How a Nuisance Character Survives a Horror Game Chapter 11

Seduce him…….

How was I supposed to do that when I had never seduced a man or even dated anyone in my entire life?

I couldn’t even guess why his affection had increased.

It was hard to believe that a cold-blooded demon would be moved by something as simple as a compliment.

He was a demon, of all things.

A demon who had killed me every single time I played the game.

I simply couldn’t believe it.

So I needed to experiment.

I needed to find out whether a single conversation really had increased his affection or whether everything I had done until now had accumulated and finally burst out at once.

“Holloway, don’t leave my side. I’ll protect you somehow, okay?”

“Yes, big sis.”

Then I firmly grasped his hand.

[Affection increased by 0.5%.]

[Affection: 2.5%]

Words and actions!

Compared to the initial increase of 0.1%, it had risen by a whole 0.5%.

It seemed that the longer we talked and got to know each other, the greater the percentage increase became.

Then if I raised his affection properly, couldn’t I escape this abandoned hotel fairly quickly?

Rooms would unlock, and if I could even earn the final boss’s favor and avoid the routes where he killed me……

‘That’s a total win!’

In that case, there was no reason to deliberately separate myself from Holloway while his affection toward me was steadily increasing.

If I occasionally fed him sweet words like I had just done and made physical contact that created a sense of intimacy, I could gradually accumulate affection even if the increases were small.

As I kept saying, there was no way an escape gate in a horror game would be somewhere easy to find.

I had a feeling it was either inside one of the rooms that hadn’t been unlocked yet or underground.

No.

I was certain.

Considering the way this system behaved, there was no chance it would let me escape easily.

But still……

Had Holloway’s affection always been this easy to raise?

Of course, compared to other games, these increases could barely even be called increases.

But the mere fact that the final boss possessed an affection meter at all was amazing.

Ever since the window telling me his affection had increased by 0.1% first appeared, raising it seemed surprisingly easy.

Maybe it was because I had hugged Holloway near the beginning.

The affection meter I had naturally assumed didn’t exist had unlocked immediately after I hugged him.

Since I had held him tightly, had he unconsciously responded to human warmth?

Come to think of it, no one had hugged Holloway at the beginning of the original game.

They had held his hand, but……

Then I’d gotten lucky!

Even if it had happened by coincidence, now that I had unlocked his affection, there was no way I could waste the opportunity.

“……velyn. Miss Evelyn!”

“Ah.”

Apparently I had become so excited that I’d fallen deep into thought.

When I came back to my senses, Moran stopped shaking me and examined my face.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes. I’m great.”

“……What? Great? In this situation?”

The sound of the monster destroying the room next door was still thundering around us.

Then, suddenly, the crashing stopped.

……Thump, thump, thump.

The monster’s heavy footsteps sounded at regular intervals until they came right up to the guest room.

All three of us simultaneously held our breath.

The tagger’s rough breathing reached our ears clearly even from inside the wardrobe.

Clack, cl-cl-cl-cl-clack!

The grotesque rhythm sounded like teeth chattering.

The instant it stopped, an enormous crash swallowed the guest room.

BAAANG!

The deafening sound stabbed at my eardrums.

Moran and I instinctively covered our ears.

Rustle, rustle……

Clouds of gray dust seeped through the cracks of the wardrobe.

Moving as quietly as possible, I peeked through a narrow opening in the wardrobe door.

The tagger gradually emerged through the gray dust.

Its appearance was every bit as grotesque as the first monster I had seen.

Compared to its enormous head, its body was tiny—the body of a child.

Its bobbed hair covered its face.

And it had no mouth.

How is it talking without a mouth……?

And where did that clacking sound come from?!

The tagger waddled into the room, looked around, and repeatedly tilted its huge head.

―Saw hair!

―Saw it, but where?

Talking to itself, the tagger searched the room before grabbing the bed.

Then it casually tossed the entire bed toward the ceiling as though it weighed nothing.

The bed collided with the chandelier hanging overhead, shattering it miserably before both crashed to the floor.

Who checks whether someone’s hiding like that?!

I wished Moran would give that uncivilized monster the same kind of scolding she’d given me.

But Moran merely trembled with a deathly pale face, both hands clamped tightly over her mouth.

After confirming there was nothing beneath the bed, the tagger swayed its body from side to side.

―Not there! Nothing under bed!

……Then this is the only place left.

The tagger’s neck began rotating a full 360 degrees.

Faced with such a grotesquely elaborate performance, I almost cried tears of admiration.

[=͟͟͞͞=͟͟͞͞ﾍ( ´Д`)ﾉ DANGER!!]

[=͟͟͞͞=͟͟͞͞ﾍ( ´Д`)ﾉ DANGER!!]

[At this rate, you will die soon!]

I know that without you telling me.

Only after seeing the monster did I realize how stupid my plan of dashing out the instant the wardrobe opened truly was.

‘Can I actually escape from something that strong?’

Maybe.

The tagger might not be agile.

Unlike that monster, I’ve spent a surprisingly agile day today.

And that monster will probably smash my agile day to pieces with raw strength.

No matter how desperately I tried thinking positively, negative thoughts immediately followed, leaving me unable to formulate a proper plan.

Think.

Think carefully.

I can’t die this early.

Should I use Holloway as bait?

