11:59 P.M
Click!
I made sure to lock the door of the classroom.
A stifling silence followed right after.
I stood in silence for a while before finally looking away. Even then, the sound of my heartbeat continued to echo in my head.
Say... Hello.
Thinking back to my last interaction with the Conductor, I struggled to keep my composure as the image of the long corridor resurfaced in my mind. Nothing about it seemed unusual, yet it now almost felt as though the entirety of it was looking back at me.
I unknowingly found myself holding my breath.
"All of a sudden, I don’t want to work there anymore."
And yet, it was too late.
I had already set everything up inside.
’I’m just exaggerating. At the end of the day, I just need to follow the rules. So what if it’s watching? So long as I stick to the rules, I should be safe.’
Thinking thus far, I felt a lot better.
I was also fairly tired. Besides exploring the place, I returned to Game Developer Mode and assimilated my first game into the Virtual World.
The process wasn’t very difficult.
It was time-consuming, but not difficult.
I also had the perfect people to test the game. I planned on asking them for help, and as I looked at the door once more, I decided to head out of the office.
It was time to rest.
*
I woke earlier than usual.
After getting a light breakfast, I decided to head to the gym. There weren’t many people today, and after a quick session, I took a quick shower and headed to work. During my sleep and workout, I had managed to get some inspiration for my potential new game.
I was planning on immediately getting started.
But—
’Right, I need to go to my team. The break is over. I should fulfill my duty as the Squad Leader.’
Coming into the Guild, I made a detour and walked all the way to my office.
"Looks like everyone is here."
The place was strangely quiet as they all looked at me.
They did seem a lot better rested than before, but I could still see the lingering fears in their mind as they looked at me.
I could only imagine what the doppleganger had put them through while I wasn’t present.
’No, I don’t really need to imagine.’
I had already seen it.
"Relax. We’re not going to be diving for the next couple of days. The end of the month is approaching in the next few days. We’re still ranked first in terms of points compared to the other newly established squads."
In fact, we were first by a long shot.
Our current points were considered high even when compared to some of the more seasoned teams.
The only teams that were ahead of ours were the teams that went to high-ranking gates. But that was only to be expected. The higher the rank of the gate, the greater the points.
"Anyways..."
I opened up one of my emails and looked at the recent message.
"Department Trials."
I tapped on the table before looking at the others.
"...We’ll need to put a lot of attention and focus on this."
It said that the bonus that top teams will receive will be quite high. It went without question that we had to achieve a top spot. I was in desperate need of money at the moment.
"Preferably, I’d like us to achieve the top spot, but I’m not sure if we can achieve that."
"Huh? Top spot...?"
"You... you want us to achieve the top spot?"
Hearing the startled voices ahead, I lifted my head to find Mia and Joanna staring at me in surprise.
I cocked my head.
"What’s wrong?"
"Nothing really..." Joanna answered, staring at me from her cubicle as her brows furrowed tightly. "There’s nothing wrong with wanting to achieve the top spot, but it’s an unrealistic target. Especially when taking into account the fact that there are far stronger teams than ours."
"Hmm."
She wasn’t wrong.
There were indeed several stronger teams than ours.
As far as I knew, Clara wasn’t in any condition to participate, and Kyle had said he wouldn’t be joining either. The same went for Zoey. He didn’t specify why, but it was clear that without the two of them participating, alongside Clara, achieving a good result wouldn’t be out of the question.
But maybe I was jumping the gun.
I wasn’t the doppleganger. I couldn’t carry the team into achieving absurd results like before. It was also true that the team was young.
’I guess I was thinking too much.’
Even without Clara, Kyle, and Zoey, the chances of us ranking at the top were not very high.
"A pity."
I really wanted the bonus.
Whatever the case was, we still had about two weeks to get ready. In the meantime, I planned on allocating my focus on the new game and possibly on building more teamwork with the team.
With that being said...
"Okay, let’s go. All of you follow me."
"Eh...?"
"Are we going somewhere?"
Seeing the confused looks on everyone’s faces, I said nothing and walked out. After exchanging a few puzzled glances, they all followed me to my main office.
As the new up-and-coming group, we drew a fair amount of attention in the main area, but I ignored it and led them into my office, closing the door behind us.
"Where is this place?"
Nora was the first one to speak.
With her brows furrowed tightly, she looked at me.
"Why did you bring us to the janitor’s room?"
"...."
"This painting looks cheap. No wonder it’s here."
"...."
"A fax machine? The hell? How old is this place?"
"...."
"A clown outfit, too? They really have too much time on their hands..."
"...."
"What sort of t—Hmm! Hmmmm!"
Nora’s words were cut short by Joanna, who stood behind her, hands pressed to her mouth as she looked at me.
"Don’t mind her... Squad Leader. This place... Ehm." She looked around, forcing a smile. "It’s quite nice. Yeah. Not bad."
"....."
I didn’t say anything and just walked towards the other door before unlocking it.
Click!
"Get in."
The faces of everyone changed upon catching a glimpse of what was behind the door, but I didn’t give them the chance to speak and urged them with my head.
"Get inside."
"...."
"...."
Without saying another word, everyone proceeded into the classroom. The moment they entered, I could see their faces change, but I didn’t allow them to ask any more questions before pointing towards the capsules in the middle.
"Don’t ask any questions. Get in the capsules."
I had previously planned on being nice. I just wanted to use them to help me test a few things here and there.
Things were different now.
If before I only wanted them to help test the VR version of A Regular Day in the Office , I now planned to push the difficulty to the maximum.
"What are you waiting for? Oh, right... There are only five capsules. Well, that’s fine. This isn’t a team game. Just get in. I’ll start the game not long after."
"Squad Leader..."
I could practically hear Mia whimpering.
I didn’t care and just pointed at the capsule.
"Get in."
"....!?"