Clang, boom!

At the iron bars that closed without remorse, I stared blankly. Beyond the prison cell, contemptuous eyes flashed.

“How dare you poison the Madam. Know this—you will never walk out of this prison alive. How despicable. You don’t even know any grace.”

Albert, the guard who brought me here, gritted his teeth and pretended to spit. Fortunately, he turned around without actually spitting, but what he said was clear enough.

If the findings would really turn out as me being the one responsible for the poisoning, I wouldn’t ever be able to get out of this prison alive. As an orphan from a faraway land and an ordinary servant, it wouldn’t be strange if I disappeared.

“Albert! Albert! Please allow me one thing. Please let me see the Count!”

I shouted with all my might as I held the prison bars tightly.

“It wasn’t me! I wasn’t the one who mixed poison in the Madam’s tea! I know who the real culprit is—please let me see the Count!”

“What you’re saying doesn’t make sense. It’s you who brought the poisoned tea leaves. Who else is the culprit? Who are you going to blame for your crime?”

He spat and pointed a finger at me, seething in something like genuine rage.

“I didn’t do it! The real culprit is…!”

“The real culprit?”

As soon as I was about to say the name of the real sinner, a quiet voice rang through the air. My tongue hardened reflexively, and his cold presence permeated into my skin. Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump. The pounding of my heart was so loud that my eardrums were about to burst. The even sound of his footsteps over the stone floor sent shivers down my spine.

He’s coming.

“Goodness, Young Master. You shouldn’t be in a place like this!”

Instead of towards me, as I was so frozen to the point that even my fingertips couldn’t move, the guard made a fuss over that man. The guard’s voice became smaller, and now only his approaching footsteps echoed into my ears. The moment he finally stopped in front of me, I couldn’t face him.

“Young Master, if you do this, I’ll be in big trouble with the Count.”

“It’s alright, Albert. I’ll explain it to my father properly.”

“Goodness, Young Master… What if I really get into big trouble.”

Albert just shifted his weight on one foot to the other without knowing what to do, but Adrian answered his worries leisurely. Perhaps because it was only me and Albert here with him, but the angel-like appearance he reserved for the public had long since disappeared. All I could feel from him was the pressure and fear that weighed heavily over my head…

“Tell me. The real culprit that you know, who is it, hm?”

He asked with a beautiful, lilting voice that everyone praised. And in turn, I was just shaking without moving from where I was standing. It was faint, but the sound of my teeth chattering could be heard. Hmm. As though contemplating, he hummed and stared at me intently.

“I knew it. You’re different.”

“……”

“You know, hm? Who I am, what I did.”

“……”

“How did you know? I’m good enough at it that no one should have known.”

Rather than anger, all that was in his gaze towards me was interest. My body flinched reflexively as though I’d been stabbed by a blade. The more I appeared to be frightened, the darker his smile became. I didn’t dare to look up to face him, but I could still feel his change in demeanour.

Adrian, Caesar von der Paltzgraff.

The successor to the Paltzgraff family.

The world praised him as an angel—but only I knew. The public was set abuzz by the news of the recent serial murders and attempted murders, and that all of them had been committed by a handsome young man.

No, it was only me who knew.

That the world I’m living in right now is a crazily ridiculous horror game.

Until a few months ago, I was just a run-of-the-mill gamer who liked playing games. I would buy a game that looks fun, play it, but only until a point where I wouldn’t need to spend a lot of money. After I got a job, I had to focus on my work, so I had to give up many games, but I still tried out a few new games once in a while.

But that day was different. That day was so painstaking that I bought some alcohol, even though I couldn’t hold my liquor, on my way home from work. Because I was already drunk, not even a few drinks in, I clicked on some ‘horror game’ reviews by mistake. I usually don’t play games of this genre because I’m too much of a scaredy-cat.

“There’s so many new horror games.”

I scrolled down and looked through the game titles that filled the main page. In general, what could be seen were black and red monsters and ghosts that had an ominous atmosphere to them. If I had been sober, I would have closed the window immediately because I’d be scared, but this time, I wasn’t all that frightened. Maybe because I was drunk.

Why do people play horror games anyway?

Unless it was really a hobby, I couldn’t understand the appeal to such things. Even so, I did still have some curiosity about it.

While clicking on a review or looking down at some posts with a lack of sincerity, I eventually stopped scrolling because I noticed a title that’s been repeated for a while now.

‘The House of Paltzgraff’s Murderer.’

