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

Chapter 760: A changed lunatic [3]

The first thing Claude felt was the pressure against his knees.

His vision returned a moment later, but before he could properly understand what he was seeing, his body had already moved.

A chair scraped against the floor beneath him.

“What the—”

Claude tried to stand.

Nothing happened.

His arms rested neatly against an old wooden desk, fingers placed beside an open exercise book as though he’d been sitting there for hours. No matter how much force he put into his legs, they refused to move.

Around him, the others were in the exact same situation.

Rena sat two rows ahead, her expression noticeably tense as she tried to turn around. Markus was farther to the left, jaw clenched while his hands remained completely still against the desk despite the veins standing out along his forearms.

But most importantly, they weren’t alone.

Children sat near them. Every seat occupied.

“…I can’t move.”

“Neither can I.”

Rena replied a moment later.

Claude’s eyes moved around the room, his eyes glossing over the children sitting on their desk and the room.

The smooth black corridor was gone.

In its place was an old classroom.

Faded walls surrounded them, several sections darkened, while rows of desks stretched towards a chalkboard at the front. The room looked disturbingly similar to the photographs Kyle and Zoey had included in their investigation.

Class 3-C.

Claude’s expression gradually hardened.

“So this is the Gate? How did…? I didn’t get warned about a Gate.”

“That’s because it wasn’t there before.”

Claude answered a moment later, his expression grim.

“This is a naturally forming Gate.”

There was something wrong with the silence that settled right after his words.

Despite six adults suddenly appearing inside the room, none of the children sitting among them seemed remotely disturbed. They continued facing forward, backs straight and hands resting quietly over their books.

Almost as though the newcomers had always been part of the class.

Claude tried to feel for his nodes.

They were fine, but…

‘I still can’t move my body.’

Krrr⎯

Then a chair scraped somewhere behind him.

⎯⎯!

The movement startled Claude.

Slowly, he found his head turning in the direction of where the noise came from.

That was when he caught sight of it.

Another figure.

At first, he could only see the side of the figure’s face.

Then the person looked towards him.

Claude’s eyes widened slightly.

“…You?”

A familiar face appeared before him. One that startled him and the others.

He wasn’t someone that he wouldn’t know.

There was practically no one in the Guild that didn’t know him.

He was⎯

“Class is about to start.”

Seth’s voice echoed quietly across the room as he took his seat. Hands on the desk, he looked ahead whilst Claude and the others continued to look at me.

“You…”

The words barely left Claude’s lips when Seth opened his mouth again.

“…Stuck is what I was.”

Huh?

The faces of everyone froze.

“Stuck is what I still am.”

“….”

“….”

What?

Claude blinked his eyes a couple of times. What the hell was this guy on about? Then again, thinking about how he behaved back in the Congress, he wouldn’t say that he was normal in the head.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm himself down.

“Do you know what’s going on? Are you the reason why this Gate has formed? What were you investigating, and⎯”

“A stuck man is a man that knows little.”

Seth suddenly brushed his hair back, his eyes glossing over everyone in the room.

“…That is what a stuck man is.”

Is he making fun of us, or has he completely lost it? Claude’s jaw tightened as he stared in Seth’s direction, only for Seth not to even look at him, but rather at the front of the classroom.

Claude continued staring at him, waiting for him to stop messing around and explain to them what was going on.

And yet⎯

Seth remained seated with both hands resting against the desk, his expression looking strangely peaceful compared to everyone else in the room. If anything, the dark circles beneath his eyes and the faint smile on his face made him look like someone who was trying to relax.

“You’ve been inside this place this entire time?”

“Inside, outside…”

Seth tilted his head slightly.

“These things have become rather difficult to define lately.”

Claude’s expression darkened.

“I’m asking you a serious question.”

“And I’m giving you a serious answer.”

“Then stop talking nonsense.”

Seth finally looked at him.

For a moment, his expression became strangely thoughtful.

“Nonsense?”

He seemed genuinely offended by the accusation.

“I’ll have you know that I’ve become a considerably more reasonable person over these past few days.”

Markus stared at him from several desks away.

“You look fucking insane.”

“That’s because you don’t know the old me.”

“…What?”

“The old me would’ve already done something stupid.”

Rena’s gaze moved around the classroom before settling back on Seth.

“And the current you?”

Seth considered the question.

“The current me thinks about doing something stupid first.”

Nobody said anything.

“Then I do it.”

Markus’s lips parted.

Claude slowly rubbed his tongue against the inside of his cheek, trying very hard not to lose his patience.

“Listen. We don’t know what happened to you here, and quite frankly, I don’t care right now. What I need to know is how we can leave this place. If you have any information about what is about to happen, let us know so that we can handle it. I’m not asking you to do anything. We alone are enough.”

Seth’s smile slowly faded.

“Leave?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.”

He glanced towards the classroom door.

“That’s difficult.”

“Why?”

“Because we’re stuck.”

“You’ve said that three times.”

“Four, actually.”

Claude’s jaw tightened.

This guy…

Seth looked ahead again, seemingly satisfied with himself.

For someone who had apparently been trapped inside an anomaly for several days, he seemed remarkably relaxed about the situation. Then again, looking closer, Claude started noticing little things he hadn’t before.

Seth’s fingers were trembling.

It wasn’t by much, but it was present.

