The moment I stepped inside, the door slammed shut behind me.

The room was pitch black.

"Where's the light switch—"

Before I could finish, I felt something cold and wet brush against my face.

Then came a dripping sound.

Drip, drip, drip.

I squinted, letting my eyes adjust.

I finally made out a small shape in the center of the room.

It was a little girl, maybe seven or eight years old.

She was completely soaked, her hair plastered to her face, water dripping endlessly from her body.

She slowly turned her head to look at me.

Then, she reached her hands toward me.

"Sister... play... with... me..."

【WARNING: Player Ava has triggered the Drowned Wraith’s lethal curse. Illusion ‘The Bottomless Pit’ is now active.】

She wasn’t a little girl at all.

She was a child’s corpse, one that had steeped for decades at the bottom of a pond.

Her skin was puffy and deathly pale.

From her empty eye sockets, a black, oily fluid constantly dripped.

Her nails, long and black, were bent at a sickening angle, ready to break the neck of the living soul before her.

【Comment 1: It’s her! The Drowned Wraith! Her illusion makes you feel like you’re drowning for real!】

【Comment 2: Just look at her! That bloated skin, the empty eyes… just two black holes! My anxiety is going through the roof!】

【Comment 3: That black ooze is concentrated hatred. Touch it and it’s game over.】 【Comment 4: RIP newbie.】

But I only saw a little girl, shivering in the rain.

"Oh, you poor thing!" I stripped off my jacket without a second thought. "You're soaked! You're going to catch a cold."

I rushed over and wrapped my jacket tightly around her.

The drowning illusion vanished instantly.

For any sane player, the sight would have been the stuff of nightmares.

There was a woman, tenderly bundling a drowned, discolored corpse in her own coat.

The ghost’s stiff, cyanotic hands, which had been seconds from strangling her, hovered just a breath away from her delicate neck.

The little girl froze, her eyes wide as she stared at me.

Her hands were still poised to strangle me, but she didn't move.

"How long were you out there?" I touched her forehead. "You're freezing. You must be chilled to the bone."

I led her by the hand to the fireplace. There was some dry wood, and I lit a fire.

Warm light filled the room.

The little girl stared blankly at the flames, the emptiness in her eyes gradually replaced by an emotion I’d never seen before.

Confusion.

"Sit down, I'll dry your hair," I said, pulling a towel from my luggage. "What's your name?"

She didn't answer, just sat stiffly by the fire.

I gently wrapped the towel around her head and began to dry her dripping hair.

My touch was delicate, like I was handling priceless porcelain.

"It's okay if you don't want to say," I said softly. "I'm Ava. You look like a Lily. Is it okay if I call you Lily?"

Her body trembled slightly.

Not from cold, but from shock.

For decades, humans had only screamed at her terrifying face.

They tried to run. They begged. They cursed her.

But this woman... she didn't scream.

She dried her hair.

She gave her a name.

"You must be hungry." I rummaged through my bag, found a chocolate bar, and handed it to her. "It's all I've got. We can look for something better in the kitchen tomorrow."

Lily looked at the chocolate in her hand, and black liquid welled up in her eyes.

But this time, it wasn't the venom of a curse. It was tears.

"...Warm," she whispered, her voice choked with emotion.

I smiled. "Of course, it's warm. We have a fireplace and blankets." My voice became firm but gentle. "From now on, this is our home."

"Our?"

"That's right." I patted her shoulder. "From today on, you're my little sister!"

Lily's eyes went wide, as if she'd heard the most unbelievable thing in the world.

Sister?

The word was completely foreign to her.

She couldn't remember the last time she'd heard it.

Was it when she was alive?

When she was human?

She remembered her death.

The icy pond, the desperate struggle, the burning in her lungs.

After she died, she became a vengeful spirit, torturing every living person who entered this room in the same way.

But now, this woman named Ava had given her warmth.

A name.

A home.

Lily slowly relaxed the hand that had been ready to snap Ava’s neck. Gently, she reached out and took hold of Ava’s finger.

"Sister..." she whispered.

"I'm here," I said, stroking her head.

In that warm moment, the temperature in the room plummeted.

The fire in the fireplace flickered, as if suppressed by an unseen force.

A tall figure materialized silently behind me, a cold presence washing over us like a tide.

