It Seems I Must Go to Work Even After Falling into a Horror Story Chapter 101

Reflected in the elevator’s dual mirrors, a single bizarre phenomenon among countless repetitions of my shrinking figure.

The back of me that won rock-paper-scissors.

“That thing” in the mirror stretches its neck, turns around, and laughs at me.

Clank.

I barely regained my senses amidst the noise of the elevator.

I held a fist.

What that thing in the mirror was holding… was a wrap.

‘…I lost.’

For now, I lost, so I must do it again.

Until I win.

[5F]

The elevator is going up.

※Caution: According to statements made by most who underwent this ritual, “the reflection of me in the mirror” has an unnaturally high win rate in rock-paper-scissors against oneself.

With trembling hands, I raised my fist again toward the mirror.

“Rock, paper, scissors.”

My head spins, but the laughing back of me freely shifts its hand.

I declared scissors.
The mirror declared a fist.

…I lost again.

Clank.

…The elevator, which was going up, stopped for a moment, then continued upward nonchalantly.

That was all there was in reality.

But in the elevator reflected in the mirror….

The door was somehow slightly ajar.

Suddenly.
A white hand came out through the gap.

“……”

[7F]

The elevator is going up.
“Rock, paper, scissors.”

We tied.

[7F]

‘Just once.’

I only need to win once. Before arriving at the top floor, the 12th floor…!

“Rock, paper, scissors.”

I chose scissors; the ghost chose a fist.
‘Lost….’

Clank.

The elevator shook for a moment.

That was the end. No change in reality.

But in the elevator reflected in the mirror… the door was even more ajar.

And someone’s arm and leg were visible.

“……”

The torso was half-way inside this elevator and appeared to be almost touching me…….

However, it was still invisible in reality. Only that strange sight could be reflected in the mirror, making me unable to tear my eyes away.

‘Please, just once!’

If I win just once, everything will end.

3. Congratulations. You have now moved on to the question stage.

You can go with this instruction.

‘I must go that way.’

That’s the least terrifying and fastest path. Please, please…

“Rock, paper, scissors.”

We tied.

[10F]

“… Rock, paper, scissors.”

……

I raised my head.

My hand clenched into a fist.

And in the mirror, my face could be seen, smiling with my palm wide open.

[12F]

I lost.

13. You have never won.

You cannot descend from the top floor. How unfortunate.

Clank.

The elevator stopped.

The red lights on all the buttons turned off, and the interior became dark. I barely held back a scream.

‘Insane, insane….’

I managed to lift my head.

In the pitch-dark elevator, a huge mirror…

“……”

The elevator door was fully open.

1930819F, a strange number level is floating in the display. And beyond the wide-open door in the mirror, only emptiness is visible.

And….

The ghost is standing next to me.

“……”

I held my breath.

The ghost, who was playing rock-paper-scissors with me from afar in the mirror, entered through the elevator door and is now in front of the mirror.

I only rolled my eyes to the side.

An old, dark interior with no one in sight, an elevator with tightly closed doors was visible.

But in the mirror,

A smile stretched wide as another version of me stood there, emanating joy while staring intently at me from the darkness of the fully open elevator door…

…….

You have failed the ritual.

From now on, you must be careful every time you take the elevator. That thing in the mirror will try to find and meet you.

Fortunately, you still have chances to ask questions.

However….: 6.

The laughing something in the mirror extended its hand.

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

Mouth movements that make no sound.

Rock, paper, scissors.

And a fist is presented.

“……!”

I broke into a cold sweat, watching my own hand respond timely with a fist.

If I do not respond to rock-paper-scissors with “my reflection,” it will willingly accept a judgment victory.

In this case: no separate number instructions. I wish you good luck.

It must be matched.

Rock, paper, scissors.

Once more, I extended my hand.

The opponent showed a fist. I showed…

Scissors.

“……”

I lost.

Now, I must pay the price for defeat.

I broke into a cold sweat as I raised my head.

Not you.

The being in the mirror will ask questions.

The ghost resembling me in the mirror moved its finger, leaving a mark on the mirror.

What is your name?

Damn.
With trembling hands, I left letters on the mirror.

Kim Sol-eum

A smirk.
The ghost next to me in the mirror laughed.

…I must endure.

If a false answer is given: no separate number instructions. I wish you good luck.

This is maddening.
‘Why can’t I win even once?’

Searching through the mental wiki’s exploration record yields no answers.
After all, it’s not primarily about playing rock-paper-scissors against a ghost.

Instead, the focus was more on what questions were asked subsequently. There’s no trick for winning rock-paper-scissors.

After all, rock-paper-scissors is a game of luck, isn’t it?
There’s no winning method. But….

I barely faced the ghost staring me down next to me in the mirror.
‘…If that’s the case, how has that thing never lost until now?’

Simple luck?
Being a “mirror version of me,” it should know what I will throw, a cliché?
‘But in that case, how did others win?’

And in my case now as well.
‘If it knows everything, shouldn’t it not tie at all?’

If it can win, then why…

Rock, paper, scissors.

Damn it.
I hastily put out my hand.

Wrap versus wrap. It tied.
‘Huf……’

I barely caught my breath…

Rock, paper, scissors.

“…!”

I missed the response…
‘Damn it.’
Prepared somehow to face whatever situation followed, I gritted my teeth and poised myself…

….
Huh?
Nothing happened.

‘…Ah!’

I realized. Somehow, it seems that since I had not lowered the hand I was holding, it was counted as having “responded” to the new rock-paper-scissors.

‘Right. I was holding a wrap….’

“……”
Wait a minute.

I recalled the results of all the rock-paper-scissors I had played with the ghost until now.
Could this be, perhaps…

Rock, paper, scissors.

