The moment Kyle heard Seth’s voice, he almost instinctively reacted, his foot pressing forward and his mouth opening to shout.
However, right before he moved, Zoey moved forward and grasped his shoulder.
“…..!”
Kyle’s head snapped to look at her, and that was when he saw the faces of the others present, suddenly reminding him of the situation.
He hurriedly closed his mouth, his heart pressing against his chest.
‘That…’
He had almost shouted.
Kyle tried to swallow, but his throat was too dry, the motion making him wince.
Slowly turning his head, he once again stared at the wide-eyed Seth. With his mouth covered, Kyle couldn’t see whether it was the Twisted Man speaking or Seth.
For a moment…
He had almost fallen for the trap, if it even was a trap.
He didn’t know at all, which was the creepiest part. Seth’s voice sounded exactly the same, and at the same time, he struggled to understand how he had managed to pick up Seth’s voice.
‘He didn’t kill Seth, so… it makes no sense for it to have Seth’s voice.’
Unless…
All it needed was to hear its prey’s voice to mimic it.
But then… It had also heard their voices. Did that mean it also had their voices?
‘No, I don’t think that’s the case. It most likely is only capable of copying the voices of those who were alive for a short period of time or just once.’
Anomalies were all different. Each one of them had their own skills and powers. Kyle, having experienced several in the past, was well aware of such possibilities, alongside the limitations of such power.
From the moment the anomaly had appeared, Kyle had made mental notes of it.
He kept logs of everything that he had experienced, adding and crossing out new things he experienced.
This was something he usually did when encountering anomalies.
It was what allowed him to live for so long…
“K-Kyle… Help me. Please…”
‘The anomaly also appears to be a hunter type.’
This wasn’t an official term. It was just something that Kyle came up with when dealing with anomalies that preferred to hunt, playing with their prey, and showed a certain level of intellect.
‘Given that it knows my name and the things that can trigger me, it most likely studied our interactions from the moment we entered this place. It most likely also purposely triggered the alarm to get us to come back here.’
Kyle suddenly thought about how the anomaly had most likely heard their voices while they were inside the house.
Since it had yet to use his voice… It was very likely that his previous theory was correct if this wasn’t Seth’s real voice.
The only problem was that Kyle wasn’t sure.
“A-ah… it hurts!”
Hearing Seth struggle, Kyle bit his lip, trying his best to keep himself composed
‘Don’t fall for it. I can’t fall for it.’
It was hard for Kyle to remain composed.
Seth was… one of his only remaining family members.
He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if anything happened to him.
“Ahhhhh!”
“…..!”
Kyle’s entire body trembled when he saw the anomaly suddenly bring its long and lengthened finger across Seth’s neck, tracing it across as blood began to spill down his neck.
The smile on the anomaly’s face twisted further as though it could sense Kyle’s struggle.
“Help! Ahhhhh—!”
Seth’s heartwrenching and muffled cries continued to echo in the room, causing Kyle to shiver.
‘It’s not real. It’s not real. It’s not real.’
Although he looked calm on the outside, his nails were digging into his palms while his eyes were bloodshot. He was struggling a lot, his eyes drifting towards the others who didn’t look to be as affected.
Instead, they were all staring at the poem on the wall, seemingly trying to find a way to resolve the situation.
But then…
“HAAA!”
Seth’s scream grew louder, and his body flinched.
Kyle’s face changed drastically then as he saw the Twisted Man pierce Seth’s shoulder with its long and lanky finger.
This time…
Kyle knew that the scream was real, and his expression crumbled.
The nodes in his mind flared up, his entire body tensing as he prepared to make a move. Although he didn’t have enough information to truly put up a fight against the anomaly, he knew that he couldn’t waste time any longer.
He—
“Hihihihi~”
A sudden gigling sound echoed across the room, and the atmosphere paused.
The Twisted Man’s finger froze mid-air, and its head jerked toward the distant window where a small face peeked through.
Kyle’s mind numbed at the sight.
A little girl?
What sort of…? What was going on?
However, looking better, he realized that the little girl was no regular girl. She… also felt like an anomaly, and his stomach sank.
‘Don’t tell me…’
However, much to his surprise and shock, the Twisted Man disappeared from the spot, appearing by the window, peeking out to look at the little girl.
But…
“Hihihi~”
Her laughter echoed once more.
This time, her laugh came from an entirely different direction. It seemed to come from… upstairs?
“Play~ Play~ Play~ Will you play with me?”
Kyle felt the hair at the back of his hand raise at the sound of her voice. Something about it felt incredibly creepy, but at the same time, the Twisted Man disappeared again, a soft ‘thud’ echoing above him.
This was when Kyle realized the Twisted Man had probably made its way to the second floor.
Question marks appeared on his head.
‘What the hell is happening?’
Who was the little girl? And whose side was she on? No, more importantly, how did she suddenly appear out of nowhere? She wasn’t in any scouting report…
What exactly was going on…?
More and more questions appeared on Kyle’s mind, but he knew this wasn’t the right time for him to dwell on them as he turned his attention back to Seth.
He was just about to move to him when Seth retrieved his phone and started typing something.
He was a lot faster than when he typed on the laptop, and once he wrote his message, he turned the phone around.
[That wasn’t me. I didn’t shout.]
Kyle’s lips pursed tightly upon seeing the message.
It really…
Seth brought the phone next to himself and started typing again before turning the phone to show him a new message.
[I don’t know how it managed to copy my voice, but it did. Whatever you hear, don’t react. Even though it looks like it will kill me. It won’t.]
It won’t…?
Kyle’s lips twitched faintly as he looked at Seth, his eyes looking even deader.
[This is a game for it. My death will mark the end of the game.]
Turning the phone back, Seth paused for a moment before eventually typing.
As he wrote, his face twitched. Probably from the pain of the wound on his shoulder, but eventually, typing out his message, he turned his phone again.
This time, Kyle wasn’t the only one to react.
The others also reacted.
How could they not when the message read;
[Kill me, and the game will end.]
What sort of…
A smile slowly formed on Seth’s lips as he looked at Kyle and the others.
Though he didn’t say anything, his expression said it all.
‘Kill me.’