The Servant in the Horror Game is Suspicious Chapter 44

“Whoa…! Phew, whew….”

He had almost wasted a skill with a 24-hour cooldown on nothing. Jade let out a long breath, clutching his chest. If he’d thrown it away pointlessly, he would have had to wait a full day.

Knowing nothing of this, Buster blinked his adorable eyes and pointed at the doorknob with a front paw as if asking why the door had been closed. It seemed he had been scratching frantically with his claws because the door wouldn’t open. The claw marks Buster left on the door were vivid. This was just another thing Jade would have to fix later.

“Myack…! Myang!”

“Buster, man, what is it?”

“Meooooow.”

When asked why he had come all this way to scratch the door, Buster rubbed his belly with a front paw. He wanted food served.

Jade had clearly tried to wake him several times this morning, but Buster had kept his body curled in a ball, hiding his face and snoring away as he overslept. When asked if he wasn’t going to eat, he had answered firmly with a “Myang, Myang.” He wasn’t even a toddler in his terrible twos, yet he acted like a total lord and master.

In the first place, wasn’t Buster a being who could survive without eating? Judging by Ian’s explanation, he didn’t even feel hunger. Although Jade rarely had a harsh word for Buster, this time he couldn’t help but feel a bit annoyed.

“Go eat on your own!”

“Myack?!”

Leaving behind the startled Buster with his tail standing straight up, Jade closed the door and guarded the bathroom for the rest of the day. Even so, feeling guilty for snapping at Buster, he eventually went back and handed him a slice of carrot.

Thinking that perhaps the bathroom in this specific room wasn’t to the wraith’s liking, he checked every bathroom in the villa. Later, taking advantage of the time Ian spent in the study, he even stood guard in Ian’s personal bathroom. But it was all for naught. Just like that, Jade wasted a whole day.

The next day was even more serious. Jade woke up at dawn and prepared potato stew, potato salad, and french fries. Since he’d made enough to last from morning to evening, no one would have a reason to come looking for him because they were hungry.

He even brought out some rotten meat he’d been storing to use as bait for hunting later. Though it was called a wraith, the sounds and behaviors of the blind servant were no different from a zombie’s. If it was a zombie, he figured it would like rotten meat.

Armed with the rotten meat and his club, Jade took his spot in the center of the underground passage where he had first encountered the Wraith of the Blind Servant.

As they say, the old ways are the best—maybe the first place they met was the right answer. Since the stairs from all three directions led here, he was bound to run into it if he waited.

From here on, it was a battle against himself. He had to endure the boredom and the drowsiness. After an hour and then two, his legs began to cramp. For someone like Jade, who stayed busy and even looked for chores to do when there were none, this kind of waiting was pure torture.

Rustle, scritch-scratch.

Was his waiting finally being rewarded? After several hours, he felt the movement of another presence in the silent passage. It was different from the sound the blind servant had made, but waiting has a way of blurring one’s judgment.

‘It’s here.’

“Fire…!”

The skill name burst out of his mouth in excitement. “Ball.” There was only one word left. He couldn’t believe how lucky he was that he hadn’t uttered that final syllable.

“Kiee.”

The entity that visited Jade today was the mop ghost. The strength drained right out of Jade’s hand as he held the club.

As if exhausted from coming all the way here, the mop ghost made a motion as if wiping its brow with its own fringe. It was a bizarre sight for something without a face. Living with people seemed to have made it mimic their behavior more and more.

“What are you doing here?”

“Kieee, kiee.”

The mop ghost wriggled its body like a caterpillar, trying to appeal to Jade. It even mimicked scrubbing the floor diligently.

Come to think of it, the mop ghost had been assigned a lot of work today. It had to wipe the floors and stairs, not to mention the dining table. It shouldn’t have time to slack off like this.

“What, what, what do you want? Did you finish wiping the table?!”

“Kieeee!”

When asked about the table, the mop ghost raised its voice and shook its body. It even flipped over and rolled around on the ground. This was definitely something it had learned from Buster.

Looking closely at the mop ghost’s behavior, it seemed it had come to file a protest. To be fair, the mop ghost had been assigned quite a lot of work over the past few days.

Jade hadn’t been able to use his arm properly after the battle with the shadow wolf, and he’d been neglecting his villa duties for two days now trying to catch the blind servant. In a villa this large, labor piled up even if you sat still. Naturally, the mop ghost’s workload increased. Since it hadn’t reacted much, Jade thought it was fine, but it seemed the ghost had been harboring secret complaints it just hadn’t known how to express.

“You. Do you not know what obedience means? Obedience means following any order without talking back. Get back to work, now!”

“Kiee!”

The mop ghost flinched at the word “obedience,” but gathered its last bit of courage to continue its protest. However, Jade had a secret weapon to neutralize the mop ghost.

