His Brother Became My Only Cure Chapter 1

The childhood friend I grew up with is the final boss of this survival horror game. And he just fell in love with a female player.

He spends his days parading her in front of me, his voice practically dripping with pride.

"Kendra is brilliant," he’d say. "She actually beat me at chess. Not like you, Hazel. You’re so slow you can’t even grasp the basic rules."

"Kendra is striking. She's a creature of ice and glass. Not like you, always sick. Always breaking."

I have this strange, incurable affliction. A glitch in my code, perhaps.

When the flare-ups happen, the only thing that stabilizes my core temperature is Valerian’s embrace.

He never explicitly refused me, but the deep furrow between his brows always betrayed his annoyance.

"Next time you have an episode, figure it out yourself," he told me yesterday, his tone clipped. "I have someone I care about now. It’s not appropriate for me to be your medicine anymore."

I just nodded and said okay.

When the next attack hit, I bit my lip until it bled, refusing to seek him out. Right before I blacked out, I collapsed into a pair of arms.

It wasn't Valerian. It was his older brother.

Later, Valerian cornered me against a wall, his voice rough and tight as he demanded to know why I hadn't come to him for the pain.

I looked up at him, a genuine smile reaching the corners of my eyes.

"No need to bother you anymore," I said softly. "I found a new cure."

* * *

Valerian is the apex predator of "The Abyss", the game's most notorious boss.

Because of his devastatingly handsome face and lean, sculpted build, female players constantly enter his dungeon just to catch a glimpse of him. When he draws his bow, the sheer lethal grace of the movement is so mesmerizing that some players forget to run. They just stare, wide-eyed, right until the arrow pierces their chest.

But Valerian is utterly devoid of romance.

One loose string, one lost life. That’s his rule.

Everyone in the forums agreed that his heart was made of obsidian. He would never look twice at anyone.

Until now.

A player named Kendra logged in. She didn't fawn over him or play the helpless maiden like the girls before her. She kept her chin high, her expression glacial, and challenged him directly.

She announced, in front of the entire server, that if Valerian lost to her three times, he would have to marry her.

And if she lost?

The girl offered a chilling, beautiful smile. "If I lose, my head is yours."

Standing under the blooming canopy of the digital cherry blossoms, she radiated pure, unadulterated pride.

Valerian slowly lowered his crossbow. For the first time in the history of the game, he didn't immediately kill an intruder. Instead, a spark of dark amusement flickered in his eyes, and he murmured, "Deal."