And then die afterward when he retaliates?

Right.

That option is out……

I nervously chewed my lip without taking my eyes off the monster.

I was desperately trying to think of the most plausible solution when Holloway abruptly drove his fist into my knee.

Thump!

“……Ow.”

That hurts.

“Why aren’t you answering when I call you?”

“When did you call me?”

“I’ve been calling you this whole time.”

“Are you sure you weren’t calling me inside your head?”

“Do we have time for pointless arguments?”

I don’t know……

For starters, I think you should at least pretend you’re trying to hide your identity.

“You seem like the type who hates losing to other people, big sis.”

“If possible, I’d rather win.”

“That makes you just like me!”

[Holloway has discovered something he has in common with you.]

[However, he doesn’t feel anything particularly special about it.]

[(―‸―,)(―‸―,)(―‸―,)(―‸―,)(―‸―,)]

Are you trying to piss me off……?

I blocked Holloway when he tried punching my knee again and finally looked away from the monster.

“Big sis, what are we going to do?”

“Asking me won’t exactly……”

Then I quietly asked him,

“By the way, did Friedel die? I didn’t see what happened.”

If I never asked, he might wonder why I hadn’t been suspicious about it.

“Yes. I looked back for a second and the monster……”

Good.

That’s enough.

I nodded solemnly.

[You must distract the tagger.]

Distract it……?

The fact that the system was saying something sensible actually made anxiety creep over me.

Ever since entering this place, I hadn’t seen this system function normally even once.

[To distract the tagger, you must select and perform one of the following three options. Choose one and fill the gauge.]

……Please.

Please.

The options hadn’t even appeared yet, but a horrible feeling washed over me.

I clasped my hands together and prayed.

[1. Dance passionately.

₍₍ (ว ˘ω˘ )ง ⁾⁾]

It’s already ruined from option one.

You want me to dance in this situation?

As far as I knew, <The Child’s Secret> was an extremely frightening gore horror game.

How did it become this corrupted?

If I’m supposed to be a nuisance character, then at least give me nuisance-character choices……

Or was Evelyn actually supposed to be a character who died of embarrassment?

Is that what this is?

[2. Play rock-paper-scissors against Moran and win 10 times.

१✌˚˚◡✌ ५]

……What if Moran refuses to play rock-paper-scissors?

If I suggested playing rock-paper-scissors while we were on the verge of death, Moran would definitely scold me for failing to read the situation.

Somehow I had already ended up in the position of constantly getting scolded by Moran, but even I didn’t want to be lectured by someone else.

And I didn’t want to become someone with zero situational awareness.

[3. Dodge the tagger’s attacks 5 times.

|д･)]

You mean the attacks of the tagger who can lift a bed with one hand and casually throw it?

Me?

[If you fail to choose within the time limit, the wardrobe door will open.]

Ugh.

Uaaaaagh!

I raised my index finger to choose option 2, which was still marginally better—

“Miss Evelyn! What are we going to do?!”

Moran suddenly grabbed me and shook me.

Because of that, my finger pressed option 1 instead of 2.

“Huh?”

N-No.

No, no!

Cancel!

Cancel!

I was trying to choose number 2!

Before the window disappeared, I desperately tapped option 2 over and over again, but……

The heavens were merciless.

As though its work was finished, the window quietly disappeared before kindly hammering the final nail into my coffin by telling me exactly which option I had selected.

Ding!

[Option 1, ‘Dance passionately. ₍₍ (ว ˘ω˘ )ง ⁾⁾’ has been selected!]

“MORAAAAAN!”

How could you do this to me?!

I shouted her name with all my strength.

Moran flinched and immediately covered my mouth.

“Mmph! Mmph!”

“Be quiet, Miss Evelyn! What in the world are you……”

Then Moran looked at my face and seriously asked,

“But why does your face look like that……?”

Did you just criticize my face?

At that moment, as though determined not to give me even a second to despair, the system cheerfully displayed a gauge.

[Gauge □□□□□□□□□□]

[Fill the empty gauge completely by dancing passionately!]

[Once the gauge is completely filled, the tagger will leave this room and go somewhere else.]

[Time Limit: 1 minute. If you fail to fill the gauge within that time, the tagger will catch you.]

There was nothing to think about.

I stood.

Thank goodness the wardrobe was enormous.

How fortunate that it still had plenty of room even with two adults and a child inside.

And what incredible comfort—large enough that I could suddenly stand without making the entire wardrobe shake.

It was such a perfect stage that I felt like drowning in an ocean of emotion, as though this wardrobe had always been waiting for me to dance.

It couldn’t be helped.

If I wanted to survive, I had to dance.

I was extremely attached to being alive.

But if I dance, the monster will leave?

What possible connection is there between those two things?!

Whatever.

I’ll dance!

Because I desperately want to live.

When I suddenly stood, Holloway and Moran both stared at me in confusion.

I looked at them and pleaded earnestly.

“Please close your eyes until I tell you to open them. You too, Holloway.”

That way it’ll be slightly less embarrassing.

I hoped they would simply listen without asking questions, but apparently both of them had befriended a contrarian somewhere because neither obeyed me.

“No. What are you planning to do?”

“I don’t want to either, big sis.”

Then watch, damn it!

I slowly began moving my body.