Chapter 2
What are you doing?
Please, save me! I'll do anything!
There was no hope left. All I could do was beg pathetically and plead for mercy. I couldn't get out, I couldn't resist the hypnosis, and even swallowing the key had done nothing.
What can I even do?
I can only beg to be spared. Of course, there's no way this insane monster would let me live. No doubt she'll have me open the shutter, then tear into the back of my neck and kill me.
Come to think of it, that sounded less painful than ripping open my stomach herself.
I never knew regression could be this horrifying...!
"Do you want to live?"
As I bowed my head and rubbed my hands together like a fly begging for its life, the vampire said,
"Yes! I want to live!"
"Then would you open this for me? The key is right here."
She held out her hand again, just as I expected.
That damn key.
"Open it and I'll let you live. Okay? Hurry up and take it."
I took the key with a violent tremble. Was it really impossible to live? Was I going to die here and go back again? And repeat that forever?
No.
I don't know.
I have no idea how many times I can come back.
What if I just bend the key here with brute force? Once something's bent, it's hard to restore it exactly. Even if the vampire uses hypnosis, if human strength can't do it, then it can't be done. If the key doesn't fit in the lock, then there's nothing she can do.
"Are you really going to let me live if I open this?"
"Of course."
"Can you promise me that?"
"I promise."
A smooth, flowing reply.
It was a hundred percent a lie.
If she were going to let me live, she would have done it from the start.
"You're not going to let me live, are you."
"Huh?"
"You're not going to let me live, you fucking bitch!"
"What?"
Hup!
I sucked in a sharp breath and tried to bend the key with all my strength. Somehow, I had to bend it. Didn't they say human limits break in extreme situations? If I could squeeze out even that kind of strength, I should be able to bend it somehow!
"Aaaah!"
But then.
"What are you doing?"
It won't bend.
"Shiiit!"
Frustration welled up inside me.
The whole "limits break under extreme situations" thing was bullshit. All it does is make you go insane and turn your judgment to absolute crap. How the hell are you supposed to bend a metal key with your bare hands in the first place?
There was just no answer.
I just wanted this pain to end already. Just thinking about the agony of tearing open my own stomach and dying made me want to die quickly instead.
"You're not going to let me live, you fucking bitch!"
Feeling deeply wronged, I hurled the key with all my strength and hit the vampire in the face.
Her expression didn't change.
The key that had been stuck to her face slid off with a metallic clink. The vampire wordlessly picked it up and held it out again.
"Take it."
"..."
"And open it."
"..."
"You can't resist anyway."
"Ggh...!"
"I'm telling you I'll let you live. Hurry up and open it."
The vampire's eyes blazed brightly. I tried biting my lip and tongue to endure it, but it was no use. I opened the shutter's lock again.
"Ahh, finally."
The vampire stepped out.
Extreme fear swallowed my body and mind.
I stumbled backward and collapsed.
"By the way, how rude. How dare you insult me?"
A cold gaze pierced through me.
"Fine. Then go ahead and try to run."
"Y-Yes?"
"Go on. I already lifted the mist."
ㅡ촤학!
The vampire's grasp grotesquely changed. Scarlet claws stretched out long like scissors' blades. If I got caught by something like that, even my bones would be sliced apart... wait. She lifted the mist?
"A-ahh!"
No way, could it be?!
Was that the only way to escape?!
"Aaaagh!"
I sprang to my feet and sprinted toward the entrance.
Yes, this was it.
This was the right answer.
Judging by the lengthened claws, she's trying to kill me. Pretending to let me go right now is because I just insulted her.
She's going to give me hope of surviving, then kill me!
But paradoxically, if there was a way to run, this had to be it. Thinking that, I ran with all my might. The stairs came into view. Just as the vampire said, the entrance wasn't blocked. I could see the outside.
I just had to escape somehow!
ㅡ화악.
"Ah."
Had I climbed halfway up the stairs?
The vampire appeared in front of me. Of course a vampire's physical abilities would be superior to a human's. What she had just done... was probably nothing more than amusement before killing me.
"Oh dear. Time's up?"
"Y-You said you'd let me live!"
"I don't keep promises I make to humans."
The hand lunged.
ㅡ꽈악.
I was grabbed by the neck and lifted right off the ground. My toes no longer touched the floor. A crushing pressure hit my face, and a suffocating pain surged through me as if my breath were about to burst out.
"Ugh! Nnggh! Mmph! Mmph!"
I struggled, kicking the vampire's leg and clawing at the wrist that was gripping my neck, but it was useless.
"Should I strangle you to death? Do you maybe like that kind of thing?"
