C01
On Valentine’s Day, my cousin slept with my boyfriend for money. He was so into her that he decided to get rid of me–by tossing me into a horror game.
H
Too bad for her, he wasn’t actually rich. And too bad for me, because the second I stepped into the dungeon, I got snatched by the game’s final boss.
He smirked and said, “So, after all that running, you finally came back? Let’s see who you ditched me for.” Meanwhile, my cousin and my so–called boyfriend just stood there, completely stunned as I got held in the boss’s arms.
Watching the two of them kiss, completely frozen. My whole body shook with anger. I had been nothing but good to Sean, so why the hell did he cheat on me? And with her–Miranda Boone, my own cousin.
When did this even start? I only introduced them once. My mind was spinning with a hundred different thoughts, but none of them gave me answers. All I ever wanted was a normal relationship, why did that feel impossible?
I turned away, numb. I was exhausted. I didn’t have the energy to fight or call them out. I just wanted to walk away and end things.
But the second I moved, I felt their eyes on me and when I glanced back, they weren’t just watching, they looked dangerous.
Before I could react, someone grabbed me, a hand clamping over my mouth and nose. My vision blurred, my body went weak and the last thing I saw before everything faded to black was Sean and Miranda, standing over me with eerie, twisted smiles.
A bad feeling settled deep in my gut, but before I could process it, I was gone.
The next thing I knew, I was waking up to a mess of sounds; whispers, bones crunching, distant screams.
I snapped my eyes open, dazed. Around me, people were stirring, all looking just as confused and terrified as I felt.
Then someone gasped. “What the hell is this place? I just took a nap and now I’m here?”
We were standing in the middle of a street, a place that should have been busy and full of life. However, it wasn’t. There were walls covered in bloody handprints. Piles of bones were stacked in the corners, skulls grinning at us. I had no idea if they were real.
The moment we took a step forward, a swarm of bats shot out of the building. It was still broad daylight, but this place felt anything but normal. Dark, eerie, suffocating. The kind of place that sent shivers down your spine.
Then I saw it, a place I never wanted to see again. My stomach dropped. This was Severin’s territory. Severin Kovacs, the final boss of this horror world. Every monster in the game obeyed him without question. I had been here before. Years ago, I got trapped in this world by accident. I did everything I could to escape, fighting through level after level, only to get caught by Severin at the very last stage.
He told me he liked me. That I belonged to him.
C
I had no choice but to play along. At first, it was just survival. But somehow, little by little, I actually started falling for him.
To everyone else, he was the most terrifying boss in the game. But with me, he was different. Soft in ways no one would believe.
For a while, I even thought about staying… until I heard the truth. To him, I was just a game. A toy to pass the time. Heartbroken, I broke things off and ran, leaving this world behind, vowing never to return. And yet, here I was, tossed back into this nightmare because my boyfriend betrayed me for my cousin.
Hardly anyone knew about this world, which meant one thing: he had been here before, too.
