The Servant in the Horror Game is Suspicious Chapter 2

“What?”

Jade’s steps, which were leading him deeper into the mansion, came to a halt because of the text appearing before him. His hands, which had been frantically rubbing his arms covered only by thin fabric, froze in place.

“Wait a minute…”

Of all the roles, a servant. For Jade, who had worked himself to death at part-time jobs only to actually die, this was a cruel twist of fate.

No, being a servant was a secondary issue. The phrasing before it was what was truly strange. Not a servant of the Duke, nor a servant of the Ducal House, but specifically the personal servant of “Ian Linwood.”

“As if it being a horror game wasn’t enough to drive me crazy.”

Jade muttered like a sigh.

The horror game Bloody Night wasn’t exactly a hit in its own right. It hadn’t received much attention, and shortly after its release, it had even joined the ranks of so-called “trash games.”

It made sense. It was, after all, a game barely scraped together by a tiny startup company with a shoestring budget.

The sound effects and background music—the lifeblood of a horror game—were a mess across the board, breaking immersion, and the gameplay mechanics weren’t particularly fresh either.

If one had to pick a unique element, it was the fact that the routes and monsters unlocked during each playthrough were different every time.

The reason the game, which initially received no attention, started becoming famous a few months after its release was after horror game enthusiasts began uploading scenes from the game to online communities one by one.

The images in the captures boasted graphics of a quality that was unbelievable for a low-budget production from a startup. In particular, the map illustrations and character design were highly polished.

Furthermore, while the gameplay might have been cliché, it was a game that had a lot of heart put into it. The horror elements defeated in the game were neatly collected in an encyclopedia, where players could view hidden storytelling for the monsters or characters they had vanquished.

The developers had given detailed characteristics even to the smallest monsters. It was fun to look at the mansion illustrations and fantasy elements within the world-building. Especially the character settings and narratives were detailed. It was as if those characters actually lived somewhere.

It was exactly the kind of structure that, despite high barriers to entry, was perfect for creating a cult following. Gradually, more users flocked to the game to complete the encyclopedia than those who simply enjoyed horror.

That was the reason why Jade, who didn’t have a second of free time to save his life, had been completely obsessed with Bloody Night for a while. The backgrounds, characters, and monsters that felt like they truly existed somewhere enchanted his heart. He had been so invested that he even worried the game would go bankrupt and disappear.

Fortunately, the game company, while lacking in their understanding of horror games, was expert at business. Once a cult following began to form, they started selling merchandise.

The goods sold on their website were diverse. Keychains and plushies modeled after popular monsters, setting books, monster encyclopedias, stickers, and so on. Once something was released, it sold out instantly.

Among them, the most popular item was a limited edition novel focused on Duke Ian Linwood.

Right. The master of this very mansion, Duke Ian Linwood. He was the core figure of this world and the one responsible for jacking up the horror game’s difficulty to the extreme. But at the same time, he was also the most popular character in the game, so supplements containing only his settings and background sold quite well.

In this game, the routes you had to take or the monsters you had to defeat varied depending on the playthrough. However, the final stage location and mission were always the same: infiltrate Ian Linwood’s mansion, eliminate all horror elements, and escape.

The problem was that, in contrast to his skyrocketing popularity, it was difficult to even get a chance to knock on his front door.

“I never managed it once.”

The final stage of Bloody Night was to infiltrate Ian Linwood’s mansion, eliminate all horror elements, and then escape.

However, not just Jade, but no other player had he seen post a review saying they had cleared the final stage. Later, he got so frustrated that he even looked up walkthroughs, but nothing came up. He would get angry every time because he died without even getting past the front gate, let alone seeing the interior of the mansion.

‘Still, I didn’t mean I wanted to set foot in here like this.’

He had thought he wanted to clear it at least once. But that didn’t mean he wanted to physically step into this place. He couldn’t believe he had fallen into a game, let alone that he would end up inside this mansion.

‘To top it off, Ian Linwood’s servant.’

Duke Ian Linwood had been abandoned in one of the Linwood family’s villas during his childhood. Calling it “abandonment” was no different from pushing him to his death. It was his uncle’s plan to seize the title of Duke.

But Ian survived. He survived with a terrifying tenacity in the face of all sorts of schemes to kill him. Later, the time Ian Linwood rose to the position of Duke was at the age of twenty-five—after he had murdered all of his step-siblings and family relatives.

Ian then expanded the site of the villa where he had lived and rebuilt the Ducal mansion in its place.

‘But right now, this is the Ducal villa, and I’m Ian Linwood’s servant?’

