Surviving as an Idiot in a Horror Game

Chapter 3

Fortunately, the suspicion level didn’t rise again after I showed them a single act befitting the idiot young lady April.

Though the remaining 1% still bothered me, it was only 1%.

But I was more concerned that the execution threshold for suspicion level had been lowered.

As I remembered, you became a ‘provisional execution target’ only when the total suspicion level reached 80%.

That was when penalties would slowly begin, and at 90%, the execution event would occur.

—

‘Status window.’

I recalled what I had read in some game fantasy novels and called it out in my mind.

—

Error! No player information.

Tip. You cannot use the status window!

—

This meant that I wasn’t considered a player.

“Or it could mean that April isn’t a playable character like the heroine Yeniel or the villainess Evelyn.”

Either way, the fact remained that the threshold for execution due to suspicion had become stricter.

‘I’ll just have to be careful not to raise my suspicion level.’

Meanwhile, Evelyn and Yeniel seemed to realize that asking me any further questions was a waste of time, so they had already turned their attention elsewhere.

“Well, fine. There is some merit in what Lady Yeniel said. We can’t afford to waste time here, so we might as well cooperate to escape.”

Evelyn began to issue orders to Yeniel with a haughty expression.

“Since your status is lower than mine, you should just follow my instructions quietly. I’ll come up with the plan. The mansion is divided into the central, western, and eastern wings. Traditionally, the head of the household resides in the eastern wing. When we open the banquet hall door, we’ll use the eastern staircase to go down to the first floor.”

“No.”

“What?”

The surprised expression on Evelyn’s face was identical to the one from the game illustration.

Yeniel calmly expressed her opinion.

“When the banquet hall door opens, I will escort His Highness the Crown Prince and head to the western wing.”

It was then that I noticed the Crown Prince with his golden hair and crimson eyes standing next to Yeniel. Alongside him were his attendant and his advisor.

They were Yeniel’s fixed companions.

Evelyn, too, was standing with her arms crossed, backed by her cousin, Grand Duke Kyle, and her slave knight.

“The west? How absurd. That’s the direction used by servants and outsiders.”

“Precisely because it’s a place only used by the head of the household, the east might be more dangerous.”

“Hah, are you, a mere baroness, daring to contradict me? How dare you.”

Evelyn’s eyes flashed sharply.

The atmosphere was about to turn hostile when—

Thump. Thump thump.

Bang! Bang!

The walls and windows reverberated.

In “The Archmage’s Mansion”, monsters appeared in each segment and event.

The monster that appeared in the prologue was the *Shadow Monster*.

While people were glancing around, a huge shadow crawled out from beneath the banquet hall table.

Everyone was staring at the walls or windows, so no one was wary of their feet.

The shadow fell over several people. In an instant, it pulled in and devoured several of them.

“Aaaah!”

“Kyaaa!”

This monster, whose appearance wasn’t fully revealed, was notorious for the terrifying sounds that came from within the shadows.

From inside, screams mixed with the eerie sounds of things cracking and breaking echoed grotesquely.

Blood splattered outside the shadow, and people’s faces turned pale.

As if it were just getting started, the shadow monster, seeking its next prey, moved toward the feet of others.

Realizing that anyone could be next, people started to scream and scramble in panic.

“Move!”

They climbed onto the party tables, desperately trying to avoid the shadow.

Some pushes others away in their desperation to avoid being devoured.

“Help me!”

“No! Don’t come near me!”

One person, in a panic, pounded desperately on the banquet hall door and died.

‘Don’t feel sorry for them. It’s just part of the game….’

I tried to remain calm and observed my surroundings.

The shadow monster’s pattern wasn’t much different from when I played the game. It only rushed forward, paused briefly, rushed again, and paused.

However, there was one other way to avoid it besides running away.

Noticing this, Evelyn and her group were already leisurely avoiding it.

The heroine Yeniel shouted, seemingly trying to save everyone.

“Everyone, calm down! That monster has a pattern!”

If you stalled for time or held out in a safe spot, the event would end, the monster would disappear, and the banquet hall door would open.

