By the time we finally made it back to my apartment, all six of us looked like we’d been through a war. The walk back had been unusually quiet. Ryan had tried cracking a few jokes at first, but even he eventually ran out of energy. Marcus looked ready to collapse, Daniel still had soot smeared across one side of his face, Ethan smelled faintly of smoke, and Noah had barely spoken since we’d escaped the factory. Whatever had happened inside that place, none of us had walked away completely unaffected.

I unlocked the apartment and pushed the door open. Ryan walked in first, dragging his feet across the floor before dropping onto the old sofa with a dramatic groan. "I’m officially too tired to exist." Ethan tossed his backpack beside the table and stretched until several joints cracked. "I’m adding abandoned factories to my list of places never worth visiting." Marcus glanced at him. "You were the one carrying enough snacks to feed an entire football team." Ethan shrugged. "That wasn’t the problem. The problem was we finished them before we even got there." Ryan nodded solemnly. "A tactical error." Daniel chuckled as he looked around the apartment. "Well... tomorrow’s a public holiday anyway. Nobody has classes, and none of us feel like walking all the way home tonight." Marcus looked at me. "Mind if we stay here?" I looked around the apartment. It wasn’t exactly spacious, but everyone was exhausted. "...Go ahead."

That was all the permission they needed. Ryan immediately announced that the sofa belonged to him before anyone else could object. Marcus reminded him that he’d claimed it hours ago and therefore the claim had already expired, but Ryan insisted furniture reservations carried over indefinitely. Daniel laughed while Ethan declared Ryan’s legal system made absolutely no sense. Noah quietly placed his folder on the table before finding a place against the wall, Daniel used his backpack as a pillow, Marcus gathered the spare blanket from my bedroom, and within minutes my tiny apartment had somehow become an improvised sleepover. It felt strangely nostalgic, like something straight out of an ordinary college comedy instead of a death game disguised as reality.

Exhaustion caught up with everyone surprisingly fast. Ryan was still mumbling about someone stealing his favorite chips when his voice slowly faded into steady snoring. Marcus threatened to throw a pillow at him, only for Ryan to mutter, "I can still hear you," without ever opening his eyes. "No, you can’t," Marcus replied. "...Fair point," Ryan mumbled before immediately falling asleep again, making Ethan quietly laugh to himself. One after another, the others drifted off until only Noah and I remained awake. He stared out the window for a while before speaking without looking at me. "I’m glad everyone made it out." I followed his gaze toward the dark city outside. "...Yeah. Me too." A few minutes later his breathing became slow and steady, leaving me as the only person still awake in the apartment.

Moonlight spilled through the curtains, illuminating the room just enough for me to see everyone sleeping. Ryan had somehow managed to steal half of Marcus’s blanket without waking up, while Marcus unconsciously tried pulling it back in his sleep. Ethan had rolled onto his side, Daniel was still hugging his backpack like it was the world’s most comfortable pillow, and Noah hadn’t moved at all. Watching them, it was hard to believe we’d almost died only a few hours ago.

I quietly opened my status window.

______

Host: Adrian Cross

Story Position: Prologue

Known Routes: 0 / ???

Known Sins: 1 / ???

• Lust — Fragment Collected (0.10%)

Sin Points: 15

Survival Probability: 0.8%

______

My eyes lingered on the newest entry.

Lust.

I let out a slow breath and leaned my head back against the wall.

"So... the first sin is Lust."

A faint smile crossed my face.

"I’m actually relieved."

As strange as that sounded, it was true. Out of all seven deadly sins, Lust wasn’t the one I feared the most. If the first fragment had been Pride or Wrath instead... I would’ve been genuinely fucked. Pride was terrifying because it convinced you that every decision you made was the correct one, even while you were marching straight toward disaster. Wrath was even worse. In the game, characters consumed by Wrath stopped caring about consequences altogether. They destroyed everything around them, allies included. Compared to those two, Lust almost felt merciful. Embarrassing beyond belief, yes... but survivable.

The thought carried me back to another life.

Back when I was still Ethan.

I remembered sitting in front of my computer after work, loading up Sinners Academy for what had to be my twentieth playthrough. I remembered reading forum theories at three in the morning, arguing with strangers over hidden endings, and laughing every time someone claimed they’d finally figured out the true route. None of us had. Even after clearing Nightmare Mode, collecting every CG, and unlocking every ending the developers had hidden away, the biggest mysteries had remained unsolved.

"If someone had told me back then that I’d end up inside this game..."

I let out a quiet laugh.

"I would’ve called them insane."

Then I paused.

"...Actually."

"I probably would’ve asked whether I got cheat abilities."

The smile faded into a sigh.

"And then accepted anyway."

Looking around the apartment one last time, I couldn’t help smiling again. Ryan had somehow stolen the entire blanket by this point, leaving Marcus curled up with barely enough to cover one shoulder. Neither of them had noticed. For all the madness surrounding this world, moments like this still felt wonderfully ordinary. Maybe that was why I appreciated them so much. They reminded me that there were still people worth protecting.

At some point, without realizing it, my eyes finally closed.

The next thing I knew, someone was gently shaking my shoulder.

"Adrian."

I frowned and slowly opened my eyes. Morning sunlight streamed through the window, and Noah was crouching beside me with the television remote in one hand.

"You should see this."

Still half asleep, I rubbed my eyes.

"...What time is it?"

"About nine."

He handed me the remote.

"They’ve been talking about it all morning."

Curious now, I switched on the television. Every major news channel was broadcasting from the same location. A reporter stood behind a police barricade while firefighters continued spraying water over the charred remains of the abandoned toy factory. Behind her, investigators wearing white forensic suits carefully searched through the ruins, photographing debris and sealing evidence into plastic containers.

"...Authorities have confirmed that the abandoned toy factory near Old Town Square was completely destroyed in last night’s fire. Investigators believe the blaze began somewhere inside the main production building shortly before midnight. While the exact cause remains unknown, police have confirmed the discovery of several unusual items during their preliminary investigation. Officials have declined to comment on the nature of the evidence, but sources close to the case describe it as highly irregular and unlike anything previously recovered."

The broadcast shifted to footage of officers carrying sealed evidence boxes toward waiting vehicles.

"...Due to the unusual circumstances surrounding the scene, the investigation has officially been transferred to Detective Carter and the Special Investigations Division. Police have not ruled out a possible connection to the string of unexplained incidents that have occurred across the city over the past several months."

The apartment had gone completely quiet.

Ryan, Marcus, Ethan, and Daniel were all awake now, staring at the television with the same uneasy expressions.

Ryan was the first to speak.

"So..."

"They actually found something."

Nobody answered.

I kept my eyes fixed on the screen.

The factory had burned to the ground.

The ghost in the factory was also gone.

And somewhere beneath those ruins...

The story had quietly taken its next step.