episode_0111

[Save me—]

I thought as I looked at the message that had arrived while I was checking my equipment.

What could this mean?

I pondered for a moment, but soon couldn’t find an answer, and was just about to make a call. That’s when the third scenario option appeared to me.

The option suddenly appeared, and I didn’t even have time to be flustered.

[Third Option]

[Momiji, the protagonist of ‘Escaping Mi-chan’, has been abducted by the villain. You are given three options.]

[1. Rescue Momiji.]

[2. Abandon Momiji.]

[3. Rescue Momiji after she has experienced everything.]

[4. ???]

[*Warning: If you do not choose, an option will be randomly selected.]

These options appeared before my eyes.

Takuya showed a surprised expression at the options that suddenly appeared before his eyes.

No. There was absolutely no reason for this to appear right now, was there?

That’s why he was surprised, but it was only for a moment.

Takuya realized that something unusual was happening and began to read the third option carefully.

And then, shock. No, he was horrified.

“No. Fuck?!”

So much so that a curse word just slipped out of my mouth in Korean.

The game called ‘Escaping Mi-chan’ that the scenario mentioned was a game I knew very well.

No. It was a game I couldn’t help but know well.

Because of that, Takuya felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

‘No. I’m only remembering this now?! This important thing?!’

How could I forget ‘that game’?!

Takuya lamented his terrible memory and quickly thought of a solution.

First of all, it was clear that Momiji had been kidnapped.

If that’s the case, then it won’t be her home.

‘Then where is Momiji?’

Takuya racked his brain, but couldn’t find an answer.

After pacing around for a moment, Takuya suddenly remembered an item in his subspace pocket.

‘That’s right! The villain tracker!’

The villain tracker, that is.

Takuya quickly activated the tracker, and soon the villain’s location began to appear.

Takuya checked the properly working watch and quickly called Miyuki.

“Miyuki! Start the car right now! I’ll be right there! It’s urgent. Hurry!”

After giving Miyuki my unilateral notification, I shoved my outerwear and the equipment I was maintaining into my subspace pocket, then went down the stairs and started putting on my sneakers.

“Oh dear, Takuya, where are you going?”

“Ayaka’s mom, I’ll be back late today, or perhaps not at all.”

“Hey! Takuya, what are you suddenly talking about?!”

“I don’t have time. We’ll talk later.”

Saying that, I vaguely brushed off Ayaka’s mom’s and Yuka’s mom’s words, and quickly started running.

[The third scenario begins.]

[Third Scenario: Rescue Momiji from a monster beyond human comprehension!]

[*Warning: The villain has been strengthened by an unknown power. Be cautious.]

[You have decided to rescue Momiji, the protagonist of ‘Escaping Mi-chan’. To rescue Momiji, you must kill the kidnapper who abducted her. No. Beyond that, you need to re-establish her surrounding environment.]

[Rescue Progress: 0%]

[Despair Level: 50%]

[Scenario Progress: 40%]

[Overall Story Progress: 36%]

And at the same time, the scenario selection was also completed.

***

Although I haven’t really talked about it much, Erotic Villain is a circle with a very long history.

No. To be precise, if you include the period when Erotic Villain once disbanded, it was such a circle.

The reason the phrase “period of disbandment” is included was simple.

It’s because Erotic Villain underwent an almost complete disbandment procedure once in the middle.

Even considering that period was the very early 2000s, you might wonder why a circle called Erotic Villain still existed up until the 2050s, when I was playing.

Although I haven’t actually said it, there’s a certain game in Erotic Villain that has been erased from records.

No. To be precise, it’s the game of the 1st generation Erotic Villain.

What does ‘1st generation’ mean?

The circle called Erotic Villain was a circle divided into three generations among people.

To be precise, the people didn’t change much, but the leader who directed and created the games changed, and that’s why.

The 1st generation was Totoyuki Okumura, the 2nd was Sayuki Kojiro, and the 3rd was Hinami Rei.

And among these, Totoyuki Okumura, the leader of the 1st generation circle, created the Erotic Villain circle and was essentially the one who ended it.

If you just hear it like this, it might sound like he was just an incompetent circle leader, but in fact, he was a person who greatly contributed to making Erotic Villain a renowned game, and was actually the primary contributor to increasing Erotic Villain’s standing.

But such a person was involved in an incident that plunged Erotic Villain, including himself, into ruin in an instant.

No. To be precise, it was because of a certain game.

