MTLNOVEL Chapter 24
I generously offered consolation to Alholf, who was pouting and trying to cry.
“Maybe he can’t tell because there’s blood on your face.”
Of course, I’m not telling him to be confident.
It was a comforting thought because I didn’t want to see anyone else cry, but Alholf wiped the blood from his face with hope.
If we were to follow that guy’s aesthetic sense, he’d have his fingernails ripped out.
Alholf, who had no way of knowing that, looked at Suriel with a slightly expectant expression.
Suriel asked as if he was shocked.
“What has changed?”
“…”
This time I turned away from Alholf, who was looking at me while crying.
What could I do. Suriel says you’re not to his liking.
However, Alholf had received quite a lot of compliments on his appearance so far, so he seemed bewildered by the successive rejections.
Then he pointed at me, who was calm, and shouted unjustly.
“T-Then what about Miss Evelin?!”
“Why are you dragging me on? Does Sir Alholf really think I’m on the same level as you?”
Nonsense!
When I looked at Alholf with a shocked face, he hesitated and muttered softly.
“O-Of course you’re more beautiful than me… but everyone’s tastes are different.”
“No. We all have the same eyes for pretty things.”
“Why are you so confident?”
“That, that…!”
I proudly placed my hand on my chest and shouted.
“Because I, I… am pretty!”
Damn it!
The people, who were overwhelmed by my strong confidence, couldn’t keep their mouths closed and stared at me in fascination.
Alholf was mesmerized by my dizzying appearance, then shook his head to come to his senses and asked me seriously.
“Really? Do you really think that?”
“Do you know what my strength is? It’s honesty.”
When I hummed a certain idol group’s song, they were amazed and looked up to me.
(it’s from After Like – IVE, precisely the famous line one of their members, Gaeul, sings lmao)
Of course, that’s only from my perspective, but in reality, it’s none of my business.
Whether they were quiet or not, I brushed the dust off Cynthia’s dress and did her hair.
Even then, she held onto my sleeve tightly and stayed still, whimpering.
“Sister.”
“Uh, wait.”
After examining Cynthia’s face one last time and making sure there were no major injuries, I looked down at Holloway.
“Why?”
“Sister is really…”
Why do you look at me like I’m pathetic?
“Really what?”
“It’s just that. I like to see people taking good care of people.”
Anyone could see that it was sarcastic.
There’s no way I wouldn’t know that it’s clearly implied that I won’t live long because I’m taking care of other people’s lives, even though it’s hard to take care of my own.
One question that suddenly occurred to me when I was about to refute it.
‘Suriel is too quiet.’
This silence isn’t good. I carefully squinted at Suriel, and then my eyes met his.
Ah, shit.
Suriel smiled meaningfully and then shook his head as if he had decided on something.
Then he held out his thin, slender hand to me.
His finely manicured fingernails were very sharp. It was so sharp that blood would come out even if it slightly scratched me.
The corners of his lip rose grotesquely. At the same time, the candle that had been faintly lighting the hallway went out.
“Kyaaah!”
Cynthia screamed in surprise, followed by Suriel’s excited voice.
“I’ll take your hair instead of Cynthia. It passes my aesthetic sense. Be happy.”
In the gloomy atmosphere, Suriel’s face was blushing as if he was thrilled, and his voice was eerie.
While everyone was tense and stiff, I was happy as he wished.
“WAHAHAHAHA!”
I bent my back and laughed loudly, then Suriel flinched from my maniacal laughter.
Perhaps to scare them, the extinguished candle lit up again and brightened the hallway.
Do they not know why it’s scarier, I wonder.
Suriel got irritated for no reason, probably because he didn’t want to admit that he was a little behind.
“What are you doing? Are you making fun of me?”
“I was happy because you told me to be happy, what’s wrong with you.”
“…”
[Everyone here recognized you as a ‘crazy person.’]
Is laughing once such a big sin? Enough to brand me crazy?
“I think I know a little bit about what Dilaph said…”
Suriel muttered softly, coming closer to me.
Although shorter than Dilaf, Suriel was also quite tall.
Cynthia must have been scared because he chased her around like that.
Ah, they say it’s a double body. He’s huge.
“You’re not scared easily, are you? I want more of that hair.”
When Suriel reached out to touch my hair, which I had barely put to sleep, Holloway suddenly blocked his path.
“Don’t touch Sister!”
“…Holloway.”
What’s wrong with that unlucky bastard?
As I was about to become overwhelmed with emotion, a window popped up.
[Holloway says you only look better because of your hair so if it’s cut, you’ll be in big trouble.]
F*ck, shall hit him?
Holloway and Suriel were just exchanging boring glances.
Go and have a death match.
