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

Chapter 645: Crawling Unease [1]

Cedrick’s face changed several times as he stared at the figure ahead, his lips opening and closing repeatedly as he stared at the familiar face that stood before him.

"H-how is this...?"

"I expected to have a little more time, but this is good enough. I did create this entire situation for him, so I guess it’s fine if I hurry things a little bit. It won’t make much of a difference to me."

The voice whispered in the room, completely ignoring Cedrick as the figure mumbled to himself.

Cedrick softly groaned as he tried to move, but when he tried, he was horrified to see that his entire body was chained up from all directions, preventing him from moving at all. He struggled with all his might, but the chains kept him in place.

"Ugh...! Ukh!"

RATTLE!

"What are you doing!? Let me go! Why...!? Why are you doing this, Team Leader!"

Cedrick’s shouts reverberated across the small room, prompting the figure to stop, silence sweeping the surroundings as the figure slowly turned back, revealing a face he was all too familiar with, and Cedrick’s throat tightened as the words remained stuck.

His lips parted, but no words came out as the Team Leader turned his head. His expression twisted a little as he muttered, "He called me a low-tiered cultist, can you believe that, Cedrick?"

There was a bit of anger in his tone as he looked at Cedrick.

"Him of all people... Haha."

He even laughed, but the laugh sent chills down Cedrick’s entire body as the Team Leader’s voice quietly carried throughout the entire room.

"...This was always supposed to happen, but I planned on giving you at least a couple of days. Just a couple of days for you to enjoy what little life you had left."

As his lips cracked into a smile, the Team Leader stepped forward under the dim lighting, exposing his pale face as he lowered himself to stand face-to-face with Cedrick, who was still struggling to speak, his entire expression filled with nothing but shock.

"You see, there’s someone that I need to get rid of. I used to be a big fan of them, but I’ve been rather disappointed with them. I’m a rather disgruntled fan, and so I did a few things here and there in order to create a situation where he’d come to me."

The Team Leader suddenly laughed while staring at Cedrick’s expression.

"...One of the few things that you learn while developing games is that you always want the ’character’ to move in the way that you want, rather than having the pieces move in accordance with what the character is doing. Only by stripping away their control can you truly create an element of tension and fear in a game."

The Team Leader pulled away from Cedrick while looking around the room. As he did, he checked his watch to determine the time.

"Of course, there’s that, but there’s also the more complicated matter of setting up the ’stage’ for the character to enter. In my case, it’s exactly what I’m doing. I’m creating the perfect stage to take him down. That... however, isn’t quite the easiest of things, and it requires sacrifices."

All of a sudden, the Team Leader’s attention fixed on Cedrick. His lips turned further up.

"Do you know how anomalies are created?"

The Team Leader moved further to Cedrick, whose breath started to turn heavier by the second. His eyes shook, but no words came out of his mouth. It was almost as if something or someone had stripped him completely of his voice as the Team Leader pressed his finger against Cedrick’s temple.

"There are many ways they are created, but I can assure you of one thing..." The Team Leader suddenly chuckled, "...Humans are partially responsible for the creation of a lot of them. In my case, I can create anomalies without the need for sacrifices, but it’s not cheap. It’s much cheaper for me to do it this way. After all, all it takes is just a few sacrifices for me to do so."

Rattle! Rattle!

Cedrick’s entire body trembled as he struggled to free himself from the grasp of the situation, but it was his struggle that made the Team Leader shake his head.

"There’s no point in struggling. Any minute now, and you’ll turn just like the others that I’ve taken. If you⎯"

All of a sudden, the Team Leader’s words came to a sudden stop as his brows furrowed tightly and he turned to face the door. Though subtle, he heard something. ’Thump,’ He heard it again. His expression changed subtly as he walked towards the door, his ears straining as he tried to keep listening.

And soon⎯

Thump!

The sound drew closer.

Hearing the sound, the Team Leader’s expression turned even more serious. As things stood, he wasn’t aware of what was happening. But it seemed to sound like a step. A heavy one. Did something go wrong with one of the anomalies? As his thoughts wandered in such a direction, his expression suddenly changed as he heard a loud rattling coming from behind him.

Rattle! Rattle! Rattle!

As the Team Leader’s face flicked back, his eyes widened as he stared in Cedrick’s direction, whose face had turned completely white, and his hands reached down to grasp his throat as his entire body started to spasm.

"What’s going on?"

Having dealt with a lot of unusual situations, the Team Leader remained rather calm. However, despite this, he wasn’t able to hide the trace of unease that carried through his brows as he stared in Cedrick’s direction.

Rattle! Rattle!

Cedrick’s body continued to twist, his face turning paler and paler by the second. The veins around his neck started to bulge, and blood started to leak down from his nostrils as his bloodshot eyes focused in the Team Leader’s direction.

"H-help! H-help...!"

His muted, almost helpless cries reverberated across the surroundings as he reached for the Team Leader. However, the Team Leader remained where he was, his gaze looking down on the symbol written on the floor, trying to determine where he had gone wrong.

’Did I write it wrong? Is this what’s going on? I need to stop him.’

Cedrick was rather important. While he had already done a lot of preparations, there were a lot of things that he needed to do in order to make sure that everything went smoothly. His original plan was to turn Cedrick into an anomaly that would fit his perfect gate.

His masterpiece.

For he wanted to create a Gate that was unlike the one that had taken over the Western District. He wanted to outdo himself, and Cedrick was important for that.

But...

"Ukh! Ukh...!"

Cedrick continued to groan, his face paling further as it turned completely red. The veins grew even more pronounced, and his expression changed drastically as it did.

The Team Leader realized very quickly that the situation had turned for the worse, and he opened his lips and approached Cedrick; it happened.

BANG!

Cedrick’s head exploded, and blood spilled in all directions.

"!!"

The scene caused the Team Leader to freeze on the spot, his entire face blanking as he struggled to grasp the situation.

"....."

The silence carried for what felt like several minutes, until the soft yet muted ’thumping’ sound returned, and he stared at Cedrick’s headless body in front of him.

His brows furrowed tightly as he stared at it.

And this was also the moment when he felt it.

The crawling unease.