I Think I’m a Horror Game Villain - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

* * *

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes in an unfamiliar room was a status window that seemed familiar to me. It displayed the following information.

[Heyna Blaise]
Health: 100/100
Mental State: 10/10

“Heyna Blaise… If I remember correctly…”

Heyna Blaise was one of the main characters in the game called ‘Lost Memories Mansion’, specifically representing the word ‘Memories’ in the game.

Rose, representing ‘Lost’, was a clueless character in the game. Heyna, known as the fainting expert, represented ‘Memories’. Lastly, Zion, the cursed mouth, represented the ‘Mansion.’
TL/N: It definitely wouldn’t make sense in English, so I’ll just explain here. 잃기저 was mentioned here (the name of the game, but shortened. So it was supposed to be something like LMM.) The L (잃) is for Rose, representating the Lost in LMM. The M (기), Memories for Heyna. And the last M (저), for Mansion is for Zion.

These three are the main characters of ‘Lost Memories Mansion’. Heyna, despite her tendency to faint out of fear, proved to be more than meets the eye. While some may perceive her as a burden, she actually served as a valuable asset, offering more assistance to the player among the three main characters.

‘But why is this status window in front of me…’ I mused, my gaze fixed on the bewildering display. As I stared blankly, a peculiar sight caught my attention—a strand of hair, shimmering like a fairy’s hair, cascading over my shoulders.

Wait… Is that my hair?

I gingerly tugged at it, feeling a tingling sensation on my scalp that confirmed its authenticity. With a sense of urgency, I scanned the surroundings, desperately searching for a mirror.

“Where’s the mirror? Mirror!”

Fortunately, a mirror was conveniently placed nearby, and I ran towards it. Peering into the reflective surface, my eyes widened at the sight—translucent green eyes resembling glistening emeralds stared back at me, moving restlessly.

“Wow,” I murmured in astonishment, my lips parting to reveal a vibrant red hue, akin to someone who had just taken a bite of a cherry.

“My appearance…” I whispered, swiftly piecing together the situation unfolding before me.

‘Ah, Im Ha-yeon. She said she wouldn’t do it!’

Im Ha-yeon.

She is the main developer behind ‘Lost Memories Mansion’. She took charge of every aspect of the game’s development, except for the characters settings and the story. Those bone-chilling scenes that captivated and earned praise from everyone in the game were all Im Ha-yeon’s work.

As for me, I was one of the co-creators of this game, specifically in charge of the story. I meticulously crafted the character backgrounds, relationships, chapter-specific episodes, and other story-related elements. However, there was one peculiar detail—I had never played LMM myself.

Why?

‘Because I absolutely despise horror games!’

My preferred genres were sweet romance, peaceful slice-of-life stories, and healing stories that soothe us just by reading them. On the contrary, Im Ha-yeon’s tastes lean towards thrillers, post-apocalyptic sagas, and tragic narratives.

With our starkly contrasting preferences, Im Ha-yeon made a proposal one day.

“Shall we create a horror game together?”

“Huh?”

I thought Im Ha-yeon must have lost her mind. How could she suggest making a horror game with someone like me, who despises horror games?

“You write well, don’t you? Just come up with the story. I’ll take care of the rest.”

After persistent persuasion, I laid down two conditions and reluctantly accepted Im Ha-yeon’s proposition.

First, she wouldn’t force me to play the game. Second, we would split the profits in a 6:4 ratio, with the larger share going to her.

And so, without giving it much thought, we set out to create the game. To our surprise, it garnered far greater success than we had anticipated. My bank account suddenly gained several additional zeros.

However, I never found the courage to play ‘Lost Memories Mansion’, not even once.

“Just give it a try, okay? The easy mode isn’t as terrifying as you think. I promise.”

Regardless of Im Ha-yeon’s persistent pleas, I remained steadfast in my resolve.

But…

It appeared that while I was asleep, Im Ha-yeon had put a VR headset on me.

‘Did she want me to play this game?’

Absolutely not.

When I tried to open the menu, it instantly appeared before my eyes. The menu options were presented to me,

[New Game]
[Load]
[Collection]
[Exit]

Frustrated with the situation, I decided to select [Exit] to give Im Ha-yeon a piece of my mind.

[This function is not available yet.]

“…Huh?” I muttered at the following red warning message.

[Decreasing mental state by 2.]

What? What’s going on?

Another status message popped up, indicating a decrease in my mental state. I tried to calm myself down, feeling my heart racing.

Ah, it must be a scripted event!

It seemed absurd that the [Exit] function was unavailable. Im Ha-yeon wouldn’t do something like that. I took a deep breath and pressed [Exit] once more, hoping for a different outcome. However, to my disappointment, the same warning message appeared, preventing me from leaving the game.

[Decreasing mental state by 2.]

This damn mental state keeps decreasing for no reason.

“If I can’t use the [Exit] function, I’ll just force quit the game,” I decided, gesturing the word ‘OFF’ in the air with my finger.

During VR sessions, I knew that if an error occurred, I could force quit the game by making the ‘OFF’ gesture. The VR device’s system took priority over the game functions, so it should have worked.

‘The system of the VR device itself takes priority over the game functions, so I should be able to exit this time.’

That was what I thought, but…

[This function is not available yet.]

The warning message displayed once again, as if something were broken.

[Decreasing mental state by 2.]

[Warning!]

[If mental state reaches 0, you won’t be able to act for a certain period and your health will decrease.]

The warning messages appeared, but I barely had time to read the status window. My mental state had already decreased by 6.

“Why?” I asked, feeling a chill run down my fingertips. Despite thinking it was ridiculous, a sense of unease started creeping into my mind, wondering if I was trapped in the game.

[Decreasing mental state by 2.]

[Decreasing mental state by 2.]

The status messages continued, one after another.

Wait. If my remaining mental state is 4 and the status message appears twice…

[You have depleted all your mental state.]

[Penalty!]

[You won’t be able to act for the next 5 minutes.]

‘No way; how can someone become unable to move just because they saw the status window a few times?’

I haven’t even started the game yet…

Before I could finish my thoughts, my vision blurred ominously.