Clatter—
The moment I stepped back, the chair lost its balance and tipped over.
But before it could even hit the floor, the man in front of me moved in an instant.
Thump—
Almost as if he were falling, he caught the chair lightly with just his fingertips.
It was an unreal reflex speed, worthy of someone called the ‘hidden mastermind.’
“Are you not hurt?”
A soft voice. And red eyes scanning me quietly.
That gaze felt as though it were checking my condition.
As if he were examining whether I was intact, whether I was undamaged.
“…….”
I instinctively took a step back.
But soon, I felt a solid touch against my back.
When I looked behind me, I saw the computer with its screen off and my desk.
……Now, there was nowhere else to back away to.
And the man in front of me.
No, the hidden character from the game. Lucian Bellos.
I could see his solid collarbone and clear muscle lines revealed between his well-pressed shirt.
His body, visible through the subtly parted collar, was as precise as a sculpture, revealing a taut, muscular chest.
And the black gloves he always wore, wrapping tightly around his fingertips without a single gap.
It was an appearance that shouldn’t exist in reality… but it was one I was all too familiar with.
I gripped the desk and barely managed to open my mouth.
“……Who are you?”
As soon as that question fell, he laughed.
He curled his red eyes slowly while wearing a smiling expression.
Soon, his soft voice filled the room.
“Lucian Bellos, your servant.”
As he tilted his head, his long platinum hair, which seemed to hold light, sparkled silver for a moment.
And his lips curved softly, as if seducing the opponent.
Like a playboy charming a woman—no, since it’s a BL game, it must be a smile meant to hook a man—he wore a secret, sweet expression that disarmed people.
“I have come to meet you.”
For a moment, a cool chill ran down my spine.
The voice I had only heard from inside the monitor was ringing clearly in front of me now.
Because it lacked any sense of reality, it was even more vivid.
My heart raced wildly, and my mouth went dry.
This isn’t a simple misunderstanding, nor is it a fantasy within the game. This is real.
……Why the hell is this guy here?
I stood frozen, unable to even utter a sound.
My whole body stiffened, and over the breath I tried to swallow to keep from being discovered, only the sound of my heart beating nervously rang in my ears.
However, he didn’t seem to care that I was frozen; he took another step closer and spoke calmly, as if he had been waiting for a long time.
“As the world collapsed, the place I was meant to go disappeared.”
I opened my mouth blankly and muttered unconsciously.
“……Didn’t you become the Emperor?”
Lucian laughed shortly.
But there was no emotion mixed into that laugh.
“That? I tossed that to the wildcat.”
A wildcat.
He probably meant the 2nd Prince, Cedric.
Even in the game, Lucian called Cedric that.
……But then I realized that the question I had just thrown was wrong.
It wasn’t important whether he became Emperor or not.
What was important was why a game character like you is in front of me.
I instinctively turned my eyes to look at the monitor sitting next to me. In the black, turned-off screen, I could see my own pale face.
Yet, I had the illusion that the ‘Crown Maker’ banner was still floating there.
The blood-red imperial palace I had seen last.
Standing loftily in the center of it was Lucian.
The red eyes that had looked at me until the very last moment.
……That scene was so intense that it wouldn’t be erased from my mind.
Maybe that was why.
Maybe that was why I had asked such an absurd question.
I brushed down my fluttering chest and asked a more realistic question.
“…How did you get here?”
“…….”
“In the first place, if it’s a game… or anyway, shouldn’t you be finding the developer instead of me?”
‘Does it make sense for a game character to just pop out like this?’
I wanted to say that, but seeing Lucian in front of me, those words got stuck in my throat.
This shouldn’t make any sense.
A character from the game is here, right now.
I swallowed a dry laugh at the nonsensical reality and added,
“Shouldn’t you go to your ‘god’… I mean, the developer, and not me?”
Lucian tilted his head slightly, as if the suggestion were strange.
And he smiled softly, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Only the Master has always given me food.”
……Well, because Koreans live on rice power.
But now that I think about it, I did make sure he ate three meals a day—breakfast, lunch, and dinner—while I played.
There was a meal system required for character growth, so I just fed him automatically.
He continued to speak calmly.
“You greeted me every time.”
……Well, because Korea is the Land of Morning Calm?
I just said one word when I logged in and when I logged out.
[Hi] [Bye]? Something like that?
And that wasn’t really said out of consideration for him, but just a habitual shortcut chat.
“So, I had no choice but to come to your side.”
