Chapter 25: A Day at Kim In-ho’s: Gaming and Discoveries

The next morning, I headed to Kim In-ho’s house.

Kim In-ho lived in an apartment, which was naturally registered under his parents’ name.

At 21, he was still too young to be living independently.

Ding-dong—. When I pressed the doorbell, I heard hurried footsteps from inside.

The door opened, revealing a neatly dressed Kim In-ho.

“Did you come?”

“Did I arrive too early?”

“No! You arrived just on time. Come in.”

I had a habit of arriving slightly early due to showing up an hour before the appointment, but it seemed Kim In-ho didn’t mind at all.

As I entered, a pleasant smell wafted through the air.

The scent of wood.

Was it an air freshener?

I instantly felt good.

I followed Kim In-ho to his room but suddenly stopped.

“Oh my.”

A middle-aged woman, whose eyes met mine, covered her mouth with her hand and got up from the sofa.

It’s polite to greet adults when visiting a friend’s house.

I bowed my head slightly and said, “Hello.”

Kim In-ho’s mother responded with a greeting as well.

“I was wondering who was coming today. What a beautiful friend you brought with you. What’s your name?”

“I’m Han Yurim.”

“Mom, come on.”

I tried to engage in conversation, but Kim In-ho hurriedly interrupted, speaking to his mother.

“Sister, you’re busy, right? Let’s quickly go test the game.”

“I’m not really busy. If I were busy, how could I come here to play a visual novel that takes at least several dozen hours?”

“See? It’s okay. How did you two meet?”

“We met at our part-time job. In-ho introduced me well.”

Upon hearing that, Kim In-ho’s mother smiled and said, “It seems my son does well outside too?”

“He’s very diligent. He saves money well too.”

“In-ho’s face is slightly lacking, but he’s still a top-notch groom candidate.”

I found common ground with Kim In-ho’s mother.

We exchanged stories about Kim In-ho, from catching insects in elementary school to breaking his leg in middle school.

In no time, we had a lengthy conversation.

Just as we were about to go see Kim In-ho’s old photo album, he spoke up.

“Sister.”

“What is it?”

“I need to finish the testing today, so how about we play the game first? We can do the other stuff later.”

“Alright.”

It was a bit disappointing, but I decided to look at the album later.

“Please go into the room first. I need to grab something.”

I entered his room as Kim In-ho requested.

As I closed the door, I heard a small voice from outside.

“Mom, please. She’s just a friend.”

“This boy. Girls don’t go to the house of someone they’re not interested in.”

“I’m telling you, that’s not it… It’s a bit burdensome, so stop it. Don’t bring fruit either.”

“That’s not how you treat a guest, you can’t do that.”

“……I’ll handle it. So, Mom, you rest.”

As I sat in front of the computer, In-ho quickly came into the room.

I turned on the computer and said, “I can’t eat that peach. Please be careful.”

“……Let’s just play the game, sister.”

Alright.

“What are you doing, sister?”

“Excuse me?”

“Why are you sitting in front of the computer?”

Good question.

Old habits die hard.

Even now, in my mind, the computer was synonymous with gaming.

“Can visual novels also be played in VR?”

“Actually, visual novels have become the largest genre thanks to VR devices.”

“That’s true. The immersion is a huge advantage for visual novels.”

Immersion is key in visual novels.

You have to think of yourself as the protagonist and treat the heroine as a real lover.

Typically, illustrations and stories are used as devices for this, but VR itself adds a level of realism, making it a device specialized for visual novels.

“Please sit here.”

Kim In-ho pointed to a chair on the treadmill.

“Do we sit and play?”

“It’s hard to play a visual novel type game for several dozen hours while standing. Many people play <Eternal World> while sitting.”

“But that reduces the sense of reality.”

“Your body won’t tire.”

It was frustrating to think that the world had created such a good gaming device only to enjoy it half-heartedly.

I confidently said, “I don’t need that. I’m not tired.”

“…Are you sure?”

“I’m fine. Until now, I’ve played <Eternal World> all while standing.”

My body doesn’t tire easily.

Even the fact that I said “easily” suggests that, being human, I would eventually get tired; however, I had never felt tired since becoming a woman.

I downloaded Kim In-ho’s game onto the VR device I had brought.

Once I connected it to the computer, the screen of my VR device appeared on the monitor.

“I’ll monitor it on the computer.”

“That’s exactly why you came to In-ho’s house. Then I’ll start.”

I put on the VR device and clicked on Kim In-ho’s game.

Dun dun. Inho Company! The logo appeared with a lively sound effect.

Everything was good, but one question popped into my mind, and I spoke up.

“What is Inho Company?”

“…Should I change it?”

“Yes.”

It was completely unappealing.

Kim In-ho sighed at my critique right from the start.

“It looks like it’s going to cost extra money….”

