Among the countless repeated and shrinking images of myself reflected in the double-sided mirrors of the elevator, there was a single Anomalous Phenomenon.
The back of my head, which had beaten me at rock-paper-scissors.
‘That thing’ inside the mirror stretched its neck out, looked back at me, and smiled.
Thud.
I barely regained my senses at the noise of the elevator.
What I held was a rock.
What the thing in the mirror held was… paper.
‘…I lost.’
First of all, since I lost, I had to do it again.
Until I won.
[5F]
The elevator was ascending.
※ Caution: According to most statements from those who have performed this ritual, the ‘me in the mirror’ has an unnaturally high win rate in rock-paper-scissors against oneself.
With a trembling hand, I raised my fist toward the mirror again.
“Rock, paper, scissors.”
The back of my head, which was smiling with its head turned around, changed its hand at will.
I was scissors.
The one in the mirror was rock.
…I lost, again.
Thud.
…The ascending elevator stopped for a moment, then continued to rise as if nothing had happened.
In reality, that was clearly all.
However, in the elevator reflected in the mirror….
At some point, the door had opened ever so slightly.
Slide.
Through that gap, a white hand had emerged.
“…….”
[7F]
The elevator was ascending.
“Rock, paper, scissors.”
It was a draw.
[7F]
‘Just once.’
I only needed to win just once. Before I arrived at the 12th floor, the highest floor of this building…!
“Rock, paper, scissors.”
I was scissors, the ghost was rock.
‘I lost….’
Thud.
The elevator shook slightly.
That was it. There was no change in reality.
However, in the elevator reflected in the mirror…… the door had opened further before I knew it.
Through the gap, someone’s arm and leg were visible.
“…….”
The torso was halfway inside this elevator, looking as if it would almost touch me…….
But it was still invisible in reality. Because that strange scenery was only being reflected in the mirror, I couldn't take my eyes off the mirror.
‘Please, just once!’
If I won just once, it would all be over.
3. Congratulations. You have now moved to the question stage.
It meant I could go to that instructional text.
‘I have to go that way.’
That was the least scary and fastest path. Please, please….
“Rock, paper, scissors.”
It was a draw.
[10F]
“…Rock, paper, scissors.”
…….
I raised my head.
My hand was clenched in a fist.
And in the mirror, I saw my own face smiling with its palm spread wide.
[12F]
I lost.
13. You did not win even once.
You cannot get off at the highest floor. Poor thing.
Thud.
The elevator stopped.
The red lights on all the buttons went out, and the interior became pitch black. I barely held back a scream.
‘Crazy, this is crazy….’
I managed to lift my head.
Inside the giant mirror reflecting this dark elevator….
“…….”
The elevator door was wide open.
1930819F, a floor with a strange number, was displayed on the indicator. And outside the wide-open door in the mirror, only emptiness could be seen.
And….
The ghost was standing next to me.
“…….”
I gasped for breath.
The ghost far away in the mirror, who had been playing rock-paper-scissors with me, had walked through the elevator door and was now in the mirror right in front of my nose.
I only rolled my eyes to look to the side.
I saw an empty, old, and dark interior, an elevator with its doors firmly shut.
But when I looked into the mirror,
Another version of me, who had entered from the Darkness of the wide-open elevator door and stood next to me, was looking back and staring intently at me with a grin so wide it seemed his mouth would rip….
…….
You have failed the ritual.
From now on, you should be careful whenever you take an elevator. Because the thing in the mirror will try to find and meet you.
Fortunately, the opportunity for questions still remains.
However….
: To number 6.
The smiling thing in the mirror lowered its hand.
6. From now on, the entity in the mirror will conduct the ritual.
Mouth movements without sound.
Rock, paper, scissors.
And it thrusts out a fist.
“……!”
I broke into a cold sweat as I saw my own hand, which had thrust out a fist just in time.
If you do not respond to the rock-paper-scissors with the ‘me in the mirror’, it will gladly accept a win by default.
In this case: There is no separate number guidance. May you rest in peace.
I had to match it.
Rock, paper, scissors.
Once more, I extended my hand.
The opponent was rock. And I….
Scissors.
“…….”
I lost.
From now on, I had to pay the price of defeat.
I raised my head, dripping with cold sweat.
Not you.
The entity in the mirror will ask a question.
Inside the mirror, the ghost with my appearance moved its finger to leave a mark on the glass.
What is your name?
