The Villainess VTuber Tears People Apart

Sora was walking through a gloomy hotel.

To be precise, the character Sora was controlling was wandering inside the hotel. Since it was in first-person view, she couldn’t quite tell what kind of character it was.

She glanced away from the monitor and looked to her side. Laura was sitting with her legs crossed, leisurely sipping her tea.

‘…Aren’t you drinking too much tea?’

She had heard that tea contains almost as much caffeine as coffee.

Sora started to feel a bit worried. It’s never good to consume too much caffeine.

But was it overstepping to worry about Laura’s health? Digging too personally into someone else’s habits didn’t seem right.

Then again, wasn’t she a peer? Assuming both Sora and Laura didn’t retire, they’d be seeing each other for the rest of their lives. As a friend, worrying about a friend’s health was entirely reasonable.

‘…But am I really in a position to worry about someone else?’

Sora snapped back to reality.

Currently, Sora was playing a game at Laura’s house.

The game was called Darkness Deception.

-“I thought you should first learn how to stay calm. That’s why I prepared these games. Pick one.”

-“Then maybe Party Playtime or Teddy’s Pizza Shop…”

-“Today’s game is Darkness Deception.”

-“But you told me to pick one?”

-“Of course, I heard your choice. It was a good reference.”

Even though she was given a choice, it was clear she didn’t have the power to decide. …Was this some kind of joke?

It was absurd, but the world already wanted Sora to play a horror game.

When both the viewers and Laura wanted it, there was no running away. After all, a streamer was fundamentally a performer who needed to be willing to let go of themselves.

And so, Sora found herself playing Darkness Deception.

“…This is really scary.”

She hadn’t even started the main game yet, but Sora was already scared.

The hotel was eerily quiet.

Not a single person was in sight, and that only amplified Sora’s sense of fear.

The emptiness made it seem peaceful, but that very stillness filled her with the dread that something could jump out at any moment.

It was no surprise that Sora’s footsteps became cautious.

As she inched forward, perhaps slow enough to frustrate the viewers, she spotted a monkey in front of the elevator.

“A monkey?”

The monkey chuckled at Sora.

It had sharp, jagged teeth, with its mouth stained with blood.

It was also holding a knife, clearly not an ordinary monkey. …This must be the ‘chaser’ of this game.

Although Sora wasn’t a frequent horror game player, she knew a few things.

Usually, the player was in the position of running away, with ghosts or monsters chasing after them to instill fear.

The monkey, which had been mocking her, soon disappeared somewhere, and the elevator doors opened.

“Am I supposed to ride this…?”

“Did you think you wouldn’t?” Laura teased from the side. Sora sighed.

There didn’t seem to be any other options. Like many horror games, while the map design gave an illusion of freedom, it was actually linear.

With no other path available, Sora got into the elevator.

The elevator descended underground.

A vast space opened up.

“I’ll explain the game briefly. If you look to the left, you’ll see a map of the building.”

Sure enough, a map of the hotel appeared on the bottom left corner.

On the map, countless purple dots were scattered.

“The purple dots are ‘gems filled with the souls of the dead.’ The protagonist’s mission is to collect all of them.”

“…Is that monkey going to chase me?”

“You’re asking something incredibly obvious.”

“This is basically Pac-Man, isn’t it?”

As she said, Darkness Deception was often referred to as a 3D version of Pac-Man.

“That’s why it’s a simple game. It doesn’t require much understanding.”

All she had to do was avoid the monkeys and collect all the gems on the map.

The controls were straightforward, just WASD and a dash key. Even Sora found the game simple.

‘Is she being considerate because I’m bad at games…?’

Now that she thought about it, despite Laura’s arrogant demeanor, she seemed to be showing some kindness. Like when she didn’t stream while building a beacon, saying it would divide her viewers, or when she caught the Wither Skeleton herself….

‘Well, there’s no such thing as a real villainous noblewoman. It’s all just a VTuber role-play.’

With that thought, Sora sprinted forward.

She ran through the dimly lit hotel corridors under malfunctioning lights.

The hallways were incredibly narrow, just wide enough for one person to pass through.

There were strange paintings on the walls and guest room doors lined up on both sides.

She tried to enter one of the rooms, but it was locked. It seemed she couldn’t go into the guest rooms and would have to collect gems while wandering the corridors.

Everywhere she went, there were large gems scattered about.

A beeping sound rang out each time she approached a gem, and the number of gems in the lower-left corner changed in real-time. There seemed to be about 300 gems in total.

‘…That’s a lot.’

She had to collect all 300 gems to clear the game. But the map was ridiculously large. What kind of hotel was this?

As she picked up the gems and moved forward, she began to hear noises in the distance.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Snicker.

Hehe, heheheehe.

Hehehee, heheheehe.

Footsteps.

And the sound of a beast laughing.

“What… What’s that….”

