Chapter 49
Chapter 49
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: The Mansion of Terror (2)
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"...s to get out of the room?"
Rafne spotted the phrase along with me and muttered it in a daze.
In front of the "s" were traces of deliberate erasure. You could feel the malice.
'Well, it's a variety show event, after all.'
For reference, the letter that goes before that "s" is "키". Put together, it's "kiss".
Of course, some characters try other combinations too.
In those cases, they get punched by Emily, creating a comedic vibe.
Anyway, a kiss does open the door.
But that's also a trap set by the production crew.
The real way to open the door is something else.
"Do a 's'? ...What could that be? Ken."
Fortunately, Rafne didn't seem to grasp the meaning yet.
Good. Then now, if I pretend to investigate the door naturally and slide the closed door open...
"A bed, ...and a table?"
That's when Rafne, who had been carefully scanning the surroundings, noticed something about the room's layout.
"...Ah."
And our eyes met.
"S-S-S-S-Se, Seeeex...!"
"No━!! No, Rafne!! It's not that, it's kiss! Kiss!! The room maker did that on purpose to mislead us!!"
I frantically waved my hands to correct her misunderstanding as Rafne's face flushed bright red and her eyes went wide.
Her face turned as red as if smoke were rising from it.
Ignoring my words—or pretending not to hear them—Rafne crept closer bit by bit.
"I-I'm fine with it...!"
"W-With what?"
"Even right here, I'm fine with it!"
"So what exactly are you talking about?!"
She panted roughly like a wild beast, placing her trembling hand on my chest.
Her moist eyes looked up at me, her cheeks flushed—whether from embarrassment or excitement.
A strange atmosphere began to flow.
"Ken...."
Rafne gently closed her eyes.
To her...
I...
"No, you just push that and it opens."
"...Huh?"
No matter what, I wasn't about to do something like that in a creepy mansion like this.
Of course, it'd be a lie to say I wasn't tempted at all.
Leaving the flustered Rafne behind, I approached the exit and slid the door sideways.
Click.
After feeling some strong resistance, the door slid smoothly open.
A sliding door.
It looked like a fancy hinged door with a rotating handle, but...
If you looked closely near the handle, it said:
[Slide sideways.]
In other words, the phrase "[...s to get out of the room]" above the door was the trap itself.
The production team's scheme to create a steamy mood among the characters.
Rafne stared blankly at the open door, then puffed out her cheeks in understanding and shouted.
"Y-You could've at least kissed me!"
So she did hear me say "kiss" earlier.
Rafne looked at me with teary eyes, full of dissatisfaction. She seemed upset that I hadn't even kissed her.
'...Did I hurt her feelings a little?'
We had kissed before, so it wouldn't be hard...
I approached Rafne, who had turned away sniffling, and lightly patted her shoulder.
She turned her pouty face toward me.
Seizing the moment, I pressed my lips to her forehead.
"...K-Ken."
"We're still outside here, so I figured this much was best."
Even though I'd done it myself, I suddenly felt embarrassed, my face heating up as I averted my eyes.
Poke.
Rafne then leaned into me lightly.
She seemed to have gotten over her anger with that.
"...Ken."
But the eyes Rafne turned up at me held that dark, scary look I'd seen before.
"Then when we get back to the tower, you'd better brace yourself."
"...Y-Yeah."
Thinking of the manly urges I'd have to hold back at the tower made my back shiver with a mix of embarrassment and chill.
And with that, we escaped the room.
After leaving the room and passing through a short hallway, another door appeared. Opening it revealed the mansion's hall.
"Did we come out first?"
"...Well, Ken opened the door right away."
"S-Sorry."
She still wasn't fully over it.
The hall mixed a luxurious vibe with an ominous one.
Looking back, the door we'd come from had turned into the mansion's front entrance.
With the front door as reference, stairs to the second floor were ahead, flanked by hallways leading to other rooms on either side.
Since we needed to move with the group first, we sat on the stairs and waited for the others.
A short while later.
Creeeak━.
The second pair out was Mary and Emily.
Unlike their tense faces when entering the mansion, they now averted their eyes from each other, faces flushed with embarrassment.
Spotting us as they looked around after opening the door...
"Ah, Ken! You're safe!"
"G-Good thing. As expected, same room as us...."
Realizing the missing others had been in their room too...
Halt.
They froze mid-sentence in unison.
Then, without a word, they rushed at me.
"W-W-Wait a sec...! So how did you and Rafne get out?! You didn't do it, did you?!"
"D-Did you k-kiss?! Or...!"
Coming from that kind of room naturally meant they'd followed the command, so it was reasonable to think that.
But I'd held back precisely because I worried about this.
I praised my past self for suppressing manly instincts.
"...Calm down. The command in that room was a trap. You just slide the door sideways."
"Yeah, Ken really didn't do anything and opened it right away."
Seeing Rafne's pouty, puffed-cheek reaction calmed their panic.
"I-I see. I thought..."
"So that's the trick. Impressive observation, Ken."
It wasn't anything impressive on my part; I just knew the answer.
...Wait a sec.
So if Mary and Emily got out...
"U-Um, how did you two get out, then?"
