"What?"
The call that Zoey received was an unexpected one.
It took a moment for her to process it.
"...He disappeared, and you think that he's likely stuck inside the torture chambers? Wait, what are the torture chambers? He had torture chambers?"
The more she listened to the conversation, the more she realized that there was something wrong.
"He tortures people?"
Zoey was horrified by the sudden revelation. But then again, thinking about it, she knew that she was probably misunderstanding. Having learned her lessons from the past, she was quick to cool herself.
"This isn't some sort of nickname for a room that you guys don't like, right?"
⎯It's his game development room.
"Ah."
It all suddenly clicked in her mind.
She didn't personally get to see the true 'horrors' of the room, but she did hear about it.
"So you're saying that he's likely stuck in that room, and you want me to get him out through the door that is in his office? He has a door connected to here too?"
⎯Yes, that's what I believe to be the case. To be honest, we aren't certain about our guesses, but this is the most likely explanation behind his disappearance.
"Alright."
Zoey paused.
"You did well telling me first instead of panicking. Things would've been rather troublesome if you had told the Section Chief."
Not because the Section Chief was untrustworthy, but because by law, the Section Chief had to disclose any important events that pertain to the disappearance of a member. If he didn't do so, then he'd be subjected to the Guild's harsh punishment.
'...Given the recent times, I'm sure they'll use this as a perfect chance to tear him down.'
She was also certain that they would probably use this news as leverage to either sell Seth away or devalue him even further.
Logically speaking, this was bad for the Guild.
There was literally no benefit for the Guild. Only loss.
However, in the race for the Guild Master position, the Guild's benefit was always put beneath the contender's interest. If there was anything that was in their way, they were certain to remove it.
In this case, it was none other than the Section Chief and Seth.
"That aside, what exactly were you dealing with? What happened to the anomaly? Did you manage to catch it?"
⎯We... have not seen it since the Team Leader disappeared.
"You haven't seen it?"
Zoey's brows furrowed.
Now this was troublesome.
Seth's situation was already quite difficult, but the fact that he had been trapped by an anomaly was worrisome itself.
'He's not the type to get caught off-guard like that. Whatever it was, I'm sure it's not some random anomaly.'
⎯With the Team Leader's disappearance... we all tried to look for him. Of course, we tried to be careful and look for it, but... there was nothing.
"Nothing?"
Zoey chewed on the words.
As she did, her expression gradually started to change.
"You're certain that nothing is inside the Guild. You've looked everywhere, right?"
⎯As far as we're aware. Do you think...?
"Yes."
Zoey replied without hesitation, her voice lowering slightly as she prepared to hang up the phone.
"...It might be with him."
The anomaly.
"Hiding."
Zoey took a deep breath.
"...Waiting."
Her head slowly turned in the direction of Seth's office as she entered it and reached for the door within his office.
Click!
"Hunting."
***
"I'm not going to get out of this place anytime soon, am I?"
The first thing I did after waking up was look at the door of the room. It was still closed.
I sat up from the bed and let out a soft breath.
"This is a bit surprising."
At first, I assumed I could get out if someone opened the door from my office in Sines, but that clearly wasn't the case.
This made the situation a little difficult for me.
But it wasn't anything that made me panic.
"My nodes aren't working either."
This was the part that truly concerned me.
'Why are they not working? I've eaten the pills, and I've also been resting for a while. Are the side effects of the doctor's pills that strong?'
Hate to admit it, but this was probably karma from being so reckless before. I did achieve my goal in sending a message and buying myself time, but I also did mess myself up quite a bit with all the items that I had used.
This was certainly no coincidence.
"...It's a bit of a problem, but I can work with this for now."
Getting out of bed, I looked around me before heading to the fridge and getting myself some water. Drinking it quickly, I also got myself a bag of chips and started eating them as I sat back down at my PC and booted it up.
"There's still a bit of time."
I turned my wrist to check the time.
It was only [14:37].
There was still plenty of time before midnight.
'Maybe by the time midnight strikes, they'll already be here.'
Not that I was really keen on that happening. A large part of me still wanted to get to the bottom of this entire situation. That part hadn't changed.
It was all that I could think about.
There were a few lingering thoughts about VILE - 1048, but those took a back seat as I found myself continuously thinking about the current scenario.
"It's pretty clear that I'm the only one who knows all of this stuff. The Guild never tried to go and research any deeper since all those who did died, and there's nothing to gain from this investigation.
I didn't really blame the Guild for this.
The lack of information in the database was quite annoying, but I had gone through much worse.
What I was annoyed about was something else entirely.
"Right... there's a task that I'm still supposed to do back in Malovia, and the entire reason I even went is for the damn Gate. At this rate, I might never develop a full Gate."
I could feel myself slowly starting to fall behind more and more with regard to the Gate Development situation.
I really needed to get myself working.
"Hoo."
Another breath left my body as I checked the time.
[14:45].
Tik Tik—
Time continued to tick.
[16:33].
The door remained locked.
[19:57].
The soft hum of the lights and PC lingered in the air, never allowing the silence to settle.
[22:11].
My nodes were still not working.
I couldn't feel anything at all. Not even the slightest bit.
[23:38]
It was almost time.
I started stretching, once again trying to feel for my nodes.
'Still nothing.'
My nodes had completely given up on me.
I pressed my lips together, shifting my attention towards the main door of the classroom.
[23:55]
Time ticked slowly.
And just as the last seconds ticked by, the lights outside flickered.
Flick! Flick!
It was dark in one moment, bright in the next.
This alternated for a few seconds before settling.
After which—
CLANK!
The door suddenly smacked open, a step following right after.
Step!.
'It's time.'
I glanced at my watch for the last time.
[00:00]
The second round.
-x-X-x-
Step—!
Aware of what was to come, I didn't show much of a reaction. Instead, I quietly sat in my own seat and waited for the steps to come closer.
'If the pattern is the same, then I'll do the same thing as I did last time.'
The steps moved closer and closer as I sat inside the office, waiting for them to draw even closer.
'Not yet.'
I remained seated in my seat, slowly turning the monitor on my screen to face the opposite direction while booting up a few other monitors inside the room at the same time.
The soft hum of the lights and computer were the only sounds I could hear.
Step! Step!
They were even closer now.
Very likely a few doors away.
'Okay.'
Grabbing anything that was left on the desk, I stood up and moved away from my spot. Unlike last time, however, I didn't bother touching it. Instead, I moved to a better spot where I could hide myself.
Entering one of the pods, I slowly closed the lid.
'It's a little dangerous since I won't be able to do anything if it opens, but it didn't do that last time, so it should be fine.'
Taking out my phone, I connected it to the cameras on my monitors.
It was a pretty neat feature I hadn't thought about before. Best yet, it didn't require any Wi-Fi.
I had a goal in mind this time.
If it worked, then it was certainly
Step—!
'Almost here.'
I stared at my phone, three different windows appearing before me, the image quality a little lower than I would've liked. The angles didn't cover everything either, leaving a few blind spots behind, but it was still good enough to cover the areas around me.
'I've yet to see what these teachers actually look like. I can take this chance to look at them, and...'
I lifted my head slightly to look at the holographic panel in front of me.
[Select Game Engine]
----
◉ U-Engine
◉ Game Developer Engine
◉ Virtual Game Engine
◉ Horror Gate Developer Engine
----
The familiar page appeared
I quickly navigated through it before reaching a certain page.
