Chapter 83: To my beloved brothers

Prompted by the viewers urging, Spring and Winter quickly finished the intro, immediately put on their VR headsets, and headed into virtual reality.

After a silence that felt like holding one’s breath.

What unfolded before the two’s eyes was a hospital lobby filled with cold, gloomy air.

Dusty floor tiles were blurred and cracked.

The cracked ceiling looked as if covered in cobwebs.

Dimly flickering fluorescent lights cast ominous shadows in the corridor.

The infrequent rattling sounds set their nerves on edge.

“Huuu… W-why is this so realistic…?”

Spring looked around, her voice almost tearful.

It was a level of realism completely different from ordinary VR games like VR Chat.

A vivid feeling, as if they had been dragged into a hospital in another dimension, enveloped their bodies.

Fortunately, the method of controlling the avatar was via controller, not walking with their own legs, allowing them to barely recognize this wasn’t reality.

“Right… Feels like something could pop out any second.”

Winter’s voice also trembled slightly, perhaps due to nervousness.

She tried hard to maintain composure, but couldn’t help her breathing becoming slightly faster.

[-Even I’m scared watching LOL]

[-Spring is already on the verge of tears? LOLOLOL]

Just then, a faint sound was heard from the right side of the lobby where Spring and Winter stood.

Tok, tok-

At the sound, like dripping water, Spring instinctively grabbed Winter’s arm.

“U-unnie… did you hear that? J-just now, a strange sound…”

“…Yeah. I heard it too.”

Winter unknowingly furrowed her brow.

‘How can someone who hears sounds this well not hear a single footstep properly in an FPS game?’

‘If she had concentrated even half this much, she could have gotten 1 kill in Battle Survival,’ the nasty thought almost came out, but she deliberately didn’t voice it.

Regardless, right now, they were comrades who had to escape this hospital together.

‘Still, playing a horror game with Spring is much better.’

With Spring screaming beside her, Winter could conversely maintain her composure.

Her younger peer, who performed at -2 capacity in Battle Survival, is fulfilling the role of a supporter here, providing a courage buff.

“For now… I’ll take the lead.”

As the coward Spring stood frozen, legs trembling, the slightly less cowardly Winter maintained a composed expression with effort and took a step forward.

The creaking sound of the door, the sound of stepping on broken glass followed her steps.

At the end of the corridor where the fluorescent lights were completely out.

A faint shape seemed to move in the darkness.

Spring, hiding tightly behind Winter’s back with only her head peeking out, flinched.

“Th-the shadow… didn’t it move?!”

“Must have been the fluorescent light flickering…”

Winter spoke in a firm voice, but a slight tremor was present in her tone.

An uneasy feeling that something would appear if they looked away even for a second pressed down on the two.

Just then, with a sudden kung- sound, a hospital room door slammed shut violently.

Spring let out a short scream and hugged Winter tightly, and Winter too hiccuped, hik.

“Hwaaaang… If I knew this would happen, I should have just suggested any famous horror game… Then I could have at least prepared beforehand…!”

“…It’s okay, Bom. Let’s just go slowly. We have to find a way out anyway, right?”

At Winter’s words, Spring calmed her trembling breath and nodded.

Holding each other’s hands tightly, they carefully stepped deeper into the darkness-covered hospital.

Behind the two,

[Finally… found you.]

[Our… cute youngest.]

Eheheheh-

An ominous laughter echoed faintly.

[-Nunna! Behind you! Behind youuuu!!]

[-My… I’m scared…]

[-Wow, sh*t what is that?]

[-Crazy, scared it’ll appear in my dreams]

[-Run quickly!!]

[-Why does it feel like we’re the ones getting punished, not Spring and Winter…?]

Whether fortunately or unfortunately.

Spring and Winter, tense as they were, saw neither the chat window nor the something behind them.

---

Following the bloody footprints, Spring and Winter headed towards a hospital room.

Kkiiik-

As Winter turned the handle, the rusted metal door opened with an unpleasant noise.

The chilly air seeping through the crack in the door made the two feel like their breath stopped.

“U-unnie… Do we really have to go in here…?”

Spring’s hand trembled.

No, not just her hand, her whole body was shaking.

“The footprints pointed here. Let’s quickly go in, find whatever clues there are, and get out.”

Winter spat out the words coldly, pretending to be unfazed, but her lips trembled just the same.

Kkiik- Kung!

As soon as the two stepped into the room, the door slammed shut violently.

“Hwaaaaak-! The door! The doooor!”

“W-why are you like that just because the door closed? Maybe the wind blew hard…”

Winter trailed off.

Wind… had it blown?

If the wind was strong enough to slam the door.

