Horror Game Developer: My games aren't that scary!

"O-oh, shit... that’s creepy."

Nora muttered as she leaned in to stare at my screen.

The dim light from the monitor washed over her face, making her expression look even paler than usual.

"Wait, what the hell is this?"

"...What?"

The others came right after, showing similar reactions as they all stared at the monitor. Eventually, Joanna turned to face me.

"Squ-Team... Leader?"

"I... don’t know."

And this was the problem.

I didn’t know at all what was happening. It felt as though the answer was at the tip of my tongue, but at the same time, regardless of how hard I tried to think back, I couldn’t recall at all.

’It’s as if my mem—ah!’

Something clicked inside my mind.

Without answering the others, I reached for my bag and took out my laptop. I knew that the others couldn’t see my app, so I wasn’t too worried as I booted it up and opened the system shop.

The screen’s pale light stood out against the old, dim room. There was something strangely uncomfortable about sitting there, surrounded by empty walls and the faint smell of dust and something else I couldn’t quite place.

[Fate Draught]

: A silver vial that smells of ozone. Drinking it lets the user foresee a single, near-future event within the next ten minutes. He will lose a memory of the same duration.

Price: 41,870 SP

"....."

Staring at the description of the item, I drew a breath.

’At least, this isn’t the thing that I forgot about. No, if I did forget about it, then it would mean that no other memory would be lost, meaning that I gained all the benefits with little loss.’

But it was clear that wasn’t the case.

’Right, I knew that this was going to come back and bite me.’

This scenario wasn’t out of my expectations.

In fact, it was very much possible that I was overthinking things.

However, it was also good to overthink. It was so that I’d never get caught off guard.

Especially in a place like this.

The room was quiet.

Too quiet.

There was no wind, no distant voices, not even the faint sounds of the others moving around the building. Just the occasional creak of the old structure settling somewhere in the darkness.

"What should we do, Team Leader?"

"Let’s collect the stuff that we’ve been assigned and leave this place."

I handed every person a checklist. On the way to the island, I had already briefed them about the situation, so the moment they received the checklist, they knew what they needed to do.

Of course—

"We’ll be going around in groups of two or three. Make sure to be together at all times."

I decided to split the group so that we could cover more ground quickly. Honestly, I didn’t want to linger in this place for much longer.

There was something about the building that I didn’t like.

It wasn’t anything I could properly explain.

It just felt like the place was waiting.

Oh....

I turned to the side and stared at the door attached to the wall.

’Right, there’s this too.’

The door led directly to my game office. I had one in Sines as well, but it was a pity that it didn’t work as a two-way gate that allowed me to go to Malovia directly. It would’ve been extremely convenient otherwise.

The old door stood out against the surrounding wall. Its surface was covered in scratches and faint stains that I didn’t remember being there before.

I stared at it for a moment longer than necessary.

Then I looked away.

"Alright, get going."

The groups were as follows;

Min, Nora, and Sarah.

Joanna, Ariel, and Niel.

Lastly, it was Mia, Jordan, and me.

I turned my wrist to check the time.

"We’ve got a couple of hours to get everything that we need. After that, we leave this place directly."

Regarding the missing person that I was supposed to find, I planned on looking for him right after we were done with this.

Just wanted to get done with this before getting to that.

"Ehm."

The room became noticeably quieter as the others left. In a way, this was a good thing.

In another—

"Ehm. Ehm."

"Can you stop that?"

I turned to look at Mia as she awkwardly held her fist near her mouth. At the same time, she made weird movements with her eyes as she looked at Jordan.

Was she struggling to talk to him?

I looked at Jordan.

He was standing where he was, completely still, back straight as though he was in some sort of military regiment.

The sight was strangely unsettling.

Not because of his posture.

But because he hadn’t moved at all since the others left.

I was taken aback by the sight.

What is he doing?

’From what I know, he’s supposed to be a top recruit. Well... Considering how crazy most of the people in this business are, this shouldn’t be too surprising.’

I looked at my laptop one more time before closing it.

The screen went dark.

For a brief moment, I could see my own reflection in it.

Or at least, I thought I did.

I frowned before looking away.

The situation was rather serious. I wasn’t planning on letting this go.

If anything, I needed to be extra careful. Especially since I was now aware that an entity I barely knew about was chasing after me.

Thankfully, I had an idea of what to do.

"You two, do me a favor. Start looking at the main area. Leave the door open so I can keep an eye on you. In the meantime, I’ll clean up my office and get my stuff."

"That’s... but..."

"It won’t take long."

Mia made several faces, but eventually she nodded her head as she opened the door and moved to the main area, Jordan following her from behind.

The exact moment she left, I lowered my head to look at the floor where a head appeared.

A smile greeted me.

"Say... do you know anything about this?"

"...Not much, but I have an idea."

The Conductor softly replied, its stitched-up lips stretching ever so slightly.

Its voice was quiet enough that I almost felt like I was hearing it from somewhere behind me.

I could tell from its gaze that it was definitely aware of what was going on, which was a good thing.

I may have forgotten, but that didn’t mean my anomalies did.

"Tell me all that you know."

"...A rather troublesome anomaly."

"That’s not very useful."

"It’s been quite a while since it’s been haunting you."

"What? Quite a while? How long are we talking about?"

"At least half a year."

I almost had the sudden urge to curse aloud.

Almost half a year?

For that long...!?

What in the world have I been doing the entire time?

I glanced toward the open doorway.

Mia and Jordan were still there.

At least, I could still see them.

"I say it’s quite troublesome because you even tried looking for it, but even so, you had a hard time. This is no simple anomaly."

Ah, great.

I already had my hands full with 1048, and now there was another troublesome one to deal with.

"Do you sense its presence?"

"...I cannot. It’s a rather sneaky one. It’s been following you for quite some time, but even after all this time, you’ve never gotten a glimpse of it."

"I see."

Without thinking much, I reached for my bag and retrieved an old-looking lamp. I thought about using the compass, but I had a feeling that this was probably the better item. Especially since the anomaly had been here just moments prior.

The lamp was colder than I remembered.

Cold enough that I instinctively tightened my grip around it.

[Shadow Lantern]

: A small lantern that casts a faint, eerie light, revealing the footsteps of anyone present. The light lasts for 45 minutes.

Beware: The glow may attract attention.

Warning: Handle with caution in confined spaces.

Non-Consumable.

This was an item I had gotten quite a while back.

In the Hourglass Gate.

Taking out the item, I raised it immediately as a blue light flickered out of it and covered the entire room.

The darkness seemed to pull away from the walls.

The moment it did, my breath held.

Steps...

All sorts of steps appeared in every direction.

They were everywhere.

Some led toward the door.

Some led toward the walls.

Some stopped in the middle of the room for no apparent reason.

And some...

Some were right beside me.

Close enough that if whoever had made them had been standing there, they would’ve been touching my shoulder.

Then—

CLANK!

The door came to an abrupt close as my head rose in an instant.

Immediately, my body tensed as I stared around me, but as I looked around, I didn’t find a single thing.

Nothing.

Not even a shadow.

The blue light continued to flicker quietly.

For some reason, the room felt smaller than it had a moment ago.

Tok! Tok!

"Team Leader? Team Leader?"

Mia’s voice echoed right after that as I stood up from my seat and reached for the door, slowly pulling it open to see her and Jordan standing before me.

They were both staring at me.

"Team Leader...? What the hell was that? Did you close the door?"

"...It wasn’t me."

I shook my head whilst looking around.

"It definitely wasn’t me."

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