“If you change the name of the production company, I’ll do it for free. ‘Oppa, you didn’t turn your socks inside out again, did you?’ How about that? Not bad, right?”

“No. Can you also voice act?”

“I can do anything that involves my body.”

It was a minor ability I gained since becoming a woman.

I had become quite adept at anything that required physical skills.

After all, the voice is produced using the vocal cords, which are muscles.

I mumbled while reading the title.

“<The Mirage of Baek Eun>?”

“Is it not good?”

“No, I like it.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Specifically, what I liked about it was…

“The character with silver hair pretending to be impossible to conquer is actually the true heroine; that’s a very fitting title for such a game.

Especially the term ‘mirage’ hints that she is someone who wandered through a parallel world, which I really like.”

“……Is my story very cliché?”

“No. It’s just that I’ve had many conversations with you, In-ho.

A creator’s thoughts are always infused into their work. Users will be shocked by the surprising twists.”

“Well, that’s a relief.”

Leaving the uneasy Kim In-ho behind, I started the game.

The protagonist was a boy who had just become a high school student.

It was a common setting.

Normally, there would be an added element of wanting to “get a girlfriend,” but In-ho didn’t take it that far.

To put it nicely, it maintained a certain dignity; to put it negatively, it was pretentious.

Well, in the end, as long as the content of the game was good, it didn’t really matter.

I was surprised by the high background quality.

“Did you spend a lot of money?”

“That’s a free background. So for people who have played a lot of VR visual novels, it might be slightly annoying.”

“You mean this is free?”

The world has truly become a wonderful place.

I climbed up on the wall and touched the leaves with my hand.

Every time I touched them, the leaves moved in response.

“Is this really free?”

“It’s too good to be free. A certain crazy rich person must have distributed it as a limited-time offer for visual novels.”

“I see.”

I climbed down from the wall and walked through the street.

PC visual novels were essentially similar to reading a novel.

Pressing Enter allowed the game to progress automatically.

Depending on the type, you would raise stats and choose options, but overall, the difficulty of the controls was significantly lower compared to other games.

Of course, VR games had a similar aspect.

No, specifically, <The Mirage of Baek Eun> had that similarity.

However, it wasn’t exactly the same.

In <The Mirage of Baek Eun>, you had to move as if you had really entered this world.

Since Kim In-ho probably didn’t devise this method, other VR visual novels would likely follow this pattern too.

Using this method to increase immersion was quite clever.

As I looked around the scenery, someone called out to me, prompting me to turn my head.

[Hey. Someone’s coming first.]

It was a cool girl with a bob cut that suited her very well.

Her sharp eyes were a bit intimidating.

Instinctively, I lowered my gaze and suddenly remembered someone, so I asked,

“Is your inspiration from… Min-chae Won?”

“Not at all.”

I see. It seemed similar in tone and atmosphere.

The heroine’s name that reminded me of Bunnyrun was ‘Lee Mina,’ who was the protagonist’s childhood friend.

I was the type to aim for the childhood friend and other female friends of the protagonist first when playing visual novels.

Despite various heroines appearing, I mainly raised Lee Mina’s affection level as I played the game.

“How is it?”

“To be honest, it’s just okay for now.”

“…Is that so?”

“Well, that’s how visual novels are, right? Spending dozens of hours for the last ten minutes.

The only visual novels that start off fun are about as few as <Magical But Night of Death>,

but you’re too young to surpass Nasu Kinoko’s stronghold.”

Trying to surpass Nasu Kinoko starting from 21 years old would take at least 30 years.

“Still, it’s good enough to occasionally make me chuckle.

This level is quite acceptable.”

Kim In-ho’s skills were better than I expected.

His writing wasn’t great, but he effectively captured the character’s charm,

which meant he had already completed half of what a visual novel required.

[I said I don’t smoke.]

“Isn’t Min-chae Won the inspiration?”

“Really?”

“Yeah? Why?”

“It seems it was just a coincidence.”

I guess so. A sharp-eyed heroine character being suspected of being a delinquent is one of the clichés.

But if she really smoked, she couldn’t be used as a heroine.

Anyone who thinks about it would reach such a conclusion.

I resumed the game.

In the next scene, Lee Mina was looking at a dead cat with tears welling up in her eyes.

“Don’t lie. You’re pretending not to care because you’re scared of being sued, right?”

“Unnie, I have no idea what you’ve been talking about since earlier.”

I couldn’t send the poor little lamb to the police just yet, so I had to look the other way.

That’s how I was having a great school life with Bunny… I mean, Lee Mina.

[Yoosung-kun. You’ve been looking good lately, haven’t you?]

A senior with silver hair appeared.

I observed the senior who spoke to the protagonist in a playful tone and said,

“Your way of speaking is strange; are you a scam character?”

“It’s how Unnie speaks…….”

Ah, I see.