Jade recalled the text from the system window that had popped up before he entered the mansion. It had definitely said the Linwood Ducal Villa. Not Ian Linwood’s mansion.

Does that mean Ian Linwood hasn’t risen to the title of Duke yet?

“No way.”

A dark foreboding brushed past Jade’s mind.

In other words, the reason the mansion looked worn out—contrary to his memory—wasn’t because it was after the game ended, but…

“It’s before it begins?”

His horrified voice echoed through the mansion hall. Jade leaned against the wall, clutching his head. Suddenly, his forehead throbbed. As if to lend weight to his suspicion, a small, scruffy figure hiding behind a pillar caught his eye.

“Huh…?”

A young boy was peeking out with only his eyes showing, holding onto the pillar tightly with small, white hands. The moment their eyes met, the boy’s eyes flashed sharply. Keeping himself hidden while being completely on guard, he looked exactly like a wolf cub. A scruffy little wolf cub.

“He—hey, hello…?”

Even when Jade offered a greeting, there was no reaction. His golden hair, which looked as soft as cotton candy, and his white cheeks, which looked squishy, were incredibly cute. The child, blinking his round blue eyes, was truly as small and lovely as a fairy straight out of a fairy tale.

“Ha, haha, no way.”

As he narrated the impressions he had of the boy in his head, he felt a sense of déjà vu, as if he had read this somewhere before. A feeling like he had seen these very impressions in a sentence.

Yes, for instance, in Ian’s setting book or in the novel featuring him as the protagonist.

From what he remembered, there was only one person in this world with those looks. Giving a hollow laugh, Jade looked at the fluffy blonde hair and the blue eyes with a hint of gray and became certain.

The fact was that it wasn’t after the game, but long before the game even started.

And that the fairy-like boy before his eyes was none other than Duke Ian Linwood, the man who would brutally murder his relatives and drive this world into hell.

“Wait…”

Once he realized that far, a warning bell blared in his head. Servant. The system window had called him a servant. Specifically, Ian Linwood’s.

There were several servants who had passed through the young Ian Linwood’s life. Collateral relatives would often send people to check if Ian was still alive and to torment him.

‘And they were all killed by Ian.’

Ian had been brilliant since he was a child. Contrary to his lovely appearance, a ruthless and cold-hearted nature resided within him. He didn’t hesitate to act fragile or put on a performance whenever necessary.

On the other hand, the servants who came here let their guard down, ignoring the young Ian. They were just excited at the thought of bullying a tiny child and failed to see the cruelty contained within him.

And so, Ian killed every single servant who came to the villa.

Using hunting traps or plunging a knife into the heart of a sleeping servant was not a difficult task for Ian. Naturally, not a single name was mentioned for the servants who passed by like that.

However, there was just one. There was one servant whose name was listed in the setting book that detailed Ian’s growth.

‘Jade….’

A servant who was killed particularly brutally. The reason he was able to have his name listed in the setting book despite being a servant was because his death was so grisly.

Around the time the servant named Jade was sent to the villa, Ian’s uncle, Malderic, was feeling annoyed that the child was still alive. The young life he thought would die within a week was holding on firmly even after several months had passed. The young Ian wouldn’t be a big hindrance, but either way, it was more convenient for him to be dead and gone than alive.

And so, the servant Jade arrived at this mansion on an errand for the Linwood family—after receiving a request to kill Ian Linwood.

However, Jade’s first attempt ended in a miserable failure. Every time he tried to kill Ian after making thorough preparations, Ian had vanished like a rat, having somehow found out. After playing hide-and-seek for an entire week, Jade eventually gave up on the request.

But if he couldn’t kill Ian, he couldn’t take half of the contract fee. He would have to cough back up the half he had received in advance, excluding the down payment. Because the servant Jade was a greedy person, the down payment alone wasn’t enough to satisfy him.

So, exactly one week after arriving at the villa, he ran away with the precious sword that was the last keepsake left by Ian’s father.

But escaping properly in the freezing north was no easy task. As a novice hitman, he lost his way and was torn to pieces at the hands of Ian, who had chased him down. And he was killed with the very sword he had stolen.

‘So, the day I die is…’

As soon as he realized that he was that very ill-fated servant Jade, his mind began to race. No wonder the name sounded familiar; who knew such a disaster would strike?

He felt an illusion like he could hear a timer ticking in his ears. In other words, the time left until the day he died at the hands of that fairy-like, small, cute child was…

‘It’s a week from now.’

According to the game’s setting book, it was exactly one week later.

“Haha, shit.”

Only Jade’s hollow laughter echoed through the desolate mansion.