Love is an Illusion

"Nako naman!" I hissed while burying my phone in the pillow.

(*Nako naman = a Filipino expression of distress or annoyance)

I glance at my phone again seeing its screen brightened. I don't really understand the hype of this game.

'Love is an Illusion' is a popular dating sim in our school. I'm a curious cat who hates losing to her best friend in any kind of thing so here I am, playing this cliche scenario whose the main character is a lost princess that is poor throughout her childhood until she finds her way to her true noble family, and proceeds to marry one of the male leads.

I and my best friend Lisa place a bet that who anyone clears every route fastest will be saved for paying for our trip to Palawan.

That's why my competitive self can't back off easily, even if I don't usually play this kind of game, I'm up for it just because I don't want to lose to Lisa.

"Tsk. What a hypocrite." I blurted out as I continue playing.

I'm currently in the last route, The Euthydemos Ariobarzanes Avalor's route, the crown prince. I think my eyes are puffed since I started playing this idiotic game yesterday and now, I'm on the last route.

I didn't sleep at all since I wanted to finish this stupid game Lisa recommended. She insisted on this one saying it's super fun to play but seeing all the routes myself, I can't imagine what's fun in this.

The male leads are trash. What I mean by trash is, they are literally trash.

Half-assed characters who only want their own happiness regardless of what the heroine says.

All I can see is they're dragging the poor female lead showing that they are born to protect her, that she exists to be protected. What nonsense.

It's more like their story than the heroine.

And this jerk crown prince is at the top of all the scumbags male leads. Why? It's because he's a two-faced prince whose only purpose is to draw his bloody sword, a brutal tyrant with a cute angelic face. He's definitely striking anyone down just because he wants to, under the pretext of protecting the Heroine.

What a maniac.

If I were the Heroine, I'll run for my life. Seriously.

--

"That's it? That's all?" I blurted to myself as I finished the game.

I look at the wall clock that is hanging near the tv, it's already 2 am.

After two days of playing it, I cleared all the routes and attain the happy ending for each male lead just for them to say to the Heroine that they 'love her to the moon and back'. What the hell?!

I'll rate this game a negative zero. What's wrong with the developer of this game? All of them are sick! Why would the heroine need to choose from them? It's better to be a princess than to marry one of those. I feel bad for her.

Hah. There's no way I'm feeling bad for a character when I'm right here with a puffed eye and an empty stomach.

"ugh" I grabbed my tummy. It's rumbling. I feel weak.

I need to eat or I'll collapse. I didn't even sleep a wink.

"Yeah! A trip to Palawan! What a grand prize! All of the cringe and suffering are worth it!" I giggled while holding back my hunger. Yup, I need to gaslight myself so I'm not going to feel tired.

"blergg~" the sound of the stomach is getting louder so I decided to stand up and cook Pancit Canton.

I suddenly felt dizzy when I stood up. I think it's because I'm sitting for too long, and my eyes are blurred.

"this sucks..."

As I walk with my half-eyes open, I finally went to the electric stove in the corner of my room, since I'm broke, my kitchen, living room, and bedroom are all here in this tiny space. When I started to boil the water for my pancit canton, I saw that my shelf is empty. There's none!

The rumbling grew louder.

"Why am I broke?... hah" I uttered while turning off the stove.

I go back to my bed reaching for my phone. I'll just order lugaw online.

When I open the screen, the game suddenly plays without me operating it. I kept touching the screen and clicking the power button but it didn't budge.

"What the hell..."

My hunger suddenly disappears.

The percentage loading keeps on running, when it stopped, the intro changed. It's not the one I played before.

My brows arched as I saw the new poster of the game 'Love is an Illusion'. The heroine is not there anymore but the male leads remained.

The one who caught my attention is the new Female lead in the center, the girl with long curly uniform green hair paired with dazzling golden eyes.

Arri Ares Vesileios, the antagonist in the game 'Love is an Illusion'. Why is she there?

"What the hell is this?..." I mumbled as my eyes are glued to my phone.

Another hidden level?

I clicked the 'play the game' button out of curiosity, and here, another bubble appeared.

'Arri Ares Vasileios's love routes: Operation; Find the Villainess Happy Ending!'

I read the NPC's scenario about Arri, I get it now. It's like a hidden quest in the game!

A side story I guess.

It's a bit sad actually. As I learn about the Villainess's past, I finally understand why she did awful things to the heroine.

Hmm.

I'm confident that Lisa still didn't reach this level. I'll finish this in an instant so I can brag about it to her!

--

"Ugh! Fuck! This is cheating!" I gripped tightly at my phone.

I keep dying! This is nuts. Every time I tried to move and make every one of them raise their affection points they kill me. 'What the hell is this game'?

Isn't this too brutal for a dating sim?

This is crazy.

That brutal crown prince too! He killed Arri many times and I don't even remember how many times I redo his route. That cruel monster. Isn't he the fiance? He killed her fiance just to have the heroine! For Pete's sake.

I curse that murderer.

I ended up playing until morning but I didn't even finish any of the Male leads route. Why is this so hard? I remember choosing easy mode yet this is fucking difficult.

In the normal mode, the Heroine gained all the love too easily while the Villainess keeps dying for some attention in the hard mode. This game is definitely biased!

Why would Arri Ares Vesileios die just for their attention?! They are all scum anyway!

She deserves better! This idiotic game is trash. I'll sue the developer for making Arri evil!

"This sucks..." I mumbled while staring at my zero lives. I can't do this anymore. I'm always dying...

How can I even clear this quest--

"What the..." my eyes widened when I saw the bubble appear at the top of Arri's dead body, it says 'Do you want to continue playing hard mode?'

I ran out of lives, how's this possible? Do I need to restart my progress with Arri?

Ugh. Whatever! I'm not going to stop until I reach her Happy Ending!

Come on! Fight me, you cruel developers!

--

And that's how I continue to play until I remember the things keeping Arri dead. I play and play and play until I raised their affection points to ten percent.

This is actually more exhausting than any other game I played before. I didn't even know what time is it anymore...

"Woah...a reward--" I cut my own sentence when I suddenly felt that there was something warm flowing to my nose.

"ah!..." I mumbled while wiping my nosebleed. Shit, my nose is really bleeding.

I think I need to rest...or I'll die of exhaustion...

huh?

Ah...shit.

I unconsciously tilt my head, and while still holding my phone with a charger on, I blacked out.