The Male Leads Are Trapped in My House

Ethan wrapped his arms around himself, feigning exaggerated pain.

“I might really die this time.”
“Doesn’t it hurt?”
I reached out with trembling hands to hold his arm. Just looking at his injuries made my hands shake with empathy. How could Ethan act like it was nothing?

If Ethan didn’t have antibodies, this reckless man might’ve gotten infected and died here just to save us.
That realization made my nose sting.
“It’s fine. The wounds are nothing. But Miss Cherry, what if I’m infected? Aren’t you scared?”

Ethan tilted his head playfully, his tone teasing.
“Why? Are you going to stick your fingers in my mouth again? Go ahead, if you want—I’ll bite this time.”
He grabbed my hand and pretended to bite my fingers, playfully clenching his teeth.

A moment ago, he was as terrifying as a predator with its hackles raised. Now, he looked more like a rebellious cat bristling with defiance.
“Go ahead and bite. I’ll let you.”
It wasn’t because I was certain Ethan had antibodies.

Even if he didn’t, I would’ve said the same thing. Ethan had come this far for me.
“You trust me way too much, Miss Cherry. It makes my heart race.”
He raised my hand and pressed his lips slowly and firmly against the back of it, lingering there.

The dangerous atmosphere he exuded left me frozen, unable to pull my hand away. In the end, I could only let him hold my hand.
Noticing my reaction, Ethan smiled in satisfaction.
“This is your fault, you know. Isn’t that right?”

He urged me for an answer, his tone oddly plaintive compared to the crazed maniac he had been moments earlier.
I was caught off guard. I never imagined I’d see this kind of behavior or hear these kinds of words from Ethan.
Thankfully, Nox’s familiar voice saved me from the moment.
“Miss Cherry! Are you alright?”

“Lady Sinclair! You’re safe after all!”
“Miss!”
Nox, Kellyan, and the woman from Hondorf came running toward us, calling out my name. Ethan reluctantly stepped back, a hint of disappointment in his expression.

It was a relief to see that none of them appeared seriously injured.
But Kellyan’s gaze remained fixed on Ethan, his expression unreadable. Ominous.
However, there was a more pressing problem.

Kwaaaak!
Krrrrng—
The thunderous roar of the octopus monster echoed again, and monsters from the surrounding area began to close in on us.

There were all kinds: reptiles, insect-like creatures, and beast-like monsters. It was hard to believe we had killed so many earlier, yet more kept coming.
The only consolation was that none of them were as massive as the octopus from before.
“We need to retreat quickly. Everyone’s too exhausted.”

I glanced around and saw a chimney in the distance, smoke rising from it. Happy House wasn’t far now.
But we couldn’t just lead this horde of monsters straight to Happy House.
“We need to shake them off first.”

Otherwise, we’d turn the area around Happy House into a monster-infested wasteland.
“Miss Cherry, take the survivors and fall back.”
Ethan swung his sword, shaking off the green slime clinging to its blade. The viscous liquid splattered to the ground, revealing the sharp, polished edge of the sword.

He stepped forward with a relaxed smile, as if all the tension had suddenly vanished.
“I’m not afraid of anything anymore.”
*****

Three hours earlier.
Harrison and Jose stood outside the police station, listening to Vanilla recount what had happened.
She told them about the sudden appearance of a mutated monster, how it had knocked Nox unconscious and dragged him away, and how Cherry had followed it. She also mentioned that the monster was unnervingly fast and capable of hunting intelligently.

The situation was dire. Cherry and Nox needed to be found quickly, so Harrison and Jose decided to enter the forest where they had disappeared.
As they moved swiftly through the underbrush, Jose glanced at the crossbow in his hands.
Originally, he had planned to bring his trusty sniper rifle, a Sharps rifle, but Harrison had insisted on the quieter crossbow.

“It’s strange, no matter how I think about it,” Jose thought as he followed Harrison through the dense foliage.
Happy House had an unusually large variety of weapons, enough to rival a small armory.
Although ammunition was technically a consumable resource, the supplies looted from Kint had kept them well-stocked.

“The weapons the lawyer brought were prepared before the world ended.”
It wasn’t surprising that Elliot’s group, who had been involved in illegal arms dealings, had firearms.
But Harrison was different. He was a lawyer, after all.

