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

Chapter 371: Nightmare Forge Studio [2]

There had been something that had been bothering Zoey lately. While she tried her best not to show it, the people around her still ended up picking up on her weird behavior.

”Are you okay...?”

”Is something wrong?”

”You look a little off.”

”Why do you keep looking there?”

Zoey tried her best to brush it all off with her daydreaming about the Trials, but it was clear that people were starting to look at her suspiciously.

”...Agh.”

Ruffling her hair, Zoey walked towards her usual cafe and grabbed her usual.

”This is so annoying. It should’ve been better if I hadn’t overheard it.”

Ever since overhearing Seth’s conversation with his team at the hospital, Zoey had been struggling to think straight. Every memory of her interactions with him replayed in her mind, each one making her cringe with secondhand embarrassment over how she had treated him.

’It’s not like I knew, right? And he did say that about my parents...’

Zoey bit her lips.

Back then, she didn’t know, but now that she knew Seth better, she realized that he very likely didn’t mean his words. Fracture aside, he was simply the type of person who was indifferent to everything. He was essentially a caveman.

It wasn’t surprising for him not to know about her parents’ death.

”Agh.”

Zoey ruffled her hair again, the people around her stopping to look at her.

’Oh, crap.’

Lowering her cap, Zoey began to move faster.

But right as she began to move, she stopped.

’Talk of the devil...’

Standing by the sidewalk in front of the Guild was none other than Seth, his head lowered and focused on his phone.

Zoey turned away and prepared to head in the opposite direction when she stopped.

’No, I can’t avoid this.’

This entire situation had been bothering her for quite some time. She knew that she needed to handle it directly.

Taking a deep breath, she moved closer to him.

But right as she got within distance of him, she took note of something peculiar.

’Isn’t that my profile? He’s checking my profile?’

Zoey froze, her face turning rigid. A certain thought crossed her mind, and she started to shudder, but after a moment’s thought, she paused.

’No, there’s no way.’

Seth was too indifferent to such things. He was probably checking her profile after seeing his own profile, which had started to grow recently.

Still...

”That’s my profile, isn’t it...?”

Zoey suddenly felt like teasing him for some reason.

And as expected, the moment she asked the question, Seth froze.

”....!”

Zoey’s lips pulled slightly as she moved to get a better look at him. His face was extremely stiff as he alternated his gaze between her and his phone.

”Oh, you’re checking that photo out? That’s one of my favorite shots.”

Zoey looked at the photo. It was one that she shot with a rather popular beverage brand, ’SyrupJoy’.

”It has quite a lot of likes too. I look nice, no?”

”.....”

Seth’s face turned stiffer, and Zoey’s cheeks trembled.

This...

It was pretty fun, wasn’t it?

Zoey was just about to continue when—

”Are you Seth Thorne?”

A car stopped next to him.

Seth hastily turned his attention to the car as if it were his savior, then glanced back at her.

”My car is here. I’ll... see you later.”

He opened the car and got in, but—

”Wait.”

Zoey reached forward with her hand, stopping the door from closing.

Shortly after, Zoey hopped into the backseat with him.

”...I’m coming too.”

”Huh?”

Clank!

She closed the door, hand still in her pockets.

”I’ve got nothing else to do, so...”

She looked at the driver, lowering her cap.

”I’ll come with you.”

***

As a fairly successful studio, Nightmare Forge Studios was situated near the central zone of the island, around [Zone 2]. While rent in this area wasn’t as steep as in the absolute center, it was still relatively expensive.

It took about fifteen minutes to get to the Studio from the Guild.

The moment I stepped out of the cab, I was greeted by a towering square building dominated by glass windows.

I felt a mix of emotions while staring at the building.

’...It’s been a really long time.’

This was the place where I had worked for a very long time. I had made many friendships and enemies inside.

With that being said, that wasn’t the thing that was bothering me the most at the moment.

”Wow, is this where you’re headed to?”

”.....”

”It looks quite nice. Nightmare Forge Studios? Oh wow... This is also where you used to work, right?”

”.....”

”I’m really curious now.”

”.....”

True to her words, Zoey ended up following me to the Studio.

I honestly had a lot of things to say, but I gave up when I saw her face. It seemed like she had made up her mind to follow me.

’I don’t know what’s going on with her, but I’ll let her be for now. She’ll get bored while I’m attending the meeting anyway.’

”Let’s go. I have an appointment.”

I just accepted her presence and walked into the building.

The automatic doors swooshed open, and a blast of cold air hit me the moment I stepped inside.

”A-ah.”

Fuck.

I shivered for a moment, looking up and cursing.

’They still haven’t fixed that damn air conditioner?’

It had been almost half a year since I had left the Studio, and they had yet to do something as simple as this?

I really wanted to curse those from finance.

’It’s probably them. Those stingy bastards...’

I could still recall all those times they reduced the budget that I was designated, forcing me to try cheaper and different ways to get something working.

Just the thought made me gnash my teeth.

”Is this really where you worked? It’s not bad.”

Zoey’s voice reached me from the side as she looked around. It seemed like she was totally indifferent to the cold coming from the air conditioner.

And it wasn’t like her clothes were heavy.

Her hands were tucked into the pockets of her baggy black pants, the loose fabric contrasting with the cropped shirt that bared her toned abs.

I felt cold just looking at her.

”...Yeah, it’s not bad.”

I decided to keep the thoughts to myself while looking around.

On the outside, the Studio didn’t look bad at all. It had the top-end equipment, and the lobby, alongside the main working areas, was rather clean.

”I see a lot of merch, too. What game is this one?”

”That’s...”

I looked at the poster that Zoey was pointing at and frowned. That... I couldn’t recognize it at all. This left me a little surprised, but as I looked around and looked at all the other merchandise for the other games, I realized that I couldn’t recognize any of the games.

Oh...

This didn’t come as a surprise to me.

I had done a little search in the past, and the games that I had worked on in the past, besides the latest one, had all been erased.

’It seems like they’ve been replaced with other games that I don’t remember.’

”Don’t tell me you forgot...”

”Hah.”

I scratched the back of my head while looking at Zoey.

It seems like I have...

”.....”

She stared at me in silence, but then nodded.

”I understand.”

”....?”

”You were probably busy handling all the codes and stuff, right? You never really got to see the end product.”

”Mhm, let’s go with that.”

This felt like a convenient excuse, albeit lazy.

For some reason, looking at Zoey’s expression, which seemed to hold a twinge of guilt, I found myself frowning.

’What’s going on with her?’

”Ah, could you be Seth?”

A voice shook me out of my thoughts.

Turning around, a fairly handsome man in a suit stopped before me and extended his hand in my direction.

”Nice to meet you, I’m Daniel. I’ll be the one to guide you around and bring you to the CEO. I hope we can get along.”

Staring at him and then his outstretched hand, I paused before reaching to grab it.

”Likewise.”

I really did hope we could get along.