The Endless Fourth Floor
Manual Ghost Story
[ ↑ 4F ] [ ↓ 3F ]
"The fourth floor...?"
That made no sense.
"This is already the fourth floor...!"
If it were a normal sign, it should indicate the fifth floor above and the third below—excluding the current one! Of course, I knew it was overly optimistic to expect everything to be normal in the heart of a ghost story. But still...
"...No way."
Maybe they were just messing with the signs to trick me. Harboring that denial of reality, I cautiously climbed upward.
Creeeak, creeeak. Each step on the stairs elicited an ominous wooden groan, as if mirroring my anxious state of mind.
The floor I reached was the fourth. The classroom layouts, club room arrangements, even the contents of the hallway bulletin boards—all identical to the one below. And crucially, there was no club room for the Paranormal Investigation Club, which should exist on the fifth floor.
"..."
After ascending to this upper "fourth floor," I glanced back at the stair sign.
[ ↑ 4F ] [ ↓ 4F ]
"Ha, haha. You damn ghost story bastard..."
Now even the lower sign had been manipulated to read fourth floor. No, it wasn't manipulation. The floor below really was the fourth. Having confirmed not just a sign trick but an actual extra fourth floor, I skipped patrolling the classrooms and headed upward again.
And as expected, the next floor was yet another fourth.
Fourth floor. Another climb, and still fourth floor.
But I didn't stop, continuing to ascend the stairs relentlessly. Yet no matter how many floors I climbed, I only reached the fourth.
Even as my clothes soaked with sweat and my breath grew ragged, even as the air thickened into something sticky and foreboding with each step...
No fifth floor appeared. Instead, the fourth floors grew increasingly hostile and toxic.
Finally, upon discovering a floor reduced to utter ruins, its corridors pooled with blood, I gave up climbing higher and descended the stairs.
"Haa. Haa. Damn it!!"
This wasn't just a couple extra floors tacked on. I'd climbed enough to rival a skyscraper by any count, yet the chain of fourth floors showed no sign of ending.
In conclusion: the fourth floor existed infinitely.
No need to guess the ghost story's scheme. Patrolling up to the fourth floor resolves it. So just make sure the fourth never ends, right?
Due to excessive risk, the fifth floor is not patrolled, and ascending to it is strictly prohibited.
Ascending to the fifth floor is prohibited. That phrasing didn't mean just banning it by rule or physically blocking the path. It meant conceptually impossible to reach the fifth—by infinitely duplicating the fourth.
It's over.
No matter how long I patrol at night, if the fourth floor never ends, distributing talismans efficiently to resolve the ghost story is pointless. You need some structure to distribute them effectively, but against this endless repetition, a mere dozen talismans meant nothing.
My solution was utterly thwarted.
No—ever since the fourth floor started infinitely replicating, all normal solutions were meaningless.
And there was another problem: no reaching the fifth meant no regression either.
Whether this ghost story had caught on that the Paranormal Investigation Club could regress and blocked the path, or if it was coincidence, the result was the same—I'd lost the option to reset the environment via regression.
"Damn it..."
This Manual Ghost Story was on a whole other level of cunning compared to the ones I'd faced before.
Actually, I did have one solution left. Like with the Murder Hotel, physically demolish the stage: Everlight Academy itself.
If you can't eliminate the ghost story, destroy the spatial backdrop it parasites on.
But I absolutely couldn't do that.
Unlike the Murder Hotel, where collapsing the building was fine, Everlight Academy was where I'd spend the next three years sealing the outer god. If it crumbled and the academy closed, the seal would break.
Besides, it housed the regressable club room and the underground seal. Destroying it risked unknown consequences, so that was off the table.
Just moments ago, I'd been smug like I'd solved it, but before this grim reality, I had to admit defeat.
"Damn, just you wait."
Spouting a third-rate villain line as I conceded, my mind oddly lightened.
What came next was clear. I immediately descended to the first floor.
If conquering the ghost story failed, no point wasting time.
Yeah. Time-wasting.
My choice upon patrol failure: waste time.
Failure wasn't eternal. We had another shot.
The easiest way to the next chance was regression, but not this time—the Manual Ghost Story blocked the fifth floor.
Even otherwise, regression consumed resentment, so I'd save it as a last resort.
Next best: flee the ghost story.
This so-called Manual Ghost Story's true name was Night Patrol Rules. Meaning it only manifested late at night.
Conversely, it vanishes at dawn.
No way it'd enforce patrols under blazing morning sun.
The catch: leaving it unchecked might let it rampage beyond control. But I figured this one had low risk of that.
Tied to the academy's late hours by nature, unlike Brandon's indiscriminate attacks, it targeted only the chosen few with the manual.
A day or two ignored shouldn't cause immediate issues.
Thud, thud. Many floors up meant many down. Even after a long descent, plenty remained to the third-floor stairs.
"...Chased by ghosts all night, climbing stairs nonstop—I'm drenched in sweat. Shower first after duty ends."
Thinking leisurely like that, I reached the third. Finally.
For a moment, I'd worried about infinite-looping on the fourth forever.
"Dunno when the ghost story fades, but I'm beat—relax till morning. Weirdly not sleepy after that short nap earlier."
"Time's passed a lot, huh. When does this Night Patrol end?"
Started at first floor, chased by Elaine ghost, patrolled third, chased again, back to first for talismans, patrolled fourth, climbed endless fourths...
Easily over an hour, by rough estimate. Normal patrol maxes at two hours tops.
So it should be fading soon.
As I neared first floor, the suffocating air and ominous vibe eased.
Descending from above, the midnight academy felt peaceful now. Early on, even this atmosphere scared me.
At first floor, before the duty room, I paused to gaze out the window. Clouds parted, moonlight flooding the academy grounds.
"Moon's higher than I thought. Has less time passed than I figured?"
With this intensity, I'd guessed past 2 a.m., but moon height said barely midnight—about an hour.
...?
What? Why was the moon still there?
Less time passing? Fine, events were densely packed.
But still midnight? Impossible.
Because...
"I started the night patrol at exactly midnight!!"
Beep-beep! Beep-beep!
That was when it happened. The duty room alarm blared.
But impossible.
The only alarm I'd set was for midnight patrol start.
Suddenly, our flight from Elaine ghost replayed:
‘Wait, you were there before patrol even started! That's cheating!!’
‘Breaking rules? No idea what you mean!! Come closer, I'll explain in detail~?’
Desperate banter while fleeing, but maybe that was key.
Chill ran down my spine as horrifying truth dawned.
Elaine ghost broke no rules. She wasn't early.
Patrol time had already begun while I slept.
I just hadn't noticed, asleep till she woke me.
That alarm wasn't first. Second, or Nth.
Infinity didn't stop at academy floors.
This midnight hour looped endlessly too.
Time and space, everything repeating forever!
I was trapped in the ghost story—and only now realized it.