Chapter 274: Doppelganger [1]
"I know that I’m not very friendly. In fact, I know that I have no friends. No..." I paused for a moment before correcting myself. "I do have a friend, and that’s Kyle."
I pursed my lips.
"...I know that I’m not the friendliest of guys, but am I that unlikable?"
I scrolled through my phone. There were no messages besides a few spam ones coming from some random phone numbers.
It was almost as if nobody even cared about my twenty-day disappearance.
"This is odd."
I didn’t really know how to feel.
Heartbroken, if anything.
"...."
Rubbing my brows and staring at my phone, I started to feel that there was something off about the current situation. While it was true that I was unpopular, given how Kyle was, I found it hard to believe that he would completely forget about me.
’Something definitely happened while I was gone.’
...And that something had something to do with the weird system.
I pressed my lips together and looked at the door of the office.
Taking a step forward, I paused when I felt something in my pocket. Taking a moment to dig into it, I was surprised to pull out a fragment.
"Oh."
I stared at the sight in pleasant surprise.
"Right, the gate cleared. Of course, I’d receive fragments."
I dug into my pocket and retrieved several more fragments. By the time I was done, I had taken a total of five fragments, a couple looking extremely pure, while a few others were a little bit murkier.
’I wonder what the attribute for these is.’
I planned on testing it later. Just like the purity. I was a little disappointed to see that the purity wasn’t extremely pure for all of them. This suggested that I hadn’t cleared the gate perfectly.
This left me somewhat confused.
’I led everyone towards the exit. I pretty much did all the work. Realistically speaking, I should’ve gotten at least an <A> grade in terms of clearing.’
But apparently that didn’t seem to be the case...
"Did I miss something?"
I frowned and placed the fragments away.
Something did stir in my mind.
"The knocks?"
Indeed, I had still not figured out the reason behind the knocks and the door lock. Was that why I didn’t manage to clear the gate fully?
"Maybe."
I didn’t feel much while thinking about.
My emotions were all over the place at the moment.
Whatever the case was, I had managed to clear the gate in the end.
The only issue was my room. Thankfully, everything had returned to what it was prior to me breaking it. Nonetheless, the size of the room and the small details were still things that Clara and her members had seen.
’There’s even a chance that they recorded everything.’
I looked around the room.
Towards the white walls and lamp above.
After thinking about it for a while, I came to a decision.
"I’ll paint everything new. I’ll also change the lights."
I needed to change the room so that it looked completely different than the one in the video.
"..I might be thinking too much, but it’s never bad to be careful."
More importantly...
"Eighteen plus five... That’s twenty-three."
I took out a small sack containing eighteen fragments and added the five that I had just gotten from the gate. In total, that meant that I now had enough fragments to reach the third order.
My heart raced at the thought.
But it only lasted for a brief moment.
"No, I can’t rush things."
I was desperate to reach the Third Order. The incoming quest with the conductor was only a few days away. However, I needed to be patient. I couldn’t force myself to reach the Third Order without all the nodes being pure.
I was already struggling with one Cognitive Shard and one Fragmented Node.
I needed my next node to be extremely sturdy.
"But it’s not like I have much time."
I quietly stared at my hand. Though subtle, it was trembling. This was one of the lingering side effects of the fracture in my node. While it was still subtle for now, it wouldn’t be long before the situation became worse.
I knew that I didn’t have much time. I had to reach the Third Order as soon as possible and purchase the even more evolved version of the medicine.
"H-hoo."
My chest trembled as I took a deep breath.
In the end, I pushed all thoughts to the side for now and finally headed to the door.
’Time to figure out exactly what happened during the time that I was gone.’
***
"....."
A tense silence filled a certain room within the Guild.
The lights were off, and two figures sat within the room. With his arms and legs crossed, the Section Chief stared at the projection on the wall.
Depicted on it were the happenings of the gate.
The video continued to play for a while before it finally came to an end.
Flick!
The projection turned off, and the lights returned.
And yet—
"...."
The Section Chief remained silent while staring at the empty wall in front of him. His expression was grim, and black lines formed on his forehead.
Eventually, however, his lips parted as he finally shattered the silence.
"It’s as you said. VILE - 2013 appeared. That explains the gate’s increasing rank."
His expression turned grim as he thought about the anomaly.
From start to finish, he wasn’t able to get much information about the anomaly. He could see that Clara had tried to do so, but before she could even get the chance, the entire scenario would reset.
Not only that, but recalling the actions of the Jester, the Section Chief’s expression turned even more grim.
’I can’t understand it at all. What is it doing? Is this somehow related to the <A> ranked gate that opened up here?’
Thinking thus far, he paused.
"Perhaps, it is..."
His eyes slowly widened as he thought about the <A> ranked gate and the scenario. It was within an opera house, and recalling the note on the poster, something clicked in his mind.
"That must be it...!"
The Section Chief pressed his hand against the table and stood up. Staring at the empty wall, he turned to look at Clara.
"That right there is most likely the clue regarding the gate. The Jester’s..." The Section Chief paused, his expression turning strange as Clara wore a similar expression, drawing the same conclusion as him.
"He’s practicing."
"He’s training."
The two spoke at the same time.
The Section Chief sat back down on the chair as he mused over the situation.
"The Jester was using the gate as some sort of practice place for his upcoming performance. While I don’t understand why, one thing is clear."
The Section Chief tapped the table, and the lights turned off.
A flash sparked on the wall, and a video began to play.
Da Dang—!
What followed was a haunting, yet beautiful tune.
Listening to it, the Section Chief was certain.
"This right here is the key to clearing the gate."
His eyes sharpened as he listened to the tune. But before he even had the chance to get excited, Clara spoke, "While I do agree with you, Section Chief. I think there are other things that we need to worry about."
She pressed a small remote as a certain image appeared.
The Section Chief’s excitement faded rather quickly.
Instead, a certain gloom took over his expression as Clara’s next words forced the room into a biting cold.
"An anomaly belonging to a rising <B> ranked gate managed to infiltrate our group and leave the gate. Right now, the anomaly is roaming somewhere. Most likely growing stronger by the day. What should we do about this?"