How a Nuisance Character Survives in a Horror Game – Chapter 62

Author: lipzoldyck

Based on his actions, it seems that Holloway knows everything I’ve seen about his past.

It seemed that since I saw his past, it was automatically shared with him.

As my normal thinking circuits began to work, I felt anxious.

As I said, in the game, the demons were extremely wary of people knowing about them and the identity of the hotel.

Yet I found out about the final boss’ past.

Although he’s kind and gentle now, I didn’t know when he’d turn and kill me.

…It should have been like that, but Holloway didn’t seem to have any thoughts.

I knew everything about demons and how they’d lived here for a thousand years, but Holloway didn’t say anything to me.

He could have asked me how I’d seen that past, but he didn’t even ask me that question…

What? Why?

Why is he acting so burdensome toward me?

“Why are you looking at me with such a sharp eye?”

“I deeply apologize. For looking at you with a sharp eye.”

“…”

First of all, it would be best to bow down.

He wasn’t a child, and once Holloway’s true form was revealed, I couldn’t treat him like before.

First, I should change his title. He’s a thousand-year-old demon.

Should I call him Almighty Sir Holloway?

“Sister.”

“Should I call you Grandfather?”

“Would you like to?”

I answered seriously, looking at him smiling fiercely.

“No, I wouldn’t.”

Grandfather was too far gone.

If it were a difference of a few decades, maybe, but because the difference is too great, it actually felt unreal.

Especially that face.

“Sister.”

I flinched at that title without realizing it.

“But still, your age…”

You know, you shouldn’t keep calling me Sister, should you…

When I hesitated, Holloway nodded.

“That’s right. In that case…”

In that case?

“Evelin.”

“…”

“Evelin.”

He slowly called my name again, then seemed to be thinking about something, lost in thought.

He looked subtly complicated, but he put his hand near my chest for no reason and said as he pulled it away.

“Sister is better. You don’t like ‘Sister’?”

What would you do if I said no here?

“To think that a demon of a thousand years calls me ‘Sister’. It feels strange, but when I see the face of the Almighty Sir Holloway, I feel like it doesn’t matter. Please make me realize once again that being handsome is the best.”

“Please make you?”

I trailed off.

“You are doing that.”

“Right? But why do you keep using formal language?”

Why do you think that would be?

It was different when I pretended not to know than now that I know everything. The shameless brazenness I had put on has come off.

“Do as usual. You can protect like you usually do.”

He spoke while kissing the back of my hand politely.

His lips moved and tickled me every time he spoke.

Watching his eyes fold as he looked at me, I quickly averted my gaze for fear of being bewitched.

This strange thing…

I took my hand out of his and began to speak hastily. Knowing what I knew, I couldn’t just pretend not to know about this problem.

“So…”

He stroked my head and opened his mouth calmly, as if he knew what I was going to say.

“It’s fine. You saw everything. I was once human, but now I’m a demon.”

“Ah…”

As I hesitated without saying anything, Holloway looked at me and suddenly hugged me.

“W-What are you doing…!”

“Are you worried that I’ll kill you?”

I avoided his gaze.

I was worried, just as he said.

His past was regrettable and I felt so sorry for him that I wanted to hold him, but the important thing was that he might kill me before that.

I asked cautiously, hesitating.

“Do you feel bad?”

“Not at all. I actually tried to do that.”

Look at that little brat talking.

He put me down and put his hand on my head.

“Don’t worry. I won’t kill you now.”

“‘Now’?”

“Demons are whimsical. If they get upset, they can kill you.”

I became serious without realizing it. Finally, the words I had been holding back burst out.

“Holloway, what’s with the way you’re talking? Dentures are confiscated for 100 years.”

“Dentures?”

Ah, there are no dentures here.

“Then your hair is confiscated for 50 years.”

“Why did it go down by 50 years?”

“If you don’t have hair for 100 years, it’s too hopeless.”

Holloway watched me with interest, as if I were a laboratory mouse, and then said something.

“You get this strong when I talk about killing you.”

“How strong a human’s desire to live is.”

“That’s right. I have tried to die many times, but I’m still alive, so that’s for sure.”

Hey, don’t make people sad all of a sudden.

“I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

He wiped the tears from my eyes.

“I’m not the type to cry like this, you know.”

Holloway didn’t believe me.

***

We decided to get out of the basement first.

Holloway held out his hand, but I pretended not to see him. He stood behind me and grabbed my little finger.

“Why aren’t you holding my hand?”

“You’re not a kid anymore.”

“Hold me, please.”

Now, let’s grab that big hand.

As soon as my hand touched Holloway, he held on tightly, even interlocking his fingers.

So that I couldn’t let go even for a moment.

“Speak freely.”

I nodded.

Then I looked at him, still in his adult state, and asked.

“Why don’t you change?”

“I’ll change when the humans show up.”

“Why?”

“Do I have to show my true form?”

Asking like that is a habit I learned from a kid.

I walked down the hallway, nervous, holding his slightly cold hand.

Ah, geez. My palms are getting sweaty right away.

Drop, drop…

Holloway was watching me hold my breath and crouch down whenever he heard the sound of water dripping and the footsteps of evil spirits.

I couldn’t believe how excited he was to see my survival activities.

“Now that I say it, you know everything, don’t you?”

“What?”

“That I’m suspicious. And the fact that I’m a demon?”

“What are you talking about?”

Don’t be so daunting.

