TFPOAHGIIP 02

Episode 2

I felt sick to my stomach. I had ended up back at the starting point again. To think I died this time too… A laugh escaped me, hollow and empty.

“What? If I die seven more times, I’ll be trapped in this game?”

Damn those bastard developers. No conscience at all. Couldn’t they at least lower the difficulty? What is this?

Sren’s programmed intelligence was completely unfair. Who would have thought he’d wait in total silence just to check if I would come out? I sighed at my pitiful situation, realizing I had to be even smarter than that.

I’m just an ordinary person. My IQ isn’t particularly high, I’m not great at games, and I’m not clever with underhanded tricks. So, this situation is nothing short of hopeless for me.

I ended up in this game on the day my younger brother, who was a horror game You Tuber, started a live stream. True to its reputation as a hellish difficulty game, my brother couldn’t even get past the early stages and eventually ended the stream in frustration. To calm down, he went out for drinks with friends.

Coincidentally, my parents were also out at a school reunion, so I was home alone, lounging on my bed reading a popular romance fantasy novel. It was around midnight.

That’s when I heard a sound from my brother’s room. Naturally, I thought he had come back and didn’t pay it any mind. But the sound of the door opening and closing kept repeating, as if someone was searching for something.

I couldn’t focus on my novel with the noise continuing. Finally annoyed, I got up to tell my brother to stop messing around. But when I opened my door, the living room was dark, as if no one had ever been there.

However, my brother’s door was slightly ajar. Back then, I still thought it was his prank. So, I opened it… and the monitor in his dark room suddenly flickered to life—click.

The game title was on the screen. In the background: an empty chair with loose ropes, a basement smeared entirely with blood. It was the horror game Hallucination of Tracker that my brother had been playing earlier.

“What the…? He didn’t even turn off his computer properly? Damn it, he scared me.”

So, I reached for the mouse and clicked the exit button. But something was strange. It clearly registered the click, but the game wouldn’t close.

“Huh? What’s wrong with this? Did it glitch? This screen is creepy as hell, why didn’t he shut it down properly?”

Feeling inexplicably scared, I tried to turn off the monitor instead of closing the game. But…

“What, what is this? Why won’t it turn off?”

No matter how many times I pressed the power button, the screen remained on. That’s when it happened. The mouse cursor moved on its own and clicked the game’s start button, didn’t it?

A chill ran down my entire body. Startled, I tapped the monitor and pressed the button on the computer tower to shut it down. It was useless. A quiet, eerie soundtrack began to play by my ear. As the tension-building sound dominated the room, my heart felt like it might stop.

The only source of light in the room was the monitor, and the thought of being alone in the darkness terrified me. I quickly got up to turn on the room light, but it wouldn’t turn on, as if it had burned out. Only then did I realize something bizarre was happening and tried to leave the room, but…

SLAM—!

As if anticipating my move, the door slammed shut hard, didn’t it? I tried desperately to open the closed door, but it wouldn’t budge, as if locked. Then, a grotesque laugh whispered in my ear, followed by a low, honeyed voice dripping with moisture.

—Rachel. What will you do if you’re caught already? I told you to hide well.

“Ugh…!”

I couldn’t breathe. That voice was so chilling. As my body trembled uncontrollably, his voice came again.

—Trembling like that won’t earn you any mercy. I win this round. Now, you’re ‘it’ for the next game.

W, what? Surely, he wasn’t talking to me?

—I’ll wait. For you to come find me.

I felt like someone was watching me. I thought if I didn’t get out of this room somehow, something terrible might happen. Frantically, I kept turning the doorknob, trying to escape.

—I’ll count to three, then we’ll start again.

His voice kept coming, relentless. The more I struggled, the closer it seemed.

—Close your eyes, cover your ears, shut your mouth… Before I can hear your breath.

Then, like a heart monitor’s warning beep, the sound echoed three times—beep, beep, beep. Instantly, my vision blurred into a bloody crimson. A faint metallic smell of blood filled the air. I couldn’t even scream. Just like that, I fell unconscious, unable to move a muscle.

When I regained consciousness, I was inside this game world. Since then, I’ve tried everything to escape, but the result is three deaths.

