I Quit Being an Idol and Became a Youtuber - Chapter 27

“Still, thankfully, this area seems clean.”

Was it a blessing in disguise?

Unlike the common horror game cliché, nothing particular happened inside the dark tunnel.

There were no startling noises, nor were there any bloodstains scattered around.

It was at that moment, as Cheongha was somewhat relaxing and proceeding with the game.

Tang-!

The moment she passed through the tunnel and entered a bright area, a bullet flew from behind her.

「There she is! It’s her!!」

「…Damn it!」

Perhaps the fact that she had killed someone earlier had spread, as a group of survivors began chasing her.

As she dodged the incoming bullets, a mission appeared on the screen.

[Mission: Avoid the survivors and find the hidden path to the communication facility]

“…..While dodging bullets?”

There was no time to question the mission details.

Even as she hesitated, they were still chasing her.

“Still, it doesn’t hurt much.”

A few bullets hit her body, but her health barely decreased.

[-That’s ’cause it’s Easy difficulty…]

[-Nightmare difficulty is the real deal]

[-With movement like that, you’d be torn apart instantly on Hard]

[-Wanna try it?]

“……Would I?”

If she was like this on Easy difficulty, how could she possibly manage Hard?

More importantly, didn’t a higher difficulty mean an increased chance of encountering and dying to the Alien?!

Depending on the case, the creatures’ appearances might even become more hideous.

Dodging the survivors’ attacks with moderate movement, she moved into the corridor.

“Oh, an interaction.”

Creak-!

Inside the dimly lit corridor, she opened a metal door that was flickering alone, indicating interaction was possible, and went inside.

“First, let’s loot this place.”

Wondering if there was anything useful, Cheongha instinctively started searching the room.

It was a survival instinct honed from Battle Field and Cretaceous Carnage, those two FPS games.

[-Instinctive robbery, for real]

[-Fr, survival-based robbery]

As Cheongha was rummaging through the desk, a red tape came into her hand.

On the outside of the tape, it was written:

[Evolution Flight Recorder]

‘The Evolution, if I remember correctly……’

It had been mentioned fleetingly in the game’s opening cutscene.

‘It was definitely the name of the spaceship the protagonist’s mother boarded for her exploration mission.’

In short, it meant the protagonist essentially came here to find this.

As her thoughts reached that point, Cheongha quickly connected the tape to the nearby device.

[No data present]

“Ah, damn it.”

However, dashing her hopes of escaping now that she had achieved her goal, the internal records of the tape were already gone.

「Damn it—!」

Her only hope of finding her mother had vanished, but Amanda wasn’t given any time to grieve.

Outside, forces were still prowling, eyeing her hungrily.

Crackle-

At that moment, with the sound of sparking electricity, the lights in the records room began to flicker.

「……What’s this?」

“……What is it?”

Rattle-!

Amidst the smoke seeping from the ventilation shaft, something black was faintly moving within it.

Skreeeeeeeeeeek—!

Inside the completely sealed records room, where no living creature could enter or exit. An ear-splitting roar echoed.

「Ugh……!」

It was a sound she had never heard before in her life.

A sound no animal on Earth could make stimulated her eardrums to the point of bursting.

Her body, her head, her mind.

The instinct imprinted on her soul, transcending reason, was screaming frantically at her.

That thing is a predator, you have to run.

‘But, where to?’

Unfortunately, however, this was a sealed room.

The only exit was blocked by that monster.

Slither-

Something long descended from above the desk where she hid.

A tail.

A tail resembling a sharp chain was dragging on the ground like a reptile’s.

「Kieek-!」

Crash—!

Perhaps thankfully, it hadn’t found her, as the Pale Note smashed a few surrounding objects and then moved away towards the exit.

「Did it go this way?」

「Looks like it, let’s try opening it.」

.
.
.

「Aaargh! Wh-What is that!!」

「N-No, don’t!!! I said don’t… Ack!!!」

Soon, the sounds of people screaming stopped.

“……”

At the massacre that unfolded in an instant, Cheongha’s mouth hung open silently.

Who was it that said it wouldn’t be scary if you only heard the sounds? She wanted to grab that person by the collar right now.

This world was overflowing with things that could frighten people to death with sound alone.

〔Mission: Exit the archives and head to the communication facility〕

“—Are you crazy?”

It wasn’t like the missions had ever been particularly reasonable, but this time she wanted to protest more than ever.

You just saw that alien thing leave. What do you mean, go out?

How many people would head down a path knowing a murderer just passed through?

