The Protagonists Are Obsessed With Me

"Haa... haa..."

I collapsed onto the white bed in front of me like an oasis ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in the desert, my overworked lungs gasping for oxygen as they exhaled heated breaths.

"This is exhausting..."

Having sprinted all the way to the infirmary at full speed, I now sat on the soft infirmary bed as if fleeing from that awkward three-way confrontation. Actually, thinking about it, I did run away, didn't I?

I had told the white-haired playable character who healed me, Hebriel Istarot, and the young lady that I wasn't feeling well, then immediately dashed to the infirmary. Yeah, running away was the right call.

'I'm sorry I couldn't continue escorting the young lady, but...'

I couldn't have stayed there any longer. Because the white-haired man who healed me was a playable character, just like the regressor, Faye Nicare.

'Even a little thought makes the situation that just happened completely nonsensical...'

At this point in time, when the young lady is in her docile mode, out of the seven playable characters, only three can normally be encountered while attending the academy. Two are students, and one is a professor.

I had just defied absurd odds and met every single playable student character available at the academy right now. And not over half a day or even a quarter day—just ten minutes.

'Even after playing Starlight for eight years, I've never had something like this happen...'

Not just me—I've never heard of anyone else meeting these two characters within ten minutes either.

'...What went wrong?'

I slowly retraced everything I'd done since arriving in the Starlight world, but nothing seemed problematic. All I'd done was follow the young lady to the academy. What could possibly be wrong?

In the end, after agonizing over it repeatedly, I reached a conclusion.

"This is rigged...!"

Yeah, it's ridiculously rigged! Like when you spill your takeout coffee right after buying it! Like when you run out of time on an OMR answer sheet and have to bubble in the wrong columns! Like when the enemy jungler keeps invading your lane in a strategy game!

This was that kind of ultra-rigged misfortune...!

At that moment, as if annoyed by my imagination running wild, a blue window suddenly appeared in the air. This looked like the same window the creator had used to send me messages.

"Uh... Creator? Is that you?"

I asked the sky with a faint hope, but there was no grand reply. The brief spark of hope faded, and I shrank back as I read the contents of the blue window.

"Ah."

Right, there was a status window. I'd been so busy cursing the creator when I first received the message that I'd forgotten about it. I remembered thinking that since it was an RPG, it would at least have a status window, but I'd never actually opened it. It was a comedic situation, but now that I thought about it, I decided to check.

"Status window!"

However, the empty air I stared at, expecting the status window to open, showed no change.

"Huh... huh? Status window! Status window?"

Wasn't this how you were supposed to open a status window? That's how it worked in all the novels I'd read.

"Status wiiindow!"

When I shouted in panic, the curtain surrounding my bed was pulled aside, and a black-haired beauty poked her head in.

"Um... student, sorry, but could you keep it down? This is where sick students gather..."

At first, I was confused by her face, but I soon remembered she was the academy's infirmary teacher—the one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠whose touch could heal almost anything, practically a saintess. But that wasn't important right now.

"Ah... I'm sorry."

I had just been subjected to public humiliation! If the creator was watching me right now, they'd probably be holding their stomach laughing, right?

I cursed Starlight and the creator who had driven me into this situation, while my face burned with belated embarrassment at my own actions.

Then, belatedly, a new blue window appeared before my eyes.

The moment I saw the first words written on that status window, I felt a surge of irritation. Couldn't they have just shown it right away? Why drag a person through this...

Well, getting angry would only hurt me. I barely suppressed the heat rising inside and slowly read down the blue window labeled "Status Window."

There was no strength, agility, stamina, or mana like in the concise Starlight-style status windows I knew. Unconsciously, I felt relieved. A simple status window showing only the name, the specialization that directly affected combat, and the trait—that was Starlight's characteristic, different from other RPGs.

I could understand my specialization being Torture. The playstyle I'd used had always centered around various torture methods, and in Starlight, my specialization had always been this.

But that was that.

'My trait was fixed as [Torture Technician], though...'

A trait was a character's basic "talent," like a passive skill obtained innately. So I'd chosen Torture Technician, which would be most effective for me. But now it was [Protagonists are obsessed with him]? Was this some weird thing like a web novel title being presented as a trait?

When I quietly glared at the sky again, something shaped like a strange arrow popped out beside the blue window and pointed at the [Protagonists are obsessed with him] slot. It was telling me to press it, wasn't it?

"Creator. Isn't this too much? You took away Torture Technician and gave me a trait with a name like a novel title?"

Just from the sound of "protagonists are obsessed with him," it didn't seem like a good thing.

'Ah. Was it because of this?'

I felt like the puzzle that hadn't fit together in my head was finally coming together. So the reason I'd encountered playable characters twice in a row wasn't some rigged misfortune, but because of this trait?

Once my thoughts reached that point, I didn't hesitate any longer and pressed the [Protagonists are obsessed with him] slot as the arrow indicated. Soon, just like when I'd tried to view trait information in Starlight, the detailed information for [Protagonists are obsessed with him] began to appear.

"...Are you kidding me."

That was the first thing out of my mouth after hearing the damned explanation. Not only did it increase the Demon King's numbers and overturn the common sense I knew, but now I had to deal with the playable characters' obsession too? I could barely manage just saving the young lady—did they really think I could complete the given quest with this kind of debuff?

"Are they just telling me to die..."

Wasn't this just another round of hope-torture, only to lay down one more bad ending in the young lady's path?

'I need to correct what I said earlier.'

Hadn't I thought to myself earlier that it wasn't rigged misfortune? I take that back. This is rigged misfortune. And it's the creator's specially inserted, insanely difficult level of rigged misfortune!

"My life... how did it get this twisted..."

Suddenly, I began to lament. Was it my past that had gone wrong? Or encountering this game? Or meddling in the young lady's affairs while living diligently?

-Slap!

Without realizing it, I struck my own cheek hard to steady my weakening resolve. You crazy bastard. No matter how difficult the difficulty was, how could I blame the young lady even for a moment?

Instead of the anger I'd poured toward the creator, a creeping self-loathing toward myself—who would even turn away from the shepherd—began to rise.

How much time had passed as I sat on the bed staring emptily into the air? Someone was shaking the curtain surrounding the bed. They were probably asking if it was okay to come in. It was probably the infirmary teacher. I'd been sitting here too ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠long.

"I'm sorry, I'll leave right away."

At my words, the curtain was pulled aside, and a cute head of brown hair poked through the gap.

"...Young lady?"

Why was the young lady here? Actually, thinking about it, it wasn't strange. Her butler, who was supposed to escort her, had suddenly gone to the infirmary without a proper reason. Thinking about it, it was natural for her to come check.

"I'm sorry. You must have been surprised when I said I was going to the infirmary without a proper explanation."

Though I quickly apologized after realizing my mistake, the young lady didn't answer. Was she so angry that words like this couldn't resolve it?

"I'll definitely take responsibility for this incident. No matter how unwell I felt, doing that was—"

-Thud!

"Hey!"

At that moment, the young lady lightly hit my arm. It was a weak attack, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but startled by the sudden violence, I looked at her... What? Was she crying?

"Is it because of me? Because I was being difficult, you said you wanted to die, that your life was twisted, and now you're even self-harming?"

The young lady, whom I stared at in surprise, had tears welling in her eyes as she cried.

...Hmm, I think there's been a pretty big misunderstanding here.