The Attendant in the Horror Game C15

Chapter 15

Ten days had passed since Jade had fallen into the game. That meant he had survived in Ian’s hands without dying.

According to the original game’s storyline, he should have met his death exactly one week after arriving at the villa.

So on the seventh day, Jade waited for his fate with solemn resignation. After all, he hadn’t managed to earn Ian’s favor and had merely wasted time.

However, rather than trying to kill him, Ian had been busy avoiding him. Jade stayed alert, half expecting to die not by Ian’s hand but from some ridiculous accident, yet the day passed without incident.

For the next several days, Jade devoted himself to managing the villa. Perhaps because he had surpassed his designated death date, every task felt easier—as though he’d been granted a new life.

First, he cleaned the room next to Ian’s, which he’d had his eye on for some time. Just like he had done with Ian’s room, he brought in a bed from another chamber.

Finding an intact curtain was difficult even after checking every room, so he tore down one that looked decent and washed it several times. The blankets and pillows were also thoroughly laundered and dried. Finally, he moved in a table and nightstand; though the legs were uneven, adjusting them was a trivial matter.

Once he made his own quarters somewhat livable, he began redecorating Ian’s room.

He reinforced the loose window frames that let in cold drafts with wooden planks, covered the small table with a cloth, and brought in a sofa from the storage room, since Ian’s room was far larger than the others.

Next came the task of procuring ingredients. Of course, that still only meant mushrooms—but Jade worked hard to collect a variety of edible types.

Lv. 1. Identify Poisonous Mushrooms

EXP <<
175 / 1,000

The experience points displayed above his head were a testament to his efforts. Some might say the progress was meager, but that number was the result of thirty-five successful mushroom harvests.

Collecting mushrooms thirty-five times in the freezing snow was no small feat. Harvesting them four times a day had left him with a considerable surplus.

Now, even the system messages that appeared whenever he swept the floors made him smile. People truly were creatures of adaptation. The mocking tone of the floating text no longer irritated him as much.

Lv. 1. Apprentice Cleaner’s Hand Movements

EXP <<
1,620 / 2,000

Just a bit more, and his cleaning skill would reach the next level—perhaps tomorrow or the day after.

It was a pity that only sweeping with a broom counted toward experience. Still, there were plenty of places left to clean—stairs, the hall, the reception room—so leveling up was as easy as pie.

Before long, he would acquire Lv. 2. Gestures of the Skilled Cleaner. The name had sounded ridiculous at first, but now that it included the word “skilled,” it had a certain appeal. Perhaps it suited him perfectly.

“I’ll show you what a max-level housekeeper can do.”

That day, he planned to scrub the stairs and hallway. His motivation burned brightly—a newfound vigor born from surpassing the date of his predicted death.

“All I need to do is think of this as a healing retreat.”

Wherever he went, Jade adapted easily. Resilient and flexible, he recovered quickly from hardship. He decided to put that part of his personality to good use and accept his bizarre reality.

Once he made up his mind, there was nothing he couldn’t do. Ian clearly had no intention of killing him—for now, at least.

“I’m just on a trip. A little healing vacation.”

Come to think of it, before his death, Jade had never gone on a trip in his life. Since middle school, he had worked part-time delivering flyers and spent his years constantly busy just trying to survive. Even simple hobbies had been luxuries. He wouldn’t have played this game at all if a friend hadn’t given it to him.

After all, weren’t there people who paid to travel to freezing countries for leisure? Jade decided to imagine this villa as an old Finnish cabin—except, instead of Santa Claus, it was full of monsters.

A few more days of struggle, that’s all.

The villa had been difficult to manage at first, but once cleaned and organized, it wasn’t such a bad place to live. Even in the northern region, the snow wouldn’t last once spring and summer arrived.

“I’ll start farming! And buy flour!”

When the weather warmed, he planned to travel to the nearby village and purchase supplies. Until then, he intended to find things within the villa that could be sold. His goal was to trade the items for household necessities and ingredients—so he could try cooking a wider variety of meals.

Having lived alone for years, Jade’s cooking skills were remarkable, particularly his baking. During school breaks, he’d worked part-time at a bakery, secretly learning from the head baker until he could make several kinds of bread on his own.

