But she was not lying about those two doing something embarra.s.sing and blush-inducing.

When she accidentally pa.s.sed by their room in search of someone to ask where that actor's guestroom was, she faintly heard heart-stopping sounds and rhythmic creaking from the door. It made her delicate and innocent brain freeze up.

Afterward, that brain turned mushy, her imagination going wild.

What kind of play they were engaging in? How many times already?

It was unbelievable that a girl younger than she had bested her in almost everything, including this. Such an envia... hateful winner in life!

'Good for her since that demon magnate seems to love and treasure her so much. Well, they're a perfect match. The man's a charismatic magnate, the other a beautiful business queen. Both of them are demon-like.'

She thought back then.

Minutes later, after she and Chris began their talk, Alessa wondered, would they ever get to that point?

Another moment later, she almost slapped herself for thinking something way ahead of schedule.

'Argh. Can't let him know what just came to mind or it will scare him away.'

She couldn't help blaming those two. It was them who fed her this idea that should never come to light.

'Bad influence!'

In front, the half-host almost felt like spending points in order to know what kind of thoughts could make her act so embarra.s.sing on the sofa bed, rolling back and forth with her body curled up and her face buried in the pillow she was hugging.

"... What are you doing?" In the end, he asked.

Alessa stilled and then revealed her sparkling hazel eyes by lowering the thing in her embrace. She tossed to the side to face him.

"Hey. I have a request."

"... Let's hear it out then."

She sneered inwardly. Only hear it out? Not promise?

Alright, she was being demanding.

"Is the female lead of the role you're planning to accept already given to someone?"

The actor nodded. "My manager said it's from our company too. An idol, stage name, Maila."

Alessa automatically frowned, "I don't think I've heard of that girl acting before. Why is she immediately selected for the lead role?"

"Color of her hair and eyes, decent in the audition too. And she has already acted. MVs," he simply replied.

"You saw?"

One of his eyebrows rose. "The audition? It happened two days ago, what do you think?"

Alessa grumbled about him being mean to her and then said her request to search for a better role to accept. When Chris made her define the definition of better roles, as expected, the actress proposed them being in the same set.

"You're impossible."

"Why? You haven't really promised them, right? So let's just choose another together!"

With knitted brows but soft glow in his eyes, the man chose to acquiesce, since she became adamant and kept insisting. While the twenty-four years old woman smiled brightly before closing her eyes to sleep, he noted this as his way of making up for all the trouble he had made her experience these past few days.

Hours later, like what happened at the townhouse, he threw the woman on the wide mattress while he took the sofa bed for himself.

Before he drifted back to sleep, the system asked him.

He merely answered. '... I have so much time ahead of me to decide. But for now, what I'm sure is that I'll likely choose her more than anyone else... I'm just a half-host. She's already enough... Let me have my rest...'

...

...

...

...

"Drip..."

Softly and gently, the sound of a drop of water falling onto a cold but tender skin echoed in a dark and unfamiliar room.

Not long after, faint cling-clang noises of iron and metallic something cascading on the ground reverberated. It was a stark contrast to the gentle drop earlier. More dominant and frightening.

Yet actually, if people would just see the real situation within that dark and ominously silent room, they would realize that both the sound of water of metals cras.h.i.+ng onto exposed skin or cold floor were similar. Similarly disturbing.

One was blood.

The other, chains bounding limbs.

All hidden in that eerie darkness.

'Where am I?'

Chris promptly asked the question when he realized that when he opened his eyes, there was nothing but black in front of him.

The sight made his brows furrow.

'System, lights.'

He closed his eyes and waited for a few seconds for the illumination. Perplexingly, moments pa.s.sed that nothing changed from the dark spectrum of colors that he could 'see' with his eyes closed. Usually, once the place brightened, a bit of the bright color would pa.s.s through his lids and lightened up the dark color scheme of his closed eyes, yet no such thing occurred within the next minute.

This made his frown deeper.

When the man opened his eyes, as suspected, no light a.s.saulted them. Why? The chatty and cheeky system also didn't say any words of acknowledgment. Was that possible?

He tried to confirm. 'System?'

Silence.

"d.a.m.n."

Chris could not stop cursing out to the lack of response. There was only one reason why 98 couldn't respond to him.

"Am I inside a dream?" he quietly asked himself.

No pain came when he wildly bit his own wrist. Same when he bit his lips so hard to the point that blood should be coming out. What more proof was needed?

But what a weird dream. It was very life-like, or rather, so much like reality. The rustling sounds, faint echoes, and breathing noises simply suggested that he was in reality, not a dream.

