Confidence oozes out of you as you step outside of the building, but truth is, you can barely think of what to do to salvage your relationship with Hayun. You know that being a player in this world gives you the upper hand, so sooner or later, that male NPC will fall on his knees for you, begging you to love him, but the question is; how? You sigh. Had you known that Hayun is that petty, you wouldn't have let yourself be killed by Helios.

You purse your lips in annoyance, walking away from the cafeteria as you think of a way only to come up with nothing. In the end, you decide to let time flows naturally. Surely, his anger would soothe by itself, right?

"Knowing him, if I didn't coax him today then he might hold a grudge against me," you mutter to yourself, stopping dead on your track.

In the end, you turn around and enter the cafeteria building. You peek inside the kitchen, surprised to see Hayun crouching down with his head lower, making you unable to see his expression. You wonder if it's upset him that much, knowing that you had died more than once in someone else's hands. Honestly, you couldn't understand his feelings at all, but to a necrophilic yandere like Hayun, that must have hurt his feelings.

You sigh in exasperation. I just lose my first death, not my first time. What is he doing acting like a scum boyfriend who's mad at his girlfriend for not being a virgin anymore? You purse your lips, entering the room.

You see Hayun twitch upon hearing your footsteps, but the man didn't move. You squat down in front of him, ruffling his soft dark hair which has purple shines on it. It feels so soft that you feel reluctant to stop so you didn't.

"Hayun," you sigh. "Were you that disappointed?"

The man is silent and you know that is his way of agreeing.

Your heart squeezes at how adorable he acts. This man has no right being this cute when earlier he called me a whore. What a bipolar.

"Then if I change my avatar, will you forgive me?"

"... It's not the same," his voice sounds hoarse.

"Then you can ask me for anything," you say, embracing him. "If you told me to pick the stars for you then I will. If you told me to go north, I will never go south, so forgive me alright, Hayun? I promise that I will only die in your hands from now on."

"... Promise?"

"Promise," you rub your cheek against his soft hair.

The male NPC pulls away from your embrace and you aren't surprised to see that there's zero sign of depression on his face. In fact, his face looks like he had tricked you into pitying him, which you have suspected at first but you are willing to go into his trap.

ーno matter what trap Hayun makes, you will always deliberately fall into it.

『18% ー> 21%』

Your lips curl up in a smile at the rise of his love meter. The two of you stay like that on the floor when Hayun suddenly puts a strand of your hair behind your ear. Your heart thumps in delight when he smiles at you.

"Sweetheart," he cups your cheeks. "Who exactly are you looking at?"

You blink in confusion. "Huh?"

"Sometimes, I feel that what reflects in your eyes whenever you look at me isn't me," he says. "Why do you do so much for me, sweetheart? Am I really worth all the trouble? Or am I just a substitute for someone else?"

You gaze into his eyes helplessly, knowing that there's no way out of this question. You just hope that his love meter won't fall so much like earlier.

"It is true that you look like someone I used to know, but Hayun, you're also worth all the troubles," you explain carefully.

He hums, pulling his hands away from your cheeks, and you can't guess what he's thinking under that cunning smile of his.

"Who is he? What's his name? And where is he now?" He tilts his head. "Can you answer me?"

"He used to be my lover, but he forgets about me, and his name is Hayun," this time, it is your turn to cup his cheeks. "And he is right in front of me."

Judging by how stupefied he looks, you know that the male NPC didn't expect this sort of answer. You see something stir in his eyes, and before you could decipher what it is, it disappears just as quickly as it appears.

『21% ー> 26%』

Hayun doesn't say anything, merely smiling as he buries his face in the crook of your neck, inhaling your scent.

"If you die again, then forget about making me your lover," he whispers.

You hum in agreement.

"What are you doing here?" Helios glares, looking at the intruder before him.

Like a good mistress he is, the man waits for you in your room, but he didn't expect that the one entering your room isn't you but his little brother, Essen, and the most unbelievable of it all; how did he get a copy of your key? Helios doesn't believe that you gave that key to Essen when heーyour official side guyーhas to pick the lock to enter.

"Helios," Essen gazes into his brother's eyes, not surprised to see him in your room.

The two brothers stare at each other for a while until the youngest goes on his knees, causing the oldest to feel uncomfortable. Helios frowns, knowing that while the two of them aren't related at all, if the developers decided that they are brothers, then it means they are.

He ignores the aching in his heartーthat uncomfortable feelings of seeing his little brother kneeling down, and in a second, his body moves instinctively to pull the younger man up. Essen seems to know about this weakness of his, because he suddenly buries himself in Helios's embrace.

"Big brother..."

Helios frowns in annoyance at how cunning this man is, yet his artificial heart thumps excitedly at being able to hold his only sibling and family in this world.

"I love (Y/n)," the younger man declares. "Isn't there any way that you can do for me to have her?"

The red hair NPC clenches his fists in anger, wanting to push the shameless man away but is unable to. "... You can't."

"Why can't I when you can?" Essen pulls away, looking at him judgingly.

"Essen, choose someone else."

"No," he refuses. "I'm broken, Helios. You know that don't you? All these times, not a single player was able to raise my love meter, but a glance from (Y/n) and I've never felt so alive. It feelー it feels like I was born to love her!"

"Still, it's a no. (Y/n) belongs to Hayun."

"Then why are you with her?" He questions. "Hypocript."

Helios feels his head throbbing at Essen's accusation. Although what the latter said was indeed correct, so what if he's hypocritical? It is in his character setting and you may have fallen for Hayun first but you date him first, not Hayun, so in a way, he has the right to decide who you can be with.

Helios frowns, refusing to budge until tears roll down his younger brother's cheeks.

At that moment, everything about Helios moves by itself, and no doubt that his 'doting older brother' setting has taken over.

"Don't cry," 'Helios' coaxes in distress. "Big brother will definitely help you so don't cry, okay?"

Essen hums passively with teary eyes but one can see joy swirling in it.

Looks like he is one step closer to becoming yours.

You take off your VR headset, sweat trickling down your chin as you think that today is hotter than usual. You glance at your side, surprised to see that your cat is nowhere to be found so you go out to look for her.

The mansion is as empty as usual, only servants can be seen working around and you stop a nearby maid, asking her about your cat's whereabouts.

"Earlier," she looks hesitant to tell you. "I saw her playing with the second miss."

"Oh."

To say that you don't feel betrayed at all would be a lie, but that's just how cats are, so cute and adorable they have no faults in them. Just like you have the right to play with other cats, your cat also has the right to play with other humans.

You sigh, heading to your new sister's room to see that she is curling up like a ball on her bed, peacefully sleeping with your Siamese cat.

If you were a villainess, the right thing to do was to kick the girl out of her bed and warn her not to touch what's yours anymore, but the two of them are too cute to be woken up so all you did is to take a picture. You smile, slowly kissing your cat on her soft belly without waking her up. You then proceed to leave the room.

The eyes of the girl flutter open as soon as you are out.

hayun: who exactly are you looking at?

in his mind: try and say who he is. i will make sure you will never be able to see him again :)