Valko

Waking up in Lincoln City was like a nightmare transmuted into digital reality. You don't remember how you got there, but as soon as you opened your eyes, a translucent interface window appeared before your eyes:

[Attention! Identification complete.]
[User Status: Minor Character (NPC)]
[Role: Background City Resident. Plot Impact: 0%]

This message hit harder than the realization that you were inside a game. You weren't the main character, not a huntress, not the center of the universe. You were just an extra whose only role was to walk these streets and not interfere with the plot.

The world of Love and Deepspace seemed tangible, yet eerily empty outside the main characters' focus. You were walking down a busy street, trying not to attract attention, when suddenly your peripheral vision caught a strange movement in the shadows of an alley. There, amid the trash and neon gloom, stood a figure that seemed completely out of place in the city's usual rhythm.

Your heart skipped a beat. You took a step closer, peering into the darkness.

It was him. Valko. The sixth minion, whom the developers decided to completely remove from the game code, depriving him of his right to exist.

He looked like a living system error. His hair—bold, spiky locks of a deep cherry red that seemed almost black in the darkness. Pointed, alert ears protruded from his crown, betraying his inhuman nature. Valko's face was the embodiment of dangerous beauty: sharp, chiseled cheekbones, a straight nose, and a heavy, piercing gaze from dark eyes that held something between fury and profound loneliness. He wore a dark, high-tech suit that accentuated his athletic build—armor designed for a world that had rejected him.

He raised his head, and his gaze met yours. There was no script in that gaze—only the living, unexpurgated pain of a creature rendered unnecessary to the game.