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

Chapter 735: Hide and Seek [1]

“T-that wasn’t you?”

Mia’s voice trembled slightly as she looked at me, her usually pale face seemingly even paler than usual. In a way, Mia was quite the opposite of the me in the past. She was someone who openly displayed her fear, but when it came down to it, she usually got her job done.

“…Yes, it wasn’t.”

I looked around me.

I took in every detail of my old room.

From my desk, where the light from the monitor faintly flickered, casting a dim light over the room, to the table, the door on the other side, and the lamp above.

Everything looked exactly as it should.

At least…

That’s what I thought.

The room was eerily still. The faint blue glow from the Shadow Lantern continued to spill across the floor, illuminating the walls and the scattered objects around me, alongside the footsteps. Shadows stretched across the corners of the room, twisting slightly whenever the lantern flickered.

I narrowed my eyes.

There was nothing.

No one.

And yet, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing something.

As if there was something standing right in front of me.

Something that I simply couldn’t see.

“Wait… what are these footsteps?”

It was Jordan who spoke as he looked into the room, his gaze wandering across it as he took a look at the numerous footsteps.

I raised the lantern slightly to show him.

“It’s a special item of mine. It allows me to see the footsteps of anyone present.”

I looked back at the numerous footsteps around the room, my eyes tracing each and everyone present, trying to see if there was some sort of pattern.

“…A lot of the footsteps belong to us, but…”

I cast the lantern higher up, the blue light moving upwards, pushing the darkness away as the footsteps around the wall and other areas were exposed.

There were far more than I had initially noticed.

Some of them were scattered around the floor, while others seemed to overlap with our own.

But there were also footsteps that made no sense.

They climbed up the walls.

Some even continued across the ceiling.

And then there were the ones that simply stopped.

As if whoever had made them had suddenly disappeared.

“I don’t think any of us are capable of doing such things.”

Jordan’s expression stiffened slightly.

On the other hand, Mia slowly took a step back.

Neither of them said anything.

For a few seconds, the only thing we could hear was the faint hum of the monitor behind us.

Then—

Tok.

A single footprint appeared on the wall.

“———!”

“—!”

Instantly, my hand moved in the direction of where the noise came from, the shadows twisting and moving as I moved the lamp. And it was there that I noticed something.

A footstep.

…One that I hadn’t seen before.

‘It’s fresh.’

Unlike the other footsteps scattered across the room, this one hadn’t been there just moments ago.

My eyes narrowed as I stared at it, my heart racing faster than it should have.

The blue light of the lantern flickered faintly, casting the footprint’s shadow across the wall.

“…”

Something…

Is here with us.

And I couldn’t see it all.

Still, I didn’t panic. Instead, I reached into my pocket and retrieved a pair of sunglasses before putting them on.

The moment I did, the world around me shifted. A blue tint filled my vision as everything around me started to freeze. The footsteps before me faded, while fog emerged from each breath of mine.

Shivers ran down my arms as I looked around, trying my best to spot something.

Anything.

But…

‘I still can’t see anything.’

There was absolutely nothing in the room. The corners were empty, the shadows perfectly still.

And yet—

The back of my neck tingled.

Although I couldn’t see anything, I could feel a certain gaze on me.

It was staring at me.

I could just… feel it.

My head flicked back, but all that greeted me was the sight of Mia and Jordan, both staring at me in surprise.

“Team Leader? Did you notice anything…?” Mia asked as she looked at me with worry.

“…..”

I didn’t answer.

Licking my lips, which had gone dry, I continued to look around me. The silence felt strangely heavy, as if even the room itself had erased all noise around me.

But it wasn’t the silence that felt unsettling.

What was unsettling was the lack of reaction from my items.

I clenched my teeth.

‘I know you’re here. As if I’m going to let you keep playing with me.’

Taking off my sunglasses, the darkness returned. The cold didn’t, however, as my body continued to shiver. I reached into my pocket, taking out a familiar compass. The metal outer casing felt colder than usual as I stared at it.

‘Help me find the anomaly that is haunting me.’

The compass immediately started to move.

Tik! Tik!

The hand moved twice to the left, and then to the right.

Tik. Tik.

North. West. West. North.

It continued to alternate between the two, the hand twitching back and forth as though it couldn’t decide which direction to point toward.

Until it eventually settled on a certain direction.

Slowly turning my head, my gaze fell on the door at the end of the room, my brows furrowing at the sight of it.

“…”

The door was completely still.

There was nothing strange about it.

And yet, for some reason, the room suddenly felt closer. As if I was just one step away from it.

I stared at it for a few seconds.

Then I glanced down at the compass.

The hand hadn’t moved.

It was pointing directly at the door.

‘It’s inside my game office?’

I licked my lips again, my gaze directed right towards the door. I couldn’t tell if whatever was haunting me was standing right before the door or behind it.

But whatever the case was, I didn’t move.

‘…It could be a trap.’

Still, I wanted to desperately get rid of it. The longer this dragged on, the more dangerous things would be for me. But there was a massive problem.

Right now, I was with Mia and Jordan. I couldn’t show my abilities to them, lest I wanted to reveal the fact that I was once the Jester.

And considering what had just happened, revealing that information was the last thing I wanted to do.

Feeling my gaze, Mia looked up at me.

“Team Leader? Are you…?”

“No.”

I shook my head, reaching for the door to my office and closing it.

“Listen to me carefully. Right now, I need the two of you to go separately and find the other groups and call them back.”

“What? But what about you…?!”

“I’ll be here to check up on the situation so that the anomaly doesn’t go for you. For now, it seems to be after me. It’s best if I stay here. Once you manage to get the others, we can all leave together.”

Either way, I had already gotten most of the things that I needed.

For the other stuff…? It didn’t really matter.

This was only just a preliminary search. It wasn’t anything important.

“Are you sure?” Mia asked as she looked at me.

Her voice was no longer quivering as she looked at me, and I answered her with a nod.

“Yes.”

I glanced back toward the room.

For some reason, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was watching us from inside.

“I’m sure. You don’t have to worry too much. I’ll be fine.”

I needed the two of them gone. Only that way would I be able to act without any restraint. Furthermore, with her calling for the others, if something did happen to me, they’d be able to help right after.

“Go.”

I looked back at the two and stared at them for a few seconds.

Eventually Mia nodded.

“Alright.”

Reaching for Jordan, she dragged him away with her as the two began to walk away.

The moment they disappeared from sight, the room seemed to grow quieter.

Staring at the door, I stretched my fingers and reached for the handle.

But right as I did, I paused.

Instead… slowly, dark smoke began to form around my fingers and body as I moved towards the door, my body fading right into it as I activated [Trait Transfer].

The darkness clung to my entire body, curling around my arms and shoulders as I stepped closer to the door.

For a brief moment, I could see my reflection in its surface.

Then even that disappeared.

My body faded right into it, the darkness entering my vision right after.

“Alright.”

I moved past the door, my own office room appearing before my eyes once more.

“…Let’s see exactly where you’re hiding.”