----
[Anomalies]
◉ Twisted Man: 40,000SP
◉ Blood Butcher: 25,000SP
◉ [Slot Open]
◉ [Slot Open]
Description : Roster drawn from anomalies personally encountered and analyzed; four slots max; captured or contained ones excluded.
----
My eyes stopped on the two empty slots.
'Right.'
This was what I wanted to test.
There were still several things I didn't completely understand about the engine, especially when it came to the Gate development aspect, but there was no perfect time to test things now.
'And maybe I'll be able to find even more information this way.'
I pressed one of the empty slots.
----
[Slot Open]
Would you like to analyze a nearby anomaly?
[Yes]
[No]
----
"..."
My finger hovered over the option.
Step!
The sound came from right outside the office.
My heart tightened slightly.
'Perfect timing.'
I pressed [Yes].
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then—
----
[Searching...]
----
A faint tingling sensation spread behind my eyes.
It was a familiar sensation.
Similar to the sensation I felt whenever I used the sunglasses, except this time it felt considerably stronger. Almost as if something thin had stretched out from me, and the world around me had frozen solid.
Through the pod.
Through the room.
...A biting cold pressed me on all sides.
'Should've fucking warned me before I did this.'
I couldn't stop shivering.
Click.
Through the cameras, I watched as the office handle moved.
"...."
I lowered the brightness of my phone.
The door slowly opened.
Creeeeak—
Through the first camera, I saw a thin hand curl around the side of the frame.
One finger.
Then another.
Then another.
They were just as long as I remembered. Maybe even longer. The hand rested there for several seconds before the rest of the creature entered.
"..."
My breathing stopped.
For the first time, I could actually see it properly.
Or...
Most of it.
Its body was unnaturally thin.
A dark suit hung from its frame, fitting loosely around shoulders that looked narrow for something that tall. Its arms reached almost to its knees, each one swaying slightly whenever it moved.
But its neck—
'What the...'
My eyes slowly rose towards the upper portion of the screen. The camera didn't capture its head. Its neck simply continued upwards.
Past the top of the frame.
"...Seriously?"
How tall was this thing?
Even back when I had been taking lessons, I hadn't realized it was this big.
The creature stepped inside.
Step.
The sound passed through the pod. Even with the thick material surrounding me, I could feel the vibration beneath my back.
Then another panel appeared.
----
[Analysis initiated.]
[—[11%]————————]
----
'Good.'
Keeping my eyes on the screen, I took a shallow breath. It's working... The teacher didn't seem to notice anything. It slowly moved further into the office, its head still outside the camera's view as it passed the desks.
For a moment, I almost felt relieved.
'It doesn't notice what I'm doing, right?'
Then—
The creature stopped.
"..."
My thumb froze against the side of the phone.
It hadn't reached anything.
There was nothing in front of it.
Yet it had stopped.
Completely.
Even its arms had stopped moving.
"...Why did it—"
----
[Warning.]
[Target has detected external interference.]
----
"——!"
My expression changed.
"What?"
The words had barely left my lips when another message appeared.
----
[Analysis places direct observational pressure upon target.]
[Target has perceived the analysis.]
----
"...."
A cold sensation ran across my back.
'It can feel it?'
You should've fucking told me beforehand!
I almost cursed at the system, but held myself back. Now was not the time.
My grip over the phone tightened.
The teacher slowly tilted its head.
Or at least—
I assumed it did.
I couldn't quite tell.
It folded slightly towards one side, several deep creases appearing across its skin as the upper portion disappeared beyond the camera.
And then...
It started turning.
Slowly.
Towards the monitor.
"..."
My eyes widened.
The first camera was attached directly above it.
The teacher stared upwards.
I couldn't see its face.
But I knew.
It was looking directly at the camera.
"Fuck."
----
[———[37%]——————]
----
'This is too slow.'
I pressed my back harder against the pod, staring at the bar in front of me.
The teacher remained motionless for a moment before one of its arms slowly rose, its fingers stretching upwards towards the camera.
Tik—
One fingernail touched the lens.
The image shook.
My grip tightened around the phone.
Tik.
Another tap.
Then—
CRACK!
The entire first window turned black.
"—!"
My grip tightened further.
'It knows.'
There was no question about it anymore. It wasn't just aware that something was looking at it... It knew exactly where the gaze was coming from.
Step.
The second camera caught it moving away from the destroyed one.
Its neck turned towards the monitor on my desk.
"...No."
I stared at the feed.
The screen was facing away from the pod, exactly as I'd positioned it.
There shouldn't have been anything displayed on that side.
But the teacher walked towards it anyway.
Step.
My heart sank.
'It can feel that I'm looking, but doesn't know exactly where I am. Should I just turn off the cameras?'
The thought did cross my mind, but I quickly shut it off.
The cameras were serving as a means to distract it.
I could tell.
The moment I shut them off, it was going to come to me directly.
----
[Notice.]
[Target is attempting to locate source of observation.]
----
"..."
My lips parted slightly.
'...No shit.'
The creature stopped beside the monitor and slowly reached one long hand behind it, resting a finger against the edge before rotating the screen.
Creeeak—
Until the monitor faced it.
The camera mounted above captured the movement.
The creature lowered its head.
For the first time—
Something entered the frame.
"..."
My stomach tightened.
It wasn't a face. At least... I didn't think it was.
The top of its neck bent forward until something pale appeared at the edge of the screen, revealing a raw, burned patch of skin, warped and melted smooth where its eyes, nose, and mouth should've been.
It hovered just a few centimeters away from the monitor.
'...What the hell is this?'
My fingers tightened around the phone.
What fucking teacher is this?
The thing suddenly moved.
Tok!
Its head struck the monitor, and the screen turned black.
Tok!
Once more, the screen shook.
Tok!
And soon, I lost the camera feed.
Immediately, my attention fell on my phone.
I looked at the last remaining camera as the 'teacher' began to move towards it.
----
[——————[64%]———]
----
My entire body tensed.
...Ah, shit.
There was enough time, right?
-x-X-x-
The teacher's head lifted slowly across the camera.
"..."
A very thin line appeared across the burned surface, one that I initially mistook for a shadow until it slowly began to widen.
Creeeeak—
My stomach twisted as I realized it was a mouth, the skin separating horizontally and stretching from one side of its face to the other.
There were no lips, only darkness inside.
'...And this is the teacher?'
The mouth remained open.
Then the second camera feed disappeared.
CRACK!
Two were gone, leaving only one behind, and unfortunately, that camera was positioned near the pods.
I knew that the moment the last camera broke, it'd be my turn.
My entire body tensed as I pressed a hand against the inner surface of the pod, contemplating whether I should run or stay where I was.
However, after taking another look at the bar in front of me, I clenched my teeth and pulled my hand back.
'Almost there. Almost...'
"..."
I stared at the final feed.
'Oh, fuck.'
My heart started hammering against my chest as the teacher disappeared from view, leaving me with nothing but the sound of it moving nearby.
Step.
Silence followed before another step echoed, this one noticeably closer than the last.
I swallowed as I looked at the third camera, which showed the rows of game pods from the side, including mine. There were twelve of them in total, all identical and tightly shut.
'It doesn't know which one.'
That was the important part.
