My boyfriend tells me he's a monster in a game, but I think he's lying. What monster would have washboard abs and defined obliques? And what monster would keep asking me for hugs and kisses?

Everything changes when I end up in a survival game one day. I'm stuck in a dark, cold ocean when the main boss of the game, a scary tentacled monster, entangles me in its grasp. When it speaks, the voice is gentle and familiar. "Kiss me, Ara."

On Valentine's Day, I told my boyfriend, Cyrus Medford, that I wanted to break up with him because he's often not at home. He even told me that he was a monster in a survival game and needed to return to the game occasionally just to punish the players.

What a joke! As if anyone would believe such far-fetched lies!

Let's not talk about the fact that survival games didn't exist in this world. There was absolutely no way monsters would develop an eight-pack, nor would they demand hugs and kisses from me every day and torment me in bed all the time.

I sent Cyrus the break-up text, fully not expecting him to barge into my room in the middle of the night while completely drenched. He wasted no time in pinning me on my bed.

"Honey, please don't break up with me!" Cyrus might sound pitiful, yet his hands began roaming up and down my body.

He was quick to grab me by my waist, his shallow pants softly fanning across my neck. "I told you that I was on a mission. Next time, I'll get rid of those players faster."

Once Cyrus was done speaking, he leaned over to kiss me. The kiss made me go limp immediately.

Cyrus was handsome and extremely good in bed. It was normal for him to possess a flaw or two. Hence, my heart softened immediately.

"You'd better not do this in the future," I rasped out.

"Okay. I promise you I won't do that ever again."

…

It had been half a month since Cyrus made that promise. In the end, he still went missing.

He never picked up any of my calls. I visited the places he frequented, but I never saw him there. He never came home throughout the week.

It was getting more and more difficult for me to sleep fitfully at night. I kept having nightmares throughout the night.

One night, I was lying on the bed groggily when I heard a loud chime. The next thing I knew, I felt the whole world spinning around me.

[Congratulations, you've joined the survival game as a player!]

[You've triggered "The Veil of Blood Oath"! Dungeon rank: S!]

[Mission objective: You must survive in the village till the end of the ritual!]

[Now, let the game begin…]

Survival game?

My mind cleared up instantly when I heard the familiar phrase.

Wasn't this the survival game Cyrus talked about? How could there be an actual survival game in this world?

I opened my eyes instantly, soon realizing that I was standing in a foggy village.

It happened to be raining at the moment. When a raindrop touched my skin, I felt a pang of sharp pain in the affected area.

I instinctively reached out to catch a raindrop. To my horror, it was actually a fine needle instead of a water droplet.

Another tiny cut was made on my palm thanks to the needle.

I couldn't afford to dwell on the thought. Instead, I bolted toward a mansion in front of me.

I had a lot of stamina and endurance thanks to Cyrus constantly copulating with me till late into the night with every chance he got. As such, I was the first person to enter the mansion.

After that, a few more people dashed into the mansion. Altogether, there were three men and two women who sustained injuries of various degrees.

The village chief could be seen standing in the living room. His back was hunched, and his cheeks were sunken. If anything, he looked all skin and bones.

He swept a glance at us, his gaze dark and unfriendly. "You must be here to attend the ritual, yes?"

The village chief could be seen holding a wedding gown and a tuxedo, all colored in blood red. I could even smell the faint coppery scent coming from them.

"These are the clothes you're required to wear." The village chief's voice was hoarse and low-pitched. "Try on them to see if they fit you."

As he spoke, he turned to look at me first, causing my heart to skip a beat out of nervousness. I happened to be the first person standing on the left.

Almost immediately, I recalled the things Cyrus had said to me. "Don't accept anything anyone gives you when you're in a survival game."

Just as the village chief was about to pass me the wedding dress, I reacted instinctively without thinking. I rolled my ankle instantly before exclaiming in pain.

"Ouch!" I bent down to rub my ankle after pretending to twist it.

The village chief didn't get to hand the gown over to me. He paused momentarily. His eyes—which were mostly white—were fixed on the top of my head for a few seconds before he turned to look at the woman next to me.

"You. Try on the gown."

The woman accepted the gown with trembling hands.