At least, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

“Everyone, I don’t want to go.”

[-Nope, can’t do that, hurry up and go lol]

[-What happens if you just stay here]

[-Won’t it come back if you don’t leave?]

[-Gotta progress the game lol]

Ah, right, that wouldn’t work.

No matter how scary the Pale Notes were, getting caught and eaten while doing nothing here was out of the question.

Eventually, after agonizing for a while, Cheongha opened the door to the archive room.

“Ugh……”

Human blood and gruesome fragments, horrifying just to look at, were scattered everywhere.

Hidden in the darkness, the extremely graphic parts weren’t visible, but at the same time, it stimulated unnecessary imagination.

「Huh? What’s this…?」

As she cautiously passed through the corridor, a red interaction prompt appeared on the screen.

The subject was none other than a corpse smeared with blood.

“……Now I have to search corpses too?”

She had looted many corpses in Battle Field, but those were just bags generated in place of the bodies.

Since it wasn’t a horror game to begin with, there wasn’t such elaborate corpse presentation either.

Cheongha squeezed her eyes shut and pressed the E key.

Squish-

「Ugh, disgusting.」

With the repulsive sound of rummaging through something sticky, Amanda succeeded in retrieving a device from the corpse’s possession.

〔Motion Tracker Acquired〕

[Autosaving. Progress will be saved.]

“……Wait a minute, why is it saving?”

Was the word ‘save’ always this creepy?

Cheongha freaked out at the sentence that appeared before her eyes.

That’s how intense the pressure of the word ‘autosave’ was in a horror game.

It was practically synonymous with meaning you’d die soon and have to restart the game.

Creak-

“……?!”

Every time a sound occurred in the darkened corridor, Cheongha nervously looked around.

Perhaps thanks to the Alien that had been roaming around earlier, there wasn’t a single survivor who would normally have attacked her immediately.

It was the moment Amanda entered a wide-open area.

Beep-Beep- Beebeep—!

The motion tracker held in her hand began to beep loudly.

「What is this……」

As Amanda became wary of the unusual reaction and scanned her surroundings.

Crash-Thump-!

「Kireeeek—!」

An Alien dropped from the vent above and roared at Amanda.

[Mission: Run, if you want to live]

“…..Huh?”

Her mind briefly blanked at the unusually blunt mission description, but the instinct for survival faithfully performed its function.

Hearing the Pale Note’s roar from behind, Cheongha instinctively started running.

Cheongha ran quickly and swiftly hid herself in a cabinet.

It was an action based on the calculation that she would be caught if she tried to outrun it.

‘Please just go away.’

Cheongha prayed desperately.

She absolutely did not want to get caught.

Crunch-!

But permission was not granted.

The Alien, ripping open the cabinet entrance by force, grabbed her with its sharp hand.

「Kireeeek—!!」

「Ah, f*ck.」

Another mouth, nested within its mouth, shot towards her head.

‘……’

Usually, when ghosts or monsters burst in during horror games, people scream.

And those reactions provide a thrill for the viewers.

People flock more when streamers turn on horror games specifically to see those unique reactions, different from the usual.

Moreover, Cheongha was currently the subject of all sorts of buzz.

‘How will that chic-looking avatar and cool voice break down?’

The viewers stared at the screen in anticipation.

What kind of reaction would come from that wide-open mouth?

But unfortunately, the reaction they expected didn’t come.

Instead, Ren’s reaction was a bit more direct.

“Ah.”

At the sight of the suddenly appearing Pale Note, her avatar’s mouth fell open, and her pupils dilated.

At that moment, the memory of the Labyrinth of Fear, which she thought had been erased, began to resurface.

‘That’s right, back then—.’

A pitch-black night sky, a full moon set against that sky.

She wasn’t sure if it was an auditory hallucination due to fear, but the faint hooting of owls could be heard nearby.

And—

‘S-Sister……? Sister?! Get a hold of yourself—?!?!’

Hina screaming, holding onto her collapsed self.

Not even five minutes after entering the Labyrinth of Fear, I had fainted.

And not because of a ghost, but upon seeing a staff member who was trying to guide the way.

Of course, she still had no memory of what happened afterward.

She only vaguely remembered the legend that Sion, hearing Hina’s scream, rushed over like lightning, picked her up, and cleared the labyrinth in just 10 minutes.

‘Should have remembered earlier.’

‘If I had known that, I wouldn’t have accepted that mission.’

With that final thought, her vision blurred.

Thud-

With the sound of a chair falling backward, Ren lost consciousness and collapsed onto the floor.