Horror Game Developer: My games aren't that scary! Chapter 792: A bunch of lunatics [2]

The large conference room was quiet as the Guild Master of Ivory Thorn changed the image on the screen.

Several people sat around the long table, with representatives from different Guilds occupying the seats nearest to him. All belonged to large Guilds within the Oak Circle.

There wasn’t a single representative from the five major Guilds.

That didn’t mean they weren’t paying attention. The Guild Master knew that much. He also knew that several of the people sitting in front of him were considerably more interested in what his Guild would lose than what had happened inside the Gate.

None of them actually cared for the Gate.

A man with silver-rimmed glasses lowered the report in his hands.

"This is where they encountered it?"

"Yes."

The image showed a large hall with several broken pillars. Bodies lay scattered across the floor, although it was difficult to make out much else through the blood covering part of the lens.

"Who recovered this?"

"One of the survivors."

"And where are they now?"

"They’re being treated."

The man’s fingers tapped against the report.

"We’ll need to speak with them before we can consider committing anyone."

"You’ll be able to speak with them when they’re in a condition to answer."

The Guild Master pressed the remote before the man could respond.

The image started moving.

Heavy breathing came through the speakers as the person wearing the camera moved behind a pillar. Someone was shouting nearby, but the sound of metal striking the floor made it difficult to hear what they were saying.

Then a woman entered the frame.

She stood in the middle of the hall, wearing a pale dress that had darkened around her waist. Her hair hung loosely around her face, and one of her feet was bare.

There was a knife in her right hand.

The Guild Master and everyone else in the room watched her lift it.

He had already seen the recording several times, and yet, his fingers still tightened around the remote.

A member of the raid team stood a short distance from the woman. He was slowly backing away, his attention remaining fixed on her as he reached towards his waist.

"What’s he doing?"

The Guild Master didn’t answer.

The woman brought the knife towards her stomach.

And then?

Puchi!

A scream came through the speakers.

But it wasn’t hers.

It came from the member of the raid team, his mouth hung open as he stared down at his hand, his fingers trembling as blood spilled from the exact spot the woman had stabbed herself.

"Haaaa—!"

His scream ripped through the surroundings as the woman pulled the knife free from her body.

Blood spilled between the man’s fingers as she did so. He staggered back, but before anyone could reach him, the woman dropped her knife on the floor and slipped her fingers into the wound.

Several people around the table stopped moving.

She inched her finger into the wound.

"Haaa!!"

The man screamed again as both hands moved towards his stomach, his scream growing even more hoarse.

"No! Hold him!"

Someone rushed into the frame and caught his wrists.

The camera shook. For a few seconds, there was nothing but the side of a pillar and the sound of the man begging them to stop his hands.

Then the woman came back into view.

Her dress had split around her stomach, blood leaking out constantly. Lifting her head, she looked in the direction of the man holding his teammate’s wrist as she reached down for the knife.

Slowly, her bloody hand moved towards her neck.

Then?

The recording stopped.

"....."

The Guild Master lowered the remote.

"That was the last clear section of the footage."

Nobody immediately spoke. A woman near the end of the table looked down at the report before turning back to the image left on the screen.

"Mind control?"

"That’s what we initially thought."

"You don’t think so anymore?"

"We don’t know."

His answer made several people frown.

"The survivors described the same thing. They remained conscious. They knew what was happening, but they couldn’t do anything about it. She reflects her own pain onto whoever is in the room."

"Then restrain her."

The man with silver-rimmed glasses spoke again.

"Or kill her before she can do anything."

The Guild Master changed the image.

The woman appeared again, this time from farther away. A spear was buried in her chest, and part of her stomach remained open beneath it.

She was standing over two bodies.

"Those were also suggestions we proposed, but it doesn’t work. Restraints only serve to restrain others."

The man’s mouth closed.

"We haven’t identified what allows her to select someone, or how far away they need to be before they’re safe. Whatever this Decree is, it doesn’t match anything in our records."

