Chapter 1. Netorase Tavern Opening (1)
Chapter 1. Netorase Tavern Opening (1)
Clatter-! Thump-!
"Hey, Boss! Bring two more cheap ales over here to Table 3!"
"Why the hell is this rat meat snack so tough?!"
Beyond my headphones, the noisy hubbub of a bustling tavern resonated in full 3D sound.
Sound effects that brought to mind the sizzle of greasy meat burning, along with the creak of wooden chairs and heavy oak barrels thumping together.
"If you don't like it, get out! Show me a place cheaper than our tavern's booze if you can!"
"Gwahaha! Look at the temper on this one!"
A scene straight out of a typical medieval fantasy third-rate tavern unfolded. NPCs gathered under warm, bright lighting, chugging down booze.
Heroines naturally entertaining the customers, and even a group of silk-clad nobles lining up an excuse to start trouble in a corner of the tavern.
If an uninformed outsider saw this, it would just look like an ordinary tavern management game.
"Ngh!"
One of the heroines—Cecil, the Saint—let out a short moan.
One of the mercenaries was groping Cecil's butt.
In an ordinary game, you would have to stop the customer, but...
This game is a Netorase game.
Instead, you watch Cecil in that state.
[Cecil's excitement level rises.]
[Due to the Excitement state, the rate of increase is accelerated.]
"Is it starting now?"
Sinking deep into my chair, I rubbed my tired, stiff eyes and chuckled dryly.
"Three years..."
Every single day is the exact same.
Well, like any unemployed bum, I get up around noon, eat, play games, browse online forums to see what's happening in the world, and if there's nothing else to do, fire up an eroge and jerk off.
Doing this for three years, anyone would get sick of it, but I wasn't bored at all.
Hmm.
When did it become like this...?
Was it back when I told Omma I was studying English to keep receiving allowance money, but my textbook stayed stuck on Day 5?
Or was it when I took money claiming to study for civil service exams, only to say "I'll start tomorrow" while booting up an eroge first?
Either way was fine. Soaking in dopamine, jerking off every day and going to sleep—if this isn't happiness, what is? Rather than working hard and getting stressed out, I'd rather live like this.
Living like that, my sexual fetishes became rather peculiar too.
Netorase.
A subgenre of netorare, often abbreviated as NTS.
This crazy act of handing your girlfriend over to another man latched onto my fetish like crazy.
At first, I thought it was completely retarded too, but maybe my tastes got twisted from jerking off every day to female leads corrupting in eroge and manga.
Among them, the eroge I play, , is the game of my life.
A pixel art management game infamous among veterans for its overwhelming difficulty, absurdly detailed tavern management system, and stimulating 19+ scenes.
The player becomes the tavern owner in a ruined border domain, forced to pay off debt and expand the tavern.
And the core system in that process is the Netorase entertainment system.
True to a Netorase game, it's a system where you offer up the heroines to serve powerful figures, villainous customers, or even faceless mob NPCs visiting the tavern to rake in crazy amounts of money.
And right now, in front of my eyes, a pop-up window for the final heroine's last H-event—the grand finale of this game—was displayed.
Crash-!
Sure enough, on the screen, a young imperial noble dressed in silk kicked a tavern table, shattering a glass.
"Hey, you over there! Forget this trashy booze and bring out that sacred Saint from the Holy Vatican! Isn't pouring drinks for us nobles the true service of whores?! Kahaha!"
['Arrogant Group of Nobles' causes a ruckus in the tavern and damages property.]
[Tavern reputation decreases.]
"Here it comes."
With a flash- sound effect, system windows popped up one after another.
[H-Event: Group of Nobles and the Saint]
[The arrogant group of nobles demands entertainment from Saint Cecil.]
[Send Saint Cecil to the noble-exclusive VIP room for entertainment?]
[ Yes (Y) / No (N) ]
Without hesitation, I clicked [Yes]. A red system warning then flared up in the center of the screen.
[Warning! Currently, Saint Cecil is a Maiden.]
[Gold acquisition from this service increases by 500%.]
[First Experience Partner - Nameless Arrogant Group of Nobles will be permanently assigned.]
[Are you sure you want to provide entertainment?]
[ Yes (Y) / No (N) ]
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say I had waited solely for this moment.
It was the final H-event of Netora-Juju, and a hot event where a maiden is offered to nameless nobles.
[Checking unlock conditions for the Final H-Event.]
[1. Saint Cecil's NTS Corruption stat 80 or higher [Current: 88 (Achieved)]
[2. Affection stat with the protagonist (Tavern Owner) 90 or higher [Current: 95 (Achieved)]
[3. Cecil must be a Maiden (Achieved)]
[All conditions have been perfectly fulfilled. CG and secret viewing scenes unlocked!]
"Kyah, as expected, affection is key."
Since her affection towards me reached a whopping 95, Cecil believes this is secret business to pay off the tavern's debt and help me.
Considering that hitting just 70 makes a heroine willing to give up her liver and gallbladder, 95 is a truly insane number.
"Then... I'll be back."
Cecil said bashfully, twisting her blonde hair that reached down to her hips.
"Yeah."
