Welcome to the Machine
I woke up.
A vivid nightmare pressed in through the mirror.
The car flipped. Glass shattered. Screams erupted.
The end was pain and darkness. This was unmistakably a nightmare.
The worst part was that I knew it wasn’t me being swept away.
It was some stranger I didn’t know bleeding out in a pool of blood.
No clues, nothing. Just why? Why this nightmare, why me?
A quick wash of the face and the thoughts cleared.
Even after the nightmare, good changes had arrived.
The UI from the game floated before me alongside my knowledge.
This world was a game. The truth was laid bare by the Status Window.
Behind the semi-transparent UI, a one-eyed little girl stared at me.
Christina von Jethalungi had appeared in the UI.
According to the knowledge, at the start of the game she would be my loyal adoptive daughter.
But the eight-year-old right in front of me now was not.
System: The target recognizes you as an enemy.
The red letters stabbed into my eyes.
If that was the worst possible relationship the System could display, then it was.
“Father?”
The expression and voice were as cold as the enemy judgment.
She must have been afraid to speak like that.
I focused on the UI and saw the child struggling.
Her small hands, hidden in the puffy sleeves, could barely lift the towel.
“Is this necessary, Father?”
The words were polite, but the tone was stiff to the point of weight.
Anyone would see she was being forced to hold it.
A wave of pity hit me and decided the judgment first.
“Of course, my daughter. You brought the towel at just the right time. Thank you.”
No noble would speak to a mere maid like that.
But to his daughter, he simply said it.
Christina’s black hair trembled.
System: Relationship level has slightly increased.
System: Such benevolence is hypocritical.
What was this over? More than that, what nonsense was this Status Window?
It wouldn’t answer.
After wiping myself dry and changing clothes, I opened the door and stepped into the corridor.
The long, sagging green curtains that had seen a thousand times now looked unfamiliar under today’s unfamiliar sunlight piercing the windows.
Something indescribable tickled my mind. Why? Damn it.
Between the unfamiliar sunlight, one familiar wheelchair blocked the way ahead.
Even without a moment to spare, a wheelchair-bound girl in a pristine white dress waited in advance.
“You don’t seem in a very good mood today, brother?”
Her red-haired younger sister’s green eyes sparkled.
Name: Katrin von Jethalungi.
A core vassal of a top-tier player from the very beginning of the game.
But the information the Status Window showed was not that.
Status abnormality: Post-polio paralysis.
An effect that should have appeared after the tutorial.
Surely at this time she should have been walking on her own two feet.
The moment I read the information, I stood there blankly.
Katrin winked as if she understood the misunderstanding.
“Why, brother? Did you miss your cute little sister?”
The words should have popped, but the tone was completely different.
She bit off the words as if growling.
Even I and Christina’s shoulders trembled slightly. Even as a sister, it was too much.
“Grandmother… please…”
Christina’s words were awkward.
Since she had used a word she didn’t know, her pronunciation broke into choppy bursts.
Katrin’s eyes widened anyway, ignoring the awkwardness.
“Grandmother?”
System: This script does not exist.
System: Do you know what you are doing yourself?
The Status Window hid my answer.
Katrin finally raised her tone.
“Brother, what were you playing with the kid for? It’s boring—”
“Enough, stop tormenting the nephew.”
The words came out like familiar choices.
System: Christina’s relationship has increased.
System: Did you not even offer such kind words?
I had no idea what the Status Window was trying to do.
Katrin finally said after a long pause, “Mother called. It’s the cabinet. Follow me,” and vanished.
Once her tone dropped, my stomach felt strangely light. Another fresh experience.
Before I knew it, I was naturally holding Christina’s hand and walking.
Dragging along that shocked girl was not very nice.
Even when I reached the bedroom door, Katrin was still grinding her teeth.
The atmosphere was so heavy she must have been trying to raise the mood with some pointless chatter.
Since there was nothing else I could do, I had no choice but to read the world settings appearing on the UI.
The big settings and history of this game wouldn’t help right away.
I had to filter for information that would help me now.
Name: Gerhardt Rosa von Jethalungi.
Age: 16.
Title: Successor to the Elector-Grand Ducal Jethalungi family.
Every piece of information clashed with the knowledge I had been fed.
Surely the game would start when I was twenty-four. Eight years early?
What on earth was a “role play,” and why did it not match the game? The thought only grew stronger.
My head spun for a moment, and the message to end the Status Window appeared before my eyes.
If I just thought to close it, I could end it immediately.
