I Want to Be a VTuber

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All the lights in the inn suddenly went out.

For reference, the inn where Seo-yeon is located isn’t a proper inn anymore.

To be precise, it used to be an inn, but since it closed down, it has been repurposed as a set.

Of course, there’s no issue in terms of lodging and dining as the facilities are still intact.

However, it has been renovated into a set, allowing for many activities.

“Alright, all the lights are out.”

The actors involved in this performance nodded as they observed the Korean actors fumbling in the dark.

The majority appeared flustered on the night vision cameras.

By the way, two of them among those actors seemed to have caught on already.

One was simply quick-witted, while the other was the manager who had already heard the story.

But it’s fine.

The one who would be the subject of the hidden camera prank was Seo-yeon, who was now staring blankly into the darkness.

“Honestly, her expression isn’t that scary.”

“Eh~ that’s not good~.”

From the perspective of the actors who had made a lot of effort in their makeup, it felt somewhat deflating.

It happens sometimes.

Especially in situations like a horror hidden camera, where some act tough.

That’s their original personality, and even if they aren’t genuinely scared, they need to play along to fill the broadcast quota.

The problem is, since this is a hidden camera, if they don’t react with fear immediately, it will clearly be obvious that it’s acting.

“First, let’s operate the devices and guide her to the location.”

Nanjou PD spoke in a small voice while listening to the actors’ dialogue.

Currently, they were on the upper floor, where Seo-yeon was.

It was an empty space created through the renovation into a set.

“If she isn’t scared, we’ll just have to scare her.”

Nanjou PD said that while watching Seo-yeon on the camera.

She began to lead the others as she walked into the darkness.

Specifically, to turn on the extinguished lights in the darkened hallway.

*

‘Not scary.’

Seo-yeon thought as she walked down the hallway.

While murmuring that to herself inside, she suddenly remembered a horror game she had played before.

Back then, she thought her character was weak and felt frightened.

If only she could enter the game, she could have just swung a chainsaw around and chopped through everything.

Such overconfidence lingered in her thoughts.

No, at that time she genuinely felt that way.

…But now, somehow, that might have truly just been bravado.

Those doubts began to quietly surface in her mind.

Pat.

“Seo, Seo-yeon? Why did you suddenly stop?”

Manager Park Eun-ha was terrified by Seo-yeon’s abrupt halt.

‘Ah, this atmosphere really isn’t good.’

Even though she had heard the story already, Park was gripped with fear.

She had never seen a horror movie and had no experience playing horror games.

The most she had done in that genre of content was an escape room she went to with friends.

It was a place famous for its horror-themed escape rooms in Gangnam, and after trying it once, she thought she would almost faint.

‘That time was especially a Japanese-style horror concept escape room.’

It felt exactly like this.

If something were to drop from above, it’d be just like that…

Bang!!

“AAAH!!!!”

Park let out a huge scream.

Something round suddenly fell from the ceiling.

Gasp!!

In that moment, Seo-yeon instinctively reached out her hand.

It was truly a reflexive action.

And Seo-yeon’s hand precisely pierced the round object.

“Eh!?”

Narumi Sora genuinely let out a Japanese-like exclamation after a long time.

Seo-yeon had not used her fist but her open hand to pierce the mannequin’s head.

‘Not a fist, what do you call that? Hand…? Did I pierce it with my fingertips??’

What’s happening?

This was scarier than a mannequin head resembling a human suddenly falling from thin air.

How do you even pierce something with your hand instead of smashing or breaking it?

“……”

Seo-yeon looked at that object lodged up to her wrist.

It was a bit dark, but her sparkly red eyes were hardly hindered by that.

Thus, she could see the intricately crafted mannequin head even in the darkness.

In fact, Seo-yeon didn’t even think of it as a mannequin.

The red liquid filling it dripped, and she had a hard time paying attention to the sensation in her hands.

Human perception relies surprisingly heavily on sight.

Even knowing it was a mannequin’s head, it felt too realistic to describe.

“Seo, Seo-yeon?”

Sora, instead of the already trembling Park Eun-ha, asked.

There was something odd about Seo-yeon’s reaction.

“P-please, let go.”

‘Huh?’

She could feel Seo-yeon’s voice trembling.

Only then did Sora approach and realize that the thing stuck in Seo-yeon’s hand was a mannequin head resembling a human.

‘Eww, that looks gross.’

