The Monster Boss's Runaway Wife

I hijacked an NPC in a horror game. I abused my player privilege, used his body, played his feelings, and ghosted him. Five years later, I log back in. Same neon lights.

Same wet street. But this time, a weird kid stands in the pouring rain. Glowing chat bubbles flood my vision—a private livestream. [That’s the Boss’s kid, Jude!

The Boss slaughters players, but this kid just wanders around crying for his mom. Tragic AF. When does Haley hit this Srank zone?]Grime covers Jude’s face.

He crouches, gnawing meat he scraped off the asphalt. I crouch and dig for a tissue. "Hey, kid.

Nobody told you not to eat floor meat?"The chat explodes. [WTF is this cannon fodder doing?! She touches Haley's kid! No wonder Valerian bites her hands off later.

Major red flag!] [Right?! Haley saved Valerian at his absolute lowest. She owns this nightmare realm now.

Girl hit the top three leaderboards in a single year.] [Look at this extra smiling. Pull your hand back, idiot, before the Boss turns you into ground beef!] My smile dies.

I yank my hand back, inches from his cheek.His round, innocent eyes snap into razorthin slits.

My mouth twitches. "I'll let your dad pick you up." Chapter 1 Jude kept his eyes squeezed shut, thick lashes fanning over his chubby cheeks.

He was still waiting for me to wipe his face. When I first spotted him, I mentally cursed this twisted survival game. Dragging a toddler into a bloodbath? That was a new low.

Everyone knew the monsters in this realm didn't reproduce. They were just a massive horde of bloodthirsty bachelors.

The rookies in my squad had warned me to mind my own business. "Do you have a death wish?" They didn't know I wasn't a rookie. I cleared this hellhole five years ago.

Escorting one kid through a checkpoint would be a walk in the park. Then I crouched down. And the barrage of floating text flooded my vision. [Who the hell is this random extra?

Keep your hands off! No wonder Valerian chews her arms off.] [Exactly! Haley is almost here. Mother and son are finally reuniting!] The chat spilled everything.

This ruthless, highmortality survival game? It was just the backdrop for a trashy romance novel. Haley was the savior of this realm’s most terrifying Big Boss. They shared a kid.

After five years of missed connections, they were about to get their happily ever after.

Haley rode Valerian's favoritism through dozens of Srank death games without breaking a single nail. She hacked her way to the top three.

She beat the game, secured infinite wealth and eternal life, and took her little family back to the real world. And me? I was just a speed bump in their reunion chapter.

A clueless extra who touched the kid, triggered the Boss's wrath, lost both hands, and got eaten alive by lowlevel creeps. I looked down at my hands. Calloused.

Riddled with faded, jagged scars. The souvenirs of my bloodsoaked run five years ago. I couldn't lose them. If I lost my hands, coming back here meant nothing.

I dropped the smile. "Sorry, buddy. I'm just gonna step back and let your dad handle this." My muscles coiled with tension.

Who asked him to be the kid of the Giant Spider, the absolute nightmare of the Urban Legend zone?

I had slaughtered my way through hordes of grotesque freaks, but massive arachnids triggered a visceral, skincrawling disgust in me.

When I first heard about the final Boss's true form years ago, goosebumps erupted down my spine. I took a slow, deliberate step away from Jude. I needed to stay alive.

I had someone to find. My chest tightened. I wondered how he was doing. My Valerian. That breathtakingly beautiful stutterer who could barely string a sentence together.

The one who only knew how to cry when he got hurt. An ache of protective pity tightened my chest. Please tell me that giant spider hasn't been bullying him.

Rain plastered Jude's dark hair to his forehead. He looked like an abandoned puppy in the storm. He noticed my sudden, polite distance.

His predatory eyes morphed back, pooling with pathetic tears. He forced his mouth open, flashing a row of needlesharp fangs. "M… Mom…" His voice was a weak, staticky croak.

I barely caught the syllable. Before I could process it, a pair of pale hands shot out from behind him.

A strange woman seized Jude by his collar, flashing a sickeningly sweet smile. "There you are, my little sweetheart." The chat lost its collective mind. [YES!

