Despite the situation and the fear that I was experiencing, I had been observing everything extremely carefully.
After all my experiences and understanding that the quest was merely a Second Order quest, I knew that it was something that I could clear.
Observation was the key to getting out of this place.
…And that was exactly what I did as I carefully observed the old lady before me.
At first, I thought, ’She has the same class as me. She is a Shepherd.’ With how she managed to control the Twisted Man, and with how she also felt familiar with the Dreamwalker, these were my initial thoughts and assumptions.
However, this quickly changed not long after.
Especially when I saw the shock on her face at the moment that she caught sight of Mirelle.
That was the first moment I started to doubt her Decree.
Could she not tell that Mirelle was under my control? Or was the reason for her shock because of Mirelle? That latter seemed to be the most accurate representation of the situation, and I really thought that was the case.
But then…
A thought occurred to me.
’If she’s really a shepherd, how come she can control the Twisted Man?’
Her strength was on the same level as mine. While I wasn’t certain, I was more or less able to determine that she was around Second Order. Given that the mission was also put at Second Order, I became more certain of this.
Then…
Could a Second Order Shepherd really control something as powerful as a Twisted Man?
I’d normally not know anything about this, but as someone who followed the same Decree, I was aware that it was very unlikely. The proof of this was Mirelle, who was a lot stronger than I, and even now, I struggled to properly control her.
Even her skill was unknown to me due to the strength gap between the two of us.
This was the biggest indicator to me that something was wrong. Especially when the Twisted Man was even more powerful than Mirelle. How could she control them if she was so weak?
That made me start to think.
It made me start to think about everything that I had witnessed, and all sorts of ideas and thoughts scrambled inside my mind as I carefully observed the old lady and everything that she did.
If she didn’t control the Twisted Man without her powers, then what could she use to do that…?
Some sort of object? Keyword?
The moment the idea set in my mind, I tried all sorts of ways to get my answer, and it didn’t take long for me to get it.
It was on the way to the train station.
It was in that split moment when the figure of the Twisted Man appeared within the lights.
In that moment…
She did something. I was sure of it. I thought it had been my imagination, but it wasn’t.
…And that was all I needed to get the answer that I was so desperately seeking.
’She can control the Twisted Man through her voice, or some sort of chant of hers.’
If the Twisted Man needed someone’s voice in order to hunt them, then it needed her voice in order to be controlled by her. The ’prime’ voice. That was why I had the Dreamwalker seal her mouth.
I did that so that the Twisted Man would turn on her.
What would happen if it could no longer hear the ’prime’ voice?
I had followed the history. I was aware of their past. And… I was also aware of their hatred for her.
The idea was simple.
The Twisted Men weren’t stupid. They were all quite smart. In that sense… what would be the first thing they did if they were suddenly free?
The answer was simple.
Attack her.
And… the moment she turned silent, my thoughts were proven correct as they attacked her. She couldn’t do anything about it. I watched as her body got shredded right in front of my very eyes.
She was definitely no longer alive.
I was sure of this, but I didn’t linger any longer to double-check. I didn’t want to take the risk of having the Twisted Men attack me the moment that they were done with her.
This was why I immediately entered the gate and returned to the real world.
“Hooo.”
Breathing in the fresh and cool air around me, I looked down at the crack that sat right beneath me. It was still squirming with corpses, and the weird rusty smell of the interior of the train was starting to hit my nostrils, but it was far better than being inside the gate.
While there was no real change between the worlds, for whatever reason, the place felt extremely suffocating and stuffy.
The real world was much better.
’I better get out of here.’
Looking around the place, I took a photo of the crack and sent the picture to the Section Chief. At the same time, I moved to a more remote location before finally sending my location to the Section Chief. While he still hadn’t answered me, I knew that he had seen my message since he had left it on read.
I glanced around, taking in the dense trees and overgrown greenery surrounding me. It was quite remote, with the nearest building being quite far.
This was the perfect spot for me.
’I would’ve preferably have stayed in a hotel, but it’s not like I have much of a choice considering my current situation. I don’t even know who to trust in this place. That cult… or whatever they are. Their influence is far greater than I previously anticipated.’
I was afraid that going into the city would attract unwanted attention.
The only thing I could do for now was stay put and wait for the Section Chief to come before I briefed him on everything. Things were probably going to get quite annoying from this moment forward, but it was something that I was prepared to go through after deciding to message the Section Chief.
But most importantly…
Sitting down on the grass, I took out my laptop from my bag and opened a random blank document as I began to type quietly.
’This whole experience has actually given me a lot of inspiration for my game. I think I finally know how to move forward with the story. It can’t be too linear. It needs to keep players guessing, make them wonder what really happened, and how everything ended up this way…’
Psychological horror was one of the most important things that one needed to take into account when creating a game.
This experience had made me learn quite a bit about this aspect.
This was why I decided to write in the middle of nowhere. Inspiration was quite rare, and now that I had found it, I didn’t want to get interrupted.
“You suddenly got inspired?”
“Ah, yes.”
“For your game?”
“Yeah. It’s—”
I froze mid-sentence, snapping my head up to meet the gaze of a figure I knew all too well. He stood above me, staring down at my laptop with a mix of curiosity and stunned disbelief.
Seeing his reaction, I closed down my laptop and gave and coughed dryly.
“Keum… Section Chief, you’re here faster than I expected. Let me just brief you on everything that happened.”
As I spoke, I spoke in a rather hurried tone.
I wanted to get this over with quickly. I really wanted to get back to work.
But…
For some reason, the more I spoke, the more bewildered the Section Chief became, glancing back and forth between me and the laptop. Eventually, he covered his mouth with one hand and shook his head, as if struggling to process what he was seeing.
What? Why was he even reacting like this?
“Alright, I get the gist of the situation.”
He scratched his messy hair and turned around while looking into the distance, sighing.
“…This will be quite a mess that I have to clean up.”