Christina held my hand tightly, watching everyone around us.
I had decided to take her as a daughter, but my thoughts were spinning.
The cabinet door opened, and the familiar woman appeared, clearing my head.
“You’re late, children.”
Even with the pungent smoke from her cigar stinging my nose, I had to maintain my smile.
The opponent was Elise Heidi von Jethalungi, the Grand Duchess of this duchy and my mother.
Was my mother still using the cabinet as her personal smoking room?
My mother’s complexion was pallid. She smoked like that.
Even her faded green lace dress could not hide it.
Even with game knowledge, I barely held back from saying “Mother—no, not Mother.”
“I’ve told you many times I won’t quit smoking. Then why did you call me?”
System: Today is an important day for you.
I knew that, System. Stop suddenly popping up.
My mother swept back her disheveled hair with a dramatic gesture and cut the end of her cigar.
Want another one? Ah, you lit it. Managing expressions, managing expressions.
Still, she pushed Christina a little behind me.
Sorry, Chris. But would a smoke be good for a child?
“Even if you picked up an orphan pretending to be a daughter, do you intend to take responsibility?”
My mother’s words were the opposite of Katrin’s.
While puffing on the cigar and clicking her tongue, her tone was surprisingly soft.
“Well, I can’t even call her granddaughter—”
“I didn’t think my bachelor son would have a granddaughter.”
The exact opposite of what I had intended to cover.
With a tired voice, he only repeated “Granddaughter is nice.” It looked a bit bitter.
System: Smile. Isn’t that what you wanted?
Why was this Status Window always like this.
The moment I realized it, I noticed my mother was inhaling the cigar deeply.
She was taking a deep breath, as if trying to say something deeply.
“Tomorrow is my son’s graduation day. I have a secret to tell everyone. It’s a little early.”
As someone who knew this was a game, I should know more secrets.
But if we started eight years ago, I had no choice but to watch what changed quietly.
I prepared a calm boy’s expression.
While Katrin pouted, Christina could not hide her surprise.
And how was my mother smiling so unpleasantly while holding the cigar?
My mother’s words flowed rapidly and without restraint.
“The von Jethalungi Grand Duchy has been entrusted with the mission of protecting and managing the spirits.”
Wait, what did you say, Mother?
A rush of icy water hit my head. Surely this was too early for Christina to hear.
The game’s settings started with the spirits.
Something that had pulled the world’s technology to an abnormal level had appeared a hundred and fifty years ago.
Everything from sturdy mirrors to Katrin’s wheelchair had come from the spirits.
But it belonged to my family? That was unexpected.
Even Katrin was now straightening her posture. It was a surprising fact.
Just as I had expected, my mother’s lips curved slowly upward.
“Just like the first time I heard that. As predicted.”
How could she mock her own children like that?
Which was more painful, swallowing the words or the cigar smoke?
No, before that, what on earth was the game’s setting supposed to apply to cause this?
There were too many things I didn’t know compared to my knowledge.
Looking from the outside, both Katrin and I seemed equally shocked.
“Take a breath, Christina.”
Only then did my mother’s smile fade.
Her vice was truly vicious. But she probably needed fresh air after choking.
And I did too. What exactly were you going to say, Mother?
My mother really dragged it out for a long time.
Only when my face began to heat up did her voice become light.
“I won’t tell the servants. But you may hear it as a granddaughter?”
“Please, Mother.”
“That’s exactly the attitude.”
Mocking her own children was hard to endure, but compared to the suddenly appearing UI, it was nothing.
Challenge acquired: Family discord (formally accept Christina into the family).
I didn’t know what the challenge was, but it must mean something.
At the very least, I now knew there was something in the background setting I didn’t understand.
If I couldn’t stop the game that had started, I had no choice but to adapt. What else could I do?
My mother deliberately burst out a dry laugh.
“Well, if you were going to give up at this level, you wouldn’t have been a granddaughter.”
The subject was too ambiguous.
At the very least, it was clear that Christina made a little “heek” sound while glaring.
“Stop teasing your granddaughter. And if you have something to say, say it right now.”
I had to draw her out with a slightly hot feeling.
Even between parents and children, dragging it out like this wasn’t right.
While taking one step forward, my mother instantly changed her displeased smile to an expressionless face.
“You’re late. But I like it. Then let’s go to the cabinet—it has a secret device.”
As she said that and casually tossed the pipe aside, she stood up first. How?
At the very least, I knew my mother was pushing aside the door that looked like a wardrobe.
An elevator. A very clean iron box waited.