Chapter 2

How long had I been unconscious? I barely managed to pry my heavy eyelids open. Fortunately, the place where I woke up wasn’t that dreary prison cell. I wondered if I should even call this “fortunate” since it still wasn’t my own room, though. The other difference was that, unlike before when I was lying down, I was now standing perfectly fine on my own two feet.

‘What’s going on? Why won’t I wake up?’

I felt the warmth of the gentle sunlight shining on my body. The flow of the cool air. Reality finally began to sink in.

‘No way. Is this… not a dream?’

I slowly lowered my gaze, and what I saw was… The same slender body line from the prison, clad in a thin white slip. My head started to spin.

“Stop spacing out and get ready! It’ll be a disaster if you’re late on a day like today.”

“Wh-Whoa!”

I thought I was alone, but apparently not. My heart nearly dropped at the sudden, sharp command. I looked toward the source of the voice and saw a woman with blue curly hair combatively brushing her hair. She seemed busy, as she didn’t say another word to me before rushing off to do something else. She wasn’t the only one there; other women were present as well. Everyone except me looked incredibly busy. However, I could only stand there like a borrowed barley sack.¹

Why? Because women were tossing their clothes off and changing right in front of me, and I had no idea where to look.

Aaaargh…! I’m innocent, I swear!

“Lita, hurry up and get dressed!”

Me? Am I Lita?

I considered the idea of running away from this nonsensical place immediately, but it was clear that escaping would be impossible since I didn’t even know where I was.

…For now, I’ll just do as I’m told. I need to observe the situation. If there are clothes, they should be in the wardrobe. Clutching my pounding heart, I opened the wardrobe right next to me.

Inside was…

A black dress and a white apron that seemed to be my portion.

“…….”

No matter how I looked at it, this was a maid uniform…

Am I really supposed to wear this…?

Goosebumps broke out all over my skin. I wanted to deny reality, but every single person in this room was wearing the same outfit. It was plain clothing, but naturally, I felt a strong sense of internal resistance.

‘I mean, isn’t a maid uniform a bit much? It’s not even just a regular skirt.’

Once again, a moment of deep mental anguish arrived.

‘Is my pride really what’s important right now?’

No. Let’s just try it on first…

I managed to turn my feet back—which were instinctively heading for the door—and picked up the maid uniform.

I’m a girl, I’m a girl for now… I kept brainwashing myself.

First, I took the black dress and stepped into it like a jumpsuit, legs first. Once I had it all the way on and the buttons done up, the hem of the skirt reached roughly above my ankles. Since it was about as long as a pair of trousers, my resistance faded slightly. It even felt surprisingly comfortable. It was like my legs had finally found freedom. As I turned this way and that like a child wearing new clothes, the skirt fluttered softly. When the mirror on the wardrobe door reflected my image, a massive wave of reality finally washed over me.

‘Fuck…’

After tightly tying the apron, to make matters worse, a frilly cap I hadn’t noticed earlier caught my eye. It must have been buried underneath.

…Well, I’ve already gone this far. I can endure a bit of lace. Really…

I plopped the cap haphazardly onto my head and followed the other maids out of the room. I felt lightheaded as the skirt fluttered even more violently while I walked…

My soles began to ache after walking on the rough floor for a while, but the pain vanished in the blink of an eye at the magnificent sight that soon unfolded.

First, I saw a massive gate and a lobby that appeared to be the entrance to the mansion. Up until a moment ago, it had been a simple stone building—likely because that was the servants’ quarters.

‘This is on a whole different level.’

The walls were made of white and gray marbled stone, and the staircase was engraved with intricate vine patterns. Even a massive golden chandelier hung from the ceiling. The crisp echo of dozens of shoes clicking with every step made the true scale of the mansion sink in. Our march came to a halt beside a red carpet. People wearing the same or similar clothes as me were lining up on either side in perfect, orderly fashion.

‘I think I’ve seen this in a movie. The servants welcoming the master back to the estate, or something like that.’

Of course, this wasn’t a movie; it felt more like a game. I thought back carefully to the message I’d seen before passing out—the one about the prologue being complete and wishing me an enjoyable playthrough.

If this wasn’t a dream, there was only one way to explain this bizarre phenomenon. I had… what do you call it…? “Possessed” someone. And in a game, no less.

Otherwise, there was no way to explain how someone in a prison cell was suddenly standing here as if nothing had happened, or how I had… become a woman. Whatever the case, in a situation like this, you have to try calling for “that.”

‘Status Window.’

…There was no response.

‘Settings? Quest? S-System!’

Do I have to say it out loud?

