Horror Game 24 - The Terror of Option

—H-how is this possible...?

Niel's voice echoed from the walkie-talkie.

I could see the confusion in his voice.

—This doesn't make sense...! It lied once already! We should've been able to solve the scenario!

—But it didn't...

Mia's voice followed right after that.

It seemed like her walkie-talkie was working again.

—....Is the possessed one Niel?

As Sarah's voice echoed, everyone turned quiet.

—...It would make sense. He's been pushing to vote for Joanna since the start.

Nora said, her voice sounding somewhat agressive.

Her words were followed by a subtle sound coming from Min.

—Hm.

—No, wait... I only pushed for Joanna because it seemed like the most logical conclusion. You all agreed with me!

—But you were so firm about it. You even disagreed with the Squad Leader's commands.

—You did too!

Chaos was starting to ensue in the communication channels.

I wanted to shake my head and speak over them, but I decided not to. This was probably necessary for them.

The team was new, and there was no synergy between them.

They all probably were elites coming from Academies, and despite not looking like they had egos, it was clear that they all had their own pride. This was a good way for them to experience 'failure'.

'More than that, I need to think about the situation more.'

Joanna was clearly not the liar.

This much was clear.

At the same time, two other people had spoken. Min and Mia. Realistically speaking, the two were now the prime suspects.

'...It should only be one of the two.'

The issue was that I now needed to understand who it was between the two.

It wouldn't be difficult to figure this one out.

'Min is a boy and Mia is a girl. If everyone asks the same question, we'll figure out the answer immediately.'

This sounded easy in principle. However, I was still worried.

There was no way things would actually be this simple.

I still nonetheless reached for the walkie-talkie and pressed the communication button.

"Everyone, please calm down. I think I know how to solve this problem."

I lowered the walkie-talkie right after that.

But...

—Why are you blaming me? Aren't you the number one suspect? You were clearly the one pushing the situation the most!

—Like I said, I was only following logic. The fact that you're arguing against me shows me that you might be the possessed one.

—See? You're shifting blame to me!

The channels remained a mess.

None of them seemed to have heard my words as they argued against each other in the communication channels.

I frowned and tried to speak again.

This time I raised my voice.

"Settle down!"

But the result was still the same.

"Hm?"

It was here that I understood that the situation was not as simple as it seemed.

"...Is my walkie-talkie not working?"

I flipped it to the other side and checked the batteries before speaking again. However, the result remained the same.

—You're arguing against logic! You're clearly stirring things up!

—Me? Meee???

—Stop. Both of you!

—Mia is right.

—No, I agree with Niel.

In fact, the chaos seemed to grow even more prominent.

It got to a point where I realized that something was wrong.

These were top recruits. Even if they disagreed with each other, they should all still be able to calm down and think things carefully. The answer was right before their eyes.

Unless...

'The possessed had unknowingly possessed a few others?'

I thought for a moment.

There were short intervals when the walkie-talkies didn't talk. Was that a coincidence? Obviously not.

In that case...

'Could the possessed one have taken over the minds of a few members in the meantime? Is it trying to sow discord between the members to delay time?'

I looked at my walkie-talkie.

Each time the walkie-talkie stopped working, the 'possessed' could attack. Everyone's walkie-talkies were working.

Everyone but mine...

"....!?"

My head snapped toward the door.

It was open.

Pitch black.

The hallway beyond looked like it had been swallowed whole by something, the shadows almost pulsing at the edges. I could feel my heartbeat in my throat as I grabbed my knife and crept toward the doorway, each step heavier than the last.

I stopped just short of crossing the threshold.

The air was colder here.

I clenched the knife so tightly my fingers ached, eyes locked on the shifting dark ahead.

'You can do it. You can do it. You can do it.'

I forced myself to push past the fear and broke into a sprint, lunging through the doorway with my knife slashing to the right.

"——!"

But—

Swoosh!

I hit nothing.

I hastily looked to my left, but also found nothing.

Just the long flight of stairs stretching into the dark, and the small, empty space around me. Nothing moved. Nothing breathed. I pursed my lips, trying to steady my thoughts.

Maybe I was overthinking.

However, just as I turned back to my room, my eyes fell on the small line of salt on the floor, and my breath paused.

There, I saw the outline of a footprint. One that seemed to have stayed for quite some time before leaving.

I held onto the knife with even more force.

'The possessed one was here. Whoever it was, they tried to attack me but stopped because of the salt.'

I felt chills running down my spine just thinking about it.

The fact that I hadn't noticed until now made the hair on my body stand as I looked back at the board.

The walkie-talkie was still going crazy with the other members blaming each other. This was clearly the work of the possessed.

'What should I do...?'

My first line of thought was to go back and try to wait for the walkie-talkie to work again.

However, that didn't seem like the best plan.

Especially since there was no guarantee that it would work.

In that case...

I shifted my focus back to the footprints on the floor, then looked toward the stairs. In the darkness, I finally noticed them, faint salt prints trailing upward, barely visible but unmistakably there.

I bit my lips and looked back.

Towards the room that seemed to be the safest place in the entire place.

I wanted nothing more than to stay there. However, I knew that I couldn't do that. I looked back at the footprints and took a deep breath before holding the knife in front of me.

'I shouldn't delay things any further. If I follow the footprints, I should be able to find the possessed one.'

Without any more delay, I decided to climb the stairs.

Tap. Tap—

As I ascended the staircase, the rhythmic thud of my footsteps echoed through the spiral, each step ringing louder than the last. The walls seemed to draw closer with every turn, the space around me tightening.

The light faded as I moved away from the candle, but I pulled out a flashlight to make up for it. Its beam cut through the dark, revealing dust particles drifting silently in the air.

