[Ting~ Ting~]
[Loading complete. The stage is open… shall we begin?]
"If each rose petal is a love letter, will you have the courage to count to the last one where I disappear with the fire of my own love?"
...…
Luca woke up to find himself in front of a gate, and inside was a classic, multi-story villa with a red tiled roof, partially covered by green vines, lying under the clear blue sky. In the foreground was a carefully manicured French garden. A stone path led straight to the main entrance of the mansion, and on both sides were rows of bright and dense roses. The roses came in many colors, from pink, cream, to crimson and dark pink, creating a romantic and magnificent scene.
Around him were people who had just woken up, and with the information Orion had mentioned before, Luca was not too surprised. There were 5 women and 3 men here, not including himself.
He noticed there were two people inside, a man and a woman. The man had unruly black hair that almost covered his eyes, and the woman had dark purple hair that flowed down with some red accents underneath. In general, they were both quite surprised to see him there and seemed happy to be there.
"Impossible!? I'm still alive!"
"What the hell is going on here? Did God hear my wish!?"
Luca noticed that the others weren't too excited, but instead looked at the two happy people… strangely, with eyes of disdain and sympathy.
Before the other two could rejoice, a man with silver hair appeared, wearing a black butler's suit and carrying a small pocket watch.
"You guys are about 1 minute and 30 seconds late. Please quickly put on these outfits and don't keep the mistress waiting too long."
He quickly gave one person a set of clothes; the boy had the same outfit as him, and the girl had a maid's outfit.
"What do you mean? What mistress?"
The woman, who had just been happy, stopped to ask the butler, but he just walked as if he didn't hear anything and walked into the mansion in front of them. The man who seemed happy just now immediately threw down the suit and was about to leave this place when the suit reappeared in his hand, and all the players couldn't control their bodies and walked into the mansion. In the middle was a staircase with a red carpet spread right in the middle, which was all Luca could remember before his body separated itself from the group and was quickly pulled into the room. In here, it was much simpler than outside; there was a huge difference dividing the status of the rich and the poor in the small mansion that was like a miniature world.
[Game - Introduction]
[Here, survival is not just instinct but performance.]
[Your mission is simple: survive, entertain the audience, and don't die too soon.]
[You can kill, save, or explore if you are brave enough.]
[Every action is allowed as long as you can bear the consequences.]
[Every choice is a play. Are you an actor... or a puppet?]
[That, the audience will decide]
[Wishing you unforgettable memories.]
Luca looked at the blue board floating in front of him, slowly disappearing, leaving him standing there. Luca sighed; it seemed like he was really unlucky to have to join this game. Luca didn't think much about it, quickly changing his clothes; anyway, he didn't have any self-defense gear, so he couldn't play stupid. He took off his old clothes and changed into this very elaborate butler outfit... if I had to describe it, it would be colorful and stifling. After changing the outfit, Luca adjusted it to make it looser, but no matter how hard he tried, the outfit wouldn't move or come off. Luca sighed helplessly and walked out of the room.
His footsteps moved Luca to the dining room of the mansion. The long table was accompanied by 10 chairs and dinnerware. On the wall right behind the chair was probably for the mistress because it was placed right at the head of the table. The picture on the wall made Luca quite surprised; it was a picture of a man who looked quite young and handsome.
"You should take a seat."
The man gestured and spoke in a rather gentle voice. Luca nodded perfunctorily and found an empty chair. Luca was struck by the man's striking white hair, almost as if he had albinism… after making sure everyone was there, he simply smiled, his eyes narrowing, and pointed to the clock on the table.
"We have a few minutes to talk., I know you have many questions, but take it slow. My name is Mireya Solberg, just call me Sol."
The woman sitting nearby, who looked like an ordinary girl with brown hair and eyes as black as ink, also spoke up, as introducing herself was quite common in this situation.
"Arven Lys Miriel, just call me Lys."
