The Heavenly Demon Plays a Penalty Game (1)
The penalty game, huh? Got anything good?
“Don’t worry about that! The viewers will start recommending them from now on!”
Enri explained that the penalty game roulette worked like this: you put a wheel up on stream and let the audience suggest punishments through donations. The more money a particular game received, the bigger its slice of the wheel became. If viewers really wanted to force a specific punishment, they had to pay up.
“Come on, everyone. Think about it. You get to make Hwaryeong play whatever game you want. How often does an opportunity like this come around?”
When Enri started working her silver tongue on the audience, people gradually began to agree. She was smooth. Enri really looked like someone who had been through this exact situation dozens of times before.
I had only been watching quietly from the back, but the moment she finished speaking, the viewers and Enri had already come to an agreement to spin the penalty roulette.
“Hwaryeong, you’re good with this too, right?”
“Sure.”
I had no idea what game might come up, but since I’d lost my temper because of my own mistake, I had to take responsibility.
“No matter what game comes out, you’ll definitely do it?”
“...What kind of game are we talking about that you need to make me swear like this?”
A bad feeling crawled across my shoulders. Just what did she think was going to appear?
Enri was the person I had interacted with the longest since falling into this world. She had to know that if I ever stepped back, I was the type to charge forward and crush everything in my path instead.
“Aww, it’s just a formality. The viewers are spending their own money to assign penalties, so we need to get the promise on record first, right?”
“Be honest. What exactly is waiting for me behind this?”
She was acting this way because she had already pictured what kind of suffering I was about to fall into. Since I only ever played the games I was used to, I didn’t know much about other titles. At best, when Enri occasionally played something different I would think, Oh, so there are games like that too. Guessing was impossible. This felt like stamping my seal on a completely blank document.
My instincts were screaming at me not to nod.
Watching the same people who had been flaming my chat earlier suddenly flip their attitude to persuade me only made me more uneasy. What exactly were these guys plotting?
If it was a life-threatening situation, an insurmountable enemy, or some grotesque monstrosity, that would be fine. I had confidence I could handle anything like that. But if it was anything else… Hmm.
“Fine. I understand. As long as it’s within reason, I’ll do it.”
It should be okay. There might be a slight dent to my dignity, but the people watching this stream never looked up to me in the first place.
The moment I nodded, Enri’s voice shot up with excitement, and the chat exploded.
“Should I make the roulette myself?”
“No need. I’ll handle everything. Can you accept the screen-share request?”
“I just need to accept the message floating in front of me?”
“Yes!”
When I tapped the message, Enri’s screen appeared before my eyes. She was standing in front of the roulette wheel wearing an office-style suit, smiling brightly.
“Alright, everyone! We’re now beginning the very first Hwaryeong Penalty Game Roulette~!”
“Baba Is You! No matter how you look at it, this feels more like a penalty for the viewers than for Hwaryeong! Ten thousand won received! Any other games?!”
“Hold on. When a game appears, explain what it is first.”
It wouldn’t do for them to just laugh and move on among themselves. I was the one who had to carry out the penalty, after all. I had no interest in blankly watching from the sidelines and then doing whatever they told me without knowing anything.
“That’s fair. Hwaryeong should know so she can mentally prepare.”
Enri nodded, paused the donations using my stream permissions, and began explaining the game called Baba Is You. Simply put, it was a puzzle game. It apparently tested how creative and skilled at puzzle-solving the player was.
“I’m warning you in advance, it’s brutally difficult. I tried it once to farm some clips for my channel but got so frustrated I rage-quit after three hours.”
“That’s just because you lack patience.”
“You think you’ll be any different?! I guarantee you’ll be seriously considering whether to punch the wall before an hour’s even up!”
What was wrong with that? They say when the body is weak the head suffers, but I had trained my body to the absolute limit. Why should I have to use my head?
“Otome prince! Wow, this is a masterpiece. I had a lot of fun with it back then.”
