ー『ZWEN』ー

Name: helios.

Age: 19.

Status: npc.

Date of Birth: 16th august.

Room: h103 (hydrangea dorm)

University Building: Iberis

Places Often Seen: [Recess]; click here to teleport [School Hours]; click here to teleport. [After School]; click here to teleport [Weekends]; click here to teleport

Department: student assembly

Favorite Gift: expensive items

Hobby: reading

Favorite Food: moussaka

Love Interest: (y/n) (lvl 4)『43%』

Yandere type: projection

Love Meter: 43%

Backstory: click here to read

Perhaps it is because you are now officially Helios's love interest, for all the information in his ||Conquer|| has now been unlocked. You stare at his favorite gift and aren't surprised to see it. After all, he did use more than 70, 000 coins in one go when buying things. No wonder he's still single until now.

That reminds me, you smile after remembering that tonight will be the time Hayun forgets about Zwen. Your heart thumps in anticipation, yet you can't help but also feel anxious. What if that player Zwen changes his mind and then logs back in? Does that mean that you have to wait another three days after banning him from the game? You frown. You don't want that. You don't want to wait any longer. Exhaling, you put aside your phone.

All of a sudden, your door pushes open by none other than Helios. You glance at the male, knowing that school has finished. He walks to you with his deadpan expression.

"Have you met my little brother?"

You hum in acknowledgment.

Helios frowns, feeling conflict as he sits beside you. You can somewhat guess what he thinks; Helios wants you to love Hayun alone but at the same time, if his little brother has a crush on you, as Essen's big brother, then shouldn't he help him?

You extend your hand, poking him on his cheek. "Tonight, Hayun will forget."

It seems that your distraction is successful, because the NPC's eyes lit up. "What's your plan?"

"Nothing, really," you pull your hand away. "I'm quite confident that as long as Hayun has no one in his heart, he will eventually fall for my courtship."

『43% ー> 45%』

"Here," you hand him your phone. "Buy whatever you want, but choose wisely, because I will only let you do this once a day."

"I don't have anything that I really want right now," he thinks about it for a while. "But I do have something I want to do to you."

You blink. "Huh?"

Turns out, the thing that he wants to do is to dress you up. You avert your eyes nervously as Helios leans closer to you, putting a choker on you that he bought with your money. Although you questioned his intention at first, your boyfriend told you that it was to hide the scar on your neck, so you reluctantly relent.

In silence, you put up with the things he does to you, such as tying your hair up, making the tip of your hair curly, putting make-up on you, painting your nails with the color that matches Hayun's eyes, and dressing you up in clothes you would only wear years ago in your teenage time. You vaguely recall the avatar you had in the previous game. Didn't it look a lot like the way you are right now? You sigh. He's totally obsessed!

"Twirl."

You do as you are told. Twirling in front of the mirror and him. He stares at you in fascination.

"Happy?" You tilt your head.

『45% ー> 51%』

He nods, faintly smiling.

"Do you think Hayun will like it?" You ask.

The room goes silent for a while until Helios speaks, "he will."

"Don't lie. You were doubtful, right? That's why it took you so long to answer." You tease.

Helios didn't answer, merely staring at your face. In the end, you let it go as you look at the watch on your wrist.

"I have something to do. See you later."

Helios bids you farewell as he watches you glitch away. He then looks at his feet. The NPC remains silent for a while. Confusion and worry etch in his eyes as he places his palm against his chest.

Just why... did his heart hurt when you mentioned Hayun?

Taking off the VR headset, your eyes catch the sight of your cat snuggling at your side on the bed. Naturally, your expression softens, leaning yourself closer to bury your face in her smooth fur. As expected, not long after that, a person enters your room, informing you that there will be family dinner tonight, but you didn't expect that the said person would be your third brother. You had thought that it would be a servant or something.

What is he planning? You frown, rising your face up from your cat's round belly. The air is tense and the two of you are glaring at each other, but like two peas in a pod, just a simple meow from your cat got the two of you melting like a puddle at her cuteness.

Realizing his failure in not being able to control his expression, your third brother coughs to cover his embarrassment. "You should hurry and dress up. Father told us that he has something important to say tonight."

You ignore your brother, opting to brush your cat's fur instead.

"(Y/n), don't be childish," he sighs. "We're busy, you know. It's not every day that all of us get to eat dinner together."

"I'm busy too right now, so I can't attend," you say despite the obvious lie.

