Chapter 2

The moment we stepped inside the building, a suffocating stillness swallowed us whole. Strange creaking noises echoed from time to time. The entire first floor looked like a massive banquet hall. A stage stood in the center, with guest seating arranged on both sides.

At the far end of the stage hung a heavy curtain embroidered with vivid crimson mandrake flowers. The flowers looked almost like eyes, which made my stomach twist in discomfort. Yet, they carried a bizarre pull that made people want to walk closer.

Without realizing it, I headed toward the curtain. The skinny guy followed tightly behind me. Just as I reached out to touch one of the flowers, an urgent shout suddenly came from behind us.

“Don’t touch it! Get back!”

Almost at the same instant, a deathly pale hand shot out from behind the curtain. Its fingertips stopped less than an inch from me. I didn’t even have time to think. I grabbed the skinny guy and ran. However, the arm behind us stretched endlessly like rubber.

Right when it was about to catch me, someone yanked us into a guest room on the side.

“Are you trying to get yourselves killed?”

The one who saved us was a male player wearing glasses.

“Don’t touch anything in this place unless you want to die without knowing how!”

It took me a while to calm down and recover from the shock.

“Thanks, man. How did you know it was dangerous?”

The guy with glasses explained that he had cleared another horror game before, so he had some experience. Because of that, he stayed alert whenever he noticed anything unusual.

I wanted to ask more questions, but before I could speak, the entire banquet hall suddenly lit up. Long, elegant drapes descended from the ceiling, while soft string music echoed from somewhere unseen. The gloomy, horrifying hall instantly transformed into something grand and dazzling.

A group of women dressed in flowing pink gowns slid down from the upper floors along the hanging drapes. Every one of them wore a veil masking their faces. They leaped in front of us. One veiled dancer stood before each player.

At the same time, they extended a sleeve toward us, inviting us to dance.

“It’s the dance segment now,” the guy with glasses explained. “We have to accept the invitation and match their dance steps exactly. You cannot make a mistake. Otherwise, you know what happens.”

The players had no choice but to take the dancers’ hands and step onto the stage.

Once everyone was on the stage, the empty guest seats below suddenly came alive. Wine poured itself into glasses, invisible guests raised cups in toasts, and from all around the hall came loud swallowing noises. I didn’t dare take my eyes off my dancer for even a second, terrified I’d miss a movement.

As the music grew faster, the dancers sped up too. I struggled desperately to keep up, not daring to relax for even a moment. After several rapid spins, I nearly lost my balance. In my panic, someone steadied me from behind, saving my life.

Unfortunately, the other players weren’t so lucky. One short, heavyset man tripped and crashed onto the floor. Instantly, every dancer stopped moving. Then, one by one, they removed their veils.

The moment I saw their faces, I gasped in horror. They had no skin. Their raw flesh twitched grotesquely as they surrounded the fallen man, letting out shrill laughter.

“Hehehe! You danced wrong.”

With that, they pounced on him like wild animals. I turned away immediately, too terrified to watch, and my legs trembled uncontrollably.

Not long after, blood spread across the entire stage. Only after the dancers finished feeding and dispersed could I finally throw up.

Seeing that the guy with glasses remained relatively calm, I asked him, “Was the game you cleared as bloody as this?”

He shook his head.

“The one I entered was a D-rank—the lowest level in the game. The survival rate was fifty percent. So, people still died, but it wasn’t as horrifying. Normally, newcomers start from the lowest rank too. Maybe something went wrong with the system, and it accidentally sent players who should’ve been in D-rank into the highest-level, S-rank.”

“Then… what’s the survival rate for S-rank?”

He paused for a moment before answering, “One percent, but in this game? It’s zero.”

Despair swallowed me whole.

Just as the atmosphere turned hopeless, the guy with glasses suddenly pointed behind me. His mouth opened and closed repeatedly, but no sound came out. A chill ran down my spine.

“What is it?”

“B-Behind you…”

My entire body stiffened. I could feel something staring at me from the darkness behind my back.

“He’s here…”

I forced myself to stay calm long enough to ask, “Who?”

“The boss. The most terrifying existence in the horror game.”

I nearly forgot how to breathe. My head turned, mechanically, like rusted machinery grinding into motion.

In the distance stood a man dressed in black robes. Half of his face was hidden beneath a bronze mask as he silently watched us. Every step he took caused the mandrake flowers embroidered on the curtains to glow brighter.

By the time he got to the center of the stage, black-red liquid began dripping from the flowers, releasing a thick metallic stench into the air. With a raise of his hand, the liquid moved as if alive, gathering at his feet.

The dancers from earlier rushed out again and knelt before him, offering up the severed head of the dead player. He casually lifted the bloody head and examined it in his hand like a toy.

The skinny guy couldn’t hold it in anymore, so he threw up on the spot. The sound immediately caught the masked man’s attention, and his gaze locked onto the skinny guy. Knowing that wasn’t a good sign, I grabbed him and bolted toward the guest rooms. The guy with glasses hurried after us.

While running, I glanced back once, and my eyes met the masked man’s. That figure and that exposed half of his face… Why did he look so much like Lucas?