How a Nuisance Character Survives a Horror Game Chapter 21

My trembling eyes and indecisive finger hovered over the options.

Standing at a crossroads between life and death, I eventually let my hand fall helplessly without choosing anything.

No matter how I looked at it, this time I was definitely going to die regardless of which option I picked.

At first glance, number 1 seemed relatively okay.

But if I went ‘Ta-da!’ in front of a demon this sensitive about his blindfold, my neck might also go ‘Ta-da!’ before dropping to the floor and rolling away.

For option 2, the wrist holding the gun would probably get chopped clean off and roll across the floor……

Enough said.

As for option 3……

I couldn’t even continue.

Every route leads to death!

Then what do you all think about me hitting that bastard once before going to the afterlife?

I asked the empty air for its opinion and nodded to myself.

You agree?

Great.

I’ll take your opinion into consideration.

I took a deep breath and firmly pressed option 3.

My hand, which had been moving slowly, suddenly whipped upward and—

SLAP―!

I smacked Dilaf hard across his left cheek.

My lips moved on their own, and I snapped furiously in a sharp voice.

“You’re doubting me? How dare you?!”

“You hit me?”

“Looks like it.”

Dilaf let out a disbelieving breath at my insane response.

But honestly, I felt too wronged to quietly let him kill me like this.

If I was going to die anyway, I needed to cause at least a little chaos first.

Then maybe I could close my eyes peacefully without resentment.

Dilaf couldn’t hide his anger as he stared at the person who had slapped him.

“You fucking—”

SLAP―!

I was a very fair person.

I cut off Dilaf’s words and generously granted his other cheek equal treatment.

I’m very thoughtful and kind, so please spare me.

Maybe facing death had finally driven me insane too, because completely irrelevant thoughts kept filling my head.

Dilaf’s head snapped sideways.

Both cheeks had become bright red.

Apparently he hadn’t expected this at all.

For a moment, he didn’t even think to turn his head back and merely stared at the floor.

Then, as he slowly looked toward me again, he touched his cheek.

His behavior was strange enough to make his earlier fury seem ridiculous.

He stared at me almost absentmindedly, then grabbed his chest over his heart.

I know this reaction.

Dilaf’s face was red because I had slapped him.

Please let that be the reason.

Looking completely dazed, Dilaf said,

“You’re the first woman who’s ever slapped both my cheeks.”

Good thing I slapped both.

If I’d only slapped one side, that could’ve been a serious problem.

I might not have been the first.

“Thrilling.”

He really is insane…….

I avoided Dilaf’s eyes as his grin stretched nearly to his cheekbones.

“Hit me again.”

He’s really fucking insane…….

I slowly tried to move away, but Dilaf suddenly grabbed my arm.

“Hit me one more time!”

Oh, for god’s sake!

“Fine!”

I’m not going to refuse.

He had already been getting on my nerves anyway.

This worked out perfectly.

I spread both palms wide, fully prepared to beat the dust out of him on a rainy day, and gave Dilaf exactly what he asked for.

Slap, slap-slap-slap-slap!

The cheerful sound echoed almost like applause.

Interesting.

Slapping someone’s cheeks is louder than clapping your hands together.

“A-Ah, wait! I said once…… Ah! Wait! That hurts!”

Bombarded by palms like a sudden downpour, Dilaf covered his face with both arms and whined.

“One! I said one time!”

Unable to endure any more, he angrily knocked my hand away.

My index finger caught on his blindfold.

The blindfold began slipping downward beneath my hand.

Before Alhulf could see anything as it nearly came off, I hurriedly pulled it back into place.

Th-Thank goodness.

I didn’t see his eyes.

“That was dangerous……”

For my life.

I had finally succeeded at the cliché, ‘You’re the first woman who’s ever hit me,’ only to almost get my eyes ripped out immediately afterward.

Dilaf felt around his blindfold and then asked,

“What did you just do?”

