LIGHT NOVEL Chapter 1: Chapter 1. What's Happening?
Sienna-Rose Miller, an IT professional and assistant manager in the development department, is turning 40 this year. Last year was a chaotic one for her, filled with long hours, endless caffeine, and the occasional indulgence in alcohol. Yet, despite the stress and exhaustion, she has persevered, with no serious illness in her busy life.
Even when she was hoping to catch a very serious illness so that she could use her very expensive insurance and use a very long reason to get a day off from her very demanding workplace.
"Can I have a secret grand aunt or great-great-grandfather who's actually very wealthy and give me an abandoned mansion?!" Sienna-Rose cries out in frustration as her superior asks her to redo a portion of her work.
The new system she created has been plagued with bugs, and her clients are demanding a fix within the week. Sienna-Rose had always believed that a career in IT would make her rich, like the successful YouTubers she follows, but the reality has been far from her dreams.
While it's true that Sienna-Rose earns a good living, the demands of her job have left her with little time for herself. Each year, she makes a new resolution to live a more balanced life, but as the months pass, her schedule quickly fills up, and suddenly, it's the end of the year, and she's turning 40 already.
Sienna-Rose's bucket list, which once included dreams of wine-tasting on the weekends, picnics in the spring, fishing on a yacht in the summer, skiing in the winter, and touring a vineyard in the fall, has slowly been whittled down to a single item: enjoying a glass of wine on the weekends. Her aspirations of living a luxurious life seem like a distant fantasy.
As Sienna-Rose's coworker points out, "You play games too much, Sie."
"How can I not play a game? We're working in a developer company for a game!" Sienna-Rose retorts in complaints.
"Sienna-Rose! Fix your mistake!" Her boss was roaring, calling out her name since he kept hearing her whining all day.
"And if I don't want to?" Sienna-Rose quickly replied, tempted to defy her boss.
"No bonus for you this month!" Her boss quickly responds, aware of Sienna-Rose's value to the company, and there's no way they'll fire such a rare talent as her.
"What a tyrant," Sienna-Rose, resigned, mutters as she sinks into her chair, wondering if her dreams of a fulfilling life will ever come to fruition.
Sienna-Rose leaned back in her chair, her fingers pausing momentarily above the keyboard as she muttered, "They should've just developed a game like Vintage Point. It's far more profitable and easier to create than yet another zombie fighting game like this." Her voice was laced with a mixture of frustration and resignation, the weight of her discontent hanging in the air as she reluctantly turned her focus back to the screen.
"How can you hate the game you're working on, Sienna?" One of her coworkers, oblivious to the storm brewing within her, raised an eyebrow.
With a deep sigh, Sienna Rose rolled her eyes and replied, "Because it's not fun. It's bleak, filled with death, dark, and devoid of any romance." Her tone was tinged with a sense of longing; she yearned for the vibrant worlds and rich narratives that had initially drawn her to the gaming industry.
-
Sienna-Rose stepped through the door of her apartment, the weight of a long and arduous workweek weighing heavily upon her shoulders. With a weary sigh, she made her way to the kitchen, grabbing two bottles of wine—a new Italian vintage the store owner had raved about. "Let's change, get that game on, and drink wine," she muttered to herself, toeing off her shoes and heading to her room.
After a relaxing bath, Sienna-Rose emerged feeling slightly refreshed. She settled into her favorite chair, uncorked the Italian wine, and poured herself a generous glass. Placing a plate of artisanal cheeses before her, she fired up her gaming computer and launched Vintage Point, her guilty pleasure.
As the familiar sights and sounds of the game filled the room, Sienna Rose took a deep, appreciative sip of the wine. "I should've just drunk from the bottle," she mused. "Kinda needed it after this shitty week." Despite her complaints about the game's development as an IT professional, Sienna-Rose couldn't deny her love for the experience it provided as a wine enthusiast and cheese connoisseur, since the game is about inheriting a vineyard and creamery.
"If you make it in which they can marry your character," she murmured, swirling the wine in her glass. "You should at least put a program that lets the spouse talk about how nice their vineyard is instead of just talking about another local winery." Her brow furrowed as she sipped the wine, savoring its complex notes. "And a worried program when the character passes out from too much mining or whatever—that would make me feel so loved, unlike this program."
Sienna-Rose's friends in the game community had suggested she try her hand at modding the game, but she quickly dismissed the idea. "Why should I? They didn't pay me to make such alternatives," she grumbled, her fingers expertly navigating the game's menus.
With a sly grin, she activated one of her favorite mods—unlimited money. "Harem style? Why only male characters? Let's make it a reverse harem, but in a lesbian style!" she exclaimed, her words slightly slurred as the wine began to take effect.
As the game world blurred before her eyes, Sienna-Rose paused, frowning. "Eh, why's it blurry? Did I drink too much wine?" She murmured, placing the glass on the table and leaning back in her chair, but then gulped the entire bottle.
Sienna-Rose raised her glass, her voice ringing with a mix of defiance and exhilaration. "Let's go die in elegant wine! Drunk on expensive wine!" She shouted, her laughter spilling into the air as she took another generous gulp, the rich liquid warming her from the inside out.
The game flickered on her screen, a chaotic blend of colors and sounds as she navigated through the pixelated landscapes, the tension of the week melting away with each sip.
As the night wore on, she lost herself in the rhythm of the game, the combination of wine and adrenaline blurring the lines between reality and the virtual world. Her laughter echoed in the quiet apartment, but soon the vibrant hues of her surroundings began to dull, the screen fading into a haze.
The last thing she remembered was the sudden jolt of pain in her chest, sharp and unexpected, before her face met the cool surface of the keyboard with a thud. Before, darkness enveloped her.
Her next consciousness found her snuggled in a bed so comfortable that it was as if she were floating on air, with the gentle caress of silk sheets caressing her body. The room, with its delicate tapestry and surreal lighting, was clearly not her own, and she felt a wave of confusion rush over her as she took it all in.
"Oh, you're finally awake," a voice cut through her haze. A beautiful woman with short black hair regarded her with an expression that blended annoyance and relief.
Sienna-Rose blinked, still disoriented, when another figure caught her attention—a beauty with long, wavy red hair standing next to the other side of her large bed. "She's awake!" the redhead called, her voice ringing as she turned to someone else in the room.
"Who are you?" Sienna-Rose managed to mutter, her voice hoarse and barely above a whisper. She felt a wave of embarrassment wash over her, realizing how foolish she must appear in this strange place.
"You came home dead drunk, and now you've forgotten about us?" A third woman chimed in, her bright pink short hair framing a youthful face that was twisted in frustration. The intensity of her gaze felt like a spotlight, and Sienna-Rose instinctively pulled the sheets closer around her.
"Huh?" Sienna-Rose was utterly flabbergasted, unable to process the situation as another woman, this one with flowing blonde hair, entered the room. Her expression was filled with disappointment, and Sienna-Rose felt a pang of guilt—though she had no idea why.
"Who are you guys?" she asked, the shock evident in her voice.
The bewilderment of the moment left her scrambling for answers, her mind racing as she tried to make sense of the gathering before her. The air felt thick with unspoken expectations, and Sienna-Rose wondered if she had stumbled into a dream—or perhaps a nightmare, but there's no way this is a nightmare.
Each of the women regarded her with a mix of intrigue and exasperation, and she couldn't shake the feeling that her extravagant evening had led her into an extraordinary, if not completely bewildering, predicament.