Chapter 171: The Job of the Top Student (3)

Na-young’s performance was completely different from the Na-young I knew.

I realized that I hadn’t watched Na-young’s streams much recently.

Unlike her image as the ‘pretty sister who swears well’ in , she was a completely different person in ‘horror games’.

“Hey, you tiny little brats! Come to your sister?”

Kieeeek!

She was like Lu Bu.

Even in horror games, she cursed at the monsters.

“……She’s so damn cool.”

To me, it was an incredibly moving scene.

The terrible monsters that had been trying to devour me just moments ago immediately rushed toward Na-young, and the other monsters followed suit.

While attracting the monsters’ aggro, Na-young shouted to me.

“Gather the evidence and escape first! I’ll distract them and escape later. Got it? I told you in advance!”

-She’s the Shia of horror games, lol.

-Can you see Shia unable to move a step?

-Hey, did you get scared, lol?

-Na-young is really fearless these days.

-Yeah, lately, whenever Na-young plays horror games, she turns into someone who knows no fear.

-She used to be really scared at first.

-Now she doesn’t get scared at all, lol. It seems like she enjoys cursing at ghosts instead, lol. Ghosts must be glad they can’t report her, lol.

How much had she grown?

Maybe Na-young chose this concept to further solidify her own theme.

While I was staring at Na-young with a dazed expression, Joo-hyun, who had been quietly waiting, came out and spoke to me.

“Sis is really good at horror games.”

“And you?”

“I don’t find them particularly scary either. I’m just hiding because getting caught means you’re out… But, oppa, you’re really bad at horror games, aren’t you?”

At Joo-hyun’s blunt remark, I could only nod my head slightly, unable to find words.

“Let’s move quickly.”

“The last piece of evidence is in Examination Room 2. If we grab that and meet up with Na-young unnie at the entrance, we should be good.”

Compared to me, who was hunched over in extreme tension, Joo-hyun was full of energy.

She seemed much livelier than usual.

What made her so happy? She was smiling brightly at me.

Looking at her like that, it really hit me that she was an idol.

Even I, who usually wasn’t interested in women, couldn’t help but glance at her sometimes because of her looks.

Both Na-young and Joo-hyun.

They were both truly beautiful when you looked at them like this.

If you met them on the street, you’d gasp in surprise.

“Oppa?”

“Ah, right.”

I had been staring blankly at the adorably smiling Joo-hyun without realizing it.

Snapping back to reality at Joo-hyun’s words, I quickly pulled out the map of this hospital from my waist.

As expected of a VR game, the map wasn’t system-generated but provided in a physical form.

Although it was called a hospital, the structure was essentially that of a human experimentation lab.

We had found all the other evidence, and now all that was left was to head to Examination Room 2, located next to the main entrance.

“Hmm.”

The map was quite unkind, but I soon found a way to enter Examination Room 2.

“We can enter through the ventilation duct, but someone needs to open it using the switch.”

Most missions in required cooperative play.

A large part of that cooperative play involved methods like this.

To enter Examination Room 2, we had to use the ventilation duct. Due to the nature of the research lab where biochemical weapons were being developed, all the ventilation ducts were strictly controlled.

In other words, one person had to go to the central control room to open the ventilation duct.

Trying to enter through the examination room door was impossible because of the numerous monsters lurking there. Breaking through was not an option.

The mission was designed to be completed this way from the start.

What we needed now was to divide the tasks.

Who would go to the central control room, and who would enter the examination room.

“Oppa, since you’re the main character, you should go to the examination room. I’ll handle the switch.”

“Which one would be scarier?”

“……How should I know? Oppa, aren’t you playing up the scaredy-cat persona too much? You’re really good at other games….”

“Joo-hyun.”

“Yes.”

“What does being good at games have to do with horror games? Huh? Does having good physical skills make the monsters avoid me? No, right?”

If the players were given a means to defeat the monsters, it wouldn’t be so terrifying.

But there was no way to suppress the monsters, and all we could do was run or hide.

Those were our only two options.

-Why is this guy so aggressive today, lol?

-For real, he seems really sensitive today.

-What’s wrong? Huh? Do you hate punishments that much?

-lol

‘PsychologyStudent’ donated 10,000 won.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

[The fact that he’s aggressive today likely means he’s under significant psychological stress. People like Shia tend to become more aggressive when cornered. This acts as a psychological defense mechanism, indicating that Shia is more cornered than ever right now.]

Even a psychology student was posting a psychological analysis that might not even be accurate.

The chat was like a festival.

The viewers were all happily chatting as they watched me suffer.

My misery was always their happiness.

Yes, as a professional streamer, it’s my duty and mission to bring great joy to my viewers.

That was when it happened.

Joo-hyun looked at me and asked cautiously.

“Oppa, are you really okay? It’ll be scarier if you go alone.”

“Do you trust oppa?”

“……I don’t think I can trust you in horror games.”

“Watch closely. I’ll show you how oppa carries.”

It’s not a difficult mission.

