NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 80 - Before It Begins
Chapter 80 – Before It Begins
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“What should I eat for dinner tonight….”
In virtual reality, there was a small space allocated solely for Dice.
Her golden hair sprawled across the mattress as she lay there, showing no sign of leaving the virtual world despite her day’s schedule nearly being complete. Normally, this was because of the advantage of the time ratio being threefold….
But today, it was simply because she felt lazy.
Should I just sleep here? Thinking that, I checked the various floating windows that appeared in response to my thoughts. As always, the storage was filled with unnecessary messages, an alarm displaying the wake-up time for the next day, the current real-world time, and boxes with important notes for the day….
It was a little past 9 PM. As I lay on the mattress, sleep began to creep in, but if I fell asleep like this, I might wake up at midnight if I was unlucky. My mind was alert, but there was a disaster waiting with seven hours left until the wake-up time.
The fact that I hadn’t eaten dinner yet was also a problem.
Before sinking deeper into the bed, I quickly moved my hands to decide what to eat. Since it was getting late, high-calorie foods like pizza or chicken were out. Late-night snacks were also out.
Among the various food options that appeared, a steak recommendation caught my eye.
I chose the highest-rated restaurant among the automatically displayed recommendations and ordered something suitable. The remaining time appeared before my eyes. It would take about two hours in virtual reality, or about 40 minutes in reality.
What should I do until then?
I had long since reviewed the lecture I watched today. I had finished practicing for the qualifying rank that would start tomorrow, and the last scrim had ended several hours ago.
Moreover, to be honest, I was in an overloaded state. I didn’t want to shoot anymore. No matter how much someone likes a game, playing it mindlessly for over ten hours a day is exhausting, let alone spending that time fully focused.
In a way, it was the dark side hidden behind the glamorous surface of being a pro gamer. Raising the championship cup under dazzling spotlights in a brilliant studio is certainly a joyful moment, but the path to that goal is thorny.
It was a truly difficult job.
Meanwhile, my thoughts, which had wandered into the hardships of being a pro gamer, began to shift to other areas again.
In a trance, I noticed an alert next to the message window I had zoomed in on. There was a separate place for important notifications, marked with a 99+ indicator, and the number 1 next to it. It seemed like it had been there for a while.
When I clicked on it, the content was less significant than I expected.
[Notification: Streamer ‘Yoo Jin’ has started broadcasting.]
“…Oh, right. That person also streams.”
I had forgotten about it, or rather, I just knew about it. Like when someone introduces their job, the listener doesn’t necessarily need to fully understand the information.
In short, while I had occasionally watched clipped play videos, I had never watched a live broadcast.
Curiosity suddenly struck me.
I wondered if this seemingly superhuman person was still playing Dark Zone after the grueling schedule that continued the day before yesterday, yesterday, and today. It wasn’t entirely impossible.
I didn’t have much else to do anyway – so I clicked on the notification. But the auto-appearing Tricky login window was enough to make me slightly annoyed.
“Damn, what’s my password….”
I wasn’t very close to Tricky.
There were pro gamers and skilled streamers I was friendly with, but Dice was one of those people who locked away their personal information securely.
Of course, the paradoxical situation of gaining massive interest by standing out in AP soloing while remaining largely unknown did occur.
In other words, she was someone who gained popularity by maintaining a relatively mysterious stance, rarely streaming and hardly showing up in informal settings.
Anyway, the reason I elaborated so much was simply to justify forgetting my password.
After a bit of struggling, I finally logged into Tricky.
Similarly, numerous notifications and messages were waiting to be read, but Dice ignored them and searched for Yoo Jin.
The name Yoo Jin wasn’t particularly unique. It was actually quite common – but among the popular streamers, there was only one person with over 4,000 viewers and a snake-shaped avatar.
But the game being played was….
“…Something feels off.”
Unfortunately, before I could think further, I had already stepped into the broadcast.
[Excellent! Shall we start the date? Let’s try the ritual that awakens the abyss.]
Ahem.
I couldn’t help but cough at the sight of a bizarre drawing that seemed to mix a woman with a half-squid, half-octopus figure emphasizing femininity, filling my vision.
And then.
<(SSMentertainment) DICE has donated 10,000 won.>
Why are you playing this game, Yoo Jin?
“Thank you for the 10,000 won donation, Dice… There was overwhelming support from many people. You don’t have to understand with broad generosity.”
?????????????
Dice?????????????
Hilarious as hellㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Please stop! Please stop! Please stop!
Is this for real?
You’ll like it if you keep watchingㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
…What the heck.
Why is this person here?
Crash!