"Ugh!"
"Ahahaha, wriggling around is really amusing. Why not become an actor in your next life? For a bug role."
ㅡ뜨득.
I felt excruciating pain.
The vampire didn't even bother to strangle me to death.
Using her dagger-like long, sharp claws, she tore the flesh of my neck to shreds and ripped out my vocal cords from inside.
Already driven mad by the agony, my throat torn open as I sprayed blood everywhere.
I fell to the vampire's feet.
.
.
.
[You died after your throat was ripped out.]
[Death Count: 2 -> 3]
.
.
.
[Restarting.]
* * *
My throat got torn out!
"Krrrgh!"
As soon as I opened my eyes, agony crashed over me so hard I rolled on the floor while clutching my neck. If it hadn't hurt, dying wouldn't have bothered me at all!
"Khhk!"
I got to my knees, sobbing out tears and snot as I thrashed around. This was already the third time. Something that would end after one death for everyone else—I had gone through it three times.
And each time it was a horrifying, brutal death!
I feel like I'm going insane. I'm scared and terrified. Even if I do regress, I don't want to die anymore, and I never want to see that crazy vampire down below again. But the way back was still blocked by the blood mist.
"Shit...!"
It hurt and it was miserable, but at the same time rage was boiling up inside me. I'm saying the rage was so overwhelming it felt like my head itself was about to snap.
Why should I have to suffer such an absurdly unfair thing? On top of that, that crazy vampire bitch even mocked me at the end. She was tearing people apart while acting like a damn lunatic.
"You fucking bitch!"
Why the hell do I have to get caught up in this kind of phenomenon?!
"Huff, huff!"
My breathing quickened on its own. In any case, she'd call out to me again soon with that damned voice. Then I'd be unable to resist and would have to go down.
Then I'd die again, and it would be the fourth loop.
I can't let that happen.
Let's think straight.
I need to do something.
As I thought that, I called up the status window in my mind.
ㅡ파앗.
——————————
[●Status Window]
Name: Kim Geun-hong
Age: 24
.
.
.
Round: 2
Death Count: 3
[●Death Count by Round]
[●Collected Endings]
——————————
But what is this?
I should definitely have died three times, right? The death count is also marked as '3.' So why is the round listed as '2'?
At first, there definitely seemed to be a notification saying the round had advanced... Come to think of it, I don't think it showed up after that.
Based on what criteria?
It was puzzling, but not something to think about right now. What I needed to think about now was how to survive the vampire.
Maybe I had to keep smashing my head against this like a game, dying over and over until I found a survival route.
But how many times can my regression actually happen? And if my soul exists, how long can it hold out?
"..."
Just thinking about it is scary. At this rate, it might suddenly be the end of my life. But for now, this situation has no answer. In any case, there was no answer right now.
Win or lose, I have to do something.
"How, exactly? Ah."
I took out my phone first. The screen lit up normally. Looks like it's working fine. In horror movies, they usually lose signal or get disabled somehow, but thankfully that's not the case.
I was thinking of calling the police first, but...
"...dammit."
The call still wouldn't go through.
After staring blankly and pressing various things, strangely enough, the internet worked. I immediately started searching.
"How to defeat a vampire. What to do when you meet a vampire. Vampire traits."
You might ask what kind of ridiculous thing it is to be googling while death is right in front of me, but this was about the only option I had.
As I kept searching, a site came up.
[Title: How to Deal with a Vampire Encounter]
[Author: Kill the Parasite in Your Brain Right Now]
What is this?
Judging from the title, it was an article about vampires. I quickly scrolled and skimmed the information.
[Vampire Traits.]
[A vampire cannot enter unless invited. Permission is required in order to enter a place.]
Invitation?
Ah, so that was why she asked me to open the shutter for her even though she could have done it herself?
Hmm...
Seeing this, it starts to seem a little more credible. Apparently this is something from vampire lore, too.
If the vampire down there is a being straight out of the lore, then maybe traditional methods of repelling it will work.
[Vampire Repelling Methods.]
[A vampire can't withstand the sight of a cross.]
Ah! A cross!
[Cross image.]
Looking at the image of the holy cross made me feel as if my mind were being purified. Right, a cross. Traditionally, vampires are weak to crosses!
But where am I supposed to get a cross?
Ah!
Maybe I can just show her this screen as it is!
[Vampires are weak to garlic.]
The rest were things I already knew. All the usual stuff—holy water, sunlight. Everybody knows those.
Are you there? Come on down already.
"..."
Hearing the vampire's voice, my legs moved on their own.
I don't know if a cross will work... but I'm going to try it.
This is all I've got.