Moreover, because it had pierced through with its mouth squished, the eyeballs seemed to be slightly popping out.

Of course, it didn’t look exactly like a real human head.

Just a well-crafted mannequin head.

But in this dark and somewhat similar atmosphere, it was creating a strange sense of discomfort.

“Stop it.”

“……”

Seo-yeon couldn’t bear to look at her own hand, even at Sora’s words.

She seemed to have tightly shut her eyes, clearly frightened.

‘So, Seo-yeon has something she’s afraid of too?’

Seeing Seo-yeon like that, Sora felt a peculiar emotion.

She had thought she was the kind of person who was made of iron, but maybe she wasn’t.

“U-uh, I’ll just be here for a moment, can you two turn on the lights for me first?”

“Yes?”

Isn’t that the line from a horror movie where someone gets left behind?

“Y-yeah, we’ll do that.”

Usually, they might not know the reason but would have waited.

But right now, weren’t they in the middle of filming?

So it would probably be better to leave Seo-yeon alone.

After all, the target of the prank was Seo-yeon, not them, so it would be a better shot.

“I’ll go turn on the lights in the hallway!”

The place to turn on the hallway lights was a bit far after a right turn, and then quite a walk ahead.

So the distance was considerable.

This certainly wasn’t a small inn.

‘What do I do?’

Having sent Sora away, Seo-yeon stood still for a moment.

‘I-I can’t move my legs?’

This can’t be.

No way.

Seo-yeon couldn’t comprehend the situation.

To be honest, Seo-yeon still didn’t think this was a hidden camera or filming.

After all, she had never even seen broadcasts like hidden cameras, and her generation was far removed from such things. She didn’t even realize she could fall victim to a hidden camera abroad.

…The moment her hand pierced, there was already confusion in her thoughts, and that was the biggest reason.

‘I-I’ve definitely never felt fear before.’

Except when playing games.

Could it be that she was vulnerable to this kind of fear?

She hadn’t been that scared when she played a ghost role in school.

Seo-yeon contemplated.

When she felt various emotions, there were times when she felt certain emotions more intensely.

Mostly, those were joy rather than bad things.

Or the sense of accomplishment from receiving compliments.

Such feelings had a considerable effect on Seo-yeon.

However, she didn’t believe fear was one of them.

No, she truly had never felt anything like that until now.

‘B-but why am I scared?’

It felt like her legs lacked strength.

She couldn’t move forward.

When her fear started to creep up and she couldn’t sense the presence around her anymore.

Thud.

Along with a dull sound, Seo-yeon sensed a presence behind her.

*

“Now, it’s time! Now!!”

Seo-yeon was suddenly left alone.

Seeing this, the actors in ghost costumes filled with enthusiasm headed to their positions.

First, they would guide her to the hallway and then use other devices to separate Seo-yeon from the others.

But her being left alone like this was just too perfect!

‘Is she weak to fear? She’s totally frozen!’

The actress known for her various horror stories and themes began to emerge with a faint smile.

‘Let’s get the devices running.’

Suddenly, thud, thud, thud from the hallway sounded.

With those slight vibrations, the noise began.

‘Good atmosphere.’

The actress came out through a secret passageway prepared within the building, appearing suddenly in the middle of the hallway.

She stood about three meters away from Seo-yeon.

“Hu, hehehe.”

She let out a chilling laugh.

A maniacal, malevolent laugh.

The sound of laughter that terrified countless audiences from various horror themes.

Upon hearing that, Seo-yeon turned her head, creaking.

‘Yeah, that reaction…’

The actress who had been laughing with satisfaction suddenly froze.

In the darkness.

Two bright red eyes were staring right at her.

‘W-why are the eyes glowing red?’

Did she have light bulbs in her eyes?

The moment that thought crossed her mind, Seo-yeon seemed to collapse in place with weak legs.

‘Huh?’

Putting aside her eyes, the actress was momentarily flustered by Seo-yeon’s appearance.

Why did she just sit down?

Did her legs give out?

Then how would she guide her to the location now?

‘No, no. There might actually be something wrong with her body.’

Thinking that, the actress moved closer to Seo-yeon.

In an instant, Seo-yeon flinched and began to crawl backward to avoid the ghost actress.

As the ghost actress quickened her pace, she thought, “Oh?”

Forgetting that she was supposed to be a ghost, she unintentionally uttered a gasp.

