The turn of events came so fast that no one could’ve seen it coming.

After Solo Fan’s pained expression, he suddenly got excited again, like a madman.

Even Yimo was taken aback. Unable to help himself, he tugged at Solo Fan and asked, “Keep it down. What’s going on?”

Solo Fan realized he’d gotten carried away. He quickly crouched down, glanced over at the high schooler and the young woman, then lowered his voice to speak to Yimo.

“I got the Exorcism Talisman!”

He excitedly pulled something from his pocket: a small golden wooden plaque, covered in intricate red writing. It looked like gibberish, but strangely, it made people feel calm and safe.

“Guess every cloud has a silver lining. Things are looking a lot better now!”

Solo Fan didn’t bother hiding it from Yimo. The two of them stared at the Exorcism Talisman, planning to give it a good look.

Right. They should figure out how to make it to the end alive.

But… before they could study it properly, the system chimed—and the Exorcism Talisman, their lifeline, vanished right out of Solo Fan’s hand.

『Ding-a-ling.』

『Players: 8』

『Deaths: 2』

『Survivor faction deaths: +1.』

The System Loli’s voice echoed through the minds of the two stunned men, like a devil whispering in their ears.

It hadn’t even been a minute since the Killer died and a new Killer appeared.

And already, another survivor had been killed!

The Exorcism Talisman had just been randomly assigned to Solo Fan. Before he’d even had a chance to warm it in his hands, the system had assigned it to someone else.

.

.

Back in the starting room.

After Horse Hunter was assigned the role of Killer, he checked the countdown in the upper-right corner of his vision, then looked at the pair of fresh-faced lambs in front of him. He couldn’t help grinning to himself.

Hahaha…

This was practically a free win!

Horse Hunter had played four Death Games already. Every time, there’d been rookies just like the couple in front of him, playing for the first time.

They’d have no idea what was going on. They’d either yell and make a nuisance of themselves, or plop down on the floor and start crying.

If they were on the survivor side, Horse Hunter might yell at them a little, then ignore them.

But the situation was obvious now: he was the Killer, and those two idiots in front of him were easy points, just waiting to be picked off.

“Hey, rookies.”

“It’s normal that you don’t understand what’s going on. But lucky for you, you’ve run into a veteran who’s played four games.”

“You two seem like my kind of people, so I’ll explain what’s going on.”

Horse Hunter grinned and started to sit down on a cardboard box full of stuff.

But the blond young man knew how to play his cards right. He hurried over, dusted off the box with his sleeve, and said to Horse Hunter, “Go ahead, boss!”

Then he turned to the Little Delinquent beside him. “Quit crying. We’ve got the boss looking out for us. What’s there to be scared of?”

At that, the Little Delinquent hid in the blond boy’s arms. A little scared of Horse Hunter’s red eyes, she nodded. “Boss… good…”

Horse Hunter could tell the blond young man knew how to play along. Since he was restricted to moving within one meter of his spot and couldn’t touch anyone, he nodded and said, “You know how to behave, kid. The girl may look a little dumb, but if she’s calling me boss, I can’t exactly be heartless.”

“You’ve been dragged into something big.”

“You suddenly passed out, then spent some time in a pure-white space, and when you woke up, you were here. Right?”

The two hurriedly nodded.

Horse Hunter said, “Heh. You’ve been dragged into a Death Game.”

“There’s a massive criminal organization that kidnaps people in all sorts of ways—drugging them, injecting them, snatching them off the street—and then stages Death Games. Rich people place bets and get to watch what they think is an exciting high-stakes gamble.”

“They drugged you and implanted chips in you, too. So it’s perfectly normal for you to see and hear things differently.”

The two of them were dumbfounded. How had they gotten dragged into something like this out of nowhere?

The Little Delinquent started crying again. She mumbled that her parents had lots of money, and they’d pay anything to get her out.

After a moment of shock, the blond boy asked, “Boss… are you also…”

Horse Hunter had just been making the whole story up. He was waiting for his movement restriction to lift so he could start slaughtering them. He played along with the blond boy’s nonsense, and honestly, he made it sound pretty convincing. Frowning, he thumped his chest and said, “Hell no. Don’t lump me in with those idiots. I’m only here for the money.”

“The winner of every game gets a huge cash prize!”

The blond boy admired him even more after hearing that. He was practically ready to drop to his knees and kowtow, then claim him as family on the spot.

Horse Hunter put on the air of a man who valued brotherhood above all else. “Hahaha! I’m helping you because you know how to behave, kid—and because the girl in your arms comes from a rich family.”

“Those rich viewers love a good show. You two were just brought here, so stick with me and help me kill everyone else.”

“That’ll make for great entertainment, and then the game can end.”

“Exactly, little girl. I’m saving your life here. So when you get home, that money…”

The blond girl hurriedly said, “Boss, thank you so much! I’ll make sure my parents thank you properly. They’ll give you 100,000—no, no! A million!”

Horse Hunter had more or less earned their trust. With less than a minute on the countdown, he started fishing for information. “By the way, did either of you get a system notification saying you’d received something?”

“That thing’s a lifesaver. If you’ve got one, hold on to it. No one can hurt you while you have it!”

The blond girl shook her head, crying.

The blond boy said, “What thing? How can it be that powerful?”

“Where do we find one?”

As he spoke, the blond boy began rummaging around nearby.

Horse Hunter watched the countdown in the upper-right corner.

