Chapter 695: Mysterious Senior [2]
"....."
For the briefest of moments, nobody spoke. All eyes were fixed in the direction of the lamp, the silence stretching throughout the entire area.
Just what in the...?
One lamp falling was dubious, but two?
It was pretty clear to Jordan and everyone else that something was up.
"Haa."
Breaking the silence, a long, weary sigh echoed through the room.
Every head turned toward its source. Zoey stood off to the side with a hand covering her face, staring at Seth with the look of someone who didn’t know what to do with the situation.
She looked exasperated.
’Is something happening?’
Jordan alternated his gaze between Seth and Zoey. He didn’t quite understand what was going on. Was he the one responsible for this? Is it possible that he...?
"First things first."
Zoey’s voice reached them once more.
"For everyone present, please step back. Get as far away from that jin—him as possible."
The confusion only grew as everyone began to voice their confusion in whispers. Despite this, they all followed along with her words and stepped back. As they did, Zoey addressed Seth directly.
"This isn’t going to work out. Just... take a break. In fact, don’t come back. You’re not needed. You can do your own thing."
"...Are you sure?"
Seth replied after a brief moment of silence. It was impossible for the recruits to tell what he was thinking. His expression remained completely blank, and to make matters worse, none of them dared meet his eyes.
Something about them felt unsettling.
"I’m sure. Just go."
Zoey dismissed him with a wave of her hand. Seth gave a small nod in response before turning around and making his way toward the elevators.
All eyes followed his retreating figure until he disappeared from sight, leaving a heavy silence hanging over the room. The recruits’ confusion only deepened as several of them turned toward Zoey, silently expecting an explanation.
Was their senior trying to kill them?
What in the world was going on?
Feeling the numerous gazes directed her way, Zoey sighed as she began to explain the situation to them.
"I know you’re all confused, so let me give you a quick explanation of what’s going on. Right now, Seth is suffering from the side effects of an anomalous item he used. I don’t know exactly what the item he used was, but the side effect essentially curses him with bad luck. For the past few days, everyone has been keeping their distance from him because of it. We thought things had gotten better today, but... apparently not. For now, we’ll continue with what we originally planned. You’ll just have to wait a little while."
Zoey’s words shed clarity on the situation.
Everyone present was well aware that some anomalous items came with severe side effects. It was common knowledge, and after Zoey’s explanation, they finally understood what had just happened.
’So that’s what was going on.’
Jordan nodded in understanding, his gaze drifting toward the fallen light fixture. A cleanup crew quickly arrived to clear away the shattered glass and twisted metal. Before long, everyone returned to what they had been doing.
Yet as Jordan continued to watch the wreckage, he couldn’t help but notice something.
"That..."
He pointed at the wire connected to the lamp.
"...Isn’t that too clean?"
Right...
If it had snapped, the cut shouldn’t have been so clean. It was almost as if it had been cut by someone.
Jordan blinked several times, his head turning back to the elevators.
Surely...?
*
Clank! Clank!
Chairs overturned.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Footsteps rushed away.
BANG!
People fell.
"Move! Move!"
"Hey! Don’t push! Kahg! He looked at me!"
"J-jinx!"
People screamed.
Chaos unfolded throughout the Guild wherever I walked. I took in the scene with a single glance, but my expression never changed. Without reacting, I calmly made my way toward my office.
It didn’t take long for me to reach my office. Pulling out my key, I unlocked the door and stepped inside, revealing a surprisingly spacious room. Since I hadn’t wanted anything extravagant, the office was modestly furnished. Large windows lined one side of the room, though the blinds were drawn, shutting out the light from outside.
In one corner of the room stood a large mirror, with a painting propped up beside it. On the opposite side sat a large wooden desk furnished with only the essentials.
A monitor, a PC, a fax machine, and a handful of other necessities.
Clank!
Closing the door behind me, I slowly swept my gaze across the room, scanning every nook and cranny. For the briefest of moments, the atmosphere grew tense as I stood there in silence, waiting.
Then—
"K-kek!"
A smile spread across my face as a dark figure materialized before me. Its shadowy features writhed and shifted until the space where its face should’ve been split into a smile, the background of the office visible from the gap formed. Though it couldn’t laugh, I could almost hear its laughter.
Raising my hand, I gave the Realmwalker a high-five.
Slap!
