Horror Game Developer: My games aren't that scary! Chapter 738: VILE - 303 [1]

Click! Click!

I reached for the door, trying to pull it open. I had forgotten the number of times I’d tried this, but regardless of what I did, the door wouldn’t budge at all. I held the handle down a little longer this time, waiting for some give.

"...Fuck."

A curse slipped out of my lips before I knew it.

Rubbing my forehead, I looked around the office before moving towards my desk area and taking a seat.

’How in the world did it manage to do that?’

No, it was obvious that I had been tricked by it.

This anomaly...

It was certainly quite an advanced one. For it to have calculated everything like that... It certainly was of <B> rank or above.

"Ugh."

Accompanying the twitch of my eyelid was a dull ache that refused to leave. Even as I popped another pill, the pain persisted as I checked my watch.

Tik Tik—

[22:38]

"Ah, fuck."

I couldn’t help but curse again.

Lifting my head to stare at my monitor, I booted up the PC and opened the Guild log. There was no Wi-Fi, but I still held a copy of the Guild’s database on most of the anomalies that it had captured.

Naturally, as a place provided to me by the Guild, it was in the log.

"What was its number again...? Tut... tutut—Ah! Here."

I stopped scrolling, pausing before a certain file.

———

[VILE - 303]

Class: Elcid (Daytime), Melas (Nighttime)

Description: VILE - 303 is a normal school accessible only with a specific key. By day, it functions normally, but at midnight, all doors leading to VILE - 303 lock shut, trapping anyone inside. From midnight to 6 AM, hostile entities called "teachers" emerge and hunt anyone remaining. The school’s interior appears infinite, making escape impossible during this time.

Warning: Doors must be locked from the outside before midnight!

"..."

Reading the anomaly’s description, my eyes squinted tightly. I went back over the part about midnight.

"Right... the doors should be locked only after it reaches midnight. Then... How come I can’t open the doors now?"

The answer was obvious.

It was the anomaly’s doing. Somehow, it was keeping me locked inside this place. To make matters worse, I couldn’t even feel my nodes at the moment.

In other words, I was fucked.

"...Would I even be able to get out if I could use my nodes?"

Logic said yes, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt this logic wouldn’t hold up.

"From the way it acted, it’s obvious that it knows a lot about me. It’s been... studying me. Especially the way I act."

I could tell this from the way it made me move back in the office. It was as if it had calculated every one of my actions.

The more my thoughts went along those lines, the creepier things felt. I didn’t even know when it had started.

"Have I really been neglecting something like this for so long?"

Sometimes... I really hated how unbothered I was with things.

No, really.

The worst part was that I was aware of my flaws, but struggled to fix them.

"It’s as they say... A change doesn’t happen overnight."

I made that quote up, but it felt fitting for the situation.

"Enough of that. I really need to think of a way out of this place."

I stood up from my seat and finally looked around me. The ’office’ was as I had last left it.

The best part of it all was the fact that it was still spotless. Unlike the office back in Malovia that had been filled with dust, this place was still pretty clean. In fact, taking a look at this place, I couldn’t help but feel a little nostalgic.

"It’s been a while, really."

I had been so busy with so many things that I had hardly had the time to develop a new game or even think about making a game. A lot of my attention fell on the upcoming task of creating a Gate, but even that was hard.

’I wonder how the others are doing.’

Been a while since I last contacted them.

Step. Step—

Each step I took bounced off the large room, the sound echoing loudly as my hand traced over the game pods.

My eyes shifted to the corners of the room, and then to the massive windows of the place as I walked towards them and stared at the long corridor that seemed to stretch for eternity.

My gaze hovered for a while, shifting from one door to the next along the sides of the corridor, the silence around me feeling more and more oppressive. Above, the lights of the corridor flickered from time to time, their hum softly entering my ears as I drew a small breath, taking in the faint, yet ever-present smell of paper. Each time they flickered, my eyes went back to the farthest doors.

’...Should I just wait to see if the others will somehow find this place?’

I had tried forcing my way out myself. I punched it. I kicked it. And I even went as far as throwing a chair at the door.

But...

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

The door didn’t budge a single bit.

It was obvious to me that it was impossible for me to get out through regular means. My only hope was that my nodes would recover just in time before midnight struck, but the more time passed, the more I felt the sinking feeling that it was probably not going to happen.

I looked down to check the time.

Tik Tik—

[23:17]

"Ah, fuck."

My heart pressed tightly against my chest.

I moved away from the windows, shifting my attention away from the corridor and back to the classroom as I looked for anything that would possibly help me get out of the situation.

Click! Click!

I tried to pull the door open again, but it remained locked. I even kicked it again and threw another chair at it, but that was useless. I waited for the noise to die away, listening for anything from the corridor.

"Haa... Haa..."

The only thing it did was increase my blood pressure.

"...This isn’t going to work."

I cracked my fingers while looking around again.

At the same time, I glanced at my wrist.

[23:31]

"——!"

I nearly had a heart attack.

Turning around, I moved towards the desk and pulled all the drawers open, looking for anything that could help me. I even went to the system shop, only to stop upon realizing that I literally had no SP to use.

"...This is bad."

I stared at the door.

Tik Tik—

It was almost as if I could hear the click of the clock inside my head.

The closer it got to midnight, the louder the sound felt.

I took down another pill.

My head immediately cooled, and I felt a lot more refreshed, but my control over my nodes didn’t return.

"Shit."

My hands subconsciously tightened.

"...Shit. Shit."

The number of times I had said ’shit’ in the last couple of minutes had probably been more than I had ever said in the past week, which was impressive in itself.

Tik Tik!

"Hoo."

I drew another long breath, trying to calm my racing heart.

’Come on. You’re not like this. This isn’t like you.’

I looked around once more, trying to see if there was anything else that could be of use to me. For a moment, the thought of reaching for one of the pods and smacking it against the door reached me, but I quickly gave that idea up.

My back wouldn’t take that...

"Okay, okay."

I pressed my hand against my lips, my teeth subconsciously reaching for my nails as I started to nibble on them.

"...My nodes aren’t working, and I can’t brute force my way out of the room. I don’t currently have the key with me since it’s back in Sines, and at the moment it doesn’t seem like the others have noticed my absence at all."

Tik Tik—!

I turned my wrist.

[23:59]

"..."

My expression remained the same as I kept staring at the numbers.

For just a little longer.

Until—

Flick! Flick! Flick! Flick!

The lights above me flickered wildly, alternating between bright and dark as the air around the classroom suddenly chilled.

Not even a moment later, the doors of the classroom started to shake, the handles letting out a soft metallic clanking sound.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

My head slowly turned, and as it did...

CLANK!

The door burst open, smacking against the side of the room before everything turned quiet once more.

Flick! Flick!

The lights above flickered once, then twice before settling.

And as this happened, I finally heard it.

Step!

Faint, but clear.

The sound of a distant footstep in the corridor.