How a Nuisance Character Survives a Horror Game Chapter 22

4. Stay Strong, Evelyn (1)

This is ridiculous.

He’s the one who moved the sofa, so why am I the target, you fucking bastard?

Why is your temper so short?

A good child should at least give his big sis time to explain herself.

[To interact with ‘Happy Us,’ all values must be at least 30%.]

If you’d told me that earlier, do you think I would’ve touched it?!

This system giving me information only after the fact was driving me insane.

I was seriously about to lose my head just because I looked beneath one sofa.

……Actually, now that I thought about it, Holloway had been this sensitive about certain things in the game too.

Whenever the player tried discovering the hotel’s secrets, he killed them mercilessly.

Before they could uncover even the slightest piece of information.

Then this picture had to be something capable of revealing clues about the hotel.

Come to think of it……

There was no guarantee the people in that picture were demons.

What if they were the original owners of this hotel?

There was definitely some connection between the people in the picture and the demons……

Did the demons drive out the hotel’s original owners?

And were they sealed here as punishment afterward?

According to the game’s setting, the demons couldn’t leave the island.

They were supposedly demons sealed and trapped here.

The game had also mentioned that biological experiments had been conducted in the basement of this hotel.

But as I had said before, nobody knew anything about that.

The game itself had always been vague regarding the background.

Nothing was ever explained clearly.

If those biological experiments really happened, did the demons kill the hotel’s guests and owner?

Then receive punishment for it?

That seemed the most plausible explanation.

Of course, Moran’s group couldn’t infer all of this from a single drawing.

I only could because I knew the game’s setting.

They didn’t even know anything about the island itself.

But if finding some other object later would make it easier to deduce things because of this ‘Happy Us’ picture, then the demons would naturally want to hide it at any cost.

The demons in the game hadn’t liked anyone uncovering the hotel’s secrets.

So naturally, Holloway wasn’t happy about this.

It must feel as nerve-racking as having your parents search through your secret phone.

Only then did I understand why Holloway had immediately decided to kill me.

Of course he wanted to kill me.

But I didn’t want to die.

Tears gathered as I looked at Holloway, who refused to hear an explanation and had absolutely no patience.

Rude demon bastard……

Can’t you show me even a little mercy after everything we’ve been through together?

Obviously not.

Otherwise he wouldn’t have designated me as prey.

I steadied my trembling breath, placed a hand over my chest, and spoke.

“Listen carefully, Holloway. I’m not the one who moved this sofa and found the picture. How could fragile little me with an injured leg possibly do that?”

I deliberately limped to my feet and pointed dramatically at Alhulf.

“This bastard suddenly pushed the sofa aside and forced me to look at the picture!”

Alhulf did it.

Blaming someone else was the easiest solution.

And blaming someone else to survive was perfectly reasonable.

Wait.

It wasn’t even really blaming him unfairly.

He actually did it.

He’s the one who moved it.

Alhulf stared at me in confusion while I desperately insisted on my innocence.

Not understanding the seriousness of the situation, he casually agreed.

“Uh, yeah……. I did.”

Farewell.

That should be enough to save me.

“I saw something sparkling underneath, so I moved the sofa to check.”

“Right. Exactly. Alhulf did it.”

Not me.

“You looked underneath the sofa just because something was sparkling? Why bother?”

Because if something is sparkling, you obviously have to check.

Holloway wouldn’t understand that, so I answered seriously.

“He said he dropped his common sense on the floor and was looking for it.”

“……When did I say that? I literally just said I moved it because something was sparkling underneath! We even found this blade here!”

“Anyway, Alhulf moved the sofa, so that’s how we saw the picture.”

Not me.

I didn’t care how unfairly Alhulf protested.

My heart trembled as I watched Holloway.

Not from excitement.

Because I was fucking terrified.

Holloway smiled gently and asked me,

“Then why are you explaining every little thing to me?”

Do I look like I have a choice?!

I hid my true feelings and replied gently.

Right now, I needed to appease him as much as possible.

“Because you looked curious, Holloway.”

Holloway alternated his gaze between Alhulf and me before nodding.

[Holloway has decided to hunt both of you.]

You bastard!

What was missing from my explanation?!

His head was apparently full of thoughts about killing me.

My anxiety made me instinctively touch my revolver, but I immediately stopped.

The gun had been threatening enough to them that they had deliberately made me waste nearly all my bullets.

So should I try going bang?

Then I’ll probably go boom before that happens.

Rejected.

“Holloway, why are you so angry?”

“Exactly.”

Alhulf agreed, genuinely confused.

Holloway was making it painfully obvious, but I was desperately pretending not to know he was one of the demons of this island.

Alhulf truly didn’t know.

Therefore, neither of us was supposed to understand why Holloway was angry.

“Huh? I’m not angry……”

Holloway tilted his head innocently.

Alhulf immediately fell for the performance.

“Right? I thought so.”

I joined in and smiled like an idiot.

At that moment, the temperature around us dropped even further.

It felt like being thrown outside during winter wearing nothing but a T-shirt.

My teeth began chattering automatically.

“I guess I misunderstood too. Anyway, isn’t it kind of cold?”

Shivering, I hugged Holloway tightly.

