HTPTMOTMM Chapter 4

Each profession had slightly different detailed scenarios and quests, so it was advantageous to familiarize yourself with the manual book before starting the game. Of course, you could just dive in without caring about any of that.

'Since the name is "caregiver" anyway, isn't it similar to a nanny?'

So I thought that, just like before, I'd be fine as long as I raised the child well.

Perhaps this "caregiver" was like a hidden profession in the game that had been concealed like a gold mine. Or maybe it was a new profession that the game company was planning to add in the next update, but due to a bug, I accidentally ended up participating in a beta test I never signed up for...

Even though I'm a veteran player in this field, the fact that I'd never heard of any hidden professions in the game made the latter possibility seem more likely.

'Honestly, instead of thinking about adding new professions, they should fix the damn difficulty of raising Dian with a downward patch.'

And now there's this bug where I can't even log out. It felt like the game company was increasingly taking players' money for nothing.

While cursing the game company, I searched the room thoroughly. With the system completely broken and no idea when the bug would be fixed, the most important thing was finding my disappeared bag. How was I supposed to survive in this situation without weapons or money?

Of course, I wasn't exactly a casual player, and I wasn't someone who would use only the free basic items provided without any custom-made paid items...

"Ah, my precious ones..."

I wiped away tears thinking of my items that I was forced to part with along with the disappeared system window.

Originally, even if you restarted from the tutorial after completing the game, paid items weren't reset. So I had perfectly coordinated outfits for our pretty babies according to my taste... But because of this damn system error, not only my weapons but all my in-game assets including charged cash, special potions, costumes, and other buff items had vanished.

'There were even limited-time items... If those rabbit bastards from the production company don't restore everything like last time, I'm really going to stage a one-person protest this time.'

The official name was "Vanitas," so players affectionately called the production company "rabbits" (bunny). I cursed them while opening the room door again.

Anyway, since I didn't know when the system error would be fixed, I needed to secure weapons first before entering the next episode. This was a mansion where monsters like Head Maid Jane or evil spirits could pop out at any time.

So I postponed going to Dian for a while and immediately left the room to look for my disappeared bag.

"Does the bag have legs or something?"

But my bag was nowhere to be found.

The maids also expressed difficulty, saying they didn't know either. Especially the maid who had brought my bag to the room was extremely flustered, rambling that she hadn't stolen or hidden it. Looking at her face, it didn't seem like she was lying.

I hadn't even threatened her to hand over the bag, but she trembled pitifully like a rabbit before a lion. So I didn't talk long and just said I understood before moving on.

'For someone working in a mansion like this, she's quite timid.'

Was I scary-looking because Morose's black blood was still on my clothes? But with both the item window and bag gone, I didn't have spare clothes to change into comfortably. I should have at least changed into that mysterious uniform from the closet, even if it was a bit uncomfortable.

Anyway, it seemed true that the maid had brought my bag to the room... So either the bag really had legs, or someone had entered my room and taken it.

'Whoever it is, I'll shake them down to the last speck of dust when I catch them.'

Thinking I wouldn't let whoever it was get away with it, I moved down the corridor looking for an alternative. Since I couldn't find my bag, I needed to get a usable weapon from somewhere else. Of course, given the game genre, there were decorative swords, axes, and spears hanging on the walls in every room and corridor, but I couldn't carry those around all the time. So I was thinking of finding something more convenient to carry on my person.

Clang! Roll roll roll!

Right then, something round came rolling out from around the corner of the approaching corridor.

I bent down and picked up what had rolled right up to me. It was a round, flat tin case about the size of my palm, looking like either a candy tin or a medicine container. When I lifted it, I could hear small things inside rattling against each other.

"Hello, is this yours, young master?"

I asked the young boy who had stopped upon seeing me.

But he just stared at me without answering.

Still, since I already knew this case belonged to the boy, I approached him to return what I had picked up.

This handsome boy with black hair and blue eyes was also one of the game's nurturing targets, just like Dian and Minyuel.

Room 1's angel, Lusca.

A refined, cool-looking beautiful boy who was popular for his quiet, mysterious image, as I recalled. Even now, holding a book, Lusca felt much more intellectual and mature than the two baby cats I'd seen earlier.

'Looking at him like this, the black baby cat is cute too.'

Until now, in the game, other boys besides the nurturing target chosen by the player didn't appear directly. So as someone who had lived only for Dian, unless I specifically looked up related images or videos, I rarely had occasion to see other nurturing boys. But this game error, whatever was going on, had brought both the yellow baby cat and the black baby cat before me from the first day.

