You are pulled out of your thought when the girls called out your name. You blink, only then realizing that you are biting your lips to the point of bleeding. You grab the tissues that Lovey offers and couldn't help but feel melancholic. You wipe the blood off while glancing at the people in the room.

"I think this place is too small," you say. "Shall we move to another building?"

Lovey tilts her head in confusion.

"If I'm not mistaken, there is an abandoned building on this school ground. Why don't we use that as the new place to hang out instead?" You suggest. "But then again, I don't really have enough influence to buy it. Coins are not a problem, but isn't every building here belong to the headmaster?"

"Why don't you use Hayun?" Beau asks.

"What's Hayun got to do with this?" You frown.

"I mean, I have the same classes as him and I can see that teachers adore him very much, so why not... uh, ask a favor from him?" The girl says carefully, in fear that you would get mad.

You sigh. "Unfortunately, I haven't been able to log in for three days. Hayun must have forgotten me already."

"You don't need to worry," Lovey chimes in. "Because a new update has been released when you were absent, you know? The developers expanded the map of this game, along with new NPCs, and they also removed the three-day rule, so if a player wanted a specific NPC to forget about them, then they have to either kill them or pay for it."

Your heart palpitates at the news. You have lost all hope when you are only able to log in on the fourth day so you never bother to check, but if what Lovey said is the truth, then Hayun is still your love interest? You let out a sigh of relief unconsciously.

"Then I guess I'm going toー"

"Hold it right there," Lovey pulls your sleeve. "Tonight is girl's night so I don't think any of us should ditch each other for a lover. I mean, look at me! I even sacrifice my time with precious Lené to spend time with you guys here, so it would be unfair if you left just like that."

You furrow your eyebrows. "What's that got to do with me?"

"I'm saying that I would be jealous if you're the only one leaving!" She admits. "So stay."

"No way," you answer. "Why don't you leave too then?"

"Because a certain someone wants to find a new target to pursue," Lovey glances at Beau who averts her eyes guiltily. "And I don't know why, she doesn't want to go alone and insists for me to accompany her."

"So you're dragging me too because you want me to be a third wheel together with you?"

"Exactly!" Lovey then pouts her lips cutely. "Please? I know we just met, but that doesn't mean this one hour forty-five minutes we spend together is nothing. If you have any problem, you can tell me, I'm a good listener. In fact, I think that I'm better than Hayun in terms ofー"

"Don't flatter yourself too much," you glare at her. "You can't even compare to him."

"..."

"..."

"..."

The air turns awkward as Lovey lets go of your sleeve.

As rue laded your heart, you eventually relent and sigh. "Alright, I will go with you."

Lovey instantly smiles.

The three of you drive out at night to go sightseeing in the new places unlock. Beau prepares the car while Lovey drives. You? You're just regretting your choice, taking a deep breath at how fast the girl is driving. You clench the seatbelt.

"Be honest, do you even know how to drive a var?"

Lovey laughs. "I know, but where's the fun in driving normally in virtual games? This is the world without law for us players so we have to enjoy it while we still can, right?"

"Lo, I know you're excited," Bea sighs. "But this car belongs to『IHaveAPet』."

"It's okay. This cheap car won't cost him much anyway," she winks. "By the way, have you ever died virtually before, (Y/n)?"

You nod after a moment of hesitation.

"Then have you died while turning on your sensory setting?"

You shake your head.

"You should," she grins. "That heart-thumping moment of dying and the feelings of agony while thinking that you're really going to die but then you just woke up and realize that you just cheat death. It's thrilling."

"Have you ever done it before?" You ask out of curiosity.

"Of course not, I hate pain," she laughs.

You suddenly feel the urge to punch her.

"She once said this to Q when she drove the car with him inside. That idiot believed what she said and turn his sensory setting on, and she immediately speed up before jumping out of the car while Q was still inside," Beau tells you. "The result is... rather unsettling, I guess."

"That reminds me," Lovey chuckles. "Q told me he's quitting this game due to what his NPC did to him, and he also told me that it's all my fault that he has PTSD whenever he's not the one driving."

"... You should apologize to him," Beau says.

"Haha, I will," she nods. "By the way, what are you doing with your phone?"

You glance at the said phone『Beauty<3』is focused to and see that she's reading chat messages in a forum. Judging by the design, you don't think it belongs to World Chat.

#1736:

so you see

there's this player who's pursuing me

the problem is that he isn't my type

so i reject him

he thought that i was playing hard to get

so he just, well, push me down

and i ended up bashing his head with a vase

and now he's dead

my friend told me that i'm risking this world being deleted by our creators

but like, hey, am i the asshole here?

#7493: 

i understand

the players here think too highly of themselves

just because we are programmed to love them doesn't mean that anyone is okay

we have our own standards too 凸(￣ヘ￣)

#0182:

how many gifts do i need to receive to become high-level npcs?

#6448:

although gifts are also important

raising the player's love meter is more important to becoming high-level npcs

you have to make them happy

#0182:

but how was i supposed to know that when only high-level npcs can see the love meter?

