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

Chapter 5: Isn't the beginning of a horror movie supposed to be a safe time?

In this narrow, long hallway, aside from Takahashi Takakai and Shinomiya Kaguya, who had just stepped out of the room, there were five other people already present.

Among them, there were 4 men and 1 woman. Excluding Shijo Maki, there was a young man of African descent who appeared quite young, likely around 20 years old. The other three were middle-aged men, all at least in their 30s.

Among them, the middle-aged man with a big belly and the young African man both had expressions of clear worry and confusion. If they weren't pretending, they might, just like Takahashi Takakai and Shinomiya Kaguya, be participating in this deadly game for the first time.

In contrast to them, the tall white man also seemed tense, but at the same time, he was cautious of the others, with fear that he couldn't hide. However, Takahashi Takakai couldn't yet conclude why he was reacting this way.

In any case, his gut feeling told him that this man might not be a newcomer, or perhaps he had seen something terrifying that the others hadn't, which explained his unusual behavior.

As for the man with the backpack, he appeared quite calm, giving off the vibe of a seasoned gamer. The others had gathered close to him, except for the white man and Shijo Maki. It seemed that while Takahashi Takakai and Shinomiya Kaguya were still in the room, this man had somehow gained the trust of the group.

However, this was exactly why Takahashi Takakai felt the need to be cautious with him. After all, this place might very well be a deadly game controlled by supernatural forces, and who knew how low the moral standards of the participants in this game could be.

In short, there were two characters who seemed to be mere minor roles: one seemed to be a secondary character with some backstory, and the other could either be an antagonist or a secret big boss.

As for Shijo Maki, to Takahashi Takakai, she was just an anime-style beautiful girl, so she wasn't within his scope of criticism.

While Takahashi Takakai and Shinomiya Kaguya were observing the people around them, the gazes of the others in the hallway also turned towards them.

In their eyes were confusion, disappointment, indifference, and there were also gazes that made it difficult to discern the emotions inside.

The temperature in the hallway was so low that it felt as if a cold wind was silently blowing through.

Under the dim white light, Takahashi Takakai could see that the word "Fortune" on the door of room 203 next to them had faded and was covered in dust, with only a few barely readable characters remaining.

Scattered on the floor were peeling wall paint and shards of broken glass, which seemed to have been there for some time. If one wasn't careful, they would easily step on them, causing a "crunching" sound.

He couldn't immediately find the stairs. He had to observe carefully to confirm that the stairs must be at both ends of this narrow hallway. However, because of the distance, he could only vaguely make out the shape of the stairs on both sides, but couldn't clearly see the specific details.

Room 204 was in the center of the building, slightly leaning to the right. If something unmanageable occurred in the hallway and they needed to escape, the stairs on the right seemed to be closer.

However, something about it felt a bit strange to him. From a distance, the structure of the stairs didn't seem quite normal. He hoped he was just overthinking.

Observing and thinking—this all took only a few seconds.

In those few seconds, of course, the people in the hallway had finished observing Takahashi Takakai and Shinomiya Kaguya.

"Are you all students? How wonderful, just two more burdens..."

The tall white man bowed his head and muttered, his face clearly showing displeasure.

This man seemed quite resistant to cooperating with others. After whispering those words, he turned his back and entered the room, locking the door behind him. Takakai noticed that the room he entered was Room 209.

"Hello, you can call me Old Guo. We all woke up in a room somewhere here. Did you find a printed piece of paper with something written on it in the room where you woke up?"

The middle-aged man with the backpack took a few steps forward and proactively introduced himself to Takakai and Shinomiya Kaguya. His voice was gentle, and he wore a smile, giving off a feeling of being trustworthy.

Shijo Maki didn't step forward to greet them; she just stood still, saying nothing, glancing at Shinomiya Kaguya for a moment.

"Are you referring to the Shirakawa Apartment Living Rules? Turns out each room has a copy like that."

In response to Old Guo's question, Takakai didn't immediately give a hasty answer. Since stepping outside, he had noticed that both the African-American man and the middle-aged man were holding identical printed papers.

Although they were standing some distance apart, making it hard to read the contents, just by glancing at them, Takakai recognized the bold, red title, confirming that the contents of these papers were exactly the same.

So, did someone named Xu Sheng copy many of these papers and slip a copy into each room?

