Chapter 4: I Hope This Game is More Boring

This fox lady once again put herself in the player's perspective and imagined the scene described by Hiro.

Just imagining it made her feel a surge of anger from the bottom of her heart.

If she said earlier that she never wanted to see such a despicable character in her life, then at this point, she really wanted to beat the crap out of this jerk!

"Are you dissatisfied?" Hiro asked in a low voice, looking at the fox lady's silence.

"Satisfied... With your heartbreaking scene, I'm afraid there won't be many girls left in the world who still have feelings for this jerk."

After suppressing the strange anger in her heart, the fox lady said.

"I'm just curious, where did you come up with such malicious ideas? Are you really here to perform in an otome game?"

"Just sharing my daily experiences," Hiro said vaguely.

Experience? What kind of experiences did you have to come up with such a heart-wrenching plot?

The fox lady suppressed her curiosity and didn't ask further. After all, she and Hiro were not familiar with each other, and it would seem too low of her to pry into Hiro's real-life information.

"Cough!" The fox lady cleared her throat and looked away from Hiro's current 'charming' appearance, then asked, "Then what about you? What do you want to gain from teaching me so many ways to escape from the player's hands?"

"As for the benefits... Just let me kill you after you torture the female protagonist played by the player to the point of being covered in wounds."

Hiro also directly stated his ultimate goal.

Kill me? The fox lady's gaze once again turned to Hiro, and she found that although he was smiling gently, there was a mysterious dark feeling.

Killing someone? What do you want to do in an otome game? The fox lady didn't ask any further.

"That's not a problem. If the character dies, it's also a way of leaving early, and it will give me more free time."

She didn't mind if her character suddenly died, after all, it was too hateful.

"Then let's agree on that." Hiro was also very grateful that this fox-masked lady was so easy to persuade.

The fox lady became more and more concerned about what kind of outrageous plot Hiro wanted to perform in this otome game.

However, no matter how outrageous this otome game was, its rating was only E, and there would definitely be no promotion when it went online.

Moreover, otome romance games had already flooded the market.

So, in the fox lady's opinion, the most pathetic thing was that even if Hiro acted his heart out, there would definitely be very few players visiting.

In the end, the reward obtained after the performance ended would definitely be only a tiny bit.

Fortunately, the fox lady, knowing that this otome game, which had already swamped the market and would receive little promotion, would undoubtedly fail was a good thing for her!

As long as this game was dead on arrival and there were very few players coming to play, then the crazy players who wanted to capture her character would definitely be fewer!

This way, she might be able to slack off throughout the performance, not doing anything, and slacking off until the end.

Thinking of this, the fox-masked lady unconsciously muttered, "It must flop!", "It must flop!", "It must flop with no players!"

You know I can hear you... 

Hiro listened to this fox lady, who seemed to be praying or cursing, muttering to herself, but he didn't make any further comments.

Because Hiro knew that this game was destined to flop when it was first released.

But this was only limited to the initial release.

Even if only one player bought this game as if they were scammed and walked the character route played by Hiro as if they were scammed, Hiro was sure that his vicious acting could leave a very deep impression on that lucky player.

Once a very deep impression was left, and the player shared their gaming experience on social networks, it would definitely become a hot topic among players!

At that time, it should attract many curious players to come and play, and then...

Hiro found that his thinking had diverged a bit too far. The current primary task was still waiting for the first lucky player to be deceived to visit.

Fortunately, Hiro did not wait too long. When this otome romance game "Farewell Tale of the Rose Kingdom" announced its opening, the world soon welcomed its first visiting player.

.......

In a late-night game specialty store in Shibuya, a woman dressed in a suit and carrying a handbag, who looked like a city beauty, was carefully selecting on the shelf with the "new release" label.

Her name was Izumi Sakazaki, 31 years old this year... unmarried, and she worked as a producer in a talent agency in Tokyo.

Since graduating from college, Izumi has been working hard and could be considered a super businesswoman.

However, such a super businesswoman, her hobby in her daily life was to play some "otome games" that her colleagues would laugh at if they found out.

The reason why Izumi liked this kind of game that "only young girls would like" was very simple.

She had been working hard in society for more than eight years, and she often encountered sexual harassment in the workplace from different angles.

Although Izumi had used tough and clever means to avoid all these sexual harassments, it also made her lose confidence in men in reality and even have a subtle sense of disgust.

However, Izumi's sexual orientation was normal, and even now at the age of 31, she longed for sweet and honeyed love.

So, Izumi invested all her love in the two-dimensional world, that is, in otome games.

