Chapter 299: The Second Call [1]

Trr—! Trr!

The phone buzzed against the desk, the sound rattling far louder than it should have in the silence of my room.

I stared at it. The screen glowed faintly in the dark, illuminating the words:

[Unknown Caller]

My throat tightened.

I stopped breathing for a moment, staring at the phone as the hair on my arm slowly rose.

’It’s that thing again.’

This was the second time that the phone rang.

Second of three.

I was supposed to receive three calls. I recalled what had happened in the previous call and closed my eyes.

’...I previously guessed that the person on the other end of the phone was potentially trapped inside the cult that I’m supposed to find. Whether this is true or not, I don’t know. However, given how the system operates in a manner where most quests are linked, I believe this to be the case.’

Thinking about the cult, I knew that they were aware of my existence.

It was also for this reason that I always stayed at the Guild and hardly went out. This was the safest place for me to be in.

But I also knew that the deadline for the quest was fast approaching.

Trr—! Trr!

Hearing the phone ring again, I took a deep breath and reached for the drawer, taking out a pen and paper.

’I’ll take note of everything that is said.’

Trr—! Trr!

The phone rang for the third time.

I took another breath, trying my best to calm myself.

My hand hovered over the phone, my fingers trembling slightly.

But then—

Click.

I answered.

The line connected, and the temperature of the room dropped.

—.....

At first, there was nothing.

No sound, no breath, not even the faint static I had come to expect. Only silence. A silence so still it made the room feel emptier than before.

And then—

—...I moved.

The voice.

It was quieter than last time, almost in a whisper. However, on close attention, I could hear the strain in the voice.

—I...

My chest grew heavier.

I started to feel out of breath.

—I don’t know if that was smart. But I couldn’t stay there. I had to get out. I’m... I’m in a corridor now.

The surroundings started to change.

The walls of the office suddenly started to compress together.

—The walls... the same. Concrete. Rough... Cold. They press in close, narrower than before. The ground... is wet. I can hear droplets coming from above.

Drip! Drip—!

I looked up.

Droplets of water suddenly started to drip from above.

—I can’t see far. There are lights here, but they don’t stay steady.

Flick! Flick!

The lights above me started to morph.

They grew dimmer and started to flicker.

Alongside the flickering, my shadow started to flicker.

—I think... they’re fluorescent. But they don’t hum like they should. They flicker like... like they’re gasping.

Flick. Flick!

The table in front of me faded, and before I knew it, I was standing.

A long corridor stretched before me.

—....

The line grew quiet for a moment as my feet started to move on their own.

I felt a certain sense of weakness as I walked. Taking a single step forward made me feel drained.

Eventually, I stopped.

My head turned.

—I see a... marking carved into the wall.

A symbol appeared on the wall.

—They look... haaa... weird. I can’t describe it. The markings appear to be faded.

My hand reached onto the wall, feeling its coarse yet moist texture.

—They twist inward, but they’re jagged, uneven... broken in places, as if someone carved them in a... hurry.

My hand continued to trace over the markings.

Slowly, I started to feel something. An image appeared in my mind.

—They don’t look like patterns. I can’t tell. Something like...

Eyes.

—They look like eyes. Yes... eyes. Eyes that never close. That never look away.

I suddenly forgot how to breathe.

Looking around me, it suddenly felt as though several dozen eyes were staring down at me from all directions, plastered on every wall of the corridor.

The temperature dropped further.

—I...

My breathing grew rougher as my feet moved on their own.

—Leave... I need to leave before it’s too late. Haa...!

Ba... Thump! Ba... Thump!

A loud drumming echoed in my mind.

The walls around me started to enclose

—I think they... move. The... eyes. They’re moving!

The eyes all over the walls started to move.

I started to feel even weaker.

—I need to hurry. I need to leave this place... W-where is the exit? Where is the exit?

The voice grew more desperate.

I felt the sense of desperation vividly in my chest.

I, too, started to feel the same way.

—It smells...

Suddenly, my nose scrunched up.

A certain smell started to linger in the surroundings

—It smells like iron. Like rust...

No, not quite...

—Or maybe not rust. There’s another smell... present. Rotten? H-haa... W-where the hell am... I? I... want to go home.

The voice grew more desperate.

I felt that desperation, each step taking me deeper into the corridor. The eyes continued to follow me wherever I went.

And soon—

—....!?

I heard it.

The loud sound of a step.

In that moment, my entire body froze as a cold chill swept over my body.

—Haa... Haa... Haa...

The breathing in my ear grew heavier and heavier.

Before I knew it, my breathing started to sync with the one on the phone as I slowly turned my head.

And then—

Du. Du!

The phone came to a sudden end.

"Huh!?"

Almost as if everything had been my imagination, I found myself back in my own room, sitting on my chair, dazedly staring at the wall in front of me.

If not for the fact that my entire body was soaked in sweat, and the log present on the flip phone in front of me, I would’ve truly believed it was all fake.

But it wasn’t.

It was all vivid in my mind, and I didn’t spare a single second to think about the situation before taking the pen and paper and writing everything down.

From the smells to the visuals, including the weird eye symbols.

I noted everything down.

That was until I reached the last part.

I thought about the moment when I felt the figure behind me. Who was that? Did they get the person on the phone?

Even now, I felt a cold chill just thinking about it.

"No, that’s not what’s most important."

I looked at the notes in front of me, trying my best to calm my trembling hand. I compared them to the ones that I had made during the first call and summarized everything in my mind.

’If we go on the assumption that this is a clue to the location of the headquarters of the cult branch in Malovia island, then I can narrow down the scope quite a bit since it’s on this island. So, if we take that assumption into account, and look at the notes, I can determine that the location of the hideout is somewhere underground.’

"So, somewhere underground in this island..."

I leaned back on the chair while staring at the notes. While the scope of the search had been narrowed, this was still far too vague.

Thankfully, this wasn’t the only clue.

"Smell of rust and rotten. Wet too..."

I took in all the information in my mind and grabbed hold of a map.

"For it to be wet, maybe the hideout is within the sewage system?"

I thought for a moment before frowning and leaning back. This felt like a plausible conclusion. However, it was still too vague.

"...I also don’t know if I’ll smell such a strong scent of iron from the sewage system. This might be below some sort of iron factory? Or something of the sort?"

I began to search for several things on the browser.

Eventually, I received multiple results.

"There are about five metal factories on the island. All of them are located on the outskirts. In that sense, maybe I should go and check them out when I have time."

Still, this still felt like I was on a wild goose chase.

"The information is still vague. I’ll need to do more research before deciding."

I then thought about the eye symbol that was on the wall.

Pursing my lips, I grabbed the pen and started to scribble the eye on the paper. Tapping the paper several times, I dropped the pen and took out my phone.

"Let’s see if there’s something in the Guild Registry."

Since I was now a Squad Leader, I had a clearance grade of (I). This meant that I could access the database that most regular members couldn’t.

And as I began to search for the eye, something popped up eventually.

And...

It was almost identical.

"...I don’t feel so good about this."

I felt a sinking feeling while staring at the symbol.

One that wasn’t very good.