"So everyone got a copy, huh? Looks like we're pretty lucky this time. This must be an easy Dusk-level game," Old Guo chuckled, his expression softening a bit.

An easy Dusk-level game?

Somehow, seeing Old Guo with his "I'm an experienced player" look, Takakai suddenly felt a sense of distrust.

"We'll talk about that later, trust me, everyone will be fine. Dusk-level games usually aren't too difficult," Old Guo continued, unaware of Takakai's thoughts. He said a few words to Takakai and Shinomiya Kaguya before turning his attention to the room where the scream had come from.

"Still talking about this... something about games and such..."

The slightly overweight middle-aged man, who looked like an executive, frowned as he heard Old Guo's words, his face growing even more unpleasant.

It seemed like he was in a bad mood. Earlier, when he saw Takakai and Shinomiya Kaguya come out, he had shown a disappointed expression. However, at this moment, the man hesitated for a moment before cautiously walking over to Takakai. He attempted to force a friendly smile.

"Hello, I'm Sun Dajun, a senior executive at XX Corporation. Um, do you know what's going on here? Is this a reality show?"

Sun Dajun tried to maintain a calm tone, but his voice trembled slightly, indicating that he had already begun to understand that this situation was not a "reality show," though he was still reluctant to fully accept it and was trying to deceive himself.

"I don't know, but I really hope this is a reality show. We all woke up suddenly in a room, right? Uh, earlier I heard a scream—does anyone know what happened?"

Takakai shook his head slightly, intentionally making himself look like a shy teenager, with a slightly scared look, and asked again.

Up until now, nothing strange had appeared to kill anyone.

Excluding extreme situations where some demoralizing situations causes everyone to go mad without realizing the danger, Takahashi Takakai temporarily assumed that this was still a safe period.

It was just like in horror games or movies. At the beginning, the main characters have just appeared, happily preparing to go on some trip. Everything around them seems normal until the main characters or supporting characters, out of curiosity, open a door they shouldn't or do something they shouldn't, and that's when things start spiraling out of control.

Therefore, the period before all that, in common parlance, is the "safe time" meant to gradually draw the audience into the story.

In any case, according to the rules in the documents, from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., this time in a place called Shirakawa is mostly safe. As long as no one does anything stupid, there shouldn't be any danger here.

So, right now, it's best to try to appear a little more timid, to keep some distance from others, maybe that would help gather information and understand the situation better, while avoiding becoming the typical supporting character who gets knocked out early in the story.

With this thought in mind, Takahashi Takakai acted like a shy, inexperienced young man.

Meanwhile, behind him, the girl who had been cold at first, Shinomiya Kaguya, now had a slightly changed expression and behavior. She looked like a frightened little girl who didn't want to interact with anyone. It came across as more natural than Takahashi Takakai's performance.

She didn't even need to say anything to express this; Takahashi Takakai thought that if this girl didn't become an actress, it would be a waste of talent.

Because of this, Sun Dajun realized that these two weren't very trustworthy. He only smiled and said a few reassuring words like, "We'll be fine," before turning his attention back to Room 205.

At that moment, everyone in the hallway heard stumbling footsteps coming from that room.

Bang!

The door of Room 205 was slammed open.

A young girl with blonde hair, wearing a tank top and shorts, and a heart tattoo on her arm, ran out from the room, tripping and falling to the ground. Her eyes were wide with fear, and her mouth trembled as she screamed, "It's… it's a corpse! A corpse!"

Her sharp scream rang out loudly. Initially, when she was still inside the room, her scream was loud enough for everyone on the floor to hear. Now that she had run into the hallway, Takahashi Takakai had no doubt that her scream could be heard all over the floor.

Hmm, looking at her appearance, on a scale of 100, she only scored 60 points. Not much more than that. By the way, Shinomiya Kaguya scored 95 points, and Shijou Maki scored 96 points. The latter probably because she appeared more approachable and somewhat more cute.

Overall, the girl who had just run out didn't look like a character from an anime or manga. Maybe she was a supporting character created by the author?

Typically, supporting characters who make such a loud noise like this might be the first trigger for the main characters to encounter disaster, right?

Takakai felt a bit of danger. Should he just go back to his room and stay safe?