Beyond the pounding of my heart, I could hear the sound of my own breath, amplified in the silence.

I kept my eyes ahead, climbing step after step, up a staircase that felt like it stretched into eternity.

I continued to climb up until I eventually came to a stop before an old wooden door.

The salt traces stopped there.

Bringing my shoulder near the door, I slowly pushed the door while holding onto my knife.

Creaaaak—

A low creaking sound echoed in the silence as I held my breath.

The darkness clung to the beam from the lamp as the door fully opened, revealing a long and deserted corridor.

...It was also there that I saw it.

The faint outline of a figure standing at the very end of the corridor.

I froze for a moment.

But then—

I clenched my teeth and gave chase.

I honestly couldn't believe myself.

I was the last person who would even think of giving chase to something that was even remotely dangerous.

And yet...

Here I was—

Running straight toward the very thing that terrified me.

The thing I should have run from.

"S-stop!"

Clinging onto the knife in my hand, I rushed with all my might towards the shadow. It was just unfortunate that the distance between us didn't shrink despite my running at full speed.

'Fuck! Fuck...! I only just started to go to the gym! Cut me some slack!'

Just a little run was enough to make my lungs burn.

My speed was also on the low side.

This situation secretly reinforced my thoughts of keeping up with my gym schedule.

"S... stop!"

The beam of my flashlight bobbed wildly as I ran, its light bouncing across the uneven, rotten cobblestone beneath my feet. Along the walls, faded paintings flashed in and out of view. Dozens of faces, all pale and staring at me.

I tried my best to ignore them as I kept my gaze firmly locked onto the shadow in the distance.

I couldn't allow it to run away from me.

"Kh—!"

I ignored the burning in my lungs and pushed myself faster. At the same time, a black film began to spread from my legs, reinforcing them as my speed steadily increased.

Knowing that this entire situation was being recorded, I made sure to keep the action extremely subtle.

Thump! Thump!

Each of my steps started to echo louder within the corridor.

I could feel that I was slowly catching up on the shadow. It was just as I was getting close enough to determine their identity that the shadow flickered and disappeared from view.

"Huh?"

I stared at the scene, stunned.

"W-what...? Where did they go?"

I moved closer to the spot where they left, and paused the moment I noticed a wooden door.

My breath paused as I looked at the door.

From beneath the door, a faint, flickering light pulsed irregularly, like a candle struggling to stay lit. The air around it felt colder.

It... felt dangerous.

And yet, swallowing my saliva, I did the one thing I would never have done in the past

Bang!

I kicked the door.

"Hieeek—!"

A scream followed as a figure huddled back, nearly toppling the desk over. She just barely managed to keep everything from falling over as Mia appeared before me.

She stood frozen, her face ghost-pale, eyes wide with panic. Strands of her brown hair clung to her damp forehead, and her breath came in shallow, uneven gasps.

"S-squad Leader...?"

Her voice came in tremors.

I frowned while looking at her.

'The shadow disappeared right here, and she's one of the two people that I previously suspected. Is this a coincidence?'

I didn't think so.

Step.

Taking a step forward, I saw Mia's face pale even further as she took a step back.

"S-quad Leader... W-what are you doing? W-why are you getting closer? And why... why are you holding onto a knife? D-don't tell me...?"

I could see her eyes darting towards the walkie-talkie on the desk. She probably wanted to communicate with the others and tell them that I had been possessed.

However, I was more preoccupied with something else.

'...The lamp is almost out. There are only a few minutes left.'

I had to end things quickly before it'd be too late.

Step.

I took another step forward.

Mia's face paled even further.

Her eyes trembled, and as I stopped before her, she huddled to herself as if she was too terrified to look at me in the eye.

"S-squad L-leader.. Please."

I ignored her words and raised the knife.

Then—

Swooosh!

I swung.

"Hieeeeek! Now!!!"

A scream followed.

Clank!

A loud metallic clang echoed as my knife struck something solid, and then a large figure emerged in front of me just as I swung behind.

The impact's recoil knocked me back several steps, while Min stood completely still, unmoving.

Mia lunged at me a moment later, but I quickly dodged to the side and backed away.

That's when I saw her, standing next to Min.

There was surprise in her voice as she looked at me, eyes wide with something between confusion and disbelief.

"How did you know this was a trap...?"

I didn't answer immediately before lowering my head and staring at Min's shoes.

As expected...

"Min.. what should we do now? We've caught the spirit. Should we warn—"

"How did I know? You were too obvious."

I looked at Mia.

"You, of all people, should know... I'm just a regular person," I said, my voice calm but firm. "You looked too afraid of me. Something that shouldn't make any sense at all given your knowledge of me."

I paused, then turned toward Min, narrowing my eyes.

"Besides..."

I pointed at his shoes.

"I left a line of salt at the entrance to my room. A simple trick to see if anyone tried to enter."

My gaze lowered toward Min's shoes and the faint marks of salt left behind by them.

"Look at his shoes. They've got traces of salt. His shoe size also told me that it wasn't possible for you to be the same person that I was chasing. I realized in that moment that Min was the one that I was chasing."

But with that being said, even though I was certain that it was Min, I knew that even if I went back to the board and put out his name, it wouldn't work. The rules stated that I had to be truly certain.

Mia lowered her head, her eyes settling on Min's shoes. That's when she noticed it too, the faint traces of salt clinging to the soles.

"T-that's..."

"Don't listen to him. This salt comes from another room."

I smiled.

"If I had to guess what happened, Min suddenly rushed into the room and told you that I was chasing him with a knife and that I was the culprit. His story would make sense if not for the fact that the culprit can only be either one of you."