Darkness swirled around him like a living thing.

Light was devoured. The air grew heavy.

The Shadow Lord.

The true master of this room.

"Interesting."

The voice was a deep, emotionless rumble. It sliced through the silence like a scythe. Death had arrived.

"The first time in decades a human has managed to quiet the little water wraith."

Lily shot up, standing in front of me.

A moment ago, she was a little girl in need of protection. Now, she was like a small animal defending its young.

"Don't you hurt my sister!" She spread her arms, black liquid pouring from her eyes. "Kael, this is my sister!"

"Yours?" The voice was filled with scorn. "A mortal about to die is worthy of being your sister?"

Tendrils of shadow shot out from the darkness, easily sweeping Lily aside.

She slammed into the wall with a pained groan.

"Stop it!"

I immediately rushed forward to confront him, but my foot slipped and I lost my balance.

As I fell, my hands shot out instinctively, landing on something.

His chest.

It was cold and hard, but a warm crack glowed with a faint light.

I looked up.

To my eyes, he was a tall man, maybe six-foot-three.

He was dressed in all black, wearing some kind of mask or hood that looked very artistic.

The coolest part was the glowing decoration on his chest, like a special effect from a sci-fi movie.

【WARNING: Player Ava has touched the S-rank Boss ‘The Shadow Lord’s’ ‘Soul Scar.’ This is a fatal wound from a past betrayal. Touching it means instant, murderous rage.】

To anyone else, Kael wasn’t a ‘man.’

He was a walking shadow, a hole in reality.

He flickered in and out of existence, sucking in all light and sound around him.

That ‘glowing crack’ wasn’t a decoration.

It was a raw, open wound on his very soul.

It pulsed with pure, concentrated hatred—enough to kill a god.

And now, because a human touched it, that hatred was about to explode.

"Whoa," I breathed. "This cosplay is insane."

【Comment 1: Is she insane? That's the Shadow Lord! Not a cosplayer!】

【Comment 2: Holy shit, she just touched his wound】

【Comment 3: That crack is the fatal wound he got from a betrayal, anyone who touches it sends him into a rage】

【Comment 4: It's over, she's really dead this time】

I curiously poked the glowing crack. "How did you do this effect? Is it an LED strip? Some new tech?"

The man named Kael froze completely, as if he'd been struck by lightning.

"The craftsmanship is master-level," I gushed. "Seriously, it's a shame you're so stoic. You'd win first place at Comic-Con, no contest. You could totally go pro."

The room was terrifyingly quiet.

Even Lily was staring at us with wide eyes.

【Comment 5: Wait, why isn't the Shadow Lord reacting?】

I let go and took a step back. "Sorry, that was rude of me. I'm Ava, your new roommate."

Kael looked down at me, his eyes hidden in shadow, glinting with a complex light.

For centuries, every creature who saw him was consumed by terror.

They screamed. They ran. They died in despair.

But this woman was complimenting his "cosplay."

She dared to touch his most painful wound and call it a "special effect."

She called him her "roommate."

Her eyes were clear. No fear, no greed. Just pure curiosity and goodwill.

He hadn't seen a gaze like that in hundreds of years.

"You..." his voice was a little unsteady. "You're not afraid of me?"

"Afraid of you?" I tilted my head. "Why would I be? You're not a real monster."

"I am a monster," he insisted. "I am the Shadow Lord. I devour light and tear souls apart—"

"Oh, right," I nodded. "Method acting. Total commitment. I respect that."

Kael was silent. Utterly, completely silent.

He had no idea how to respond.

It was the first time in centuries that a living being had interrupted his intimidation speech.

"By the way," I looked over at Lily in the corner. "You were bullying my sister just now."

"Sister?" Kael followed my gaze. "She's a drowning spirit who has killed countless humans—"

"She's Lily," I cut him off. "A little girl who got caught in the rain."

I walked over and helped Lily up, checking to see if she was hurt.

"Sister, are you okay?" Lily clung to my clothes. "He's dangerous."

"I'm fine," I patted her head, then turned back to Kael. "If we're going to be roommates, we need to set some ground rules. Rule number one: no bullying children."

Kael stared at me, an unreadable emotion flickering in his eyes.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

A knock on the door interrupted us.

"Ava? Are you okay?" It was Ethan's voice. "We wanted to come up and check on you."

