How a Nuisance Character Survives a Horror Game Chapter 8

“Big sis, are your feet okay?”

“Ah.”

Only after Holloway asked did I realize that I was still barefoot.

Friedel’s blood was smeared all over me, including my feet.

I had also stepped on rubble from the walls the monsters destroyed, so the soles stung, but I didn’t show it.

More than the pain, I felt filthy from being covered in blood.

“They don’t hurt.”

It wasn’t interfering with walking.

If it got too bad, I could find slippers somewhere along the way.

Finding a potion would be even better.

The game had several systems designed to prevent characters from dying too easily, and potions were one of them.

I didn’t know whether they existed here too, but with the system itself present, there was no reason they wouldn’t.

The only drawback was that each potion contained very little, but that should be enough to heal the wounds on my feet.

If I couldn’t find one, the system would probably give me something.

It had already given me medicine to cure my illness, so why couldn’t it give me something else?

I continued traveling with Holloway until we reached the third floor.

[The 5th ‘You’re It’ story will now begin.]

Startled by the window that suddenly appeared, I tried to rush back down the stairs—

and slammed my head into empty air before falling flat on my back.

Holloway looked down at me lying spread-eagled in the corridor as though it were a bed.

“What are you doing?”

“…….”

What does it look like I’m doing?

I awkwardly stood and reached toward the stairs.

Something blocked my hand.

Looking carefully, I saw a translucent barrier between me and the stairs leading down.

In other words, I was completely trapped.

Was it only me?

I looked at Holloway and pointed down the stairs.

“Holloway, can you go downstairs?”

As though wondering why I was asking something so strange, Holloway answered by walking down the stairs himself before coming back up.

But no matter whether I tried going headfirst, kicked it with my legs, or reached through with my hands, I couldn’t pass.

Holloway, who had been watching my absurd performance from beside me, clapped in admiration.

“Wow. What is that? You’re really good at acting like there’s a wall there!”

“…….”

Did my desperate attempts to escape not look desperate enough?

Once I realized I truly couldn’t go downstairs, I gave up and collapsed onto the floor.

[Objective: Find the goal point before the tagger catches you and shout.]

[‘Now I’m it!’

If you shout those words, you win.

If the tagger touches your body, you become ‘it.’]

[※Never become ‘it.’]

[Clear Reward: Revolver]

A revolver……?

A handgun?!

I briefly rejoiced at the shockingly generous weapon reward.

But the monsters locate us through sound……

No.

Wait.

There are demons too.

As an emergency weapon, nothing beats a gun.

[Failure: Death]

Fuck, why is everything so extreme?!

It’s not like I even have the option to refuse!

The quest hadn’t asked whether I wanted to accept it.

Why couldn’t failure mean losing a finger or something?!

Then I’d have ten fingers, which means I’d have ten lives!

I swallowed the scream inside rather than letting it escape.

Then, just like in the game, the story began.

[Night falls.]

Even the faintly flickering candles went out with a soft whoosh.

Flinch.

Without realizing it, I hugged the closest thing to me—

Holloway.

[The tagger stands at the far end of a long corridor on the third floor.]

……Which corridor on the third floor?

[Searching for someone to play with, the tagger begins to wander. You slowly rise in order to find the goal point.]

I’m going to get up fast, you know?

I jumped upright.

Despite that bravado, I held Holloway’s hand and crept down the corridor.

“Big sis, your hand is sweaty.”

“So you don’t want to hold it?”

“No.”

“Okay.”

Saying that, I gripped Holloway’s hand even tighter.

“I said I didn’t want to.”

“I want to!”

“My hand?”

“Yeah. I really want to hold it.”

“……I see.”

That pause before he answered really bothers me.

I didn’t know whether I was the only person trapped on the third floor or whether the rest of the group had been included too.

And Holloway was the final boss, so perhaps he could wander wherever he pleased.

We walked through the silence until Holloway suddenly asked,

“Big sis, how did you end up here?”

“I was at a party on a ship when a typhoon hit. What about you?”

“I was working on that ship and got caught up in it.”

After telling that shameless lie, Holloway began bombarding me with questions.

“So big sis came from the Balone Empire too?”

“Huh? Yeah. How did you know?”

“I told you I was on the same ship as you.”

……No, you didn’t.

I think this bastard just guessed.

“Everyone must be nobles from the Balone Empire, right? That means big sis is a noble too.”

Since it had been a party aboard a ship, it was obvious everyone was a noble.

He could probably tell from the clothes we had been wearing when he first saw us.

Yet he seemed oddly insistent about getting an answer.

We had never had a conversation like this in the game, so I couldn’t infer what he was thinking at all.

For now, I decided to move past the topic lightly.

“Do I not look like one?”

“No.”

Holloway answered cheerfully and without even a moment’s hesitation.

I was speechless.

“You…… youuu…….”

That was mean…….

