Chapter 2Widowed Innkeeper NPC

I was shaking with anger, clutching my cheap phone. It was an NPC-exclusive model I had saved up my meager points for years to buy.

Logging into the player channel, I pointed my screen at Shadow, the owl who was currently forced to pose as a lucky cat on my counter.

"I know this guy! When he cleared my dungeon, he stole my gold lucky cat ornament!"

Hearing this, Shadow stopped flapping his wings and landed on my shoulder, squinting at the screen. He was tired of doing double duty as both an owl and a lucky cat ever since my ornament was stolen.

I remembered the thief's arrogance when he cleared the trial.

"The rules of this place are incredibly stupid," he had sneered. "Who could this possibly eliminate? You silly little ghost."

The memory made my ghostly form flicker with rage.

"I only let him win because he looked so pathetic and miserable!"

Shadow sighed, his voice low. "Holly, your rules are already incredibly easy. You don't need to let anyone win."

I pretended not to hear him, tapping the screen with my long, sharp nails.

"And this one, and that one! I only let them through out of the goodness of my heart! Now they talk trash behind my back? I'm going to eat them!"

Shadow gave up, flying back to the counter to resume his stiff, lucky-cat pose.

Then I remembered the system notification. My dungeon was closing forever. There would be no more new players to keep me company.

In a fit of pique, I turned off the phone and threw it onto the counter. I floated up to the ceiling beam, hanging upside down with my long red tongue sticking out, closing my eyes to wait for the final batch of players.

Because of that, I missed the flurry of new posts that immediately began to flood the forum.