"Kekeke...! This side-effect is probably the best thing that has ever happened to me! Kuek!"
Not only did people actively stay away from me, but I could also use it as an excuse to skimp out on Guild duties that I was assigned to.
What more could a person who hated interacting with people ask for?
I couldn’t quite control when the bad luck would hit, but what I could control was making it seem like I had been hit by bad luck.
Of course, I still greeted the juniors, but keeping up my mysterious persona was exhausting. If I hadn’t spent the past few days brainwashing myself into acting mysterious, I probably would’ve burst out laughing at the sight of that lamp almost flattening them.
’Yes, that’s not good.’
I looked back at the Realmwalker. It was sprawled across my chair, hands resting on its stomach as it leaned back, slapping the chair while its ’twisted mouth’ opened and closed slightly.
"Keke."
Who did it get that from?
Turning to look at the mirror, I realized that I was dancing.
Back slightly arched. Lips puckered. Left hand forward, right hand back. Then the opposite. Right hand forward, left hand back.
I guess I was that happy, eh?
"Well, it can’t be—"
My words came to an abrupt halt as my eyes landed on the mirror. I felt my smile fade almost instantly.
Blinking several times, I hastily looked down at myself. There’s no way...?
Only after making absolutely sure I wasn’t actually twerking like the version of myself in the mirror did I slowly raise my head. Glowering at my reflection, I pointed an accusing finger at it.
"I told you not to do that!"
Recently, the mirror anomaly had started taking liberties with people’s reflections, making them pull strange expressions and strike ridiculous poses. The changes were usually subtle enough to leave people questioning whether they’d really seen them.
At the same time, she somehow knew exactly who to target, and, more importantly, how to avoid getting caught.
But that wasn’t the problem.
"I told you that I’m off-limits! You can copy others, but you can’t...! No, stop. Don’t strip."
I hurried over to the mirror, only for a head to suddenly pop out of the painting beside it, staring intently at the mirror as well. It wasn’t the childish Mirelle, but the adult version as she stared deeply at the mirror with eyes wide open, trying her best to imprint the scene into her very core.
"Get inside."
Reaching for her head, I shoved her back into the painting before grabbing the mirror’s cover and hurriedly throwing it over the glass, just as my reflection started pulling down its pants.
"Haa... Haa."
It felt as though I’d just run a marathon. Hands planted on my knees, I bent over and sucked in one breath after another.
"Why?"
Mirelle’s voice reached me a moment later. Raising my head, I saw her staring at me with a droopy look.
"Why’d you stop me? I was only looking. Do you hate me that much?"
"No, I don’t."
"You must really hate me, right?"
"I said I don’t."
"Ha, see? You hate me. I hate you too!"
Mirelle’s head slowly popped back out of the painting, and I found myself sucking in another deep breath. As the days passed, she’d somehow turned into a full-blown pessimist. The slightest word or gesture was enough to send her spiraling into another bout of depression.
And to make matters worse——
Squeak! Squeak!
"Ugh."
I covered my face, not even bothering to look in the direction of the angry clown. What was I even supposed to do here? She got depressed at anything said by anyone.
And...
"Wait, isn’t she in her teen form? Why do you even care?"
The clown liked children. It didn’t—
BANG!
My head snapped toward the desk as the Realmwalker slammed its hand against the table. The smile had vanished from its face. With an uncharacteristically serious expression, it pointed straight at me, joined by Mr. Jingles, who was doing the exact same thing.
’Ah, fuck.’
The Realmwalker was back to stirring shit.
Ever since I’d turned it into a meat shield, it had grown pettier by the day. It would help me when I asked, but it didn’t forget my actions. Now, it jumped at every opportunity to stir up trouble.
Just like it was doing now.
Without waiting for me to say a single word, it hopped onto the desk before launching itself straight at me.
"Hey! Hey!"
Our hands locked together, and I barely managed to keep myself from toppling over. But as if that wasn’t bad enough, Mr. Jingles charged in next, making my eyes widen in alarm.
"No, wait...!"
It grabbed me from behind.
"Stop it!"
I hurriedly tried to unsummon them all, but just as I was about to, a figure appeared in the corner of the room.
At the same time, our eyes interlocked as I hastily shook my head.
Don’t do it...!
A twisted smile greeted me back.
Skiiiii—
"Arghhhh!!"