I remember <FoS>'s first event.
The first enemy you encounter, too.
The game was quarter-view from the start, and the graphics were cruder than you'd expect, so it wasn't scary at all.
'And now?'
I'd forgotten even to breathe.
-Child.
Oh, fuck.
SWISH!
The instant I yanked the curtain shut, the moonlight vanished and the compartment sank into darkness.
The atmosphere itself became far more eerie for it, but I was certain. This was the right call.
……Or was I already too late?
-Child.
The voice came again.
-The scenery outside is lovely, you know.
It wasn't a human voice. It was murky, as if clogged with phlegm; warped; and somehow, cold.
'This is driving me insane.'
A cold voice. Curse me for the literary flourish if you like, but what am I supposed to do when that's genuinely how it sounds?
-Child. Are you listening?
-Come now, draw back the curtain for me.
Of course, I must not draw it.
Nor can I allow myself any curiosity about the thing behind the curtain.
Right now, I have no abilities whatsoever.
Until I have at least a minimal means of coping, I have to avoid facing a <Shadow>.
'In other words…….'
During its tutorial stage, <FoS> is no different from a horror game.
Against enemies you cannot deal with, 'attack' is impossible—'evasion' is your one and only recourse. That is what makes it so.
-Child.
-Child. Child.
-Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child. Child.
'Fu…….'
My fists clenched on their own.
Nothing good would come of listening too long, but covering my ears wouldn't accomplish anything either.
[You have encountered the Shadow, 'White Woman Who Knocks on Windows'.]
[Your stress level surges.]
[Mental Contamination: 6%]
It was a dangerous situation, but I stayed silent, not budging an inch.
I have absolutely no intention of leaving this room.
'Because that's this route's first trap.'
Fooled by the Mental Contamination message, you rush out of the compartment in a panic—and meet another <Shadow> roaming outside.
Unlike the 'White Woman Who Knocks on Windows,' that one has no counter at all.
An unreasonable being that means death the instant you encounter it.
I recalled the details of the <Armand>, the train I had boarded.
The Armand
Kingdom Service Line: Express Circuit Train
Route: Royal Capital (Origin) → Corn Plains → Horizon Lake → Forest of Eternity → Fairy City Paengdal (Transit Stop) → Royal Capital (Terminus)
That was all the information known at the starting point……
And then there was information unlocked by progressing further, or by finishing a clear on other difficulties.
By the time the player boards, the <Shadows> have already breached the train.
That's right.
The Armand has already let the Shadows in, and the train's overturning is, for all intents and purposes, a fixed future.
In other words, fail to escape before the train flips, and that too is a game over. This is why the <Armand Route>'s difficulty is such a bitch.
Knock, knock, knock.
The voice, gone at some point, had been replaced by knocking.
Each time it came, my stress level surged, and my Mental Contamination climbed steeply.
Had the moon slipped out from behind the clouds?
Beyond the rippling curtain, the shadow of fingers wavered.
Scriiitch, scritch…….
The shape was grotesquely long and withered, like rotten dead wood.
-Are you watching……?
……Stay calm.
When the situation spirals, you have to sort out the information that takes priority and take it in first.
First, I've fallen into <FoS>—
Second, I've become the player character.
The two propositions I'd chewed over all through my patrol. Once I forced the hardest-to-swallow facts into my skull, my thoughts finally moved to the next step.
'So, what do I do from here?'
Shadows, the tutorial, a time attack…….
I repeated a handful of words to myself almost compulsively—and only then did the most rational course of action in this situation come to mind.
"Whew……."
Damn it. My hands are still shaking, but from here on out, it's a race against time.
I rose from my seat, then rummaged through Derek's corpse with careful movements.
Corpse looting, as they call it.
In the game, it was as simple as pressing a button. Not in reality.
Digging through it with my own hands made me feel filthy.
'Damn it all.'
My fingers trembled; I had to hide my presence as much as possible; and on top of that, the very fact that I was rifling through a corpse stirred up guilt…….
Even feeling like my head might come apart, I didn't stop my hands.
And then.
[You have acquired <Cheap Hand Mirror>.]
At last, I found what I was looking for.
Cheap Hand Mirror
A cheap hand mirror made from low-quality materials, but it can still perform its basic function.
It was unexpected, honestly, that a thuggish-looking one-eyed man carried around a hand mirror like this.
I feel like there was some backstory to it, but seeing as I can't remember, it must have had nothing to do with clearing the game.
With the hand mirror secured, I next drew a pocket watch from my breast.
The time had just passed 11:57:51 at night.
'……About two minutes left?'
My grip on the watch tightened.
Old Pocket Watch
It is working. For now.
The sole item the player possesses at the start of the <Instant-Death Route>.
Back then, I found it odd.
Why was this the only item you carried?
As a gift from the developers, simply meant to help you tell day from night?
'As if.'
Let me say this with certainty.
The developers of <FoS> are not such kind bastards.
No one knows that better than I do—I, who sank deeper into this game than anyone.
'Light.'
Moonlight, to be precise.
That softly pouring moonlight is the Shadow bastards' weakness.
And midnight is the moment the moonlight is at its strongest. In other words, timing it right—throwing open the curtain and reflecting the moonlight with the hand mirror—is the only way to destroy that thing.
"……"
In the meantime, the compartment had sunk into silence.
The eerie voice and the knocking could no longer be heard, and the silhouette of the shadow beyond the curtain had vanished as well.
CRAAAAACK—
In its place, a chilling sound came from the window.
