Flick!
As the lights in the reception dimd, a strange stillness settled over the room. The air grew heavier, and an uneasy tension crept in, twisting the once-familiar atmosphere into sothing quietly unsettling.
"What’s going on? What’s happening?"
Darwin stared at the surroundings in confusion.
He raised his head to look at the lights.
They had dimd down sowhat. That wasn’t all. The temperature of the room appeared to have lowered as well.
Every little sensation felt vivid in his mind.
"...I see what’s going on. This must be the ga’s way of trying to build a scary atmosphere. Since I’ve basically hit all my rejection quotas, it’s triggering this scene. Honestly, it’s a pretty cheap trick to create tension when you think about it."
Darwin’s tongue never stopped moving, criticising the ga as he pleased.
"Let guess. When I check the caras, one of the guests I accepted will be standing there, right? They’re probably smiling or acting creepily or so shit like that."
Reaching for the monitor, he began to check the caras.
However—
"Hmm. This is surprising. I don’t see any people in the cara. Chat. What does this an? Does this an that we’ve chosen correctly? That’s pretty eas—"
Trrrrr!
All of a sudden, a sharp ringing echoed through the reception, startling Darwin, and judging by the sudden flood of ssages, the viewers as well.
A brief silence followed as Darwin stared at the phone resting beside the monitor.
It was an old, vintage model. The kind with a rotary dial and faded numbers etched around the circle.
Trrrrr! Trrrrr!
The ring reverberated throughout the place, drowning out the jazz music in the background.
"Chat... Should I pick this up?"
Darwin smirked while staring at the phone.
"You think it’s going to be a guest? I’m thinking it’s a guest."
He reached for the phone a mont later, answering in a polite tone.
"Hello, how may I help you?"
"....."
Silence.
The mont Darwin picked up the phone, he was t with silence.
"Hello?"
Darwin tried to speak again, but once again he received no response.
"Is this a bug? Hello? Anybody there...? Yeah, this is a bug. As expected. He rushed to release the ga. This thing doesn’t even wo—"
Darwin stopped, his words caught in his throat.
A voice followed right after.
"Room 307."
Click!
The line fell, leaving Darwin standing stupefied.
"Wha... What just happened?"
He looked at the chat, at a loss.
"Room 307? You guys hear that?"
The chat spamd like crazy.
—...I heard that. It said 307. That should be a floor on the third floor, right? Why don’t you check it?
—Third floor! Check the cara for the third floor!
—Quick! Quick!
"Huh, alright..."
Listening to the advice of the listeners, Darwin pressed onto the [3] on the monitor, and the screen flickered to the sa empty corridor as before. The corridor light was rather dim, with labels on each door indicating the room number.
"There’s nothing."
Darwin frowned, staring at the corridor in search of anything. He even tried to click on the room, but nothing happened.
The cara quality was also poor, and the screen flickered at tis.
Eventually, after trying for a couple more seconds, he shook his head.
"It looks like nothing is happening chat. I guess this is another way to add cheap tension to this crappy ga. Honestly, the amount of clichés that this ga uses is a little bit too much. I’ve already wasted a lot of ti getting the guests in. This feels more like a receptionist sim than a proper ga."
—You’re right. This ga is pretty shit so far. How about you switch?
—Play the Nightmare Forge Update.
—Switch ga!
—This is boring! Switch!
Darwin wasn’t the only one fed up with the ga. The comnts were similarly fed up, and the previously rising viewers started to drop, going from the peak of 152,302 to 149,083. While the drop wasn’t sharp, it was still evident, and the trend was downward.
Seeing the downward trend, Darwin smiled.
"Alright, it looks like everyone is fed up. I’m also fed up. I officially declare this ga to be tra—"
Creeeaaak!
A sudden creaking sound cut Darwin off, giving a certain chill as his head slowly turned towards the monitor. It was there that he caught sight of a middle-aged man walking out of room 307, his gaze and eyes empty.