His skin looked unusually pale beneath the classroom lights, and every so often, his eyes would turn hollow, as if his thoughts were drifting elsewhere.

Markus seemed to notice as well.

“You really have lost your mind.”

Seth’s head turned.

“Lost?”

He thought about it for a moment before nodding.

“Maybe a little.”

Then, as though arriving at some profound conclusion, he straightened slightly.

“Some say I’m a lunatic. To that, I might agree.”

Claude stared, and so did everyone else.

Seth raised one finger.

“But a changed one.”

“…”

“A better lunatic. One that is now capable of containing his own lunacy and using it for the better.”

Rena’s expression became complicated.

“That’s not reassuring.”

“How so?”

Seth tried moving his chair.

It didn’t budge.

He tried again, this time putting considerably more force into his legs, but whatever held everyone else in place seemed to be affecting him as well.

His smile twitched.

Then, he looked down at the chair.

“…You know.”

Nobody interrupted him.

“I’ve spent several days trapped inside a room.”

His fingers curled against the desk.

“Then I spent several nights being dragged through classrooms.”

His voice remained calm, but Claude could hear something slowly changing beneath it.

“I’ve been chased by teachers, touched by ghosts, had something steal my voice, and apparently attempt to steal my face.”

Claude’s eyes narrowed.

That last part caught everyone’s attention.

Seth looked towards the ceiling.

“And now, after all of that…”

He pulled against the chair again.

It still didn’t budge.

His eyebrow twitched.

“I’m still stuck.”

BANG!

His palm slammed against the desk hard enough to make everyone inside the classroom flinch.

“A lunatic who is stuck!”

The sound echoed through the room.

Then disappeared all at once. Seth was about to follow up with more words when⎯

Step!

A single step sounded, and everything in the classroom froze.

Claude noticed the change immediately.

The children lowered their hands against their desks, their backs straightening as the entire classroom fell into a silence so complete that Claude could suddenly hear his own breathing.

Seth stared at his hand.

“…Ah.”

Markus looked towards him.

“What?”

Seth slowly removed his palm from the desk.

“That may have been one of the stupid things.”

Claude was about to ask what he meant when a sound came from beyond the classroom.

Step.

Seth’s expression turned completely still. His expression changed so quickly that Claude almost wondered whether he had imagined it.

Seth faced forward.

“Hands on the desk.”

Claude frowned.

“What?”

“Put your hands on the desk.”

There was no joking in his voice anymore.

Rena immediately obeyed.

Claude hesitated for only a moment before doing the same, though his hands had barely moved to begin with.

‘He might be crazy, but I’m sure he has his reasons. For now, I’d better listen. I’ll take care of him right after.’

Markus looked between them, but didn’t say a word.

Step.

The footsteps approached at the same slow pace, each one sounding slightly louder than the last until they stopped directly outside the classroom.

Claude’s attention remained fixed on the door.

The handle moved.

Slowly.

The door opened.

Something stepped inside.

Claude had gone against many anomalies in the past.

He’d fought things without faces, things with too many limbs, and things that could tear through trained Guild personnel before they realized what was happening.

The figure looked almost human from a distance, but the closer it moved towards the desks, the harder that illusion became to maintain. Its face was stretched and horribly burned, the ruined skin pulled smooth across features that should’ve been there, while its long arms hung awkwardly beside its body.

The smell reached them shortly afterward.

Rena’s breathing changed.

Claude’s expression shifted. Although the anomaly wasn’t close, he could feel that it was quite strong. He wasn’t confident in defeating it without a plan.

‘Analyse before fighting.’

He made eye-contact with the others.

Step!

The teacher moved towards the front desk and placed the register down.

Nobody dared speak.

Even Markus had gone completely silent.

Seth, however, was staring at the desk with an expression that looked almost irritated.

The teacher slowly turned its head.

Towards him.

“Mara.”

Seth closed his eyes.

“…Nope.”

Claude’s eyes widened, alongside those of everyone else. What? What was he thinking?!

The teacher started walking.

Each step seemed to stretch the silence even further as it passed between the desks, eventually stopping directly beside Seth.

He didn’t look up.

For several seconds, nothing happened. The teacher just stared in Seth’s direction as all attention seemingly fell on him.

Then⎯

Then the teacher spoke, its gravely voice drifting through the air.

“You disrupted the class.”

Seth’s fingers tightened against the desk, his head turning to face the teacher directly.

“I’d like to argue that the class hasn’t technically started yet.”

Claude’s already wide eyes widened further.

What is he doing?Does he have a plan? He must have a plan.

Yes, there was no other reason he’d do something this stupid.

The teacher leaned closer.

Seth finally looked up at it.

There was something almost resigned in his expression.

“…Worth a try.”

The teacher’s arm moved.

Claude never saw the motion properly.

There was only a blur—

And then something punched through Seth’s chest.

His entire body jerked.

Blood sprayed across the open exercise book and struck the desk in front of him.

Rena’s face went white.

Markus stopped breathing.

Seth looked down.

The teacher’s hand protruded from the other side of his body.

“…Ah.”

Blood slipped from the corner of his mouth.

Then the arm withdrew.

Seth collapsed forward, his face striking the desk before his body slid sideways and hit the floor with a heavy thud.

The entire room froze like that.

Not only that Seth’s last words drifted through the air.

“…S-tuck, I still am.”

“⎯”

“⎯”