The Guild Master looked around the table.

"Until we understand it, sending another team inside will only—"

The doors opened.

Clank!

***

Several heads turned towards us as we entered.

I looked around the room, taking in the long table and the people seated around it before briefly stopping on the projection.

Oh.

That looked rather unpleasant.

Joanna came in beside me while Ariel followed, still looking quite pleased with herself. The others entered shortly after, their sunglasses remaining neatly in place.

Everyone besides Jordan.

He stood near the doorway, looking between us and the people around the table as though he was still deciding whether to come inside or not.

I tilted my head towards him.

He reluctantly took a step forward.

Good. We shouldn’t leave anyone behind.

"You are...?"

The man who spoke wore silver-rimmed glasses. His gaze had already moved over our Guild insignia, but he still looked at me as though he couldn’t understand why I was there.

I smiled and took off my sunglasses.

"...I am a man of many names."

His brows drew together.

"To some, I am called Team Leader. To others, I’m simply Seth. Those who know me better tend to add a few words before or after my name."

"This isn’t—"

"Talented. Considerate. Exceptionally competent. There are quite a few, so I won’t go through all of them. Oh, right, some also call me lunatics, but I’m not."

I approached the table, keeping my injured hand close to my stomach.

"Of course, some people also call me a bastard, but those are usually people who don’t know me very well."

"Those are titles..."

"When a door is close, it’s still a door."

"What...?"

"Is it not?"

"Team Leader Thorne."

"Ah. So you do know one."

His expression stiffened.

I nodded appreciatively before pulling out an empty chair with my good hand.

"We could’ve saved quite a bit of time."

See?

At the end of the day, the only way to get these people to stop acting like idiot was to just say a bunch of nonsense.

I found this method to work quite well.

"This isn’t the place for another one of your publicity stunts."

"There’s cameras here?"

"....."

He didn’t answer.

I sat down and placed my sunglasses beside the report on the table. Joanna stopped behind my chair, while the others moved out of the doorway.

Turning my attention towards the projection, I studied the woman on the screen.

A spear in her chest. An open stomach.

And she was still standing.

Hmm.

"Well, go on."

I gestured towards the screen.

Nobody moved.

The Guild Master stood at the head of the table, his brows furrowed as he looked from me towards the others behind my chair.

"How did you get inside?"

"Through the door."

"I can see that."

"If you weren’t allowed inside, then obviously there’s a r—"

"Do you know what I hate the most?"

My smile faded.

The Guild Master stopped speaking as I rested my good hand against the table.

"People who waste my time."

The room grew noticeably quieter.

I had come here to listen to a meeting. I wasn’t here for anything else. I didn’t even want to be here in the first place, so the faster this went, the better.

’I am starting to understand why the Section Chief always looks so tired.’

Pointing towards the projection, I looked straight at the Guild Master.

"If there’s anyone who can solve this case, it’s me."

The man with silver-rimmed glasses let out a small breath. In a way, it almost felt as though he was laughing at me .

I turned towards him.

"Who are you?"

"I am..."

"No, never mind, I don’t care."

His expression stiffened as I turned around.

"I’m good at what I do. More-so than most of the people present."

Several expressions changed.

That wasn’t arrogance.

It was the cold truth.

"If you want to solve this, then I’m your best bet. So..."

I leaned back and nudged my head towards the projection.

"Continue."

"....."

Nobody spoke.

The Guild Master’s attention remained fixed on me. He looked rather irritated, but his gaze eventually shifted towards the woman on the screen.

I waited.

The man with silver-rimmed glasses opened his mouth, only for the Guild Master to raise his hand.

Then he looked at me again.

"Will you actually help...?"

"To be honest, no."

"...!?"

"I’m only here as a formality. I only said what I said because it sounded cool, so go ahead. I’ll leave after I’m done."

I only said what I said because the way they looked at me bothered me.

I actually couldn’t care less about the meeting.

There were more pressing matters that I needed to deal with.