Seo-yeon, with her legs giving out, crawled down the hallway at an astonishing rate.

‘No, wait a second.’

Wait!

She was thinking about that.

As she moved faster, Seo-yeon’s crawling speed increased.

No, it was incredibly fast.

How on earth could she crawl that quickly with her two arms?

At that moment of thought,

“AAAHHHH!!!”

A truly terrified scream began to resonate throughout the inn.

*

“Let’s stay here for now and then go back to the room.”

“W-what about Seo-yeon?”

“Isn’t that up to the filming team or something?”

Sora, who thought she had distanced herself appropriately from Seo-yeon, suddenly stopped after turning right.

After all, they couldn’t turn the lights on, and the eerie atmosphere made her reluctant to move any further.

If she just stayed here, the filming team would probably do something to Seo-yeon.

Thinking that, she sighed.

“?”

As she thought that and looked up, there was suddenly a monster behind Park Eun-ha.

To be precise, it was an actor dressed as a monster.

Holding a hand axe in one hand, it had a grotesquely rotting mask resembling a zombie.

Its size was considerable, adding to the intimidation.

Just looking at it gave a chilling feeling.

“EEEK!!”

Finally realizing that, Park Eun-ha was horrified.

As the monster slowly approached them, she shook Sora’s sleeve.

“W-we’re not the ones? Just swing the nunchaku like you did back then!!”

“Uh, no, I can’t swing it. I, I can’t even bring it with me.”

It wouldn’t even be allowed on the plane.

After all, it was a murder weapon.

Seeing their reactions added some fun to the monster, which slowly approached with its hand axe.

Then it suddenly stopped.

As if it had seen something, its gaze was fixated somewhere.

“Huh?”

Both Sora and Park Eun-ha, who were terrified by that bizarre behavior, looked on in confusion.

Why did it suddenly do that?

What was even stranger came next.

It didn’t just stop; it began to back away hesitantly.

What’s going on? Why is it doing that?

As if something were behind them…

With that thought, Sora and Park Eun-ha unconsciously turned around.

And saw.

Something crawling toward them at an incredible speed.

“………!!!”

Sora realized for the first time what true fear felt like.

Suddenly, a certain popular Tsukuru game that had briefly trended came to mind.

Was it called “The Witch’s House”?

In that game, a witch, the protagonist was pursued by a headless witch.

Crawling with her arms to chase after the protagonist.

What they were witnessing now looked exactly like that.

Long pitch-black hair, glowing red eyes peering through it.

And a woman crawling with her arms that couldn’t possibly be human.

Her lower half was hardly visible.

After all, it was dark.

What mattered was that a woman was crawling at an incredible speed in the hallway.

Moreover, something ghost-like was chasing after her.

“R-Run away!!”

At Sora’s shout, the monster actor was the first to flee.

Dropping the hand axe he had been holding, he began to awkwardly retreat.

Following him were Sora and Park Eun-ha, also running away from the monster.

They thought actors working here would know the route well.

Thud!!

Wondering what noise had sounded behind them, Sora turned to look back.

The woman who had been crawling was now wielding the very axe that the monster had dropped, approaching them.

Thud, thud, thud, she pounded the floor.

Why was she pounding the floor like that?

It’s terrifying!

No, wait, seriously.

And her speed only increased.

“AAAHH!!! …AAAHHHH!!!”

Actors who had been waiting to jump out in various spots, targeting the frightened Seo-yeon.

They screamed loudly to spook Sora and Eun-ha as they came rushing in, when they noticed the ghostly figure right behind them, they too decided to join the escape.

“There’s a wall on the side! A partition!!”

Even the ghosts forgot their roles and hurriedly banged against the wall, trying to open a door.

“Quick, close it, close it!!”

If they escaped through the partition, they’d be unable to follow.

The three ghosts they met while fleeing spoke urgently.

As they tried to close off the partition, it went clank, clank!

“Ah, it won’t close!!”

Sora shouted.

Then suddenly looking down, she noticed an axe had gotten stuck in the gap of the partition.

When did that happen?

Uh, wait.

Everyone’s gazes turned downward.

Thud.

A white hand appeared from the gap and grasped the edge of the partition.

Dark hair flowed down smoothly.

Twisting the axe, the red-eyed gaze peered up through the small opening of the partition at them.

What everyone was trying to block suddenly twisted open instead.

The moment they witnessed it.

‘Ah, no.’

Sora fainted.