One of my hobbies is playing games, and I am particularly excited about horror games but, since it is a game, it sometimes gets me thinking about what I would do if I was the main character in one of them. I would probably die in the least scariest way. The only exception would be, if I became the main character of the horror game I recently started playing, which is called “Black Castle”. I would rather throw myself out of the window right away.

I say this because “Black Castle” is one hell of a game which creates sympathy for the characters no matter how evil or graphic they are. As a player, it makes me wonder if there is any other game that is this crappy.

I am usually not the type of person who would get stuck on one thing, so it feels strange to me to hang onto a game for a couple of days just so I could see the hidden ending. Hidden ending?. Yes, there is one in this game. It’s actually called “Real ending” or “Happy ending”, but it is considered a hidden one because it was still not revealed yet. No one had discovered it as of now. Even the most prominent game players could barely avoid the death ending, so it would only be natural that no one was able to find it. I’ve started the game from the starting point so often that I’ve already  completely memorized everything. I didn’t even go too far off from the game's start, but the protagonist had already died due to my brief mistake, not long after, I died again before I could even reach the checkpoint, so I had to restart from the beginning and the protagonist had to suffer yet again.

But I never stopped playing this game.

The ones getting killed in the game were the characters, and not me the player.

I killed the protagonist several times already,  but I could always reset it again.

There were so many other games that were better, but I just had to see the hidden ending.

I never should have done that.

Because the next day, when I woke up, I became a character in the “Black Castle”.

I woke up, realizing that something was wrong. The style and interior was something that I have never seen before, but I was wondering why everything that I’d seen seemed so familiar. I even looked out of the window, thinking that this could not be the only thing familiar, but I just got more miserable. Outside the window, a graceful crimson moon was floating in the cloudless sky.

Whenever I played “Black Castle” a crimson moon would always appear outside the window in the game.

‘I entered the game world too’.

Of course, I have never seen this in reality. I’ve only read about it in romance and fantasy novels.

Am I the pathetic protagonist, Lena, who gets beaten up like dog shit? How many times has she died, gotten hurt and ran away?

I immediately looked into the mirror. I thought that a cute little girl with pink eyes and sky blue hair would be reflected in it, but no. It was common brown hair and creepy red eyes that looked back at me.

What the hell is this?

Why do I look like Tess Voncador?!

Tess Voncador is the adoptive daughter of the Voncador family. Mrs. Voncador, who felt sorry for Tess who as a little child was living on the streets ever since she had lost her parents, adopted her and raised her together with her biological daughter Lena, but Tess grew up being a strange child. People didn’t like Tess, who never smiled even once. But with Mrs. Voncadors warm affection, both Tess and Lena grew up without much trouble. Until that incident happened.

In the silence of the night, bandits attacked the Voncador household, they firstly killed the mother then proceeded to kidnap Lena. Due to this terrible incident, the Voncador mansion was turned upside down in panic and the struggle to find Lena. However, Lena was never found, and the whole Voncador mansion fell into a deep sorrow except the young Tess who did not even shed one single tear in this tragedy.

The game begins when the missing Lena returns to the mansion on her 19th birthday.

Lena, who had a birthday party, with everyone’s good wishes and in a happy mood from meeting so many new people, decided to head back to the Black Castle, where Tess was staying in, so she could celebrate her birthday together with her sister. But as soon as Lena stepped into the castle, the curse of the Black Castle awakened and soon, terrible monsters started opening their eyes. Lena avoided all the monsters and one by one she was able to defeat all of them as well as break the curse of the Black Castle. As everyone had already suspected it, the cause of everything was Tess, and now with the curse over the castle being gone, Tess was finally defeated.

The game has a similar progression, but has multiple endings. The endings depend on items or hidden events that a player acquires and unlocks throughout the game play. I myself played the game over and over again to see new endings. But I don’t know all the items that are important for the game…

Either way, in all of those multiple endings, Tess dies in a variety of ways. She falls off of a height and dies, gets eaten, gets chopped up to death.

I ended up as the character that is destined to die! There is no dream or hope of survival. It is safe to say that the purpose of this character’s creation was death.

“No……maybe……”

Rather, isn’t it a good thing to not be in the body of the main character? If Tess, the culprit of everything, used the curse of the Black Castle to torment Lena, she would have to die. But what if Lena doesn’t go through all of those scary things?, if Lena doesn’t go through them, then Tess wouldn’t die either.

This is a good thing!

No. There is no way that I, who possessed Tess’s body, and who was not Tess to begin with, would know how to awaken the curse, but I was curious, what power did Tess use to manipulate the monsters of the Black Castle?  Besides her gloomy personality, Tess was an ordinary human being.

