Chapter 9: Guess Who [Arc.1] (7)
In the living room area, Cozbi and the rest gathered
"Ughh, I couldn't sleep a wink last night"
Everyone nodded and agreed, last night was like hell
They kept hearing screams and also the cold temperature turned even more colder, how were they supping to sleep at that situation?
Whoosh
A cold gust of wind from who-knows-where blew past them and all of their bodies trembled
Alex: "Aren't there any woods here to use for fire?"
Cozbi: "I'm not sure, but we should split up and try to search for wood aswell as food supplies"
Cozbi then noticed Miya kept fidgeting her head back and forth, looking anxious over something
"What's wrong Miya?"
"Ah-!" Miya flinched and gasped buy quickly covered her mouth with both her hands
Stuttering she hesitantly said "W-Well, y-you see...remember when, you s-said that...there was an i-imposter w-who would k-kill us?"
Nathan: "Yeah, is the imposter given the task now?"
Everyone looked at Cozbi waiting for answers
Cozbi held his chin as he said "Probably"
Nathan showed a suspicious look at Cozbi that says 'You're not sure?'
Cozbi scoffed and said "What? Do you think I'm omniscient or something?"
"I might be a veteran but I'm only a twig compare to others"
'But not to you guys' Cozbi narrowed his eyes and smiled
Tap Tap
They then heard footsteps coming from the direction if upstairs
They all simultaneously looked at the direction but then minded their own business again
Everyone has no reaction, except for Cozbi
Cozbi was shocked as his eyes shook looking at the people who were coming down the stairs
One had a jet-black hair while the other has a yellow-hazel hair
Cozbi then looked calm and said "Good morning" but internally he was screaming
'What-! How-...they're still alive...how, I don't understand...'
The overall number of players in this game that was supposed to be 12 was now 13 and earlier they heard someone let the woman that was pleading for help in their room
Cozbi was sure that the person that let the woman in should've died and yet, all of them until now is still 13
Not a single one of them has died yet
Cozbi has heard that everyone that has ever played this game had experienced one of the players disappear overnight the moment that player let the ghost woman in
Cozbi even watched the play of their experience from one of the elites and saw that they really died
So now...how?!
'Just why?!' Cozbi thought wanting to tear something apart, none of his plans were going the exact way he thought
Forcing a smile he asked "Did you guys found anything strange last night?"
Eru didn't say anything and Samur just shrugged and said "Strange? I don't remember, I thought it was peaceful last night"
Eru didn't need to ask what's up with his answer but everyone else is confused by Samur's answer
'What do you mean peaceful someone was screaming all night?!'
[Constellation 'God of Death' is laughing]
[Constellation 'God of War' is laughing]
Actually, if you ask the constellations who have watched his pov then they'll know the reason
Samur slept through the whole night like a dead corpse
Even if there is an intruder, they might be the one sent to the afterlife if they ever attack Samur while sleeping...
(You will soon know why Samur is much more dangerous when asleep rather than awake -_-')
Suddenly remembering something, Samur crossed his arms grumbled, lowering his head and murmuring something
It was hard for everyone else to hear it but since Eru is beside Samur he heard it well
Samur: "I was having a good dream...if only those bastards didn't stop me from jumping off the cliff..."
In Samur's dream, he was about to jump off the cliff when suddenly some soldiers tried to stop him, so...he let them 'go first' and was about to follow them as he jumped but then was woken up by a noise
"Hmmm, hey-" Samur turned his head to the side and froze momentarily
Eru was not there anymore.
Samur thought 'Who's the ghost here now?'
And couldn't help but snicker
Cozbi didn't noticed the strangeness as he was engrossed in his own thoughts when suddenly
Jean: "So how are we supposed to find the imposter?"
Cozbi still didn't heard it until Jean repeatedly called his name "Hey, Cozbi!"
"Ah..." Cozbi looked around and then said "I'm sorry I was just thinking about something. What did you say again?"
