Chapter 5: Chapter 3.2

Picking up the bundle of curtains, I pushed Leticia's back, urging her forward. She clicked her tongue in irritation but began moving. Once I had shoved her out of the room, I risked a glance over my shoulder.

In the darkness, two bright, dangerous eyes burned, as if they could consume everything. The instant our gazes met, it felt like I’d been scalded. I quickly looked away.

My heart was pounding like crazy. Even though the rules of the game dictated he couldn't kill when others were around, the sheer murderous intent radiating from him made it seem like he could break the rule and pounce at any moment.

I forced myself to calm down, replaying the scene I’d witnessed upon barging into the room in my head.

Leticia had been crouched down, and behind her, Adrian had silently approached. His pale, bloodless hands were reaching toward her, closer and closer.

Swallowing hard, I felt my dry throat strain.

He was going to… strangle her, right?

In the heat of the moment, I had panicked and dragged Leticia out to save her. But the problem came afterward.

The kitchen was peaceful—eerily so. There was no sign of any emergency that would justify rushing Leticia down here.

To make matters worse, Katarina, who had been inspecting the plates, added fuel to the fire by asking, “Oh, why are you down here so early?”@@novelbin@@

Leticia turned to me, her tone sharp and demanding. “Hilda, is there something wrong in the kitchen?”

“Well, um…”

“Hmm? Go on. Surely there’s a reason you interrupted the young master so rudely. Don’t tell me… Did a rat show up in the kitchen? Is that it?”

Her voice descended lower and lower, practically scraping the ground by the end. The dark aura radiating off her was enough to make me question if she was the true protagonist of this horror game.

I tried to back away, but the other maids blocked my retreat. Soon after, an enraged Leticia sentenced me to three days of weeding as punishment.

She didn’t even realize I had saved her life.

When she returned to clean Adrian’s room, she took a small group of maids along with her, claiming more hands were necessary.

At least that was a relief.

Wait. Relief? Why was I relieved?

I clutched my head, racked with frustration.

If I thought about it rationally, it was just dots on a screen killing other dots on a screen. They weren’t living beings. They had no warmth, no real thoughts—just actions determined by programming. Even if they died, hitting New Game would bring them back. There was no reason for me to get emotionally involved or try to save them.

I was probably the only one in this game who wouldn’t resurrect if I died!

And yet, I’d blatantly saved Leticia. The look Adrian had given me… Thinking back on it, it was a miracle I hadn’t fainted on the spot from sheer terror.

So, he noticed, didn’t he?

It felt like I’d grabbed a shovel, dug my own grave, and jumped right in.

Trying to escape this game might have been too lofty a goal. Just surviving was already a struggle.

My head throbbed. It felt like I was doing a lifetime’s worth of worrying inside this cursed game.

“Ugh, forget it. I’ll take a break from thinking today.”

Tomorrow would bring its own sun—and its own Adrian. Tomorrow’s me would deal with him.

I tried to comfort myself with those thoughts as I entered my room, ready to collapse into bed.

But just as I was about to lie down, a familiar, loathsome white text appeared in front of my tired, bloodshot eyes.

What now?

"A first-class job has been assigned."

"Gold +30G."

"Your pillow's durability has decreased due to neglect."

"Would you like to take it to Anna for repairs?"

Oh, right. Last night, there had been a system message about my pillow’s durability dropping because I’d punched it too hard.

No, I’m not going. Repairs would probably cost money.

I couldn’t afford to jeopardize my entire fortune—barely 55 gold coins—on fixing a pillow. This system seemed custom-built to squeeze every last coin out of me in the most infuriating way possible.

If I agreed to repair it, they’d probably charge something absurd like 100 or 200 gold. I wasn’t falling for it. I’d figured out the system by now.

Resolutely, I pressed “No” and picked up the pillow to examine it.

Was it beige to begin with? Or had it turned this dingy yellow with age? Either way, it looked gross and pathetic—hardly worth sleeping on. But would I be fined for tossing it once the durability completely ran out?

