Chapter 5: slit — The Ability to Slip into Gaps

“Alright, first things first, let’s do something about this room.”

Even when playing games, the environment matters.

I can’t relax and play in a completely empty white room.

To start, I recreate the apartment room I used to live in.

With a snap of my fingers, my familiar room appears.

It’s the place I ended up choosing after being strongly recommended by a real estate agent.

Hmm, since I can freely redecorate, maybe I should make it a better room?

Nah, this is fine for now.

I can just change it depending on my mood.

Next, let’s search for what game to play.

I was about to open the laptop on the table… but stopped.

Too much trouble.

Let’s just float a monitor in the air.

This world really does bend to my will.

Well, it makes sense since it’s like a dream, but because it feels so real, it’s kind of surreal.

I feel like a god.

“…Oh right, I’m basically something like a god.”

I display a game site on the monitor, and rows of new releases, classics, recommendations, and features line up.

“Hmm, no restrictions on platforms, so I can pick anything. What should I go with…?”

This part is important.

I can only stay here for 24 hours, after all.

Oh, let’s display the remaining time on the wall.

I’ll search while thinking about a game that could give me abilities focused on escaping!

“How about this one?”

I found it.

…I worked hard for an hour to find it.

At one point, I got sidetracked and started looking for literal escape games, but most of them are more like puzzles or quiz games…

I couldn’t really interpret them as “escape abilities.”

There are just way too many games, making it hard to search.

So I gave up on the escape game genre entirely.

And then I found this.

“slit — Slit”

It’s a stealth game where you infiltrate enemy bases.

Apparently, it’s a fairly popular title made by a well-known game company.

Do you know the stealth genre?

It’s not about defeating enemies, but about avoiding being seen.

I didn’t know either, so I looked it up.

It feels perfect for my current situation.

This game, Slit, has a unique feature even among stealth games.

As the title suggests, the protagonist can slip into gaps between objects.

I don’t know how it works until I play it, but apparently, you use that ability to evade enemies.

From the promotional video, I saw the character smoothly slipping into gaps regardless of physical limitations, and then slipping back out when enemies aren’t looking.

Nice.

I want that ability.

I’m a bit tired just from searching, but let’s start playing.

With a snap of my fingers, I summon a previous-generation console.

This is the platform for Slit.

Well, I don’t really need it, but it’s about the atmosphere.

As for the opening movie… I’ll watch it once without skipping.

The more I enjoy the game, the better it should be when creating abilities.

It seems like not just imagination, but my emotions also fuel the power.

The opening movie was honestly hard to understand.

Maybe it’ll make sense once I play.

After watching for a bit, a prompt appears, so I proceed.

I select New Game and choose the difficulty.

Easy, Normal, or Hard.

Well, Normal it is.

Adjust brightness, and—

Alright, let’s play!

“Currently, I’ve logged two hours of playtime.”

Isn’t this way too hard!?

I’ve only just finished the tutorial!

This is probably just because I’m bad at games.

It probably isn’t meant to take two hours for the tutorial.

As for the game itself… it’s interesting.

The story is about a protagonist raised in an orphanage run by a church.

On the day before leaving at age eighteen, they discover the organization’s secret and escape—that’s the tutorial.

Apparently, the protagonist can slip into gaps because the cult secretly implanted demonic powers into them.

I’m curious about the story, but more than anything, it feels great to sneak past enemies and slip into gaps.

“This is fun, really fun… but I need a break.”

Dying six times in the tutorial alone really took a toll.

After rolling around on the bed for about ten minutes, I resume playing.

Maybe I got used to it, because I clear Chapters 1 and 2 while dying a few times.

Hey, I’m actually not bad at this.

Then I hit a wall in Chapter 3.

Why did the difficulty suddenly spike so much?

It was so hard I even checked the settings to make sure I didn’t accidentally change the difficulty.

Of course, it was still on Normal…

I can’t clear Chapter 3.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve died.

I’m exhausted.

Fine!

Break time!

Looking at the remaining time on the wall, it shows 16 hours left.

I’ve been playing quite a lot…

I can kind of feel that I’ve accumulated power to create abilities.

I’ll continue later.

Time to sleep.

Good morning.

There are about 10 hours left.

No point stressing too much about the remaining time.

Let’s continue.

Chapter 3, you gave me such a hard time before bed!

I’m back!

After dying recklessly for the third time, I noticed a loading screen tip:

[You can use metal rod items to lure enemies.]

…Yeah, sorry.

I wasn’t using any of the items I picked up.

No, wait… it’s not like that.

You see, retrying and loading was painful, so I removed the loading screen using my domain’s power.

Because the reviews said the loading times were long.

This much is fine, right!?

I’m not enlightened enough to enjoy loading screens!

But after sleeping, I reset my mindset and brought the loading screen back… and this happened.

I didn’t expect it to be one of those tip-based loading screens.

My mistake.

Anyway, yeah.

I cleared Chapter 3.

Once I started using items, it went surprisingly smoothly.

Wait… was I accidentally doing a challenge run?

I cleared Chapter 4 without much trouble.

Actually, after dying so much in Chapter 3, my skill at Slit has improved.

In Chapter 5, new elements appear.

Until now, it was all about infiltrating to a destination, but now I have to move between gaps, gather information, and manipulate multiple enemies at once.

Instead of brute force, it requires strategy.

Nice… it really keeps things fresh.

And I want that ability to move between gaps.

Though I probably can’t create it yet.

Not enough energy.

Maybe after clearing the game.

Chapter 5 cleared!

The new mechanics are fun, but they take time…

Chapter 6 cleared.

It’s basically a harder version of Chapter 5.

More importantly, a former orphanage friend, Jack, appears in the story, and I’m excited.

Don’t betray me!

You’re raising so many betrayal flags, but don’t do it!

At that point, the remaining time on the wall showed 6 hours.

This is probably enough for now.

I’ll continue next time.

I immediately set “slit — Slit” as one of the three abilities I can equip.

I could just laze around for the remaining time, but… nah.

There’s no point staying here until the last second.

Let’s go back to the real world.

“Release domain!”

I returned to my other home.

Also known as the prison.