I didn’t change my hand this time.

We tied.

Rock, paper, scissors.

This time too.
Again.

I continuously showed the wrap and stood still.
Strangely enough, the ghost was doing the same.

Three consecutive ties occurred.
‘…Definitely.’

I swallowed hard.
It seems I realized one crucial thing.

-The ghost in the mirror does not throw scissors.

That’s why just showing the wrap ties.
If I show the wrap, the opponent must throw scissors to win. But since it can’t, it has no choice but to show the same wrap to avoid losing.

‘Why?’
Why can’t it do that?

There must be some background lore… No, for now, let’s just focus on the phenomenon at hand.

At any rate, a defensive method has emerged…….

Rock, paper, scissors.

I hastily spread my hand.

If I keep showing just the wrap this way, I can tie every time.
‘But I can’t tie forever.’

In that case, it’d be even more despairing not to have it explicitly mentioned in the manual.

Right. The conditions haven’t changed.
‘I must win at least once.’

How can I win……

‘…If that ghost is “the mirror version of me,” it must already know what I’ll throw,’

The trick to getting around this was surprisingly simple.
‘Just throw randomly.’

Hopefully, everyone passed through that way.
In a state of panic, not even knowing what they were throwing, they haphazardly played rock-paper-scissors as civilians would.

Or perhaps the field exploration team staff showed no fear and, knowing the manual, carelessly threw out what came to hand…
Even if they occasionally came to their senses, throwing off expectations about half a dozen times should be enough to win a round. No need to record what was thrown or not.

But I ended up avoiding both paths.
The reason was…
‘…The ring!’

Having come in with a mental defense item meant I was not in a panic state, but instead calculating each throw, I landed in this predicament. Damn…!

The worst outcome for a coward who can’t get afflicted by status ailments.
‘Should I take off the ring now?’

No, it’s too late. I have only one chance.
‘How should I….’

I wiped the sweat rolling down my temples.
In the process, the button on my sleeve scratched my cheek, causing it to bleed. I wiped that blood away along with my sweat.

…In that moment.

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

“…!”

And the red liquid stained my sleeve.
…The sweat mixed with the blood, just like that.

Wait.
‘Do we share a state…?’

Yeah. The mirror reflects me, after all.
Even the ghost that began to move alone in the mirror would still be influenced by “me” outside the mirror…….

……!
Yeah.
‘…Then!’

A flash of realization passed through me.
I clenched my teeth and rummaged through my pocket.
The ghost resembling me in the mirror rummaged through its pocket mockingly, pulling out the same item.

However, what I pulled out was not a grand item.
Just a pen and a rubber band.
‘Quick.’
I stuck the pen between my fingers and began wrapping the rubber band around it…

Rock, paper, scissors.

“…!”
I responded.

I countered so that the “me” in the mirror would match rock-paper-scissors with me. I vertically secured the pen on my thumb and index finger of my right hand.

And my left hand too.
‘Quick, quickly.’

Rock, paper, scissors.
Rock, paper, scissors.
Rock, paper, scissors.
Rock, paper, scissors.

As if to obstruct me, the ghost in the mirror kept extending its hand. I struggled to keep responding while working.

Several times, I misstepped, the pen’s tip scraping against my arm and hand.
But….

Rock, paper, scissors.

‘…Got it!’
I hastily extended my hand.

But this time it wasn’t the wrap.
Fixed so it couldn’t bend, made with my index and thumb…

Scissors.

……!

But the opponent in the mirror was still a fully spread wrap.
To be precise…

‘It can only throw that!’

Since my pen and rubber band restrained me from bending my index and thumb, that meant I was confined to scissors.
‘In this case, it can’t throw scissors.’

Yet, since it can’t do that, the only thing it can do is pour all its efforts into extending its hand. In the end…

Scissors against wrap.

“…!!”
I won.
“Got…!”

Bang!

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

Bang! Bang! Bang!

I stood frozen in place.

Bangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbang!

The mirror shattered.

Cracks formed, ripples surged, breaking apart.

But, but…….

The one in the mirror could not come out.

….

The vibration ceased.
The thing that had been slamming its head against the wall turned its gaze upward.

It had just been grinning ear to ear, now it wore a blank expression.
Glancing down at its hands, bound and unable to bend at the joints, its expression contorted.
It twisted its expression!

In a strangely inhuman way, with that, it glared at me with this bizarre expression….

Hah hah hah ha!!

It laughed like a madman and sprinted out through the opened elevator door in the mirror.
“……”

[Going down.]

“Phew….”
I slumped down.

The elevator moves again.
Strange phrases disappear from the level display, and normal numbers emerge…

[12F]

Ding-dong-

[Arriving on the 12th floor. The door will open.]

3. Congratulations. You have succeeded in the ritual!

Now descend from the top floor and find the nearest glass window.
If there’s no glass window: go to 7.

I survived.

Staggering, I emerged into the dark hallway.
It was clearly still daytime when I came in, yet the gloomy hallway now appeared as if the sun had already set—glass windows were occasionally broken, taped up, or covered in graffiti.

Though it should have been the inside of an abandoned building where I would have screamed and run out alone, now that sense of fear brought me comfort…

I shifted my feet toward the closest glass window on the opposite side.
The glass window was covered in a haze of dust, but without hesitation, I placed my finger upon it.

By writing my desired question on the glass, whatever question it may be, the being that was in the mirror would respond.
And this answer must be true.

The most curious question.
My wish to be granted.

-Through the wishing potion of Daydream Corporation, can I return to the place I originally lived?

I pulled my finger off the glass window.
Then letters began to appear at the bottom of the glass window…

“…!”
The answer to my question.