The first time Lisa played City of Sin, she had only one thought.
This game was insane.
Not the usual "wow, good graphics" kind of insane, but the dangerous kind, the kind that made you feel like you weren't playing a game but trespassing into a world that shouldn't exist. The streets looked too real, the people moved too naturally, and even the air on the screen felt like it had weight.
The developers didn't just make a city.
They made it a reality.
And the scariest part was that the game didn't hold your hand.
CoS gave you an absurd amount of freedom, enough freedom that players quickly stopped behaving like gamers and started behaving like criminals, tyrants, saints, lunatics, or whatever else they wanted to become.
It was a paradise for people who wanted to test limits.
And a nightmare for anyone who wasn't careful.
Because the City of Sin had one rule that made it different from every other game.
If your character died, the save file was deleted permanently.
No respawn.
No retry.
No second chance.
You didn't "lose a match."
You lose a life.
That was why most players couldn't even last a month. The average survival time was about thirty days, and even that was being generous, because the city wasn't designed for heroes.
It was designed for survivors.
Lisa had been playing CoS for nearly five years, long enough to abandon other games she once loved. At this point, CoS wasn't a hobby anymore.
It was a habit.
An addiction.
A second life.
The login screen appeared like always.
[Welcome to City of Sin]
Flashing lights, dramatic sound effects, and the kind of exaggerated introduction that felt like the game was mocking you, as if it was saying, come on in, let's see how long you last this time.
Then her character window opened.
The Devil Queen Lisa.
[Survival Time: 1,652 days, 7 hours]
A middle-aged woman holding a revolver, eyes half-lidded like she had already seen every ugly truth the city could offer.
This character was her pride.
The longest survivor Lisa had ever built.
In the beginning, Lisa had died so many times that it was humiliating. She got executed by the National Intelligence Service, got bullied and isolated in the academy route, and even got assassinated after reaching the position of Hero Association president.
There were moments Lisa almost smashed her keyboard.
But Lisa didn't quit.
Because surviving in CoS felt better than winning in any other game.
It wasn't a victory screen.
It was proof.
And today, she was here for the final proof.
"Well," She muttered, leaning forward. "Let's end this."
Her goal was simple.
World Ranking Number One.
Even though CoS was basically single-player, it still had a ranking system based on achievements and completion. Most players never reached even eighty percent.
Lisa was sitting at 99.8%.
And above her, in first place, was the same bastard who had been haunting her screen for months.
[1st Place: IAMTHEGOD]
He was only ahead by a fraction.
Not because he was better.
Because he got there first.
Both of them were stuck at the exact same number, unable to move forward, because the last achievement in the game was hidden.
A blank slot.
A question mark.
[??]
No hint.
No description.
No title.
Nothing.
Lisa had tried everything.
She became a hero loved by the city.
She became a villain feared by the city.
She burned districts down.
She built organizations.
She destroyed organizations.
She even assassinated the president using a cotton swab just to see if the game's system would finally break and reward her for insanity.
Nothing worked.
Then yesterday, Lisa received a message.
[IAMTHEGOD: I saw your YT videos. You're trying so hard to become first place, but you'll never clear the last achievement. Give up, girl.]
It pissed her off.
So Lisa replied immediately, asking if she knew how to clear it.
His response was… strange.
[IAMTHEGOD: Can you live as yourself, using your own nickname? Haha. I don't think you'll ever clear it.]
Live as herself?
Using her own nickname?
It sounded like nonsense.
Still, Lisa didn't let him see confusion.
Lisa replied with sarcasm.
[The Devil Queen Lisa: What's wrong with my nickname? Want to taste the power of this Queen?]
His reply came almost instantly.
[IAMTHEGOD: Really? Then try it once. You'll understand tomorrow when you log in.]
That was the end.
No explanation.
No warning.
Just that sentence made her skin crawl.
Now, as Lisa entered the game world, she felt a faint unease, as if the city itself was waiting for her.
The screen loaded.
The streets of Averton spread out like a living map.
Then suddenly…
BOOM!
A violent explosion roared through her speakers, so loud that she flinched and nearly fell out of her chair.
The screen flashed white.
A system window appeared.
Not a normal notification.
This one felt like a contract written in blood.
[Hidden Achievement Unlocked!]
[The details of the achievement will be revealed through challenges.]
[You can only attempt this challenge once.]
[If you fail, you can never attempt it again.]
[This achievement can only be held by one person.]
[Would you like to take on the challenge? Y/N]
Her breath stopped.
Only one person?
Then that meant IAMTHEGOD had already attempted it.
