Ryan had always thought dying was stupid.
But dying in the office, right in front of his boss, while trying to fix a bug he himself had created… That took the concept to a whole new level of pathetic.
"Aren't you finished fixing that yet?"
His boss's voice cut through the air with that annoying tone Ryan hated so much.
He didn't look away from the monitor.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it."
A lie.
He had spent the last three hours staring at the same lines of code, searching for a way not to delete the only fun thing he had created in years.
The debt bug.
Five years.
Five damn years working at that company, doing the work of three people, getting paid for one… and being treated like trash.
So yeah.
He had done something stupid.
Small. A bit childish.
But satisfying.
Every time the support character buffed a heroine, the system generated a "debt." An obligation. Something they would have to repay… based on the player's inner desires.
A mechanic that would never pass quality control.
"Dammit… Ryan."
This time the tone was harsher.
"The build goes out this week. If that isn't fixed today, don't bother coming back tomorrow."
Ryan let out a low laugh.
"Coming back…? I haven't even left the damn office in days…"
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
He logged in with his developer account.
The virtual world loaded, and Ryan activated a skill.
The system responded instantly.
"Debt generated."
He laughed, watching the absurdity manifest on the screen as the support character assisted the heroines, triggering flirty, 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.
"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 on-screen animations turned erratic.
The heroines were reacting… but not according to any script he remembered.
"Ryan, close that," his boss ordered.
He didn't respond.
A sharp, strong, sudden pressure appeared at the base of his neck.
'And this pain…? Dammit, this isn't…'
His vision began to blur, and the text on the screen changed.
"Accumulated Debt: ERROR."
"Processing…"
"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 sounded distant now. Distorted.
"Ryan, what the hell did you do?"
Ryan let out a weak laugh.
"Shit… the only… fun… thing… I did in five years…"
The screen flickered.
And then everything went black.
Just a few letters appeared in a colorless interface.
"Compensation initiated…"
His body collapsed against the desk before he could process it, and everything around him was swallowed by absolute darkness.
...
...
...
...
When Ryan opened his eyes, he was no longer in his room. He heard the sound of swords clashing.
His head felt comfortable, resting on something soft, warm, and pleasantly sweet-smelling.
He looked around, then raised his gaze a little more. The first thing he saw was the silhouette of a woman whose face was blocked by her massive pair of breasts.
"This can't be. What kind of dream am I having?"
"A dream? You finally woke up!" The girl tilted her head, bringing her breasts very close to Ryan's face.
She placed her hand on his head as if checking his temperature, but Ryan suddenly scrambled to his feet and stood facing her.
The girl, confused, stood up as well and looked at him.
"What happened to you? You fainted right after healing me. Did you run out of mana or something?"
She asked with a worried tone, but she was smiling kindly.
"If you're feeling better, can you help Helen? She's running low on energy." She gestured with her eyes toward the girl 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 weird!" the girl shouted.
"What? How do you know my name?"
"Hey, did you really hit your head when you fainted?"
"Deal with it, Mirian! Can't you see I'm busy?" Helen shouted while continuing to fight the lizard-men that kept coming.
Ryan took a slow breath.
'Okay, calm down. What's the last thing I remember? I logged into the game with my dev account, the game I was supposed to be programming, and then…'
'Wait a second. Did she say Helen and Mirian? Those are the heroines from the game… those outfits… There's no doubt!'
"What the hell! Am I actually dreaming?"
Mirian rushed over and hugged Ryan's head, pressing it against her chest.
"Ryan, calm down. I think one of the undead from floor 99 affected you. Maybe mind control!"
'No, it can't be. I was programming…'
Ding!
[Automatic Debt Collection Initiated]
'Debt? Where did that window come from?'
"Dammit, I'm feeling that again… Ryan, what order do you have for me?"
"Order? No, what order. What the hell are you talking about…"
Mirian knelt in front of him.
"No… I can't control it anymore… Ryan…" She took Ryan's hand, brought it to her lips, and began kissing it.
Ryan's whole body tingled; his heart raced at the sight.
'This… but this is straight from that game. Don't tell me I ended up inside it…'
Ryan was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt something warm and wet trail across the back of his hand. She was licking him.
"Hey… no, don't do that. What's wrong with you?"
Ryan tried to pull his hand away, but she held it tightly and continued. Her soft, wet tongue ran along the entire length of his finger before she gently took the tip into her mouth.
She bit it softly and looked up at him with completely flushed cheeks.
"Don't… don't look at me. You're… a pervert," she said softly and continued sucking his finger up to the second knuckle.
"You're the pervert here, dammit!"
"Hey, stop doing those things. I had to handle all the lizard monsters by myself," Helen grumbled as she approached.
"You know… this can't be helped. Helen… hey, Ryan is a pervert!"
Ding!
[Debt Collection Applied]
[Debt Bonus: +50 Points]
[Debt Bonus: +45,000 XP]
[Level Increased]
[Level Bonus: +20 Points]
[Attributes Increased: +10 to all stats]
[Level 60 Reached]
[Milestone x10 Activated: +100 to all stats]
'It can't be… Am I really inside that game?'
The girl finally released him and stood up, turning her back to him.
"Take this." Without looking at him, Mirian handed him a handkerchief.
"A handkerchief?" Ryan asked.
"Yes… wipe it off. Wipe it off already, it's embarrassing," Mirian grumbled, shrugging her shoulders without turning around.
Ryan took the handkerchief and began to clean himself, still stunned.
Only then did the irony hit him.
He had become the support character… the exact one he himself had given the debt bug to.