“What did you just say?”
The moment Rowan spoke, everyone fell silent — even Kyle. Had he really just said that? Kyle blinked, struggling to process the words, unsure if he’d misheard or if Rowan had truly meant what he said.
’Don’t play Seth’s new game? Why would he say that? What sort of situation is this…?’
Kyle opened his mouth to ask, but was beaten by someone else.
“Game? Wait, did you mention a game?”
Kaelen stared at Rowan, instinctively covering his mouth. He, like the others, had assumed the situation was serious, especially with how much Rowan had been trembling, but he didn’t mishear that… right?
“…The reason why you’re acting like this is because of a game?”
Kaelen’s lips began to tremble as he proceeded to cover them better.
“T-that…”
Feeling everyone’s eyes on him, Rowan managed to regain a bit of composure. As he glanced around, especially at Kyle, Zoey, and the others he recognized, embarrassment began to creep in. Admittedly, the reason behind his behavior did sound utterly ridiculous.
But… But…
“I’m… not lying.”
Rowan swallowed his saliva, trying his best to remain composed.
“…That game… It’s too much. I… don’t know what he did. It was like… it could read my thoughts. My mind also felt hazy, and like, I—”
“Please.”
Kaelen cut Rowan off mid-sentence. By now, he couldn’t contain his laughter.
“I didn’t really want to say much before because we were going into low-level gates, but this is starting to get ridiculous.”
He turned to look at Kyle and Zoey.
“I thought that this department was supposed to be good at handling scary stuff. And yet, you’re telling me that one of your top prospects is acting like this because of a game?”
“It’s… a horror game.”
“A horror game?”
Kaelen looked at Rowan with an even more ridiculous expression as he turned his attention towards the office.
“A horror game developed by someone who is supposed to be your therapist?”
For the briefest moment, a flicker of disdain crossed Kaelen’s face. It vanished almost as quickly as it appeared, but not quickly enough. Everyone present caught it.
“I’m rather disappointed.”
Kaelen then turned his attention towards the office before shaking his head. For a brief moment, he thought about trying the game for himself, but decided not to bother. It was probably going to be a massive waste of time.
Shaking his head again, he turned around and proceeded to leave. He had a lot more words to say, but decided to hold himself back.
’In the end, I expected too much.’
Following him from behind were the other members from the exchange program. Although they didn’t say anything, they all wore similar expressions on their faces.
“A-ah.”
Rowan stared at their departing backs and bit his lips.
Turning his head to stare at Seth’s office, alongside the others, his mouth instinctively opened.
“…I am not lying.”
Hearing Rowan’s voice, Kaelen stopped for a brief moment. However, it was only for a brief moment before he proceeded forward. He had already lost most interest in most of the people in the department.
From the way he saw things, this department wasn’t necessary.
Such thoughts only became more clear to him when he saw one of their more talented prospects get scared by a game. How ridicu—
“You will feel the same if you try the game for yourself.”
“Not interested.”
“But what if I bet fragments?”
“…..Hm?”
Kaelen finally came to a halt, and he wasn’t alone. One by one, the others stopped as well, a low murmur spreading through the group as they began whispering to one another.
’Wait, did he just say he wanted to bet several fragments?’
’I didn’t hear wrong, right?’
’Is he crazy?’
’Did his pride get wounded that much?’
Even Kyle, Zoey, and the others were shocked as they hastily turned to look at Rowan.
“What are you doing?”
“Have you lost it?”
Seeing everyone staring at him with the same shocked, baffled expressions, Rowan clenched his teeth, his gaze shifting sharply toward Kaelen. Of everyone present, he was the most vocal one.
He was also the one who Rowan felt had the highest chances of accepting the bet.
“I am not joking. I will give you five fragments of your choice if you manage to play the game without showing any reaction!”
His words immediately started a commotion.
However, Rowan was prepared.
His thoughts drifted back to the game, the experience, the emotions, the creeping dread that clung to every moment of it. The more he remembered, the faster his heart pounded in his chest. It took everything he had not to start trembling all over again.