“What do you mean? Your blindfold almost came off.”

“You weren’t pretending to hit me so you could take it off?”

Ah.

My blood pressure.

I was about to fiercely deny it when the selection window appeared faster than I could speak.

[Dilaf, who briefly felt his heart flutter because of you, is beginning to feel murderous again. You must change his mind.]

[➤What should you say?

1. Ding-dong-dang-dong! I’m so curious about what’s under your blindfold. Take it off dramatically!

(/(@^0^@)/)

1. If you know that, why are you still wearing it? Tick-tock, hurry up and take it off!

((╬▔皿▔) ) ╯

1. I’m not interested unless I’m removing someone’s clothes. What interests me isn’t the eyes under your blindfold—it’s the naked body of a healthy adult man!

( |┗ ｀O′| )] ┛]

So the correct answer has already been decided, and all I have to do is press the number?

Well……

It was true, so this choice was relatively easy.

I enthusiastically hammered number 3.

“I’m not interested unless I’m removing someone’s clothes. What interests me isn’t the eyes under your blindfold—it’s the naked body of a healthy adult man!”

Everyone stared at me in admiration at how sincere and genuine my words sounded.

“If you want, I can leave the blindfold alone and strip everything else off. Just say the word.”

Surely he would understand from this heartfelt declaration that I had absolutely no intention of removing his blindfold.

Even a passing pervert would’ve recoiled at that statement.

Dilaf tightly wrapped both arms around his own body.

I heard Holloway laughing softly behind me.

[Dilaf’s heart flutters because this is his first time meeting ‘a woman who is this boldly perverted.’]

This bastard isn’t normal either.

The ancient cliché actually worked.

[Congratulations!]

[You have escaped the threat of death.]

So I survived by earning the title of pervert who loves naked bodies?

[‘Demon of Wrath’ Dilaf’s Danger Level has changed to ‘I’ll let someone like you slide.’]

[Because you are currently pursuing ‘Future Conqueror of This World’ Holloway, the numerical values of other characters will not be displayed.]

[Instead, you will be notified whenever their feelings toward you are updated.]

[‘Demon of Wrath’ Dilaf’s feelings toward you ( ´罒`*) : ✧ You’re the first woman who’s ever hit me.]

[You cannot pursue two or more characters simultaneously.]

Why did you forcibly set Holloway, the final boss, as my romance target……?

Still, maybe I could switch targets?

That hope was immediately and mercilessly crushed.

[You cannot switch to another character.]

Of course.

You cruel system that only torments me.

[Currently, Dilaf’s cheeks are still burning from your slaps.]

You don’t need to tell me that.

Holloway quietly approached and tugged at my sleeve.

His face was shamelessly filled with concern.

Is there no option where I can hit this one too?

But because he was wearing the form of a child, even if I wanted to hit him, I’d probably be overcome by guilt and unable to do it properly.

If he were in his adult form, I would’ve slapped him mercilessly just like Dilaf.

“Big sis, are you okay?”

“You’re asking after everything is already over…….”

“I’m a child.”

Using his age as a weapon.

And he knew perfectly well that I would fall for it.

“My stubborn attachment to life saved me.”

“Seems that way.”

Stop saying it so obnoxiously.

Alhulf, who had been quietly watching the entire time, stared in admiration.

“Lady Evelyn. You’re terrifying……. Slapping someone like that……”

“I don’t particularly want to hear that from someone selfish and nasty enough to use Moran as bait and run away.”

At my direct criticism, tears immediately gathered in Alhulf’s eyes.

“I-I was so scared back then……. I-I’m sorry. Really. Truly……”

“Don’t apologize to me. Apologize to Moran. What good is it if I forgive you when Moran, the actual victim, might not?”

Actually, there was a high chance Moran would forgive him.

If she didn’t after lecturing me that severely, what would that make me?

Then I’d be the only one who got chewed out.

