Ranking #1 Renewed
"...Ugh."
Consciousness returned amid vicious nausea. I tried to sit up, but my body felt like a thousand tons. No, not heavy... too light. Way too light. The force I put into rising sent me rolling across the floor instead.
—Thud crash bang!
My head throbbed like mad.
"Argh!"
I meant to curse, but what came out was a thin, high-pitched whimper.
"...?"
Something was off. Every nerve in my body felt miswired, alien. Stumbling to my feet, I staggered to the full-length mirror propped in the corner.
And the instant I saw my reflection, my brain flatlined.
A frail girl with silky white hair cascading to her shoulders stood there. Pale, delicate face. Huge, deer-like eyes wide with terror and confusion. It was exactly what I'd suspected in that weird place moments ago.
"Ah... aaaah..."
Against my will, a slender hand reached toward the mirror. The girl in the glass did the same. Our fingertips met on the cold surface, and reality crashed down.
This wasn't a dream. The penalty... it was real.
"...No way."
Thud. I collapsed right there.
Turning into a girl was shocking, sure, but not the end of the world. The real issue was whatever this phenomenon could do—flip a person's gender in an instant. If something like that existed...
It meant the horror stories were real.
And if the horror stories were real...
"It means I lost!"
I'd lost that argument with the anon just days ago!
"Aaaaaah!"
This time, a proper scream ripped out. Clutching my head, I screamed internally.
'Gallery!'
Right, the Horror Survivor Gallery first...
Connecting to 'Horror Survivor Gallery'.
"No."
Am I actually losing it? I rubbed my eyes furiously, but the translucent window stayed put.
Please register a new Fixed Nick.
I ignored the prompt and swiped through the air like a maniac until I found the "Cursed Mirror Room" post. My record, pinned at #1. Below it, awed comments from countless survivors.
That's when a small button caught my eye in the top right of the post.
[View in External Feed (Horror Creation Gallery)]
"...?"
I tapped it on impulse. The screen shifted to a familiar interface—the "Horror Creation Gallery" I'd haunted for 10 years. The same rules post. And the comments below.
...
The "Horror Creation Gallery" wasn't a fiction site. It was a massive system auto-uploading survivor records from here—the "Horror Survivor Gallery"—as "creative horror stories" for the outside world's normies.
Which meant...
(211.36). 'You know how many lives it takes to write rules like this, right?''Real horror story.'
The anon I'd argued with—he wasn't crazy. He was a real survivor. Trembling in terror inside a horror story, barely alive, logging in to drop one comment.
And what did I say to him?
"...Urk."
My stomach twisted. Defeat. A total, overwhelming defeat I'd never tasted in 10 years.
What the hell were my 10 years? My logic, my analysis, strutting around exploiting rule loopholes—it was all just hurling stones at people risking their lives from my safe corner.
Not a moral issue, but one of reason. Mocking them over some "official government" news snippet—that was the problem.
The perfect, rational undefeated troll. My pride in seeing through everything... shattered.
As a troll, I'd lost to (211.36) completely.
"I... lost...?"
A defeated troll had no right to post in the "Horror Creation Gallery". That was the one creed I'd upheld for 10 years of gallery antics.
With that creed in ruins, I was no longer "Han Yujin." The shame was unbearable.
I deleted the Creation Gallery bookmark.
...Even from my address autocomplete.
Meanwhile, a bomb dropped in the Horror Survivor Gallery.
#1 ranking in A-304 has been updated.
Posts updated en masse with the notice.
The gallery exploded. An A-grade horror—infamously tough "Cursed Mirror Room"—topped with insane time and rewards? Every survivor tuned in. Speculation spiraled.
The "Han Yujin theory" became a joke and vanished. Most veterans had blocked the agro-pulling troll long ago.
Focus shifted to one thing: the newbie who toyed with an A-grade horror.
Who the hell was this monster rookie?
Everyone held their breath. A day passed. Three days. A week.
No join greeting from "Fixed Nick Pending."
A week dragged by like that. I didn't eat, didn't sleep—just stared blankly at the ceiling. Quitting the gallery felt like quitting life. Everything over.
One night, as I withered away, something sparkled in the corner of my vision.
"...What's this?"
Dried tears? I weakly wiped my eye. A fingertip brushed something small and cold—like a finely cut gem.
A term from the survivor gallery popped up. What was it? Some crystal...
Mesmerized, I pulled up the gallery again.
Please register a Fixed Nick.
Ignoring that, I tapped the alarm.
#1 ranking in A-304 has been updated.
The post loaded.
[Rules]
A-304: Cursed Mirror Room
1st. [Fixed Nick Pending] - Clear Time: 00:07:14 / Heteromorphic Crystal: A (Perfect)
2nd. [Jeong Gongbeop] - Clear Time: 07:48:11 / Heteromorphic Crystal: B (Pure)
Ah. Right. Heteromorphic Crystal.
I copy-pasted the term into search. A simple explanation popped up.
Crystal obtained upon clearing a horror story. Forms under the eyes like teardrops after sleep—within a day to a week. Grade determined by color/shape. Believed based on horror difficulty, clear method, creativity, etc.
"Oh."
In short, I'd cleared this horror best. With a method no one else thought of.
"Kekeke."
Yeah, I'd lost in the "Horror Creation Gallery". My 10-year troll rep was trash now.
But.
"That was... the amateur league, right?"
My lips curled up without me noticing.
New turf for trolling. Place to prove my greatness.
Horror Survivor Gallery. My pride, my life—everything—floated before me as a translucent window.
In the Horror Survivor Gallery, the newbie who'd tormented veterans for a week finally posted their join greeting.
The veterans knew instinctively. The hellish week was nothing—the days ahead would be worse.