The NPC Who Got Away

Ten years ago, Declan was the one who first introduced me to story-driven RPGs.

Near the end of the game, I asked him, “I really liked the High Elf I met this morning. Why can’t I find her anymore?”

Declan stroked my hair and explained, “She was an NPC who gave you a quest. When the NPC’s task is over, you never see them again. Even if you found a way to glitch to her location, you wouldn’t be able to talk to her.”

“But if you really want to interact with her, you can always start the game over.”

I sat there, gripping the controller for a long time, then I looked at him seriously. “Declan, you have to promise to marry me someday. Otherwise, you won’t ever see me again, and you won’t be able to talk to me.”

The adults laughed, and Declan just smiled. No one took me seriously.

Which is why, later, when he decided to marry someone else, he was so utterly reckless.

But life is not a game; there are no do-overs.

And I was, genuinely, the NPC who would disappear.

1

Two years after Declan and Serena married, I fought my way into the solo finals of the Zenith Siege Global Championship.

When the players came on stage for the global broadcast, the esports community erupted.

Since my sudden withdrawal and disappearance two years ago, everyone had assumed I’d retired due to an accident. They never imagined I’d switched to the individual circuit.

I had no choice.

Declan’s influence, as the CEO of Vortex Global, was too vast. If I’d stayed in team play, he would have found a way to control or manipulate my teammates.

I was a lone wolf now, owning my wins and my losses.

The grueling day-long Grand Finals concluded, and I smoothly secured the Global Solo Championship.

In Bratislava, the golden confetti rained down on me, but there was no one to celebrate with.

I was twenty-three years old.

The road to future championships would only get harder. I lowered my head, kissing the trophy with a profound, quiet reverence.

It was a chilly evening, and I didn’t dare walk alone in the unfamiliar city, so I sat outside the stadium entrance, trying to calm my mind.

I remembered my eighteenth birthday—my first offline tournament win. When it ended, my teammates and I went to a greasy-spoon diner for an all-night celebration.

Declan sat in his Maybach parked on the street, watching over me until dawn.

He hated the smell of grease and smoke, so after that night, every time I had a competition, he would pre-arrange a chic restaurant and treat all my teammates and fans to a late-night feast.

He wanted me to be happy playing the game, and he wanted everyone to look out for me just as he did. So he preemptively managed every person connected to my career.

But now…

I pulled my jacket tighter, stopping the thought. I stood up, put up my umbrella, and started walking toward my hotel.

A local staff member, a young woman, rushed up to me.

“Ms. Qin, Mr. He, the CEO of Vortex Global, is looking for you.”

She dialed a number and held the phone out.

Expected.

The face-reveal broadcast had happened five hours ago—more than enough time for Declan to pull strings and contact the staff here.

The call connected immediately.

“Kira! Is that really you? I…”

Declan hadn’t even finished his sentence when the call cut out, the signal dissolving into static.

The staff member frowned and tapped the screen a few times.

“Huh? The signal here is perfectly fine. What’s going on?”

“Mr. He? Mr. He, can you hear me?”

“I can hear you! Give the phone to Kira!”

Declan’s voice was sharp, desperate, sounding like he might leap out of the speaker.

The staffer quickly handed me the phone, but the moment it was near me and Declan spoke, the signal became abysmal.

I quietly pressed End Call.

No need to struggle.

You can’t win against the universal law.

The staffer took the phone back, switching SIM cards, sweat beading on her forehead.

“Ms. Qin, could you give me your contact number? Mr. He sounds like he needs to reach you urgently.”

I gave her my number, indifferent.

Declan wouldn’t be able to get through anyway.

As I turned to leave, the staffer called out again. “Ms. Qin, Mr. He just messaged me. He said he’s boarding a flight now and will arrive in Bratislava tomorrow night. He told me to tell you not to wander off. You must wait for him to find you.”

“He also said…”

She looked at me, a little hesitant to relay the rest.

“He also said that if you insist on pursuing your career in esports, you should forget any notion of being able to run away.”

Her eyes were complicated, no doubt trying to decode the drama between Declan and me.

I smiled, thanked her, and walked away.

The truth is, Declan shouldn’t have come.

I was even more certain of this the next evening when I saw the news report about a traffic accident.

The car carrying Declan inexplicably lost control and slammed into a stone pylon, flipping completely onto its side.

The driver was unharmed. Declan was rushed to the hospital with a severe head injury.

His assistant finally got through to my phone. “Ms. Qin, where are you? Mr. He is in the ICU, critical condition. I’ll send a car to pick you up.”

I refused.

“I am neither his family nor his spouse. It is not my place to visit.”

I hung up and boarded the plane home. Staring out the window, I couldn’t help but wonder if Declan remembered that ordinary afternoon ten years ago.

Did he remember the words he had spoken himself?

The NPC’s task is over, you never see them again.

Even if he found a way to glitch to my location, he wouldn’t be able to talk to me.

I had given him the loophole, the solution—to marry me—but he hadn’t listened at all.

The bullet fired years ago was now hitting him square in the forehead. Every world is full of NPCs.

And my job was to push the relationship arc between Declan and Serena.

As an NPC, I was seemingly destined to be the backdrop for the Son of Destiny, just a tool to advance the main plot through interaction.

But sometimes, I wanted to be the main character.

Like in the story of my love with Declan.

We had an arranged childhood engagement, and he, three years my senior, was so meticulously attentive that he gave me the grand illusion that I could fight the world’s pre-scripted main arc.