I was thinking of leaving them alone, but I didn’t like Suriel’s sly look, so I secretly covered Holloway’s eyes.
Even though he was the final boss, I continued to treat him like a child without realizing it.
Because the visual effect is bigger than you think.
“Something like that isn’t what you should see.”
“Something like that?”
[Suriel’s current risk level is ‘She is Pretty, But I Will Kill Her at Any Time.’]
[Suriel was offended by your words.]
[He wants to cut off your hair right now, but he hesitates because Holloway is holding on.]
Haha! This is the final boss shield. You bastard!
I used the final boss as a shield and went harder.
“That’s right. Something like that! I can’t believe he made Cynthia like this…!”
“Evelin…!”
Cynthia looked at me with tears in her eyes and a very emotional face.
Suriel and I took a deep breath and covered our mouths at the same time.
“P-Pretty.”
“Pretty.”
As that word was spoken at the same time, my eyes and Suriel’s met in the air.
[Suriel looks at you and thinks, ‘We’re getting along a bit?’]
I really hate it, you know.
But that wasn’t the problem. Cynthia got very fumed when she was told she was pretty.
“I hate that word so much now! Evelin, I won’t forgive you if you say something like that again.”
I pushed her face, who violently turned her eyes inside out and gritted her teeth.
How scary.
Cynthia was surprised by that action and hugged me, who pushed her away, as if she had never been mad.
“Why are you like this.”
Don’t do this.
Cynthia buried her face in my chest and just whimpered. No, she muttered.
“Kill that bastard.”
Screw off.
Don’t say things like that to me. I can’t.
It was then.
[The 09th ‘Free Me’ story begins.]
[Goal: Free the human body parts collected by Suriel, the ‘Demon of Temptation’.
Clear if you break all the glass bottles containing body parts!
※Before that, never die from the demon Suriel.]
…Pardon?
N-No, I mean, wait.
The story that emerged in this unexpected situation wasn’t the problem right now.
Are you telling me to get rid of Suriel’s entire collection with my own hands right now?
The moment I do that, I die. Did you come up with this quest even after knowing that?
Who can guarantee my life after everything is broken?
[Clear Reward: Flamethrower
Death in case of failure.]
I desperately looked for a reject button just in case, yet there was no ‘Accept / Reject’ button in this system window in the first place.
This meant that when a quest appeared, I was forced to do it.
“Ah, I’m going crazy!”
I screamed, tearing out my hair without realizing it.
“Sister, why are you doing this?”
Instead of answering Holloway’s question, I licked my dry lips and glared at the system window as if I were going to kill it.
First, the quest had to be completed, but what happened after that was the problem.
If Suriel found out that I had destroyed the collection, I could die from his wrath.
If so, this…
My eyes landed on ‘Clear Reward: Flamethrower’.
As soon as I receive it, I have no choice but to use it on Suriel and run away from him.
Otherwise, I have to work hard to raise the numbers until then and use Holloway as a shield to survive.
There were only two ways to survive this quest.
I held back tears.
This is because the story began helplessly, without even knowing my true intentions.
[The souls trapped in the glass bottle begin to cry out for help.]
[Their bodies are on the 5th floor. You naturally decide to head to the 5th floor and save them. ]
I’m not kind enough to save anyone, you know.
There are too many stairs to get to the 5th floor. I’m having a hard time.
I complained in vain, yet there was no ‘return’ window. Instead, Holloway shook my arm.
“Sister!”
“Huh?”
“I’ll hate you if you keep not answering.”
“Ah, really?”
“…”
[Holloway asks, ‘Has it finally rotten?’ and clicks his tongue.]
No.
That’s because I don’t have time to worry about Holloway right now.
Even if I don’t want to, I have to go up to the 5th floor, but… how do I get there?
If there are body parts on the 5th floor, Suriel might block my path.
There’s no way he would be happy about me daring to invade his territory.
Grumble.
I clicked my tongue as I looked at Suriel at the loud sound I heard while thinking of all the possible scenarios.
“Because you put your belly out like that, you make twice as much noise as others.”
“It’s an illusion. It’s not me.”
Instead of Suriel feeling aggrieved at seeing me not trusting him, Holloway relieved me of the resentment.
“It’s a sound made by the one holding.”
“I don’t even realize it because I just survived.”
Cynthia was shameless. She’s probably wondering what’s the point of being embarrassed in this situation.
While watching Cynthia with a huge horn alarm installed on her stomach, something suddenly occurred to me.
Pretending to head to the location where Cynthia was, what if I take a wrong turn to the 5th floor…?
“Cynthia, where have you been?”
“5th floor. Didn’t I go to the 5th floor to avoid monsters and then meet that damn bastard! It’s the worst!”