".....!?"

Mia's face changed.

"W-wha...? How?" But then, she paused and fell into a brief moment of thought. It was there that she seemed to finally connect the dots. Confusion turned to dread as her gaze snapped toward Min.

The atmosphere changed instantly.

The air grew colder, heavier. The candle flickered violently, its flame sputtering as if reacting to something sinister.

A chill swept across the room.

Min's expression began to twist... slowly, unnaturally. His features warped into something that wasn't entirely his as his eyes started to turn pitch black.

And in that moment, a sharp, bone-deep cold crawled down my spine.

"Quickly use the board!"

"Huh? Me..?"

Mia looked confused, but after seeing my expression, she immediately dashed towards the board and reached for the planchette. The candle was now almost entirely melted, and the flame was extremely dim.

The surroundings were dark, and the walkie-talkie was only emitting static sounds.

Rattle! Rattle!

The surroundings shook as I stared at the hulking figure before me.

"Th-this.. this..."

I could hear Mia's voice behind me as she struggled to move the planchette, but my focus had shifted. Min's face had twisted into something sinister, and without warning, he lunged in her direction.

"Stop her! I must stop her! Stop...!"

His voice took on a strange, layered quality as he spoke, but before he could advance, a black liquid coiled around his legs. I swung my foot with all my strength, kicking toward him.

Bang!

My foot came into contact with his body, and he skidded back.

As he did, his attention turned towards me, his pitch black eyes locked onto me, and I felt every hair on my body rise.

I tried to laugh, but I couldn't.

'...Suddenly, I really am starting to miss puking.'

Clank—!

"Nn...!?"

A loud, muffled shout echoed behind Mia, causing her to flinch briefly. But she quickly turned her focus back to the planchette, doing her best to move it.

'Why... why is it so hard to move!'

Despite her best attempts, it was as if something was preventing her from moving the plachette.

The candle before her flickered violently, casting frantic shadows across the walls as the room began to tremble.

'Come on! Come on! Come on!'

Her thoughts screamed in her head, desperation clawing at her mind.

Her breath grew shallow. Her pulse pounded in her ears. Every muscle in her body was tight with urgency.

She didn't have much time.

The candle was growing thinner by the second. Its flame wavered, shrinking with each flicker.

Then—

With a sharp breath, she forced the planchette to slide over the M, muscles straining against whatever was holding it down.

Rattle—! Rattle!

The room shook again, harder this time. Dust spilled from the ceiling, and the scent of mold became even more pronounced.

And something was getting closer.

Her heart raced as she focused her attention back on the plachette.

'Two more letters. Two more letters...'

Sweat trickled down the side of her face as she pushed the plachette.

The moment she did, the rattling grew even more intense.

Rattle—!

She clenched her teeth and kept pushing, but the more she pushed, the stronger the resisting force was. Something was coming closer to her.

She could feel it.

She could...

"....!?"

It was just as she was about to reach the 'I' that she felt something cold press over her hand as her entire body froze.

Slowly turning her head, she saw Joanna standing next to her.

Her face was hollow, and her eyes were pitch black.

"....!?"

Mia nearly had a heart attack.

'H-how in the world did she get here!?'

No, it made sense. The Squad Leader was probably busy dealing with Min.

"L-let go...!"

Mia tried to push the plachette, but Joanna's cold hand prevented her from moving at all.

The room trembled further as the candle next to her dimmed even further. She could feel the temperature starting to plummet, alongside the light in the room. She could also feel the presence of something sinister slowly starting to seep into the room.

'No, no, no!!'

Mia's mind raced, and the node in her mind activated.

"Let go!"

She spoke once more, and instantly, Joanna was pushed back several steps. She was of the 'Sonorous Decree' and her skill enabled her node to allow her to put power into her voice.

'Now!"

Mia took advantage of the opportunity to move the plachette over the 'I'.

The moment she did, it was as if everything paused.

The rattling. The surrounding noise.

Everything.

Mia felt the eyes of everyone in the room slowly turn towards her, and her heart skipped a beat. The wax slowly fell down from the candle, and the surrounding breaths seemed to pause in unison as the surroundings turned still.

The pause lasted for only a brief second before Mia immediately moved the plachette towards the last letter.

RATTLE!

Everything appeared to set in motion from that moment forward.

The room trembled with more ferocity, the table moving side to side as the table nearly toppled over. Mia's expression changed as she kept the board in place while the candle spilled over. The flames flickered with their last dying ambers as she felt a pair of hands latch onto her from behind, crawling over her skin.

Thump! Thump!

The heavy sound of steps echoed from behind her shortly after that as her heart sank.

Those heavy steps...

They were certainly Min's.

She kept pushing the plachette, but everything was working against her.

"N-no...!"

Mia grew desperate, and in that moment of desperation, a hand reached out from behind her and pushed the plachette forward.... towards the 'N'.

"Nn!"

When it finally landed there, everything stopped.

Min. Joanna, and the rattling.

Everything... stopped.

Then—

*Puff*

Several items appeared from out of thin air, landing on the hands of everyone present as the room started to distort.

The cobblestone faded, and in its place a familiar gray carpet appeared.

A white light flickered above, and all too familiar cubicles appeared. In just several seconds, everything faded, and the all-too-familiar setting appeared.

Thud!

Mia fell on the carpet as her hair stuck to her face.

Her face was pale, and thinking about the entire situation, she couldn't help but look towards the Squad Leader, who looked around with a calm yet dead expression.

She opened her mouth, but soon closed it.

That...

Was that really an ranked gate?

***

'...That was way closer than I wanted it to be.'

