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

Chapter 552: Bits and Pieces [1]

The second sublevel felt different from the one above.

The air was heavier here, colder in a way that settled deeper into the bones. The walls seemed narrower, the ceiling lower, and the air felt even more moist.

We moved quickly, our steps splashing against the shallow water that covered the floor. Each stride sent ripples racing outward, the sound echoing sharply through the submerged corridor.

I kept my eyes on the compass in my hand, its needle steady now as I followed its direction without hesitation.

Unlike the upper floor, every door along this sublevel stood open.

From time to time, I’d stop to take a look at the insides of each room. This came as a result of the compass’s occasional glitches, which would spin it toward the rooms, forcing me to go in with bated breath.

’There’s nothing here.’

The room was large, yet it was in complete disarray.

Tables and chairs lay overturned, some snapped at the legs, others shoved aside as if something had torn through in a frenzy. Picture frames were scattered across the floor, their glass shattered and glittering faintly under the light. Shards crunched beneath our boots as we stepped forward.

Research papers were plastered against the wet pavement, soaked through and clinging to the ground. The ink had bled and faded, words reduced to blurred streaks, making it hard to read what was written.

”...It doesn’t seem to be anything important.”

The ones that were in a better state revealed almost nothing.

”It matches what we already know,” Niel said, his voice low as I glanced at the ruined documents scattered across the floor. ”They were researching a method to produce renewable energy without generating greenhouse gases.”

I nudged a soaked stack of papers with my boot, watching the pages peel apart and fall back into the water.

That was when something caught my eye.

Amid the smeared ink and waterlogged pages, a section of text remained untouched. Several large words had been printed in bold.

”Project Gate is what it was called.”

Niel’s words lingered in the air, hanging between us even after he fell silent.

I kept my eyes on the paper for a moment longer, committing the bold lettering to memory, before finally tearing my gaze away and looking back at the compass.

Without another word, I stepped out of the room.

Water splashed softly beneath my boots as I followed the direction it pointed, intent on seeing where it would lead next.

”Let’s continue.”

The other rooms were no different from the first.

Each one had once been a research space, now reduced to ruin. Papers lay scattered across the floors in damp clusters, some trampled into the water, others clinging to walls and furniture. Tables were overturned, chairs thrown aside as though abandoned in a panic.

There were no corpses or anything else.

Just... papers and what remained of the old research facility.

’From the way everything is overturned, it’s clear that the people here ran out of this place in panic. This might likely be due to the appearance of the Mist. Or could it have been something else...?’

I was honestly unsure.

However, I hoped it was the former.

’We shouldn’t be too far.’

I glanced at the compass again and quickened my pace.

The needle was trembling now, no longer steady. It quivered in tight, frantic motions, pulling slightly to one side before correcting itself. The closer I moved, the more unstable it became.

It was reacting.

Which meant I was close.

I was almost running now, my boots pounding against the wet floor as the sound bounced wildly through the corridor. The noise wobbled and echoed off the walls, distorted by the narrow space.

The others hurried after me, their footsteps uneven but close. I could hear them, but I did not look back.

My eyes were locked on the compass. The needle shook violently in my grasp, jerking with every step as if struggling to settle. I tightened my grip and pushed forward, rushing ahead without slowing.

My heart felt heavy.

A deep sense of suffocation settled over me after my conversation with the Conductor.

’Hurry. I need to hurry.’

I didn’t even know why I was hurrying, but for whatever reason, I knew that I had to hurry.

I just had to.

”Haa... Haa...”

The sound of my breathing echoed harshly through the corridor, mixing with the distant drip of water.

Slowly, I came to a stop.

In front of me stood a familiar-looking door. Its surface was worn, scratched in several places, and covered in rust.

The compass in my hand began to rattle violently. The needle jerked, then snapped into place.

It was pointing directly at the door.

’This is the place.’

I looked behind, seeing Niel, Mia, and Nora catching up with me, their breath heavy.

”W-where... are we? What is this place?”

”...I am not quite sure myself.”

In fact, I didn’t even know if this was the correct door. The compass led me here, but what if it was the wrong path? What if waiting behind the door was the very thing that had been haunting us since the start?

