Chapter 7: Getting on and off (5)

As the man who had explored the restaurant and returned alone had said, the ‘customer’ mannequins paid us no attention.

They were too busy enjoying their own horrific meal to care about us.

Ugh, ugh!

Clatter! Clatter!

“Ugh…!”

A foul smell and chilling noises drifted out, but we tried our best to ignore them.

“I-I’ll check over at that table. Where the utensils are.”

Rahee whispered, pointing toward the back of the hall with some courage.

As expected from a hotel restaurant, it was an area where silverware was arranged.

Of course, not only ordinary utensils were laid out.

There were also things like hammers with red stains and large saws.

It was blatantly disturbing.

The fact that Rahee chose to check that area first showed she was braver than I thought.

Sure, there seemed to be a lot of stuff over there, but I wouldn’t have had the guts to start with that side.

“Then I’ll check out the tables over here. Let’s not stray too far from each other.”

I moved in the opposite direction from Rahee.

Rahee carefully weaved between the tables, watching the mannequins.

She seemed to be checking for any green check marks on the tableware, dishes, or even centerpieces.

I pretended to examine the tables while keeping an eye on Rahee from the corner of my vision.

At the same time, I kept monitoring the mental map in my head.

In the dining hall itself, there were only stationary red dots—the ‘customers.’

But the problem was a moving red dot that was emerging from the kitchen.

‘…It’s here.’

A new red dot appeared in the hallway leading from the kitchen and was silently approaching Rahee from behind.

I looked away from the map and turned toward Rahee—and I saw a mannequin dressed as a waiter approaching her, holding a sharp kitchen knife.

Rahee, busy reading an old menu on the table, hadn’t noticed the creature creeping up behind her.

I held my breath and moved as fast as possible, making no sound.

As I had noticed before, the cheat mode that boosted my stats didn’t just apply to strength—

my movements were incredibly fast too.

Before Rahee could even look up from the menu, the waiter mannequin had nearly reached her back.

I arrived right behind it and grabbed its head with both hands.

Creak.

Crack!

Like the protagonist of a stealth action movie, I snapped the mannequin’s neck.

Unable to withstand the strength of my grip, its neck broke, and its upper body went limp.

I quickly tore off the name tag from its chest and stuffed it in my pocket.

Then I dragged the limp remains to the back of a large dining table, hiding it in the darkest corner.

It all happened in the blink of an eye.

“Phew… No check marks here.”

Just then, Rahee lowered the menu and turned her head.

I pretended to be fiddling with a plate on the buffet table.

“Huh? Why are you over here?”

“Oh… There was nothing on my side. But I saw some silver salt shakers over there—can you check if they have any markings?”

“Ah, okay.”

I pointed to a table across the hall.

Rahee nodded and carefully walked over.

She seemed completely unaware of what had just happened behind her.

I used my foot to slide the knife I hadn’t managed to hide under the table.

“Oh! Oppa! Look at this! There’s a check mark!”

A moment later, she came over happily, holding a small silver salt shaker.

There was a faint green check mark on the bottom.

“Oh, nice find… You’re thorough.”

So they really do have marks.

I forced a smile and praised her.

Inside, I was still tense from the earlier encounter, but I tried not to show it.

“I guess the only place left is the kitchen… Should we go?”

“I’ll go check it out first. You look around the flowerpots near the entrance to the hall.”

I reassured Rahee and headed to the kitchen while she carefully checked the potted plants near the hall.

My plan was to eliminate the ‘head chef’—the creature I suspected to be the most dangerous—beforehand.

That way, Rahee would be safe.

“Ugh…”

As expected, the kitchen was dark and filthy.

At its center stood a towering chef mannequin, easily twice the size of the others.

A bloodstained apron, and in its hand, a massive butcher knife.

It looked like the stereotypical horror game chef.

Just looking at it made my heart feel like it was being squeezed.

‘Still… it’s not looking this way…’

Just like when I took out the waiter mannequin—as long as it wasn’t looking at me, it wasn’t too hard to muster courage.

Tap, tap,

The monstrous chef mannequin was silently chopping something.

I didn’t want to know what.

I took a deep breath and picked up a heavy mop leaning in a corner.

Holding the mop gave me more confidence than when I was empty-handed.

I activated the “Weak Point Detection” skill I had received as a reward after leaving the abandoned hospital.

Various parts of the chef mannequin’s body began to glow red, eventually turning its entire form crimson.

Was… was the whole body a weak point?

“…Hoo…”

I approached silently and positioned myself behind the chef.

