The Servant in the Horror Game is Suspicious Chapter 25

“Waaaaaaaah!”

“…”

Faced with Jade’s intervention, Ian seemed to fall into deep thought for a moment before raising his hand. The Bluewood wailed at the top of its lungs.

“No throwing either…!”

Ian’s hand, which had been about to trace an arc through the air, stopped dead. From outside the wide-open door, a cold wind—far too fierce to be called early spring—rushed inside.

The look on Ian’s face as he watched Jade practically had the question Why on earth not? written all over it. His innocent face held a look of pure confusion, as if he truly couldn’t understand Jade’s perspective.

“Waaaaaaaah!”

However, Jade was only captivated by that innocent look for a fleeting second. The Bluewood’s cries poked at his heart. He was the type who particularly cared for the young and the weak.

“Myang! Myang!”

Buster, who had been clinging to Jade’s shoulder, had flown off at some point and was now actively cheering Ian on. For a pair that fought almost every single day, they certainly knew how to coordinate when it mattered.

“You said it’ll die if it’s been handled once…!”

“And… so?”

Ian replied with a clean, crisp tone, shrugging his shoulders as if it didn’t matter one bit whether the Bluewood lived or died. With Ian blinking his refreshing, clear blue eyes so prettily, Jade couldn’t read his thoughts at all.

“I just don’t see what that has to do with us, Jade.”

“It’s not so much a matter of ‘us’ as it is a matter of a guilty conscience? I’m practically the one who woke it up.”

“Ah…”

Ian rolled his eyes and gave a reluctant nod, but at the mention of a conscience, he seemed even more baffled.

There were moments when Jade felt Ian didn’t act like a child at all, and right now was exactly one of those moments.

“It… it’ll be useful. You said it relieves the fatigue of those nearby. Isn’t that great?”

Perhaps this was the very friend Jade—who was in charge of all the housework—needed most. Making the Bluewood feel better didn’t seem like it would be that difficult, either. Hadn’t it calmed down just a moment ago when he stroked its leaves?

“But this thing has done nothing but cry since it came into the villa.”

“Waaaaaaaaah!”

As if to prove Ian’s point, the Bluewood sobbed and flailed about. Its leaves, which were massive compared to its tiny body, shook violently up and down. It looked as if it were sending out a desperate distress signal for help.

“It’s far too noisy.”

“That’s because you’re holding it like that…!”

Jade first closed the villa door. As the cold wind ceased, Ian finally lowered his hand. Ian still looked like he wanted to chuck the Bluewood out that very instant, but he stepped back at Jade’s insistence.

“The time a Bluewood steadily emits healing energy is after it has matured. To reach that point, you have to raise it for ten years.”

“Well… we can raise it well, and if it gets too difficult, couldn’t we just sell it to someone later?”

Jade shrugged. If Ian was right, he might end up as a full-time babysitter. But even so, he couldn’t just let it die.

“Are you sure you’re okay with that?”

Ian asked, sounding concerned.

“This thing gets incredibly big later. It’ll grow up to 30 meters.”

“30 meters?”

Looking at its current palm-sized form, such a height was impossible to imagine. But the moment he heard the specific figure of “30 meters,” the graphic for the Bluewood suddenly flashed in Jade’s mind.

He had been too distracted and flustered back in the forest to recall it, but talking with Ian brought an old, familiar game illustration to the surface of his memory.

As you progressed through the game, there was a stage where you headed toward this villa, and you had to complete a quest to pass through the dense Elloban Forest. One of the horror elements there was precisely this: the Bluewood.

The Bluewood was a tree with very dark blue bark. It was also the only tree in the Elloban Forest that grew leaves. The color of the tree itself made the surroundings gloomy, and because it was tall and lush with foliage, it even blocked out the moonlight, making the forest even darker.

The Bluewood would stretch out long branches and massive leaves to block the path of any player approaching the villa.

In the game, I think it was poisonous…

Dark blue pheromones would seep from the giant leaves, and if you stayed within them, the player’s health would drain exponentially. Because of that, there was no choice but to chop down the Bluewood to reach the villa.

When chopped, the Bluewood would spray blood like a monster. The shh-shh sound of it being sliced and the blue blood splattering everywhere had been implemented quite realistically.

Maybe that was why Jade used to play through that section with his eyes half-closed.

“Waaaah.”

The Bluewood wailed loudly once more, as if to wake Jade from his thoughts. No matter how he looked at it, this tiny, fragile-looking thing seemed like an entirely different species from the Bluewood in his memory.

“To throw it out in this weather…”

Now that he remembered a piece of the game, it weighed even more on his mind. The fact that it was a creature he had once sliced to bits gave him a faint sense of guilt.

