How a Nuisance Character Survives a Horror Game Chapter 4

My eyes snapped open.

The instant I sat upright, a sharp ache spread from the back of my neck.

“That goddamn bastard…….”

I muttered murderously while rubbing the back of my neck, only to abruptly freeze.

The soft texture brushing my fingertips.

The fluffy bed…….

Instead of the heavy dress I had been wearing, someone had apparently changed me into a light negligee and cardigan.

Taking all of it in, I clenched my fists tightly.

Cold sweat ran down my spine.

My trembling eyes slowly scanned the room.

An old but somehow luxurious-looking room filled my vision.

Cobwebs stretched across the ceiling.

An old wardrobe stood nearby, while the marble floor was covered in dust and grime.

Heavy rain hammered against the large window visible through curtains torn along the bottom.

“No way…….”

I hurriedly threw off the blanket and climbed out of bed.

Broken marble creaked beneath my bare feet.

Goosebumps rose across my skin.

Praying desperately that I was wrong, I grabbed the handle of the glass door leading toward the terrace and pulled.

Click.

Click, click, click!

No matter how many times I shook it, the door wouldn’t open.

“This is insane!”

Unable to accept reality, I grabbed a nearby candlestick and slammed it against the glass.

Thump!

As though blocked by an invisible barrier, the candlestick merely bounced away.

How many times did I strike it?

Clang!

Unable to endure any longer, I dropped the candlestick.

The hand that had been gripping it had become red and swollen.

Maybe because I had suddenly exerted so much strength, it trembled violently.

“Ha…….”

A thin sigh slipped between my lips like smoke.

Apparently the original story’s corrective force really had activated and dragged me into the abandoned hotel—the main setting of the horror game <The Child’s Secret>.

I repeatedly rubbed my face and let out shaky breaths.

I was frightened, but more than anything, my body simply had no strength.

Maybe because I had spent two straight days getting soaked by rain, I seemed to be developing a serious cold.

‘As if being trapped wasn’t enough, my physical condition is terrible too.’

This makes surviving even harder!

I wrapped my arms around my cold body and clenched my teeth.

‘No. I still have a chance.’

There was no time for despair.

Without even thinking of putting on slippers, I approached the door barefoot and carefully opened it.

The corridor was dark.

The weakly flickering candles provided almost no help.

The silent hallway was eerie enough that a ghost suddenly jumping out wouldn’t have seemed strange.

It was the hotel corridor from the horror game illustrations I knew so well.

Goosebumps spread across my entire body.

I wet my dry lips with my tongue and cautiously stepped into the hallway.

As if responding to my movement, the aged and cracked marble creaked.

My body shuddered at the cold sensation of marble against the soles of my feet.

Since the hotel’s concept had been ‘obscenely expensive luxury hotel,’ even the floors were made entirely of marble.

Trying to dispel my fear with pointless thoughts, I headed toward the lobby.

I didn’t care where the others were.

I needed to find the entrance we had used as quickly as possible.

“I need to find it before the door closes.”

It might already have closed, but I couldn’t abandon the tiny thread of hope.

Depending on the weak candlelight and feeling my way along the walls, I barely managed to locate the staircase leading downward.

Afraid of waking a demon, I even rose onto my toes to minimize my footsteps.

Lowering my body, I quickly descended the stairs.

Eventually, I reached the absurdly enormous lobby.

It was too dark to see properly, but after running straight ahead, I fortunately found the huge main entrance.

It was the same door Friedel had opened when we entered the hotel.

Without hesitation, I pushed with all my strength.

The door didn’t budge.

I grabbed the handle, shifted my weight backward, pulled as hard as possible, then pushed with everything I had.

“Hnnngh……!”

…….

But the door made neither a sound nor a movement.

“Why won’t you open?!”

Was it already over simply because I had entered?

While I was sinking into despair, static crackled through the air and a quest window appeared.

[Main Quest Generated!]

A main quest?

[Main Quest <Survive the Abandoned Hotel While Avoiding the Demons>]

[Objective: Escape through the exit gate located somewhere inside the hotel.

Time Limit: Until you die.

Clear Reward: Survival.

Failure: Death.]

Are you kidding me?

If I couldn’t escape, of course I would die.

And the opposite was equally obvious.

If I escaped, naturally I survived.

And that obvious result was supposed to be the reward?!

Apparently sensing the fury blazing in my eyes, a [Loading…….] window appeared.

After a moment, new letters flashed.

[Additional rewards will be announced later.]

……There’s something else?

I was curious, but that wasn’t the problem right now.

The problem was that I had entered this goddamn horror game and had been forcibly made a participant.

