This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

"Did Deceitful Bloom ever expect BS-Rita to love this title skill so much when designing it?"

"Feels like this skill was tailor-made for BS-Rita!"

"It's so smooth when she uses it… not the slightest hesitation…"

"Right? Every time she says 'No, I'm not wrong,' she's literally denying her own previous choices, but she doesn't flinch at all. Doesn't she ever think of something? Like, I don't know, Rabbit 3?"

"Think Deceitful Bloom regrets it?"

"Probably regrets not making the skill trigger on saying 'I was wrong!' instead…"

Deceitful Bloom: ...Yeah, kind of.

...

After successfully canceling the payment, Rita immediately used [Romantic Tourist].

But before she returned to March Theme Park, she marked a building in October Theme Park.

Back in March, Rita felt cold sweat down her spine.

October Theme Park felt like walking into an endgame zone only to get yeeted back to the starting screen.

It might be a game zone for Level 18 or 19 players—or both. There were too many players to be just 19s.

And... she might have figured out why the [Game Machine That Loves Games] fragments kept appearing on the market.

Also, those 518g Blocks she earned from selling a copied console fragment—they were probably from October Theme Park.

If the game console truly originated from October Theme Park, then her strategy had to change.

[Early Exit], which let you leave the Divine Game six hours early, could easily be worth two or even three console fragments—not just one.

After all, to someone in that hellhole, leaving six hours early meant avoiding tremendous losses. If she only traded for one piece, she'd be severely underselling it.

The only variable was how attached the current owner was to the console. That player was still trying to buy back the fragments in the middle of that brutal chaos—they might not give it up so easily.

Rita planned to collect two more fragments before putting [Early Exit] up for trade.

This trip was far from a loss. She gathered critical intel and left a marker in October Theme Park.

And the marker wasn't just for fun—if she ever got another Forced Invitation Card, she'd use it on Maple Mu, dragging her to October.

Rita grinned devilishly.

Actually, make that two cards. One for Maple Mu, and one for Winter Sea·Frenzied Shark.

She'd stand right at the gates of October Theme Park to welcome them. They'd line up together, enter together—and just as despair began to set in, she'd request a refund right in front of them and peace out while they watched.

Cackling. Absolutely cackling.

Nivalis and B8017913 found her just in time to see her grinning maniacally at the sky beside a vending machine, clearly imagining something chaotic.

Nivalis: "And she says I'm the one with problems?"

B8017913: "You two are equally matched."

When she saw her pets arriving, Rita instantly wiped the grin and asked all serious, "Aren't you two working?"

Nivalis didn't call out the fake professionalism. "No business in that area. We're thinking of moving."

B8017913: "But we earned enough for the 7-to-8pm play fee."

Rita: "That's great. I'm planning to go play a game now. You wouldn't believe how terrifying the park I just visited was…"

She stopped herself mid-sentence and switched to private chat.

Public areas didn't allow group chat. Even though they were speaking in the now-obscure BS language, Rita wasn't about to risk it. She'd rather repeat herself in private than spill strategic info in the open.

She summarized her thoughts with a prediction:

"After this game cycle, the rankings on the ladder board are going to shift massively."

B8017913:

"Shuffle games. They appear every so often with no set pattern."

Rita blinked.

"Shuffle games? For Level 18 and 19 players?"

B8017913:

"Not just them. After every shuffle game, the ladder always sees a major shake-up."

Thinking of the people she'd met, it gave another example:

"A long time ago, Lania Kaia's Mistblade held the #1 spot on the ladder for a while."

That hit Rita hard.

Unexpected… yet somehow not.

In Lania Kaia, both Undead and Moon Foxes had longer histories than Owlcrows.

No matter how talented Maple Syrup was, she couldn't match Mistblade in time and experience. And time came with its own unbeatable advantages.

Mistblade had always struck Rita as calm and unshakable—her rare meltdowns were always over mahjong.

She was generous, patient, recommending books to young fans in the library, working as a dean at a mixed-race alchemy academy.

She kept her word. When she got the World Graveyard from her people, she promised favors in return. Even when she cornered Rita in Lania Kaia, she listened calmly before throwing a punch.

Every time they crossed paths, Rita felt that same vibe:

"If you insist, fine."

Like she'd go bask in the sun rather than bother arguing—so long as you gave her a convincing reason.

Rita always thought it was Mistblade's personality.

Now… it might be something more.

Maybe she had once stood at the peak of the ladder and seen the view from the top.

From up there, all the chaos and competition was just part of the scenery.

That was the arrogance—and mercy—of the strong.

And with it came a message: Mistblade was confident she'd climb back up.

Thinking about all the world-to-world power disparities, and the subtle rivalries and alliances, she asked:

"If a player weakens, does their home world weaken too?"

B8017913:

"Yes."

But when she tried to dig deeper, B8017913 couldn't say more—it needed her to collect more intel before it could confirm or expand on her theories.

Rita let it go. She'd learn it all eventually.

Right then, she found herself standing in one part of March Theme Park. She paused for a few seconds.

[You've played for 1 hour. Unlocking new item/relic.]

['A Big World, A Small Me' unlocked.]

[Item has been delivered.]

It was now 6:45.

She caught the magnifying glass—a 3-piece set—and stored it away. Then she took out [Game Simulation] and said, "Don't go anywhere yet. If this game needs a team, I want you both with me."

With that, she raised the white Block frame and aimed it at the ferris wheel at the end of the street.

The moment it framed the wheel, it was like snapping a Polaroid photo.

With a loud "click," Rita felt herself drop into a void—then land inside a ferris wheel cabin.

It was like she'd fallen into an old movie. The world turned grayscale.

Across from her sat a plump, content-looking duck.

It was the only non-Block living creature she'd seen in the entire simulation.

Its beak was a vibrant yellow—the only color in this black-and-white world. As she appeared, the duck stared at her with glossy bean-like eyes.

At the same time, a set of game rules rang in her mind.

...

From Nivalis and B8017913's perspective, Rita had only raised the Block frame toward the ferris wheel for about two seconds before lowering it again, face dark and conflicted.

Nivalis: "What happened?"

Rita glanced at a few players who had been hovering nearby since she arrived—plus the Six-tailed Moon Fox and extended-term Owlcrow now pretending to admire the scenery.

She stared at the ferris wheel and privately messaged both of them:

"This game… is going to be a pain."