Jean: "How are we gonna find the imposter? I mean, it's not like the culprit would just admit it"
Cozbi let out a sigh as he said "That's the problem, since they won't easily admit it knowing that they'll die if they fail then we can only find it out for ourselves"
Alex cussed underneath his breath and frowned
Cozb: "We should split up into two pairs and find supplies"
Hearing the word 'split into two pairs' most of them understood the reason while some didn't and was hesitant, fearing that the person they get paired with is the imposter and die
Whatever their thought is, they have no choice but to agree so and all of them got separated leaving only Samur and another person alone in the living room
The person looked around in the mid twenties with brown hair and eyes wearing a western style t-shirt
"So, I guess we are gonna be the teammates-" The boy turned his head to look at Samur when he suddenly saw Samur walking away
"Hey! Where are you going?!"
Samur just walked leisurely as he replied "Exploring"
"Wha-ughh" The brown-haired youth growled before gritting his teeth and run to catch up to Samur
Walking together in the hallway, the brown-haired youth asked "Are you not afraid of what might be there?"
Samur asked with a confuse tone "Afraid? Afraid of what?"
"You know, he said that there are...monsters..." The voice of the youth slowly turned faintly until it disappeared
Samur stopped his footsteps which caused the youth to also stop abruptly while staring at Samur with a gaze that seemed to be saying 'What's wrong?'
"...Pfft-!" Samur covered his mouth with both his hands and turned to look away from the youth
The youth was confused and was about to ask something when suddenly-
"Hahahahahaha!!" Samur laughed madly as it echoed through the hallway
His shoulders kept going up and down as he held his stomach
"W-What are you laughing at?!" The youth asked angrily as his face flashed red in anger
"Ah, you see-...ahahhahahahah! I can't I'm sorry I just- pwuhahaha"
Samur still laughed continuously
It lasted for who-knows-how-long before he finally let out his breath and wiped away the formed tears on his eyes with his finger
"Haah...I can't believe you're such a scaredy cat"
"What?"
"I mean, you wouldn't go out and explore for resources just because you're scared of 'monsters' and would rather wait until you freeze or starve to death..."
Samur paused before he rolled his eyes and muttered "Unless you prefer to die that way then I respect your decision"
Samur gave a serious and salute look at him as he was looking at a hero
The youth subconsciously took a step back and thought 'What the hell is wrong with this kid...'
'Out of all the people I could end up paired with, why with this psycho?!'
Samur didn't noticed-... actually, he doesn't care whatever they think about him as he was busy going back to some nostalgic memories
'I used to also try that way of dying, my parents didn't fed me and locked me up in my room, it was a whole week and I thought I would've died but sadly I didn't...'
'I also thought that dying by hunger is a little bit embarrassing and not entertaining at all so I had to struggle even though it was bothersome'
'Well I don't mind if that's the way this kid wants to die but...he needs to go to a therapist since dying by hunger is not good'
(Author: *Cough* is Samur really the one to talk about recommending someone to a therapist?!)
Shaking his head Samur seemed to be disappointed and irritated which made the youth flinch and have shivers run down his spine
'Luckily he has me! You can call me
"What's your name?" Samur asked and the youth was surprised before saying "Austin Whitlock"
Samur smiled brightly as he patted Austin's back and said with a serious look on his face "You shouldn't die by hunger, got it?"
Austin: "Wha-...!"
Samur: "I know, I know, but even if you want to die starving to death is not the best way"
"It sucks and embarrassing there's nothing to it I would rather die- well I do, but! What I was saying is, there are other ways okay bud?"
Before Austin could even say anything, Samur started to walk again through the hallway while humming happily as if he just got a perfect score in advanced static
Austin: "..."
[Constellation 'God of Death' is dying from laughter]
[Constellation 'God of War' agrees with player 'Samur Eckart']
***
In another hallway, Cozbi and Miya were walking
Miya kept tilting her head feeling that something may come out of the shadows or the floor and pull her
Cozbi coaxed her and she did calm down a little bit
But just then, from one of the doors beside Cozbi opened and pulled Cozbi in without him being able to say something
Miya was shocked and shouted "Cozbi!!!"
