The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

Games that are popular among streamers are usually popular for two reasons.

One, the game is such a masterpiece and so well-known that just turning it on pulls in viewers automatically.

The other is that the game is ridiculously difficult, terrifying, or absolute trash, causing the player to suffer — which, in turn, is great for attracting more viewers.

And horror games, in particular, often don’t just rely on the in-game atmosphere. They also use external frustrations — unfairness, irrationality — as part of the horror experience.

For example, a game where you’re supposed to shoot zombies, but you can’t move and shoot at the same time.

Or you need special items just to save the game, with a limited number of saves allowed, and you can only save at specific locations.

Or the background is pitch dark, but the only way to make light is by using consumable items — basically forcing you to play in the dark.

This game didn’t have any weapons, so it didn’t meet the first condition.

But it nailed all the other ones.

On top of that, the save points were only located at the start of each chapter. Meaning, if you wanted to save, you had to backtrack all the way to where you started.

And because the game prided itself on being a “maze,” there was no map provided.

Monsters roamed the maze freely, so it wasn’t easy to casually use something like the left-hand or right-hand rule to navigate your way through.

Also, the fact that the save point was only at the start meant that even if your progress was saved, if you wanted to get back to where you were, you still had to start from the very beginning of the maze.

If you died, you respawned all the way back at the start.

"...Fucking trash game..."

[Hey, hey, it’s not trash]

[It’s actually a pretty highly-rated game]

[If it was trash, would it have sold that well? lol]

My muttering got a flood of responses from the viewers.

Yeah, yeah, I knew.

The level design was actually really well done, with a unique style, and there were enough objects scattered around that you could roughly remember your path.

The monsters chased you relentlessly, sure, but there were a decent number of hiding spots.

And unless it was that flayed gym rat monster, I wouldn’t die in one hit, and since my health regenerated over time, once you got used to it, the maze exploration was manageable.

But... but still, I couldn’t accept it!

Because right now, I was the one suffering!

"Eek!"

[lolololol]

[Are you screaming on purpose?]

Like hell I was screaming on purpose.

It’s not like I wanted to act like some screechy try-hard.

Crack.

Once again, my character’s neck snapped.

And to make matters worse—

"Huh?"

Maybe because I saved at a bad time, but right after respawning, I heard rattling chains nearby.

It was the new monster introduced in this chapter — the one dragging chains around its feet.

[King move]

[Trying to bait more donations]

Two donation alerts came in back-to-back.

Like hell I was doing this on purpose.

The amount tied to the current mission already topped 150,000 won when combined. If I added the total donations we’d received so far today, it was the biggest haul we’d had in days.

But would I really do something like that just for money?!

"Where... where am I supposed to go?! The path’s blocked!"

[Shhh]

[Backseating gets you banned]

"I won’t ban you!"

[ding ding]

[Ring the backseat bell!]

Ugh...!

Back when I just watched streams, I never understood why streamers hated backseating so much.

Now, I got it.

Streamers and viewers were just fundamentally different creatures.

Getting help from the opponent you’re brawling with — it was a blow to your pride you just couldn’t accept.

Of course, if they insisted on helping, I wouldn’t turn it down, but... I sure as hell wasn’t going to ask for it first.

"Hff!"

I clenched my teeth to stop myself from screaming again.

I spun around and ran with everything I had when a monster jumped out at me, and somehow managed to dive into a locker.

My hand reflexively started moving ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ toward the Esc key — then froze.

There was a time limit in the game.

If you lingered too long without progressing through a certain zone — probably a stage checkpoint — a new monster would spawn: a skinless, muscular horror.

That thing moved slower than the player, but unlike the other monsters, it knew exactly where you were.

It didn’t matter if you hid in a locker; it would find you anyway.

The problem was, there was no warning for when it would spawn.

You could sort of tell when it was nearby, because it had normal footsteps instead of monstrous sounds, but otherwise? You had no clue where it would show up.

Meaning, unless you physically ran into it, you wouldn’t even know it had spawned.

If I hit the Esc key to bring up the menu, the in-game clock would freeze—

[Hey, hey, we can see you reaching for the Esc key]

[We see your hand moving!]

...Of course they’d catch that.

Even if I did open the menu, they'd see it anyway, but... my pride wouldn’t allow it.

