Chapter 2.1

Chapter 2.1

What happened that day, it’d be right to describe it as a thunderbolt out of the blue. It was such a shocking experience that she remembered everything clearly, and the emotions tangled in confusion and bewilderment were a shambles.

The first time she opened her eyes, she could see an old-fashioned room with turquoise wallpaper. Delicate sculptures decorated all over the walls, thick rugs that could be stepped on softly, wooden floors, and elaborately carved antique tables and closets.

It was a room full of classical splendor reminiscent of the Renaissance era.

‘What am I doing here? Is this a model house? A film set…?’

Her two eyes, which caught the strangeness, speeded up and rolled quickly.

“If it was a set, there’d be a camera…”

…But, there isn’t any.

“Then, TV…?”

There was none, either.

A bizarre place. Among the heavy-looking wooden furniture, there was nothing that a typical house should have.

‘There’s no way the abandoned house could be this clean… It seems that they must’ve spent a lot of money, but why is there nothing?’

Soon, the absence of familiar objects roused the reality.

“Where… where am I? When did I—”

It was only then did the woman realize something strange had happened to her.

‘Why am I here in the first place?’

When a strong question arose, her mind was busy searching for an answer.

‘First of all, let’s think about what my last memory was. Where I went, what I was doing last time…’

As she struggled to recall her memory, her brain displayed fragmentary scenes accompanied by headaches. Road exposed to sunlight, the view of the city reflected on the outer window of a distant building, and a brief moment of friendly conversation with someone….

Short scenes flew by in just a few seconds.

“Ah…!”

As someone’s voice pierced her eardrums sharply, a hand came to mind next.

“Ung! Ah, no! Hurry…!”

Powerful hallucinations pierced her brain and even created hallucinations.

As the rough knuckles of fingers moved in front of her eyes, she held out her hand towards the hand in the memory which didn’t actually exist. She definitely had to catch it… it was a precious thing that had to be caught.

‘…Quick before it disappears!’

The woman staggered as she waved her arms in the air and tried to grasp the illusion.

Tuuk!

Grabbing the table in front of her, she barely managed to keep herself from falling.

Her head throbbed.

Something very precious in front of her, yet she couldn’t catch it. She couldn’t hold onto it…

As she thought so, the woman’s heart was pounding rapidly like my heart was breaking. She thought desperately about what she was missing. Ironically, from that moment on, the memory was further fragmented.

Sunshine and road, shining glass windows of a building, and someone’s voice…

Someone’s desperate voice.

“…Someone important?”

Still, the image of a person never came to mind. They seemed so important that she had to catch up quickly and go back to that person… though she didn’t know who it was.

Memories floated piece by piece.

The more she tried to think of it, the more her mind was erased.

“I… What’s wrong with me?”

As her heart was beating fast, she broke out in a cold sweat.

‘It’s difficult because I’m suddenly trying to recall a specific situation. Yes… that must be it.’

Fear led to quick rationalizations. The woman tried to come up with a more ubiquitous memory.

For example…

“Elementary school!”

She tried to recall anything about the elementary school she attended. But, unfortunately, the memory didn’t come to mind either. Height, literary world, shapes, fractions, decimals, public institutions, world culture…

She was so mortified.

‘…Let’s start with something simpler.’

Home, family, friends… Still, nothing came to mind.

“What’s… my name?”

…She didn’t even know that.

On the other hand, the four fundamental arithmetic, various English literature, and a considerable level of Korean grammar came to mind in detail. Even the historical knowledge of democracy, neoliberalism, industrial revolution, and world wars was clearly remembered.

Not to mention, various electronic devices, including TVs and air conditioners, also came to mind. She could even recall exactly how to use them.

On such a subject, nothing about herself was clear, not even her name…

Eventually, the absence of memory brought suffocating fear. With nowhere to run, two fear-soaked feet slowly stepped backwards.

Then, as her heel hit the furniture, she recoiled.

Bzzz, bzzzz—

The woman turned her head abruptly at the sound of a familiar vibration. Her head followed the familiar noise as hope and anticipation filled her bosom as if she were running.

The thing that she encountered was the one on the table she had just collided with…

“…Cell phone.”

As her stiff hand naturally reached out and grasped the white device, she turned on the phone’s screen in a familiar motion as if handling her own things. The next moment, as if it had waited, a system window with a white background appeared.

Sentences marked with black letters were clearly visible on the screen.

Her black eyes, which contained the bright screen, trembled slightly.

“…Player?”

Were they asking her to play a game?

Surprised, she calmly tapped the system window that emerged on the screen carefully.

Here, you’ll increase the favorability of the targets to advance the story and receive a special ending.

If you see the special ending within three years, you succeeded!

Your memories will be restored immediately, and you’ll return to your original world.

As the screen changed, the content that appeared was similar to the opening phrase of the game. Words such as target, favorability, and ending were listed… This was an otome game without fail.

Trying to calm down her confused emotions, she focused her eyes on one sentence.

‘Special ending within three years…’

That way, everything—including her memories and the world—would go back to normal as the system window proclaimed. It was an utterly confusing mission out of the blue. Even though she had heard of these kinds of games, she’d never played it before so it was even more difficult.

“…Are you kidding me?”

Rational thinking made her unable to accept the game that was suddenly presented.

‘Let’s call someone first. 112… If I inform them of my situation and seek help, they’ll send an ambulance or a police car.’

With her trembling fingers, she pressed the screen and searched for the call button. However, the cell phone screen, which was almost empty, displayed only one content.

…Targeting the targets, favorability, special ending, three years, phrase that announced the game, and system window.

No matter how many times she searched and pressed anything, the other screen itself didn’t appear.

Instead, the phone displayed a different message.

The continuous battering made out of desperation and frustration came to an end.

“Nonsense…”

The trembling of her hands intensified. As her shaky fingers couldn’t hold the phone any longer, it fell onto the floor and she grabbed her hair in her pale hands.

“Why do I have to do this… why me? Why, in this situation… why?!”

She screamed because she couldn’t accept her current reality. Her voice, stricken with fear, echoed in her empty room.

“Why…”

No matter how much she asked, she didn’t get any answer. The only answer given to her was a cell phone that had fallen on the floor…

There was only that.

The woman bit her lip and stared at her phone before slowly closing her eyes. When she opened her eyes again, her face looked half resigned.

“In this preposterous situation… this game doesn’t even seem strange anymore…”

She spat out the words in despair.

It was a situation where it was no longer strange, no matter what happened. The next moment, she reached out and picked up the fallen phone. The face looking at the screen was calmer now.

‘I don’t think there’s any other way, anyway…’

She shook her head, clasping the phone.

It was only at that moment did a frayed white dress like a nightgown belatedly invaded her vision. The extremely foreign clothes draped over her body came to her in horror.

“I can’t believe this is real…”

Even though she didn’t know anything about this world yet and hadn’t even gone out of the room, she had already heard a voice in her head that arbitrarily concluded that there was no other way than this. It was a chilling intuition.

Swallowing her dry saliva, the woman stared at the system window on the screen quietly.

‘What if I do it according to this phrase? What should I do from now on?’

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