"What should I have for dinner...?"

Inside the virtual reality world, in a small space allocated solely for Dice.

Her golden hair spread out across the mattress as she lay there, even though her schedule for the day was nearly over, she showed no signs of leaving the virtual realm. Usually, it was because of the advantage of time dilation, which ran three times faster in VR, but...

Today, it was simply because she felt too lazy.

Maybe I should just sleep here, she thought as she absentmindedly checked the various notification windows that popped up in response to her thoughts. As usual, her inbox was filled with useless messages. An alarm showing tomorrow's wake-up time. The real-world time. Boxes containing notes of the day's important tasks...

It was just past 9 PM. As she lay on the mattress, sleep began to creep in, but she knew if she dozed off now, she'd risk waking up at midnight—leaving her wide awake with a full seven hours until her scheduled wake-up time. A disaster waiting to happen.

Not having had dinner yet was also a problem.

Before she sank too deeply into the bed, she quickly moved her hands to decide what to eat. It was getting late, so high-calorie foods like pizza or fried chicken were out. Late-night snacks were also off the table.

As she sifted through the various food options that appeared in front of her, one of the recommended items caught her eye—a steak.

She picked the highest-rated restaurant from the automatically generated list and placed an order, noting the estimated delivery time. In VR, it would take about two hours; in reality, it would be around 40 minutes.

So, what should I do until then?

She had already reviewed today’s lecture, finished her practice for the upcoming qualifying rank matches, and completed her last scrim hours ago.

To top it off, she was feeling mentally overloaded. She really didn’t want to shoot any more guns today. Even people who love gaming can only play mindlessly for so long before they get tired—especially if they’ve spent all that time intensely focused.

In some ways, this was the dark side of being a professional gamer. Sure, lifting a championship trophy under the bright lights of a glitzy studio was something to celebrate, but the road to that moment was a thorny one.

It was, in many ways, a difficult profession.

As she pondered the struggles of being a pro gamer, her thoughts wandered in a different direction.

She glanced at the notification window next to the close-up message. Beside the "99+" unread messages was a separate alert space for important notifications, where a lone "1" was displayed. It seemed like it had been there for a while.

When she clicked on it, the content was less significant than she had expected.

-[Notification: Streamer 'Eugene' has started broadcasting.]

"Oh, right. She mentioned she streams too."

Had I forgotten that? Maybe it was more accurate to say I only knew of it. It's like when someone mentions their profession, but you don't really absorb any details about what it entails.

In short, while I had seen some of her gameplay clips, I had never watched her stream live.

Suddenly, I was curious.

This iron-willed woman... Could she really be playing Dark Zone again after finishing the grueling schedules of the last three days? It seemed possible.

Since I didn't have anything else to do, Dice clicked on the notification. But the tricky login window that automatically popped up was enough to make her feel a twinge of frustration.

"Damn, what was my password again...?"

She wasn’t particularly close to Tricky, the streaming platform.

She had connections with pro gamers and broadcasters of similar skill levels, but Dice was one of those people who kept her real-life information locked away in a vault.

Of course, the paradoxical situation of becoming immensely popular due to the lack of information about herself had occurred because she excelled in AP soloing despite her anonymity.

In short, she was someone who had gained a following by maintaining a relatively mysterious presence—she rarely streamed, didn’t show up in informal gatherings, and kept her distance.

Anyway, I’m saying all this to justify the simple fact that she had forgotten her password.

After struggling for a moment, she finally logged into Tricky.

Just like before, the site was filled with notifications and messages waiting to be read, but Dice ignored them and typed "Eugene" into the search bar.

The name Eugene wasn’t particularly unique—it was actually quite common—but among the streamers sorted by popularity, there was only one who had over four thousand viewers and was using a snake-shaped avatar.

But the game she was playing...

"...This looks weird."

Unfortunately, she had already entered the stream before she could fully process that thought.

-[Great! Shall we start the date? Let’s begin with the ritual to awaken the abyss.]

Cough.

Her eyes were filled with the sight of... a bizarre image that looked like a mix between a woman and something halfway between a squid and an octopus, emphasizing feminine features. She couldn’t help but clear her throat.

And then...

<(SSMentertainment)DICE has donated 10,000 KRW.>
-Eugene, why are you playing this...?

"Eugene, thank you for the 10,000 KRW donation, Dice... There were many requests for this game. I appreciate your understanding… or not, that's fine too."

-?????????????
-Dice?????????????
-This is too funny, lol.
-Please stop! Stop it now! Please stop! Stop it now!
-Is it really her?
-You’ll like it if you keep watching, lol.

...What the heck?

Why is she here?

Crack!

Glass shattered, her hand was covered in blood, and an unearthly red light streamed in through the window. A statue in the room wept blood, while a mass of tentacles crawled through the window.