“Hmm, isn’t this the game I saw earlier? The new A-Comms game…”

Crushing a can of beer that I just downed and throwing it away somewhere, I began to read the review again, more attentively. A-Comms made games that had minor sensitive themes, but the company was famous for their elaborate OSTs, plus their historical backgrounds and stories, so there was always a lot of hype from their fans every time a new game was released.

They released much better work than most mass-produced games that saturated the market, so expectations were always high. Perhaps that’s also why they were hit with a ton of criticism, too.

People anticipated the release of this game and bought it as soon as it came out, but apparently it wasn’t good, it’s buggy, it’s disappointing… The more bad reviews I read, the more curious I became.

How bad of a flop was this game that all the reviews were saying it’s indeed a flop?

No way, it might not really be a total failure. What most game communities on the internet called flops were actually masterpieces. The more cynical bashers there were, the better the game might be and the higher the sales ranking would be.

It’s a strange correlation, but this was reality. Even more so for A-Comms games.

“I’m curious. Should I give it a go…”

Even while saying this, my hand already brought me to the A-Comms website, and I’ve already finalized my check-out. It wasn’t either long until the game was fully downloaded and booted up.

As soon as I clicked open, my entire screen became stained with dark red blood. Along with the sound of the classic thunder and lightning through the rain, a magnificent mansion appeared.

It was just like A-Comms, since they were especially particular with artistic details, that the mansion was elegantly designed with a European architectural style that could be seen in any film. Just this alone made me doubt if I bought this in Korean Won or another currency.

I casually chewed on my leftover snacks as the menu appeared on the right side of the screen.

★ New Game

★ Exit

As I clicked on my selection on the simple menu, the screen turned black once again, and the magnificent yet gloomy orchestral score of the OST began to play, the deep tones of a cello taking precedence of the melody.

And then—

“Ah! What the hell!”

With a terrible scream, a man’s face filled the monitor. I was so surprised that I almost fell out of my seat, but as the face got smaller. I managed to calm down and sit properly again.

The man was so pale that even his veins were visible on his skin. No, wait, he seemed to be a little younger than an older man… The young man looked exactly into my eyes and lifted something. It didn’t take long for me to realize that it was a woman’s head, lopped right off from her body.

She had bloody and tangled hair, and she had the frozen expression of fear she had right before she died, her eyes not yet closed… Because the frame was drawn so realistically, I even thought that it looked like a picture.

Eventually, when he began to chew on the woman’s head, my brows became furrowed.

“What the, what kind of minor sensitive themes… This is just gross.”

At one point, the young man’s actions began to slow down, and words began to appear on the monitor.

There was a brief explanation of the game’s world building, and the plot roughly went like this—

The devils’ underworld had been reigned over by monarchs for the longest time, and the monarch’s daughter, Lilith, had been dominating the country. It’s said that there were two factions, splitting the devildom in half.

The strongest being in hell, Satan, was the representative of the monarch’s faction and decided to stand against Lilith. The devildom then became divided between those who stood behind Satan and those who stood behind Lilith. And so, the two factions lead a boring war of attrition…

On the day when Lilith was on the verge of becoming completely destroyed with an overwhelming power, she decided to sacrifice her life in order to cast terrible curses upon Satan.

Satan, who lost all his strength, opened his eyes and found that he now had a human body. He was left with no choice but to live like a vampire, killing humans and absorbing their life force.

He’d kill, and he’d kill again.

Until he could regain all his power and become a complete being once more, or perhaps, until he was executed as a murderer.

The game’s player was set to play as the Count household’s young master, Adrian Caesar von der Paltzgraff. If he were to be executed or if he were to violate the rules of the game before gaining his full power, it would be game over.

“This world building is kinda depressing.”

There was an illustration there of a body being ripped open and eaten… It’s just too grotesque.

I shouldn’t have bought this. I wonder if I should get a refund now.

After a short consideration, I clicked on the screen and the monitor became bright.

The magnificent mansion I saw in the home page of the game showed off an even more opulent splendour in the light of the sun. It had pristine white walls that had no faded parts, exquisitely sculpted marble statues in the likeness of gods, and pillars that had harmoniously blended curved lines and straight edges. There was also a large, well-landscaped garden that would make you wonder if you can see the end of it even if you walk across it the entire day.

In Korea, where people couldn’t live in their own houses even if they saved up their salaries and overtime pays for their entire lives, the scale of this mansion was unimaginable to any new recruit who just got a job in a small-to-medium sized company.

“Ha, I don’t want to live in a place like this…”

While looking around my own studio flat and feeling depressed, character introductions and expository lines began to appear on the screen one after another.

★ Leticia: Hey, Hilda! Hilda! Hurry and wake up!