A pillow like this couldn’t be worth more than 5 gold at most. I could probably afford a new one. After all, I was a first-class worker now.

Smiling faintly at the thought, I dusted off the pillow with a light pat.

"Your pillow’s durability has decreased. Damage incurred."

"Gold -5G."

"Your pillow’s durability has decreased. Damage incurred."

"Gold -5G."

"Your pillow’s durability has decreased. Damage incurred."

"Gold -5G."

"Your pillow’s durability has decreased. Damage incurred."

"Gold -5G."

"Your pillow's durability has reached 0. It is now irreparable and has been destroyed."

"Gold -50G."

"Insufficient funds. You can no longer pay."

What… was this?

Before I could even finish reading one notification, more messages cascaded down in rapid succession.

I hadn’t done anything extreme. I’d barely tapped the pillow.

But now, its durability was at zero. It was destroyed. My entire fortune was gone.

Looking down, I saw the pillow, its seams split open, with stuffing spilling out like some sort of accusation.

“What? Are you kidding me?!”

Seeing “0G” glaring back at me in bold letters, I let out a scream.

Although the white notifications eventually disappeared like smoke, the emotional damage they left behind lingered, growing heavier by the second.

Shock turned to despair. Despair became rage.

“Why are you doing this to me?!” I screamed into the void. “I didn’t even want to be in this stupid game! And nothing has gone right since I got here! What kind of game is this?! Why is it doing this to me?!”

Punching the bed in frustration, I growled, “What did I do to deserve this? I was just—”

“Drinking and playing a horror game…”

The absurdity of it all hit me mid-sentence. I laughed bitterly, tears pooling in my eyes.

Before I could process the jumble of emotions—laughter, tears, and frustration—all at once, another dreaded white message appeared.

"Your bed’s durability has decreased. Damage incurred."

"Insufficient funds. You can no longer pay."

My fist froze mid-air, hovering a mere millimeter above the bed.

Carefully, I unclenched it and stepped back, as if the slightest breeze might trigger another fine.

If a shabby pillow cost 50 gold, who knew how much a bed would set me back?

Although I was fuming at the system, taking it out on the bed would only make me poorer.

Right. Sleep. I needed to sleep and figure it all out tomorrow.

"You cannot sleep without a pillow."

“Are you kidding me?! You absolute maniacs!”

I staggered back as if pushed by an invisible hand, my frustration boiling over.

Every time I approached the bed, the same message popped up.

"You cannot sleep without a pillow."

“This is insane! Utterly insane!”

"The bed's durability has decreased, resulting in damages."

"You lack sufficient gold. Further charges cannot be paid."

"The bed's durability has decreased, resulting in damages."

"You lack sufficient gold. Further charges cannot be paid."

Having lost all my savings and now being unable to even lie down, my anger boiled over. A rule that prevented sleeping without a pillow? What kind of nonsense was this? There are plenty of people in the world who sleep without pillows!

I forced myself to calm down, lowering the foot that had been angrily kicking the bed. If I damaged the bed further, I might actually end up in debt. I decided to officially protest this ridiculous rule.

Protest to whom? I didn’t even know. But as I approached the bed again, I opened my mouth and tried anyway.

"I can sleep without a pillow. Just let me lie down, please."

"You cannot lie down without a pillow."

"If you let me lie down, I’ll handle the rest! Just let me lie down!"

"You cannot lie down without a pillow."

After being pushed back by the invisible force about five times, I collapsed onto the floor in defeat. It was hopeless. This system wasn’t something you could reason with. It was just another absurd, stress-inducing mechanic designed to torment players. A garbage game. No wonder it had no players.

I slumped down in front of the wardrobe, staring at the split-seamed pillow and the bed.

I should have agreed to repair it earlier. If I was going to lose all my money anyway, I should have at least gotten some rest out of it. Better to be a healthy pauper than an exhausted one.