One by one, Luca also introduced himself quickly.
"Luca"
After speaking, he was still in his seat, remembering the names of the two people who had just happily introduced themselves. The man was named Isolde Mareen, and the woman was named Selene Arknight, and the rest included Dorian Crestfall, Eirene Bennett, Lyra Fontaine, and Talon Rivenhart.
After finishing, Sol looked at the clock on the table and smiled, saying:
"As I said, we don't have much time, so you guys should understand that this is a game world. I'm sure everyone has already encountered the introduction system. I won't explain everything, but focus on the bold words. Whether you live or not is up to you."
As soon as he finished speaking, the clock on the table disappeared. Luca also understood that this place is dangerous, as in a life and death scenario, no one will be stupid enough to tell a stranger everything. No one was stupid enough to tell everything. Even if many people know how the game works would be beneficial, but if it were just useless people, there was no point in wasting so much effort.
The clock vanished, signaling the start of the game. Heavy footsteps filled the room, permeated by the woman who had just entered. She had short, cropped hair, skin so dark it was almost impossible to see her face, perhaps burned skin, gaunt and revealing the bony frame of her body, and a white dress that contrasted sharply with her complexion. The stench of burning filled the room; everyone had to hold their breath or cover their noses immediately after she sat down in her seat.
Luca's body suddenly trembled... he didn't know why, even though he wasn't afraid, he was shaking so much - his body was frozen.
This dead body, move!!
Luca screamed in despair; it was truly a useless body. The butler slowly appeared with a tray of food and placed it on the table for them and the mistress. Some people ate freely, there were people who didn't dare to eat, only he wanted to eat but couldn't hold the spoon, so he had to helplessly sit there with his body shaking like a dryer.
While eating, the woman just looked at them and ate a few pieces of burnt meat. The people who were eating deliciously suddenly lost their appetite and were more careful. After a few hours, she left, leaving them there.
"Is she a demon? She looks more beautiful than I imagined."
Dorian Crestfall spoke, her lustrous blonde hair following the direction she looked, her layered hairstyle with a rather surprised expression, and then she glanced at the red chair that had turned black, belonging to the mistress of the mansion. Sol just looked at it and chuckled softly, as if he found the actions of the new players quite naive.
"That's right, don't worry about the first night, as long as everyone isn't stupid, nothing will happen."
Sol said that while looking at Eirene Bennet, who was planning to play smart by following behind their mistress, if that was the role.
"Don't forget you shouldn't deviate from your role."
After Sol finished speaking, the butler turned back to look at them like insects waiting for him to drop his bait.
"Listen carefully, everyone, since you are a member of the mansion, you must know the following rules. If you violate the rules, the punishment will depend on the severity of your violation."
"First rule: You must not disobey the mistress and must agree to anything she asks, no matter how unreasonable it is."
"Second rule: The mistress's husband will return to the mansion now and then and absolutely must not let the two of them meet."
"Third rule: Do not harm any rose in the garden."
"Fourth rule: Protect the roses at all costs."
"Fifth rule: Do not trust the words of any employee."
He finished speaking and left, as he had many times before. What Luca wondered was not why the rule was so short, but the fifth rule, "Do not trust the words of any employee." But wasn't the butler an employee? Should we trust him or not? That was probably the question everyone wanted to ask.
But their bodies thought differently, except for the veteran players like Arven Lys Miriel and Mireya Solberg, that's what Luca thinks for now. Luca himself entered the simple room from earlier that only had a bed, a wardrobe, and all the butler's things, and nothing else. Luca could only lie on the bed and stay up all night. To be honest, even if he wanted to, his body wouldn't sleep, so what should he do?
In the night, there was not a single sound, then he heard the sounds of running outside and the panting of a girl. Luca didn't dare to move; he just sat there, no matter how much the person knocked on the door, he just sat in a corner, hugging his thighs, his face covered in sweat.
Go away, oh my god!! Please spare me!!