Ten seconds, nine seconds…

Three seconds, one second…

At last, he couldn’t help letting the corner of his mouth curl up. He burst out laughing. “Hahaha… You can stop looking!”

As he spoke, a large cleaver suddenly appeared in his hand. He swung it at the blond boy’s head.

As it happened, the blond boy hadn’t found anything useful. He turned around just in time to see a cleaver appear out of thin air in Horse Hunter’s hand and come swinging at him.

He jumped in fright. His street-fighting instincts kicked in, and he leaped back out of the way. Then he scrambled to his feet and shielded the blond girl, who was too terrified to move. “Boss, what are you doing?”

Horse Hunter looked at the two of them like a scientist looking at a pair of mice. In no hurry at all, he rested the big cleaver on his shoulder and grinned. “What am I doing?”

“I’m killing you, of course!”

“Hahaha…”

“You two idiots are killing me!”

With that, he strode toward them, cleaver in hand.

The blond boy immediately realized his newly sworn-in boss had betrayed him. Furious, he hurriedly said, “Boss, that’s not very honorable!”

Horse Hunter didn’t even bother responding to the blond boy.

And the blond boy?

Looking at that gleaming cleaver and Horse Hunter’s bull-like build, he was still young after all. He got scared.

He suddenly dropped to his knees. “Boss, please, don’t kill me!”

“I’m only seventeen! I’ve got a little sister in elementary school, and I have to look after her!”

“Let me go, and I’ll be your spy. I’ll find all the others for you!”

“Th-that is…”

“If you have to kill someone… kill her!”

As he spoke, the blond boy actually ducked behind the Little Delinquent and used her as a human shield. His eyes darted around as if he were looking for a chance to escape.

Horse Hunter had seen it all. Amused, he drove them into a corner, then looked down at them and nodded. “Hmm. An extra pair of hands wouldn’t be so bad.”

“But…”

“Damn it, I hate people who use women as human shields!”

“You’re dead!”

Then he lifted the cleaver and suddenly struck, aiming for the blond boy’s head.

“Aah!” The Little Delinquent squeezed her eyes shut and screamed. A puddle of liquid had already formed on the floor.

What happened next?

Did the cleaver split the blond boy’s head open, blood spraying everywhere?

No.

“Aaaah!” A miserable scream rang out.

It didn’t come from the blond boy. It came from Horse Hunter.

His full-force blow landed on the blond boy’s head, but the cleaver couldn’t cut through even a little. Then a pure golden light poured out of the boy’s body and shone on Horse Hunter.

The next moment, Horse Hunter’s clothes burst into flames. His skin began to rot, and black smoke poured from the top of his head. He stared at the blond boy in disbelief and bellowed, “Why… why do you have it?”

The blond boy looked like a rookie, scared out of his wits. There was no way he’d have that so-called Exorcism Talisman on him!

And the blond boy? He was no longer acting timid. He got up from the floor, walked over to Horse Hunter with a sneer, and kicked him hard several times. “Hahaha! You big, dumb idiot!”

“When I called someone useless earlier, I meant you too! Hahaha!”

As he spoke, the blond boy’s eyes slowly turned red. He picked up the cleaver from the floor, prodded Horse Hunter’s shouting mouth with it, then said coldly, “You’ve played four games and already think you’re a veteran. That’s hilarious.”

“Heh. I’ve played seven games, and I still pretend to be a rookie to trick fools like you.”

“People who think too highly of themselves are the easiest to fool.”

“This game’s pretty boring, though. Aside from you, that pink-haired one seems like the only real threat.”

“I’ll take you out first, then her.”

“Hahaha…”

The blond boy crouched beside Horse Hunter, muttering “yada yada yada” nonstop. Horse Hunter could only stare at him, eyes wide, as if vowing to haunt him after death.

But the blond boy had seen that look far too many times to care. He slowly watched Horse Hunter burn until he was nothing but a dried corpse, then turned to look at the Little Delinquent. She was huddled in the corner, shaking her head back and forth, as if she’d lost her mind.

“Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!”

“Please, don’t kill me!”

And the blond boy?

He walked over with the cleaver in hand and a gentle smile on his face. Bending down, he softly stroked her head. “You’re so pretty. How could I bring myself to kill you?”

At the blond boy’s gentle voice, the girl finally raised her head a little. Like a frightened little rabbit, she nodded, a glimmer of hope appearing in her eyes as if she were looking at her savior.

And then…

“Whoosh…”

The cleaver in the blond boy’s hand suddenly came down. Survivors:

Minus one.

.

After doing all that, the blond boy trembled with excitement.

He loved watching people fill with hope, only to fall straight into hell!

He loved it more than anything!

He walked out of the room with the cleaver in hand, humming a tune. He wasn’t in a hurry at all.

“Which little mouse should I find first?”

“Aww, this place is so huge. They’ll be hard to find~”

He grinned, pulled a card out of thin air, and activated its effect.

『R Card activated: Sense of smell increased fivefold. Effect lasts five minutes.』

The blond boy stretched out his neck and sniffed with sickening relish. He shuddered a few times, then grew even more excited.

“Hahaha, what a lovely scent…”

“It must be fate. I can’t believe you’re the closest one to me!”

“That works out perfectly. I’ll take care of the one who looks most dangerous first, then we can play a proper game of cat and mouse!”

The scrape of the woodcutter’s blade across the ground echoed through the dim mine tunnel, like Death tolling a funeral bell, filling the heart with a chill of fear.