To be honest, there wasn't much to gain.
But at the very least, something could be learned.
That libido isn't just a stat number in a game. What Velvet said about "sword and sheath," "shield and the army behind it"... the more I thought about it, the more it actually made sense. It's not just some throw away metaphor.
It's a mechanic. Like a resource bar you have to micromanage before a boss fight.
Like a potion in a survival game—rare, but vital.
It reminded me of Garden Ring. Grinding runes, leveling characters, scouting dungeons for enemy blind spots. Or Shadow Mask, when we had to fuse the right Mask, manage aggro, and make damn sure someone had a Revive All skill before facing Shadows that could wipe the party in two turns. Yeah, maybe this whole experiment is a co-op simulation—how two players share aggro from exploding libido.
I kind of wanted to talk to Velvet about it.
About how her gaming metaphors turned out to be more legit than I gave credit for. But she's AFK now. Sprawled on the bed like a character who just got hit with a status effect: exhaustion.
Her breathing's steady. Deep.
Like an idle animation after mana depletion.
My eyes accidentally locked on to the area just below her hips.
Shit. It's like a damn water stain. So wet and drippy.
A dark wet circle had soaked into the white sheet.
There was no way I imagined it. It even glinted. Like some sticky particle effect after getting hit with a splash potion in a budget roguelike. And just like that... it clicked.
All that drama about "don't touch me," all the "I'm not a whore," and "this is purely academic"—bullshit. She wasn't just afraid of getting ganked.
She was in a raid against her own inner lustful demons.
Holding the urge back so hard, her system crashed and leaked mana onto the bed.
Fucking ironic. This "pure one" is bugged just like me. We're both stuck in the horny dungeon, only... one's better at masking her low stats.
"Well... look who's leaking and being in-denial."
I muttered, mostly to myself, eyes locked on the stain like it was a secret loot drop.
"Turns out, we're both noobs in this horny dungeon, huh, Velvet? It's just that one of us knows how to bluff."
And obviously, the one who knew how to do was me.
Soon after, I stood up and glanced at the door.
"Open the door," I whispered, quoting a classic game line.
Magically, the door clicked open with smooth elegance.
"Close the door."
And—cling—it shut again. Well, this game has some ridiculously immersive controls.
The hallway outside was dim.
Hushed.
But curiosity in me, as usual... was too high to store in inventory. I walked toward the next room—the door cracked open a little wider than it should be.
Suspicious. I peeked.
Then stepped inside.
The room smelled... nasty. Damp. A little too tangy.
And—two players: one guy hurrying into the bathroom, meanwhile one girl on the bed, naked and half-covered with a blanked, looking at me without alarm.
She wiped her lips before talking to me, as if to remove something unpleasant.
"Oh, sorry if we disturbed you. We never meant to." she said softly.
Her smile was... innocent and charming.
But her eyes? No idea.
Perhaps she knew I'd show up.
Who knows.
I instinctively replied, "Ah, too bad. It looks like I walked into the wrong room."
I said, faking my expression by mustering a surprised look.
However, part of my brain had already noted everything they might have done.
My eyes unconsciously scanned her appearance melticulously.
And for the first time, I did have a good look of the girl in front of me.
This girl's avatar... had a unique aesthetic.
Her hair was a glitch between silver and violet. Her pair of blue eyes were icy—cold but bright. Even half-buried in the blanket, her body looked high-poly and enticing, with curves that went a little beyond for an hourglass figure.
Proportional bosoms and faint spiral tattoos etched on her arm added small details.
The character customization in this game is giving off some serious high-level vibes.
Gave off a vibe of being OP but nerf-ready. Like the game wanted me to think she was just a generic NPC—when she was clearly a plot-relevant character.
"No, it's alright. Are you looking for something in-specific? Well, if you ever need anything, or just someone to talk to... feel free to come by again. It's alright."
She said. Her tone was sincere and calm with a faint smile on her face.
I nodded. "Thanks. Sorry to bother you." I backed out.
Slowly. Closed the door gently... and the soft click somehow sent chills down my spine.
I stepped back and closed their door.
Hmph. That didn't add up.
Not because I was suspicious. Just... weird.
That kind of warm friendliness from strangers in that context—doesn't fit standard NPC behavior. If this were a game, she'd be a hidden flag character or quest trigger.
But meh, as if it were to be a thing even.
However, her reaction was eerily calm. Too structured. It honestly wasn't what you'd expect from someone who just got their room barged into.
I turned around and walked back to my room.
Nothing urgent, just a minor anomaly in the log. I'd analyze it later—if I felt like it.
Or perhaps when I wasn't lazy enough to deal with it.
I walked back to my room, the image of that too-calm, too-composed moaning girl still lingering in my mind. Her parting words—"come by again"—looped in my mind like a glitched voice line in a half-broken game.
It actually wasn't about the message, but more so the delivery.
A rehearsed warmth that didn't quite reach her eyes.
Like an NPC coded to smile no matter what had just happened.
Velvet was still out cold, draped across the bed like a boss monster mid-defeat animation. The damp patch on the sheets remained—a physical echo of a digital failure.
I felt… no, not sympathy. Something else.
A kind of reluctant nod to her failed stoicism.
She'd tried to outlast the system's libido, but couldn't resist.
She lost against her horniness. By huge margin.
Told ya you should've pleased yourself voluntarily.
I sat at the edge of my side of the bed. Velvet's breath came in soft, steady loops.
Her idle animation was running smooth.
But my mind? Not so much. It's kind of fuzzy.
From the girl's next door, IRIS's half-answers, then the creeping sense that I wasn't playing this game—I was being outsmarted by the game instead.
This wasn't just about libido stats or control bars.
It was starting to feel like a simulation inside a psychology test inside a rabbit hole. Voice-activated doors, too-human NPCs (if they were NPCs), IRIS's time-gated trivia—it all reeked of something curated. Like we weren't players. We were subjects.
Specimens that would be used for their data sampling in an experiment.
The moaning girl's friendliness—it didn't feel spontaneous.
It felt... rigged.
Like a quest trigger buried in a seemingly innocent line of dialogue.
And every seasoned gamer knows what happens when you ignore side quests: content locks, broken flags, dead ends. Instant regret.
I remembered the one-minute countdown IRIS had dropped like it was normal. One minute to ask questions that could define our understanding of the world? Arbitrary. Restrictive. Deliberate. The timer wasn't for balance—it was a muzzle.
My eyes flicked back to Velvet. She looked peaceful now. Blissfully unaware that the walls might be watching. That every breath might be a datapoint. Part of me wanted to let her sleep forever. Part of me knew we didn't have that kind of luxury.
As for my suspicion...actually, never mind.
Let's just say I don't like being right about things like that. Or else, I just don't want to bother with other's people business, becoming meddlesome.