Mir, carrying Raleigh on her back, was standing in a white room without any mirror. In front of her was a young man. He looked ordinary, but his style of clothing looked like he lived in a different era than Mir.

“…you come.” The young man was sitting on a white chair. He crossed his legs. The intonation he used when he said that line was calm as if he had been expecting Mir to arrive sooner or later.

“…” Mir didn’t react to him. Instead, she looked around to find an exit to this room. Though she guessed that there was no exit because it was the deepest part of the Mirror World.

“There is no exit. That’s why just give up.” The young man spoke calmly. Mir gave him another glance. Only a glance before she looked for an exit again.

“…why won’t you just give up? If you tell me the reason why you won’t give up, I’ll tell you a way out of this place.” The young man smiled wryly.

“…” Mir silently put her gaze on the young man again. At a glance, Mir already noticed that the young man was a ghost. Or in Raleigh’s language, he was an evil spirit, because he tried to kill both Mir and Raleigh earlier. That was why Mir didn’t want to listen to him. She wouldn’t be tricked into doing something she didn’t want to do again.

That was what she thought. But, at the same time, she was desperate to leave this place as soon as possible. She didn’t want Raleigh to die because of her after all. She considered her options for a while before she reluctantly answered the young man.

“…wanna live.” Mir replied curtly. After that, she urged the young man to keep his promise of telling her a way out.

“You don’t want to give up just because you want to live? Heh, but you also know yourself that you are useless. I know you think so as well. You are useless, you can’t do anything right. You can’t even put your minds into words.” The young man chuckled as he mocked Mir.

“…nn.” Mir reluctantly nodded.

"It’s the first time. You are the first person who knows you are useless, yet you keep moving forward, despite how vain your action is.” The young man sneered at her.

“…nn.” Mir nodded again. She knew what she did might be useless. That was why she couldn’t help but feel like the young man's words stabbed her heart deeply.

“…despite that, you won’t give up?” The young man returned to his first question.

“…nn.” Mir nodded once again.

“You hate yourself. What are you going to do about that?”

Mir didn’t ponder for an answer as she replied immediately. “…I’ll change.”

“You will change, huh? It’s difficult. You won’t be able to change just because you said you will change. It’s the same with everything you do. It’s all useless. You won’t change a single thing. No matter what, you will continue hating yourself. I assure you.” The young man gave a bitter smile. He looked not to Mir, but to a distance away, a place where it couldn't be seen from this place.

“…don’t know… about future.” Mir said expressionlessly. Rather than talking about it, she wanted him to tell her how to escape this place as soon as possible.

“Oh, but I know. I already saw many people like you. You, who won’t give up no matter what. In the end, there is nothing but despair. I assure you this. Even that man on your back wants to be useful for once. But in the end, not only he will die in vain, but he also drags you with him to this hell. Do you think people can change easily just because they want to?” The ghost chortled when he said it.

“…no matter what… not giving up.” Mir said determinedly.

“Is that so?” The young man leaned back and looked at the ceiling. As if he resolved himself, he looked at Mir once again.

“This Mirror World is kind of a special place in this territory. There is a set of rules set for each place. However, no matter what the rules are, one rule can’t be changed. As long as you defeat the head evil spirit in each place, you will be able to escape from that place.” The young man smiled.

“…”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Will you raise your gun again? Killing us, the ‘evil spirit’? No, you think us, fellow victims, to this haunted ground, don’t you? Can you kill fellow victims, over and over again? Oh, right, the more you kill your ‘fellow victims’ the weaker the malice would be. After all, we will absorb more of the malice the more we are killed. So, will you kill us?”

Mir bit her lips in frustration. The young man in front of her could read her mind perfectly. After killing the female ghost and experienced her life and her death, she knew that the ghosts in this amusement park were just victims. They were not evil spirits like what Raleigh told her.

“…”

However, in order to escape from this place, she had to shoot the young man in front of her. She had to, once again, kill another ghost. Sure, they might reappear by absorbing the black miasma surrounding this haunted place. However, Mir experienced just how painful it was to be shot by her spiritual power when she was in the female ghost's shoes. It was so painful that Mir felt normal death was a gentle pinch.

“…sorry.” Mir apologized to the young man. Even if it was painful, she still had to do it if she wanted to escape. So, she raised her gun and aimed right at his head. The young man in front of her smiled mischievously before speaking his last word.

“Mir. You are. A. Hypocrite.” The young man said full of mocking tone.

Mir nodded silently. It was true. She believed the ghosts in this place were victims. Her head told her that she shouldn't kill them. They were innocent. They were victims. Yet, here she was, killing another ghost with her own hand. She could only accept the fact that she was a hypocrite. And so, she pulled the trigger and shot the young man's head.