I clenched my teeth, every muscle in my body tightening as I reached for the handle.

For a brief second, my hand hovered there.

Then I pulled.

Creaaaaaaaaaaak—!

The old hinges let out a long, aching groan that echoed down the corridor, the sound reverberating in every direction. Rust flaked loose as the door slowly swung inward.

Beyond it, a room began to reveal itself before our eyes, shadows retreating inch by inch as the light from my torch pushed its way inside.

”——!”

For a brief moment, as I pushed the door wider, I thought I saw it.

A small shadow stood in the corner of the room, shaped like a boy, silent and watching as its features were blurred. My hand trembled around the handle, the beam of my torch wavering as my pulse spiked.

But as the beam of light continued to tremble, the shadow thinned and vanished completely, leaving behind nothing more than an abandoned office space.

A large desk sat at the center of the room, its surface buried beneath a layer of dust. Cabinets along the walls stood half open, the insides empty, as I remained completely still, staring in the direction of where I thought I saw the shadow.

”Did you guys...”

No, I pressed my lips together.

Looking back and seeing their looks of confusion, I knew that they hadn’t seen the shadow.

I pressed my lips together once more, forcing myself to walk into the room as the others followed.

”This place is different.”

Nora was the first one to speak, looking all over the place as she traced her finger over the desk.

”...There’s no leakage here, and even though it’s messy, it’s not nearly as wrecked as the other places. Ah, here.”

Nora stopped before a frame, picking it up and looking at it.

”It’s slightly damaged, but it’s still in pretty good shape. I can still more or less make out the pictures inside.”

Nora turned and showed the frame to us.

”Look here.”

Alongside the others, I looked at the frame.

The glass was cracked, a thin fracture running across the surface, but it was merely in the corner. Beneath it, the photograph remained mostly intact. The colors were faded, but the figures were still recognizable.

”Looking at how they’re wearing labcoats, they seem to be people from this place. But, uhmm... I can’t really make out their faces.”

Nora brushed her finger across the cracked glass, trying to clear away the dust and grime for a better look.

It made no difference.

No matter how she adjusted the angle or how carefully she cleaned the surface, the faces in the photograph remained blurred.

”Agh, damn it.”

After a moment of frustration, she flipped the frame over. With careful movements, she slid the backing loose and gently retrieved the picture from inside, holding it up directly beneath the light.

”Let’s see if this does something.”

Nora raised the flashlight closer, angling the beam carefully over the surface of the photograph. She tilted it slightly, then shifted the light again, hoping the glare would reveal something hidden beneath the fading.

I stepped closer as well, curiosity pulling me in despite myself. Together, we examined it in silence.

But the image was simply too old.

No matter how closely we looked, no matter how we adjusted the light, the faces remained blurred.

”...Damn it.”

Nora sighed, shaking her head as she brought the flashlight away.

”There’s no helping it, I guess. We should let—”

”Wait.”

Mia suddenly reached for the photograph, her fingers trembling slightly as she took it from Nora. She lifted her own torch, the beam steady despite the faint shake in her hand, and angled it toward the surface.

”——!”

My expression shifted the moment she turned the image, several words appearing at once.

Words that Niel quietly read: ”It’s a game. It’s just one big game.”

Ba... Thump! Ba... Thump!

My heart pounded loudly in my ears as I stared at the words scrawled across the back of the photograph.

The handwriting was rushed and uneven, the ink pressed deep in some places and faint in others, as if whoever had written it had not had steady hands.

I could almost feel the urgency and sense of desperation in the words.

But what could they mean?

A game?

What game?

Don’t tell me...

CLANK!

My thoughts shattered at the thunderous slam of the door.

The sound exploded through the room, making my heart jolt violently in my chest. I spun toward it at once, dread pooling heavily in my stomach as I stared at the now closed entrance.

My heart sank.

But before any of us could react, it happened.

Flick. Flick.

One by one, the torches in our hands sputtered and died. The light blinked out in quick succession, each small click sounding far louder than it should have.

Then there was nothing.

The four of us were swallowed whole by darkness.

But within the darkness, I heard it.

”Haa... Haa...”

The sound of the extra breath in the room.