Episode 5
“Oh my, goodness gracious!”
“Have you ever seen food that looks this delicious?”
“The aroma is so good, I could grab a fork and dig in right now!”
“They must have used the freshest ingredients.”
Of course, all the voices were flat, emotionless, and so artificial it felt like watching a poorly rehearsed play.
“This is definitely a problem.”
Even users impressed by the game’s immersive visuals would quickly lose focus with this kind of robotic acting.
Just like I had.
Once the maids’ scripted admiration died down, the mood in the dining hall dropped sharply.
It felt like the calm before a storm—like something ominous was coming.
But honestly, none of that really mattered to me.
“Let’s see…”
I turned my eyes to the food that had just been uncovered.
“Oh.”
While the delivery had been awkward, the meat did smell delicious and had a glistening, appetizing sheen.
The golden-brown crispy skin looked perfect, and I was already imagining the juicy, tender meat underneath.
But just as I reached for my fork—
[Warning! Please follow the safety rules.]
“Come on, I just want a taste…”
[Warning! Please follow the safety rules.]
The persistent warning window followed my gaze no matter where I looked. I closed my mouth with a frustrated expression.
Was I really supposed to turn down food that looked this good?
Still, I could understand the developers’ strict control.
Since the game is still in beta, they likely hadn’t implemented everything—so they needed players to stick to the script.
Tap.
I lowered my fork and spoke with a firm tone.
“Chef.”
The dining room fell silent in an instant.
In the unnerving quiet, he leaned toward me and responded.
“Yes, how may I help you?”
“What kind of meat is this?”
I motioned toward the steaming dish.
“Oh my! I forgot to tell you what kind of meat it is!”
He replied in an exaggerated tone and then stepped back before answering in a completely different, almost ominous voice:
“It’s the meat of ■■ ■■■.”
Of course. They hadn’t implemented that part.
While sensations like touch, sleepiness, and hunger were vividly simulated in-game, taste was a different story.
If I hadn’t eaten the food in real life before, my brain couldn’t imagine what it tasted like.
As I turned my attention back to the dish—
Wait, what?
Now that the steam had settled, I could see clearly.
Coiled on the plate like spaghetti noodles—was black hair.
“Th-this is…”
A chill ran down my spine in pure instinctual disgust.
“That’s definitely hair.”
Hair with the root still attached. Not just a strand or two—but a whole clump.
I had cleaned enough of my own apartment floors to recognize it instantly.
My appetite vanished, and I made no effort to hide my disappointment.
Sigh.
There was no way any sane chef would put hair in a dish—this had to be a system error.
Maybe the game’s low-level AI mistakenly registered the white plate as a face and “decorated” it with hair?
Some game studios use AI to cut animation costs—but in a full-immersion VR game, that’s not a simple cartoon shortcut!
Seeing this kind of cost-cutting up close was… disheartening.
“Do I need to lower my rating?”
I was still caught between awe and disappointment when—
“Aren’t you going to taste it?”
The chef asked in a cold tone.
He stared at me unblinking, all earlier enthusiasm gone.
[Favorability –3]
[When a main character’s favorability drops below a certain point, you may lose access to key information.
Use game functions and items to engage with NPCs.]
The favorability stat dropped like a rock.
I hadn’t even known it could go below zero…
“Uh, well, that is…”
I couldn’t even hide my panic.
This? Eat this hair? Really?
As I hesitated, he spoke again in a dejected and somewhat eerie tone.
“Is something wrong? Are you unwell…?”
And with that, my suspicion was confirmed.
“Even if it’s not the system, the AI playing the NPC might feel disappointed.”
If the hair was due to a glitch, then from his perspective it probably looked like perfectly normal spaghetti.
Still, I had no intention of pretending to eat this visual nightmare.
“Didn’t want to use this method, but fine.”
Glancing at the blinking warning window, I stabbed the fork into the food.
To be precise, I speared the hair.
Even after feeling the texture and seeing it again—I was certain.
“What does this look like to you?”
“…Excuse me?”
“Look closely.”
I waved the clump of hair back and forth on the fork.
The chef visibly panicked.
“S-spaghetti…”
“Nope. Look again. Does this really look like spaghetti to you?”
Wobble, wobble.
The hair swung with my gesture, and his shoulders trembled.
“It’s hair.”
“That can’t be…”
No use denying it.
From his point of view, I was insisting that what he thought was normal food was something disgusting—it was probably breaking his brain.
But that’s how AI works—they don’t judge reality, they just predict the most likely response based on conversation.
In other words, perfectly optimized for gaslighting.
“Just look at it—completely black, thin, stringy like a scrub brush. There’s no such thing as spaghetti that looks like this. Right?”
“M-maybe not…”
“It is hair.”
“Uuugh!”
Clutching his head in distress, the chef finally nodded when I held the hair up to his face again.
“I-it might be… you’re right…”
AI, powerless in the face of human stubbornness.
“You’re not seriously asking me to eat this, right? I mean, I’m still a guest… This is the Belmont estate. I trust you won’t make me eat hair, right?”
“Uh, uhh… ooooo…”
The chef, like a broken wind-up toy, twitched and finally seemed to recognize the bug. His voice suddenly rose in dramatic realization.
“Goodness gracious!”
“…?”
“There must have been an error in the cooking process! Thank you so much for pointing this out!”
[Favorability +3]
As I saw the lost favorability restored, the chef bowed deeply and continued.
“If you would kindly forgive us, I will personally prepare a perfect replacement dish.”
With that, the maids—who had earlier praised the food—immediately started clearing the plates.
As I savored my victory, I quickly regained composure and spoke:
“Ah, no! I’m not feeling well. I think I need to go lie down.”
“B-but—!”
The chef tried to stop me, but I had already removed the napkin from my neck.
“Haha! Thank you for the meal!”
I exited the dining room smoothly.
I could feel his disappointed gaze on my back… but wait. He doesn’t even have a face. How can I feel his gaze?
Whatever.
I wasn’t going to eat that.
Sorry, Chef!
I hurried back to my room in case he decided to follow me.