The name of that game was ‘Escaping Mi-chan’, a game with a very simple name.

The story of this game was as follows.

One day, a child commonly known as Mi-chan, who was struggling amidst bullying and her family’s indifference, was abducted and confined by a perverted pedophile.

And Mi-chan, who was confined, realized that the ropes binding her were loose, and simply broke the ropes and escaped the room. The game told the story of her escaping a rugged mountain and receiving rescue at a nearby police station.

This game called ‘Escaping Mi-chan’ was heavily influenced by a famous game at the time called ‘Blue Oni’, so it was a Tsukuru game that combined puzzle and maze formats.

Because of that, it was a game where if you got caught, a “game over” screen would appear along with an erotic scene.

In fact, in its early release, because it had the fun of puzzles and escaping, it had quite good reviews.

As time passed, those reviews completely changed.

To be precise, it was because of the game’s true ending.

In fact, the ending when you simply cleared the normal playthrough was a happy ending.

Mi-chan, who safely escaped, left the hands of her neglecting parents and lived at her grandmother’s and grandfather’s house, where she was cherished, growing up safely and going to high school.

Just hearing it, it felt like a rewarding ending for playing the game.

But a shocking twist in this ending was revealed.

Among some users, some pervert-like person accidentally discovered the true ending while experimenting with various things in the game.

And that true ending was something that not only the people who bought the game, but even those who didn’t know about it, couldn’t help but be dumbfounded by.

And no wonder, as the ending was that the person who kidnapped Mi-chan came back for her, killed her grandparents, and not only kidnapped and confined Mi-chan again.

And on the darkened screen at the end.

[Mi-chan, with her neck severed, became one of his lifetime ‘collections’.]

because it displayed a crazy piece of text with that content.

Naturally, people who thought it was a happy ending were greatly shocked, and diligently spread this news on the internet.

Moreover, as it was revealed that this shocking ending was created based on a past incident, public attention was drawn to it, and with immense criticism, the Erotic Villain circle had no choice but to close its doors.

Naturally, the circle leader who caused a successful circle to close faced immense criticism and was unable to set foot in this industry ever again.

Thus, the members of Erotic Villain worked elsewhere for nearly 20 years, then gathered again at the call of the 2nd generation Sayuki Kojiro and gave birth to the circle known as 2nd generation Erotic Villain. This period was called Erotic Villain’s 20-year void.

Of course, to be precise, it wasn’t called Erotic Villain at first, but since everyone called it that, they eventually just used the name Erotic Villain again.

Anyway, the reason I’m telling this story right now is.

“Um, is that the mountain, Master?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

It’s because Miyuki, who was driving at my request, had almost arrived at the destination I described.

“Then, I’ll park right at the entrance and wait.”

“Alright. Thanks.”

With that, I thanked Miyuki and quickly ran to start climbing the mountain.

The mountain’s terrain was extremely rugged.

People often think there aren’t many mountainous countries like Korea, but Japan also has a considerable number of mountains.

No. If you’re simply talking about mountains with rugged terrain, Japan has even more.

In a place where volcanic activity occurs frequently, it would honestly be strange not to have mountains, wouldn’t it?

Anyway, in that sense, the mountain I was climbing also had quite rugged terrain.

As a result, even while climbing the mountain, I felt confused as to whether I was rock climbing or mountain climbing.

But even so, my hands didn’t stop.

It wasn’t just because of the scenario Takuya chose.

It would be a lie to say the scenario wasn’t one of the reasons.

But at least his desire to save Momiji was sincere.

Momiji was a pitiful child.

The man who was her father, whom I met last time, was a pachinko addict and a thug, and the woman who was her mother, whenever she saw Momiji, looked at Momiji with a face close to hatred.

Momiji was a child who wasn’t loved.

For such a child, weren’t the events that happened in ‘Escaping Mi-chan’ too cruel?

At least Momiji wasn’t a child who should have to experience such horrors.

‘If someone like me is living so well, what if a child like Momiji goes through something like that?!’

Because of that, Takuya did his best and headed in the direction the watch indicated.

He had to get there as quickly as possible, before Momiji suffered anything suspicious.

But truly, to my fucking dismay, God didn’t seem to be on my side.

“Damn it.”

Looking at the being visible before my eyes, I let out a low curse.

And no wonder, what appeared before my eyes was.

─ROOOOAARRR!!

Because it was a truly dangerous place, where something was wandering to find food, having failed to prepare for hibernation.