I've been waiting for this! Five years and they finally meet! Valerian must be on his way!] [The sweet romance era begins!

Haley is about to dominate!] Chapter 2 The other players in my squad practically had stars in their eyes. "Wait, are you that rookie with the insane RNG?" a guy blurted out. "The one who breezed through those Arank death traps without a scratch?

The Realm's literal good luck charm?" "Thank god you're in our squad," another chimed in, glaring at me. "Can we kick this extra out? She's way out of her depth.

She's going to get us all killed." Haley offered a shy, perfectly practiced smile. "Stop it, guys. I just have decent luck," she said modestly. "Just focus on the objective.

I actually know someone in this zone. I promise I won't let anyone die!" They leaned in, starving for details, but Haley kept her lips sealed.

I couldn't care less about her VIP connections. Jude’s family was here. It was time for me to find mine. I spun on my heel to leave. A sharp yank on my jacket stopped me dead.

The kid—barely reaching my waist—clutched the fabric. His little face scrunched up in pure panic. "Don't—go." He forced the words out, syllable by agonizing syllable.

The chat shortcircuited. [What an ungrateful brat! Begging some random extra to stay right in front of his actual mom?] [Did this cannon fodder gaslight him? Haley must be crushed.

Blood or not, you can't trust a kid you didn't raise. She and Valerian should just make a new baby!] Haley’s sweet smile fractured.

She dropped into a crouch, whipping out a wet wipe to scrub at Jude’s face. "Look how messy you are. Let me clean that up.

I know I seem like a stranger right now, but we're going to be best friends so soon." She definitely popped a strength buff item. She wrenched Jude’s grip off me with brutal force.

The sickening sound of tearing fabric echoed as a chunk of my jacket ripped away. My blood went ice cold. Jude froze.

He stood perfectly still, turning his head in terrifying slow motion to lock eyes with Haley. Did this player have a death wish? Jude’s innocent gaze evaporated.

His pupils contracted into razorthin slits. The corners of his mouth slowly split open, exposing rows of jagged, sharklike fangs.

He prepared to unhinge his jaw and swallow this nuisance whole for interrupting him and his mother. "Kid.

Did she hurt your hand?" My voice cut through the tension as I stepped smoothly between him and Haley. Jude’s demonic transformation halted. The fangs vanished.

He slipped his tiny, cold hand into my calloused one. His predatory mind spun. Right. Play the victim. His dad bragged about this constantly.

That’s exactly how I tricked your mom into staying, Valerian always said. Playing pathetic? I can do that.

Jude shoved his face into my stomach, letting out a perfectly timed, muffled sniffle. Since Jude glued himself to my side, Haley couldn't get within ten feet of him.

I had no choice. I'd drag the kid to his dad and wash my hands of this whole mess. The sewer tunnels reeked of rot and stagnant water. Midnight.

Just six feet above our heads, the city streets ran red as the Realm's nightmares butchered the players. But down here wasn't a safe zone either.

I stomped my boot down hard, crushing a severed, scuttling hand into a bloody paste. Those things carried an instantdeath curse if they grabbed your ankle. Jude didn't flinch.

He just trailed silently behind me, a perfect, creepy little shadow. Chapter 3 Jude’s eerie obedience sparked a memory. The first time I met Valerian.

It happened in these exact same sewers. I had just survived a brutal death sprint. I rounded a corner and almost tripped over him. A glowing tag labeled him a lowlevel NPC.

He was bleeding out. Something had ripped a jagged chunk of flesh right out of his abdomen. Valerian clutched his stomach. Huge, crystalline tears spilled from his stunning eyes.

He flinched at my footsteps, looking up with tear tracks glistening against his porcelain skin. My boots locked to the concrete. My heart beat a little faster.

I swear Cupid wasn't just shooting arrows; he was throwing a fullblown rave in my chest. It was a visceral, magnetic pull. I knew he wasn't human.

I knew he was just a pathetic little monster hiding in the dark, crying over a wound. I stayed anyway. For an entire week, I played his savior.

I used it as an excuse to secretly cop feels of his huge, pale pecs over and over again. Feeling the frantic flutter of his heartbeat beneath my palm. He was so soft. So compliant.

