The Servant in the Horror Game is Suspicious Chapter 20

The next day, the Mop Ghost soaking in the bucket finally came to. It wasn’t by its own will, though; Jade had grabbed it and ruthlessly shook it until it woke up.

Jade had figured out how to make the ghost clean. Just as the system window had informed him, the ghost could not refuse his commands. After washing it thoroughly and wringing it out, he slapped it onto a window, and it began to slither around, wiping away the stains.

“Screee…”

“Quiet. I lost my broom because of you!”

Whenever he looked at the Mop Ghost, memories of his broom came flooding back. For instance, the memory of swinging it to break thin branches, or the sense of accomplishment from building up experience points with every sweep of the floor.

“Hey! If you have any conscience, you should at least do something to make up for it, shouldn’t you?”

“Screeee.”

When Jade barked at it, the Mop Ghost began to wipe the window dejectedly. Its speed was sluggish, but compared to handling the cleaning all by himself, it wasn’t bad.

Plus, it did have one advantage. The Mop Ghost could crawl up walls at will and drift through the air. It could even float up with a jumping motion. Thanks to that, it could clean high windows and places Jade’s hands couldn’t reach.

Of course, even with the Mop Ghost cleaning, Jade still had plenty to do. The work was endless.

Most importantly, Jade had a pressing task remaining: he had to find a new item for himself.

He tried tying the Mop Ghost to a stick to make a makeshift broom, and he tried weaving tree branches together to mimic one.

However, the system window remained silent. It was as if it were telling him his crude ideas couldn’t replace the item.

After spending several days searching for a replacement, Jade finally wore himself out and gave up. Instead, he sublimated the grief of losing his broom into cooking.

Since finding the dried corn and starch when Ian was sick, Jade had focused his searches on hidden spaces. This led to the discovery of a few more food items and seasonings. He was particularly happy to find jam and dried fruit.

Thanks to the found food, he was able to cook a new menu today. Today’s meal was a pie spread with strawberry jam and topped with dried raspberries. It was a bit dry since there was no butter or milk, but it was decent enough. After eating nothing but mushrooms, a man would find even straw delicious if it were new.

“It’s good.”

As expected, Ian ate very well. His tone was dry, but Jade was just happy to hear him say it was tasty.

Every time Ian ate, his white, plump cheeks moved so cutely that Jade wanted to give them a little pinch. Ian’s body was thin because he hadn’t been eating properly, so it was a mystery how only his cheeks could stay so chubby.

“Myang!”

Buster was also eating just as well. After finishing his own portion, he tried to steal some of Ian’s and ended up getting a light flick on the forehead. Jade had to spend quite a bit of energy mediating between the bickering Ian and Buster after that.

After the meal, Jade finely ground some pepper. Finding salt and pepper was a total “Eureka” moment. From now on, the roasted mushrooms would be a little less tiring to eat.

In that manner, they endured the Northern winter together with mushrooms, corn, flour, and dried fruits.

Before they knew it, two months had passed since Jade was dropped at the villa, and early spring had arrived in the Elloban Forest.

Being a border region of the North, the weather was still winter-chill even in early spring. Snow that had yet to melt was still piled around the villa and the forest.

Still, it was much better than the winter where seeing even a single ray of sunlight was difficult. With early spring, the sunlight hit much better, creating relatively warm spots in the villa’s yard. In places not shaded by trees, the snow had melted to reveal the soil.

And during that time, Ian had grown quite a bit. He wasn’t a beanstalk, yet it was amazing how he had grown 10cm in just two months. Then again, given Ian’s age, it made sense.

‘I can’t believe he was twelve.’

It was only after about two weeks at the villa that Jade learned Ian’s age. He was genuinely shocked to hear that Ian, whom he had thought was about ten, was actually twelve.

From that day on, Jade put even more effort into cooking. He felt that for the sake of Ian’s growth—since he was small for his age—he needed to be well-fed.

Being in an isolated villa, cleaning and cooking were the only things to do anyway. Perhaps recognizing Jade’s efforts, Ian seemed to sprout up every time Jade turned around.

While Ian was growing, a big change occurred for Jade as well.

[ >> EXP << ]

[ 1,020 / 1,000 ]

[ >> EXP << ]

[ ‘Identify Poisonous Mushrooms’ Skill Lv 2 Attained ]

[ >> EXP << ]

[ Lv 2. ‘Identify Poisonous Mushrooms’ – You can now pinpoint the specific locations of mushrooms. ]

After harvesting his 102nd mushroom, he had finally leveled up his ‘Identify Poisonous Mushrooms’ skill.