While Takahashi Takakai was having his somewhat weird thoughts, Sun Dajun and the short-haired black man standing nearby stepped forward to help the blonde girl stand up. She was trembling, clearly terrified, not knowing what she had seen that scared her so much.

"Hello, are you okay? Did you say there's a dead person in your room?"

Sun Dajun, supporting the girl, had a little sweat on his face and a worried look in his eyes as he glanced toward the open door of Room 205.

A dead person in this room? Damn it, why am I here in this hellhole? What the hell is this place?

Sun Dajun's discomfort was clearly visible on his face, while Takahashi Takakai, who had taken a step back and was preparing to return to his room, noticed Shinomiya Kaguya tilting her head slightly, her ear pointing toward the right side of the hallway, as if she were listening to something.

At the same time, Shijou Maki, who had remained silent not far away, and the middle-aged man with the backpack both made slight reactions. The first one also tilted her head like Shinomiya Kaguya, clearly hearing something, while the man's movements were subtle—only his pupils shifted slightly.

If Takahashi Takakai hadn't been especially observant and had already been watching this man, like "the good guy at the start of a movie who will stab you in the back later," he would never have noticed this movement.

The staircase on the right—could someone be coming up or down?

Since Takahashi Takakai didn't have the ability to hear like those anime characters, he could only guess the situation based on the reactions of others.

The atmosphere seemed to have become a little colder.

To his left, for some reason, a slight, vague pain appeared.

He bent down and looked at his left hand, noticing the strange black watch he hadn't taken off, as he was too rushed to investigate the situation earlier.

Just now, it felt as if a needle inside the watch had pricked his hand, causing a vague pain.

What the hell is this?

The blonde girl, still being helped up, was muttering, "There's a dead body in the room, under the bed." Since she was wearing a tank top, her arms were exposed to the air, and it was now obvious that goosebumps had appeared on her skin.

At this moment, Shijou Maki, who had been standing near the right staircase, hesitated for a moment before walking toward Shinomiya Kaguya.

The middle-aged man with the backpack, whose demeanor had been calm, had now completely turned his attention toward the right staircase, clearly adopting a defensive posture.

"Oh, god, what's wrong with this girl? Why does she smell so strong, like my ex-girlfriend who didn't shower for half a year, then braided her hair and tossed it in the sink until it turned into a nest of monsters. What the hell is going on in this place?"

The black man spoke in a strange way, mixing English with several other languages. Even though this bizarre place allowed everyone to understand all languages and read any characters (or rather, any characters that could be recognized), his peculiar way of speaking still made everyone uncomfortable.

"Take her to my room. Room 210 is spacious and undamaged, she can rest there for now. Anyone want to go with me to check out her room? We're all stuck here, and we need to figure out what's going on in this place."

Old Guo turned and took a few steps, then opened the door to his room.

Up to this point, nothing strange had happened in the hallway.

However, Takahashi Takakai noticed that even though Old Guo suggested they take the panicked girl to his room, he was actually using the opportunity to get closer to the door of his room.

Takahashi Takakai realized that the room Old Guo was standing near, Room 210, was the closest room to the right staircase—also the closest room to the footsteps he had just heard.

Had he gone there to immediately check out what was going on with those footsteps?

As Takahashi Takakai was thinking this, he saw Old Guo, standing at the door across from the staircase, slip his hands into his pockets. He paused for a moment, then opened the door and stepped inside, closing it behind him.

"Hey, what are you doing? You told us to take her inside, so why lock the door? What are you planning?"

"What?"

Sun Dajun, who was still supporting the girl, shouted angrily, his displeasure clear on his face, while the black man also looked confused.

Seeing this, Takahashi Takakai could feel the coldness in the air intensifying slightly.

He still hadn't heard the footsteps on the staircase, and could only rely on the reactions of the other three to sense that someone might be approaching the stairs.

Who was it? A man or a woman? What did they look like? A human? What was it…?

He had no idea.

But at this moment, witnessing Old Guo's decisive reaction, Takahashi Takakai had a gut feeling: Things are about to go badly. He immediately decided on his course of action: he needed to return to his room.

Takahashi Takakai and Shinomiya Kaguya were currently near Room 204, which had a broken door that couldn't be locked. It was a room with no way to securely lock the door. Room 209, across from the hallway, was the one the unfriendly white man had entered and locked behind him.

