Chapter 113

Two Heads are Better, a game created by the developer MONSTER, was a 2-player cooperative adventure game.

Therefore, even if the theme and concept of the first chapter was horror, it was clear that it would not be a proper horror game.

If a horror game was something that instilled fear in the players,

then setting the concept as horror could also just mean setting it in a plausible old castle without inserting a single element to startle them.

Would one feel fear just because the native English teacher and children dressed up in Halloween costumes and walked around during after-school English class at school?

Well, it would be scary if the teacher played a horror movie on the TV there, but that was strictly because of the horror movie.

Even if they had watched the movie in a normal house or room instead of a classroom decorated to look scary, they would have been equally scared.

Of course, that was the theoretical part, and considering the fact that the developer had directly asked previously if he was good at horror games, it was clear that horror game-like elements would exist.

Even so.

‘Pfft.’

Seo-jun barely held back the laughter that was about to burst out.

This was because, first of all, the viewers did not know that this concept was horror, so if he smiled and revealed the reason, it would be an act of spoiling it.

Secondly, it was just because…

“…….”

“What, why!”

even just staring at him like this could easily trigger a fit in Tae-woo.

“Why are you grinning like that!”

A guilty conscience needs no accuser.

Tae-woo got angry for no reason, and Seo-jun shook his head with a serene expression.

Tae-woo’s explaining shouldn’t be directed at Seo-jun right now, should it?

If he showed this kind of reaction, wouldn’t the viewers be even more curious?

Seo-jun’s gaze shifted to the left, toward Tae-woo’s chat window.

-Why is he doing that?

-Tae-woo, what are you shouting for! ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Is there some kind of lore with the rat?

-Did he forget to turn off the gas valve by any chance? ㄷㄷ

-It seems he found something!

Seo-jun stopped himself from bursting into laughter once again.

“Haha, no. I thought I had forgotten something, but after thinking it over carefully, it wasn’t the case.”

That seemed to be the wrong answer.

Who would believe it?

-It’s suspicious

-I think he really got surprised by the rat? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Was he a chicken heart?

-The rat is a bit big though

-For real, disgusting

-Yeah, yeah. Just proceed quickly.

“Yep! I’ll proceed quickly!”

Squeak!

Another rat appeared.

Indeed, the size was big enough to be disgusting.

Around the size of a coypu, slightly smaller than a small dog.

It seemed correct to assume that their bodies had shrunk a bit.

Tae-woo kicked the newly appeared rat for no reason.

Seo-jun said solemnly from behind.

“It seems I should report you for animal abuse.”

“That’s a piece of data, okay?”

“Then you are promoting violence—”

“Isn’t you normally going around beating people with a sword violence! Huh! You are the most violent bastard in this world!”

Tae-woo reacted more crankily than usual.

In contrast, Seo-jun, who was becoming increasingly relaxed, tried to recall the past.

‘Was he easily frightened?’

Looking back like that, he realized that surprisingly, he had never confirmed it.

Indeed.

‘If we had been elementary school classmates, I might have confirmed it.’

While attending elementary school, one goes to retreats a lot, and is bound to do courage training at least once.

However, from middle and high school, retreats change their name to field trips, and those programs mostly disappear.

And he had met Tae-woo in high school.

But it seemed he found out today.

“Hey. Don’t smile like that.”

“…….”

“I said don’t smile!”

“Okay, let’s go.”

Tae-woo looked at Seo-jun with an anxious expression, wondering what that crazy guy would do next, and Seo-jun scanned the surrounding terrain where they had climbed up.

“Is it still a secret passage?”

Seo-jun said, looking at the road like an dark tunnel ahead.

It was hard to view it as the inside of a building.

Seo-jun exercised the virtue of yielding.

“Go first.”

“Ah. Damn it…”

Tae-woo frowned.

The path ahead was dark like before, but not narrow. Rather, it was wide.

Not only could the two of them go, but five people could also enter in a line holding hands.

Despite that, the reason he insisted on telling him to go first?

