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

Chapter 762: Gate [2]

“Tu~ Tu~ Tu~”

Leaning against the back of my chair, I stared at the large monitor ahead of me.

Several smaller feeds appeared within the screen, each showing several different classrooms at once.

One focused on Claude, who was sitting rigidly behind his desk with an expression that looked considerably less confident than when he’d first entered the school, while another showed the girl whose name I forgot ,carefully watching the teacher from the corner of her eye.

The remaining screens covered the others, including the area where dummy body had fallen.

Thing is…

None of them were in the same classroom.

They were all in different classrooms. Of course, their actions and thoughts were mimicked through each classroom. This made it easier for me since it’d be harder for them to figure out they weren’t in the same classroom.

I rested one hand against my chin and stared at the feeds for a little longer.

“Good, but not quite good enough yet. I can do better.”

My attention returned to Claude as he tried moving his fingers across the desk.

He was thinking.

‘It’s impressive he hasn’t lost composure just yet.’

Claude’s group was no doubt an elite group of the Guild. They were used to dealing with a lot of ‘scary’ scenarios. They were experienced, strong, and considerably less stupid than most people.

Simply having them enter a gate and fight against multiple teachers wouldn’t exactly be ideal.

After all…

‘They are stronger than the teacher.’

This much was true.

If they wanted to, they could likely defeat the teachers.

That’s why I had to die.

They knew who I was, and they knew enough about my reputation. For me to die like that… it naturally was enough to create a sense of hesitation. More importantly, they knew I had apparently spent several days trapped inside this place before they arrived.

If someone capable of surviving that long could die in less than a second, then the question naturally followed.

‘What about us?’

Fear didn’t need to arrive all at once.

That’d be cheap fear.

One needed to implant a seed and slowly grow it from there. And the more the seed grew, the harder it became for them to think rationally.

“…I guess he isn’t part of the Clean Up squad for nothing.”

I nodded slightly at the monitor, staring at Claude as he forced himself to remain calm and figure out the next steps.

Their appearance was a little surprising. At first, I thought about using the Gate to leave, but the moment they entered, I understood instantly what was happening.

The Section Chief…

He was behind their appearance.

I gave up on the idea of leaving right after that.

“Have to give him a surprise, after all.”

A transparent panel floated beside my screen, displaying several of the scenario parameters I’d put together from everything I’d experienced over the past few days.

One of them was simple.

[Remain in your assigned seat.]

This was one of the rules I had set for the Gate.

It cost me quite a bit of SP, but setting this rule made it so that they couldn’t stand up and do anything more than force a few fingers and movements from their chairs.

“…I guess I should speed things up.”

I leaned closer to the monitor as Claude communicated with Rena through small movements of his fingers. I didn’t even bother changing what they were saying. I knew that they would quickly realise something was off if I did that.

Even now, they were adapting.

That was good.

Actually, it was better than good, because watching people panic immediately would’ve made the entire scenario boring. The interesting part came when competent people thought they were beginning to understand what was happening.

Then you changed something.

Claude’s eyes shifted towards the teacher.

I smiled.

He seemed to have noticed a sort of pattern.

…A pattern I had purposely set up.

⎯It reacts to sound. As long as you follow the rules, we’ll be fine. For now, don’t do anything risky.

I could read all their signs without any issues. These were the typical sign rules the Guild used.

“Look at you.”

My fingers moved across the controls.

If they continued at this pace, they’d probably survive the first sequence without too much trouble.

That was fine.

I had played and developed quite a few horror games in my time.

I knew things were moving exactly as they were supposed to. Real fear only came when someone finally convinced themselves they had figured out the rules, only to realize they were on the wrong track.

I stared at Claude for another few seconds before moving my hand towards the next control.

“Should I ramp things up?”

My lips pulled up.

“Of course, I should.”

***

“….”

Claude kept his gaze fixed on the front of the classroom while forcing himself to ignore the blood around him.

Markus remained crumpled beside the broken desk, his head resting at an angle that made it obvious there was nothing left to save.

Seth’s severed head, on the other hand, sat on the podium, blood continuing to drip from the bottom of the neck, each drop striking the wood with a faint, wet tap that seemed so incredibly loud within the silence.

‘Ignore it. Ignore it.’

Claude calmed himself down.

He tried to piece everything together.

The teacher had yet to move after Markus’s death, and as the silence around them grew even more oppressive, Claude replayed the scenario in his head.

‘It reacted to the sound. So long as we don’t make any sound…’

But that was easier said than done⎯

Claude looked up to see Rena’s desk moving slightly as she tried her best to keep the desk still. The same happened to Claude as he forced his arms down against his desk, trying to keep it frozen in place.

Whatever was trying to move their chairs… didn’t attack them yet.

All it tried to do was make sounds to alarm the teacher.

The wood beneath Claude’s hands gave another tiny tremor, almost playful in how carefully it tested his grip.

Claude looked towards Rena, who met his gaze almost immediately before shifting two fingers against the surface of the desk.

‘Sound. ‘

Claude answered with a single movement.

‘Yes.’

They needed to avoid making any sound.

Claude slowly shifted his index finger across the desk twice before pointing towards the teacher and then towards the classroom door.

Rena’s eyes narrowed for a second before she understood.

If the teacher was operating according to classroom rules, attacking it directly might not even be necessary. The better option was to survive long enough for the current sequence to end.

His attention moved towards the front.

‘Right, that was what it was doing before it killed Seth.’

