For the umpteenth time, Jia sneezed loudly, wiping her nose with the sleeve of her sweater.
The only sound was the faint buzz of the shop's OPEN neon sign overhead, which cast dusty bluish light across the shelves crammed full with anime figurines, retro cartridges and the latest releases.
The glass door creaked as the front door opened with a ding, bringing in another late-night customer.
He had his Hands in his pockets, greasy-looking and overweight and staring straight ahead.
Most likely a shut-in NEET, she reasoned.
As if reading her thoughts, he turned to exchange a long, unsettling glance with Jia before shuffling down the fantasy section, accompanied by heavy breathing.
Adjusting the oversized black hoodie and pulling the beanie over her head, Jia slouched a little more, pretending to be busy on the computer in front of her and not closely watching the fat guy now slowly making his way to her.
"This one."
He slammed the game he picked onto the counter with a thud, leaving behind a sweaty imprint.
Dodge Ramble City. Good game, but the devs compromised on the ending part.
Without making eye contact, she scanned the game and rang up the sale.
" Do you have 'fall for me, Saintess'?"
"Um.. no. But we have a new shipment coming in—"
"You should throw them away if you have them."
Jia stalled.
"What?"
He just stared at her long enough to make discomfort prickle her spine. Without a word, he snatched his game off the counter, shuffling out slowly, dragging his feet behind him.
There were stalkers, drunks and sex-starved freaks who would wander in, leering at her chest, asking about games with suggestive covers from the "adult section."
"What a weirdo…I hope he never comes back." Jia murmured, watching him leave the store before reaching for her wet wipes under the counter to clean her hands.
This was supposed to be a temporary two-month job, but she had lost all hope of getting a proper job with her marketing degree. Besides, no entry-level marketing position paid as much as this.
Jia scrolled through her phone, bored, and the next half hour passed with no customers.
" Greg should be here soon. I'll go clean something, guess…" Jia said.
So she busied herself wiping down shelves. In a few minutes, the delivery bell rang shrilly from the back room.
"Finally. Something interesting," she muttered to herself.
A new shipment from the store's regular delivery driver.
"Hey, Jia. Slow night?"
"Hi, Greg. Thankfully," she chuckled as she hefted two boxes inside. He followed her, lugging four cartons behind her.
"I appreciate it, Greg."
He nodded, tipping his cap towards her. She slammed the door shut, waiting for his truck to start before leaving.
"Now to see what new games we have here…"
Jia hauled a carton to the counter, slicing it open with a box-cutter. Foam peanuts spilled out, revealing shiny plastic-wrapped cases.
Another advantage of working here was access to new games as soon as they came out.
She scanned through Indie horror games, fantasy football, magic, cozy farming games, till one under made her pause.
"Oooohh, what's this?"
On the game cover was a beautiful woman with luminous blond hair and three equally handsome men standing behind her.
"Oh, cool…Reverse harem. Bold."
She raised the case to the light and squinted.
"Fall for me, Saintess?"
The same game that weirdo was talking about?
Shrugging off the unease she felt, Jia booted it up into the demo VR rig behind the counter for customers.
The screen came up, loading up the name.
A detailed map came into view, and Jia whistled, reading from the screen.
"Magic Kingdom of Elyria? Impressive graphics."
The map faded, and a beautiful woman's face came into view–probably the main character, she reasoned.
She was beautiful, angelic-looking looking and dimpled with glossy blonde hair that swayed as she smiled.
Next came the three male characters.
A Dark-haired Duke, a prince with Slivery- blonde hair and grey eyes and a silver-haired priest.
How cliche. Hot. But cliche.
Jia rolled her eyes and decided to look up information on it online first.
In forums tagged with the name, many users described it as " exciting but impossible to beat."
Jia let out a low whistle. "Reverse harem otome in a fantasy setting? Bold."
Perfect.
She contemplated playing the game.
Jia glanced outside–empty. No sign of movement.
She quickly set up the pod, slotting the disc in the console, slipping on the purple headset feeling the cool neural pads against her temple.
The rig hummed, and all of a sudden, she was weightless.
[Welcome, Saintess!]
The real world faded away as her character spawned in a church, an ethereal glow floated from stained glass and gentle music filled the air.
[Pray for the kingdom of Elyria, dark forces are at work. Only your prayers can save the kingdom.]
One by one, the male leads walk in to whisper their promises to stay and protect her as she prays.
[You must pick a male lead to come in the hour you need the most.
Warning: the wrong option will result in your life ending.]
"Okay, I like this…" Jia smirked, skipping through the prologue to the tutorial stage on spells, dialogue, mama manipulation and gifts.
"Holy crap….the immersion is unreal…."
She picked the priest first, feeling the brush of his touch on her skin as he promised to quit the church for her.
Jia lost track of time as she flirted awkwardly, got rescued by the prince in a fit of jealousy and triggered a demon attack that caused the Duke to rescue her
Then she was brought to the present by the front door chiming open.
