Huu, huuuk, haaaak…

Eunsol coarsely gasped for breath. What was going on? Why did oppa do this?

It was hard for a sibling to be in a good relationship, and their father tended to instigate competition among his children, so her relationship with her second oppa had been turning worse over time. 

But still… she thought she had built some level of trust while ‘dealing with’ their father together.

Wasn’t their next goal to deal with the oldest oppa who was in the biggest lead among the siblings, and their sister Heeyoon who was starting to be more and more annoying?

It seemed that her second oppa had a different order in mind. He decided to ‘deal with’ her first instead.

Ahh… It was a mistake. She should have immediately dealt with her second oppa.

Instead of resenting him, she was disappointed in herself for being unable to move first as she slowly lost her consciousness.

/You have failed!

The unending asset of the rich is sometimes the seed of a tragedy. Perhaps that is why you should have stayed tense until the very end?

After dealing with your father together with your brother like the plot of a drama, you should have always been worried about your own wellbeing.

You were unable to escape the curse, nor were you able to resolve the root cause of the curse. It is very unfortunate.

However, there is still a chance! Wait for your teammates.

…

…

…

…

One of your teammates has successfully escaped! Congratulations! The successful escape allows everyone to return safely./

Lee Eunsol felt her sedimented consciousness slowly floating back up…

*

An unthinkable amount of pain made her squirm her body. What was going on?

Som was eating her right arm; her left arm was almost completely devoured by Happy, and there was only the bone left. 

While the two of them were devouring her arms, three cats and a parrot were each waiting for their turn.

There was already a beak going into her left eye.

Scary. It hurts. Scary. It hurts. Scary. It hurts. Scary. It hurts. Scary. It hurts. Scary. It hurts. Scary. It hurts. Scary. It hurts. Scary. It hurts. Scary. It hurts. Scary. It hurts. Scary. It hurts. Scary. It hurts. Scary. It hurts. Scary. It hurts. Scary. It hurts. Scary. It hurts. Scary. It hurts. Scary. It hurts. Scary. It hurts. 

Someone. Please end this nightmare.

/You have failed!

How cute are animals?

After falling for the tranquil eyes of a golden retriever, the elegant posture of a Norwegian forest cat and the dignified crest of a cockatoo, you might ease your tension.

But please do not forget! That there is always a breath of the wild remaining inside a beast…

Forgetfulness at times will result in tremendous pain.

You were unable to escape the curse, nor were you able to resolve the root cause of the curse. It is very unfortunate.

However, there is still a chance! Wait for your teammates.

…

…

…

…

One of your teammates has successfully escaped! Congratulations! The successful escape allows everyone to return safely./

Yu Songee felt her sedimented consciousness slowly floating back up…

*

Blood flowed out of her lips. Ahh… so today’s the day.

Radioactive tea. It’s mentioned frequently as a joke in the Korean forums, but has anyone ever worried about actually becoming the recipient of it? It was definitely not something light enough to be consumed as a joke.

She wasn’t blaming the Koreans, because she too had sometimes laughed about things that Koreans were serious about. 

More importantly, how did this tea make its way over to the table of her family? Both her father and mother were lying down on the floor. 

When the new leader who was pretty much a tsar rose to power in her home country, her family left seeking asylum and their happy moments had come to an end but…

Didn’t their family still love each other more than anyone else?

Turning around, she found her older sister whose face was filled with joy, pleasure, and liberation – it seemed that she wanted to become free even at the cost of killing her family.

How stupid. Even after killing father, mother and me at this point, why would that strict tsar leave her alive?

Thinking that to herself, she slowly closed her eyes.

She felt empty. After wandering overseas for a long time, they settled in Korea and thought their lives were almost settled again, but to think the conclusion would be something like this…

/You have failed!

The moment a tsar has risen to power in your home country, the only remaining choice for the opposition was to seek asylum. But the harsh path to asylum is not only filled with physical challenges.

One of your families might be exhausted from the process! Have you never considered how that exhausted person might sell the rest of their family?

Did you miss the strange actions of your sister the past few days? Carelessness is your greatest enemy.

