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

Chapter 691: All is good [2]

[The Butcher’s Wrath]

The aftermath of the incident was big.

Despite the eventual ‘defeat’ of the Butcher, the criticism revolving around the BUA and the major Guilds didn’t die down. Instead, it only grew louder and more persistent.

It was the scene that greeted me the moment I arrived at the Guild with Soran and Rowan’s sister. Crowds packed the area outside as camera flashes went off one after another. Large broadcast trucks lined the end of the street while reporters swarmed the entrance alongside the gathering crowd, their voices carrying across the entire area.

Thankfully, we were prepared in advance as we stopped just a bit before the Guild, where a black SUV suddenly pulled up beside us.

For a split second, my body tensed.

My hand twitched upwards on its own, my exhausted mind already racing through a dozen scenarios of everything that could go wrong⎯

Then the car door slid open, and several familiar figures appeared.

“Where have you been?”

Zoey was the first one to step out.

Her gaze first fell on me, and as her mouth opened again to complain, she suddenly stopped, finally taking notice of Soran and the person resting behind her.

Her eyes widened the moment she caught sight of Rowan’s sister.

“That’s…!”

Her attention immediately fell on me right after. Her gaze looked inquisitive. As if asking me what the hell was going on.

“Hmm.”

I scratched the side of my chin, thinking of what to say.

Her gaze remained fixed on me.

“Hmm.”

I tilted my head slightly.

This wasn’t quite an easy thing to explain, and I wasn’t really in a state to explain. In the end, scratching my chin once more and tilting my head again, I just answered with a, ‘Ehm, you know… rescue mission? Something like that, yeah.’

“…..”

Zoey looked at me speechlessly.

She was at a loss for words. Before she could gather her thoughts, another figure stepped out of the car.

“What are you doing? Get in here quickly!”

Staring at the Section Chief as he hurried us in with a wave of his hand, I glanced at Soran before stepping into the car. She looked a little tired, but besides that, she seemed fine as she exchanged a few words with the Section Chief. She was probably explaining to him what had happened to us.

Besides Zoey and the Section Chief, there was one other person inside of the car, and our gazes met almost immediately.

“What?”

She frowned the moment she saw me.

My face scrunched up.

“…Ugh.”

“Did you just make a face at me?”

“You’re imagining things.”

“You did. Bastard. I’ll⎯”

“Everything alright?”

Zoey appeared behind as she looked into the car, and almost immediately, a high-pitched, soft voice greeted her back.

“Yup~!”

I reached for my face and tried my best to keep it from scrunching up further.

“Hm? Seth? Is something wrong?”

“Me? Nothing. Why?”

“I don’t know…” Zoey frowned while looking me up and down. Seemingly thinking of something, she lowered her voice, “Are you constipated? You look constipated. Maybe…”

Ah.

Did it really look that way?

I turned my head to stare in Catherine’s direction. She had a sweet smile on her face, but her eyes seemed to be warning me, ‘Don’t say anything or I’ll kill you.’

To that, I smiled.

“I am not.”

I smiled brightly at Zoey as she leaned her head back.

“I just had a situation with your sister.”

Catherine’s eyes turned blazing.

I ignored it as Zoey blinked, alternating her gaze between the two of us.

“What ha⎯”

“She confessed to me.”

I came clean, the back of the SUV turning incredibly quiet.

“I rejected her.”

The silence continued.

Until⎯

Clank!

“…..”

A pair of dark eyes fell on us.

Left to right.

Like a hawk, it scanned us all.

Until they eventually fell on me.

“Am I not good enough for you?”

*

Instead of being brought back to the Guild, the Section Chief judged that we all needed to be sent to the hospital. Initially, Soran and I protested, feeling that we didn’t need to go. The only one that truly needed to go was Rowan’s sister, but under the Section Chief’s strong insistence, we were all brought there.

Recalling what had happened in my last hospital visit, I found myself having developed a sort of apprehension towards them.

Just recalling all the weird sensations I had been put through made my body shiver.