Once Joo-hyun opened the ventilation duct, I just had to crawl through, grab a document, and come back out.

That’s it.

So, Joo-hyun and I split up for the mission, and I quickly walked toward the ventilation duct near the examination room.

And shortly after.

[Your heart rate has reached a dangerous level!]

[Warning 2. If your heart rate spikes abnormally one more time, the game will forcibly end!]

“

I bitterly regretted my choice.

#### 6.

Ha! How did I end up having to do a horror game punishment?

It’s all Husu’s fault.

Yes, it was all because of that bastard Husu that I ended up here.

If he had just deposited the mission fee cleanly back then, I wouldn’t be in this situation.

“It’s all Husu’s fault….”

-lol, the guy who never blames others is starting to blame others now.

-Is it hard?

-lol, this is so funny.

-Another legendary clip today.

-From now on, let’s always include horror games when deciding Shia’s punishments.

-Shia’s bully, lol.

-Can you see the creators of Off Last smiling proudly?

-Haha, he’s really bad at horror games.

Bastards.

Instead of comforting me, they mocked me.

Are those my viewers?

……Now that I think about it, like streamer, like viewers.

Those guys had become like me, so their reactions were natural.

Swallowing my anger, I crawled through the ventilation duct that Joo-hyun had opened for me in a low crawl.

### Chapter 171

**57. In Charge of Bullies (3)**

#### 5.

The viewers were right.

Blaming Husu was indeed pathetic.

After all, all of this started with my prank.

Sure, my mental state wasn’t great, and without realizing it, I blamed someone else.

Still, I was glad that I learned how to crawl in the military.

Ssss…

-Is this guy really a mole cricket?

-Is this the power of the South Korean reserves?

-Since he just got discharged, check out his crawling posture, lol. It’s textbook.

-The Ministry of National Defense should adopt this broadcast as a teaching aid.

-This is what real crawling looks like.

-He’s world-class at crawling at least, lol.

-The only thing Shia is good at in this game is crawling like a ground beetle.

-lol, for real.

Are you jealous of my perfect crawling posture?

I didn’t care about the viewers’ mockery and crawled forward diligently.

It wasn’t long before I reached my destination.

A small ventilation duct leading to Examination Room 2.

Normally, it would be tightly shut by central control, but the ever-resourceful Joo-hyun had already opened it, so I could easily enter.

Thud!

There were no cushions or anything, so I just fell straight to the floor.

But I executed a perfect roll at the last moment, so I didn’t take much damage.

[You have sprained your ankle!]

[Your movement speed is greatly reduced for 5 minutes.]

…Or not.

But since I managed to get into the examination room, I should look for the document.

“Oh.”

Fortunately, the document I needed as evidence wasn’t far away.

A document lying conspicuously on a desk.

When I checked it,

[MK–Ultra/32 Project Results Report]

was boldly written as the title.

The contents beneath were too verbose to catch my eye.

It might be interesting to gamers who enjoy this kind of thing, but not to me.

All I could think about was getting this document and getting out of here quickly.

I swiftly grabbed the document and looked around.

I needed something to step on to escape through the ventilation duct again.

I could push the desk and climb up.

Creeeak

As I quickly pushed the desk and tried to escape through the ventilation duct,

WEEE-OOO-WEEE-OOO!

The siren, which hadn’t sounded once while we were running wild, started blaring throughout the hospital.

[Emergency system activated!]

[Ventilation duct system forcibly closed!]

[Find a new exit to escape the hospital!]

[All patients in the hospital have their aggression awakened. Survive in this hell.]

Grinding my teeth as I read the multiple message windows flashing before me, I clenched my fists and muttered,

“This trash game!”

-Praise, lol.

-‘Trash’ = ‘Awesome’

-Wow! A game praised by Shia? This game’s gonna blow up.

-Going to buy it right away.

-Trash game, lol.

-What will our Shia do now?

I had thought things were going too smoothly.

A game needs this kind of edge-of-your-seat tension.

First, I had to figure out a way to escape the room.

When faced with a crisis, my mind worked faster and more nimbly than ever.

Every game has a solution.

Just because the entrance was blocked didn’t mean there was no way to escape.

Games always have answers, and the answer was never far away.

I quickly grabbed a card lying on the desk.

[You have obtained a key item: !]

[Escape from here as soon as possible.]

The card was the key to opening the door and making a frontal escape.

As I took a few deep breaths and tried to calmly analyze the situation,

Chiiik

a transmission came through the walkie-talkie hanging on my waist.

The walkie-talkie was the only means of communication between players.

When I picked it up, Joo-hyun’s voice came through.

-Oppa! Where are you now?

“I’m about to escape.”

-Na-young unnie escaped… but oppa, you’re in big trouble.

“Why are you making me anxious….”

Joo-hyun was raising a death flag.

And then she delivered the terrifying news.

-I’m watching through the surveillance cameras….

“Watching what?”

After a brief pause, Joo-hyun delivered words that were practically a death sentence.

-All the monsters in this place are heading towards Examination Room 2 where you are. I’m sure of it.