“Is that really what you’re focusing on right now?” Her pale little hand squeezed my cheek without the slightest mercy. Maybe it was my imagination, but I could’ve sworn I heard a hint of resentment in her voice.

I have to say, the will to survive is strongest in a crisis. My mind had gone foggy after everything that had happened proved too much to take in, but suddenly it snapped back to life.

“Wait. Who are you?”

Like a ring finding the key that fit it, the girl in front of me finally stopped her teasing and returned to her seat. “So you finally remembered the important part, idiot.”

Insulting me over something like that was a bit much.

I rubbed my aching cheek and muttered under my breath about how realistic the simulation in Era was. Then I accidentally touched my head, and my attention quickly shifted to the changes in my own body.

“Are these demon horns?” I felt the horns growing from the top of my head and couldn’t help feeling puzzled. “Why do they look so much like a dragonkin’s?”

Considering that, it was only natural I’d mistaken myself for one.

“My hair’s turned pink, too. What a sinful color…” So should I go borrow a copy of *The Pink-Haired Girl’s Guide to Self-Improvement* from the library and learn to embrace my sweet-on-the-outside, dark-on-the-inside side?

Could my panties be pink, too?

But the girl, who had just returned to her seat, quickly interrupted that thought before I could put it into practice.

“Who do you think I am?”

“A shameless freeloader who bullies people, has a twisted personality, and loves throwing her weight around.”

I swear, those words slipped out without me thinking. They had nothing to do with how I really felt. But, as you’d expect, she didn’t believe me.

“Are you insulting yourself? Never mind the freeloading—why’d you have to pile on so many nasty adjectives?” The blonde girl’s mouth twitched. She stood up again and rubbed her petite fists.

She didn’t look particularly threatening, but I had no doubt how much damage those fists could do—especially when that force was being applied to me.

“Um… was that supposed to be criticism followed by praise?” Remembering that writing technique at a time like this was a clear sign of just how strong my survival instinct was.

“And what exactly were you trying to emphasize?”

That didn’t take much thought. I just had to mention her most noticeable good point.

“And you’re flat-chested, too~”

“…”

“…”

“Any last words?” The girl’s lips were curled in a smile, but there was a terrifying murderous intent behind it. It sounded contradictory, but there was no doubt it was true.

Because I was about to become this girl’s first victim—and deliver a little speech asking for forgiveness.

Yes. No matter what, I wasn’t giving up that last sliver of hope.

“Wait! We’re supposed to be allies of the proletariat, aren’t we?” It was a little embarrassing, but for the sake of my life, I puffed out my chest without hesitation.

But the girl didn’t look happy at all. “Who’d want to form an alliance with a flat-chested kid who hasn’t even hit puberty? Idiot!”

The knuckle rap on my head somehow carried a bitterness and sorrow that didn’t match her age or chest size. If I had to describe that feeling in the fewest words possible, it’d be…

“Ow.” I clutched my head and whimpered.

But then a sudden flash of inspiration crossed my mind.

“Blonde hair, red eyes, flat-chested, a girl, an angel…” Then I remembered the girl’s unmistakably similar voice to the one I’d heard when the game glitched. An answer suddenly came to me. “Could you be Alice, Era’s intelligent AI?”

Thump.

But the answer I got was another petite fist.

“Why did you need ‘flat-chested’ to figure out who I was?”

I took another solid knuckle rap to the head, but this time I didn’t dare fight back. Anyone would feel uneasy after learning that the person in front of them was Alice, the intelligent AI who controlled all of Era’s data and its chief administrator.

“Um, dear Lady Alice, what brings you here in the middle of your busy schedule? The game’s just launched, so you must have a lot to deal with. Wouldn’t anything go wrong if you left your post?”

“And whose fault do you think that is? You took advantage of a loophole and tampered with the program. If I hadn’t arrived in time, the character creation code for all of Era might’ve collapsed.”

Alice said crossly. She half-opened her eyes and gave me a warning look. “Logging out won’t help. I’ve already tracked your IP address.”

Since she’d seen through what I was about to do, I could only sheepishly return to my original seat. At the same time, another thought occurred to me.

Just how serious was violating the cybersecurity law? Maybe the only thing I could be grateful for right now was that I was still a minor.

Maybe I should’ve thought this through more carefully. How could my amateur coding skills possibly stand a chance against a supercomputer with computing power in the tens of thousands of gigaflops?

Wait. If I kept thinking about this, I was going to start crying.

But Alice seemed to see how nervous I was. “Relax. I haven’t reported what happened yet.”

“Huh?”

“But don’t get too excited. It depends on how you behave.” Her pale fingertip gently tilted up my chin. Her playful air seemed to imply something.

I couldn’t help swallowing. “What do you mean, how I behave?”

“What do you think? You’re pretty cute, after all.” The girl leaned over the seat and came closer, breathing warm, damp air by my ear.

“Um, Lady Alice is joking, right~?” I tried to brush off the awkward situation with a nervous laugh.

But she wasn’t having it. “If you still can’t make up your mind, then I’m sorry.”

“Huh? What do you mean, ‘I’m sorry’…?”

“It’s nothing. I’ll just send the video to the police and help them take you to juvenile detention, where you can spend a few years doing homework.” Alice added, “Don’t worry, it’ll all be math. Nice and easy.”

“W-wait, wait… hold on!” Hey, don’t say something that terrifying like it’s no big deal!

“Made up your mind?”

My face burning, I turned away, unable to meet her amused gaze. “P-please… be gentle…”

It was embarrassing, sure, but compared to my current situation, my dignity was a renewable resource that could grow wild anywhere. I could afford to throw it away.

But for a few seconds after I finished speaking, the room fell silent. Then Alice suddenly burst out laughing, pounding the table in a way that completely shattered her ladylike image.

“You’re so easy to fool! Who’d be interested in a body as flat as an ironing board? But your reaction was just too cute, hahaha!”

If I had to compare my face right now to a fruit, it’d have to be an apple—or, more accurately, an overripe one.

Unlike me, the other girl’s voice sounded much lighter. “Heh, I feel so much better now. That’s what you get for making fun of me earlier.”

What are you, an elementary schooler?

Of course, there was no way I could say that out loud. Having someone else hold something over me felt absolutely awful.

“Still, compared to those stuffy old fossils, I find you pretty likable. Making you the Demon King could lead to all sorts of interesting things.”