For fairness, I hoped Alhulf got scolded too.

Anyway……

By this point, merely standing was making my ankle ache.

Alhulf suddenly throwing himself at me had worsened it.

If I continued ignoring the pain and encountered another monster, I wouldn’t even be able to run properly.

The three of them looked perfectly capable of using me as bait and vanishing.

“I wish I had a compression bandage or something.”

Alhulf looked at my ankle and widened his eyes in shock.

“H-How did it get like that?”

“It was already injured, but you jumped me and made it worse.”

“Ah……”

After thoroughly planting guilt inside the already-crying man, we continued toward the third floor.

Actually, I simply started climbing, and the others followed me like baby birds trailing after their mother.

Dilaf wandered behind us and asked,

“Hey, why aren’t you asking why I’m so sensitive about my blindfold?”

“Because you’d kill me if I asked.”

“…….”

See?

Look at that rude bastard suddenly going silent.

Fuck.

I almost fell for it and asked.

I kept pushing Holloway away whenever he tried clinging to me.

Holloway frowned as I continued rejecting him.

Does this kid seriously have zero intention of hiding his identity……?

At this point, it felt like he was grabbing me by the collar and begging me to notice.

“Big sis, why won’t you hold my hand? Why won’t you let me hug you? Why won’t you let me touch you?”

Aren’t those all basically the same question?

But after barely surviving, I couldn’t afford to upset Holloway.

I carefully chose my answer.

“Because while that man was bullying me, Holloway just stood there laughing. You hurt your big sis’s feelings.”

“But……”

Holloway firmly argued back as though he had made up his mind.

“Dilaf was the one getting bullied.”

Let’s put that fact aside for now.

“That’s right. My cheeks still hurt.”

“See? I was right. So you’re not going to reject me anymore, right?”

Strangely convincing.

As we climbed the stairs toward the third floor, Holloway smiled as brightly as blooming flowers and held his hand toward me.

At that exact moment—

the staircase distorted grotesquely.

My vision went completely black.

Several seconds later, the candles on the walls reignited.

I was alone.

“……?”

While I stood confused by the sudden spatial displacement—

[‘????’ has distorted space. For the next 30 minutes, no matter where you go, you will be unable to correctly determine your location.]

For the first time, instead of telling me exactly who was responsible, the system displayed question marks.

Who distorted it?

Was it one of the demons I hadn’t met yet, so their name wasn’t being displayed?

“Then…… I should use this opportunity.”

While Holloway and the other demon were gone, I could finally look beneath the sofa Holloway had prevented me from investigating.

If he didn’t want me seeing it, there had to be a reason.

I had very little information about this hotel.

I needed to find anything I could.

It said determining locations would be difficult, but I could at least try searching.

First, I checked the room number in front of me.

It clearly read ‘Room 201.’

I was standing directly in front of the unlocked room.

A trap?

Coincidence?

It felt suspicious, but I opened the door anyway.

Inside, I came face-to-face with Alhulf, who was looking around in confusion.

“Ah, fuck.”

The curse slipped out before I could stop it.

“……Y-You don’t have to look that openly disappointed.”

Ignoring the rest of what Alhulf said, I entered and asked,

“What are you doing here?”

“Everything suddenly went black and then I was transported here……. W-What is this hotel?”

He looked ready to start crying again.

Ignoring him, I sat on a chair.

Alhulf repeatedly glanced guiltily at my ankle.

“I-I’m sorry.”

Yeah.

Sure.

“I-I’ll look for a bandage!”

He began opening desk drawers one after another.

When Alhulf opened the final drawer, he pulled out a white bandage.

“I found a compression bandage!”

“Thanks.”

I accepted it.

[Obtained ‘Compression Bandage’!]

[Compression Bandage

Effect: You will not feel pain.

Wear continuously for one week and your leg will fully recover. Afterward, the Compression Bandage will quietly disappear.]

Hell yes.

