Cupid—agents of love and affection. In their wake, hearts bloom like spring flowers.
A funeral. A war zone. A mall, a park... even a Minecraft server. Wherever love can exist, so can they. Love is boundless—across age, race, even sentience.
But everything beautiful casts a shadow. For every Cupid who binds hearts, there is a Match Breaker—
The breaker of bonds.
"Good morning, everyone!!!"
The breakroom door burst open with a level of energy that grated the soul.
"Shut up, Kevin... just clock in and go to your post. We don't have the energy for your B.S. first thing in the morning."
"On it, Sir Jones!"
Kevin's enthusiasm didn't falter for a second. With a dorky salute and a smile that begged for caffeine, he clocked in and began his patrol.
He walked the city streets dressed like your average office drone — slacks, button-down shirt, and a tie that said: "underpaid and over it."
But Kevin's job? It was anything but ordinary.
He stopped in his tracks.
A person stood before him — skin warped, eyes leaking blood, face twisted in agony.
"Please… help me. My boyfriend… he just—he just turned into this. I don't know what happened."
"My precious!!!" the corrupted figure snarled.
Kevin sighed, raising a hand.
"Hello there, mister. I suggest you step away from her. I know it's hard, what with her being your lover and all—"
"MINE!!!"
The man lunged. Flesh tore. Bones cracked. His body distorted mid-leap, an explosion of malformed emotion.
Kevin didn't flinch.
"Do you know how hard this is for me?" he muttered. "How do you expect me to do my job properly when you're making me jealous?"
His hand ignited — heat pulsing, light blooming into form.
A punch. A comet's impact. The creature went flying through a nearby building like a love letter shredded mid-confession.
Kevin followed the wreckage in silence.
Inside the ruins, the thing thrashed. It howled, then struck — slamming him into a wall hard enough to snap bone.
"Tch… For a freshly corrupted case, you're a cut above the norm," Kevin groaned, rising with cracking joints and a strained smile.
"Too bad that kind of injury isn't a big deal anymore. So—shall we?"
With a flick of his wrist, debris spiraled through the air like petals. He removed his coat and loosened his tie.
Then he stood tall, radiant in the glow of his Euphoria.
"Dear patron… would you care to hear this lowly worker's introduction?"
"Probationary Soul Consultant, Kevin Smith — Love Outbreak Division. At your service."
"She's mine! My Precious!! No one but me can have her!!!"
"Under the command of Cupid Inc., Mr. Michael Pimpson has been subjected to suppression. Quietly surrender now—"
The monster thrust its enlarged arm, disrupting his sentence midway, but this time, Kevin hardly moved an inch. A power surged violently, enhancing, modifying, and strengthening his very being. The necktie in his hand transformed, growing until it became a weapon that heeded his every call. A power similar to his opponent's: Euphoria.
"Crimson Vows: Necktie Strangulation." The necktie moved with supernatural speed — slippery and fast for its size. In a flash, it slipped to the top of the building, tied itself to beams, and strangled the corrupted individual's neck while slowly sapping out their Euphoria.
This wasn't Kevin's first life. He died long ago, remaining in this world only due to a deal — a second shot at life. Yet burdened by an obligation in exchange for his return
One Month Ago
Love was said to be the second most beautiful thing that God created, right after this magnificent world. Yet this pure and warm intent turned hideous. Too much love proved to be deadly, corrupting, and transformative. Even the purest souls became disillusioned freaks hell-bent on fulfilling their love — even if it meant killing the object of their affection.
"Argh... where am I—wait, I remember now. Did I die? But why am I here? Didn't I get run over by a truck?"
Confused and utterly baffled, he found himself in a chamber, his vessel gone, left behind with only a hollow hue.
The glimmering aura that took the silhouette of his former vessel faded before his very eyes.
"What is this... I can't feel anything. Am I dead? Damn it!! Fuck, why me?!!! I had so much to live for."
The chamber hummed with stillness. Velvet-dark curtains swayed without wind. At the end of a long, candlelit table sat a figure — tall-backed, immaculately dressed in robes etched with glowing script. His eyes were closed. But he spoke.
