The Villainess VTuber Tears People Apart

Game companies try to secure a wide variety of IPs and genres.

Of course, there are some companies that prefer to stick to a single genre and build upon it over time.

As they deepen their understanding of that IP and genre, their accumulated expertise often leads them to dominate that particular field.

The problem is, in this world, there is no eternal ruler.

What follower would simply sit back and let a blue ocean go untouched?

Whenever there’s a hit game, a flood of imitators inspired by that success inevitably follows.

It’s common for a genre, which a company thought it had a monopoly on, to be taken over by other game companies over time.

Therefore, clinging to a single genre can result in being phased out.

A game company needs a diverse portfolio of IPs and genres so that even if one IP fails, the others will keep the company afloat.

‘Surviving Somehow in an Apocalypse World.’

This was a new VR survival game released by Deadraus, the company that had found success with Labyrinthos.

Though Labyrinthos VR is a globally popular game, it seemed Deadraus had made it clear they wouldn’t solely rely on Labyrinthos.

[You woke up from cold sleep only to find out the world has ended.
Investigate ‘Sz-001’ to uncover the cause of the apocalypse.
And survive.]

That was the entire game description.

After watching a few trailers, it seemed like a typical zombie apocalypse survival game.

Maybe the easiest way to describe it is a survival sandbox game with horror elements mixed in.

At first glance, it looked extremely difficult.

For starters, the risk of death was high in this game.

Apparently, if all party members died, they couldn’t re-enter the existing world. Instead, they’d have to start fresh in a new world—a hardcore system that sounded quite unforgiving.

You could consider it a roguelike genre.

However, the punishment for death seemed too harsh, so there appeared to be some roguelite elements to soften the blow.

“It looks fun. I want to try it.”

Now that I think about it, I hadn’t really tried any new VR games lately.

After all, I had been playing Labyrinthos as my main VR game.

Spending every day grinding Labyrinthos until the login limit was my daily routine, so adding another VR game would only cut into my Labyrinthos time.

In that sense, this came at a good time.

I was planning to take a break from Labyrinthos for the next three weeks, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try out a high-difficulty VR game.

“But this game recommends party play. You know how in zombie shows, multiple survivors hole up in a school or something to survive? Like in School Live…”

Rion mentioned a title she wasn’t too familiar with. I didn’t think there were many zombie shows where people lived in schools.

But I understood what she meant. While a school might not be typical, it’s a common zombie trope for survivors to group up in places like big-box stores.

“Do we have to do party play?”

“You can play solo, but this is an ad stream. We need to show the viewers what the game is really about.”

Apparently, due to the game’s emphasis on cooperative elements, party play was mandatory for the sponsored stream.

“Up to four players can join at once. You just need to find three more people.”

“Oh, I have to recruit them myself? I thought the company would arrange that.”

“Well, they could, but Deadraus Korea gave you the ad, so it’s your stream to run.”

So, they said I could choose the participants myself.

It’s not a bad thing to have control over the roster. In fact, it’s a good thing.

—Or so I thought.

The day after Rion told me about the ad stream, Chel disappeared.

“Chel’s nowhere to be found. Where did she go?”

“She packed up her stuff and went home.”

Apparently, that’s what happened.

When I tried contacting her on Discord, she replied:

Chel Sumeragi

[I hate zombie games.]

Did she go home just to avoid me asking her to play the game?

She can be so bold at sticking around, but then runs off suddenly like that. She’s always so laid-back, like a human cat.

In any case, the fact that Chel left without even doing Sanrabi likely meant she really didn’t want to play a zombie game.

I had no choice but to look for other members.

“I-I’m sorry… VR horror games are just too scary for me…”

Inagika failed.

“I’ve decided not to accept any more ad streams for the time being. Can’t you get Laura to do it?”

Rinco failed.

“…How could I possibly play? Even regular PC horror games are too much for me…”

Anna failed.

I tried asking a few other seniors as well, but none of them were willing to participate, citing the game’s scariness.

There’s a game called Mahjong, and do you know what the hardest part about playing Mahjong is?

It’s finding four people to play with.

That was exactly the situation I was in now.

‘Guess I have no choice…’

I let out a sigh.

I had no other option but to use my last resort.

“Rion.”

“Hmm? What’s up, unnie?”

“You’ll be joining.”

“…What?”

***

[Surviving Somehow in an Apocalypse World]

[# Streamer Advertisement Server]

[This is an Early Access server for promotional purposes. Do not send invites to non-affiliated users without the permission of the server administrator.]

In the eerie, dimly lit basement, Rion opened her eyes.

Pshoooo.

There was a loud hissing sound as the capsule door that had been covering Rion slowly opened.

Her body felt light as she climbed out of the capsule.

Looking down, she noticed she was only wearing skin-tight leggings. Was this the standard gear for the game?

Meow-ha

What game is this?

The atmosphere is killer

Ritaesik has returned

Is Rion actually Jesus?!

Seeing her resurrection, she might be Jesus for real?

[Yetorensei has donated 10,000 won.]

[Rion has returned! Raise your glasses!!!!]

‘…How did I end up in this situation?’

Rion let out a small sigh.

It had been a while since her last stream.

Her final solo stream had been on August 31st, when she had announced her retirement. Nearly two months had passed since then.

It was now November.

Soon, Laura and Chel’s winter voices would be released.

Rion felt out of place being on stream.

While she had joined Laura for a few streams of Blue Record, this time, the broadcast was also live on her own channel. Since this was a survival game, it made sense to have each player’s perspective.

She wasn’t sure if it was appropriate for her, as a staff member, to fill in for a missing player,

Or if CEO Jung Hoyoung, who so readily approved this, was thinking straight.

“Haaah…”

With a complex mix of emotions, Rion surveyed her surroundings.

She still hadn’t seen Laura or any of the others.

[You have awoken from cold sleep.]

“…Whoa.”

A sudden voice rang in her head.

No, more precisely, it rang in her ears. Upon checking, she found a tiny earpiece fitted inside.

Her left hand also sported something resembling a smartwatch.

[This location will be safe for the next 49:59:59.]

[Please take action before the safe time expires.]
The voice spoke again.

It was clearly an artificial voice, synthesized by AI, not human.

Rion wouldn’t consider herself especially skilled at games, but in this case, she had a slight advantage.

She knew a little bit about this game, Surviving Somehow in an Apocalypse World (abbreviated as ‘Aseosal’).

“Nyaa… This seems a bit different from what I played before.”

Played it before?

But it just came out today lol

Isn’t today the start of early access??

[John Titor has donated 1,000 won.]

[Were you a time traveler?]

“For those who know, I went on a business trip to Japan recently, remember? I played it once during an event.”

Her trip had coincided with the Tokyo Game Prove & Show, so she had visited the event.

She had originally gone to check out the VTuber booths, but it turned out Deadraus also had a booth there.

So Rion had briefly tried out Aseosal at the Deadraus booth.

“I think the zombies couldn’t invade during the safe time…”

At least, that’s how she remembered it.

In other words, they would be safe for at least 50 hours, so Rion relaxed a bit and began to explore.

The basement was filled with nothing but cold sleep capsules.

The entire building was probably a facility dedicated to cold sleep.

Dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of capsules.

Laura and the rest of the party were likely inside one of them. Rion was the only one awake so far, probably because the others hadn’t logged in properly yet.

She considered waiting for the others to wake up,

But,

“Maybe I’ll take a quick look around before they get here.”

Instead of sitting idly, Rion decided to climb the stairs.