Horror Game Developer: My games aren't that scary!

Chapter 530: Shocking everyone [2]Rattle!

Rattle—!

The carriage rattled, the soft hum spreading through every corner of the surroundings as Kyle quietly observed his surroundings, his heart slowly quickening as he took in everything that was around him.

’How many times has the light turned off?

’ Kyle thought to himself, observing the surroundings quietly.

He had initially been confused at first, but the more time passed, the clearer the situation became to him.

Something was happening to each passenger in the train, and whenever the light turned off, one would die, and everything would reset.

But with each ’reset’, there would be changes to the surroundings.

’...

The breath that I’m hearing is most likely from the one responsible for all of this.

’ His goal was to eliminate the threat.

’Twenty-three.

Twenty-four.

Twenty-five.

’ Kyle quietly counted the seconds.

His heart pressed tightly against his throat as he leaned his body forward, sweat dripping out from the side of his face.

’...

Twenty-eight.

Twenty-nine.

Thirt—’ The light above began to flicker, and darkness engulfed the surroundings.

Kyle’s eyes narrowed as his node churned.

Then— [Time Freeze] Everything froze at once.

Right as the light was about to fully turn off.

Kyle didn’t waste a second.

Standing from his seat, he quietly scanned the room, his gaze eventually settling on an elderly woman seated nearby, her hand resting on an open book.

Kyle stared at her, in particular her eyes, which were staring away from the book, before smiling to himself.

’Found you.

’ He didn’t hesitate.

The moment he found her, he pressed his hand against the old woman’s heart and activated [Time Freeze] once more.

At the same time, the surrounding time resumed.

The only thing that didn’t was the woman’s heart, as it remained frozen.

Kyle watched as the woman’s face gradually grew paler until she eventually collapsed lifelessly onto the floor.

Thump!

Kyle de-activated his node shortly after.

’That was harder than I previously anticipated.

’ In reality, the hardest aspect of the trial was finding what he needed to do.

He came into the trial with no instructions and needed to figure out the entire situation by observing what was around him.

He could see how a lot of people would struggle in this trial.

SCREEEEECH—!

All of a sudden, a loud screen echoed across the surroundings as the subway began to rattle even more than before.

Kyle’s feet remained glued to the floor as the subway began to slow down, and as he turned to face the direction of the door, Kyle’s attention fell on the reflection staring back at him.

Is that...?

Massaging his face, Kyle frowned slightly.

’Is that me?

’ For some reason, his face was quite pale.

He looked almost sick.

Kyle blinked a couple of times, and the subway came to a complete stop, the doors opening for him.

".....

" Kyle stood in silence for a few short seconds before eventually moving out.

Strange...

So strange.

He didn’t feel bad at all.

In fact, he felt great.

Was he seeing things?

Maybe.

But most importantly...

’This should be the end of the trial, right?

I wonder if Seth is done.

Even though he’s barely at the Second Order, for some reason, I don’t see him failing this.

It’s so strange...

’ The Seth he was used to and knew was extremely cowardly.

There were times when he’d get so scared he’d start puking.

It had happened once when a small child walked behind him in the middle of the night.

He had changed so much compared to the Seth he knew in the past.

From that point forward, he had given him quite a lot of surprises.

Perhaps, he was going to surprise him once more.

’Or maybe not, I know he doesn’t like attention.

’ Kyle smiled to himself as he walked past a certain door.

Light blinded him a moment after, as a large room greeted him.

’The place looks quite noisy.

’ There were quite a lot of people already.

Looking around, Kyle’s attention soon fell on the TV on top as his name and image appeared alongside a number (Seat — 207).

’207?

Is that my ranking?

’ Kyle looked around, spotting many famous faces he had only ever seen on TV, and felt a surge of satisfaction.

This score...

not bad.

He had performed much better than he had expected.

’...

I wonder who the top scorers are.

’ Kyle looked at the TV’s.

The rankings of each person were present, and as his eyes moved up, a certain name stood out to him.

The moment he spotted the name, his face froze.

But then— He burst out laughing.

"Right, of course.

Why am I not even surprised?

" Kyle continued to laugh, moving towards his seat as he shook his head.

"...

What a show off.

" *** I felt so damn uncomfortable.

The more time passed, the more uncomfortable I felt.

It felt as though I was being stared at by practically the entire room.

The back of my head stung more and more.

But more than anything, I was worried.

I may have passed this trial, but I could feel that it wasn’t an easy one.

I was worried about my team.

Could they pass?

Surely they could, right...?

I had trained with them quite a bit.

I knew of their skills.

However, that was the issue.

They were all great as a team, but not individually.

The same was for Ariel.

No, specifically Ariel, who couldn’t function by herself.

As more time passed and their name still didn’t appear, I grew increasingly worried.

Surely...

My heart sank as more and more seats began to be filled.

I could no longer keep my eyes closed, my entire attention fixed on the rankings.

The first one I saw that I was familiar with was Clara.

She ranked quite well.

Kyle surprisingly came not long after, with Zoey following him a bit later.

I saw a lot of familiar names, but not the ones that I wanted to see.

I started to grow restless.

I— —I would like to extend a warm welcome to all those who have managed to pass this first trial.

This was far from easy, and for all of you to pass this trial, I would like to say, congratulations!

A voice echoed from the speakers, my heart sinking deeply as I sat up straight.

No, don’t tell me...

—For those worried about their teammates, there’s no need to panic.

This trial wasn’t designed to eliminate a large number of participants at once.

We understand that not everyone specializes in solo clearances; some of you excel in support roles.

My eyes lit up.

Then...!

—That’s why we set a single condition for this trial: as long as one member passes, the entire team passes.

So for those of you here...

Congratulations.

You and your team have passed!

It was as if a massive weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

The moment I heard the last words, my body slacked back onto the chair.

...

Thank god.

If they had been eliminated like this, then it would’ve meant the Guild Master had been right, and I...

—Please don’t get too excited.

This was merely the preliminary stage of the Congress.

There’s still much more to come.

Your ranks will, of course, play an important role in the upcoming trials, with points assigned to each Guild based on the rank each member has achieved.

A tally will soon be displayed for everyone to see, but before that, let all teams reunite.

Snap—!

A loud snap reverberated through the surroundings, and the world around me began to shift.

I barely had time to react before the faces of those around me stretched and warped, a low, muffled sound ringing in my ears.

One that sounded almost like a roar.

A roar?

The sound grew louder and louder as my surroundings shifted, until the roar became deafening.

BOOOOOOM—!

The surroundings shifted, and before I knew it, I found myself standing back in the middle of the arena, the crowd around on their feet, their cheers so loud they almost felt like an explosion.

"Waaaaaaah!

" "Insane!

That was insane!

" "How is it possible!?

How did he do it?!

" "Monster!

He’s a monster!

" What the...