Why is my Isekai in the Slice of Life anime was become a Horror Story?

Chapter 23: Some Things Are Hard to Hide

"Don't worry, Dusk-level missions are the easiest. As long as we work together, we'll definitely make it through this challenge."

Old Guo smiled earnestly as he spoke, but beside him, Green frowned.

Unlike the young black man who loved reading web novels and saw this as an exciting adventure, eagerly following Old Guo as a "veteran player" for a thrilling journey, Green wasn't naïve.

He considered himself incredibly lucky. During his first encounter with the Sacrifice Game, he happened to meet three top-tier players armed with special items. They managed to help the entire team survive the rookie game. As a result, Green had unwittingly made it through his first game unscathed.

Green might not know much about the mechanics, but he had learned to distinguish between genuinely capable players willing to help and those with ulterior motives. His lack of formal education didn't hinder him—growing up on the lowest rungs of society had taught him how to identify who was strong, who was weak, who was trustworthy, and who wasn't.

Old Guo, with his overly friendly demeanor, had no visible tells or subtle reactions for Green to read. To him, such people were often sly foxes, the type to sacrifice others when it suited their goals.

If you wanted to latch onto someone strong, you needed to choose wisely. Only veteran players who didn't treat rookies as expendable test subjects were worth associating with. Even if these players looked down on newbies or refused to help, at least you wouldn't face human threats from their side. Worst case, you could just butter them up a little.

So, Green decided to observe for now—to see if any stronger players would emerge.

Leaning against the door of room 209, where he had woken up, Green started watching the others.

The first person to emerge was a middle-aged man from room 206. It was hard to tell if he was Chinese, Korean, Japanese, or from somewhere else, but as long as he wasn't an alien, it didn't matter.

However, it was clear he was a rookie. People of his age often struggled to adapt to the life-threatening scenarios of the Sacrifice Game. His survival chances seemed slim.

Saying nothing, Green continued scanning the other rooms.

"Creak—"

The sound of another door opening broke the silence.

"The lock on this door's busted."

Accompanied by a casual remark, a tall, young man stepped out of room 204. Though he looked like a student, his physique suggested he was already well-built.

The young man's eyes swept over the hallway, briefly glancing at the three people already present before quickly shifting his gaze to the door of room 208 across from his. That door had just opened, and out stepped Shijo Maki, her expression tense and alert.

"Another rookie?"

The young man muttered, catching Green's attention.

"You…"

Shijo Maki hesitated. The man before her didn't seem particularly remarkable, but the moment she laid eyes on him, she noticed a subtle shift in his expression.

It seemed like he had been about to reveal a certain reaction but suppressed it just in time.

This man clearly recognized her—and not just from a passing encounter. He knew exactly who she was and was even trying to feign ignorance in her presence!

With her keen intuition, Shijo Maki immediately picked up on this. Her wariness toward the man before her spiked several levels.

A similar situation occurred with Shinomiya Kaguya, who followed behind the young man. Initially impressed by his somewhat "chuunibyou" demeanor and speech, Kaguya, as a daughter of the Shinomiya family with highly acute observational skills, quickly realized that his exaggerated gestures and words were meant to conceal his emotions. She also became aware that this man not only knew her but that their relationship was far from superficial. Her vigilance immediately heightened, even to the point of considering whether she should apprehend him on the spot.

However, for Takahashi Takakai, he felt utterly powerless. Of course, he knew the most pressing task was to quickly achieve mutual understanding, exchange information, then immediately deal with Maeda Miwa—the one attracting monsters—before beginning the exploration. But unlike the reversible mechanism of a wall clock, this time-rewinding ability truly reverted the timeline. At present, aside from Takakai, no one remembered what had previously transpired.

It's worth noting that persuading Kaguya and Maki in the past had already consumed considerable time. Back then, it was only after Maki decided to trust him that Kaguya reluctantly accepted the team dynamic.

Now, having to rebuild trust from scratch, the minor changes in expressions, emotions, and actions caused by the effects of time reversal had created new complications. Takakai couldn't help but think that if, in his earlier days as a failed author, he had taken the time to learn acting instead of skills like investigation, information gathering, mountain climbing....., perhaps he wouldn't be facing such difficulties now.

Still, it's a relief to see them in good health like this...

After handing Kaguya the rule sheet, retrieving a supply box from under the bed, picking up a pair of earplugs, and carrying the wall clock from the hallway to the door, Takakai once again encountered Shijo Maki. Despite his best efforts to conceal his emotions, he couldn't help but let a trace of sentiment slip through.

