Chapter 10
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“Sister, are you really just going to keep listening to that nonsense?”
I’d rather just keep listening...
I covered my face with both hands and sniffled as Moran gently but firmly reprimanded Halloway.
“Halloway. You’re still a child, so you might not understand yet. However, no matter how gravely one has erred, a person’s life must never be treated lightly.”
There was no point in saying something like that to the irredeemable final boss.
I was wallowing in despair for a moment when the window began flashing, urging me to make a choice as if the time limit had run out.
Holding back tears, I decided to choose option 1, the least terrible choice.
If I picked option 2, Halloway looked like the type who would throw me into a monster’s lair and run off.
As for option 3, he’d probably beat me with a club even worse than a goblin’s just because I dared to curse at him...
...Life really wasn’t easy.
With no real choice, I reluctantly pressed option 1.
My shoulders straightened on their own, and my hand moved to pound against my chest.
“That’s exactly the kind of person I am!”
The answer came quite a while later, but there was no way the two of them wouldn’t know what question I was answering.
An awkward silence settled over the room.
Then Moran let out an obvious, heavy sigh.
Looking at me as though I were even more childish than Halloway, she reproached me.
“...Miss Evelyn, this isn’t the time to joke around.”
“Moran, I don’t have the peace of mind to sit here and listen to your lecture.”
Forcing my embarrassment aside, I stood up.
“I’ll go by myself if I have to.”
Moran looked at me with a conflicted expression before speaking with regret.
“Miss Evelyn, you’ve changed...”
“When you’re pushed into a situation this extreme, you don’t have much choice.”
Before Halloway could follow me, I hurriedly opened the door.
Sure enough, Halloway trailed right behind me, as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
Moran grabbed Halloway and held him back.
“Let go!”
Whether Halloway struggled or not, Moran only hugged him tighter. Looking at me with reproach, she cried out, “Are you really going to leave the two of us behind?”
Yes!
I answered enthusiastically in my head, though I didn’t let it show on my face.
This time, Moran changed her approach and tried to reason with me instead.
“Miss Evelyn, stubbornness won’t help anyone. I won’t tell anyone else, so you should stop.”
I didn’t particularly care if she told other people.
No matter what Moran said, there was no way I would pass up the chance to get away from Halloway.
“Someone as unstable as me isn’t the right person. You’re better suited for it, Moran. Please take care of Halloway.”
I gave Halloway one last look, one meant to seem full of tender feeling, then shut the door and walked out.
I had to at least pretend to care about him a little so he wouldn’t think I’d abandoned him.
The empty hallway was silent.
At last, I had some time to myself.
Without wasting a second, I sprinted straight down the corridor.
First, I need to find an exit and get the revolver!
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Halloway tried to go after Evelyn, but Moran held on to him and refused to let go.
She grabbed Halloway by the shoulders and turned him to face her.
His body trembled ever so slightly. Even though he tried to hide it, he seemed frightened by the current situation.
Even so, Moran spoke to him in a firm, composed voice, trying to reason with him.
“Halloway, she already left us behind, so wouldn’t it be better not to chase after her? I would never leave you behind.”
Her resolute demeanor was reassuring enough, but Halloway felt nothing in particular.
More than anything, something about her words bothered him.
It sounded as though she were saying that Evelyn was someone who had abandoned him and walked away.
But her gentle smile and tender touch always managed to smooth over even that strangeness, until it was as if it were never there at all.
“…...”
It might have been different if it were anyone else, but there was no way Halloway, who had lived many times longer than any human, could have failed to notice that.
Not a single emotion showed on his face as he looked at Moran.
Anyone else might have found that chilling, yet Moran seemed oblivious to the strange atmosphere and continued holding on to Halloway.
How irritating.
Since Evelyn was no longer around, killing her outright did not seem like a bad option.
But before that.
Halloway snapped his fingers, discreetly, where no one could see.
Black smoke curled around his fingertips, and from outside, which had been silent until then, a tremendous crash suddenly rang out, as though something massive had fallen.
Then he traced a small circle with his index finger.
As if he had finished what he needed to do, the black smoke around his fingertips slowly dissipated.
Just as Halloway was about to extend a hand filled with killing intent toward Moran after finishing his task—
Bang!
“Huff, huff...!”
Evelyn burst back into the room, her face deathly pale.
Moran’s cheek twitched ever so slightly.
Halloway lowered the hand he had raised.
He shook off Moran’s grip and ran straight to Evelyn, throwing his arms around her.
“Sister!”
She had returned sooner than he had expected, but Halloway welcomed her gladly.
As she caught her breath, Evelyn reflexively wrapped her arms around Halloway when he suddenly threw himself into her embrace.
Feigning ignorance toward Moran’s conflicted expression, Evelyn screamed inwardly.
Evelyn tried to run away, but the seeker showed up in the direction she was heading.
She tried to flee in the opposite direction, but the floor suddenly gave way, so she couldn’t go that way either.
She tried to enter a room other than the one Moran was in, but every single door was locked, leaving her with no choice but to come back to this room.
Why... Why are all the room doors locked?!
Evelyn cried out in silent despair.
Was this part of the game too?