I frowned. "We?"

"Me and Chloe."

The shadows around Kael instantly flared, and the temperature dropped several more degrees.

Lily clutched my shirt, whispering, "They have bad intentions."

"I know," I patted her hand. "Let them in. I want to see what they're up to."

The door swung open on its own.

Ethan walked in cautiously, Chloe right behind him.

The door swung open, blasting them with a wave of bone-chilling cold and the stench of decay.

Ethan’s Anxiety Level instantly shot from 30 to 55.

He gripped his flashlight, but its beam was swallowed the moment it hit the room, leaving only a small, trembling circle of light at his feet.

He saw Ava. She was fine.

Then he saw what was sitting next to her.

They weren't human.

To her left sat a little girl, her body bloated and swollen. In the firelight, her skin glowed with the pale, bluish-white of a corpse.

Her eyes were two bottomless black holes, staring coldly right at them.

Ethan felt like his soul was being sucked right out of his body.

And to Ava's right...

That was something far worse. A horror beyond words.

It was a human-shaped silhouette made of pure darkness, devouring all light and sound that dared to come near.

Just looking at it made Ethan feel like his mind was about to shatter.

【Chloe: (WARNING! ANXIETY SPIKE! 80!)】

Chloe looked even worse than Ethan. She had recognized them instantly—two of the most notorious monsters in any S-rank game.

The Drowned Wraith and the Shadow Lord.

The legendary duo known for wiping out entire teams of A-rank players.

And Ava...

She was sitting right between them, like they were having a family meeting.

"Are you... chatting?" Ethan asked, disbelieving.

"We're discussing the fireplace's architecture," I said, pointing at the flames. "Kael says the ventilation system in this old model is poorly designed and collects too much soot. I think he has a point."

Ethan's mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.

To him, that “discussion” wasn’t a discussion at all.

It was an eardrum-scraping whisper from the depths of hell.

Chloe was the first to snap out of it.

She forced a sweet smile onto her face, but her voice trembled uncontrollably. “Wow, Ava, you’re amazing! You’ve already gotten so close with your… roommates.”

She pulled a silver, glowing charm out of her bag. "I went through a lot of trouble to get this A-class item, a 'Holy Light Talisman.' It can repel evil spirits. It's for you, to protect yourself."

I glanced at the talisman, then my eyes fell on her hand.

She was wearing a delicate bracelet on her wrist.

A silver chain with a heart-shaped pendant, intricately engraved.

The design was familiar.

Because I drew it.

My gaze shifted to Ethan.

He was wearing the matching bracelet, the men's version.

A matching set.

The birthday gift I had designed for him.

Ethan noticed my stare and tried to hide his hand behind his back in a panic.

But just then, a tendril of shadow shot out from Kael. It coiled around Ethan's arm, deliberately yanking up his sleeve.

His forearm was exposed.

On it was a tattoo.

A black raven with its wings spread, the lines smooth and powerful.

I still had the design sketch. I'd spent three nights drawing it for him.

But now, under the raven's wing, were two new letters: C.L.

Chloe's initials.

My expression hardened instantly.

The air in the room seemed to freeze.

Seeing my icy glare, Ethan's heart clenched. A powerful wave of regret washed over him.

"Ava, I—"

"There's nothing to explain." I looked away and stood up. "Thanks for the talisman, but I don't need it."

I pushed it back toward Chloe, then turned to Kael. "I'm hungry. Let's go find something to eat."

"Alright," Kael stood up immediately, shadows swirling around him.

I picked up Lily and walked towards the door.

As I passed Ethan, I didn't even spare him a glance.

Like he was a stranger.

"Ava!" Ethan reached for me. "Let me explain—"

I recoiled, sidestepping his touch. "Don't. Touch. Me."

Three words, sharper than a blade of ice.

Ethan's hand froze in mid-air, his face deathly pale.

Sensing my emotional shift, the cold aura around Kael intensified.

The temperature in the room plunged below freezing.

Black frost began to crawl across the walls.

Ethan and Chloe shuddered, instinctively stumbling back as alarms blared in their minds.

【CONTROL YOUR ANXIETY! LEVEL BREACH! 85! 85!】

"Ignore these two weirdos," I said to Kael, my voice frighteningly calm. "Let's go."