace.

I’m going crazy.

‘Why can’t I win even once?’

Searching my mind’s wiki exploration records, there’s no answer.

That’s because it wasn’t about the ghost and rock-paper-scissors in the first place.

The focus was on the questions that followed. There’s no solution like how to win at rock-paper-scissors.

Rock-paper-scissors is a game of chance, isn’t it?

There’s no surefire way to win. But…

I barely managed to stare at the ghost in the mirror, beside me, staring intently at me.

‘…Then, how has it never lost until now?’

Pure luck?

A cliché where the mirror version of me knows what I’ll play?

‘But in this case, how did other people win?’

And in my case now.

‘If it knows everything, shouldn’t it be a draw?’

If it can win, then why…

Rock, paper, scissors.

Damn it.

I quickly put out my hand.

I played scissors, the ghost… rock.

“…”

What’s your birthday?

My fingers trembled.

September 13th

The ghost in the mirror jumps frantically.

…Because only one chance remains.

“…”

While continuing the rock-paper-scissors game led by the being in the mirror, until the elevator moves again,
If you win even once: Go to number 3.

If you answer the opponent’s questions more than three times: Go to number 99.

I’ve already answered twice.
My name.

My birthday.

…Now I only have one chance left to lose.

‘It’s over.’

…This is why there’s a number 99 instruction.

99.

If you have the time to scroll down to this point after three answers, you are probably not the person who first started reading this ritual document.

I hope you live happily outside the mirror! Please don’t come looking for me!

I’m being switched.

With something in the mirror.

‘No.’

I broke into a cold sweat.

But there’s no time to dwell on it. I no longer have the initiative…

Rock, paper, scissors.

I quickly put out my hand.

Paper against paper. It’s a draw.

‘Whew…’

Barely catching my breath…

Rock-paper-scissors.

“…!”

I missed it.

I couldn’t… react.

‘Damn it.’

I gritted my teeth, preparing to face whatever happens next, and prepared my posture…….
…….

What?
Nothing happened.

‘…Ah!’
I realized. It seems that because I didn’t lower my hand, it counted as a ‘response’ even in the new round of rock-paper-scissors.

‘Right. I was holding paper…’

“…….”

Wait a minute.

I recalled the results of the rock-paper-scissors games I’d played with the ghost so far.

This, perhaps…

Rock, paper, scissors.

This time, I didn’t change my hand.

It’s a draw.

Rock, paper, scissors.

This time too.

And the next time…

I kept playing paper and stayed still.

The strange thing is, the ghost is doing the same.

We drew three times in a row.

‘…As I thought.’
I swallowed my saliva.

I seem to have realized something crucial.

– The ghost in the mirror doesn’t play scissors.

That’s why it’s a draw if I only play paper.

If I play paper, the opponent needs to play scissors to win. But it can’t, so to avoid losing, it has no choice but to play paper as well.

‘Why?’

Why can’t it?

There’s probably some background setting… no, for now, it’s just a guess based on nothing, so let’s focus on the present.

Anyway, I’ve found a defense…

Rock-paper-scissors.

I quickly opened my hand.

From now on, if I keep playing paper, I can always draw.

‘But I can’t draw forever.’

The fact that there’s no instruction for that situation is even more desperate.

That’s right. The conditions haven’t changed.

‘I absolutely have to win, even once.’

How can I win…?

‘…Since that ghost is ‘me in the mirror,’ it already knew what I would throw.’

The solution was surprisingly simple.

‘Just throw it randomly.’

Probably everyone passed that way.

Whether it was a civilian who was so terrified they didn’t even know what they were throwing, or a member of the field investigation team with a strong heart who didn’t feel fear and just threw whatever came to hand.

Even if they regained their senses and were predicted a few times, they would have won a round after five or six tries. There was no need to record what they threw and what they didn’t.

But I missed both of those.

The reason is…

‘…the silver ring!’

I came in wearing a mental defense item, so I wasn’t in a panic state, but because I was scared and calculated each throw, I ended up like this. Damn it!

