My boyfriend is the psycho final boss in a horror game. At midnight, his dark, sleek tentacles wrap around me in a needy, possessive embrace. “Stop it,” I murmur, dodging his hungry, unsated kiss. The grand boss lowers his gloomy eyes, pouting like an aggrieved child as he buries his face into the crook of my neck, sucking firmly to leave a bruised hickey. “No kiss? Then no clearing the stage.” 1 “Welcome, players, to the instance: The Shadow Courier.” “Main Objective: Successfully complete three delivery runs.” “Difficulty Rank: SS.” “The trial is about to begin. Prepare yourselves…” The cold electronic chime faded into silence. A dozen players, including me, materialized inside a dimly lit, weathered courtyard. Unlike the sheer panic I felt during my very first horror game, I was surprisingly calm now. Dusk bled into midnight. A thick, eerie fog blanketed the ground, swirling around a gnarled, ancient oak rooted in the center of the yard. Its massive branches curled like jagged talons overhead, looming over us as if ready to impale anyone who moved. My brow twitched. I reached up and touched the cool pendant resting against my collarbone. My boyfriend Gideon’s handsome, composed face immediately flashed in my mind. No matter how terrifying the monsters in this realm were, none of them held a candle to my lover. When Gideon unleashed his true form, those boundless, writhing tentacles were infinitely more suffocating than a creepy old tree. If I wasn’t afraid of the ultimate boss himself, why should I fear some overgrown plant? I squared my shoulders, my gaze hardening. “What the hell?!” a man suddenly screeched. “An SS rank instance?!” “Holy shit, I’ve only cleared one A rank map! I haven’t even unlocked S rank yet, why am I thrown into SS rank?!” “Even top tier leaderboard players can’t guarantee survival in an SS rank game! Why me?! I’m just a casual player who got carried by my team!” “What are you guys talking about? What instance? I was on the beach two seconds ago! Send me back right now!” A complete rookie? I blinked in surprise. To think someone was even unluckier than me, starting off their nightmare in an SS rank map. The other players cast sympathetic glances at the panic-stricken newcomer. If this were a low rank map, someone might have taken pity and given him a quick rundown of the rules. But in an SS rank instance, everyone was fighting for their own survival. Seeing that nobody answered him, the rookie’s confusion quickly turned into blinding rage. “Bringing me here is illegal kidnapping! You won’t answer me? Fine! I’m calling the cops!” He whipped out his phone, only to see ‘No Service’. Panic flickered in his eyes, but he put the phone to his ear anyway, pretending to make a call as he bolted toward the courtyard gates. “Don’t run outside!” someone called out in warning. The man flinched, but it only made him run faster. My pulse quickened. Something felt off. A faint rustling sound echoed in my ears, like wind sweeping dry leaves across pavement. Except there wasn’t a single breath of wind. “It… it’s moving!” someone gasped. The jagged branches overhead groaned like an old man stretching his aching joints. Creak. Crack. The branches sharpened into wooden spears, twisting and stretching toward the man nearing the exit. Just as he was about to cross the threshold, a hand snagged his collar and yanked him back. A massive wooden branch slammed violently into the doorway with a loud thump. One more step, and he would have been skewered through the chest. A suffocating silence fell over the yard. The other players and I backed away, eyeing the ancient oak with deep caution. The rookie, having narrowly escaped death, collapsed onto the pavement, shaking uncontrollably. That’s when a paper puppet ambled out from the shadows of the inner estate, wearing a painted, creepy grin. Its eyes were nothing more than two sloppy ink dots, yet when it stared at us, it felt like hollow eyeballs were rolling in their sockets. “Greetings, couriers. Midnight has arrived. Time to hit the road with your cargo.” The game had officially begun. In this instance, we were couriers tasked with delivering mysterious packages. The roads were fraught with danger, teeming with hungry ghouls waiting in the dark. Frankly, I suspected those monsters were far more interested in eating us than whatever was