Suriel seemed to like the idea of being called a monster so much that he twisted his body in a goosebumps manner, with a face so relaxed that he looked like a drunk person.
Geez. I saw something I couldn’t see.
“Is the 5th floor also a guest room?”
“No. The 5th floor has a strong feel of a playground.”
“Playground?”
“Casino or swimming pool…”
Oho, swimming pool. I’m not going.
Wherever you go, water ghosts are the most dangerous.
[If you do not arrive within the 2 hour time limit, you will be forcibly moved to the 5th floor.]
Hey you f*cker! You blocked the escape route very tightly! Thank you. You bastard!
“But you managed to get up to the 5th floor.”
So she has such good energy too.
Rather than making excuses and going up to the 5th floor, it would be better to wait for 2 hours and then move alone.
I can take advantage of Suriel’s absence to find all the glass bottles containing body parts and break them, then pretend like I didn’t do anything.
My eyes lit up at the amazing idea.
This is it! I have to do this!
Then Cynthia screamed, her face fully terrified.
“The elevator here works!”
Since the world of a horror game is a mixture of various genres, it wasn’t unusual for there to be an elevator.
“An elevator? Here in an abandoned…”
“I know right!”
…Elevator.
I thought about the game carefully. One thing suddenly came to mind.
This hotel was surrounded by a lot of magi. It was understandable since it was the demons’ territory.
As a result, the elevator changed to be able to operate with magi rather than mana, and of course, it wasn’t surprising that the elevator worked in a place surrounded by magi.
But since I knew nothing, I naturally had to be scared.
“Will it still work?”
“When you ran away, I should have gone with you!”
That’s not what I asked.
I gave a cursory reply to Cynthia who couldn’t come to her senses.
“Then you could have got caught by damned Sir Werner and Cleta.”
Just like me now.
Alholf hinted that he had finally noticed that my tone of voice was strange.
“Why do you say it like it was no use?”
“Because I’m annoyed.”
“Do you hate me?”
“Oho!”
When I applauded and said he was right, Alholf started crying.
I feel like a bully.
That’s right.
Rather than giving him affection for no reason only to be betrayed later, I should swear as much as I can so that I don’t get affection for him, then I won’t be disappointed even if he abandons me later.
Luckily for Suriel, Holloway stopped him and he took no action.
I guess I had to stay with Suriel for 2 hours so I could buy some time when I was moved alone.
It was a time when I was frozen in place because I was making a thorough plan.
“…Evelin?”
A familiar voice came from behind.
The moment I turned my head to see who the voice was, my vision was greatly shaken.
It was because Cleta, the owner of that voice, ran up to me and hugged me tightly.
“Cleta?”
“Evelin, you’re alive!”
His arms wrapped around my body even more. Cleta’s warm, relieved breath touched the back of my neck.
“Can you please let me go?”
“I was worried, yet I can’t even do this much?”
“Yeah, you can’t.”
However, Cleta only laughed softly and showed no sign of relaxing his arms.
As I sank further into Cleta’s arms, a window appeared.
[Holloway’s mood becomes dirty.]
[Hidden feature ‘Jealousy’ is activated!]
W-What feature?
Hidden feature?!
Without realizing it, I reflexively looked at Holloway.
He stared coldly at Cleta, then he felt my gaze and met my eyes. And he folded his eyes nicely.
At the same time, a window popped up.
[Current jealousy is 16%.]
[Caution: When Holloway’s jealousy reaches 70%, someone may die!
As Holloway’s jealousy increases, the chance of people around you being unhappy increases by up to 10% every 20 minutes!]
One time of jealousy is incredible.
It’s not me, but the people around me who are unhappy. Are you planning to kill me with guilt?
As if this wasn’t the end, another window popped up that seemed like a treat.
[Jealousy: It’s very easy to raise or lower it!]
Easy? Are you saying it’s easy by my standards or by your standards?
[₍₍ ◝(・ω・)◟ ⁾⁾₍₍ ◝(・ω・)◟ ⁾⁾₍₍ ◝(・ω・)◟ ⁾⁾₍₍ ◝(・ω・)◟ ⁾⁾]
[₍₍ ◝(・ω・)◟ ⁾⁾₍₍ ◝(・ω・)◟ ⁾⁾₍₍ ◝(・ω・)◟ ⁾⁾₍₍ ◝(・ω・)◟ ⁾⁾]
[₍₍ ◝(・ω・)◟ ⁾⁾₍₍ ◝(・ω・)◟ ⁾⁾₍₍ ◝(・ω・)◟ ⁾⁾₍₍ ◝(・ω・)◟ ⁾⁾
[This is a dance to experience.]
Okay, I decided.
I will kill you.