Chapter 51 - The game that makes you scream [1]
The moment I came into the Guild, I saw over a dozen pairs of eyes staring in my direction. They were all from people whom I more or less knew.
'What's up with them?'
I tried to ignore their stares, but they were burning holes into my face. It almost felt as though they were looking at some sort of wild animal from the zoo.
I touched my face.
Was there something on my face?
...Did the axe somehow manage to graze my face?
'No, I don't think so.'
I didn't feel any pain on my face, and the cops would've probably said something about it.
Then...?
"Oh."
My eyes eventually fell on Zoey's phone, and everything became clear to me. My heart sank.
'So they saw the stream.'
It made sense when thinking about it. After all, Zoey had been the one to instigate Jamie to do something to scare me. In the end, that never happened as a result of the weird cultists coming out of nowhere.
With a sigh, I was just about to approach them when I saw Terrance...? Yes, I think that was his name... I saw him take a step back, his face a little pale as he alternated his gaze between me and Kyle.
He started mumbling some strange words that I couldn't hear, and before I could get a word out, he scurried away.
The hell?
His reaction felt a little off.
Myles was next to leave, waving his hand at me as the dimples on his face felt a little stiff. I waved back, but at the same time, remained extremely cautious.
Ever since realizing his identity, I had tried my best to keep a certain distance from him.
In the past, Myles had tried multiple times to invite me out for dinner, but I somehow managed to weasel my way out of those situations by simply telling him that I was too busy with work and that I wouldn't be able to.
My terrible sleeping schedule also helped in that regard.
Eventually, Myles appeared to have gotten the message and stopped interacting with me as much.
I was happy with this.
It was always good to avoid snakes.
'Well, I guess there's only Kyle and Zoey left...'
I opened my mouth to speak, but was promptly cut off by Zoey, who shook her head.
"You shouldn't have rejected the Section Chief's offer. What a waste."
And then, standing up, she shook her head again before leaving. I felt lost.
What in the world was going on today?
"....."
I eventually turned my attention towards Kyle. Just like that, of the four people who were present, only one remained.
"You're not going to leave like the others, right?"
"No? Why would I?"
Kyle looked around before leaning a bit closer, his voice lowered into a whisper.
"Did you end up puking in the end?"
I pressed my lips tightly and looked around before shaking my head and whispering back, "I was about to, but there was no bathroom."
"That's good. Think about bringing your own bag next time."
"That's actually a good suggestion."
It would save me a lot of trouble, actually.
"That aside... Kek"
Kyle suddenly stifled a laugh, his face slowly turning red as he looked at me.
What's up with him?
"Pftt."
Kyle held back another laugh as he took out his phone and showed me his screen. That was when I saw it. A picture of myself, standing in the middle of a familiar bedroom with sunglasses on.
The worst part of the picture was the caption above it that read: Meet the Lunatic with the Sunglasses.
There were quite a few comments and likes on the picture.
I could see that it was starting to go viral.
'Oh....'
Kyle put the phone down before suddenly bending over, his mouth open as he laughed without making a sound. I could tell from how red his face was that he was trying his best to laugh, but he was laughing so hard that no noise came out.
I kind of just wanted to pinch his nose and let him suffocate in his own laugh.
But I was too nice for that.
Without paying him any more mind, I rubbed my eyes and headed back to my office.
I was way too tired to care about things like this.
Clank!
Closing the door behind me, I looked around before settling my gaze on the wall where the large III was present.
Staring at it, I felt a growing pressure mount on my chest as I dropped my stuff and slumped down on the nearby chair.
'Right, I need to handle that too...'
The countdown felt like a schytte hanging over my neck, ready to slice it off at any given second.
'Thankfully, the conductor has yet to make any movements just yet, but... I don't know how long that will be.'
He was coming.
Of that, I was sure.
"Huu."
Letting out a breath, I settled my gaze over the painting on the wall, and I checked the time.
"There are twenty minutes left until one... Do I really still have to look at it?"
And what about the quest? Was it still not completed?
I sighed while massaging my face. The situation didn't quite make sense, and after a little bit of thought, I retrieved my laptop and booted it open.
I was about to open the system app when I paused and turned my attention toward the Dock App. Its logo was that of a black joystick. Thinking about my current situation, I opened the app and tried to get to the bottom of the situation.
"So I've been suspended because of botting. However, that doesn't mean that the game isn't being sold, right?"
The only thing that was blocked was just my account.
In that case, the game was still up for purchase.
I typed the name of the game on the search bar to see if that was the case. And sure enough, it was still up!
My heart raced a little when I saw this.
I was extremely curious to see how it was doing. Surely for the account to be suspected of botting, it must've been doing quite well...
'Maybe it also got reported by those in the stream. That could be the reason.'
That no longer mattered since I was more curious to see how the game was doing. However, checking the statistics of the game, my brows slowly furrowed.
"It's still not updated yet...?"
I couldn't see any reviews or details about the game.
This wasn't exactly strange. It usually took a while for the information to load. I was really curious to see how the game was faring, but it seemed like I had to wait a little longer. That was how I spent the next dozen minutes, but even as that much time passed, there was no real change.
I frowned while thinking about the game, and that was when something hit me.
"Streams!"
I thought about the stream that I had just done.
"Surely someone might be streaming the game, right?"
The stream was doing very well the last time I remembered. If that were the case, then someone could be playing the game.
I felt my heart race at the thought as I opened the streaming application. However, just as I was about to do so, I looked at the time and I paused.
"Ah..."
Right, I need to do that first.
I could only silently close the game before settling my gaze on the painting before me. I suddenly grew nervous as I got up from the chair and stood in front of it.
Tik, Tik—
The seconds ticked, and the arm eventually reached 12.
1:00 AM.
The time began, and I held my breath.
Just as my body began to tense...
Ding!
I heard the sound of a notification coming from my computer.
I paused and blinked my eyes by accident. Oh, shit! I started to panic, but a second later, I realized something...
'Nothing.'
Nothing had happened despite my blinking. Then...? Slowly turning around and settling my gaze over my computer, I took a slow step towards it until I caught a glimpse of the screen.
That was when I saw it.
[Congratulations on completing the quest!]
"Oh..."