Deep darkness approached once again.

Dong, dong, dong— The clock tower’s bell tolled.

By now, I was familiar enough to count the seconds in my heart. Right on cue, the sound of footsteps, thump, thump, thump, gradually drew closer to me.

I couldn’t just keep waiting.

If I die seven more times, I’ll be trapped in this game world.

Honestly, it still doesn’t feel real. The fact that I’m here in the first place makes no sense… But I can’t even imagine what will happen if I ignore the warning.

Being trapped forever in this horror game world—how terrifying is that? If the genre had been different, maybe I wouldn’t be struggling so desperately to escape. I might have even enjoyed it. I don’t know if that threat is real or fake… I just wanted to live a normal life. I never dreamed of wealth or glory, but I wanted to live as ordinarily as anyone else.

To do that, I absolutely had to escape this game. With seven lives left, it was time to use my head and progress the story.

That damn Sren goes berserk whenever I try to escape, so what if I do the opposite?

The moment that thought crossed my mind, I untied the loose ropes. Before he could open the door and enter, I removed the blindfold and gag with my own hands. Then, I rushed toward the door and waited for Sren to open it.

Click— The sound of the doorknob turning echoed, and the moment he stepped into the room. Like a madwoman on a mission, I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him.

“Good morning! Sren!”

I didn’t forget to lift both my feet to weigh him down. Take that, you bastard. Revenge for killing me three times.

“……!”

Sren flinched in surprise. I laughed brightly and bit his earlobe.

“Sren, I missed you!”
“R-Ra… Rachel.”

When he was killing me, he acted like a madman, but now that I was being assertive, he blushed innocently.

“I was trying to surprise you, why did you come so late? Didn’t you miss me?”
“That’s not it…”
“Oh, did you find a more interesting plaything than me?”

My voice turned cold as I asked. I was just giving him a taste of his own medicine. For once, Sren looked flustered. But soon, he smiled leisurely, as usual, correcting my misunderstanding.

“You’re the only one for me. Rachel.”

Then, gently stroking the hair of the me in his arms, he whispered.

“You know that, right? That you’re the only one who drives me crazy.”

He was truly a formidable opponent. The air between us grew as tense as a tug-of-war. I didn’t want to show I was nervous, but his demeanor made me anxious. As I unconsciously gulped down dry saliva, his mysteriously pastel-like crimson eyes curved beautifully. And then…

“Ah…!”

In an instant, he pushed me against the wall. Before I could even resist, I was trapped in his embrace, unable to move. He narrowed the distance between us, as if about to kiss me, and whispered.

“You know, Rachel.”
“…Y-yes?”
“My heart has been racing so fast since earlier.”
“……!”
“As if you’re lying to me.”

The smile lingering at the corner of his mouth gradually faded. Simultaneously, my body stiffened. Anxiously meeting his gaze, he suddenly buried his face in the nape of my neck. The damp sensation of his tongue grazing my skin was vividly clear.

I couldn’t breathe. My heart raced even faster, and I tightly clutched his clothes. At that moment, a sharp pain spread through my body, and the strength drained from my legs.

“gh…!”

Sren had bitten my neck. As he chewed on the raw flesh, the pain brought heat to my eyes. Defenseless, I could only let out several moans. If I pushed him away recklessly, it seemed like he might kill me again.

This guy… What on earth is he? Is he actually a vampire? I never imagined I’d have my neck bitten and my blood sucked by him.

As all sorts of thoughts ran through my mind, Sren whispered in an even lower, husky voice.

“You’re in trouble.”
“……!”
“If you even think about trying to escape from me.”

It seems even thinking about it isn’t allowed. Clicking my tongue at his meticulousness, I felt my mind go blank.

What should I do? Was this attempt wrong too?

As I despaired and quietly pressed my lips together, Sren slowly lifted his head again. His blood-stained red lips added to the eeriness. Then, Sren grinned mischievously once more and said.

“But this was quite refreshing. I almost got fooled for real, you know. Rachel.”

The more fear filled my eyes, the more delighted he looked. Putting more strength into the hand gripping my thigh, he whispered.

“Maybe I should just mark you as mine like this?”