inside our boxes. Some players quietly grabbed their designated packages; others huddled together, negotiating pairs and groups. I, however, kept my eyes fixed on the paper puppet. It had been facing away from me, but in the next second, its paper head snapped one hundred eighty degrees with a sickening tear. Those two void-like eyes locked directly onto mine. Its face was painted into a wide, unnatural smile, but its voice was bone-chillingly cold. “Why aren’t you moving?” I tilted my head. “Who drew your eyes?” The puppet visibly froze. Clearly, no player had ever asked it such an absurd question before. It glared at me menacingly. “That is none of your business.” I stared back at its face, strangely finding it somewhat endearing. Just as I opened my mouth to ask more, a hand reached out and pulled me back. It was a young woman. She pressed a finger to her lips, shaking her head frantically to tell me to shut up. Once the paper puppet glided away into the dark, she let out a long breath of relief. “Are you crazy? Why are you provoking the NPCs? I heard this map is brutally dangerous, especially that paper guy. It holds grudges like you wouldn’t believe!” I wasn’t trying to seek death. It was just that the atrocious artwork on the puppet’s face looked eerily similar to the bizarre emojis Gideon used to draw for me. Ugly, weird, and bizarrely charming. I used to try and teach him how to draw, but no matter how hard I tried, Gideon stuck to his horrifyingly unique artistic taste. Eventually, I was almost dragged down to his level. Seeing that signature art style after so long actually gave me a weird sense of comfort. Seeing me stay quiet, the girl assumed I was terrified. She patted my shoulder gently. “Don’t be scared. I can tell you’re new here. I’ll cover your back. The name’s Lexi.” 2 My delivery cargo was a small box of face powder. Lexi’s was a pair of antique crimson satin shoes that looked like they were dripping with fresh blood. By a stroke of luck, both our packages were bound for the exact same recipient. Night fell heavily. Clutching our cargo, we crept out of the estate. This time, the massive oak tree didn’t attack us. Lexi was a chatty one. “Face powder and blood red shoes… our client must be some high maintenance beauty.” “Man, these shoes are creeping me out. Look how red they are.” “Do you think we’ll actually make it alive?” “Hey, I didn’t catch your name earlier. How many instances have you cleared? Ever done an SS rank before?” “A top player once told me this map is crawling with abominations hiding in the dark. They could pop out behind you at any second.” To prove her point, Lexi made a goofy monster face to scare me. Without missing a beat, I unsheathed the heavy courier sword at my waist and thrust it straight at her face. She shrieked, “I know I talk a lot, but you don’t have to murder me?!” The blade sliced through the crisp night air with a sharp whoosh. The steel narrowly grazed Lexi’s shoulder, impaling a withered, decaying corpse that had materialized silently right behind her. Lexi blinked, realizing what just happened. “Holy shit! Badass!” My eyebrows twitched. “Draw your weapon! There’s more!” 3 Clouds parted overhead, revealing a sickly green crescent moon hanging in the abyss. Dozens of desiccated corpses sprouted from the muddy earth like grotesque mushrooms. No matter how many we slashed, more crawled out. An hour later, the fog finally swallowed the green moon again, and we stumbled out of the woods, bruised and battered. “Damn, those dead bastards had some grip…” Lexi winced, holding her cheek where a claw had grazed her. I reached over and plucked a rotten tooth out of her tangled hair. Strangely enough, the undead swarm had focused almost all their aggression on Lexi. They barely even looked at me. My messy state was purely from jumping in to save her. Suddenly, my eyes caught something on her feet. “Do you… like vintage shoes?” I asked. “Hell no,” Lexi scoffed. “Those things are bad luck.” “Look down.” The blood red satin shoes we were supposed to deliver were now neatly fitted onto Lexi’s feet. “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!” she screamed, trying to kick them off, but they were stuck like glue. Before she could process it, her feet began moving on their own, sprinting forward at full speed. “I can’t control my legs!” she