MTLNOVEL Chapter 10
“Sister, are you going to keep listening to her saying things that don’t make sense?”
I’d rather just listen…
Moran held her face in her hands and sobbed, yet she disciplined Holloway gently but harshly.
“Holloway, you may not know because you’re still a child. But no matter how wrong you are, you shouldn’t carelessly take someone’s life.”
It would be useless to say something like that to the final boss who can’t be rehabilitated.
I was frustrated for a moment, but the window flashed, telling me to make a choice quickly as time was running out.
With tears in my eyes, I decided to choose option 1, which was the best option.
If I chose option 2, I felt like Holloway would put me in a den of monsters.
I feel like he’ll hit me with a bat worse than a goblin for daring to curse at me for option 3…
…Life in this world isn’t easy.
I cried and decided to eat mustard, pressing number 1.
My shoulders spread of their own accord and my hands moved to thump my chest.
“I’m that kind of person!”
The answer came a long time later, but there was no way I didn’t know what question it was answering.
For a moment, the surroundings became embarrassingly quiet.
Then Moran let out a scowling sigh.
She reprimanded me, as if she saw a child worse than Holloway.
“…Miss Evelin, I’m not kidding.”
“Moran, I don’t have enough time to listen to your sermon here.”
I stood up, pushing back my armpits with great effort.
“I’d rather go alone.”
Moran looked at me with a mixed gaze and said sadly.
“Miss Evelin, I think you’ve changed…”
“There’s nothing you can do when you’re in an extreme situation like this.”
I quickly opened the door before Holloway followed me.
As expected, Holloway followed behind me as if it were a natural thing.
Moran caught and blocked Holloway.
“Let go!”
Moran looked at me with resentment and shouted as Holloway hugged me tighter.
“Are you going to leave us two?”
Yes!
Although I answered excitedly on the inside, I didn’t show it.
This time, Moran turned to scold me.
“Miss Evelin, unnecessary stubbornness is not helpful. I won’t tell anyone else, so you’d better stop.”
It doesn’t really matter if I tell someone else.
No matter what Moran said, there was no way I would miss the opportunity to escape Holloway.
“Moran would be better than an unstable person like me. Please protect Holloway.”
I looked at Holloway with affectionate eyes, closed the door, and left.
I have to at least pretend to care about Holloway a little bit so he doesn’t think I abandoned him.
The empty hallway was quiet.
It was finally time to be alone.
Without delay, I ran straight down the hallway.
First, I need to find a way out and get the revolver!
***
Holloway tried to go out after Evelin, yet Moran grabbed him and wouldn’t let go.
Moran grabbed Holloway’s shoulder and turned him toward her.
Even if she pretended not to be slightly trembling, she seemed to be frightened by the current situation.
Still, why did Moran criticize Holloway so bluntly?
“Holloway, she has already left us behind, so wouldn’t it be better not to chase after her? I will never leave you behind.”
Although her strong appearance was quite trustworthy, Holloway wasn’t impressed.
In particular, her words were strangely annoying.
She seemed to be saying that Evelin was the one who abandoned them.
But the kind smile and gentle touch made it so that he didn’t notice the strange feeling.
“…”
He doesn’t know if it was anyone else, but there was no way Holloway, who had lived many times longer than humans, wouldn’t have noticed that.
There was no expression on his face as he looked at Moran.
One might be puzzled by the eerieness, yet Moran held onto Holloway like that, as if she didn’t sense anything strange.
‘It’s annoying.’
There was no Evelin anyway, so there seemed to be no harm in just killing her.
‘Before that.’
Holloway snapped his fingers out of sight.
Then, black smoke appeared at the tip of his hand, and a loud roar was suddenly heard outside the quiet room, as if something had fallen.
Next, he drew a small circle with his index finger.
As if the work was done, the black smoke at his fingertips slowly disappeared.
After finishing something, Holloway was about to extend his murderous hand to Moran.
Clack!
“Huft, huft…!”
Evelin entered the room again with a pale face.
Moran’s cheeks twitched slightly.
Holloway lowered his raised hand.
He shook off Moran’s hand that was holding him and ran towards Evelin, hugging her.
“Sister!”
Although she arrived earlier than expected, Holloway welcomed her warmly.
Catching her breath, Evelin reflexively hugged Holloway, who was hugging her.
Evelin cried out inwardly, trying to pretend not to notice Moran’s complex and subtle expression.
As she was trying to run away, the tagger appeared in that direction.
She tried to run to the other side, yet the floor suddenly opened up and she couldn’t get there.
She tried to go into a room other than the one where Moran were, but she was locked and all Evelin could do was to go back into this room.
‘Why, why are all the room doors locked!’
Evelin screamed.