“What is this now?”
I wasn’t sure if my sensibilities were off, but the title was certainly unique. It gave off the feeling of something I absolutely did not want to touch.
“It’s an otome game. A dating simulation with handsome boys! You go to an academy full of nobles, flirt with all the pretty boys, date them, overcome hardships together, and finally reach the fruits of love! Tears stream down your face at the end, you know?”
“So you’re telling me to act cute toward men?”
What a horrifying suggestion. I was hardly at the age to giggle at falling leaves, and after experiencing every hardship the world had to offer I had become a hardened old monster. Yet they wanted me to whisper sweet nothings to men in a game? I would lose my mind.
My frown must have been amusing, because both Enri and the viewers were laughing their heads off. Damn them all.
“Hwaryeong. No matter how much you hate it, you still have to do it if it lands, okay?”
“You predicted this?”
“Of course! How many times do you think I’ve spun this roulette?”
So she had suggested this knowing full well that humiliation was coming my way. Enri. You’d better lock your door carefully when you sleep from now on. Of course, no matter how desperately you lock it, it would be meaningless, but at least it might bring you some peace of mind.
Whether Enri flinched at my laughter filled with resentment or not, the flood of donations from viewers continued without pause.
“Whistleblower! It’s one of the masterpieces of VR horror games. But would Hwaryeong actually get scared? She’d probably just beat up everything that chases her and keep going.”
Things like the horror game I seemed to have played with Enri long ago. A VR version of the jar game we played when I visited her house. Someone who wanted to watch me climb the ranks in Apis. A guy whose message was blatantly soaked in human malice. Countless other games poured in through the viewers’ donations.
Were there really this many games in this world? It made me realize just how narrow my own perspective had been.
The silver lining was that nothing as bizarre as that dating sim from earlier had appeared again. This wasn’t so bad. There were plenty of escape routes. With decent luck, I could survive this.
“Magical girl? Ugh. My head… My head hurts. Strange memories are flooding back.”
What was it? Just what kind of game was this that made them all explode with laughter?
From their reactions alone, I could tell it was something horrible that must never be allowed to land.
“Hmm. Hwaryeong, you know what magical girls are, right?”
“Roughly.”
They were fictional characters who wore frilly outfits, acted cute, and fought evil forces, correct? MyTube had recommended a strange video once, so I had seen it. It was far from my taste.
“It’s exactly like that. You have to wear clothes covered in frills, spit out embarrassing lines, and defeat various monsters.”
Just hearing the description didn’t give me any clear picture. Come to think of it, Enri had said there was a video of her playing it. Maybe I should watch it.
“Hwaryeong?! What are you doing right now?!”
The moment I opened MyTube and searched “Enri Magical Girl,” Enri had a complete meltdown. She screamed at me to stop immediately. That if I went any further she would take it as a declaration of war. She shouted so loudly my ears rang, but she couldn’t stop me.
What could she possibly do by yelling from the other side of the screen? The harder she struggled, the more my curiosity grew.
What I saw at the end was—
‘Magical Lyrical Enrittang! With the power of magic and justice, I won’t forgive you!☆’
It was a scene of game-Enri with a bright red face, spitting out cartoonish lines. Since Enri’s appearance was quite attractive, I thought it actually suited her reasonably well. But from Enri’s own perspective, it clearly wasn’t the case at all.
“I told you not to look!”
“Sorry. But aren’t you curious?”
People naturally want to see something more when they’re told not to. She should have understood human psychology better.
“Besides, it’s not bad at all. Is there any reason to be embarrassed?”
“Gyaaaaaack! So that’s how you’re spinning it?!”
No. I had genuinely meant it as a compliment, so why was she getting angry?
While I stood there flustered, Enri moved her finger across the screen.
“This is all your fault, Hwaryeong! I wasn’t going to go this far!!”
Cat-ear maid? Now what the hell was this?