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

Chapter 736: Hide and Seek [2]

I did a careful scan of my office the moment I stepped in. I took in every little detail. From the faint hum of the computer screen to the soft flickering of the lights above me.

For some reason, I found myself paying more attention to the corners of the room than anything else.

The places where the light didn’t quite reach as well.

From the spaces beneath the desk, the narrow gap between the cabinets, to the area next to the door…

Nothing moved.

At least, nothing that I could see.

Looking up, my gaze fell on the lights, which had suddenly turned on, unlike before, when they had suddenly flickered and gone out.

Looking at them now, I couldn’t help but squint my eyes.

The room was much brighter now.

A little too bright.

The white light seemed to wash everything in the room of its usual color, making the familiar office look strangely sterile. The shadows were still there, but they were thinner now, pushed into the edges and corners where they seemed to cling unnaturally close to the walls.

I stared at them for a few seconds, my eyes narrowing slightly.

“…”

There was nothing unusual about them.

And yet, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

The faint buzzing of the lights filled the room, drowning out the silence that had surrounded me moments ago.

It was strange.

I had almost preferred it when they were off.

At least then, I knew what I couldn’t see.

Now, everything was visible. In a way, it almost felt as though this was a taunt.

As if it was saying to me, ‘Even with the lights on, you can’t find me.’

I continued to scan the place, my eyes shifting from left to right as I raised the lantern, the multitude of steps becoming clear to me once more.

The blue light washed over the room, cutting through the harsh white glow of the ceiling lamps.

For a brief moment, the two lights seemed to overlap strangely.

The shadows beneath the furniture appeared to shift.

I blinked once, and the shadow disappeared as though they had never moved in the first place.

“….”

Just like the first time I checked, the steps covered the floor, the walls, and even the areas around my desk. I slowly followed each one with my eyes, trying to make sense of where they had come from.

Most of them led nowhere, and with the steps overlapping with those from before, it made it a little hard to tell whose was whose.

Some simply stopped in the middle of the floor.

Others began beside the wall and disappeared before reaching the other side of the room.

There were even a few that seemed to overlap perfectly with one another, as though several people had walked through the exact same spot at almost the exact same time.

Even the steps that were on the wall seemed to contain different shapes and forms.

Some were shallow.

Others were deep.

A few looked as though whatever had made them had barely touched the surface at all.

And then there were the ones that looked almost as though they had been pressed into the wall from the other side.

‘Is the anomaly more than one…?’

No…

My grip on the lantern tightened as I stepped into the room and moved closer to one of the walls, the steps becoming clearer as I looked down and compared them to another step.

The closer I got, the more uncomfortable I became.

There was something about seeing them up close that made them feel less like traces left behind and more like evidence.

Evidence that something had been here.

Something that was still here.

‘Yes, it’s still in the room with me. I’m sure…’

But where…?

I crouched slightly, bringing the lantern closer to the floor.

The blue light illuminated the faint outline of the footsteps, allowing me to see them more clearly.

“…”

I carefully compared one step to another.

They looked almost identical.

Almost…

But there was something different about them.

Something I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

I stared at them for a little longer.

The difference was there.

I was certain of it.

But every time I tried to identify what it was, my eyes seemed to slide over it, as though my mind itself was refusing to acknowledge the detail.

My brows furrowed at the sight, and I eventually pulled my gaze away and shifted my attention elsewhere. I crouched down to analyze the next step, the sound of the lights above still constantly echoing in the background alongside the soft hum of the computer screen.

The room was quiet.

Like really quiet…

To the point where I could hear every small sound around me. From the faint buzzing of the lights to the soft hum of the computer.

Even my own breathing.

I could hear the faint movement of my clothes whenever I shifted my weight.

The subtle creak of the floor beneath me.

The tiny click of the lantern in my hand whenever my grip tightened around it.

Every sound felt isolated and enhanced.

As though the room had become so quiet that even the smallest noises had nowhere to disappear to.

Yet, beneath all of it, there was something else.

Something so faint that I couldn’t tell whether I was actually hearing it or simply imagining it.

It wasn’t quite a sound.

More like a disturbance.

A faint presence beneath the noise.

Something that seemed to exist in the gaps between each sound.

I stopped moving.

“…”

For a moment, I didn’t even breathe.

I listened carefully, straining my ears inside the once-familiar office room.

The computer hummed.

The lights buzzed.

But that was about it. There was nothing else that I could detect within the noise.

‘Nothing. I don’t—’

Click!

“—!”

My head flicked towards the sound, my gaze falling on the door. I stood up instantly as I moved towards the door.

My footsteps sounded incredibly loud against the floor. To the point that it almost felt as though they were pounding against my mind.

I stopped just short of the door, trying to reach for the air in front.

But…

‘Nothing.’

There was absolutely nothing.

I drew a small breath, looking at the handle of the door.

Right as my fingers wrapped around it, feeling its cool exterior, I paused. For a brief moment, I simply stood there, staring at the door, an uneasy feeling settling in the pit of my stomach.

The metal handle felt colder than it should have.

It wasn’t just cool. It was freezing.

As though it had been sitting outside in the middle of winter. In the meantime, the faint buzzing of the lights continued above me.

The computer screen continued to hum behind me.

All sounds appeared to be even louder than before.

The lights.

The computer.

My breathing.

Everything started to feel loud inside my mind.

To the point that it started to feel uncomfortable. Hearing the sounds, I couldn’t shake the strange sense of unease that had settled within me. Especially when such sounds started to become more and more faint inside of my mind.

Click! Click!

“It’s locked.”

The words left my mouth quietly as I tried to pull the door.

For some reason, speaking them aloud made the room feel even more silent.

The locked door didn’t come as much of a surprise to me. I had already more or less figured this out from the moment I heard the clicking sound. Still, I wasn’t really too worried either.

Especially since getting out wasn’t an issue for me.

‘I’ve got the Voidwalker’s ability, and there are also others coming.’

That thought should have reassured me.

Yet…

For some strange reason, I didn’t feel quite as relaxed as I was supposed to be as my eyes remained fixed on the door for another moment.

Then, slowly, I turned.

With my hand still on the handle, I turned to face the office room once more, my gaze slowly sweeping across the room.

From the desk to the computer, the cabinets, the walls, and the countless footprints.

Everything was still there.

Nothing had changed.

At least…

I thought nothing had changed.

My gaze lingered on the floor.

For just a moment, I thought I saw another footprint.

One that hadn’t been there before.

But the moment I blinked—

It was gone.

“…Where are you hiding?”

I let go of the handle.

The door remained completely still behind me.

Compass in hand, I tried to look for it again. But right as I took another step…

Flick!

The lights above me flickered off.

Darkness engulfed me from every direction.