How a Nuisance Character Survives a Horror Game Chapter 13

Moran’s breathing grew rough as she watched the monster’s hand rise again.

“Hah, hah…….”

Inside its palm, saw blades spun like a vortex before abruptly stopping.

Dark red blood and chunks of flesh belonging to who knew whom clung all over the blades.

Moran’s face went white as she stared with trembling eyes at the floor the monster had destroyed.

Deep grooves matching the shape of the saw blades had been carved into it.

―Missed.

“……!”

At the monster’s disappointed voice, Moran gasped for breath.

Its crazed eyes glimmered faintly in the darkness and stared directly at her.

Simply meeting those eyes made Moran’s entire body tremble violently.

Her collapsed legs no longer functioned properly.

She pushed herself backward with her hands, desperately trying to create even a little distance.

But her body wouldn’t move the way she wanted.

―Ah, ah, ah!

Below the monster’s nose—

a mouth that had definitely not existed before suddenly appeared.

Whiiiiir―!

A grating mechanical sound filled the hallway.

Then pointed drills emerged from between the monster’s lips like teeth.

―Coming, coming!

The monster’s mouth split all the way to its ears in delight.

Blood gushed from the torn skin and soaked the floor.

Fear consumed Moran from head to toe.

“Sc……”

Scared.

I’m scared, scared, scared, scared!

No one could possibly remain sane after confronting a monster like this.

Consumed by terror, Moran was no longer capable of thinking normally.

Sweat soaked her entire body.

She couldn’t even breathe properly.

There was no one who could save her.

Cletta wasn’t here.

Werner wasn’t here.

She couldn’t even count on coincidence.

Then Holloway stood.

The monster didn’t even glance at him.

No matter what Holloway did, its eyes remained fixed solely on Moran.

In that case……

“……M-Maybe it’ll be okay? Because you’re a child……. If you keep blocking it from the front, the monsters probably won’t attack me.”

Standing at the crossroads of death, Moran’s breathing quickened.

Her unfocused eyes clearly revealed that she was already considering abandoning Holloway.

She didn’t even know what she was saying anymore.

She simply bit her lips until they bled.

And Evelyn—the very person Moran had confidently lectured—wasn’t here.

No one would witness Moran’s ugly side.

Evelyn hadn’t even come to save her.

Holloway had been abandoned by Evelyn too.

Holloway wasn’t disappointed in Moran.

Of course he wasn’t.

He had never expected anything from her.

He had seen humans like this so many times that they bored him.

It was tedious.

The ugly nature she had concealed was merely revealing itself.

Terrified, Moran seized Holloway’s hand.

Her unfocused eyes turned toward him.

‘Wanting to survive is a natural human instinct.’

Moran rationalized her actions as she prepared to escape.

Her grip on Holloway tightened.

‘I only have to push him.’

Just push him……

That was all she had to do.

Yet her hand refused to move.

Then the monster took another step closer.

The final thread of Moran’s reason snapped.

Terrified, Moran squeezed her eyes shut and was about to shove Holloway toward the monster—

when a white cloth suddenly fell over the tagger’s head.

The startled tagger flailed its hands through the air.

―What? Can’t see!

―Everything’s dark!

As the monster stumbled around in confusion, Moran sensed something strange and snapped her eyes open.

Evelyn stood majestically in front of them.

“……Big sis?”

Holloway unconsciously called out when the completely unexpected person appeared.

He had been certain she would run away just like the other human.

Why was she here……?

As though answering him, Evelyn swiftly lifted Holloway into her arms.

Holloway instinctively wrapped his arms around Evelyn’s neck.

“Shh.”

“Big sis!”

“I said shh!”

He seriously never listens!

Muttering under her breath, Evelyn lightly kicked Moran’s trembling leg.

“Aren’t you coming?”

“I-I’m coming……!”

Startled by the contact, Moran tried to stand, but her weakened legs refused to cooperate.

Evelyn didn’t wait for her as she repeatedly fell.

“W-Wait…….”

Moran hurriedly grabbed the wall.

Clenching her teeth, she forced strength into her legs and finally stood.

Then she quickly followed Evelyn before losing sight of her.

