This is a passionate manga filled with villains.
Passionate in the most literal sense: hot and bloody.
The manga's protagonist, Rhein, is seventeen, a good-for-nothing high school boy who always ranks dead last at Blue Valley High. He has no parents and lives with his uncle, a poor little thing who's been bullied at school for years.
After the school bully steals and reads aloud the love letter he wrote to his crush, Rhein can no longer bear this painful, miserable life.
He sits on the roof of the school building, numb with despair, intending to end his pointless existence.
A System called "Food Chain Game" suddenly appears in his mind.
"Hello, new player F2463. Welcome to the revels of the Despair Society."
"You dare to face death, so you must have the courage to wager your life."
"A chance to take revenge, a perfect plan for the perfect crime, a fortune to start a new life, a true love who'll grow old with you..."
The eerie electronic voice coaxes him: "Everything you could want lies on the other side of the scale."
"Now, listen carefully to the rules of the game."
"1. Before the game begins, players will draw identity cards for this round. Each card corresponds to a consumer level in this round's food chain."
"2. Each round features multiple randomly generated food chains. Players must use the clues to deduce which food chain they belong to, along with the predators above them and the prey below them."
"3. Each round lasts seven days, beginning on Sunday and ending on Sunday."
"4. At midnight each day, the city comes to a standstill. Backpacks, skill cards, and item cards unlock. Players put on animal masks corresponding to their identities and begin a two-hour citywide hunt."
"5. After seven days, players who escape their predators and devour their prey win the round."
"6. The winners take everything. The losers forfeit their lives."
After bonding with the game System, Rhein gradually transforms from a timid, cowardly good-for-nothing into a ruthless, top-tier player.
He personally erases the bullies from existence, amasses a fortune and becomes the city's hidden richest man, finds the love of his life, with whom he will never part, and rises to the very top of the food chain as a "tiger."
Sounds like he's already won at life, doesn't it?
However, in the latest round of the Food Chain Game, Rhein easily eliminates his target but can't find his own predator, no matter how hard he tries.
Just as Rhein thinks he's drawn the highest-level consumer card for this round, his lover, lying in bed and frozen in time, suddenly wraps his arms around Rhein from behind and, leaving no room for refusal, drives a dagger into his back.
His lover's gentle voice sounds in his ear.
"Rhein."
"Have you ever heard of The Truman Show?"
Troy is the perfect lover created by the author of the manga Food Chain Game specifically for its protagonist, Rhein.
According to the author's plans, after falling into a passionate romance with Rhein, he was supposed to die dramatically, making Rhein, lost in the bliss of their love, suffer so terribly that he would realize how cruel the game was and move smoothly into the next stage of the plot.
However, because the author was a perfectionist, Troy's character profile was so detailed and elaborate that a self-aware soul was born inside the hollow shell of a "perfect lover."
He doesn't want to die.
Nor does he want his and Rhein's fates to be controlled by someone else's pen.
"So let's start over."
Tips:
1. A crazy-but-adorable puppy-like top x a beautiful, strong, tragic NPC bottom who's even crazier than the top
2. Both are reborn, each other's first love, happy ending
Theme: We live together and die together; only then do we know that love can overcome every hardship.
