Kyle felt that something was off.
Waking from a dazed and muddled state, his head throbbed with pain, as if needles were piercing his brain, making it impossible to think straight. He didn't know what had happened or where he was. The groggy feeling was incredibly uncomfortable.
However, even in his hazy state, one thing was clear - this was not his familiar, cozy bed.
What was going on?
The surrounding environment felt oppressive, the space even more cramped than his rented studio apartment. The dim light flickered, teasing his heavy eyelids. Not far behind him, the muffled sound of dripping water echoed, making his chest feel tight…
Along with hushed voices.
"He really seems to be dead. Annie, you went too far!"
A female voice, laced with accusation.
"I didn't do it on purpose. How was I supposed to know he was so fragile? Besides, I barely did anything."
The woman called Annie replied, sounding flustered.
"Enough, we need to figure out how to explain this to Michelle."
"Michelle… No! What are we going to do? She's going to kill us!"
"Don't drag me into this. It's all your fault. You're the one who did him in. It has nothing to do with me…"
The conversation continued, grating on Kyle's aching head. But after a moment, he managed to push past the pain, regaining his basic ability to observe and assess his situation.
He forced his eyes open.
He found himself in a narrow room, reminiscent of a basement from a horror flick. Pitch black surrounded him, the only light coming from torches mounted on the walls. Slimy moss clung to the corners and ceiling, the heavy moisture in the air making his skin crawl.
Kyle tried to move.
Immediately, he discovered that he was tied to a chair, his hands bound tightly behind his back with rough rope that chafed painfully against his skin.
Not only that, his body felt uncharacteristically weak.
Weak to a concerning degree.
"What do we do… Michelle… Oh god, she's here!"
The steady clack of high heels interrupted their panicked chatter and Kyle's feeble attempt to struggle free.
In the dim firelight, a figure gradually took shape.
It was a woman draped in a voluminous robe, a hood concealing her face entirely. The deep green fabric shrouded her, not a single identifying feature visible. She could have been a mannequin underneath for all he could tell.
Kyle only assumed she was a woman based on the click of heels and the name "Michelle".
Still dazed, his instincts screamed at him to play dead.
So before anyone noticed he was awake, he let his body go slack, slumping in the chair, unmoving.
Eyes shut tight, ears straining, he focused on what would unfold next.
"Michelle, you're here…"
Annie's voice trembled.
"Wake him." A muffled, raspy female voice emanated from within the robe.
"Michelle, I…"
Annie hesitated, seemingly choosing her words carefully, but was cut off.
"It's all Annie's fault!" The other woman interjected shrilly, making Kyle's head throb. "Michelle, Annie's the one who did this. She killed him. I had nothing to do with it!"
An uncomfortable silence.
"Michelle, I…" Annie tried to defend herself.
"He's not dead." But Michelle interrupted her again.
Kyle's breath hitched.
"What?"
"He's not dead." Michelle sounded impatient. "Wake him up."
"Ah, y-yes…"
Kyle sat there, eyes closed, suddenly feeling a chill wash over him. In an instant, his clothes were soaked through, clinging to his skin, cold and clammy. He fought the urge to retch.
Annie had dumped a bucket of frigid water on him.
Knowing he couldn't maintain the charade, he opened his eyes.
"He's alive!"
One of the women exclaimed. Kyle could finally take in his surroundings.
Three figures total in the room. The two women and Michelle were dressed identically - deep green robes with hoods obscuring their faces. Like something out of a cult horror movie.
The trio encircled him, as if performing some twisted ritual.
A shiver ran down Kyle's spine.
"You two are dismissed." Michelle spoke.
The two women nodded and left, likely to go rip into each other over the earlier argument.
Kyle felt Michelle's gaze land on him once more, predatory, like a viper eyeing its next meal. He squirmed uncomfortably. But trapped in his current predicament, he could only avert his eyes and feign ignorance.
Michelle remained silent. A standoff.
The seconds dragged into eternity.
Finally, she spoke.
"How do you open the treasury?"
Kyle met her gaze. "I don't know."
"Sir Lither." Michelle didn't sound surprised in the least. "Resistance is futile. You can return to the capital and resume your life of noble privilege, or you can rot down here as rat fodder. The choice is yours. I hope you make the right one."
"I'm not this 'Sir Lither'. You've got the wrong guy."
