A Basement-Dwelling Loser, the Inquisitor – Chapter 88

[Rene]

[I’m streaming with Tuni]

[We Chained | 2168 viewers | 00:02:12]

[Did you say what game we’re playing today?]

…Ah. I forgot.

“Uh, everyone… Today we’re playing that game called ‘We Chained’…”

[Huh?! What did you say, Rene…?]

“…?”

What?

What’s going on?

Why are you reacting like that?

Did I say something weird?

No way.

I just said hello and introduced the game…

─ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

─Starting off chaotic as hell ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

─Rene, you’re the best ㅇㅇ

─Is this a concept? Please say it’s a concept, Rene…

─From today onwards, the game’s name is ‘We Chained’, no objections accepted

─Ah, just… pure idiot GOAT

Looking at the chat window, the believers seemed to have reactions just as strange as Tuni’s.

“…Did I, um, make some kind of mistake?”

[No, it’s just… hehehe… Um, can I say this? …Right? It’s okay to say it, right? Oh, what should we do, Rene… for real….]

─Rene, I really can’t hold back

─So freaking cute, crazy bitch ㅋㅋㅋ [Deleted message.]

─Rene, sis, something’s weird over there…

─For real, this girl seems clueless even if she touches around 〔Deleted message.〕

─Is this some kind of temptation? Am I a fool for not realizing it?

─I pulled down my pants ㅇㅇ 〔Deleted message.〕

─I can’t imagine her being a virgin 〔Deleted message.〕

“Uh, why is everyone…?”

[Rene, you know the name of the game we’re playing today, right?]

“…Yes. I know.”

[Then what’s the name of the game?]

“We Chained…!”

[Wahaha!]

─ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

─Saying it confidently is really freaking cute ㅋㅋㅋ

─Our idiot Rene, please take care of her, Tuni…

─Yes, I know! (Idk) ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

─Tuni’s laughing so openly ㅋㅋㅋ

─‘Peter Pan’s Arrangement’

With Tuni’s laughter, a loud thud sounded as something hit the ground.

As I tried to assess the baffling situation, Tuni gasped for breath and explained to me.

[Rene, hehehe… It’s not ‘We Chained’, it’s pronounced ‘We Chained’.]

“…………………………………………………………………………Oh.”

Hearing that correction, heat surged to my face in an instant.

How could that word be ‘Chained’? Are they trying to trick me? There’s an ‘e’ at the end of ‘Chain’? Where did the ‘e’ sound go? Those questions flashed through my mind, but it didn’t make sense that Tuni and the believers would all band together to trick me.

In other words. It meant I was wrong.

I felt embarrassed about confidently claiming I knew something I didn’t just a minute ago.

…But I didn’t want to admit that.

“…A-actually, I knew it.”

[What?]

“Maybe someone wouldn’t know, so I did it on purpose…?”

─Here we go with pride again ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

─If you’re going to lie, at least don’t let your voice tremble, Tenryun ㅋㅋㅋ

─What’s the connection between people not knowing and lying on purpose? (for real)

─It’s okay, Rene. I didn’t think you’d know it from the start.

[…Then, Rene. Do you know what the game title ‘We Chained’ means?]

“Of course, I know. I did it on purpose.”

[What does it mean?]

“…Actually, I don’t know. I’m sorry for lying…”

Just let it slide.

[Hehehe… It’s okay. You might not know.]

─How good would it have been if you just admitted it from the start…

─I really don’t know! (for real)

─Oh, she’s totally crazy ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

─This weakness is so cute.

─Just jump right in and have fun ㅋㅋ 〔Deleted message.〕

─It’s okay, admitting you don’t know isn’t embarrassing.

─But insisting you know and then admitting you don’t feels a bit embarrassing…

─Rene, I’m feeling embarrassed…

─‘Peter Pan’s Arrangement’ was also mentioned ㅋㅋㅋ but what’s with ‘We Chained’ ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

─Real talk, this idiot is a broadcasting genius ㅋㅋㅋ

─Did these guys come to joke, not to play a game?

[Ugh. Hehehe….]

─Tuni is laughing so hard ㅋㅋㅋ

─I’m gonna die from laughing

─For real, this is too much ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

─But isn’t it more unreasonable to say “don’t laugh” than this?

─She just laughed and drooled a little.

Even after I acknowledged my lack of knowledge, Tuni was laughing so hard she could barely breathe.

Did she not realize that it’s polite to let the other person save face in situations like this?

It seemed outrageous.

“…So what does it mean?”