I could practically feel my entire back drenched in sweat. The entire sequence of events turned out to be a lot more unpredictable than I had originally anticipated.

While I did manage to hold Min back, I didn't expect Joanna's sudden appearance.

Her appearance made the entire thing more difficult.

Thankfully, Mia was able to persist. However, in the end, I still had no choice but to dash to her in order to give the plachette the last push that it needed.

Lowering my head, I stared at the fragments in my hand.

There were three in total.

Just from one look, I could tell that they were quite pure. However, now was not the time for me to look at them as I turned my attention towards the other members of the team.

Their faces were all pale, with some even struggling to stay steady.

I looked at everyone present before shaking my head.

There were a lot of things that I wanted to say, but I decided to keep them to myself. I could just tell that everyone in the room understood what went wrong.

I didn't plan on making their lives harder.

"Go get some rest. I'll report to the Team Leader our findings. In the meantime, you can hand all of your fragments to me. I'll deliver them to her."

I went to my desk and grabbed a bag.

However, the moment I walked towards the others with the bag open, I saw hesitation in their eyes.

It was almost as if they were scared of giving them to me...

'What's going on?'

But this didn't last long as Joanna was the first one to move towards me as she dropped her fragments in the bag. Mia and the others followed right after that. In the end, only one person remained.

Niel.

He looked at the fragments in my hand and then at me, his expression complex.

In the end, clenching his teeth, he followed what the others did and placed them in the bag.

"...I got three."

"I know."

"I'm glad you do."

Niel said before turning to look at the others and then turning around. His actions confused me, but I decided to let it go.

I was honestly quite exhausted.

However, more than anything, I was excited.

The fragments were only supposed to be handed over in order to be checked. However, that didn't mean the Guild was going to take them from us. We could either trade them or we could keep them.

I planned on keeping mine.

Alongside that, the Team Leader was going to give the clearance grade of the gate. Bonuses would be handed out if the clearing rate was at a high level.

I was still not fully aware of how it worked, but the word 'bonus' was enough to get me excited.

The only issue was the fact that I was supposed to have the meeting with her over dinner, but how bad could it be?

'The Team Leader might be eccentric, but I'm sure she isn't that bad.'

Clank—!

Silence fell over the room as the Squad Leader left the room.

All the squad members stood in silence while staring at the door. Each wore a different expression on their faces.

In the end, it was Mia who broke the silence.

"...What do you guys think our clearance rate at the gate?"

Each gate had a clearance rate. The rate was based on the level of the gate. The speed at which it was cleared, how it was cleared, and how the members performed. In their case, they didn't feel that their completion rate was very high.

"I'm not sure."

Joanna shook her head while sitting back on her chair.

She had mixed thoughts about the entire situation.

But at the same time...

Slowly raising her head, she looked towards the others.

"...If I had to guess, it won't be very high. Besides the Squad Leader... and Mia, none of us were helpful at all. In fact, you can say that we lowered the clearance rate significantly."

There was a short silence after that.

None of them could argue with her words. She was right. The Squad Leader and Mia were indeed the only ones who had actually done something.

"Actually..."

Hesitating, Mia spoke up.

All heads raised towards her.

"...Ehm. So... well, actually."

She seemed to struggle for words, and Nora's brow furrowed.

"Just spit it out. What are you trying to say?"

"I...well, so.. I actually didn't do too much."

Mia scratched the side of her face.

"The only thing I did was just move the planchette. The Squad Leader did all the work. In fact, I almost ambushed him too."

"What...?"

The faces of everyone present changed.

None of them had been there, so they didn't fully understand what had happened. But after a few minutes of listening to Mia's explanation and watching the replay of the dive on the monitors, they all instinctively drew in a sharp breath.

Especially when they paused at the part where he noticed something amiss in the room.

Something about it... felt creepy.

Especially the dead look in his eyes as he handled the entire situation from start to finish. Like it was nothing more than a minor inconvenience. From the way he left his room without hesitation to confronting the so-called 'possessed' head-on.

He looked completely detached from it.

"Does he really have no powers...?"

Replaying the video over and over again, they had a hard time associating the man in the video with the Squad Leader of the rumours.

That...

Niel's face turned complex as he blankly stared at his own computer. He recalled how it was the very same Squad Leader who had told him to wait before voting. In the end, he didn't listen, and the entire situation turned out like this.

He had really bailed them all out.

But that wasn't the most important thing. Staring at each other, everyone understood something.

Their Squad Leader...

He was far from incompetent.

***

"This should do, right?"

I looked at myself in the mirror. I wasn't wearing anything fancy. Just a plain white shirt and some black pants. I thought about styling my hair, but gave up when I realized that I didn't have anything to style it with.

'Maybe I should go buy some gel at the store... I do need to buy some chips for Mirelle.'

I'd normally not care enough, but since I was going to go to the store regardless, it wouldn't cost me much to purchase it.

"Okay."

I patted my cheeks while staring at my reflection.

"This is just a work dinner. If she tries to get me to drink, I'll drink just a little bit, but I won't exaggerate. The Guild will also foot the bill, but I shouldn't order anything crazy. Just go there, listen to her ramblings, and leave."

A plan formulated in my mind as I turned my attention away from the mirror and onto the door.

This dinner with the Team Leader.

I was going to survive it!

"Please just kill me."

I thought I'd be ready for anything. From a sudden gate appearance to even a bunch of anomalies coming from out of nowhere to haunt me.

When I arrived at the location, I was pleasantly surprised by the place. It looked like a nice modern establishment with nice tables and enclosed rooms. The moment I arrived, and I told them my name, they brought me directly to the said room.

For a moment, I actually had my hopes up.

Maybe this was going to be a pleasant dinner?