As long as I didn't make any—
Step.
A dark shape entered the corner of the feed, and my body immediately tensed as the teacher slowly stepped between the first two pods. Its head disappeared beyond the camera's view once more before it came to a stop beside the first pod.
"..."
One of its hands lowered toward the lid, its fingers coming to rest against the metal before tapping against it three times in slow succession.
Tik. Tik. Tik.
The sound carried through the room.
Then—
Click.
The lid opened, and I stared as the teacher leaned over it, its elongated neck slowly disappearing inside. For several seconds, nothing happened before it finally straightened again, finding the pod empty, and moved to the next one.
'...It's not going for the cameras anymore?'
I was surprised at first, but then I understood.
'It probably understands that the cameras aren't the source of the gaze.'
My breath paused.
Step.
Tik.
Tik.
Tik.
Click.
Another lid opened, and my mouth went dry as I counted the distance between us.
There were ten pods left before it reached mine.
'Come on... Come on..."
It moved through them one by one, making it painfully clear that it really was searching for me.
It even started to skip some of the pods, its head raising from time to time as if it could sense my presence.
----
[————————[81%]—]
----
'Come on!'
My eyes moved back and forth between the percentage bar and the camera as the teacher continued through the pods one by one.
Nine remained, then eight, and soon only seven separated it from me.
Every single time—
Tik.
Tik.
Tik.
It would tap against the lid, as if indicating it was coming.
My heart nearly jumped out of my chest; the tension making every breath even more suffocating.
Click.
The teacher opened each lid, checked inside, and moved on without bothering to close it behind itself.
Six.
"..."
My breathing became shallower.
Five.
I lowered the phone until it rested against my chest.
The brightness was already almost at zero.
The pod itself was soundproof enough to dampen regular noise, but I had no idea how sensitive that thing was.
Four.
Step.
It was getting harder to tell whether the sound came from the phone or outside the pod.
Three.
Tik.
Tik.
Tik.
The same tapping sound.
For a moment, I almost thought it was my own pod.
Click.
My eyelid twitched.
'Two more.'
The teacher pulled its head from the neighbouring pod.
Then stopped.
"..."
It didn't move, and my gaze narrowed as several seconds passed without the percentage bar changing.
'Why did it stop?'
[————————[81%]—]
I shifted in the pod.
The sight of the frozen bar made my blood run cold.
"...Come on."
I urged, but the bar remained fix.
Nothing changed.
Then the teacher's neck slowly turned toward my pod, and the back of my neck shivered as I realized it hadn't checked the one before mine.
It had skipped it.
"..."
Did it sense me!?
The creature stepped directly towards me.
Step.
"—"
I pressed my lips together tightly.
The camera showed its body drawing closer until it completely blocked the view, leaving nothing but dark fabric and its unnaturally long arms on the screen.
Then the feed shook.
Tik.
Something touched the camera.
"..."
Huh?
The sight stunned me.
The creature was still in my feed. How did it...?
Tik.
A faint tap directly above my head.
My body tensed.
"..."
Another.
Tik.
The sound was clearer this time, coming from directly above me as something pressed against the lid.
My heart hammered so violently against my chest that, for a moment, I almost convinced myself it could hear it as the hand slowly dragged across the top of the pod.
Screeeee—
My jaw tightened as the nail continued scraping from one side of the lid to the other until it finally reached the latch.
".....!"
My eyes shifted towards the percentage.
Still—
[————————[81%]—]
'Why isn't it moving?'
The teacher's fingers curled around the edge of the lid and pulled, shifting it just enough for a thin line of light to appear beside my shoulder.
My lungs froze as it pulled again.
Creeeak—
The opening widened another centimeter.
And then—
'Fuck it.'
I tapped my phone, and almost immediately after, a loud blaring sound resounded across the entire space.
Beep! Beeep! Beeeeep⎯!
Instantly, the hand stopped.
The pod, which had been slowly opening, stopped opening as the teacher stopped.
I knew that wouldn't be enough to fool it, but I also knew that this was enough of a distraction to run. It had been my plan all along as I reached for the pod and dashed out, my body grazing past the teacher's body as it suddenly turned my way.
I didn't care enough to see if the teacher was following me as I immediately dashed towards the door of the room.
Without looking back, I reached for the handle when⎯
----
[Analysis resistance detected.]
[Target is actively interfering with observation.]
----
"What...?"
Another message appeared.
----
[Maintain visual connection.]
——
Are you kidding me?
I had the sudden urge to toss my phone away, but still clenched my teeth and looked back.
The creature's enormous frame appeared before my eyes, its long body moving in my direction rapidly as I opened the door behind me.
Visual connection...
The instructions were clear.
I also now understood why the bar had stopped.
"...You've got to be kidding me."
Moving back, I stepped out of the room and slammed the door before me.
Clank!
At the same time, I moved towards the windows of the room as I maintained eye contact with the anomaly.
The anomaly seemed to take my actions as some sort of provocation as it moved even faster.
I paid no heed to it, taking fast steps back as the door slammed open again and the creature stepped out.
Sweat trickled down the side of my face, my breath nearly stopping as I turned to face the opposite direction.
And just as I began to run, a chime rang in my head.
----
[—————————[100%]
----
Ding!
The tiny sound felt deafening.
But also rewarding as a panel appeared before my eyes.
----
[Analysis Complete.]
[VILE-2217— "The Teacher"]
[Classification: Unknown]
[Target may now be used inside the Gate Development System]
[Expand]
----
Yes!
A smile almost crept onto my face as I stared at the completed analysis, but the rapidly approaching footsteps wiped it away before it could properly form.
Step! Step! Step!
"...Right. Maybe later."
I pushed myself forward and ran, finally able to stop looking back now that the analysis was complete. The teacher followed closely behind, its footsteps bouncing through the corridor alongside mine until the sounds started to overlap.
I'd already gotten a good enough look at its face.
The burned skin.
That mouth.
I didn't need to see any more of that stuff.
Bang!
Something struck the wall behind me hard enough to send a vibration through the floor, and a long shadow briefly stretched beside mine before disappearing.
'Has it gotten faster?'
Or was it me that had gotten slower?
Either way, I couldn't keep running forever.
My eyes moved from one classroom window to the next as I passed them. Most showed nothing besides old desks and darkness, but eventually I caught sight of several small figures sitting in neat rows.
Children.
'There.'
I immediately changed direction, grabbing the handle and slipping inside before pulling the door shut behind me.
Clank!
The teacher was already outside.
Its frame moved across the narrow window before abruptly stopping, and almost immediately afterward, the handle shifted beneath my palm.
"...!"
I let go and turned towards the classroom.
By now, the sight before me was disturbingly familiar. Rows of children sat facing forward with their exercise books open, while near the back of the room stood the same empty chair waiting between two occupied desks.
Seat twenty-seven.
I hurried towards it as the door started opening behind me, pulled the chair back, and sat down.
Almost immediately, every child who had been watching me turned towards the front.
The footsteps entering the classroom slowed.
Step.
The cycle repeated.
"..."
I placed my hands flat against the desk.
The teacher walked past the rows without coming for me, its behaviour changing so abruptly that it almost felt as though I'd stepped into an entirely different anomaly. Only moments ago, it had been tearing open pods looking for me.
Now it calmly moved towards the front.
Tap. Tap.