But right now, no matter what excuse I made, the atmosphere was all fired up and didn’t look like it was going to cool down.

In that case, it would be better to casually change the subject instead.

[Oh, the meaning? Did you see the gameplay video?]

“Yes….”

[In the gameplay video, the characters are connected by chains, right? It literally means ‘we are chained together.’]

─Are you saying this is a game where you play with restraints??? 〔Deleted message.〕

─Whoa ㅋㅋㅋ

─Sis, I wanna be tied with you…

─We Chained… we are chained together… taking notes…

─A game where two women are tied together and do various things ㄷㄷㄷ

[Anyway, let’s start soon!]

“Yes….”

★

[Tuni]

[We escape from this place with Rene!]

[We Chained | 301 viewers | 01:36:59]

Rene is terrible at games.

I could not understand how someone could be awful at every game excluding New Dimension with that reaction time, but that was an undeniable fact.

Tuni was well aware of this.

And the game ‘We Chained’ is a 3D platformer game.

Platformer genre.

A game where characters jump around using platforms.

It was a game that would make all the fans of streamer Rene and VTuber Rene tremble if they knew the truth that they were the same person.

In the same genre, there’s even a game called Jumping Up that she cannot mention on stream.

And Tuni knew this fact as well.

Yet Tuni chose ‘We Chained’ for a reason of her own.

This game usually involves a lot of single-player content, so it was different from other platformer games where if you can’t play, you can’t progress at all.

In this game, a poor player can be helped by a skilled one, and Tuni happened to be quite good at platformer games.

Even if Rene fell, as long as Tuni didn’t, she could somehow help.

If that’s the case, there wouldn’t be scenes people were worried about.

By continuously providing help, Tuni thought she could get a little closer to Rene.

But one misconception Tuni held was that Rene not only couldn’t play games.

“Hey, Rene? Could you please come over here?!”

[…There’s a treasure chest over there.]

The sad truth was that she was a gamer who couldn’t play.

[Tuni, aren’t you curious about what’s inside…?]

─ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

─Just a curiosity king, damn ㅋㅋㅋ

─Can’t resist the treasure chest ㅇㅇ Even if Tuni doesn’t allow it, I do ㅇㅇ

─No, Tuni, you should have gone sideways, not forward ㅋㅋ

─Tuni, do you regret picking this game right now???

The chat was scratching Tuni as if it were expected.

And Rene was also tormenting Tuni in many ways.

The chats themselves were already familiar to Tuni.

She knew that even if they typed such things on stream, they’d only say nice things in the fan cafe.

So even if it was annoying sometimes, she didn’t hate it.

“I’m curious! I am, but isn’t it better to just progress in the game for now?!”

But with Rene joining in, I couldn’t keep my voice down.

It was different from the usual act of pretending to not be annoyed.

Right now, Tuni was genuinely raising her voice.

[As expected… right.]

However, the bigger problem was Rene’s response.

If she threw a tantrum, Tuni could have replied appropriately and carried on with the game.

But with her pitiful and sorrowful tone saying she understood while following Tuni’s words,

Rene couldn’t easily divert her gaze from something she was fixated on… It made Tuni weaker.

‘Is she really doing this on purpose?’

“…Then for real, just one last time. This is the last time we’ll check that out, okay?”

Even while thinking that, Tuni couldn’t bring herself to stop.

─‘For real, the last time’ the eighth time.

─No, how can you just let it slide when she’s acting like that? ㅋㅋ

─Is this really the last, last, last, last, last, last, last, last time?

─Tuni, give up. From what I see, you won’t win against her ㅇㅇ

─Tuni, you poor thing…

─The relationship that broke at New Dimension has become like this…

─Streamer Rene and VTuber Rene aren’t the same person, you know (important)

─For real?

─She says she’s the same, you know~

And whether she knew how Tuni felt or not.

[…Yes!]

Rene just smiled brightly.
[…It’s a shoe!]
“Then let’s turn back over there.”
[Hehe… Yes. …Ah.]
“Ahhhhhhhhh?!!!!”
─ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

─Rene’s curiosity is killing Tuni…

─Laughing, answering, falling… all that took just 5 seconds;

─I told you not to play this game with Rene ㅋㅋ

─Smashed head probably seems less frustrating ㅋㅋ

─Honestly, a treasure chest <<< it’s a game if you can resist

─Rene did nothing wrong… it’s Tuni’s fault for not stopping her properly…

─If you’re going to go up and fall anyway, might as well grab everything you can ㅇㅇ;

─Even in the midst of that, her smiling is so adorable ㅋㅋ