Chapter 1
Gasp!
As soon as I opened my eyes, I touched my neck.
"Fuck! My neck!"
I hurriedly felt around here and there, but there wasn't any hole. There should definitely have been a hole punched through my neck, right? I could still vividly feel the sensation of blood spurting out of it.
"Huff, huff!"
What the hell was that woman? She bit my neck without warning? What, is that crazy bitch some kind of vampire, suddenly sucking blood like that?
"A vampire?"
I felt like I'd seen something like that in a text somewhere... No.
Wait.
"...?"
What the hell is going on?
In confusion, I tried to get a grip on the situation, pressing my index finger to my lips and rubbing it furiously as if I were brushing my teeth.
Unless I was drunk and sprawled out somewhere having a dream, I had run into some woman trapped behind a shutter while trying to cross the street through the subway underpass. She seemed suspicious, but I helped her out of kindness, and then she bit my neck and killed me.
"Died?"
If I died, then why am I standing here?
None of this makes any sense.
The only logical conclusion from this.
I got drunk and dozed off for a bit.
"Yeah. That's it. Let's go home."
Still, since I had such a bad dream, I couldn't go back down there. Let's just go outside and cross at the crosswalk. Jaywalking in the dead of night when no one is around would be a good experience, too.
As I thought that and turned around,
"Shit, shit... what the hell is this."
The subway entrance was blocked.
Some terribly ominous, sticky, incomprehensible... red mist was blocking the entrance like a wall.
From the deepest part of my heart, something began creeping up in response to this abnormal situation.
Fear.
A foreboding feeling that the bizarre thing I'd just experienced might actually be real was becoming reality.
I touched the mist, but it didn't look like I could break or push through it. I can't get out of here.
A scene with not even a shred of reality to it. What is this, some kind of blood mist blocking the way? This isn't a horror game, so what the hell is going on?
"Game?"
That thought made me remember what I'd caught a glimpse of earlier. It had definitely been some kind of game message window... and the moment I thought that,
ㅡPaat.
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[●Status Window]
Name: Kim Geunhong
Age: 24
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Round: 2
Number of deaths: 1
[●Death Count by Round]
[●Collected Endings]
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A status window popped up before my eyes...!
The moment I was faced with a situation like a game, my anxiety surged to the maximum. It's ridiculous, but I've seen enough manga and novels in my life to know this much. When a status window pops up in front of you, it just means you're screwed.
I waved my hand and tried to touch the status window, but I couldn't. Even if I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again, it didn't disappear.
This isn't a dream.
"Round...? Number of deaths?"
Seeing that, it seemed certain I'd died once. And they said something about the round advancing, so does that mean I died and came back to life?
No. This seems closer to dying and coming back. Like some kind of regression.
An overwhelming flood of information was pouring in, but I was too confused to know what I should do.
If I really came back, that means there's a vampire down there. The subway entrance is blocked by blood mist right now too, so what do I have to do to escape from here?
Should I make some kind of huge decision?
Right when I was straining my brain to the limit,
"I know you're there."
"Gasp!"
I heard a voice!
"Come here."
"W-wait!"
No!
If I go down there like this, I'll die again!
I brainwashed myself into swearing I wouldn't go back down there no matter what. Yeah. Let's just hold out until morning. I can just stay here through the night. Wasn't she just a stupid woman trapped behind a shutter in the first place?
There's no way something like a vampire could run wild even in the morning.
If that were possible, it would already be a vampire apocalypse. She must be doing that because she can't get out of there either.
"B-but whyyyy!"
Why are my legs moving on their own?!
As if obeying some command, even when I tried to collapse, I kept going down the stairs. Was I under some kind of hypnosis?
And then I faced the blond vampire again.
"Hello?"
"Huff, huff!"
I remembered that the woman's mouth had split all the way to her ears. And I remembered those horrible fangs sinking into my neck, every bit of it.
I felt like I was about to throw up from the rising terror.
I don't want to die...!
This can't be happening. I need to pull myself together. They say that even if you’re dragged into a tiger’s den, there’s a chance if you keep your wits about you.
"Hmm, am I scary? Did you perhaps sense something?"
A curious-sounding voice. Was this a different conversation from last time?
"Well, whatever. Listen, I'm stuck in here, as you can see. Could you open this for me?"
The vampire, just like last time, stuck her hand through the gap in the shutter and held out the key.
Here's something I realized.
1. Vampires can't open shutters on their own.
So as long as I don't open it for her, there won't be any problem. This should be fine.
"Hurry up and open it."
"No, fuck...!"
But my body is moving again!
Just like my legs had moved on their own and carried me down the stairs, my hand grabbed the key on its own.
"Come on."