"Open your books."
Paper rustled around me, and I did the same.
'So it really is the seat.'
Whatever governed this place, sitting in Mara's position made me part of the classroom. Whether the teacher genuinely believed I was her was another matter entirely.
For now, I wasn't going to complain.
As the children started writing, I picked up my pencil before bringing the completed analysis back into view.
----
[VILE-2217 — "The Teacher"]
[Classification: Unknown]
[Target may now be used inside the Gate Development System]
[Expand]
----
'Let's see what almost got me killed.'
I selected the option.
----
[VILE-2217 — "The Teacher"]
Type: Anomalous Entity
Status: Active
Observed Behaviour:
— Displays extreme aggression toward individuals outside classroom assignment scenario.
— Prioritizes classroom routine once assigned seating conditions are fulfilled.
— Highly responsive to sound, movement, and direct observation.
— Capable of detecting external analytical interference.
----
'This confirms it. So long as I'm in the classroom with the children, I'll be fine.'
Most of it confirmed things I'd already learned the hard way.
The wording around classroom assignment was interesting, but another section appearing beneath it immediately drew my attention away.
----
Physical Analysis:
— Humanoid structure heavily altered.
— Extensive thermal damage present across facial tissue, scalp, neck, and upper torso.
— Severe carbonization detected around mouth and respiratory passage.
— Injury pattern indicates sustained exposure to open flame.
— Respiratory traces indicate subject remained alive during exposure.
----
My pencil stopped against the paper.
"...Alive?"
I read the final line again.
Then the meaning properly registered.
'It was burned alive.'
For several seconds, I forgot about what was happening around me.
The face I'd seen through the camera returned to my mind, except now it was considerably harder to dismiss as nothing more than the grotesque appearance of an anomaly.
The burns weren't simply what the monster looked like.
They were the result of the teacher burning alive.
'But is it just the teacher?'
My gaze instinctively moved towards the front of the classroom, checking all the children around me. Unlike the teacher, none of them seemed to have that burned look.
Then..?
My brows furrowed together as I caught a glimpse of the teacher from the corner of my eye.
'One of the clues said that her voice continued issuing instructions from inside even after the incident.'
I'd never found anything explaining what happened after.
"..."
"Continue your work."
The familiar gravelly voice carried through the classroom, and a faint 'ah' escaped my lips. For some reason, knowing about the burns made the voice sound different.
I stared down at the exercise book.
'Was that what happened to you?'
Had Mrs. Vale been burned alive before whatever happened to Class 3-C?
And if so...
Who had done it?
More importantly, what had happened afterward for this thing to still be standing at the front of the classroom?
Step.
The teacher started moving between the desks.
I immediately dismissed the panel.
The questions could wait for later.
I had to get through this for now. With my nodes still not working, I had no choice but to follow along with the scenario.
I worked through the exercise as the footsteps gradually approached, but having seen the teacher properly made the situation even more nerve-wracking.
Step.
The teacher stopped beside Elon.
His pencil continued moving as though there wasn't a monster standing over him.
A few seconds later, its shadow shifted onto my page.
"..."
I kept writing.
One long finger eventually entered my vision and stopped beside a calculation I'd completed.
My eyes followed it.
"It's wrong."
Oh...
[x + 5 = 10. What is x?]
Oh.
I erased the answer and corrected it while the finger remained pressed beside the page. Only once I finished did the teacher pull its hand away and move towards the next desk.
I waited until the footsteps were further away before releasing the breath I'd been holding.
'It really does just keep teaching.'
That was the part I found hardest to understand.
Mrs. Vale had died.
Someone had still heard her giving instructions afterward.
Now I was sitting in Class 3-C while something with the face of a person burned alive continued teaching the same children.
There had to be a connection.
I just didn't know what it was yet.
The lesson eventually ended, and once the teacher's footsteps disappeared into the corridor, the children stood and began filing outside.
I followed them.
From there, everything settled back into the pattern I'd already learned.
The corridors changed.
Another staircase appeared where a wall had previously been; the children entered another classroom, and I took Seat 27 again before the next teacher arrived.
Whenever I had the chance, I continued searching.
Nothing useful changed.
October eleventh.
Mara's withdrawal.
October twelfth.
Elon claiming he'd spoken to her near the treeline.
October thirteenth.
Elon following someone he believed to be Mrs. Vale despite the real Mrs. Vale being elsewhere.
October fifteenth.
Mrs. Balle denying that she'd ever withdrawn her daughter.
October sixteenth.
Elon returning to Seat 26.
Then...
There was nothing else.
Every record I found skipped directly to October eighteenth.
Class 3-C — All absent.
"..."
I slowly turned another page before returning to the previous one.
The seventeenth was still missing.
There was no attendance sheet, disciplinary report, classroom note, or anything else indicating what had happened that day.
Yet sometime between the sixteenth and eighteenth, everything had fallen apart.
Mara was already gone.
Elon had been moved back to his original seat.
Mrs. Vale had somehow ended up dead on the landing.
And if the analysis of the teacher meant what I thought it did...
She may have been burned alive before her body was found.
'October seventeenth.'
My eyes remained fixed on the gap between the records.
Whatever happened here...
It probably happened then.
Small fingers suddenly wrapped around my wrist.
"—"
I froze and looked down.
There was nothing beside me.
The pressure remained for another moment before slowly loosening, leaving my skin untouched.
"...Again?"
I rubbed my wrist, almost tempted to use my glasses, but held myself back so that I wouldn't attract the attention of the teacher.
I looked back towards the missing date, but a distant footstep from the corridor stopped me from searching further.
Step.
"...Later."
I returned the papers and followed the children into the next classroom.
The remaining hours passed without another major discovery.
I attended lesson after lesson, searched whenever the teachers disappeared, and kept a close eye on Elon whenever he was near me.
He never responded.
Neither did I find anything new concerning Mara.
It was almost frustrating how many clues I'd collected while still knowing so little about what had actually happened.
By the time I checked my watch again, however, there wasn't much longer to go.
[05:59]
"...It's almost time."
Elon sat beside me, quietly filling another line inside his exercise book while the teacher stood at the front.
My gaze lingered on its silhouette.
'Burned alive...'
The thought lingered in the back of my mind.
If that really was connected to Mrs. Vale, then the missing day was even more important than I'd originally thought.
Flick! Flick!
The lights above flickered.
The classroom gradually blurred around me as the old desks, chalkboard, and children disappeared, replaced by the familiar layout of my office.
When I looked towards Elon again, his chair was gone.
So was he.
[06:00]
I leaned back and rubbed my face.
"...Made it."
Several of the pods remained open from the teacher's search earlier, while two of the cameras had been completely destroyed.
At least I'd gotten something out of it.
I knew more about the teacher now, and possibly a little more about what had happened to Mrs. Vale.
But the main questions hadn't changed.
What happened on October seventeenth?
Where had Mara gone?
What exactly had Elon seen?
And how had Mrs. Vale's voice continued teaching after she'd died?
My gaze eventually moved towards the office door.
"..."
Right.
There was still that.
I stood and crossed the room, wrapping my hand around the handle before pushing it down.
Click.
Nothing.
My brows slowly furrowed as I tried again, putting considerably more force into it this time.
Yet again, the door didn't budge.
Outside the window, the corridor had returned to normal. There were no endless hallways, children, or teachers left behind.