In the end, however, it was probably for the best.

It wasn’t until I was put into a bed to rest that I realised just how exhausted I had been. My mind still pounded at the aftermath of the entire situation, and with everything that had happened, I simply passed out the moment I lay down.

Darkness took me before my head even settled against the pillow.

By the time I woke up, I was greeted by the sight of a sterile white ceiling.

For a few seconds, I didn’t know where I was.

For a few more, I didn’t know what had happened.

The unfamiliar ceiling. The smell of disinfectant. The steady, distant beeping from somewhere beyond the walls. My thoughts crawled through it all sluggishly until, piece by piece, everything clicked back into place.

The pounding never stopped. It only diminished as I brought my hand to my head and groaned.

“…Ugh.”

It felt as though a truck had driven over my head and stopped before going back and forth several times. I really felt like shit.

But at the same time, helping myself up, I felt a lot more refreshed as I took a good look at my surroundings.

“I’m back.”

I drew a deep breath.

I was finally back after the entire ordeal.

‘I really didn’t expect things to turn out the way that they did, but in the end, I still managed to deliver my message whilst saving the Team Leader and Rowan’s sister.’

Falling back into the bed, I let out a long exhale.

“They’ll probably still come at me, but at least I’ve bought myself some time.”

There was no way that my message was going to stop them from attacking me. I wasn’t that naive. The main point behind the message was to help me buy time. With everything that I’ve shown and done to them, I knew that they had grown more apprehensive about doing anything to me.

They still didn’t have a full breakdown of my skills, and assumed that I was a lot stronger than I showed.

This was what I wanted.

But at the same time, I also knew that the next time they came at me, they were going to come at me in a way that would make it impossible for me to escape.

Impossible to escape.

The words settled over the quiet room like a weight.

I turned my head towards the window. Outside, the city moved on as usual. Cars, people, and all the mundane things that made up the usual scenes. The entire world was going about its day without a single care.

And somewhere within all of it, I had a sinking feeling that someone was watching me.

‘They’ll start to overestimate me.’

My long-term prospects weren’t very good. Nevertheless, this was something that needed to be done in order for me to continue living. Had I not done this, I would’ve likely been targeted consistently until they finally got me.

Things were much better this way.

‘I need to quickly reach the Fifth Order and quickly develop several ‘Games’.’

This was the best way for me to grow.

This wasn’t the end of my problems, though. Thinking about the potential side effects of the doctor’s pills and the memories that I had lost, I could only close my eyes and smile bitterly.

Just once, I tried reaching for one of the lost memories.

There was nothing to grab onto.

That was the truly unsettling part.

I couldn’t even tell what I had lost.

“Right, I’m supposed to experience some bad luck soon.”

This wasn’t the end of the bad news.

Counting the imminent side effects of the Luck Halo, I was certain that the next week was probably going to be some of the worst in my life.

And sure enough⎯

To Tok!

A sudden knock interrupted my attention.

The timing was so perfect that, for a moment, a chill crawled up my spine. As if it had been waiting right outside the door for me to finish that exact thought.

Lifting my head, I watched as the door opened and a figure walked in.

I recognised them the moment that they entered the room. Wearing a nice dark suit, with a large dark coat resting behind and a dark top hat, they entered the room, taking off the hat and pressing it against their chest as they walked in.

Scanning the surroundings, they looked everywhere but me. The corners of the room. The window. The thin gap beneath the curtains.

It was only after checking every inch of the room that they eventually shifted their attention towards me.

As if making sure we were truly alone.

“How are you doing?”

The Guild Master’s voice was warm.

“…I heard all about the incident.”

He took a seat on the stool next to my bed.

“You did a good job.”

Placing the hat on the table next to me, he crossed his legs and tossed something onto my bed.

It was a newspaper.

My eyes fell on the front page. On the headline stretched across it in letters that were far too large.

“Well…”

A brief silence followed as I stared at the title in the newspaper, a groan escaping my lips.

“…There’s a lot that we need to do.”