Rising slowly, I gripped the mop tightly.

“Hup!”

Holding my breath, I swung the mop with all my strength toward its head.

Among the many red-marked areas, I aimed for a clear weak point.

Whack!

Crack!

With a dull sound, the chef mannequin’s head shattered.

Thud.

The massive body staggered and then collapsed to the floor, unmoving.

It was so heavy that part of the torso also broke from the impact.

I quickly tore off the name tag from its apron and pocketed it.

As expected, the name tags of both the waiter and the chef had green check marks.

Then, using all my strength, I dragged the bulky remains into a large freezer in the kitchen corner, tossed them inside, and slammed the door shut.

It was a perfect cover-up.

“Phew…”

I placed the mop back in its original spot and pretended to wipe off sweat that wasn’t even there.

There was no longer a threat in the kitchen.

At that moment, Rahee cautiously poked her head through the kitchen entrance.

“Oppa, are you okay? I thought I heard something…”

“Huh? Oh, really? I didn’t hear anything.”

She looked around the kitchen and let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness… I guess the chef the man mentioned isn’t here. I think we’re really lucky.”

Her pure relief made me awkwardly smile, unable to tell her the truth.

“Oh, yeah, lucky, huh? Heh.”

The search of the kitchen went smoothly.

Thanks to the “cleaning” I had done earlier, Rahee and I were able to search every nook and cranny without any risk.

In addition to a set of silverware marked with a check and mysterious glass jars containing herbs, we found an old cookbook hidden on one of the shelves.

The cover of the cookbook also had a faint checkmark on it.

“I think we’ve gathered quite a bit, right?”

“Let’s head back. Huh?”

As I was gathering the things we found to leave, I felt someone’s gaze.

When I turned my head, I saw a customer mannequin stop eating and staring at me.

When our eyes met, tension filled the air.

And then—

Swish.

The mannequin lowered its head and pretended to eat again.

It clinked its fork against an empty plate, making a clattering sound.

Could it be pretending not to see me?

“Oppa, let’s go quickly.”

“Huh? Oh, okay.”

We packed up the items we had found and headed back to the lobby.

The atmosphere in the lobby was still heavy.

Some people were sitting exhausted against the walls, while others nervously lingered near the settlement hole.

The numbers above the hole still showed [11,500 / 20,000].

I exchanged a glance with Rahee and confidently walked toward the settlement hole.

I could feel the other survivors’ eyes on us and the items we were holding.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, we’re fine.”

A middle-aged woman came forward and checked if we were okay, scanning both of us.

I answered lightly and then began to drop the silverware set, the glass jars, and the old cookbook we had found into the hole, one by one.

[15,000 / 20,000]

The points were rising faster than I had expected.

I could hear sighs of regret from the people around us.

“What should we do…”

Rahee and the middle-aged woman looked as if they were about to cry.

But I still had a trump card left.

I pulled out two name tags from my pocket that I had taken earlier from the ‘hotel staff’ mannequins.

One from the waiter, and the other from the chef.

I threw them into the hole, one after the other.

[23,000 / 20,000]

The waiter’s name tag raised 3,000 points, and the chef’s name tag boosted the points by a huge 5,000, instantly surpassing the target amount.

Everyone in the lobby stared in shock at the numbers.

“What… What’s going on?”

“The points…!”

“W-Wait, it’s… over!”

Just as the murmurs were about to turn into cheers, the settlement hole began to emit a soft green light.

At the same time, the heavy sound of cracking echoed from the wall at one side of the lobby, the place where the stairs had originally been.

Boom, boom, boom!

Dust fell and rocks shifted as the missing stairs reappeared.

In front of me, a new series of messages popped up one after another.

[Goal amount achieved.]

[Escape route is now open.]

[You will receive a special reward for the remaining 3,000 points.]

[Strength stat has increased by 1. (Current strength: 6)]

[Passive skill ‘Assassination Lv.1’ has been acquired.]

‘Assassination’

Once again, I had gained an offensive skill.

It was disappointing that it wasn’t a skill related to defense or evasion, but the increase in my strength stat by 1 was significant.

To me, it felt like my strength had increased by 100.

‘…Did it get even stronger?’

At this point, I couldn’t help but wonder if I wasn’t becoming a little strange myself.

“Is the staircase really here? It’s a staircase!”

“I’m alive!”

The lobby was filled with cheers.

People hugged each other in joy and began running toward the newly appeared stairs.

“Oppa! Hurry!”

Rahee grabbed my arm, tears welling up in her eyes.

I nodded and climbed the stairs with her.