Shouldn’t she have at least heard the sound…?!

Feeling creeped out, Winter slowly looked around.

Simultaneously, faint moonlight streamed in through the window gap.

Only then did the scenery of the hospital room come clearly into view.

The bed was overturned, and the IV stand was rusted and tilted.

The mold on the wallpaper seemed alive, writhing and emitting cold smoke.

Above all.

The bloodstains scattered on the floor tiles.

Were eerie enough to be indistinguishable from reality.

Seemingly trivial details piled up and up.

Creating a single world.

“Is… Is this really a game?”

Winter’s voice trembled slightly.

The chat window reacted similarly.

[-Summer wasn’t overly immersed for no reason]

[-Who dimension-hopped Spring and Winter…?]

[-The detail is seriously insane fr…]

[-Meanwhile Spring’s reaction is delicious LOL]

[-The important thing is they still haven’t encountered a ghost LOL]

“U-unnie… There’s something written over there…!”

Just then, Spring pointed towards one wall with a trembling finger.

Under the eerie moonlight, crooked letters were clearly visible.

[To leave this room, you must find ‘it’.]

“Wh-what is it? More importantly, this room… is locked?!”

“For now… let’s search the surroundings.”

Next to the bed, one particularly intact drawer stands out.

It wasn’t hard to guess that ‘it’ would be in there.

“Bom, try opening that drawer.”

“…Me?”

Winter silently averted her gaze.

Honestly… it’s too scary…!!

Ultimately, Spring, tasked because she was the younger one, approached the drawer, trembling.

“Don’t leave me behind. Okay…?”

Spring squeezed her eyes shut.

The moment she pulled the handle.

“Kyaaaaak!!”

“Sh*t!!!”

-(Comment detected by Cleanbot for inappropriate expression.)

-Mommy

-(Comment detected by Cleanbot for inappropriate expression.)

-(Comment detected by Cleanbot for inappropriate expression.)

-Sorry I was wrong sorry I was wrong sorry I was wrong

-ㄴihahruneomeoㅠㅠㅠㅠ (gibberish crying)

The streamer and viewers became one, spewing curses and screams.

---

“Hwaaang… N-now stop… I wanna leave…!”

“CrazyF*ckAnnoyingDieDieXLike…”

After Jina’s first surprise ended.

Spring collapsed on the floor, sobbing heavily, while Winter, clutching a long key tightly, freestyle rapped with curses.

Swinging the key around wildly as if it were some dagger, it was natural she was exhausted.

It’s sudden, but this game is an ordinary(?) escape room game. There isn’t a single action element involving beating enemies.

And a key is a tool to pick a lock, not meant to be used as a weapon.

“Q-quickly, let’s move… We can’t stay here forever…”

Still, Winter was the first to regain her senses.

Winter spoke in a calm voice, as if she hadn’t just lost her mind.

“N-next time, unnie opens the drawer… Okay?”

“…Alright, now get up quickly.”

The key the two found didn’t open the door leading out of the hospital room.

Instead, it opened the door leading to a room further inside.

Kkiiik-

Through the heavily opening door gap, hazy fog seeped out.

There surely wasn’t a function to lower the temperature.

But somehow, the chill enveloping their bodies seemed to deepen.

“Hwaaa… Th-this room looks like something even stranger will pop out…”

While Spring whimpered, Winter scanned the surroundings, nerves on edge.

As Spring said, the second room exuded a much gloomier atmosphere than the previous one.

As if the difficulty had been raised another level.

Under the flickering fluorescent light, one old wheelchair stood out particularly.

The worn fabric draped over the rusted frame.

Created the illusion that someone was sitting there.

“Maybe the zombie we saw earlier stands up from there…?”

“…Hey, no way.”

The two held their breath, giving the wheelchair a wide berth as they explored the room.

While carefully looking around the room, a cabinet with its door slightly ajar and creaking caught their eye.

“As expected… There must be something in there?”

“Th-this time, unnie opens it, right?!”

“…I said okay.”

Just at the moment Winter carefully reached out and pulled the door slightly.

Tuduk!

“Hiiik! Unnie!!”

“Shippaaa!!”

The two jumped back simultaneously without needing to coordinate.

What fell to the floor with screams was a small notebook that looked like an old diary.

“What… It was just a notebook.”

Winter let out a sigh of relief and picked up the notebook.

Faded letters were faintly written on the worn cover.

[To my beloved younger siblings.]

[Never, ever look back.]

“…What? Don’t look back?”

At that moment.

Kkigiiik-

From one side of the room, the ominous sound of metal scraping echoed.

It definitely said not to look back.

But turning her head back unknowingly was unavoidable.