How a Nuisance Character Survives a Horror Game Chapter 45

Holloway had now braced himself against the wall and was practically choking with laughter.

Apparently watching me start the fight and then immediately beg for my life was unbelievably pathetic.

Rubbing the corners of his mouth, Holloway asked,

“What did I tell you to do at times like this, big sis?”

“Run like fucking hell.”

Cynthia, lying on the bed nearly dead, widened her eyes and reached toward me.

Seeing her properly made my mouth fall open.

……What the hell is that?

She’s completely wrecked!

Her whole body was covered in blood.

It looked bad enough that I hesitated to even approach her.

Wait.

She is still alive, right?

Apparently afraid I was about to leave her behind, Cynthia stretched out a blood-dripping hand and desperately called my name.

“E-Cough. Evelyn!”

You’re not going to leave me, are you?

That was exactly what her voice sounded like.

I swallowed and touched the bulging pocket at my side.

Suriel still looked dazed by the cheerful frying-pan sound.

I carefully slipped past him.

Then I reached Cynthia’s bed and emptied the contents of my pocket—

potions.

I poured them all over her.

“E-Evu……”

Evu?

It’s Evelyn.

I dumped potion directly onto her wounds and frantically spread it around with my hands.

The injuries began healing slowly.

But I didn’t have time to wait until they fully closed.

“You can run, right?”

“Ptoo! Obviously.”

She wasn’t spitting like some thug.

Cynthia was answering while spitting out blood pooled inside her mouth.

Her injuries hadn’t completely healed.

Still, suppressing the pain, she planted both feet on the floor and stood by herself.

Just as we were about to leave the room, Suriel grabbed my hand.

Eek!

“Hey. Where are you going?”

“Running away!”

My shameless answer left him speechless.

I raised the frying pan.

Suriel retracted his neck like a turtle and let go.

I immediately began shoving Cynthia, who was still standing around blankly.

“Run! Run! This isn’t the time to stand there spacing out!”

“O-Okay!”

“Holloway, hurry and come to big sis!”

“Yes!”

Holloway ran over, jumped, and clung to me.

Carrying him, I rushed out of the room.

Map.

Map……!

I opened the hotel map and searched for somewhere to hide.

Cynthia had said the lifting platform worked.

We could ride it down to the second floor.

Then hide in Room 205.

This Room Is Very Safe!

Maybe Suriel could enter, but perhaps he wouldn’t be able to hurt us inside.

We immediately boarded the platform and pulled the lever to the second floor.

The corridor was so dark I couldn’t tell whether Suriel was following.

But I had no time to worry about that.

Ding―.

[Second Floor.]

Without stopping to catch my breath, I rushed into Room 205.

Just in case, I shoved myself into a corner and panted.

“Hah, hah……”

“Ugh……. Ah.”

At Cynthia’s groan, I hurriedly checked her.

“A-Are you hurting? Did the wound open again?”

I don’t have any potions left……

Instead, I pulled out the bandages I had brought just in case.

I told Holloway to turn around.

Then I removed Cynthia’s upper clothing and tightly wrapped bandages around her torso.

The flesh had been torn in a jagged zigzag pattern.

It hurt just looking at it.

It was a miracle she was alive.

Finally, I wrapped the hand Suriel had stabbed.

Only then did Cynthia put her shredded clothes back on.

“……Thank you, Evelyn.”

Maybe the tension had finally left her.

Maybe it was relief from surviving.

Despite her pale face and cold sweat, Cynthia managed a faint smile.

I should let her rest……

But this was my first time deliberately failing a quest, so I felt nervous.

I had no idea when a failure window would appear and transport me away.

“But Evelyn……. How did you know I was there?”

“Alhulf told me.”

“So he managed to escape.”

“Did you let him escape?”

“Suriel was only targeting me.”

That still couldn’t have been easy.

Cynthia suddenly looked different to me.

She seemed almost cool enough to make me question whether she really was the jealousy-crazed Cynthia from the horror game I remembered.

“Seeing as he isn’t here with you, I guess he ran away again somewhere along the way.”

“He was scared. I understand.”

I fucking wanted to run too.

I had no idea why Suriel had suddenly snapped and focused on Cynthia……

But this was probably the beginning.

The demons’ patience had finally reached its limit.

Suriel had started trying to cut off fingers.

Our Bad Endings had effectively begun.

If this were the game, we were entering the early-middle stages now.

Meaning the lives of everyone in the group—including mine—would be constantly threatened.

“By the way, where did you get that frying pan?”

“The kitchen.”

There was no rule saying weapons only came from quests.

If you couldn’t find a weapon, you could make one.

Of course, a frying pan was far weaker than a quest weapon.

Still—

better than nothing.

Before I got transported away, I placed the frying pan in Cynthia’s hands.