Evelyn used the brief period while the monster’s vision was blocked to lead Moran and Holloway behind a large piece of rubble from a collapsed guest room.

A short while later, unable to find the humans, the monster gave up and slowly wandered away.

Only then did everyone relax and release a long breath.

After recovering somewhat, Moran glanced repeatedly between Holloway and Evelyn.

‘D-Did she see me trying to abandon Holloway?’

What do I do?

What if she tells the others?

Moran was terrified of losing everyone’s trust.

A different kind of fear from the monster seized her at the possibility that Evelyn had witnessed the side of her no one knew existed.

Evelyn went out, checked the surroundings, and returned to tell them the monster was no longer nearby.

Moran secretly clenched her fist and smiled brightly as though nothing had happened.

“Thank you, Miss Evelyn. You came back to save us instead of abandoning us. I thought you wouldn’t come. The situation was rather dangerous, wasn’t it?”

Evelyn, who had been checking Holloway from different angles, stared at Moran incredulously.

There was technically nothing bad about what she had said.

And yet it somehow sounded as though Moran were criticizing Evelyn for arriving late and allowing the situation to get that bad.

‘Or am I imagining it?’

Am I just a twisted person?

I couldn’t describe exactly why, but the words left a strangely filthy taste in my mouth.

“But next time, please refrain from acting impulsively. I’m worried the others might misunderstand you and think badly of you, Miss Evelyn.”

“No……”

I was speechless.

I couldn’t care less what other people thought of me, but acting impulsively?!

You’re the one who suddenly ran out while dragging Holloway!

Unable to endure any longer, I snapped.

“Ah, this is so annoying!”

Moran had an incredible talent for making people angry while speaking politely.

Anyone overhearing her would probably think she was merely giving me helpful advice.

And then they’d decide I was the bad person for getting angry.

But I couldn’t care less what other people thought.

“It seems you’ve already decided I’m a terrible person inside your head, Moran. Fine. Then next time, I’ll act exactly as expected and use you as bait before running away as fast as I can. Happy?”

“Miss Evelyn, that isn’t what I meant. Why do you insist on twisting my words and upsetting me?”

Aren’t you saying them specifically so they’ll sound twisted?

I grumbled internally.

“What’s going on?”

Werner appeared at the worst possible moment.

Moran welcomed him enthusiastically.

“Sir Werner! You’re safe!”

Seeing Moran act as though nothing had happened made it difficult to believe she was the same person who had nearly used Holloway as bait moments earlier.

Holloway quietly looked at Evelyn.

Every variety of irritation imaginable was mixed across her face.

***

Should I be frank?

Moran’s character hadn’t changed.

She still pursued justice and considered life precious.

Those fundamentals were exactly the same.

Maybe it was because I was interacting with her as another human being instead of controlling her as a game character.

‘Why does she make me so damn angry?’

And as though the game wanted to remind me Moran was the protagonist, the sub-male lead appeared the exact instant I responded harshly to her.

I almost wanted to applaud.

“Why would you say something like that, Miss Evelyn?”

“Stay out of it.”

I cut Werner off sharply.

His eyebrows twitched in displeasure.

Then, with absolutely no sense of timing, the system announced the quest’s success.

[‘Werner Hasios’ has joined you.]

[Gather Companions (2/2)]

[Sub Quest <Friends, Gather Round!> Complete!]

[The sword is located beneath the bed in the guest room you are currently occupying.]

“We need to escape together. Are you going to keep behaving this way?”

Werner tried to reason with me gently, but even his voice already contained exasperation toward me.

Ignoring him, I put Holloway down and carefully looked beneath the bed.

At the edge of my vision, I spotted a longsword.

Once I confirmed its location, I flattened myself against the floor.

“What are you doing? I’m speaking to you……”

“Who are you that I’m obligated to listen?”

Werner’s family held a higher title than mine, but the reputation and wealth of my family vastly surpassed that of his.

That was why I could answer him this arrogantly.

Ignoring Werner entirely, I crawled beneath the bed and stretched out my arm.

Tap.

I grabbed the sword and crawled back out.

[Obtained ‘Sword’!]

[Sharp Sword

Feature: Sharp.]

Are you seriously going to keep describing features like this?

