The darkness did not last long. My consciousness was pulled back rapidly, as if surfacing from underwater, but what awaited me on the surface was not air, but data.
I couldn't open my eyes, but neon blue codes were cascading like a waterfall in my mind. I wasn't in a dream; I was on the boot screen of an operating system.
First, that mechanical, Kaorian voice echoed. It had an amused, condescending tone:
"Leon Howells... Our stubborn, moralist regulator. You hated the 'hoarding' in that world so much that we brought you here. Let's make a bet, shall we? Let's see if that will help you trust so much can resist the impulses of this body. Or will you, too, succumb to the 'harem desires' you criticized and entertain us?"
I strained my mind to answer, but no voice came out. I was just a test subject.
However, just then, the flow was disrupted.
[WARNING! EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE DETECTED.]
[FIREWALL BREACH... CONNECTION UNSTABLE...]
The confident voice of the Kaorians panicked: "What is this? The system is being hacked! Who is this?"
The voices turned into static and cut off. Right in the center of my mind, a voice very different from the Kaorians, the voice of that mysterious entity I called the "Editor," echoed.
It was cold, metallic, but strangely intimate. As if it knew me.
"Hello, Leon. I want to save you, but the Kaorian technology is too advanced. Right now, they see you as a 'virus,' and they will try to delete you. I need to hide you in the depths of the system."
Who are you? I thought.
I am the echo of the rage you felt toward that broken fiction, the voice said.
I am equipping you with an 'Editor' authority that they cannot fully perceive. You cannot rewrite the story from scratch but... you can view the errors numerically.
A massive, semi-transparent, flickering status screen appeared before me.
[SYSTEM ANALYSIS - MODIFIED]
Name: Clarean Elyuneth Faryel
Type: Host / VIRUS: EDITOR (Leon Howells)
Class: Magic Knight (Passive) / Debugger (Active)
[BASIC STATISTICS]
(Grading: F < D < C < B < A < S < X)
PHYSICAL STRENGTH: [C-] (Potential: A)
MENTAL CAPACITY: [S] (Possessor bonus)
SPIRITUAL POWER (MANA): [X] (Uncontrolled)
[SPECIAL SKILL ADDED: EDITOR'S EYE]
Description: Displays the "Loyalty" and "Sanity" parameters of targets as numerical data.
My eyes snagged on the name "Clarean Elyuneth Faryel." Horror poured down my head like cold water.
No... I screamed internally. No, no, no. I can't be that scum! I could be anyone, but not him!
The Editor's voice was hurried: Sorry, Leon. He was the most suitable void. Wake up now. And read the data correctly. You will need it.
[LOADING COMPLETE]
[NEW WORLD INITIALIZING...]
A sharp headache.
It felt as if someone had drilled into my skull and mashed my brain into a pulp. My mouth tasted of rusty iron, soured wine, and vomit.
"Great," I thought, groaning. "Not only did I transform into that character, but I also inherited his hangover headache."
I tried to pry my eyes open, but my eyelids felt heavy as lead. The first thing I felt was the texture where I placed my hand. Soft, warm skin.
I thought it was cotton.
"Mmm... Master..."
A coquettish, satisfied murmur. The "softness" beside me snuggled closer. I forced my eyes open.
There were two naked women in the bed beside me. One blonde, the other brunette and much younger.
While I expected to shout "Get up quickly!", the blonde one clung to my arm. "I'm glad you're awake," she giggled.
"You didn't forget us last night while Sera was away. We got drunk too but... drinking with you was wonderful."
The small one laid her head on my chest from the other side. "Yes master, thank you for taking us into the room. Sera always keeps us away, but you wanted it... You didn't let go of us."
Leon Howells' analytical brain froze. The Editor's Eye engaged involuntarily.
