How a Nuisance Character Survives a Horror Game Chapter 23

“Hm? Big sis, answer me.”

Wait.

I’m choosing an option.

“You’re not even that strong, big sis.”

You little bastard?

“You’d be such a nice child if you just kept your mouth shut.”

[You gave an answer outside the available options.]

I’m sorry.

[A penalty will occur.]

Wait.

I’m genuinely sorry!

Until now, I could interrupt and talk back without any consequences.

The system suddenly becoming strict made me furious.

It simply did whatever it wanted depending on its mood.

Before the penalty could worsen, I hurriedly clicked option 1.

Whether I looked at it lying down, sideways, from above, or from below, option 3 obviously seemed like the correct answer.

But he is not as precious as my heart.

This is my final scrap of pride.

Surely I won’t die because of this little bit of pride……?

Besides, would a child I’d only recently met really enjoy hearing me say, ‘You are my hea. rt’?

I’d be lucky if he didn’t look at me with disgust.

“I pity something dwarf-sized wandering around everywhere.”

Silence instantly descended.

[Holloway’s mood has worsened considerably.]

Hey.

My mood got worse too!

Holloway looked at me with deeply sunken eyes and seriously asked,

“Big sis, do you want to live or die?”

“Big sis desperately wants to live.”

[Holloway is thinking.]

[Holloway becomes irritated, thinking, ‘If I returned to my true form, you’d be the dwarf-sized runt.’]

What is this?

Bipolar disorder?

Honestly, I didn’t care if someone called me a dwarf-sized runt.

As long as I lived, anything was fine.

“Is being tall something to brag about?”

“Being short isn’t something to brag about either.”

“…….”

[Holloway wonders, ‘Is she picking a fight with me?’]

I’m trying to become closer to you.

“You’re scared, yet you still say everything you want.”

“It would be unfair to die without saying anything.”

“……That’s true.”

For a moment, he seemed to agree.

Then perhaps his rebellious side suddenly flared because Holloway sarcastically added,

“Even if you died, I feel like you’d somehow leave an incredibly humiliating wound on whoever killed you.”

“Exactly, exactly.”

There was honestly nothing to argue with there.

When I didn’t bother denying it, Holloway was silent for a moment.

[Holloway smiles faintly at your honesty. His earlier shitty mood has improved slightly!]

Excuse me.

His what kind of mood?

I was briefly stunned by the system’s energetic and completely unfiltered profanity.

[Affection increased by 1%.]

[Attachment increased by 1.5%.]

Wow!

Holloway likes honesty.

Memo……

The result was even better than I expected, immediately improving my mood.

If they had risen this much, it was practically confirmation that I had escaped death.

[Possessiveness increased by 2%.]

[Affection: 6.5%

Attachment: 7%

Possessiveness: 7%]

Every time Possessiveness increased, my heart started pounding madly.

Still, fortunately, there wasn’t much difference between the values now.

I desperately prayed for the window declaring that I had escaped the murder crisis.

Apparently unaware of my feelings, Holloway gently stroked my cheek and muttered,

“Stop teasing me for being small. Something terrible might happen someday.”

Alhulf, completely incapable of reading the room, scratched the back of his head and spoke shyly.

“What’s wrong with being small? It’s cute. I-I’m told I’m cute all the time too.”

“Nobody asked.”

“…….”

When I stared at him flatly, Alhulf’s face crumpled as though he might cry.

Holloway watched us both and lightly nodded.

[Holloway has decided to watch you for now!]

[You have escaped the threat of death!]

A huge smile spread across my face in relief.

Then—

[Because you spoke freely before selecting an option, the penalty will now activate.]

[You will cough blood onto Holloway’s face.]

Excuse me.

I literally just escaped danger.

How could you make me commit the heinous crime of spraying blood over Holloway’s face?!

My desperate plea was ignored.

My stomach suddenly churned violently, and my body swayed.

“Big sis?”

“Ugh!”

Feeling the blood surge upward, I hurriedly threw Holloway down from my arms.

At the exact same moment, blood erupted from my mouth and sprayed through the air.

“Pfffft!”

“Aagh!”

Instead of Holloway, Alhulf got completely splattered with my blood.

“Cough, cough!”

[You failed to aim correctly.]

I did that on purpose!

What the hell is wrong with this system?

Does it want me alive or dead?!

“Big sis, are you okay? Why did you suddenly……”

“Cough……”

Unable to answer, I merely coughed weakly.