Ian stared up at the preoccupied Jade. Ian’s curly hair was messy from the cold wind. Usually, Jade would immediately try to tidy Ian’s hair whenever it got disheveled, but right now he seemed so deep in thought that he didn’t even notice.

Ian couldn’t understand why he was so troubled over something like that. What did it matter if it died?

“…If it bothers you that much, Jade, do as you please.”

“Waaaah.”

Ian bent down and set the Bluewood free. Once on the floor, the Bluewood waddled over with great effort and flopped face-down onto Jade’s shoe.

“Oh dear.”

Jade picked up the fallen Bluewood and placed it on his palm; the creature lay flat on its back, its leaves rustling softly. It seemed to be in a good mood.

“So, is it alright if I keep it in the villa then?”

As the Bluewood’s crying subsided, Jade asked again with a brightened face. Since he was Ian’s attendant after all, he absolutely needed Ian’s permission to raise it. Fortunately, Ian gave a compliant nod.

“If that’s what you want, Jade.”

“Myang…”

As Ian said that, his gaze lingered on the Bluewood a little longer than usual. Watching Ian’s subtle gaze, Buster felt certain that the days this Bluewood could stay in the villa would not be very long.

∞ ∞ ∞

Having secured Ian’s permission, Jade first went to the storage room to find a pot of a suitable size. He placed the Bluewood inside and poured in enough soil to cover it up to its waist. He also gave it a light sprinkle of clean water.

After he tickled its leaves and patted the soil, the Bluewood fell into a deep sleep. Since it had no face, he couldn’t be absolutely sure, but since it had gone quiet, he decided to assume it was asleep.

“Why on earth were you next to the radishes… when you’re a tree…”

Jade muttered in a worried voice. He had gained yet another dependent. He was already worried about the day he would eventually have to leave this villa.

The mop ghost would likely have to go with Jade no matter what, and if he couldn’t find a new owner for this Bluewood, he’d have to take it too.

Buster was a concern as well. He had tried everything to get him to follow Ian, but even now, Buster was busy resting his body across Jade’s shoulder.

“Myung, myang.”

Buster tapped Jade’s shoulder as he sat in deep thought. He let out a few weak myang, myang cries.

“It’s already evening.”

Come to think of it, the sky was already beginning to dim. The sunset falling over the villa’s yard was beautiful.

“Myang.”

Beside him, Buster made a motion of rubbing his round belly with his front paw as if he were hungry.

Ian had said that Buster was a being that didn’t need to consume food, but Buster loved eating with the two of them. It seemed he enjoyed the time spent together more than the actual feeling of hunger.

By the way, today hadn’t been a very productive day, contrary to his expectations. He had intended to fill his bundle to the brim since he’d obtained the ‘Root Veggies, Here I Come!’ skill, but all he had to show for it was a single radish.

It wasn’t bad for a single meal, but since the harvest was so poor, he would have to head back to the Elloban Forest tomorrow.

“Myang? Myang?”

Fluttering his wings, Buster asked what tonight’s dinner menu was. Whenever Buster asked about the menu, he tended to flutter his wings a bit faster and more energetically.

Jade stood up and pulled the radish he had tucked into his bundle, holding it high.

“Radish soup! Let’s have radish soup today.”

“Mya?”

Tilting his head as if asking what that was, Buster pointed at the Bluewood. He seemed to be asking if they were going to eat that. It appeared Buster really wanted to get rid of the Bluewood one way or another.

“No, no. We can’t eat this little guy. We have to live together for a while.”

“Myaaaang…”

“Um… if I describe radish soup, it’s like… a stew made with radishes?”

“Myaaaack?!”

Buster recoiled in disgust, shaking his head frantically. To Jade, a native Korean, radish soup was a refreshing and delicious dish, but to Buster, the idea of making a stew out of radishes seemed completely alien.

“No, it’s good once you try it.”

“Myang…”

Jade tucked the day’s harvest—the radish—under his arm and walked toward the kitchen. The harvest was small, but it was rare to see such a sturdy radish. He was in a good mood because it was a new ingredient, and the portion was plenty for the three of them.

Buster, whose disappointment at the dinner menu was palpable, followed along listlessly.

“I don’t mind radish soup. Although I’ve never tried it…”

Ian, who had been listening to their conversation from the kitchen, said with a gentle smile. Jade couldn’t believe how sweetly the boy spoke. Buster glared at Ian with an annoyed face, but a fight didn’t break out.

“I’ll show you what I can really do.”

Jade began to prepare the radish with a confident voice. Buster and Ian stood on either side of him, watching the process.