Operation: Fail Cupid!

When You Play Too Much Romance Games

"Ultimategamer69. . . I like you!"

Liue's eyes widened. He couldn't believe it. The words lit up the text box in pink glittering font, complete with cheesy sparkles. Heck, they made the moment feel more magical. Liue leaned forward, his eyes shining. Finally.

After dozens of reloads, countless wrong choices, and enduring the pixelated pout of his 2D crush, the ending was finally his. A sense of relief and pride washed over him. He straightened up in his chair, cracking his back after five hours of choosing dialogue options and sipping flat soda.

The male let out a small laugh. "Took you long enough." He was so happy that he even snapped a picture on his phone! Talk about a sweaty Discord mod. For a while, he just sat there, basking in the glow of victory.

This was, for him, the best part of otome games. The rush, the payoff, the fun of it being all silly without anything serious. Real-life relationships didn't offer that kind of thrill.

He leaned back, twirling his mouse absentmindedly. Liue should've gone to sleep. Or eaten instead of drinking soda. Or maybe touched grass. But no—instead, he opened a new tab and typed into the search bar: "New Otome Games."

How stupid.

Google spat out the usual lineup of knock-off dating sims and obscure fan projects, it was nothing new. In the midst of scrolling down, going through pages, out of nowhere, the screen glitched.

In the blink of an eye, every single tab vanished, his entire browser cleared itself. Only one website remained on his screen.

"Yeah, that's not terrifying at all."

Before he could try and figure out what caused this, Liue froze. For a moment, he swore he heard it—a voice, faint but clear, like it came from his headphones. Though there was nothing playing.

Click Me.

The boy flinched, ripping his headset off and staring at it.

Nothing. The room was dead silent.

"Great," Liue muttered. "Now I'm hearing things."

He glanced at his computer screen once again, reading the single website's name.

Eternal Love: The True Route Awaits You.

What made it more odd was the fact the website had no description at all. That was it, the title. Did this scare him? Did he finally decide to shut down his computer screen and burn it down? No. This made him curious—intrigued.

"Corny."

What kind of guy calls it corny but clicks on it?

The website loaded completely with no issue. No pop-ups, no ten-hour ad. Just the same title, bigger now, sparkling across his entire monitor. He scrolled down further to find a list—

Choose Your Destiny!

Multiple characters were displayed, girls AND boys. This surprised him, yet he also felt excited. There were barely any otome games with male love interests—at least not with a male MC. Not only was the whole vibe and aesthetic lovely, the artstyle was terrific. Horrifingly good.