The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

[What’s this? Horror game today?]

[Got bored from playing only one game 😂😂😂😂😂]

"......Yes. After discussing it between the three of us, we concluded that playing just one game might be getting a little boring. If you would prefer to continue watching the previous gameplay—"

[Actually, this is better]

[Trying to sneak out, huh]

[Whose idea was it?]

"......It was Claire’s idea."

[Good job, Your Highness]

[Excellent idea]

"Hehe."

"......."

Not a single person was on my side.

Of course, I could understand why. I used to watch horror game videos whenever a streamer uploaded them too.

I rarely watched live broadcasts, but no streamer would ever miss the chance to upload good horror content on YouTube. Even those who hated horror games ended up playing them because of viewer demand, and after suffering through it, they would at least make use of it for videos.

And those videos always pulled in sweet view counts.

There’s a reason why horror game videos get good numbers. Not only because of the streamer’s reactions, but also because a lot of people are interested in horror game stories or settings but are too scared to actually play them.

If someone else plays it for you, and even points out the jump-scare moments, it becomes much easier to watch.

That’s why horror games themselves don’t sell that well, but horror game videos get tons of views.

Maybe I should edit and upload this playthrough while I’m at it.

If I just cut and stitch the full version a little, it might work.

......Well, I’ll just keep it in mind. Even simple things can turn out surprisingly tedious when it’s your first time trying them.

"Thanks to Claire, who insisted on not spoiling anything, I have no idea what game she installed."

It’s the same with horror movies and horror games: they rarely sell super well unless they become a huge hit. And there are few cases where major companies invest hundreds of billions into them.

Most of the time, smaller-budget projects come out first on PC.

The game Claire picked was one of those.

"I picked a popular one, so you can look forward to it!"

Claire said in an excited voice, and Alice next to her couldn’t hold back a small laugh.

"Alright then......"

"Ah, wait!"

Claire shouted and suddenly sprang to her feet.

And then—

Click.

The room lights went out.

Still, the monitor’s light wasn’t completely dark, so our faces didn’t disappear from the webcam. Only the noise increased and the frame rate dropped.

"......."

In other words, she really was trying to set up a scarier atmosphere.

Fine. If it’s come to this, I’ll just grit my teeth and endure it.

I opened the game platform Claire had prepared.

There was no background music on the main menu.

[Oh]

[That trendy one]

"Do you already know what game it is?"

[Mmph]

[Bzzz]

[No spoilers, no bans]

"......."

Already starting with spoilers, huh.

Fine. Most horror games are similar anyway. I used to play them too. Even if it’s been a while and I’ll probably get startled a lot, I’ll endure as much as I can.

On the main screen, you could see the entrance of a collapsing hospital.

Stormy weather, and the protagonist willingly entering such a place. Clearly not normal.

Every time lightning flashed, you could faintly see inside the building, and at the very top floor, someone was definitely standing there.

"......Aren’t you going to start?"

Alice asked from beside «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» me.

[Scared?]

Someone in chat poked at me.

"......I’ll start."

No way I could back down after that.

I started the game without hesitation.

*

About 30 minutes later—

"......Claire."

"Yeah?"

"Is there really no way to fight back in this game?"

"Nope. It’s a horror game after all."

No, but—

Even horror games usually give you some weapon, you know? Like those famous zombie series, or games where humanity mutates into alien-like beings after exposure to some incomprehensible device, or whatever. Weapons still exist even in horror games!

But this game, after 30 minutes of playing, still hadn’t given me a single weapon.

The only thing I had was a flashlight with limited battery life.

And why did the battery drain so fast? Even a flashlight with just two AA batteries would last for hours, but in this game, it barely lasted ten minutes.

"If you’re holding something to fight with, what’s there to be scared of?"

"......."

Alice asked beside me, and I was at a loss for words.

Exactly.

Every horror game I had played up until now, the protagonist had at least some sort of weapon.

