Chapter 41: IF – Happy Ending.

I looked down at my feet, and there was an old carpet.

It was dusty. I took a deep breath. The cold air pricked my nose with the smell of old dust, mold, and some unpleasant scent.

“…Huh?”

A low exclamation naturally escaped my lips.

I was clearly on an alley just moments ago.

Surely, it was a dark alley, between familiar gray buildings.

But the scenery unfolding before my eyes now was a completely different world.

My head hurt. A pain as if someone was forcibly stirring my head surged.

I slowly looked around.

I couldn’t see the end anywhere.

The corridor went on endlessly, and all the walls were identically worn out.

“Ugh…”

The surroundings were eerily silent, and the space seemed to repeat endlessly.

The wallpaper was a yellowed beige.

The mold and unpleasant smell that had seeped into the wallpaper choked my lungs.

The low humming sound coming from the ceiling further amplified the unease.

The humming sound was synchronizing with my breathing and tempo, as if it was watching me.

“Something… is familiar.”

Faintly, a memory surfaced. ‘That space’ that I had seen on the internet flashed through my mind.

“…Backrooms?”

Goosebumps immediately broke out all over my body at the words that came out of my mouth.

That space, which couldn’t possibly be real, was actually in front of my eyes.

I shook my head, trying to suppress my confused mind, and took a step.

However, the unfamiliar sensation with each step confused me more.

Each time my foot touched the soft carpet, it felt as if I was in a dream.

“What…?”

I looked down at my foot. It was too small.

Incredibly small and round feet.

I raised my hand to check. It was the same.

Adorable fingers and a small palm. Like a child’s hand.

I slowly turned my two hands over and squeezed and opened them. What on earth was happening? My heart was pounding like crazy.

“Could it be…?”

With trembling hands, I pulled down my hair.

Instead of the short, rough black hair, soft, long hair wrapped around my fingers and flowed down.

Then I was certain. It wasn’t just this space that was wrong.

“What… is this?”

I examined my body from my toes. My clothes were also strange.

The old padded jacket and jeans I was wearing were gone, and an unknown girl’s one-piece dress was covering my body.

“What is this…?”

My mind was a mess.

I couldn’t understand anything.

A pain as if a hammer had struck my head surged.

“Ah, my head hurts…”

I couldn’t endure it any longer.

This silence, this smell, and this unpleasant space.

I turned around and ran as I was.

My feet running over the old carpet sank in softly.

But I didn’t stop.

The wallpaper went on endlessly, and the corridor repeated in the same way.

But the more I did, the more I ran like crazy.

“I have to get out.”

My voice trembled, and my breath was rough.

A faint light was visible at the end of the corridor.

“There!”

I quickened my pace, filled with hope.

The cold air brushed against my face.

The humming of the fluorescent lamps gradually faded away.

Finally, I reached out towards the light.

Suddenly, a heavy woman’s voice echoed from behind.

“Wait, this has never…”

The voice was low and calm, but the unknown emotion contained within made my spine chill.

…!”

I plunged into the light without breathing.

The world flashed white before my eyes.

“Haa, haa…”

I opened my eyes, gasping for breath. The cold concrete floor, gray buildings, and the familiar alley were in front of me.

“I’m back…?”

I slowly looked around, as if unable to believe it. This was surely the alley I was in earlier.

However, the moment I looked down at my hands, I choked.

“…No.”

A small and adorable hand. It was still a child’s hand.

I quickly checked my body.

Small feet, soft, long hair, and a girl’s one-piece dress. Everything was the same.

“I… haven’t come back yet?”

My heart was pounding. A sense of alienation enveloped my body.

I looked around the alley again.

The cold concrete floor, gray buildings, and the people passing by were all normal.

“Could this be… a dream?”

I pinched my cheek with trembling hands.

“Ouch!”

A sharp pain spread.

However, even that pain was felt from the end of my soft cheek.

I looked at my two hands as if I couldn’t believe it.

Small palm, short, round fingers, and soft skin.

Oh my god.

It was all real.

“Impossible. Is this really my body?”

I looked at my reflection in the glass window of a nearby building, breathing heavily.

A young girl’s face was reflected in the glass.

White skin, blue eyes, and long hair flowing to her waist.

I caressed that face with my hand.

The small hand of the girl moved in the same way.

“Really… me?”

I wanted to deny the reality, but the girl in the mirror was following my movements exactly.

No matter how much I shook my head, no matter how much I closed my eyes, reality wouldn’t change.

“If it’s a dream… please wake up.”

The woman’s voice was still lingering in my ear.

“This has never…” I couldn’t understand what the interrupted words meant, or what the words meant.

“Let’s not think about it. For now… for now, let’s go back to the convenience store.”

I stumbled out of the alley, holding my dizzy head.

Coming out into the street where people were walking without any trouble, I felt a little relieved.

At least this wasn’t that ‘Backrooms’ like unknown space.

“But… still this body.”

The cold wind brushed my skin with every small step.

Everything felt real, but it was alien.

My adult self was nowhere to be found, and the sensation of looking at the world in the image of a small child made me uneasy.

“What happened… why, exactly?”

My body was trembling.

My head was a mess, like a puzzle forcibly put together. Something was creaking inside of me.

No matter how much I tried to realize it, I couldn’t grasp the boundaries of this reality.

“Haa…”

I sighed shallowly and put my hand into my pocket. Then, there was an unfamiliar touch that touched the tips of my fingers.

“Huh?”

A worn-out diary fell from my arms with a thud.

A yellowed, discolored leather cover, corners worn and tattered.

It might look like a normal memo pad to someone, but it was a thing that I couldn’t possibly be familiar with.

“What is this?”

I slowly picked up the diary.

The touch on my hand was strangely warm.

Like an object that had been by my side for a long time, a feeling that was unfamiliar but familiar permeated.

Something was written on the cover of the diary in small letters.

It was faint and hard to read, but I could barely recognize a single word by looking closely.

‘Lily Room.’

Lily Room?

What is this, a name that would come out of a lewd comic.

I opened the diary with trembling fingertips.

The first page was filled with writing, packed tightly.

The pages filled with small handwriting seemed to be dozens of pages.

Each page had dates and memos written on them, and sometimes crooked drawings were drawn.

As if a child recorded their day.

However, the content was not at all ordinary.

February 2, 2025

Day 1 at the Ao Oni mansion.

Something’s strange.

I was already guessing from the silhouette I saw through the glass, but it’s really strange.

No, where did the blue, muscular, stupid ‘Ao Oni’ I knew go?

Ao Oni.

That existence that appeared as a purple monster in the game.

But the Ao Oni here is different.

Her body had a similar color to a human, but the huge purple branch in her hand looked too threatening.

Her tongue is also bizarre. Ugh, I really hate it.

February 2, 2025.

A day in the bathroom.

I had a really special experience today.

The space I entered after escaping the maze was a narrow space that looked like a school bathroom, and there was a ghost with long white hair, a white T-shirt, floating in the air.

Her name is Hana.

I guess she is the original of the famous ghost story ‘Hanako-san’? It could be the opposite.

February 2, 2025.

A day in a strange space.

This room was full of strange things.

At first, I was surprised just by being dressed in a bunny girl outfit again, but this time, a picture of me was taken even though I didn’t take a picture.

Even though it was a camera facing the sky.

Also… a picture of me blushing, looking embarrassed.

Why was this taken?

Sia laughed at it and said nonsense like she had to keep it.

The delete button didn’t work, and the photo just remained in the camera.

“…Sia?”

The moment I saw the name Sia.

Right at that moment, my mind went black.

Happy ending 0-Escape?