The Attendant in the Horror Game C44

Chapter 44

“Gah…! Haa, huff….”

Jade clutched his chest and exhaled sharply. He had nearly wasted a skill with a twenty-four-hour cooldown—completely for nothing. If he had blown it here, he would’ve had to wait an entire day before trying again.

Clueless Soondol blinked his big, round eyes and tapped the doorknob with his paw, as if asking why Jade had shut the door. Deep scratch marks gouged the wood—evidence that Soondol had been scraping it in frustration. Which meant Jade would have to fix the door later.

“Myaak…! Myang!”

“Soondol, what.”

“Myaaaang.”

When Jade asked why he had tracked him down and scratched up the door, Soondol rubbed his belly with his paw. He wanted food.

Jade had shaken him awake multiple times that morning, but Soondol had just curled himself into a ball, hiding his face and snoring like a cat. When Jade asked if he wasn’t going to eat, he’d chirped myang, myang with gusto. A tyrant child—minus the actual need for food.

Soondol didn’t even need meals to survive. According to Ian, he might not even experience hunger at all. Jade, who rarely ever scolded the creature, felt a flicker of irritation for once.

“Feed yourself!”

“Myaak?!”

Ignoring the bristling Soondol, Jade slammed the door and spent the rest of the day in the bathroom. Even so, guilt eventually crept in and he slipped Soondol a carrot slice before returning.

He tried every bathroom in the villa—guessing this particular one might not appeal to the wraith. Eventually he even used the chance while Ian was in the study to camp out in Ian’s private bathroom. But all efforts failed. He wasted the entire day.

The next morning, Jade became even more determined. Before dawn, he cooked potato stew, potato salad, and potato fries—enough to feed everyone from morning to night. With that much food prepared, no one should have reason to interrupt him.

He even retrieved the rotting meat he’d saved for bait. Wraith or not, the blind servant behaved and sounded close enough to a zombie that Jade figured rotten meat would be appealing.

Armed with rotten meat and his wooden club, Jade positioned himself in the center of the underground passage where he’d first encountered the wraith.

Old places proved reliable—maybe the same spot would lure it out again. All three stairwells converged here; he couldn’t miss it.

Now it was a battle against himself. He had to endure monotony and sleepiness. After one hour, then two, his legs cramped painfully. For someone like Jade—always busy, always moving—sitting idle like this was torment.

Scraape. Scritch-scritch.

As if responding to his patience, a faint rustling echoed through the passage after several hours. The sound wasn’t the same as the blind servant’s…but long waiting dulled judgment.

It’s here.

“Fire—!”

The skill name burst from his mouth in excitement. Only the final syllable remained—ball. Thank goodness he didn’t say it.

“Kki-ae.”

Jade’s grip on the club slackened. The visitor today was the mop ghost.

The mop ghost flailed its rag mop head, miming wiping sweat off its nonexistent brow. Ever since living with people, it had started imitating them in strange ways.

“Why are you even here?”

“Kki-aae, kki-ae.”

It wiggled like a fat caterpillar, clearly trying to complain. It even mimed scrubbing the floor.

Now that he thought about it, the mop ghost had been given a heavy workload recently: floors, stairs, even the dining table. It shouldn’t have had time to slack off like this.

“What? Why? Did you even clean the table?!”

“Kki-aaae!”

It squealed and shook violently, even flipping over and rolling like a ball. Definitely something it had learned from Soondol.

Watching the mop ghost’s dramatics, Jade realized it had come to protest. True, the past few days Jade had been neglecting villa chores—between his injured arm and the wraith hunt. Tasks piled up. The ghost must’ve been silently suffering.

“You. Do you not know what ‘obedience’ means? It means obey every order without complaint. Hurry up and go back!”

“Kki-ae!”

The mop ghost flinched at the word obedience but mustered the courage to continue protesting anyway. But Jade had a trump card.

“If you hadn’t broken the broom, I’d be doing all the cleaning myself!”

Normally Jade was known for being too chill—too forgiving—but this one grudge never faded.

The mop ghost wilted instantly. It knew that incident had been its fault. Jade didn’t even need to use any humiliating commands today.

“Kki…ae…”

Sulking, the mop ghost dragged its rag behind it as it slumped out of the passage.

“I’m going to inspect it later! If I find even one speck of dust—just you wait!”

“Kki-ae…”

It didn’t even glance back, shuffling away in shame. Even after all this time living together, sometimes it got bold like that. But it had answered, which meant it would clean properly. The mop ghost took great pride in being the villa’s butler.

“Ha… my pathetic life.”

Jade plopped onto the cold floor, sitting cross-legged. The endless waiting resumed.

He hummed random songs, wondered why the shadow wolf didn’t drop any materials, wondered what books Ian read every day… and slowly the brave hunter posture dissolved into a dozing man slumped against the wall.

“Ow…”

He jerked awake after slamming his forehead against the wall. The passage had no windows, but judging by his hunger, it must’ve been evening.

Tap, tap, tock.

Footsteps echoed from the villa stairway. Probably Soondol again. Jade didn’t understand why the creature was so obsessed with meals when it didn’t need to eat.

He normally adored Soondol’s enthusiasm for food, but right now, exhaustion made him sigh. He had even cooked dinner early—no reason anyone should be bothering him.

“What now! Why! Stop coming down here, you little brat!”

Jade snapped irritably.

But it wasn’t Soondol.

“Jade…?”

Ian stepped around the corner—rumpled, slightly dirty, with fluffy bed hair. His pajama buttons were mismatched, making him look fragile and pitiful.

“Oh—Ian. I’m sorry. That wasn’t directed at you. What’s wrong?”

“You seem busy today.”

When Jade approached, Ian lowered his eyes, voice small and subdued. His long lashes drooped forlornly. Jade noticed his fidgeting hands—and the storybook held between them.

“Oh…!”

He must’ve dozed off far longer than he thought. Jade was always the one who picked out the bedtime story. But he hadn’t come, so Ian must’ve chosen a book himself and gone looking for him.

“It’s already night?”

“…Yes.”

Ian’s voice was tiny. He tapped the floor with his foot, looking utterly dejected. Jade’s heart melted instantly.

“Myaang…”

Seeing Jade soften, Soondol hesitantly peeked out from behind Ian. He’d been watching Jade closely since yesterday, wary of his foul mood.

Normally, Soondol spent the entire day following Jade around. Being pushed away for two days must have left him bored and lonely. Guilt twisted in Jade’s chest.

“I’m sorry. I’ve been neglecting both of you.”

“It’s fine.”

“Have you eaten?”

“…Not yet.”

“Whaaat? You haven’t eaten at all? Come on—let’s go up right now.”

Ian rubbed his eyes, insisting he was fine, but his small, forlorn figure made Jade panic.

“Myang…”

Soondol watched them both, eyes flicking back and forth.

And Soondol had seen everything. He’d watched Ian stare coldly at the fully prepared dinner table before turning away. He’d watched Ian purposely mismatch his pajama buttons and mess his own hair. As for the storybook—Ian had grabbed one without even looking at the cover.

‘What a terrifying human.’

Jade always told Soondol to get along with Ian, but honestly—what about Jade? He never scolded that sly little fox but always scolded him. It was unfair.

“Let’s go upstairs and get ready for bed. Come on, Soondol.”

Jade guided both of them out of the passage.

“……”

“Myaang…”

And Soondol saw it again—the cold, sideways glance Ian shot him while walking beside Jade.

Soondol folded his arms and put distance between them. Only then did Ian’s icy gaze fade.

Truly—an infuriating human.