Oops, I Accidentally Fell In Love With My Step Mom - Chapter 14: Dinner Is Served (and So Is Emotional Damage)

...[Inside an underground basement]“You are going to die for nothing, hahahaha,” the old man's voice thundered through the room, sending chills down my spine.Step.With a swift and ruthless motion, he lunged forward, his sword slicing through the air and slashing my throat, crimson droplets staining the darkness.“We'll see,” I whispered defiantly, my final words escaping as a mere breath against the impending darkness.Slowly, inexorably, my consciousness slipped away, and I descended into a deep, unfathomable slumber.“Huh!?” My eyes fluttered open, and I found myself seated in a bustling tavern, the air thick with laughter and the clinking of glasses.In front of me stood a captivating lady, her beauty juxtaposed with an angry furrow upon her brow, threatening to shatter the harmony of the jovial scene.“Don't follow me around!” Her words pierced the air like shards of ice, the intensity of her emotions palpable as she cast a resentful glare in my direction, before swiftly departing from the tavern....Am I trapped within the confines of a game? The fragments of my shattered common sense scattered before me, leaving me to question the very fabric of my reality.

Step 1: Inherit a creepy old mansion.Step 2: Unlock a cursed system that makes girls fall dangerously in love with you… just by saying “hi.”Step 3: Learn that if you don’t reject them within 10 texts, something terrible happens.My name’s Ren.And apparently, I’m the “Catalyst for Affection-Based Catastrophes.”(Yeah. That’s literally what it said.)My peaceful new life? Over.Now I’m stuck in a house full of magically unstable girls:A sword-swinging elf.A fire mage with zero personal boundaries.A strict class rep who faints if I so much as look at her.And a witch who cursed the bathroom mirror to spy on me.They’re beautiful.They’re powerful.They’re dangerously obsessed.And if I mess this up, someone’s going to get hurt—maybe me.Reject them too late? Game over.Fall for one of them? Even worse.This isn’t a dating sim.It’s survival of the cutest.Welcome to my life. It's not just a harem. It's a hostage situation.

“It’s true… So why does no one believe me?”Sometimes, I play small pranks, but they’re really just small ones.I’m not the mastermind at all.

Theatrical regression life of an old-fashioned villain (kkondae) who recalled his past life.

“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for a better life.”

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Survival in the ‘Otherworld’; a place where only the insane can set foot in.