Isn't that the girl who was panting, the voice of that girl, Eirene Bennett?
"Open the door, if you open it now, you will not only have information but also save lives."
Bennett said calmly as if it didn't matter whether he opened it or not, but maybe if he didn't, she would get into more trouble. Luca just sat in a corner, not daring to take even one step. If there was any blame, blame this body that didn't dare to move! Luca just wanted to scream like that.
After a few seconds...
Seeing that Luca had no intention of opening the door, Bennett just sighed and continued running. After confirming that no one was standing there, Luca breathed a sigh of relief, but in his room, there were strange sounds like shaking, strange singing voices ringing out in a very barbaric way, while the content was that of a young girl.
Luca sat listening, his body trembling nonstop. Why didn't he choose someone but him? He heard 3 knocks on the door and then a voice rang out.
"Why didn't you choose me..."
"Tell me the reason..."
Luca is currently trying to run his brain through the information that he has in bold on the introduction board, such as performance, survival, entertaining the audience, and don't die too soon, killing, saving people, or discovering, consequences, actors, and audience. Could those things save him? Luca's neurons were running at full capacity; the fear from his mind was still there, but he still had an unfulfilled wish that he couldn't give up on.
Fear rose in Luca's eyes, burning hot as if he was staring straight at the sun. In front of him was that board, but it was completely different from what he had seen before.
[God X-1]
[You have activated the skill 'Touch Point', choose whether to use minor or major changes]
Luca looked at the screen, trembling as he pressed the small button. The purple sphere looked like it had lost too much blood, but it was actually due to fear.
[Current status… Loading…]
[Minor change: move the entity's attention for 3 seconds / change your fearful status for 10 seconds]
Luca quickly pressed the button to change your fearful status for 10 seconds, then the screen disappeared. His fear had also disappeared, his body felt lighter, and he quickly breathed evenly, using the precious 10 seconds to save his small body.
"Miss, if I said that he actually still remembered you, would you believe me?"
With just one word, he heard the knocking on the door getting faster and faster.
"Tell me where he is!?"
Luca saw that there were only 5 seconds left before the effect ended, and he started to feel his voice shaking, but Luca still tried to speak as fast as he could.
"He's going to come back soon, love is about patient right?
"He will come back."
She laughed incessantly, a long, terrifying grin that stretched from ear to ear, so horrifying it threatened to tear through skin as she walked through the other room. Luca slumped to the floor, his sweat turning into a puddle. He hugged himself, his eyes wide with terror.
SCARY!!!
...…
Luca stayed up all night, not daring to sleep even once, afraid that she would come to his room again. In the morning, his body automatically stood up and pulled him back to the dining table with those who had the same fate as him. Some looked tired, some looked normal.
What Luca noticed was Eirene Bennett. Honestly, if it weren't for how quickly the butler asked them to change into the employee clothes, then her appearance and luggage would have been quite eye-catching.
She had bright red hair, cut relatively short, and looked very messy and disheveled. Her hair looked wild, a little sloppy, standing up or curling around her face and neck. Her eyes were a striking feature with a unique pale pink hue. Aside from her maid outfit, she always carried a large, sturdy backpack on her back. It was made of canvas and thick leather, and could be seen filled with items such as a coiled rope, a wooden cup, and a brass and glass lantern.
Luca chose a seat, but Bennett asked the person sitting next to him, Isolde Mareen, or Mareen, and although he seemed puzzled, he still gave her the seat.
Bennett looked at him with a curious gaze while Luca felt very uncomfortable, being looked at was the feeling he hated the most, second only to the sudden fear of seeing horrible things.
His attention also shifted from her to that woman… their young mistress entered still wearing that white dress. Tonight, although no one died, she was still very calm and natural. It was just like Sol said the first day, so it was probably quite easy to say that no one was stupid enough to give up their lives, so this was quite understandable.
