If Kai's life were a novel, he swore he'd find the author and slap them senseless.
Seriously—first a hallway ghost kills three redshirts without even showing its face, then some knock-happy maniacs almost trigger a sanity-loss death, and now, just as they've found a moment of safety thanks to the rules, you throw in corpse eye contact? Couldn't his heart get a break?
What if he died from fright? Then what—swap in a new protagonist? That's such a trash plot move. As a fellow failed webnovelist, he knew firsthand how readers hated that.
Thoughts raced through his mind, but Kai's face remained calm.
He knew that thing behind the woman was a corpse too—or at least had the traits of one: no breathing, fatal injuries. But it was staring at him with its one intact eye.
He shifted slightly. The male corpse's head turned silently with him, keeping its gaze locked.
It was hiding deep in the shadows. If Kai hadn't been suspicious and looked closely, he'd never have noticed it.
Even now that he had, he dared not expose it. After the last two supernatural attacks, Kai understood the things in this apartment weren't human-level threats. As long as the corpse just lay there quietly, it was fine. But if it moved, it could easily wipe the whole team.
"Let's go. Nothing worth seeing here. Just a corpse. Let's check 210—there might be clues there."
He dropped the sheet back over the bodies and stood up. While speaking, he turned and mouthed the letters "SOS" to Kaguya.
She understood instantly and gave the seemingly normal double bed a glance before looking at the blonde woman whose mouth she was still clamping shut. After a moment's thought, she said coldly:
"I'll let you go now. As long as you don't scream or get in our way, I won't care what you do."
She eased up on her grip.
"Wh-what do you want from me? I don't have money—I'm broke—don't kidnap me..."
The woman was in tears, too scared to even cry out properly, mumbling in panic.
"No one's kidnapping you. Open your eyes—we're just like you, trapped here. And just to be clear, the reason we haven't abandoned you yet isn't because we're charitable. If you're not useful, your fate will be just like that corpse."
Maki said this while stuffing some documents she found into her backpack and heading for the living room door.
"You people... what do you want from us? We've never done anything to you..."
Sun Dajun stood up protectively in front of the crying woman, visibly angry.
What a pain.
Kai sighed inwardly.
He suddenly understood why Old Guo ditched them—he didn't want to deal with this mess.
First-timers in a sacrificial horror game didn't understand the danger. They tried to apply real-world logic. They didn't realize a single misstep could mean instant death.
Kai wasn't a saint. Honestly, he wanted to leave these people to die—just like he did the last time.
But the problem was: in this building, the dead didn't stay dead. They turned into dangerous monsters that hunted the living.
Helping them or not, both paths sucked. This seven-day game had barely begun, and Kai already felt the immense malice of this scenario.
"Mr. Green, do you have a knife?"
"I do."
Green quickly pulled out a 15cm blade, clearly sharpened and gleaming even in the dim light.
"Hold him down. If he shouts, cut out his tongue."
Kaguya gave the order without even glancing at Sun Dajun, simply signaling to Kai before leaving.
Kai followed her, then turned and smiled gently at the blonde girl.
"Will you walk out yourself, or do I have to carry you?"
He thought his tone was polite enough.
Still, she covered her mouth, crying, and followed him like she was under threat of death.
Sun Dajun wanted to resist—but when Green stabbed the knife into the wall just an inch from his ear, he nearly peed himself and had to obey.
"That's better."
Kaguya stood tall in the hallway, looking down on the trembling pair like a queen.
"Whether you accept it or not, if you can't behave, you'll be punished."
"In times of crisis, the so-called light of humanity isn't needed. What keeps you alive is your beast-like instinct. If you can't follow orders, you're just useless trash. But if you behave, we might give you some leeway."
"Mr. Green, kindly train these two dogs and make sure they don't get in our way."
"I'm not a dog!" shouted Sun Dajun, furious.
"M-my name is Maeda Miwa..." said the blonde girl weakly, following his lead.
Green sneered, knife in hand. "Why the hell would I care what your names are?"
The two fell silent.
A couple of minutes passed in this chaos before the pair finally calmed down.
Such a pain...
Kai shook his head. These two wouldn't last unless they saw something truly horrifying. Otherwise, they'd keep acting like dumb horror movie extras and cause problems. He and the others couldn't keep watch on them 24/7, even with Green's help.
And if the game's rules turned the dead into unstoppable monsters, a single death could ruin everything. Using the grandfather clock's time-reversal power again would be a nightmare.
Still, they did have one potential use: backup clock-turners.
Kai had operated one of the head clocks before, and he could still feel its gaze. Some weird connection had formed. If they needed to use one again, Kaguya and Maki were too important to risk. He'd originally planned to use Green—but now it seemed Sun Dajun or Maeda Miwa might be even better.
Was it cruel? Not really. He'd already suffered for their sake. Asking for some payback seemed fair.
Kai was surprised how quickly his mindset was shifting.
Working with Kaguya and playing the bad guy... didn't bother him much.
Maybe it was because they weren't cute girls. He was pretty shallow like that.
He picked up a stick and leaned it against the closed door of room 205.
After exchanging glances with Kaguya and Maki, he pointed toward room 208. The two women nodded, and Green silently led the two newcomers forward.
Saying they were going to 210 was a lie. After Old Guo's warning, Kai wasn't dumb enough to risk it.
Instead, they would wait inside 208, which they'd already scouted. It seemed relatively safe—as long as "Fridge Guy" didn't suddenly decide to attack.
Yes, Kai had decided to start nicknaming the monsters. Just like in horror games—Chainsaw Guy, Scissor Guy, Fat Bro. That way, he could cope better.
Green, now feeling secure as their lackey, herded the two demoralized newcomers into the kitchen. Under Kai's orders, they moved the fridge to face the wall and sat against it, while Green stood guard at the door.
"If anything tries to come out of the fridge, evacuate to the living room."
Kai saw Green's face turn pale at the command. His courage clearly came from the trio. Kai had to act more assertive to get Green to comply.
Kaguya, the one with the sharpest hearing, remained in the hallway. She would monitor for any danger and wouldn't hesitate to retreat if things went south.
"Let's hope this works..." Maki murmured, stationed at the living room door.
She wasn't one to act cruelly and hadn't planned to use the others as pawns. Unlike Kaguya, molded by the ruthless Shinomiya family, or Kai, who didn't have a strong moral compass, Maki was genuinely kind. But she was smart enough to know they needed to keep the pressure up to maintain order.
And Green was only listening to them because he thought they were veteran players.
If that illusion shattered, he'd be a totally different man.
It was all just... so exhausting. Why did this "game" exist just to torment people who had been living normal lives?
Her sigh received no answer.
In the hallway, Kaguya focused intently—and heard the sound she had been waiting for.
Thud—
The stick propped against room 205's door had fallen.