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

Chapter 605: Obsidian Bastion [2]

’Did I go too far...?’

Zoey sat on her bed, her eyes closing as she thought back to her conversation with Seth. Her mind drifted to his happy face when she first entered. From how he chuckled to how he was even smiling.

At first, she thought that this was just his way of coping.

That he was simply trying his best to force himself to be happy.

But no...

Zoey realized rather quickly that it wasn’t like this.

’What about Kyle? He—oh.’

He had completely forgotten about the matter. She was quick to see the shift in his expression, almost as if he was saying, ’Ah, right. That did happen.’

That was the moment when something within her shifted.

All of a sudden, he felt different.

He felt like a completely different person. Like someone she didn’t know at all.

But maybe she didn’t know him at all.

They hadn’t interacted much, and she used to think he was some sort of introvert who hated talking to people.

That was how she viewed him in the past.

But things were different now. Especially when she thought back to what she had seen in the Congress.

Recalling his actions and the way he behaved, Zoey felt her face tighten.

”...Was that his real personality?”

Zoey covered her face with both hands, massaging it slowly.

’Or maybe, the experience has fucked him to such a fundamental level that he has changed completely?’

Zoey thought back to the video.

It didn’t fully show how much time had passed, but she knew he must have spent a lot of it torturing himself. Anyone would have gone crazy by that point, and when her thoughts went in that direction, she started to feel bad again.

”Maybe I really did jump the gun.”

...Maybe she had used all of this as an excuse to take it out on him.

”I don’t know.”

Zoey covered her face again, pulling the sheets of her bed and tucking herself in. She turned away, the light of her phone reflecting against her face as she retreated into the covers.

The rational part of her told her that it was what was most likely happening, but another part of her told her that this was who Seth really was. That even if he hadn’t gone through such an ordeal, he would’ve been the same.

It was an irrational thought, but for some reason, it just never left her mind.

Biting her lips, she tapped her phone.

A voice drifted in the air.

—If you see your sister, do tell her my location. I believe that she would be of great help to us.

—She is a Paragon, after all. Not only that, but she’s extremely capable. I actually admire her skills quite a bit. For her to have developed this far while also maintaining her modeling career... I’m honestly impressed.

***

With the newfound fame, the way people looked at me within the Guild was different. If before they looked at me as some sort of lucky bastard, they now viewed me as some sort of completely psychopath that they should avoid at all costs.

There was also the matter with Zoey.

After her recent outburst, she no longer seemed to want to do anything with me. In the next few days, I barely managed to even get a glimpse of her, and whenever we did cross paths, she would deliberately walk in the opposite direction or just avoid any eye contact.

There were a few times when I’d feel her gaze from a distance, only for her to look away the moment I turned to look at her.

In the end, I decided to just mind my own business.

Clank—

Entering a familiar room, I was greeted by a few people whose attitude hadn’t changed at all.

”....”

No, maybe they did.

”Why are you all wearing sunglasses indoors?”

Sitting in their cubicles with their arms crossed, they all turned to look in my direction. Mia eventually took off her glasses and sighed.

”Dear Squad Leader.”

She shook her head in disappointment.

”We’re bigshots now.”

Come again?

”But what does that have to do with the sunglasses?”

”Everything!”

Mia smacked her hand against the table, standing up and puffing her chest.

”We’re no longer small timers. We’re bigshots. I repeat. We. are. big. shots!”

My head turned towards Joanna.

She took off her sunglasses and shrugged, ’She’s not that wrong.’

”Anyways!”

Mia continued.

”...After what happened in the Congress, the media and everyone think that we look cool with our sunglasses. In a way, it seems fitting considering your past with them. That’s why we decided to wear them at all times.”

”Nope.”

Ariel suddenly interjected, taking off hers.

At the same time, she turned her attention towards me.

”Well, there’s that, but the main reason is that it actually helps us hide our appearances a bit from the public. I have to say, squad leader, you’re not right in the head, right?”

Huh?

What the hell was this lunatic on about?

”I mean, I am kind of crazy, but you...?”

She covered her mouth, hiding her laugh.

”You’re like totally fucked up in the head.”

The hell was she talking about?

If anything, I was the only normal person in the room.

I was far from—

”Yeah, he’s pretty messed up there.”

”Mhm.”

”They think we’re crazy because we wear sunglasses, but he’s the one who started this trend.”

”Yeah. I even heard some people have started to enter Gates with sunglasses.”

”.....”

I closed my eyes and just ignored them. They were obviously trying to joke around.

’I’ll allow it.’

Moving towards my own desk, I sat down and prepared to open my laptop. There were a few things that I needed to get done by today, but above all, I needed to start planning for my next big project.

Gate.

Right, I needed to design a Gate.

After everything that had happened in the Congress, I now had a very good idea of the direction that I wanted to take, and I wanted to take this time to plan things properly. There was also the issue with the update that I had yet to sort out, but I already had an idea of how to handle that.

Now that my fame had reached a certain point, my options had expanded drastically.

Opening my laptop, I was just about to open my app when I stopped.

”Hm?”

My attention fell on the letter that rested on my desk.

”Oh, right. You received this letter this morning. It seemed important, so I left it on your desk.”

Joanna explained, appearing right before my desk.

I looked at the letter and then at her.

”I see.”

Reaching for the letter, I grew curious. Who the hell even sends letters anymore? Though confused, I still opened the letter and looked inside.

The moment I did, my face froze.

This...?

A personal invitation?