'I was a bit annoyed about the missing bag, but seeing cute babies really does improve my mood.'

With the fond heart of an older sister, I handed the tin case to Lusca.

"Here. This is important, so be careful not to drop it again... Huh?"

But it wasn't the black baby cat who snatched the item from my hand - it was a red wildcat.

"Who are you?"

I found myself asking at the appearance of a stranger.

What emerged from around the corner of the corridor behind Lusca was a woman with red hair tied high in a single ponytail, wearing a black dress. She also wore a hat with a black veil on her head, making her overall outfit look just like mourning clothes.

But for some reason, her eyes looking at me were extremely cold.

"Could you please not approach our child carelessly?"

What? It was exactly like a line from a parent being wary of a dangerous person. So I felt like explaining, 'I'm not a suspicious person!'

"I was just trying to return what he dropped."

"Whether something falls and gets picked up or thrown away, I'll handle it myself, so don't interfere."

Oh... what's with this lady.

I looked at the woman with simultaneous bewilderment and interest. She ignored me and spoke to the boy who had been standing quietly until then.

"Lusca, let's go."

"Yes."

The two people walked past me.

A moment later, I witnessed the red-haired woman carelessly shoving the tin case she was holding into a corridor planter like throwing away trash.

I watched their retreating figures with an even more intrigued feeling.

It wasn't that there were no characters in the game who acted so rudely to the player from the first meeting, but this time it felt refreshingly new after a long time.

Having played this game 43 times, I knew all the important NPCs inside and out, but the woman who just appeared was someone I'd never seen before.

"The game character setting values... A pretty lady who's as spicy in personality as she looks."

Click, click!

A little later, I was checking the gun in my hand while muttering to myself. At first it was a bit absurd, but the more I thought about it, the more interesting rather than annoying it seemed.

I was happy to see a new character after so long. Moreover, seeing how prominently she was designed, she didn't seem to be just a minor extra or a disposable character who would appear briefly and disappear.

'Could she be Lusca's caregiver?'

I tried to deduce the woman's identity in my own way, recalling what I'd briefly heard from Minyuel earlier.

Since Minyuel had talked about other children having caregivers too, it seemed quite likely. The red-haired woman who was glued to Room 1's Lusca had also said "our child" and such.

It seemed that the "setting" of this 44th playthrough with the bug was like that. Each boy living in the mansion had one caregiver assigned to take exclusive care of raising them...

Rustle!

"Ahaha! That was really funny just now, right? How did he slip like that on the stone?"

"Yeah, did you see the frogs hopping away when Cheswick fell into the pond?"

Just then, the cheerful voices of children mixed with laughter nearby interrupted my thoughts. I hid the gun on my body and hurriedly cleaned up.

Where I was now was a back garden overgrown with weeds. If you lifted the lion statue in the corner of the garden, there was a well-sealed gun hidden underneath. Originally, this was an item to be used around episode 10 when attacked by monsters. But now I had no choice but to use it first and return it to its original place later.

'Good, now that I have a weapon in hand, I feel much more secure.'

I put down the lion statue and hurriedly left the spot. I was curious about who the children talking and laughing earlier were, but since they had already left the garden, I couldn't see their faces as I didn't run into them on the way.

"Oh, hello there?"

Another languid voice reached my ears just as I was exiting the garden entrance.

The moment I heard that unusually low, deep voice, I felt a little shiver run down my spine. I instinctively turned my head, expecting to see someone as attractive as his voice sounded.

But what came into view the next moment wasn't a handsome man as attractive as his voice, but a man with a water ghost-like appearance.

"It's a face I haven't seen before. You must be the new caregiver for Room 7 who came today?"

A man soaked from head to toe, as if he'd been caught in rain alone, greeted me with a quite welcoming voice.

His wet hair was somewhere between dirty blonde and light brown in the sunlight. The curly, messy strands hung like seaweed around his face, and thick glasses sat crooked on his nose, covering half his features.

His soaked clothes clung to his body, and he even had a few round water plants stuck to him. Overall, he looked like a complete mess.

"Ah, yes. Hello!"

'Could he be the person who fell in the pond that the kids were talking about earlier?'

I greeted him back, feeling a similar sense of welcome and interest as before.

Like the red-haired woman earlier, this man was also someone I'd never seen before.

But this person I'd encountered didn't seem to have a prickly personality like that woman.

"Wow, how nice to meet you. I was so surprised to hear that Room 7 would finally have someone in charge too."

When I responded warmly, the man brightened up like a deer discovering a spring and approached me with slow movements.