100CIM - Chapter 117




What came out of the mirror was not a person.

Therefore, the running speed is not human.

Can the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps sound this threatening?

“Ugh... Ugh...Please... Please...!”

At some point, Count Chaylor was running and begging.

He wondered why and how this situation came to be, but now he doesn't have time to think about it.

If he was caught, he would be punished in some way. For now, he had to just think about that and run forward.

He wanted to get out of here as soon as possible, but the Grand Duke of Illeston's mansion was so damn big that no matter how far he ran, the entrance felt far away.

He felt like his legs were going to tangle and he was going to fall over because he was impatient, but he didn't stop and kept running.

Count Chaylor, who had been running, running, and running, suddenly realized that everything around him had become quiet.

'What?'

Count Chaylor ran with all his might, but he kept glancing behind him.

The sound of his shoes chasing him, echoing through the hallways, was no longer heard.

Did he dodge it? Why was it chasing him so fast? That can't be possible.

Count Chaylor mustered up his courage and turned his head completely around to look back.

'It does not exist!'

The other Count Chaylor who had been chasing him was nowhere to be seen.

But it was too early to feel relieved because it seemed to appear and disappear from anywhere, whether it was the hallway or the window.

'Let's get out of here quickly!'

In this cursed mansion.

It was when he turned his head again with a little relief.

“Huh huh?”

A wide, empty hallway with nothing in it. In the middle of it, a mirror was standing unnaturally.

It was definitely a mirror that wasn't there until he turned his head to check behind him.

And in the mirror, a shadow was standing still and watching him.

It was the appearance of Count Chaylor himself.

“Oh, no...!”

The distance to the mirror was rapidly closing in. The Count tried to stop his running legs belatedly, but he could not overcome the speed and kept moving forward. In the end, he barely managed to stop in front of the mirror and fell down.

“Ugh... gasp...”

The body of Count Chaylor, who was sitting on the floor, trembled. In the mirror, something that looked like himself stood stiffly and looked down at him.

As he was frozen in fear, unable to blink, the Count in the mirror suddenly popped his face out.

He looked down at the head of the Count below him and chuckled, then reached out and grabbed his shoulder tightly.

“...Euaaaah!”

It was an overwhelming force. Count Chaylor tried with all his might to escape its grasp, but it was no use.

Count Chaylor was being helplessly dragged into the mirror.

'Is this how I die?'

As half of his body was dragged into the mirror, Count Chaylor thought.

How could I die so suddenly, in such an unfamiliar place, so beautifully and honorably?

There was no pain in the body locked in the mirror. It just disappeared into the mirror.

What happens if you go completely inside a mirror? Are you trapped there forever, unable to get out? Or do you disappear without a trace the moment your entire body is sucked into the mirror?

“Ugh... No... Save me...”

Everything was horrible and scary.

“Please... anyone, anyone...”

Save me. I can't die here.

But there was no one to save him.

When half of his face and body were finally submerged, Count Chaylor squeezed his eyes shut.

“...?”

And after a while, when a lot of time had passed and he still didn't feel anything special, the Count opened his eyes again.

Then, he gasped at the sight before his eyes.

This was still a hallway, but a world where everything was reversed. And the mirror still stood in the middle of the hallway, and the Count Chaylor in the mirror.

Count Chaylor could easily see what situation he was in.

This is inside a mirror. I am now trapped inside a mirror.

Taang!

“Hey, hey, hey...! Hey! Is there anyone there!!!”

The Count tried to knock on the mirror as if he was going to break it and shout, but on the other side of the mirror, a monster with the same face as himself was still staring at him with its teeth bared and a smirk on its face.

“Hey, you! Get me out now, you monster! I said get me out!”

The Count shouted with a terrified expression. He felt urgent. He felt that if he didn't turn everything back right now, it would really be the end.

But the monster just stared at him for a while before opening its mouth.

We have changed.

The monster's voice heard for the first time, sounded exactly like that of Count Chaylor.

The monster laughed contentedly and ran away quickly, disappearing somewhere.

