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

Chapter 688: Entertaining [2]

“Cough! Cough…!”

A fit of coughs escaped my lips as I followed Paimon toward the castle entrance. The adrenaline had begun to fade, and with it came the full force of the pain.

I felt like shit.

The pills that I had taken from the doctor did help, but those pills weren’t perfect. Just because I felt better didn’t mean that I was out of the clear.

‘He did say that there were side effects.’

I hadn’t experienced them yet, but I was certain I was going to soon.

Not only that, but there were several other side effects that I needed to worry about.

‘…I’ve certainly lost a good chunk of memories, though I’m not quite sure which ones. And I’ll soon be hit with a lot of bad luck.’

I groaned at the thought.

Still, that was something for me to think about later.

There were more important matters at hand.

‘Ah, but I do want to get some good sleep. Maybe I should go get some rest. That’ll do m⎯!’

My eyes snapped open as I came to an abrupt halt. Lifting my head, I watched Paimon continue walking ahead while his voice drifted back to me.

“You seem tired. What do you say, do you want to take some rest before starting?”

This guy…

I forced myself forward, ignoring his voice.

‘Seems like I can’t let my guard down.’

I almost did.

After everything that had happened, and with how friendly he had seemed, I’d almost let myself forget who I was standing before.

‘Right, right. I shouldn’t forget.’

I moved up the stairs in silence, moving towards Paimon’s office before taking a seat in one of the chairs. I didn’t say anything the entire time as Paimon sat opposite me, staring at me with a glass of what I presumed to be tea in his hand.

Leaning back against the chair, I closed my eyes and darkness took over.

Right then, Paimon’s voice reached me once more.

“Good luck~”

***

Cra-Crack!

The sound of glass scraping against the floor echoed as a foot came down on the shattered pieces, the noise cutting through the heavy silence that blanketed the surroundings. For a brief moment, it was the only sound that remained.

The figure moved alone, their eyes sweeping across the surroundings as broken glass crunched beneath their feet. Everything lay shattered and broken, while the lights above flickered weakly.

With a single glance, it looked as though a storm had torn through the place.

The figure continued forward in silence, taking in the aftermath before eventually coming to a stop. From somewhere ahead came the sound of clashing steel and raised voices, echoing faintly through the ruined halls.

Turning the corner, they were greeted by the sight of numerous guards locked in battle against figures dressed in flowing gowns. Blood stained the floor beneath them, while bodies and shattered weapons lay scattered throughout the corridor, granting one a full display of the situation.

Against the far wall, a young guard sat with his cap in his lap, staring at nothing while a medic tried to help him recover.

Looking at things now, while a few skirmishes still remained, the situation had largely been brought under control. Even so, it was clear the battle hadn’t come without losses. Broken glass and shattered equipment littered the floor, leaving the entire area in ruins.

One couldn’t imagine the losses that had been sustained on this day.

The figure continued to take in the surroundings as they walked forward. Throughout it all, not a single person acknowledged their presence. It was as if they carried little to no presence at all.

They moved through the corridors in silence, passing by numerous guards without so much as a glance from them.

This continued until the figure came to a stop before a certain door. Reaching for the handle, they quietly stepped inside.

Clank!

The office was in the same state as everything else. Papers carpeting the floor, tables overturned, a filing cabinet lying face-down in the corner… The place was in an absolute mess, but none of it mattered. The figure’s gaze went straight to the far end of the room, to the man hunched over a flickering monitor.

“No, no, no… Where is it? Where is it…?”

The doctor’s fingers slipped on the keys. He typed the same search twice, deleted it, typed it again. Sweat rolled off his chin and spotted the desk, and one of his thumbnails had been chewed down to blood as he kept gnawing at it anyway, eyes darting across the screen fast enough to hurt.

He looked to be in a complete panic as he frantically searched through the files on the computer. So consumed by what he was doing, he never noticed the door opening. Never noticed the footsteps behind him, with no effort had been made to hide them.

