Horror Game Developer: My games aren't that scary! Chapter 816: Loan [1]

"Don’t call me like this."

"...What?"

I stared at Kyle, who stood beside my desk with a rather annoyed expression. His hair was a little messy, and he kept looking between the bed and me.

"You could’ve just called me. Why did you bring me all the way here?"

"I wanted to speak with you."

"I was sleeping. Then, all of a sudden, I find myself standing in your room. Don’t do it."

"...Relax. I brought you here because this isn’t something I could tell you over the phone."

Kyle looked at me for a moment.

Then he rubbed his face.

"Tsk."

"....."

Did he just click his tongue at me?

I watched him pull out the chair beside the desk before deciding to let it go. There were more important things to take care of.

"I need money."

"No."

"I..."

"No."

"But..."

"No."

He didn’t even sit down.

Instead, he pushed the chair back into place and turned towards me.

"Send me back. I’m not giving you any more money."

"You could at least listen first."

"I already gave you plenty. You also owe me that money back."

"Right, but—"

"Zoey is asking about it too."

My mouth stopped moving.

"Did she really?"

"No. But I’m asking for her."

Tsk. Tsk.

"We’re dating, so..."

"It doesn’t matter."

Kyle turned away, taking a look around the room before pointing towards the bed.

"You’re stuck in this place and you can’t even go out much. Why do you even need so much money? It’s not like—"

"I do."

He stopped.

I smiled at him.

"I need a lot of money."

"....."

He seemed to be waiting for me to say something else.

Something stupid, probably.

I was tempted.

But this wasn’t why I brought him here.

My eyes moved towards the desk, stopping on the radio beside the computer before returning to Kyle.

"...I’m in desperate need of money."

The words came out a little quieter than before.

I wasn’t showing it much, but the pressure was growing by the day. Getting out of the hospital was good, and figuring out what Pasture could do was even better.

Neither meant that my problems were gone.

The radio was still here.

So was VILE-1048.

Both problems were haunting me silently, waiting to quietly swallow me at any given moment. Despite my attempts at trying to solve either, I was hardly able to get much closer to the truth.

I didn’t particularly like either situation.

Especially the second one.

I was being targeted, and despite everything that happened, I still didn’t know where to start looking.

Money was the key to everything. From essence to shop items. Or even Gate construction.

In order for me to survive this ordeal, I needed as much money as possible.

I brought up the System window and looked through it.

Nothing new.

It used to give me quests left and right, but now, it only gave them to me on rare occasions.

A strike?

Well, that made sense. But I didn’t hate it.

It felt as though I had more control over myself.

Then my gaze stopped on one of the existing quests.

VILE-1048.

"....."

...The reward was quite nice, but I needed the money in order to deal with it.

"Ugh."

I closed the window and slowly turned my chair around and looked out the window. The view was quite nice.

"Do you really need it?"

Kyle’s voice made me turn.

He was still standing beside the desk, but the irritation on his face was a little less obvious now.

I looked at him.

"Yeah."

I nodded seriously.

"I really do."

He studied me for a few seconds before looking towards the radio. Then his attention returned to my face.

"How much?"

"A lot."

"That doesn’t tell me anything."

"More than last time."

His expression immediately grew worse.

"....."

Well, at least I was being honest.

Kyle pulled out the chair again and sat down.

For a little while, he said nothing. I let him think, keeping my hands against the armrests while he rubbed the side of his neck.

Eventually, he sighed.

"I can’t lend you much more."

"I see."

"But can’t you just take a loan?"

"...?"

I raised my brow.

"A loan?"

"Yes."

Kyle looked at me strangely.

"If you’re that desperate, take a loan. The Guild offers them too. The interest is almost nothing, provided you qualify."

"....."

Wait.

I slowly straightened in my chair as Kyle continued.

"I took one in the past. It isn’t particularly unusual. With your reputation, getting a substantial amount shouldn’t be that difficult."

"That’s..."

I looked towards the computer.

A loan.

Right.

Borrowing money...

That could work. I mean, I’d rather borrow money and owe someone instead of just letting the events overwhelm me.

I turned back towards Kyle just as his brows drew together.

"Although getting one from our Guild might be difficult."

"Why?"

He stared at me.

I stared back.

Then I remembered.

"Oh..."

"Considering how many people you’ve managed to upset, I wouldn’t expect them to make it easy."

That was unfortunate.

For a moment, it seemed like I finally found a rather good solution.

Kyle looked around the room again.

"What about this Guild?"

"Obsidian Bastion?"

"Why not?"

I frowned.

"Would they lend money to someone who’s only here temporarily?"

"I don’t know. You could ask...?"

"Hmm."

"The Guild Master personally brought you here, didn’t he?"

"Yes."

"Then start there."

I leaned back.

The old man was being rather nice to me.

Too nice, actually.

Asking him for money would make it even harder to understand what I owed him. But borrowing it through the Guild would at least give me an idea of just how much he favoured me. I knew that there was more to his actions than simply wanting to recruit me.

I just couldn’t put it into words, but if it worked to my benefit, I didn’t mind taking advantage of it.

I nodded slowly.

"See? You can be useful at times."

Kyle’s brows furrowed.

"What?"

"You can go now. I’ll see you around."

"No, wait. Don’t just—"

"Bye!"

His figure faded before he could finish.

The room grew quiet.

I looked towards the computer again, already thinking about who I should speak with in the morning.

Then I stopped.

"Oh, right."

I looked back at the empty chair.

Dismissing Kyle wasn’t the same as sending him back to where I summoned him from.

"....."

I knocked the side of my head lightly.

"That’s so silly."

I was about to call him out again when my nose started itching.

"Achoo."

My hand stopped.

The smile slowly disappeared from my face as I rubbed beneath my nose.

For a moment, I thought that’d be the end of it.

But soon—

"Achoo!"

"....."

I lowered my hand and looked towards the radio.

The static sound was all I could hear.

Krrr—

But it was the lack of reaction that made my heart sink.

I was running out of time.

I could feel it.

***

The next morning, I got out of bed and prepared to head downstairs.

Before leaving, I checked my disguise in the mirror.

It was fine.

I adjusted my shirt, picked up my temporary card, and made my way towards the Containment Department.

There were quite a few people around when I arrived.

Most were working.

Some stopped when they noticed me.

At first, I thought there was something wrong with my clothes again. I looked down, checking that my shirt was tucked in before continuing past the workstations.

But apparently, that wasn’t the problem.

"He’s still here?"

The voice came from somewhere to my right.

I turned slightly.

Two people stood beside a desk, their attention shifting away the moment I looked in their direction.

"I thought the Guild Master called him upstairs."

"He did."

"Then why..."

The rest became too quiet to hear.

I continued walking.

A little farther ahead, someone looked at my temporary card before leaning towards the woman beside him.

"That’s Crow?"

"Yes. The one assigned to Keller’s team."

"The one who ignored the orders?"

I slowed down slightly.

"Tessa was on that team."

"I heard. Apparently, Keller refuses to work with him now."

"Can you blame him?"

"....."

I looked towards them.

Neither bothered looking away this time.

One simply watched me pass, his expression making it quite clear what he thought of my continued presence.

How interesting.

I adjusted my sleeve and continued towards the workroom, a small smile forming on my face.