Chapter 2: Red woman # 1

“H-huh!”

The moment his eyes snapped open, he instinctively clutched at his neck.

“Damn it! My neck!”

He frantically patted himself all over, but found no hole. Yet, he was certain a hole had been torn through his throat. The sensation of blood gushing from it was still vividly imprinted on his mind.

“Hoo, hoo!”

Who exactly was that woman? How dare she just bite his neck without warning? Was she some kind of deranged vampire, suddenly sucking his blood?

‘A vampire?’

He felt as though he had read something about that… No.

Wait.

‘…?’

What in the world was happening?

Amidst the swirling confusion, he adopted a posture meant for comprehension, rubbing his index finger vigorously against his lips as if brushing his teeth.

Unless he had been blackout drunk and dreamt this whole ordeal while passed out somewhere, he had encountered a woman trapped behind a subway shutter while trying to cross the street. Despite her suspicious demeanor, he had kindly offered to help her out, only for her to bite his neck and kill him.

‘Killed?’

If he had died, why was he standing here now?

Nothing made sense.

The only logical conclusion he could draw was this:

‘I must have been drunk and dozed off for a bit.’

“Right. That’s it. Let’s go home.”

However, having had such an ominous dream, he couldn’t bring himself to go down there. He would just go outside and cross via the crosswalk instead. Jaywalking in the dead of night, with no one around, would even be a novel experience.

As he entertained that thought, he turned his body.

“Wh-what the hell… What is this?”

The subway entrance was blocked.

Something utterly ominous—a viscous, inexplicable red mist—stood like a solid wall, obstructing the entrance.

At the sight of this abnormal situation, something began to creep up from the deepest recesses of his mind.

It was fear.

The ominous feeling that the bizarre event he had just experienced might actually be true was now becoming a terrifying reality.

He touched the mist, but it seemed impossible to break through or push aside. He couldn’t leave this place.

This sight had not a shred of reality to it; what kind of hellish blood mist was blocking his path? This wasn’t some horror game, so what on earth was happening?

‘A game?’

That thought brought back a fleeting memory of something he had glimpsed earlier. It had definitely been like some kind of in-game message window… The moment that idea solidified in his mind—

—*Flash!*

****

[●Status Window]

Name: Kim Geun-hong

Age: 24

.

.

.

Regression: 2

Deaths: 1

[●Death Count by Regression]

[●Endings Collected]

****

A status window had appeared before his very eyes…!

The moment he confronted a situation straight out of a game, his anxiety surged to its absolute peak. It was absurd, yet having consumed countless comics and novels throughout his life, he knew one thing: a status window appearing before your eyes simply meant you were utterly screwed.

He swung his hand, attempting to touch the status window, but it remained intangible. He squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them again, but it stubbornly refused to vanish.

This was no dream.

“Regression…? Death count?”

Seeing that, it seemed undeniable that he had died once. And if it meant a regression had occurred, did that mean he had died and then been resurrected?

No, that wasn’t quite right. It seemed closer to having died and then returned, a form of regression.

Overwhelming information flooded his mind, yet he was too disoriented to know what to do.

If his return was real, it meant the vampire was down there. The subway entrance was now blocked by a blood mist, so what could he possibly do to escape?

Did he need to make some grand decision?

Just as he was racking his brain to its absolute limit, a voice echoed.

“I know you’re there.”

“H-huh!”

The voice had returned!

“Come here.”

“W-wait!”

‘No!’

‘If I go down there like this, I’ll just die again!’

He desperately tried to brainwash himself, vowing that under no circumstances would he go down there. Yes, he would just hold out until morning. He could simply spend the night here. After all, wasn’t she just a foolish woman trapped behind a shutter?

A creature like a vampire couldn’t possibly roam freely in the morning.

If they could, it would already be a vampire apocalypse. That woman was clearly acting this way because she couldn’t escape from down there.

“But whyyyy!”

Why were his legs moving on their own?!

As if obeying some unseen command, even when he tried to collapse, his legs kept forcing him down the stairs. Had he been put under some kind of hypnosis?

And then, he once again came face-to-face with the blonde vampire.

“Hello?”

“Hoo, hoo!”

He remembered how that woman’s mouth had ripped open to her ears. He remembered everything, even how those monstrous fangs had plunged into his neck.

The surging terror made him feel as though he would vomit.

‘I don’t want to die…!’

This couldn’t be happening. He had to pull himself together. They said even if you’re dragged into a tiger’s den, if you keep your wits about you, there’s still a chance.

“Hmm, are you scared of me? Did you perhaps feel something?”

Her voice was laced with curiosity. Was this a different conversation than before?

“Well, it doesn’t matter. Listen, as you can see, I’m trapped here. Could you open this for me?”

Just like last time, the vampire reached her hand through the shutter and offered a key.

Here was one thing he realized:

1. The vampire cannot open the shutter herself.

That must be why she was asking him for help in such a manner. There would be no problem as long as he simply didn’t open it.

“Hurry, open it.”

“No, you fu—!”

But his body was moving again!

Just as his legs had moved on their own to descend the stairs, his hand involuntarily reached out and took the key.