Count Chaylor was left alone.

He was trapped in a mirror without anyone knowing.

The Count sat down with a bewildered expression.

What happens next?

Am I supposed to be stuck here forever until I die?

Unable to return to the mansion and continue in the mirror world?

Just imagining what would happen next made him feel like he was going crazy.

He felt like he was going to lose his mind from the vague feeling of fear.

At that moment, click, click - the sound of light footsteps was slowly approaching from somewhere.

Count Chaylor raised his head.

A girl with brown hair standing in front of a mirror with a calm expression.

It was Simone.

“All, you...”

“I heard the news and came back, but it was already over.”

"...What?"

A ridiculous situation where a person is trapped in a mirror.

But she didn't show any sign of surprise and just went about her business, tapping the mirror with a bashful face, checking behind her, and not even looking at Count Chaylor.

An unidentified person was doing something truly incomprehensible.

Count Chaylor's expression darkened.

“Hey, what are you doing? Do you know what this situation is? If you do, solve it quickly!”

When Count Chaylor shouted, Simone stopped looking in the mirror and stared at him.

“Can I say that?”

"What?"

“I may be the only one who can save you right now.”

“...”

Count Chaylor bit his lip. Only now did he realize that Simone was looking very annoyed.

Simone let out a deep sigh and lightly kicked the mirror with her foot.

“I told you not to look in the mirror.”

Save me, stop it.

He knew it from the moment they first met when he started making unfunny jokes. He was a person whose every action was unpleasant.

"...What?"

Count Chaylor recalled Simone's sarcastic remark when they first met.

'You seem to care a lot about your appearance, so it would be best not to look in mirrors in this mansion.'

“Then what you are saying is...”

Was it meant as a warning rather than sarcasm?

Did you know this would happen?

Chaylor looked at Simone.

“...Who are you?”

A young girl employed by the cursed Illestone family. Seemingly powerless, she calmly warns of this strange phenomenon and accepts it, acting as if it were a problem she could solve.

What on earth do you do to be so indifferent?

As he thought about it, he realized that he felt like she was different from other people for no reason.

“But I guess the mirror won’t disappear once the purpose is achieved.”

While Count Chaylor watched her with his mouth shut, Simone took a step back from the mirror as if she had examined everything.

Then she looked at Chaylor.

“First of all, let me get to the point. I can help you.”

“...Really?”

“Yes, I can help you get out of the mirror.”

A color came to Count Chaylor's face.

“Then, then get me out of here! Quickly! Why are you just sitting there when you can do it!”

“I said I could take it out, but I didn’t say I would.”

"...What?"

What the hell is this? You didn't say you'd take me out. 

He looked at Simone with an expression that said he couldn't understand.

“Do you know what you are talking about?”

His voice became deeply muffled.

“Does this situation look like a joke to you right now?”

Simone said, looking very angry.

“I am serious.”

“Then quickly-”

“Do I look like a good person?”

The Count closed his mouth at the sudden remark.

Does she look nice? If he had to say, he don't think she looks that nice. She's always so blunt and talks nonsense in this serious situation.

'...Ah.'

Only after the Count had made his judgment about Simone did he realize what she was trying to say.

Simone is not a good person.

So, it meant that she was not someone who could save people without paying anything in return, even if it was out of good intentions.

Count Chaylor's complexion changed.

"You..."

Simone chuckled. The Count seemed to understand what she meant very well.

Now it's time to make a deal.

Simone, who, when she falls on the street, has to get up by grabbing dirt to feel better, and who rarely moves without gain.

Simone said this in front of Count Chaylor, who was in danger of being trapped in the mirror forever.

“If you save me, what can you do for me, Your Grace?”

“...”

This is so presumptuous...

Chaylor gritted his teeth as he watched Simone leisurely alone, but he couldn't be angry at her any longer.

To Chaylor now, Simone was the straw that would get him out of this situation. He couldn't get on her nerves any longer.

Chaylor thought about it for a long time before speaking.

If only he could really get out of the mirror.

“Anything. I’ll do anything.”

That would be better than dying.


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