Muttering every regret and curse I could think of, I watched as the night deepened. The encroaching drowsiness eventually overtook me. I fell asleep slumped against the wardrobe, only to jerk awake when my head banged against it.

Too tired to even be angry, I rested my forehead on my knees and dozed off again. Each time I drifted off, I’d either smack into the wardrobe or sway and almost fall over. In desperation, I tried rolling up clothes to use as a makeshift pillow or even resting my head on my arm. But the system’s invisible barrier was relentless, refusing anything that wasn’t a proper pillow.

Every time I woke up, the system notifications would shamelessly appear in front of me.

"Your fatigue is rapidly increasing."

"Your stamina is decreasing."

"Warning! Failure to sleep adequately will render you unable to work tomorrow. You will not receive your daily wage."

The system bombarded me with messages, nagging me to sleep. The sheer irony made my blood boil. Was I staying up for fun? Did it think I was enjoying this?

"How am I supposed to sleep when you won’t let me on the bed without a pillow?!"

Tears of frustration welled up. What did it want from me? To sleep on the cold, hard floor with no blanket?

Still, the threat of losing my daily wage finally spurred me into action. Staggering to my feet, I tried once more to approach the bed.

But as if mocking my efforts, the white notification reappeared.

"You cannot lie down without a pillow."

An invisible hand shoved me back again.

Pillow, pillow, pillow! Damn you, you wretched system!

Crying and fuming at the same time, I retreated back to the wardrobe, slumped onto the wooden floor, and tried to sleep again.

The hard, cold floor pressed painfully against my hips. Muttering complaints about what a ridiculous game this was, I eventually drifted off into a restless sleep.

"Goodness, Hilda!"

Someone was shaking me awake, their voice frantic.

Go away. Let me sleep.

Swatting weakly at their hands, I tried to sink back into unconsciousness, but the person persisted, shaking me harder.

"Hilda, get up! Come on, wake up!"

"Ugh…."

"Hilda! Are you okay? Can you hear me?"

Emily’s voice became more panicked as she started slapping my cheeks.

The sharp pain snapped me out of the haze of sleep, though all I wanted was to stay under its comforting pull.

"What…? Is it morning already?"

It felt like I’d only just closed my eyes. Between tossing, banging into the wardrobe, and futilely arguing with the system, I doubted I’d slept more than two hours. My eyelids felt like the heaviest weights in the world.

"The sun’s been up for quite a while."

"I have to… take Adrian’s medicine…" I yawned mid-sentence, unable to suppress it.

"Geez, you’re yawning as soon as you wake up. Anyway, you don’t have to deliver the young master’s medicine today. Leticia already took care of it."

"What? Why?"

Apart from the punishment of weeding, the only way I could earn money was by delivering Adrian’s medicine. And now that was gone too?

"Adrian suddenly started coughing up blood this morning. The doctor came and asked if he’d been skipping his medicine. But you’ve been delivering it every morning on schedule, haven’t you?"

"Y-Yeah, of course…"

I nodded quickly, though guilt gnawed at me. Delivering the medicine didn’t necessarily mean he’d taken it. I’d been leaving the tray outside his door and running off, after all.

"Right? I knew it. When Leticia said she was going to scold you again, I insisted there was no way you’d neglect your duties. But Hilda… why were you sleeping on the floor?"

"I didn’t have a pillow…"

Saying it out loud almost made me want to cry again. How could something so trivial cause so much misery?

"Oh dear. Without a pillow, you can’t sleep on the bed, huh? That happened to me once too."

Of course, this game character would relate. Emily nodded sympathetically, as if it was perfectly reasonable.

No! It’s not reasonable! People can sleep anywhere as long as they have a body and a flat surface! Why would a pillow stop them? I wanted to argue, but I was too exhausted to move my tongue.

"Since I don’t have to deliver the medicine, can I rest today? Emily, could I borrow your pillow? Just for a bit. I’ll give it right back."