The surroundings were fairly noisy, so it seemed worth a shot.

“Status Window!”

A clear, feminine voice echoed awkwardly from my throat. It was a relief that my voice worked perfectly fine, but the lack of a response was bad news.

“Status! Log out!”

I started to feel eyes on me. It was getting humiliating. But that didn’t matter as much as the fact that nothing was appearing……

Ding!

Along with a cheerful notification sound, a blue window floated into the air and filled my vision.

‘I-It actually exists.’

I’d been skeptical even as I shouted, but it really was there. I barely managed to swallow the cheer that wanted to burst out and began to read the characters before me as if they were rain during a drought.

Let’s see. The name is Belita. The age is quite a bit younger than mine, but… Congrats on the possession? I didn’t have any major complaints about my real life, and even if I did, I never asked to be a maid or a woman.

I gritted my teeth at the sight of that annoying emoticon…

‘And what is this?’

It didn’t sound good, starting with the name. My heart, which had been racing slightly when the window first appeared, sank. Putting aside the fact that it wasn’t a stat I’d secretly hoped for—like strength, speed, or intelligence—the “Reputation” and “Mental Strength” categories reminded me of a certain game.

‘Those aren’t common stats.’

Did I really possess that game?

The setting, this atmosphere. Since it was the very game I was playing right before the possession, it was the most likely possibility… But that can’t be. I’m in huge trouble if it is.

C-Calm down. Nothing is certain yet.

‘It could be a different game I don’t know about.’

While I was trying to stay optimistic, a new window overlapped the status screen.

‘…’

Well, it would make things a bit easier since I wouldn’t have to struggle with not knowing names. After toggling the setting to “ON,” the surrounding chatter—which I’d been ignoring while focusing—began to drift in.

“Are the young masters moving in for good then?”

The owner of the voice was the brown-haired roommate maid who had just come out of the room with me. I glanced above her head and saw a name written in the air.

“Io.”

“Dummy. Even if Robert-nim was scheduled to be the next head of the family, there are procedures. To avoid rumors later, they have to prove he was selected through proper channels during the meeting. That’s why everyone is gathering at the mansion for now.”

The blue-haired woman who grumbled in response was named Isabella. She was the one who had rushed me to get ready. Isabella and Io—my troublesome roommates. Feeling my gaze, they naturally struck up a conversation with me.

“Belita, you’re a bit spacey today, aren’t you? Are you possessed by a ghost or something?”

It’s not a ghost; there’s a middle-aged man inside.

“Yeah, even your walk is all stiff and weird.”

That’s because the skirt feels awkward.

I opened my mouth to reply, but no voice came out. Before I could even panic, the blue window blocked my view.

…?!

These are… choices, right?

Wait, are you for real? You’re telling me to pick from these options that have zero social skills?

Wait, hang on!

There’s a time limit too……!

There was no more time to think… I had to pick the one that seemed at least somewhat normal. The moment I made up my mind to speak, my voice finally returned.

“Thinking like that is a mental illness.”

“Haha, seeing how prickly you are, you’re back to your usual self.”

“And here I was thinking your soul had been swapped or something!”

My shoulders flinched at their sharp, cutting intuition. I really needed to be more careful with how I acted. Anyway, is the reason the choices are this messed up because this maid I’ve possessed was originally a prickly person? I can already tell the future is going to be rough…

Before I knew it, the atmosphere became so deathly quiet that the sound of someone gulping was clearly audible. The heavy doors began to creak open with the sound of scraping iron.

Soon, a group of glamorous figures emerged from the open doors. An elegant-looking middle-aged couple, followed by a young man.

The moment I saw the man, I couldn’t tear my eyes away out of pure shock. Platinum blonde hair that looked almost silver in the sunlight. A pitch-black knight’s uniform adorned with gold knotted ornaments.

…And a face I knew all too well. Now, it was finally certain. My optimism had finally burned out, leaving not even a trace of ash behind.

This was the world of the dating sim Survive.

The early plot of this bishojo² romance simulation game, where you pursue five heroines, goes something like this:

That “moment” was likely happening right now. I hadn’t possessed the protagonist of this game. That made sense. In a dating sim, the protagonist would be a guy!

The protagonist’s name was Hereis Rubel. That was also the name of the man wearing the knight’s uniform. I could tell even without looking at the floating text above his head. After all, he was a character I’d played for at least dozens of hours.

I was screwed. Like, really screwed.

Not being the protagonist? It was frustrating, but I could live with it.

Possessing a woman? It sucked, but I could deal with it.

…I really could.

Then, what was the problem?

The problem was… This woman didn’t have much longer to live.

Ding!