Even Horror Must Be Exquisitely Elegant

Horror dungeons?

For everyone else, death is a chance to become a player and fight for a second life.

He died and became an unregistered ghost instead. Not only does he have to work hard to scare players and earn the fright points he needs to survive, he also has to keep his head down and avoid the terrifying monsters.

Honestly, you ghosts have such tacky taste! Your standards are abysmal!

That was the complaint of Jiao Wen, once hailed as the most infuriating horror game designer alive.

"Even slaughtering has its principles." Holding a specially made eighteen-piece kitchen tool set, Jiao Wen pitched it to the butcher wielding a chainsaw. "Bone is bone, meat is meat."

"A butcher ought to keep things clean, too. It puts the customers at ease." Jiao Wen beamed as he shook out a pristine apron.

The butcher looked thoughtful.

The player strapped to the slaughtering chair trembled.

Ling Zhuoxiang: ...

"Fine ingredients don't need too many seasonings." Holding a cookbook, Jiao Wen explained this to the ogre. "But eating them raw is an absolute waste."

"Fine cuisine calls for a refined atmosphere." So music and candlelight were essential.

The player looked at the ogre in a suit and tie, dining to soothing music as if in an upscale restaurant. How could this possibly be even scarier?

Ling Zhuoxiang: ...

"Lanterns must be made from the finest leather." Jiao Wen looked disdainfully at the materials hanging from bamboo poles to dry. They were ragged and bloodstained. "It's obvious these don't meet the standards."

"Scraping, washing, dyeing, greasing, pressing... Every step has to be done with care." As he spoke, Jiao Wen looked thoughtful. "Of course, the leather itself matters most. It'd be ideal if we could complete every step while it was still fresh, or use the skin of a twenty-eight-year-old girl who never decays..."

The players: "..."

The tanner girl, who had been alive for who knew how long: "..."

Ling Zhuoxiang: ...

Lately, players had noticed that, for some reason, the horror dungeons were getting cleaner and the ghosts were getting friendlier, but their fright points were plummeting.

The mastermind, Jiao Wen, cackled as he watched the points roll in.

Ling Zhuoxiang: ...

Jiao Wen, horror game designer / decided to overhaul the dungeons because they were filthy (not really) (crossed out) and didn't suit his personal taste / was supposed to struggle to survive among the players and monsters, but started messing with their heads instead / gradually became the mastermind behind it all

And

Ling Zhuoxiang, who didn't know what was going on but was happy as long as Jiao Wen was happy / a devoted fan of Jiao Wen's games outside the dungeons and a devoted fan of Jiao Wen inside them / once a big shot, but gradually became Jiao Wen's kept man / once declared, "Being kept is great" / loves watching the show and gossiping / the background character who's always around whenever Jiao Wen revamps a dungeon

Theme: Everyone is responsible for cleaning up the dungeons.