Cute Girl Protagonist (1)
Abandoned Lab
You've discovered an abandoned laboratory. Driven by intense curiosity, you step into a place you should never have entered.
You find cold corpses. It seems the escaped test subjects slaughtered all the researchers. Now, you must survive the monster wandering the lab.
The stench hit me right in the nose. Like raw meat left rotting in the fridge for weeks. Just smelling it made me feel like my health was draining away, snapping me back to reality.
I looked around—and there were corpses scattered everywhere.
"...Huh?"
The unexpected sight made me blink.
What the hell is this?
"...Why am I even in a place like this? ...And why does my voice sound like that?"
I instinctively touched my throat. It was a high soprano tone, like a little girl's.
Once I noticed that one thing, the rest started clicking into place. My hands were smaller than usual. My eye level was lower, and my body felt lighter.
"N-No way..."
As I backed away, a bathroom sign caught my eye. I bolted straight for it.
Staring into the sink mirror, I saw a girl I'd never seen before. Her hair was twintails in a mix of sky-blue and ice-blue. Her features were sharp, her eyes huge. Especially the irises—they gleamed like finely cut rubies.
If you personified "cuteness," it'd look something like this. And her height? No more than 150cm. Probably around 142cm.
"This can't be real..."
No matter how I looked, I was a cute girl.
"Phew... Calmed down now..."
I'd stood there frozen in front of the sink for about ten minutes. The cute girl in the mirror looked on the verge of tears. The rotten corpse stink still stabbed at my nose, but even the hardest-to-believe reality has to be accepted eventually.
I'd been isekai'd into a game world. I'd installed the Cute Girl Mod on Monster Game, and ended up possessing the cute girl protagonist...
"...And this is the tutorial area of Monster Game, right?"
The first map in Monster Game: Abandoned Lab. Once a facility researching monsters, it got overrun by some incident, letting the creatures loose to massacre the researchers. And somewhere in this lab, a monster was prowling.
Your first mission? Escape without getting caught.
Haa...
"Why me...? This is my first time actually playing a horror game... I'd played way more other games, so why get isekai'd into a horror one...?"
If I'd known, I'd have just watched horror games on stream...
Part of me wanted to cry, but my rational side kicked in. Panicking in a situation like this was the most dangerous thing possible.
Forcing myself, I scanned the scenery outside the bathroom again. Rotting corpses. So desiccated their cheekbones jutted out, empty eye sockets crawling with maggots.
"Urk..."
I clamped my mouth shut. Nausea surged up.
...But if I stayed put, I'd end up grabbed by the monster and turned into one of those corpses.
I stepped forward. One step, then another. Carefully navigating the hallway strewn with rotten flesh and guts.
Luckily, I knew how to get out. I wasn't some noob—I'd played Monster Game before. Sure, the tutorial was ages ago, but I remembered it crystal clear. It was that straightforward. Hard to forget.
Stuff like Alien: Isolation, Outlast, Akaoni... Just like any survival horror, evade the pursuer and reach the exit.
"Pretty sure it's this way..."
I had a rough map of the escape route and lab layout in my head. Looked like my memory was holding up—we were getting closer to the exit.
But my anxiety was mounting too. Monster Game specialized in jump scares. And like other jump-scare horrors, each map had a mandatory monster encounter.
This tutorial was no exception. The closer to the exit, the worse my nerves got—and then anxiety turned real.
-Crunch.
A chewing sound echoed from far off. I wanted to backtrack, but... tutorial maps were linear as hell. No point turning around.
I sighed deeply and pressed on. That's when I spotted it: the monster munching on a corpse.
Entity Name:King of Flies
Management Rank:Defect (Albedo) (Threat Level 2)
Affinity: Neutral
This entity controls flies. The flies it commands do not directly devour living beings but impair human cognition.
Was that a fly? Human-sized. Maybe 2 meters tall. A massive fly monster. But where its proboscis should be, shark-like teeth grinned. It gaped its maw, drooling green slime. Its body wasn't insectoid—more like a carnivorous plant. A green jar shape, oozing some liquid.
Crunch crunch, crunch, crunch.
As it tore into the rotten flesh, maggots writhed in the cross-section. The fly monster kept devouring, maggots popping under its teeth.
...Why?
"Why isn't that a cute girl...?"
I could only mutter it. The tutorial boss, King of Flies. It was as grotesque as in the game.
But I'd downloaded the Cute Girl Mod to get here...? Proof: I was in a cute girl's body now.
Don't tell me... an "incomplete" Cute Girl Mod...? Only the protagonist got girlified...?
Weeeeng—
Fly wings buzzed, interrupting my thoughts. Swarms circled me before I knew it. The distant fly monster slowly set down its corpse.
Our eyes met.
...Mandatory encounter.
The monster has spotted you!
Flee to the locker and hide!
Thud, thud, thud.
The fly monster lumbered toward me.
"Eek...!"
I ran along the wall. It reached out, pointing—and flies erupted from the corpses, swarming from all sides. They stuck to my face, my arms.
Advance scouts making contact with the entity report dizziness and disorientation. Many civilians lost their way on-site, wandering for extended periods and complaining of starvation.
Dizzy. Nauseous, like I wasn't even running on solid ground. My semicircular canals were messed up—direction sense shot. Like extreme motion sickness.
"Nngh...! Get off...!"
I flailed my arms, shaking off the flies. Senses cleared. More dove in, but I accelerated into the hallway.
A locker. Tucked in the corner.
I yanked it open and crammed myself inside.
"Hah... hah..."
Did this body have no stamina? I'd barely run, yet I was gasping.
I shut the locker from inside, hand over mouth to muffle my breathing.
-Thud, thud, thud.
The fly monster's footsteps. Heading right here.
...What? Did it spot me? I did the tutorial exactly right...
Shook off the flies instantly, didn't get lost, no mistakes.
Then it hit me. My body.
No way... my legs are shorter now?
Original protagonist: adult male. But with the mod, I was a girl. A short one, under 150cm.
Shorter legs meant slower speed. The stealth window that should've been generous? Probably missed it.
-Thud, thud, thud.
My guess was spot on. It was closing in precisely.
"This is insane..."
Stay here, and King of Flies opens the locker. In-game? Jump scare, reset to start.
...But was this a game? Get caught, and I'd die for real. Best case, I'd be trapped here rotting till I was a corpse.
Think... there has to be a way.
No one wants to die. Not me.
I bit my lower lip hard. Pain stung, a cut formed—but it sharpened my focus.
Breathe. Through the locker gap, I glimpsed the King of Flies.
Before it could reach out, I flung the door open.
-Bang!
The door slammed into the fly monster, staggering it. I tripped it up.
Off-balance, it toppled.
"Please...! Just pass out...! I'm begging you...!"
Thwack! Thud! Thud!
I pummeled its head with my fists. Sticky liquid splattered each hit. Blood? Pus? Ugh, gross.
But I couldn't stop. Wouldn't.
"Please..., please..."
Thud! Thud! Thwack!
Kept going. These short legs? No escaping properly.
Only option: Finish the King of Flies here.
If memory served, it had low direct combat power. Made you lost till you starved, then feasted.
Do-or-die. Gamble to boost survival odds by 1%.
Did my desperate prayer work? Grind, groan, grind.
The King of Flies spasmed, creaking.
Something off—I backed away fast.
"Wh-What...?"
Didn't know, didn't care. It wasn't moving anytime soon. I bolted.
Applying Cute Girl Mod to target.
Applying... (8%)... Please wait.
...Huh? What’s this...?