Naturally, it was only expected that Maki would notice.

Oh well, if she notices, she notices.

Some things become harder to hide the more you try to conceal them; there's no way around it.

Even though she had forgotten the experiences they had shared while enduring hardships together, seeing her safe and sound like this brought him some comfort.

Thus, in this time-reversal cycle, even if he couldn't complete the game, he wouldn't let her die in front of him again.

Takakai was resolute in this thought.

He had never considered himself a good person. In the previous loop, when faced with Sun Dajun and Maeda Miwa—two genuine nuisances—he had seriously contemplated killing them to eliminate unnecessary trouble. In urgent situations, he didn't think he needed to treat Kaguya or Maki any better than necessary, always prioritizing his own survival.

Yet, even so, Takakai understood that for those who were genuinely kind to him, he shouldn't repay them with such an attitude.

Shijo Maki was clearly a fool, willing to take a bullet for someone she'd known for only a few hours. Such kindness was truly meaningless.

But she had taken a bullet for him; he couldn't simply act as if it had never happened.

"You…"

Maki reflexively took a step back.

Even though Takakai had tried his best to hide his emotions during his internal reflections, this sensitive girl still picked up on something unusual.

However, Takakai didn't mind at all; his attention had already shifted to the corridor lined with tall cabinets.

Currently, if he could enter Room 205 in time, it might be possible to stop Maeda Miwa and prevent her from luring monsters in. However, Takakai didn't know how to pick the lock, and in this loop, Green hadn't mistakenly assumed he was a seasoned player yet. Thus, convincing Green to help was no simple task.

More importantly, without any immediate incident, what reason could he use to persuade everyone that they needed to unlock Room 205 right away to neutralize the "alarm" inside?

The two people emerging from the room behind him—Kaguya and Maki—weren't fools. Green, who excelled at being a lackey, was also a skilled thief. There was no need to even mention the useless Sun Dajun. The Black youth seemed to have sided with Old Guo. As for Old Guo, while Takakai very much wanted to deal with him, the thought of his opponent possessing supernatural items, guns, explosives, and even the ability to survive monster attacks deterred him from direct confrontation.

'What should I do now?'

After a brief moment of thought, Takahashi Takakai made a swift decision.

"Hello."

Without giving Old Guo a chance to speak, Takakai went straight to Sun Dajun.

He knew that this stubborn middle-aged man, despite sensing something strange about the Shirakawa Apartment Complex, still refused to believe in the sacrificial game. Unless he witnessed something truly horrifying with his own eyes, he would just hold the group back. If possible, Takakai wouldn't have wanted to interact with him at all.

But he was the tenant of Room 206.

In a situation where there was no original tenant, entering the room recklessly could be dangerous, so Takakai needed him to come along.

"Uh... hello? Hey, is this some kind of reality TV show? What kind of production team pulls a stunt like this? This is outrageous!"

Hearing Takakai's greeting, Sun Dajun initially looked delighted but immediately turned anxious as he asked.

"Who knows. But I just found some really strange things in my room. Did you notice anything like that in yours?"

Takakai replied seriously, maintaining a sincere expression as he deceived Sun Dajun, all while enduring the suspicious gazes of Kaguya and Maki from behind.

Not far away, Old Guo frowned. He had intended to approach and talk to the people who had just come out, but he hadn't expected them to completely ignore him. This raised his suspicion that they might also be veteran players, so he refrained from acting recklessly like last time.

As for Green, though he wasn't muttering to himself this time, he still had no idea what Takakai was trying to do. Feeling annoyed by Kaguya and Maki, he chose to return to his room and shut the door.

"You're saying there might be hidden cameras in my room?"

Sun Dajun, now agitated by Takakai's words, seemed ready to rush into Room 206 and start tearing it apart.

"Quite possibly. But these cameras are usually hidden very carefully. We could search for them together."

Takakai spoke with a completely straight face, as though he wasn't deceiving Sun Dajun at all.

'This guy… he's so strange…'

Kaguya, who had been watching the hallway intently, furrowed her brows. She couldn't make sense of what Takakai was trying to do. Meanwhile, Maki, equally baffled, stepped forward, seemingly ready to confront Takakai.

A scream pierced through the air at that moment.

