The Villainess VTuber Rips People Apart-Chapter 57: The world is beautiful

Sora was walking through a creepy hotel.

To be more accurate, the character Sora was controlling was walking through the hotel. It was a first-person perspective, so the exact appearance of the character wasn’t clear.

Glancing away from the monitor, Sora noticed Laura sitting next to her, leisurely sipping on tea.

‘...Isn’t she drinking too much tea?’

She recalled hearing that tea contains just as much caffeine as coffee.

Sora started to feel a bit concerned. Excessive caffeine intake couldn’t be good for her, right?

But then again, worrying about Laura’s health might be overstepping. It would feel too personal to meddle like that.

On the other hand, wasn't Laura a colleague? If both of them stayed in the VTuber industry without retiring, they’d see each other for a long time, right? As a friend, it seemed reasonable to care about her friend’s health.

‘...But am I in any position to worry about someone else?’

Sora snapped out of her thoughts.

She was currently playing a game at Laura’s house.

The game was called Darkness Deception.

"You should learn how to stay calm first. That’s why I prepared these games. Pick one."

"Then maybe something like Party Play Time or Teddy’s Pizzeria...?"

"Today’s game will be Darkness Deception."

"Wait, didn’t you tell me to pick one?"

"I did hear your choice. It was helpful."

Even though she was given a choice, the decision wasn’t really hers. What was even the point?

Sora was dumbfounded, but the world seemed to have already decided that she would be playing a horror game.

The viewers wanted it, Laura wanted it—there was no backing out. Being a streamer meant knowing when to put aside your personal preferences and perform for the audience.

So, Sora found herself playing Darkness Deception.

"This is seriously scary..."

The real game hadn’t even started yet, but Sora was already spooked.

The hotel was eerily quiet.

Not a single soul in sight. That fact alone heightened her sense of fear.

The emptier a place is, the more it feels like something could jump out at any moment.

Naturally, Sora’s steps became more cautious.

She moved slowly enough that some viewers might have found it a bit frustrating. As she reached the elevator, a monkey appeared in front of her.

"A monkey?"

The monkey looked at Sora and started laughing hysterically.

Its sharp teeth glistened, and its mouth was smeared with blood.

In one hand, it held a sharp knife, clearly not an ordinary monkey. It seemed that this monkey was the "chaser" of the game.

Sora hadn’t played many horror games, but she knew enough.

Typically, the player had to escape while ghosts or monsters "chased" them, creating the sense of fear.

After the laughing monkey disappeared somewhere, the elevator doors opened.

"Do I have to get in this?"

"What, were you planning not to?"

Laura’s teasing voice came from beside her. Sora sighed.

There didn’t seem to be any other options. Like most horror games, even though the map design seemed open, the structure was linear.

With no other choice, Sora stepped into the elevator.

The elevator descended to the basement.

A large space unfolded before her.

"I’ll give you a quick explanation of the game. Look to your left; you’ll see a map of the building."

As Laura said, a map of the hotel appeared in the bottom left corner.

Numerous purple dots were scattered across it.

"Those purple dots are 'soul shards' imbued with the spirits of the dead. The protagonist’s mission is to collect all of them."

"...And the monkey I saw earlier is going to chase me, right?"

"It’s pretty obvious, don’t you think?"

"This is basically Pac-Man, isn't it?"

As Sora pointed out, Darkness Deception was often described as a 3D version of Pac-Man.

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

The goal was straightforward—avoid the monkeys and collect all the shards on the map.

The controls were just WASD and a dash key. Even for Sora, it seemed like an easy game.

‘Maybe she’s being considerate because I’m not great at games?’

Now that she thought about it, despite Laura’s haughty demeanor, she had shown some unexpected consideration. She hadn’t streamed during the signal-making because she didn’t want to split their viewers, and she had even personally caught the Tri-Head Ghosts for her.

‘Come to think of it, there’s no such thing as a real villainous noblewoman. It’s all just a VTuber persona, right?’

Feeling a bit more reassured, Sora ran forward.

Under malfunctioning lights and down the hotel’s oddly dark hallways, she advanced.

The corridors were narrow, barely wide enough for one person.

Strange paintings hung on the walls, and there were doors to guest rooms along the way.

She tried entering one of the rooms, but the door was locked. It seemed she wouldn’t be able to enter the rooms and would have to roam the hallways, collecting the shards scattered around.

Everywhere she went, large purple shards were waiting to be collected.

As she approached them, a beeping sound played, and the shard count on the screen updated. It seemed there were a total of 300 shards.

‘...That’s a lot.’

Did she have to collect all 300 shards to clear the game? And this hotel was massive. What kind of hotel was this, anyway?