He never pushed me away, just letting me consume him. He didn't even know how to kiss. I brushed my lips against his. A breath of a touch. He let out a ragged, hitched exhale.

His eyes crinkled at the corners. "So sweet," he whispered with a soft, breathless smile. The days bled together. Then, the twoweek timer ran out. The zone was closing.

I gripped his long, pale fingers. My knuckles turned white.

I pressed my forehead against his, staring into those clear, painfully innocent eyes. "I'm sorry," I choked out. "I have to go." This was my final run.

Beating the game meant claiming one ultimate prize. I chose the cure. The panacea for my mother's terminal cancer.

She broke her back raising me alone, grinding her body to dust until the illness swallowed her whole. I had to save her. I played the ultimate villain.

I exploited a stuttering, naive anomaly. Devoured his body. Shattered his fragile heart. And vanished without a trace. Then, five years later, the Realm dragged me back.

I never expected the Urban Legend zone to skyrocket from a Brank threat to an apocalyptic Srank.

The forums were full of screaming, desperate players. "The Boss in this zone is absolutely unhinged! He used to ignore us! Now it's a bloodbath on sight.

What is his major malfunction? It's not like his wife ran off with another man!" I flashed a hand signal to the squad. Move slow. 3:00 AM. The witching hour.

The air in the tunnels grew thick, choking my lungs with the stench of decay. Drip. Drip. I thought it was just condensation off the rusted pipes. Then the smell hit me.

Rotting pond scum and bloated flesh. I snapped my head up. Pitchblack voids stared down at me. No whites. Just empty darkness. A drowned woman clung to the ceiling.

Her head ratcheted around on a broken neck, a full 360 degrees. Lividity stains mottled her bloated, grayish skin. A rookie would have hurled their guts up on the spot.

I expected Haley to handle it. She was the toptier veteran, right? Then a piercing shriek shattered the silence. I whipped around.

Half a dozen bloated, drowned ghostchildren swarmed Haley. Their tiny, dead eyes locked onto her, fingers tearing frantically at her clothes.

Haley was visibly terrified, running around blindly in a panic. [Rule Triggered: HideandSeek Side Quest Initiated!] Chapter 4 The world blinked.

We slammed down onto the rubber matting of a neonbright playground. A place built for joy. Now, it was a slaughterhouse. Severed limbs littered the ball pits.

Bloated ghostchildren clapped their rotting hands, giggling. [Hideandseek time!] The childish voices chimed in the air, dripping with pure malice. The rules were simple.

If the Ghost Mother or her brats caught you, they hijacked your body. They wouldn't stop until they forced you to end your own life. I held my breath.

A sudden, jarring warmth pressed against my palm. Jude lifted my hand, pressing my scarred knuckles to his lips. Don't—be—afraid. He mouthed the words, trying to comfort me.

God, he was so sweet. A weird ache bloomed in my chest. If Valerian and I ever had a kid… I wouldn't mind if he turned out exactly like this. Three minutes on the clock.

Just survive. I nailed a solid hiding spot—a literal blind spot tucked behind a twisted slide. Meanwhile, the live stream was losing its mind over Haley. [Baby, hide!

Her momstans are literally having heart attacks over here! How is her RNG this bad?! She basically spawned inside the ghost's mouth!] [Why are the brats only chasing her?!

Doesn't she have max affinity?! Why isn't that little psycho brat saving his mom?!] [Valerian, please hurry! Haley got bit before the teleport. She's bleeding out.

They're going to catch her!] The chat spiraled into full panic mode. Then, some genius remembered I existed. [Wait, where did that extra go?

The rest of the squad is getting slaughtered, but she's completely off the radar?] They zeroed in on my coordinates. The chat erupted in vicious glee. [Haley! Pop a Swap item!

Trade places with the extra! She's in a blind spot! That has to be Jude's luck buff. She stole your plot armor!] The text flashed across my eyes.

A split second later, Haley’s desperate voice shattered the air. "Item: Location Swap!" That absolute bitch. Gravity abandoned me. I plummeted straight down.

