"No, no, no… It hasn't come to this, it hasn't come to this!"
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't smash Bronya's computer! It has a lot of precious study materials that Bronya worked hard to collect!"
Ryn and Bronya rushed over to stop Sirin. A broken controller was one thing; Kiana broke them often, and Bronya herself would occasionally break one in a fit of rage. But smashing the computer was unacceptable to anyone.
"Let go! Don't stop me! I'm going to kill this bastard today!"
Sirin shouted, wishing she could jump into the game and tear the monster apart with her bare hands.
Ryn held Sirin tightly, preventing her from making a move, while Bronya had already hung herself on Sirin, trying to restrain her with her own body weight.
Sirin took a few deep breaths, then sat on Bronya's bed with her cheeks puffed out, fuming.
"Hmph! This game isn't meant for humans to play! The person who made this game is a complete idiot!"
"Agreed! Bronya deeply agrees with that statement!" Bronya raised her hand, glanced at Ryn, and then sat next to Sirin as if she had found a kindred spirit.
"When Bronya first played it, she also broke several controllers and had several urges to smash her computer! So it's not our fault, it's the game developer's brain that has a problem!"
"Ahem, ahem…"
Ryn coughed twice. How could the game's difficulty be his fault? He was just a bootleg game maker. Besides, this kind of soul-like game is all about the thrill of intense, exciting confrontations and breakthroughs!
"Mmm, I think so too! Although it's super tense and exciting every time, I can never win. The complete lack of a good gaming experience is really off-putting…"
Sirin nodded. Now that she had calmed down, she was also reflecting on her own problem. How could she get angry at a computer! The game must be too evil!
Ryn looked at Sirin with satisfaction. As expected of his wife, to have the same opinion as him.
"Sigh, but it seems I'm not suited for this kind of game. I won't play it next time. Bronya, do you have any other game recommendations?"
"I do! For example, 'Honkai God Realm', 'Homu League', 'Honkai Impact 3rd', and a whole bunch of other games I haven't shown you yet!"
"Wow~ Then I'll be looking forward to it!"
The two girls burrowed into the blankets and began to chat about details and interesting things in the games, casually badmouthing the game's creator together.
And Ryn, in the darkness, was completely ignored by the two.
Ryn awkwardly touched his nose and quietly left the room.
He had been worried that Sirin would have trouble getting along with everyone, but it seems that having a common hobby can quickly bring two people closer.
After Ryn left, Sirin shot up from the covers, startling Bronya who was in the middle of an enthusiastic speech.
Sirin covered her flushed face and sat on the bed with her eyes swirling like pinwheels, completely dazed.
It's over, it's over, Ryn saw my ugly side… My lifelong reputation! It's all gone!
I wonder if Ryn noticed I was faking it, pretending not to see… sob sob sob—will Ryn start to dislike me now!
Sob—will I have to spend the rest of my life with just games?
Hmm… that doesn't sound so bad, actually?
"What's wrong, Sirin? Is it…"
Bronya asked with concern about Sirin's condition. This was a budding new talent, possibly her future gaming buddy, so nothing could happen to her!
Kiana was a lost cause, but Sirin could still be saved!
"It's nothing, it's nothing… Bronya, let's keep playing? It's still early and I'm not sleepy at all!"
"Ho ho! That's great! Let me show you Bronya's treasured collection!"
Bronya excitedly rolled out of bed, crawled under it, and pulled out a large pile of beef cans, as well as some brand new game controllers and VR equipment.
She placed a golden VR headset with two small horn-like ears on Sirin's head, and then put on a blue VR headset herself.
"Sirin, now, Bronya will introduce you to a game I like very much, 'Honkai God Realm'.
Next, what you see before you is a real SAO game world! Here, anything is possible! Even, as long as you can defeat the great demon king 'Dreaming Big White Rabbit', you can obtain the ability to create anything!"
"Seriously? Can it… grant my wish?"
"Who knows! You'll have to experience it for yourself."
"Link start!"
"Honkai God Realm," a game that Ryn had modified many times and created in collaboration with Hare, a dream world.
Absolutely real!
The VR was just an excuse; it actually used a medium to pull your soul into Hare's dream…
And then work for Hare…
Ryn makes money, Hare gets labor. No matter how you look at it, both of them are making a huge profit.
———————————————
Ryn went downstairs and found Kiana and Judah slumped on the table, looking utterly lifeless.
It seemed that Mei had finally gotten bored and let them go~
"What? This time you also experienced the pain of always bullying others and not letting them quit midway, right?"
Ryn chuckled as he walked behind Kiana and massaged her temples to relieve the pain from a whole night of torture.
"Guh… I was just having fun myself before… If I had known Mei and the others would feel this way, I wouldn't have done that…"
Kiana's ears drooped as she sat on the sofa, hugging her knees. Being crushed in a mini-game for a whole night today, she had finally experienced firsthand the pain Mei and the others felt when they were slaughtered by her, and the pain of playing games with her that they didn't understand.
"It's okay, it's okay, just be more careful in the future. This can be considered a small lesson, right? Suffering for one night to learn empathy isn't so bad~
"Ryn ruffled Kiana's hair, comforting her, then turned to look at Judah.
"What about you? Did you learn anything tonight?"
Judah looked up with a dead-fish-eye expression she had never shown before, and looked at Ryn.
"The biggest lesson I learned is that if Kiana asks me to play games in the future, I'm definitely not coming."
"Hahahaha—"
Ryn laughed so hard he was out of breath as he sat down next to them, chatting with them about trivial everyday things.
But as they were chatting, Ryn noticed that the dragon egg he had placed on the sofa was gone.
"Huh? Where's my egg? And where's Mei? Did she take the egg?"
"Mmm, I think she took it. By the way, what's inside that egg? Is it tasty?"
"Idiot, don't just think about eating. That thing doesn't taste good, and it's hard to cook!"
*Crack—*
Ryn's ears twitched. He thought he heard the sound of an egg cracking…