The worst possible outcome for a scaredy-cat who doesn’t get a status effect.

‘Should I take off the ring now?’

No, it’s too late. There’s only one chance.

‘How on earth can I…?’

I roughly wiped the sweat dripping down my temples.

In the process, a button on my sleeve scratched my cheek, drawing blood. I wiped that blood away with the sweat.

…At that moment.

A red line appeared on the ghost’s cheek in the mirror.

“…!”

And red stained its sleeve.

…The sweat and blood I had wiped away, exactly the same.

Wait.

‘Are we… sharing a state?’

Yes. The mirror is reflecting me after all.

Even if it’s a ghost of my reflection moving alone in the mirror, it’s affected by the ‘me’ outside the mirror…

……!

Yes.

‘…Then!’

A flash of understanding passed through me.

I gritted my teeth and searched my pockets.

The ghost, my reflection in the mirror, mimics me, searching its own pockets.

But what I pulled out wasn’t a great item.

Just a pen and a rubber band.

‘Quickly.’

I slipped the pen between my fingers and started wrapping the rubber band…

Rock-paper-scissors.

“…!”

I responded.

I responded to counter the rock-paper-scissors thrown by my reflection in the mirror. I fixed a pen vertically on my right thumb and index finger.

And my left hand too.

‘Fa, faster.’

Rock-paper-scissors.
Rock-paper-scissors.
Rock-paper-scissors.
Rock-paper-scissors.

The ghost in the mirror keeps extending its hand, as if interfering. I worked breathlessly, responding to it.

Several times, I stumble and the pen tip scratches my arms and hands.

But…

Rock-paper-scissors.

‘…Got it!’

I quickly extended my hand.

But this time, it wasn’t paper.

The fixed, unable to bend, scissors made with my index finger and thumb…

Scissors.

……!

But my opponent in the mirror still had its fingers fully extended, paper.

To be precise…

‘It can’t do anything else!’

My fingers are restrained by the pen and rubber band that prevent me from bending my index finger and thumb.

‘This way I can’t use a fist.’

But in that situation, unable to use scissors… it can only extend its hand. Therefore…

Scissors vs. Paper.

“…!!”

I won.

“Got…!”

Bang!

The ghost inside the mirror slammed its head against the mirror.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

I froze where I stood.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The mirror shatters.

It cracks, ripples, and breaks apart.

But, but…

What was in the mirror didn’t come out.

….

The vibrations stopped.

In the mirror, the thing that had been banging its head outwards raised its head.

The thing that had been grinning wide until a moment before was expressionless.

It looked down at its own hands, bound so its joints couldn’t bend, and its face contorted.

Contorted!

With a strange expression, a truly impossible expression for a human, it glared at me, and then…

Kakakakaka!!

Laughing madly, it dashed out of the open elevator door in the mirror.

“…….”

[Going down.]

“Hoooo…”

I slumped to the floor.

The elevator moves again.

The strange messages disappear from the floor indicator, and the numbers are displayed normally…

[12F]

Ding-dong-

[12th floor. Doors opening.]

Congratulations. You succeeded in the ritual!

Descend from the top floor and find the nearest window.

If there is no window: Go to number 7.

I survived.

I stumbled out into a dark, gloomy corridor.

Although I clearly entered during the day, the corridor was dim as if the sun had already set. The windows were sparsely broken, taped up, or covered in graffiti.

This should have been a terrifying abandoned building, the kind of place I would have screamed and run from if I’d entered alone, but now, even the fear brought a sense of relief….

I moved towards the nearest window, the one opposite me.

The window was clouded with dust, but I didn’t hesitate to raise my finger to it.

If you write your desired question on the window, being in the mirror will answer any question.

And this answer is always the truth.

My biggest question.

My wish.
– Can I return to where I originally lived, through the Daydream Corporation’s Wish Granting Potion?

I lifted my finger from the window.

Then, at the bottom of the window, other letters began to appear….

“…!”

The answer to my question.