Everything looked exactly as it should.
Except for the fact that I was still trapped.
I pulled once more before eventually letting my hand fall from the handle.
"...Is something going on outside?"
-x-X-x-
"...Are you sure there's no key around?"
"Yes, I've looked everywhere, but I can't find anything at all."
Kyle shut the drawer and stared at it for a moment before opening it again.
There was no reason to. He'd already gone through everything inside twice, shifting through loose papers, spare parts, and whatever other useless things Seth had decided were worth keeping around.
He just... didn't know where else to look.
"...Nothing."
Across the room, Zoey was having about as much luck with the cabinet. Several folders and boxes had already been scattered across the floor as she searched through the last shelf.
"Did you check underneath the desk?"
"Three times."
"What about behind the drawers?"
Kyle slowly looked towards her.
"Zoey."
"What? I'm just asking."
"And I'm telling you it's not here."
She pressed her lips together but didn't argue.
They'd been searching for the entire night, and there weren't many places left. If the key to VILE-303 had been somewhere inside Seth's room, one of them would've found it already.
Kyle leaned against the desk and rubbed his forehead.
More troubling than the missing key was the absence of his connection with Seth. In a way, the fact that he was still talking with Zoey was a miracle.
'Something definetly happened to Seth's nodes. I don't know why else I can't feel his presence at all.'
Normally, Seth's presence lingered somewhere at the back of his mind. It wasn't enough for Kyle to know where he was or what he was doing, but it had always been there. It was a connection he never wanted, but was forced upon.
He had grown used it by now, but...
'I can't feel anything at all.'
No matter how much Kyle concentrated, he couldn't feel him.
And yet, strangely enough, he could still tell he was alive.
Kyle was certain of that much.
He wouldn't be here if Seth died. But that also made him internally worried.
'I can probably disappear at any given second.'
If the situation didn't improve, then this was a very real possibility.
"Anything?"
Kyle looked up to find Zoey staring at him.
"No."
She let out a short breath and glanced towards the terminal on the desk, where the Guild file for VILE-303 remained open.
There wasn't much useful information.
Access required a specific key.
Zoey crossed her arms.
"Could he have left it somewhere else?"
Kyle thought for a moment.
Seth rarely had any reason to carry the key around, especially while away on a mission.
Then he thought of something.
"...His place."
Zoey looked towards him.
"You think it's at his house?"
"To be honest, unlikely. He's not the type to leave something so important alone. He probably has it with him, or has hidden it somewhere."
That was the one thing they knew for certain.
Seth had left for Malovia with the others days ago. As far as the Guild was concerned, he was still there carrying out the assigned mission.
The fact that he was somehow trapped inside VILE-303 made absolutely no sense.
Zoey looked towards the door.
"Then we should go check."
Kyle didn't immediately answer.
Their movements were already drawing attention. Over the last day they'd checked the archives, asked about containment access, and gone through several storage rooms looking for the key.
At first, nobody had cared.
Now people were starting to wonder what in the world they were doing.
"We need to be careful," Kyle said quietly. "If someone realizes what we're looking for, they'll ask why."
"And what are we supposed to do instead?"
"I don't know."
That was the problem.
They couldn't exactly tell the Guild that Seth, who was officially on a mission in Malovia, was somehow trapped inside his own office. At worst, the entire situation would immediately become an official containment incident.
That'd be pretty bad considering their current situation in the Guild.
Zoey looked at him for a moment before asking, "You're still sure he's okay?"
Kyle paused.
"...Yeah."
"How?"
"I just am."
"That's not a really reassuring answer, is it?"
"I know."
Zoey narrowed her eyes, but before she could press him any further, footsteps approached from outside the room.
Both of them turned towards the door.
A knock followed shortly afterward.
To Tok—!
Kyle glanced at the open drawers and scattered folders.
"...Great."
The door opened before either of them had enough time to clean anything.
The Section Chief stood outside.
His eyes moved between Kyle and Zoey before taking in the state of the room.
"What are you two doing?"
Zoey answered first.
"Looking for something."
"I can see that."
His gaze shifted towards the terminal.
"We're looking for the key."
Kyle eventually said.
The Section Chief looked back at him.
"What key?"
Kyle was still thinking of an answer when the man stepped further inside.
"Actually, forget that for a moment. Have either of you heard from Seth?"
Kyle's expression remained still. The same went for Zoey, as the both tried their best not to show anything.
"...No."
"Neither have I."
The Section Chief pulled out his communicator.
"He was supposed to send an update from Malovia this morning. Nothing came through, and he hasn't responded to any of my messages since last night. I did get a few messages from Joanna and the rest, but it isn't really reassuring when he doesn't reply for so long."
Zoey folded her arms.
"The mission might've gotten complicated."
"It might have."
He spoke slowly, narrowing his eyes as he looked at her.
"Do you know anything?"
"...No."
Zoey shook her head.
Kyle could tell that she wanted to spill everything, but considering the Section Chief's recent actions, it was probably for the best if they kept the news to themselves.
"..."
The Section Chief's gaze moved towards the documents scattered across the desk.
"Which brings me back to my first question. Why are the two of you searching through restricted storage while Seth has suddenly gone silent?"
"Like I said, we're looking for a Key."
It wasn't the worst lie.
"What Key?"
Kyle's lips parted, ready to answer, but right as he was about to, the Section Chief's attention drifted towards the terminal.
The VILE-303 file was still open.
Kyle noticed the exact moment he read the name.
"...VILE-303?"
The Section Chief looked from the screen to the open drawers, then finally towards the door at the end of the room.
"Seth is in Malovia."
His voice was slow, but the room seemed to freeze in that moment.
"Yes."
Kyle replied after a short moment.
"And while I can't contact him, the two of you suddenly start searching for the key to an anomaly that has absolutely nothing to do with his mission. Is there something that you need from his office?"
Kyle's jaw tightened.
There wasn't much room left to maneuver.
The Section Chief stared at him for several seconds, his expression gradually becoming more serious.
"Ye—"
"He's stuck in there, isn't he?"
"....."
Kyle and Zoey remained silent, but that was enough for the Section Chief to understand he paused for a moment and pinched the middle of his brows. After which, he moved toward the door and tried to pull the handle.
Click! Click!
He pulled quite hard, but the door remained closed.
Eventually, he turned his attention back to Zoey and Kyle.
"This is quite the mess, huh?"
"That's..."
Zoey tried to speak, but the Section Chief raised his hand to stop her.
"I'll give you a week to deal with the situation before I'm forced to report it to the higher-ups. This isn't something I can keep under control forever. I know that the two of you understand my current circumstances the best."
The Section Chief didn't give Zoey or Kyle the chance to reply.
After which, his gaze immediately turned in the direction of the terminal, where the [VILE - 303] document was still open, and he pointed at it.
"Start with that."
***
My eyes continued to linger over the door.
Even after another day had passed, there was still no reaction at all. In all honesty, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it.
"Both sides are locked, but how is the one in Sines locked? This doesn't really make much sense? They should also have the key..."
Unless—
'Wait, is the key with the Voidwalker?'
I covered my palm with my forehead.
"Fuck."
A curse slipped out at the same time.
"Right, of course."
Ever since receiving the message from the Hand, I'd made sure to keep the more important items on me so they couldn't be stolen. The key was one of them.
