We didn't sleep.
The house didn't allow it.
Even when the walls stopped pulsing and the whispers fell silent, a tension clung to the air like mildew—unseen, but everywhere. I sat on the cold floor across from Ren, knees pulled up to my chest, trying not to flinch every time the pipes groaned like a dying animal overhead.
He hadn't moved much in hours. His eyes stayed open, staring down the hallway toward the "Consequences" door.
"Do you ever sleep?" I asked, voice low.
Ren shifted slightly. "Only when the house lets me forget I'm still in it."
"That happen often?"
He didn't answer.
I leaned my head against the wall and exhaled slowly. "I used to read stories like this to feel something. Horror. Fear. Thrill. Now that I'm in one, I just want to go home."
Ren gave me a look. "You think this is still a story?"
"Isn't it?"
A long pause. Then he said, "No. Stories end."
The lights above us flickered.
The system voice returned, monotone and clear:
"Day One: Consequence Phase Initiated."
"Room Selection: Random."
"Lin Yusheng—enter the Consequence Room."
I stiffened. "Wait, what?"
Ren stood up and stepped aside, eyes suddenly cautious.
The Consequences door glowed with a faint red pulse.
"This wasn't in the book," I muttered. "Lin Yusheng doesn't go through—"
"Because in the original story," Ren cut in, "he never confessed anything real. You did."
I looked at him. "So the game noticed."
Ren gave a single nod. "And now it's hungry."
The Consequence Room was colder than the rest of the house.
The door sealed behind me with a hiss like escaping breath. Inside, the walls were smooth, metallic—not decayed like the others. There were no windows, no shadows. Just a single chair in the center of the room and a mirror directly in front of it.
But this mirror didn't reflect me.
It reflected him.
Lin Yusheng. The original one.
He looked… small. Frail. Dressed in the same shirt I now wore, but he had a softness I lacked. His eyes were watery, and he shook even while sitting still. I'd mocked him as a reader. Now, I was looking at him like a ghost in reverse.
The speaker above crackled again:
"Face what you changed."
"Understand what you stole."
I blinked. "I didn't steal—"
The mirror rippled.
Lin stood up inside it, slowly walking toward me, even as I stayed seated. He stopped at the glass and pressed a hand against it.
"I was supposed to die in Arc Three," he said. His voice was faint, echoing, as if underwater. "I was ready for it. Afraid, but ready."
"I didn't ask for this."
"But you took it. My name. My fear. My ending."
"I'm trying to survive—just like you would've."
His smile was brittle. "But you're not scared the same way I was. You're clever. Detached. You're using what you know to live longer than I ever could."
"Is that a bad thing?"
He tilted his head. "The house doesn't just test who you are. It tests who you should have been."
The light above dimmed. A red timer appeared on the wall: 10:00
"You have ten minutes," said the voice, "to restore the fear you stole. Or he takes your place."
"No," I whispered.
The Lin in the mirror stepped back. A noose appeared above him.
He smiled again—sad this time. "I don't mind dying. I just didn't expect it to feel so empty when someone else is in my skin."
The timer began to tick down.
I stood, heart pounding, staring at myself—at him. This wasn't like the ghosts or illusions from the previous rooms. This was personal. Targeted.
"What does the house want from me?" I demanded aloud. "A confession? A punishment?"
No answer.
The timer ticked down: 07:59
"Fine."
I turned to the mirror and placed my hand where his had been.
"I hated you," I said. "Because you cried in the second arc. Because you flinched at shadows. Because you reminded me of who I was before I pretended to be brave."
Lin watched, silent.
"I mocked you because if you could die so easily, then maybe I could too."
The timer ticked. 06:32
"I'm sorry."
The mirror cracked.
Not shattered—cracked. A web of lines formed across Lin's reflection, distorting his eyes, his mouth, until he faded out slowly.
In his place stood my own reflection again. Tired. Pale. But mine.
The timer blinked once. Then stopped at 03:44.
"Consequence absorbed."
"Fear restored. Identity recognized."
"You may leave."
The door clicked open behind me.
I left without looking back.
Ren was waiting just outside.
I stumbled a little, sweat dripping down my back.
He studied my face. "What did you see?"
"Lin Yusheng," I said. "The real one."
"And?"
"I told him I was sorry."
Ren blinked. Once. Then looked away like that bothered him more than it should've.
"I don't think the house ever forgets who we replaced," I said.
"It doesn't," he muttered. "It's why I don't sleep."
We walked back toward the main hallway in silence.
The second I stepped into the common area, the walls rippled. A new hallway unfolded before us, one that hadn't been there before. Its entrance stretched like a yawning mouth, lined with pulsing veins.
Ren tensed. "That wasn't part of the first loop."
"Then what is it?"
The system answered us both:
"Unlocked: Side Trial – House Memory."
"Optional."
"Reward: Alignment Clarity."
"What the hell is 'alignment clarity'?" I asked.
Ren turned to me. "It means the house wants to test whether you're a protagonist… or something else."
"And what if it doesn't like the answer?"
He gave a cold smile. "Then it stops letting you win."