Ye Delun opened his eyes and was met with an unfamiliar ceiling. The intricate designs made of gold and silver. The soft feathered pillows and billowy comforters. The delicate-looking furniture and the tea set with a steaming kettle of tea and a side of fresh cookies.
This wasn't his room.
He noticed this immediately. The feeling of the comforters was too soft and the air was too clean. He's never woken up to the smell of tea before, nor does he have such intricate furniture. His college dorm room was nothing compared to this.
Moving aside the excess amount of blankets, he stepped onto the ground. Only to notice straight away that his body was different. He felt heavier, and his sight was taller. His hands looked bigger and his biceps actually had muscle on them.
This also wasn't his body.
His body was small and flimsy, he was skinny and nothing his mother would say different would change his mind. Whether he liked it or not, he looked like a boy who just moved from breast milk to milk from the carton.
But as he moved from the bedside to the floor mirror his jaw almost dropped to the floor.
"I-I'm handsome!?" He exclaimed.
The man in the mirror really was handsome. A tall lean body, clean face, big dark eyes, plump lips. "I look so different, yet the same..." It was like he was in an upgraded version of himself. Even his voice sounded deeper and smoother. This was a pleasant surprise to him. The game he had just entered never mentioned any changes in his looks.
A screeching sound suddenly went off in his head. He covered his ears in an attempt to save his hearing when translucent screens appeared in front of him.
[ErRoR eRrOr]
[ErRoR eRrOr]
[SYSTEM ERROR]
The sound stopped and he slowly uncovered his ears.
[femalelead.exe has stopped working]
[please wait patiently as we work through this problem :)]
His eyes widened slightly, "Eh? An error? Oh, okay, it's alright, I can wait." And so, after giving his new handsome body another look, he moved his attention to the rest of the room. Nothing looked familiar to him in his modern outlook of life.
"Wow, everything looks so cool..." He said as he looked at the large painted portrait of his new self attached to the wall. "This game must have a large budget if they're able to come out with something so awesome looking." He kind of wanted to take the portrait back home with him. Would his mom like it? "She would probably call me handsome, hehe." His mother was very adamant that she tells him every day that he was a 'handsome young boy', maybe if she saw him now she would drop the young boy and call him a man.
Ye Delun spotted a tray of cookies next to a teapot filled with tea. He wasn't much of a tea kind of guy, but at the moment, food was food. And he was hungry. He licked his lips before munching on the cookies. "Dad used to dip his cookies in coffee." He said to himself as he carefully poured himself a glass of tea. Every morning, he would come downstairs to see his father dipping small cracker-like cookies into his morning cup of coffee. He always thought that was such a grown-up thing to do.
The sound of the system starting up again resounded through his mind and he looked back at the screen.
[OtomeHorror] The screen displayed its logo and started to play some cute background music.
[Where we make your fantasized love lives come true]
[To apologize for the mishap please accept these free gems.]
Ye Delun clicked accept ;and listened to a ding sound. A little animation of a gem shining played and the words '+5 gems' showed up in front of him. He only commented with a 'nice' seeming more concentrated on the cookies.
[Please insert your username]
[Surname:______ ] [Name:______]
Without really thinking, Ye Delun put his real name.
[Welcome, Ye Delun! Thank you for choosing OtomeHorror to help you find your path to your destined lover!]
Ye Delun ignored the message. Destined lover? Yeah, that's not what he came here for. Give him something scary, then he'll thank 'em.
[...Setting up user's profile... loading user's profile... adding a touch of glitter...]
The screen widened and revealed his profile.
[Name: Ye Delun
Gender: Male
Level: 0
Coins: 0
Gems: 5
Stories Completed: N/A
Started Stories: Nightmare Manor]
[Ye Delun
Traits: Baby, Fearless, Taciturn
"My mom makes the best cookies, do you want one? Only the best for you."
A boy as ignorant as a deer fresh from the womb. Ye Delun was raised as mama's boy and is ignorant about all things that aren't thriller related. Although his 'fearless' behavior may seem charming, it becomes repetitive and has turned into nothing but straight dumb recklessness. But you seem to be entranced with his childish demeanor and naive self. Will the two of you be able to make it out of this trial together?]
"...Hey..." He paused midbite and read the screen of his so-called 'profile'. The image of him in his manly body mid-pose and the side information he happened to disagree with.
But before he was able to argue with the system, it shoved another message in his face.
[Press play to continue chapter one of 'Nightmare Manor'!]
"Oh, we're finally getting started?!" He quickly put down the cookies and wiped his mouth. With excitement and anticipation in his eyes, he clicked on the 'play' button. And at the same time, forgot about how the system had just dissed him just a second before.
Suddenly, knocking on the door sounded throughout the room.
Ye Delun turned his head to the door and stood up. "Hello? Is anyone in here?" a voice behind the door said. "Yeah, I'm coming, give me a second." He brushed the crumbs off of his clothing with his hands. His mother had always said to clean up after his messes, but his mother wasn't here, so it doesn't count.
Opening the door, two men stood in front of him. One of them being around his size, with such a gorgeous face it stunned him for a second. But the other man stunned him even more, standing at least a foot taller than him, with biceps the size of his head. The sight of him brought a familiar feeling he recognized as envy rose up in his chest. Only God knew how much he wanted a body like that. How cool would it be to be that muscular?
[Be careful with your words, Ye Delun! They influence your favorability!] The system warned him.
"Wooow." He said to the man. "Your muscles look so cool...." He wanted to touch them. How much did the man work out to look like that? If he asked, would he give him some tips?
"Oh, um, thanks? Yours look good as well." He awkwardly replied while scratching his neck. His bulging arms twitched as they moved. Another 'wow' sound out in Ye Delun's mind.
[The character 'Xiang Tingfeng' will remember that comment]
[The character 'Xiang Tingfeng' is creeped out by your bluntness but is thankful for the compliment!]
The big man held his hand out and introduced himself. "I'm Xiang Tingeng, and this is Kang Meixiu." The strikingly attractive man only turned his head to the side.
"Ye Delun. Nice to meet you." He introduced himself back.
"Ah, yes, it's very nice to meet you too."
Kang Meixiu turned his head back towards them, "Is there really a need for this? There are bigger matters at hand." He snapped, his cold eyes scanning over Ye Delun.
"Ah, right, since that's all of the rooms checked, we can go back." The big guy said, speaking in a way that didn't at all fit his frame.