The Servant in the Horror Game is Suspicious Chapter 15

Exactly ten days had passed since I dropped into this game. That meant Jade had survived without dying at Ian’s hands.

According to the original game story, I was supposed to meet my end exactly one week after arriving at the villa.

So, on the seventh day, Jade had waited for fate with a solemn heart. I figured I’d just wasted time without gaining even a shred of favor from Ian.

But far from trying to kill Jade, Ian was busy avoiding me. I had been on edge, worried that if it wasn’t Ian, I might die from something stupid like an accidental fall, but the day passed without incident.

For the next few days, Jade threw himself into the villa’s upkeep. Perhaps it was because I’d outlived my expiration date, but I felt like I’d been granted a new lease on life; moving busily didn’t even feel tiring.

First, I cleaned the room right next to Ian’s, which I’d been eyeing for a while. And just as I had done for Ian’s room, I hauled in a bed from another part of the house.

I couldn’t find a single pair of intact curtains no matter how many rooms I searched, so I just ripped down the most decent ones I could find and washed them several times. I also scrubbed and dried the blankets and pillows. Finally, after dragging in a table and a nightstand, the place actually started to look like a room. The table wobbled because the legs weren’t even, but fixing that was child’s play.

Once I’d made my own room liveable, I started decorating Ian’s.

First, I reinforced the loose window frames that let in the draft with some wooden boards and put a tablecloth on his small table. Ian’s room was much larger than the others, so I even moved in a sofa I’d found in storage.

The next task I obsessed over was gathering ingredients. Granted, it was still just mushrooms, but I was trying my best to pick as many different varieties as possible.

[ Lv 1. Distinguishing Poisonous Mushrooms

>> EXP <<

175 / 1,000 ]

The experience points floating above Jade’s head spoke to his hard work. Someone might call it low, but that number was the result of thirty-five successful mushroom-picking trips.

Harvesting mushrooms thirty-five times in a freezing snowfield was no small feat. After harvesting four times a day, I now had mushrooms coming out of my ears.

[ EXP +5 ]

[ EXP +5 ]

[ EXP +5 ]

Now, I could even smile when I saw the messages pop up over my head every time I swept. They say humans are creatures of habit—as the experience points ticked up bit by bit as if to tease me, my annoyance gradually faded.

[ Lv 1. Cleaning Apprentice’s Handiwork

>> EXP <<

1,620 / 2,000 ]

The cleaning skill was just a little bit away from the next level. I’d probably hit it tomorrow or the day after.

It was a shame that only sweeping with the broom counted toward experience. But since there were still so many places to clean—the stairs, the main hall, the parlor—leveling up was going to be a walk in the park.

Soon, I’d be able to earn the “Lv 2. Cleaning Expert’s Movements” skill. At first, I thought the ridiculous skill name was absurd, but being called an “Expert” made me a little greedy for it. In a way, it felt like the perfect description for me.

“I’ll show you my max-level housekeeping skills.”

Today, I planned to sweep and mop the stairs and hallways. An unnecessary competitive fire blazed within me. This was only possible because I’d changed my mindset after surviving the day I was supposed to die.

‘I’ll just think of this as taking a little healing retreat for a while.’

Wherever he went, Jade was the type to adapt well, blend in flexibly, and recover quickly from hardship. He made full use of his personality’s strengths. He had decided to accept this brutal reality.

Once I set my mind to it, nothing seemed impossible. Ian didn’t seem to have any intention of killing Jade anyway. I didn’t know what would happen in the future, but for now, that seemed to be the case.

‘I’m on a trip. I’m here to heal.’

Thinking back, the pre-death Jade had never once gone on a trip. From handing out flyers in middle school, he was always too busy just trying to survive. Even a common hobby was a luxury. He wouldn’t have even played this game if his friend hadn’t given it to him as a gift.

I mean, look at people—they even spend money to travel to cold countries on purpose. Jade decided to think of this villa as some old lodge somewhere in Finland. A version of Finland crawling with monsters instead of Santa Claus.

‘I just have to struggle for a few days.’

The villa was only tough at the beginning; once cleaned and cared for, it was a perfectly fine place to live. Even in the North, spring and summer wouldn’t be buried in snow like this.

“I’ll start a garden! And buy flour!”

Once the weather cleared, I planned to go down to the village and buy all sorts of things. Until then, I had to find things in the villa worth selling. My goal was to sell off items from the villa to buy a hoard of groceries along with various daily necessities. I planned to cook all sorts of things here.