"Oh? It looks like sothing is finally happening. Still, I think it’s a little too late. I think I’m going to quit the ga...!!!" Right as he finished speaking, the middle-aged man stopped, his gaze rising towards the lamp at the top. Taking out a rope from his pocket, he tossed it on top.
"Huh?"
—What?
—What is he doing?
—Is he trying to destroy the lamp? What’s this?
The cara quality wasn’t very good, so it wasn’t very clear. Darwin and so viewers squinted their eyes to get a better look at the situation, and as they did, the cara started to lag. The middle-aged man’s movent slowed, and just as the chat was starting to grow frustrated, the view returned.
".....!"
The mont it did, everyone was greeted by the sight of the middle-aged man dangling from the lamp above, his neck hanging over the rope.
—Holy shit!
—What the fuck!?
—What the hell is this?!
"Don’t worry, everyone. Calm down. There’s nothing really scary about this. It’s just a man who has hung himself. Although it looks a little realistic, it’s nothing crazy."
Although he said this, Darwin felt a sudden chill while staring at the scene. He couldn’t explain what it was, but staring at the dangling man in front of him, he felt a subtle tremor coming from his hand.
He pinched the fear away.
"It’s just a ga. This isn’t a real person. There’s no need to panic, heh—"
Trrrrr! Trrrrr!
A certain ring echoed across the surroundings once more, prompting the smile that had appeared on Darwin’s face to fade rather quickly. Turning his attention towards the phone once more, Darwin swallowed for a mont before reaching for it.
His mouth didn’t stop.
"Is it the sa guy from before? Is he going to stay silent like last ti before saying a room number? Haha... I don’t know if I want to wait for so long. I think—"
"Room 502."
Click!
The phone hung up shortly after, leaving Darwin at a complete loss.
One glance at the chat was all it took for Darwin to know what they expected. He reached for the monitor and switched the feed to the fifth floor. The sa empty corridor flickered onto the screen a mont later, and his eyes instinctively locked onto room 502.
The surroundings turned silent.
For a mont, even the chat started to slow down as all attention appeared to be focused on the room door.
Ten seconds.
Twenty seconds.
Thirty seconds.
Forty seconds.
Fifty seconds.
Ti ticked, and right as one minute passed, a creaking sound echoed.
Creaaaaaak!
It was just like before, the door opened, and a guest ca out.
"It’s that guy..."
Darwin recognized the man who walked out imdiately. In fact, he had also recognized the middle-aged man from before. Both of these guests were guests whom he had allowed to enter the hotel.
"Is he going to hang himself again?"
Darwin pursed his lips before finally collecting himself again and gathering so montum, "How much do you all bet he’s going to kill himself like the other guy? He might not hang himself, but he’ll do it in so different way. I’m almost certain that this is how it’ll play out."
Smirking to himself, Darwin watched as the caras started to lag again.
"See? The situation is repeating itself. Watch now. Once the caras stop lagging, the guy will hav—"
Darwin’s words caught in his throat as the caras flickered back to life. The scene that appeared wasn’t what he expected.
"H-ha."
Standing in the middle of the corridor, facing the cara, was the sa middle-aged man. His grin was stretched unnaturally wide, and his eyes were open far too wide, unblinking as they locked onto the lens.
No, straight at Darwin as he felt cold chills running down his body.
Before he knew it, his breathing had grown a little heavier as he turned his attention towards the chat.
"....."
It was quiet over there.
The number of new comnts wasn’t many.
There were still so making fun of the situation, but many were quiet.
And soon, the cara flickered.
The man disappeared from the corridor.
"Huh? He’s gone? Where is he...?"
Darwin imdiately used the caras to search the lower floors in search for the man, but as he did, he couldn’t find anything at all. Each hall was empty.
Ba... Thump! Ba... Thump!
For so reason, his heart started to beat rapidly, and as he frantically searched the caras for the man, the phone rang again.
Trrrrr! Trrrrr!
Darwin held his breath, feeling the situation starting to spiral out of control.
However, he still reached for the phone.
He had a feeling that he had to.
And soon—
The voice echoed again.
It’s next words, however, made Darwin’s entire body shudder.
"Reception."
Click!
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