*hic\, hic\, hic…*

Just then, I was able to hear a woman’s cry in the hallway outside the room. There were no signs of the sun rising yet, but the sound of crying in the middle of the night was very strange. It somehow felt ominous, I carefully  opened the door and looked to the side, where the sound of crying was coming from. The hallway was dark, it was not even lit up by the moonlight and besides the sound of crying, there was no other sound that could be heard. Unlike the relatively warm room, the air that hung in the hallway was chilling and as my eyes got used to the darkness, a woman’s back was gradually getting more visible in the dark.

She was wearing a long black dress and the front of it was covered by a white apron, she looked like a maid from the old era.

And that maid seemed to be the source of the crying sounds.

Usually if you asked a crying person why they were crying and suggested they return to their room because it was late at night, you would’ve been able to notice how their creepy crying was slowly coming to a halt. But…

My survival instinct was telling me that I should not even approach this woman to begin with.

Although she had the appearance of a person, I was convinced that she was not human at all, and the goosebumps and chills that I had all over my body, were just supporting my suspicion.

I tried to closethe door since I did not have the confidence to face this ominous figure. But right in that moment, she slowly started to turn around. It didn’t even occur to me that she would start moving. I wanted to move backwards to try and hide myself, but I couldn’t even move a muscle because I was frozen in fear.

The maid’s face had finally been revealed to me and the first thing that I noticed was her white jawline, but the moment my gaze moved slightly above her lips, I had almost screamed. There was no face above that woman’s lips. My eyes had met the eyes of a faceless woman. No, our eyes did not meet considering that she did not even have them.

After she had been standing there for a while, she suddenly turned around and disappeared into the dark hallway. This action caused me to let out a slight scream as I tried to push myself into hiding.

This was the first time that I had ever seen something  like this.

The room was quiet and the sounds coming from the hallway had stopped as well. If I had been the protagonist, I would have probably followed her to find out more about this strange occurrence, but I myself would never do that even if I had to die. I’m not crazy enough to follow a faceless woman!

I slammed the door behind me and ran toward the bed, the first place where I woke up in, and quickly laid back down covering myself with a blanket in hopes that if I reopened my eyes, that I would end up in my room again. To be honest, I have never read a novel setting where a person returned back into their original world by just reopening their eyes. Just thinking about it made me feel desperate.

Why can I see the monster maid when I’m not even Lena?-Actually, I did see the maid in the game. The two of them are enemies. She is a ghost that occasionally appears to attack Lena, but there is no way to fight her back, so the only option for Lena is to either run away unnoticed or to die.

Why is Tess Voncador able to see the appearance of this maid? I can’t believe it. I hoped that all of this was just a dream as I buried myself deeper into the blanket.

But as I put my hand under my pillow, I heard the sound of paper rustling at the same time as I felt something touching my hand. And indeed it was a crumpled up piece of paper that had something written on it.

[Subject must promise not to disclose any of the information that they receive. The company is not responsible for any compensation of any kind in case of public disclosure.

The subject must follow all the rules below on every day of the crimson moon.

The company will not be liable for compensation if any harm is done to the subject in case these rules were not followed precisely.

1. On the night when the crimson Moon rises\, the mansion will feel exceptionally quiet and dark\, but that is a natural occurrence. Don’t be anxious.

2. Don’t be surprised if a bird dashes towards the window and breaks it. Do not open the window and do not try to inform people about it. We are not responsible for any danger that might occur if you do open it.

3. After midnight\, every time you go out to inspect the mansion\, make sure that there are no locked doors. The door on the first floor\, however\, is excluded.

5. If you find a room with a lock door\, never try to open it. Place three pre-prepared flowers at the door and bow three times. Red flowers such as anemone flowers and red roses are a good choice. Please refrain from using lilies and white roses.

6. If something falls out of the window\, never check out what it is\, we recommend you leave the vicinity immediately.

7. If you hear a man shouting\, immediately lower yourself to the ground and go into a hiding place. Hold your breath for 40 seconds. If you feel the need to stay longer then do so.

8. Occasionally you will be able to see a carpet in the mansion get red\, but since the wine has already been spilled\, you can ask someone to clean the carpet up.

9. The subject has to light up all the candles in the banquet hall before dawn. If you fail to light them all up\,  leave the mansion immediately. Hide in the building with the altar and wait until you see the sun raise up.

10. If you hear a window break caused by a woman’s scream\, stop the ritual that day\, leave the mansion and start everything over again on the next day ( the crimson moon will still be present).