The rapidly changing environment was filled with Lovecraftian imagery, enough to make the chat go wild with horror. I began to understand why this game had a third installment with multiple endings.

The quality was unnecessarily high.

-[Don’t take the fact that reality is ending too seriously, darling. Just think of it as waking up from a dream. Once you wake up, the entire world within the dream ends in a single night. It’s just similar.]
-[It couldn’t be helped. It’s the inevitable result of your choices. You’ll miss all of this someday, of course, you will.]
-[Pucker up, darling. You deserve it.]

Smooch.

"Ugh..."

-Aaaaaaaaagh!
-Please stop! Please stop! Please stop! Please stop! Please stop!
-I’m losing it.
-Stop the madness! Stop the madness! Stop the madness! Stop the madness!
-Dorupee has donated 1,000 KRW.
-Just bring the sauce, dammit.

"Eugene, thank you for the 1,000 KRW donation, Dorupee… I think I’ll avoid seafood for tomorrow’s meal. Ugh..."

-[Dice: Why are you playing this!!!]
-[Eugene: It wasn’t my choice....]

It was chaos, absolute chaos.

A sea of despair and lamentation, a handful of intrigued fans, and a vast majority of confused viewers... if you could sum it all up as madness, then perhaps the things surrounding me now were waves of madness. In a way, it suited the game quite well.

As the shock and horror of one route came to an end, a very kind notification popped up in the upper-right corner, announcing that the Cthulhu route had been fully unlocked.

With a sense of dread, I cautiously asked:

"This… there aren’t any hidden endings, right?"

-Why wouldn’t there be?
-Why would you think there wouldn’t be? Lol.
-If there isn’t one, you should make one, lol.
-Forget hidden endings, give us the Eugene ending.
-The tail-twirling ending...

...Not the tail talk again.

Why can’t my viewers be satisfied with the myriad of avatars that populate this vast virtual reality, not just in Dark Zone? Not to mention the slightly risqué fan art that’s already overflowing on the forums.

I had a feeling that leaving it unchecked might lead to some troubling situations, or maybe not... Anyway, that wasn’t the point.

As the second chapter began, the protagonist, after being chased by some mysterious figures, returned home only to find a strange yellow woman who had entered the house.

If I searched my memory...

"At least she looks somewhat normal. I suddenly feel like I can breathe easier…"

-[Now, you shall call me Your Majesty. And you should prepare a fitting tone of respect, right?]
-[Yes, Your Majesty. As you command.]

She’s the King in Yellow.

The one who pops up whenever her name is called.

As the story progressed, it became clear that she had a bit of a clumsy side. And just when I thought her appearance was okay, she ruined it by donning a golden mask, transforming the scene into a masquerade ball.

Both the chat and Dice seemed to share my reaction.

Meanwhile,

-[Eugene: You could’ve just asked in the chat. Was there a reason to send a private message?]
-[Dice: Uh… just because?]

Hmm.

Well, I guess there’s a reason for it.

Anyway, perhaps due to the various hardships in the first chapter, the content of this chapter didn’t feel as overwhelming. Of course, the main heroine from the previous chapter, who was half-god and half-octopus, reappeared, bringing everything back to square one.

But aside from that...

-[Dice: Do you know how the qualifying rank matches will proceed?]
-[Eugene: Roughly?]
-[Dice: Then I guess I don’t need to explain it separately.]
-[Eugene: You sound like you want to explain it though....]
-[Dice: Ah.]
-[Dice: Haha;;]

She must’ve been really bored.

Even in the midst of this stream featuring a Cthulhu-themed dating sim that seems about ten years too advanced for human comprehension, she’s still so casual about it—that’s impressive in its own way.

As always, I just voiced my personal thoughts without holding back.

"That… Ryieta? Lynieta? She has quite the body... They really emphasized the waistline and legs. Although, I’m still wondering why they felt the need to do that."

-LOL
-She’s smooth because she’s a cephalopod, lol.
-Please stop, my taste is being altered.
-The protagonist is the craziest one, lol.
-Stop teasing the viewers, please.

<Poluniel has donated 1,000 KRW.>
-The person who recommended this game should be tied up.

"Poluniel, thank you for the donation. But since I started this game thanks to everyone’s enthusiastic requests, I’ll keep playing. I can already hear the cheers of encouragement."

-What did you just say?????
-When did we switch sides? This isn’t the ending we wanted??
-Is this the skill of an AP soloing participant? Is this the skill of an AP soloing participant? Is this the skill of an AP soloing participant?
-Professor Eugene, your manipulation of public opinion is top-notch, damn it.
-Is this another burden we’ll have to carry, lol?

As always,

My stream was sailing smoothly.

It was the end of August, just one day before the qualifying rank matches.