“This is actually still really good. I’ve already done about three times better than my first game.”
The only reason I felt slightly disappointed was because of the first day’s sales. My expectations shot through the roof. However, if I were being realistic, this was already an extremely good result.
Although it did feel kind of weird that the sales dipped by so much after the initial momentum.
’Now that I think about it, the main reason why the game was selling so well is because of the video that came out.’
Opening my chat log with Jamie, and finding the link to the video, I quickly pressed on it.
[Sorry, the video has been deleted.]
“Eh…?”
Deleted? The video was deleted?
I refreshed the link, but even as I did, I received the same message.
“….No wonder.”
Everything started to make sense now. With the video deleted, my main source of ’traffic’ and marketing was gone. With this, the sales naturally dipped.
But why was the video deleted?
“Let me ask Jamie.”
It wasn’t like I had a problem with it. Thinking about it, the video was quite embarrassing. Perhaps the guy who made it got embarrassed after a while and deleted the video on impulse.
’That’s a bit of a pity, but it’s not like I don’t understand. In that case, I should hurry up and develop the multiplayer feature. That will give the game a good boost.’
I wasn’t disheartened.
Realizing the reason why the sales had stalled, I felt a lot better.
And soon, I received a message from Jamie.
[The video has been deleted? This is news to me. Let me talk to Idris about it.]
[Sure.]
I replied rather quickly, feeling satisfied.
Jamie was quite reliable.
Pulling the chat away, I looked at my chat with Kyle. He had yet to answer my message.
’Strange. He usually replies rather quickly. Is he that busy?’
I tapped the side of my arm anxiously. This looked to be the most likely situation, and the sinking feeling that I felt before grew even more pronounced.
’I’m going to have to wear the glasses by myself, don’t I?’
This…
I wasn’t looking forward to it.
Ding!
Just then, pulling me out of my thoughts was a chime, and when I looked back at my phone, I was surprised to see that it was a friend request.
“Idris?”
I blinked slowly before suddenly recalling.
“Ah, he’s the one who made the video.”
I accepted the friend request and was prepared to say hello when…
Ding!
[I didn’t delete my video. Someone flagged it, and it got taken down. I’m trying to get it reinstated, but it’s taking longer than usual.]
“Eh…?”
The sudden text froze me in place, leaving me at a complete loss. What did he just say?
I deleted my greeting and got to texting.
[You were flagged? By who? How?]
[I don’t know. I was hoping that you might know.]
Me?
How in the world was I supposed to know?
[I have no idea.]
[None at all? Usually, only major companies have the power to take down a video this fast. Have you done anything lately that might have put you on their radar?]
[No, I—]
I paused mid-text, suddenly recalling something.
’Wait, it can’t be them, right?’
Pursing my lips, I deleted the message and wrote a new one.
[I recently rejected a job offer from Nova Studios. Could that be it?]
[Nova Studios?]
The chat paused for a few seconds until I saw a ’typing…’ bubble on the screen. The message took longer than the previous ones to load, as Idris seemed to have gotten an idea.
[…So it’s them. The studio has gained a reputation recently for false flagging rival games when they’re about to launch a new game. Seeing how there’s a new game coming from them in the next week, it makes even more sense.]
“That’s…”
[Given how your game was recently doing very well on Dock, I can assume that they falsely flagged my video in order to reduce the momentum of your game so that when theirs comes out, they’ll be able to take over the ’horror’ section completely. Yes, looking at the other content that was made about your game, it looks like several other smaller creators are facing the same problem.]
Reading Idris’s message, I was left stunned.
How was this even allowed?
’No, I shouldn’t even be surprised. Be it this world, or the one before everything changed, shit like this always happened. It’s not like the studio that I was a part of didn’t do this shit. I just never thought I’d be on the other end of this bullshit.’
It had been quite a while since I had felt this annoyed.
Tightening my grip on my phone, I took a couple of deep breaths before looking at the new message from Idris.
[…I will try my best to fight back the claim, but do not hope for too much. I will keep you updated if I get something.]
This was the last message that Idris sent me.
I stood in silence for a few minutes before eventually putting my phone away and sighing.
“What a mess.”
Not only did it seem like Kyle was not coming, but some company was also messing with my game sales.
This really didn’t seem like it was going to be my day.
“I really don’t like this, but it looks like I’ll have to wear the glasses.”
I couldn’t afford to waste time.
Without wasting another second, I headed towards the back of the main stairs, where a wooden door appeared. Staring at it, I recalled how, back at the orphanage, everyone would treat this door as some sort of cursed door.
One that would lead to the scary basement.
In short, everyone avoided this area. Naturally, I also avoided this place.
’I think I’ve only been to the basement once before, and that’s because I had to. I also remember puking back then.’
Shaking my head, I reached for the knob of the door and gently turned it.
Click!
The moment I opened the door, a metallic, dusty smell hit my nose. The space beyond was shrouded in darkness, and only the beam from my phone’s flashlight let me make out the wooden stairs leading down into the basement.
Even at a glance, I could see the shapes of numerous boxes below, their shadows flickering across the walls as I moved my phone around.
’Well, I can see why I used to be so scared of this place.”
Taking a step down, the stairs creaked under my step, and I moved down slowly, moving down until I finally saw the switch and flipped it open.
Click!
…Or at least, tried.
“Looks like the light is busted.”
Shaking my head, I moved the torch around. The basement wasn’t very big. It was about the size of a medium-sized room. While there were boxes littered around, there were also a lot of shelves that contained all sorts of things.
From tools to toys that I remembered playing with since young.
There was a lot of stuff.
Looking around, I felt a little overwhelmed by the sight as I stretched my back.
“I know I’m supposed to be looking for clues to the anomaly, but I don’t think I’ll find anything here.”
The main reason I went here was for another reason.
To see if I could learn more about the Seth that was here before me. Was his life exactly the same as the one I remembered, or were there differences between us?