Sora’s voice trembled with fear at the eerie sound.

Where was it coming from?

Where was the sound coming from?

Thud, thud, thud, thud.

The footsteps continued without stopping.

It seemed like something was chasing her from right behind.

“Huh.”

Realizing this, Sora swallowed hard.

For a moment, she was tempted to look back, but of course, she didn’t. Instead, she ran forward, trying to shake off whatever was pursuing her.

As she ran, the sound of footsteps behind her gradually grew distant.

Then, she began to hear footsteps from her left.

Hehehe, hehehehee.

Hehehe, heheheehe.

“What is that….”

She thought she’d shaken it off, but the laughter didn’t stop.

Was it still behind her?

Or had it circled around to the left?

Or maybe both?

“Wait… Wasn’t there only supposed to be one chasing me?!”

Suddenly realizing something, Sora shouted.

She didn’t have the luxury to read the chat.

But she barely managed to glance at her fellow VTuber sitting next to her.

And with a question directed at her, Laura gracefully set down her teacup,

“I never said that, did I?”

Laura smiled mischievously.

This,

This woman….

“Oh, by the way, there are three monkeys.”

What…?

And at that moment, a monkey appeared directly in front of her.

Its mouth smeared with blood.

A knife in hand, it came rushing toward her.

Hehehehehehe.

Heheehehehehehe.

Heehehehehehehehehahaha!

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

***

===

【Virtual VTuber Gallery】

[Stream] LauraSora) So loud, lol (Hyperlink)

Her scream is so loud, lol.

[Comments]

– Probably because she sings, her voice is insanely loud, lol.

– I’ve found my new favorite scream spot, right here.

– Sora should play horror games forever.

– Why didn’t she play horror games before, lol.

===

[Stream] “Why didn’t I play horror games?”

(Sora meme)

If I play horror games, everyone will want me to be the Queen of the 6th Gen, right?

[Comments]

– That joke is so outdated…

– Her voice

ㄴ Don’t raise your voice.

ㄴ lolololololol

– Why doesn’t she go home if she’s so talented?

ㄴ Nah, I don’t like subscribers. I just want to have freedom with Laura.

ㄴ You’re gonna get in trouble for that.

===

“I did it, I beat it!”

Sora unknowingly shouted.

It might have been rude to shout in someone else’s house, but Sora didn’t care.

Fortunately, Laura didn’t seem to mind either, casually sipping yet another cup of tea.

“I really beat it, right? I did, right?!”

-Clap!

-Sora wins! Sora wins! Sora wins! Sora wins! Sora wins! Sora wins!

-Nice!

-Did you really win?

-Congrats, congrats, congrats, congrats, congrats.

-Yayyyyyyyyyyy!

【User ArarararagiSora has donated 50,000 won.】

【Congrats on clearing it!】

“Thank you, everyone…. I know this is Laura’s channel, but thanks for the donations anyway!”

Sora was grateful for everything.

The wind (from the air conditioner) brushing against her cheek. The sunlight (from the window) pouring down from the sky.

(Though she was indoors) everything in nature seemed to exist for this moment, and Sora realized how sacred life was.

Her heart raced.

Proof that she was alive.

Looking around, Sora’s lifelong friend (to be) was warmly greeting her, and Sora realized the truth that she was not alone.

Humans are meant to live together.

Although small from the universe’s perspective, together, they could bring about a revolution in the solar system.

Was the world always this beautiful?

No, it had always been beautiful, but she had just been too insignificant to realize it.

Feeling as if she had been reborn, Sora spoke with gratitude.

“I thought it was just a simple game, but once I played it, it was really scary. At first, I resented Laura for making me play it, but now I think it was a really good game. It was fun! I get why people play horror games now.”

“Did you enjoy it?”

“Yeah!”

At Laura’s question, Sora nodded enthusiastically.

Throughout the game, Laura didn’t allow her to press the ‘continue’ button. “Start from the checkpoint. If you press ‘continue,’ you won’t get an S-rank,” she had said.

So every time Sora lost all her lives, she had to restart from the beginning, collecting all 300 gems again. At those times, the world felt cursed. Was life really just pain?

But if she had pressed ‘continue,’ she wouldn’t have felt the joy she did now.

Apparently, pressing ‘continue’ meant you didn’t have to recollect the gems. It was a feature designed to help beginners, and while Sora was clearly a beginner, she couldn’t enjoy that mercy.

But after so many tries, she finally beat the game, so none of it mattered anymore.

It was summer.

“Now, let’s start the next stage.”

…Excuse me?

“…Wasn’t that the end?”

“What are you talking about? In the current version, Darkness Deception has a total of eight stages unlocked.”

With that, Laura casually reached out and pressed the W key to advance the game.

Before Sora’s eyes was the entrance to the second stage.

“Go on.”

Laura said.

The world felt cold.