Chapter 2

The stench of death hung in the air, Mike’s black ooze slowly seeping into the carpet.

I forced myself to stay calm, my eyes scanning the rapidly scrolling chat.

【Wait, I think this is a word game!】

【What do you mean?】

【I’ve played horror games like this before. The Boss twists your wish! That guy said he wanted to ‘expose’ the Boss, and the Boss stripped all the flesh from his bones.】

【Holy crap, so how do you beat it?】

【The key is to find a wish that can’t be twisted!】

【You have to be super precise with your wording, leave no loopholes!】

【If you don't find the right answer, you'll all die!】

"Oh god, oh god..." Linda’s voice trembled. Her briefcase fell open, scattering documents across the floor. "What is this place?"

Kevin cowered in a corner, his glasses fogged over. "We're trapped in some kind of supernatural event... This isn't scientific..."

But then there was Bob, the quiet, stoic-looking truck driver.

"Wait," Bob said suddenly, his voice raspy. "I get it."

The Boss turned to him gracefully, a hint of a smile on his pale face. "Oh?"

Bob took a deep breath, beads of sweat on his forehead.

"My choice is..." one of them said, his voice growing steady. "I want to be killed by time itself. Happily."

Silence.

The Boss’s smile deepened. He nodded slowly. "A very interesting wish. I will grant it."

A crimson light glowed from the Boss’s hand and branded a strange symbol onto Bob's forehead. Bob flinched, but he didn't die.

【Holy shit! It worked!】

【So that’s the answer!】

Linda's eyes widened. "He... he survived?"

She caught on quickly and made a similar wish. "In that case, I want to be killed by an invisible weapon. A natural death, without a single wound or drop of blood."

"I want that wish too!" Kevin jumped in.

The Boss nodded and granted his wish, branding Kevin’s forehead with another bloody mark.

The others followed suit. "Me too! I want the same wish!"

Soon, all five of them had the strange, blood-red symbol on their foreheads. They looked at each other with relief, smiling as if they’d cracked the game’s code.

"We found the answer!" Bob said excitedly. "This game has rules. We just have to find the right way to play!"

But a growing number of comments were mocking.

【An SSS-rank instance being this easy? How naive.】

【Boring wishes.】

【They’ll learn how cruel the Boss really is soon enough.】

And then another group of comments took a different turn.

【Harper baby, use your feminine wiles! Seduce him!Ask him to kill you with his weapon. Tell him you want to go deep, die in ecstasy!】

【A Boss that handsome has to have a weakness for women!】

These were, of course, met with more ridicule.

【The Boss can be seduced? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.】

【Can't wait to see the Boss tear this helpless woman to pieces.】

【Viewer Count: 298,437】

【Gift Revenue: $15,672】

The numbers were still climbing like crazy. It felt like the whole internet was watching.

The Boss slowly turned to me, his deep eyes like twin vortexes. He drifted closer, his long, pale fingers almost touching my cheek.

The icy chill made me tremble. I fought back the tears that were threatening to fall.

"You look... frightened," he whispered, his voice as light as a feather but utterly terrifying.

【OMG, that close-up!】

【The Boss is into the streamer!】

【Use your charm!】

【No, no, this feels dangerous!】

【Harper, don't fall for it!】

【Wait! I see something!】

【Look at their foreheads! The symbols are glowing!】

I risked a glance at the other five. It was true. The blood-red symbols on their foreheads were pulsing faintly, like a countdown timer.

And they hadn’t even noticed.

The Boss’s cold gaze returned to me, a knowing smile on his lips.

"And now for you, my dear."

His voice was a low, seductive murmur as his pale fingers traced my jawline.

"What is your wish?"

Staring at his flawless face, so close to my own, I felt a new peak of terror.

My mind went blank. The screams and melting bodies of the other players replayed in my head.

I don't want to die... not like that...

What do I do? What can I say to make him spare me?

My head was nothing but chaos, until the viewers’ latest comments began to cut through it—sharp, loud, impossible to ignore.

I squeezed my eyes shut, my long lashes trembling with fear as a tear slid down my cheek. I forced a smile onto my face.

I turned my phone screen to him. "My fans think you're hot," I stammered. "They want me to be killed by... well, by the weapon between your legs. They said 'deeply.' Is that... an option?"

Silence.

Dead silence.

The other five players stared at me, their jaws on the floor.

【WTF WTF WTF!】

【This woman has a death wish.】

【Get ready to watch the enraged Boss smash her head in!】