The Servant in the Horror Game is Suspicious Chapter 42

Stopping in the middle of the passage, Jade strained his ears toward the direction of the sound.

However, he couldn’t tell where it was coming from. It seemed to echo throughout the entire underground tunnel, sounding as if it were coming from far away yet also right next to him.

Uuuggghhh—

The sound came again. It sounded like a pained groan, but also like a noise meant to intimidate. Jade detached a lamp from the wall and shone it around. It felt like the source was in the same space as him, but he couldn’t see anything.

“Sigh, what on earth is it now…”

A sigh escaped him along with a chilling sensation.

It felt as though not a single day had been quiet since he started living in this villa. Just as a moment of peace was about to set in, all sorts of things appeared—from monsters and mop ghosts to Bluewoods and shadow wolves.

At least Buster, the mop ghost, and Bluey had become part of the family after a struggle, but when he faced the shadow wolf, his hair truly stood on end. Not only his life but Ian’s life had been at risk, and he still couldn’t use one arm because of the aftermath.

“If you’re going to come out, do it quickly.”

The muscles in Jade’s back stiffened as he issued the warning. His alertness had heightened since the battle with the shadow wolf. Having stood on the threshold of death, the appearance of something new no longer felt like an adventure. His body kept tensing up with anxiety, making his arm throb.

Jade scanned the passage, swinging the lamp here and there. The underground tunnel branched into three directions: the path to the villa, the storage room, and the exit.

A few days ago, Jade had completely blocked off the exit. He had locked it securely and reinforced it with several layers of sturdy planks. It was a measure he’d taken after the day the people from the Linwood family visited. It stemmed from the anxiety that someone might suddenly burst in. By now, Jade had blocked it so thoroughly that not even an ant could find a gap to enter.

Yet, this bizarre noise seemed to be coming from the end of the path leading outside—specifically, from the inner corner of the blocked passage.

The light from Jade’s lamp, which he had been swinging around, stopped at the mouth of the passage. Jade walked slowly toward the inner corner.

Then, there was something in the darkness. Was it a shadow? The moment that thought crossed his mind, the thing flinched and moved. At the same time, Jade’s shoulders flinched as well.

The black silhouette looked like a large sack, but as he drew closer, it resembled the form of a person huddling down.

‘Should I run?’

It wasn’t as if the thought didn’t occur to him. His left arm throbbed at the slightest movement, and he even had a fever—perhaps from an infection—so his physical condition was at an all-time low. Even if he charged in this state, it would be a losing battle for him.

However, he couldn’t just ignore it. Jade was the one currently in charge of the villa’s overall management. The fact that an unidentified entity was in the underground passage meant it could also infiltrate the interior of the villa.

“Who… are you?”

When he gathered his courage to ask, the black lump moved. Slowly, and very unnaturally.

The back of his neck felt cold. Was it a person? Whether it was a person or not, it was a problem. If it was a person, there was a high possibility they were sent by the Linwood family, and if not…

Uuuggghhh—

The black form moved while making that eerie sound. Like a seated person standing up, the huddled shape gradually grew taller. It became certain. This thing was the source of the bizarre noise.

As the form moved, the air changed. A faint smell of rotting meat wafted through. The lamp in Jade’s hand shook violently. He didn’t have the courage to get any closer. He wasn’t in a physical state to fend anyone off.

Jade extended his arm and thrust the lamp forward. The light reached a bit further. Regardless of his fear, he had to find out what the thing was.

“Are you… human?”

At Jade’s question, the unidentified silhouette swayed in the darkness. As if it understood his words and was nodding its head.

Was it really a person? Even though a person would mean an intruder, he felt strangely relieved. It was likely because he had encountered too many strange things since coming here. A person was better than a monster.

Jade took another step forward. If it were a person, they would launch a physical attack, but at this distance, he could dodge. As the distance closed, the figure became clearer.

However… something was a bit off. That is to say, it was a person, but they were in terrible shape.

He was wearing very old, tattered servant’s clothes, and his neck, which was bowed toward the ground, hung limp. His arms were also dangling lifelessly at his sides, and his posture was hunched.

It’s not human.

He could tell instinctively. That thing is not a person.

Had it recognized Jade’s presence? The swaying silhouette suddenly came to a dead stop. Then, the one in servant’s clothes slowly raised his face. The lamp illuminated his features.

“…!”

With a clatter, the lamp fell and spun away. Jade hurriedly picked up the lamp and backed away. However, the terror surrounding him did not easily dissipate. The hair on his forearms stood on end.

He has no eyes. The man who raised his head had no eyes. There were hollow holes gaping where the eyeballs should have been, and the edges of the punctured eye sockets were rotting black.

Jade’s gaze slowly drifted downward. The man’s mouth was stretched wide as if torn, and inside were rotten teeth rooted irregularly and sparsely. Saliva drooled from his sagging jaw.

