1 1. My Haunted House
"Hahaha! Yes! I did it finally!"
In the middle of the street, a young man stepped out of a building with hands of his hips as he laughed in happiness. After months of looking for employment, he finally got accepted for a job offer at a small business. His life of employment and self-sufficiency was about to begin.
"KYA!! Look out!" someone screamed. The young man looked to the source and saw the woman pointing at him with a panicked face.
Eh?
And just like that, the young man's happiness was short-lived as a brick fell on his head killing him on the spot.
.
.
[System bonding in place.....completed]
[Now beginning transfer of soul to new world]
With a painful headache, the young man opened his eyes and gasped before clutching his head and focusing his vision. What happened? Did he die? Actually, that's a stupid question. Of course he died
Sitting from the ground, the young man took a minute waiting for the pain to subside before observing his surroundings with a curious gaze.
"I'm in...a house?"
[Ding! Welcome to your second life.]
A red screen appeared in front of the man.
"A system? Is it gonna give me powers?"
[You are now the proud owner of your very own Haunted House!]
....What?
[This system exists to assist you in the upgrade of your Haunted House and to issue missions to find out the truth of the world!]
'The truth of the world?'
[Do you choose to accept the system? If not, this system will disappear and you will die.]
"That's not even a proper choice. Fine, I accept."
The screen flickered before the interface became a status window.
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Host: Shun Nakayama (21)
Strength: 5
Stamina: 4
Intelligence: 5
Agility: 6
Charm: 4
Special Items: None
Affiliation: Nakayama Haunted House (Boss)
Description: Host is hard-working and determined when he wants to be. He has a high tolerance for fear having grown up with his parents who are horror movie enthusiasts. His current appearance is slightly better than average as compared to his previous one. If you are his friend, he will be loyal to you and go out of his way to help you.
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Shun read through the description with a complicated gaze. He felt the description was better than the truth.
"Other than that though, my stats are pretty low. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised since I don't ever recall working out."
[Ding! Trial mission generated! Tour the haunted house and make note of what needs repairing. Completion rate: 0 / 10.]
"Huh. That's not hard but I guess it's because this is only a trial mission." Shun stood up and stretched his body before beginning his assessment. To him, it was easier to go with the flow rather than start overthinking things. Admittedly though, he was curious at the aim and purpose of the system. Perhaps finding out the 'truth of the world' will give him some answers.
Currently, he was in what he assumed to be the master bedroom. The decoration was plain and simple with his former belongings lying around.
"At least my stuff was brought over. I won't need to purchase things now."
Seeing his backpack on the floor, he picked it up and rummaged through the contents before pulling out a notebook and pen.
'I guess I'll start off here.' Shun clicked the pen and scribbled down 'Repair Works' on the top of the page before scrutinising the room.
"Everything seems fine in here, perhaps a paint job would be good but I don't think that's important." After making sure he didn't miss anything, he finally stepped out of the room to a dark hallway.
A chilly breeze passed through making him unconsciously shiver.
"Weird. Where is this breeze coming from?" But he didn't dwell on it too long and walked through the hallway gazing at the random oil paintings on the walls. "I wonder if there was a previous owner of this place. If there was, he sure had an odd taste."
Eventually, he came to find his first repair job which just so happened to be a massive hole in the wall.
"What on earth caused this?" Shun murmured as he stared at the unusual hole. They shaping of it made him think someone deliberately made a hole as if to hide....nope. No no no he was definitely overthinking it!
The hole in the hollow wall was big enough to shove a body in but Shun convinced himself he was jumping to conclusions.
[Completion rate: 1 / 10]
He let out a sigh and continued on before opening various doors. Nothing really stood out to him that needed repairing so he made his way to the main part of the house where the visitors would roam around.
The place he stayed in turned out to be the basement and when he found the entrance to upstairs, he was flabbergasted.
"Why is the staircase so long?!"
Groaning, he walked up and opened another door. The room he stepped into was dark so he switched on his phone torch and looked for a light switch on the side.
*Click*
"Well shit me senseless! This is insane!" Shun exclaimed.
It was what looked to be the reception room but the decoration was old Victorian style giving it an eerie feeling. He made his way around the room examining the architecture before taking note of the sorry state the main desk was in.
"No phone, no computer, no ticket distributor and the desk looks like it's going to fall apart any time now. I suppose this is the second area that needs repairing."
[Completion rate: 2 / 10]
Shun smirked. "I knew it."
He rummaged around the the drawers looking for anything and he came across what looked to be a guide of the haunted house. It showed the outlay of the scenarios-to-be and the different routes to the exits.
"Interesting. The scenarios have not been named yet and are labelled in numbers. I suppose I'll begin with number one."
He headed for the first scenario and came to a wide open space with a high ceiling and windows. It was a lot bigger than he anticipated but he didn't focus on that and instead looked for what needed fixing.
"These pillars here are cracked, the floor is not in a good state either."
[Completion rate: 3 / 10]
Soon after, Shun visited the other scenarios and the completion rate went up.
[Completion rate: 10 / 10. Congratulations on completing first trial mission. Mission reward is complete renovation of haunted house and 2 credits]
"Credits? Does that mean I can add that to my physical stats to level them up?"
[Correct]
Shun grinned and pressed the button on the screen.
"In that case, I'll add one to stamina and the other to strength."
Immediately after, Shun felt a warm current in his body and could tell his strength and stamina have improved.
[Ding! Host has triggered first main mission!]
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<Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is the ugliest of them all?>
<Somewhere buried in your haunted house lies a mirror untouched for centuries as it shows one's darkest self.
Mission - Find and retrieve the mirror before the clock strikes twelve.
Hint - After finding the mirror, do not peer into it no matter what you hear or smell.>
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"That's really creepy." Shun muttered. He glanced at his watch and saw the time was currently nine o'clock. "I have three hours to do this. Should be enough time."
[Note: Mission reward is the opening of the first scenario 'Mirror, Mirror'. Scare factor: Half-star]
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-- > Author's Note: So this is just a trial chapter because it was written on a whim. I don't know if I'll continue it or not but I'm just curious to see if there'll be a good response. People are welcome to use this as a prompt to write their own stories.