But that thought only lasted a few seconds.

The last thing I expected when I entered the room was a table overflowing with alcohol. Bottles from various brands were scattered around — whiskey, vodka, and all kinds of strong drinks.

Sitting behind the mess was the Team Leader, casually waving at me.

"You're here!"

This alcoholic!

"Here, try this..."

Sitting up, the Team Leader walked up to me and passed me a can of beer.

"This is some good stuff."

So she said.

I forced a smile and nodded.

"...Sure."

I opened the beer and took one small sip.

'I'll make sure to drink this as slowly as possible.'

I glanced around the room. Apart from the table overflowing with alcohol, several sofas lined the far end, and a large TV hung from the ceiling. I made my way to the nearest sofa and sat down.

At the same time, I turned my attention towards the Team Leader.

She wasn't dressed much differently from me. Just a plain white shirt tucked neatly into skinny black pants that showed off her figure. The top buttons of her shirt were undone. As she held a beer can, she slouched into the seat beside me and casually draped her hand over my shoulder.

"....."

I wanted to move away, but my instincts told me not to.

She was most definitely the female version of the Section Chief.

"Do you know what's the best thing about this job?"

An unexpected question. Turning my head in her direction, I shook my head. Was there anything good about this job?

"The pay...?"

"Pftt."

The Team Leader dismissed me with her hand.

"There are many other jobs I could be doing for better pay. I could be a model or an actress. I'd definitely make more."

"...."

I wanted to argue, but I really couldn't.

It really did seem like she could be either with her looks.

"The best thing about this job is this moment!"

The Team Leader brought her hand up to show the bottle in her hand.

"Eh...?"

"It's the moment when your day ends and you can drink as much as you can so that you can forget about everything that happened during the day!"

With a laugh that went along the lines of 'Hehehe', she brought the beer to her mouth and took a nice, good sip of it. With a 'huaaa!' she then leaned her head back.

"Nothing beats this feeling!"

She really did seem to be enjoying herself.

But...

"Can't you also do this as an actress? I'm sure if you earn more money, you'd be able to buy drinks and forget about everything like now."

"Eh?"

The Team Leader paused.

She looked at me.

I looked at her.

"...."

The room fell silent for a moment before she pursed her lips and brought the drink closer to her lips. However, from the noticeable shake of her hand, it was clear that she was starting to realize this herself.

In the end, she shook her head and put on a serious expression.

"This job... with all the messed up stuff that we see, it is necessary to forget. Can't say the same for the actress one."

She looked really serious as she said those words.

I'd have normally believed her if not for the fact that her eyes were dead.

'She's definitely regretting her life choices...'

I cleared my throat and tried to say something.

However, before I even had the chance to, she beat me to it.

"Enough of that."

She tossed me a paper on my lap.

I looked at the file in front of me and then looked back at her.

"This is...?"

"That's your evaluation score for the recent gate."

With an ambiguous smile, she nudged her head.

"Open it. It's quite interesting."

-x-X-x-

"Open it up. I was rather surprised when I saw the result."

Curious, I did just that. I opened up the file, and the first thing that greeted my sight was the massive [B] that stood by the side of the paper.

I paused for a moment before looking at her.

"What? You don't look satisfied."

"…No, rather. I'm a bit surprised."

Taking everything into consideration, the dive was a mess. A lot of things had changed, and the other members struggled to adapt. There were plenty of mistakes made. I wasn't safe from those mistakes. Although I did end up clearing the gate, there were certainly things that I could've done better.

But despite all of that, for the grade to be this high…

I couldn't help but be surprised.

"Surprised?"

Grabbing a bottle of whisky, the Team Leader popped it open and began chugging.

I pretended not to notice, waiting for her to finish before she looked back at me and spoke.

"There were definitely mistakes... for instance, you should've been firmer with your team about your hunch, and you could've carried the board with you, among other things. But that doesn't change the fact that you still cleared the gate."

The Team Leader tapped on the file and looked at me directly.

"…Need I even have to mention the fact that the gate was of a higher rank than it was supposed to be?"

"What…?"

I pretended to be shocked here.

I was well aware of the fact. In fact, I had been wondering whether they'd notice this fact or not. In the end, it really did seem like they noticed it.

"Yeah, yeah."

The Team Leader tapped the file a few more times, leaning toward me as a sweet scent, mingled with strong alcohol, drifted into my nostrils.

She leaned her head closer and took another big gulp of the vodka.

"The gate was meant to be -ranked but ended up as . We got the report just after you returned. I sent a few people to investigate the situation. Thankfully, it was a lower-ranked gate, and taking into consideration the recruits inside, I didn't think it was that big of a deal. While rare, this isn't unheard of. The good news is you all came back and secured some valuable fragments. The percentages for each fragment have been confirmed. Want to hear yours?"

Before I could say anything, she pointed towards the bottom of the file, where I saw my name alongside several percentages.

92%, 51% and 67%.

I sucked in a cold breath.

That's…

"Not bad, eh…?"

The Team Leader nudged my shoulder with her elbow as she propped her head over my shoulder to get a better look at the file.

"…."

I wanted to push her away, but held back. I didn't want to provoke a soon-to-be drunk lunatic.

Her soft voice lazily whispered into my ear.

"Say...? Do you want to sell the fragments to me? Eh… well, I don't actually need them, but I can probably flip them for good pro—" The Team Leader paused before coughing. "They'll make for good decoration. Yes, that."

Her head slowly turned away from me as she tried to whistle. But that was probably the worst attempt at a whistle that I had ever seen.

Nonetheless, there was something that caught my interest.

"If you're planning on flipping the fragments, where do you do it?"

