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

Chapter 737: Hide and Seek [3]

The darkness clung to every corner of the room.

And alongside the disappearing light, so too did the soft hum of the lights disappear. All sounds remained incredibly loud inside my mind, but with the soft hum of the lights gone, they felt less chaotic inside my mind.

I remained calm under the circumstances.

As of now, I had only been testing the situation.

I wanted to get a better feel for the anomaly.

However, things were starting to drag.

‘I’m not sure how I can’t seem to be able to detect it or find it with my glasses and compass, but since that’s the case, it must be related to his abilities. In that case, I should just get rid of his abilities.’

There was no other anomaly that was better at this than Mirelle, as I activated [Trait Transfer] and opened my lips.

But—

“….”

No sound came out of my mouth the moment I activated the skill, my expression changing subtly as I tried again.

“….”

But yet again, I received the same result as my heart sank.

In the meantime, the hum of the computer became louder as the air around me started to feel cooler.

Holding up the lantern, its body shaking slightly, shadows danced in every direction, some longer than others. Their edges stretched and contracted across the walls with every small movement of my hand, twisting around the furniture and crawling over the floor.

And amidst the dancing shadows, my head flickered toward a certain one.

My heart stopped at the sight of it.

Unlike the other shadows… it wasn’t moving.

It was standing completely still.

Staring at me directly.

“…”

For a brief moment, neither of us moved.

The silence seemed to deepen around me.

Even the buzzing of the lights above felt distant.

I couldn’t even tell what I was looking at.

There was no face.

No distinct features.

Just a dark silhouette standing amidst the shifting shadows, its gaze somehow fixed directly on me.

It didn’t act or move.

It simply stood there.

Watching.

And as my eyes settled over it, all it took was one blink for it to disappear.

My heart jolted.

I immediately moved the light around, the shadows flickering wildly across the walls as I searched for it.

The lantern trembled slightly in my hand, new footsteps appearing as the lamp moved. One, two, three… each step appeared random and erratic. There seemed to be no pattern at all as I hastily tried to follow each movement.

I swept the light across the floor, and then the walls. After that, I moved to the ceiling before shifting to the area beneath the desk and the corners of the room.

A new footstep appeared wherever I looked. And yet… I found nothing else belonging to the step.

My lips parted again as I used [Trait Transfer] one more time, but just like before, no sound came out of my lips as a strange silence settled across the room.

Pressing my lips together, I took a small breath to settle my mind before trying to call for Mirelle directly.

It might yield the same results, but it was worth a try.

…At least, that was what I thought.

“——!”

To my utter shock, my connection with my anomalies had been severed completely. I couldn’t contact any of them at all.

‘How does this make sense?’

Reaching for my head, I felt a sudden, sharp pain, my eyes twitching in the process.

The pain wasn’t unbearable, but it instantly made me realize something as I hastily reached into my pocket, trying to grab a new set of medicine. I scrambled through my pockets, trying to find it, but in the midst of my frantic movements, the shadows around me danced as the lantern shifted slightly.

My heart stopped.

Ahead of me was another shadow.

It stared straight at me.

“…..”

The hum of the computer felt louder than ever as I continued to stare at the shadow, the lantern swaying from left to right, all the shadows around me elongating and shrinking except for the one ahead of me.

I licked my lips, the pain in my head starting to become more and more unbearable.

My head didn’t move. I kept my attention on the shadow, trying my best not to blink.

That was also the moment I realized something…

‘It’s not moving at all.’

So long as I kept my gaze on it, the shadow would remain still. But the moment I blinked, it would fade.

I took several deep breaths, trying my best to formulate a plan.

‘I don’t know if the side effects of the luck halo are still effective, but… it might seem to be the case, as none of my nodes are working properly. This might also be due to the side effects from the pills that I took from the doctor.’

This sort of bad luck…

I knew that it couldn’t be a coincidence.

My left eye twitched, the pain in my head starting to become unbearable. Despite all of this, I didn’t blink at all as the shadow remained on the wall.

Fiddling with my pockets, I took out one of the medicines and popped it into my mouth.

My head started to feel better almost instantly, but in spite of this, I still couldn’t feel my nodes as my eyes began to sting.

I took another breath, sweat trickling down the side of my face.

‘It’s… been quite some time since I’ve struggled this much.’

I licked my lips as the thought crossed my mind.

The stinging didn’t get any better, only growing progressively worse as the noise around me grew even more pronounced. From the hum of the computer to the soft, yet incredibly loud sound of my breathing, and even the soft creak of the floor beneath me.

At the same time, the lantern in my hand continued to wobble, shadows moving left and right as the sting in my eyes started to really bother me.

My mind churned to think of a solution, my hand reaching into my pocket to look for anything.

It was amidst such a situation that I heard a soft shift from my left.

Then—

To Tok—!

‘They’re here.’

I didn’t hesitate. Eyes still directed at the shadow, I started to move my body, moving towards the door as I heard another knock coming from the other side.

To Tok!

I drew closer and closer to the door, another knocking sound coming.

Judging from how often it sounded, it looked to be Mia who was doing the knocking.

Reaching for the door, I knocked with the back of my hand.

To Tok!

At the same time, I spoke, “Get inside. The door is locked. Have Min smash it—”

Click!

Huh?

My mind blanked for a moment as I heard the soft click coming from beside me. And just before I could figure out what was happening, the door abruptly opened behind me.

CLANK!

Even then, I didn’t blink.

But that was probably my first mistake, as I suddenly noticed that the shadow was missing.

And before I even knew it, I felt something press against my chest, and then I was suddenly thrown back.

“Ukh!”

Landing against the hard floor, I tried to get up fast, but the moment I did, my entire expression changed as I looked around me, my eyes widening at the sight that greeted me.

“Wait, what?”

This place…

It was my game development office.

But why was I…?

Click!

A loud click registered inside my mind as I turned to face the door, my heart sinking as I immediately moved towards it and tried to open it.

Click! Click!

I tried several times. I even went as far as kicking it, but it was no use at all.

The door didn’t budge at all.

My heart sank.

Especially when I looked at my watch, noticing that there was only a little bit of time left until the Gate activated.

“…Well, fuck.”