How a Nuisance Character Survives a Horror Game Chapter 41

First, the hotel map……

That one was rare.

But I also needed the underground vault key.

I wasn’t even sure I could complete a difficult quest.

Still, the system never said I could obtain the hotel map through a quest.

One item might become unobtainable forever.

The other could still be obtained later, even if I failed to get it now……

Except it would come with a difficult quest.

Ah, what do I do?

Holloway watched my expression change rapidly and looked impressed.

“How does your expression change that much in such a short time? It almost looks like you’re looking at something through me.”

[Holloway begins to feel unpleasant, thinking, ‘How dare she look at someone else through me?’]

[Obsession increased by 5%.]

I tightly grabbed Holloway’s small hands and shook my head furiously.

“There’s no way I could look at your face and think of someone else. No one is better-looking than you.”

I mean, there isn’t anyone handsome enough for me to look at you and be reminded of them.

[Holloway’s mood improves as he thinks, ‘Of course.’]

[Obsession increased by 5%.]

……Shouldn’t Obsession decrease instead?

[Obsession has exceeded 40%!]

[The hidden condition ‘If Obsession becomes high, ???’ has been revealed.]

[( • •)ε• ) ) ◡ An Affection Route is created.]

[If Obsession becomes 30% higher than Attachment and Affection, Holloway will confine you.]

‘If it gets high, I get locked up.’

Why is everyone so desperate to lock me away?

[If Affection and Attachment are below 40% and the difference reaches the specified amount, you will enter one of the Affection Routes: ‘A Living Doll in a Love Nest (Hotel) You Can Never Escape.’]

……What the hell is that?

Is it at least happy?

If it is, it might be a little tempting.

Holloway is handsome, so I’d have something nice to look at.

And someone who enjoys having me around would feed me, let me sleep, and treat me well, right?

[You are a free human being. The longer you remain confined, the more your mind deteriorates.]

Good.

I’ll make absolutely sure it never happens.

But fuck, that’s an Affection Route?

Whose affection?!

Holloway’s?!

[Please select your gift!]

“…….”

The nose was tempting, but I immediately excluded it.

Anyone could see it was a land mine.

Even if it was difficult, I could obtain the underground vault key through a quest later.

So I’d take the hotel map.

I suddenly grabbed Holloway’s face with both hands.

He looked confused by my abrupt action.

I could practically see a question mark floating over his head.

A smile slowly escaped me.

Maybe because he looked like a child right now.

His confused expression was cute.

Even aside from that, child-form Holloway was adorable, charming, handsome—

basically everything at once.

His looks really were……

“Big sis?”

“Yeah?”

“What are you doing?”

“Ah, your eyelashes are really long. Can I look at them up close?”

“……Sure.”

Pretending to inspect them, I casually asked,

“They’re really long……. What about mine?”

“Hmm.”

Holloway raised a hand and slowly brushed my eyelashes.

Uh.

I’m supposed to be the one doing that.

The ticklish feeling made me blink repeatedly.

Holloway burst into soft laughter.

“Big sis, your eyelashes are really soft.”

Perfect.

You created the situation for me yourself.

“I want to touch Holloway’s too.”

“Go ahead.”

He even closed his eyes.

His eyelashes were long enough to cast faint shadows.

You could probably take flight with one flap of those lashes.

With his eyes closed and sitting perfectly still, he looked almost holy enough to be a baby angel.

‘Who would ever think this kid is a demon?’

Admiring him, I held his face and brushed my fingers across both sets of eyelashes.

The soft lashes tickled my fingertips.

As I continued stroking them, Holloway laughed quietly because it tickled.

“Who touches someone’s eyelashes like that?”

“Me.”

Even at my firm answer, he didn’t seem offended.

Instead, he smiled and asked,

“Are you done?”

“One more time……”

[Completed: Stroke Holloway’s eyelashes 5 times with your fingers!]

[Obtained Hotel Map (Full): Lv. 1.]

[Feature: Allows you to view the entire hotel at a glance!]

[The basement cannot be viewed at the current level.]

[Combine Hotel Map (Full) with ‘Item: Paper (Lv. 1)’ to level it up.]

[The hotel map will upgrade as its level increases. At maximum level (10), the basement structure can be viewed. Higher levels require additional synthesis materials.]

Now you want me to synthesize things too……?

This is getting ridiculously complicated.

I tried pressing the button to open the map.

……Why is the button sitting on Holloway’s nose?

“Big sis, how long are we resting? I don’t mind.”

[Holloway hopes you’ll take this opportunity to settle down here permanently.]

“Hm? Maybe five more minutes.”

Pretending I hadn’t seen the window, I lightly pressed Holloway’s nose.

Nothing.

I pressed a little harder.

Still nothing.

“Holloway, can you tilt your head for a second?”

“Like this?”

The window tilted with him.

Fuck.

“……Can I press your nose a little harder? It’s soft.”

“Not too hard.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Praying I could click the button before squashing his nose too badly, I slowly pressed.

Press.

[Map]

Success.

Thanks to my delicate control, the hotel map finally appeared.

Everyone.

This is how difficult it is to look at one damn map.

My current position flashed purple.

Let’s see……

My current location……

Room 307 on the third floor.

I pressed the expanded icon on the right side of the map.

The area outside the hotel came into view.

A massive wall surrounded the hotel grounds, reinforced with barbed wire.

It looked completely impossible to leave the hotel.

When we first entered, I didn’t remember the entrance being blocked……

According to the map, the first floor held the lobby.

The second and third floors were guest rooms.

The fourth floor was a lounge.

The fifth floor was a recreation area.

Floors six through nine returned to guest rooms.

And the tenth floor was a rooftop garden.