For now, the obvious thing they needed to do was wait for the teacher to do the attendance. That would be the only time they’d be allowed to talk.

It wasn’t much of a plan, but Claude and his team needed time to properly analyse the situation before coming to a decision. In particular, Claude wanted to analyse the teacher better.

He wanted to understand just how strong it was.

‘…I also can’t afford to lose any more members.’

His fist clenched slowly.

The teacher finally lowered one finger towards the register.

“Rena Holt.”

A name was called.

“Present.”

And Rena answered right after.

“….”

A tense silence followed, the lack of noise making the air feel almost constricting. Even the quiet hum of the lights above seemed to have disappeared, leaving only the slow dripping of blood near the podium.

The teacher’s eyes moved onto the next page, and Claude felt some of the pressure inside his chest loosen as the next name followed.

“Alric Voss.”

“Present.”

Silence followed once more, the pencil scraping against the register as his name was ticked off. The dry scratching continued for half a second longer than Claude expected, dragging across the paper before finally stopping.

But not for long as a new name was called right after that.

One after another, the surviving members answered when called, each of them keeping their voices controlled despite the blood and bodies surrounding them.

Eventually, the teacher reached him.

“Claude Vern.”

“…Present.”

The pencil scratched against the register.

For the first time since the Gate had swallowed them, Claude felt as though some degree of control had returned.

He briefly glanced towards Seth’s severed head.

His face remained turned slightly towards the classroom, frozen in the same expression it had worn at the moment of death.

‘You weren’t careful enough.’

Whatever had happened during the days Seth spent trapped here, Claude wasn’t going to repeat the same mistakes. He was confident he could do better.

No, he was better.

His thoughts drifted to what would happen once he left the place.

His heart palpitated at the thought.

He planned on making good use of his death.

But for now…

‘Focus. Let’s clear this.’

The teacher continued reading until eventually reaching the bottom of the page.

Then it stopped.

Every surviving member of Claude’s team had already been called.

The classroom remained completely silent as the teacher stared down at the final section of the register.

Creaaaak!

A faint scratching sound came from somewhere near the back, loud enough that Claude could hear each uneven scrape against the floorboards, but Claude ignored it and kept his attention forward.

The teacher opened its mouth.

“Mara Balle.”

Claude felt something inside him tighten.

That name again.

“Mara Balle.”

Claude slowly moved his eyes towards the seat where Seth had been not long ago, and his expression changed amidst the silence.

“⎯!”

When?!

Seat 27 was occupied.

A little girl sat behind the desk with both hands folded neatly in front of her, dark hair hanging over part of her face. Her posture was perfectly straight, and unlike the other children, Claude couldn’t remember hearing so much as the faintest movement from her direction.

Claude’s breathing nearly stopped.

Rena and the others showed similar expressions of shock.

“Mara Balle.”

The girl’s head slowly lifted.

Her lips remained closed.

Another voice answered from somewhere else inside the classroom.

“Present.”

Claude’s gaze snapped towards the sound, but he couldn’t determine where it had come from. The voice was young and feminine, though something about it sounded strangely layered, as if another voice had followed it almost perfectly underneath.

For the briefest moment, Claude could have sworn the second voice had come from much closer to him.

The teacher marked the register.

Mara continued staring at Claude.

Unlike the other children surrounding them, there was something unmistakably human in the way she looked at him.

Fear.

Not fear of the teacher standing at the front.

Her eyes suddenly shifted past him.

Towards the classroom door.

Claude immediately felt the pressure around his body changing.

His fingers moved more easily against the desk, followed by his shoulders as the force keeping him seated gradually weakened.

Rena noticed it too.

Claude slowly raised one hand and gave the signal.

‘Prepare.’

The others responded without hesitation.

Their nodes activated quietly as they waited for the restriction to disappear completely, and Claude felt the tension inside his chest turn into focus.

They had survived the attendance.

The restrictions on them had weakened as a result. This meant that the next part was about to begin.

His leg moved beneath the desk.

Rena managed to shift her chair several centimeters without much trouble.

Another few seconds and they would be free.

Claude prepared himself to move the moment the classroom released him.

But then⎯

Step.

Another step echoed.

One… that came from right outside the door.

Claude’s attention immediately shifted towards the door, while Mara’s fingers tightened around the edge of her desk hard enough for her small knuckles to pale.

Step! Step!

Claude felt his mouth go dry as another footstep approached.

The teacher at the front lifted its head, turning its attention to the door.

Step! Step Step…!

The footsteps reached the classroom, stopping directly outside.

For several seconds, nothing happened.

Then a shadow slowly appeared beneath the gap of the door.

It stretched across the floorboards before widening as something moved closer to the other side.

The handle slowly turned.

Mara lowered her head immediately, her dark hair falling forward until Claude could no longer see her face.

The teacher already standing at the front remained completely still as the door slowly opened and another tall figure stepped through.

Claude’s body stiffened.

Burned skin stretched across its featureless face, the surface split in several places where blackened flesh pulled tightly against the shape of the skull, while two unnaturally long arms hung loosely beside the same old-fashioned uniform.

Same height, body, and… appearance.

Even the pattern of the burns looked the same.

Claude’s gaze slowly shifted back towards the front of the classroom. Towards the teacher standing before them.

Neither figure reacted to the other.

They simply stood there.

One at the front.

One beside the door.

Claude felt the small sense of certainty he’d managed to rebuild begin slipping away as the second teacher entered and quietly closed the door behind itself.

Clank!