Everyone in the room calmed down and ate the food that the head butler had just brought up, ignoring the burnt smell from their mistress's body, except Luca, who still couldn't move his chopsticks in front of her. His mistress naturally liked this, although she didn't show it clearly, but she would intentionally look at Luca more, making Luca want to hide. With this special favor, everyone also paid more attention to Luca.
THIS WAS THE WORST THING!
That was what Luca thought in this case. Their meal was also finished quickly, and now the head butler entered like yesterday. He started to assign tasks to each person to go in groups.
After a while, the room was cleaned up like this:
[Mission:]
[Selene Arknight and Lyra Fontaine - 1st floor]
[Luca and Eirene Bennett - basement]
[Arven Lys Miriel - 2nd floor]
[Dorian Crestfall and Isolde Mareen - basement 2]
[Talon Rivenhart and Mireya Solberg - outside the garden]
...…
Luca walked while dodging Bennett and looking around, saying that cleaning without giving any cleaning tools was enough to understand that she just wanted them to scout the surrounding situation. Bennett, according to Luca's impression, acts before even thinking!
Bennett walked ahead of Luca. She opened any door she wanted and walked in, like last night when she went out alone to find information and was chased by her boss. Bennett stopped at a locked door with a bit of blood on the corner of the door; Luca had to look closely to see it.
"Hey, want to come in? It looks like there will be an answer."
Luca just stood there… he could tell something was wrong, his body was saying that, but he couldn't just stand there, so he nodded, and Bennett opened the door and walked inside. There was a warehouse. There were a lot of things stacked on top of each other.
"There's probably a lot of things we can't find in 2 hours."
Luca said while walking around and rummaging through the boxes. After all, it wasn't that scary inside, so Luca could still calmly help when needed. Bennett just stood there and smiled as she approached Luca.
"We need to check another room too, so let me do a quick math problem for you, okay?"
"We have to split up, one person to search this room and one person to search the other room. Finding clues in the other room could take about 40 minutes. The other side, checking the boxes, is estimated to take about 80 minutes or more."
"Here the boxes are of different sizes, and depending on the size/packing condition, we set the estimated value: Small box ~ 30 seconds to open and check is 0.5 minutes, Medium box ~ 60 seconds takes about 1 minute, and Large/difficult to open box: ~ 120 seconds is 2 minutes. We also do not know the ratio, so we use the average value, assuming: 1 box = 1 minute."
"In 80 minutes, we can check about 80 boxes. Since this place has 50 - 70 boxes, in theory, you or I can check all of them if we do not spend too much time walking, and each box takes an average of 1 minute."
Luca sighed, then looked at the girl who was intending to go out and find out the boring task of finding things for him because she probably liked to find out the mysteries from many sides rather than wasting time looking for simple things like this.
"Okay, I'll find the goods for you."
Bennett just smiled and walked out, leaving Luca there with the boxes scattered everywhere. Luca could only helplessly follow from high, middle, and low and then find the boxes. Of course, the boxes with blood or strange insides would be his priority.
...…
Selene Arknight and Lyra Fontaine: Selene Arknight is quite special, while Lyra Fontaine is rather plain, a girl with ordinary beauty, black hair, and black eyes, generally like someone you could meet anywhere. Both girls are in charge of the first floor and work together. Fontaine is still quite frightened by the situation, but not to the point of causing a disturbance. Arknight is quite confident, you could say so, although she is also scared.
What would being scared do to her? The two work quite quickly; after all, there's nothing particularly strange on the first floor. While walking, they meet the butler, who looks at them and speaks.
"Why didn't you bring tea and cakes to the mistress? Don't you know that it's time for the mistress to go out to the garden?"
The two girls just smiled and followed his instructions, but instead of taking the cakes, they just walked around the first floor. After all, it was his rule not to trust the staff. They had to trust themselves with these ears; he was definitely trying to trick them. Even though they were just two incompetent girls, they were still able to distinguish the signs of deception.
