The atmosphere was incredibly tense.
Hardly anyone could move a muscle, their faces just as stiff as their bodies.
Right at this moment, we were all playing his sick and twisted game. One where making a sound equated to death. It sounded easy in principle, but this was no normal anomaly. It was an incredibly smart one that would resort to any type of trick in order to get someone to make a noise.
Ba… Thump! Ba… Thump!
I felt the heavy beat of my own heart press against my chest as I looked towards the others.
Bringing my finger down and away from my mouth, the room fell silent.
All the small sounds rose sharply in the silence once more: the distant drip of water, the creak of wood beneath the Twisted Man whenever it moved, and the quiet, measured breaths of everyone in the room.
I could hear it all, and… It felt suffocating.
Tightly holding onto the knife, I thought about turning around and slashing at the Twisted Man, but seeing how Kyle and the others were also not moving, it became clear to me that this anomaly’s strength was high.
I’d probably be killed the moment I tried something.
“H-help… Someone help me…”
The desperate, almost haunting sound of one of the affected members echoed in the room once more as everyone tensed at the sight.
The games… were starting once again.
Including me, there were only five people left. I was only familiar with Kyle and Zoey. The other two, I wasn’t quite familiar with.
“…P-lease. It hurts so much.”
I held my breath, trying my best to keep composed.
My palms were sweaty, and I had to wipe them against my trousers several times.
‘How in the world is this a Second Order mission? This feels even harder than the first mission!’
The fact that even Kyle was having a hard time was perfect proof of this.
Unless…
The key to solving the situation was right before my very eyes.
‘No, in the first place, the mission was to find out more about the Twisted Man, not defeat it. Has the situation escalated beyond the point of the quest? …Or is this still part of the quest?’
I was really struggling to understand this part.
However, I didn’t really have to think too hard about it. Slowly removing my bag from my back, I started to take out my laptop.
“…..?”
“…..!”
The faces of Kyle and the others changed after they saw me act.
However, it wasn’t like I could explain to them the reason why I was taking out my laptop. I just needed to confirm something.
‘Please work. Please work.’
Seeing the Twisted Man not react at all to my actions, I opened the laptop and opened the app before settling my gaze over the chat box.
Eventually, pressing my lips tightly, I began to type. Each press of the keys as slow and steady as possible. I didn’t want to make any noise.
Typing out the message took longer than expected, but I eventually managed to type out my question.
[Is situation part of quest? The difficult no change?]
In order to save time, and given my current circumstances, I didn’t type the question with the most ideal words, but… It was enough.
At least, I hoped.
Pressing [Enter], I carefully waited for a response.
‘Please… Tell me something. Please…’
There were times when the chatbox wouldn’t answer. I could only pray that it would answer.
I could only wait with bated breath for a reply to come soon.
The seconds started to drag on, the noise around me sharpening as an unbearable pressure formed on my chest.
I waited like that for what felt like forever.
And eventually…
A reply came.
[Yes. No.]
“…..!”
It was just two words, but they were enough to alleviate a lot of the pressure that I was feeling.
‘Okay, okay… so this is the same quest and the difficulty hasn’t changed. This means that the situation isn’t hopeless! There must be some sort of way to solve this. For the system to judge this to be of the Second Order, it must be something that I am capable of.’
But what?
What exactly was the weakness of the monster?
Was it noise? If I were to make a lot of noise, would it struggle to find me?
Or… was its weakness something else?
I once again thought about the poem on the wall. I scanned through each word inside my mind, relating everything back to everything that I had experienced.
‘The Twisted Man feeds on noise. At least, this is what the poem is trying to say. So long as one doesn’t make noise, it won’t be able to find them. I’ve… currently been found, forced to play this sick and twisted game. Could there be a more specific criterion for the Twisted Man…?’
“W-hy is… no one helping me? P-please…”
Lost in thoughts, I barely registered the voice of the Twisted Man as it began to walk around us, its body a little hunched as its face wandered around, pausing briefly across the faces of everyone present.
“P-please.’
It continued to play its game, using every means possible to get someone to falter.
Having experienced this before, I knew that something else was going to be coming soon.
That’s why I needed to think quickly.
‘Think, think, think… How can I get out of this situation? What is the Twisted Man’s weakness? Wha—’
I suddenly paused.
Bringing my hand to my mouth, I suddenly realized something.
‘Maybe I’m thinking about all of this wrongly. I’m thinking of finding a weakness for the Twisted Man, but what if… the weakness that I needed to find isn’t related to the Twisted Man, but to the game we were playing?’
My mind yet again paused on the poem and my previous experience.
All sorts of thoughts crossed my mind as my eyes traced the poem across the wall.
I stared at the poem blankly before settling my gaze on a couple of lines.
Speak but a word, and he’ll draw near,
Scream but once, and he’ll appear.
His voice may change, but his appearance will not.
Careful of the voice, as it may be his.
The Twisted Man won’t leave, you’ll find…
Unless you leave your voice behind.
Voices…
A lot of the poem was about voices.
As my mind processed the situation, a thought occurred to me.
‘Now that I realize it, I’ve made several noises before. The Twisted Man always found me, but it never attacked me. The only time the Twisted Man attacked was when someone spoke…’
What if…
The Twisted Man needed to hear someone’s voice before killing them?
Noise could bring it to them, but that wasn’t what it wanted.
What it wanted was voices.
This was what the game was all about.
It was all about collecting voices.
Ah.
I slowly raised my head to look at Kyle and the others.
An idea popped up in my mind in that moment, but right as the thought entered my mind, a hand gripped my mouth, covering it.
“…..!”
As my eyes widened, I looked to see Kyle and the others looking at me with similar expressions.
Eventually…
“H-help.”
The muffled sound of my own voice echoed out.
“P…please.”
It was just that…
I wasn’t the one to speak to them.