Horror Game Developer: My games aren't that scary! Chapter 745: Stuck [1]

"What?"

The call that Zoey received was an unexpected one.

It took a moment for her to process it.

"...He disappeared, and you think that he’s likely stuck inside the torture chambers? Wait, what are the torture chambers? He had torture chambers?"

The more she listened to the conversation, the more she realized that there was something wrong.

"He tortures people?"

Zoey was horrified by the sudden revelation. But then again, thinking about it, she knew that she was probably misunderstanding. Having learned her lessons from the past, she was quick to cool herself.

"This isn’t some sort of nickname for a room that you guys don’t like, right?"

⎯It’s his game development room.

"Ah."

It all suddenly clicked in her mind.

She didn’t personally get to see the true ’horrors’ of the room, but she did hear about it.

"So you’re saying that he’s likely stuck in that room, and you want me to get him out through the door that is in his office? He has a door connected to here too?"

⎯Yes, that’s what I believe to be the case. To be honest, we aren’t certain about our guesses, but this is the most likely explanation behind his disappearance.

"Alright."

Zoey paused.

"You did well telling me first instead of panicking. Things would’ve been rather troublesome if you had told the Section Chief."

Not because the Section Chief was untrustworthy, but because by law, the Section Chief had to disclose any important events that pertain to the disappearance of a member. If he didn’t do so, then he’d be subjected to the Guild’s harsh punishment.

’...Given the recent times, I’m sure they’ll use this as a perfect chance to tear him down.’

She was also certain that they would probably use this news as leverage to either sell Seth away or devalue him even further.

Logically speaking, this was bad for the Guild.

There was literally no benefit for the Guild. Only loss.

However, in the race for the Guild Master position, the Guild’s benefit was always put beneath the contender’s interest. If there was anything that was in their way, they were certain to remove it.

In this case, it was none other than the Section Chief and Seth.

"That aside, what exactly were you dealing with? What happened to the anomaly? Did you manage to catch it?"

⎯We... have not seen it since the Team Leader disappeared.

"You haven’t seen it?"

Zoey’s brows furrowed.

Now this was troublesome.

Seth’s situation was already quite difficult, but the fact that he had been trapped by an anomaly was worrisome itself.

’He’s not the type to get caught off-guard like that. Whatever it was, I’m sure it’s not some random anomaly.’

⎯With the Team Leader’s disappearance... we all tried to look for him. Of course, we tried to be careful and look for it, but... there was nothing.

"Nothing?"

Zoey chewed on the words.

As she did, her expression gradually started to change.

"You’re certain that nothing is inside the Guild. You’ve looked everywhere, right?"

⎯As far as we’re aware. Do you think...?

"Yes."

Zoey replied without hesitation, her voice lowering slightly as she prepared to hang up the phone.

"...It might be with him."

The anomaly.

"Hiding."

Zoey took a deep breath.

"...Waiting."

Her head slowly turned in the direction of Seth’s office as she entered it and reached for the door within his office.

Click!

"Hunting."

***

"I’m not going to get out of this place anytime soon, am I?"

The first thing I did after waking up was look at the door of the room. It was still closed.

I sat up from the bed and let out a soft breath.

"This is a bit surprising."

At first, I assumed I could get out if someone opened the door from my office in Sines, but that clearly wasn’t the case.

This made the situation a little difficult for me.

But it wasn’t anything that made me panic.

"My nodes aren’t working either."

This was the part that truly concerned me.

’Why are they not working? I’ve eaten the pills, and I’ve also been resting for a while. Are the side effects of the doctor’s pills that strong?’

Hate to admit it, but this was probably karma from being so reckless before. I did achieve my goal in sending a message and buying myself time, but I also did mess myself up quite a bit with all the items that I had used.

This was certainly no coincidence.

"...It’s a bit of a problem, but I can work with this for now."

Getting out of bed, I looked around me before heading to the fridge and getting myself some water. Drinking it quickly, I also got myself a bag of chips and started eating them as I sat back down at my PC and booted it up.

"There’s still a bit of time."

I turned my wrist to check the time.

It was only [14:37].

There was still plenty of time before midnight.

’Maybe by the time midnight strikes, they’ll already be here.’

Not that I was really keen on that happening. A large part of me still wanted to get to the bottom of this entire situation. That part hadn’t changed.

It was all that I could think about.

There were a few lingering thoughts about VILE - 1048, but those took a back seat as I found myself continuously thinking about the current scenario.

"It’s pretty clear that I’m the only one who knows all of this stuff. The Guild never tried to go and research any deeper since all those who did died, and there’s nothing to gain from this investigation.

I didn’t really blame the Guild for this.

The lack of information in the database was quite annoying, but I had gone through much worse.

What I was annoyed about was something else entirely.

"Right... there’s a task that I’m still supposed to do back in Malovia, and the entire reason I even went is for the damn Gate. At this rate, I might never develop a full Gate."

I could feel myself slowly starting to fall behind more and more with regard to the Gate Development situation.

I really needed to get myself working.

"Hoo."

Another breath left my body as I checked the time.

[14:45].

Tik Tik—

Time continued to tick.

[16:33].

The door remained locked.

[19:57].

The soft hum of the lights and PC lingered in the air, never allowing the silence to settle.

[22:11].

My nodes were still not working.

I couldn’t feel anything at all. Not even the slightest bit.

[23:38]

It was almost time.

I started stretching, once again trying to feel for my nodes.

’Still nothing.’

My nodes had completely given up on me.

I pressed my lips together, shifting my attention towards the main door of the classroom.

[23:55]

Time ticked slowly.

And just as the last seconds ticked by, the lights outside flickered.

Flick! Flick!

It was dark in one moment, bright in the next.

This alternated for a few seconds before settling.

After which—

CLANK!

The door suddenly smacked open, a step following right after.

Step!.

’It’s time.’

I glanced at my watch for the last time.

[00:00]

The second round.