#6448:

players love npcs who are head over heels for them

so just let go and love stupidly

you might get hurt once or twice by them but once *̶̨̞͚̣̯͔͔̆͑̀̈̋͝ͅ*̵̢̛̭̰͖̙̣̓͆̎̈̏̇͘*̵̻̖͈̜̻͇͎͌̍͊̑͂͒̈́̓̑̐*̵͍̮͖̑̇̽*̶̼͙͚̀͂*̸̢̢̨̳̠̍͂ grants our wishes. well, we don't need to be so obedient anymore :3

#2273:

well, even if most of them act like selfish brats

players are cute, aren't they?

i really want to cut one of them open and sew myself inside them (ᵔ◡ᵔ)

#0182:

i want to eat them (º﹃º )

#9090:

you know, i hope my player can feel even an ounce of what i feel towards them

i love my player so much but why do they treat me like my feelings don't matter?

they pursue me. telling me that they love me. and when all i fell hard for them. they search for someone else

why are players so fickle when they know how deeply we love them? (ノ_<。)

5555:

then why don't you start over?

go meet *̶̨̞͚̣̯͔͔̆͑̀̈̋͝ͅ*̵̢̛̭̰͖̙̣̓͆̎̈̏̇͘*̵̻̖͈̜̻͇͎͌̍͊̑͂͒̈́̓̑̐*̵͍̮͖̑̇̽*̶̼͙͚̀͂*̸̢̢̨̳̠̍͂ at f̷̩̞̹̥͇͇͂̋̔͋͂̔͒̅|̵̮̬̦̙̋̀̈̽£̵͔̅͋̋̉̔̓̉͘͝$̶̢̨̤̺̭͉̲̆+̶̡̗̭̱͙͉͙̝̩̅̅̿͊͝ ̶̥͓͕̈͒͌|̷̡̮̝̐̈́̓̅̾̈́͋͝0̷̢̬̝̼̰̲͉̰̆͗̑̈̀̀̊̄ͅ(̷̫̥͈͚͚̓̆̽̀@̶̢̨̧̛̫̩̖̺̙̩̏̉+̶͕̗͚͉̥̞̹͓̮͒|̸̨̙̲̗̹̗͎̺̌̀́̈́̽͜0̴͉̼̳͗̈́̉ǹ̴̢̳͔̰̙̞̤̝̼͠͠

i'm sure *̶̨̞͚̣̯͔͔̆͑̀̈̋͝ͅ*̵̢̛̭̰͖̙̣̓͆̎̈̏̇͘*̵̻̖͈̜̻͇͎͌̍͊̑͂͒̈́̓̑̐*̵͍̮͖̑̇̽*̶̼͙͚̀͂*̸̢̢̨̳̠̍͂ have a way to trap them and erase their memory

treat them like how they treated you

pursue them and make them fall for you like how they did to you. i'm sure they will be dependent on you soon

*̶̨̞͚̣̯͔͔̆͑̀̈̋͝ͅ*̵̢̛̭̰͖̙̣̓͆̎̈̏̇͘*̵̻̖͈̜̻͇͎͌̍͊̑͂͒̈́̓̑̐*̵͍̮͖̑̇̽*̶̼͙͚̀͂*̸̢̢̨̳̠̍͂ would be more than glad to help

You furrow your eyebrows as you read the chats together with Beau. It's obvious that this is not a discussion between players, but rather NPCs. You almost thought that the NPCs had wills of their own as you read this but then you remember the concept of this game is self-aware so it's not really that surprising.

But then again who's *̶̨̞͚̣̯͔͔̆͑̀̈̋͝ͅ*̵̢̛̭̰͖̙̣̓͆̎̈̏̇͘*̵̻̖͈̜̻͇͎͌̍͊̑͂͒̈́̓̑̐*̵͍̮͖̑̇̽*̶̼͙͚̀͂*̸̢̢̨̳̠̍͂?

"You know," Beau glances at you. "I ask my parents about this forum where NPCs can gush over their players with each other, but they told me they don't remember ever putting this kind of feature in this game."

"Gosh, you're still thinking about that?" Lovey sighs. "By the way, where do you want me to stop?"

"I've always wanted to marry a doctor."

Lovey grins. "Hospital it is then."

It is at this moment your hear『Beauty<3』's phone ringing. She picks it up, and judging by the way she's talking, the caller is a player. You look out at the window, staring at the scenery outside until Beau calls out to you.

"Is it okay if another player sits with you in the back, (Y/n)?"

"I don't mind."

In the blink of an eye, someone suddenly appears right beside you. He must have used a teleportation link, you look at the player's familiar face but aren't bothered enough to try and remember where have you ever seen him before. You sigh in boredom, wanting to see Hayun.

You couldn't understand why they would waste time driving when they can just teleport.

Lovey said that she wants to feel that feeling of excitement as if she's going on a trip with her friends, but you couldn't understand that.

"You can't believe what I saw!" The player with the username『Leaf.Is.Green』says breathlessly. "I saw Calius talking to Malyshki!"

Your heart thumps at the two familiar names.

"It seems that they are arguing about a person's name (Y/n). I don't know the exact details but their auras are really intimidating!" His cheeks flush red. "As expected of violence-type yandere and the NPC who has never been conquered before. It feels like I was watching live-action BL."

That male player doesn't seem to notice the username floating above your head.

Lovey whistles, "you know Calius, (Y/n)?"

"His name sounds familiar," you answer honestly. "But I've never met him."

"It's not surprising if you have heard of him," Beau nods. "Calius is famous among players for being unconquerable. I thought it was a bug at first but my parents told me that Calius is specially coded for someone. As for who that someone is, I don't know."

"But then why would they mention (Y/n)?" Lovey tilts her head.

"Ah, that's because Malyshki has been bothering Hayun these days," Leaf answers. "You know how I am in the same department as Calius so I would know that Calius is a friend of Hayun. It seems he is warning Malyshki not to mess around with Hayun and then Malyski utters (Y/n)'s name."

You turn to the male player. "Malyshki did what...?"

『leaf.is.green』: that (Y/n) is right beside me??? ∑(O_O;)