After being chosen by a horror game, I took over a food stall in a small town.

A ghoul tried to eat me, his huge, bloody mouth a gaping maw, but I quickly shoved a focaccia sandwich into it.

He chewed and then said, “Oh, forget it. With food to eat, I’ll kill her tomorrow.”

The next day, I made delicious pierogies, then skewers and stews.

All the ghouls who stopped by gave up on trying to kill me, focusing on eating instead.

The audience watching me was shocked that I could survive all the way to the end with just my cooking.

It was mealtime. The diner was crowded. Everyone was eagerly awaiting their food.

I was in the kitchen cooking. Adrenaline drove me in the rush to fill orders. The next second, I was pulled into an S-Rank Supernatural Map.

[Identity: Linnet Graves, age eighteen, food stall owner, Pine Grove.]

[Talent items: A set of F-Rank kitchen utensils (upgradeable), ability to create culinary concoctions that even ghouls can taste.]

Screens displaying my in-game identity and talent items floated before my eyes.

Meanwhile, there was already a huge audience watching the livestream. They were waiting for the action to start, and I was the unlucky soul picked to play in this horror game.

When they saw that I was only eighteen and possessed only the lowest-ranked talent items, everyone’s eyes nearly popped out.

[She’s done for! She’s a newbie, AND she got sent to an S-Rank Map! She’s going to die in ten seconds flat.]

[Wow, she sure is unlucky. What’s she going to do with a saucepan and spatula? Is she going to throw them at the ghouls?]

[No way she’s surviving this. The other four players have a better chance of winning.]

[Good luck, Lin! I believe that you can survive!]

The comments were flooding in. The discussion only grew more heated.

I gripped my kitchen utensils and remained where I spawned, lying on a thin bedroll in a hut. I trembled while reading the game’s guidebook.

[Play your character well, and don’t reveal your identity as a player to the ghouls.]

[There is a safe time period every day from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. Unless you enter a danger zone, ghouls will not attack players during this time.]

[If you survive five days, you will win the game and be rewarded.]

I put the leaflet down, feeling ill at ease. My hands were sweating.

It was a horrible situation to be in. The game had not even started. No matter which way I looked at it, I had no chance of winning.

The lights in the hut suddenly flickered erratically. An anguished scream came from the outside.

[Number of survivors left in the map: 4]

Someone was already dead at the start of the game. I huddled deeper into my bedroll and felt even less confident.

The night was getting darker. I closed my eyes, still feeling anxious.

The next morning, I woke up before the sun rose.

Since my only hope of survival was a well-played role play in this session, it made the most sense to start preparing the food for my stall, like the hardworking small-business owner I was.

After I got into the kitchen, I learned that this food stall sold sourdough bread.

It was plain, old, boring sourdough bread.

I picked up one of the loaves and put a bite in my mouth. It was dry and tasted overwhelmingly sour. It was awful.

If I served these to the ghouls, would they go berserk and lodge a violent complaint?

Frowning, I spat the bread out and started scanning through the leftover ingredients in the kitchen.

There were fresh herbs, tomatoes, garlic, and even sandwich meats.

An hour later, I fetched a fresh batch of focaccia from the oven.

After taking a few deep breaths, I took all the food to the food stall with trembling hands.

It would be fine. Everything was going to be fine. It was unlikely for any customers to even get interested.

“Focaccia for sale! Fresh, tasty focaccia sandwiches for sale!” I called half-heartedly from behind the counter.

The town was quieter than the grave. It would be surprising if someone suddenly showed up so early in the morning for focaccia.

“Give me one of those focaccia things.”

My first customer was a pale-looking youth. He was tall and seemed decent.

Unfortunately, there was a huge and bloody hole at the base of his skull. It looked terrifying and pitiable.

“Sure thing.”

Sensing something amiss, I quickly lowered my gaze. By avoiding eye contact with the youth, I managed to keep my expression neutral.

Little did I know that when this youth showed up, the comment section for the livestream blew up with activity.

[That’s a mini boss, Jorvan Beeker! He loves breaking open players’ skulls!]

[Based on the statistics, he has a kill rate of 99%! This newbie is dying for sure.]

[Keep holding on, Lin! You can do it, Lin!]

I was too busy to read any of these comments. I simply straightened my apron and did my job as Jorvan watched.

I cut a piece of fresh focaccia and started piling various ingredients on it: Lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and prosciutto.

Jorvan seemed content to wait. Like any other customer, he was partaking in the town’s gossip.

“Hey, Ms. Graves, did you hear about what happened last night?”

“I turned in early last night. What happened?”

To maintain my cover as just another of the game’s characters, I did my best to respond to him.

“Old Man Hurley from the edge of town got drunk on moonshine and got caught yapping about some stuff he shouldn’t have. Guess what happened? His wife chopped him up in the middle of the night!”

Jorvan excitedly described the gruesome scene and watched me closely for my reaction.

Based on what he was saying, I guessed that “Old Man Hurley” had failed in maintaining his cover as a character and was brutally murdered by the ghouls.

As expected, when I momentarily froze in my movements, Jorvan excitedly raised his hammer and aimed it at the back of my skull.

“Why have you stopped working, Ms. Graves?”

“Your focaccia sandwich is done.”

Jorvan was speechless.

Expressionlessly, I put my knife away and put the sandwich in a paper bag after adding a dash of olive oil to the whole ensemble.

Jorvan halted his attack and looked at the warm focaccia sandwich. His expression was a bit bewildered, and he looked as if he wanted to ask, “Is this it?”