Is this also part of the game?
Evelin, who had no way of knowing that it was all Holloway’s plan, shed tears internally.
***
“Miss Evelin, weren’t you gone?”
Although I was embarrassed, I couldn’t afford to answer that question now.
I put my index finger to my lips.
“Shh. There’s a monster outside.”
“Pardon?”
This was when Moran asked a question.
Bam!
A tagger’s voice could be heard at a glance along with the sound of a wall breaking nearby.
—Not here!
—None, none!
The frighteningly high pitch sounded like a child’s voice.
Moran and I quietly locked eyes in that eerie voice.
Her voice calling me trembled.
Even in the game, Moran was basically more timid than me.
“Miss Evelin…”
I looked around the room without throwing away Moran that was sticking to me.
I know this because I went out and saw that all the nearby rooms outside were locked.
This meant that even if I opened the room door and ran away, I would be caught up quickly. In that case, I had to find a place to hide in this room.
There was no place to hide in the bathroom, and there was a risk of being discovered even under the bed.
There’s a closet, but it’s as likely to get caught as under the bed! No matter where I was hiding, being discovered was an instantaneous moment.
If I can’t get out, I can hide in the closet and escape through the gap when the door opens.
It might not be easy, but it was the best for now. I burst open the closet.
There were quite a few clothes.
It was fortunate. We were able to cover our bodies.
I tried to put Holloway in first, but he shook his head, hugging my waist tightly.
“I want to stay next to you.”
“Alright, then Moran go in first, come on.”
“Y-Yes!”
Moran, who became infinitely sharper when it came to human life, was as gentle and angelic as ever when she wasn’t concerned with it.
She listens well.
She was a timid woman, but she was strong enough to sacrifice herself for others.
Even though she faced death because of Evelin, the nuisance character in the game, she never abandoned anyone.
If you look at it that way, she was more dependable than anyone else here.
Moran took a seat in one corner, then Holloway, and finally I went in the middle.
As soon as I hurriedly closed the closet door, I heard the wall of the room next door collapsing and the aftereffects of the vibration reached here.
Perhaps because she was close to the monster, Moran was so frightened that she grabbed onto her sleeve with such force that she was desperate.
“M-Miss Evelin… I-If something happens, will you leave me behind?”
“Yes.”
Because I’m naturally that kind of person.
Moran was speechless as she looked at me, who answered without a single error.
Holloway asked instead.
“Sister, me too?”
“No.”
I don’t think I can handle what happens if I leave you behind…
Separating from Holloway had to be a natural situation.
“Why?”
Holloway’s voice seemed happy as he asked that question.
“Well, you’re a child who deserves to be protected.”
“You’re protecting me? Not that person, just me?”
“Mmhm.”
Moran, who had been listening quietly, asked cautiously.
“…Miss Evelin, were you very heartbroken about what happened earlier?”
“Yes.”
I’m so fucking upset. I am.
That’s when she answered curtly.
♥♡
♡♥
♥♡
Suddenly, hearts were created.
…What is this?
The hearts, made like a hologram, was exactly above Holloway’s head,
whoong, whoong
.
[Holloway’s favorability rating reached 2%! Congratulations!]
[Favorability: 2%]
I can’t believe I reached 2%…
Holloway’s favorability has gone up, again?
My eyes opened to an unexpected situation.
[Of the off-limits rooms, the 22nd room, Room 205 ‘This room is very safe!’ has been unlocked!]
One room was released just because it reached 2%.
I thought it would be difficult to raise Holloway’s favorability.
So, I was trying to give up on increasing his favorability early on…
Yet it was none other than an unlocked room.
It was clearly a setting that didn’t exist in <A Child’s Secret>.
The game proceeded in such a way that if there was a locked room, it was passed over, and if there was an open room, it was investigated…
A room?
So, does that mean there could be an escape gate in the room that hasn’t been unlocked?
When my thoughts reached that point, the hair on my body stood on end.
As this hotel is huge, there is of course a basement, and when playing this game, as soon as you go down, the [GAME OVER] window pops up and you have to go back to the beginning.
The same was true no matter how many qualifications you accumulated.
Whether you entered the beginning or the end, the game was over without fail.
It’s not even revealed how you died. Because when I entered the basement, a dark red screen appeared.
Like, you should never go in.
‘Could it be that I had to increase Holloway’s favorability rating to enter the basement?’
Did I die as soon as I went underground because I couldn’t raise Holloway’s favorability rating?
Given this game’s setting… if the difficulty level is extreme, the escape gate will definitely be underground.
“Sister?”
I made eye contact with Holloway, who called me.
Then I……
In order to escape, I have to do my best to seduce the final boss, who is smiling and pretending not to know anything?!