“Hurry.”

The vampire’s eyes glowed with an eerie brilliance.

Staring into them, he found himself unable to resist.

That meant…

2. The vampire possesses hypnotic abilities!

Even if he didn’t want to open the shutter, if he were hypnotized, he would have no choice. So how could he avoid this hypnosis? He had been on the stairs just moments ago, yet he had still fallen under her spell.

“No, no!”

‘I can’t just die like this!’

He had to struggle to survive. He strained to halt his movements.

Even if it was hypnosis, it didn’t seem to turn him into a complete s*ave. When he tried to force himself to move, his movements would briefly falter. However, it wasn’t a fundamental solution.

“Hee hee hee, I’m only asking you to unlock the gate, so why are you resisting so much? Did you perhaps feel something?”

“Shut uuuup!”

‘Yes!’

‘I get it!’

‘A way not to open it!’

“Ughhh!”

“Hmm?”

He strained with every ounce of strength he possessed, halting his feet and forcibly raising his hand. It felt as though he were pulling a barbell weighing 500 kilograms.

Then, without hesitation.

“Gulp!”

He put the key into his mouth and swallowed it!

—*GULP!*

The disgusting metallic taste, combined with the stimulation of his uvula, made him want to vomit, but the thought of struggling for survival somehow allowed him to force it down.

“Hoo, hoo! I did it! I did ittt!”

As soon as he swallowed the key, a sense of relief washed over him, the realization that he had survived finally sinking in. Did she want to use him to open the shutter? Well, he had already devoured the key, so what could she do now?

All he had to do was hold out like this, and it would be over.

“How about that!”

He looked at the vampire with brimming confidence.

“…”

Her face was expressionless.

There was no discernible emotion on her features.

“Ha, haha… You can’t open it now, can you?”

‘Th-this damn…!’

Why was she staring at him with such terrifying eyes?

“You swallowed it?”

“Excuse me?”

“And what makes you think you know what I’ll do?”

Her voice was utterly frigid.

“Wh-what are you going to do?”

He spoke, feeling fear surge within him once more.

‘Please.’

‘Nothing bad should happen.’

But the vampire’s words were too ominous.

“This.”

“Ah.”

The vampire’s eyes glowed even more intensely. A crimson light swallowed his world, and he felt the power of the hypnosis take an even stronger hold.

“N-no… I hate this… No! Noooo!”

His hand moved on its own.

The hand that had been caressing his neck descended, first to his solar plexus, then to his abdomen. There, his hand began to tear at his flesh, moving like a sleek, elongated aquatic creature burrowing into a corpse.

“Kuaaaagh! Gaah, gahaaaagh!”

He was already writhing on the floor.

He couldn’t stop his hand’s movements; his hand, merely a hand, his own hand, was tearing and digging into his flesh with an incomprehensible force. It then burrowed inside, poking and prodding his internal organs.

And so, he…

“No, no… Cough!”

He…

Dug out his own abdomen.

****

[You died by tearing open your own abdomen.]

[Deaths: 1 -> 2]

****

[Restarting.]

****

“Aaaargh! Aaagh! Aagh, aaaargh!”

An insane, piercing agony ripped through his stomach. He could do nothing but clutch his abdomen, screaming and thrashing wildly.

“Damn it! Goddamnnn it! Aaaargh!”

He!

He had died by directly stabbing and tearing open his own stomach with his own hands! He had literally pulled out his stomach, ripped it apart, and retrieved the key inside to unlock the gate!

“Ugh! Uuuugh!”

Along with the excruciating pain, an unimaginable foreign sensation overwhelmed him. He ended up vomiting everything from inside his body.

It felt like the nausea and horror he had once felt from accidentally watching a horrific video of a factory accident online had been amplified hundreds of times over. All of it intermingled, disorienting his mind.

“G-ugh…”

After vomiting and thrashing on the floor, he realized his condition had become utterly chaotic.

“Ugh, damn it, damn it…! Why me?!”

Why had he gotten caught up in this?

All he wanted was to go home!

And it wasn’t just one death. Including what had just happened, he had died a total of two times, only to return to this godforsaken subway entrance with a message telling him to “restart.”

To make matters worse, the entrance was blocked by a blood mist, so he couldn’t even leave!

He couldn’t resist the hypnosis!

He was simply fated to be eternally murdered by this vampire here! So this was what regression was like—utterly hellish!

The moment a voice echoed from below, asking,

“Are you done?”

“Damn it…!”

He, who had been thrashing, once again rose and began descending the stairs.

“No! I can’t!”

The fear of death—no, the fear of a pain that transcended death—was driving him insane. His entire body trembled uncontrollably, yet a furious urge to escape somewhere, to scream, surged within him.

He couldn’t go down there. He had to move somehow.

—*CRASH!*

Though he eventually tripped and tumbled down the stairs, reality remained unforgiving. Hypnotized, he crawled, then stood, and continued walking directly toward the vampire.

From the other side, the vampire’s face became visible.

“Did something bad happen? You seem to be quite drunk.”

“Please!!”

“Hmm?”

“Please, please spare me!!!”

He begged, bowing his head to the ground.