Maybe the system still thought I might kill Cynthia.

Or maybe it intended to keep watching.

Either way, the failure message hadn’t appeared yet.

“What about the potions?”

Ah.

The potions……

I found those thanks to the map.

Before coming here, I had fortunately discovered another large pile of papers.

I used them to level the map up to Level 3.

That unlocked a new function.

First-aid items, including potions, were now all represented by pill-shaped icons on the map.

They seemed to regenerate continuously.

Even after I collected several, new potion locations appeared elsewhere.

At the same time, existing potions sometimes moved.

I had no idea what determined it.

A potion could even disappear from the map right when I reached the spot.

That was why I had only managed to gather this many.

“I got lucky. I saw blood all over the floor, so I grabbed everything I could find just in case.”

Finally, I gave Cynthia one warning.

“Do not leave Holloway’s and my side. No matter what.”

I would probably be separated soon.

But if Cynthia stayed with Holloway, Suriel—

no.

Even the other demons might not dare attack her.

After all, I had gone through all this trouble to save her.

Surely Holloway wouldn’t casually kill her……

He might.

Still, I didn’t have time to hand her over to anyone else……

[Quest Failed ᕕ(ꐦ°᷄д°᷅)ᕗ]

Ah.

Looks like those final words convinced it I had absolutely no intention of killing Cynthia.

I should’ve kept quiet and just brought her around with me.

Though I doubt that would’ve prevented the failure forever.

[You have failed the quest. Penalty activated.]

[Current Hotel Difficulty has increased to ‘Go Ahead and Try Dying.’]

[You will be transported elsewhere.]

I had already expected this.

So I calmly grabbed Holloway’s and Cynthia’s hands.

Maybe they would be transported with me……

[Destination will be random.]

Whoosh!

When the darkness cleared—

I was alone.

***

Suriel stood up while rubbing the spot on his head Evelyn had struck with the frying pan.

It hadn’t hurt.

But the bed was still soaked in Cynthia’s blood.

Cynthia herself, however, had disappeared with Evelyn.

Suriel had tried following immediately.

But Holloway had ordered him from behind not to chase them.

So he couldn’t leave.

“……You only act like this because you still don’t know who that woman is.”

Suriel lowered his head gloomily.

If Holloway knew, would he kill her?

He probably would.

He probably would……

And yet, Suriel couldn’t feel completely certain anymore.

Holloway had been changing while spending time with Evelyn.

Sellir and Extenron had already been attacked by Holloway badly enough that they were sulking somewhere and refusing to come out.

Normally, Holloway wouldn’t care even slightly if one human died.

He would care less about a human than about them.

At least—

that was how it should be.

‘What do we do now?’

Evelyn had to die.

That woman was evil.

Suriel swept his hair back and lifted his head.

Dilaf had suddenly appeared directly in front of him.

Startled, Suriel threw a punch.

Dilaf easily blocked it.

“Why are you suddenly punching me?”

“Who told you to appear out of nowhere?”

“What’s all that blood? Did you kill someone?”

“I failed.”

Biting his lip, Suriel explained everything that had just happened.

Dilaf became increasingly angry alongside him.

Then Suriel reached the part about Evelyn smashing his head with a frying pan.

Dilaf immediately grabbed his stomach and burst into loud laughter.

“Holy shit! I told you that woman was fucking insane!”

“You happy?”

“That’s hilarious.”

“It isn’t.”

Suriel had already thought she was unusual when she beat him with nunchaku.

Now Evelyn was beginning to terrify him in an entirely different way.

The frying pan hadn’t hurt.

But if she had swung it with the same strength she had used with the nunchaku—

his skull might genuinely have cracked.

‘……Come to think of it, she was strangely gentle.’

An absurd misunderstanding began shifting Suriel’s opinion of Evelyn in a surprisingly positive direction.

“Anyway. That princess. If Boss has her, maybe we should go check again.”

“You don’t just want to see that crazy woman again?”

“What? No.”

I’ve known you for how long?

There was no way Suriel couldn’t read Dilaf’s expression.

“It’s only because an entertaining human entered for the first time. Boss is probably the same. Unusual things naturally catch your attention.”

Dilaf silently agreed with Suriel’s muttering.

Neither of them realized yet that curiosity could be the most dangerous thing of all.

“I’ll get bored after playing with her for a while and throw her away. Boss too. This is the first time he’s acted this capricious, though.”

Suriel wanted to believe that.

That Holloway would become tired of humans just as he always had—

and eventually kill every intruder, including Evelyn.

Dilaf replied lightly,

“It’s probably nothing.”

They knew Holloway better than anyone.

He gave affection to no one.

There was no chance a mere human would steal his heart from demons who had spent a thousand years beside him.