—Cael Lucian
"Trust me~" Eve said as she gave a relaxed looking pose, but it was something I couldn't completely trust. Thus without hesitation I asked the system.
Will we survive?
Yet the system only replied with Silence
"There's a reason he has the nickname 'Old Man' you knowww" She said again trying to reassure us, but obviously such things wouldn't exactly be reassuring.
…
"Cael. What do we do? Do we wait or do we find them?" Jeremy said as Eve also looked at me
Well obviously asking will we survive did absolutely nothing. So twisting the words was obviously a must. The question is, how? and what? Unfortunately in such a situation, there wasn't exactly 'time' to think.
"Fuck, what should we do." Jeremy could only muttered, and honestly the Cafeteria's current state was not helping our sanity. You know what, let me describe it in full detail now, the entire place, it was covered in gray and white fog.
With the many writings that read, DON'T LOOK DON'T LOOK, tables overturned and broken, every sort of food uneaten, some half eaten burgers, hot dogs, mac and cheese yet no apparent human bodies were visible.
Yeah something like that.
Step Step Step
"We do what we can do. Survive or be destroyed, there is no other choice" I said in a small voice
life itself, it's cruel unpredictable. There was a quote, a quote I remembered. It went rambling on how good people die horrific deaths trying to spread goodness, while the wicked extend their life's committing atrocities.
—
"It's been 20 minutes., at least according to what I've counted" Jeremy said starting a conversation. We had been silent for a while, waiting to no avail. Both Amanda and Randy were still no where to be found.
"Do we wait for them here? or do we try to search for the other pages." Eve said, her eyes looking serious.
"How many of the pages are with us right now?"
"One. It's the one that goes DON'T LOOK OR IT TAKES YOU" Eve replied once more.
"Huh. That's weird." Jeremy suddenly muttered
"What's weird?"
"You and Amanda said once you start to collect more pages, Slenderman would start hunting you relentlessly, yet these past 20 minutes. There's been nothing."
!!!
"You're right…" I could only murmured in response. And then. It suddenly hit me. System, Which slenderman lore is this Remnant based on.
[An amalgam of all existing lore. From Victor surge, to the video series, to the game and the creepy pasta] It went before turning to [0] my mind seemed to click in place.
"We should assume this 'Slenderman' remnant is based on the many versions that floats in the internet."
Both Eve and Jeremy were silent, their eyes looking to me waiting for an explanation.
"In the different versions, Slenderman's powers are often depicted differently. In one of the versions just seeing him would inflict you with a disease and your eventual disappearance. We obviously did not get sick—"
"But we were separated." Jeremy cutted my words short.
"Yes, that's true, But that's not the point. the 8 page mechanic for example only exists in the game version of the Slenderman. And it's currently happening here is it not?"
Nod
"There is however something every version has in common."
"And that's?" Eve asked almost instantaneously.
"He feeds on fear. The more you acknowledge him, the more you think of him the more he targets you."
"That means his powers indirectly scale with believes. The more you fear him the stronger he gets."
"What you're trying to say is if we can somehow 'not' fear him he'll go away?"
Nod.
"That sounds like a great idea~! but—" Eve said but it was quickly cut off.
"Scheisse. That's impossible. Human's by nature always fear. As social creatures all it takes is one 'trigger' one person who starts feeling fear—Before the entire group begins to fear it irrationally without any prove or logic."
"'Most' would be the more accurate word, not 'Entire'" It was Eve who answered that last part, somewhat unexpected one could say.
"Well that still doesn't mean we can do anything can we?"
"Fuck—You're right."
Alas There was still nothing we can do.
—Hyun Ji's POV
The name's Hyun Ji. Korean-American. A Junior Researcher in her mid twenties working at The Silentium. It had been my 4th year working here. Work as a researcher isn't actually that difficult. On orientation we were told on the countless protocols that exists inside the Silentium.
"These are PSI-Tablets" said the old looking man as a rectangular shaped tablet was shown in the presentation. "They're your best friend. They hold most information regarding Remnants and can even protect you from most cognitohazards"
Raise
"What's CognitoHazard" the voice of a young women could also be heard, and the reply she received was simple yet precise.
"Information that would normally harm you just by knowing them can be safely viewed using these PSI-Tablets. Any more questions?"
"None."
"Good. Let's continue." Honestly when you enter a new job like this, you'd get excited right? Ohhh I have such high tech equipment, Ohhh I'm gonna become a cool researcher
"Hyun, what you doing." It was one of my colleague
"Nothing much, just doom scrolling"
"Pffft—Remember when you first came to our team, eyes all sparkling thinking you're gonna do some cool ass research?"
"Good old times" I said with a chuckle, I was naive. Dumb, there were no cool research. We were only told to conduct 'research' said 'research' being just testing some Remnants. Well there were some cool ones though.
like that of a Giant Beaver that only speaks 'Bibeong.' Some weeping angel type remnant, some sort of cool watch that could transform you, something called the Gill Man or something. Often times we were just told change the anaesthesia. Test resilience, record data.