Shit.
With a trembling hand, I left letters on the mirror.
Kim Soleum
Heh heh.
The ghost in the mirror standing next to me laughed.
…I have to, endure it.
If you give a false answer: There is no separate number guidance. May you rest in peace.
I felt like I was going crazy.
‘Why can’t I win even once?’
Even searching through the Exploration Records on the Wiki in my head, there was no answer.
Because rock-paper-scissors wasn't the main point of the ghost to begin with.
The focus was more on what questions were asked after that. There was no countermeasure like how to win at rock-paper-scissors.
Rock-paper-scissors was a game of luck to begin with, wasn't it?
There was no such thing as a sure-win method. But….
I barely managed to stare at the ghost in the mirror, which was staring intently at me from my side.
‘…Then, how has that thing not lost even once since the beginning?’
Pure luck?
A cliché where it knows everything I’ll throw because it’s the me in the mirror?
‘But if that’s the case, how did other people win?’
And in my case right now.
‘If it knows everything, shouldn't it not even draw?’
If it can win, then why on earth….
Rock, paper, scissors.
Damn it.
I hurriedly extended my hand.
I was scissors, the ghost was… rock.
“…….”
When is your birthday?
My fingers trembled.
September 13th
The ghost in the mirror hopped around like crazy.
…Because there was only, one time left.
“…….”
While continuing the rock-paper-scissors led by the entity in the mirror until the elevator moves again—
If you win even once: To number 3.
If you answer the opponent's questions three times or more: To number 99.
I had already answered twice.
My name.
My birthday.
……Now I only had one chance left to lose.
‘It’s the end.’
…Because the text for number 99 was like this.
99.
If enough time has passed to scroll down this far after three answers, you are probably no longer the person who first started reading this ritual manual.
I hope you live happily outside the mirror! Please, don't come looking for meplease
I would be swapped.
With the thing in the mirror.
‘No.’
Cold sweat poured down.
But I didn't have the luxury to dwell on it. Since I no longer had the initiative….
Rock, paper, scissors.
I hurriedly extended my hand.
Paper versus paper. It was a draw.
‘Phew…….’
I was barely catching my breath….
Rock-paper-scissors.
“…!”
I missed it.
I couldn't… respond.
‘Shit.’
I gritted my teeth and prepared myself to face the aftermath…….
…….
Huh?
Nothing happened.
‘…Ah!’
I realized. It seemed that because I hadn't lowered the hand I was holding, it was counted as having ‘responded’ to the new round of rock-paper-scissors.
‘Right. I was holding it as paper….’
“…….”
Wait a minute.
I recalled the results of the rock-paper-scissors I had played with the ghost so far.
This, perhaps….
Rock, paper, scissors.
I didn't change my hand this time either.
It was a draw.
Rock, paper, scissors.
This time too.
And the next….
I kept putting out paper and stayed still.
The amazing thing was that the ghost was doing the same.
We drew three times in a row like that.
‘…As I thought.’
I swallowed hard.
It seemed I had realized one decisive thing.
The ghost in the mirror doesn't throw scissors.
That's why it's a draw if I only throw paper.
If I throw paper, the opponent has to throw scissors to win. But since it can't do that, it had no choice but to throw paper as well to avoid losing.
‘Why?’
Why can't it do it?
There was surely a hidden setting… no, for now, it was just a groundless guess, so let's focus on the phenomenon.
Anyway, a defense method had been created…….
Rock-paper-scissors.
I hurriedly spread my hand.
From now on, if I continued to only throw paper in this way, I could definitely keep drawing.
‘But I can't draw forever.’
It was even more despairing that such a case wasn't in the Manual at all.
Yes. The condition hadn't changed.
‘I must, I must win at least once.’
How can I win…….
‘…If that ghost is the ‘me in the mirror’ and already knew what I was going to throw,’
The countermeasure was surprisingly simple.
‘I just have to throw randomly.’
Most people probably passed that way.
Whether it was a civilian who was so dazed by fear that they didn't even know what they were throwing and just did rock-paper-scissors randomly.
Or a Field Exploration team member with a strong heart who didn't feel fear and, already knowing the Manual, just threw whatever came to hand indifferently.
Even if they were predicted a few times because they regained their senses in between, they would have won one round in five or six tries. There was no need to record what was thrown and what wasn't.
But I had missed both cases.
The reason was….
‘…The silver ring!’
