Chapter 5: Side Character x Mafia Boss (5)

Instead of standing there like a brainless idiot waiting to see exactly who was walking out of that pitch-black darkness...

Lyra spun around on her heel and sprinted for her absolute life.

"AHHHH!" she screamed inside her head as she ran.

She didn’t even dare to steal a single glance back over her shoulder. As a highly experienced, professional web novel reader, she knew one golden rule of storytelling incredibly well: Curious side characters always die first.

"Nope!" she screamed inside her head, her shoes slapping loudly against the damp pavement. "Not today! Absolutely not!"

"I’m not the sacred female lead who gets protected by plot armor!"

"I’m not staying behind to see who’s stalking me!"

She ran as fast as her legs could possibly carry her, pushing her body to its absolute limits. Her frantic heartbeat pounded so loudly in her ears that it drowned out the sounds of the city. The freezing night air burned her throat and lungs with every gasp, but she refused to stop or even slow down.

She turned one corner.

Then she scrambled down another street.

Then she pushed past another dark alley.

Only after her legs felt like jelly and she was completely out of breath did she finally slow her frantic pace down to a halt.

"Huff..."

"Huff..."

She bent over double, placing both of her trembling hands on her knees while desperately gasping for precious oxygen. She kicked off her heels.

"I..." she wheezed, her chest heaving. "I seriously, desperately need to start exercising after this..."

After calming her erratic breathing just a little bit, she nervously turned her head to look behind her.

The street was entirely empty.

There were no footsteps echoing in the distance. No mysterious men. No terrifying mafia executioners. No bloodthirsty murderers. There were only the bright streetlights illuminating the busy main road just ahead of her.

Cars drove past her on the avenue, completely normal and as if nothing terrible had just happened a few blocks away.

Lyra pressed a flat hand against her pounding chest, feeling her heart slowly return to a regular rhythm.

"Phew..." she whispered, wiping a cold bead of sweat from her forehead. "I think I’m finally safe..."

Just then-

Ding!

"AHH!"

Lyra nearly jumped straight into the middle of the oncoming traffic. She spun around, glaring daggers at the glowing blue digital screen that had suddenly materialized right in front of her face.

"You literally almost gave me a fatal heart attack!" she hissed under her breath.

The System’s mechanical voice sounded unusually quiet, almost... guilty.

[Sorry, Host. Something completely unexpected happened within the local network, so I had to temporarily go offline to repair the system errors.]

A short, awkward pause filled the link between them.

[...Are you alright?]

Lyra stared at the blue screen in complete, utter disbelief. "Alright?" she echoed, pointing an accusing finger at herself. "Do I look even remotely alright to you?!"

"I just saw a freshly murdered dead body!"

"And then your glitched navigation system led me straight into a creepy, dark alley!"

"And then, right when the killer was walking out, you completely disappeared on me!"

"If you hadn’t gone offline at the worst possible second, I would be more than alright!"

The System stayed silent for a long moment, processing her furious words.

"..."

[Host... what exactly happened during my offline period?]

Lyra let out a exhausted laugh, her eyes wide. "Oh, now you’re asking? Now you care?!"

"There was a corpse! A literal, bloody corpse on the ground!"

"And the killer was still inside the dark alley, walking right toward me!"

"I wasn’t about to wait around politely to find out if they wanted a second victim for their collection!"

The System’s loading icon spun rapidly as it quickly searched through its massive story database. After a few seconds, a red error box flashed.

[!!Error.!!!No such event or murder exists in the original plot.]

Lyra’s angry expression slowly melted, turning serious. "...What?"

[According to the original storyline, nothing of this nature should have happened in that specific location tonight. The Host may have encountered an unknown bug.]

Lyra rubbed her aching temples, feeling a massive headache coming on. "Great. Absolutely wonderful. My very first world is already completely broken."

She looked around at the cold, empty street before crossing her arms tightly over her chest. "Forget about the broken plot. Forget everything else right now."

"Just take me home first!"

[Understood.]

A bright golden arrow appeared once again, floating in the air.

This time, however, Lyra didn’t trust it at all. She narrowed her eyes at the glowing marker, her gaze full of deep suspicion. "...Are you absolutely sure it’s not taking me to another bloody crime scene?"

[Navigation parameters have been fully recalibrated.[Success Rate: 99.98%.]

"...I’ll just pretend that tiny margin of error makes me feel better," she muttered.

Just then, a yellow taxi happened to slow down and stop nearby. Without wasting another second, Lyra rushed forward, opened the door, and scrambled inside the backseat.

"Please, just drive!" she gasped to the driver.

The taxi driver blinked, looking back at her in confusion. "Miss... where exactly to?"