‘That bad bastard.’

It was clear he had noticed.

Tae-woo secretly had no tolerance for horror.

To be exact, there had been no opportunity to test it.

The prevailing evaluation of the streamer who was his MCN president was that he was an evil streamer who constantly tried to feed horror games to the affiliated streamers.

However, he had not recommended horror games to Tae-woo, saying it would probably just be boring.

The reason?

‘He said that kids who smirk and are openly stupid like me unexpectedly have a solid core.’

The president had a preconception that he would be boring.

Tae-woo himself had thought so too.

Thus, he had lived without any particular reason to play horror games.

However, now that he entered the game and walked down the dark path like this, Tae-woo realized.

It was not his first time walking a dark path.

Given how many games he had played so far.

Only the difference between recognizing that there would be something scary and not doing so.

Exactly that difference had merely reduced his talkativeness, made him hesitate slightly, and made him feel slightly more startled than usual.

In other words, he was quite easily frightened.

Seo-jun grasped this at once.

“Sure, let’s go.”

Tae-woo led the way through the cave-like passage, trying to hide his emotions, and Seo-jun followed behind.

[That, the secret passage, wasn’t originally envisioned like this, was it?]

[Yeah. Why is it such a mess? As if it was left half-finished.]

As a cliff appeared, the characters conversed.

The secret passage, which had been slightly damaged from the start, was now in such a mess that they had to jump over it.

The length of the crack seemed to be easily over 5 meters.

Of course, the jumping power in the game was sufficient.

“Hup!”

Tae-woo could not jump properly due to tension and fell into the cliff.

“Pfft.”

“It was a mistake.”

Tae-woo, who revived, jumped properly and landed this time.

-He failed that easy thing ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Does our host die once too?

“I do it well.”

The next crack that came out was too far to reach with a normal jump.

Instead, there was a mark in a crevice above where a hook could be caught.

They just had to jump, throw the hook, and land on the opposite side using the rope.

It was indeed simple.

“You’ll do well this time, right?”

“Of course.”

Tae-woo rallied his resolve and tried to release the tension in his body.

Although it was a difficulty where one could hook the grappling hook without difficulty even if thrown roughly thanks to game correction.

Had he failed earlier when falling from the cliff because it was difficult?

‘I must not show it anymore.’

For now, Seo-jun did not reveal right away the fact that he was scared, and so Tae-woo decided to hide the fact that he was weak to horror as much as possible.

This was because the moment that fact was revealed, he could not even estimate how many requests for horror game co-op broadcasts would come.

Ultimately, the reason Seo-jun kept this a secret must be to request something using it, but that might actually end up costing less.

Tae-woo jumped first.

Whirrrr!

Clack!

The hook caught well, and Tae-woo landed on the opposite side using the rope just like that.

‘It worked!’

Tae-woo wore a broad smile from the immense sense of achievement.

Now the tension in his body was releasing.

Seo-jun also followed.

[Then it’s highly likely that the end of this secret passage isn’t the place you envisioned either!]

[Probably so.]

[Then don’t we have to go back?]

[Let’s go for now.]

Next, they had to cross to the opposite side by hooking grappling hooks twice in a row.

Tae-woo successfully pulled it off without mistakes this time too.

Gradually, confidence grew.

This was an action-adventure game, not a horror game.

Being scared was a needless worry!

“Oh, what is this?”

“It seems to be the last one.”

Something like a pirate’s steering wheel welcomed them, lying parallel to the ground.

The steering wheel was suspended from a rod connected to a slot in the ceiling above, and as he traced that slot with his eyes, the opposite side was visible.

“It seems similar to the zip-line-like bar from earlier.”

“Hook it here?”

“Yeah. You try first.”

“Why should I?”

“Are you scared?”

Scared?

Ha, really.

Tae-woo cleared his throat in disbelief.

“Fine! I’ll do it first! Since you are a coward!”

Seo-jun watched the progress, thinking he was a truly simple friend.

Tae-woo took a running start, jumped, and hooked his grappling hook onto one ring of the steering wheel.

