Mindreader in a Nightmare Game

After three back-to-back nights of working until 3:00 am, I dropped dead.Honestly, I thought it was a relief and that my 23 years of corporate misery had finally come to a blissful end. But when I opened my eyes, I found myself transmigrated into a horror game.Right now, I was sitting in a classroom. A hanging ghost dangled from the blackboard, and its long tongue was dragging across the floor.A jumper ghost was doing a handstand on the desk with its eyeballs stretched six feet out of their sockets.Every ghost here had scattered facial features. They were barely recognizable as anything that was once human. Severed limbs and mangled flesh lay everywhere, and the stench of blood filled the air.Cold sweat soaked through my clothes. I clamped a hand firmly over my mouth and refused to let out a whimper."Stay calm. The worse it gets, the calmer you need to be," I muttered and reminded myself.I lifted my stiff legs and inched toward the corner, but my foot landed on something

Solemnly, I swept my gaze across the circle of grotesque and terrifying, yet strangely harmless faces of the ghosts, one by one.Under the barrage of "Human, come cuddle!" inner voices, I admitted defeat.A clingy human wasn't scary, but a clingy ghost was. A whole classroom of clingy ghosts was an absolute nightmare!I took a steadying breath, picked up the notebook, and resumed searching for more clues.The notebook's owner was named Peggy Clark. Her handwriting was neat and pretty, and for some reason, it felt vaguely familiar.Where had I seen it before?Suddenly, it clicked. The handwriting!Even if the ghosts didn't remember their names or pasts, their handwriting wouldn't change much. If I could get all of them to write something, maybe I could identify Peggy by finding the ghost that could match her handwriting.As per my instructions, the ghosts formed a line and began writing on several blank sheets of paper. Though they fumbled with the pen and paper at first, muscle

A chill crawled straight up my spine.After that day, the attendance log contained only Erin's increasingly panicked, distorted handwriting."Mr. Prescott, I saw Peggy hurting herself. What should I do? She could die."I did everything you asked. You promised my dad wouldn't lose his job."Mr. Prescott, Peggy's falling apart. Can we please stop now? I'm begging you."Later, large sections of the log were left blank. Only the last page recorded one final attendance note. Peggy dropped out, while Erin died in a car crash. Wyatt had used his authority to crush two helpless female students.Like fresh, bright, and barely blooming flowers, they were ground into the dirt by malice before they ever witnessed dawn or dusk.Hatred churned in my chest, so intense that it felt unbearable.…As I set the attendance log down, the sudden emotional drain left me feeling weak.Erin was still seated behind me, revived by the swarm of ghosts frantically shaking her awake, though I had my dou

As a result of Erin's death, Wyatt abandoned his initial plan and left me discarded in the car.When I woke up, I found myself lying in a hospital bed. Trauma and psychological factors had erased my memories.I went through the school transfer procedures, changed my name, and moved to another city with my parents. Like any other kid, I grew up, took the SAT, went to college, and lived a steady life all the way to the age of 23.It was only today that I was dragged back to the terrifying past.Since fate had brought me back here, I would end it all for good. This time, I'd never escape again.Tightening the grip on the fruit knife, I pushed open the office door and noticed the vase I once smashed standing perfect and untouched on the desk.Sure enough… Everything in the game world was looping, so the only way out was to end things where they began.Behind me, the lock clicked shut before Wyatt's footsteps drew closer."Peggy, I called you in today to discuss the details of your

The ghosts looked fully recharged, lounging around in small groups and staring at me with bright, expectant eyes.A cold, mechanical voice rang in my head. "Game completion reaches 100%. Congratulations on clearing the game, Player. You will be logged out in ten minutes."I froze and was utterly stunned that everything had gone by in just a brief blur. Though it was a horror game, it felt like I was just here working part-time.With a sigh, I put on my brightest smile. "Free hugs limited to one per ghost. Anyone?"After a round of hugging, head-pats, and shoulder squeezes, my arms were sore. I felt oddly embarrassed, like I'd just been sold off to a cat cafe for customer service. "Humans are really warm and squishy! I want one as a pillow!""So this is what a hug feels like… I'm gonna cry.""I knew humans were fluffy, but Jack and his shiny bald head insisted humans were smooth like him! Liar!""I'm offering big money to hire a human hugger! One hug a day keeps the doctor away