He stretched out long and loose, shaking off the frustration of another failed clear.
Horror games had turned out to be a fairly satisfying hobby slash training regimen.
His body didn’t tire, and they helped sharpen his dynamic vision and reflexes. He’d also stopped screaming in shock every time something jumped out at him.
On top of that, given how liberally blood tended to gush in the genre, there was a chance it might even ease his hemophobia over time. It was a far-fetched hope, but entertaining it had made him grow increasingly fond of horror games.
The game he’d chosen today was a horror game called [Bloody Invitation].
The main story went as follows.
[The protagonist — Count Rigo Besadi (player character) — is invited to a secret seven-day banquet hosted by the Leveque Ducal House.
Day one. In the middle of enjoying the lavish party, the box that had been holding all the invitations at the entrance to the banquet hall is knocked over. When the servants examine them, strangely, one of the invitations is drenched entirely in blood instead of bearing an invitation message.
That night, a mysterious murder occurs.
Terrified, the guests attempt to leave the manor, but for some reason, every door and window in the building is locked and no one can get out.
From that point on, people continue to die, one after another. The host, Duke Leveque, has vanished without a trace. To make matters worse, both the people and the atmosphere of the manor grow increasingly bizarre.
Will the player be able to unravel the secrets of the manor and escape alive?]
…That was the premise. Naming it Bloody Invitation after its own plot — a very straightforward game.
And right now, he was absolutely furious at this damn game.
“There’s no answer. I die turning that corner? Then how am I supposed to clear it?”
It was the first game he’d ever beaten his head against this much.
Stages 0 through the banquet hall, Stage 1 on the upper floor, and Stage 2 in the annex had all gone smoothly enough.
The problem was the third stage.
Vicente Quentin — a marquis with blond hair and violet eyes.
The game used pixel art, so fine facial features weren’t visible, but according to the NPCs, he was said to be a breathtakingly beautiful man.
Vicente appears in the middle of the underground passage Jun descends immediately after clearing Stage 2, on the sixth day of the banquet.
He approaches with a benevolent smile, claiming he’s come to deliver news from the Pope and that following him will lead to escape from the manor.
A suspicious setup for anyone paying attention — but faced with the first glimmer of hope, the survivors let their guard down easily. Rather than being wary of Vicente, they grow excited at the thought of finally escaping the dreadful manor.
The people who have weathered hardships together follow Vicente’s guidance through the labyrinthine underground passage, anticipating their escape.
But the moment everyone reaches the end of the passage, Vicente’s true nature is revealed.
Vicente Quentin. A devout young marquis, and the warden who manages a prison secretly funded by the Holy See.
…And a mad scientist who uses his imprisoned inmates to create grotesque biological weapons and chimeras.
Vicente controls his chimeras to slaughter all the survivors, and attempts to kill even the player who barely escapes alone.
The chimeras’ weak point was the throat. Attacking anywhere other than the throat caused severed parts to reattach, dealing no damage whatsoever.
But even managing to target the throat and killing a few of them made no difference.
‘Because even when you kill them, new chimeras just keep coming…!’
No matter how many he took down, they swarmed endlessly. It appeared to be the kind of stage that only ended when the boss itself was eliminated.
Which meant the one who ultimately needed to die was… Vicente. The boss of Stage 3, the Underground Level.
“God damn it, you perverted freak…. What even is this?”
He hit pause and glared at the spider-man who had just killed him.
It had a human upper body, with eight legs attached in a circle — bent at a 90-degree angle as though seated in a chair. The way the legs were positioned looked exactly like a spider.
Vicente, that psychopathic bastard, had warped tastes even by chimera standards.
If you were going to make chimeras, at least make them look decent. He seemed to delight in unbalanced combinations — grafting humans onto animals, or assembling parts from multiple human bodies into animal shapes. The only consolation, perhaps, was that every last test subject had been a hardened criminal.
Anyway, true to his nature as a deranged pervert, Vicente appeared to have conducted self-experimentation on his own body as well.
This bastard’s severed limbs reattached themselves instantly, and even completely lost body parts regrew within seconds. It was a regenerative ability far superior to any chimera he’d created.
Meanwhile, judging by the number of empty slots in the game menu, it seemed the final boss was slated to appear in Stage 4.
Meaning, in order to so much as catch a glimpse of the final boss, Vicente would somehow have to be eliminated first….
“He really, truly won’t die.”