“Then again, he wasn’t just any lawyer. He was the legal advisor for the Sinclair family, infamous for their shady dealings. It wouldn’t be shocking if the Sinclairs were smuggling illegal weapons.”
Besides, it had been Cherry who had instructed Harrison to bring the weapons to Brunel.
Jose had boarded the train to Brunel specifically to teach Cherry how to use the weapons.

“She definitely knows something.”
There were too many oddities about Cherry.
Everyone at Happy House must have wondered at some point.

The bunker-like design of Happy House, as if it had been built in anticipation of the world’s collapse, raised questions.
“If Miss Cherry knows something about the end of the world, I need to stay close to her. That’s the only way to survive.”
However, Jose couldn’t think any further about Cherry or Happy House, distracted by the sound of a whistle echoing from somewhere nearby.

“Piii—”
“Piii—”
“What kind of lunatic is blowing a whistle?”

Jose, his face tense, aimed his crossbow and scanned the surroundings.
The whistle seemed like an open invitation for monsters to burst through the underbrush at any moment.
Harrison, equally tense, gripped his crossbow tightly and muttered, “There is one person crazy enough to do that.”

“Sir Ethan?”
“It wouldn’t be strange for a police officer to carry a whistle.”
“If it is Sir Ethan, then he’s completely insane! If he keeps this up, every monster in the area will swarm him…!”

A sudden thought struck Jose mid-sentence.
“Wait, could this be intentional? Is Sir Ethan luring the monsters to himself on purpose?”
“That’s what I’m thinking as well. If Sir Ethan came into this forest looking for Miss Cherry, he might be trying to draw that mutated monster toward him.”

It sounded exactly like something Ethan would do. For anyone else, it might seem absurd, but Ethan would do anything for Cherry.
“When did Sir Ethan become so infatuated with Miss Cherry?”
Jose tilted his head, puzzled. When they’d first met in Happy House, Ethan hadn’t seemed this attached.

He shook off the thought and continued scanning the surroundings, asking Harrison, “This all started because of the doctor, right?”
“More accurately, because Miss Cherry wanted to save the doctor.”
“Well, she does seem to care for him a lot. Though in a world like this, a doctor is invaluable.”

Jose thought that Cherry was risking her life to save Nox because of how important he was.
They didn’t need to use their heads to figure out where to go next. The sounds of monster roars, the whistle, and—
Bang!

Bang, bang!
Gunfire rang out in the distance.
Following the sounds, they found a blood-soaked Ethan battling monsters.

“Dear God, Sir Et—”
Harrison clamped a hand over Jose’s mouth.
“Shh. Sir Ethan… he’s been bitten.”

Jose’s eyes widened in shock.
Just as Harrison said, Ethan was covered in blood, and the bite marks all over his body were glaringly obvious, even from a distance.
“No, this can’t be!”

If Ethan were to fall, it would be like losing one of the pillars holding up Happy House.
While Cherry might be the strongest in combat, her strength was only as reliable as the support Ethan provided.
Ethan wasn’t just physically formidable; his presence was vital.

To Jose, there were three main pillars supporting Happy House: Harrison, who oversaw everything; Nox, the doctor; and Ethan, the warrior.
“This can’t be happening… Harrison, he can’t be infected by the monsters. Can he?”
Harrison didn’t reply, his silence heavy with foreboding.

“That thing attacking Sir Ethan… Is it the mutated monster? But where’s Miss Cherry?”
Jose turned his gaze toward the mutated monster. Its movements were anything but ordinary.
However, even more unsettling than the mutant’s behavior was Ethan himself.

He was using his own body as a shield to attack the creature. Who in their right mind uses themselves as a shield in a fight?
Thuck.
Ethan drove his sharp blade deep into the mutant’s shoulder.

Kueeeek!
The mutant thrashed violently in apparent pain.
Its reaction was bizarre—utterly unlike other monsters. It flailed about as if throwing a tantrum, almost childlike in its exaggerated display.

While Ethan’s body was shredded and bloodied from its bites, the monster seemed to panic over a few injuries.
Ethan mercilessly slashed off one of its arms with his blade.
Kueeeek!

Kuek! Kuek!!!
The monster writhed and let out piercing cries. If monsters could cry, this one surely would be.
“This is so strange… Why isn’t it eating him?”

A shiver ran down Jose’s spine as he watched the creature’s bizarre behavior.
Despite biting Ethan repeatedly, it showed no interest in devouring him like the others. It seemed completely disinterested in eating.