A Horror Game Steeped in Immorality - Volume 2 - Part 10
Selena sat up suddenly. Her poorly stitched neck flopped around, but she seemed unconcerned as she rose on her decayed legs.
[Selena is happy to have her body back.]
She stared down at me, then suddenly shoved her index finger into her mouth, stretching her lips up to her cheekbones. Her flesh squished, revealing her teeth and dark gums.
[Selena smiles at you.]
“That’s supposed to be a smile?”
[Please offer some words of encouragement for Selena, miss.]
“You’re asking a lot.”
Selena’s face, torn asunder, seemed almost expectant.
“Uh… um. Hang in there, Selena. Be careful not to lose your limbs next time. Stay healthy…”
[Selena is deeply moved. She desires a hug.]
What a hassle… I pushed myself up from my knees and awkwardly embraced Selena’s shoulders.
[Selena is now ready to leave with joy in her heart.]
With a series of soft thuds, Selena bent her knees, and then, moving towards the window I had left open, she threw herself out of it.
It happened so fast, that I had no chance to stop her. From this height, if she falls… the haphazard stitches would surely come undone…
[Mission successful! Please claim your reward!]
However, as the words “mission successful” flashed in blue before my eyes, my worries about Selena dissipated like smoke. A wave of ecstatic joy washed over me.
“Hand it over! The Yanadoo radar, quickly!”[1]
But instead of the anticipated “item acquisition” message, three green boxes appeared before me with a pop. My blood ran cold as a forgotten memory shot up like a firework.
‘You would have to choose one of the three surprise boxes, containing one hidden item and two undisclosed items, to claim your reward.’
I screamed in frustration, tearing at my hair.
“Why can’t I have all three? After all the hard work I’ve done! I don’t need anything else, just give me the radar.”
[Please select one of the three surprise boxes to claim your reward, miss.]
This inflexible system. After all the time we’ve spent together, how can it be so cold? I stared hard at the boxes, though it wasn’t as if I could see through them. Still, I inspected each one carefully, hoping to find out.
“…The left one, the third box.”
The other two boxes disappeared into the light, leaving only my chosen box. It wobbled side to side before its lid popped off like a champagne cork. For the first time in my life, I prayed earnestly to the gods, clasping my hands tightly, begging, please, please, please!
[You’ve obtained ‘Seaweed Stem,’ good for your body and tasty!]
“…!”
….A profound sense of desperation overwhelmed me more than ever before. …Seaweed stem? Seriously?
“Ah…”
I watched the seaweed stem flutter down with my now blank eyes. Memories of the past 6 hours of sheer toil came flooding back, draining me of all strength in the face of such profound disappointment.
I slumped to the floor, too defeated to notice the pain. I just stared at the seaweed stem in my palm, the pitiful reward for all my efforts. Then, as the dark hallway gradually lit up, the dense bloodstains and the overflow of corpses vanished as if they had never been there.
“Kyaa, miss?!”
“What’s this… ugh, blech…”
Despite the upheaval, the blood that had smeared all over me remained. The servants, who hadn’t shown themselves amid the chaos, began to appear one by one. They couldn’t come near me, sitting there in dismay, and only managed to retch from a distance.
Someone enveloped me in an embrace. Large hands gently pressed down on the back of my head, bringing my forehead to rest against a firm chest.
“Stop the commotion, everyone go inside.”
“B-but, young master…”
“…”
“…Understood.”
The sound of the servants retreating echoed down the hallway, leaving only the sorrowful sound of my ragged breathing.
“It’s alright, sister. Everything’s okay.”
“……”
Lionel’s soothing warmth cascaded down my back, unleashing the floodgates of my pent-up sorrow. I buried myself deeper into Lionel’s embrace, sobbing loudly.
“Hic, ugh-heuk. Seaweed stems, damn, heuck-ack, sniff, sob…!”
The morning sun wrapped around Lionel and me. I cried until I was spent, falling into a deep exhaustion. Lionel’s comforting strokes across my back continued until my consciousness slipped away.
* * *
I woke up in Lionel’s bedroom, having spent a week doing nothing but staying in that room. Lionel took care of everything, from bathing to feeding me.
Daymond visited several times, watching me quietly. His persistent gaze made me feel guilty, as though I needed to apologize, despite having done nothing wrong. Daymond said nothing, only pressing his lips to my cheek and forehead for a long time before leaving the room.
Lycan never visited. Was he truly trapped with a collar around his neck? Since the game was still on, he must be alive…
[The murderer thirsts for blood. Miss, please be careful not to be murdered by him.]
Warnings like that no longer stirred any sense of danger in me. I had no intention of looking for evidence. I just stared at the ceiling, wondering what I’d do if the murderer opened the door and stabbed me.
“……”
Death was still frightening. I slowly crawled into the closet, wrapping my arms around my knees, waiting for time to pass.
[The murderer’s frenzy has subsided.]
[Surprise mission alert!]
I hit ‘NO’ without even listening to the details. The protective darkness around me began to split in half. Light tore through the darkness, infiltrating my being.
Lionel opened the closet door, looking down at me.
“Sister.”
“Lionel, where have you been?”
“I went to the training grounds.”
“Ah…”
Lionel, who had obsessively trained his body since childhood, still held onto that habit. I knew well that he went to the training grounds at this time every day. But…
I grabbed his hand, sniffing it, then propped myself up against his shoulder, my upper body poking out of the closet. I was so absorbed in searching for the scent of blood that Lionel had to safely lift my waist.
[1]This is a meme reference. Yanadoo is an English teaching company in Korea. Their advertisement featuring actor Jo Jung-seok uses the catchphrase “야! 너두 영어 할 수 있어!” (“Hey! You can do English too!”). In here”야! 너두” (Ya! Neodu) means ‘Hey! You too’ and the company name “Yanadoo/야나두” sounds similar to ‘Hey, me too” in Korean. So she’s simply saying “Hey I can do it too radar.” instead of ‘hey you can do it too radar.”
