Chapter 277: Doppelganger [4]
I was overwhelmed by the sight that greeted me. While I did expect something upon hearing Joanna’s words, what greeted my eyes was a completely unexpected situation.
’Sixteen...’
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Over the past month, they have gone through sixteen gates. If we excluded the one where I was actually present, they had done a total of fifteen gates over the past twenty days.
’How does this make sense?’
Could a human even achieve something like this?
While it was true that all of the gates were cleared beforehand, and there was a lot of information about them, it usually took a team a couple of days of proper planning before diving into a gate. A lot of preparation was needed.
The fact that they had done so many gates in such little time made absolutely no sense.
’No wonder they were all like that.’
I thought about Joanna’s words and realized just how bad the situation was. From the way she spoke, I had assumed it’d be something like five gates. But fifteen?
’...This is ridiculous.’
But that wasn’t the thing that shocked me the most.
I was more surprised by the clearance grade of each gate.
’It’s incredibly high.’
The weird expressions and talk all suddenly started to make sense.
But...
How did this happen?
I wasn’t present at all. How did they manage to clear the gates at such a level?
I reached for the mouse and dragged the cursor around. Eventually, reaching the ’log’ area, I downloaded all of the recordings and transferred them to my phone.
A bar appeared on my screen.
‖ —[10%]————‖
Seeing it, I knew that it would take a little bit of time for everything to load. Pulling my attention away from the PC, I saw that everyone was back in the room. The moment I looked at them, several looked away.
I almost smiled at the sight.
’This feels like I’m some sort of teacher who’s about to ask the children for their homework.’
I shook the thought from my mind and decided to speak.
"I talked to Joanna. I understand the situation. Therefore, for the next week, you can all do whatever you want. We won’t be diving in any gate."
Not that I planned to, anyway...
"There are more important matters at the Guild. As such, I doubt we’ll be able to go anyway. For now, all of you can do whatever you want. If you wish to train using the games, or if you want to read something, you can do that. In fact, you can all go back to your dorms and relax. We’ve already met the Guild’s monthly quota. It’s not like we have to do anything more."
"....."
"....."
"....."
As opposed to the reaction that I was expecting, I was met with a strange silence right after I was done speaking. Surprised, I raised my brow.
"What?"
But then—
"R-really? Can... we actually do that? But the last time we asked..."
Mia finally shattered the silence, her voice trembling slightly as she looked at me. The others also looked at me with the same expression.
"Just go before I change my mi—"
Clank! Clank!
Chairs flipped before I knew it. Mia, Nora, Min, Niel, Sarah, and even Joanna all shot up from their seats before I even had the chance to finish my words. They then all shot away from the room, closing the door behind them.
Clank!
"...."
The room fell completely silent in that moment as I stared at the door in a daze.
That...
But then—
Clank!
The door opened, and several heads popped in.
"Thanks!"
They rushed right after that.
"....."
I didn’t know how to react as I covered my mouth and tried to smile. It was just unfortunate that my attempt failed miserably as my smile faltered almost immediately after, and a certain ache pressed against my chest.
"....Hm."
Clutching my chest, I tried my best to resist the feeling as it dug deeply into me.
Before I knew it, I started to sweat as my breathing became rougher and rougher. Clenching my teeth, I just barely managed to sustain that feeling as I leaned back against my chair and took deep and heavy breaths.
’It’s getting bad.’
I silently swallowed while staring blankly at the ceiling above me.
’...The medicine effect is becoming lower and lower.’
But it wasn’t just the medicine. It was the side effects of the previous gate as well. Constantly being forced to experience the same thing over and over again had made me different. While I still tried to act the same, I realized that I started to feel less than before.
I hoped this was temporary.
I took a pill from my pocket and popped it in my mouth. Accompanied by some water, I managed to swallow it all down as I started to calm down.
"Okay."
I took a deep breath and put the pills away.
"It looks like I need to try and push for the Third Order soon."
There was one issue, however. I didn’t have enough fragments. No, I technically did have enough, but the purity wasn’t good enough.
Sighing, I looked at the PC again.
‖ ————[93%]—‖
"Looks like it’s almost done."
Pulling my gaze away from the PC, I scratched the back of my head. I needed to think of a way to procure more fragments.
"Since I can’t dive into any more ga—"
I paused all of a sudden. Blinking slowly, I moved my attention back to the PC and looked at the logs.
"Wait..."
I frowned.
"...Where the hell did all of the fragments from those gates go?"
Surely...
Ding!
A notification followed quickly after.
Turning my attention towards my phone, I looked at the numerous videos before me. I paused the moment I saw them as I felt my heart beat rise. For some reason, I was a little nervous to see the videos. Just what exactly happened to me while I was gone?
Swallowing quietly, I pressed ’play’ and the first video began.
"This looks like some sort of abandoned park."
The sky was dark, and I could see the entire team in the video. They were all together, and as I began watching the video, my eyes fell on a particular individual. With soft black hair and a relatively thin figure, my eyes couldn’t help but fall on myself.
Yes...
Myself.
"A doppleganger?"
From head to toe, he looked exactly like me. However, upon closer look, something about his eyes was different. They were almost black, and a certain pressure seemed to come out from these eyes, involuntarily making me avert my own.
They felt suffocating. Almost as if they were death itself, and as the video continued to play, I watched as ’I’ commanded everyone quietly. My words were neither soft nor loud. Just even.
But there was a certain indifference to my actions that felt inhuman.
It almost felt like a robot was controlling me.
I watched as he cleared the gate without any trouble. Every one of his actions and commands seemed to be measured, assessing the situation with such calm that it almost felt creepy. This wasn’t like me at all.
Turning to the next videos, it was the same.
I could also see that the others were uncomfortable with my commands. However, unlike when they were with me, they listened to everything.
The gates were being cleared relatively quickly.
But at the same time, I could see that each gate was taking more and more of a mental toll on the members. All besides... my doppelganger.
The more gates he cleared, the weirder his eyes became.
They became even more intense.
And eventually, I reached the last video.
This video was shorter than the others. Playing it, I bit my lips as I watched myself clear the gate with incredible ease. I could see the others had also improved a lot, and as the gate slowly came to an end, my doppelganger slowly turned his head, and our gazes met.
Chills spread down my body the moment I looked into its eyes.
A warning.
Yes, that gaze...
It felt like it was a warning directed right at me.
This was the system warning me.
Telling me to stop wasting time.
*Puff*
The space above me opened up, and several fragments fell on my hands.
I stared blankly at the scene.
This...
What just happened?