“You goddamn bastards!”

A vicious curse burst from my mouth.

I told them I didn’t want to come in!

I slammed my forehead against the entrance door and tightly closed my mouth.

The cold surrounding the door seeped into my forehead.

There was nothing I could do.

Every exit was blocked, and the only option available was to follow the main quest and find the escape gate.

Knowing that some kind of gate capable of letting me escape existed brought at least a little peace to my heart.

The moment I lifted my forehead from the door, another quest appeared without even giving me time to breathe.

[Sub Quest <We’re Trapped in Here!>]

[Objective: Tell everyone that you are trapped inside the hotel!]

[However, you must not let anyone realize that you are suspicious.]

[Clear Reward: A miraculous cure-all that will completely heal your staggering body!]

[Failure: ‘Future Conqueror of This World’ will develop murderous intent toward you!]

The future conqueror of this world meant Holloway.

That damn suspiciousness again…….

I couldn’t even see where he had gone anyw—

[Oh no! ‘Future Conqueror of This World’ Holloway finds you suspicious!]

[Holloway’s current danger level is ‘No Matter What You Do, You Look Suspicious.’]

[Danger Gauge increased by 10.]

[If the gauge reaches 30, the hotel difficulty will rise by two stages, drastically lowering your probability of survival.]

[Example: Probability of losing one arm — 85%.]

How wonderfully vicious!

I nearly unleashed a magnificent chain of curses dragged from the deepest part of my soul at the unnecessarily informative system window.

Instead, I breathed deeply, calmed my mind, and stared at the floating quest while constructing a plan.

I should act frightened naturally and wake the others without seeming suspicious.

And then…….

While carefully constructing my plan, I suddenly noticed something strange and frowned.

……Wait.

That isn’t the problem right now.

I looked at the floating window again.

A sentence written in bright red stood out clearly.

[Danger Gauge increased by 10.]

‘The Danger Gauge went up by ten?’

Why?

I haven’t done anything yet.

Did I do something suspicious outside earlier?

I couldn’t understand what I had done that was supposedly so suspicious it immediately increased by ten.

At this rate, only two more suspicious actions would immediately throw the game into hard mode.

At that moment, a bright voice suddenly struck my ears from close by.

“Big sis!”

“Gyaah!”

Clutching my clothes tightly, I collapsed to the ground.

I had no idea when he had arrived, but Holloway was standing right beside me.

“M-My heart nearly fell out.”

“Then you’d die.”

Don’t say things like that.

You’re someone who would actually kill me.

My heart, which had been pounding violently enough to jump out of my mouth, instantly calmed as though someone had dumped cold water over it.

“……How long have you been here?”

“Since earlier! Since big sis went ‘Hnnngh!’”

“You call that ‘from the beginning.’”

You damn child.

No.

He isn’t a child.

Young man?

No, that doesn’t sound right either…….

Then…… boss?

Right.

Boss.

He was the final boss of this island.

Apparently my temperature had risen quite a bit.

My thoughts kept wandering in absurd directions without my realizing it.

“Big sis, why are you speaking politely to me?”

Because I want to live.

What if I spoke casually to the boss and he suddenly decided I was rude and cut my throat?

So I decided to behave as carefully as possible.

“I respect children too.”

“But you’re speaking casually right now.”

“I decided to stop just now.”

Fear was making me say all kinds of nonsense.

Seeing Holloway’s expression slowly transform into something strange, I gave a quiet cough and changed the subject.

What mattered was not appearing suspicious.

Even though I already looked suspicious…….

But this is just what I’m like!

What do you want me to do about it?

“Why aren’t you asking anything?”

“Hmm? About what?”

“You saw me trying to open the door, didn’t you? And heard me swearing.”

I staggered to my feet and quickly scanned the surroundings.

Strangely, the lobby looked somewhat brighter than earlier, allowing me to finally make out the interior.

For an abandoned hotel, the lobby was remarkably clean.

There was the reception desk toward the back.

Three separate staircases rose upward.

Eerie paintings and sculptures decorated the walls and various parts of the lobby.

And on one side stood a fountain completely covered in black moss.

There seemed to be more things beside it, but the darkness was too thick to see properly.

Fear surged through me while staring into the darkness whose depth I couldn’t judge.

Before I realized it, I had plastered myself against Holloway’s side.

“I did see…… But why do you keep coming closer to me?”

“Because I’m scared.”

“Even if you’re scared, shouldn’t a child be more frightened?”

Well…….

Should someone pretending to be a child really be saying that?

I desperately swallowed the retort.