His breads were so good that everyone praised them, and the baker himself had admired his talent, teaching him more advanced techniques. Before he ended up in this world, his dream had been to skip college and train as a professional baker—eventually opening his own bakery someday.

“I’ll make sure Ian eats bread that I baked myself.”

That much, he was certain of. Once Ian tasted his bread, he wouldn’t be able to bring himself to kill him—even if he later changed his mind.

Everything’s going smoothly so far.

Over the next few days, Jade laid out his plans. He would stay here as long as he could, then once the snow melted, leave the villa and settle in the village. He was healthy, after all—he could do any kind of work. In spring, finding a job would be much easier.

With enough money saved, he would open his own bakery and live peacefully.

For that dream of a healing life, survival was essential. He had to stay alive, and he had to maintain a good relationship with Ian. He was, after all, Ian’s servant.

Though things had been awkward between them lately, Jade wasn’t worried. His cooking would surely melt Ian’s heart again.

“When you’re young, you have to eat well.”

More than anything, it bothered Jade that Ian, still in his growth years, couldn’t enjoy a varied diet. Eating nothing but mushrooms every day surely stunted his growth. Judging by his small frame, he looked even younger than ten.

And, truthfully, Jade himself was tired of mushrooms.

He’d eaten mushrooms morning, noon, and night—no rice, no vegetables, nothing else. Just mushrooms. Recently, even roasting them made his stomach churn. Sometimes he got so irritated he wanted to throw them all away.

Carbohydrates. I need carbohydrates.

Even Soondol had started refusing them. When offered one, the little creature merely licked it half-heartedly and turned away. Jade couldn’t help envying how Soondol stayed plump despite barely eating.

How does Ian eat them every day without complaining?

It was baffling. Most kids his age were picky eaters, but Ian never once frowned or complained. He always remembered to thank Jade after each meal, too.

Maybe I should try boiling them next time…

He was scrubbing the stairs when he suddenly heard a strange noise from the corner of the upper hallway—a faint, unsettling sasa-sak-sak sound, like hundreds of insects crawling at once.

“Hm…?”

Jade’s hand, pressing the cloth against the stair rail, froze. The sound stopped immediately after. An eerie silence, slightly off-kilter, settled in the air.

“Could it be… cockroaches?”

“No, that can’t be right.”

If it were cockroaches, he wouldn’t have heard their movement this clearly. And honestly, he’d prefer it if it were insects—they were easy enough to kill.

But the sound had been too loud for bugs. It must have been something larger—small animal-sized at least.

“Soondol…?”

Jade called out to him on instinct. It would be a relief if it turned out Soondol was just playing around. His voice trembled slightly with unease.

He wasn’t easily frightened, but this sound was unlike anything he’d ever heard. Had it been something predictable, like a bug or a person, he wouldn’t have been nervous. But he couldn’t identify what was making the noise.

“You—you’re there, right? I know you are.”

Still, there was no way Soondol could have made that sound. He flew through the air, not crawled along surfaces. That noise could only come from something dragging itself across the ground—and Soondol had been napping in Jade’s room just moments ago.

Ssasasa—sasak—

The unpleasant sound came again. This time, from above. The hair on Jade’s arms stood on end. Straightening up from the stairs, he tilted his head toward the ceiling. He could hear something moving up there—but saw nothing.

Listening closely, Jade began to move toward the corner of the upper hallway where he’d first heard the noise.

“What is that…?”

At first, it had sounded distant. Given that he was on the third floor, the noise must have come from around the fifth floor—an area he’d never cleaned before.

“…”

Carefully approaching the corner, Jade swallowed hard. Then, steeling himself, he darted around the turn to catch whatever it was before it could flee.

What…?

But there was nothing there. Only a dusty floor he hadn’t yet cleaned and an old, cracked wall.

Ssasasa—sasasak.

The hairs at the back of his neck prickled sharply. The faint sound grew clear—it was coming from directly above him. Something was crawling across the ceiling.

The noise scraped unpleasantly against his ears, making his stomach twist. Slowly, Jade lifted his head, staring up at the ceiling. A bead of saliva slid down his throat as he swallowed hard.