Completely unaware that every bit of this had been Halloway’s doing, Evelyn wept bitter, helpless tears inside.
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“Miss Evelyn, weren’t you leaving?”
It was embarrassing, but I didn’t have the luxury of answering that right now.
I pressed my index finger against my lips.
“Shh. There’s a monster outside.”
“What?”
Just as Moran asked—
Crash!
The sound of a wall collapsing came from nearby, followed by the faint voice of the seeker.
—“Not here!”
—“Not here, not here!”
The chillingly high-pitched voice sounded almost like that of a child.
Moran and I silently met each other’s eyes at the horrifying sound.
When Moran called my name, her voice trembled.
Even in the game, Moran had always been far more timid than I was.
“Miss Evelyn...”
I didn’t push away Moran, who had pressed herself right up against me, and instead surveyed the room.
I already knew, from having gone out myself, that every nearby room was locked right now.
That meant even if we opened the door and ran, we’d be caught almost immediately.
In that case, we needed to find somewhere to hide within this very room.
There was nowhere to hide in the bathroom, and under the bed was too risky.
There was a wardrobe, but hiding there was almost as bad as hiding under the bed. We’d be discovered nine times out of ten!
No matter where we hid, it would only be a matter of time before we were found.
If we couldn’t get out, then we’d do the opposite. We’d hide in the wardrobe, and the moment the door opened, we’d seize the opportunity to escape.
It wouldn’t be easy, but for now, it was our best option.
I pulled open the wardrobe.
There were quite a lot of clothes inside.
That much, at least, was a relief. They could help conceal our bodies.
I tried to put Halloway inside first, but he wrapped his arms tightly around my waist and shook his head.
“I want to stay beside you, Sister.”
“All right. Then Moran, you get in first. Hurry.”
“Y-yes!”
When it came to matters involving human life, Moran became unbelievably strict, but aside from that, she was as gentle and angelic as ever.
She was cooperative, too.
Although timid, Moran was a woman strong enough to sacrifice herself for others.
That was why, even though she had faced brushes with death on account of Evelyn, the game’s resident nuisance character, she never abandoned anyone.
Looking at it that way, Moran was, in fact, the most dependable person here, more than anyone else.
Moran settled into one corner of the wardrobe. Halloway went in next, and I squeezed into the middle last.
The moment I hurriedly shut the wardrobe door, the sound of a wall collapsing in the room right next door reached us, along with the shock of the tremor.
Perhaps because the monster was so close, Moran, thoroughly terrified, gripped my sleeve with an almost desperate strength.
“M-Miss Evelyn... i-if something happens... will you leave me behind?”
“Yes.”
Because that’s simply the kind of person I am.
After hearing my answer, delivered without the slightest hesitation, Moran fell silent.
Instead, Halloway asked, “Sister, what about me?”
“No.”
If I left you behind, I felt like I wouldn’t be able to deal with what came afterward...
I needed to be separated from Halloway under circumstances where it would happen naturally.
“Why?”
For some reason, Halloway’s voice sounded delighted.
“Well, because you’re a child who deserves to be protected.”
“You mean you’ll protect me? Not her, just me?”
“Yes.”
Moran, who had been quietly listening, asked cautiously, “...Miss Evelyn, were you deeply hurt by what happened earlier?”
“Yes.”
I was so f*cking pissed.
Just as I answered curtly—
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Hearts suddenly began popping into existence.
...What was this?
The hologram-like hearts floated upward one after another directly above Halloway’s head.
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[Halloway’s favorability has reached 2%! Congratulations!]
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[Favorability: 2%]
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It reached 2%...
Halloway’s favorability had gone up... again?
My eyes widened at the unexpected development.
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[Restricted Room No. 22, Room 205, “This Room Is Very Safe!” has been unlocked!]
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Just reaching 2% had unlocked a room.
I knew that raising Halloway’s favorability was supposed to be incredibly difficult.
That was why I had already given up on trying to increase it.
And yet, of all things, a room had been unlocked.
This was, without question, a setting that had never existed in ⟨The Child’s Secret⟩.
In the game, if a room was locked, you simply passed it by. If it was unlocked, you investigated it...
But a room, unlocked like this?
Then... could it be that the escape gate was inside one of the rooms that hadn’t been unlocked?
The moment that thought crossed my mind, every hair on my body stood on end.
As enormous as the hotel was, it naturally had a basement. But even in the game, going down there always triggered a [GAME OVER] screen and sent the player right back to the beginning.
It made no difference, no matter how much the player had built up their stats.
Whether entering in the early stage or the late stage in the game, it always ended the same way.
It never revealed how the death had occurred. The moment the player entered the basement, the screen simply turned dark crimson.
As if entry were strictly forbidden.
Don’t tell me... I was supposed to raise Halloway’s favorability before I could enter the basement?
Because I hadn’t increased Halloway’s favorability, I died the instant I went downstairs?
Given the way this game’s mechanics worked... with a difficulty this absurdly brutal, the escape gate had to be in the basement.
“Sister?”
I met Halloway’s eyes as he called to me.
Then does that mean...
If I wanted to escape, did that mean I had to do everything I could to seduce the final boss, who was smiling innocently as if he didn’t know a thing?!
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