"Sir Lither, my patience wears thin." Michelle's words were measured but laced with menace. "Or perhaps, you were unsatisfied with Annie's earlier treatment and would like me to call her back?"
"…"
Kyle wanted to laugh and cry all at once. Lady, I really don't know anything!
But by now, the pieces were starting to come together.
Before this, late at night, he'd been hunched over his desk, scrambling to prepare the speech his boss needed for the next day.
At that point, he'd already been burning the candle at both ends for two weeks straight. Physically and mentally drained, he'd passed out from exhaustion right there at his computer. And in his dream, he saw his pudgy, middle-aged boss, tighty-whities on his head, jabbing a finger at him and bellowing, "By the power of my unmentionables, I command you to transform!"
His head buzzed.
Then, he woke up here in this dank basement.
He couldn't rule out the possibility that these women were totally unhinged and had mistaken him for this "Sir Lither" fellow. Or maybe that nightmare of a dream had frazzled his brain so badly he was now hallucinating all of this.
Kyle wasn't an idiot. He was your average Joe, living a mundane life but harboring extraordinary dreams - he'd devoured his fair share of web novels. So the instant something felt off, he connected the dots.
He'd transmigrated.
For some unfathomable reason, he'd been whisked away into the body of a "Sir Lither," supplanting the original owner. As fate would have it, this Lither fellow had landed himself in quite the predicament - nabbed by a group of unhinged women and subjected to some decidedly un-sexy torture.
Now it was Kyle's turn in the hot seat.
He had to be the unluckiest transmigrator ever.
"For the Lithers, that treasury is a mere drop in the bucket. You have countless such riches. Why throw your life away for something so trivial?"
Perhaps mistaking Kyle's sigh for wavering resolve, Michelle shifted to a gentler approach.
Kyle locked eyes with the shadowy figure beneath the hood, enunciating each word:
"I. Don't. Know!"
He was sure his expression radiated innocence.
But Michelle wasn't buying it.
"How disappointing, Sir Lither. You've made a grave error in judgment." Michelle's voice remained frigid, now laced with deadly intent. "Perhaps you're starting to miss Annie's tender mercies."
A chill shot down Kyle's spine.
He shuddered to imagine what these psychos had done to the body's original owner. On second thought, he'd rather not know. Why? Because they'd tortured the poor sap to death!
The proof was in the pudding. He'd be a fool to doubt their capacity for cruelty.
As Michelle turned to leave, Kyle blurted out:
"I… I can't tell you right now."
Kyle was backed into a corner. He'd been dealt a shitty hand, but folding wasn't an option.
Transmigrated or not, he wasn't ready to kick the bucket.
"Why?"
Michelle didn't bother to face him, merely pausing mid-stride, her back to him as she questioned coldly.
"If you never intended to keep your word, it doesn't matter whether I spill the beans or not. You still won't cut me loose." Kyle ransacked his mental library of movie and novel plotlines, struggling to maintain a façade of calm. "I can tell you how to crack open that vault, but you have to guarantee my safety."
A soft chuckle drifted from beneath the hood.
The tension hanging in the air dissipated slightly. Kyle exhaled in relief.
"Aren't you a clever one." Michelle turned to regard him. "I never planned on letting you walk away. To avoid the wrath of your oh-so-powerful family, I'll snuff you out the second I have what I want. Grind your bones to make my bread. Not a trace will be left."
Kyle longed to snatch back his words and ram them down his own throat.
"…Then my lips are sealed."
"Ah, but if you clam up, we'll make you sing like a canary." Michelle's tone oozed sadistic glee. "The easy way or the hard way, your choice. A quick and painless death is far more merciful."
"…"
Lady Luck had a sick sense of humor.
At that moment, Kyle yearned to yank Sir Lither's soul back into this meat suit and throttle him until he agreed to take his lumps. Let Kyle peace out of this bizarro world.
Damn it all, he was just an NPC in this twisted script!
"Fool."
Seeing he had no intention of talking, Michelle shook her head and made to retrieve her lackeys.
Desperation ignited a spark in Kyle's mind.
"Wait!"
Michelle paid him no heed, her stride unbroken.
Out of options, Kyle bellowed with all his might:
"The Lither family vault can only be unlocked by Lither blood. Put me in the ground, and you'll never lay a finger on that booty!"
That got her attention. She stalked back to him, heels punctuating each step like a judge's gavel.
