Chapter-10 · EP-157

Episode 157: Justice Man vs. Quibbler Man

What was wrong with these guys?

Had they captured goblins, immobilized them, and then tortured them just enough not to kill them, streaming the whole thing?

Were there really people who wanted to watch such disgusting footage?

Even if they were monsters, shouldn't they be killed quickly?

Taking pleasure in their suffering was an abnormal kind of cruelty.

"What is wrong with you people?"

Murasakimura seemed as disgusted as I was.

But the four streamers interpreted his words as a question of who they were.

"You don't know us? Then let us introduce ourselves. Hey there! I'm Benji!"

The frosted-hair man suddenly introduced himself with an odd, high-energy tone.

Benji? Was this guy a foreigner?

The others followed suit.

Next was the man wearing sunglasses inside the dungeon.

"I'm Crow!"

Then the large man in just a tank top, also inside the dungeon.

"Zero!"

And the cameraman took a selfie and quietly said, "I'm Hood…" before turning the camera back to the others.

"We're Quadra Stream! …Nailed it!"

What was with this vibe? So annoying.

Murasakimura, Sendo, and Akaishi were speechless.

Instead, I asked.

"What's with that name? Are you a foreigner?"

"Gyahaha!"

"It's obviously a handle!"

A handle – like a nickname?

But do you give yourself a nickname?

I'd never watched streams, so I didn't understand their culture.

"So what's 'Quadra Stream'?"

"It's our team name and our streaming channel name, obviously!"

I see... what a lame name.

"Well, whatever. Good work today."

I grabbed Murasakimura's arm and tried to turn around.

"Hey, hey, running away, Justice Man-kun? What happened to that enthusiasm from before?"

Called out, Murasakimura turned back.

He had probably calmed down because he couldn't keep up with their energy.

"Weren't you just saying what we're doing is bad?"

What did this guy want? Weren't we interfering with their stream? Or did he want Murasakimura to stop their brutality?

Murasakimura answered Benji's question.

"Of course. Why are you doing such tasteless things?"

"Tasteless is fine! There are plenty of people in the world with bad taste. We're streaming because there's demand."

"Over 1000!"

The cameraman, Hood, suddenly muttered.

That was probably the number of viewers watching this footage.

And then,

"Four digits, here we go!"

Benji screamed at the number.

What was with this guy, so creepy. I didn't want anything to do with him.

"Looks like the unexpected intrusion of passersby worked. What are the viewers saying?"

"'There are always hypocrites like this,' 'You kill goblins too, don't you?' 'I want to see Benji refute Justice Man.'"

"OK! I totally get what you guys are saying!"

He was talking to the comments Hood was reading.

I really felt a strong aversion to this guy.

"Hey, Murasakimura, let's go…"

"Ah, yeah…"

Murasakimura also seemed unsure what to do.

"Hey, hey, Justice Man-kun! You came over to us first, and now you're running away?"

"Running away? That's not… More importantly, stop this tasteless streaming of cruel footage."

"What are you talking about? You kill goblins too, don't you? It's the same, isn't it?"

"It's not the same!"

"How is it not the same? Oh, I see. You're saying we're kinder because we don't kill them?"

"That's not it! As an explorer, killing them quickly is the right thing to do!"

"Hmm? I don't understand what you're saying. Let me ask you instead: Have we caused anyone any trouble? Have we broken any laws? Hurting humans is a crime, but there's no problem with hurting goblins, is there?"

"Ugh…"

Hey, Murasakimura! You, who aim to be a politician, can't let yourself be defeated by such sophistry.

Indeed, dungeon ethics are still debated and opinions vary.

Because common sense in the dungeon is vastly different from the surface world.

Killing animals on the surface is animal abuse and not allowed, but killing monsters that resemble animals in the dungeon is considered correct.

So, granting that, their actions – goblin abuse – might not be legally problematic.

But there is one big problem with what they're doing: they are streaming it.

When they stream it, non-explorers see the footage. People who enjoy such gruesome videos likely have mental issues. And it could teach such people that abuse is not wrong. Potentially, it could trigger similar incidents on the surface.

Even without such complicated reasoning, streaming it is probably not okay.

And Murasakimura answered.

"You say you're not breaking any rules, but streaming platforms have terms of service. And streaming such footage definitely violates them. Your channel will be shut down soon!"

At Murasakimura's words, the sunglass man answered with a smirk.

"That's where it's a gray area, you know. Right, Benji?"

"Yeah."

What was with these nicknames anyway? Seeing Japanese faces with foreign names felt off.

What were their real names?

Curious, I used "Analysis" to check.

Benzo Yamada: LV4
Skill: None
Party Members: Shinya Kinoshita, Hajime Ota, Ryuji Sasaki

It wasn't Benji, it was Benzo!

I almost shouted out loud. But I had to keep my ability to use Analysis a secret, so I couldn't make the comment I wanted to.

And they were only level 4. They should be aiming for the fourth floor already!

As I was itching to make a comment, I suddenly felt a chilling, unpleasant presence.

Murasakimura and Benzo were still arguing.

Sendo, who had the "Presence Detection" skill, also noticed the presence.

"Kyoya, sorry, I noticed too late. We're surrounded."

"Huh?"

I added to Sendo's words.

"No, it's not that Sendo didn't notice. It just happened."

"What did?"

Murasakimura didn't immediately understand what we were talking about.

Then, surrounding us, goblins with faces flushed bright red in anger appeared.