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

Chapter 791: A bunch of lunatics [1]

I realized something.

The best way to get someone to shut up was by acting like a lunatic.

My head was clear. It was quite clear.

There were no extra voices or any of that. But I still chose to act like a lunatic because it helped me get people to stop talking.

It was great.

A cheat code of sorts.

But there was a limit to how much I could act like a lunatic. In this case, the situation was quite serious because there was a good chance that I was infected with some sort of unknown disease.

One that doctors very likely wouldn’t be able to find.

‘This is really troubling.’

I scratched the back of my head as I looked at Geneva.

She was looking at me too, but it was more like she was looking at me to see if I was alright in the head.

I was.

For now.

Maybe.

“For now, it’s best if you remain quiet. If things progress in a bad direction, you’re free to alert the BUA. However, keep in mind that alerting them will prevent us from investigating the situation properly. It might waste our time completely, and given the time constraint with your brother, this isn’t something that we want.”

“…Alright, but I won’t be able to keep the news hidden for long.”

“I’m aware.”

By law, she had to report it. Even if she pretended not to like me, if it was found that she knew something and didn’t report it, then it would be pretty serious. I was also certain that she wanted to report it because if the BUA took over and the situation escalated to a certain level, it would mean a lot of Paragons and individuals would investigate.

In essence…

‘She doesn’t care about the law, but just wants others to help.’

The only reason why she didn’t do that was that I told her not to.

She understood that I was forcing her hand.

“…I’ll go check on my brother.”

“Do that.”

I eyed her in silence, staring at her departing back without saying anything.

‘I guess I should hurry things up a bit.’

This investigation…

My hand reached for my pocket, tightening around the radio.

‘There’s also this problem that I need to resolve.’

*

The car stopped in front of a massive ivory building.

I looked through the window, following the pale walls up until I had to lean forward to see the top. Several large pillars stood on either side of the entrance, with wide steps leading up from the road.

‘So this is the Ivory Thorn Guild.’

For a moment, I wondered how much the place had cost.

Actually, it was probably better if I didn’t know.

Thanking the driver, I stepped out and looked towards the people gathered outside. There were considerably more than I had expected. Some stood together, speaking in low voices, while others held cameras and watched the entrance.

I made my way through them, keeping my injured hand close to my stomach as I climbed the steps.

It was a little quieter inside.

The lobby was spacious, with enough room that the people standing around the reception desk barely took up any of it. Looking past them, I noticed two men in black standing in front of a gate leading farther into the building.

Then I spotted a few familiar faces.

They were gathered a short distance away, with Jordan standing behind the others. Joanna noticed me first and immediately came over.

“You’re here.”

“Yes.”

I glanced towards the gate.

“What’s happening?”

“They’re blocking anyone from entering.”

“Did you tell them that we’re from the Severed Stars Guild?”

“Yes. They said nobody is allowed entrance, but…”

“But what?”

“Several other Guilds have entered.”

“…Oh.”

A smile slowly formed on my face.

That made things considerably easier to understand.

I looked towards the two men again. One of them glanced in our direction before returning his attention to the lobby, his expression remaining unchanged.

“Did they say when we could go in?”

“No.”

“Did they offer to let someone know we’re here?”

“I asked. They told us to wait.”

“How considerate.”

Joanna looked at me for a moment.

I continued to smile.

There was supposed to be a meeting regarding the situation with Ivory Thorn. More specifically, the Gate they had failed to clear.

With so many people dead and a considerable part of their main force gone, the BUA had raised the alert. Other Guilds were now allowed to interfere, and there were quite a few things that needed to be discussed before anyone made another attempt.

It was an Ranked Gate, after all.

Sending people in without understanding what had happened to the previous group would be rather stupid.

I had come to hear what information was available and discuss how to deal with it. I wasn’t really planning on clearing the Gate.

At least, not yet.

There were too many other things I needed to take care of. This was merely a task the Section Chief had thrown at me because I was close.

It was supposed to be an easy task.

But apparently, even that was going to be troublesome.

The other Guilds had been allowed through, whilst we weren’t.

Considering the things that were happening within the Guild, and the potential ‘sponsors’ coming from other Guilds towards the people in our Guild, I doubted they had simply forgotten about us.

‘Well, this is annoying.’

I looked at the guards for a little longer before Joanna spoke again.

“What should we do?”

I turned towards her.

There were several ways to go about this. I could try speaking to them myself, although I doubted that would change much. Calling someone was another option.

I was about to answer when a voice came from beside us.

“Wait, let me.”

My head turned.

Ariel was already walking towards the entrance.

“…”

No, not this crazy bitch.

“Wait.”

I moved after her, raising my good hand.

“Let’s be calm about this. We’re here as delegates from the Guild. We can’t do anything cra⎯”

The man standing closest to her twitched.

It was a subtle movement. His shoulder jerked slightly, and for a brief moment, his expression tightened as he looked at Ariel.

Then he stepped aside.

“…”

My hand slowly lowered.

The other guard noticed almost immediately. His brows drew together as he looked at his colleague, then at Ariel.

“Hold on. You can’t⎯”

He stopped.

One of his hands remained half-raised, his mouth still slightly open. He stood there without finishing what he had been about to say, even as Ariel walked past him.

She stopped just beyond the gate and turned towards me.

A smile spread across her face.

“See? We can go in.”

I looked at her, then at the two guards.

One was standing neatly to the side. The other still looked as though he wanted to say something.

Neither of them was stopping us anymore.

Beside me, Jordan’s mouth opened and closed several times. His gaze kept moving between Ariel and the guards before eventually settling on me.

“Y-you can’t…”

He seemed to be waiting for me to say something.

I thought about it for a moment.

“Well, I guess this works too.”

“…!”

Reaching into my pocket, I took out my sunglasses and put them on with my good hand.

Then I stepped forward.

Joanna followed, slipping a hand into her own pocket. Ariel had already taken out her pair by the time I reached the doorway, and the others soon did the same.

I briefly looked back.

Jordan was the only one without sunglasses.

He stood in the middle of the lobby, staring at us in complete shock. When he noticed me looking, his mouth opened again.

Nothing came out.

“You don’t have your own sunglasses?”