“So you’re telling me that during your investigation of the house, the floor suddenly cracked, and that’s what led you to the discovery?”
The Team Leader looked at me in doubt. His bushy brows were raised while his thick arms were crossed together as he sat back on his chair, his voice echoing throughout the small and confined room.
The only thing that separated the two of us was a small metal table.
Following the findings this morning, the Guild brought me and the rat in for questioning.
We weren’t in trouble or anything like that.
The Guild was just trying to get to the bottom of the situation. After all… We didn’t just find a simple hole.
What we found was something else entirely.
I wasn’t really sure of what it was, but it seemed pretty important.
“….It was something like that, but just before it happened, I heard a certain cracking sound coming from the corner of the room. Thinking that I was mishearing, I moved towards there to check it out when the floor suddenly cracked.”
“I see.”
The Team Leader nodded, pretending to understand.
In reality, he probably had seen the footage of the situation through the cameras. If he had already seen them, then he knew that my story was in line with what he saw.
And regarding the noise part…
That was a lie.
I just couldn’t really tell him that I had actually seen it through the glasses.
“Your story does check out, for now. It’s the same as the one Myles told us. Well… more or less.”
More or less?
I tried my best to keep my gaze steady.
‘As expected. That rat… he probably tried to lie and make it seem like this is all my fault. I’m sure that with his personality he—’
“He was quite humble about it. He said that you deserve all the credit for the finding.”
‘Eh…?”
My mind went completely blank the moment the Team Leader spoke.
What… what did he just say?
The rat… did he really give all credit for the situation to me?
That…
I struggled to come to terms with these words.
What sort of game was he playing at?
Were there any motives behind his actions, or was this out of kindness?
‘Ugh!’
I really wanted to rip my hair out. I felt incredibly frustrated by the situation. This felt like some sort of mind game. Was he good, or was he bad? This constant juggling between the two made me feel incredibly tense.
In the midst of my thoughts, the Team Leader spoke.
“Considering the significance of what we’ve uncovered, it’s only fair you receive compensation. Whether that takes a monetary form… or something else entirely, is your choice.”
“Compensation?”
My eyelids fluttered. Did he just say compensation?
“Of course. Why wouldn’t we compensate you for finding something like this? Accident or not, you were present at the scene, and the Guild provides compensation for any discovery related to the case.”
“…I see.”
I licked my lips, trying my best to hide my excitement.
All of a sudden, the rat… he didn’t feel so much like a rat. Perhaps I was wrong about him all along.
He was a good guy!
“Setting compensation aside, there’s something that I’m curious about.”
Placing his hand over the table, the Team Leader drummed his fingers over it, his face turning strange.
I turned my attention towards him.
What? Why was he looking at me like that?
“What is it with you and the sunglasses? This isn’t the first time that I’ve seen you wear them.”
“You’ve seen me wear them before?”
I paused for a moment before looking at the Team Leader weirdly.
“You’ve seen the stream?”
“Uh… Eh, yes?”
Turning his head slightly, the Team Leader pursed his lips.
“It was everywhere, so I saw it. I think a lot of people saw it. I’m curious… Why would you wear them when it’s dark? Aren’t you just making your life harder?”
“About that…”
I wasn’t panicked by the question. Not only did I foresee something like this happening in advance, but I had multiple answers ready at my beck and call. I also had some spare sunglasses that looked almost identical.
In case they wanted to examine them, I could just give it to them.
“So…?”
Seeing the Team Leader look at me, I looked him straight in the eyes before leaning back in my chair.
“It’s simple, really…”
I pursed my lips.
“…I wear the sunglasses so that I can’t see ahead.”
“Huh?”
“You see… I hate horror.”
“….?”
“Like really hate it.”
To the point where…
“I’d rather be blind than see some ghost.”
***
News of the finding began to spread among the Guild members. This was no ordinary discovery. It was a significant one. One that even the Bureau had no choice but to find interest in. The house in question had been sealed on all sides, preventing anyone from entering.
“Did you hear…? They’re about to send a scout into the strange pit. It appears to be some sort of gate.”
“I heard…”
“Do you think the other Guild will be coming?”
“It’s possible. However, it looks like it’ll take a while for them to come. The Guild is preparing some sort of squad after receiving the result from the scouting report. They might just include the most elite members.”
There was all sorts of talk surrounding the event.
After all, this didn’t appear to be an ordinary gate. In fact, some weren’t even sure it was a gate at all. There was speculation it might be a portal… Perhaps some sort of doorway to another dimension.
That could explain why no one could catch the Twisted Man.
No one really knew as of yet.
They’d have to wait until the results from the scout came out.
Such conversations repeated all over the place.
In a certain room.
“What do you think?”
Kyle looked towards the other people gathered in the room. There were quite a few faces he was familiar with. Most of them were the elite members of the containment section.
In particular, his gaze settled on Zoey, who lounged in her chair with her feet propped on the tea desk, casually absorbed in some kind of game on her phone.
Hearing Kyle’s words, she raised her head.
“Hm? What did you say?”
“About the rumors. What do you think?”
“Ah, those…”
Zoey turned her attention back to her phone, her tongue poking out slightly between her lips.
“Well, it doesn’t really matter to me. If they send me, they send me. If not, I don’t care. As long as the reward is go—Ah, shit!”
Zoey suddenly let out a sharp curse and flung her phone onto the nearby sofa.
“Fucking randoms! Shit!!!”
She then began to bang her foot against the table.
BANG!
“Fuck!”
This wasn’t an unusual sight. It was something that pretty much everyone in the room had gotten used to.
That was why no one reacted.
“Is it so fucking hard to lane? The fuck are they blaming me for??”
Zoey was oddly addicted to a strange phone game. She spent hours on it, completely absorbed, and from what others had heard, she was apparently some kind of pro. She was a rather talented person. From modeling to gaming…
Well, Kyle wasn’t really too sure. He wasn’t that interested in knowing anyway.
However, thinking about the game she was playing, Kyle had a sudden thought.
“I wonder if Seth will ever develop a phone game. I’m kind of curious to see how he’d do it.”
“Don’t bring that guy up.”
Zoey cut Kyle off in that moment.
“I’m already annoyed by this. Don’t annoy me further.”
“What did he do this time?”
Kyle wasn’t even surprised at this point. For whatever reason, Seth had some sort of skill that could allow him to push Zoey’s buttons with just a few words. He had lost count of the amounts of times he had managed to piss Zoey off.
“….It’s nothing.”
Clicking her tongue, Zoey dismissed the topic. She was about to bring up another one when a certain figure looked at them.
Staring at Rowan, both Kyle and Zoey paused.
“About Seth…”
For some reason, ever since the trip began, he’d been acting off. In fact, looking at him now, he looked terrible. His hair was unkempt, and dark, glaring circles shadowed the skin beneath his eyes.
He kind of looked like Seth now that they thought about it.
But at the same time, staring at him, they both had the same thought. ‘Don’t tell me Seth managed to piss him off as well?’
Zoey was just about to smirk when Rowan continued.
“Where is he?”
He looked around, his dark eyes scanning the place.
“I… need him.”
Need him?
Both Kyle and Zoey paused.
“I need my therapist.”
“…..?”
“…..?”