That’s What You Call a Hardcore Gamer!

Translator: Kagura

Editor: Millinia/Lu

Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!

Chapter 1: The Night of the Grand Guignol ¹

Since the diversification of human sexuality had become a global issue, it was decided shortly before I was born, that each citizen of this country would be required to specify their sexual orientation by their number. Many people tend to “like the gender of the person they fall in love with,” and I am no different.

I like the person I fall in love with, regardless of whether they’re male or female. Probably.

So, in what situations would this number be used? For instance, you would use it when using sexual orientation-only services. In real life, it could be a bar. In the virtual world, it could be an app or game with a dating function.

For example, the VRMMORPG I’ve been playing lately, “Night of the Grand Guignol,” only allows people whose gender is male, and whose sexual orientation includes male to log in. I play the bard class under the in-game name “Neji”. A bard is a profession that provides buffs. Buffs are skills that enhance an ability.

There are also other professions, such as swordmaster, gunslinger, and priest.

“Night of the Grand Guignol” is a game where you can choose your favorite profession and level up. I’m a casual player who prefers to use buffs to support someone else, rather than defeating the enemy head on. Hardcore players want to focus on attack power most of the time.

This game isn’t necessarily about meeting people, but there is a big gap between the casual players who mainly enjoy chatting and other interactions, and the hardcore players who seriously enjoy the RPG part of the game.

While I was lazing around in the plaza of Clock Town, thinking about such things, a guild member called out to me.

“Master!”

“Is something wrong?”

“I haven’t seen Nachi-san today!”

“Ahh.”

Nachi is the guild’s vice-master. He is my realfri. That is to say, we’re friends in real life too. We are university classmates. Both of us are twenty-one years old, and this year is our third year of university. We became friends in our first year of university since we were in the same department, and one day we downloaded this game together because we were bored.

“He’s supposed to do a report today.”

Nachi and I don’t hide the fact that we are friends in real life. That’s why we are often misunderstood as “lovers,” but it’s just a misunderstanding. I’ve had a crush on someone in this game for a while now. Well, it won’t come true though.

As I was thinking this, the city’s general store was noisy with people. When my guild member Ango and I looked in unison, two tall men had just emerged from the corner. Both men carried their weapons on their back, one a sizable sword and the other a large gun. A swordmaster and a gunslinger— both of whom are famous hardcore players.

They are the guild master and vice guild-master of Genesis, a guild that’s known for being hardcore even among the most hardcore players. The expressionless swordsman with the slitted pupils is the guildmaster, Heath. He’s the person I have a crush on. The gunslinger next to him is Mao, Genesis’ vice guild-master. Mao is also tall and has well-shaped eyes, but he always has a stern look on his face, as if he’s glaring at something.

As I was admiring the two men, Ango muttered, “Hardcore players are scary…”

Ango is still a novice. The game has a level cap of Lv. 500, but Ango is currently only Lv. 30. However, if it’s just about level, Nachi and I are both at Lv. 500, just like the two hardcore players— but the two over there have all the status points and tiers, their skill levels are high, and their equipment is too overpowered such that they could only be called god tier. In the unlikely event that I piss them off and get challenged to PK, I would lose in an instant.

This game is R18, so PK and sex features have been implemented. PK means 1VS1 fight. In other words, It’s about killing each other. The game is fundamentally about defeating monsters though.

“We’re hardcore at chatting too! When it comes to chatting only, no one can beat me!”

“Master… you are too positive. Even so, they are hardcore players and have such handsome avatars… I’m pretty sure they must have spent a fortune in order to make their avatars so attractive! Someone like me doesn’t have any real money, so I’m over here using my real face!”

“I might not lose if it’s about the amount of money spent on an avatar, you know?”

“It’s believable. I think the master could also compete with them if it was only about looks!”

“I told you, we can compete in chatting too! Ah, no, chatting is my overwhelming victory?”

“Overwhelming victory.”

And while I was chatting like that, I was stealing glances at Heath, the person I admire. I don’t just admire him because of his strength though.

Actually, my hobby is helping novices and… right after Heath started this game a year and a half ago, I— who had been playing since the beginning— had helped him out. The novice at that time is now a hardcore player… which means that he worked that hard. It’s just a game, but it’s still a game. I think that people who can work hard are cool. That’s why I admire him.

“OK. I’m gonna go do my report too.”

“You haven’t done it yet!? You should follow Nachi’s example.”

“How about your job today, Ango?”

“Today’s a night shift.”

The city is peaceful today as usual. I suppose it’s time for me to stop escaping reality and get my report done as well…

Thus, I logged out for the day.

TN: I wanted to translate a non isekai with not much nsfw novel. So, I picked this up. It’s non isekai but half of it is nsfw. Well, at least this is a bit new setting in Japanese bl novels.

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