11. Never talk to a maid that is crying in the hallway and stays in the same space for a long time. Be careful she is not a person.

12. If you’ve done everything correctly up until this point\, the maid will be the first one to leave\, meaning\, that the ritual has been a success.

13. If the door is locked on your way back from lighting the candles in the banquet hall\, run. Find a place to hide in but be careful not to make any sounds by locking doors or turning off the lights. Do not be disturbed by the sound of scratching or choking breath. If you are lucky enough to stay alive until the sun rises you will have to repeat the ritual the next day again. This situation occurs rarely so do not worry about it in advance.

14. There is no rule number 4 on this list. In case you are able to see it\, please burn the list and visita sorcerer.

We suggest you to be careful while using the procedure above.

We wish you endless peace in the future.]

I didn’t understand all of the rules from the ritual, but I had a vague guess about number 12. Tess has finished all the tasks from the list. The fact that the crying maid avoided her and left first means that the ritual had been a success.

And this instruction list feels like the tutorial of the Black Castle game. Birds flying through the window, three flowers in front of the locked door, screams and red carpets were all events in the game.

Does that mean that I awaken the monsters of the Black Castle through this ritual? So do they use them to hurt Lena?

Oh,  I’m screwed….

I thought that I could just do nothing, but if I don’t do anything, I will die. It was very frustrating that there was no compensation for the damage to the subject if the rules are not implemented.

The damage wouldn’t be something like my clothes shrinking because I turned on the wrong programme on the washing machine.

The damage caused by failure in complying to the rules may mean that it will cost me my life!

***

Tess did not live in the Voncador mansion. For some reason the people in the mansion hated her and Tess herself didn’t like living in the mansion either. Instead, she asked the head of the family, Wolfgang Voncador, to provide a separate house for her, and Wolfgang listened to all of the wishes of the child his deceased wife cherished.  Whether it was right or wrong.

Tess rarely came out of the Black Castle. She occasionally would be called over for dinner, which was just an excuse to get Tess out of the castle. Usually, the villainous character would also be the leaders of society, but Tess was not the queen of the social world….In fact, it was believed that the Black Castle didn’t allow any outsiders to visit.

The night of the crimson moon was still vivid in my memory as was the maid that had no face above her lips. The next days passed without many difficulties. The only owner of the Black Castle was Tess, so everyone listened to her.

I even found more information about the crimson moon. It seems like it raises roughly once a month. Strangely, the crimson moon seems to be a phenomenon that can be only found in the area of the Black Castle. It’s kind of similar to the aurora lights…….

I haven’t decided on what to do about the rules yet, since I was too busy getting used to my new life here. Fortunately, it seemed like no other monsters were wandering around the castle.

Now, let’s create a plan on how to stay alive in this world. The moment I made up my mind, I received a message from the main mansion. It was an invitation to join them for dinner. I asked if it was all right to skip the dinner under the excuse that I was sick, but it seemed that I wasn’t allowed to skip since everything had already been arranged.

So in the early hours, I got dressed up and got onto the carriage. The distance between the Black castle and the main house wasn’t too far.

“Miss, are you feeling alright?”

The maid that spoke to me was named Donna, she worked as Tess’s maid for a long time. She looked really young compared to her actual age.

“You look good. You always say that you don’t feel fine, but….”

“Huh…….”

I was worried that my and Tesses personalities  were too different, so people would notice that it was weird, but nothing happened. Whether it’s fortunate or unfortunate, our personalities seemed to be the same. At least it’s not causing any complications for me so I liked that.

“- Seeing you say that, I guess that I treated you badly whenever I was in a bad mood”

“-No, you’re not that kind of person.”

This is it, the most surprising thing about my life. Why do people around me treat me like the world’s biggest villain and judge my rationality as a human being? Shouldn’t people that are the closest to a person know them the best?

Tess is not too extravagant. Her dresses were simple and so was her jewelry.

Tess didn’t bother people around her. Everyone around her was neither fond nor were they too afraid of her.

Despite being a commoner in the past, Tess had aristocratic manners. While she was still in the mansion she got a tutor and received a high level of education.

What was the secret of Tess? Why was she treated as the villain of the game?

While I was thinking about all of this, a splendid mansion came into my view. Both this mansion and the Black castle gave off a different vibe. They were located not too far from each other. I was curious as to why Tess had the desire to stay away despite the distance being this short.

“Welcome, miss.”

It was the butler who greeted me. It was a smart looking older man whose hair has gotten white with his age. His movement felt refined and his outfit was impeccably neat. He was a man who suited the position of butler in this large mansion.

