Chapter 3: Red woman # 2

“What are you doing?”

“Please, save me! I’ll do anything!”

There was no hope left.

All I could do was grovel pathetically, begging for mercy.

I couldn’t leave, couldn’t resist the hypnosis, and even swallowing the key had proven useless.

‘What could I possibly do?’

There was nothing for it but to plead for my life.

Of course, this insane monster would never spare me.

Undoubtedly, she would demand I open the shutter, then rip out my throat and kill me.

Thinking about it, that seemed less painful than having my stomach torn open directly.

‘I never imagined returning would be this horrifying…!’

“Do you want to live?”

As I cowered, head bowed, my hands rubbing together like a fly’s, the vampire spoke.

“Yes! I want to live!”

“Then will you open this for me? The key is right here.”

Again, she extended her hand.

That damned key.

“Open it, and I’ll let you live.

Understood? Hurry, take it.”

Trembling violently, I took the key.

Could I truly not survive this?

Would I die here again and return?

Would I repeat this forever?

‘No.

That, I don’t know.

I have no idea how many times I can revive.’

Should I try to forcibly bend the key right here?

It was incredibly difficult to restore a bent key to its original state.

Even if the vampire used hypnosis, what was impossible for human strength would remain impossible.

If the key wouldn’t fit into the lock, there would be nothing she could do.

“Will you truly spare me if I open this?”

“Of course.”

“Can you promise?”

“I promise.”

Her reply flowed as naturally as water.

It was a hundred percent a lie.

If she intended to spare me, she would have done so the first time.

“You’re not going to let me live.”

“Hm?”

“You’re not going to let me live, you b*tch!”

“What?”

I drew a sharp breath, channeling every ounce of strength into bending the key.

I had to bend it somehow.

They said humans could unlock their muscles’ limits in extreme situations.

If I could even tap into that strength, I could bend it!

“Ugh, aaaah!”

But.

“What are you doing?”

It wouldn’t bend.

“Fuuuck!”

A wave of bitter injustice swelled within me.

Unlocking limits in extreme situations was all a lie.

All it did was make me insane, blurring my judgment to hell.

How could I possibly bend a metal key with my bare hands in the first place?

There was simply no answer.

I just wanted this torment to end.

The mere thought of the agony of tearing open my own stomach to die made me only wish for a swift demise.

“You’re not going to let me live, you b*tch!”

Overwhelmed by a profound sense of injustice, I hurled the key with all my might, striking the vampire squarely in the face.

Her expression remained utterly unchanged.

The key, which had clung to her face, slid off with a faint metallic clink.

The vampire silently picked up the key, then extended it to me again.

“Take it.”

“…”

“And open it.”

“…”

“You can’t resist anyway.”

“Ugh…!”

“I said I’ll let you live, didn’t I? Hurry up and open it.”

The vampire’s eyes glowed with an eerie brilliance.

I bit down on my lips and tongue, trying to resist, but it was futile.

I unlocked the shutter once more.

“Ah, finally.”

The vampire stepped out.

An extreme dread consumed my body and mind.

I stumbled backward, then collapsed onto the ground.

“By the way.

You’re truly impolite.

How dare you insult me?”

Her cold gaze pierced through me.

“Well, fine.

Now, try to escape.”

“Y-yes?”

“Hurry.

I’ve even dispelled the fog.”

—*Chwaak*!

The vampire’s hand transformed grotesquely.

Her crimson talons extended, long and sharp, like the blades of a scissorhand.

If I got caught by those, every bone would be severed… Wait.

Dispelled the fog?

“Ah, ahh!”

‘Could this be it?!

Was this the only way to escape?!’

“Haaaaah!”

I scrambled to my feet and sprinted towards the entrance.

Yes, this was it.

This was the answer.

Seeing her extend her talons meant she intended to kill me.

The reason she seemed to be releasing me now was because I had just insulted her.

She wanted to give me hope of survival before killing me!

But paradoxically, if there was any way to escape, it would be this.

Thinking so, I ran with all my might.

I saw the stairs.

As the vampire had said, the entrance wasn’t blocked.

The outside world was visible.

‘If only I could escape!’

—*Hwaak*.

“Ah.”

I had barely ascended halfway up the stairs.

The vampire appeared before me.

Naturally, a vampire’s physical abilities would far surpass a human’s.

What she had just done… it had merely been a game, a cruel amusement before she delivered the killing blow.

“Oh dear.

Time’s up, isn’t it?”

“Y-you said you’d spare me!”

“I don’t keep promises made to humans.”

Her hand lunged.

—*Kwaak*.

Seized by the throat, I was effortlessly lifted into the air.

My toes dangled, unable to touch the floor.

An overwhelming pressure bore down on my face, and a suffocating agony threatened to burst my lungs.

“Ugh! Ughhh! Mmph mmph!”