Alas, the door closed with a loud 'bang' sound and Miya was left at the hallway without knowing what happened to Cozbi...or what would happen to her...
***
Two silhouettes walked in inside a room on the first floor as one of them kept examining the painting
"If you keep staring intensely at that you will burn a hole on it"
"Tsk, the paintings just seemed to be very old and yet it's still very visible"
Knock
Knock
Suddenly, a sound of knocking came from the door and both looked at it simultaneously
"Who is it?" One of them asked as he started to look for anything to defend them
"It's me" The person from the other side replied
They then sighed in relief as they recognized the voice, as the other opened the door there was suddenly a sound of-
Puek-
"Jhon-" As if realizing something was wrong, the other stood abruptly
Thud
The body of the other fell to the ground, the door opened with a 'creak' sound revealing a person that entered
The man couldn't believe it and said "You- why, how could you?!"
He looked at the fallen body of the other and saw that it was bleeding badly, no, it was dead
"But why-" The man wasn't able to finish his words as the person that entered dashed towards him at fast speed
The man followed his instinct and blocked his upper body with both of his arms
Puek
"Ughh!" The man groaned in pain and took several steps back only to see the other already making its way towards him again
As the man was about to attack the other, he suddenly stopped and couldn't move
'What, who-?'
The person infront of him suddenly disappeared as he heard a voice from behind
"I'm sorry but no matter how hard you try, you will die eventually"
Looking down, the man saw that his chest was pierced by a dagger and he fell down with his last thought 'This damn...two face...bastard...'
Thud
As the man's body fell down, the other person wiped away the blood on his hand with disgust in his face
With a frown he called out "System"
[System1972: Yes host?]
"Where is the location of Miya?"
[System1972: Her current location is on the north side whilst another two people are near you to the south side]
"Perfect" He said and hid his dagger
'2 down, 10 more to go' He thought as suddenly raged engulfed his eyes, gritting his teeth he thought 'That bastard will just have to wait, I will kill you'
With that, he left the room and walked over the corpse as if it was insignificant
With a grin on his face, he couldn't help but think that everyone else really is a fool
For them to be easily deceived by him
Don't they know the meaning of his name?
The meaning of his name is 'Liar'
He was named like that name by his father since he hated him because he looks like his mother
That's why, he was known as 'Liar' or 'two-faced' which his name is-
.
.
.
.
.
.
- Cozbi
***
Eru was lazily lying down on his bed as he was listening on his favorite musics
⏸️ [
Suddenly Eru felt his fingers were itchy
He misses his piano and violin which he always uses whenever he plays this song
Sigh
White smoke came out of his mouth as the temperature kept getting lower and lower
Looking at his hand, he felt numb
He then thought of a certain coat that could warm him up and store in some of his items, but then he remembered that it costs [100,000 coins]
"..." Don't have enough coins yet
Since there is nothing to do because stopping Cozbi's other plan would just be too troublesome for him he decided to take a sleep but unfortunately it was too cold for him to be able to sleep
He might not even wake up...
Eru then thought 'I should just think of how to free them from the bind'
With that in mind, Eru went on his phone and started creating possible ways of freeing the ghosts from the bind of the game.
***
Night time once again arrived and everyone gathered in the living room area
Nathan: "Where are the others?"
Alex: "Shouldn't they have arrived here yet?"
Nathan shook his head not knowing how to answer
The 12 people here earlier is currently only 4 which makes everyone have a sense of ominous feeling
Whoosh
Irene in the corner tucked the quilt she got in the bedroom around her body tightly from the coldness
Tap Tap
Pant Pant
Suddenly, sound of footsteps and ragged panting of breath was heard
They all shifted their heads to the hallway to see a figure running towards their direction
It was dark and hard to see on who it was and so they stood up on guard
After the figure finally reached the little dim light of the living room it was then revealed on who it was
Irene: "Miya? Where's Cozbi?"