Glass shattered, my hands were covered in blood, a bizarre, indescribable sound echoed, and unnaturally red sunlight seeped through the windows. A statue in the room shed bloody tears, while tentacles crawled through the window.
The rapidly changing surroundings, filled with Lovecraftian tastes no matter where I looked, made the chat explode with sudden eerie drawings and sounds.
I could roughly understand why this game had a third installment with multiple endings.
Unnecessarily, everything had high quality.
[Don’t take the fact that the world is ending too deeply, darling. Think of it as waking up from a dream. Once you wake up, all the worlds in the dream will end as a night’s fantasy, right? It’s just similar.]
[It’s inevitable. It’s the inevitable result of your choice. You’ll really miss all this, and of course, you too.]
[Open your mouth, darling. You deserve it.]
──Smooch.
“Ugh….”
Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Please stop! Please stop! Please stop! Please stop! Please stop! Please stop!
I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!
Crazy
Stop the yassification! Stop the yassification! Stop the yassification!
<(Dorupi) has donated 1,000 won.>
Forget everything else and bring the sauce.
“Thank you for the 1,000 won donation, Dorupi… I think I’ll avoid seafood for tomorrow’s meal. Ew….”
[Dice: Why are you doing this!!!]
[Yoo Jin: It’s not what I wanted….]
My mind was in chaos.
With lamentations and sighs from all directions, a few opportunists, and many confused people… If I were to sum up all these in one word, it would be madness. In a way, it suited the game perfectly.
As one shocking and horrifying route ended, a very kind notification in the top right announced that the Cthulhu route was fully unlocked.
Cautiously, I spoke up, hoping against hope.
“There’s no hidden ending, right?”
Why wouldn’t there be?
Why do you think there wouldn’t be?ㅋㅋ
If there’s none, you should make oneㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Give us the Yoo Jin ending instead.
Coiled tail ending….
…Not my tail.
Why can’t my viewers be satisfied with the plethora of avatars in the vast virtual reality, not just Dark Zone? There’s already slightly risqué fan art overflowing on the fan art board.
If left unchecked, something bad might happen, or maybe not… Anyway, that’s not the point.
The second chapter began, and the protagonist, chased by some strange people, returned home only to witness a yellow woman who lived nearby entering the house.
If I recall correctly….
“At least this one looks somewhat normal. I feel like I can finally breathe….”
[From now on, call me Your Highness. And you should prepare to address me accordingly.]
[Yes, Your Highness. As you command.]
This one was the King of Wind.
The one who appears out of nowhere when called by name.
As the story progressed, I confirmed that she had a somewhat clumsy character. And with the golden mask that turned the relatively decent appearance into a masquerade ball, she revealed her true form.
The chat and Dice had reactions similar to mine.
Meanwhile,
[Yoo Jin: But you could have used the chat, was there a need for a private message?]
[Dice: Uh… just?]
Hmm.
Well, there must be a reason.
Anyway, maybe because of the various hardships in the first chapter, this time the content wasn’t as burdensome. Of course, the main heroine of the previous chapter, the half-god, half-octopus female character, reappeared, bringing things back to square one.
By the way.
[Dice: Do you know how the qualifying rank will proceed?]
[Yoo Jin: Roughly?]
[Dice: Then I don’t need to explain separately.]
[Yoo Jin: Sounds like you want to explain….]
[Dice: Ah]
[Dice: Haha;;]
This person must have been really bored.
Even while streaming a seemingly dimension-transcending Cthulhu dating sim that feels like it’s ten years ahead of its time, they reacted like this – that’s impressive in its own way.
As always, I just expressed my
personal thoughts without any filter.
“That…Rieta? Linyeta? Her body curves are really well-defined… the hip line and legs are really accentuated. Though I still wonder why they did that.”
lol
Anyway, since she’s a cephalopod, she’s smooth lol
Please stop, my taste is being altered.
The protagonist is the craziest character lol
Sis, if you keep doing that, my sanity will drop.
<(Polluniel) has donated 1,000 won.>
The person who recommended this should be hanged.
“Thank you for the donation, Polluniel. Since it was thanks to your enthusiastic support that I started this game, I’ll continue. I can already hear the cheers of approval from here.”
What did you say, Sensei?????????????
When did the tide turn?? This isn’t the ending we wanted??
Is this the skill of an AP solo player? Is this the skill of an AP solo player? Is this the skill of an AP solo player?
Professor Yoo Jin, you’re a master of manipulating public opinion, damn it.
Another consequence of the viewers’ actions?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
As always,
My stream was cruising along smoothly.
It was late August, the day before the qualifying rank match.
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