"...It's no wonder they can't open the door, if they're trying."
To make matters worse, with my node not working, I couldn't call the Voidwalker.
"This is pretty bad, huh?"
My eyes shifted to the corner of the room.
There was still quite a bit of food in the fridge, so I didn't have much to worry about in the short term. Still, I couldn't keep this up forever, especially now that my nodes had decided to give up on me.
'At this rate, I might remain stuck forever.'
I hadn't wanted to leave before, but now I was starting to worry. As much as I wanted to stay and investigate further, I still needed to find a way out of this place. What good would any of this do if I ended up trapped here forever?
"Ugh."
I ruffled my hair in annoyance.
"...Let's relax."
I pulled out another pill and popped it into my mouth.
"I've got a lot of time. There's no need to worry too much. I'm sure that even if they can't find a way to get me out, my nodes will recover by then."
Yeah.
I turned to face the other door of the room.
The one leading to the corridor.
"...I just need to wait."
This was just a waiting game.
Soon, I was going to get out.
.
.
.
Three days passed since.
-x-X-x-
I lowered the bottle from my lips and stared at what little water remained inside.
"....."
There was still plenty more in the fridge, so it wasn't as if I needed to start rationing just yet. Food wasn't much of a problem either. Whoever had stocked the place had done a surprisingly decent job, and assuming I didn't suddenly develop the appetite of three people, I could probably last for a while.
That wasn't the problem.
My eyes drifted towards the door.
It was still locked.
I turned my wrist, checking the time.
'Three days.'
It had already been three days since I'd realized that the key was most likely with the Voidwalker, and despite constantly checking my nodes, absolutely nothing had changed.
I still couldn't feel them.
"...This is getting ridiculous."
I placed the bottle down and rubbed my forehead.
The pills were gone too.
I'd taken the last one earlier that morning, and while the dull ache behind my eyes was still manageable, I knew from experience that it wouldn't remain that way forever. Normally, I could've simply bought more from the system shop.
Unfortunately...
[SP: 173]
"...Yeah."
Not happening.
I leaned back in the chair and stared towards the ceiling.
For the first couple of days, I'd been fairly confident someone would figure something out. Kyle and Zoey weren't idiots, and once they realized what had happened, they would've started looking for another way inside.
But three days without so much as a knock?
'Well, they probably did... I just probably didn't hear it.'
That wasn't particularly reassuring.
'Maybe there really isn't another way.'
My fingers tightened slightly around the edge of the desk.
For the first time since I'd gotten trapped, a small sense of worry started creeping in. I wasn't panicking yet, but enough time had passed that I couldn't simply shrug everything off anymore.
There was food.
There was water.
But those would eventually run out.
My nodes were still unusable, meaning that I couldn't get out myself, and if I stayed here for much longer, then...
"...Am I seriously going to die inside my own office?"
That would've been incredibly embarrassing.
I covered my face with both hands and remained like that for several seconds, listening to the quiet hum of the computers around me.
"Come on."
There had to be something.
Some way out that I hadn't thought of.
I lowered my hands and stared at the nearest monitor.
"...Or at least something to do."
Sitting around worrying clearly wasn't helping.
I pushed myself closer to the desk and woke the computer from sleep. Several windows were already open across the monitors, most of them belonging to the Gate Development System and the notes I'd accumulated over the last few days.
At first, it had simply been something to keep myself occupied between nighttime cycles. Either way, I did have a quest to fulfill.
Then...
Well.
I started getting ideas.
"Hm."
My fingers moved across the keyboard as I opened one of the unfinished project files.
A rough layout appeared on the main monitor.
There wasn't much there yet. A few disconnected areas, several environmental notes, and a collection of mechanics I'd been testing here and there.
I stared at it for a while before opening another window.
——
[Gate Development]
[Current Draft]
Environmental Structure: Incomplete
Primary Threat: Pending
Secondary Threats: Pending
Core Mechanic: ███████
——
My eyes lingered on the final line.
"...Maybe."
I leaned forward slightly.
There were things about VILE-303 that I disliked immensely.
The infinite corridors.
The way the teachers changed their behaviour depending on where you stood.
The fact that simply knowing the rules didn't necessarily make you safe.
And then there was the classroom itself.
I opened another document.
A list of observations filled the screen, most of them things I'd written down after surviving each night.
Assigned seating.
Routine-based behaviour.
Observation.
Punishment.
Attendance.
My fingers stopped above the keyboard.
"...No, that's too obvious."
I deleted a line, followed shortly by another.
'I can't just copy the structure of this anomaly. That'd be boring.'
What mattered wasn't the classroom itself.
It was understanding why it worked.
The tension didn't come from the teacher being particularly strong. There were plenty of monsters stronger than it, and if strength alone was enough to make something frightening, then creating horror would've been ridiculously easy.
No.
What made VILE-303 work was everything surrounding the teacher.
The rules.
The uncertainty.
The feeling that there was something happening underneath everything that the player didn't understand yet.
Even knowing the rules wouldn't completely remove someone from danger because, if they were designed properly, those very same rules could eventually be used against the person following them.
"...That's actually pretty good."
I opened a fresh page.
For the next several minutes, the office remained quiet aside from the sound of typing.
Tak! Tak! Tak!
I moved several concepts around, deleted most of them, then brought a few back after deciding they weren't as bad as I'd originally thought. Before I knew it, I became completely absorbed in what I was doing, the minutes disappearing as my fingers moved across the keyboard.
One idea led into another.
A mechanic that hadn't worked by itself suddenly made sense when placed beside something else. An area I'd almost deleted started serving a completely different purpose once I changed one detail, and after moving several sections around, I slowly stopped seeing disconnected notes.
There was a structure forming underneath them.
"...Wait."
I leaned closer.
My eyes moved rapidly across the screen.
'If this happens here... then the person playing would assume that. Which means when this happens later...'
I stopped.
Then slowly leaned back.
"...Oh."
A grin started to form.
That was cruel.
Actually...
That was really cruel.
I immediately leaned forward again and changed several lines.
Tak! Tak! Tak!
The idea wasn't finished, but I could already imagine how someone would react to it. They'd learn one thing, become comfortable with it, start believing they understood what sort of Gate they were dealing with...
And then—
"...Hehehe."
I stopped typing.
"Wait, why am I laughing like that?"
I cleared my throat and looked around the empty office.
Thankfully, nobody had heard that.
Probably.
My attention returned to the monitor.
The more I stared, however, the more excited I became.
This was different from merely copying VILE-303.
I was taking what made the anomaly uncomfortable and twisting it into something else entirely.
Something that could start simple.
Almost understandable.
And then gradually make every decision the player had made beforehand come back to haunt them.
'No, no... What if I move this even earlier?'
My fingers resumed moving.
That made it worse.
Much worse.
"...Oh, that's disgusting."
I loved it.
Another document opened on the second monitor, followed by another on the third. Soon, the rough layout I'd started with barely resembled what had been there several minutes earlier.
The environmental structure changed.
I removed one of the threats completely.
Then I stared at the empty space beside Primary Threat for a long while before typing something.
I paused.
Deleted it.
Typed something else.
"...No."
Deleted that too.
I wasn't quite sure what to do with that just yet. Maybe Twisted Man? Teacher? There were quite a few options, but it needed to be memorable.