"Poor Hilda. You’re so tired you’re not thinking straight. But no, I can’t. Leticia would be furious."

"Please… just for an hour…"

"No, Hilda."

Emily was kind, but she seemed to have inherited Leticia's strictness in full.

Sigh, I suppose now isn’t the time to be lazing around. With my fortune reduced to a mere zero gold, I had even less of a right to rest than I did two days ago, back when I had 300 gold—or even yesterday, with my measly 25 gold.

The only consolation was that now I had nothing left to lose. Maybe tomorrow, I’d finally deserve some rest.

Emily pitied my hollow-eyed state as I got up and began tidying myself, but she didn’t let that affect her work ethic. With her characteristic precision, she handed me a weed remover and helpfully introduced the area where I’d be working for the next few days.

“This is the place. You’re to clear the weeds from here to there.”

Fortunately, it was a spot I was already familiar with—more than my own room, even. After all, I had spent my first day in the game squatting here, pulling weeds.

And I knew all too well about the traps hidden here.

Gripping the weed remover firmly, I glared at the hot pink blossoms peeking out like trap cards among the weeds. Those kalanchoe flowers had cost me so much gold before that I wanted to cry just thinking about it.

If only the system notified me immediately when I made a mistake. Instead, everything was tallied at the end of the day when my wages were calculated, leaving me clueless about what I’d done wrong.

But now I was no longer a clueless newbie to this system. I’d endured enough—no, suffered enough—to recognize those obvious traps. Today, I would earn gold and experience points, and I wouldn’t let the system take another thing from me.

I steeled myself, gripping the weed remover like a soldier heading into battle.

"You have removed a weed and gained 1 experience point."

"You have removed a weed and gained 1 experience point."

"You have removed a weed and gained 1 experience point."

“It’s nice to see you full of energy again, Hilda. Keep it up!”

Emily chirped a line that sounded straight out of a coming-of-age manga before skipping away. I watched her for a moment before focusing on pulling weeds. My goal today was simple: earn my wages and gain experience points. With a few relatively safe days away from Adrian, I had to level up or unlock some skills while I could.

But perhaps because I had barely slept the night before, my focus started slipping, and my eyes began to droop. I jolted awake, shaking my head furiously. If I fell asleep here, I’d be kicked out of this mansion as a beggar for sure.

If that happened, I’d die homeless on the streets without ever figuring out how to escape this game. That couldn’t happen.

“But… I’m so tired…”

The strength drained from my hand holding the weed remover. At this point, I felt like I’d sell my soul to a demon just for a chance to lie down and sleep. As I yawned and rubbed my stiff neck and shoulders, the dreaded white text appeared once more, as if waiting for this exact moment.

"Your fatigue is too high, making it difficult to work."

“Huh? No, no, you’ve got it wrong! I’m not tired at all! I’m doing great!”

I widened my eyes and yanked out a weed with exaggerated energy. Wow, I barely slept last night, but I feel amazing! Maybe I’m just naturally suited for hard labor.

Speaking to the void with feigned enthusiasm, I quickly went back to work with the weed remover, refusing to leave any opening for the system to exploit. Who knew what kind of absurd penalties it might throw at me if I let my guard down?

But the system didn’t care about my spirited efforts.

"Your success rate for weed removal is decreasing."

"You have failed to remove a weed."

Staring blankly at the text, I noticed that the usual experience point notifications were conspicuously absent. Even that paltry 1 XP was gone now?

"Your success rate for weed removal is decreasing."

"You have successfully removed 80% of the weed."

"Your daily wage is reduced."

"Experience point gains are reduced."

Determined not to give up, I kept pulling weeds out of sheer spite, hoping that repeated effort might somehow raise my success rate or restore my XP gains.

"Your success rate for weed removal has dropped to 0%."

"Your daily wage is reduced to 20%."