Frost seemed to be blooming across the glass—and this was no illusion of mine. I could genuinely feel the temperature inside the room plummeting.
In other words, things had moved to the next stage.
'59 minutes, 30 seconds.'
The breath I let out scattered into white mist.
Time to get ready.
I was busily wiggling my fingers and toes to keep my body from freezing when I took a single step forward.
BANG!
The door suddenly flew open. Not the window—the compartment door.
'What?'
Why is that opening all of a sudden?
The moment my head and body froze in place, the man standing beyond the door tilted his head.
"You. It's patrol time. What are you doing?"
I looked above the man's head.
[Car Chief, 'Duron']
A Car Chief is the person responsible for one or several train cars.
The bastard called Duron glared sidelong at me—then he saw the one-eyed man's corpse, and his expression hardened stiff.
"What is this……? Don't tell me, you—"
"Close the door!"
I shouted in a rush, but it was already too late.
[You have opened the compartment door.]
[You encounter the Shadow, 'Man Who Greets and Embraces'.]
At some point, that being had come to stand naturally behind Duron.
Its face couldn't be seen.
I had no idea just how tall it was, but from inside the compartment, the most I could see was up to the man's chest.
"Huh……?"
That wasn't Duron.
The one standing outside the door tilted his head and looked behind him—and slowly, that head angled upward.
-Hello?
"Wh-what are you?"
The moment Duron answered that nonchalant greeting.
His body shot abruptly upward.
A gray hand had wrapped around his waist and hoisted him up.
"L-let go of me!"
Duron thrashed.
He couldn't for long.
CRUNCH.
The spine-chilling sound of breaking bone rang out, and a wetness seeped into his panicked voice.
"Gurk, grrk…… cough! S-save……!"
Then, with the sound of something snapping, his voice stopped.
SPLAT.
Duron, folded in half at the waist, dropped to the floor.
Blood slowly spread from the corpse.
-Hello?
The man's voice came again.
'Fuck.'
I'd encountered it after all. If he'd opened that door after twelve o'clock, I'd never have had to meet that bastard.
'What do I do?'
Do I keep holding out in here?
But…….
CREEEEAK.
Just then, the window slid slowly open, and fingers withered gaunt as dead wood began drawing back the curtain.
The 'White Woman Who Knocks on Windows.'
-……There you are?
The instant I flinched, a white, elongated hand shot out and wrapped around my throat in the blink of an eye.
"Gurk……!"
My breath choked off.
Fuck. How is there this much strength in a grip that looks like it'd snap from a tap? And it's cold as ice on top of it.
'Fine…….'
Let's do this, you son of a bitch.
I thrust the hand mirror I'd been clutching out in front of me.
-Huh……?
This thing had opened the window with its own hands and drawn back the curtain.
Naturally, the brightest moonlight was now streaming into the compartment.
The moonlight struck the hand mirror and reflected, becoming a stronger light that landed on the white woman.
-AAAAAAAAAAAAAH—!
This one is a low-grade Shadow.
Low enough to be annihilated even by moonlight refined through a mere cheap hand mirror.
Normally, this would have been the crisis resolved, but.
-Hello?
The one standing outside is a cut above.
Moonlight probably won't drive that one off so easily…….
Still, it's not as if I have any other move.
-He, hello……!
The thing, bathed in moonlight, raised its voice.
Seemingly enraged, it began shoving its body through the door without a single thought for its own bulk.
'Fuck.'
Look at the state of this thing.
Its face was white past pallor, as if dusted with powder; its eyeballs were grotesquely huge; and it was streaming tears of blood besides.
-Hello!
A Shadow offering greetings with a face fit to haunt your dreams, in the most literal sense.
An instant later, its outstretched hand seized my shoulder.
CRUNCH……!
A scream tore out of me at the pain, like my shoulder being wrenched from its socket.
I wanted to praise myself for not dropping the hand mirror even then, but no matter how long I kept the moonlight on this one, it wasn't enough to drive it off.
'Then……!'
All or nothing.
Gritting my teeth, I hurled the hand mirror to the floor.
CRASH!
-Hello!
Did it think I'd given up in despair?
The moment the Shadow bastard cried out in an excited voice.
FLAAAAAASH!
Countless beams of light surged up and flooded the compartment.
-H-hello?!
The broken glass.
The glass shards scattered across the floor became an unfurled kaleidoscope, each fragment holding its own moonlight.
If one isn't enough, then many. A war of numbers, so to speak.
-Hi, hiik, hik……!
The embracing man made a sound other than a greeting for the very first time—then vomited out a long, drawn-out scream.
-KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH—!
The grip that had seized my shoulder slowly loosened.
'Hurry up and drop dead already…….'
The ghostly wail that had faded in an instant in the game stretched on, now that it was reality, long enough to drain me dry.
And the scream that had dragged on to the point of tedium cut off at some point, as if snipped by scissors……
[You have exterminated the Shadow, 'White Woman Who Knocks on Windows'.]
[You have exterminated the Shadow, 'Man Who Greets and Embraces'.]
[You have accomplished an unbelievable feat during the tutorial stage.]
[You have earned the Achievement, 「Such a Performance in a Section with No Equipment?」.]
⁝
[Duplicate achievement detected.]
[This achievement was earned in a different play record.]
[Achievement Points will not be awarded.]
⁝
[Updating information for Player, 'Kaindel'.]
[Multiple playthrough records confirmed.]
[Achievement Points will be inherited.]
[……Updating point data…….]
⁝
[Update complete.]
[Achievement Points Held: 12,615,151]