“I’m an adult who’s more cowardly than a child. Anyway…….”

I began acting seriously.

With tears gathering in my eyes, I tightly grabbed Holloway’s small hand.

“The door won’t open……! I need to tell everyone!”

I need to clear the quest and get that medicine.

When your body was sick, you couldn’t do anything.

Holloway’s dark red eyes rippled like blood as he stared fixedly at me.

[Danger Gauge increased by 3.]

[Holloway’s total Danger Gauge has reached ‘13.’ If another 17 points are accumulated, the difficulty will increase.]

……Do I simply look suspicious by existing?

Or was my acting too awkward?

His gaze continued measuring me for a moment before withdrawing.

If it only increased by three, maybe he had decided to simply observe for now.

That was fortunate.

From this point onward, I decided to stop with the unnecessary acting.

Holloway was an observant boss, so I needed to behave naturally while completing the sub quest.

Ending the pointless conversation, I went upstairs with Holloway.

My body felt heavy as though soaked in water, and I staggered often.

Despite being a demon, Holloway supported me.

That made me abruptly stop walking.

The arm wrapped around my waist was incredibly warm.

When Holloway’s warmth touched my shivering body, I unconsciously glanced at him.

Cold.

Sick……

My head was spinning so badly that thinking properly was becoming difficult.

After blinking several times, the strength suddenly left my legs and I collapsed.

‘This won’t do.’

Even though he was the boss, he didn’t seem likely to kill anyone—including me—immediately.

In that case, I needed to use anything I could use and then run the moment things became dangerous.

I stared at the warm-looking Holloway.

For the briefest instant, the blurry afterimage of a man whose features I couldn’t clearly distinguish seemed to overlap with him.

I’m losing my mind.

Now I’m seeing hallucinations too…….

I rubbed my eyes and glanced sideways at Holloway.

He probably wouldn’t complain if I hugged him.

And he didn’t seem inclined to reveal his true identity either.

In that case, maybe it would be okay for a little while.

I called to him weakly.

“Um, Boss.”

The title slipped out unconsciously.

I had repeated ‘final boss’ so many times inside my head that it had become automatic.

Damn it.

This is bad.

If the Danger Gauge increases again…….

Instead of a system window appearing, Holloway pressed the back of his hand against my forehead and spoke.

“Holloway.”

Fuck.

Scary.

How could a child saying his own name possibly be this frightening?

“Hol— ahem. Holloway. Can I ask you a favor?”

“What kind of favor?”

“……I don’t know if I caught a cold, but I’m freezing. Even just for a little while, could I hug you? You’re really warm.”

“I’m warm?”

I answered bluntly when he repeated the question.

“If you don’t want to, forget it.”

When I tried to push myself up using the wall, Holloway spread both arms.

“No, it’s okay. Big sis is having a hard time!”

Seeing Holloway willingly agree, my face immediately brightened and I pulled him into a hug.

Warm body heat spread throughout me.

It felt as though my entire body was automatically melting.

Now that I had acquired my own personal heater, I tried to stand while carrying Holloway so I could wake the others.

But there was no strength in my legs.

“……I need to tell everyone about this.”

I need that medicine.

Should I just stay like this for a little while before going?

But what if someone wakes up before I tell them and discovers that we can’t leave the hotel?

Wouldn’t the quest fail?

Despite the flood of thoughts, my eyes slowly began closing halfway because of how sick I felt.

Holloway grabbed my body and shook me.

“Big sis, are you okay?”

“No.”

“You’re honest. But are you really that worried about not being able to leave?”

I frowned and asked him a question in return.

“Aren’t you? We’re on a deserted island, and there’s suddenly a hotel here. I knew something like this would happen……. It’s exactly like something from a horror ga—no, a novel. It’s raining, there’s thunder, the door won’t open…….”

As I mumbled and lamented our current circumstances, Holloway nodded as though finally understanding.

“That’s true. If you only entered an abandoned hotel to escape the rain and then discovered the door wouldn’t open, of course you’d be afraid.”

[Wow! Rejoice! ‘Future Conqueror of This World’ Holloway has completely withdrawn his suspicion toward you!]

[Danger Gauge will restart from zero!]

……Huh?

It can go down too?

Maybe it was the relief.

I tightened my arms around Holloway and hugged him firmly.

Warm.

Before I could become drowsy like a cat, another notification appeared—one startling enough to make my eyes snap open.

[Congratulations!]

[Affection toward you has increased by 0.1%!]

[Affection: 0.1%]

What?

Why now?

What did I even do?

More importantly, if it’s only that much affection, don’t bother notifying me.

I’m not happy at all.