Having lived alone for a long time, Jade’s cooking skills were top-notch. His baking, in particular, was his pride and joy. He’d worked part-time at a bakery every break; by watching the baker over his shoulder, he eventually learned to make several varieties by himself.

Everyone acknowledged the bread Jade made. Even the baker, impressed by Jade’s talent, had been proactive in teaching him. Before being possessed into this world, his goal had been to properly learn baking instead of going to college. His ultimate dream was to own his own bakery.

“I’m definitely going to feed Ian my bread.”

This was one thing I was sure of. If I fed Ian my bread, even if his heart changed later, he wouldn’t be able to kill me so easily.

‘Everything’s going smoothly so far.’

For several days, Jade mapped out his future plans. He intended to stay here as long as possible, and then, once the snow melted, leave the villa to settle in the village. Since he was able-bodied, he could do any job he could get his hands on. Finding work in the spring would be easy.

His final goal was to save up money, open the bakery of his dreams, and live a life of leisure.

The essential condition for Jade’s “healing life” was not dying at Ian’s hands. Also, he had to maintain a good relationship to live comfortably. He was, after all, Ian’s servant.

Even though things had been a bit awkward with Ian lately, he wasn’t worried. He would use his cooking skills to turn Ian’s heart to mush.

“You have to eat well when you’re young.”

More than anything, it bothered him that Ian, who was in his growing years, couldn’t eat a variety of meals. He was probably so small because he ate nothing but mushrooms. In terms of size, he looked younger than a ten-year-old.

And to be honest… I was the one who wanted to eat something else.

Lately, Jade was sick to death of mushrooms. He ate them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. No rice, no other vegetables, just mushrooms. These days, even the smell of them grilling made his stomach churn. Sometimes he got so angry he wanted to beat the mushrooms up.

‘Carbs. I need carbs.’

Even Buster was refusing mushrooms now. When told to try one, he’d just lick his paws and feign ignorance. I was jealous of Buster, who maintained his plump body without even eating.

‘How does Ian eat them so well without ever complaining?’

It was truly a mystery. He was at the age where he should be a picky eater, yet Ian ate well every time without so much as a frown. He never forgot to give Jade a short “thank you,” either.

‘Maybe I should try boiling them instead.’

It was while he was scrubbing the stairs and thinking these thoughts. From the corner of the upstairs hallway, a sickening sound echoed—skitter-skitter-skitter. It was a hair-raising sound, like hundreds of insects crawling all at once.

“Huh…?”

Jade’s hand, which had been mopping with force, came to a dead stop. At that moment, the sound also stopped. A silence thick with an unsettling sense of wrongness fell over the space.

‘Is it a roach…?’

“No way.”

If it were a cockroach, there was no way the sound of it moving would be that loud. And honestly, I’d rather it be a bug. You can just squash those and be done with it.

But the sound I just heard was far too loud for an insect. It would have to be something at least the size of a small animal to make that noise.

“Sundol…?”

Jade called out to Buster, hoping for the best. How great would it be if it were just Buster playing a prank? His desperate voice trembled slightly.

He was usually quite fearless, but this was a sound he had never heard in his life. If it were something predictable like a bug or a person, he wouldn’t be so tense, but he couldn’t guess the owner of that sound.

“I… I know you’re there. I know everything.”

But there was no reason for the flying Buster to move around making a noise like that. It was a sound that could only come from something crawling with its belly to the floor. And Buster had been taking a nap in Jade’s room just a moment ago.

Skitter-skitter-skitter—

The sickening sound came again. This time, it was from the ceiling. Suddenly, the fine hairs on his arms stood on end. Jade, who had been mopping the stairs, stood up and tilted his head toward the ceiling. He had definitely heard something moving, but there was nothing in sight.

Holding his breath, Jade moved toward the corner of the upstairs hallway where he’d first heard the noise.

“What are you?”

The sound he’d heard at first had definitely been distant. Since Jade was currently on the third floor, it must have come from around the fifth. The fifth floor was a place he hadn’t cleaned even once.

“…”

Jade approached the corner cautiously, stood before the turn, and swallowed hard. After bracing himself, he whipped his body around to catch whatever it was before it could run.

‘What is it?’

But there was nothing behind the corner. There was only the floor, thick with dust from not yet being swept, and the old walls.

Skitter-skitter—skitter.

At that moment, the hair on the back of his neck prickled. The once-faint sound was now crystal clear. It was echoing… from right above his head. Was something actually crawling on the ceiling?

It was a grating sound that filled a person with revulsion. Jade slowly lifted his head to look at the ceiling. He swallowed hard, his throat tight with tension.