A Basement-Dwelling Loser, the Inquisitor – Chapter 205

I can’t believe this is happening.

I had no clue where it all began or why it turned out like this.

Click.

“Please… please… please… please…!”

Bang!

“Wha, huh?”

Blood splattered across the table, and my mind went blank.

Amidst the fading vision, I could see stacks of money and two Joker cards.

And there were three opponents laughing at my predicament…

★

[Lene]

[I won’t forgive lies]

[Liar’s Room | 8735 viewers | 01:51:33]

Bang!

“Why…?!”

My avatar had once again splattered blood first on the table.

—You might want to start acknowledging your skills…

—??? : I’ll go all out this game. (actual words)

—If you had won first, it would have been a disaster;

—If you’re not going to throw, it looks like I won’t sleep for at least 3 days!

—Stop accusing me of being a liar without evidence, damn it! LOL

The chat window buzzed with a mocking atmosphere as if it was completely natural.

Countless rebuttals raced through my mind, but in this situation, anything I said would just sound like petty excuses.

But I truly felt wronged.

I was sure I had perfectly grasped the psychology of the believers and was executing the game flawlessly, so how could everything be wrong?

It felt like all my time spent as an Inquisition Officer was being invalidated…

There was no one better than me at making heretics repent…

“…I will definitely finish the last game in first place.”

After all, I had already played this game for two hours; it was just the right time to wrap up the broadcast.

I would win this round without fail and prove that all my previous losses were just absurd misunderstandings…

—Season 24357234897194’s first-place announcement ㄷㄷㄷㄷ

—If the ending is predictable for the believers, they’re gonna downvote LOL;

Thus began the final game.

〔Lene〕 〔Ria〕 〔Okita_Souji〕 〔IA_Believer〕

〔Ace’s Table〕

The first turn was an Ace’s Table, but not just any Ace’s Table—it was the ‘Hell Mode’ Ace’s Table.

One of the Ace cards given to players would turn into a ‘Demon Card,’ and if a liar was declared when that card was in hand, all players except the owner would have to play Russian Roulette…

A card that could wipe everyone out in one shot.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a Demon Card in my hand, which meant one of the remaining three had it.

The fact that I must never declare a liar when it came to the Demon Card complicated matters even further…

[One Ace’s]

[Liar!]

…Huh?

Before I could say anything, a liar was declared as the game started.

And there it was, the pitch-black Ace… in other words, the Demon Card.

According to the rules, all avatars except for ‘Ria,’ the player who laid down the card, pointed guns at their own heads.

Click, the sound of the gun’s chamber reverberated.

And my instincts told me—it was game over.

“Ha, haha… There’s no way… ”

Bang!

★

[Lene @LeneVtuber · 1 minute ago]

I’ll take a break tomorrow.

★

“We’re heading towards the end. Fortunately, we quickly discovered the Hecatoncheires gimmick, and at this point, about 55 percent of players have cleared the Room of Evil Dream… We are heading in the direction we initially anticipated.”

One of the team members spoke, and the Planning Team Leader turned his gaze and opened his mouth.

“If we keep this pace, we should hit 70 percent by the last day of the first half.”

“Right. Considering the minimum number required for clear based on simulations was 60 percent, I’d say that’s a reasonable level.”

“So how’s the feedback been so far?”

The person who spoke following the Planning Team Leader was a female team member who had been sitting across from him.

“The prevailing opinion is positive. From the designs of the boss monsters that appeared so far in the first half to the scale befitting a World Quest, opinions have been quite favorable… However, there are also quite a few complaints saying it’s too difficult. It seems the difficulty is too high compared to the participant conditions…”

“Well, we expected that from the start, so there’s no need to worry too much. We can address that when we release the Memorial Quest later.”

The World Quest has the potential to significantly alter the lore of the New Dimension.

So some dissatisfaction was unavoidable. I soothed the female team member’s concerns.

“What about the players on the list?”

The next topic turned to the ‘player list’ organized separately by the planning team from the “New Advent” project.

From PVP and PVE records to performance in raids.

A list summarizing those who showed remarkable skills in various ways.

While there were multiple criteria for being listed, the primary factor was, of course, skill.

Their performance would largely determine the clear outcome of this World Quest.

“So far, 93 percent of that list has cleared, and with the remaining 7 percent having reached Tiamat, we expect they should clear by tomorrow at the latest.”

Of course, it was preferable for them to succeed in the World Quest from their perspective.

We had prepared for the possibility of failure, but we were confident that success would be much more enjoyable.

Therefore, the clear status of players expected to perform in this World Quest was quite significant.

“Among them, the first to clear was the Inquisition Officer, Lene…”

“Wait a minute, Seo-Jin?!”

“…Ah.”

As an employee continued the briefing… Seo-Jin’s interjection interrupted, but her name had already echoed through the conference room.

“Oh, Lene… haha… she’s quite amazing… um.”

And the Planning Team Leader let out a hollow laugh and bowed his head deeply.

“Really, ha… she’s truly incredible…”

The Planning Team Leader let out a heavy sigh while covering his face.

His quivering voice resonated as if someone who had given up everything.

Of course, the Planning Team Leader didn’t dislike the Inquisition Officer… I mean Lene.

In fact, as the original planner of New Dimension, he was someone who praised her gameplay more than anyone else on the “New Advent” team.

But this time, the story was different.

The first World Quest in New Dimension, Tagirion.

The first half, the Room of Evil Dream, was filled with many hidden gimmicks.

Difficult but not frustrating.

And designed so that players could enjoy the thrill of discovering the gimmicks.

This Room of Evil Dream was created after countless deliberations by the planning team.

Yet, Lene cleared it while almost entirely ignoring most of the gimmicks.

To put it bluntly, it meant that all of the time and effort invested by the planning team into each gimmick could be rendered pointless.

Especially for the Hecatoncheires, where it was said that Lene achieved victory in a pure one-on-one matchup without discovering any of the gimmicks, it left the Planning Team Leader feeling reminiscent of the cigarette he quit ten years ago.

Since he had led the majority of the gimmicks for Hecatoncheires.

Thanks to this, the Planning Team Leader was now in a state where even just hearing the name ‘Lene’ plunged him into lethargy.

“I’m so sorry, Team Leader…”

“It’s fine. Seo-Jin, there’s nothing for you to be sorry about… Lene is just amazing…”

The expectation was that the first clear of the Room of Evil Dream would occur on the third day after the first half began.

However, Lene managed to clear everything on the first day as if it was just a given, throwing the entire planning team into chaos.

Was it possible that they set the difficulty wrong?

Or perhaps was there a bug causing it to be too easy?

But after watching other players, they realized that couldn’t be the case, and they couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration for Lene’s play.

Even though the Planning Team Leader was now in lethargy, he never denied Lene’s performance.

He just found it incomprehensible.

“How on earth is that even possible…? I mean, could Lene really be an animal in disguise? If so, then definitely a fox…? Or maybe even a bear…”

Knowing that his sincerity as the planner of New Dimension was recognized by all his team members, no one could console him in his somber state.

They could only exchange meaningful glances with Seo-Jin, who had brought up Lene’s name.

In the end, the atmosphere that had settled in the conference room could only return to normal after Seo-Jin put in multiple efforts.

★

Today marks the day when the second half of New Dimension’s World Quest finally begins.

And I declared that I would take a break today.