My gaze drifted towards the window overlooking the corridor.
For the first time, I looked at VILE-303 differently.
Not as the anomaly keeping me trapped.
As reference material.
"...You're actually pretty useful."
The corridor obviously didn't answer.
I turned back towards the monitor.
Eventually, something started taking shape. It wasn't much yet, but it was enough for me to see where it could go.
'If I combine this with that... no, wait.'
My fingers moved faster.
Tak! Tak! Tak!
There was still a lot missing, but for the first time since getting trapped, my thoughts weren't focused entirely on the door.
Instead, I found myself staring at the half-finished design with growing interest.
It wasn't ready.
Not even close.
And if I was being honest, I wasn't entirely sure whether the final result would work the way I imagined.
But if it did...
"...This might actually be fun."
The more I played around with it, the more the ideas piled up. After a certain point, I felt something burn inside my chest as a faint tingling ran along my spine.
It had been a while since I'd gotten this absorbed in an idea.
'Wait, wait, wait. What if I do this?'
I stopped typing and imagined the scenario properly.
How it would begin.
What someone would think was happening.
The sheer scale of it.
The moment they realized they were wrong.
The screams.
The cries.
The sheer confusion once everything they'd learned stopped helping them.
My smile widened.
"A-ah, I really want to do it."
The tingling wouldn't stop. The moment the idea settled inside my head, it suddenly became the only thing I could think about.
I cracked my fingers.
There was one thing missing.
One piece that would tie everything together.
If I could figure that out—
Tak! Tak! Tak!
My eyes widened slightly.
"...Wait."
There.
Maybe...
Just maybe—
Flick! Flick!
The lights above me suddenly flickered.
My fingers froze above the keyboard.
"..."
I slowly looked up.
"Already?"
For once, I actually felt annoyed that midnight had arrived.
The familiar hum changed around me as I glanced at the clock before reluctantly saving the project and closing the window.
"Seriously? Right when I was getting somewhere..."
The air around the room slowly grew colder as the office began to shift, the familiar pressure settling against my skin while the nighttime cycle started once more.
After three days, even that was becoming familiar.
I sighed and stood, stretching my arms above my head before looking towards the corridor.
The lights flickered again.
For a moment, the familiar office disappeared beneath the outline of something older.
Faded walls.
Long corridors.
Doors stretching into the distance.
"..."
I looked back at the computer.
Then towards the corridor.
A small smile returned.
Actually...
Maybe this wasn't such a bad interruption.
I still needed inspiration.
"Maybe I should thank this place when I leave."
Probably not.
I stepped away from the desk and headed towards the main door.
"Well..."
Another flicker passed through the room.
"...At least I'm not bored."
I skipped towards the entrance, already knowing where I needed to go before the footsteps started.
"Better hurry before the teacher gets mad~"
My hand reached for the handle.
Then I stopped.
"..."
Ah.
Maybe I really was starting to lose it again.
-x-X-x-
"There's nothing here."
Kyle pushed another rotten desk aside, sending a cloud of dust across the classroom. Zoey immediately covered her mouth and stepped away, waving a hand in front of her face.
"You've said that about every room."
"Because every room has nothing."
"Then stop saying it."
Kyle glanced towards her but didn't bother replying.
They had been on Valmere Island for two days now, and his patience was starting to wear thin.
The island wasn't particularly large.
Decades ago, it had apparently been home to a sizeable fishing and manufacturing community, with several small towns scattered along the coast and a port that had once handled most of the trade passing through the surrounding islands.
That didn't last for long.
Businesses gradually moved elsewhere, younger residents followed, and large portions of northern Valmere slowly emptied out. What remained was an island with far more buildings than people to occupy them, particularly once they moved away from the southern port.
The school was located near the abandoned northern district.
Valmere Municipal School.
Or, at least, that had been its original name.
It had closed not long after the incident involving Class 3-C and the anomaly was found, before being repurposed several times over the following decades. For a period it had served as a municipal storage building, then an administrative annex, before eventually being abandoned altogether when the northern district lost most of its population.
The Guild hadn't catalogued VILE-303 until much later.
That was what had led Kyle and Zoey here in the first place.
If the anomaly was recreating events from the school, then the original building was the only place they could think of that might contain something the Guild records didn't.
Perhaps another key that would help them reach Seth.
...Or at least, something.
'He's still fine, but I don't know how long we have left.'
Kyle looked around the room.
Sunlight entered through several cracked windows, illuminating faded green walls and rows of desks left behind from one of the building's later renovations. Salt carried inland by the wind had eaten into most of the metal fixtures, while water damage had warped portions of the wooden floor until several boards curved upward at the edges.
There were no monsters waiting behind the doors or corridors stretching infinitely into the distance.
That much was good.
It was just an old school slowly rotting beside the sea.
And yet, Class 3-C felt different from the other rooms.
Kyle couldn't explain exactly why.
Maybe it was because they already knew what had happened here, or perhaps it was the way the room seemed strangely quieter than the rest of the building. The wind could be heard slipping through broken windows in the corridor, rattling old frames and loose pieces of wood, but the moment they stepped inside 3-C, most of that noise seemed to fade behind the walls.
It left their footsteps sounding a little too clear.
Zoey stopped near the back.
"...Twenty-seven."
Kyle turned.
Unlike most of the desks, this row belonged to the original classroom.
They'd found several of them stacked inside one of the storage rooms downstairs before returning them to their approximate positions using photographs from the municipal archive.
The numbers carved into the wood had almost completely faded with age.
But out of all the desks...
One was still clearly visible.
Desk 27.
There was no chair behind it.
More strangely, while dust covered most of the floor around the desks, a darker rectangular mark remained directly behind twenty-seven, as though something heavy had once been there long enough to permanently stain the wood.
Kyle stared at it for a moment.
"I'm still surprised they didn't get rid of these. Considering how many times the building changed ownership, it's strange they're still here."
"...Indeed."
Zoey crouched and ran her fingers along the scratched wood.
Over the past two days, they'd managed to piece together quite a few things.
It turned out the incident involving Class 3-C had been far more complicated than they'd originally been led to believe. To the point where it almost felt baffling that something involving so many disappearances had faded into little more than several scattered reports.
"Is it because it's contained?"
"Likely..."
Kyle replied, tracing his finger along the edge of the desk.
"Once the Guild decided VILE-303 wasn't spreading, there probably wasn't much reason to keep digging into what happened before."
That still didn't sit particularly well with him.
By the end of the incident, twenty-eight children had disappeared in total.
A young girl called Mara Balle had vanished first, followed days later by the rest of Class 3-C, and somewhere between those two events Mrs. Vale had died under some weird circumstance that nobody really cared to elaborate on.
The fact that there was no hospital report was strange in itself.
Yet once the anomaly was contained...
That had apparently been enough for everything to be buried.
Sifting through the school records had answered a few questions. It had also created several more.
But there was one thing in particular that bothered them.
October seventeenth.
There wasn't a single record regarding that date.
Every archive they'd checked contained documents from the days surrounding it, yet anything directly connected to the seventeenth was either missing or had been removed. At first, Kyle had assumed decades of poor storage and careless management were responsible.
After going through three separate collections on Valmere, that explanation was becoming harder to believe.
"Look at this."
Zoey's voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
She was crouched beneath Desk 27.