Directly below me, the Ghost Mother unhinged her jaw, waiting to catch a free meal. Then, she froze. Her decaying nostrils flared.

She tilted her broken neck, confusion rippling across her rotting face. It was like I turned invisible. She snapped her jaw shut and silently skittered away into the shadows.

A sudden weight hit my chest. Somehow, Jude had swapped right along with me. He curled into my arms, the picture of innocence. But his eyes? They were pure, predatory murder.

He shot a lethal glare at the ghostchildren lunging for my legs. An invisible, crushing gravity exploded from his tiny frame.

The sheer, suffocating pressure dropped every monster in the vicinity to their knees. Even the Ghost Mother caught a stray hit of that killing intent. She panicked.

She scooped up her bloated brats and scrambled backward.

Before vanishing into the dark, she flashed a stiff, terrified, asskissing smile. "Pplease… don't tell the Boss." The slaughterhouse illusion shattered.

We hit the extraction point. I stared at my hands. Not a single scratch. VIP privilege really was the ultimate hack in any universe.

I just didn't understand why the Realm's biggest VIP followed me straight out of the game. He acted like a feral puppy dropped into a pristine living room.

He sniffed the air, padding around the safe zone, before plopping down right next to me. He dropped his heavy little head against my arm and refused to move.

Chapter 5 News of our extraction ripped through the forums. [I can't believe it.

An Srank Urban Legend zone cleared without a single Arank mob spawning?] [Haley is a literal RNG goddess.

The top guilds are throwing cash and premium drops at her just to recruit her. I'm so jealous. Queen treatment much?] [Ugh, stay mad, haters. I was in her squad.

Believe it or not, some deadweight rookie brought a kid, and Haley still carried all ten of us to the extraction point.

Built different.] Hightier players flooded the boards, begging Haley to join their next run. Haley cherrypicked her invites.

She replied publicly to Preston, the undisputed number one player on the leaderboards. [Sure thing, Preston! I'm hitting the Phantom Castle tomorrow. I'll send you an invite.

Let's team up!] I sneered, viciously snapping a cracker in half with my teeth. Finding my man could wait. I refused to let this pickme girl give me an ulcer.

Jude sensed my spiking blood pressure.

He broke his cracker in half and shoved the bigger piece toward my mouth. "Ddon't… be mad," he stuttered, his tiny face dead serious. "Rrevenge.

I'll get revenge for you!" [Players and Monsters, please enjoy the dance!] Thousands of candles illuminated the opulent hall of the Phantom Castle.

The lord of this domain, a threeheaded Hellhound, had invited the players to a ball. I opened my eyes.

I stood in a dim dressing room, trapped inside a heavy, intricate antique corset gown.

My right hand gripped a feather fan woven with pure gold and silver threads. "Straighten your back, Madam." A gentle, magnetic male voice sounded from behind me.

I instantly manifested my Wolf Blade from my inventory, my knuckles turning white. He didn't flinch. His palms were feverwarm against my bare spine.

His long fingers deftly laced the corset strings. The rough texture of the cord dragged against my skin, but his touch was excruciatingly gentle, like a pianist striking a chord.

A violent shiver ripped down my naked back. "Done." I stared into the tarnished vanity mirror. The attendant loomed over me.

He was impossibly tall, his face obscured by a porcelain halfmask. Lavender hair, tied into a loose ponytail, spilled over his broad shoulder.

His heavy hands settled onto my bare shoulders. The heat of his skin seared right through me. He didn't move like a servant. He moved like he owned the castle.

Like he owned me. "Beautiful. It suits you perfectly, Madam." Down in the ballroom, the players had already changed. Haley stood dead center, practically glowing.

Preston flanked her. The perfect power couple. The crowd eagerly kissed the ground they walked on. "Haley's RNG is insane!

The ball randomly assigns outfits, and hers is literally dazzling. Preston looks sharp too.

Major power couple vibes!" The live chat scrolled across my vision. [The devoted second male lead trope never fails! Preston fell in love at first sight.

He even taught her how to dance for this!] [Where the hell is Valerian? Doesn't he know his wife is everything?