No matter what he tried, there was absolutely no killing Vicente.
Since Vicente’s physical capabilities were several times stronger than even his monstrous chimeras, a direct confrontation was out of the question. Even if he managed to shake off the chimeras and approach the man, he’d just end up getting taken down instead.
He’d barely managed to land an attack or two by catching gaps in the defense, but it was useless. Vicente recovered without a scratch within seconds.
“Haa….”
Was this actually designed to be cleared? Was there maybe some other escape route?
He sighed and shut the computer down.
He couldn’t do any more today. He’d spent half his day off glued to this game and his eyes were dry and stiff enough to wring out a tear or two.
He flopped down onto the bed and searched [Bloody Invitation] on his phone.
He wasn’t the type to look up spoilers or guides before playing, but this particular game seemed impossible to clear without tips, so he had no choice.
……?
Two hours of scouring the internet, however, turned up not a single walkthrough.
Nothing at all — even after all that searching. The dated design and broken graphics had prepared him for it, but the game appeared to be far older than he’d expected.
Where had he even downloaded this game from?
He couldn’t remember at all. He’d just stumbled across it in a folder on his computer that morning.
He’d assumed he must have downloaded it at some point and forgotten about it, so he hadn’t thought much of it. But turning it over in his mind now, it struck him as strange.
“…What on earth kind of game is this?”
He racked his brain but came up empty. Maybe because he’d been staring at the game all day, his head was throbbing for no good reason.
“Forget it. I’m going to sleep.”
He yawned a long, lazy yawn and pulled the blanket up.
It was late at night now. Outside the window, a thick black darkness had settled in. He needed to sleep now if he wanted a clear head for work tomorrow.
Tomorrow was the day he had to handle the vice president of a trading company who had been caught taking bribes and leaking company secrets. He’d prepared a poisoning — his specialty — so there was no risk of fainting at the sight of blood.
Finish it quickly, come home, and beat this game tomorrow without fail. He made the resolution and closed his eyes.
How long had he been asleep?
He heard birds chirping near his ear. A pleasant breeze brushed against his cheek.
…A breeze? This was indoors.
He slowly opened his eyelids. An unfamiliar elderly gentleman was looking at him with a kind smile.
White hair, a tailcoat, white cotton gloves, a monocle. He was on the verge of startlement at the textbook butler straight out of a film, when the elderly gentleman opened his mouth.
“You must be the tutor they said was arriving. Welcome.”
“……Pardon?”
With a half-asleep mind, he looked around in a daze.
A breeze swept past him and — inexplicably — he truly was outdoors. What’s more, he’d just been lying in bed, yet he was standing upright.
“Is something the matter?”
The elderly gentleman’s question reached him, but he had no presence of mind to reply.
That was because a blinking notification window had just flashed open in front of his eyes.
[Bloody Invitation]
A notification window he’d only ever seen on a computer screen — here, in reality, floating in midair.
Before he even had the chance to process the absurd situation, letters began appearing one by one across the window.
[Would you like to proceed with the Tutorial?]
[YES / YES]
…Huh?
Blink — he opened his eyes.
The moment he came out of unconsciousness, his memories of everything since arriving at the manor played through his mind in rapid succession.
Standing before the manor gates, he’d spotted a notification window floating in the air. Struck by an intense gut instinct that he absolutely must pretend not to see that strange thing no matter what, he’d immediately fixed his gaze on the ground.
With his neck nearly snapping from staring so hard at the floor, he’d been guided into the manor lobby by the butler. The maid, in a relay-like handoff, then received her instructions and led him to this room.
A crow, its skull crushed, had slammed into the window as if heralding an omen — and he, in a moment of carelessness, had taken a long look at its blood, passed out for a few minutes, and woken up just now.
Mm.
Having passed out once, his mind had grown strangely calm.
No matter how hard he tried to deny it, there was only one answer.
The words ‘Bloody Invitation’, ‘Tutorial’, ‘Loading’ — all visible the moment he’d opened his eyes in front of the manor. The status window floating in midair, stripped of reality entirely, in a way that couldn’t be explained as someone’s prank.
The manor’s name was ‘Leveque Manor.’ Its owner, likewise, was Duke Leveque. The exact same names as those in the game he’d played.
A sensation too vivid to be a dream, telling him this was real.
This was the real thing. He had entered the game.
Of all things — a horror game he hadn’t even finished clearing.