Room 204 could no longer be locked, only shut halfway. If something unknown was heading toward this way—and if it was dangerous—there would be a risk of it breaking in directly.

Room 209 had been locked, and the large man inside looked like a dangerous criminal, definitely not someone who appeared approachable. Knocking for help would not be a good idea.

Next to Room 204, Takahashi Takakai glanced over at Room 205, where the panicked woman had just run out.

That left only the two rooms in the opposite direction to consider: Rooms 203 and 208, which were also very close to each other.

Takahashi Takakai suddenly turned around, his gaze sweeping across Rooms 203 and 208. His eyes quickly fixed on Room 208, where the door was only slightly ajar, unlike Room 203, which was shut tight.

In the past, or perhaps one could say in his past life, Takahashi Takakai was often called someone who daydreams. He liked to observe and guess what he saw, and because of this, during his school years, he was alienated and regarded as strange.

At that time, he knew well that his fantasies were just that—fantasies, not reality. So in the end, he chose to write novels, using that ability to create.

But now, he could not determine whether he was simply imagining things or truly seeing signs of danger approaching.

However, the only thing he could trust was that he didn't have a second chance to test whether these imaginations were correct.

"You..."

Shinomiya Kaguya, hearing the strange sound, had yet to act because, not understanding the situation and not thinking the same way as Takahashi Takakai, she didn't do anything yet.

When she saw Takahashi Takakai dash toward room 208 without hesitation, Shinomiya Kaguya was first a bit surprised, not understanding why he was doing that.

But soon after, recalling Old Guo's strange behavior earlier, this smart girl narrowed her eyes and sensed something wrong. She immediately looked toward Shijou Maki, not far away, signaling her with her eyes, then quickly turned and ran toward room 208, even faster than Takahashi Takakai, reaching the door before him so quickly that he was momentarily stunned.

"Go in."

Shinomiya Kaguya grasped the doorknob and pushed the door open, but instead of walking in right away, she turned to speak to Takahashi Takakai. On the other side, Shijou Maki was quickly running closer, and clearly, Shinomiya Kaguya wanted to wait for her to enter together.

Therefore, even if he rushed in first, Shinomiya Kaguya would definitely not close the door immediately.

It must be acknowledged that, though Takahashi Takakai always considered himself a fan of fanservice works and 2D beauties, at this moment, he seriously thought about whether he should push Shinomiya Kaguya aside, enter the room, and lock the door by himself.

But this thought lasted less than a tenth of a second, and without hesitation, Takahashi Takakai stepped past Shinomiya Kaguya and ran straight into the room, doing nothing more.

Well, first of all, the other person was faster than him; she could've entered first and done this "villainous" act, but she didn't. Instead, she made way for him. If he did such a thing, it would be truly unreasonable—not because he was certain to lose.

Rather, it was because the other person was a beautiful girl, appeared very calm and rational, not the kind of foolish woman from a horror film. With her help, the chances of survival were higher, not because he was afraid of losing.

Moreover, my dream has always been to be the main male character in a fanservice work—not the kind of gloomy edge lord main character. Anyone who likes that kind of character can be it, I'm not doing that. I'm definitely not doing it because I'm afraid of losing.

In fact, deep down, Takahashi Takakai realized that if he truly dared to do that, Shinomiya Kaguya would definitely use a series of techniques to beat him up immediately.

In the 2D world, where muscles and weight aren't as important, if Princess Shinomiya's battle style were to take place, though not as strong as her maid, she was certainly not someone an otaku like him could provoke.

In terms of reflexes, strength, or speed, he was far inferior to her. He could only confront her directly if she let her guard down.

Running into the room, the layout inside was identical to room 204, with a corridor on the left and a bathroom on the right. The only difference was that it seemed a bit more spacious.

Shinomiya Kaguya stood at the door, her brows furrowed, while Shijou Maki was rushing toward them at an incredibly fast pace, so fast that both Sun Dajun (who had been holding the blonde-haired girl) and the black guy were bewildered, not understanding what was happening. They were still calling out to Kaguya from a distance. Among them, Sun Dajun had put the blonde-haired girl down and was coming closer.

"It here..."

Shinomiya Kaguya murmured quietly. She had heard footsteps in the corridor on the second floor.

