“Wait, wait, are you serious…?”
The Section Chief looked at the Guild Master with hints of worry on his face.
“…You know he’s close friends with Kyle. If something happened to him, then things would get quite messy for me. I—”
“Stop.”
The Guild Master raised his hand and stopped the Section Chief.
“I wasn’t going to hurt him. I’m not that cruel.”
“….”
The Section Chief didn’t reply.
However, just subtly, a faint shiver ran down his spine.
At the same time, he felt a hand press against his shoulder.
“And like I said, I like him. There’s no need to worry too much. Since I like him, nothing will happen to him. I’ll make sure of that.”
“Oh…”
The Section Chief nodded slowly.
But at the same time, he was confused.
“What about him made you like him? You’ve only interacted with him for a short moment. I don’t think that’s enough time to grow a liking.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.”
A smile returned to the Guild Master’s face as he looked at the rising numbers of the elevator.
“I liked him the moment he didn’t drop everything to meet my demands.”
“….?”
A question mark appeared on top of the Section Chief’s head.
Or at least, it seemed like it did to him.
“Why—”
“A man who believes in nothing will serve anything.”
The Guild Master suddenly spoke, cutting the Section Chief off.
“This is a famous quote I’ve once heard. One that stuck with me for a very long time.”
The elevator continued to rise.
“If a man doesn’t have any principles, he isn’t being neutral. He’s just an empty shell. He’s…”
“Programmable.”
The Section Chief replied, slowly starting to understand the Guild Master’s thoughts.
With a small nod, the Guild Master’s eyes turned more hollow.
“If a man is programmable, he becomes what the most powerful source needs him to be. A soldier. A servant. Or… even a slave. This isn’t because he believes in the notion, but because he doesn’t have the will to oppose.”
The Guild Master paused.
The elevator turned silent.
“These are the type of men that I will use before discarding. They’re nothing but empty dolls that will be shaped by propaganda, ruled by fear, and numbed by comfort.”
The elevator started to slow down as the Guild Master took a step forward.
“They don’t think. They don’t know where they stand. They don’t question. They… don’t build their own thoughts. Someone else does for them. Someone… like me.”
Ding!
The chime rang, and the elevator stopped as the Guild Master shook his head.
“I have no use for the weak-willed. I want people I can fear. Those who keep me sharp by their mere presence. People who won’t wait for orders, who think and act without hesitation. If they can’t challenge me, then… I don’t need them. These are the people that I want in my Guild.”
“But what about the recruits that left? If we go by this logi—”
“They were never planning on joining the Guild seriously. If I had to make an estimated guess, they’ve probably been pre-scouted by the other Guilds.”
“Huh?”
“I expect something interesting to happen in the next few days.” With a chuckle, the Guild Master stepped out of the elevator.
As he did, his lips pulled into a smirk as he looked at the Section Chief with a knowing look.
“…Snakes. This Guild is filled with snakes.”
***
“I don’t know. I don’t know.”
Coming back into my office, I sat down on my chair while ruffling my hair. The conversation that I had with the mysterious man and the Section Chief continued to replay in my head over and over again.
Their offer in particular continued to linger in my mind.
I was tempted.
…Extremely tempted.
It was everything that I needed, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but feel cautious.
It wasn’t like this offer felt too good to be true, but the man who gave me the offer felt too good to be true.
Something about him felt… off.
I couldn’t quite explain it.
But it almost felt as though he had seen right through me.
’Am I just being paranoid?’
“Pftt.”
I laughed.
If there was one thing that I’d learned from this world was that if you were paranoid about something, then you were most likely right.
’There’s no doubt that there’s something off about the man, whoever he is.’
But at the same time, knowing that there was something off about the man, could this be an offer that I could reject?
Not only could I gain experience, but I’d also be able to earn more.
’…They are also going to give me an increased budget for the games.’
Not that this part was included in the deal.
This was a separate one.
One that we spent quite some time on, coming up with the terms.
In short, the Guild was going to provide me with a large budget to operate and create new games. I was still unaware of the true amount that they were planning on giving me, but I was almost certain that it was enough for me to start dabbling in VR.
I made sure to make this clear during the discussion.
“That being said, this seems like an entirely new branch for me, so I should start studying up on it.”
VR didn’t just include coding.
It included a lot of other, more complicated stuff.
Stuff that I hadn’t experienced in.
This felt like a massive jump for me, but I planned on hiring an appropriate team for it.
’I wonder if the three freelancers have any experience in this. They were quite good.’
In fact, they were better than good.
They were really good. The final product ended up being way better than I had originally anticipated.
Not only was the multiplayer better than I had expected, but they had also changed a lot of the dialogue and added several things that hadn’t been there before.
It was amazing.
But the best part of it all was the ending.
Right at the last room.
Only one person managed to get there.
’Her name was Mia, if I don’t recall wrongly.’
Recalling the face she made once she entered the last room and met my last surprise, I couldn’t help but smile.
’…The game will, without a doubt, perform even better than before. In fact, it’s pretty much ready. I think I should be able to upload it by tomorrow and get it out on sale.’
The sales for my game had pretty much stopped. Just one glance and I could see that I had only sold fifteen copies in the last day.
It was bad.
Really bad.
With this update, the sales were bound to shoot up.
…Or at least, this was what I thought at first.
However, there was still an issue that I needed to tackle.
“Right…”
Sitting in silence, I looked around the room before settling my gaze onto the box where I reached in to take a button out.
[Matthias: 75%]
[Do you wish to send Mr. Jingles?]
▶ [Yes] ▷ [No]
I paused before looking at the button in my hand.
Fiddling with it for a few seconds, the button soon faded, and the percentage increased to 80%.
’This should be good enough.’
I opened up my phone and looked up information about their latest game.
“…Interesting. It’s going to be coming out tomorrow.”
I also planned on releasing my improved game by tomorrow.
“…..”
Slowly, a thought started to formulate in my mind, and my lips spread into a smile.
“….I guess it’s time that I start testing just how efficient this new skill is.”
Staring at the notification in front of me, I soon pressed [Yes].
The world shifted.
By the time I regained my bearings, I was inside a cartoon. Standing by a house with my hand waving and lips pulled into a smile.
Opposite me was Mr. Jingles. He was facing me.
He stood before an open square.
One… where I could see the face of a familiar figure.
Matthias…