Chapter 1. Maid Evelyn
The virtual simulation RPG was a romance-fantasy game based on the novel The Story of the Demortva Empire.
The protagonist remained the same, but one key difference from the original story was that Laura—the Archmage of the Dark Tower—was set as the final boss.
In the original novel, Laura was just a minor villain, one of the subordinates of the evil god Barmot, who caused trouble for the main characters.
was designed as a solo-play game.
One of its main features was that players could build relationships and bonds with NPCs, which meant the story could change depending on those interactions. In other words, even if players played the same game, no one experienced the exact same storyline.
Also, once you selected a character to play, all the other characters would appear as NPCs.
The charm of the game was building relationships with those NPCs, clearing the scenario, and reaching the final ending.
Since the title was Laura Chronicle, the ultimate goal was to avoid Laura’s threats, help the original main couple get together, and defeat Laura, the hidden mastermind.
Only those who overcame all hardships with the protagonists and defeated Laura could unlock hidden content not shown in the original novel and have their name recorded in the Hall of Fame.
However, if you failed to unite the main couple, if someone died before the ending, or if you failed to defeat Laura, you had to start over from the beginning.
The problem was…
I, Yunabi, had been trapped inside this game for several days already.
What used to be my only hobby to relieve work stress had turned into a prison.
When I logged in, everything felt completely normal.
I simply clicked the event available only in solo play—
[Random 10-Star Character Draw]—
and waited while the message [Selecting your character…] appeared.
But instead of a 10-star…
I got a 1-star.
And not just any character—the weakest and most useless one of all:
Maid Evelyn.
She was one of the characters I most wanted to avoid.
Sure, she was incredibly beautiful—enough to capture anyone’s attention.
But from what I personally experienced…
Her gentle-looking face and pretty but weak demeanor made her seem like someone who would always be taken advantage of.
And on top of that—
She was a maid.
At first, I tried to quit immediately.
But the system settings window—with the exit button—was disabled.
In other words, I couldn’t force quit.
The only saving grace was that I already knew most of the original story the game was based on.
So whenever something seemed dangerous, I just hit it with the broom first.
I didn’t want to go through that unbearable pain of dying again.
Even with that effort, I still died twice more in less than a day.
First—killed by a bee.
Second, fell down the stairs while trying to find lodging.
Third, I collapsed on a bed I finally found, only to suffocate when piles of blankets fell on top of me.
At one point, I nearly died again when a pile of poorly made flower bouquets suddenly toppled over from outside the door.
No matter where you put her—inside or outside the game—this character was clearly the weakest.
And all I had to show for it was 2 gold and 50 silver pieces.
It felt like an amount perfectly suited to such a pathetic maid.
“How am I supposed to defeat the final boss with this…?”
I muttered, sitting on the bed of the lodging I barely managed to find, staring at the old broom that stuck to me like my only companion.
Honestly, even if you made something out of disposable chopsticks, it would be better than this.
The broom I received at the start of the game had no stats at all, fitting for Evelyn, who was known for being completely useless.
After hitting the bee with it, it even looked more worn out than before.
Another problem:
Every time I died, I returned to the very beginning.
There was no save system—even after clearing quests.
And what was with that hidden quest I got after surviving?
This game had two types of quests:
Main quests and bonus quests.
Main quests were mandatory. If you didn’t clear them, you couldn’t progress the story.
But since they followed the game’s storyline, they were somewhat predictable.
Bonus quests, on the other hand, were optional and existed for extra rewards.
You didn’t need to complete them to progress.
They could appear alongside main quests, be triggered by specific conditions, or come from building relationships with NPCs.
Their advantage was that they could give items not obtainable from main quests.
But hidden quests?
That was something I had never seen before.
The only thing I could guess was—
They were insanely difficult from the very start.
I mean—
A high-quality illustration suddenly appeared showing a kiss scene!
And not just anyone—
It was with the male lead.
Someone I had just met!
The person he was supposed to kiss was the original heroine—not a one-star maid like Evelyn.
On top of that, the reward wasn’t even properly explained.
All I knew was that it gave a skill.
Even if the reward was good, I didn’t have the courage to try kissing a man I had never met.
Besides, I preferred meaningful, destined encounters.
I looked at the interface on my left:
Three small blue lights and two red ones.
The first status window showing stats and condition.
The second is inventory.
The third quest log.
The fourth and fifth were still locked, glowing red.
They would likely unlock as the story progressed and the character grew.
I selected the top light.
The surroundings froze and turned gray, and my status window appeared.
★ Maid Evelyn Pierce
Gender: Female
Age: 21
Notes: Low-ranking maid, unparalleled beauty
Strength: 1
Health: 1
Agility: 1
Intelligence: 1
Charm: 100
“…Wow. Seriously.”
No matter how I looked at it, everything except charm was rock bottom.
You had to squint just to see the tiny amount filled in the stat bars.
I even knew the original story—so why was my intelligence still this low?
Sure, my charm stat was maxed out…
But it was completely useless for clearing quests.
Other than looking good in the mirror, it was worse than the old broom.
After closing the window, the frozen gray world returned to normal.
I sighed.
To escape this place, I had to survive, act as Maid Evelyn, and clear the quests.
I had managed to stall for a few days by pretending to be sick—but I couldn’t keep that up anymore.
What should I do?
I really didn’t want to die again.
“Evelyn!”
Someone called from outside, followed by hurried footsteps. The door burst open without a knock.
“Evelyn!”
“Huh—?”
I stared blankly at the girl in a maid uniform.
She called Evelyn familiarly, but I had never seen her before.
She had orange hair and green eyes—clearly a minor NPC.
She caught her breath and pointed behind her.
★★ Betty
Gender: Female
Age: 21
Notes: Practical, maid-type
Affinity: ●●●●○
“The head maid is calling you!”
As soon as Betty spoke, her info window appeared beside her.
“Betty…”
Her affinity level was already at 4.
Maybe because she was the first NPC I met.
“Why me?” I muttered.
“Hm? What?”
“Oh—nothing.”
Wait… We’re both maids and roommates, so why is she 2-star?!
She doesn’t even have a broom!
“Do I look weird?”
Betty tilted her head as I stared at her.
“No… You said the head maid is calling?”
I shook my head and stood up.
“Yeah. I told her you were sick, but she said to come down anyway… I had no choice.”
“Am I in trouble…?”
It wasn’t like I was pretending—I literally died and came back.
Still, the NPCs wouldn’t know that.
Ding!
The second quest has arrived. Go meet the head maid with Betty now. ▶ Continue]
Just like before, the notification window appeared, and everything turned gray.
I froze.
Pressing this button meant I had to start doing something.
Betty stood there, holding the doorknob, staring at me as if waiting.
No way… she’s going to wait like that forever?
…
Ten minutes passed.
She didn’t move.
She just shrugged occasionally and made weird sounds like, “Hmm… mm?”
Do NPCs freeze when a quest window appears?
It seemed like she couldn’t even tell I was seeing the notification.
I had no choice.
I pressed ▶ Continue.
The window disappeared.
Almost like reading from a script, I spoke:
“R-right. The head maid is calling. Let’s go together.”
“Okay! I’ll go with you! Let’s go together!”
Betty smiled brightly and stepped aside, speaking in that typical NPC tone.
…
So it’s real.