By the time the late afternoon rolled around, all my relentless efforts had amounted to nothing but exhaustion and pitiful returns. I didn’t even have enough energy to laugh bitterly about how all of this stemmed from one missing pillow.

“Hilda! How could you leave the garden in this state?”

Leticia’s scolding confirmed that the system’s relentless failure notifications hadn’t been lying. She bombarded me with complaints, accusing me of deliberately slacking off or causing trouble.

“Why have you been like this lately, Hilda? Are you sick? Or do you have some grudge against me?”

Leticia grabbed my hand and pleaded as though genuinely concerned.

At this point, I couldn’t help but question whether this game was truly a horror game.

No, this wasn’t horror. This was a misery simulator.

A misery simulator to end all misery simulators.

There was nothing grand or dramatic about it—just endless, mundane challenges that slowly sucked the life out of me. It was like an itch I couldn’t scratch, deliberately designed to grind me down.

“Sorry. I really didn’t mean to mess up.”

My response was sincere. I’d been doing my best to survive this game, not ruin everything. That made it all the more frustrating.

“Fine. I’ll assume you didn’t mean to. You’re not a bad person at heart… I’ll just chalk this up to bad luck.”

“I’m really sorry.”

“Alright. I’ll clean up here, so go ahead and rest. Oh, but before you head back to your room, I have a favor to ask.”

Leticia’s apology softened my frustration, and I nodded. I was exhausted, but I could handle a simple errand.

“You’ve heard about the commotion this morning, right? Because of that, the young master’s bedsheets were soiled, so they’ve been washed and hung to dry. They should be dry by now—could you bring them up and make the bed?”

“Isn’t it a bit late for that? He’s probably resting or even asleep by now.”

“He said he’d be in the study late tonight. The room’s been empty all day, so it should still be vacant.”

“Alright, I’ll take care of it.”

With Adrian out of the way, the task wasn’t too daunting. I grabbed the crisp, sun-dried sheets and headed up to the fourth floor.

The mansion was at its busiest during dinner preparation, with servants bustling about to prepare and serve food for the count, countess, and Adrian, who all dined separately. I quietly climbed the stairs, avoiding the chaos.

Adrian was likely eating now as well, which meant I wouldn’t have to worry about running into him in his room.

“Thank goodness…”

If Adrian had noticed that I’d hidden Leticia earlier, who knows what might happen if we were alone together?

“Master Adrian?”

Peeking through the slightly ajar door, I scanned the room quickly. It was empty, save for the flickering light of three candlesticks.

As always, the room was damp and dreary despite being the sunniest room in the mansion. How strange.

I had to finish quickly and get out of here.

With wary glances around the room and down the hall, I tiptoed inside. I swiftly swapped the old bedsheets for the clean ones and neatly arranged the bedding like a professional. Once the pillows were propped up and the blanket spread, the bed looked impeccable.

“Do you think they’d pay me for this?”

I muttered sarcastically before shaking my head. “No time for silly thoughts. I need to get out of here before Adrian comes back.”

Just as I was gathering the soiled sheets, something caught my eye—a large, plush pillow.

“...A pillow…”

The word slipped from my lips as though I were possessed.

Among all the bedding, the plump, inviting pillow stood out, practically glowing in its allure.

My hands trembled as I hesitated. Could I touch it? Just once? It looked so soft…

Tentatively, I stretched out my fingers and brushed the pillow.

“This… isn’t from this world…”

The texture was unlike anything I’d ever felt. Soft, fluffy, and undeniably durable—unlike my pathetic excuse for a pillow.

Unable to resist, I laid my head on it. A satisfied sigh escaped me as I let the blanket fall over my body.

The comfort was unreal. My exhaustion melted away as I sank into the plush softness. For the first time in what felt like forever, I felt peace.

"Fatigue level… exceeding… switching to… sleep mode…"

The white text flickered faintly before my eyes, blurred as though I were underwater.

I couldn’t even muster the energy to read it. All I knew was that I was finally, blessedly drifting into sleep.