Xian is just an undergrad who liked to play games. A certain type of game that involved a lot of pretty girls and big personalities.
Recently he'd been obsessed with playing fantasy themed dating sim games with a dash of academy life and action, a genre popular with males his age. He totally didn't like it for the reason that he's never interacted with a girl all his life.
He just liked the way they were drawn, those perfect plethora of curves, vibrant colors and heavenly voices. In short he's just a hardcore fan who would scream at something hot when he sees it. It looked incomparably better than reality.
These days in particular, there was one game he'd been repeatedly 'conquering' again and again for only one reason. A flexible game where you can date characters and have an academy life with them. Grow strong, interact, catch their interest and then the story progresses. He'd played through with everyone he wanted but one character.
He wanted to save a character that was always met with a bad end.
That character being, a villainess in the game.
She wasn't the major villain of the game, but one of the many hurdles the player has to go through, and a rival of the game's Heroine.
Sometimes, she dies early depending on the choices the player makes. Sometimes she gets defeated for a heroine's development. Sometimes she's an enemy of the academy and betrayer of humanity.
How could one person be the absolute worse while being the absolute unlucky at the same time? One thing astounded him when he discovered that character. She immediately caught his eye and thought that she definitely had a route from somewhere out there.
After all, with her appearance, long silky dark read hair, gothic black dress style design, and pale skin with matching sharp pretty face, she was drop dead gorgeous. Instantly, she carved a place inside his heart just with her design.
Just like how a man once asked, 'If evil, why hot?' she was the epitome of that question.
But contrary to that, she was discarded in more ways than one, sometimes vain, and sometimes dramatic. There was even a route where she got married to a random old noble after being stripped of her position as an heiress! A route he absolutely couldn't forgive!
So like a true connoisseur and gamer of this genre, he dedicated himself into somehow getting involved with her and looking for any route's that can save her.
But… His patience was really being tested by the game devs.
"Damn this bitch!" He would involuntarily fume at her for appearing at a very crucial moment as a hard boss instead, with a chance of team wiping the party when his members is already exhausted. Or die in vain due to some aftereffects on an event.
'What an unfortunate character.'
His first few attempts that ended in failure soon turned to fifties, then hundreds and then he counted no more.
Until finally, at that one time events led to him applying as her butler early on, she finally had a new and unseen interaction.
"Finally! Is this her prelude route?" He was overjoyed to find that he was finally able to open his route.
Unfortunately, the game ended at that.
"What!? Are you kidding me?"
Angered with how lackluster that felt, he almost smashed his laptop.
Not until an email notification from the game devs reach out to him. So suddenly, even when he didn't even contact them or given them his address.
Xian was familiar with this development.
He had never been one to believe in god or whatever fiction he ever read, but at that moment, his heart trembled.
It's either a spam, a scam, or the thing he was thinking of.
He felt ridiculous for expecting something like that.
'Gulp'
'It can't be that right?'
He clicked the email open, but he wasn't able to read anything as light swallowed up his view.
He found himself in an empty white space.
'It seems we have a dedicated one here.' Said a voice that he can hear in all directions.
"?… Is this what I think it is?"
'Yes.'
Xian took a sharp breath. Had he finally died after all those sleepless nights of trying to find a way in that game characters route? After fiddling with the choices, he finally found where the route could be hidden.
It was in the surefire bad end route.
The route where the protagonist chooses no route, nor heroine but instead goes to the academy without prior starting point that contains a heroine. At first release, it was famous for a Harem route theory that many fans tried to accomplish before, but to this day no one has been able to do it.
And in one of the very early starting points, he took the protagonist to the high level area dukedom where the character he was trying to save resides. After several attempts, he was found by an attendant, and it lead into the cutscene where he stood before her.
Thus, the game ends. Turns out, there was this kind of surprise for the one who will discover it.
"So? What now? Do I have some sort of reward?" Not bothering to question the entity before him, knowing that he will only get vague answers, he went straight to the point of this meeting.
'You do. But it's more of a punishment.'
"A punishment huh? But why?"
'It is also a sin to die, unable to take care of your body. And therefore here we are.'
He was stunned for a moment. He really did die?
"How ridiculous." Xian let out a wry laugh, finding his death very amusing.
'But, since you died doing what you love with dedication, you have reached our hearts and we have prepared a special punishment just for you.'
"?"
'From now on, you'll be punished by relieving what you love, over and over again. Until you reached the end. The proper end. We will be watching you then, O dedicated one.'
"What I love? What do you mean? Hey!"
Alas, he didn't get any further answers, and for the second time, everything went white.
***
He stood in front of a familiar woman. Cascading black hair, red tinged and freely flowing from her shoulders, she sat like an empress in her throne.
"You're my new butler?" Guarded by two women wearing the signature tight black armor of their dukedom, she looked down upon him with an ever uninterested gaze.
"So, why is a thing like you just standing there?" She spoke in a heavenly flat tone he always heard.
Stunned, Xian could only open wide his mouth in shock.
He was really in the games world.
What now?
"Tsk, unpleasant."
But before he could even do anything.
She beckoned for one of her guards who nodded and took a stance as if drawing a blade. Then his vision spun.
He realized that he'd been beheaded.
That was his first death and regression.
"Damn bitch." As soon as he was able to talk again, it spat out from his mouth out of habit from the days he got frustrated with her.
"..." This time, silence and a little nudge of the chin was all it took for him to be beheaded.
That was his second regression.