"Although 'Farewell Tale of the Rose Kingdom' gives off a clichéd and hackneyed feeling from the cover, I'll spend an evening playing it and see."

Izumi picked up a copy of the latest Otome game on the shelf and went to the cashier.

Due to the widespread concept of AI-NPC interaction in games, most games in this world had a "limited time" for gameplay after release.

It was a bit like a play. Once the limited time was over, it would be impossible to play again.

This "Farewell Tale of the Rose Kingdom" had a limited gameplay time of two months, and after two months, it would not be possible to enter the game again.

The official explanation was that AI resources were limited and needed to be provided for other game development.

The people involved knew that 'the characters in the game are played by real people, so it's impossible for them to only play this one game for their entire life, right? Some long-term games might be possible, but for this kind of low-cost otome game, forget it.'

So, for heavy otome game enthusiasts like Izumi, whenever a new otome game was released, regardless of its reviews, she would buy it and experience it as soon as possible.

"Huh? Ms. Sakazaki... I remember you have to work tomorrow? Are you planning to spend the whole night to complete this new game?"

The clerk in the store obviously recognized this city's beauty, and she was also very familiar with Izumi.

"Yeah, but this game looks like another clichéd otome game, so I'll keep pressing the skip button while playing."

Izumi also frankly told the clerk about her usual gaming method.

"Ms. Sakazaki, you too? I usually keep pressing the skip button while playing, and only stop to watch the interesting parts."

The clerk was also a heavy otome game enthusiast, so she kept complaining with Izumi about how the recent otome games were too clichéd.

"Nowadays, the character stories in some otome games feel like you know the middle and ending after seeing the beginning! The more otome games that come out, the more boring they feel." The clerk complained in a low voice.

Izumi always listened with a smile to the clerk's complaints, but she thought in her heart, 'Little girl, you're complaining about your own store's products to your customers! If your boss hears you, you'll be in big trouble!'

But Izumi couldn't deny the clerk's complaints.

"So, this game called 'Farewell Tale of the Rose Kingdom' is just something I bought to kill time at home. Looking at its size, if I quickly skip through it and only watch the interesting parts, I should be able to finish it in about two hours, right?" Izumi said.

"Hmm, interesting parts, do you mean the base-building parts?"

"I also don't know why this AI-NPC game company never releases 18+ love games, and at most, they only have clean 16+ games that don't even have base-building parts. How boring." The clerk reminded Izumi in a low voice.

In the view of most people, the "interesting parts" in text-based love games are definitely the base CGs!

Countless players play love games only to skip the main story and go straight to the base H-scene CGs!

Moreover, many players aren't even interested in playing the game and will directly go online to post something like "Seeking kind-hearted brother/sister to give me a full CG saved file."

However, "Farewell Tale of the Rose Kingdom" is a 16+ otome game, which means there are no erotica base CGs!

Not only "Farewell Tale of the Rose Kingdom," but almost all AI-interactive games on the market are limited to 16+, which is very healthy, to the point that countless players sigh.

"What are you thinking, little girl? I play this type of game to experience the feeling of love. As long as the character's story and romantic atmosphere are well-crafted, there's no need for base CGs at all!"

Sakazaki Izumi knocked on the clerk's head with some speechlessness.

"Ouch, I talked too much. That'll be 900 yen! Thank you for your purchase! Welcome back next time!"

The clerk quickly packaged the goods, found the change, and handed it to Izumi.

900 yen is equivalent to about 6$, which is the price of an independent small game.

However, "Farewell Tale of the Rose Kingdom" can only be played for a maximum of two months, and strictly speaking, it is a rental game, which can't be considered a good deal.

Izumi took the game and was about to leave when she waved her hand at the clerk and whispered, "Moreover, 16+ games can also be 'used for that thing', although I've never tried it before."

"Wow!" The clerk's eyes immediately showed a worshipping expression when she heard Izumi's words.

No wonder she's a 31-year-old virgin who has never had a boyfriend! She can even say that 16+ games can be used for 'teaching materials'! I really admire and respect you! Gambare~

Of course, Izumi didn't know what weird thoughts the clerk was thinking. After leaving the store, she looked at the packaging of "Farewell Tale of the Rose Kingdom" in her hand and muttered to herself, "I hope this game is as boring as last time and makes me fall asleep while playing. I don't want to take sleeping pills again."

From the beginning, Izumi didn't expect this clichéd otome game "Farewell Tale of the Rose Kingdom" to be very interesting.

She was using this game as a sleeping pill! Now she hopes that the game will be so boring that she can play it and fall asleep directly until dawn!

The more boring, the better! After all, I have to get up early for work tomorrow and have a big project to do.