Kyle moved beside her and followed her gaze towards several scratches running along the underside of the wood. Most looked meaningless, overlapping one another in shallow lines, but beneath them were letters carved deeply enough that they had survived the years.
They were positioned strangely low.
A child would've had to lean beneath the desk to write them.
Zoey brushed away some of the dust.
...don't let her...
Kyle's expression slowly changed.
"Her?"
"I don't know."
Zoey leaned closer, angling the light from her phone along the wood in an attempt to reveal whatever had once followed the words.
Nothing.
The rest had been scratched away so violently that several splinters had broken from the desk.
"Desk 27 belonged to Mara. It might be talking about her."
Kyle continued staring at the message.
"...It's possible."
But something about that didn't feel right.
Mara had been the one frightened of someone else occupying her seat. That much they were able to find out.
Why would someone warn against her?
Neither of them said anything after that.
There wasn't enough information.
Eventually, Kyle straightened and looked towards the front of the classroom, imagining twenty-eight children sitting where the rotten desks now stood.
It was strange.
Reading about them disappearing was one thing.
Standing inside the actual room made it considerably harder to treat what happened as nothing more than a simple accident.
Mara had sat here.
A young boy called Elon sat beside her.
Mrs. Vale would've stood at the front, facing all of them.
And for several days before everything ended, something had apparently been sitting in Seat 27 that only Mara could see.
Kyle stared at the empty space behind the desk for a second longer than necessary before turning away.
Zoey was already heading towards the doorway.
Kyle complained immediately.
"We've searched this floor twice. There's nothing here that'll get us into VILE-303."
"At least, not yet. We might just get lucky~"
Zoey replied immediately after.
Kyle rolled his eyes.
"You've been saying that since yesterday."
"And you're still following me."
She shot him another look.
Kyle sighed as his shoulders slumped.
"Alright, alright."
Things were starting to feel redundant. Time was running out, and every hour they spent searching through an abandoned school was another hour Seth remained trapped.
Still, Kyle had investigated enough things alongside Zoey to know how she operated.
If something didn't fit, she kept digging until it did.
"Which way?"
"Let's try this side."
Zoey led him towards another section of the building, the dim glow of her phone reflecting across her face as she followed a photograph she'd taken of the oldest floor plan.
The municipal archive had given them several different layouts of the school.
Each renovation had changed something, sealing corridors, dividing old classrooms, or removing entire sections of the building.
The oldest map was the one they'd decided to follow.
It showed a narrow maintenance passage running behind the classrooms on the eastern side of the school.
Most of it had been sealed during later renovations.
But not all of it.
Kyle slowed as they approached the main staircase, something along the wall catching his attention.
"...Zoey."
She stopped.
"What?"
Kyle pointed.
At first, the discoloration looked like nothing more than damp bleeding through the newer layers of paint.
Zoey almost walked straight past it.
Then she looked again.
The stain didn't spread the way water damaged walls usually did. In fact, it seemed to be covering something.
"What in the..."
Walking forward, she reached for the old paint and tore it down.
Immediately, her attention fell on the dark streaks that crawled upward beside the staircase, disappearing beneath newer paint in places before emerging farther up. Once they moved closer, the uneven edges became clearer, along with patches where the wall underneath had cracked and blistered.
"Burn marks."
Zoey muttered subconsciously as Kyle licked his lips beside her.
"Someone has painted over them."
Zoey's eyes followed the blackened trail towards the upper floor.
"We saw this upstairs."
Kyle nodded slowly.
Near the stairwell landing outside the corridor leading to Class 3-C.
The same place where Mrs. Vale's body had supposedly been found.
It had bothered them when they first read the report.
Her body had been discovered there before anyone attempted to enter the classroom, while witnesses claimed they could still hear her voice giving instructions from inside.
"Was there a fire here?"
Zoey asked.
"Not according to anything we've found."
That was what bothered Kyle.
None of the surviving reports mentioned one.
There was no known evacuation or emergency call.
Not even repairs for smoke damage.
Yet the walls indicated something else. Maybe from before the incident? Kyle took out his flashlight and followed the blackened pattern downward.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
The marks weren't confined to the upper landing.
They continued down the staircase.
Towards the basement.
"...That's odd."
"What?"
Kyle kept the beam against the wall.
"If the fire started upstairs, why does the damage continue down?"
Zoey didn't answer.
The two exchanged a glance before following it.
The lower floor was considerably darker, with only thin strips of daylight reaching through narrow windows near the ceiling. Old pipes ran above as the smell of damp concrete and rust replaced the salty air from upstairs.
Their footsteps carried much farther down here.
Kyle could hear each one return faintly from the corridor ahead.
The burn marks continued along the wall.
They weren't everywhere.
Only along one side.
Almost like a trail.
They eventually stopped beside what appeared to be an ordinary section of brickwork.
Zoey frowned.
"...Was this always here?"
Kyle pulled out the oldest floor plan.
"No."
He traced the basement corridor with his finger before stopping at the exact place where they stood.
Behind the wall was supposed to be a narrow maintenance passage.
It ran beneath the eastern wing before connecting to an old service building outside the school grounds.
A second entrance.
At least...
There used to be.
Zoey moved closer to the bricks.
"You think this could lead into VILE-303?"
"I have no idea."
It wasn't much of an answer, but neither of them had anything better.
The key was missing.
The door in Seth's office couldn't be opened because of that.
If there was even the slightest chance that VILE - 303 wasn't the only anomaly that had formed back then...
Kyle stepped closer.
The flashlight moved across the bricks.
That was when Zoey suddenly caught his wrist.
"Wait."
Kyle stopped.
She crouched near the bottom of the wall and brushed away a thick layer of dust. Something caught her attention as she took a step forward.
Brushing away the layer of dust, a few words appeared before their eyes.
17 OCT.
"..."
Kyle slowly lowered the light.
For several seconds, the only sound came from water dripping somewhere deeper inside the basement.
Drip.
Once.
Drip...!
Then again.
Of all the dates they could've found...
Zoey stared at the carving before slowly looking up at him.
"We're opening it."
Kyle's attention remained fixed on the date.
"...Obviously."
For the first time since arriving on Valmere Island, they'd finally found something that felt like more than another dead end.
Whether the passage would actually lead them to Seth, they weren't sure.
But it was clear that someone had sealed it. Someone had carved October seventeenth into the wall before they did.
And right now, that was their greatest lead since arriving.
***
Secretary Kim placed the folder on the Section Chief's desk.
"There has still been no direct contact from Seth."
Johansberg continued reading.
"And the other two?"
"Kyle and Zoey have been absent from Guild headquarters for most of the last few days. They requested several historical documents concerning VILE-303 before leaving, including municipal records relating to the original property."
Johansberg's finger stopped against the page.
"They went there themselves?"
"That appears to be the case."
A small silence followed.
Secretary Kim adjusted her glasses.
"There have also been questions regarding Seth's situation. His lack of reports from Malovia is becoming increasingly difficult to explain."
Johansberg leaned back.
Things were progressing in a very interesting way.
His gaze shifted towards the window as the faintest smile appeared across his face.
"...Interesting."
Secretary Kim remained expressionless.
"Do you think something has happened to Seth?"
"Mhm."
The smile remained.
"I think something rather interesting is happening."
He closed the folder.
"And I'd very much like to see where it leads."