"Eh? Flipping? Whaaaat…?"

She was most definitely already starting to get drunk.

However, I persisted.

"Do you do it at a Guild or somewhere else…? Somewhere like a black—!?"

"Tutut."

The Team Leader suddenly covered my mouth with her hand as she leaned her head closer to me and smiled.

"There are things that we can and we can't talk about. That is one of them."

"So you know…?"

"I wonder."

She smiled ambiguously.

However, that smile was all that I needed to see.

'I've been looking for a black market for so long. I finally have some sort of lead. However, it doesn't look like the Team Leader will share so easily.'

In fact, it didn't seem like she planned on sharing at all.

I didn't know why.

Was the black market that much of a taboo topic?

I was quite desperate to get my hands on fragments. So far, I had about eighteen. I needed two more in order to reach the Third Order. However, of the eighteen that I had, fifteen were of low purity. In the end, the only thing I did with them was remove their attributes.

I had yet to use the fax machine to increase their purity.

I planned on buying more fragments in order to guarantee at least twenty fragments with a purity higher than sixty percent.

…And for that to happen, I needed to go to the black market.

But how was I going to get the information out of her?

How was I—

"Hic!"

I suddenly froze, watching the Team Leader pull her head back as she took another swig of whiskey. My gaze shifted between the bottle and her.

Wait a minute...

A thought struck me as I glanced at the many drinks on the table and reached for one with a relatively high alcohol content.

"Team Leader. Team Leader."

"Ah…?"

I opened up the bottle and poured it into a small cup while offering it to her.

"Please have this to drink, Team Leader. Take this as a token of respect from me."

"Hoho?"

The Team Leader looked at me and then at the small cup in my hand.

"It looks like you're finally coming to your senses."

She looked quite happy. Flattered even.

Taking the cup, she downed it in one go.

"Huak—Ehm."

The moment the Team Leader downed the drink, her eyes turned bloodshot, and she barely managed to stop herself from gagging. She snapped her head toward the bottle in my hand, eyes wide as she mumbled, '95%?! This little fucker… Is he trying to get me drunk!?'

Yes, yes, I was.

I pretended not to hear her, fixing her with the most innocent expression I could manage.

"Is something wrong, Team Leader? Did you not like my token?"

"Token…?"

The malice that had clouded her features softened briefly when she saw my innocent expression, only to return moments later as she grabbed the same drink and poured a cup for me.

"Here, a token from me."

"Oh, I don't d—huekk!"

She shoved the drink at me before I could react. Instantly, a fierce burn seared the back of my throat, and my eyes nearly rolled back from the shock.

"Cough! Cough!"

By the time I recovered, the Team Leader was cackling to herself, clutching a bottle in one hand.

Holding onto my neck, I looked around and grabbed another drink before giving it to her.

"...I'm sorry about earlier, Team Leader. It was an honest mistake. Here's some water for you."

"Water?"

She looked at the transparent liquid in my hand and then at me. She nodded a couple of times.

"Looks like you've got some good sense in yo—Hueeek!"

She nearly choked on the drink.

"Huek! You animal!"

"Kakaka."

It was my turn to laugh.

Fucking idiot.

That wasn't water!

"Oh, crap~ I must've mistaken the bott—!"

"You treacherous little bastard! Here! Drink up!"

"….!?"

I felt something get shoved into my mouth right after that.

"Hueek!"

"Kakakakaka!"

"Agh... Team Leader. There's this new drink that's quite interesting. Want to try it?"

"Huh? No, I—Huee!"

I couldn't quite remember what happened after that.

Everything just blacked out from that moment forward.

By the time I recovered, I felt a splitting headache as I opened my eyes to feel something soft at the back of my head.

A pillow?

I massaged my face before helping myself up.

How much time had passed?

"Ugh… my head."

With another groan, I blinked slowly and looked around me. This… It seemed like the same spot from yesterday.

"Wait, what?!"

I hastily looked back to see the Team Leader passed out behind me, her hands sprawled all over as her chest heaved up slowly.

I stared at the scene in shock before checking the time.

8:33 A.M.

"Fuck!"

I had spent the night here.

The moment I realized I was late, I jumped up from my spot.

I pulled out my phone and quickly straightened my clothes before grabbing my things and heading for the door.

But just before I left, I paused and glanced back at the Team Leader.

She was sleeping soundly with no care for the world...

'This bitch!'

I kicked her.

"Aik!"

She let out a yelp as she snapped out of her sleep.

I didn't care to see her reaction as I made a dash out of the room shortly after. Of course, the moment I got out, her curses were loud enough for me to hear.

"Hey! Get back here—!"

That made me feel a little bit better.

In the end, I didn't manage to learn a single thing from her.

All I did was shove one drink after another.

My head hurt like crazy, and I smelled like alcohol. Not only that, but I had also skipped my morning exercise.

'Fuck it, I'll do it when I get back from work!'

Thankfully, the location of the place we were at wasn't far from the Guild, as I hastily reached for the elevator and selected the lowest floor. I needed to make a quick jump to my office to get some spare clothes.

I couldn't present myself in my current state.

My clothes were all wrinkled up, and a strong smell of alcohol came out of my body.

I wanted to take a shower, but there was no time for that.

Ding!

Once the doors opened, I made a dash for the main area. However, right as I turned around and looked away from the mirror, a familiar figure greeted me.

"Seth...?"

Kyle stared at me in confusion.

Zoey and a few others stood next to him as they all gave me a weird look.

They could all probably smell the alcohol.

"Wha... Why do you smell like alcohol? No, why are you—Oh, wait."

Kyle's eyes widened in realization as he looked at me.

"Right, right. You were having dinner with the Team Leader, right?"

