The Male Leads Are Trapped in My House

‘No. It can’t be… It can’t be…’

I turned around and stepped back inside Happy House.

My feet dragged me toward the banquet hall where I had first encountered the wolf.

Shredded clothing lay scattered alongside the broken remains of a table.

I wanted to run away. But my legs were already moving forward, step by step.

Slowly, I approached the pile of clothes.

A deep green, tailored suit jacket and a matching flared skirt.

I had seen this outfit earlier today.

Right before I left for the station, Susanna had been tidying up the mansion. She was wearing this.

And then, in the corner of the banquet hall, I saw it—another corpse.

The creature resembled a bear, but it was the size of a child. Something sharp—like an iron rod—was embedded in its head.

Thud.

My knees buckled, and I sank to the floor.

‘The wolf I just killed… Was that Susanna?’

The bear—or the wolf—one of them had to be Susanna.

I hadn’t known her for long. Six months, at most.

But if the world was ending, she was one of the two people I wanted to protect no matter what.

‘And I killed her. With my own hands.’

A dull numbness spread through my fingertips.

I sat there, staring blankly at the torn scraps of Susanna’s clothes.

‘With my own hands…’

Would she have been okay if I hadn’t asked her to come to Brunel?

In the novel, everyone in the capital died except Aurora’s group.

But maybe there had been other survivors who were never mentioned.

Maybe Susanna could’ve been one of them.

‘What’s the point of thinking about that now? What’s the point?’

Something wet slid down my cheek. It took me a while to realize it was a tear.

Boom!

A distant explosion jolted me back to my senses.

There was no time to grieve.

The sound came from the direction of the gate.

Monsters were still swarming outside.

I forced myself to stay quiet as I moved.

I folded Susanna’s tattered dress and placed it carefully in her room. Then I dragged the bear’s body out into the garden and dumped it there.

I didn’t even know how I managed to get all that done.

‘I have to survive.’

That was why I came here.

I repeated those words like a mantra, trying to steady myself.

Then I hoisted Ethan over my shoulder and carried him deeper into the house.

Of all people, I ended up protecting Ethan.

He’d probably laugh in my face if he knew.

Would this timeline’s changes stop Aurora from meeting Ezra, the scientist male lead?

A sinking feeling crept in, but I shoved it aside.

I couldn’t let my focus wander. I had to survive now.

I laid Ethan down on the bed in the room across from mine.

Then I slumped into the chair beside him, leaning against the mattress.

‘This is just the beginning.’

I had come to Brunel to avoid exactly this kind of nightmare.

And yet—

“You must have been deeply loved by God. He took you away so early because He wanted to see you again.”

Harrison’s words echoed in my mind—words he’d said at my parents’ graves when I was crying.

Yeah. That had to be it.

God had simply wanted Susanna back.

‘But it doesn’t change the fact that I sent her away with my own hands.’

I buried my face in the blanket and sobbed.

I couldn’t believe it.

Why did this have to happen to us?

I cried and cried until I was too exhausted to move.

And as my vision blurred from fatigue, a thought crept in—

Harrison. What about Harrison?

Was that why he never showed up today? Had the monsters gotten to him too?

‘No. Don’t think like that. Stay positive.’

Harrison’s fine.

I’d save both of them.

And Ethan, too.

‘You built Happy House to survive, Cherry. You can do this.’

I kept chanting those words to myself until I finally fell asleep.

*****

The day the world ended—early afternoon.

Harrison packed five suitcases filled with weapons at Cherry’s request.

Because of Ethan, the police had started sniffing around, setting up checkpoints for carriages leaving the capital. Traveling by carriage wasn’t safe anymore.

So Harrison boldly decided to take the train instead.

The train lines operating in the southern region of the Graydon Kingdom belonged to a company funded by the Sinclair family.

With that connection, Harrison discreetly handed over a bribe and managed to load the weapons into the cargo compartment.

It wasn’t like him to take such reckless and risky actions, but—

“Hurry, Harrison.”

Cherry’s urgent voice kept ringing in his ears, and he didn’t have the heart to refuse her.

The train ride from Benton to Kintney was only four stops.

And now there was just one stop left.

But at Westmore Station, the train wasn’t moving.

Suddenly, an announcement blared, ordering all passengers to remain in place. The roads were being sealed off, and train services would also be suspended under orders from the authorities.

Harrison anxiously debated whether he should abandon the train and switch to a carriage.

“Aaaahhh!”

That’s when it started.

A man, his clothes torn and bloodied, staggered onto the train, screaming.

Then, he collapsed.

His body began twisting and mutating grotesquely.

Hair sprouted in patches. His limbs stretched unnaturally. Three eyes emerged from his forehead, and his gaping mouth revealed pincers lined with razor-sharp teeth.

And then—

He devoured the nearest passenger.

“Aaaahhh!”

“Help! Somebody help!”

Chaos erupted.

More and more monstrous transformations followed, and the number of survivors quickly dwindled.

Desperate people shoved, trampled, and even sacrificed others to the monsters in their attempts to escape.

In the panic, the train’s exits became blocked.

Harrison quickly ducked under a seat, pressing himself flat against the floor. There was no way out.

The floor around him was slick with blood.

Krk, krk.

Harrison held his breath. He could hear the monsters—too close.

Thud. Thud.

A fur-covered foot padded past his hiding spot.

‘If only I had a weapon.’

Unfortunately, all the weapons he brought were locked in the cargo car.

For a split second, he thought of Cherry—the day she’d come to him, suddenly demanding weapons.

“Why do you need weapons all of a sudden?”

“To protect myself.”

And now he was heading to Brunel with those very weapons—because Cherry had asked him to.

It felt too connected to this situation. Too intentional.

Then there was this:

[Exclusive Report! Cherry Sinclair’s 1 Billion Gold Loan for Overseas Business—A Scam? What’s the Real Story?]

She hadn’t told him anything about that money before suddenly leaving for Brunel.

And then he remembered her warning.

“Harrison, listen. The world’s going to end soon. A virus that turns people into monsters is going to spread. I’m going to Brunel to prepare.”

Cherry had known.

She’d known this would happen.

‘So that’s why she bought a mansion in some random village and started acting weird.’

Everything clicked into place.

Her strange behavior, her urgent preparations—it all made sense now.

But how had Cherry known?@@novelbin@@

‘Whatever the reason, I just hope she’s safe.’

That question could wait until after he found her.

With her strength, she might have had a chance.

But with this many monsters? That was an entirely different story.

‘Still… maybe this is why those pills helped after all.’

Cherry had been weak as a child.

Worried about her frailty, Chairman Sinclair had brought back a miracle drug one day.

After taking it for a year, Cherry’s health improved drastically—but so did her strength.

She became unnaturally strong.

Cherry had worked hard to hide it, knowing brute strength wasn’t a virtue in high society.

Harrison respected her wishes and never said a word.

But now, seeing this disaster unfold, Harrison hoped her strength would be enough.

He didn’t realize how bad it had gotten in Brunel.

For now, he just had to trust Cherry and hope the authorities or the royal family acted quickly.

Harrison calculated the timing for his escape.

He had to hurry.

Cherry was waiting.