"Such a spooky room. Dafuq. Where am I?"

Amidst his pondering, someone replied to him.

"... Catas... trophe..."

'Eh?'

The half-host turned dumbfounded. Did he just hear another voice apart from his? What the heck was going on?

It was quite hoa.r.s.e and low, but it was obviously from a kid...

Instead of fearing that Chris got haunted by a ghost, he scowled in annoyance. "Who are you and why did you bring me here?"

He heard a seemingly horrified and short groan. Chris' eyes narrowed due to that.

It was not a good experience having to glare at the void. But what could he do? Even if he could guess in which direction the boy's voice came from, so what? He was essentially blind.

He tried to look at his hands but saw nothing but nothingness. If he was not aware of this being a dream, he might have gone bonkers already.

He walked forward. His steps were firm. Still, they were slow and careful.

He was coming for the silent sobbing he could make out faintly from where he initially stood. The footsteps must have alerted the other being in the place. The sounds of metals colliding and rustling grew louder and more frequent.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"... D-don't come... near.... I, I... beg you..."

Chris froze, stunned.

"This...." The extreme agony and fright from the other person who he a.s.sumed was a kid made his heart trembled.

'... Now that I think about it... The place is so dark. And based on the voice and the echoes, this boy seems injured and chained...'

He took a deep breath and opened his mouth. The tone this time was gentle, far from his annoyed one.

"I'm sorry for startling you... But you are the one who made me come here, right?"

A long time pa.s.sed before a reply came. "I, I... did?"

It sounded so hesitant and wary. But that wariness was very subtle. The boy appeared more like he would crying an apology any time sooner.

'... I feel so bad...'

He sighed and explained. "I'm certainly summoned over here. For sure, by you. Maybe you're just not aware of it... So boy, let me just ask. What did you think before I appeared to this place?"

It seemed the other had already started to accept his presence. And realized that he meant no harm. The boy responded. "... I think... of dying..."

"..."

He figured as much. Given the condition of the other which he inferred through the scant numbers of clues, Chris had guessed that this immoral host suffered so much, and regrettably, so long too. Why else would he wish for death? And this innocently too?

Chris' morals were greatly challenged as he imagined what could drive someone as young as this to become a host...

"Those the system always chooses are despairing people or those on the brink of death."

He let out a cold breath as he gazed down, imagining his shoes there. Oh, wait. He was not even sure if he had clothes on or not.

Suppressing the darkness seeping into his heart, he asked. "... Kid, I don't know what you went through. But since you summoned me only through a dream, it means you don't really want to die..."

Chris' closed his eyes and cast his own mental skill to himself. Thankfully, even though his childish system couldn't come with him at this place, his skills were fine.

Moments later, after tweaking with his vision a bit, he opened his eyes.

It was just enough for him to have taken a glimpse of the real situation, making him realize that he underestimated the state of the boy who wished death from him.

'd.a.m.n!'

The nightmarish scene he saw at the underground base he raided several days ago came to mind. He almost shut down his sight again.

He had yet to recover from the daze, when the extremely miserable kid before him speak up, asking,

"... What should I... really wish for?"

Chris subconsciously answered, "Salvation."

He saw the kid lowered his head. This hid the hideous state of his left eyes and cheeks.

"... My father... said... only death.... is true salvation..."

Chris wanted to question the world for letting such a small kid who was probably only aged 5-6 years old experience all this c.r.a.p. The dark room which was actually a torture chamber had all sorts of nasty things that no kids should ever see. Yet the little boy did not only see.

'Bullsh*t!'

How long had it been since he started getting subjected to all of this?

"... Hear me out, boy. That's wrong. Don't listen ever again to bad adults. There is a nicer world out there. Your father seems to be a bad guy so don't also listen to him. Where is he even?"

...

When Chris exited the dream, the sun had long risen from the east. The system, like always, proactively told him the current time. 7:30 am.

'.... d.a.m.n!'

The man covered his face with his right hand. The actress who was watching him sleep got startled by the sudden movement.

She cautiously poked the part of his face exposed, calling out, "Have you awakened, Chris?"

He did not stop the gentle finger bouncing on his right cheek.

"I think we should book a flight now."

After getting up from the sofa, he faced the woman, surprising her with his bloodshot eyes.

"Gasps! What happened to you!?"

While rubbing his forehead and resting his eyes a bit more, he answered, "Nightmare..."

In his memories the part where he hugged the kid and allowed him to sob as long as he wanted popped up.

In reality, it was something inexplicable, but definitely not a nightmare... At least not for that boy who had been always longing for someone to console his badly wounded body, spirit, and mind...

...

...

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