The Heavenly Demon Plays a Horror Game (1)
The chat window floating beside Enry scrolled upward at blinding speed. So that was the chat. Looked like there were a lot of people watching. The flood of text would have frozen the brains of most ordinary folks, but Enry remained perfectly calm amid the chaos. She must have been through this many times. A seasoned streamer, then.
She had been chatting away with her viewers about this and that when she shot me a quick glance and continued speaking.
Judging by the way Enry was pretending to be upset, the answer to that question was clearly yes. What strange people. They enjoyed hearing others scream? It was a taste I simply could not relate to.
“Anyway! As you all know, I’m a massive scaredy-cat, right? I figured I’d pass out if I tried a VR horror game alone, so I invited a special guest!”
When I stepped up beside her at her gesture, Enry grabbed both my shoulders and announced in a bright tone,
“Hello.”
When I greeted them in slightly awkward Korean, the chat window sped up even more. My eyes caught every single line, but the content was so varied that it was hard to respond. The messages at the top and bottom often said completely opposite things, so I had no idea which rhythm to follow. How on earth did she communicate while watching this? I felt a sprout of respect for Enry growing inside me.
“Hey now, chat. Stop talking nonsense. My friend is a clean person who knows nothing about streaming or the internet.”
Watching Enry bicker back and forth with her viewers, I didn’t dare try to butt in. To begin with, I could barely understand what they were even talking about.
After yelling for quite a while, Enry suddenly slumped as if exhausted, then took a deep breath and returned to her usual self. Being a streamer really wasn’t easy.
“Fox, just don’t look at the chat window. I’ll relay anything important to you.”
“Okay. I will.”
Honestly, I had no confidence in talking with them anyway. I had given speeches in front of large crowds before, but I had never communicated with so many people at once. Ten or so at most, perhaps. And even then, only after I had seized control of the atmosphere. This freewheeling vibe was completely different.
“Alright then! Let’s staaaaart the horror game!”
Enry manipulated the window floating in the air, and the room’s scenery vanished, replaced by darkness all around us. Soon, eerie music began to play, and text appeared before our eyes.
“Kyaaak!”
The ear-piercing scream made me frown. It hadn’t come from the game. When I looked over, Enry had her face buried in her hands, cheeks flushed red. She must have been terrified. To scream just because text appeared…
“Can you actually play this?”
“…I’m not scared!”
At the very least, she should have controlled her trembling pupils if she wanted to be convincing. When I silently scolded her with my eyes, Enry, apparently wanting to show off her confidence, strode forward and selected Start. Or rather, she tried to.
Her finger hovered right above the Start button and refused to move.
“I thought you said you weren’t scared?”
“Actually… I think I am scared. Can we go back?”
Her attitude changed as fast as swapping out a mask. It was both funny and pitiful how she had thrown all her pride away, but I couldn’t agree with her.
“I’m fine with it, but what about your viewers?”
Thousands of people were waiting in anticipation. Try running away now and see what happens. Even though I knew nothing about streaming, I understood that earning the wrath of thousands was no small matter. The saying “there is no paradise in escape” fit Enry’s current situation perfectly.
Since it seemed she lacked the courage to do it herself, I reached out and pressed Start for her.
“Fox! Why did you press it?!”
“We have to do it eventually, don’t we?”
“I was mentally preparing myself!”
“I didn’t think of that.”
I was sorry, but if I had left her alone, it looked like her mental preparation would have taken at least an hour.
Riiiiing—
“Hiek.”
The moment the text disappeared, a phone call came in. Enry, startled by the sound, fell backward. At this rate, if she had come to play alone, she wouldn’t have even been able to start the game.
When I answered, a static-filled, rough male voice burst out.
Factory? I turned my eyes toward the crumbling, ominous building in front of us. High up on the structure were worn, faded letters that looked like they could fall at any moment.
So that was the factory.
“We’re right in front.”
“So we have to go in there, right?”
“Yeees. The game takes place inside.”
Even as she said that, Enry was slowly backing away. Her desire to run away was practically radiating off her.
“Let’s go.”
“Wait! Can’t we wait just a little longer?”
I ignored her and grabbed her arm, pulling her along. What “little longer”? There was no such thing.
The inside of the building was in better shape than I expected. Looking at the exterior, I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was a complete ruin, yet the building’s basic structure was still intact.
“Why are the lights on inside?”
Enry clutched my arm tightly as she looked around, never lowering her guard.
“Electricity must still be running.”