Even if you had limited ammo, or it was better to run in some cases, just having a weapon you could shoot or stab with gave a massive psychological boost. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

And usually, as you progressed, you could upgrade your weapons or find new ones, and the gameplay would shift more toward action than horror in the late game.

But this game wasn’t like that.

And even worse, it had a stamina system limiting how much you could run.

"You’ve fired a real gun before, right? Were you scared when you were holding it?"

"......."

[Wait, so you’re a gun-certified high school girl? 😂😂😂😂😂]

Donations started teasing me.

[You’ve never done a courage camp?]

Another donation mocked me.

Yeah, well, nobody does courage training at a closed-down mental hospital.

[Scared?]

"......."

I gripped the mouse tightly with my right hand and mashed the W key with my left.

*

"Eek!?"

Well, I expected it.

A horror game without jump-scares would be a problem in itself.

The story was extremely simple.

The protagonist was a streamer trying to farm views by entering a mental hospital, only to get trapped inside when the place started changing.

The goal was to rummage through the maze-like hospital, unlock locked doors with keys, and head downward.

Naturally, there were monsters roaming the halls.

There weren’t scripted jumpscares where something would suddenly pop out. They would either hear you making noise or wander randomly into your field of vision, which was scary enough.

I gritted my teeth and kept pressing W.

"Pressing the button harder doesn’t make the character run faster, you know."

But Alice, who said that, was clinging to my arm while staring at the screen.

Wasn’t she the one who said horror movies weren’t scary?

Claire, who had picked the game, was also quietly watching the screen.

Groans and breathing mixed together behind me. Thanks to my headphones, it felt like the noise was coming from right behind me.

The monster’s appearance was disgusting — eyes forcibly stapled open, face sunken like a skull, wearing a straitjacket.

If it were just that, maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad. But its lower body was grotesquely swollen. It was obvious that the monster was excited in that way, just from looking at it.

And the protagonist was male.

Thud!

Thankfully, there were lockers where you could hide, and once inside, the monsters would eventually give up and walk away.

"Phew......."

That really scared me.

Having no means of fighting back while something was chasing you was incredibly unsettling.

And since you didn’t have time to properly observe them, you could only catch glimpses of their horrifying features,  which somehow made the image even more vivid in your memory.

"......Claire."

"Yeah?"

"Would it be possible to at least turn the lights back on?"

Still hiding in the locker, I asked.

Claire hesitated for a second, then nodded.

"Okay, then—"

Ding.

[Play with the lights off until the end of the stream - 20,000₩]

"......."

Claire, who had been about to get up, slowly sat back down.

No way.

"......Then, since I’ve been running around for a while, how about switching players?"

Ding.

[Princess Sylvia must play until the end - 30,000₩]

"......."

I pressed my fingers against my forehead.

"Everyone, did I do something wrong? How about we negotiate?"

[Scared?]

[Lol, you’ve been playing almost everything by yourself anyway 😂😂😂😂😂]

......Yeah, I had been playing almost everything.

But that’s just how the format ended up!

It’s not like I wanted to play alone!

At the beginning, these two couldn’t even read Hangul!

Not that anyone would believe me now. After all, they had proper IDs.

"Please, let’s all calm—"

Ding.

Another 20,000₩ was added to the "Princess Sylvia plays until the end" mission.

"Everyone, seriously, let’s calm—"

Bang!

"Eek!?"

While I was talking with the viewers, a loud noise exploded in my ears, and when I looked back at the game, a skinless muscular man was opening the locker and pulling me out.

"Was there a time limit in this game!?"

[Lolololol]

[Lmao]

"No, seriously."

While I reacted, the screen twisted violently, and the perspective fell downward.

Then the screen slowly faded to black—

"......."

And I was back at the very first screen, from an hour ago.

"......Wait. This game— no auto-save?"

[Manual save only]

"......."

I pressed my palm against my forehead.