Creak-creak.

The sound of gears turning was heard.

Tae-woo moved forward along the slot while rotating with the steering wheel as if riding a playground swing.

‘So that’s how it is.’

However, before long, the steering wheel stopped.

It seemed to lack the force to go further.

The steering wheel soon began to return to where it originally was, spinning in the opposite direction, and Tae-woo rotated accordingly.

“It came back?”

“It looks like the two of us have to do this together.”

“Indeed.”

“Then I’ll head back now, so let’s get ready to jump again.”

Tae-woo swung his body back and forth like riding a playground swing.

Since jumping directly from the state of hanging on the steering wheel wouldn’t reach where Seo-jun was standing, he was gathering momentum to leap.

Seo-jun simply suggested an easy method.

“Just drop.”

“Ha, why should I?”

“Are you scared?”

“No.”

Tae-woo let go of his hands.

And revived next to Seo-jun.

-The magic word, holy shit ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Tae-woo, at this point, just be scared

-Just being scared would probably be less pathetic ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Fortunately, Tae-woo, who was pondering what to do, did not see Seo-jun’s chat window.

He should tease him more.

“Probably, the steering wheel will go all the way without stopping only if the two of us hook on exact opposite sides, forming exactly 180 degrees.”

Seo-jun, who was thinking the same thing, said.

“Then I should jump later.”

The first person to jump could hook it anywhere, but the second person had to time it well.

The difficulty seemed to be quite high, and it was more comfortable for him to do such things.

“What are you saying, I’m not scared, okay?”

That’s not it.

“Your skill, dummy.”

“Aha!”

-No ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-What kind of pride is that ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Scared?

-But somehow it’s fascinating

Tae-woo ran and jumped.

The grappling hook caught on the steering wheel, and it began to spin at high speed.

Next, Seo-jun, who timed it, leaped into the air.

Clank.

The second grappling hook caught on the moving steering wheel, and the steering wheel, receiving force again, began to spin more vigorously.

With the center of gravity balanced, they reached the end and got off the steering wheel, and the steering wheel rotated in the opposite direction and returned.

-Oh

-Nice

-The ride looks fun!

“It’s fun.”

“Agreed.”

Seo-jun, who landed on the floor, went to the place with the green light.

There was a hole in the floor there.

Looking down the hole, a ventilation shaft that also had a hole in the middle was visible.

“Let’s go in.”

As they entered the ventilation shaft passage, a dreamy sound of a bell ringing was heard as if the tutorial had ended.

Was it horror from now on?

“The back is blocked.”

“It seems to be one-way.”

Seo-jun and Tae-woo walked straight ahead and discovered the green light again.

The place with the mark was the gap in the ventilation shaft where light leaked through.

As Seo-jun and Tae-woo looked down, the interior was visible through the gap.

Seo-jun said.

“There are so many toys, everyone.”

“It’s a bit bizarre.”

Various toys were displayed in their packages inside the room.

It did not seem like a display for customers.

Since they were just piled up in boxes so that only the contents could be checked, without display shelves.

As they confirmed this, the conversation between the characters began to be heard again.

[Huh? Isn’t this where the protagonist is?]

[Are you sure?]

[I drew and implemented it, so how could I not be sure? If you look at that wall, it’s Section B-2.]

[Really? Then why on earth is the protagonist not there?]

[What?]

[Look over there. It’s empty.]

“Where are they talking about?”

“Look closely.”

Just when the two of them were focusing and inspecting the interior,

Bang!

along with a roaring sound, something suddenly appeared right in front of them beyond the ventilation shaft.

Its identity was the head of a bizarrely shaped doll.

“Hmm. It should be the ceiling for that guy, but he clung to this.”

-Ugh, seriously

-Fucking scared me shit ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-I just screamed out loud ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-The host is calm even here

Seo-jun, too, was slightly surprised by the doll that suddenly popped out, of course.

Though it was only to that extent.

However, Tae-woo, who should have been noisier than anyone else, was silent.