Chapter 29

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Translator: penny

Chapter: 29

Chapter Title: My 1st Floor Roommate Won't Die (4)

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I place my hand on the Roommate Monster's shoulder and press the craft button.

I open my inventory to check the crafted item, then equip it.

I take a photo of the newly revived roommate to see ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠which one has come back.

I repeat this process about 16 times.

Now that I've used up all 16 remaining crafts.

Both my arms are covered in a total of 16 bracelets, and there are no craft uses left at all.

'Whoa...'

The roommate, who had died about 20 times just today alone...

'It still won't end?'

Was walking around the house perfectly fine in yet another new body.

'Tough... so tough...'

I had no idea how many more times I'd have to kill it, but if it just wouldn't die forever like this...

'...Should I just close my eyes tight and live here for a week?'

It might actually be a good thing.

I could go back home, stock up on craft buttons, return to the 1st Floor Roommate Dungeon, and mass-produce bracelets, right?

'Yeah, there was never any "clear it by whenever" deadline.'

I hadn't brought food this time, so surviving a month like the 8th challenger wasn't possible right now.

But that was something I could tackle next time.

'Guess I'll settle for this.'

There was no reason to waste more time here.

I raised my camera and took a photo for reference, to check if the roommate had changed when I came back next time.

The moment I was about to press the return button...

'Huh?'

I opened the status window to hit return, but it wasn't showing the basic input screen.

It was on the community screen.

'Did I open the community?'

Why would I have?

One of those unconscious habits, maybe.

I've gotten so used to going into the Gallery that I did it without remembering.

Since I was already in, I decided to browse a bit, gather some useful info, then return. I posted a thread.

Return uses don't increase unless you clear the ghost story dungeon, so it's best to save them as much as possible, right?

So I decided to hang out here for another hour or two.

'Next time, I gotta stock up like 200 craft uses.'

Next visit, I'd mass-craft items and clear the Roommate Monster ghost story dungeon.

'Got replies.'

As always, people reply super fast to my posts.

They'd surely drop some clever idea I hadn't thought of.

I waited, hoping for a clue to clear this Roommate Monster story.

Anonymous 1, who always replies, suggested checking the bathroom.

I ignored Anonymous 2's weird English gibberish, opened the 2nd floor bathroom door, and checked inside.

'Was there anything bathroom-related in the records?'

It was a perfectly normal bathroom.

But with the strategy guides updated, photographing the house's interior for reference wasn't a bad idea.

I snapped a pic of the inside and shared that nothing was off.

'Something shows if you consciously look into the mirror world?'

What could be there that they'd tell me to look into the mirror world—

'...Huh? Isn't that "" typed on an English keyboard?'

As I tried peering into the mirror like Anonymous 3 said...

I spotted Anonymous 1's "Tl1qkf" and realized something was wrong.

And also...

'...Oh.'

There were 4 comments total...

But if Anonymous 3 was really human, it should show 3, not 4.

'Return...!'

I went to open the status window to hit return—

Ah...

Fuck...

"..."

The status window wouldn't go back to the main screen.

Stuck on the community screen, no back button working...

No matter how many times I pressed back... it stayed on this screen...

"..."

The moment I realized my situation was seriously fucked, I whipped my head away from the mirror and slammed the open bathroom door shut with a rough swing of my arm.

'The mirror world my ass...'

Why had the moderator refused to mention anything about deleted records?

The answer was right there.

A blocked account by the moderator.

That monster using it... had lured me to look at the 'mirror' while consciously thinking of 'mirror world'.

'That's why they kept it from being figured out.'

Just moments ago, looking at the mirror without knowing 'mirror world' did nothing.

But now that I was aware... I could sense something huge would happen if I looked.

Normally, avoiding mirrors would be an easy counter.

But...

'How far does "mirror" count? Just reflections?'

The problem was what qualified as a mirror.

From memory, the TV on the 1st floor would reflect me.

Semi-transparent windows would show my reflection...

The stainless steel in the kitchen...

And...

"Ah..."

The clean, polished wooden pillar right below me...

Was reflecting my foot.

'...What the hell?'

Feet should have toes pointing toward the calf... why was this?

Why were my feet... facing forward?

Feet should point backward?

When crouching, toes should touch inside the knee?

'Already under mental attack...'

I was probably hallucinating.

How to deal with this mental assault starting already?

For now, to fix my foot, I sat down and started twisting my ankle.

"Urgh...!"

No matter how hard I twisted, the forward-facing ankle wouldn't budge.

Then...

"Ah, gotta ask for help."

Couldn't solve this alone.

Time to ask my best friend, the roommate, for help?

"Hey, help me out."

"..."

"Got it, coming now."

The roommate, always ready to help.

I slowly stood, ready to get help turning my ankle properly.

Then headed down the stairs—

The translucent status window filled my entire view with a flood of sudden alerts.

They blocked my sight completely.

'Ha... can't even bully people properly.'

I tapped one to warn against message spam.

Still full of incomprehensible English words...

'Tlqkf again.'

Paradoxically, amid the gibberish I couldn't understand, there was one word I could.

It wasn't a word.

Just "" typed on an English keyboard.

Yeah...

Like typing actions backward, Korean on English keys.

If there's a mirror world, wouldn't it look like this? A world where everything's reversed.

Where they type Korean on English keyboards...

...Huh?

'...What am I doing right now?'

My head throbs like it's splitting.

I don't know what I'm doing.

Don't know... what's normal anymore.

Ankles... normally face forward, right...?

No... ankles face backward, toward the back...?

My roommate's ankle faces backward too...?

Our ankles should face the same way...?

'Return... return... must return first... fix ankle... go back... fix it...!'

Yeah.

Right.

I need to return now.

Fuck, I need to return right now.

But the return screen isn't coming up...? Back button... Ah, this is...

"...Isn't the back button supposed to look like this?"

→ Back.

← Undo.

..No.

← Back.

→ Undo.

Was it this?

So to go back, press '←'?

Ah, got it.

Undo pressed.

No, what.

Back pressed.

Have I been pressing undo thinking it was back all this time?

...Why?

Ah.

Aaah...

Yeah...

I have to live here forever.

Stay together forever.

That's why it was confusing...

Forever here...

Here...

"These fucking bracelets were trying to consume me too?"

I ripped off the bracelets from both wrists violently, spam-clicked back until I reached the main screen, and hit the return button.

The moment the bracelets tore free, my pounding head felt a bit lighter, but only briefly.

"Let's go... return. Just... return..."

Through my blurring vision...

"Dumbass... you can't come up."

I saw the roommate desperately crawling up to the 2nd floor.