At an extremely fast speed, Shijou Maki reached the door and didn't stop, rushing into the room, nearly bumping into Takahashi Takakai, who was standing guard at the edge of the door.

The moment Shijou Maki entered, Shinomiya Kaguya immediately closed the door without hesitation.

Click!

With the sound of the door locking, the three people inside were completely separated from the outside corridor.

"What did you see?"

Takahashi Takakai had been paying attention to Shinomiya Kaguya's facial expression. He had noticed the change on her face the moment she closed the door, so he asked without hesitation.

"..."

Shinomiya Kaguya, standing by the door, didn't answer.

She simply gestured for silence to Takahashi Takakai, then lowered her head, pressed her ear against the door, and remained silent to listen to the sounds from outside.

Takahashi Takakai also fell silent, leaning against the wall. He didn't move because of the tense atmosphere. He even slowed his breathing down. Shijou Maki, standing next to him, also remained still, though her expression seemed calmer.

1 seconds, 2 seconds...

Takahashi Takakai silently counted each second in his mind.

51 seconds, 52 seconds...

Everything around them was eerily quiet, so quiet that only the soft breathing of the three could be heard, each trying to keep their breathing as low as possible.

599 seconds, 600 seconds... Ten minutes had passed.

Takahashi Takakai had been counting in his head, and throughout that entire time, he didn't hear any sounds.

No sound meant that the noises from the people in the corridor, which he had still heard when the door first closed, had now completely vanished. Through the thin iron door, the sounds from the corridor had entirely disappeared, and for the past 10 minutes, no one had come to knock on the door or ask anything.

Outside, everything was silent like that.

Takahashi Takakai remained silent.

He could notice that Shinomiya Kaguya was still tense, with no sign of relaxing.

So now, he couldn't help but refrain from speaking up, even though the silence was unbearable, and continued to stay quiet, continuing to wait.

It's just that he couldn't stop wondering if there was something wrong with the door of this room, because when it was closed, he could no longer hear anything from the outside.

Could it be that this room was the wrong choice? Perhaps this was the trap, the place they shouldn't have come to.

Once thoughts like that arose, it was hard to control them. In fact, Takahashi Takakai was the type to overthink, and now, in this silence that was almost torturous, he couldn't stop imagining.

Until he heard a very clear sound of a door opening.

The sound came from outside, from the corridor. Based on the position of the sound, it was certain that it was the sound of room 204's door opening.

Takahashi Takakai gently turned his head and looked toward Shijou Maki, who was standing next to him.

From the slight tilt of her head, he knew she had heard the door open as well.

So there was no soundproofing; they could still hear the sounds from the corridor clearly.

Outside, everything was still silent, nothing unusual.

At this moment, Shinomiya Kaguya took an old phone out of her coat. Although she had said there were no pockets, it wasn't clear where she had pulled this seemingly old phone from. Then she pressed a few times on the screen and handed it to Takahashi Takakai and Shijou Maki.

On the screen was an unsent message, very short.

[I don't see anything.]

Just such a simple message.

Both Takahashi Takakai and Shijou Maki understood the meaning Shinomiya Kaguya was trying to convey.

Before closing the door, in the final moment, Shinomiya Kaguya had looked toward the staircase. She had heard footsteps coming to this floor, but nothing had appeared from the stairs.

Badum, badum...

Takahashi Takakai felt his heart rate accelerate.

Since waking up and coming here, he had been in this room for about half an hour.

Until now, he still hadn't seen anything that could be called strange or unusual.

But now, Takahashi Takakai felt an indescribable pressure, along with fear from the footsteps of unknown origin he had never encountered before.

Director, you said it would be safe, so why start with this game from the very beginning... where is safe time?

Of course, despite this, his habit of quietly talking to himself in his mind had not changed.

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That's it for the first 5 chapters.

This story is in the style of horror, mystery, and detective, so I'm afraid it will be picky about its readers.

I don't know how it will develop in the future because I'm translating as I read, but right now I've just finished translating chapter 43 and it's quite good.

I hope you will patiently wait and watch it every day.

Remember to leave me your collection, review, comment and power stone if you like it. That really help me a lot.

If you're looking for good fanfics, try reading my other books, you won't be disappointed, promise.

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Thanks you very much, Have a nice day (｡◕‿‿◕｡)