wailed. I bolted after her. We ran all the way to a desolate hill, stopping near a ruined shrine where a figure in a vivid red gown sat before a bronze mirror, quietly combing her long black hair. “Finally… you’ve arrived,” the female specter murmured softly. Her silhouette was breathtakingly elegant, but when she turned, her face was a bruised purple, her neck marred by jagged lash marks. Yet, seeing us gasping for air, she let out a melodic, chilling laugh. My legs felt like jelly, but I forced my voice to stay steady. “Are you the recipient of the shoes and rouge?” “I am.” With a wave of her sleeve, the cosmetics box in my pack and the red shoes on Lexi’s feet flew straight into her delicate hands. I checked my system interface: Progress: 1/3 Complete. I wiped the sweat from my forehead. A close call, but we made it. Just as Lexi and I turned to leave, the specter finished applying her makeup, admiring her reflection. “Hmm… it still feels like something is missing,” she whispered. A spike of dread hit me. “Run!” I yelled, grabbing Lexi’s hand. Too late. In the blink of an eye, my vision warped. I was suddenly sitting on four paws, transformed into a fluffy white rabbit trapped in the ghost’s arms. And Lexi? She had been turned into a delicate jade hairpin, stuck firmly in the ghost’s intricate hair bun. The specter stroked my soft rabbit ears, preening in the mirror with a dreamy smile. “Ah, perfect. The Sovereign of the Undead will awaken soon. This look will surely captivate His Majesty.” She carried us into a grand, twisted palace deep beneath the earth. Ornate pillars, vaulted ceilings, magnificent, yet steeped in death. Chilling winds swept through dark corridors where monstrous entities dressed in aristocratic attire whispered to one another, eagerly awaiting the grand spectacle. We had stumbled into something big. Taking advantage of her distraction, I unleashed a stream of rabbit pee right onto her pristine gown. The ghost hissed in rage, but to maintain her regal appearance, she hastily set me down to clean herself. Now! I kicked off her lap and bolted. The palace was a sprawling labyrinth. Several ghastly creatures spotted a juicy live rabbit and gave chase, snapping their jaws. I squeezed through a tiny crevice in the stone wall to throw them off. With no way back, I pushed forward, wriggling deeper into the narrow tunnel. Finally, the space widened. It was pitch black, cold, and heavy with a suffocating, ancient chill. My furry little rabbit paws stepped onto something soft yet firm. I was standing on a human face. 4 The cavern was freezing and dead silent. My mind instantly pictured the rotting, maggot-infested mug of a ghoul, and a surge of nausea hit me. I frantically tried to back out of the hole, but the entrance had vanished. Trap! I padded along the stone walls, completely sealed. It was as if the tunnel I crawled through had never existed. How on earth did I get in here? The frost in the air grew thicker, biting through my thick rabbit fur. Yet, what terrified me more than freezing to death was the corpse beneath me suddenly springing to life and swallowing me whole. Finding no exit on the floor, I decided to test my rabbit hops, leaping upward toward the ceiling. Maybe the way out was above me. I hopped again and again, hopelessly bouncing around the dark room. And every time I came down, I landed right back on top of the corpse. Though he’s dead, his physique is surprisingly good, I couldn’t help thinking. Reminds me of Gideon. Landing on his chest, I could feel the distinct, rock-hard outline of eight-pack abs through the fabric of his robes. Still, the thought of a creepy, mutilated face was enough to keep me jumping. Until I was completely exhausted. Great. Looks like I’m spending the night with a corpse. Silence in a closed space is a breeding ground for terror. Especially when the corpse beside you suddenly twitched. The figure shifted, slowly turning onto his side to face me. Though the darkness obscured everything, I felt an intense, suffocating gaze locking onto my small, furry body. My blood ran cold. The corpse didn’t move again. By late night, the frost became unbearable. Defeated, I curled myself into a tight little ball and squirmed beneath his heavy outer robes. Oddly enough, it wasn’t cold anymore.
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