From inside Room 205, Maeda Miwa—who had apparently woken up and discovered the corpse under the bed—began to scream at the top of her lungs. Her voice was so loud that the entirety of the second floor could hear it clearly. In just a few minutes, when she would inevitably run outside and continue yelling, the sound would echo throughout the entire building.

And then, the invisible presence would appear.

"What's going on?"

Sun Dajun was startled by the scream and instinctively moved to check the situation.

"Are you following your production crew's script for a kidnapping now?"

Hearing Takahashi Takakai's comment, Sun Dajun gritted his teeth, stopped in his tracks, and turned back to unlock the door to Room 206.

By this point, Sun Dajun had been completely convinced by Takakai and decided to join him in searching for the "hidden cameras of the production team" in the room.

"Shinomiya-san, Shijo-san."

As Sun Dajun opened the door and stepped inside, Takakai approached the doorway, grabbing the door frame of Room 206 and turning to address the two girls still observing the scene.

"I know I look suspicious. Yes, I know that, and I also understand you two to some extent as well as the current situation."

"You can choose not to trust me and follow the others, or we can cooperate a little. It's up to you."

"My time is short. You've been watching for a while—do you have a decision yet? The two young ladies of the Shinomiya and Shijo families."

The provocative words caused Kaguya to narrow her eyes slightly.

"Huh? That's quite decisive. Then why did you hide your emotions earlier? And now you're saying this? You just want us to follow you into the room, don't you?"

Maki didn't hold back, directly pointing out Takakai's intentions, her expression becoming even more wary.

Being exposed was inevitable.

But being exposed didn't mean failure.

"You're bold. Do you think you can manipulate us? State your name."

Kaguya's cold gaze fixed on Takakai, her voice sharp as ice.

"Takahashi Takakai. It seems you've already made your decision, Shinomiya-san."

Standing at the door, Takakai offered a faint smile, though inwardly, he was trembling, praying desperately that Maeda Miwa in Room 205 would take longer to come out and that the invisible entity wouldn't descend too soon. All he needed was a bit more time to lure the two young ladies into the room.

"Hmph. Though there are many suspicious things about you, you don't seem like the mastermind behind all of this. Fine, I'll see what you're up to."

Ultimately, despite her many doubts, Kaguya—who valued her pride even more than Maki—decided to act alongside Takakai. However, her vigilance was much higher than during their previous temporary cooperation, nearly treating Takakai as a potential enemy.

"She's really going along with him... Oba-sama... Fine, let's see what he's planning."

As Kaguya moved, Maki—though still wanting to observe a bit more—chose to follow Kaguya. Together, the two entered Room 206.

Finally...

Maeda Miwa's scream echoed down the hallway.

The Black youth was seen supporting her, turning to ask Old Guo something.

Realizing the situation was escalating, Takakai immediately closed the door. This time, he didn't bother hiding his panicked expression, which allowed Kaguya and Maki to recognize that he was genuinely afraid of something in the hallway and understand the real purpose of his earlier provocation.

"What's in the hallway?"

Kaguya immediately questioned.

"If you want to know, you'll find out soon enough, but whatever you do, don't open the door."

Takahashi Takakai locked the door tightly, turned back with a serious tone, and then continued deeper into the hallway of Room 206.

Under his deception, Sun Dajun had likely already found the supply box in Room 206. If the earplugs were still inside, there would be two pairs. If necessary, he could use torn fabric to make a makeshift pair to deal with the situation temporarily.

The only pathway to the first floor, as Xu Sheng had mentioned during the hallucination, was located right within Room 206.

Hopefully, this is the right choice. Although there is a cheat to reverse time, with the limited number of uses, this still makes Takakai feel uneasy. He doesn't want to experience the feeling of dying and coming back to life, accumulating mental pressure, and then going insane because of failure.

While thinking like this, Takakai suddenly heard a sound.

[I don't care what your goal is, don't stand in my way.]

It was the voice of Old Guo.

The voice was cold, directly warning.

[I'm not interested in what you're doing here, but the 'Obsession' at the core of this apartment, me, 'Old Guo', I must have it. Think carefully.]

Ha, what's going on here?

Does he think I'm an old player trying to compete with him?

Wait, that's not right, what is this 'core Obsession'? Could it be his goal from the previous playthrough?

Takahashi Takakai was very surprised upon hearing these words, while Old Guo, after conveying his message, realized something was wrong and hurriedly started running toward room 210.

Footsteps –

In the dark stairwell, the sound of light footsteps was gradually descending, heading towards the shrill cry of Maeda Miwa with an excessively piercing sound.

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