"Youー!" In the end, your brother stops himself from wasting his saliva on you.

Despite that, the older man lingers in your room for a while. You watch in confusion as his face changes from anger to resignation and then to anxiety before it changes back to anger. Your third brother looks quite funny.

"Just," he grits his teeth before turning away. "Remember to eat your medicines."

You watch as your brother walks away, knowing that you no longer have to attend that bothersome dinner.

That night, you vaguely hear your brothers arguing with your father. Perhaps the news of your father wanting to marry a widow with a daughter is too much to bear for them, but unlike your siblings, you're quite okay with it. After all, that old man keeps repeating how much he dislikes you, and just to make you upset, he had first told you about his intention to remarry before telling his sons. Did he expect you to cry? Begging him not to replace you with that girl who's probably his illegitimate child or something? You sneer. Your father indeed thinks too highly of himself.

You know that he blames you for causing your mother's death during childbirth, and you used to feel the same as him, but now that you've grown up and can think for yourself, you can't help but feel that your father's mindset is ridiculous. Rather than blaming you for being born, he should have blamed himself for causing your mother to give birth five times. If he's that afraid of losing her, he should have sterilized himself, and now that he's going to marry a stranger, what rights does he have to hate you anymore? Didn't he think that this is an act of betrayal towards her who died from carrying his child? You scoff. Hypocript.

Coughing out a few times, you then log in to the game, a few minutes earlier than the time where Hayun should have had his memory reset. You look around, surprised to see that Helios isn't there waiting in your room. Usually, he would be more excited than you when it comes to things involving you and Hayun. You shrug, heading to the garden, only to realize that there's no guarantee that you will meet Hayun here.

You check out the conquer app, looking for his profile.

Name: hayun

Age: 18

Status: npc

Date of Birth: 29th april

Room: g201 (gaillardia dorm)

University Building: iberis

Places Often Seen: [Recess];『LOCKED』 School Hours]; click here to teleport. [After School];『LOCKED』[Weekends];『LOCKED』

Department:『LOCKED』

Favorite Gift: coins

Hobby:『LOCKED』

Favorite Food:『LOCKED』

Love Interest: none

Yandere type: necrophiliac

Love Meter: 0%

Backstory: click here to read

You blink, excitement boiling inside you as you see that his profile had changed. Hayun is single, and looking at his love meter, he probably doesn't remember the encounter between the two of you. Your cheeks heat up as you feel giddy.

Does that mean I can create a more beautiful first meeting with Hayun now that he doesn't remember? Your eyes lit up at the thought, turning around in anxiety as you try to look for a clue as to where he could be right now.

ーonly to stumble upon Helios's little brother, Essen.

The male NPC doesn't look surprised, but by the way his body when rigid when he encounters you, you realize right away that he is, indeed, surprised. However, that is the least of your concern right now. You need to quickly get to Hayun before an unknown thieving cat beats you to it.

"Do you know where Hayun could be at this time?" You grab ahold of his shoulders, impatient.

Essen visibly trembles at the sudden contact. He averts his eyes away, face heating up until his brain eventually processes your question. It's like a bucket of cold water has been poured on him, pulling him back to reality when an epiphany dawns on him that your target isn't him.

He is not the one that you want to capture.

『29% ー> 28%』

"Hayun," his voice is hoarse. "He probably is in his department right now."

"What department is Hayun?" You ask urgently but also out of curiosity.

"Cooking department."

The image of househusband Hayun flashes through your mind and ignoring the type of yandere he is, the male NPC couldn't be more perfect. A silly grin makes its way on your face as you try to hide it behind your fist.

『28% ー> 30%』

Not wanting to wonder why his love meter suddenly rises, you choose to ignore it, opting to fish out your phone and teleport to the cooking department right away, but at the thought of how unromantic that would be, you hesitate, glancing up at the frowning man in front of you.

"This may be shameless of me," you take a deep breath. "But what do you think I should do to create a romantic encounter?"

Essen's eyes are starting to dim. "Hayun doesn't like something as pretentious as that."

"Oh," you nod. "But still, I probably should bring something with me right?"

He hums sullenly.

"Thenー"

"... I'm sorry."

You hear cracks in his voice, as if the man was holding back his tears, but you can't be so sure as it is quite dark out here. When you are about to ask him, Essen suddenly walks past you, and you sigh at how dramatic this situation is.

Still hasn't changed at all, huh.

helios: *palming his hurting chest* is it a heart disease? (QAQ)