How to Survive as a Princess in a Reverse Harem Game - Chapter 2
After a bit more conversation, I glanced at the clock and realized that the visiting hours were almost over.
Swallowing my disappointment, I stood up from the folding chair.
“Jiyu, I’ll come again soon. Until then, behave and listen to the doctors and nurses, okay? And no being picky with your food.”
“Sis, seriously! Do you think I’m a kid?”
“Of course you’re a kid. Are you saying you’re an adult now?”
“Ugh, really! Just hurry up and go home!”
Jiyu snapped at me in mock annoyance. For a brief moment, it felt like she was back to her healthy self, and I left the room smiling.
But that smile didn’t last long.
* * *
[Account Balance: 454,548 won]
As much as I didn’t want to believe it, this was all the money I had. Checking my mobile bank account at the deserted bus stop, I swallowed a sigh.
At least I managed to pay this month’s rent and Jiyu’s hospital bills…
‘What about next month?’
The suffocating sense of helplessness weighed on me.
At times like this, I couldn’t help but miss my parents, who had passed away early on. They died in an accident when I was twenty.
Suddenly, we were left alone in the world.
Thankfully, thanks to the art skills I had honed since childhood, I was able to take on freelance work from a close acquaintance, which allowed us to scrape by.
But it was never enough, and I ended up taking a leave from university, working like a machine for the past two years just to take care of my younger sibling.
Just when life seemed to be getting a little better, Jiyu fell ill.
All the money I had saved for my tuition was used up on hospital bills and surgery fees, and this remaining balance was all that was left.
‘I thought we’d return to normal soon.’
The longer time passed, the more hopeless everything felt. With no parents and no one else to rely on, the weight of survival fell entirely on what I could earn, making it even harder to bear.
‘I just want to run away.’
The burden of paying for treatments for a disease with no clear end in sight was overwhelming. The suffocating reality made me want to escape, anywhere—anywhere that I wouldn’t have to worry about money…
‘No. Don’t think like this. Jiyu will get better.’
I slapped my cheeks lightly, trying to force myself to see the situation in a more positive light, but it was no use.
No matter how much I filled my thoughts with pretty flowers, the grim reality wasn’t going to turn into a blooming garden.
Ding!
A notification sound chimed softly. I instinctively swiped down, wondering if it might be an urgent message.
[(Ad) You are invited to the *Kingdom of Lublin*!
Dashing knights are waiting for you. Log in now for ☆Secret Mode★ for free! ♡⸜(ˆᗜˆ˵ )⸝♡]
“Ugh…”
A sigh escaped my lips.
I hadn’t even visited any sites where ads like this would show up, so how did it manage to slip through?
Data leaks really are a problem these days.
I was about to swipe away the tab when, somehow, my touch pressed the ad instead.
“Ah.”
Maybe it’s just because my phone’s old? The touch screen seemed to have a mind of its own.
I quickly tried to force-close the app, but the screen froze, stuck loading on a white page as if it had crashed.
It’s no surprise, though. I’ve been using this phone since high school—it’s probably time for a new one. But with my current situation, I can’t afford to replace it anytime soon.
Eventually, the loading ended, and the screen filled with an image: a delicate, silver-haired female character standing in the center, flanked by several male characters on either side.
Above the image, some kind of text flickered on the screen.
It wasn’t in English—Latin, maybe? Roman letters? I wasn’t sure, but the script looked elegant and sophisticated.
‘With one female character and so many male characters, is this some kind of reverse harem conquest game?’
The male characters’ faces were obscured by shadows, making them hard to make out, but the female character was crystal clear.
“She’s pretty…”
Her teal-green eyes especially stood out. They blinked slowly, disappearing and reappearing, captivating my attention.
As I stared at her delicate face, adorned with luxurious jewelry and an extravagant outfit, I couldn’t help but mumble to myself.
“Must be nice.”
It wasn’t just because the character was beautiful.
She just looked like someone who didn’t have to worry about money, and that… that made me envious.
I suddenly remembered the book I had brought for Jiyu. I had once asked her why she liked those types of stories, and I recalled what she said:
“I like seeing the protagonist live however she wants!”
At the time, I brushed it off, but now I couldn’t shake the thought.
If only I, too…
“Could get possessed somewhere…”
If only I could live without worrying about money.
I whispered those words, chuckling at the absurd fantasy. After all, I knew it was something that would never happen.
I pressed the forced shutdown button to exit the game.
Ding! Ding!
A series of sounds rang out as small windows popped up.
[Error!! Error!!]
[An error has occurred!]
[Error!! Error!!]
“What… what’s going on?”
No matter how many times I tried to close the windows, they kept reappearing, multiplying instead of disappearing. I tried forcing a shutdown and even attempted to turn off the power in a panic, but nothing worked.
Fear surged through me, and without thinking, I threw my phone. As soon as it left my hands, I regretted it.
‘What was I thinking! If I was going to throw something, I should’ve thrown myself, not the phone!’
Panicking over the possible repair costs, I rushed to pick it up.
‘Thank goodness. The screen’s still intact…’
But just as I breathed a sigh of relief, my vision spun as if the world around me was swirling, and everything started blinking rapidly.