"I..."

Kyle nodded in understanding as he placed his hand over my shoulder. He looked at me with what felt like sympathy.

"I get you."

He wasn't the only one who looked at me like that.

The others were the same.

Even Zoey gave me a small nod of encouragement.

Wha...

"Things will get better."

That was the last thing Kyle said before entering the elevator with the others. As the doors closed, I still remained in the same spot, stunned.

I wasn't the only victim...?

Clank—!

Opening the door of room [507], I saw everyone stop as they turned their attention towards me. I didn't show any expression as I calmly walked towards my desk and tossed a file down.

'I just changed and put a lot of perfume. Nobody should notice a thing.'

I turned back to look at the others.

However, just before I could get any words out, Mia interrupted.

"Nnn?! What the hell is this smell...?!"

Her face scrunched up as she looked at me.

The others also showed similar expression. While they tried their best to hide their expression, I still managed to pick up on them as my lip twitched.

Mia beat me before I could reply.

"Did you dump a whole perfume bottle on yourself?"

"That's..."

I couldn't deny it. I sort of did.

But I had a good reason for that.

I tried to explain myself, but Mia wouldn't let me.

"Did you go on a date and get dumped?"

"Wha..."

That's ridiculous.

Mia and her delusions. I shook my head and thought the others would also find her reasoning to be absurd, but the moment I looked up, all I saw was the same look of sympathy on their faces. Almost as if they all were thinking, 'Ah, that explains everything.'

"No, you're wrong."

I tried to correct their thoughts, but it looked like they had all made up their minds.

"Like I said, no. I am the victim here."

"...Oh, yeah."

Joanna said while nodding.

Sarah nodded silently while Min followed right after her.

Nora just shook her head while Niel lifted his glasses up.

"I've been there before. I get you."

"...."

What the fuck?

I looked at my team and their pitying look.

"Wait, you got dumped too?"

Mia looked at Niel.

He nodded with a sad look.

"Clash in personalities and stuff..."

"That's... I bet the Squad Leader must've gone through the same thing."

The pity on their faces became even more prominent.

"...."

In the end, I just gave up and sat down at my desk.

"The performance report is back. Have a look at it. Do whatever you want today. We don't have much to do."

I rolled the seat back and leaned back.

'Section Chief. I need to talk with him later.'

I really wanted a raise.

***

Malovia Island stood on the relatively large size compared to the smaller islands.

Unlike most islands, Malovia Island consisted of a single city, home to approximately five million people. The city was divided into nine zones, with Zones 2 through 9 radiating outward from the central hub, known as Zone 1.

[Zone 1] was considered the most important zone, and where all of the important Guilds were located.

Skyscrapers lined the central zone, where cars cruised along wide streets and people wandered freely, seemingly without a care in the world.

Everything seemed well as the sun scorched from above.

Inside a particular building, massive monitors filled the space, while men dressed in black moved about, closely observing every screen.

This was a monitoring station owned by the BAU.

Their job was to locate any potential gate or anomaly forming in the city and relay the information to the Guilds.

Everything looked to be flowing smoothly.

But then, a sudden change occurred.

"Hm?"

Picking up a small signal coming from a certain area within [Zone 2], one of the agents working at the monitoring station immediately passed down the information.

Not long after, an agent was sent to scout the area.

This was the standard procedure at the monitoring station.

"Did you find anything?"

Just then, one of the supervising officers walked up to the agent and asked.

"...Yes." The agent responded, pointing at the monitor in front of him. "I've noticed a peculiar signal coming from a certain area. It looks to be coming from an abandoned opera house. The signal isn't even that strong. It looks relatively small, so I sent an agent to check out the area."

"Good job."

The supervising officer nodded.

He stood with his arms crossed before reaching forward and pressing a certain button. Immediately, an unstable view of the opera house appeared on the monitor as the agent in charge of scouting arrived.

The supervisor said nothing, simply watching as the field agent slowly stepped into the abandoned opera house.

A thick darkness greeted them as the field agent entered, pierced only by the beam of their flashlight, which revealed swirling dust particles in the air.

Immediately, the view of the opera house came into view.

The old velvet seats were torn and worn out, with some knocked over. Posters still clung to the walls, though they were faded and damaged.

Overhead, the chandelier creaked slightly, shifting as if moved by a breeze.

The scrunching sound of the field agent's footsteps echoed as he explored the place. The supervisor remained in the same place, staring at the live view without much of an expression.

Everything looked to be progressing smoothly.

There didn't seem to be anything wrong with the place.

But...

That wasn't for long.

Flick!

It came out of nowhere.

Right as the supervisor was about to leave, the screen turned black.

"Huh? What's going on...? Did we lose signal?"

The operating agent in charge immediately tried to fix the problem, but no matter what he did, the signal wouldn't come back.

He even tried to communicate with the field agent.

"Hey? Hey...? Can you hear me? Can y—"

"Stop."

The supervisor stopped the agent before he could continue.

"What? B—" The operating agent's protest died in his throat as the supervisor suddenly pointed to the energy readings. His calm face cracked, eyes widening in disbelief.

"Good god…" he whispered, voice trembling.

The agent mirrored the reaction, slowly rising to his feet, his breath quickening.

Right now...

The energy level...

It was engulfing almost all of Zone 2.

This was a massive disaster!

-x-X-x-

The day couldn't have started any worse.

Let alone the massive headache that I was experiencing due to the hangover. My very own team thought I had gotten dumped.

What nonsense!

'I'll make sure to work them to the bone if that's the last thing I'll do.'

I clicked my tongue before leaning back on my chair and staring at the performance report in front of me. Everyone present had already seen it, and they were all just looking at me, waiting for me to say something.