“If the broom hadn’t broken, I would have done all the cleaning myself!”

Jade was usually the type to never hold a grudge—so much so that people told him he was too cool about things—하지만 this particular bitterness refused to fade.

The mop ghost seemed to recognize its own guilt, as it turned docile the moment the broom was mentioned. There was no need to chant a humiliating incantation to remind it of the hierarchy.

“Kieeee….”

Dejectedly drooping its fringe, the mop ghost slunk away and exited the underground passage.

“I’m going to go and inspect your work! If I find a single speck of dust, you’re in for it!”

“Kiee…”

Jade threw a firm warning at the back of the slowly retreating mop ghost. Perhaps feeling hurt, the mop ghost disappeared without even looking back at Jade. Even though he’d secured its obedience, the ghost occasionally acted up like that after they’d spent so much time together. Still, since it had responded, it would likely clean everything thoroughly. The mop ghost took great pride in being the villa’s butler, after all.

“Sigh, look at my life.”

Jade plopped his rear onto the cold floor of the underground passage and sat cross-legged. Once again, an indefinite wait began.

Jade spent the time singing a few songs he knew in his head, wondering why the shadow wolf had simply vanished without even leaving behind some meat, and curious about what books Ian read every day. Before he knew it, his spirited demeanor was gone, replaced by a man sitting on the floor nodding off.

“Ow.”

Eventually, Jade hit his forehead against the wall while dozing off and shook his head to wake up. There were no windows in the underground passage, so he couldn’t see outside, but judging by how hungry he was, it seemed to be around evening.

Thump, thump, tap.

Right then, he heard the sound of someone approaching from the stairs connected to the villa. It was probably Buster again. He didn’t understand why a creature that didn’t need food was so diligent about meal times. If he were searching for food because he was hungry, Jade could understand, but he didn’t even feel hunger.

Jade used to take good care of Buster because his hearty appetite was cute, but given the circumstances, a sigh escaped him. Especially since today he had intentionally woken up at the crack of dawn to prepare everything through dinner!

“What now! Why! Stop coming to find me, you brat!”

Jade grumbled and complained loudly. However, the person who appeared around the corner was not Buster.

“Jade…?”

It was Ian, looking somewhat more bedraggled than he had this morning. Ian’s hair was particularly frizzy and messy today, and even his pajama buttons were done up wrong, making him look strangely pitiful.

“Ah, Ian. I’m sorry. I wasn’t talking to you. What’s the matter?”

“You seem busy today.”

As Jade approached, Ian lowered his eyes sadly, his voice sounding blunt. His long eyelashes fluttered pathetically. Looking down, Jade saw Ian’s fidgeting hands. In his neatly folded hands, he held a fairy tale book.

“Ah…!”

It seemed he had dozed off for much longer than he thought. Jade was always the one to pick out the fairy tales, but since he hadn’t come for so long, it seemed Ian had picked one out himself and come to find him.

“Is it night already?”

“…Yes.”

Ian nodded and dejectedly tapped the floor with his foot. He looked so forlorn that Jade’s heart softened completely.

“Myang….”

As Jade grew gentler, Buster, who had been hiding behind Ian’s back, peeked out. Buster had been carefully gauging Jade’s mood since he’d been so sensitive since yesterday.

Usually, Buster’s daily routine involved following Jade around and playing, but since Jade hadn’t let him tag along yesterday or today, he must have spent the whole day in boredom. Thinking of that, Jade felt sorry for Buster too.

“I’m sorry. I haven’t been paying enough attention.”

“It’s okay.”

“Have you eaten?”

“Not yet….”

“What? You haven’t even eaten? Let’s head up together and eat right away.”

At Ian’s words that he hadn’t eaten, Jade started fussing. Ian rubbed his eyes and said he was fine, but he looked so lonely and delicate that Jade felt a sudden sense of urgency.

“Myang….”

Buster, observing the two from the side, rolled his eyes.

Buster had seen it clearly. Ian looking down at the dining table spread with food with a cold face before abruptly turning away. He had seen him standing in front of the mirror, intentionally misaligning his buttons and messing up his hair. And what about the fairy tale book? He hadn’t even looked at the bookshelf; he’d just grabbed the first thing he saw. Ian probably didn’t even know what the cover of that book looked like.

‘A scary human, indeed.’

Jade was always telling Buster to get along with Ian, but the kid was already so suspicious and black-hearted. To be the only one scolded while a fox-like human like that was around, Buster felt it was incredibly unfair.

“Let’s go up and get ready for bed. Buster, mate, you come along too.”

Jade gathered Buster and Ian and exited the underground passage.

“…….”

“Myang…”

And Buster saw it again. As they walked side by side with Jade, the cold glance Ian threw back at him.

Buster crossed his paws and widened the distance between them. Only then was the cold gaze withdrawn. He really was an unlikable human.