"If it’s too hard, I can swap with you," one of the girls offered.

"Yeah. We could take turns. It might make things a little easier," said the other.

At first, both of them had been pretty scared. But after watching the scary scenes for hours, they seemed to have built up an immunity.

They had gone back to their normal expressions — or rather, expressions of worry for me.

Maybe because I'd been playing for four hours straight.

Normally, I kept my gaming streams under a little over two hours.

So yeah, it made sense they were worried — but for me, it was about pride.

No, it was more than pride...

If I didn’t finish it tonight, that meant I’d have to keep playing it tomorrow.

I really didn’t want that.

No matter what, I had to finish it tonight and end this for good.

I clenched my teeth.

Seriously.

If only I still had my time-rewinding powers...

*

I suffered through countless bullshit deaths.

"Eek!?"

Because I dragged things out too long, the flayed gym rat was chasing me from behind, and some creepy pervert with something stiff between his legs was charging at me from the front.

"What the...?"

I tripped over a tiny object and got caught by the monster chasing me from behind.

"GYAAH!"

Then I even got caught by a monster right in front of a staircase.

And the worst part was, I had no excuse — I got grabbed because I panicked and rushed straight at the stairs even though I knew there was a monster behind me.

...Anyway, after pushing through all that endless bullshit, about an hour later—

"I... I did it."

[Victory of humanity]

[Wow]

[Ohhhh]

[lololololol]

[I can’t believe you actually beat it lolololol]

That’s right. I cleared it.

Since it was such a famous game, I thought the story would be something amazing — but no.

After playing it to the end, I realized the game’s fame mostly came from its unique gameplay style.

An extremely simple goal: find the stairs and escape the hospital.

And in the meantime, the player had to deal with perfectly placed traps.

Of course, along the way, there were obstacles you had to either break through or detour around.

So purely as a game, it was a really solid one that relied entirely on its gameplay.

Honestly, the save point placement was absurd to the point of feeling unfair, but still.

Adding in a monster that knew your location just to keep players from dragging things out —

I didn’t really want to admit it, but it was actually a smart choice.

"It was nothing."

[?]

[?]

[Huh?]

I ignored the flood of hooks coming my way and said it flatly.

"Five hours for a game like this isn’t that bad, right?"

"Unnie... you’re so pathetic..."

"..."

[lolololol]

[lolol]

[Did Claire really just say that lol]

Yeah, seriously.

For even Claire to call me pathetic...

I must have been really, really pathetic.

"And besides, even if you beat it in five hours, it’s already two in the morning. You’re way past your normal bedtime."

Alice said that, covering her mouth with a hand as she yawned.

"..."

Yeah.

Honestly, it was partly because I played like a coward, saving way too often, that it took so long.

But still...!

"Anyway, I cleared it, didn’t I? And since today's stream was longer than usual, that’s a win for all of you, isn’t it?"

I shamelessly insisted, thick-skinned.

[True]

[Fair enough]

[Sylvia, how am I supposed to go to work tomorrow?]

"Was anyone holding a gun to your head and forcing you to watch the stream?"

[You kinda threatened us with your ‘Eek!’ screams though]

You get a 10-minute timeout.

"Therefore, since I kept the lights off until the end and played all the way through on my own, I declare that the mission was successfully completed."

The mission payout alone had climbed to nearly 400,000 won combined.

I could finally relax for a while.

I barely managed to suppress the grin trying to spread across my face.

[Please do it again next time!]

As if.

As I ended the stream and started cleaning up the room—

"Unnie."

"..."

I turned my head at the sudden voice, and saw Claire looking up at me, her eyes sparkling.

"You’ll do it again next time, right?"

"..."

I froze for a second at her innocent, pure expression.

I glanced over at Alice, who just shrugged and laughed.

Clearly, she was all for it.

What, is it that fun seeing me suffer?

But honestly, thinking about it, it probably was just sibling instinct.

Siblings usually enjoy dunking on each other.

"If you both promise to take turns playing next time, I’ll participate too when it’s my turn."

"Deal! Actually, I was kind of curious too. I only watched until the end because of the mission."

"I’m interested enough."

Good.

Next time, I was picking the game.

...I’ll make sure to choose the scariest one I can think of.