“There’s no way you didn’t know. I made it so obvious.”

“On purpose?!”

“I got caught.”

I told you not to do that, didn’t I.

“Don’t ask leading questions. You’ll get in trouble.”

“Who will?”

“Me, by you.”

Holloway chuckled, shaking slightly.

“Why did you do that? Why did you make it obvious? I gritted my teeth and pretended not to know because I was afraid of getting caught… “

This sister’s heart stopped!

[Please be careful not to tell Holloway about ‘game-related stories’.]

[You must pretend not to know anything.]

[If you ignore the warning, you will quickly reach the bad ending.]

This extent is also a no…?

It’s not even the game, and I just pretended to know about Holloway’s true identity, though?

It was truly petty, considering it was already as good as exposed anyway

I looked at the window in disbelief, and Holloway said something.

“You tried hard.”

“Don’t say bad things.”

Despite the glaring savagely, Holloway said calmly, a smile still on his lips.

“It’s funny how you pretend not to know, and… ”

It’s all because of the first emperor.

How could he make a child like this!

“So I wondered how long you’d pretend not to know.”

“Are you testing my patience now?”

“If so?”

“Ha.”

I glared at him and said seriously.

“Then I’ll have to endure it more.”

What can I do? I’m a cowardly petty bourgeois.

He couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing.

I tried to pull my hand away because I was annoyed. Yet Holloway didn’t move even an inch.

“Was that you putting in strength?”

Then what do you think?

“I have a request.”

“What is it?”

“I’ll hit you once. Trust me.”

“No.”

Then I’ll give up.

Creak, creaak…

I kept asking Holloway questions to shake off the fear of the noise.

Since he said he wouldn’t kill me now, I should ask him when I could and get information.

“You tried to kill Cynthia because she’s from the Imperial Family, right?”

Cynthia’s ancestor, Holloway.

“That’s right.”

He answered easily.

He said that he knew we were from the Vallone Empire from the moment we entered this island, not because we were sealed in the hotel.

He knew it through our conversation.

Actually, we had mentioned how far it was from the Vallone Empire to here.

And he said he asked me because he wanted to know my family name.

Come to think of it, I can guess who the noble families who joined were.

‘If they joined a thousand years ago… there’s a high chance they’re from the founding families.’

But the Empire seemed quite stable when the hotel was built.

Then it might not necessarily be the founding families.

There must have been quite a few new nobles.

At that moment, Holloway’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

“The first person who tried to kill us had the last name ‘Akrotik’.”

The Akrotik family itself wasn’t a founding family.

“…Ah, then.”

“Yes. It was one of the noble families that participated.”

He laughed as he said that.

Are you laughing when it’s one of the ones who made you like that?

“There’s no need to hesitate, right?”

But the descendants did nothing wrong, though…

Those words didn’t come out of my mouth.

‘Can I be sure that they didn’t?’

In fact, if the descendants know everything about the island but pretend not to know and live their lives, aren’t they also the perpetrators?

There’s such a thing as joint responsibility, but the difference between those who reflect and those who don’t is enormous.

And if we’re going to judge it that way, Holloway didn’t do anything wrong either.

Holloway poked my cheek.

“You look like you want to say that the descendants are innocent.”

“That’s not true. It depends on the situation, so I can’t say anything rashly.”

Do they really not know, or did they pretend not to know and live their whole life?

Holloway opened his mouth quietly.

“I wonder if they’re innocent.”

“…What do you mean?”

Tell me quickly because I’m curious.

Holloway squeezed my hand tighter.

“I couldn’t find it, but I think you can. Figure out what I’m saying and what it means, and try to find it well on your own.”

“Why do you make people curious?”

“But I don’t want to let you out of here yet. If I tell you, it feels like you’ll leave.”

[Holloway wants you here.]

Have you seen into my mind?

However, if there was a way to take them out, I didn’t want to keep them here either.

I hesitated to release them because they’d killed quite a lot.

I was afraid they’d kill people if they left. I was afraid that innocent people would die because I let them go because I felt bad for them.

“If you leave this hotel, will you kill people?”

Thankfully, Holloway didn’t seem offended by my very careful question.

“Me or my friends, even once.”

He stared at me and opened his mouth.

“We’ve never killed innocent people.”

“What’s that…”

“Ah, or is it not. It’s been too long.”

Is he teasing me?

“Evelin will figure it out, whatever it is.”

Holloway didn’t say anything.

Does he want me to figure it out myself?

No, it seems like he wants me to figure it out myself rather than hear it from someone else.

Or rather, him saying they’ve never killed innocent people…

Then what about all those corpses, and what crime did the protagonists and their friends in the horror game commit?

I didn’t know their families name even then.

I had to look at the game and reality separately, but I kept looking for a connection without realizing it.

“Those who colluded with the dark mage, nobles, right? You asked about the family name because you wanted to know if we were descendants of those nobles?”

“Why? Will you tell me?”

“No.”

When I straightened up, he just chuckled.

“Yes. Keep it a secret.”

I didn’t say anything, but I felt a chill somehow, so I swept my arm.

It seemed like he hoped that when he found out about my family, he wouldn’t want to kill me.

For a moment, I avoided him because of his cold gaze.

It’s even scarier because it’s his true form.

How do I get rid of this kid?

Breaking the seal and taking him around are two different things.

Then suddenly, I thought of the intruders.

The intruders turned out to be criminals…