Miya placed her hands on both her knees as she heavily took a breath while trying to talk
"H-He-...Haah, haah,...he-"
Jean approached and supported her as he said "Calm down, sit first then explain slowly what happened"
Miya was led to sit on the sofa as they all gathered around her, waiting for her to take her breath and finally explain
After some time, Miya was finally able to calm down as she said hesitantly "C-Cozbi, he...he disappeared..."
Alex frowned and asked "What do you mean?"
Miya: "We were just walking when suddenly a door beside him opened and...I don't know what but, he was dragged in without making any sound or giving time for us to react..."
"There's no way he's dead...right?" Miya can't help but asked as her eyes shrank back in fright at her words
No one answered, they think he is but they don't want to believe it.
Irene: "Then what about the others? Any news?"
Miya shook her head saying "I don't know"
Alex: "Could there perhaps be a monster at this time?"
They don't even know of it's night or day
Everyone jolted at this words and felt shivers run down their spine
But just then, they heard another sound of footsteps coming from the same hallway Miya was from
The figure was walking slowly and looked like it was staggering as it walked
When the figure finally arrived at the light, they were shocked and Miya exclaimed "C-Cozbi!"
Alex and Nathan rushed and helped to support Cozbi
"Ughh" Cozbi let out a painful groan sound as he sat on the other coach
Cozbi's head and abdomen were bleeding as his breathing was ragged and harsh
Jean: "What happend? Who-"
Cozbi: "The monster...haah...hah.."
Everyone froze and their body trembled.
'Mosnter?'
They really can't believe it, how can such things like this happen?
Cozbi not waiting for their reaction continued "T-The monster, drag me and I fought back but- Ahh!"
The wounds on his abdomen ripped much more open from his movement
Miya let out a shrill as she exclaimed "Don't move!"
"...Fine" Cozbi said reluctantly
Everyone frowned and thought if even a veteran could be injured this bad, what more could they do?
Unbeknownst to them, Cozbi was silently grinning in his heart as he thought 'They're really easy to fool'
Cozbi already killed 4 of them.
They might suspect him but he knows that they couldn't say or prove it, what could they even do?
What's more...
Cozbi looked up to see a yellow screen that is only visible to him
[You have earned 200 coins]
By killing a player they will receive coins based on their worth
Cozbi sighed in his heart thinking that it was a waste since the players are only newbies they are only worth 50 coins each
That's why he wanted to 'help' them get out of the game successfully in order to receive much more greater coins
After they give him their gratitude when he will tell them a lie about his pitiful situation they would once again fall for his trap and give him the coins they received from the game
That would be equivalent to about 1000 coins because of their numbers
But now he would get less than 1000 coins because he was given the identity of imposter
There was another screen below the yellow screen
[Task completion: 4/12]
[Time limit: 5:46:21:09]
"Cozbi"
Cozbi then snapped out of his thoughts after hearing a voice
Nathan: "I'm not professional but my sister was a doctor so I have some knowledge about treatment"
"You shoud rest in your room and the other's, go find some bandage, water, and any other possible treatment supplies"
Just as they supported Cozbi's body and wad about to bring him up to his room, footsteps were heard from another hallway
2 figures appeared, one seemed shorter by head from the other
Samur and Austin arrived to only see Cozbi bleeding to death
Austin: "W-What happened..."
"Obviously he was attacked" Samur said nonchalantly as if it was nothing
After some thinking, Samur suddenly thought something and asked "But who did attack you?"
Before Cozbi could reply, Miya spoke first and said "It's the monster"
Samur: "Really?"
Miya: "Yes! I saw it with my own eyes, he-"
Samur: "Then, what did it look like?"
"Huh-ah..." Miya's voice suddenly faded as she couldn't find how to answer it
Jean frowned and said "Why do you ask like that? Are you doubting him?"
"Woah woah, easy I'm just asking no need to be so on guard" Samur grinned mischievously as he gestured his hand to calm down
"I just wanted to know the monster's description and built so that we may found a weakness to kill it"
Austin on the side asked with a faint voice "Kill...it?"
He thought 'What nonsense is this kid saying?! How the hell could we kill such a thing?! I mean, look at Cozbi's appearance!'
