Thirteen Hours of Torment
"Hmm... nothing to do."
It wasn't as though I had turned the stream on for any grand purpose — I'd simply had a question worth asking. But shutting it off now felt like a poor way to repay the viewers who had come running even at this odd, in-between hour.
And besides, I would have a difficult time soothing the flood of complaints that would come crashing in during the next broadcast.
"Therefore, I shall take recommendations for content."
"The Abyss is a recommendation I shall decline."
Five hours, was it. Truly a long time to contend with a single foe. Fortunately, I had lost all track of time, and so it had not felt nearly so long — small mercies. Even so, it was only natural to grow weary of the same thing, and better to give it some distance before playing again.
"The Abyss may not require a full month, but I believe it deserves a more leisurely pace."
"I thank you for saying so."
Seductive, was it? All I had done was offer a faint smile — and I was called seductive! And I am a man, no less. What manner of man earns the word "seductive" from a woman! This was a feeling I had continued to experience, but adapting to this place's notions would prove impossible. It strayed far too greatly from my own common sense.
"From now on, strange remarks shall earn a ban."
I had the distinct feeling I had spoken in vain.
"Have you no other content to recommend? Even something unfamiliar would be acceptable."
If anyone recommended something like Puzzle & Academy from before — something that poisoned my eyes — I would repay that person in kind, though I trusted no one here would stoop to such a thing.
"A horror game, you say... Come to think of it, was the Abyss not itself a horror game?"
"Hmm. A horror game, you say."
Ah — that game where she had been chased about in such a clamor. That had been a horror game? Daredevil Night, was it called? Then it would be best to ask Aso about it.
"Let us contact Aso."
"Ah, Teach! Save me, please!"
The moment the voice connected, Aso was already shrieking and wailing for rescue.
"Hold — calm yourself. What has happened?"
"A single round...! I can't win a single round!!"
"What kind of nonsense is that?"
"Sob — damn you survival-freak bastards!!"
Survival freaks? Unable to win a single round?
"Explain it to me calmly."
"W-well, there's this horror game called Daredevil Night, right? It's basically tag?"
"Yes. And why does that horror game matter?"
"So I was streaming, and I sort of... accidentally declared I'd become a never-ending-stream marathon king?!"
"I... see."
"But I can't win a single round! Why! Why are the standards so strict for me of all people!!"
It seemed wise to cut the voice connection for a moment.
"Aso has lost her reason. Whoever among you is confident in explaining the situation, come forward."
Thanks to the clean, thorough explanation of the self-proclaimed explainer — a viewer going by Speedwagon — the situation became clear to me.
"So in other words, Aso has been streaming since one o'clock in the small hours of the morning — for over twelve hours in total now. Is that the shape of it?"
"Hah... I see. Toyed with, no less."
Pitiful, I had thought — but I hadn't imagined it was this dire. I had believed the girl had grown a touch sharper of late, but it seemed that had been but a fleeting dream.
"And yet from what I saw, she was clearly the one fleeing for her life. She screamed with remarkable gusto, I recall."
Yes — I could roughly picture what manner of spectacle she had made of herself.
"No doubt she ran about like a bull, maddened with fury."
"So — does a recording of it still exist?"
"It's still live, you say...!"
Then all those messages that had come flying in that morning had been Aso's own desperate flailing to survive? And yet at lunchtime she had seemed perfectly fine... What on earth kind of battle had she been waging since?
"Let us go rescue our disciple-thing."
I first reconnected the voice call with Aso.
"Teach?! You came back!"
For some reason, I had the feeling I was hearing something like "I believed in you, Seojun-chan!!" Ah — no, that isn't right.
"Yes, well — you wailed so piteously for help, how could I turn away?"
"Teach...!"
"Yes. So what exactly is the problem?"
"Hmm... For now, send me the invite."
Daredevil Night had already been downloading back when I contacted Aso before, so the installation had long since completed.
"Teach! I missed you!"
"Somehow it appears you have regressed into infancy."
Well, for all her words, her body lay sprawled across the floor, utterly drained of strength.
"And yet you intend to simply lie there, when I have come all this way?"
"Ah! One moment... ughhh..."
The sounds she made as she dragged herself upright recalled nothing so much as one of those concept-acting old codgers from some quiet mountain hollow back in Murim. She had clearly suffered greatly.
"Very well. What is it you need me to do?"
"Uh... that's a good question, actually?"
Speak, girl! Don't just stand there blankly staring at nothing!
"Hah... Are you not living far too thoughtlessly?"
"It's just — when I asked you for help, I figured you'd somehow, somehow manage something!"
Your faith is excessive. Somehow, she says. Hmm... well, come to think of it, there may indeed be a way.
"There is one method."
This way, no training would be accomplished whatsoever — but at this rate the girl really would catch her death. Better to get her laid out on a bed, and quickly.
"Really?!"
The sight of Aso rushing toward me, eyes gleaming, put me in mind of a starving cat pouncing on its meal. Honestly...
"From this moment onward, you are a marionette."
"A marionette, sir?"
"Yes. You will become a being who lives and dies by my word."
"Hnnngh~..."
Hnnngh, my foot. What am I to do with this halfwit...
"My head aches."
"So what do I do?!"
At least her enthusiasm was overflowing. That much was a mercy.
"Tell me — how many seconds of delay does your broadcast run?"
"Oh, the delay's about three seconds? Something like that."
"That much is manageable. You will watch my broadcast and act according to the instructions I give you. Ah — during the tag matches, that is."
"So... you're going to use a broadcast with a three-second delay to grant me precognition and carry me to victory?"
"Honestly, even if it's Teach..."
Even for me, is it? The viewers may say such things, but you, girl, shall not.
"And what will you do if I prove you wrong?"
"Oh come on! I didn't mean I don't believe!"
"Enough. Begin at once. And choose a killer who has a grab."
When I had looked through the game's introduction, there had certainly been a murderer equipped with a grab. With that grab at work, surely even Aso could manage to dispose of a survivor or two.
"Ah, yes sir!"
Daredevil Night. Leaning back on the sofa in Aso's waiting room and watching her broadcast, I could see her huddled up in that same room on my screen.
"Can you hear my voice clearly?"
"Yep! Voice check — all clear!"
So she had her wits about her after all. That was perhaps a good thing...
"For now, keep doing what you were doing. I don't know this game well myself — I'm a newcomer to it, after all."
"A glow-in-the-dark dinosaur, of all things."
Truthfully, it was rather entertaining. But wait — Aso had said she needed to dispose of every survivor, had she not?
"Hold — what are you doing?"
As I understood the game's systems, her objective was clearly to prevent the lighthouse's light from being lit...
"Kyaaaaah!"
Is she going to screech like that spider did?