Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Red Woman #1
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"Gasp!"
The moment I opened my eyes, I clutched my neck.
"Shit! My neck!"
I frantically felt around everywhere, but there wasn't a single hole. There should have been a hole punched right through my throat, right? The sensation of blood gushing out in spurts was still vivid.
"Huff, huff!"
What the hell was that woman? She just up and bit my neck out of nowhere? Like some crazy bitch vampire sucking my blood?
"Vampire?"
I'd seen something like that written somewhere... No.
Wait.
"...?"
What the hell is going on?
In my confusion, I struck a pose to assess the situation—rubbing my index finger against my lips like I was brushing my teeth furiously.
Unless I'd gotten blackout drunk somewhere and passed out dreaming, I'd tried to cross the street via the subway stairs, run into some suspicious woman trapped in a shuttered entrance, kindly helped her out despite the red flags, and then gotten my throat torn out and died.
"Died?"
If I died, then why am I standing here?
Nothing added up.
The logical conclusion from all this.
I'd gotten drunk, dozed off for a bit.
"Yeah. That's it. Let's go home."
Still, since I'd had that ominous dream, I wasn't going down there. I'd just head outside and use the crosswalk. Jaywalking in the dead of night with no one around sounded like a fun experience.
As I turned with that thought—
"Sh-shit... What the hell is this?"
The subway entrance was blocked.
Something utterly ominous. A sticky, unknowable... red mist like fog walled off the entrance completely.
In this abnormal situation, something began to creep up from the deepest pit of my heart.
Fear.
The chilling possibility that the bizarre event I'd just experienced might actually be real.
I touched the mist, but it wouldn't break or push aside. I couldn't get out of here.
A scene utterly devoid of any sense of reality. Some kind of blood fog blocking the way—what was this, a horror game?
"Game?"
That thought brought back what I'd glimpsed earlier. Definitely some kind of game message window... And the moment I thought that—
[Whoosh.]
A status window popped up right in front of me...!
The instant I faced this game-like situation, my anxiety spiked to the max. It was absurd, but I'd read plenty of comics and novels in my life—I knew what this meant. A status window appearing in front of you was just code for "you're fucked."
I swung my hand to touch it, but it didn't connect. I squeezed my eyes shut tight and opened them again, but it wouldn't go away.
This wasn't a dream.
"Loop...? Death Count?"
From the looks of it, I'd definitely died once. And something about advancing to the next loop, which meant I'd died and come back to life?
No. This seemed more like turning back time after death. Like some kind of regression.
Overwhelming information flooded in, but I was too disoriented to know what to do.
If I'd really looped back, that meant there was a vampire down there. The subway entrance was blocked by blood mist right now—what the hell was I supposed to do to escape?
Did I need to make some big resolution?
As I racked my brain to the limit—
"I know everything that's down there."
"Gasp!"
A voice came from below!
"Come here."
"W-wait!"
No!
If I went down there, I'd die again!
I brainwashed myself: no matter what, I wouldn't go down there. Yeah. I'd just hold out until morning. Spend the night right here. She was the idiot trapped in the shutter in the first place.
A vampire couldn't be rampaging in the morning light.
If it could, we'd have had a vampire apocalypse by now. She was stuck down there, which was why she was begging like this.
"But whyyy!"
Were my legs moving on their own?!
Like obeying some command, even as I tried to collapse, they kept descending the stairs. Had I been hit with hypnosis or something?
And then I faced the blonde vampire again.
"Hi?"
"Huff, huff!"
I remembered that woman's mouth torn all the way to her ears. And those vicious fangs plunged into my neck—every bit of it.
Terror welled up so fiercely I felt like puking.
I don't want to die...!
This couldn't happen. I had to snap out of it. They say even if you're dragged into a tiger's den, keep your wits and you'll find an opportunity.
"Hmm, am I scary? Did you sense something?"
A voice tinged with curiosity. Was this a different conversation from last time?
"Whatever. Look, as you can see, I'm trapped here. Could you open this up for me?"
Just like before, the vampire slipped her hand through the shutter slats and offered the key.
One realization here.
1. The vampire couldn't open the shutter and get out on her own.
That's why she was begging me like this. As long as I didn't open it, there'd be no problem.
"Come on, open it."
"No, fuck...!"
But my body was moving again!