Honestly, rooting for Preston at this point.] I tuned out the garbage fire in the chat. I hoisted my heavy skirts and stepped onto the marble floor.

I moved at a glacial pace, terrified of knocking off a single piece of my glowing, antique jewelry. Click. Every single candle snuffed out simultaneously.

The grand hall plunged into pitch black. A raspy, mechanical voice echoed from the dark. The Goatheaded Butler. [Ladies and Gentlemen, please select your dance partners.

No matter what happens next, keep dancing! Good luck.] I reached for my inventory to pull my infrared goggles. I didn't make it.

A large, scalding hot hand clamped firmly over mine in the dark. Chapter 6 The breathing was impossibly low, shallow. He must have dropped into a crouch.

He pressed his feverishly soft cheek directly into the center of my palm. His lips brushed the thinnest, most sensitive skin of my wrist.

Wet, heated exhales trailed up my forearm, inch by agonizing inch. His other hand wasn't behaving either. Blood rushed to my face. I bit down hard on my lower lip.

Where the hell did he learn to do this?! The candles flared back to life, synchronized with the haunting, swelling melody of a violin.

A heavy, scalding heat settled low on my waist. His hands were massive—one palm easily spanned the curve of my hip. He steered me effortlessly.

Even though I didn't know the first thing about a waltz, I practically floated across the ballroom floor. He was too gentle.

Compared to the monsters around us literally tearing chunks out of their screaming partners, we looked entirely out of place. The objective was simple: keep dancing.

No matter what horrifying things your partner did to you, your feet could not stop moving.

Some players got lucky with lowlevel ghouls and had the strength to fight them off while maintaining the rhythm. But if you drew the Hellhound? You better start praying.

It had just lost control and swallowed its partner whole.

Now, its three massive, slavering heads scanned the ballroom floor, hunting for any player who had lost the beat or lost a partner. "Don't look at them.

Look at me." My partner snapped my chin back toward him, his tone dripping with sudden, sulky irritation. Right there, on the pulse point of his neck, was a tiny red mole.

My favorite spot to bite. Visceral, bodily attraction never lies. Since when do NPCs get to roam between zones? Did the system start exploiting its monster workforce too?

I narrowed my eyes and leaned in. I erased the distance between us in a heartbeat. The skin visible above his collar flushed a deep crimson.

He let out a ragged, frustrated exhale. "Are you this… intimate… with everyone?" His voice was accusing, with a hint of grievance.

I had no idea what kind of accelerated vocal training he'd taken over the last five years. His stutter was gone.

His voice was devastatingly smooth, a low resonance that made my heart do backflips. I hooked my arm tighter around his narrow waist. A slow smile spread across my face. "Only you.

Long time no see, Valerian. I missed you." Icecold tears shattered against my cheek.

I rubbed my nose affectionately against his neck, breathing him in. "Why are you crying, Valerian?

Still looking for a wife?" Across the floor, Haley was locked in a death grip with an acidspitting ghoul.

If she hadn't equipped Srank defense gloves, her hands would already be exposed bone. The monster's level was too high.

She had maybe thirty seconds before her armor completely melted through. Haley frantically scanned the crowd. Her eyes snapped to an impossible sight.

How is that extra still alive?! She had used the Swap item! Dropping blindly from that height, into a highlevel ghost zone—she should have been instantly devoured.

There was no time to think. Beating the quest was out of the question. She was literally seconds from death.

Instinctively, she dragged her aciddripping partner toward the edge of the floor. Pick the weakest target. That was survival 101.

That extra was destined to be cannon fodder anyway. She might as well die serving a purpose. I watched her zero in on me. Oh, really? You want to try that again?

The violin hit a frantic, screeching crescendo. The waltz reached its climax. The players taking the follower's steps had to execute a rapid series of spins.

The distance between the couples vanished. The air turned electric, heavy with the imminent threat of PvP sabotage. Haley lunged, stretching her fingers to their absolute limit.

All she needed was a single brush against my skin, and the system would force a partner swap. I saw the desperate hunger in her eyes. So, I gave her exactly what she wanted.

I let go of Valerian's hand. Chapter 7