Chapter 16: Ao Oni

A familiar-looking lobby stretched out before me. A hallway leading to the left, a hallway leading to the right.

Behind me, a door that looked like a large front entrance. In front, a wooden staircase leading to the upper floor.

And beside the stairs, quietly nestled, another door.

Yes, this was the ‘Ao Oni’ mansion.

“Sia, surely this is…”

I murmured, looking around the lobby. Sia also tilted her head and said, “Yeah. It’s exactly like that game.”

“Yes. It’s identical to the game I played when I was a child.”

“You look young enough now.”

“That’s rude, you know?”

“Ah, sorry.”

Our gazes met. I asked Sia, “Sia, do you remember the story of the ‘Ao Oni’ game?”

Sia thought for a moment and then shook her head. “…It was so long ago that my memory is hazy. Do you?”

“I… I think I remember something shattering…”

Crash!

“…I was about to say I think I remember something shattering, but it already happened.”

“Right. Let’s go.”

Sia and I cautiously entered the hallway. We passed a worn wooden door and opened the door at the end of the right hallway. It looked like a small kitchen.

Small sofas, a dining table, and cooking utensils were scattered around.

And in the corner, broken pieces of a plate were scattered on the floor.

“It’s just like Ao Oni.”

I mumbled, picking up the broken pieces of the plate.

Sia nodded and said, “Yeah. By the way, could you speak casually instead of using honorifics?”

“Why?”

“I just prefer it that way.”

“Um…”

“It’s okay if you’re not comfortable with it.”

“Ah, no. It’s just a little awkward.”

“That’s much better.”

As Sia said that with a smile, I let out a sigh.

“Anyway, no matter how much I try to recall, I can’t remember the game’s story well. I wish I had played that game every day…”

Sia listened to my words and encouraged me. “It’s okay. Unlike that game, we’re starting together from the beginning. There will be advantages.”

I nodded at her words, feeling a little relieved. ‘If we’re together, maybe it will be okay.’

Sia and I looked around the small kitchen and then carefully went outside.

“Where should we go now?”

Sia asked, looking at me.

I stood in the lobby, thought for a moment, and then approached the door next to the stairs.

“Let’s check here first.”

I tried turning the doorknob, but the door was locked.

“It’s locked.”

“As expected, since the original is a game, there’s no place you can easily pass. We have to follow the order, I guess.”

Sia said, letting out a small sigh.

We returned to the lobby and this time stepped into the left hallway.

“There must be some clue here, right?”

I muttered and walked along the hallway.

And at that moment, something flashed past beyond the glass door on one side of the hallway.

In the darkness beyond the door, a huge silhouette was moving slowly.

It had a thin and elongated shape, and it was holding something that looked heavy in both hands.

“What is that…?”

I stopped walking and looked back at Sia. She was frozen, as if she had seen the same thing as me.

“Is… is that a person?”

Sia asked in a low voice.

I quietly shook my head instead of answering. I was sure that the silhouette was not a person.

It was too big to be a person, and its movements were slow yet abnormally smooth.

The figure paused for a moment in front of the door, then disappeared back into the darkness.

“What the hell was that…? Was there something like that in the original?”

Sia whispered softly.

I shook my head and said, “No. There was nothing like that in the original game. That… seems to be something unique to this place.”

Sia and I stared at the huge silhouette that had disappeared beyond the door for a moment, then nodded.

“Opening that door… seems like a bad idea.”

I said.

“Agreed. I think so too.”

Sia agreed.

We returned to the lobby and looked up at the wooden staircase.

The upper part of the stairs was blocked by darkness, and nothing could be seen.

“Then, let’s go upstairs now.”

“Okay.”

We nodded and started climbing the stairs.

The wooden stairs made a creaking sound, but it didn’t seem like they would break.

It was so dark from below, yet the second floor was bright.

Maybe it’s a game-like allowance.

Because you can’t see the top of the stairs in the game.

As soon as we reached the second floor, a small door was visible right in front of us.

I turned the doorknob and carefully opened the door.

It was a small bedroom.

There was a desk, and in the corner was an old-looking wardrobe.

“Well, nothing special.”

I mumbled, looking around the room.

“Oh!”

Sia suddenly made a surprised sound and approached the wardrobe.

“What’s wrong?”

I tensed up and followed her.

Suddenly, Sia threw open the wardrobe door, saying, “Thump-thump-thump.”

Inside, Takeshi was huddled and trembling… no, it was just dust.

“…Takeshi?”

I said, surprised.

Sia didn’t say anything and continued to say, “Thump-thump-thump.”

Seeing that, I couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

“I remember this scene. It’s nostalgic.”

Sia also chuckled and nodded.