The vampire's eyes were shining brightly.
Seeing that, I couldn't resist.
Which means...
2. Vampires have hypnosis abilities!
Even if I don't want to open the shutter, if I get hypnotized I'll have no choice but to do it. Then how am I supposed to avoid this hypnosis? I got hit by it even when I was on the stairs just now.
"No, no!"
I can't die like this!
I have to struggle to survive. I tried to stop my body from moving.
Even if it's hypnosis, it doesn't seem to turn me completely into a slave. If I force myself, I can somehow halt the movement. But that's not a real solution.
"Heh-heh-heh, I'm only asking you to unlock the padlock, so why are you resisting so much? Did you sense something?"
"Shut the fuck up!"
Right!
I got it!
The way not to open it!
"Grrrrgh!"
"Hm?"
I squeezed out every last bit of strength and forced my legs to stop, then raised my hand. It felt like I was pulling a 500-kilo barbell, at least by sensation.
Just like that.
"Hup!"
I shoved the key into my mouth and swallowed it!
ㅡGulp!
The disgusting taste of metal set off my gag reflex, and I felt like vomiting, but thinking of it as fighting for my life somehow forced it down.
"Hah, hoo! Done! It's done!"
Once I swallowed the key, I finally felt like I was alive, and I relaxed a little. You want to use me to open the shutter? I already swallowed the key—what are you going to do about it?
If I just hold out like this, it's over.
"How about that!"
I looked at the vampire with confidence, but
"..."
She was expressionless.
There wasn't a single expression on her face.
"Haha... then you can't open it, can you?"
F-fuck...
Why are you staring at me with such a scary look?
"You swallowed it?"
"Huh?"
"What do you think I'm going to do?"
Her voice was ice-cold.
"W-what are you going to do?"
I said, feeling fear rise up again.
Please.
I hope nothing happens.
But what the vampire says is far too ominous.
"This."
"Ah."
The vampire's eyes gleamed even brighter. Crimson light swallowed my world, and I felt the force of the hypnosis growing even stronger.
"N-no... no... I don't want to... no! Nooooo!"
My hand moved on its own.
The hand that had been stroking my neck moved downward. To my solar plexus. And then to my abdomen. The hand that settled over my abdomen began moving like a slippery, long aquatic creature burrowing into a corpse, tearing my flesh apart.
"Gaaah! Kkagh, kkaaaah!"
I was already rolling on the floor.
I couldn't stop the movement of my hand, the hand that was nothing more than just a hand—my own hand, at that. With a force even I couldn't understand, it tore and ripped through my flesh. And then it dug inside, rummaging through my insides.
And so I...
"No, no... khh!"
By myself...
gutted myself.
.
.
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[You tore open your own belly and died.]
[Number of deaths: 1 -> 2]
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[Restarting.]
* * *
"Aaaagh! Aaaagh! Agh, aaaaagh!"
A maddening pain is tearing through my stomach. Clutching my belly and screaming, I could do nothing but lose my mind.
"Fuck! Fuuuck! Aaaagh!"
I!
I died after literally ripping open my own stomach with my own hands! I literally tore it open, pulled out the key from inside, and opened the lock!
"Urk! Uuurk!"
With the pain came an unimaginable sense of foreignness. I vomited up everything inside me.
It felt like the disgust and horror you get when you accidentally see a gruesome video online of someone involved in an industrial accident, multiplied hundreds of times. All of it blended together and left my mind in chaos.
"Hurk..."
After vomiting and thrashing around on the floor like a madman, I could tell my condition was an absolute mess.
"Ugh, fuck, fuck...! Why am I...!"
Why the hell did I get caught up in something like this?
I just wanted to go home, that's all.
Besides, I'd died not once but twice. As of just now, I'd died twice total, and with that "restarting" message, I was sent back to this shitty subway entrance.
And it's even blocked by blood mist, so I can't get out!
And I can't even resist the hypnosis!
I'm just destined to be killed by the vampire here forever! So that's how shitty regression is?!
"Are you done?"
The moment a voice came from below,
"Fuck...!"
I, who had been thrashing around, got back up and started down the stairs again.
"No! I said no!"
The fear of death. No—the fear of pain beyond death is driving me insane. Even as my whole body trembles violently, the urge to flee somewhere and scream surges up intensely.
I can't go down there. I have to move somehow.
ㅡCrash!
In the end I fell and tumbled down the stairs, but reality was merciless. Under the hypnosis, I crawled, got back up, and walked straight toward the vampire.
I could see the vampire's face over there.
"Did something bad happen? You seem to be pretty drunk."
"Please!!"
"Hm?"
"Please, please save me!!!"
I begged, banging my head against the floor.