I Mistook the Horror Game Boss for My Bestie - Chapter 1

[Welcome to *The Lost Forest*.]

[Scenario Rank: SSS]

[Objective: Survive for one month.]

[The rules of the game will now be announced.]

[Rule One: No one may act alone at night.]

[Rule Two…]

The mechanical voice was already reciting the second rule by the time it dawned on me that I had been pulled into a horror game.

As that frigid voice droned through the rules, the live chat exploded across my vision.

[Holy crap. No wonder this is the hardest scenario in history. Every other scenario only makes you survive a week. This one wants a whole month.]

[An elite squad really does pick a different class of scenario, huh?]

My right eyelid twitched at that.

Forcing myself to stay calm, I drew on all my years of playing horror games and studied the five people sitting or standing around me.

Good teammates were supposed to be half the battle.

There were three men: one plain-looking, one with glasses, and one heavyset. The other two were women, one red-haired and the other with a gloomy stare.

Not one of them looked remotely rattled.

The red-haired woman caught me looking and shot me a vicious glare.

My heart stuttered. She did not look easy to get along with.

I didn’t dwell on it. I turned back to the chat and tried to pick out anything useful.

[I remember this scenario has a hidden rule too. I think they have to offer one person to the Boss every three days…]

[Huh? Why is there a newbie here?]

[Talk about rotten luck. Her very first scenario and she lands in a hell-tier one.]

[And she’s on Cheng Yu’s team… Yikes. She probably won’t last three days.]

Before I could make sense of that, the plain-looking man walked over and held out a hand.

“Hello, newbie. I’m Cheng Yu, captain of this squad. If we want to survive this scenario, I’ll need you to cooperate.”

I reached out to shake his hand, but he pulled it back before I could touch him.

He left me standing there like an idiot.

The red-haired woman snorted.

“He was only being polite. Don’t tell me you actually thought you mattered.”

I pressed my lips together. In that case, I saw no reason to tell them that my best friend had become the Boss of this scenario.

The man with glasses stepped in to smooth things over, but his gaze clung to me from behind his lenses.

It felt like being watched by some cold-blooded creature. Goose bumps rose all over my arms.

Night was closing in. Leaves hissed through the forest as though something were about to crawl out of the dark.

Remembering the rules, I stayed put no matter how much the others repulsed me.

The five of them had clearly worked together for a long time. A single glance was enough for them to understand one another.

The forest cooled quickly after dark. They built a fire and warmed their rations with practiced ease.

There was nothing for me to help with, so I sat off to one side and quietly tried to start my own fire.

Now I understood why the chat had sounded so ominous about Cheng Yu’s squad. Every unlucky newbie who ended up with them probably got the same treatment.

This was their first time in *The Lost Forest* too. On the first night, they obeyed the rules and made no reckless moves.

Once they had eaten, they prepared to sleep.

The heavyset man smiled at me. “Hey, newbie. You can take watch tonight, right?”

I blinked. “What?”

His smile didn’t budge. He pointed at the fire a few yards away.

“We built that fire, and you warmed yourself by it. Fair’s fair. Time to pay us back.”

The redhead flicked me a glance.

“Talk about ungrateful. We’re giving you a chance to build experience, and you can’t even appreciate it.”

The rest said nothing. They simply closed their eyes.

What choice did I have? We couldn’t all go to sleep and leave ourselves open to an attack.

Besides, I still had to find my best friend and get her protection. I couldn’t die here.

So I spent the entire night on edge.

Cheng Yu and the others woke refreshed and full of energy, ready to head out and complete objectives. I could barely hold my eyes open, but I still had to run after them. Being left alone would be worse.

After what happened the night before, they seemed to have decided I was an easy mark. They kept ordering me around under the guise of “training,” then stole the credit at the last second and claimed my points for themselves.

The chat sighed over my fate.

[They’re walking all over this newbie.]

[They have to offer someone to the Boss in three days. Bet it’ll be her.]

Someone objected.

[Survival of the fittest. What, are they supposed to play saints in a horror game?]

Cheng Yu’s squad could see the chat too.

The naked cruelty in their eyes said everything they didn’t bother putting into words.

But I wasn’t upset. If anything, I kept brushing deliberately against the rules.

I couldn’t wait for the Boss to show up.

The day passed without incident.

By nightfall, Cheng Yu and the others decided they had learned enough about the area to start testing the rules.

They used me as bait to lure out whatever hid in the darkness.

When I fought back, the gloomy-eyed woman slapped me across the face.

My cheek burned and swelled. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth.