Horror Game Developer: My games aren't that scary! Chapter 733: Welcome Back [1]

From the outside, the inside of the building was in better shape than I had expected.

The windows all appeared to be intact, and besides a few scattered papers here and there, the lobby looked about the same as I remembered. The Severed Stars emblem still hung above the entrance, and even the door looked fine. If not for the barricades and the men in dark suits, it would’ve looked like any other day.

One of the agents stepped forward as we approached.

"Mr. Thorne."

"Mhm."

I greeted him with a small nod.

"We were informed of your visit."

He glanced at the team behind me before turning back.

"Before you go in, a word of caution."

"...Go ahead."

"Because of the incident, there’s a possibility that anomalies are still lurking around the island. Most of them have been recovered, but not all of them have. That’s why the island is still in a state of lockdown."

The agent paused.

"In particular, places like this one. Guilds that used to contain anomalies... We’ve swept the building twice already, but..."

"But?"

"...Just be careful. We can’t guarantee your safety past this point."

I nodded.

"I see."

It wasn’t like he told me anything new. This was a Containment Department building. If anything was going to be left behind, it would be here.

The agent stepped aside, and the glass doors slid open on their own.

We stepped inside.

"Squad Leader... It’s cold."

Mia whispered from behind me as she held both of her arms.

She wasn’t wrong. The air conditioning was still running, and with nobody around to feel it, the place had turned into a fridge.

"They didn’t turn the AC off?"

"They didn’t turn the TV off in that store either."

Nora’s voice was flat as always, but she stayed close to the group.

I walked over to the reception desk.

A jacket was still draped over the chair. Half a cup of coffee sat next to the keyboard, a thin layer of mold floating on top. The sign-in sheet was still on the counter, and the last entry was dated the day of the evacuation.

Nobody had written anything after that.

On the whiteboard behind the desk, someone had written ’Weekly meeting — 3PM’ in blue marker.

’I wonder if they did hold the meeting after all of that.’

Tick. Tick. Tick.

The clock on the wall was still running. That was the only sound in the entire building.

"....."

’It’s like everyone just stood up and left.’

Which, in a way, was exactly what happened.

"Hey, is anyone else getting goosebumps?"

Mia rubbed her arms.

"It’s the AC."

"No, no, I mean the bad kind of goosebumps."

"There’s a good kind?"

"Joanna!"

"Quiet, both of you."

Even Ariel had put her phone away. She stood by the couch with her arms crossed, her eyes moving from one corner of the lobby to another. Niel and Min stood side by side, saying nothing.

Wait, when did she go to sit there?

"Squad Leader."

Sarah’s voice came from right beside me. This time, I didn’t jump. I was starting to get used to it.

"The elevator."

I looked over.

The elevator at the end of the lobby stood with its doors closed. Above it, the small display glowed softly.

[B3]

’...It’s already down there.’

B3 was the Containment Department.

’I guess this must be from the BUA agents who did a quick sweep of the place.’

Not that it matters much since we have to go there as well.

One of the main reasons I was back was because there were a couple of things I needed to collect. Not just for me, but for the Section Chief as well. It was a small checklist of things. In a way, a lot of it was due to formality, but apparently, there were still some precious anomalous objects that had been left behind.

I planned on... um, borrowing them.

"We’re going down."

"...All of us?"

"Yes. Unless you want to stay here in the lobby. You’re more than free to do that."

Everyone glanced at each other without saying a thing. I took that silence as silent confirmation, including Ariel, who stood up from the sofa with a yawn.

’I can’t tell if she’s coming because she is bored or because she doesn’t want to be left alone.’

I felt that the answer was closer to the former.

The elevator came up without a sound, and the doors slid open to an empty cabin.

We stepped in, and I pressed B3.

The doors closed right after that.

The elevator hummed as it descended, and for a brief second, the lights inside flickered.

Mia instinctively reached for Joanna’s sleeve. Joanna didn’t tell her to let go.

Ding.

The doors opened.

The corridor of B3 stretched ahead of us, lit only by the dim emergency lights running along the ceiling. On both sides were the containment cells. Some of the doors were shut whilst some of them weren’t.

It was colder down here.

A lot colder.

"Why... is it colder here? What the hell."

"We should’ve brought jackets."

"Is the AC excuse gonna work here?"

I stepped out first.

Our footsteps echoed down the corridor as we walked, passing one cell after another. I didn’t look inside them and just kept going forward.

Drip.

Somewhere behind one of the doors, water was leaking.

The sound stood out within the silence.

Drip.

’Just get to the office. Check the documents, get the Section Chief’s stuff, and leave.’

That was the plan.

My office was at the very end of the corridor. Right next to the main area.

And as we turned the last corner, I stopped.

"....."

My breath held.

The same went for the others, as I felt their gazes on me.

I pressed my lips together as Joanna’s voice echoed next to me.

"That’s... did you leave your light open before you left?"

"...I don’t know."

It was possible, but I didn’t think that was the case.

Every other room on this floor was dark. From the Section Chief’s office to the kitchen. All the lights were off.

All... except mine.

A thin line of white light spilled out from beneath the door.

And then, I heard it.

TaTaTaTaTa—

Everyone froze.

Though faint, it was audible.

It was a sound I could recognize wth my eyes closed.

TaTaTaTa. TaTa— TaTaTaTaTa.

The sound of someone typing.

’Someone’s here?’

Nobody was supposed to be here. The building had been sealed for quite some time. And yet, someone was sitting in my office right now. At my desk. Typing on my computer.

TaTaTa. TaTaTaTaTa—

My stomach flipped for half a second as I recalled the agent’s words.

"...Everyone, please be careful."

My voice came out lower than I intended. Behind me, I heard Nora’s hand slide into her pocket. Sarah had already vanished from my side, melting into the shadows of the corridor without a sound.

I moved forward, one step at a time.

TaTaTaTa—

The sound grew louder the closer I moved to it. No... If anything, the sound grew faster. It was as if whoever was typing was already aware of my presence.

Ten steps. Five. Three.

I reached the door.

My hand rose toward the handle, and as I looked down, I could see something dark coat it.

I gripped the handle, and right as I pulled it open—

Clank!

The typing stopped.

"....."

Silence.

Complete, absolute silence. I couldn’t even hear the hum of the lights.

Instead, the lights above the office flickered. They flickered several times before finally coming to a complete close, darkness engulfing the entire room.

When I reached for the switch, I realized that even that wasn’t working.

’...Shit.’

It was as if the entire building was holding its breath along with us.

The office was empty.

My desk sat where it always had. The chair was pushed in neatly, exactly the way I always left it. The monitor glowed softly, casting a pale light across the walls. There was no one behind the desk. No one in the corner, and no one under it.

"...There’s nobody here."

Mia’s voice sounded behind me.

"But we all heard it. We all heard the—"

"I know."

I stepped inside.

I checked behind the door. Behind the cabinet. Beneath the desk. There was nowhere to hide in this room, and there was nobody hiding in it.

’Then who was typing?’

I looked around the room again, slowly this time.

And that was when I noticed it.

Dust.

There was dust on the cabinet, shelves, and on the floor by the door. Weeks’ worth of it, the same as everywhere else in this building.

But not on my desk.

My desk was clean. Almost as if someone wiped all the dust away.

Someone had been sitting here.

’.....’

My eyes moved to the monitor, and that was when I noticed it.

The blank document.

No, not quite.

It wasn’t blank. There were two words right at the start of it.

Two words that I struggled to pull my gaze away from.

[Welcome back]

The cursor blinked beside them.

Waiting.