The Game Is Mine

After entering an infinitely-regressing system, I managed to conquer Shane ninety-nine times straight.

Using everything I’d learned, I ended up sleeping with him and getting pregnant.

However, the system announced that my mission had failed.

Confused, I questioned the system, only to hear a recorded conversation.

"I wasn't the one who slept with her that night.

"Of course, the system would judge it as a failure once she got pregnant.

"If she didn't look like Celine, I would have never chosen her.

"I'm done playing this boring little game…"

That was when I realized that in this game of love, being sincere was the real joke.

What they didn't know was that, without me, this world would have never existed at all.

"Host, if the mission is terminated, you will die, and the world will collapse. Are you sure?

"Your sister's condition has already worsened. If you go to another world and start a new mission all over again, I'm afraid…"

I couldn't help the bitterness that welled up in my heart upon hearing the System's words.

The reason why I came here in the first place, and accepted the mission to conquer Shane, was to save my sister, who had cancer.

However, I became trapped in Shane's sweet lies, unable to pull myself free, nor tell what was real or fake.

I only realized later on that the only woman he loved was his deceased wife, Celine Ashcroft.

Because I bore a stunning resemblance to her, he brought me home and took care of me carefully… that was, until the day I got into a car accident which left me with a scar, disfiguring half my face.

He didn't bring me to the hospital, instead stripping me bare and throwing me on the streets, letting men with ill intentions point and gawk at me.

From that day on, his attitude toward me changed completely, and he treated me like I didn’t exist.

This world was full of danger. Once, I was kidnapped by criminals. After barely managing to escape, I called Shane for help.

His voice was icy cold. "Did you think I'd even spare you another glance if you didn't look like Celine? Consider this punishment for allowing your face to be hurt."

Later, he took me to the hospital for plastic surgery, and ordered the doctor to operate without anesthesia.

Even now, as I lie on the operating table, I still remember that fear, and the feeling of the ice-cold scalpel as it pierced my skin.

After the surgery, I developed a high fever, yet he still refused to let the doctor cure me. He said this was to remind me that I was only a substitute, and that if my face was ruined, then I would be worthless.

I could only force a bitter smile when I heard that.

After my face healed, he treated me kindly again, just like before. But every night after it was over, he would go stand before Celine’s portrait and tell her that he didn’t love me, and that he was only trying to make up for his regrets.

One day, he said that if I went to learn techniques from prostitutes, he'd be willing to sleep with me,

For the sake of completing the mission, I went in with anticipation and stayed there for half a month.

But then, the System played a recording of Shane's voice, and it struck me like a thunderbolt.

"Shane, are you sure you want to let her sleep with another man? That punishment's brutal!

"Even if she knew, she wouldn't leave you either."

"Of course! Her mission's to sleep with me, after all, so now that she thinks she's close to succeeding, she wouldn't just give up."

Each and every word stabbed into my heart like knives, and it hurt to even breathe. I failed the mission. I couldn't save my sister, and didn't even win Shane over. So this was what it was like to be deceived.

Shane spoke with disgust, "People like her are just revolting, coming to this world with fake feelings and ulterior motives.

"Not killing her outright was the biggest mercy I could give."

Shane and the others burst into uncontrollable laughter, shattering the last trace of hope I had.

I closed my eyes, tears streaming down my face as I pulled my lips into a bitter smile.

"Yes, I'm sure. Terminate the mission.

"I want to leave this world as soon as possible and take on another mission."

After the System confirmed my request, I returned home.

I had been forced to learn many different techniques and positions to sleep with Shane, and I even relented and wore a mask that belonged to Celine, all to complete my mission.

Laughably, that person wasn't even Shane, but a random man he'd gotten from the streets. No wonder the mission failed!

When Shane came home and saw me there, his tone softened considerably.

"Since you’re pregnant, don’t run around. Go lie down on the bed.

"Come over and drink some milk, it's good for your body."