You were unable to escape the curse, nor were you able to resolve the root cause of the curse. It is very unfortunate.

However, there is still a chance! Wait for your teammates.

…

…

…

…

One of your teammates has successfully escaped! Congratulations! The successful escape allows everyone to return safely./

Elena Ivanova felt her sedimented consciousness slowly floating back up…

*

Knock knock knock!

I heard someone knocking on the door. 

Ah, it was so annoying. It was almost a solo kill with my yasuo! I got solo killed instead because of that knock! Though I did die twice before that already, that wasn’t too big of a problem, because dying one or two times as yasuo was a part of the growing process. I would have solo killed and carried this game if not for that knock…

Seriously, mum was never helpful.

“Mum! I told you not to knock when I’m playing the game!!!”

“Seungyub… Sorry. I didn’t know you were so focused on it. But, you should still have something to eat, don’t you? You skipped breakfast so for lunch you should…”

“Mum. If you didn’t interrupt me just then this game would have been the last. Please don’t interrupt me. I’m almost diamond; why are you always doing this to me?”

“I will put some food in front of the door. Don’t forget to have lunch.”

That stupid lunch lunch lunch! I had no idea why she was so obsessed with it even though skipping a meal wouldn’t even kill you.

I was feeling increasingly irritated when a sudden voice echoed in my ears.

[777! Your luck is extraordinary today.]

Was I hearing things? I lowered the sound of League of Legends. 

I finally won one game after 3 consecutive losses. It might be strange to call myself this but I really thought I must be quite strong-willed.

If only I had some actual teammates. I had no idea why I had bots in my team every game.

Going outside the room, I saw the plate mum put down 2 hours ago.

What is that thing on the plate? Is that food? Or a dead rat?

Whatever! I shook my head and forgot about it. There was no way it would be a dead rat, and what it was did not matter because I wasn’t going to eat it anyway.

More importantly, hitting diamond as soon as possible was a lot more important!

Walking down the living room, I reflected on the game just then. No matter how much I thought about it, my yone had gone in at the perfect timing. It would have been an easy win if my teammates responded in time and helped, but for some reason, none of the 4 were able to do it. 

They were actually trash.

That’s why those guys couldn’t leave platinum. It couldn’t be helped though, because they were in a whole different league compared to me who was bound to go up soon.

Dad came back while I was thinking to myself. It was another annoying person.

“Seungyub. I heard from your mum that you skipped lunch again. Shall we go outside together for dinner? There’s a new meat restaurant next to Fresh Fresh supermarket. They give you a live and fresh pig, and it tastes very nice.”

A live pig? What was he talking about? Who eats a pig raw? Well, it was probably nothing important. He was someone who talked about strange things everyday; and he must have heard some weird joke somewhere.

“Dad. I’m going to cook instant noodles later, and that’s enough. I’ve been telling you this is the most important time of my life, right? I have no time to go outside and have meat or anything. In that time, I’d rather play one more game.”

“No. Son, you need to have a meal anyway, don’t you? Because you can’t play a game during a meal, let’s have a nice one outside. There is something I need to tell you as well.”

“Hah! Who says you can’t eat while playing a game? There is this cat champion in League of Legends, and you can play it just fine while eating noodles. Anyway, I’ll take care of it myself so you can mind your own business!”

Tang!

*

When Seungyub went into his room after noisily closing the door, his parents simultaneously heaved out a sigh. Even though life had always been hard, raising a child never went the way they wanted it to.

Regardless, he was still their son and the couple decided to drag him out of the house tomorrow no matter the cost.

That day, Seungyub succeeded in raising the first digit of his win rate with the cat champion to 2, but had another one of his accounts banned by the time he was done with the noodle.

It was difficult to understand. He was simply trying to keep himself in the game even while having a meal, so how was this bannable?

It’s not like he wasn’t playing the game, and he definitely bought and sold a few items as well. It was weird how someone would report for something like that.

Of course, it wasn’t a big deal, because there were 17 other accounts waiting for him.

On a good day, it would probably only take him 3 days to reach diamond, so there was no need to worry about one or two permabans.

Like that, another worthwhile day came to an end.