The Damn Family Is Back Again

3 – 3. Tutorial (2)

While moving to the restaurant, a status window appeared to me.

Tutorial I cleared!

This game is about choosing the right options to clear. The results vary depending on the player’s choices, even with small changes──

It was a message that came out late after clearing the tutorial, which I already knew from playing the game.

Originally, this scene was the end. In the tutorial, they explained that even small changes can affect the choices and that’s all they explained about the part where I defined intimacy.

So this scene should be skipped now and move on to the next screen.

But it doesn’t move on.

I’m still lingering in that restaurant. The scene skip didn’t work.

“It’s not… a game, right?”

I have to move. There’s no skip, so I have to fill in all the time that was cut out with my own body.

Because now this is my reality.

One by one, I took a seat in the restaurant, naturally sitting next to Claire, who appeared to be Cassain’s seat.

It seemed like the process was quite slow, so Claire made a complaint.

“Why are you moving so slowly? Mom must be hungry, so hurry up.”

Damn pink-haired girl.

“If I could move quickly, of course I would.”

The problem was not that I was slow. It was my condition, worse than a cold. After all, I had been using cold water and even taking baths this winter, so it was impossible for me to have a normal body.

As the status window had warned in advance, Karsein was in a condition worse than a cold, and his body already looked weak, so it was a double misfortune.

I wondered why the movement speed in the game was so slow. But when I actually felt it with my own body, I realized that it was actually very fast.

“Nevermind. Let’s go to the market first.”

“Yes, Mother.”

That’s how Isabella started a peaceful mealtime without saying anything.

-Ding!

Starting Tutorial II!

“What happened today, Karsein?”

When Isabella’s voice was heard along with the message that the Tutorial II was starting, I unintentionally blurted it out.

“Today… again, I mean.”

It couldn’t be.

For a moment, I had a foreboding thought, but it probably wasn’t true.

It was just a normal greeting…

Tutorial II Information!

The player will face challenging trials in the future.

Every time, I must gather information without missing any, and choose the right options.

As it is a tutorial, information will be provided!

[ Karceine went to Isabella every morning to greet her. ]

“…What is this?”

Tutorial II?

I’ve never seen or heard of it before. It’s a tutorial that I’ve never seen while playing the game myself.

But the fact that it suddenly appeared…

“Are you telling me to consider this as one episode and clear it?”

As the status window reappeared, I swallowed my saliva and looked around.

The eyes around me were hostile. Claire and Arina were already starting to give me cold stares. Flora was openly anticipating what I would say this time.

I could vaguely guess that if I said something wrong here, I would be in big trouble.

“Karceine? Do you have something to say to me today?”

-Ding!

[ 1. (Standing up from the table) Do you know what happened to me today?! ]

[ 2. (Smashing the table with a fist) I took a cold bath today. The maid there filled the bathtub with cold water! ]

[ 3. You’ve worked hard on the territory. Other than that… (hesitating) nothing happened. ]

A crazy option popped up in response to Isabella’s question.

It’s an obvious and easy choice. The answer is really obvious.

I thought that these two choices might be Karceine’s true feelings.

I didn’t expect him to say something like this while cutting meat without even looking at me.

“Okay. So, you’re one of us. No matter how close you are, you were never a mother to Karsein.”

I knew what I had to do.

Of course, I had to clear the game, but leaving this house was my priority.

Just like what I did in that house.

With my body slowly heating up, I calmly replied without showing any signs.

“Nothing happened.”

Flora raised her eyebrows at my words, and Claire and Arina quickly averted their gaze. And finally, Isabella.

“…I see.”

She responded coldly.

At that moment, I knew I had done something wrong.

“Did I not choose option 3 just now?”

It must have been a slip-up due to my cold symptoms, but I didn’t say that I had a hard time with the territory work. Instead, I said that nothing happened.

Come to think of it, it was the same when I greeted Isabella. Wasn’t the word “mother” interrupted before it could be fully said?