Yet, the doctor never reacted.

Too consumed by the files on the screen, he continued muttering to himself, completely oblivious to the figure standing behind him.

“Where is it? I can’t have lost them… No, no, no… this is a mess. This is a terrible mess. All the samples… and everything. Damn it! Damn it!”

BANG!

His fist came down hard enough to rattle the monitor, his voice cracking as it rose.

“How did he do it!? Who is it?! How did this entire thing happen!”

Gone was the calm and collected doctor from before. The man now standing before them was a far cry from his former self, his bloodshot eyes frantically darting across one document after another.

The charade continued for several more minutes. Then, at last, some animal instinct prickled at the back of his neck, and he turned.

The moment he did, his eyes widened in horror at the sight that greeted him.

“⎯⎯!”

His eyes went wide. His mouth fell open, chest swelling for a scream—

But a hand was already pressed over his lips, sealing the sound away before it could be born.

He hadn’t even seen it move.

The hand withdrew a heartbeat later. The doctor’s head dropped so fast it was a wonder his neck didn’t snap.

His lips opened, but no word came out.

His entire mind was frozen by the sight that stood before them.

A soft voice broke the silence.

“Where is the Enforcer?”

“T-That’s…”

The doctor faltered for a brief moment before quickly composing himself. Hurriedly, he began explaining the situation to the figure before him. How an intruder had broken in, and how even he had no idea what had happened to the Enforcer.

He didn’t omit anything and perfectly recounted the entire situation to the person standing before them.

Throughout it all, the figure remained silent, listening without so much as a reaction. Only after the doctor had finished explaining everything did they finally speak.

“…I see.”

A lukewarm reaction.

And yet the doctor’s head sank even lower. The room hadn’t changed, but it felt as though the air had been quietly stripped out of it, the walls easing inward a centimeter at a time. His ears popped. Sweat crawled down into his collar.

It was… suffocating.

He didn’t dare utter another word. After what felt like an eternity, the voice came again.

“I have a good understanding of the situation. It seems like we’ve been a little too lenient.”

The doctor listened in silence, not understanding what that meant, and knowing better than to ask. His whole life had gone into his research. Everything outside of it had always been someone else’s business.

The figure seemed to understand that much. A hand came to rest, gently, on his shoulder.

“This isn’t something that you should be concerned about. All you have to do is focus on your research. We’ll handle the rest.”

“Yes. Yes…” The doctor nodded rapidly, his gaze fixed on the floor.

“Mhm. It’s good that you’re aware.”

The hand lifted away.

“You are an invaluable asset to us, doctor. Your only concern should be your work. Leave everything else to us. This was an oversight on our end, and I’ll see to it personally that nothing like it ever happens again.”

There was truth in those words. The doctor was invaluable, and his research mattered immensely to the organization. What happened today had never been within his power to prevent, and so, toward him, there was no anger at all.

As for the others…

“…”

The figure turned for the door.

“Follow me, doctor. I’ll escort you elsewhere.”

“…We’re leaving? But my research, I—”

“You needn’t worry about that either. We’ll recover everything that can be recovered. For now, rest while we handle things. Even if the research is delayed a while, that’s acceptable. In the end, you’re still here. As long as you’re her⎯”

“Everything will be alright.”

The doctor’s voice cut clean through the sentence.

The figure stopped.

Slowly, they turned back.

The most unsettling part?

…The doctor’s rattling eyes.

Trembling in their sockets. As if whatever now sat behind them was still getting used to the view.

Understanding arrived in an instant.

“Hello.”

The doctor’s lips parted. The voice that came out was hoarse and off-key, like an instrument being tried for the very first time.

“Ehm. Ehm.”

He cleared his throat twice, seemingly trying to get adjusted to the voice. Flexed his fingers one by one, as if counting them for the first time, then looked ahead and spoke again.

This time, the smile was gone.

“You should’ve never touched me.”