Samur just nodded as he said "Well, do you want to wait for it to kill us or do you prefer die trying?"
Jean contemplated before shifting his gaze at Cozbi, as he was about to say something Nathan spoke first and said "I hate to interrupt you guys but i don't think he can explain in this state he is in right now"
"Oh!~ I'm sorry I forgot, yeah you should go rest and heal up your wounds for now" Samur let out a shocked gasp as he blinked his eyes in an innocent look
Everyone frowned but still helped Cozbi go up the stairs
Cozbi then recalled Samur's question - But 'who' attacked you?
Instead of saying 'what' Samur instead said 'who' emphasizing that it was a person
Cozbi narrowed his eyes as he thought 'Is it a flaw or intentional?'
Unfortunately he didn't have time to think it through as the pain in his body worsen
Actually, the reason for his injuries is because of that couple he killed
He didn't expected that the male of the couple was already chosen by a constellation to be supported and so he was able to be injured badly before killing him
Cozbi did thought this was a perfect decoy to switch the blame to a monster but-
'Damn it! This wound is too much!'
Samur watched as their backs go farther and farther away from him until it finally disappeared
Smirk
Samur smirked as he thought 'Such a great actor he needs an oscar award'
With that in mind, he also walked to the direction of the stairs
Austin: "Where are you going?"
Samur paused and thought about it, since Eru was doing his own business that probably means that he didn't want to be disturbed
'Or doesn't want to get caught?'
'Hmmmm, maybe I should let this slide for now, there's still some days left'
Samur changed his plan about going to visit Eru and instead he said "I'm going to my room"
Tap Tap
Tap Tap
'Hm?'
Samur turned around to see Austin following behind him
"Why are you following me?"
Austin: "..."
"We're finished with the pairings right? So you should go do your business then"
Samur continued to walk upstairs not knowing the slight flushed red on the tip of Austin's ear as he mumbled "I..."
Samur: "What?"
Austin: "I...I..."
Samur: "Oh for fuck sake just say it already!"
Austin: "I'm scared to be alone!"
Whoosh
Samur: "...Eh?"
Austin: "I don't want to be alone, I'm-...I'm...scared"
Samur: "What the hell are you afraid of, the monster?"
Austin didn't reply meaning that Samur's words were right
Samur: "Haha you really believe him?"
Austin: "Huh-"
But before Austin could even swallow up Samur's words, Samur was getting further as he said "Well whatever just don't disturb me"
Austin was hesitant but gritted his teeth as he run up and followed Samur not wanting to be all alone.
***
Eru heaved a sigh as he lied on the bed and thought 'It didn't work'
'Looks like it will take much more time before I'm able to keep my promise'
'I'll just do it some time later, tomorrow I need to do something else that will be crucial to my plan'
'I'm sorry Samur but I will be needing you to take the bullet'
(-take the bullet- put oneself into difficulty, blame, danger)
***
[Constellation 'God of Death': This newbie player Samur is really hilarious, he isn't afraid of Death- no, he is seeking for it]
[Constellation 'God of War': He has a potential to be a good fighter, alas I don't think he wants to]
[Constellation 'God of Death': By the way, what are you doing here, 'Abyssal God'?]
[Constellation 'Abyssal God': Do I have any of needs to inform you?]
[Constellation 'God of Death': No, I'm just curious for an almighty constellation like you would be doing here in a low level game and newbie players]
[Constellation 'Abyssal God': I have an eye for a player that peaks my interest]
[Constellation 'God of Death': Oh? There's such a player that could be noticed by you?]
- Constellation 'Abyssal God' is offline
[Constellation 'God of War':...What the hell?]
[Constellation 'God of Death': Who's the player he said? I don't remember someone that's interesting other than Samur and Cozbi]
Both of the constellations are curious but could only heave a sigh as they could not get the answer
[Constellation 'God of Death': We can only wait for the player himself to reveal it]
[Constellation 'God of War': Agree]
- Constellation 'God of Death' is offline
- Constellation 'God of War' is offline