Before, even if the skill told him where mushrooms were, the range was so wide he had to wander the whole area; but not anymore. Because it pointed out the exact spot, he could find them in no time.

According to the system description, once he reached Lv 3, he could even create a mushroom encyclopedia. He wasn’t sure how that would be helpful yet, though.

[ >> System << ]

[ Additional Skill Unlocked ]

And one more thing. As a reward for leveling up, Jade was able to obtain a new skill. He couldn’t help but feel his heart flutter at getting a new skill after two months.

[ Lv 1. ‘Root Vegetables, Here I Come!’ skill has been unlocked. ]

“Root vegetables!”

Jade shouted with a joyful voice. What a welcome name for a skill.

For the past two months, Jade had cooked by finding ingredients hidden in the villa. However, there was a limit to the dishes he could make with dried fruit, corn, flour, strawberry jam, and mushrooms.

Of course, Jade had showcased his cooking skills to the fullest, making various attempts to utilize the few ingredients as much as possible. He didn’t waste a single thing.

Buster sometimes grumbled about the food, but he was happy if Jade gave him a spoonful of strawberry jam; and since Ian ate well no matter what he was served, Jade’s confidence soared.

So Jade often didn’t hesitate to make bold attempts. The one with the best reaction was the corn and mushroom stew. Sitting in front of the fireplace on a cold day and eating it made the taste double. But there was a hunger that couldn’t be satisfied no matter what he cooked.

‘I want rice… Kimchi stew with white rice.’

It was rice. The Korean soul living and breathing inside Jade desperately craved white rice. Having not seen rice for two whole months, he felt almost dizzy.

He also kept thinking of spicy food. He felt like he understood why people in fantasy stories sold their souls to demons. That was exactly how Jade felt right now. If someone offered him hot rice and kimchi stew, he was willing to trade half his soul for it.

‘Please, an Iced Americano.’

Especially Iced Americanos; he thought of them several times a day. The harder he worked, the more he craved them.

Before he died, having just become an adult, he had been developing a taste for Iced Americanos, but since dropping into this world, he hadn’t tasted a single sip.

Actually, anything would be fine; he just needed more food. Even the ingredients he’d found weren’t plentiful, so even though he used them sparingly, there was nothing left after a month. The supplies the Linwood family was supposed to send once a month hadn’t arrived for two months for some reason.

The biggest problem was the nutritional imbalance. Since he couldn’t find meat, there was nowhere to get protein.

Jade was already an adult, so two months was fine for him. It was Ian he was worried about. The fact that Ian had been neglected here for over a year meant he hadn’t eaten meat for over a year as well.

‘I feel like I’ll have to go hunting eventually.’

He had read in the settings that people in this world sometimes ate the meat of monsters like goblins. Conveniently, there was an old crossbow in the storage.

So one day, thinking he might try monster hunting, he brought it up to Ian. However, Ian stopped him, saying it was absolutely out of the question. It was a rare, firm reaction from Ian, and Buster also stopped him by baring his claws, so he gave up on goblin meat.

As a result, Jade and Ian were back to eating mushroom dishes. After cooking mushrooms in various ways for nearly a month, they couldn’t stomach it anymore. He tried sprinkling salt and pepper this way and that, roasting them different ways, and even making different shapes out of the mushrooms, but a mushroom was still a mushroom. Buster, in particular, often cried “myang, myang” while hugging an empty strawberry jam jar.

“Tomorrow, it’s root vegetables…!”

Jade clenched his fist. I wonder what kind of root vegetables are buried out there. Since many places were still snowfields, there wouldn’t be much variety, but anything was fine. Anything but mushrooms.

He was so excited he wanted to go out and check the skill right now. If it weren’t the middle of the night, he would have.

Knock, knock—

Just as he was sitting on his bed imagining what kind of winter root vegetables there might be, he heard a knock.

“Young master? You can come in.”

“…I’m here to sleep.”

Ian, who had opened the door very cautiously and slowly, peeked his face in and called out to him. Only then did Jade realize his mistake and stand up. He had been so focused on the newly unlocked skill that he’d forgotten to go to Ian’s room.

Ever since the day Ian collapsed and Jade read him the picture book, a routine had formed between them. It was reading a fairy tale before bed.

Actually, the one who enjoyed this routine more than anyone was Jade.

Jade’s parents were, no matter how nicely you put it, not decent people. Jade had never even been to a common kindergarten, and he only read a fairy tale for the first time in the school library after starting elementary school.

Until he entered elementary school, his entire daily routine consisted of spacing out at home alone waiting for his mother, who came in occasionally, or hiding under the covers to avoid his father, who came home drunk.

Perhaps that was why reading fairy tales as a full-grown adult was so incredibly fun.