I kicked at the vampire’s legs and clawed at the wrist that gripped my throat, thrashing desperately, but nothing worked.

“Shall I strangle you to death? Do you perhaps have such a preference?”

“Ugh!”

“Ahahaha, your squirming is quite amusing.

Perhaps in your next life, you should become an actor? Playing a bug, perhaps.”

—*Tteudeuk*.

An excruciating agony ripped through me.

The vampire didn’t even bother to strangle me to death.

Using her long, sharp talons, like daggers, she tore through the flesh of my neck, then ripped out my vocal cords.

Maddened by the intense pain, my throat savagely torn open, I spewed forth blood.

I fell at the vampire’s feet.

****

[You have died from your neck being torn off.]

[Death Count: 2 -> 3]

****

[Restarting.]

****

My neck had been torn off!

The moment my eyes fluttered open, an excruciating pain surged through me, forcing me to clutch my throat and writhe on the floor.

If only there had been no pain, I wouldn’t have cared about dying!

“Cough!”

Thrashing about, I knelt, tears and snot streaming down my face.

This was the third time already.

While others would die once and be done, I had endured it three times already.

And each time, a gruesome, cruel death!

I felt as if I were losing my mind.

It was terrifying and grotesque.

Even though I could return, I no longer wanted to die, nor did I ever want to see that insane vampire downstairs again.

Yet, behind me, the path remained sealed by the blood-red fog.

“f*ck…!”

Though I was in agony and torment, a furious rage simultaneously surged within me.

It was an overwhelming wrath, enough to make my very head spin.

‘Why must I suffer such an absurd fate?’

Moreover, that insane vampire b*tch even mocked me at the very end.

She was acting like a total maniac, murdering people for sport.

‘Why, in the hell, am I caught up in this phenomenon?!’

“Hoo, hoo!”

My breath hitched involuntarily.

In a moment, that damned voice would surely call me down.

Then I would descend, unable to even resist.

‘I can’t let that happen.’

‘I have to do something.’

Thinking so, I internally summoned the status window.

—*Paaht*.

——————————

[●Status Window]

Name: Kim Geun-hong

Age: 24

…

Round: 2

Death Count: 3

[●Death Count by Round]

[●Collected Endings]

——————————

But what was this?

I had clearly died three times, and the death count was indeed marked ‘3.’

So why was the ‘Round’ count displayed as ‘2’?

I distinctly recalled a notification about the round changing the first time, but thinking back, it hadn’t appeared since.

“What’s the criteria?”

It was puzzling, but not something to dwell on right now.

What I needed to think about was how to survive the vampire.

Perhaps I was meant to repeatedly ‘die and retry’ like in a game, dying countless times to uncover a survival route.

But how many times could I truly regress?

And if I even had a soul, how long could it endure this?

‘…’

Even the thought of it was terrifying.

What if my life abruptly ended after all this?

But there was no solution in this situation anyway.

Come what may, I had to do something.

“How, exactly? Ah.”

First, I took out my cell phone.

The screen naturally lit up.

It seemed to be working fine.

In horror movies, devices were usually rendered useless by lack of signal or similar means, but thankfully, that didn’t seem to be the case here.

I thought about calling the police, but…

“…f*ck.”

The phone wouldn’t connect.

Disheartened, I tapped various icons, and to my surprise, the internet connected.

I immediately began searching.

“Vampire exorcism methods.

What to do when you encounter a vampire.

Vampire characteristics.”

One might ask what kind of absurd act it was to be searching the internet with death staring me in the face, but there truly was no other option.

As I searched, a website popped up.

[Title: How to Deal with a Vampire Encounter]

[Author: KillTheBrainParasiteImmediately]

“What is this?”

Judging by the title, it was an article about vampires.

I quickly scrolled, skimming through the information.

[Vampire Characteristics.]

[Vampires cannot enter unless invited.

They require permission to enter a place.]

‘Invitation?’

Ah, so that’s why she asked me to open the shutter, even though she could have opened it herself?

“Hmm…”

This seemed to add a degree of credibility.

Apparently, this characteristic was also present in vampire lore.

If the vampire downstairs truly aligned with the old legends, then perhaps traditional methods of vanquishing her would prove effective.

[Vampire Exorcism Methods.]

[Vampires cannot withstand a cross.]

“Ah! A cross!”

[Cross Image.]

The image of the holy cross made me feel as though my spirit was being purified.

Yes, a cross.

Traditionally, vampires were vulnerable to crosses!

But where could I get a cross?

“Ah!”

‘I could just show her this screen!’

[Vampires are weak to garlic.]

After that, it was all familiar information.

Common knowledge: holy water, sunlight.

Everyone knew these things.

“Are you there? Come down now.”

“…”

As the vampire’s voice drifted up to me, my legs automatically began to move.

I didn’t know if the cross would work, but… I had to try.

‘Because right now, this is all I have.’