My blurted question made their calmed faces flush again, eyes widening.
"N-No!! It wasn't like that with Emily...!!"
"R-Right!! Really, no!! We just kissed cheeks!! On the cheeks, and the door opened!!"
So they did do cheeks.
Well, "kiss" doesn't have to mean lips only.
From their perspective, trying sequentially made sense. Cheeks worked first, apparently.
The game had no cheek-kiss scene, so I hadn't imagined it.
We with Rafne might've opened it with a forehead kiss too.
...More importantly, cheeks, huh.
Who did it to whom?
Emily.... or Mary?
"Ow?!"
"W-What are you imagining, you perv?!"
Excited and flushed Emily jabbed my side.
Imagination's free, they say.
Anyway, the safely emerged pair joined us on the stairs to wait for the rest.
Then.
Creeeak...
"Ah~! Everyone's here! So glad you're all safe!"
"What a peculiar mansion. Is this some kind of curse?"
The third pair out was Adrian and Alicia.
Unlike Emily and Mary earlier, they emerged brightly without a hint of awkwardness.
...Not the vibe of having kissed.
Did they figure out the trick?
"How'd you two get out?"
Emily voiced the same question first.
"Ah~! You mean se■?"
"No, kiss! Kiss!! And say it more politely!!"
A flustered shout from me made Alicia grin mischievously, chuckling like it was fun.
"Hehe, of course we know. Just teasing."
Mary turned away blushing at Alicia's bold words; Emily glanced aside.
"We used her hypnosis to create a fake memory of kissing. And the door opened."
"Hit the pretty boy senior with it—click!"
Alicia flashed a V-sign proudly at Adrian's explanation.
I see, hypnosis.
Tricking the group with hypnosis counts as valid, it seems.
...Wait, so Adrian has a memory of kissing Alicia now.
Yet he kept that smug smile.
How's he so nonchalant...?
"Only the seniors left now."
Emily confirmed, looking around.
As she said, just one team remained. ...Taking longer than expected.
After that, everyone sat on the stairs waiting for the last pair.
With so many people chattering away even in the mansion's eerie atmosphere, the mood lightened.
A brief wait later.
Creeeak...
The final two.
Siegfried and Elis emerged cautiously through the door.
"......"
"......"
Outside, they avoided each other's eyes, faces red.
Even the calm Siegfried covered his mouth with his arm, blushing.
Elis hid her flushed face with her hands, fidgeting her feet.
'They kissed...'
"They did it."
"Ooh~ They went for it."
"Youthful."
Emily, Alicia, and Adrian voiced the same thought as me.
Elis flinched at their voices and spotted us.
"Ah, ah~! You guys were here! Ah, aha ha. I thought we'd scattered agai—."
Then she noticed Alicia's lecherous grin and turned strawberry-red.
"W-Wh-What're those looks?! Why're you staring like that!!"
"Huh? Oh, just looks like you had a good time~"
"Don't talk like an old lady, you junior perv!!"
With Elis's embarrassed yell, everyone had safely cleared the mansion entry.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "...This is one massive padlock."
In the center of the mansion hall.
Once everyone gathered, Ken's group checked the next exit.
The apparent exit was another door between the paired stairs to the second floor.
A huge padlock hung on it.
'Key hunt this time, huh.'
Ken immediately grasped the task.
Search every open room in the mansion for a single key to unlock this door.
"Shall we split up and look?"
Having brought as many people as possible for cases like this, Ken checked with the others.
Some agreed, but...
"Th-Then we'd be alone? Kinda scary..."
Shivering Elis raised her hand as representative.
"If you're scared, pair up with someone. And no one's getting hurt, so don't worry."
This mini-event just built a spooky atmosphere—no real life-threatening horror game stuff.
No big issues unless you trip from fear.
"Th-Then... Zeke. Together?"
"Sure."
The scared ones found partners and joined the search.
"Ken... W-Wanna pair with me?"
"Ah, yeah. Scared, huh?"
"Ah! Me too then!"
"That'd lower efficiency. Rafne, you're with me."
Mary, trembling as she approached, and Rafne clinging to Ken at the sight.
But Emily pulled Rafne away from Ken.
"Waaah~! Keeen~!"
Ken waved cautiously to Rafne as she was dragged off holding hands.
Suddenly recalling something forgotten, Ken yelled to the dispersing group.
"Oh! Heads up—there might be fake stuff that triggers traumas!"
"Eek!"
"Why say that now━!!"
Mary whimpered, Elis shouted from afar.
Feeling sorry, Ken scratched his head awkwardly.
"Mm~ Rafne, see anything?"
"Uuu.... So mean, Emily.... I wanted to be with Ken too."
"We'll meet up after finding the key, so don't pout."
Emily, paired with Rafne, searched second-floor rooms.
Drawers in what looked like a study—empty one after another.
"...Nothing anywhere."
Minutes of striking out continued.
"Hey, Rafne. We've checked this room pretty good, so now..."
Emily turned after scouring every corner—and looked at Rafne.
There...
"...Kihihit. ...Kyahaha!"
"......Huh?"
Stood a long-haired woman holding scissors.