The moment Cecil approached the group, the nobles let out sickening sneers, as if they had been waiting for this.
"Getting to fuck a Saint, this is the best!"
The nobles surrounded Cecil, letting out greasy chuckles.
Through the speakers flowed the sultry moans of Saint Cecil in her torn, pure-white vestments, alongside the chuckles of the nobles delusionally believing they had broken the Saint.
Cecil's face flushed red with shame, and the framing of me munching popcorn behind a two-way mirror while beating off.
It was perfect. Once this scene passed, I would achieve the 100% all-clear achievement, putting an end to three years of grinding.
I quickly pulled down my pants and focused on the screen.
Just as the Saint's rough breathing flowed into my headphones and the screen was heating up—
Thump-! Thump-! Bam-!
"Hey! Kang Hyunsu! Open the door!"
"Hieek?!"
A terribly familiar voice echoed as if it were about to break down the front door.
Startled, I checked my cell phone lying on the desk; 15 unread texts and 4 missed calls were recorded over silent vibrate mode.
It was my mistake for turning off notifications while playing eroge so I wouldn't be interrupted!
[Yoo Ahrin]: Hey, sleeping? (5 min ago)
[Yoo Ahrin]: I bought tteokbokki, open the door (2 min ago)
[Yoo Ahrin]: If you don't open up, I'm typing in the door code and coming in (30 sec ago)
"W-Wait! Don't enter the code...!"
Beep-beep-beep-beep— Chime.
Before my scream even finished, the front door unlocked with a click. My childhood friend living next door, Yoo Ahrin, walked in haughtily while holding a plastic bag of tteokbokki.
"What on earth are you doing at home not answering your phone... Uuuuh?"
Yoo Ahrin's gaze went straight in order: my face, my rock-hard dick, and the 27-inch large monitor screen.
Of all things, on the screen was Cecil in her torn vestments, panting heavily while getting 5p-ed by the nobles.
And watching it from behind a two-way mirror was being grandly displayed in ultra-high-definition pixel CG.
From the speakers, the Saint's breathless voice blared loudly.
"N-No... Master is watching...!"
"......"
"......"
Silence. Yoo Ahrin twitched her lips as if to say something, her eyes trembling violently.
"Y-Y-Y-You... You were watching this perverted game at home in broad daylight?!"
"N-No! Ahrin! It's not like that...!"
I slammed Alt-Tab at the speed of light and brazenly wracked my brain. Where would three years of rotten veteran expertise go?
"It's just a normal pub management game."
I naturally wiped off my sweat and made an excuse.
Well, it wasn't wrong. Aside from the Netorase parts, it really was a management game.
"I saw that Saint doing it with f-five guys just now!"
Ahrin shrieked, but when I maintained a straight face without even blinking an eye, she let out a flabbergasted sigh.
"Well, I'll respect your taste..."
Covering her red face, Yoo Ahrin tossed the tteokbokki onto the desk and turned around to leave.
"You're... gonna eat the tteokbokki, right?"
Yoo Ahrin's voice echoed like a whisper from outside the room door.
"Yeah."
Whew, managed to gloss over it somehow. Relief washing over me, I turned the monitor back on.
However.
Zzzzzzt-
Suddenly, the monitor screen began to glitch grotesquely. The Saint in the middle of her orgy vanished without a trace, and purple system text appeared over a pitch-black background.
[Achieved 100% H-scene collection in !]
[Custom Mode has been activated.]
[Please select 3 starting traits.]
"Huh...? What's this?"
Baffled, I naturally scanned the trait list floating on the screen. Of course, duds filled the list too. The [Small Dick] trait or [Weakling] trait were prime examples.
Scrolling down, I found the traits I had used in my previous playthroughs. All of them were tier-1 traits I considered to have the most insane performance while playing the game.
[Pimp (EX)]: Secret tavern operations are activated. You will be able to have heroines provide entertainment.
[Netorase (S)]: If you watch an H-scene without direct sexual contact, you acquire Netorase Points or Gold. Unlocks the Netorase Shop.
[Alchemy (A)]: Acquire additional alcoholic beverage recipes.
"These three are the most OP traits, though."
These three traits had the best synergy.
You could prevent the affection drop of heroines forced into entertainment using the Netorase trait, or arouse them with the Alchemy trait to easily set up Netorase scenarios.
The moment I picked the three traits, a blinding, intense purple light burst out from the monitor.
[Trait selection complete.]
[Transferring player's soul to Moonlight Lake Pub in the Barsha Domain.]
"Woah, woah? Wait a minute?!"
My vision spun round and round, and I was sucked into the monitor.
Creak- Creak-
How much time had passed? The moment I opened my eyes, a terrible smell of mold and damp oak barrels pierced the tip of my nose.
A creaky wooden bed. The sound of water dripping from the ceiling. And a brilliant translucent system window floating before my eyes.
[Main Quest - 'Loan Repayment' begins.]
Debt Amount: 3,000,000 Elne
Remaining Time: 3 days (72 hours)
Creditor: Golden Spider Guild Branch Manager 'Barco'
When I came to my senses—
"Crazy..."
I was standing right in the middle of a third-rate, debt-ridden tavern inside the game.