The breath Kyle had been holding whooshed out.
A blood-bound magical safe - the most tired trope in the book. But now, it was his only lifeline.
After a beat of silence, Michelle spoke:
"You are not a pureblood Lither."
Come again?!
Kyle's heart seized, his bound hands fisting behind him.
"To the Lithers, you're nothing but a distant relation." Michelle's voice dripped disdain. "Your aunt married into the fold. You simply rode her coattails. Not a single drop of Lither blood in your veins. This harebrained notion that the vault requires Lither DNA - even you couldn't open it."
"…"
So this "Sir Lither" was a nobody? A hanger-on?
The pounding in Kyle's skull intensified.
He teetered on the edge of despair. Talk about a self-own. He'd royally screwed the pooch.
Any hope of escape had just been torpedoed. By his own damn mouth.
What now?
His isekai adventure had barely started. Were the credits already rolling?
Michelle scoffed, twisting the knife. "Did you honestly believe I wouldn't do my homework before snatching you?"
"Your attempts to trip me up are futile!" Kyle's demeanor shifted in an instant - commanding, imperious. "I am a Lither, through and through. My blood is as blue as it gets. Spinning such tall tales to test my mettle - what are you playing at?"
"You-"
Kyle steamrolled onward. "If you're worried I'm trying to buy time, it only betrays your own fears. Kidnapping a noble - you must be quaking in your stilettos. The cavalry will be crashing through those doors any second. The longer this farce continues, the greater the chance you'll wind up as worm food."
Michelle clammed up, as if her robe concealed an actual mannequin.
Kyle forced a mocking little laugh.
Jackpot.
If he were a mere distant cousin, how could he possibly know about the family's most closely guarded secret? If his connection to the Lithers was so flimsy, Michelle would have no motive to spirit him away.
The pieces fell into place. Michelle had been testing the waters.
She must have sensed something off about her captive. Cooked up that "branch family" bullshit to see if he'd bite. If he had, it would've been game over. She'd have known he was an imposter. Useless as a bargaining chip.
Thank the gaming gods Kyle had kept his wits about him. Michelle's story had more holes than Swiss cheese.
This body was one-hundred percent primo Lither stock!
Giving as good as he got, Kyle managed to rattle Little Miss Mysterio.
"Michelle, honey, if you really want a peek inside that vault, I suggest you get a move on." Kyle ruthlessly pressed his advantage. "The Lithers aren't known for their gentle nature or forgiving spirit."
The silence stretched, taut as a bowstring.
"…You win this round."
Kyle quirked a brow, his smirk positively wolfish.
Michelle sounded as if she were chewing glass. "I'll take you to the vault. You open it. We'll hang back, give you space to work your magic. The instant that sucker pops open, we'll be too busy shoveling gold to worry about you. Plenty of time for you to make a break for it."
At that, Kyle finally let a real grin shine through.
"You got yourself a deal!"
The anvil on his chest disappeared. A tiny glimmer of hope sparked to life.
In his moment of relief, he couldn't help but reflect on the irony. Some transmigration story this was shaping up to be.
Other protagonists got handy-dandy cheat powers to keep their heads attached. Kyle? He had to rely on his silver tongue.
But he couldn't afford to let his guard down. Not by a long shot.
The lie had taken on a life of its own. He had to keep the illusion going, keep stringing Michelle along until the vault was in sight. And he needed to figure out how the hell he was going to MacGyver his way out of this mess. If his cover got blown, if these nutjobs cottoned on to the fact that he didn't have the magic touch…
Game over. Do not pass Go, do not collect two hundred dollars.
This high-stakes LARP had only just begun.
Kyle dragged his attention back to Michelle.
She was not a happy camper. If looks could kill, he'd be six feet under. She spun on her heel hard enough to leave divots in the floor. Stomping to the mouth of the dreary hallway, she snapped for her minions.
"Sally! Annie! Pack it up, we're rolling out."
Probably wanted to get while the getting was good. Kick rocks before the real Sir Lither's cavalry arrived.
But the dank corridor greeted her with nothing but stony silence.
Huh.
A fly on the wall would've cackled at the sight of Little Miss Badass looking suddenly wrong-footed.
"Sally? Annie? You copy?"
A tinge of worry bled through Michelle's usually unflappable veneer.
Finally, a disembodied voice floated back.