At first, she didn't register it, but she heard heavy footsteps and a muffled voice.
"Check the register, quickly…"
"Hurry up, the place is empty…"
A slam of the shelves in the distance, and Jia tried to yank off her headset, but the VR had a safety delay for emergency exits.
It took a few seconds to confirm her logout.
EXIT GAME.
Jia hit the mental command desperately.
[Are you sure you want to log out?]
Yes. Yes. Dammit. NOW.
She yanked off the headset, and it beeped loudly.
"What the hell?"
Jia blinked, adjusting to the light and sight of the 3 hooded men spread out behind the counter.
One of them had his hand in his hoodie pocket, clutching something.
Fear ran down her spine as cold realization dawned on her. They were Armed Robbers.
"What the….I thought you said it was empty?" One of them said angrily.
"Don't try anything funny," hoodie guy warned
Jia's heart pounded. He pulled out the gun he'd been clutching, pointing it at her.
The metallic tip glinted menacingly under the harsh glare of fluorescent light.
Jia's hands flew up in automatic surrender.
"Empty it. Now."
He tapped the register.
Her hands shook as she typed in the code.
"Faster!"
"Y-yes sir!"
Her voice went up higher than intended, and the two at the back laughed.
Her brain struggled to remember what protocol Marcus, her boss, told her to do in the event of a robbery:
Never argue, don't be a hero, avoid eye contact and give them what they want.
But despite herself, Jia discreetly nudged the button with her knee under the counter, which she hoped was the alarm.
The register dinged open, and quickly, she pulled out the rumpled fives and tens, packing them onto the counter.
"Good. Now you're going to turn around, get out of there and put your hands behind your head, fingers interlaced and on your knees."
He growled, pushing the gun into her temple.
"Please…don't kill me..." Jia pleaded.
"Shut up and do as I say!"
Jia obeyed, hands behind her head, still clutching the headset.
They snickered, and their leader pushed his boot against her forehead.
"If only other people were as cooperative as you were!" the second robber snickered.
"She even has her ass hanging in the air!"
"Wait, that's a female? I thought that was a prepubescent boy!"
They snickered again.
Jia felt violently nauseous.
When were the police coming?
Oh God. What if they shoot her for calling the police?
"Roadkill. What the hell is that?"
Blue and red lights flashed from afar.
"Is that the police?!"
"Let's go!"
"We can't, we have to get gas first!"
"What did you do, bitch?" Their leader swore, roughly yanking Jia up by her hair.
"Stop, please!" she yelped in agony.
"Boss, forget it, let's run!"
But it was too late.
Flashing lights of police cars had already surrounded the store.
"Hands up!" "Don't move!"
Their leader waved his gun close to her face, frantic.
"You see this?? Imma kill her if you try anything funny!"
"Roadkill, T, walk towards me slowly. You get up and walk!"
He shoved the cold gun into her back, pushing Jia forward.
Oh God. I'm going to die. I'm going to die as a meat shield. Jia sent up a desperate prayer to God. Anybody.
"Darren, are you sure this will work?"
"Shut the hell up and stand behind her!" He pointed his gun towards Roadkill.
"Don't point your gun at–"
In that split second, a bullet whizzed through the glass, landing squarely on Roadkill.
The next second seemed like an eternity as Jia watched in horror as the impact sent the robber flying backwards.
"Roadkill!!"
He slammed into the floor with blood spurting out of his chest.
Jia let out a bloodcurdling scream.
Everything went to hell immediately. Their leader returned fire, and the police retaliated.
Glass shards flew, and wooden shelves fell from the ricochets of bullets. Dust and smoke filled the air, blinding Jia, who, already buzzing with adrenaline and terror, crawled quickly on her knees towards the back door.
More sirens pulled up to the front of the store.
Jia got up, limping quickly, now noticing the trail of blood dripping from her side.
"What the hell…."
Dizzy, Jia fell face down on the asphalt.
The red spurting from her side was warm, but her limbs had grown cold.
Raw fear seeped into her. Then anger.
Sure, she'd had a shitty life. But surely, not shitty enough to deserve to die at the whim of another person?
" Mom....Dad...." She wheezed, coughing and tasting blood.
As her eyes closed, she saw her spirit float out of her body.
Below her were the police, pumping her chest, desperately radioing paramedics, the broken VR beside her body covered in blood.
"Am I…dead?"
A screen appeared in front of her.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZING. COMPATIBILITY: 99.99%.VITAL SIGNS: CRITICAL.]
[EMERGENCY TRANSFER PROTOCOL ACTIVATED.WOULD YOU LIKE TO CONTINUE IN ELYRIA?]
[Y/N]
The screen before her continued to pulse.
Why not?
Her consciousness reached and selected
[Y].
[WELCOME TO ELYRIA, JIA-HYUN.]
[REINCARNATION COMPLETE.]
[TRANSFERRING CONSCIOUSNESS...]
[ENJOY YOUR NEW LIFE.]