…

Once again, Mir realized that she experienced someone’s memories. After all, she started the memories ever since she was a baby. It would be long memories, Mir thought as she watched everything unraveling in front of her.

The young man was an heir to a prestigious family. He lived in a mansion. The mansion was located in the mountain, and it was a big mansion.

Mir thought that he was blessed… not. She wouldn’t think something like that. After the short conversation she had with the young man, she could somehow guess that the young man didn’t live comfortably. And that was true.

Ever since he was young, he would always be compared to his older brother. His older brother could walk at the age of ten months, while he could only walk at the age of 15 months. His older brother could read since he was three years old, while he could only read after he was six years old. Everything he did, his older brother could do it better. And in the end, everyone said that he was useless, no matter how much effort he put into it, they were all useless.

When he reached fifteen years old, he caught a plague. His family chose to abandon him rather than saving him. That was right. Rather than saving a useless son like him, it would be better if he was dead. His death would at least be useful to them. He wouldn't spread the plague anymore because of his death.

Hearing those words, the young man couldn’t hold it any longer. He ran from his home, despite his weak condition. He knew that he would harm other people by asking them for help, so he didn’t stop at the village. He didn’t want to harm anyone after all.

He was useless. He would be more useful in his death rather than in his life. Thinking back about those words, the young man could only laugh bitterly. It seemed his family was right, saying things like that. He would inflict harm to others just by living. He carried the plague after all. And so, with determination in his eyes, he chose to end his life.

By jumping into a nearby well.

He died. With his death, he should be useful… was what he thought. However, after his death, when he wandered like a ghost, he noticed something. More villagers caught the plague. They were looking for the source, and it was found that the source was the water. It was because he jumped into the well and contaminated the water so more villagers caught the plague as well. Funny, his family caught the plague as well and none of them survived.

Regret filled his heart… and regret was a strong negative emotion. Ever since that, he became an evil spirit. He knew he wouldn’t be able to kill people. However, he could incite them to commit suicide. Just like what he did. Useless people should just die. Before they caused death to other people.

And before he knew it, the amusement park was built and the well he haunted became the Mirror World. That was why, he haunted the Mirror World until finally, he, once again, was killed by a young girl who wouldn’t give up no matter what.

…

Mir returned to her sense after receiving a pain that she couldn’t endure. Even though he shot the head of the evil spirit, even though the evil spirit ‘died’ instantly, it was still painful.

“…thanks.” Mir whispered softly. Only she understood why she said her gratitude to an evil spirit.

After she killed the evil spirit, the room around her crumbled slowly. Mir was surprised. She thought the whole building was crumbling and if she stayed there, she would be buried alive. However, her panic was only for a moment. Because before she noticed, she saw that she was back in the entrance, with mirrors all around her. There was, however, an exit right behind her.

Looking at the crumbling white room one more time, and at the empty stair in the middle of the crumbling room, she once again said her gratitude inwardly before she took a step outside of the Mirror World.

…now, where should I go? Can I break through the army of countless ghosts?

Mir glanced at her surroundings. The army of ghosts was still flying around her. They looked like they were waiting for her to show any weakness. Naturally, she wouldn’t show any weakness. Not intentionally.

…it’s impossible to break through… but even if it’s impossible, I have to do it. There’s no other choice but to do that.

Mir started walking to the exit. However, just as she walked, the ghosts were agitated. It was as if they didn’t like the fact that Mir wanted to escape from this place. They seemed like they wanted to tell something to her, though she couldn’t understand them at all.

“…!”

Mir was surprised when she saw countless ghosts blocked her path. She gritted her teeth silently as she took out her handgun. When she took out the gun, however, more ghosts blocked her path to the exit.

…it’s impossible. I won’t be able to endure… the pain of countless ghosts. But… they only block me from escaping? That means I can only move forward, and not go back?

Noticing the oddity of their behavior, Mir put her gun down. Rather than forcing her way by killing countless ghosts, Mir decided to move forward once again. She turned around and moved to the next attraction.

There were still a lot of attractions in this amusement park. She knew that each attraction had a strong ghost. At least, that was what she believed. However, from the backstory Raleigh told her, she could guess the source of all the miasma in this amusement park. Not to mention that she could see the thickest black miasma was coming from the same place. And in addition to that, there was the memory of the young man ghost from the Mirror World. Combining all the clues, there was only one destination she had to go to now.

And that destination was the mansion where the young man lived before. It was the rumored haunted house from the story. If she could deal with the source of all the miasma, she believed that all the ghosts would go to the afterworld.

With that thought in her mind, Mir walked to the deepest part of the amusement park determinedly.