And failed.
That was why it was still unclaimed.
That was why he sounded amused.
He wasn't warning her.
He was watching her walk into a trap.
But if she cleared it…
She wouldn't just surpass him.
She would erase him from the top forever.
She grinned. "I'll show you why I'm the Queen..."
Then Lisa pressed Y without hesitation.
The moment the key clicked, her vision blurred.
The sound twisted.
Her body went numb, like someone had unplugged her nervous system.
Before Lisa could even curse, darkness swallowed her whole.
*
Somewhere else, in a quiet room with nobody inside, a computer monitor glowed faintly.
A message popped up.
[IAMTHEGOD: ZZZ… You're really doing that.]
Another followed.
[IAMTHEGOD: Then let's do it.]
And another.
[IAMTHEGOD: Enjoy it.]
Then, slowly, something terrifying happened.
The chat logs began disappearing.
The user list began erasing itself.
Names vanished as if they had never existed.
[Nonexistent user.]
[Nonexistent user.]
[Nonexistent user.]
***
"Uh…?"
When Lisa opened her eyes, the first thing Lisa saw was the ceiling.
But it wasn't her ceiling.
It was too clean, too high, too expensive.
For a moment, her brain tried to convince her she had simply fallen asleep while playing, but the bed beneath her was far too soft, far too wide, and the air smelled like something Lisa had never owned in her life.
Luxury.
She sat up.
The room was huge, easily three times larger than her old apartment, with expensive wallpaper, polished furniture, and curtains that looked like they cost more than her rent.
Her heart started pounding.
"Where the hell am I?"
Before Lisa could move, there was a knock at the door.
"Are you awake, Young Miss?"
Young Miss?
Lisa froze.
That voice wasn't coming from speakers.
It was real.
Lisa didn't answer.
Outside, the footsteps hesitated, then moved away.
Her pulse spiked, and Lisa stumbled out of bed, scanning the room until her eyes landed on something familiar.
A computer.
Lisa rushed to it and pressed the power button.
The desktop loaded.
There were only a few folders.
[City of Sin]
[XXX]
[Game Collection]
Lisa ignored the suspicious folder name and clicked City of Sin immediately.
Inside was the game icon.
And a Notepad file.
[Must Read]
Her fingers trembled as Lisa opened it.
The words appeared on the screen, neat and merciless.
[To those who have played City of Sin in advance, thank you for participating as close beta players.]
[You are currently in New Averton, the setting of City of Sin.]
[This service is exclusively available to only one player with the highest achievement completion.]
[You are now experiencing CoS directly.]
[The game can only be closed when the ending is reached.]
[GAME OVER is not included in the ending.]
[We hope you enjoy playing.]
Lisa stared at the screen, her throat dry.
Then a curse slipped out.
"These lunatics…!"
Before Lisa could even process it, the game launched by itself.
The title screen appeared.
[City of Sin]
[Loading…]
Then the system message struck her like a bullet.
[Synchronization complete. Welcome to the world, Player: The Devil Queen Lisa.]
A character window popped up.
But it wasn't Queen Lisa.
It was someone else.
Someone Lisa recognized instantly.
[Name: Celeste Bet Noah]
[Gender: Female]
[Description: A half-blood born between Mikhael Bet Noah and Allegra Rossi. Successor of the House of Noah, a family that leads the mafia organization of Hatzel Syndicate.]
Her breathing stopped.
Celeste of House Noah.
That trash mafia heiress NPC.
The spoiled villainess who bullied academy students and was killed in half the routes.
The bitch that players murdered for fun.
Slowly, Lisa turned her head toward the mirror.
And her entire world shattered.
The reflection staring back wasn't hers.
The kind of face that screamed wealth and danger.
Lisa's hands touched her cheeks as if she could peel the skin off.
But it didn't change.
This wasn't a costume.
This was a body.
A real body.
"Haha…"
A hollow laugh escaped her.
"This is… me?"
No.
This was worse.
This was Celeste.
The moment the realization fully sank in, another knock came from outside.
This time, the voice sounded closer, more urgent.
"Young Miss, there is one hour left until the academy entrance exam."
The academy entrance exam.
Lisa remembered the storyline.
She remembered what happened there.
And she remembered what Celeste's fate usually was.
She swallowed hard.
Because in the academy route…
Celeste Bet Noah didn't survive long.
She stared at her reflection, feeling cold sweat form along her spine.
Then Lisa whispered the only honest thought in her head.
"I'm screwed."
And outside the door, footsteps approached again, slow and patient, like someone waiting to escort a corpse.
"Young Miss?"