“Big sis.”

Perhaps because he looked like a child, there were times when I genuinely forgot he was the final boss.

This was one of those times.

Without thinking, I patted Holloway’s back as though telling him not to worry and forced a faint smile.

Holloway’s face crumpled in response.

I stared at the strange expression in confusion.

“L-Lady Evelyn……”

Alhulf, completely covered in the blood I had spat out, looked ready to cry.

“Stop whining.”

I cut him off coldly.

Alhulf sniffled.

“You’re too cold to everyone except Holloway.”

Because I dislike people like you.

I hadn’t forgotten that he had used Moran and Holloway as bait before running away.

When I glared at him, apparently feeling guilty, Alhulf quietly closed his mouth.

[Another penalty is activating.]

Another penalty?

Feeling ominous for some reason, I tightly grasped Holloway’s hand.

Then I noticed something behind Alhulf as he wiped his face.

It was too dark to see clearly, so I narrowed my eyes.

A long, enormous club.

“……?”

What is that?

A club floating in midair?

The instant I recognized it, the club aimed directly at Alhulf.

Reflexively, I grabbed Alhulf by the collar and yanked him toward me.

Unable to support his weight, I fell with Alhulf on top of me.

“I-I’m sorry, Lady Evelyn!”

“If you’re sorry, get off.”

Holloway irritably answered on my behalf and kicked Alhulf off my body.

Thud!

“Ugh! O-Ow.”

There was no time to worry about him.

The person wielding the club charged at Alhulf again.

“Die! Just die!”

Don’t tell me Alhulf dying is supposed to be my penalty?

It wasn’t directly harming me, so honestly……

I didn’t care that much.

“U-Uaaaagh! W-Wait!”

Leaving Alhulf to skillfully dodge around, I carefully examined the lunatic wielding the club.

Dark brown hair.

Sharp black eyes……

No way.

“……Lady Cynthia?”

Flinch.

As though responding to her name, the lunatic froze.

Still holding the club, Cynthia snapped her head toward me.

Only then did I clearly see how terrible she looked.

Her beautiful hair, which had once reached her waist, had been hacked down to a length that didn’t even touch her shoulders.

Her dress was torn in multiple places.

Small cuts covered her bloodied body.

“You look……”

When I trailed off, Cynthia’s shoulders jumped.

The arm holding the club lowered weakly.

Her eyes darted around anxiously before she suddenly snapped,

“Why—why are you only coming now?! Where the hell have you been?!”

“Were we supposed to meet?”

Were we close enough for that?

Before entering this place, wasn’t she the one telling people not to follow me because I was a bad influence?

Cynthia bit her lower lip and stared at me with bloodshot eyes.

Then she threw away the club and suddenly embraced me.

“I was so scared!”

“Pardon?”

I was completely bewildered.

Seeing Cynthia sobbing was so unfamiliar.

Was this really the Cynthia I knew?

Even when we were shipwrecked, she had remained calm……

“Waaaaah!”

She clung to me and began crying like a child.

Since she was sobbing so pitifully, I patted her back and tried calming her.

Cynthia poured out her accumulated misery.

“S-Sob! E-Evelyn! Someone is stalking me!”

“……Stalking you?”

In this hotel?

Who?

Don’t tell me Cletta?

Apparently having no intention of satisfying my curiosity, the elegant Cynthia began spewing the sort of cheap profanity I normally used.

“There’s someone else in here besides us! Some fucking insane psycho bastard!”

She sobbed loudly, saying the bastard had stalked her and turned her hair into this mess.

I continued rhythmically patting Cynthia’s back while thinking carefully about this stalker.

Short hair……

It almost rang a bell.

Something was familiar.

Something I’d seen before……

Cynthia suddenly shouted, interrupting my thoughts.

“He wears the stupidest fucking clothes and keeps following me!”

Even terrified, Cynthia’s eyes were filled with contempt and every possible form of disgust as she remembered the stalker.

She grabbed her hair and trembled.

“Stupid clothes?”

The moment I asked—

a pleasant male voice came from the darkness.

“Stupid clothes? That’s cruel.”

Step, step.

With measured footsteps and a relaxed voice, someone slowly emerged from the darkness.

Unlike Moran’s lighter hair, this man had deep sky-blue hair cut short.

His eyes were fresh light green, like new sprouts.

He was breathtakingly attractive.

His tall, slender figure moved with an almost sensual grace.