I was speechless at the way he said that with his eyes curled into crescents.
What kind of logic is this?
A game character popped out in front of me, and the reason is that I fed him?
Is he actually crazy?
I opened my mouth in absurdity.
“Hey, are you actually saying that as—”
“And above all.”
He looked at me and smiled softly.
The smile was no different from before, but this time, I felt a strangely cold sensation.
“The Master has never abandoned me even once.”
For a moment, the atmosphere, which had felt like light conversation, sank at once.
He was still smiling, but the weight of the emotions contained within it was bizarrely heavy.
I couldn’t breathe.
It was an illusion that the air in the room had become heavy in an instant.
No, it wasn’t an illusion.
This was intimidation.
I instinctively stepped back and opened my mouth urgently.
“S-school!”
“…….”
“…I have my first major class today, so I have to go to school.”
Ah, damn it. What kind of excuse is this?
Maybe because I wasn’t in my right mind, such an absurd thing had slipped out.
But the problem was that even though I thought that guy would be even more confused, he wasn’t at all.
He was looking down at me with a quiet gaze, without moving an inch.
A face without a hint of laughter. His red eyes held a faint glimmer.
……It’s dangerous.
I shrank back at that appearance and took another step back.
Even then, I tried to force myself to maintain my composure and continued.
“So, for now, move—”
That moment.
“The Master cannot go anywhere without me.”
Lucian’s voice was low and soft.
However, there was no room for any compromise within it.
“What…?”
The back of my neck felt cold.
Now I was sure.
This bastard is serious.
I instinctively turned my eyes toward the door.
……But I saw no path to escape.
A massive man over 190cm tall was blocking the front of my bedroom door.
His shadow cast deeply, erasing my escape route.
I instinctively squinted and scanned his appearance.
Then, at some point, my gaze fell naturally downward. And it stopped there.
A shirt pulled taut as if the buttons were about to burst.
Between the fabric holding on for dear life, menacing muscles were bulging and twitching.
No, muscles are muscles, but isn’t that dangerous?
Seeing how precarious that shirt is, those buttons might launch like bullets if he’s not careful!
In this situation, the fact that the thing I have to worry about is getting knocked out by those buttons… damn it.
But I couldn’t even laugh.
If we fought, I would lose.
No, I might even die instantly after being hit just once.
Because he’s a gong I raised.
I knew Lucian’s stats better than anyone else.
There was no way I could win.
In the end, I tucked my tail, wetted my dry lips, and opened my mouth.
“If I don’t go to school, my grades will drop.”
“…….”
“……It’s my major.”
This was the best I could do.
Please, fall for this.
While acting as calm as possible on the outside, I desperately hoped on the inside.
However, Lucian didn’t answer.
He just looked down at me quietly, his red eyes shining.
Ha, I’m screwed.
It was funny that the only excuse I could make to get out of this situation was something like this.
I wanted to click my tongue, but the hunk of muscle in front of me was too threatening.
Eventually, I put some strength into my eyes and said,
“Are you not going to move, Lucian?”
He slowly tilted his head.
And with a soft smile, he gave an unexpected answer.
“Go ahead, Master. Retaking a class due to failure is sad.”
“T-that’s right. Thanks for understanding.”
If you were going to let me go this easily, why were you blocking me so intimidatingly?
As soon as those words left his mouth, I grabbed my bag and rushed out of the room as if I were being chased by something.
Even up to the moment I stepped out of the front door, my spine felt cold.
Feeling uneasy, I subconsciously looked back and made eye contact with Lucian, who was looking down at me from the window of the house.
“……!”
In an instant, my heart sank.
He was watching me quietly from across the window.
His expression was still soft.
However, his eyes alone seemed to suggest that he had absolutely no intention of just letting me go.
I flinched and hurried my steps further.
College, campus. I have to go to school.
Only if I go to school will I be able to regain my sense of reality.
I slapped my cheeks a few times with my palm to pull myself together.
This must just be a dream.
It’s not like I haven’t had crazy dreams for a day or two, right?
As soon as I sit in the lecture hall and listen to the professor’s nagging, all of this will disappear cleanly.
While walking and telling myself that, a strange thought suddenly crossed my mind.
How does a character in a game know the concept of ‘retaking a class’?
I knew the Academy of the Crown Empire existed.
But that was only background setting, and it was never dealt with in detail within the game.
Yet, for him to even know the modern society’s education system…
……Something is wrong.
I pressed my lips together without stopping my pace.