Come to think of it, the first-floor lobby had another exit besides the main entrance.

Where did that door lead?

Maybe the map would only tell me after leveling up.

“Big sis. What are you thinking about so hard?”

“What we should do from now on……. I knew there were other people here besides our group, but they seem to be trying to kill us. We should be more careful.”

Sellir and Extenron had tried to kill me no matter what.

They had even deliberately set a trap and abducted me for that exact purpose.

Suriel was one thing, but I hadn’t even had any prior contact with Sellir or Extenron……

Still, it made sense.

In the game, Sellir and Extenron killed humans indiscriminately without distinguishing between them.

So we had to be careful.

To be honest, excluding Holloway, Sellir was probably the most dangerous demon here.

She hated humanity itself.

And among humans, I probably disgusted her even more because I was hanging around Holloway.

That was likely why she tried killing me first.

Holloway had saved me, but there was no way Sellir would give up after one failure.

She could target my life like that again at any time.

And the system seemed strangely reluctant to reveal much about Sellir and Extenron……

“Holloway too. And everyone else. I guess we shouldn’t be happy just because we meet someone new. Everyone here is weird.”

“The person who saved big sis too?”

“He’s my benefactor. He’s an exception.”

He’s a fucking dangerous bastard, but in front of you, I’ll call him an exception.

“I’m glad big sis remembers kindness so well.”

“I remember grudges well too.”

Holloway laughed even at a line like that.

I stroked his head and closed the map.

For now, maybe I should find some paper.

Wait.

No.

I need to go back to the infirmary.

There was plenty of paper there.

More importantly, I needed to test the second key I stole from the maid monster.

I had no idea which infirmary it belonged to, so I’d start with the nearest one.

“Holloway, let’s go back to the infirmary.”

“You’re not hurt anywhere.”

“I told you I took two keys from that ghost earlier. When I was trapped in the infirmary, I noticed a drawer that needed a key. I want to see if it opens.”

“Really?”

“You’re coming, right?”

“What if I don’t?”

“Then I won’t go.”

Because separating from you would be disastrous……

“I’m coming!”

Holloway hopped off my lap and held out his hand.

Without thinking, I placed mine in it.

“Let’s go.”

“……Wait.”

I stared blankly at my empty hand.

My weapon.

My weapon that Sellir destroyed this time……

“Big sis, why are you crying again?”

“You’re supposed to ask why I’m crying……”

What an obnoxious way of putting it.

I had barely obtained those weapons before losing them one after another.

Naturally, tears came one after another too.

I unlocked the infirmary drawer.

Fortunately, the key fit perfectly.

I thought I might have to search every infirmary in the hotel.

According to the map, every floor containing guest rooms had at least one infirmary.

So the second and third floors both had one.

I crouched and opened the drawer.

Holloway rested his chin on my shoulder from behind.

“Why?”

“What do you mean? I want to see too.”

Don’t tell me the system’s about to accuse me of staring at something again.

I opened the drawer and flinched.

“It’s okay.”

I’m not okay.

Holloway gently stroked my head and told me not to be too startled.

I pulled my face back as far as possible and inspected the drawer.

It was filled with blood.

I couldn’t see a single thing inside.

“I-I have to put my hand in, right?”

“Want me to do it?”

“No! Not with those tiny little hands!”

I firmly stopped Holloway’s small hand when he reached forward.

If he were in his adult form, that would be one thing.

But while he looked like a child, my conscience wouldn’t let me make him do something like this.

[Holloway stares at the hand you are holding.]

I looked around for some kind of stick I could use to stir through the drawer.

Nothing.

Apparently I had to use my bare hand.

Ah.

I really don’t want to……

Maybe I can cheat.

I tried pulling the drawer out and dumping the contents.

Unfortunately, the system was one step ahead.

“Urgh!”

No matter how much force I used, the drawer wouldn’t come out.

“Stop struggling with something that won’t move.”

Listening to Holloway’s kindly delivered insult, I relaxed my grip.

With no other option, I slowly submerged my hand into the bloody liquid.

Something suddenly grabbed it and yanked.

I didn’t even have time to scream.

BANG!

The force pulled my face straight into the drawer.

A sharp pain shot through my nose.

Blood began dripping.

SQUEEZE……!

The hand gripping mine continued pulling, as if trying to drag me inside.

One entire arm disappeared into the drawer.

What is this?

Is there a black hole in here?!

“Ugh, fuck!”

“…….”

“No, I mean, gosh!”

Swearing in front of a child.

Disqualified.

Not that I hadn’t already done it countless times.

“Big sis, help me, Holloway! Something is pulling me in!”

“Who?”

“I don’t know!”

Holloway stared blankly for a moment.

Then his gaze settled on my nose.

His brows twitched.

“Ah……”

A faint sound of irritation left him.

Then he suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled.

“Whoa!”

Even in his child form, his strength was absurd.

The force sent me sprawling onto the floor.

At the same time, whatever had been gripping me was yanked out of the drawer by Holloway’s strength.

Or rather—

it tried to come out.

THUD―!

Holloway kicked the drawer.

The thing became wedged at the waist.

Squelch, squelch, squelch!

Splat, splat!

Its entire body was covered in thick blood.

Its flesh was melting.

Chunks of it stretched and fell onto the floor.

Where large pieces had sloughed away, white bone was visible underneath.

……Oh, God.

I invoked the Lord automatically.

The monster, stuck halfway inside the drawer, could do nothing but writhe its body.

The grotesque sight left me speechless.

“So it came out after all.”

Holloway muttered coldly.

I looked up at him from the floor.

Then, as if nothing had happened, he abruptly threw himself into my arms.

“I’m scared.”

You’re too late.