“The bloodlines of the first emperor who founded the Balone Empire and the few noble families who helped him still continue to this day, right?”

Completely ignoring my hurt feelings, Holloway asked another question.

There had to be some reason he was asking something so random.

I carefully searched my memories of the game’s story.

His repeated questions were suspicious.

Holloway approached the player in the appearance of a child.

When the humans lowered their guard, he summoned the other demons to torment them.

You would think spending time together might cause some kind of bond, but Holloway never once felt sympathy, pity, attachment, or any other emotion toward Cletta’s group.

Even when they died horribly right in front of him, he didn’t so much as blink.

Why bother talking to people who were going to die anyway?

Perhaps because of that, Holloway had never gone out of his way to ask them questions.

Since he was the final boss, his true identity was revealed very late as well.

The Holloway from the game had therefore been a quiet child……

“Big sis.”

[Holloway urges you to answer. The longer you delay, the stronger his desire to kill you becomes.]

Does this damn demon have zero patience?!

I’m going to die because of that stupid murderous impulse of his.

“As far as I know? The empire has such a long history that the emperor’s line and the noble families that were there since the founding still continue today.”

I considered lying, but if a demon trapped on this island knew things about the Balone Empire, perhaps he had an information source somewhere.

“I see……. Oh, and that man who tried to kill us earlier. He said Acrotic. That’s a viscount’s family, right?”

“…….”

Perhaps sensing that I found him suspicious, Holloway began acting excessively cheerful.

“I’ve actually never met nobles before! I only boarded the ship because they said they’d pay me a lot of money.”

He sure loves volunteering explanations nobody asked for.

But I couldn’t show that I suspected him.

Because……

[※Warning.※]

No.

I don’t want it.

Don’t.

[Even if ‘Future Conqueror of This World’ Holloway behaves suspiciously, pretend not to notice!]

[If he realizes you suspect him, you will receive ‘Bad Ending: The Pain of Burning.’]

With a warning that vicious, what other choice did I have?

I looked at Holloway, who was behaving blatantly suspiciously, without showing even a trace of suspicion and sighed.

“That’s unfortunate. You won’t even get paid.”

“Not being able to return is the bigger problem.”

[Danger Gauge increased by 2.]

…….

Fuck.

“It’s amazing that I’m actually staying with nobles. Then what families are you and the others from? I heard nobles are usually called by their family names, but everyone here only uses first names!”

Instead of answering immediately, I hesitated.

Before entering the hotel, Cynthia and Cletta had told everyone to use first names rather than surnames or titles, in case something happened.

Only prominent people had ended up stranded on this island, so Cynthia had suggested that someone might have deliberately caused this to target them.

Therefore, it would be best to conceal everyone’s social status as much as possible.

In <The Child’s Secret>, everyone had also always used first names……

……Now that I think about it, there was something strange about that.

In the game, someone would occasionally slip and reveal that Cynthia was a princess.

And every time that happened, the demons became unusually violent.

Once they learned Cynthia was a princess, rather than toy with her, they killed her brutally.

Remembering that story made me reluctant to reveal my surname or anyone else’s.

If I lied now and Holloway later repeated it in front of someone else, they might say, ‘That isn’t my family name.’

Then my lie would be exposed.

And I would die.

So silence was the right answer.

“That’s a secret. But why are you so curious?”

Besides, with the quest underway, I was already anxious because I had no idea when the tagger might appear.

There was no time to slowly explain something like this.

“Yeah. It’s interesting! I’ve always admired nobles. I’m a commoner, so I don’t have a surname. I don’t normally get opportunities to spend time this closely with nobles!”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. If we get out, maybe you’ll take care of me?”

“I see…….”

When I stopped talking, Holloway tilted his head.

“You’re not telling me anything else?”

“Nope!”

I answered as brightly as he had.

“You’ll have to stay with me for a long time if you want to keep wondering.”

So if you want to hear the rest, you’d better kill me last.

Obviously the others knew their own surnames too……

But Holloway probably wouldn’t ask them.

The fact that he was having a conversation like this with me at all might have been because his affection had increased by that tiny amount.

Game Holloway had never asked anyone these questions.

His affection increasing had completely derailed the story, but the fundamental things remained unchanged.

The personalities of the characters.

Holloway, the final boss, appearing as a child.

The fact that no one could leave the abandoned hotel.

The existence of monsters.

And considering the system kept warning that his desire to kill me rose whenever I said the wrong thing, he was clearly still a demon despite acting like a human child.

Even in the game, he could behave this humanly and then murder people without the slightest hesitation.

“A long time?”

“Yeah.”

Until I find the escape gate!

“With me?”

“Yes!”

Holloway tightened his grip on my hand.

His smile slowly widened as he looked up at me.

For some reason, I suddenly felt a little colder.

“Okay. Then let’s stay together for a long, long time.”

……Um.

Excuse me.

I think you misunderstood what I meant.