There was no response at that time either. In other words, even though it was a slightly incorrect line, there was no problem. And now, it was acknowledged.

“Yeah. This is my body. Not Karsein’s.”

As long as I accepted this situation as reality, there were enough variables for me to intervene.

The sound of utensils clinking started to echo in the dining room. The mother and daughter were engaged in various conversations during the formal mealtime.

Meanwhile, I was looking at the status window.

Tutorial II information will be provided!

[ Unlike the heavily salted meals of Karsein’s family, Flora orders the maids to prepare his food! ]

[Caution! Health will deteriorate upon consumption!]

Shall I have breakfast?

[1. Yes.]

[2. (Yelling) Flora, stop messing with my meals again!]

[3. (Throwing the dish at the maid with a lot of salt) You can have this! You damn b*tch!]

[4. No, I won’t eat.]

“Ha. A family meal where only my food is tampered with.”

Unbelievably, a unpleasant memory keeps coming back to my mind. Why do I have to experience this kind of thing twice?

It truly felt like going back to that time when I couldn’t make a sound in a situation where I was the only one playing around with food.

“Well, that might be true.”

There is no difference between the attitude of the mother who picked me up and raised me because I was her child, and the two sisters who hated it and were affected by mental illness.

So maybe I feel even better because of that.

Because I’ve been through it once, I’m not afraid of going through it twice.

-Dalgak.

“…!”

As I put the food full of saltiness into my mouth and swallowed, Flora’s pupils, who had been sneering, trembled violently.

Just like the information on the status window, this action seems to be the third Flora’s mischief. She’s sending me a look that says, “Are you just going to eat it?”

Whether she likes it or not, I continued to fill my stomach confidently.

Consumed a high-salt food!

Warning! Health will deteriorate!

The warning appeared in the status window, but I couldn’t ignore it. Just below the warning window, it was natural to feel hungry when my status was abnormal.

I’ve seen the ending of starving to death on an empty stomach in the game several times, so when I can eat, I have to eat.

Soon, another window popped up.

Hunger will be restored!

I ate about half of the soup, expecting that it would have less salt because it was mixed with water. That should do it.

“I’ll get up first.”

I wiped the soup off my mouth with a napkin and got up from the restaurant. The body that had become a burning ember beyond the cold was unable to endure, and I felt dizzy little by little.

***

Claire frowned as she watched Karsein leaving the restaurant, seeming dissatisfied.

Ariana felt the same way. When she shifted her gaze from glaring eyes to the side of the food, she clicked her tongue.

It was true that both of them had some complaints, but since it was in front of their mother, they didn’t show it outwardly.

But Flora was different.

Staring blankly at Karsein’s soup bowl, she dropped the utensils and made a face full of dissatisfaction.

-Clang!

“Flora, what’s wrong? Lost your appetite?”

Startled by Claire’s sudden call, Flora regained her composure and returned to her original expression.

“Uh, yeah! I guess my appetite isn’t great.”

“But you still have to eat. If you keep doing this, you won’t grow tall, you know?”

“Just eat a lot next time, not now. Geez.”

Upon hearing that, Ariana and Isabella burst into a soft laughter. It meant that they didn’t reveal their expressions full of complaints.

After that? Flora thought to herself and decided to stop having breakfast here altogether.

“What? You only had that?”

“But I can’t eat it.”

As a result of her tantrum.

“Then should we make a promise with Big Sister? Even if we stop eating breakfast, we won’t skip lunch and eat well.”

Big Sister Arina allowed Flora to leave the restaurant, extending her little finger.

Flora thought it was the right time and hooked her little finger.

“Yes! I promise.”

After leaving the restaurant, her hidden expression was fully revealed.

“How, how could you eat it so nonchalantly?”

She must have known that the maid had tampered with her meal again. And yet, Karsein reluctantly ate half of the soup filled with salt.

“Could it be that the maid didn’t sprinkle enough salt?”

At this point, that was the only assumption she could make.

Her plan had gone awry. It was a perfect opportunity that rarely came.