"Michelle? Uh, we've got a problem."
Michelle's shoulders slumped infinitesimally with relief. Guess she wasn't eager to be left holding this particular bag.
A living shadow scurried out of the darkness. One of the double-trouble twins.
"The Lithers are knocking on the door. The jig is up. We gotta bounce!"
Kyle's feelings flip-flopped at the speed of light. Giddy exultation that the cavalry had arrived. A bolt of "oh shit" as he realized he had no clue how to handle the extended family popping in unannounced.
Michelle would never risk letting Kyle cruise off into the sunset with his loving family. Dead men tell no tales, and all that jazz.
Cue the migraine.
Michelle's poker face was back in place. Cool as the center seed in a cucumber, she asked, "Annie, where's Sally?"
"I… I dunno…"
"Annie. Sally's location, if you please."
Annie's voice quavered like an off-key violin.
"Sally… she's not here. I mean, I'm not totally sure. She said something about checking the perimeter, scoping out an escape route, but then she just… vanished. I think… I think she might've seen the Lithers closing in, panicked, and rabbited. Or… or the Lithers scooped her up."
Silence crashed down like a guillotine blade, sharp and final.
Annie fidgeted beneath her baggy robe, the billowing fabric doing zilch to hide her nerves.
"Michelle, we need to jet. If we wait any longer, they'll catch us red-handed!"
But Michelle seemed to have slipped into a mini-coma. Or maybe she'd been replaced by one of those posable artist's dolls.
The quiet stretched like taffy, dense and cloying. Annie kept throwing out increasingly shrill hints, but her scene partner was giving her nothing to work with. You could practically hear the crickets.
Kyle took it upon himself to shatter the unbearable tension.
His voice came out syrupy slow, dripping with faux-shock.
"Well, would you look at that. Annie got Sally killed."
"Michelle, I'm begging you, you've gotta believe me!"If his hands weren't trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey, Kyle would've gladly introduced Annie's flapping gums to the business end of a sock.The entire trek, his ears had been battered by her broken record impression.From the second he'd pegged her as Sally's murderer, Annie had been belting out that same refrain, desperate to convince Michelle of her innocence. Too bad Michelle was an immovable object. She'd simply manhandled Kyle out of the chair, hauled him out of the basement fungeon, and carried on like Sally had never darkened her doorstep.Now they were gunning for the super secret location of the Lither family piggy bank.Picture this: dead of night, ominous forest, our ragtag bunch of misfits trudging through the gloom.Michelle was on point, navigating the twists and turns that would supposedly lead to untold riches. Kyle was the filling in the captive sandwich, hands rocking a stylish hemp rope accessory behind his
"Michelle, once we've put all this behind us, let's get out of here. Head to Freedon, start fresh."Their heart-to-heart concluded, the trio set off once more.The atmosphere had transformed completely. The two women chatted away like lifelong friends, all traces of earlier strain vanished."I'd love nothing more. I've been itching to leave this place for ages," Michelle replied, her tone warm and intimate.Of course, this newfound camaraderie did not extend to Kyle.His circumstances remained unchanged - wrists chafed raw by coarse rope, legs quaking with exhaustion, and no right to speak. One wrong word and Annie's congenial smile would twist into a snarl, her whip eager to taste his flesh."We need to find a way to lure the Lither forces here without tipping off Michelle. That way, when they show up, she won't have time to off me…" Kyle muttered under his breath.The AI chimed in, "The probability of success is insignificant. You'd have better odds attempting to seduce Michelle - a
The witching hour hung heavy over the forest as Michelle and Annie trudged onward, Kyle stumbling along between them.Inside the prison of his skull, the AI droned on, a broken record stuck on a single cryptic phrase.The very incantation Annie had uttered to unleash her aquatic assault."Look, if you're so gung-ho about mastering the mystic arts, why not cut to the chase and ask Glinda and Elphaba over there for a crash course? There's only so many times I can repeat this before my circuits start frying." Even the long-suffering AI was reaching the end of its digital rope."Bold of you to assume they wouldn't just use me for target practice."Kyle was no closer to deciphering the arcane formula, but he'd be damned if he threw in the towel now."Don't leave me hanging, buddy. Hit me with that magic spam."Thirty mind-numbing minutes had passed since his eureka moment. Thirty minutes of Kyle's world narrowing to that single phrase, an all-consuming obsession.Thirty minutes of Michelle
"Annie, we can't afford to let this chance slip away."The heated back-and-forth continued, but Michelle appeared to be winning the argument."But… what other choice do we have?" Annie's shoulders slumped in defeat.Michelle was silent for a moment before approaching her companion, her voice low and urgent. "There's one last card we can play. And it all hinges on you."That caught Kyle's attention.He was desperate for any scrap of hope, any sign that they could still shake the Lither clan's pursuit."The Lithers have no idea what our true goal is, and they don't know our exact numbers," Michelle pressed, her tone persuasive. "You could lead them on a wild goose chase without breaking a sweat. They'll assume the hostage is with you. All you need to do is head south at full speed - they won't be able to keep up."Annie hesitated, uncertainty flickering across her features. "You want me to be the decoy?"Michelle nodded, gesturing to Kyle's prone form. "I'll stay behind with our guest.
