Prologue
A spire, sharp like a spearhead, stood alone, cutting through the blood-red moon. Such an enormous moon could never be a common sight, yet there was not a single onlooker in sight. Only one person hid inside a box large enough to fit a human body.
Their body trembled. To keep their chattering teeth from making noise, they hugged their arms tightly. Their pupils, clouded with fear, darted around, unable to settle anywhere.
Footsteps echoed from afar. They dragged along the ground without any sign of haste, stopping as though searching for something before moving again. The footsteps gradually drew closer to the wooden box where someone was hiding. The narrow crack—just wide enough for two fingers—did not reveal much of the approaching figure. It only showed that a dark shadow was drawing near.
Step… step…
Through the gap, the figure came into full view, right in front of them. Holding both hands over their mouth to stifle any sound, they prayed desperately for the figure to pass. Pale, bare feet slowly crossed in front of the box, moving even slower than before. The dragging sound of footsteps faded from sight, growing fainter and fainter until it disappeared altogether. It seemed the figure had left the room entirely.
The person exhaled the breath they had been holding and bowed their head. Wiping the sweat from their forehead, they raised their head again, only to see—
Thud!
What filled the gap was nothing but overwhelming darkness, as though the world itself had gone black. But the light hadn’t gone out. No—the darkness was the enormous black eye that consumed half of a face. Far too large to belong to a human, the eye’s pupil locked onto them. The moment they realized their gaze had met, a bony, withered hand shook the box violently.
“Kyyaaaaaaaah!”
They barely managed to escape the box. Still vivid before their eyes was the woman’s face—one with massive, grotesque eyes and a jaw unhinged into a torn, twisted smile. Behind them came the dragging footsteps of the woman chasing after them. She seemed to falter for a moment but soon resumed her pursuit, feet pattering against the floor.
They burst out of the room and sprinted down the corridor. Candles, lined evenly along the walls, extinguished one by one wherever their feet touched the floor. They wanted to hide in another room, but every door shut on its own, leaving no escape. They could do nothing but run, as though led by some unseen force.
At the end of the corridor, standing before them, was another woman trembling in terror within the darkness. Her long hair was disheveled, her pale body stark against the shadows, and her eyes glowed red like the moon in the sky. She looked no different from someone who, too, was fleeing from a monstrous being.
The first to speak was the one who had been running.
“Tess!”
The trembling woman flinched so violently she almost stumbled over as she turned. Upon recognizing the face of the one who called her, her expression twisted even further—telling both of them that neither was the other’s salvation.
“Stop this already!”
“Rena… how did you get here?”
“Look around you!”
All around them lay corpses, mutilated beyond recognition, blood spilling across the floor until not a single clean spot remained. To see her stare at the sight in shock, as though witnessing it for the first time, seemed all the more detestable.
“This isn’t me… I didn’t do this.”
“Wake up, Tess.”
“Rena, Rena, Rena! If only you weren’t here!”
Like a beast driven into a corner, the terrified woman suddenly drew the sharp sword she had been clutching close to her chest. In an instant, her fear twisted into aggression. The other tried to flee, but behind her the white-footed woman was still pursuing. There was no escape.
The sword, raised high, came plunging straight toward the woman’s heart.
[GAME OVER]
Red letters appeared against the black screen that filled everything. Yet another type of bad ending had been recorded.