“Yeah. I’m starting to remember now. I used to be so scared of things like this when I was young.”

She looked around the room and pointed to the desk.

“Then there, on the desk, there must be…”

Sia and I shouted at the same time.

“”A key!””

We ran to the desk at the same time.

When we opened the desk drawer, as expected, there was a rusty key inside.

“As expected, my memory wasn’t wrong.”

Sia said with a smile.

Sia and I held the key and looked at each other.

“According to my memory… it should be the key to that locked door on the first floor.”

“Ah, you mean the door where we took out the broken plate pieces?”

“Yes, there.”

Sia and I went down the stairs without hesitation.

“Okay.”

I muttered and stood in front of the door.

I carefully inserted the rusty key into the doorknob and turned it, and the door opened with a click.

As soon as we opened the door, we could see a huge bookcase greeting us.

“A library…”

I felt goosebumps all over my body.

The old, worn-out books packed tightly on the bookshelves and the dark lighting combined to create a strange atmosphere.

A few books were scattered on the floor, and the air was cold and static.

“This place is…”

I took a step back.

Sia looked around and muttered softly.

“It’s a very familiar space. Here…”

Sia and I looked at each other.

“Ao Oni appears and…”

“…The first chase scene takes place.”

“That means…”

I suddenly stopped speaking, feeling a chill down my spine.

Sia looked at me and nodded silently.

“We have to be careful.”

We started to slowly move our steps into the library.

In the tense space, even the smallest sound made my heart pound.

As we carefully moved our steps, looking between the bookshelves, I found a bulging paper on the table.

It seemed like something was hidden underneath.

“What’s this…?”

I carefully reached out to lift the paper.

At that moment, I felt a chill as if cold air was seeping from behind my back.

“Something feels strange…”

Sia whispered in a low voice.

I stopped my hand and looked to the side.

And at that moment.

“Ugh…!”

Sia’s expression hardened.

I followed her gaze and turned my eyes to where she was looking.

And there, finally, it appeared.

The monster slowly revealed itself from the darkness.

It was over twice Sia’s height, and its overall silhouette was similar to a human’s, but it was abnormally twisted in some way.

But it wasn’t the giant, muscular monster I had seen in the game.

“Ao Oni…”

I swallowed my breath and muttered the monster’s name.

In the game, Ao Oni was depicted as a monster with purple skin, meaning ‘blue demon’.

But the monster in front of me was a little different.

Its body was similar in color to a human’s.

But the purple definitely existed.

“What is that…”

I widened my eyes and looked at the monster’s hand.

In her hand, she held a huge purple eggplant.

An unrealistically large and round eggplant.

The monster slowly smiled, holding that large purple eggplant.

The smile was so creepy and grotesque, and the corners of its mouth were also twisted.

She licked her long, snake-like tongue.

It was creepy.

“What… that thing, if you get caught, it’ll be dangerous in a different way.”

Sia stepped back in astonishment.

The monster seemed to enjoy her reaction and slowly approached us, then suddenly started running at full speed.

“Run away!”

I screamed, grabbed Sia’s hand, and turned in the opposite direction.

The sound of giant footsteps and the wind from the eggplant being swung came closer and closer from behind.

In the meantime, the monster’s gestures of shaking the eggplant were bizarre.

It was a movement as if to stick something in, an upward thrust from below.

“This is really dangerous…!”

“It’s not the time to talk now! Just run!”

We ran with all our might to escape the library.

A breathtaking chase.

‘Ao Oni’ was just beginning.

Day 1 at the Ao Oni Mansion.

Something’s strange.

I guessed from the silhouette I saw through the glass window in the middle, but it’s really strange.

No, where did that purple, muscular, stupid ‘Ao Oni’ I knew go?

Ao Oni.

The monster that appeared as a purple monster in the game.

But the Ao Oni here is different.

The body was similar in color to a human’s, but the huge purple eggplant held in its hand was so threatening.

The tongue is also bizarre. Ugh, I really hate it.

Monster File: [Ao Oni]

Form: A huge woman over 2 meters tall.

It has a similar body shape to a human, but it has abnormally bizarre movements.

The skin has a similar color to a human, and the purple in the name is revealed in the huge eggplant held in her hand.

The mouth that smiles is abnormally large, and the teeth are thin and long.

The movements seemed slow, but it could suddenly increase its speed and rush.

Characteristics: It seems to attack using a purple eggplant.

The way she swings it is like stabbing or lifting something.

Danger: Once it notices you, it persistently chases after you.

I don’t know what will happen if it catches you… um, I don’t know. I don’t even want to imagine it.

Weakness: I don’t know. I remember that there were no particular weaknesses in the game.

It just seems like running away is the only way to survive.