Fontaine grabbed the corner of Arknight's shirt, and the two of them walked around, as long as they didn't run into the butler.
"Should we go into his room?"
"No, we should just avoid him; he's not normal at all."
The two of them didn't know when they would run into him again, but this time, he just smiled.
"Why didn't you bring tea and cakes to the young lady? Don't you know that it's time for the young lady to go out to the garden?"
The two of them just nodded and ran back and forth, repeating this a few more times until Fontaine started to collapse and burst into tears.
"Did we get caught in some kind of loop!? I don't want to be stuck here!"
"Arknight, say something!"
Arknight was very calm. She gently patted Fontaine's head as if to comfort her, then looked at the butler who had appeared before them again.
"Fontaine, calm down, it's okay…"
Fontaine was trembling in fear, seemingly unable to calm down, which made Arknight quite uncomfortable, but she was still patient and looked at the butler.
"Isn't that your job? How would we know what the young lady likes?"
The butler was quite surprised that this time they decided to talk to him, as the fake surprise slowly changed to his calm face.
"This is a lesson and a test for you girls who are apprentice servants and will be here to serve the mistress in the future."
Fontaine looked at him with a little hope.
If we don't believe him, wouldn't that mean we'd be free? It means we could still survive and escape this cycle!
Arknight looked at the girl standing behind her with hope, but only smiled slightly, then looked at the butler, then led Fontaine to the kitchen, but stood in front of the door.
"What do you think we should do if we go in and do as he says? If we do, we can escape, but if we do, it will be counted as believing his words, but if we don't do it, we will be stuck here."
Fontaine looked around. She was also confused. Who would have thought that the first floor would be this creepy? She thought that the basement would be dangerous… but who would have thought that her guess was wrong?
Arknight just sighed and then walked into the kitchen to get the tea and the cake tray out. Fontaine also breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Arknight was unharmed.
"He just said that he would bring it to the mistress, so we just need to go to the first floor; we don't have to give it to her."
Fontaine's eyes lit up, not expecting her not to notice that detail. It was true that the girl in front of her was a very smart and calm person. She wanted to be like her, so she had to learn a lot!
The two of them walked together, and since getting the cake and tea, the butler had not appeared again, and now they just needed to find the door in this devilish wall. Fontaine knew she had little hope, but it was better than nothing, and she had Arknight by her side. The footsteps of the two people echoed throughout the space, and the sound of the wheels rolling on the floor, both inside and outside, was covered with roses. That was what Fontaine and Arknight noticed.
"I think there is a possibility that these roses are related to the person in the painting on the wall in the dining room."
"Really…?"
Fontaine asked innocently, and Arknight could only nod. Until they got close to the door, they suddenly saw the butler standing there looking at them. The two of them were only a few steps away from the exit door; just passing the butler would give them more information and increase their chances of survival.
"You guys are just like the mistress when she was in love… It's so nostalgic, but the rabbit only knows how to run away from the reality of tears."
Arknight could only smile wryly. This could also be important information about the past or the process of exploring their level, as mentioned in the previous level introduction. Fontaine was so eager to isolate himself that he immediately memorized all the information. Arknight just lightly glanced at the illusion, while Fontaine was startled and ran after it.
"Sister, how did you know he was an illusion?"
"I was just betting? Besides, his voice was so monotonous, it wasn't something a normal person would do."
"You're really good! I didn't even notice it."
Arknight just smiled and looked at Fontaine and patted her head.
"You'll believe me, right? Now we're the only ones who trust each other."
Arknight said as the two of them walked out of the first floor and were in the middle of the first and second floor elevators.
"I believe you, but anyway…"
Before she could finish, Fontaine was stabbed by a hand from nowhere, and so was Arknight. Both of them died on the spot… But Arknight slowly sat up and looked at Fontaine's body lying there and smiled.
"Newcomers are really naive to the point of being adorable."