Just like how my legs had carried me down the stairs against my will, my hand snatched the key on its own.
"Hurry."
The vampire's eyes gleamed brightly.
Staring into them, I couldn't resist.
Which meant...
2. The vampire had hypnosis powers!
Even if I didn't want to open the shutter, hypnosis would force me to. So how do I avoid the hypnosis? I'd gotten caught even from the top of the stairs last time.
"No, no!"
I couldn't die like this!
I had to struggle to survive. I fought to stop my movements.
The hypnosis didn't turn me into a complete slave. If I forced it, I could interrupt the motions somewhat. But it wasn't a fundamental solution.
"Hehe, I'm just asking you to unlock it—why resist so hard? Did you sense something?"
"Shut up!"
Yes!
I'd figured it out!
The way not to open it!
"Urgh!"
"Huh?"
I summoned every ounce of strength to halt my feet and forcibly raise my hand. It felt like pulling a 500kg barbell.
Then.
"Hup!"
I shoved the key into my mouth and swallowed!
[Gulp!]
The vile metallic taste stimulated my throat, nearly making me puke, but thinking of it as desperate survival let me force it down.
"Huff, huff! Yes! I'm safe! Safe now!"
Swallowing the key made me feel like I'd finally survived, easing my mind a bit. Want to use me to open the shutter? Too bad—I'd eaten the damn key. What now?
Just hold out like this, and it was over.
"How's that!"
I looked at the vampire with brimming confidence.
"..."
Her face was expressionless.
Not a hint of emotion.
"H-ha... Can't open it now, right?"
Th-this fucking...
Why stare at me like that? It's terrifying.
"You swallowed it?"
"Yes?"
"What did you think I'd do?"
An icily cold voice.
"Wh-what are you gonna do?"
Fear bloomed anew as I spoke.
Please.
Let nothing happen.
But the vampire's words were ominously grim.
"Something like this."
"Oh."
Her eyes glowed even brighter. Red light devoured my world, and I felt the hypnosis intensify.
"N-no... No... No! Nooooo!"
My hand moved on its own.
The hand that had stroked my neck slid downward. To my solar plexus. Then my abdomen. The hand on my belly wriggled like a slimy, elongated sea creature burrowing into a carcass, tearing into my flesh.
"Gaaah! Ack, kahaaah!"
I was already rolling on the ground.
I couldn't stop my hand's movements—my own hand, nothing more. With some incomprehensible force, it ripped and shredded my flesh. Then plunged inside, gouging my innards.
And so.
"No, no... Keh!"
I...
Ripped open my own stomach.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Aaaah! Aaaah! Aaah, aaaah!"
Insane agony tore through my gut. Clutching my stomach, I could only scream and thrash wildly.
"Fuck! Fuuuuck! Aaaah!"
Me!
I'd stabbed and ripped my own belly with my own hands and died! Yanked out my guts, tore them apart, retrieved the key, and unlocked the shutter!
"Urk! Uuuurk!"
Along with the pain came an unimaginable foreign sensation. I vomited up everything inside me.
It was like the nausea and horror from stumbling across a gruesome factory accident video online, amplified hundreds of times. All of it swirled together, scrambling my mind.
"Gehek..."
After puking and rolling around screaming, I realized my condition was a total wreck.
"Ugh, fuck, fuck...! Why me!"
Why was I caught up in this shit?
I just wanted to go home.
And this wasn't even my first death. Counting up to just now, I'd died twice total, and with that "restarting" message, I was back at this goddamn subway entrance.
Blocked by blood mist—I couldn't even leave!
I couldn't resist the hypnosis either!
I was doomed to be murdered by that vampire here forever! Regression was this fucking awful?!
"All done?"
The voice from below hit the moment—
"You fucking...!"
I'd been losing it, but now I stood and started descending the stairs again.
"No! Nooo!"
Terror of death. No—terror of pain beyond death drove me insane. My whole body trembled violently, every impulse screaming to flee, to scream.
I couldn't go down there. I had to move somehow.
[Thud crash!]
I tripped and tumbled down the stairs, but reality was merciless. Hypnotized, I crawled back up, stood, and walked straight to the vampire.
I could see her face down there.
"Did something bad happen? You seem really drunk."
"Please!!"
"Hm?"
"Please, please spare me!!!"
I slammed my head down and begged.