And that wasn’t all. His skin was grayish with black spots spreading everywhere. Not just the sound, but even his appearance was like a zombie. It wasn’t exactly a global integration, but between ghouls, monsters, and now zombies, wasn’t this really too much?

Above all, the attire—the servant’s clothes the man was wearing—looked stranger the more he looked at it. Jade wasn’t from this place either, but he roughly knew the clothing style here from his and Ian’s outfits, as well as the clothes left abandoned in the villa. The man’s clothing was excessively old-fashioned. Even then, it was so old it was completely decayed.

‘I can’t help the entities inside the villa, though.’

Suddenly, the words Ian had spoken in the forest came to mind.

‘Like the eyeless servants. Or the monsters that lived in that villa since long ago. Should I call them ghosts?’

One who has no eyes and wears servant’s clothes. It seemed the being currently before Jade’s eyes was the very “ghost or monster” Ian had mentioned.

Uuuggghhh—

The creature made that grotesque sound again. It was staring at Jade. He had no eyes, but Jade could tell. Strength surged into his tense feet. Once they had acknowledged each other’s presence, a system window popped up before him.

[ >> System << The Wraith of the Blind Servant has appeared. ]

A wraith. The thing’s exact identity wasn’t a monster or a common ghost, but a wraith.

What was a wraith? Among the dead souls, a ghost that wandered the world for a long time was usually called a wraith. If it was something that had wandered this dilapidated villa for a long time, it wouldn’t be an ordinary entity.

“Ugh…”

A thick, bubbling groan escaped the wraith’s torn mouth. Clack. The wraith took a step forward. Every time he moved, there was the sound of creaking joints. His arms, which hung limp and swayed off-beat, were longer than a normal person’s, and as he dragged his feet, a shiiik sound could be heard.

“……”

Jade slowly backed away. This wasn’t an opponent he could handle. Above all, wasn’t his body currently in a wreck?

Come to think of it, Ian had spoken about this wraith quite calmly. Could it be he said that because it hadn’t caused any harm to the villa so far?

Having finished his rationalization, Jade moved his feet carefully. He widened the distance as much as possible, trying not to make a sound.

He didn’t want to provoke the wraith any further. A few more steps and he’d reach the corner. He would head up the stairs just like this, enter the villa, and close the door.

Clang.

However, as always, things did not go Jade’s way. The lamp fell and made a loud noise. The handle must have become loose when he dropped it on the floor earlier.

The fallen lamp bounced particularly many times on the floor, rolling noisily. Eventually, it ended up rolling right toward the wraith. At that moment… the servant’s head snapped to the side with a crack. His neck, tilted toward Jade, twisted unnaturally.

Shiik, squelch, shiik.

The servant’s speed increased frighteningly. Dragging one foot, he began to charge at Jade with his joints creaking and his arms dangling in that hunched posture. Even the creaking joints moved in opposite directions, doubling the grotesqueness.

“Aaargh! I know this! I know what this is!”

Jade began to run in horror. He had seen scenes like this many times in horror movies. Didn’t the Slit-Mouthed Woman or those tall ghosts move exactly like this?

Jade turned around and ran with all his might. He had to get back to the villa. The lamps attached to the walls flickered as if they were about to go out.

Squelch, shiik, squelch, shiik.

The sounds made by the wraith grew closer. The smell of rot stung his nose. It was behind his back. He had been caught up to, right behind his back. A zombie-like groan was heard right by his ear. It was too close.

“Aaaagh!”

Three meters. If he ran exactly three meters more, he could enter the villa. Just as Jade, having reached the end of the passage, was about to leap up the stairs… the Wraith of the Blind Servant caught up to him.

Squelch, shiik, uuuggghhh—

The smell of rot stung his nose along with the cold air. And then.

“Huh?”

The Wraith of the Blind Servant passed right through Jade. It disappeared as if being absorbed into the door leading to the villa.

Now, all that remained in the underground passage was the smell of rot, Jade, and the dangling lamp. It was to the point of being embarrassing that he had run for his life.

Ding-dong—

In front of Jade, who was holding his nose and scratching his head, the system window popped up once more.

If you looked closely, the sounds that played varied slightly depending on the situation. Situations that were more teasing or annoying tended to unfold when it was a ‘ding-dong’ rather than a simple ‘ding’. And right now, it was ‘ding-dong’.

[ >> Reward for Defeating the Wraith of the Blind Servant <<

Three Healing Potions ]

“What?!”

His eyes naturally widened. To think there was a defeat reward. And a healing potion reward at that. For the ailing and injured Jade, it was an item more desperate than anything else.

“You should have told me that in advance!”

Jade shouted toward the empty air. If he had known sooner that such a valuable reward was at stake, he would have fought regardless of whether he lived or died. He would have pounced even if a tiger had come.

“I’ll find you. I’ll find you somehow.”

At this point, that guy was no longer a wraith. He was a stroke of luck, a total jackpot. Jade’s eyes blazed with the fire of competitive spirit.