"Another soul adrift on the edge of the end... how tender the silence of one who died unloved."
His eyes opened — gold irises like softened firelight. He smiled faintly, as if remembering a sorrow that did not belong to him.
"You have crossed the threshold — not into the afterlife, nor oblivion. But in-between, a space bordering these two realms."
"A place for those whose hearts never had the chance to beat beside another's."
He gestured, and a file bearing the poor soul's name materialized midair, glowing softly before floating to the desk.
"I am Valerion, Herald of Second Chances. Curator of the hearts left behind."
"And you… are a soul snatched from the jaws of despair. Died too soon, but not too late."
"There is a path before you: join the Love Outbreak Division. Serve in Cupid's Reflection. Quell the distortions — the obsessions — the heartbreaks run rampant."
"You will become what you nearly became: a Heartbreaker. But in service to love, not in vengeance against it."
He leaned forward, fingertips steepled.
"Prove your worth. Heal what love has torn. And when your duty is complete… you may return."
"Not as you were — but as someone ready to receive love… and perhaps give it in return."
A pause. Silence surrounded his final question like a stage awaiting an answer.
"So, lost soul… will you fight for the love you never knew? Or will you fade, nameless and untouched by warmth?"
"I am Kevin Smith. Where do I sign? Also, is it alright to recruit me? I'm still a high schooler, you know?"
"Worry not... your return to the world is tied to our company — Cupid Inc."
"Apart from your name, your past has no meaning. You'll become an agent of love, with the power to break bonds."
"If you had died naturally, you'd have become our greatest enemy — a vengeful spirit, bent on breaking love. And your refusal spells your doom."
Present Day
"She's mine—"
The moment the corrupted's neck lost strength, Kevin's necktie sealed their fate. Their rampant Euphoria had been suppressed. The distortions of their heart, no longer present, returned them to their prior form.
"Hello, this is Probationary Soul Consultant Kevin Smith. Send a dispatch team to my location. One corrupted and one suspect who witnessed their distortion."
After a quick and clean suppression, Kevin fixed his attire and resumed his patrol.
Match Breakers… reflections of the love-granting Cupids, born from the loveless, vengeful souls of man. Hunted for disrupting Cupid Inc.'s sacred quota. But for a rare few — those who died before being fully devoured by grief — a different fate was offered.
A second chance.
A job.
The place where I was sent upon my return to the land of the living — the Love Outbreak Division.
There was a time when I, too, once thought that the world was normal, yet I now realize that normality was a fabrication of those in power, and the weak thrive in their ignorance of the truth.
Love is still the second-best thing that the creator has imparted to the living, yet drowning in its pleasure for too long will turn anyone wicked, deranged, and destructive. We call them the Erosion.
Beast whose primal urge is to fulfill their carnal desire, corrupting the purity of love, and twisting them to their inhumane desires.
"Hey, Kev! Over here, hey! Good afternoon, coworker! How's it going?" A joyful girl, judging by her appearance, was the same age as Kevin. She ran toward him, dressed in the same attire.
"What luck running into you and on our afternoon break? Wanna join me and grab some lunch? My treat! It's my way of saying thanks for last time, you know me, I always pay debts."
"Sure, I could eat,"
"Alright! You won't regret this. I found a truck selling some delicious shawarma right around the corner. Come on, let's go- ouch." She tripped over her foot in her excitement, revealing Kevin's distance, even though she was outright friendly to him.
"You, okay?" He crouches down to lend a hand, but she gestures him not to
"Urghh, never better!" She quickly got up and showed him the way as she dragged him by his right arm
'Accident Amy just had to take this route. Well, there goes my 15 minutes of silence. There's no doubt this girl died from her carelessness, given how clumsy she always presents herself. But I have to hand it to her, she must've regretted her life that she even chose the life of a slave, although we're supposed to be a part of the company, we're treated as slaves and weapons for how volatile we are. To the eyes of Cupids, were monsters on a leash, making us somewhat safe to work with, yet at the end of the day, we're just poor souls fated to die without falling in love. Souls never meant to love and die alone without the warmth of another, in short, we're fated to be bitchless, and we took this job in the promise that we'll fall in love once were done with our part of the deal'