Young Master's PoV: Woke Up As A Villain In A Game One Day

Chapter 273: EscapeFor thirty long minutes, I watched a blind girl stumble through an ancient temple and carry people out on her back — people who would all one day become the heroes of this godforsaken world.

And for thirty long minutes, I watched her drop every single one of them on their heads.

I facepalmed.

"This girl is going to give everyone brain damage.

" Still, by the end of it, all of them were rescued.

That was the important part.

By the time the last of them were laid out in a neat little row, I’d run out of energy to yell at Alexia.

So instead, I just stared up at the sky and prayed to the heavens to give me patience.

Then we started waking everyone up.

It took a while, but one by one, they began to stir.

Lily was the first.

She sat up, blinking rapidly, her face pale and her hands trembling.

She opened her mouth to speak — but cut herself off with a choked breath and clutched her temples.

Michael woke up next.

He bolted upright with a gasp, his chest heaving as though he’d been drowning.

His head darted around in panic.

He looked wild and disoriented and shaken to the core.

For a second, I thought he was about to summon a weapon.

Thankfully, he calmed down before doing anything drastic and just slumped back against the ground, tears brimming in his eyes.

I was genuinely surprised by the state he was in.

His condition was worse than I thought.

I had a pretty good idea what his nightmare must’ve been — something about his parents’ disappearance, no doubt.

But I really thought Xaldreth would’ve protected him.

He could’ve, easily.

But he didn’t.

And I could guess why.

Xaldreth wanted Michael to be as miserable as possible.

He wanted him isolated and broken.

That had always been his goal, even in the game.

He’d play nice on the surface and act amicably, if a bit passive...

all while quietly plotting behind Michael’s back, doing anything to push him closer and closer to the edge.

Why?

Because once Michael’s life would completely fall apart, he’d stop resisting and fully surrender to Xaldreth’s power.

And once that happened, Xaldreth would take over Michael’s body and resurrect through him.

What a devious little bastard.

Then again, all demons were like that.

...

Especially Asmodeus.

Asmodeus was the cleverest of them all.

That’s why I was always on edge around him.

He was smart enough to play me like a fiddle, and I probably wouldn’t even notice until it was far too late.

...

God, I hate smart creatures.

Well, regardless, I figured I didn’t need to worry about Michael too much.

Not yet, at least.

Not until his life was entirely in shambles — because if that happened, well...

the world would head toward a dark ending.

And that...

would be a real pain to deal with.

Anyway, my attention soon shifted to Juliana as she stirred softly.

She didn’t scream or gasp when she woke up.

She just opened her eyes and lay still.

But her face was ashen.

Her jaw was tight, and her hand twitched like she was suppressing the urge to claw her own skin off.

Whoa.

Now for her, I was definitely worried.

I’d never seen her look so crushed.

Just what the hell did she see in there?

Her family’s slaughter?

No.

That alone wouldn’t elicit such a saddened reaction from her.

After years, she had hardened her mind.

Very few things could shake her so much anymore.

So whatever she’d seen in her nightmare...

it had to be something far worse than what had already happened to her.

I was about to walk over to her, but Vince’s groan snapped my focus.

He rolled onto his side and let out a broken sob in a hoarse voice.

"What...

the hell was that?

I—I saw my sister and...

" His words died on his tongue, his hands gripped a fistful of his hair as he curled into himself.

Yeah.

I expected that reaction from him.

Along with Juliana, Vince’s backstory in the game had been the most miserable out of all the main characters, meaning his nightmare had plenty of material to torture him with.

Ray was the last to open his eyes.

He sat up with a hollowed look, glanced around, then buried his face in his hands and just...

stayed that way for a long time.

The air was heavy.

The moss beneath us felt colder.

The red moon bled its crimson light somewhere over the distant horizon.

And the mood was...

exactly what you’d expect when a bunch of kids are reminded they desperately need to seek therapy.