Lyra froze. Her mouth stayed open, but no words came out. She slowly turned her head toward the window, looking at the floating golden arrow hovering right outside the glass.

"...System."

[Yes, Host?]

"I still don’t actually know my own home address."

The System fell completely silent.

"..."

"..."

Even the taxi driver awkwardly looked away, clearing his throat as the silence stretched in the car.

Somehow... Lyra felt this mission was going to be much, much harder than she had ever imagined.

-------------

Deep within the narrow, dark alleyway, the suffocating silence returned.

Alastair Voss slowly stepped out from the shadows, his long black overcoat brushing against the damp brick walls. His shoes came to a halt right beside the lifeless, bloody body sprawling on the cold floor

His piercing grey eyes held absolutely no emotion- no pity, no anger, no disgust as he looked down at the dead man. To him, this was just another piece of messy business taken care of.

Then... his gaze shifted slowly toward the narrow alley entrance.

The terrified girl who had been standing there just a few moments ago had already completely vanished into the night. Only the empty, dimly lit road remained, completely silent.

One of his trusted subordinates stepped out from the darkness behind him, adjusting his black suit jacket. "Boss," the man murmured, hesitating for a split second before continuing. "The witness..."

He trailed off, looking at the street where the girl had just run. "Should I go after her and silence her permanently?"

The subordinate had recognized the girl immediately. She was the exact same beautiful, strange waitress from the Moonlight Café earlier that day. For some inexplicable reason, a small, unusual prickle of pity touched his heart. The poor girl had simply been in the completely wrong place at the worst possible time. Still, business always came first in the underworld. He was absolutely certain his ruthless boss would coldly order her immediate execution.

Alastair remained perfectly still, standing in absolute silence for a few moments. His icy gaze stayed fixed on the empty street where Lyra had fled.

Finally, his deep chilly voice broke the silence.

"...Not yet."

The subordinate blinked in sheer surprise, his eyes widening slightly. "Boss?"

"Find out exactly who she is," Alastair commanded, his voice completely calm "I want every single piece of information regarding her life. Her background, her habits, her connections. I want it on my desk by tomorrow morning."

The subordinate was visibly stunned. In all his years of serving the Voss family, this was the absolute first time his ruthless boss had ever allowed an active crime witness to simply walk away with her life.

"...Yes, Boss," the man replied quickly, lowering his head out of respect. "As you wish. It will be done."

Without uttering another word, Alastair turned, his dark coat billowing behind him as he melted back into the shadows of the alley.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city...

Lyra had finally reached home. Or rather, she had managed to reach the small, cozy apartment that the original owner of this body called home.

The absolute second she stumbled inside the front door, she locked it with three different deadbolts, hurriedly closed every single window tight, and threw her exhausted body onto the soft mattress. She grabbed the blanket and wrapped herself tightly inside the fabric until she looked like a giant packed human burrito.

Only her wide eyes peeked out from the top of the sheets.

"I quit..." her weak, trembling voice echoed softly through the quiet bedroom. "I can’t do this anymore. This book world is way too scary."

A familiar, digital sigh resonated right inside her mind.

[Host.]

"I mean it this time!" Lyra whined, rolling around on the mattress.

[This is officially the twentieth time you have tried to quit the mission tonight, Host. As stated before, you cannot terminate the contract.]

Lyra sniffled dramatically, pulling the blanket higher up her nose. "You never warned me it would be this terrifying! I saw a fresh dead body! A real, whole human being! He literally flew out of the sky and landed right in front of my shoes!" Her face was still completely pale from the pure shock of the encounter.

The System replied in its usual, logical tone.

[If you choose to leave this world now by breaking the contract, your soul will face obliteration. You will simply be joining him.]

Lyra immediately shut her mouth, freezing.

"..."

"...You are easily the worst, most unsympathetic system in the entire universe," she muttered after a pause.

[And you are easily the biggest scaredy-cat Host I have ever had to manage.]

"What?!" Lyra gasped, insulted. "I am not a scaredy-cat! Anyone would run! Plus, you literally abandoned me right when the killer was walking out!"

[It was automatic temporary maintenance.]

"You completely disappeared!"

[Necessary system repairs.]

"You almost got me brutally murdered!"

[Technically... your vital signs are normal and you survived.]

Lyra pouted heavily, burying her entire face deeper into the dark blanket. "I hate you."

[Noted in the logs.]

"Hmph."

The bedroom finally fell into a peaceful quiet. After enduring the massive emotional rollercoaster of her very first day, Lyra’s eyelids slowly began to droop. Within a few short minutes, the exhaustion claimed her, and she fell into a deep sleep.