For now, pretend not to know……

“But Holloway, about the sofa……”

Please stop making it so incredibly obvious that we weren’t supposed to see that picture.

At least pretend to hide it properly if you’re the final boss.

“Did you know that picture was under the sofa? Is that why you stopped me from looking?”

“…….”

I deliberately bombarded him with questions.

Because I needed him to understand that even after all this, I knew nothing.

If I asked absolutely nothing, Holloway would find that even stranger.

Humans were naturally curious creatures.

Especially when trapped in an inescapable hotel and suddenly discovering a disturbing picture.

Remaining silent without asking anything would itself be suspicious.

Unless I was using the picture to make deductions.

“I won’t know anything unless you tell me, Holloway.”

“Why don’t you know? I’m making it this obvious.”

So you were deliberately making it obvious?!

Even if you deliberately make it obvious, I’m not allowed to admit that I understand!

I answered with complete seriousness.

“Because I’m an idiot.”

[Holloway immediately understands.]

What exactly does this kid think of me?

But right now, the important thing was escaping Holloway’s target list.

I desperately searched my thoughts for something other than murder that might capture his interest.

Then I remembered exactly one thing.

“Ah, Holloway. You were curious about nobles of the Balone Empire, right? Want me to tell you one more thing?”

That didn’t mean I had any intention of telling him the surnames of our group.

There had to be a reason the game had never revealed them.

I would delay it as long as possible.

Eventually, when I met the others, I wanted to warn them never to mention their family names……

But if Holloway remained stuck to me like this, I would never get the chance.

If I said something like that in front of him and aroused suspicion, I’d be dead instantly.

I moved to the sofa, leaned back, and lifted Holloway onto my lap.

Maybe if I coddled him enough, he’d postpone killing me.

Suppressing my pounding heart, I smiled brightly.

Appeasing the boss is fucking exhausting.

“Tell me.”

Oh.

Then at least I’m not dying yet—

[Holloway plans to kill you after listening.]

So you still haven’t given up?!

Then I’m not telling you.

I released my arms from around him and slumped weakly against the sofa.

Holloway looked back at me and tilted his head.

“You’re not going to tell me?”

Do you really think I’ll tell you when I’m going to die afterward?

Once I realized there was no escape route, tears poured down before I could stop them.

Holloway looked slightly bewildered when I suddenly started crying.

“……Big sis, why are you crying?”

“Because the world is cruel.”

Sniffling, I removed Holloway from my lap.

Then I grabbed the front of his shirt, pressed my face against it, and wiped away my tears.

I considered blowing my nose on it too, but decided against it.

Holloway stared unhappily at the clear imprint of my tear-streaked face on his shirt.

“A monster got printed on it.”

I couldn’t raise my middle finger, so I proudly held up my index finger instead.

Ignoring Holloway’s confused stare, I kept the finger raised while desperately thinking.

If acting pathetic didn’t work, then there was nothing else I could do.

I’d have to run with everything I had.

But……

Why isn’t he killing me?

I looked at Holloway in confusion.

He met my gaze directly.

I rose from the sofa.

At that exact moment—

CRACK!

An axe came down from above and buried itself beside my feet.

The sharp blade gleamed.

My entire body froze like stone.

“…….”

Holloway alternated his gaze between me and the axe before casually muttering,

“Ah. It missed.”

Yes.

I can see that.

So it’s started.

The game of killing me.

Damn Holloway.

I let my guard down just because the values went up a little.

No, wait.

Now those values have dropped back to rock bottom anyway……

“U-Uagh!”

At the scream behind me, I whipped around.

A sharp spear had fallen where Alhulf had been standing.

It had struck so violently that the shaft was still vibrating.

Alhulf collapsed onto the floor when his legs gave out and immediately started crying again.

“D-Doesn’t this place seem dangerous?”

It’s fucking dangerous.

I clung tightly to Holloway and even lifted him into my arms.

If I did this, surely he couldn’t attack me.

I didn’t know how Holloway interpreted my survival instinct, but he asked,

“Big sis, why do you keep protecting me?”

I’m not protecting you.

I’m hoping things won’t hit me if I’m close to you.

[Because all values are at least 5%, Holloway has decided to give you one final chance to speak.]

[Your survival will depend on your answer.]

So all that affection grinding finally matters!

I thought I was completely doomed.

Apparently, I wasn’t meant to die yet.

[There will not be a second chance.]

What if I don’t say anything?

[Holloway’s patience is not very long.]

Fine, fine!

One thing had become painfully clear.

If I wanted to survive, I needed to work hard on raising affection.

The safest way to remain in this hotel was to earn the final boss’s favor.

[You must calm Holloway’s heart.

➤What should you say?]

Even if the options were idiotic, I decided to remain calm.

At least one of them had to be the correct answer.

Still, don’t go too far.

Okay?

Holding Holloway tightly against my pounding chest, I waited anxiously for the options.

[1. Because I pity something dwarf-sized wandering around everywhere.

(|￣^￣|)

1. Using you as a hostage to stay alive is my new survival strategy.

((￣_,￣ ))

1. Because…… you are my hea. rt…….

((・ω ｰ)～☆)]

System window, because you keep doing this shiiiiit, my life is so haaaaard.