Hmm, what about me?

Oh, I was fine.

I actually recovered the fastest.

Sure, I felt a little ashamed for letting a false apparition of my mother trick me into lowering my guard.

But honestly, I would’ve been able to escape that nightmare on my own.

Eventually.

Yes, it might’ve taken me a lot of time, but still.

Even without Alexia...

rescuing me — if her attempt to crack my skull open could even be called that — I was confident I would’ve been fine.

The others, however, were completely, utterly, and hopelessly rattled.

Oh, and speaking of Alexia...

She stood a few steps away, hands on her hips, evidently baffled as she scowled from one dejected face to the next.

"Alright," she said slowly, "what in the hell happened in there?

You all look like you just got emotionally sucker-punched by your grandmothers.

" I sighed.

"That’s...

actually not too far off.

" Her sightless gray eyes turned vaguely toward me.

"Explain.

" So, I did.

••• We moved as far from the temple as we could in our deteriorated mental state.

Eventually, when we couldn’t keep going on anymore, we stopped and decided to set up camp.

No one wanted to keep walking.

No one wanted to talk much either.

The depressing silence was all that could be heard between us.

Thankfully, Ray was the first to recover after me.

By the time a small campfire was lit in the middle, he was looking just as lively as ever.

In fact, he’d even taken out his drone and started recording a vlog again.

"Welcome back, Ray-diants!

" he began in a voice far too cheerful for someone who’d just escaped an endless psychological torture.

"It’s day seven...

or maybe eight?

I don’t remember right now!

We all just had the worst collective nap in history!

Everyone’s traumatized, but I’m the most traumatized, so I win.

" ...

Not even close.

He angled the camera toward Vince.

Vince threw a stick at him...

and missed.

"Stop it.

How do you even have the energy for this nonsense?

" Ray smirked.

"Because life is a show, brother!

And as the star of this show, it’s my duty to entertain my lovely viewers!

" Juliana, sitting all alone by herself in the distance with her knees pulled up, didn’t even look at him.

"Then entertain them by dying quietly.

" Ray zoomed in on her face.

"Oh, look!

It’s character development!

Our ice queen is finally threatening me instead of ignoring me!

" Juliana scoffed and kept looking away.

Michael, on the other hand, frowned.

"What are you even doing, Ray?

" He wasn’t talking about the vlog.

He was talking about the small pot Ray had just taken out of his storage satchel and placed over the fire.

Ray blinked back at Michael, confused as if whatever he was doing was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Making tea, of course.

" Lily’s face went pale.

"From the herbs you gathered earlier?

Ray, the last time you brewed tea from those, it didn’t taste anything like tea!

" Kang, normally the quiet one, also visibly tensed up this time.

"Yeah, man, last time I drank your tea, I saw sounds.

" Ray blinked.

"You what?

" "I saw sounds!

Sounds!

" Kang repeated, throwing his arms up.

"Every time someone spoke, I could see the words floating in the air!

" Ray clapped his hands together in delight.

"So you were high?

That’s amazing!

Do you know how much Awakened pay for drugs that could actually work on them?

I gave you some for free!

You’re welcome.

" "I don’t want to get high!

" Kang yelled.

"Alright, alright!

Calm down.

" Ray sighed, clearly disappointed at the fact that no one here was daring enough to share his artistic vision.

"Don’t worry.

I promise this tea won’t have any unexpected side effects...

probably.

" Kang groaned.

And so did everyone else.

But despite all their protests, Ray kept brewing the tea anyway.

That started a little tradition.

For every night after that one, Ray insisted on making his special tea and forced all of us to drink it, much to the group’s equal parts annoyance and reluctant amusement.

The routine became a bizarre kind of comfort.

Everyone would roll their eyes but drink it anyway.

...

Everyone except Juliana.

She’d just toss the tea and use the hot cup to warm her hands instead.

One day, though, even she would drink it.

But that day was still down the line.