“…Haa…….”
He heaved a sigh deep enough to sink the floor and collected his thoughts with composure.
No matter how desperately he tried to look the other way, the events would still unfold. There wasn’t really any other option available to him in this situation.
He had no choice but to face it head-on.
[W E L C O M E !]
[Commencing Tutorial.]
The moment his gaze landed on it, the notification window sparkled as if it had been waiting. The spreading burst of light was cheerful in a way thoroughly unbefitting a horror game, and a hollow laugh escaped him. Happy about this, are you? Apparently so.
Regardless of whatever expression he wore, the wretched status window flickered and produced new letters.
[~ Tutorial ~ Banquet Preparations]
[Days Until Banquet Start … 10]
“Ten days?”
A dumbstruck question slipped out.
Starting ten days before the banquet. The in-game starting point for Bloody Invitation had been fixed to the first day of the banquet.
Are they giving me an adjustment period or something? Before he could even begin to sort through his rising questions, a thin, translucent bar-shaped rectangle appeared at the bottom of his vision.
[ Quest │ Status │ Relations │ Skills │ Inventory (Locked) ]
It looked exactly like the in-game menu bar.
How am I supposed to select things. Do I just say them out loud.
“…Quest.”
……
Silence.
“Status? Relations?”
……
Damn it.
He was alone in the room, yet he felt somehow embarrassed. He irritably flailed his hand in no particular direction.
What on earth am I supposed to do……
[Quest]
└Know Your Enemy, Know Yourself
Why not start by checking the belongings you brought?
Completion Reward: ???
└Find a Weapon
Let’s find a way to protect yourself. (0/3)
Completion Reward: ???
└Make a Friend
Try making a precious friend. (0/3)
Completion Reward: ???
“Oh.”
The moment his fingertips grazed [Quest], a long window scrolled open.
…It was touch-controlled, apparently. He scrutinized the quest window with a look that could only be described as petulant.
“Oh… it really is the actual game.”
Though the starting point differed from the playthrough in his memory, the tutorial quest titles at least were all familiar — identical to what he’d played.
He tapped ‘Know Your Enemy, Know Yourself.’
At that, a vivid blue light spread from the entrance of the room. His luggage bag was glowing.
As with most games, the tutorial quests in Bloody Invitation covered the basics for getting a feel for the game.
He opened the luggage bag. Inside: a grayish-brown goatskin pouch that appeared to be a wallet, and a résumé. Other than that, it was mortifyingly empty.
He picked up the résumé, written in English. At the bottom, it read [Language Patch Complete].
His name was ‘Jun’ — the same English name he’d used in his original world in place of his real name, ‘Ju Jiwoon.’ His age was identical too.
His listed profession was tutor. His academic background… top graduate of the mathematics department at Britton College. Britton? He’d never heard of the school. All the other fields were blacked out.
Why on earth would anyone see this résumé, full of gaps as it is, and feel inclined to hire someone? Is the manor under a curse that’s broken their ability to judge people too.
Clicking his tongue, he picked up the leather pouch. The insubstantial weight made him slightly anxious. It’s a horror game, so it’s not like I’ll be spending money — but still, being broke is a little….
His worry proved needless — when he untied the drawstring, a bundle of gold and silver coins came into view. A string of numbers appeared in the air.
[102 Gold, 51 Silver]
Ah. The system must have lightened the weight.
Not bad, light and easy to carry. He secured the pouch with relief. A chime sounded, and a small window appeared.
[‘Know Your Enemy, Know Yourself’ Quest Clear!]
[Completion Reward: Sharp Eyes]
The first reward was exactly as expected.
The basic skill, Sharp Eyes.
Even in pitch darkness, vision opens up as though a torch has been shone. An essential ability in a horror game where most maps were shrouded in darkness.
He’d secured the most important thing. The remaining quests were befriending someone and farming for weapons. Neither was immediately urgent.
He closed the quest window and methodically examined the menu bar. Sure enough, a logout button was nowhere to be found.
“Log out.”
“End game.”
“I said I’m done.”
“What did I do so wrong to deserve……”
He made his case passionately to the empty air, but there was no response whatsoever. The same single window floated there unchanged.
[Unravel the secrets of the manor and survive!]
“…Ha.”
He smiled brightly and began formulating his next plan.
Ten days until the banquet, they said. Which meant the blood-soaked massacre had yet to begin.
Alright. Let’s run.