“That monster can’t go to places where the chandelier lights are on, where there are no shadows. If you stay in shaded areas, you’ll be safe!”

Those who heard Yeniel’s shout ran out of breath.

In this urgent situation, no one particularly cared about the idiot young lady April.

Meanwhile, the shadow monster’s attention turned toward me and a few others nearby.

‘It’s so simple.’

With a few steps, I sidestepped the shadow that lunged toward me.

Finally, everyone had taken refuge in the shaded areas.

‘If possible, I should head toward Yeniel.’

What I needed to do now was to subtly and naturally attach myself to either Yeniel, the heroine, or Evelyn, the villainess.

As April, the idiot young lady.

Once everyone hid in the shadows, the shadow monster, realizing there was no prey left, slipped out under the crack of the banquet hall door.

However, the door didn’t open.

‘The event is over, so why?’

A memory flashed through my mind.

A memory of the first playthrough when I went through all sorts of bizarre things because of my brother’s requests.

—

“What? I have to keep moving for 10 minutes here? Ugh, what a hassle.”

“I’m telling you, the prologue is confirmed to have a hidden event. That monster—the shadow monster—gets faster over time, and you have to run for 10 minutes without ever stepping into the shadows. Please! I’ll buy you cheese balls.”

“With cheese powder sprinkled on top.”

—

A hidden event.

It was content that showed a hidden story or revealed a hidden monster if certain conditions were met. In some cases, it even enhanced existing monsters.

I recalled it, having forgotten about it because it was so tedious to control the shadow monster’s pattern for 10 minutes straight.

“Wait, do you hear something outside?”

The sound of something huge dragging itself was approaching.

Everyone, still tense under the shadows, looked toward the banquet hall door, worried the shadow monster might return.

The moment we sensed something approaching the banquet hall.

Bang! Bang!

Crunch—crack!

A tremendous noise resounded from the other side of the large door.

This was not the work of a human.

The debris from the door was being torn off from the outside.

Completely shattered fragments fell to the ground with a thud.

—

Are you there?

—

In front of the frozen crowd appeared a woman with grotesquely long limbs and a face the color of blue mud.

Her unnaturally long arms reached through the doorframe, as if trying to grab someone.

She wore an elegant dress, but her enormous size and the grin that reached the tips of her ears were far from human.

—

Come out, now.

—

The woman twisted her body, as if trying to crawl into the banquet hall.

Her face, with no eyes, just black holes, turned toward the interior of the hall.

The moment she saw the humans inside, the corners of her mouth stretched up to her ears.

—

Found you.

—

A chilling smile revealed dozens of sharp teeth embedded in her wide-open mouth, with blood oozing out.

Someone let out a choking gasp.

“Run!”

With Yeniel’s scream-like shout, chaos broke out.

The hallway stretched out long on either side.

Most of the survivors immediately fled to the central staircase, which was the closest and most visible.

I watched the heroine Yeniel and the villainess Evelyn as I ran along the path to avoid the female monster.

‘Yeniel, Yeniel. Found her.’

The game and the layout were the same.

Once outside the banquet hall, the building was indeed divided into the west, central, and east wings. There were staircases in each section.

You had to run down the corridor for a while to reach the stairs at either end.

Not knowing which was the west and which was the east, I had to follow Yeniel.

I saw Evelyn heading to one side with her fixed companions, the slave knight Yurell and her sly cousin, Grand Duke Kyle.

‘If I run to the opposite side, it should be the west wing.’

Yeniel was running with her fixed companions: the Crown Prince, his advisor Sian, and his attendant.

Although joining Evelyn would grant me a better status as the marquis’ daughter, I chose to follow Yeniel based on what I had seen in the banquet hall.

In the game, aside from the fixed companions, you could add one or two more characters as companions.

I should be able to squeeze in.

I ran away from the scene of people being devoured. Ignoring the screams and the loud noises behind me.

Before long, I saw the western staircase at the end of the hallway.

It was the staircase where Yeniel and her companions were.

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