“I haven’t seen you in a long time.”

” Yes, indeed. It has been a long time.”

His answer was polite and didn’t feel out of place, after all, he did not show any signs of surprise as he guided me to my room.

“Please rest here, we will see you at dinner time.”

“Yes. I will see you then.”

After the door had been closed, Donna immediately started to arrange my luggage. Tess’s room was luxurious, but it didn’t reveal the owner’s taste at all. I started opening and checking everything out in the room in hopes of finding more clues. Perhaps, there would be more information to the guidelines that I had found on the night of the crimson moon, or as I call them, the tutorial.

I Possessed The Final Villain Of A Horror Game - Chapter 3

"Milady, is there anything I can get for you?"

"No."

Donna, the maid, was confused by my answer. I myself was looking for something, but I said I didn't need her help, so of course she'd be perplexed.

"A diary or a journal . . . Did I keep such a thing?"

"I'm not sure, Milady . . . I don't dare intrude upon your privacy. Maybe your first desk drawer?"

"Thanks."

Following Donna's instruction, I opened the drawer. At first glance, there was nothing there, but I could feel the outline of a hidden handle at the base of the drawer. When I opened it, I found a diary with a cover made of dark leather.

Donna must know everything about Tess. How else would she come to know about the first drawer's trick when she said she wouldn't invade upon her master's privacy? I looked sideways at Donna with a hint of suspicion, but I turned my attention back to the drawer.

What an eerie person . . . No matter how private one's thoughts were, I wonder why Tess felt the need to hide her diary from a maid who's practically attached to her hip. Of course, a young noble lady's privacy wouldn't be taken seriously anyway, so other instances like the maid finding out about her diary must have happened a lot. If so, then wasn't Tess a bit of a scatterbrain? She should have noticed that her maid was sticking her nose into her business. Right?

I wanted to read the diary's contents, but I left it alone for now. Though this place was a short distance away from the castle, it's my first time riding a carriage, so I felt quite tired. And I wanted to save my strength for the dinner that's to come.

—

At some point, I fell asleep on the couch, but I was woken up by a rustling sound. As I opened my eyes, I saw a maid who wasn't Donna.

“. . .”

Her eyes were filled with disgust. She was the first maid I encountered with such a gaze.

"I apologize, Miss. It's almost time for the dinner appointment, so I'm here to help you prepare."

“. . . Alright."

As she assisted me in getting ready for dinner, the maid maintained a disrespectful yet business-like demeanor. I didn't chat with her either. I was curious about why her attitude towards me was different from Donna's because it was a little shocking to be treated like this for the first time in my life. It somehow added to my fatigue.

After dressing for the occasion, we went on our way. We passed through a bright corridor and arrived at the banquet hall. I would never have been able to see such a fancy interior like this in my life, only in movies. And inside the opulently adorned room were two people sitting at the table.

The middle-aged man sitting at the head of the table was Tess's father, Wolfgang von Cador, and beside him was Dalton, the firstborn son. Of course, Tess and Dalton weren't blood related since Tess was adopted.

The two noblemen's eyes, which were entirely alike, darted to me. They were devoid of any emotion, and as I sat down, they did not say hello. Everyone here seemed to be used to this heavy silence—how taciturn could they be? Even the servants weren't making any sounds. I could feel that this was unpleasant for them, too, as they continued keeping their heads bowed down, avoiding eye contact.

Our meal was finally served, and the food was as colorful as the room's interior. The silence was prolonged as we began eating. I could already feel the onset of indigestion even though I was eating such delicious food.

"I heard there's going to be a charity party soon. It's a private event, so we can't be absent."

"Is it the Milend family?"

The conversation between the two men was too stiff, as if they were employee and employer instead of father and son. Dalton also didn't show any affection towards Wolfgang while he spoke, but nevertheless, their relationship wouldn't be considered as a bad one. Their conversation flowed smoothly, and though they excluded me, this treatment didn't seem to be out of place. It was strange.

I thought that dinner would end without any problems, but I let my guard down too soon.

"Tess, be sure to attend the party," said Wolfgang.

"Pardon?"

I didn't expect him to talk to me, so I wasn't prepared to answer. The father and son looked sharply at me.

"You don't feel like it?"

"No, it's fine. I'll go."

Ah, I replied too quickly. Because I was flustered, I forgot that I had to speak like Tess. Wolfgang seemed to be puzzled due to the way I answered, and Dalton had a doubtful expression on his face, too.

"Alright. That's good."

