The Servant in the Horror Game is Suspicious Chapter 18

The Mop Ghost’s strands, looking like the tentacles of a jellyfish, surged in threatening waves. I had to shout the activation phrase immediately. There was no telling what kind of attack was coming next. However…

‘Shout “Submit to me”? Here? Out loud?’

My brain stuttered as if it had hit a system error, and my vision went dark. I blinked several times, unable to believe the text floating in the skill window. But no miracle occurred; the activation condition didn’t change.

Where on earth did they get such a humiliating command?

‘How am I supposed to say that?!’

If this kind of command was required, shouldn’t they have given me a heads-up before I learned the skill? They say “eighth-grade syndrome” is a blessing if it hits at the right age, but here I was, about to perform a one-man show just to chase away a ghost.

Even just thinking about the phrase made my hands curl up and a groan escape my throat. Has anyone in history actually died of embarrassment? If not, I was about to be the first. My lips quivered, unable to produce a sound.

“Myack…?”

Buster was looking at me with a very strange expression. Perhaps it was a blessing that Ian had lost consciousness. I couldn’t let him see me like this.

“To me…!”

I finally opened my mouth, but the next words wouldn’t come. I just licked my dry lips, unable to finish the command. My face felt like it was on fire. Who was going to protect my social dignity? It was a damn miracle that my status here was just a servant.

“Myang, Myang…”

As I continued to mutter nonsense, Buster shook my shoulder as if telling me to snap out of it. The embarrassment only doubled. Even though the only audience members were Buster and myself, that somehow made it even more shameful. Isn’t being unable to face yourself the most embarrassing thing of all?

“Whew.”

I took a deep breath. I couldn’t give up. First, I had to deal with this ghost thing.

“To me!”

I squeezed my eyes shut. I just wanted to drop dead right then and there.

“Submit…!”

The voice I squeezed out echoed loudly through the villa. The ringing shout returned to me as a mocking echo.

I felt a phantom chill pass around my body. No, maybe it wasn’t a phantom. Even the Mop Ghost looked startled.

“Myang?”

Buster’s tail stood straight up, his face full of horror. I could read his reaction clearly: he was asking if I’d finally lost my mind.

“Su-Submit to me!”

I could feel Buster’s gaze boring into me, but I had no choice. Ian was lying unconscious in my arms, and the system insisted I shout this damn phrase three times. Cruel system bastard. Not once, not twice, but three times.

“Myang, Myang.”

Buster put a front paw near my head and spun it in a circle. The universal sign for “you’re crazy.” my lips trembled. Shouting this command three times was more draining than cleaning all day long.

“Submit to me!”

Somehow, I managed to shout it for the final time. The moment the third command left my lips as instructed, the whip-like strands of the Mop Ghost retracted, and the gray smoke began to fade.

“Screeech—?”

The Mop Ghost’s bloated body returned to its original size. The once-violent strands slumped weakly to the floor. It was a success. The command actually worked.

Splat—

Finally, the Mop Ghost fell to the floor and lay flat. In that state, it didn’t look like a monster at all, just the head of a regular mop.

“I-I did it! Sundol, we did it!”

I let out a gasp of relief. Buster descended to the floor and circled the Mop Ghost, wondering what had happened. He tilted his head, looking back and forth between the mop and me.

“Myang? Myang?”

Even when Buster poked it with a paw, the Mop Ghost didn’t move. The ghost that had been rampaging with whip-like tentacles just moments ago was gone. It seemed to have lost consciousness.

“Is it over…? It’s done, right?”

As the adrenaline left my body, a wave of intense post-shame clarity washed over me. I actually shouted “Submit to me” three times. I’ve had my share of minor embarrassments in life, but today was definitely in the top tier. How many times would I kick my blankets in bed tonight? I felt like I should probably just sleep without them.

No. I handled it, and that’s what matters. Forget it, just forget it all. I had to scrub my face with my hands several times before I could shake off the humiliation.

“Sigh…”

“Myang?”

“Sundol, what do I do with this? You’re a monster, you should know. Does it wake up?”

“Mya? Myack?”

Buster poked the unconscious ghost with both paws as if it were a toy. When the dirty water got on his paw, he shook it off frantically as if it were disgusting and wiped it on my pants.

“You don’t know? What exactly is your ability anyway?”

“Myang…?”

Buster seemed to think for a moment, then placed his front paws under his chin like a flower and tilted his head. He wagged his tail charmingly. He was showing off his cuteness with every fiber of his being.