Life is full of illusions. Your phone is vibrating in your pocket, that cute barista is into you, and you can turn the tables on your captor.Kyle found himself firmly in the grip of that third illusion.Trusting in the AI's ability to put the incantation on loop, he focused all his mental energy on the words, intent on mastering the binding spell and using it to gain the upper hand on Michelle. And the AI didn't let him down, dutifully repeating the mystical phrase ad nauseum.No, the one who let Kyle down was Kyle.No matter how many times the AI looped the chant, no matter how intently Kyle concentrated, he simply could not wrap his mind around the intricacies of the spell.By focusing his thoughts inward, he found himself back in that strange mindscape. Everything was just as he'd left it - an endless expanse of inky black nothing, the luminous blue triangle thrumming with eldritch power. The AI's voice echoed through the space, the incantation repeating over and over, just as it
Annie often wondered how she would meet her end.Strangely enough, she never pictured it being a peaceful passing. She dreamed of being torn limb from limb, her broken body a gruesome sight, yet she felt no fear or unease. Once, she dreamed of dying quietly in a sickbed, the people holding a lovely funeral in her honor. Michelle stood silently before her grave, laying a bouquet of lilies at its base.Annie awoke with a start, drenched in cold sweat, unable to find rest for the remainder of the night.Ever since meeting Michelle, it seemed all of Annie's dreams had come to revolve around her. Being cut to ribbons by Michelle's blade, the two of them burning together at the Church's stake, choking the life from Michelle with her bare hands… there was even one where she and Michelle made frenzied love in a seedy little inn, though in her waking hours she'd never entertained such thoughts.Not until she resolved to betray Michelle.The seeds of betrayal had first taken root when Michelle'
Half an hour after Annie's untimely demise…On the other side of the proverbial chessboard, Kyle's situation was scarcely any better."…so you'd sacrifice your own partner just to get one over on me?"Not that Kyle was suddenly overcome with righteous indignation on Annie's behalf. He simply didn't know what else to say, short of condemning Michelle on moral grounds.And he HAD to keep talking. Silence was tantamount to surrender at this point. After all, he and Michelle were still engaged in "negotiations"… even if said negotiations had long since departed from Kyle's imagined script.It was his last shot at survival."What sacrifice?" Michelle's already frosty demeanor turned positively glacial. "Sir Lither, I fear I've been entirely too accommodating for the sake of our partnership. It seems to have given you the mistaken impression that this is a casual conversation between equals."Accommodating, his foot.Kyle felt the noose tightening around his neck. It was painfully clear tha
"Have you completely lost it?"The AI's voice erupted in Kyle's mind, practically vibrating with panic."Oh, look who rebooted," Kyle observed coolly."System startup achieved in 0.1 seconds, surpassing 99.99% of known processing speeds," the AI announced smugly before pivoting sharply. "But that's hardly relevant right now. Are you actively trying to get us killed? Why would you reveal you're an impostor?""That's not what matters.""Then pray tell, what does?""Michelle's reaction to it."Kyle kept his gaze trained on the sorceress as he conducted this internal dialogue.And just as he'd predicted, Michelle barely acknowledged his confession. She merely let out a contemptuous snort, not even deigning to shift her position. His revelation seemed to leave her utterly unmoved.The AI lapsed into stunned silence before muttering, "I must be experiencing a critical system error. Clearly my security protocols have been compromised.""…"Kyle could hardly blame his digital companion for st