After that, the village chief passed the tuxedo to another man.

"Hurry up and try it on," he urged.

From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of the woman putting on the wedding gown. The moment she did so, the loose gown suddenly contracted rapidly. It bound her tightly as though it were a constricting net.

The poor woman let out a pained shriek. Her beautiful face was instantly contorted in pain to the maximum.

Blood began seeping through the fabric. Then, her body was instantly crushed into large chunks of flesh, which fell apart shortly afterward.

A mist of blood began wafting through the air. The strong metallic scent filled the air as chunks of flesh scattered across the ground.

Another woman, who had brown wavy hair, instantly emptied her guts on the spot.

The man, who had accepted the tuxedo earlier, had yet to try it on. He was so frightened by the grotesque sight that he threw the tuxedo away.

Everyone else had pallid complexions as well. They looked like they wanted to puke, but they couldn't.

I could feel my stomach churning as well. Thank goodness Cyrus loved to watch horror movies with me in the past. I was used to seeing grotesque creatures like rotten mermaids and human-eating zombies. Moreover, I had already watched all sorts of horrifying and disgusting stuff in all sorts of horror movies, so I didn't overreact like the rest of the players.

The village chief was the only one who kept his cool. He even mumbled to himself while staring at the flesh chunks, "It seems that the clothes are a size too small. I'll have to alter the measurements."

After that, he raised his head to look at us. "You should follow me to your rooms and rest for now. You may try on the clothes after their measurements are altered."

Then, he turned to walk into the depths of the mansion. Everyone else just swapped glances with each other.

"S-Should we follow him as well?" one of the men asked in a quivering voice.

"Even if we don't follow him, we don't have any other choice." A muscular man looked quite calm and composed. "Just look at how scared you all are acting. If you guys can join a Rank S dungeon, that means you must've cleared many dungeons in the past, right?"

"This is my first time…" I raised my hand meekly.

The muscular man shot me a weird look. "This is your first time here? You're saying this Rank S dungeon is your first experience in this game?"

I nodded.

For a moment, the man's expression shifted. I couldn't tell if he was feeling weirded out or if he felt sympathetic toward me. In the end, he just said, "Poor thing."

After that, he shook his head before heading into the depths of the mansion.

I was confused, to say the least.

Suddenly, I saw a few sentences streaking across my eyes.

"This is a Rank S dungeon! Finally, we're getting a new Rank S dungeon!"

"But she looks like a total newbie…"

"Seriously? Can newbies even join Rank S dungeons? Something must be wrong with the system, right?"

"Wow, she got really unlucky this time. The final boss in Rank S is super terrifying! Countless expert players have died in Rank S dungeons!"

What were these weird dialogues? Were they comments?

I stared at the floating comments, clearly flabbergasted. It seemed that only expert players could join Rank S dungeons. How could a newbie like me possibly enter such a high-level dungeon?

Everyone had already entered the depths of the mansion. In an instant, I was left behind.

I hesitated for a few seconds before approaching the tuxedo. After picking it up, I folded it and stuffed it into my clothes. Then, I took a deep breath.

Cyrus had told me that he was a monster in the survival game. I wondered if I'd meet him in this dungeon.

Would he… really kill people?

I followed the last person into the depths of the mansion. We walked through the hall, soon approaching a large courtyard in the middle.

I wanted to chat with the woman who had just vomited and introduce myself to her. After all, we were the only women left.

I didn't know why, but the woman was either too frightened or didn't wish to talk to me at all because she never bothered glancing at me. Instead, she caught up to the muscular man quickly.

Meanwhile, the guy who had thrown the tuxedo away turned back a few times to look at me.

I pressed my lips together before scanning my environment. There seemed to be a chapel off to my left.

The chapel's door was left ajar. I could see a statue inside the chapel.

The statue was humongous. Half of its face was covered by what seemed to be thick and heavy scales, and only a pair of blood-red eyes were revealed.

The eyes and the exposed half of the face seemed a little familiar.

Before I could look at the statue, the village chief instantly distracted me. "These are your rooms. You may choose to share a room with another person or stay in a room on your own."

The village chief kept staring at us as he spoke. I could only avert my gaze before hurrying toward the rooms.

