System: [New Mission: Investigate the Glitch] Reward: +100 Perception, Hidden Skill: "Code Sight" Penalty: System Shutdown for 24 Hours]
The message blinked on my screen at exactly 3:00 AM.
I groaned, buried under two blankets, a body pillow, and the weight of regret.
"Can't this wait until morning?"
System: [NO.]
Okay then. Rude.
The apartment felt… off. The lights flickered slightly. My phone, the source of all this chaos, displayed unreadable code instead of the usual peppy UI.
I tapped it.
System: [ERROR. ERROR. LOCATION BREACH DETECTED. TIME LOOP ANOMALY—]
"What the actual hell…"
Then everything froze.
Not in the 'oh no the Wi-Fi's dead' way.
In the literally suspended in time way.
Cynthia had been halfway through stealing my chips. Frozen. Luna was floating slightly mid-jump from the stairs. Frozen.
Me? Still awake. Still regretting life.
A shadow passed through the wall.
"Ethan Cross," a voice called.
Low. Familiar. Modulated, like someone speaking through an old cassette tape.
A figure stepped into view—cloaked, glitching at the edges. Like static formed a human.
"You've accessed a restricted layer of the Supreme System."
"I didn't even press anything!"
"You were never supposed to be the Host. This system was meant for someone else."
"Uh, cool. Can I return it? No refund needed."
The figure raised a hand, and reality cracked like glass.
Images flashed before me—Celia standing in a crimson-lit hallway with a blade, Cynthia crying in the rain, Luna staring blankly into a mirror that didn't reflect her.
"This system is more than a game. It connects to the Root Code of your world."
"…So what? I'm the protagonist of a corrupted dating sim?!"
"No. You're the glitch."
System: [WARNING: Unrecognized Entity Detected. Attempting to Reboot.]
Everything turned to static.
When I came to, it was daylight. Everyone was acting normal. Too normal.
Cynthia handed me toast. Luna yawned. "You look like you saw a ghost."
I opened my phone. The UI was back.
System: [Morning, Host! Ready for your daily embarrassment? ❤️]
"…You glitched out last night."
System: [No idea what you're talking about! ^_^]
Liar.
I looked around the room. Celia entered, hair tied up, holding a USB stick.
"You dropped this," she said.
I took it.
System: [WARNING: Unauthorized Code Detected on USB. Would you like to open Pandora's Folder?]
Suddenly, this rom-com was starting to feel like a thriller.