Ryan had always thought that dying was stupid.
But dying in the office, right in front of his boss, while trying to fix an error he himself had created...
That took the concept to a whole new level of pathetic.
"Haven't you finished fixing that yet?" His boss's voice echoed with that annoying tone Ryan completely hated.
He didn't look away from the monitor.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it."
Lies.
He had spent the last few hours staring at the same lines of code, searching for a way to avoid throwing away the only fun thing he had created in recent years.
The debt bug.
Five years.
Five damn years working at that company, earning a miserable salary that he couldn't even enjoy due to so many debts... and being treated like garbage.
So yes.
He had done something stupid.
Small. A bit childish.
But satisfying.
Every time the side character buffed a heroine, the system generated a "debt." An obligation. Something they would have to return... based on the player's internal desires.
A feature that would never pass quality control.
"Damn it... Ryan." This time, the tone of the complaint was harsher.
"We have to launch the game this week. If that isn't resolved today, don't bother coming back tomorrow."
Ryan let out a dry laugh.
"Coming back? I haven't even left the damn office in days..." the young man muttered in front of the computer.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing, nothing."
He logged in with his developer account.
The virtual world loaded, and Ryan activated an ability.
The system responded instantly.
[Debt generated.]
He chuckled, watching the absurdity manifest on the screen as the support member helped the heroines, triggering flirtatious and suggestive reactions that shouldn't exist in the final version of the game.
But something... wasn't right.
The message didn't disappear.
It repeated itself.
[Debt generated.]
[Debt generated.]
[Debt generated.]
"...What?"
His fingers tensed.
He hadn't written it that way.
The system began chaining activations without any input.
The animations on the screen turned erratic.
The heroines were reacting... but not according to any script he remembered.
"Ryan, close that," his boss ordered.
He didn't answer.
A sharp, severe, and sudden pressure appeared at the base of his neck.
"What is this pain...? Damn it, this shouldn't..."
His vision began to blur, and the text on the screen changed.
[ERROR.]
"What the hell is that?"
Ryan tried to close the program.
The mouse didn't respond.
The pain intensified, as if something were drilling into his skull.
"Ryan!"
His boss's voice now sounded distant.
Distorted.
"Ryan, what the hell did you do?"
Ryan let out a weak laugh.
"Shit... the only... fun thing... I've done in five years..."
The screen flickered.
And then everything went black.
Only a few letters loading on a colorless interface.
[Transmigration initiated...]
His body slumped against the desk before he could finish processing it, and everything around him was engulfed in absolute darkness.
...
'Transmigration? Am I really dead?' reflected the mind of the young man who, despite having his eyes open, couldn't see anything.
Not even his body. Which made him doubt whether he even had one.
'Damn it, if I close my eyes, I can still hear my bastard boss's voice... how long have I been here?'
He had been in that dark place for hours, and the last thing Ryan could remember was that he had been staring at the same lines of code for hours.
And suddenly, he found himself in this place, with nothing around him—only darkness. Where the only sound he could catch was the echo of his deep thoughts.
Ding!
[Initializing system...]
'What?'
Everything around him remained just as dark, but suddenly...
A screen unfolded in front of him. It softly illuminated his face, causing his green eyes to reflect through that light.
[System setup complete...]
'What the hell is happening? Aren't I supposed to be dead?' he thought with difficulty. His mind began to feel heavy, tired.
Just as if he were about to fall asleep.
His eyes lost strength and slowly closed.
[Preparing welcome...]
The screen flickered.
[Error...]
[Unable to initialize the welcome process.]
[Retrying...]
A new message appeared.
[Error.]
[Bypassing welcome registration.]
[Anomaly detected...]
'Damn it... I can't keep my eyes open...'
[The system has been updated.]
[Processing...]
[Debt system has been successfully integrated.]
...
...
...
...
When Ryan regained his senses, and long before he could even open his eyes, he heard the clashing sound of metal against metal.
With difficulty, he opened his eyes, and the first thing he noticed was that he wasn't in his office, much less in his bedroom.
Furthermore, his head felt very comfortable; it was resting on something very soft to the touch, smooth, and with a pleasant scent that didn't feel like anything he knew.
He raised his gaze a bit higher, and the first thing he saw was the silhouette of a woman whose face was obscured by the shape of her massive pair of breasts.
"I don't understand..." Ryan muttered as he observed the situation for a second.
'I'm lying on someone's lap. And what a massive pair of tits.' Ryan processed that with more calm than he should have and slowly sat up.
"What don't you understand, Ryan? You're finally awake!" The young woman tilted her head, bringing her breasts very close to his face.
The young woman's yellow hair almost brushed his nose, and her amber eyes stared at him intensely.
She placed her hand on Ryan's head, as if trying to measure his temperature, but Ryan suddenly stood up.
He stood up right in front of her.
The young woman, confused, also stood up and looked at him.
"What happened to you? You passed out after healing me. Did you run out of mana or something?"
The young woman asked him in a worried tone, but she looked at him with a gentle smile.
"Are you feeling better? Helen was very worried, too." She gestured with her eyes toward the young woman named Helen, who was fighting what looked like a giant humanoid lizard.
"What... what is that?!" Ryan shouted in surprise.
"Hey, Helen, Ryan is acting really strange!" the young woman yelled.
"What? How the hell did I get to this place?" he muttered, looking around. He closed his eyes, trying to remember, but nothing came to mind.
"Hey, did you really hit your head when you passed out?" said the yellow-haired girl, stepping much closer to him.
"It's about time he woke up! But take care of it, Mirian! Can't you see I'm busy?" shouted the black-haired girl whose name had been mentioned as Helen.
And without looking away, she continued fighting the lizards, which kept coming.
Ryan took a soft breath.
'Alright, calm down. What's the last thing I remember? I logged into the game, I was at work... with my developer account, in the game I was supposed to program, and then...'
'Wait a second. Did she say Helen and Mirian? And those clothes... There's no doubt!'
Mirian quickly approached and hugged Ryan's head, pressing it against her chest.
"Ryan, calm down. I think one of the undead on floor 99 did something to you. Maybe a mental attack!"
Ding!
[Automatic debt collection initiated.]
'Where did that interface come from?'
"Damn it, I'm feeling that again... Ryan, what are your orders for me?" said the yellow-haired girl, looking at him with a completely flushed face.
"What the hell are you talking about...?"
Mirian knelt before him.
"I... I can't control it anymore... Ryan..." Mirian exclaimed. She took Ryan's forearm, brought her lips to the back of his hand, and began to kiss it.
Every hair on Ryan's body stood on end; his heart raced as he observed the young woman in front of him.
'Did I really end up inside that game?'