His gaze seemed a little frightening. We could feel goosebumps crawling across our scalps. "Rest well. I'll see you all tomorrow."

After that, he turned on his heel and headed toward a room. That should be his room.

"I think we should stick together," the muscular man suggested.

Even though the village chief said they could stay in their own rooms, no one was brave enough to do so in such a spooky environment.

Everyone immediately agreed to the suggestion. The woman and I would stay in one room while the remaining three men shared the other.

Once we entered our room, the woman curled up on the bed while typing up a storm on her phone. I dug out my phone as well and tried to call Cyrus, hoping that he'd pick up.

Of course, no one picked up the call.

I tried to text him, only to realize there weren't any signals here.

"Who's the newbie calling? Don't tell me she doesn't know she can't contact people who aren't in the dungeon!"

"Yeah, she doesn't know about it at all. Just look at how dumb she is. I bet she won't be able to survive past tomorrow morning."

It turned out that I couldn't contact people who weren't in the dungeon. If I couldn't contact Cyrus, did that mean he wasn't in this dungeon at all?

That realization made me feel a little disappointed.

If only Cyrus was an NPC of this dungeon. I'd be safe if that were the case.

…

The next morning, the village chief summoned us to the chapel we saw last night.

"We worship the Sea God in this village," he said to us while facing the god's statue.

I raised my head to look at the statue. Only then could I make out its features properly.

The upper half of the statue was humanoid, but its lower half consisted of countless tentacles. At first glance, it looked very frightening.

But when I looked at the statue from such a close distance, I felt that the exposed half of its face resembled Cyrus'.

I didn't know if I was seeing things, but I saw one of the eyes blink abruptly. But when I stared at the statue again, it no longer moved.

"The reason why I invited you here is to attend the annual Ritual of the Tides that's held in the village. We need to pick out the most suitable man and woman to take on the roles of the groom and the bride. They'll be presented as offerings to the Sea God."

Then, the village chief turned to look at us. "The wedding outfits didn't fit you quite well yesterday, but it's alright. I've invited a tailor here to take your measurements in order to make the alterations."

After that, he turned to look at a tailor, who walked over to the group. The tailor could be seen holding a long coil of measuring tape while approaching us.

"Who's going first?"

Everyone quickly recalled what happened last night. Then, they looked at the measuring tape, which was more than capable of strangling someone to death. They all took a step backward.

The tailor's dark gaze swept over our faces. Suddenly, he fixed his gaze on me.

Ugh… Was my luck really that shitty? Did I just get picked again?

"You, then." As expected, the tailor began walking toward me.

My body froze up immediately as though someone had cast a freezing spell on me.

The tailor looked pretty suspicious of me when he noticed how nervous I looked. He leaned in abruptly to stare into my eyes. His voice took on a haunting quality.

"Do you not want your measurements taken?"

The tailor's expression contorted frighteningly at that moment. I had a feeling that if I were to say no, he'd snap my neck with that measuring tape of his.

My heart was about to leap out of my throat.

"N-No!"

I happened to catch sight of a man next to me from the corner of my eye. An idea popped into my mind immediately, prompting me to point at him.

"The truth is, I'm worried that my boyfriend will get jealous!"

That man was the one who had thrown the tuxedo away last night. He was shocked when he heard my words. "Huh?"

The tailor turned to look at the man doubtfully. I quickly shot the man a look.

"Didn't you mention that you didn't want other men to touch me?"

Thank goodness that man wasn't an idiot. He quickly registered what was going on after a brief moment of shock. Then, he approached me right away.

"Yeah! This woman is my girlfriend. We'll just take each other's measurements!"

The tailor stared at us. His frightening expression was instantly replaced by a friendly one. "Oh, I see! Young people really tend to get jealous, huh?"

He passed the measuring tape to the man. "Alright, then. You can just take each other's measurements."

After that, the tailor approached the next person. I heaved a sigh of relief.

"Thanks for the save just now," the man murmured. "I'm Martin Valinsky. What's your name?"

"I'm Arabella Page."

Martin extended his hand to me. "I'll take your measurements for you."

Suddenly, I could feel a chilly presence right next to me.