“……A sword?”

Werner’s eyes widened in surprise.

According to the game’s setting, the demons considered one-sided slaughter boring, so they had hidden weapons throughout the hotel.

Naturally, Werner wouldn’t realize this was a weapon placed by the game.

I drew the sword.

I had worried it might be too heavy for me to use, but apparently there had been no need.

Fortunately, the grip fit perfectly in my hand, and the sword itself was light enough for me to swing.

‘Good!’

I had a weapon.

I was satisfied with its unexpectedly high quality.

The sheath even had a strap that could be worn diagonally like a crossbody bag.

I slung it securely over my shoulder.

Werner and Cletta must have clung tightly to their swords even while being swept away by the typhoon, because both had retained their basic weapons.

So there was no reason for me to give mine away.

“Miss Evelyn.”

When I still didn’t answer, Werner called me again.

“Miss Evelyn!”

“Yes, I’m listening. You’re worried I’ll throw someone to a monster and run away, right? Then I’ll travel with Holloway.”

“Can someone like you truly protect this child?”

“Of course! I hate Moran very, very much, so I’m going to protect everyone except Moran!”

I shouted before sticking my tongue out.

Werner looked dumbfounded by the childish declaration.

Holloway, however, hugged my arm tightly and refused to let go.

“Miss Evelyn, you—!”

“Please stop, Sir Werner.”

Moran interrupted him.

The way she sadly shook her head looked almost tragic.

It inspired so much sympathy that I almost wondered whether this was really the same Moran who had been irritating the hell out of me moments ago.

“Miss Evelyn only did what she did because she wanted to survive.”

Just say I ran away because I wanted to survive.

I didn’t bother defending myself regardless of what anyone said.

Holloway tugged my hand.

“You don’t have to say anything?”

“About what?”

Holloway didn’t elaborate and fell silent.

“What exactly did she do in order to survive?”

“Miss Evelyn didn’t do anything.”

Moran continued while pretending to glance nervously between Werner and me.

“It’s just that Friedel died. And Alhulf was badly injured too.”

That pathetic crybaby Alhulf bastard had nothing to do with me.

Was I the only one who thought she made it sound like I had done something to both of them?

Werner frowned.

“Are you saying Miss Evelyn used him as bait?”

“Yes, yes.”

I responded vaguely.

The sub quest was already complete anyway.

There appeared to be a cooperative quest too, but nothing had appeared yet.

For now, I needed to find the goal before the tagger caught me.

When I tried leaving the room, Werner caught my arm and stopped me.

“Where are you going? It’s dangerous if we separate.”

“What if I use the two of you as bait and run? Let go.”

“Has that happened only once or twice? I brought you in here while expecting as much.”

Werner ran a hand down his face.

“……And I feel guilty for forcing you inside when you said you didn’t want to come.”

Werner was fundamentally a highly responsible man.

Holloway took my hand and, pretending to be an innocent child, pointed toward Moran.

“That’s right! Earlier, that woman said the monster doesn’t target children, so it would be fine to leave me behind! Big sis protected me.”

Moran said that?

Hearing that Moran had tried to use Holloway as bait was fairly shocking.

Moran’s face turned white as paper, and she avoided my eyes.

“Big sis.”

Holloway looked at me with an expression that practically said, ‘I did well, right?’

It was slightly strange to see Holloway interfere in a conflict when he had never cared about such things before.

I merely stroked his hair.

Werner looked between Moran and me, then chose to ignore the situation.

“Let’s go upstairs. This place is dangerous.”

……I can’t go up there.

He was probably refusing to make an issue out of this because he didn’t want to worsen the conflict within the group.

Werner preferred safety and stability.

Although the trust between us had already been practically destroyed.

Whatever.

All I needed was to escape.

“Take Holloway and go upstairs first. There’s something else I need to find.”

“Obtaining one sword doesn’t mean you can defeat a monster.”

“I’m not trying to defeat a monster.”

I need to find the goal point before I can go either upstairs or downstairs!

[Cooperative Quest Generated!]

[The three people excluding Holloway must work together. Hold the cups on the table and calmly converse for ten minutes.]

Oh, fuck-off-shinaide…….