"Do I even need to say anything...?"

Everyone was quiet.

...Or it was more like, everyone was too ashamed to say anything.

I looked around the room and thought about saying something, but I decided that I didn't need to.

Everyone here was aware enough of what had gone wrong.

There was no need for me to say anything.

'In a way, this experience was good too. From this point forward, I don't think they'll protest my decisions as much. Or at least, they'll take my opinion more into consideration.'

I could tell that the way they were looking at me was different compared to before.

In a way, I had proven my abilities to them.

That made me somewhat nervous.

While I had managed to clear this gate without too many issues, the fact was that I was still terrified of scary things. It was just that my tolerance had increased compared to the past.

However, if I were placed in a higher-ranked scenario, I'd without a doubt shit my pants.

'I'm also worried about the fact that gates increase in rank when I go into them. What are they gonna think if they realize that all the gates I go in will increase in rank?'

That was surely not going to be a good thing.

Ugh.

My head hurt even more.

'No, whatever. Let me handle this work in front of me first.'

I turned the performance report in front of me and flipped to the next page, where a blank section appeared. A Squad Leader's role wasn't just to guide the recruits through a gate and help them clear it.

No, they also had the unfortunate responsibility of writing down what went wrong, what could've been done better, and so on.

'...It feels like I'm back in high school.'

Taking a pen, I started writing everything down on the paper.

It was originally supposed to be an easy task, but it turned out that the problems that were present were a lot more than I originally expected, as I ended up filling the page and even taking extra paper.

By the time I was done, it was already lunchtime, and as I raised my head, I realized that the office area was empty.

No, not quite...

"Are you not going to eat?"

Niel was still there, seated at his cubicle with his eyes fixed on the monitor. He paused briefly, then turned to look at me.

He adjusted his glasses.

"...I do intermittent fasting. I tend to eat later than the others."

"Intermittent fasting?"

What the hell is that?

"You don't know?"

Niel tilted his head slightly, then pushed his glasses up with his finger, a habit he seemed particularly fond of.

"Intermittent fasting is a dieting method where you eat during a specific window of time each day. Within that eating window, you can eat what you like as long as you stay in a caloric deficit. Once the window closes, you fast until it opens again. This cycle typically repeats every 24 hours."

"Oh...?"

This actually sounded quite interesting.

However, I wasn't really looking to diet. If anything, I needed to gain weight.

I was still curious.

"But looking at you, I don't see why you'd need to do this. You look fit enough to me."

"I am fit because I do this."

Niel corrected as he started to go into another tangent.

"During my Academy days, I tended to be on the chubbier side. This is mainly due to my Decree. I'm sure you're already aware, but I'm of the Hunter Decree. My ability allows me to—"

Niel paused mid-sentence.

As if realizing something, he looked at me and lowered his head.

"I'm sorry."

"....?"

Why was he suddenly apologizing?

Was he schizophrenic?

Raising his head again, Niel explained, "I actually tend to go on different tangents all the time. I speak too much for my own good. I'm sure I'm boring you with my talk."

He stood up from his seat and grabbed his bag.

"Even if I'm not eating, I'm sure you have a lot of work to do. I'll—"

"You're not bothering me."

I dismissively waved my hand at him.

Ding!

At the same time, I felt my pocket vibrate, but I ignored it.

"If anything, I was actually quite curious. As your Squad Leader, I'm interested in learning more about you and everyone else."

I hated talking to people. I hated strangers more.

However, I knew how to be professional when I needed to be. Even though I didn't want to socialize, I knew that this was part of my job.

"....."

Perhaps not expecting such words from me, Niel stood in silence while staring at me.

His face turned complicated shortly after.

"...I'm sorry."

I rolled my eyes.

This again?

"What—"

"I'm sorry for how I treated you before."

I paused this time.

This caught me a little off guard. I didn't expect him to apologize to me. In fact, he didn't even need to apologize to me. His actions weren't even wrong back then.

"I don't thin—"

"No, I have to do it."

Niel stopped me before I could get the words out of my mouth.

He pushed the strap of his bag higher.

"...I'll admit. I wasn't very satisfied with the fact that you were our Squad Leader. It wasn't because of your lack of powers. I am fine with that. However, it's mainly because of the rumors that I heard about you."

"Rumors...?"

Ding!

I paused and frowned.

'There are rumors about me?'

I always thought I was the type to lie low and not bother anyone. I didn't expect there to be rumors about me. But thinking about it now… I guess there had always been rumors about me.

From how I carried myself during the time when I was developing my second game to my relationship with Kyle.

The fact that there were bad rumors about me shouldn't have come as a surprise.

Ding!

I let out a sigh, about to speak, when Niel's next words made my expression freeze.

"They said that you like to take credit from others, and that the only reason you managed to get into your position was due to your close relationship with one of the star members. I shouldn't have immediately trusted the rumors. I probably should've come to you first and told you about them."

"....What?"

I didn't know what to say.

I just stared blankly at Niel for a couple of seconds.

However, in those few seconds, all sorts of thoughts crossed my mind as a certain figure popped up in my head, and my lips pulled into a smile. I didn't even feel the need to be angry.

'It's him, isn't it? He's the on—'

"S-squad Leader..? Is everything okay?"

Snapping out of it, I raised my head to see Niel stare at me with a look of apprehension.

My brow raised.

"That..." He paused, pointing at his face. "You were making a scary face so..."

"Oh."

I probably was.

But—

'Just what in the world is going on?'

Ding!

Feeling my phone vibrate again, I finally took it out my phone from my pocket and checked what was going on.

However, the moment I did, my expression couldn't help but change.