“Right, you’re cute, and that’s enough. What else do you need?”

“Myang!”

[ System

You have obtained the ‘Obedience’ of the ‘Ghost Mop.’ ]

[ System

You can now issue commands to the ghost that has submitted. ]

The system window popped up at the perfect time to answer my questions. I can even give it orders? This was an unexpected triumph. Fine, if it’s this useful, a little shame is worth it.

“Young master, are you okay? Sir?”

After checking the powerless ghost once more, I softly called out to Ian. Fortunately, there were no injuries. It seemed he had just lost consciousness for a moment. Suddenly, the commands I had just shouted flashed through my mind. That solemn shout of “Submit to me.”

‘It’s a miracle he didn’t hear it.’

I was deeply worried about the unconscious Ian, but I was relieved by that one fact. My relationship with Ian would have drifted even further away. Moreover, Ian has a cynical side. If he had seen me shouting for a mop to submit, he definitely wouldn’t have treated me like a human being anymore.

‘Actually, even I wouldn’t.’

Anyone would avoid a crazy person who yells out a command like that at the top of their lungs.

“Let’s go down, Sundol.”

“Myang.”

I carried Ian back to his room and tucked him into bed. Then, I filled a bucket with clean water and soap and tossed the Mop Ghost inside. I really cannot stand filth.

“Haaa.”

As the situation settled down, a long sigh of relief escaped me. It was a fierce battle. All I did was shout a command, but the mental toll was heavy.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand. All that was left was the fifth floor, which had been dirtied by the rampaging ghost, and Buster, who had been looking pensive for a while.

“Sundol, I’m going to go clean up the fifth floor.”

“Mya.”

Without a moment to rest, I headed back up to the fifth floor. I had to clean the villa that had become dirty again after my struggle with the mop. My steps were slow from exhaustion. As I slowly climbed the stairs, a thought occurred to me.

‘By the way, does Jade have a family?’

Since I had lived alone without a family in my past life, I hadn’t thought about it until now. The original Jade must have had a family, friends, or a life of his own. Was it really okay for me to just use this body? It would be a problem if his family came looking for him later.

‘Come to think of it, I was collapsed in the snow.’

The first thing I felt after the possession was the biting cold surrounding my body. Maybe the real Jade’s soul died right then.

The description of the servant Jade had only been a few lines long. He was an extra whose appearance wasn’t even properly described, so there was no real information on him. I wondered how this person ended up living such a shameful life as someone sent to kill a mere child.

‘I hope he wasn’t a wanted criminal or anything.’

If he was someone who took a contract for murder, it meant he was at rock bottom. However, the lack of calluses on his palms made it feel like he wasn’t someone who had lived a life of hard labor. It was full of mysteries.

I knew he’d received a down payment after accepting the contract, yet he had been penniless, which was also suspicious.

Furthermore, if he failed the contract and ran away, where would the backlash go? It would be great if they just assumed he went missing, but the opposite could happen. It might interfere with my plan to open a bakery and live a peaceful life later.

“Sigh, let’s just clean.”

I shook my head and pushed the thoughts aside. The priority right now was cleaning. Seeing the dirty floor made the idle thoughts vanish instantly. It looked like I’d be cleaning all day.

‘But what was the “damage”?’

Suddenly, the warning on the skill window came to mind. The note about taking “unknown damage” upon using the skill had been bothering me, but in the end, nothing happened. It must not have been a big deal.

“It’s a pretty useful skill after all,” I muttered proudly, shrugging my shoulders. It felt like the best skill I’d received so far. Even if it was embarrassing, being able to neutralize and command a ghost felt somewhat cool. My heart felt much lighter.

But that pride was short-lived. My eyes landed on the broom rolling on the fifth-floor floor. It was my exclusive item, the one I’d tossed aside while chasing the Mop Ghost.

“Huh?!”

A sudden chill hit me. I had a bad feeling. The state of the broom was different from before. I took the stairs two at a time.

“What happened to this?”

Sure enough. What lay before my eyes was my broom, broken clean in half.

[ System

As “damage” for using the skill ‘Ghost’s Obedience,’ your ‘Exclusive Item’—the ‘Broom’—has been broken. ]

The system window popped up with a cheerful sound.

“My… my broom!”

I wailed, clutching the pieces. I was even more despondent than when I had to shout those awful commands.