Pain... it's painful...
Chengyu felt a sharp, throbbing pain in his head. His whole body ached like he'd been slammed by a boulder. Slowly, he opened his eyes and stared at a strange ceiling made of stone and wooden beams.
"We did it! We summoned the Saintess!"
Saintess? What the hell were they talking about?
Chengyu sat up slowly, wincing, and found himself surrounded by people dressed in old-fashioned robes—like something straight out of a medieval play. They looked like priests, all gathered in a circle, murmuring prayers and cheering.
His gaze shifted to the girl standing nearby.
It was her. The same girl from the road.
The high school student was grinning ear to ear, eyes sparkling with excitement.
"I... I got isekai'd!"
Chengyu blinked.
"Isekai'd?"
He didn't know what the hell an "isekai" was, or why this girl looked like she'd just won the lottery. She was babbling nonsense, practically bouncing in place like this was the best day of her life.
Meanwhile, his head still felt like it had been split open.
And worst of all...
He had a sinking feeling that things were about to get way, way worse.
Before Chengyu could even collect his thoughts, a tall figure approached the girl.
His hair was golden, almost unnaturally bright, and flowed like something out of a shampoo commercial. He had piercing blue eyes and a confident smile that probably made girls faint on sight.
The girl gasped.
"Wait... no way... that's Crown Prince Leonard!" she squealed, clasping both hands over her mouth. "Oh my god, oh my god, this is real—he's even hotter than in the otome game!"
Leonard stopped in front of her, taking her hand gently and lowering his head with a princely smile.
"You must be the one the prophecy spoke of," he replied. "Your beauty... it's unmistakable. There's no doubt. You are the true Saintess."
The girl's knees practically gave out on the spot. She trembled with joy.
"I—I—I can't believe this is happening! Your Highness..."
Chengyu stared at the scene, blinking slowly.
Was he hallucinating?
He stood up, wobbling slightly from the leftover truck trauma, and raised his hand awkwardly.
"Where are we exactly?"
Crown Prince Leonard didn't even look at him.
Chengyu frowned.
('Are they treating me as a bystander?... what is an otome game anyway...?')
"Pardon me?" Chengyu once again spoke.
The prince finally turned his head, eyes sweeping over Chengyu with thinly veiled disgust.
"...Who's this ugly nerd?"
Chengyu froze.
"Eh?"
Leonard waved a dismissive hand, already turning back to the girl assuming that-. "Probably some failed offering the spell dragged along. Happens sometimes."
Chengyu's eye twitched. But eventually kept his cool, and didn't say anything back.
The girl didn't even look his way. She was too busy smiling dreamily as the prince tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and told her she radiated divine energy.
At the time, Chengyu looked down at himself. Same hoodie. Same messy hair. The same shoes with the sole nearly falling off. And eyebags that were barely covered by eyeglasses.
Yeah, okay, maybe he was right for calling him ugly... but damn... Do they really have to roast him?
"Just what the hell happened here..."
*****
"Okay. Let's get this straight."
Chengyu sat in the palace garden, hunched over like a student cramming for a test he didn't sign up for. In one hand, he held a half-functioning ballpoint pen. In the other, a single sad sticky note—the last relic from Earth stuffed into his hoodie pocket during his shift at the convenience store.
Using his knee as a desk, he began to write.
Notes:
1. Got hit by a truck.
2. Woke up in a medieval fever dream.
3. Girl who wanted to die = weirdly happy to be here.
4. Apparently, this is some kind of 18+ fantasy otome game world.
Chengyu paused, pen hovering mid-air.
"Wait. 18+?" He looked off into the distance like the sheer absurdity might physically slap him.
According to Miss High School Deathwish over there, this world follows the plot of a dating sim aimed at grown women. Except, for some reason, a fifteen—maybe sixteen-year-old—was obsessed with it. That already felt mildly illegal.
And the plot?
A saintess is summoned from another world. She has holy magic and becomes the key to healing five cursed male leads.
Sounds wholesome, right?
No.
The curses can only be healed... through sex.
Chengyu blinked down at his sticky note.
"...Haaaa...h..." He sighed obviously looking stressed.
He began listing the lineup of five male leads:
1. Crown Prince
2. Second Prince
3. Knight Guy
4. The Duke
5. Tower Master Mage
Groaning, he leaned back on the grass and stared up at the sky.
"So, if that high schooler is the 'Saintess'… that means she has to bangthe crown prince? That crown prince?"
His brain conjured up the walking shampoo commercial from earlier. Golden hair. Golden eyes. Radiated 'I'm-too-pretty-to-speak-to-you' energy.
Sure, the guy was stupidly attractive.
BUT.
He looked like he was at least in his twenties. Same as Chengyu. And the girl was a literal teenager.
"That's not romantic. That's a court case."
He sat up, flailing his arms.
"That's pedophilia, motherf—!"
Chengyu caught himself mid-rant, glancing around. A couple of palace gardeners were pretending not to listen.
He ran a hand through his hair, exhaling hard.
Normally, he didn't care what other people did. If his friends ruined their lives, that was their business. He wasn't their babysitter. He barely managed his life.
But this?
This was morally bankrupt and weirdly specific kink-writing on someone's part, and it made his whole soul itch.
Still stewing, he stabbed the pen into the sticky note.
"Should I... interfere? Probably not... it's not even my problem. But... maybe I should try to warn 'her' at least."
The wind blew. Dramatically. Like the universe agreed.
"And I can't even believe I'm starting to adapt to this place..." he muttered. "This is bad. This is how it starts. One minute you're a convenience store cashier, next thing you know you're wearing those robes and getting called 'my lord.' No thanks."
Unfortunately, the people who summoned them—the robed weirdos from earlier—had no clue how to send them back.
"Of course they don't," Chengyu grumbled. "Do they plan to make the saintess stay in this world forever? Sounds believable excuse..."
With a tired groan, he tore the sticky note into tiny pieces and shoved them into his jacket pocket.
Tucking the pen behind his ear, Chengyu started walking out of the garden. The cobblestone path crunched under his cheap sneakers.
Someone walked by as he passed under the shadow of a marble archway.
And that man paused mid-way step. Turning his head slightly.
"A smell of mint..."