Leticia. She immigrated from another country, and she’s a faithful servant of the Pfalzgraf household. No such word as ‘betrayal’ existed in her dictionary when it came to the Pfalzgrafs.

★ Leticia: Hilda! You’re going back to sleep again! Wake up and bring Young Master Adrian his medicine!

★ Hilda: I’m already awake.

Hilda. Abandoned on the streets and naturally becoming an orphan, she was saved by a priest and sent to the Pfalzgraf family as a servant.

★ Leticia: Hilda, medicine!

★ Hilda: Yes, yes. Older sis Catarina already went.

★ Leticia: Don’t even think about passing off your duties to Catarina and just go right now! Goodness, our Young Master Adrian… I feel so sorry for him. His disease won’t even allow him to go outside that much, and he’d have to take medicine for the rest of his life. No matter how chaotic the outside world is nowadays, it’s still such a pity that he can’t be free like his peers.

★ Hilda: What do you mean, chaotic?

★ Leticia: Didn’t you hear what happened? There’s someone walking around with a knife so blatantly. There’s even rumours that someone was actually stabbed. But why haven’t you gone to Young Master Adrian? Hurry and get up! Can’t you just get up and go?!

★ Hilda: Owww. I’ll take it to him already. I’m going, I’m going!

As Hilda grumbled, the screen showed a hallway—at the end of it was a large door. It was bright, yet somewhat eerie. With two raps on the door, Hilda’s dialogue came up again.

★ Hilda: Young Master, I’ve brought your medicine.

★ ???: Come in.

Creak. With a sound that did not match the elegant and expensive mansion, Adrian finally made his appearance. As the count’s successor, he was the main character of the game, with the role of a weak young master and the hidden identity of Satan. He was about twenty years old.

Compared to his bloody appearance in the introduction, he smiled softly now, his impression completely different.

★ Hilda: How are you today, Young Master?

★ Adrian: The sun is a bit too bright on my eyes.

★ Hilda: I shall close the curtains for you.

★ Adrian: You don’t have to. Leave the medicine on the table. Thank you.

★ Hilda: No need for thanks, Young Master. Please get well soon. Miss Leticia is very worried about you. Of course, I as well.

Adrian currently suffered from numerous chronic diseases apart from his asthma. It wasn’t possible to relieve his pain, let alone heal him, with the undeveloped medical practices of this era.

Even though she knew that his illness was something that could not be healed, Hilda sincerely wished for his recovery. At this, Adrian smiled softly.

He was a character inside a game, but he looked so beautiful that you could practically see the glow of a halo over his head. He looked so pure and innocent that one would never imagine he was a murderer.

★ Adrian: Thank you. You may leave now.

★ Hilda: Yes, Young Master. Please rest comfortably.

Creak. The moment Hilda left, his angel-like smile vanished. As he walked in front of the table with an expressionless face, he held the medicine pouch and glanced out the window.

★ Adrian: Huu… It’s not easy to move when there’s a lot of eyes around.

★ Adrian: But it’s alright. This way, I won’t be suspected of being able to kill someone with this body.

He looked dissatisfied with his frail body, but he still seemed to like the benefits that it came with. Considering that the count’s estate was enormous, there were many eyes watching him. It was impossible for Adrian to kill anyone when there were so many who were focused on nursing him.

“This game’s difficulty is called ‘hell’ for a reason. That’s why it was a flop.”

Several people needed to be killed, but it took a long time to kill even one.

Perhaps at this rate, Satan would grow old and die of age in the body of Adrian that he possessed… With that thought, I sat back on my chair and controlled Adrian’s actions in the game.

After clicking around insincerely, I pulled up the scenario outline on the game’s wiki page on my other screen to read the strategy guide. Then, I looked back at the game with drowsy eyes.

Returning after a failed murder attempt, Adrian stood still, deep in thought. I turned the perspective screen around and zoomed in to see his face.

“Well… Aren’t you handsome.”

I didn’t know if it’s because I’m just plain drunk or if it’s because of the character design, but I couldn’t help but admire his face while looking at it. And I had to admit what was obvious. He had dark, angular eyebrows, neat features, moderately reddish lips, and slanted eyes. He even looked gentle as he smiled.

“I should sleep now. I have to go to work tomorrow…”

I urged myself to rise to my feet, so I could wash up and go to bed, but my body inadvertently felt like heavily soaked cotton, unable to move and stuck on the chair. And somehow, even if Adrian was drawn to look as though he was looking back straightforwardly through the screen, it felt like I was having eye contact with a real, living being.

I guess… I drank too much…

All of a sudden, I became dizzy as the world around me spun. Regardless of my will, my eyes drew shut like heavy iron and I fell asleep right then.