2. The Kind Heroine in the Horror Game
Chapter 8
“Sis, is your foot okay?”
“Ah.”
Only then did I realize I was barefoot.
Pridel’s blood had splattered all over me, including my feet.
Stepping on the debris from the monster-shattered walls stung, but I didn’t show it.
The stickiness of being covered in blood bothered me more.
“It doesn’t hurt.”
Walking was no issue.
If it kept hurting, I could find slippers midway and put them on.
Or better yet, find a potion.
The game had various safeguards to prevent easy human deaths, potions being one.
I didn’t know if it was the same here, but with the system windows, it had to be.
So wounds could be healed with potions.
Even a small amount would suffice for my soles’ cuts.
If I couldn’t find one, the system would provide it. It gave me medicine for my feverish chill—why not for other quests?
We’d climbed to the third floor with Holloway when it happened.
The 05th ‘You’re It’ story begins.
The sudden notification startled me; I tried dashing down the stairs but smacked my head on thin air and flopped backward.
Holloway asked as I lay spread-eagled, the hallway my bed.
“What are you doing?”
“…”
What did it look like?
I rose awkwardly and reached toward the stairs.
But my hand hit something blocking.
Closer inspection revealed a translucent barrier between the descending stairs and my position.
In short, I was trapped, unable to go anywhere.
Was it just me?
I pointed at the stairs, looking at Holloway.
“Holloway, can you go down the stairs?”
As if the question was odd, Holloway answered by descending and ascending himself.
But no matter if I headbutted, kicked, or reached, I couldn’t.
Holloway, watching my bizarre antics, clapped in awe.
“Wow, what is that? You act like there’s a real wall—great performance!”
“…”
Didn’t my desperate escape attempts show?
Resigned to being stuck, a window appeared before me.
Objective: Find and shout at the goal point before the tagger catches you.
‘Now I’m it!’
Shouting that means you win.
If the tagger touches your body, you become it.
※Never become the tagger.
Clear Reward: Revolver
Revolver…? A gun?!
The bold weapon provision thrilled me briefly.
But monsters found us by sound…
No, no. There were demons too. Nothing beat a gun for preparation.
Failure: Death.
Fuck, everything was so extreme!
I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it!
The quest didn’t even offer a choice to accept or decline.
Failure: Lose a finger—or something! Then with ten fingers, I’d have ten lives!
My inner scream was swallowed, unspoken.
And like in the game, the story began.
Night falls.
The faint candle flickers died with a whoosh.
I flinched and yanked Holloway close, hugging him tight.
At the end of the third floor’s long hallway stands the tagger.
…Which end of the third floor?
Seeking playmates, the tagger begins to wander. You slowly rise to find the goal point.
I’d rise quickly?
I sprang up.
Despite my bravado, I gripped Holloway’s hand and tiptoed down the hallway.
“Sis, your hand’s sweaty.”
“So you don’t want to hold it?”
“Yes.”
“Fine.”
I said that but squeezed his hand harder.
“I said I don’t want to.”
“But I do!”
“My hand?”
“Yes. I really want to.”
“…Okay.”
The preceding silence bothered me immensely.
Whether only I was trapped on the third floor or the whole group was unclear.
Holloway, being the final boss, might roam freely.
We walked in silence’s company when Holloway suddenly asked.
“Sis, how did you end up here?”
“Yacht party hit by a typhoon. You?”
“I was working on that boat and got caught up.”
Blatantly lying, Holloway bombarded me with questions.
“So you’re from the Valone Empire too, sis?”
“Huh? Yeah. How’d you know?”
“I said I was on the same boat as you.”
…No you didn’t. Felt like a guess.
“Then everyone must be Valone Empire nobles. Right? You too, sis.”
A yacht party meant nobles, obviously.
Their attire at first sight screamed it, yet his prodding for confirmation was suspicious.
No such conversations in the game, so his thoughts were inscrutable.
I decided to brush past lightly.
“Don’t I look it?”
“No.”
His bright, unhesitating affirmation left me speechless.
“You… Youu…”
That was really mean…
“Valone Empire’s nobles and emperor haven’t changed much, right?”
Ignoring my hurt, Holloway asked, and I pondered the game’s story.
His persistent questions were suspicious.
In the game, Holloway approached players as a child, alerting demons when guards dropped, tormenting them.
Despite time together, he felt no pity, compassion, or fondness.
He didn’t even blink at deaths.
So he avoided mingling words.
Above all, he’d never asked such questions…
“Sis.”
Holloway urges an answer. The longer the delay, the higher his murderous intent toward you.
This demon brat had no patience?!
His murderous intent would kill me.
“From what I know? As an empire with ancient history, the founding nobles and emperor have maintained their lines.”
I considered lying, but this island-trapped demon knowing about the Valone Empire suggested informants.
Being a demon, deducing about them was impossible.
“I see… Ah, that man who tried killing us earlier. Akrotic—was he a baron’s house?”
“…”
Sensing my suspicion, Holloway overdid the cheer.
“I’d never seen those nobles! I boarded by chance—for good money.”
Chattering unprompted.
But I couldn’t show suspicion here.
Because…
※Warning.※
No, don’t.
If ‘The Future World Conqueror’ Holloway detects suspicion in any odd act, you’ll face ‘Bad Ending: Burning Agony.’
Such a brutal warning left no choice.
I gazed at the blatantly suspicious Holloway without a trace of doubt.
“Stuck without pay—tough luck.”
“Can’t leave—that’s the real issue.”
Danger Gauge increased by 2.
…
Fuck.
“Being with nobles now is exciting. So what houses are you and the others from? I heard nobles use family names, but here it’s all first names!”
I hesitated instead of answering immediately.
Before entering the hotel, Cynthia and Cleta had insisted on first names only, no ranks or surnames, for contingencies.
Top empire figures stranded—perhaps Cynthia targeted them deliberately; best hide identities.
In <Child’s Secret>, they always used first names…
…That reminded me of something odd.
In the game, slips revealing Cynthia as princess often triggered demons’ fits.
Knowing she was princess, they’d kill brutally rather than toy.
Revealing our surnames, including mine, felt wrong.
Lying risked exposure if Holloway mentioned it and someone corrected, ‘That’s not my house’—I’d die.
So silence was best.
“That’s a secret. But you’re curious?”
Further, with the quest started, explaining risked the tagger’s unknown arrival, heightening anxiety.
“Yeah. Interesting! I admire nobles. I’m commoner—no surname. Being close to nobles is rare!”
“Is it?”
“Yeah. Won’t they take care of me if we escape?”
“I see…”
Falling silent, Holloway tilted his head.
“No more?”
“Nope!”
I answered brightly, like him.
“You need to stay curious to stick together long.”
So to hear more, kill me last.
Others knew surnames too, but…
Holloway didn’t seem likely to ask them now.
This conversation itself might stem from that sliver of favorability.
In the game, he’d never questioned anyone like this.
Rising favorability altered the mostly uniform early story completely, but basics remained: characters’ personalities, Holloway’s child guise, hotel monsters, inescapability, etc.
And surging murderous intent at delays showed Holloway unchanged fundamentally.
Acting like a human child, but a demon at core.
In the game, he’d act humanely yet kill without hesitation.
“Long?”
“Yeah.”
Until I find the escape gate!
“With me?”
“Yeah!”
Holloway squeezed my hand tighter.
Slowly curving his lips, he looked up at me.
Somehow, it felt a bit colder.
“Okay. Let’s try being together long.”
…Um, sorry.
I think my meaning got misconstrued.