“But the guy on the phone said there’s no one here. So why would the lights be on…”
THUD!
“Hieeeek!”
At the sound of something falling, Enry let out another scream. At this rate her throat wasn’t going to last. I wondered if her voice would be hoarse when I saw her tomorrow.
“That came from inside that room.”
“Then we should check somewhere else first.”
“Let’s go.”
“Fox? You’re listening to me, right? You are listening, aren’t you?”
I was listening. But that didn’t mean I had to follow what she said. I hated feeling stifled. The place where the sound had come from looked like it used to be an office. The few chairs were all knocked over, and the ceiling light, probably old, kept flickering on and off.
Inside, a single box was rolling across the floor. So that was the sound we heard. Had it fallen by chance? Or had someone dropped it on purpose? Either way, we clearly needed to check it.
“Fox. Do we really have to check? Can’t we just not go?”
“I’ll go alone.”
“No! What if something suddenly appears behind you?!”
What did she want me to do, then? Stay trapped in this building forever? I practically dragged Enry inside with me. She kept muttering complaints behind me, but I deliberately ignored her. Sigh. When she had been teaching me Korean, there was no one more reliable. Why was she acting like such a child now?
Inside the box was a single sheet of paper. The writing was in a language I couldn’t read, but it was smeared with thick, red blood, so the atmosphere came through clearly.
“Enry. What does this say?”
“It says… ‘Friend. Let’s play.’”
BOOM!
“Kyaaaaaaaak!”
A loud crash echoed. It had come from the entrance we had just come through. Enry really had a wide variety of screams. Thanks to that, even though I had heard it several times already, it was still hard to get used to. If I had been the one who made this game, I would have definitely tuned in to Enry’s stream. There probably wasn’t anyone else who fell for the developer’s intentions so perfectly.
When we left the room and headed for the entrance, we saw a single teddy bear standing beyond the glass door. The doll was dressed in the formal attire of a gentleman.
“What the hell is thaaaaat!”
“It’s a doll. Cute.”
“How is that cute?!”
Wasn’t it? It looked so fluffy, and its eyes were sparkling. I thought having one at home wouldn’t be bad at all. The doll deliberately raised its cane and hooked it onto the door. Then it waved at us in a friendly manner before disappearing into the darkness.
“Are we… trapped here?”
“Looks like it.”
I tested it by kicking the door with all my strength, but only my leg stung while the door remained perfectly intact. Hmm. This thing couldn’t be broken. It felt like it had been designed that way from the start.
When I turned to tell her that, I found Enry sitting collapsed on the floor.
“Why are you sitting like that?”
“If you’re going to do something, at least tell me first!”
“Sorry.”
Seeing Enry looking like she was about to cry, I offered an apology for now.
Where on earth did Enry find a person like this?
The person Enry brought, the so-called Fox, had nerves of steel to an abnormal degree. For the entire two hours they played Paris Toy Factory—a masterpiece of VR horror games and a certified fainting machine—she didn’t scream once. She didn’t even look startled. It made me wonder if she was even human.
Even right now, it was the same. At the exact moment when concentration should have been at its peak while solving a puzzle, a clown doll popped out. Yet Fox simply flicked the clown doll on the forehead and told it to mess around in moderation. Meanwhile, Enry, who had been standing beside her, was so shocked that she had burst into tears.
The sight of Enry sobbing pitifully and Fox calmly pondering how to solve the puzzle made me question whether they were even playing the same game.
Before recommending horror games to Enry, I had played it lightly myself, so I could confidently say that Enry’s reaction was completely normal. Fox was clearly missing something important.
Still, thank goodness she was there. At least the game was progressing.
If Enry had played Paris Toy Factory—or Pa-Gong as the fans called it—alone, she would have paced around near the entrance for an hour before fainting, ending the game at less than ten percent completion.
Honestly, being scared is only fun when you make some progress while doing it. Just standing in the same spot stomping your feet the whole time is just frustrating.
In that sense, Fox was exactly the person Enry needed. Enry, who gave the viewers the terrified reactions they wanted, and Fox, who handled actually progressing through the game. The two of them made a perfect pair.
“Still, it would be fun to see Fox get scared at least once.”
That person with nerves of steel probably wouldn’t be scared by ordinary things, but the final chase sequence with the gentleman bear… maybe that could actually frighten her.
“Hgyaaaaak!”
At Enry’s latest scream, Sky frowned. When editing later, he would have to lower Enry’s volume for the viewers’ eardrums’ sake.