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

Chapter 826: Looking back [2]

“This is the surveillance room. Tell me what you need to see.”

Liora pulled out a chair and sat in front of one of the monitors. Two people stood beside her, while another remained near the door, occasionally glancing in my direction.

The room was filled with screens.

Most showed corridors and work areas, with people moving through them as though nothing was happening.

I approached Liora’s chair.

“The recordings from my medical examinations.”

“Your examinations?”

“Yes, the ones that I had when I was here. I’d like to see them.”

My hand gripped the back of her chair.

She looked at me for a moment.

There was a question on her face, but she eventually turned towards the man beside her.

“Bring them up.”

He leaned forward and entered something into the computer. A list appeared shortly afterwards, with several dates and room numbers beside them.

“The most recent first?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Start there.”

Liora selected one of the recordings.

The screen changed.

I recognised the room immediately.

It was one of the rooms I used to get my checkups. The doctor sat across from me while I held out my arm.

It was the examination after returning from the Pool.

“Is there sound?”

“Yes.”

The man adjusted something beside the monitor.

A familiar voice filled the room.

⎯You used your node?

I watched myself look up.

⎯…Hmm? Well, just a little.

The doctor stared at me.

I stared back.

“…..”

Everything was exactly as I remembered it.

From the questions to the equipment around my arm. Even the look the doctor gave me when I said my usual nonsense. I remained standing behind Liora, watching until he removed the equipment and handed me the bracelet.

I put it on.

He gathered his things, and then he left.

There was nothing unusual about the video. I breathed a sigh of relief.

But it wasn’t over.

That wasn’t the only time I had been visited.

Liora turned towards me.

“Is that what you wanted to see?”

“The next one.”

She studied my face.

“From before this?”

“Yes. There’s another one.”

I looked towards the list on the side of the screen.

“I went to the doctor before I went to the Pool. That was the other time I got my check-up.”

I gave the exact time and location.

The man beside her scrolled through the records before pointing at one.

“This should be it.”

Liora opened the recording.

A different room appeared.

The examination chair stood beside a desk, with a small case placed near the computer. There was a cabinet against the wall and a cuff hanging from the equipment beside the chair.

I remembered all of it.

My grip over the back of Liora’s chair tightened.

The door opened, and I entered.

For a moment, the version of me on the screen remained near the entrance, looking towards the desk.

Then I approached the chair.

On the screen, I sat down. Then I placed my hands on my knees.

And⎯

Nothing else.

“…..”

The surrounding air suddenly constricted around me as I stared at the image. More precisely, towards myself as I sat there in silence, doing absolutely nothing.

But that position…

I held my breath.

Liora glanced at me.

“Is this the right recording?”

I swallowed.

“Yes.”

My voice sounded a little hoarse.

She looked back towards the monitor, taking note of the abnormality that I was showing as her brows furrowed tightly.

The door remained closed behind me, and the equipment beside the chair stayed where it was.

Liora moved her hand towards the mouse.

“Leave it.”

Her hand stopped just as I spoke.

“Don’t skip anything.”

She let go of the mouse.

I continued watching.

My back was straight.

Both hands rested against my knees, my fingers lying flat against the fabric of my trousers.

I wasn’t looking around.

I wasn’t adjusting my shirt or reaching towards my phone.

I was just… staring at the empty space in front of me. Almost as if I was a statue.

My gaze moved towards the equipment beside the chair.

“…..”

A minute passed.

My figure on the screen remained in the same position.

Liora leaned forward slightly.

Her attention moved from my face to my hands, then towards the time in the corner of the recording.

The clock continued to tick. Almost several minutes had passed since I entered, and yet, from start to end, I appeared completely still.

“What are you looking at?”

Her soft voice reached my ears.

But I didn’t answer.

I was trying to remember. Remember the entire scenario from back then. From the start, I knew that something like this had never happened. I had never been alone in that room. A doctor had been present.

He asked about the dizziness. Then he entered something into the computer before looking at me again.

Nothing… about the situation felt off to me.

Nothing at all.

“What about an itch around your nose?”

Right, he said something like that. I remember…

And yet⎯

On the recording, both hands remained on my knees.

My mouth didn’t open.

I didn’t answer anything. I just remained completely still.

The man standing beside Liora stopped fidgeting with the keys.. Even the person near the door moved a little closer, looking past my shoulder towards the screen.

Nobody spoke.

Two minutes passed.

Then three.

I could see my chest moving.

That was about it.

My shoulders remained level, with a small space between my back and the chair. I wasn’t resting against it.

I was sitting there in exactly the same position as—

My lips pressed tightly against each other.

When I turned my head, I could see that Liora’s brows were now furrowed extremely tightly.

Something about the way she was watching changed. She no longer glanced towards me, and her attention remained fixed on the recording.

Four minutes.

It was starting to become hard for me to keep my expression from changing.

I pulled my hand away from the back of Liora’s chair as I leaned closer a bit, keeping myself upright as the examination continued inside my memory.

“…..”

The time in the corner reached five minutes.

A shadow passed beneath the door.

My fingers tightened against the chair.

Then—

Clank!

The door opened.

A man entered shortly after that, wearing white robes and carrying a pad.

I recognised him immediately.

That’s also the moment the version of me on the screen started moving again, my head turning in the direction of the doctor.

⎯Sorry to keep you waiting.

I looked at the scene in silence as the doctor said something else while placing the pad on the desk, and the version of me in the video answered without any difficulty. Almost as if nothing had ever happened.

The conversation continued normally.

The doctor reached for the equipment, and I held out my arm. All of this… I remembered it clearly.

Liora looked towards me.

I barely noticed.

My attention remained on the man on the screen. I could still recall my thoughts of back then as the other doctor came in.

‘Looks like this will take a while.’

Right…

I remembered being annoyed.

But looking back, it made no sense for two doctors to check up on me.

Why…

Why did I never notice?