I carefully wrapped the swollen ankle.

While I was doing that, Alhulf looked around and then lowered himself close to the floor.

“What are you doing?”

“Something under the sofa is sparkling.”

“What?”

Before I could stop him, Alhulf shoved the sofa sideways.

A red blade was embedded in the floor beneath it.

“Why is there a blade……?”

Alhulf leaned his face closer.

“Huh? There’s some kind of picture here.”

“A picture?”

After finishing the bandage, I crouched beside him.

Four people were drawn on the floor around the embedded blade.

All their faces had been colored red.

“Two adults and two dwarves.”

Alhulf smiled awkwardly at my words.

“Normally you’d call them children……. And if you look carefully, they aren’t really children. They look more like boys right before adulthood.”

Whatever.

The blade was embedded directly through the face of one of the adults.

In a horror genre, disturbing drawings like this were practically mandatory.

Almost mesmerized, I touched the picture.

[Obtained picture ‘Happy Us’!]

[Collected fragment: ‘Existence.’]

As the ‘Existence’ fragment was collected, another window appeared.

It showed an irregularly shattered hexagonal shape.

One broken section now filled with the fragment labeled ‘Existence.’

Click.

The piece fitted into place.

Then, like ink spreading across paper, an image appeared over the fragment.

Against a pitch-black background—

countless eyes.

‘It definitely means something…….’

There seemed to be many fragment types still missing.

‘I’ll probably understand after completing it.’

The ‘Happy Us’ picture was preserved inside a menu labeled ‘Clues.’

For now, I focused on the word ‘Existence.’

Existence?

What exists?

Did it mean demons existed?

But the countless eyes didn’t seem particularly demonic.

Unable to get anything more from the fragment, I returned my attention to the drawing.

Looking at it gave me chills.

I had originally dismissed it as a typical horror cliché, but there was something subtly cold about the picture.

It almost felt as though a chill was spreading outward from the floor where it had been drawn.

I wiggled my feet uneasily.

Two adults.

Two boys in their mid-to-late teens.

The two boys were pressed closely together, apparently intimate.

There were five demons including Holloway.

So these weren’t the demons……

‘Who are they?’

In the game, survival, one-sided massacres, and romance had been the main focus.

There had been practically no information about the demons or hotel itself.

“What do you think it is?”

Alhulf stared intensely at the picture too.

We had become so focused on analyzing it that neither of us noticed someone entering.

“Big sis, so you really did move the sofa and look under it.”

My shoulders jerked violently at the suddenly calm voice.

I forced my stiff neck to turn.

Holloway’s expressionless face was the first thing I saw.

His sharp gaze slowly shifted from me to the picture on the floor.

“So you saw it after all.”

The moment he muttered those words, strength left my body.

I nearly collapsed onto the floor.

The thread of tension had been pulled taut to its limit.

Ding.

[Picture ‘Happy Us’

Feature: When someone sees this picture, Holloway and the demons become angry.]

[Holloway has caught you looking at ‘Happy Us.’]

A chill penetrated all the way to my bones.

Not because of fear.

Because the temperature of the room had suddenly plummeted.

[Holloway’s emotional values are decreasing.]

The temperature dropped further.

Windows appeared rapidly with piercing notification sounds.

[Affection decreased by 4%.]

[Attachment decreased by 11%.]

[Possessiveness decreased by 13%.]

[Affection: 5.5%

Attachment: 5.5%

Possessiveness: 5%]

Before I could even feel disappointed that all my hard work had vanished in an instant, the next window plunged me into despair.

[‘Future Conqueror of This World’ Holloway has decided to begin hunting.]

Hunting?

The hand I had braced against the floor trembled pitifully.

It was so cold that white breath escaped between my lips.

Holloway’s face looked exactly the same as always.

Yet the atmosphere around him was on an entirely different level from anything I had felt before.

Then my vision turned red and began flashing rapidly.

[The target is you.]