Because I had entered wearing a mental defense item, I didn't fall into a state of panic, but because I had thrown each hand after calculating it while being scared, it had come to this. Damn it…!
It was the worst result a coward could produce because they weren't under a status ailment.
‘Should I take off the ring now?’
No, it was too late. There was only one chance.
‘How on earth can I….’
I roughly wiped the sweat trickling down my temple.
In the process, the button on my sleeve scratched my cheek, drawing blood. I wiped that blood along with the sweat.
…At that moment.
A red line also appeared on the cheek of the ghost in the mirror.
“…!”
And its sleeve was stained red.
…Just like the blood mixed with the sweat I had wiped away.
Wait.
‘Is it… sharing its state with me?’
Right. The mirror was reflecting me, after all.
Even if it was a ghost in my shape that had started moving on its own inside the mirror, it was influenced by the ‘me’ outside the mirror…….
……!
Yes.
‘…In that case!’
A realization flashed like a bolt of lightning.
I gritted my teeth and fumbled through my pockets.
The ghost with my appearance in the mirror followed suit and fumbled through its pockets as if mocking me, pulling out the same thing.
However, what I pulled out wasn't some grand Item.
It was just a pen and a rubber band.
‘Quickly.’
I inserted the pen between my fingers and started wrapping the rubber band….
Rock-paper-scissors.
“…!”
I responded.
While responding so that I could draw with the rock-paper-scissors the mirror-me threw as a surprise attack. I fixed one pen vertically to each of my right thumb and index finger.
And the left hand as well.
‘Qu-quickly.’
Rock-paper-scissors.
Rock-paper-scissors.
Rock-paper-scissors.
Rock-paper-scissors.
The ghost in the mirror kept extending its hand as if to interfere. I continued the work while responding to it breathlessly.
I slipped several times, and the ballpoint pen tip scratched my arms and hands.
But….
Rock-paper-scissors.
‘…Done!’
I hurriedly extended my hand.
But this time, it wasn't paper.
Made with the index and thumb, which I had fixed so they couldn't be bent….
Scissors.
……!
However, the opponent in the mirror still had its fingers all spread wide in paper.
To be precise….
‘It can't throw anything else!’
Its fingers were restrained by the pens and rubber bands I had used to keep my index and thumb from bending.
‘This way, it can't use rock.’
But since it couldn't throw scissors either… it had no choice but to only spread its hands. In the end….
Scissors versus paper.
“…!!”
I won.
“I did…!”
Crash!
The ghost inside the mirror slammed its head against the glass.
Crash! Crash! Crash!
I stood frozen in place.
Crashcrashcrashcrashcrashcrashcrash!!
The mirror was breaking.
It cracked, ripples formed, and it shattered.
But, but…….
The thing inside the mirror could not come out.
….
The vibration stopped.
Inside the mirror, the thing that had been slamming its head toward the outside raised its head.
The thing that had been smiling with its mouth ripped wide until a moment ago was now expressionless.
It looked down at its own hands, which were tied so its joints couldn't bend, and then its face contorted.
It contorted!
With a strange expression that a human could never make, it glared at me with th-that strange expression, and then….
Cackle cackle cackle!!
Laughing like a maniac, it rushed out the open elevator door inside the mirror.
“…….”
[Going down.]
“Whew…….”
I slumped to the floor.
The elevator started moving again.
The strange phrases disappeared from the floor indicator, and numbers were displayed normally….
[12F]
Ding-dong—
[12th floor. The doors are opening.]
3. Congratulations. You have succeeded in the ritual!
Get off at the highest floor and find the nearest window.
If there is no window: To number 7.
I lived.
I staggered out into the dark hallway.
Even though I had clearly entered during the day, the windows of the hallway, which was as gloomy as if the sun had already set, were sporadically broken, taped up, or covered in graffiti.
Originally, it was the inside of an abandoned building that I would have run out of screaming if I had entered alone, but now, even that sense of fear gave me a feeling of relief….
I moved my feet toward the nearest window on the opposite side.
The window was dirty and cloudy with dust, but I placed my finger on it without hesitation.
If you write the desired question on the window, the entity that was in the mirror will answer any question.
And this answer is always the truth.
The question I was most curious about.
The wish I would make.
Through the Wish Potion from Daydream Inc., can I return to the place where I originally lived?
I lifted my finger from the window.
Then, at the bottom of the window, other letters began to appear….
“…!”
The answer to my question.
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