Still, as Sora collected shards and moved forward, she began to hear noises in the distance.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Heehee. Heeheeheehee.

Heek, heheek, heek, heheheheek.

Footsteps.

And the laughter of a beast.

"W-What is that..."

Sora’s voice trembled in fear at the eerie sounds.

Where?

Where was the noise coming from?

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freewebnσvel.cøm.

The footsteps kept echoing.

It seemed like something was chasing her from behind.

"H-hngh."

The moment Sora realized this, she gasped.

She had a sudden urge to look behind her, but of course, she didn’t. Instead, she ran forward, trying to shake off whatever was pursuing her.

The footsteps behind her gradually faded.

But then she heard footsteps from the left.

Heek, heheek, heek.

"What is this...?"

Even though she thought she had escaped, the laughter didn’t stop.

Was it still behind her?

Or had it gone to the left?

Or maybe it was coming from both directions?

"W-Wait a minute! Wasn’t only one monkey supposed to chase me!?"

Suddenly realizing something, Sora cried out.

She didn’t have time to read the viewer chat.

But she did have just enough presence of mind to glance at her colleague sitting beside her.

And the colleague, setting down her teacup with grace, responded,

"I never said that."

Laura smiled slyly.

That...

That sneaky little...

"Oh, and by the way, there are three monkeys."

What...?

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

Its mouth dripping with blood.

A knife raised, charging straight at her.

Heeheeheehee! Heehaaahahahaha!

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"

[Virtual EyeTuber Gallery]

[Live Chat] LauraSora) It’s so loud, lol.

(Hyperlink)

That scream is so loud, lol.

[Comments]

Her voice is so strong, probably from all the singing, lol.I’ve found my new favorite scream stream.Sora should play horror games forever.Why hasn’t she done horror games before, lol.[Live Chat] "Why haven’t I done horror games before?"

(Sora image)

Because if I play horror games, everyone will start calling me the queen of the 6th generation~

[Comments]

That’s such an outdated joke...Don’t raise your voice. ㄴ Don’t raise your voice!

ㄴ Lolololololol.

Why doesn’t she just go home if she’s so good? ㄴ Because I hate subscribers; I just want to have fun with Laura. ㄴ You’re going to get in trouble for that."I... I did it!"

Sora shouted without realizing it.

Maybe it was bad manners to yell in someone else’s home, but Sora didn’t care.

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

"I really beat it, right? I cleared it, didn’t I?!"

-Congrats! -Sora wins! Sora wins! Sora wins! Sora wins! -Nice! -Did she really beat it? -Congrats, congrats, congrats, congrats!

【Ararararagi Sora has donated 50,000 won.】 【Congratulations on clearing the game!】

"Thank you, everyone... This is Laura’s channel, but I’m grateful for the support!"

Sora was filled with gratitude.

The gentle breeze of the air conditioner, the sunlight streaming through the window—everything felt like it existed just for this moment. Sora felt that birth, life, and existence were all sacred.

Her heart raced.

It was proof that she was alive.

Looking around, her lifelong (or soon-to-be lifelong) friend was smiling warmly at her, and Sora realized she wasn’t alone in this world.

Humans are social beings.

In the grand scheme of the universe, humans may be tiny, but when they come together, they can achieve great things, even change the solar system.

The world was truly beautiful.

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

Feeling like she had been reborn, Sora spoke her mind.

"I thought it was a simple game, but it was scarier than I expected. At first, I resented you for making me play this, Laura, but now that it’s over, I think it was a really good game. It was fun! I can see why people play horror games now."

"Did you like it?"

"Yeah!"

In response to Laura’s question, Sora nodded enthusiastically.

Throughout the game, Laura hadn’t allowed her to use the "Continue" button. "Start from the checkpoint. If you use Continue, you won’t get an S rank," she had said.

So every time Sora lost all her lives, she had to go back to the very beginning, collecting all 300 shards from scratch. It had felt like a curse, like life itself was just endless suffering.

But if she had used the Continue button, she wouldn’t have felt the satisfaction she did now.

As it turns out, using Continue meant you didn’t have to collect the shards again. It was meant to be a kindness for beginners, and Sora was undoubtedly a beginner, but sometimes not being able to rely on welfare makes the reward all the sweeter.

After numerous tries, Sora finally conquered the game.

It was summer.

"Now, let’s start the next stage."

...Excuse me?

"...Wasn’t this supposed to be over now?"

"What are you talking about? In the current version, Darkness Deception has eight stages available."

As Laura spoke, she casually reached over and pressed the W key, continuing the game.

In front of them, the entrance to the second stage appeared.

"Go on."

Laura said.

The world felt cold.