I knew exactly when Declan was meant to fall for Serena. So I tried to take proactive steps.

During his freshman year, he was supposed to meet Serena, a classmate.

They were meant to be instantly drawn to each other, both strong, intelligent, and driven.

Serena came from an ordinary background, and with me—the rich girl he was engaged to—in the way, they were supposed to hesitate and struggle, even with their mutual attraction.

My purpose was to create the love triangle, the emotional friction that would slowly, painfully make them realize they were each other’s true love.

Then I, the NPC, would be discarded, and they would live happily ever after.

That was the original script.

To fight the universal script, I forced Declan to go to an international university.

Everyone thought I was crazy at the time.

Declan had only planned to stay stateside to be near me, fighting for the best score on the domestic college entrance exam just so he could be available.

That time, I broke his heart.

“If you have to train in the youth league and can’t come to Edinburgh with me, why on earth are you forcing me away?”

“Do you know what that distance means to us?”

“Are you… are you planning to break up with me?”

I shook my head, repeating “No.”

No one missed him more than I did.

He was my future fiancé, but also my brother.

He looked out for me more deeply than my own parents.

The separation felt like peeling skin from bone.

Yet everything that followed proved how futile I was.

The universal script only needed a single, unexpected fellowship grant to send Serena to Edinburgh as well.

My efforts were pale and pointless against the world’s rules.

They still met. They still got to know each other.

Six months after he left, Declan came home for the holidays.

I rushed to the airport to pick him up, only to find him with Serena.

Compared to my still-unpolished self, they looked perfect together—a golden couple fit for a magazine cover. The sight stung.

That night at home, I was direct. “Do you like her?”

Declan gave a strained, nervous laugh. “What are you talking about? She’s just a classmate.”

The flicker of panic in his eyes wasn’t well-hidden.

He had developed feelings.

I hired someone to look into their interactions abroad, just to see how far things had gone.

If they had held hands or kissed, I would have ended things immediately, played my part for a few years, endured the wedding, and quietly bowed out.

But they hadn’t done anything overtly romantic.

Even their dinners were always in group settings.

Declan found out I had investigated Serena and exploded at me for the first time.

“I told you nothing is going on. Why would you hire a PI to check up on her?”

“Serena is a simple girl who earned her way through sheer effort, with help from a scholarship. Don’t you dare try to sabotage her.”

The defensive look in his eyes cut me to the core.

Tears welled in mine as I asked, “Is that who you think I am? A tyrant who uses her wealth to crush others?”

Seeing my distress, Declan slowly calmed down.

“I’m sorry, Kira. I overreacted.”

I accepted his apology, placidly.

But after that day, I stayed at the training base more often and rarely went home to the family mansion.

Since I wouldn’t go to him, Declan came to me at the base, day after day, rain or shine.

I saw him off at the airport when his break ended. He gave me a light hug.

“Kira, let’s stop being angry, okay?”

“I’m transferring to a university in Chicago after this semester.”

My parents scolded me, saying I was immature for constantly causing trouble and making Declan rearrange his life.

Declan only smiled and said it was his fault for not giving me enough security.

Chicago and our home base were on opposite coasts. He’d be geographically separated from Serena.

He reported his schedule to me daily and shared his location.

Especially once I turned twenty-one and started entering major tournaments, Declan, a senior in college, never missed a single one of my offline competitions.

The cross-country red-eye flights became as habitual as drinking water for him.

I slowly started to believe that I could trust him one more time. So, on my twenty-first birthday, when Declan proposed, I accepted.

“Kira, we’ll register the marriage next year when you turn twenty-two.”

I held out my hand for the ring.

And I told him again, seriously, “Declan, you have to keep your word.”

“If you marry anyone else, I will truly disappear.”

He smiled, accepted my warning, and pulled me into a soft embrace amidst the cheers of our friends.

“Don’t worry. Even if you run to the ends of the earth, I’ll find you.”

But only a few days after my birthday, Serena came back home.

She returned the day I was scheduled for my first international competition.

We’d checked my bags, and then Declan took a call from Serena. Immediately, he decided to cancel his trip to accompany me.

He apologized profusely, explaining in detail that Serena was facing a terrible, complicated mess.

I cut short his lengthy explanation.

I knew why she was back and when she’d return better than he did.

I turned and walked toward security, telling Declan just one thing:

“Just remember to marry me.”

Relieved that I hadn’t thrown a tantrum, Declan smiled. “Of course, I will.”

He watched me go, not knowing that this single glance would be our last for several years.

Two of my teammates suffered from serious jet lag and anxiety, leading to critical errors in the competition. We didn’t even make it to the podium.

Vicious fans started calling us idiots, hurling obscenities.

Because I was the only girl, someone even threw a piece of trash that hit me.

Outside the stadium, in fifteen-degree weather, we stood bowing and apologizing until midnight, then walked back to the hotel on empty stomachs.

On the way, we were held up by armed robbers and stripped of everything.

One of the robbers, panicked, fired a shot. The bullet grazed my thigh.

We made it to the hospital. Since it wasn’t a life-threatening injury, they told us to wait.

At dawn, a teammate finally borrowed a phone to call for help, and we all called home.

I’m an NPC, lacking deep emotional ties to my parents, so I called Declan directly.

But the first thing he said when he picked up was:

“Kira, I’m so sorry. I have to marry Serena.”