That was the end of our conversation. No one spoke again after that, perhaps because all three people present weren't the talkative type. We were eating splendid food, but I honestly couldn't digest anything well because of the tense atmosphere. The entrée came and went, and in no time, our desserts were served. The fatigue that I'd been accumulating since earlier didn't disappear—it only turned into a headache. My condition was at its worst right now.

The servants came in with dessert plates. They were all men dressed in green uniforms. I watched them come in, amazed that there seemed to be no end to them, but one of the men stopped abruptly and didn't move. What's going on? Somehow, I was entranced by the immobile man.

Then, the servant who had placed my dessert plate from behind me asked, "Miss, is there something wrong? Are you feeling uncomfortable?"

"No, it's just . . ."

As I answered, I did not look away from the immobile man. His red hair was striking.

"Why isn't that man moving? That redhead over there—"

Clink!

Startled by the sound of silverware dropping to the floor, I turned my attention to the other side of the room. One of the servants had dropped a fork. Embarrassed, he quickly picked it up and apologized. Then somehow, the banquet hall was thrown into a chaotic atmosphere. Several people looked at me, and my eyes met with the furious Dalton. I’d sensed it in the beginning, but Dalton really had a frightening air about him.

“Here we go again.”

It was said under someone’s breath, so it was audible only to me and not to Dalton and Wolfgang. From that short sentence, I could feel everyone’s hostility toward me.

As I snapped out of it, I realized that the red-haired man had disappeared. In the end, nobody told me anything about him. Dinner ended on a sour note.

—

“Donna, I think the maids here hate me.”

“Milady . . .”

I tried to weasel out the truth from Donna. How did it become this way? I wasn’t sure if it was originally like this in the game, but the servants here were clearly belligerent towards me. Something about the redhead from earlier also still bothered me.

Donna looked at me anxiously. She maintained a professional distance, but she was the maid closest to Tess, so she should be able to give me a proper answer.

“What was it this time, Milady? Was there ash in your food? Or maybe they gave you damaged tableware . . .”

“. . . Huh?”

The relationship Tess had with the servants here seemed to be more one-sided than I originally thought. Didn’t the hostility go both ways?

“Let’s return to the castle now. You’ll just feel horrible the more we stay here.”

“Why do you say that?”

“It’s him . . .”

Donna hesitated, but she seemed to know the answer. She tried to read my mood first before she answered.

“You’ve always been afraid of the strange things around here. You said you can see things that no one else can . . .”

“. . .”

What had Tess seen in this manor since before?

After I dismissed Donna back to her quarters, I opened the diary I found earlier. The words inside were written in a neat cursive script. Rather than a diary, it seemed that Tess recorded things at random, without any structure.

[ I saw that woman again in the garden. Her white dress was soaked in blood. ]

Just as I thought. Tess could see ghosts.

That’s why I could see them, too, since I happened to possess her body.

Well . . . damn. It’s true that I liked horror games a lot, but that didn’t mean I wanted to experience the same thing in real life. There’s no way someone who could see ghosts would have a normal life.

[ I want to leave this manor. It’s become worse recently. Now they can touch me directly. Some maids think I inflicted this shoulder wound onto myself. They don’t even know what horrible things I experience everyday. They just think I’m doing this for attention.

How funny. I wish all the maids who didn’t listen to me would just die. ]

It was worse than I thought. Apart from the fact that ghosts could attack Tess physically, I learned about Tess’s true self that wasn’t even revealed in the game. The diary was filled with pages of curses, rather than wishes, of wanting everyone to die.

I couldn’t relate to it entirely, but I understood both the owner of this manor and Tess herself. People who couldn’t see ghosts would think that those who could were ominous. But at the same time, it was frustrating for the people who could see ghosts when nobody believed what they said . . .

[ Today is that child’s birthday. On this day, the entire manor is in a shitty mood. And everyone’s especially more cruel to me. I’ll only stay in my room today. Even the von Cadors just ignore me and won’t force me to eat with them today. Of course they wouldn’t want to see me.

And on a day like this, they always come out. The red-haired John comes out of the banquet hall and wanders around the mansion. ]

Red-haired John?

Just as I thought, the redheaded servant I saw earlier in the banquet hall was a ghost. It wasn't my imagination that I felt something foreboding about him, but I didn't think he was actually a ghost. I knew it—Tess could see them. Tess knew that ghost's name, too, but how on earth did she come to learn about it? And the 'child' that was mentioned in the diary was probably Lena, the von Cador family's missing daughter.

[ All the maids and attendants pretend that John never existed. They just don't want to admit that they killed him. They're all cunning murderers, each and every one of them. ]

What did this mean . . . ?

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