If she had continued to anger her mother and two sisters, Karsein might have been really driven out of the Baghdad ducal family.

Then, we could go back to our original family.

“Ugh! This is strange! It shouldn’t have turned out like this!”

Flora quickly went to see the maid, Emma.

“Please come in, Miss Flora.”

Seeing the face full of dissatisfaction of the youngest Miss, Housemaid Emma realized that things hadn’t been resolved well.

Flora, who had been silent for a moment, spoke with annoyance.

“Camilla, did you properly sprinkle salt in the casserole?!”

“What? What happened at the restaurant?”

“They said you only ate half of the soup! And you didn’t even mention that you rinsed it with cold water. I doubt if you really rinsed it with cold water!”

It was an unbelievable story. To notice that there was too much salt in the soup and not eat much or not eat it at all would be understandable. But to eat half of it was strange.

And not complaining about rinsing it with cold water and quietly accepting it was definitely suspicious.

“Hey! Everything was going well, what’s this? I mean, tell that kid to do it again no matter what! And if you deceived me, be prepared!”

“Yes, Miss Flora. I will make sure to produce the desired result.”

Emma’s face formed a chilling smile.

***

“…f*ck.”

As I dragged my exhausted body into the room, I finally spat out the curses that I had been holding back.

Considering my current situation, it wasn’t bad. I had avoided a crisis without any accidents, obtained quite a bit of information, and successfully satisfied the hunger that was even worse than a bad ending.

I had cleanly cleared the tutorial. Just like in the game.

However, I couldn’t easily erase the feeling of returning to these damn family members.

That curse word had unconsciously slipped out, showing a remarkable level of agreement between my past self and the current situation as Karsein.

I collapsed onto the bed, exhausted.

“Status screen.”

Even in the midst of dizziness, the status screen shone perfectly.

What I was looking at were just two sentences.

■ You will receive a reward upon clearing the game! ■

Reward: Anything you desire, one thing.

The reward received after clearing. If I get that, I will definitely ask to be sent back to my house. I will absolutely survive and go back, even if it’s against my will.

During that time, the status window created a different window, contrary to my will.

-Ding!

Cleared Tutorial II!

Successfully triggered results beyond the choices!

“Results beyond the choices?”

Reward calculation in progress…

…

…

Reward calculation complete!

As a result of combining what the player needs, we have decided to quantify the gauge bars of the characters!

■ Reward

Permanent acquisition of Intimacy Box

[From now on, the Intimacy Box will be quantified and displayed!]

Since it’s okay to give something decent as a reward, I felt a bit excited, but as soon as I saw this, my excitement vanished. It must be the tutorial reward.

However, I have already obtained the biggest reward.

There is an immutable law in this game. That is, when the choice window appears, there is no way to avoid the scene that Karsein faced.

If they happen to tell me to wait without choosing a choice, just think of the timer immediately and it becomes easy to understand. It means there are more bad endings.

But facing reality instead of a game, I am different.

Results beyond choices. Choices that don’t have to be made correctly. Unlike Carsein in the game, this has the tremendous advantage of being able to develop things my way.

“If I gradually insert my actions with this, I can avoid the constraints of choices.”

However, I’m not sure if I can deny the choices themselves. I’ll have to try that next time.

Basic stat window can now be viewed!

■Carsein Baghdad■

Lv. 1

Strength 2.09

Agility 3.11

Endurance 3.50

Stamina 1.33

Immunity 0.87

??? 0

This is part of what I couldn’t view before. It was a stat window that immersed me in various thoughts while playing the game.

“Enough with this. It’s time for sleep…”

There was nothing more to see once I confirmed that it wasn’t much different from the game. But I soon realized that wasn’t the case.

“Wait. Carsein snoring in bed… right after finishing a meal?”

In the moment when uneasiness started to creep in, the episode progress window appeared.

Episode I. The beginning of torment filled with evil!

-Tok tok.

“Master. I have brought dessert.”

The skipped time had passed, and the moment had come to transition into the regular episode.