"That’s... That’s..."
Kaelen stood frozen, lips trembling, his face a shade too pale. Kyle watched him from a couple of ters away, doing his best not to frown.
’What’s going on? Why did he get scared?’
He looked around him, and he saw Zoey looking at Kaelen with the sa expression as him. The sa was true for the others.
’What happened? Why are they reacting like this?’
Mainly because they couldn’t hear a single thing that had happened in the ga.
For that reason, they didn’t get to experience the sa thing they did.
Only Rowan was visibly shaken, eyes locked on the monitor, his shoulders subtly quivering.
’I don’t get it. What’s so scary about the ga?’
Kyle thought back on the situation.
Sure, the ga had changed slightly. But at its core, it was still the sa design. He’d played it himself. From his perspective, the exchange group had simply made mistake after mistake.
’Sarah most likely fell for the old lady’s voice trick, while Serelith fell for another trick Seth added. Considering how I heard Kaelen say sothing about it not being him, I can assu that Seth added a feature that can mimic voices. She likely fell for that, and Kaelen just fell for the fake letter trick.’
All in all, this was a poor performance in Kyle’s eyes.
The clues had all been presented at the start of the ga, and as one navigated, if they paid close attention to everything that had been presented, none of them should’ve fallen for the tricks.
But it wasn’t like Kyle could exactly bla them entirely for it.
’In the end, it’s because they are all inexperienced in how to handle this stuff.’
There was a reason why they didn’t bring the exchange mbers to higher gates despite clearing the lower ones in record ti.
It was because once they reached higher gates, they wouldn’t be able to brute force their way into clearing the gate. The anomalies that would appear would be far stronger than any monsters they’d ever faced, each one following its own rule.
In order to clear the gate, they needed to follow the rules.
This right here was the result of them not following the rules. And all of it ca due to their lack of experience.
Thinking about it, the way Kyle looked at the ga that Seth developed changed.
A certain thought crossed his mind as he looked around. In particular, his gaze fell on Rowan, who was still trembling.
’Hmm, it doesn’t look like he’s faking it. Should I take so ti to talk with the Section Chief?’
While the ga didn’t feel scary to him at all, after witnessing how the exchange mbers behaved, alongside Rowan, Kyle felt that the ga could actually be used by the departnt in order to train the new recruits.
If it really had an effect on them, then this really could be a good way to train them.
’It’ll be much safer than sending them to actual gates, too, and I can train them without needing to be constantly on alert. We can also have as many tries as possible without needing to dive into the dungeon over and over again. That’ll probably save up on a lot of the budget.’
The more Kyle thought about it, the more feasible he felt the idea was.
’Still, it might be too early to tell. I might just be overthinking things.’
After all, the ga had no effect on him. It was better to just tell the Section Chief or one of the Team Leaders before deciding on what to do with the ga.
"This makes no sense!"
Kaelen’s voice snapped Kyle out of his thoughts.
He stared at the [Ga Over] screen on his monitor, then looked around, locking eyes with Kyle.
"You did sothing! That’s the only explanation!"
Kyle suddenly frowned.
Before he could respond, Zoey cut in.
"You lost fair and square. We didn’t do anything. If we really did try sothing, you would’ve been able to detect it."
"That’s bullshit!"
Kaelen’s voice rose as he pointed from his screen to her.
"...You clearly did sothing. At one point, the old lady... that thing. She replied to my stuff as though she could hear . That makes no sense. Isn’t this developed by one person? You definitely did sothing—"
"The reason why she was able to speak with you is because you’re predictable."
The new voice sliced through the room, drawing Kaelen’s attention as a figure stepped out from the departnt entrance. His hair was still damp, but pulled back, revealing his face to everyone, montarily stunning the exchange mbers as they wondered who they were seeing.
He wore a plain white T-shirt, the top buttons undone, paired with black pants.
Wiping his hair dry, he slowly made his way forward. His eyes swept across the monitors, then settled on Kaelen.
"I built an algorithm to simulate responses based on player behavior. If you thought it was listening to you... that just ans you’re easy to read."
"That’s..."
Kaelen stiffened. His face twisted with sothing between anger and confusion.
But Seth didn’t seem to care as he sat down on one of the chairs and looked at the ti they spent on each ga.
"If you’re still hesitant about the ga, then you can have it tested by soone you trust. You can even have soone look at the surroundings to see if so sort of item has been used to influence your mind. It doesn’t really matter to ."
He spoke with a disarming nonchalance, his eyes just a shade less lifeless than before. But that sa eerie quality still lingered, and it was that very presence that kept Kaelen and the others from arguing.
There was sothing about him that felt deeply unsettling.
That was why neither Sarah nor Serelith said a word as Seth’s lips pulled into a thin smile and uneasy smile as he turned his attention towards Kyle.
He pointed at the ti on the bottom of the screen.
"They hardly lasted as long as you. I guess the ga is scary after all."
"Haha."
Kyle forced a smile.
Was it really?
However, looking at the mbers of the exchange group, Kyle could only concede.
"I guess..."
"Good."
Seth suddenly clapped his hands and looked at the three exchange mbers.
"Since you’ve lost your bet, it’s ti to pay up."
Seth added a finger with each mber that he pointed at.
"Three of you, so that would be fifteen fragnts."
Standing up, he patted his hands again, his lifeless eyes showing so sort of sign of life.
"If you don’t have them with you now, you can directly give them to later, or give them to Kyle."
He turned to face Kyle.
"Give them to once they hand them to you. I’ve got a few other things that I need to do."
Having said everything that he wanted to say, Seth quietly moved towards his office before entering.
Clank!
The door closed.
Silence settled over the departnt a few monts later.
And just like that, the bet ca to an end.
The three exchange mbers. The stars of their departnts.
They all lost.
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