Just above their heads, two lines of raw red data streams appeared:
[Target: Lina (Maid)]
Loyalty: 192/100
Sanity: %45
[Target: Mina (Maid)]
Loyalty: 195/100
Sanity: %40
Leon's eyes widened in shock.
One hundred and ninety-two? One hundred and ninety-five?
In mathematics, 100% represents completeness. A value over 100% indicated that the system's limits had been breached. This wasn't loyalty.
This wasn't normal love or servitude.
This was obsession.
The gears in my mind turned rapidly, but the conclusion I reached made me even more nauseous.
These... I thought with horror. These aren't loyal maids. These are maniacs obsessed with Clarean to a sickly degree! They've breached the 100 barrier... This isn't normal human psychology. These are insane perverts who deify their master and look for any opportunity to get into bed with him!
Lina's loose laugh, Mina snuggling into my chest... It was now clear why their sanity was at 40%.
They were ticking time bombs who had lost their minds, driven by sexual impulses and fanaticism.
Oh my God, I said internally. They didn't throw me into a harem paradise; they threw me into an asylum, right into the middle of a perverted cult!
With an impulsive reflex, I snapped my head to the other side. I was a teacher.
This image... It wasn't ethical, it wasn't right, and most importantly; it was dangerous.
"You..." I whispered, panicking as I tried to pull the quilt over them. "Cover yourselves! Immediately!"
Just then, the balcony door burst open with a noise.
SHING!
A metallic sound. A sword was drawn from its scabbard. There was a shadow standing at my bedside.
I lifted my eyes. A woman with jet-black hair, wearing only a tattered nightgown but having not removed her sword belt.
Sera.
Her eyes were bloodshot, and a strange, sickly fire burned within them as she looked at me. New data appeared right above her head.
[Target: Sera (Bodyguard)]
Loyalty: 200/100
Sanity: %15
Leon's breath hitched.
Two hundred? And Sanity fifteen percent?
If 195 meant "pervert," what did 200 mean? And 15% sanity... This woman wasn't even on the brink of madness; she was far beyond the border.
Sera slowly leaned over the bed. Her eyes looked with disgust at the girls clinging to me, then focused on me.
"Haven't you sobered up yet?" she said in a growling, dangerous voice. "Or did these sluts intoxicate you more than I could?"
Leon's mind: This isn't jealousy. This is the threat of a maniac driven crazy by the impulse of possession! Will she kill me? Or... will she do something worse?
"What is happening?" was all I could say. "You..."
Sera didn't let me answer. She grabbed my chin roughly with one hand. Her fingers were so strong they hurt me.
"You are mine," she whispered. "Only mine."
And then she latched onto my lips.
It wasn't a kiss; it was an assault. Hard, wet, tasting of metal, and completely one-sided.
My eyes widened in shock.
No! No! My first kiss! The moment I had protected for 27 years... Was now being stolen by a perverted knight with a loyalty score of 200 and a collapsed mind, accompanied by two naked fanatics beside me!
Panic. Pure, unadulterated, illogical panic.
"Mmmph!" I made a muffled sound.
I tried to scramble backward. I couldn't breathe. This contact, this madness, this intensity... It was too much for my processor.
My analytical ability, combined with the fear that "These women will eat me alive," went bankrupt.
Blue screen.
I pushed Sera and leaped out of bed.
I planted my foot on the floor. But the floor wasn't carpet. On the floor was a half-full wine bottle left from last night.
Step. Slip. Loss of balance.
The laws of physics were ruthless. I flailed my arms in the air but to no avail. My body was flung backward. My back hit the floor-to-ceiling glass window.
CRASH!
The sound of shattering glass mixed with the screams of the women in the room. Sera's reaching hand remained in the air. I found myself in the void.
As I fell from the second floor towards the bushes in the garden, the wind hit my face.
A single thought echoed in my mind:
"Kaorians... You were right. This isn't hoarding. This is an asylum. And I prefer dying to falling into the hands of these perverts!"
And then gravity had the last word.