’Yes… this feeling of dread that I’ve rarely felt before… This isn’t the wrong decision. I know I’m right.’
However, it appeared as though he was the only one who thought that way.
“Wait, Rowan… Think about this carefully.”
“Uhk.”
Feeling a pair of hands grip his shoulders, Rowan looked up to find Kyle staring at him, his expression etched with deep concern.
“Don’t take their provocation seriously. You don’t need to do this. Fragments are not easy to come by. I know that you’re going to break through soon. Don’t waste your fragments on something like this. Just—”
“I know.”
Rowan answered Kyle calmly, placing his hand over Kyle’s wrist and pulling it away from his shoulder.
“I’m calm right now. I’ve never been calmer.”
While he had indeed fallen for their provocation, Rowan was confident. If a game could still leave him shaken even after several minutes had passed, he was sure that everyone else would also be shaken.
’Maybe not Kyle and Zoey since they’ve got a higher threshold. However, I’m at least confident that the people from the other departments will definitely feel the effect of the game.’
While Kaelen and the others were of similar strength to Zoey and Kyle, the main difference between them was that Zoey and Kyle had a much higher fear tolerance, working with anomalies all the time.
Kaelen and the others, on the other hand, mainly brute-forced their way into clearing the gates. If they were put in scenarios where brute force wouldn’t help them, then Rowan was sure that they’d start to experience the same fear that he had experienced.
’No, they might suffer even more.’
Staring at them and seeing the way that they were looking at him and the others, Rowan’s teeth clenched even further.
There weren’t many things he was confident in. However, at this very moment, he was confident in Seth’s game.
He was confident that it was going to traumatize them.
As such, staring at Kaelen, he straightened his back.
“How about it? Do you accept the bet?”
“….”
The surroundings fell quiet shortly after. All eyes alternated between Rowan and Kaelen. Kyle tried to say a few things to smooth the situation over, but it was no use. The situation had already escalated beyond control.
Whatever Kyle tried to say, it went in deaf ears.
And eventually, opening his mouth, Kaelen answered Rowan.
“I’m good.”
“Huh?”
“What…?”
But the words that came out of his mouth left everyone stunned. Did he just reject the offer? What? Why…? Those were free fragments…
Of everyone present, Rowan was the most stunned. His mouth opened and closed several times, struggling to form words. Did he just get rejected…?
Seeing how everyone was looking at him, Kaelen shrugged his shoulders.
“Five fragments aren’t much for me. I’ve got no use for them. Plus… I’ve got better things to do than play some game.”
Yawning slightly, Kaelen looked at the others and then Rowan before pulling his down and turning once more, leaving the place for good.
From start to end, he looked completely disinterested in the game.
***
“Hmm.”
Looking up towards the door and feeling a subtle commotion coming from that direction, I frowned. It was a little annoying. However, it was still less annoying than the current state of his room.
In particular, his desk.
Besides his laptop, almost everything had been thrown and tossed around the room. The chair was still on the floor, and there were visible cracks on the wooden surface of the desk.
“This is quite annoying indeed…”
And yet, even though I said that, I couldn’t hold myself from smiling.
“Kuk.”
Thinking about Rowan’s reaction and the visible fear on his face when he played the game, I couldn’t help but laugh to myself.
’Yes, this was the reaction that I wanted. The clear look of fear and despair… That was what I wanted to see.’
I had already been confident in my game, but now…? I was even more confident than before as memories of Rowan’s expression resurfaced in my mind.
The reaction was everything that I wanted and then some.
“I can take it that I’ve completed the game now.”
If it could scare someone like Rowan, then that meant that it could scare most people. This was exactly what I wanted!
“I’m sure this game will be a bigger hit than the previous game. But still, I need to properly market this game as well.”
Thankfully, I knew just the right person for that.
Taking out my phone, I settled my gaze on a specific contact.
“I guess it’s time you repaid me for the past.”