As he leisurely approached, his lips stretched into a soft smile.

A tight turtleneck clung closely to his body, displaying his figure perfectly.

The unusual part was that the turtleneck only reached his chest.

His stomach was completely exposed like he was wearing a crop top.

That was probably the ‘stupid outfit’ Cynthia had mentioned.

Wearing a vivid crimson robe that looked as though it had been dyed in blood, he casually shoved his hands into his trouser pockets.

I blankly stared at the familiar figure and muttered,

“……Fuck.”

“Aaaaaagh! That crazy bastard is back!”

Cynthia recoiled in absolute disgust and clung to me even harder.

Holloway had been standing quietly nearby, but he firmly pushed Cynthia.

“Get away from big sis.”

“I’d like to……”

SQUEEZE!

Apparently sensing I might shove her away, Cynthia tightened her grip around me with all her strength.

C-Can’t breathe……

“Evelyn! Do something about him! Please!”

“Why is she freaking out so badly?”

The man Cynthia called her stalker placed a palm against his cheek as though genuinely unable to understand.

He confidently stopped in front of us.

A seductive beauty mark sat to the left of his full lips.

Looking hurt, he said,

“I only did it because she was pretty.”

At those words, a scene suddenly flashed through my memory.

That man’s face flushed with madness as he looked at Moran and said—

‘You’re so beautiful. Everything about you thrills me!’

Right.

Right!

That pervert!

There was no way I could fail to recognize him.

Because that pervert was—

[‘Demon of Temptation’ Suriel has appeared.]

I was about to explain, but the system beat me to it.

[Make an effort to satisfy his aesthetic standards.]

[Otherwise, you will become a human who has no value in living.]

[( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ᕕ ՞ ՞ ᕗᕕ ՞ ՞ ᕗᕕ ՞ ՞ ᕗᕕ ՞ ՞ ᕗ ᗜ ᗜ ᗜ ᗜ]

Why are you always so fucking excited?

As I glared at the system having fun by itself, a chill ran down my spine.

Wait.

Don’t tell me the penalty was……

a new demon?

You’ve lost your mind.

I should’ve just coughed blood directly onto Holloway’s face!

I barely survived Dilaf and Holloway, and now I have to deal with this lunatic?!

I screamed internally.

Obnoxious as the system was, its description was accurate.

Excluding Holloway, Suriel—the ‘Demon of Temptation’—was the most beautiful of the demons.

And because he knew perfectly well how beautiful he himself was, his standards were extremely high.

He believed beautiful things deserved to live.

Anything ugly deserved to die.

In other words, if someone was beautiful like Cynthia, he would play with them before killing them later.

If they looked like Alhulf—

straight into the abyss.

Suriel’s particularly vile hobby was collecting the hair of people who passed his aesthetic standards.

And if someone failed those standards, he shaved their head completely bald.

So fucking sad.

He forcibly makes people bald.

Just kill them instead.

But hair collecting wasn’t even the real problem.

After cherishing someone he found beautiful, Suriel would eventually pull out both their eyes, rip out their fingernails and toenails, cut off their fingers, and keep everything as trophies.

As Cynthia said—

a completely fucking insane psycho.

In the game, Suriel actually became infatuated with Moran because her hair was an even lighter sky-blue than his.

Moran would then be tortured until her body was practically falling apart before reaching a Bad Ending.

That was the kind of bastard he was.

Cold-blooded and merciless……!

Ah.

That describes all the demons here.

Suriel swept his hair backward and wrinkled his nose cutely at me.

“What do you think of my appearance?”

“You look like you get stomachaches a lot.”

“…….”

The corner of Suriel’s mouth twitched in displeasure.

[Holloway thinks, ‘As expected, I’m glad I didn’t kill this comedian.’]

Does this bastard think I exist solely for his entertainment……?

Suriel turned his gaze primly away from me.

Pressing his index finger against his lower lip, he fixed his eyes longingly on Cynthia’s hair.

“I want more dark-brown hair.”

“Aagh!”

Cynthia had a fit and covered her ears.

Suriel smiled brightly at her reaction.

“Did I play with you too much? It’s disappointing that you’re already broken.”

“Play with that bastard instead of me! Leave me alone!”

Cynthia shrieked while pointing at Alhulf.

Suriel followed her finger, looked at Alhulf, and immediately became expressionless.

“He’s ugly. No.”

“…….”

Alhulf looked like he’d been emotionally wounded.