He was quickly distracted by that same focaccia sandwich.

The bread was a warm golden brown. The sandwich was crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. The prosciutto was thinly sliced and glistened with the olive oil drizzled on it.

Altogether, the focaccia sandwich looked freshly cooked and delicious.

Jorvan’s initially rampant killing intent dissipated. I relaxed for a moment. I thought that I was going to muddle through this.

After a moment, Jorvan took out an infernal bill from his pocket.

However, the money was covered in sticky blood. When it touched my skin, I went and got a rag to wipe it off.

In the next second, I froze in place and dared not move.

Oh no.

In such horror games, only players could see blood. They could also see the actual undead nature of the ghouls.

Jorvan’s lips curled into a wicked smile, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth as he stared at me.

“Who are you? Where did the original owner of this food stall go?”

Jorvan came closer and closer, and his sharp teeth were so close that I could almost feel them against my cheek.

I was so terrified that my limbs went weak. With a twitch of my hand, I grabbed the sandwich from his grasp and shoved it into his mouth.

Jorvan subconsciously bit down, and the flavors burst in his mouth. They were rich and explosive.

In an instant, his expression went lax. The hammer, which had been about an inch away from the back of my head, halted mid-swing.

In reality, Jorvan felt as if his world had been rocked to its core.

Why was the focaccia sandwich so extravagantly delicious? It was as if it was real. It was so crunchy and savory…

But it was impossible!

The NPC ghouls in horror games were wandering spirits of the dead. Since they were already dead, anything they experienced in the supernatural world of the game was false as well.

His sense of smell, of taste, of touch had long been defunct.

It was impossible for the food to taste of anything in a ghoul’s mouth.

Since Jorvan had paused, I got on my tiptoes uneasily, still holding onto the focaccia sandwich. I was terrified that my skull was going to be smashed in at any point.

However, Jorvan continued taking huge bites out of his focaccia sandwich.

After he finished the focaccia sandwich, Jorvan gazed at me with some uncertainty.

Then, he took out two normal bills and gave them to me.

“Give me ten more of these to go.”

“Oh… Sure thing!”

Knowing that I had just barely escaped death, I quickly took the money and buried myself in my work. I did not dare to look up at him as I made more focaccia sandwiches.

As he left with his ten focaccia sandwiches, Jorvan gave me a warning glance.

“I’ll be back tomorrow.”

When he turned and left, he could not help but murmur under his breath, “I’ll kill her tomorrow!”

Clutching the two hundred dollars, which flapped in the wind, I thought, ‘Could you please not tell me if you’re planning to kill me?’

Since Jorvan had bought all the focaccia I had made for the day, I figured that I might as well close up early.

The door of my hut slammed shut loudly, and I was safely ensconced inside again.

Right then, the audience watching the livestream were flabbergasted. They had all thought that I would not even last a single day.

The comment section was a mess.

[The next player only managed to avoid being killed by a ghoul using some A-Rank tools. How did she do it with some sandwiches?]

[She even made 200 dollars! She could buy loads of stuff from the market.]

[She probably won’t survive the second day. Didn’t you hear Jorvan say he’ll kill her tomorrow?]

[F in the chat for the newbie.]

[Don’t be scared, Lin! You’re doing great, Lin!]

[Why does this newbie have a diehard fan already? Why is this person here every day?]

At 8:00 p.m., night fell slowly.

I was tossing and turning in my sheets, trying my hardest to recall what I saw about defeating ghouls in the forums.

Right then, there was a knock on the door to the hut.

“W-Who is it?”

It was 8:00 p.m., so it was a safe time. Also, the inside of the hut was a safe zone. Ghouls should not be able to access this area.

“Ms. Graves, I’m the town’s vegetable vendor, Simon Reeves. I brought your ingredients.”

The voice was warm and youthful, but it also carried a trembling note of fear.

Thoughtful, I sat up. I quickly guessed that the person outside the door was another player.

In such a horror game, players not only had to be wary of ghouls. They also had to beware of the other players.

After all, everyone was on their guard in these horror games. It was difficult to guess what others were up to, and no one wanted to be stabbed in the back.

After the fifth knock came, I threw the door open, having pulled on a jacket beforehand.

The person outside seemed to have been shocked by my actions. He stiffly took the basket off his back.

He did not dare to meet my gaze. After receiving the money he was due, he ran off quickly.

From the looks of it, that guy was also a newbie.

I memorized Simon’s appearance and took the basket of food inside and locked the door.

The ingredients I got tonight were a bit more varied. There was lamb, squid, beef, chicken wings, corn, potatoes, some greens, and eggplants.

But I would not be able to make more focaccia sandwiches with these ingredients.

After giving it some thought, I changed the two hundred dollars from Jorvan into credits for the market. I bought some herbs and spices.

That was the only way I could stock the stall with food tomorrow.

The next morning, Jorvan showed up as promised.

When he saw that there was no focaccia on the counter, he seemed a little sad.

However, he soon came toward me with his sharp and bloody teeth on display.

Without any focaccia sandwiches to eat, I seemed to be next on the menu instead.

I quickly flipped the skewers I had on the grill and glazed them with my special sauce.

When the lamb on the skewers touched the flame-hot grill, it sizzled deliciously. The oil and fat from the meat dripped as its fragrant aromas filled the air.

By the time Jorvan was right in front of me, I was able to swiftly serve up a plate full of skewers.

“Why don’t you eat a bit before you, uh, get busy?”