It started for a trivial reason—I decided to play a horror game that was trending everywhere.

I saw it so much on YouTube that I thought I'd give it a try. I figured a horror game would just be some ghosts popping up on the screen and weird noises playing.

I was a fool to think that.

Less than ten minutes after starting, something moved at the end of a dark hallway, and—

"Kyaaaaaaak!!"

I let out a scream that sounded almost like a pterodactyl.

I dropped the mouse, and my character slammed straight into the wall. The screen turned red, and before long, the Game Over text appeared.

"..."

I stared at the monitor for a while before quietly turning off the computer.

This wasn't a game; it was torture.

I crawled straight into bed. I pulled the blanket over my head and tucked my arms and legs inside.

And then I fell asleep.

The problem was the next morning.

The moment I opened my eyes, I didn't see my bedroom ceiling.

It was a strange wooden ceiling.

"..."

I blinked.

Once.

Twice.

And then I jumped out of bed, screaming.

I opened the door and ran outside. I didn't care if I was barefoot or in my pajamas.

But once I got outside, things got even weirder.

Stone-paved roads. Wooden buildings. Carriages. A fountain in the middle of a square. Even the clothes of the people passing by.

It was a village straight out of a romance fantasy novel.

I grabbed someone passing by.

The person looked a bit puzzled and told me the name of the village.

In that moment, my mind went blank.

It was the setting of the horror game I played last night. The very village where countless murders took place on the screen.

And in the center of that village stood a massive mansion.

The residence of Edwin Mercer, the head of the merchant guild.

The final villain of the game.

"...Ah."

From that day on, I began to avoid Edwin Mercer.

To be precise, I avoided him as if my life depended on it.

If I saw Edwin in the market, I ran down the opposite alley. If I saw the guild's people, I took a long detour. I never went near the mansion. I wore my hat low, terrified that our eyes might meet.

Originally, I was just a passing NPC in the game.

I had no special connection to Edwin.

So I thought I'd be fine as long as I stayed still.

I'm not the protagonist, and I'm not the center of the incident.

I just need to survive quietly and hold out until the day the original story ends.

...At least, that's what I thought.

But at some point, things started to get strange.

Edwin began to look in my direction.

At first, I thought it was a coincidence.

The second time, too.

The third time, as well.

And on the fourth day our eyes met.

I ran away instinctively.

Without looking back.

That's when a very calm voice drifted from behind me.

"...Why is that woman running away like that?"

I didn't hear those words.

If I had, I probably would have run even faster.