What? How…?
Replaying Kyle’s words in his mind and remembering the small yelp he heard, Kealen was quickly able to piece together what had happened in his mind.
’A trick! The ’monster’ copied the old lady’s voice, and Sarah looked at it!’
This…
Kaelen’s body tensed at the realization.
—It seems like the monster can copy the old lady’s voice. Be careful.
Serelith’s voice came out rushed.
She also appeared to have come to the same conclusion as him, as she moved her character closer to his.
—We should stick together. This way, we can properly navigate our surroundings. We should also keep our mouses lowered so we stare at the floor.
Hearing Serelith’s suggestion, Kaelen agreed.
—Yeah. That’s smart.
This seemed to be the most appropriate approach.
Keeping calm, Kaelen’s eyes sharpened as he decided to head out of the room alongside Serelith.
’This is a bit different than what I’m used to, but it isn’t any scarier than the things I’ve gone against.’
As someone who came from the hoarding department, Kaelen specialized in combat against hoards of monsters, hence the name ’hoarding’ department. He was the type of person to directly go against multiple monsters at the same time, killing them with his skill and precise control.
In many instances, he even managed to defeat monsters that were above his level.
But despite all of his experience there, he suddenly found himself somewhat lost. His accumulated experience at this moment didn’t seem to be helping out at all.
Controlling the character and carefully moving towards the next room while keeping the mouse down, for the first time in a very long time, Kaelen felt a certain sense of helplessness.
Usually, he’d be able to attack whatever entity was tracking him or haunting him.
But in this game, he couldn’t do that.
And this…
This added a certain sense of helplessness that Kaelen wasn’t used to.
The same tension crept over Serelith, her palms growing damp against her mouse as she carefully guided her character.
Creeeeak!
Their movements were followed by a subtle creaking that came from right behind them. The sound was then followed by a soft breath. One that tickled their ears, sending chills down their bodies.
—….!?
—..!!
They froze, their hands hastily reaching for their headphones.
But…
Right as they did, they caught sight of Kyle, who shook his head.
“You do that and you’re out.”
Their breathing echoed loudly.
In the end, Kaelen and Serelith had no choice but to continue with the game, entering the next room as the soft sound of a breath continued to whisper in their ears, constantly tickling them.
Once inside the next room, they got to work, eyes down, searching for any messages or notes.
This was how the game operated, and so they knew there was something.
And something they soon found.
—The bed…
They both came to the same conclusion while staring at the bed. It wasn’t because it was the most obvious option, but it was because the moment they looked at the leg of the bed, the breathing would stop.
—Should we check it out?
Kaelen hesitated.
He was suddenly reminded of how they had been tricked before and frowned.
Soon, he smiled and said,
—It’s most likely a trap.
The weird’ monster’ was probably trying to lure them into looking under the bed. Kaelen could predict what would happen next.
’Cliché stuff.’
Thankfully, he was smart enough to see through the ploy as Serelith stood quietly, her thoughts unknown.
—Let’s go look around the room. Maybe we can find the real clue hidden somewhere.
Following his own words, Kaelen got to work and started to look for more clues. As he did, he made sure to keep his mouse lowered so that he wouldn’t accidentally ’see’ the monster.
—Did you find anything?
Finding the next clue proved a little harder than expected despite there being two people. With them needing to keep their mouse lowered, it became rather inconvenient, and as Kaelen looked around, his gaze eventually fell towards the corner of the room where he spotted a certain arrow.
He immediately tried to tell Serelith about it, but…
—…..!!
His microphone was off.
’Eh?’
Kaelen suddenly paused, his mind frozen. But as if that wasn’t bad enough…
—I’ve… found the clue. It’s in my hands.
A certain voice replied.
One that froze Kaelen in his seat.
That’s…
That’s…!!
—You found it?
Serelith slowly turned around.
’No, don’t do it! That’s not me!’
Kaelen hastily turned his head, but found that he couldn’t see her at all. The wall of the cubicle greeted him.
’Shit, no!’
Kaelen truly started to worry, but it was too late.
Serelith had turned.
Kaelen’s in-game avatar twisted unnaturally, one half warping into view, stretching beyond normal proportions.
A tall, shadow-cloaked figure emerged: a black top hat perched atop a sickeningly pale face, its features extremely smooth, exposing its smile that stretched wider than it should have, the corners reaching just under the hat’s brim.
It stared directly at her, as if amused.
And then—
Swooosh!
It appeared right before her.
“…..?!”
Bang!
Serelith jumped, knocking her chair back as her trembling hands gripped the desk.
Kyle’s voice came shortly after.
“Serelith has been eliminated. Kaelen remains.”
Kaelen’s hands trembled.
’What the hell?! What the hell?! What is happening? How can this be happening?’
He was currently having an inner meltdown. He couldn’t understand how the monster had managed to copy his voice while also disabling his microphone.
What sort of game was this?
If it were just the normal him, he would’ve been able to attack it directly and kill it, but he couldn’t do that in the game.
This… sudden sense of helplessness made his hand shake as the mouse suddenly felt a lot heavier than it was before.
However, feeling the multiple eyes that were directed his way, Kaelen pressed forward, a thin smile appeared on his face as he muttered,
—Haha, it looks like I’ll be collecting all of the fragments.
He looked rather confident, and no trace of fear appeared on his face. However…
Ba… Thump! Ba… Thump!
His heart beat louder than ever.
It drummed so loudly in his mind, it was all he could think about.
The noise around him faded, and the world around him suddenly felt as though it was closing in on him. The only thing he could see was the monitor in front of him.
He felt…
Suffocated.
Creaaak!
Hearing the all too familiar creaking sound, alongside the soft breath over his ear as he felt the presence of something behind him, Kaelen hurriedly followed the arrow, which pointed towards a separate tile, and he pressed on it.
There, he saw the next message.
[I… did it!]
[I found a way to get into the room.]
[…She doesn’t know it, and she will never know it!]
[I left the clue right above. It’s… It’s… Where is it?]
[Hmm… Oh, right!]
[On the ceiling! It’s on the ceiling!]
On the ceiling? Kaelen didn’t even question the words. In his mind, he wanted to get this done as quickly as possible.
Flicking the mouse up, he looked towards the ceiling.
However, as he did, he was surprised to see the ceiling was completely blank.
—Eh? There’s nothing?
He looked to his left and right and still found nothing.
Confused, Kaelen was about to search more when—
Cra Crack!
A sharp, splintering sound shattered the silence.
Everything went quiet after that.
Kaelen froze, his chest suddenly squeezing.
Ba… Thump! Ba… Thump!
Slowly, hesitantly, he moved the cursor toward the corner of the noise.
The world was quiet.
So quiet it almost felt as though it had been stripped of sound.
And then…
He saw it.
The tall figure that lurked in the corner of the ceiling. It clung to the ceiling like a grotesque spider, dressed in a dark suit and top hat. Its eyes bore into him, and that twisted, unnatural smile stretched wide enough to chill his very soul.
Before he could react—
“…..!!”
It lunged forward, moving with unnatural speed.
“…Shit!”
Kaelen hastily stood up from his seat, the headphones dropping from his head as he stumbled back, his eyes shaking.
“Shit, fuck!”
Cursing several more times, Kaelen stumbled back a few more steps, his face pale and his hands shaking.
And as he did, he also saw them.
The multiple gazes that were directed at him.
And then—
“Kaelen has been eliminated. There’s no person left. The game is over. You’ve lost the bet.”
Kyle’s words echoed, marking the end of the bet.
They… had lost.