Some Remnants however, they obviously excrete waste thus requiring cleaning. And that's where the Cleaners come in. And like their name. They clean. well duh. Obviously. They were uh.. quite low in the hierarchy, just one below the R-classes.
Fwooosh.
"Ugh. The leader's here—back to work now."
"Yeah yeah" I said while waving my hand
"Alright, today's research will be on the Gillman, we'll study how it adapts to specific anaesthetics which almost costed the death of a few cleaners. Remember to use your tablets to view information as needed."
"yes lead Researcher…"
"Remember to read the dangerous rule based remnants log reports, in the slight possibility an incident could happen, you'll at the very least be prepared."
"Pffft—As if anything could happen to us researchers. Right Hyun?"
—
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MONSTER RUNNN"
BZZZZZT. TZZTSTSYAUDLMCA:D Step Step Step Step
Pant Pant
FUCK SHIBAL FUCK SHIBAL WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?!?!? Those words involuntarily came up in my mind. Just a few minutes ago we were just eating at the cafeteria. Then the lights went off. And everything just went wrong.
We were just talking and the next second? Their gone, I was all alone. the last things I heard from them shouting 'RUN' or 'SAVE ME' or 'I DON'T WANT TO DIE'
Tap Tap
"C'mon work damn it work…" My tablet had shut itself off out of no where, I was powerless, they claimed the tablets didn't even need battery and yet it suddenly turned off? Bunch of ShibalSekia Bullshit.
Step Step Step
"Shibal…" As a researcher you're suppose to be smart you know? you're supposed to know your things, yet here I am. Tabletless, with no information. I'm absolutely cooked ain't I.
—
The fog had gotten thicker. Or maybe I'd gotten slower. It was hard to tell the difference anymore.
Shibal. Shibal. Shibal.
I was muttering it under my breath like a prayer. Not that I believed in prayer. But when your tablet's dead and your colleagues are gone and the walls are covered in handwriting that definitely wasn't there this morning, you do what you do to stay sane.
The cafeteria. That's where I'd been when everything went wrong. Eating a stale bagel. Listening to my colleague complain about the lead researcher. Then the lights went out and the screaming started and I ran. I didn't even look back. Didn't check if anyone was behind me. Just ran.
Some researcher I am.
Step Step Step
The corridor ahead looked familiar. Or maybe it didn't. Everything looked familiar now—the same gray fog, the same flickering lights, the same doors that were either locked or led somewhere wrong.
I think I passed same water fountain three times. I was sure of it. But the water fountain had moved.
No. That's crazy. Water fountains don't move.
Step.
I stopped. Listened. The fog muffled everything—sound didn't travel right in it, didn't echo the way it should. But I could hear something. Footsteps? No. Different. Softer. Like something being dragged.
Don't look. Whatever you do, don't look.
This was obviously a rule-based Remnant. Which would've been a breeze. If I had been more diligent in reading the rules. Which I did not. My body it was scared, it was telling me run, telling me to not look.
I looked.
At the far end of the corridor, where the fog thinned just enough to see—a shape. Tall. Dark. Featureless where a face should have been. Standing perfectly still, as if it had been there the whole time and I'd only just noticed.
My legs stopped working.
My eyes seemingly frozen, staring at the thing I wasn't supposed to stare at, and the longer I stared the more I could feel something pressing at the edges of my mind. Static. Like TV snow, but inside my skull.
Move. Move. MOVE.
My body wouldn't listen. The shape didn't move either. It just stood there, moving towards me slowly.
"DOWN."
A hand grabbed my collar and yanked. Hard. I hit the floor as something swung through the space where my head had been—something that wasn't the shape, something else, something that had been behind me the whole time without me noticing.
"Tsk. Researchers. Always freezing at the wrong moment." The voice of an Old man, grumpy, annoyed, with a hunched back. White hair. Wearing a cleaner's uniform. Beside him, a girl built like a gymnast who'd decided to become a tank
No literally.
tall, muscular, green hair, holding what looked like a broken pipe in both hands. Did she rip that thing off? No, that wasn't the main focus.
"You're—" I tried to say something
"No time." The old man pulled me to my feet with strength that didn't match his frame. "Can you run?"
"I—"
"Can you run?"
"I can't feel my legs."
"Tsk." He pointed. "The big girl will carry you."
"But the thing—"
"It's not after you right now." He said it so calmly, so matter-of-factly like he knew, like he was discussing the weather. The tall girl—Amanda, whose name I'd learn later—grabbed my arm. Her grip was gentler than it looked like it would be. "C-come on. We have to go. He'll catch up."
She pulled me forward. I ran. Behind us, the old man stood still for a moment longer, facing the shape in the fog. "Still not afraid of you," the Old Mansaid. Quiet. Almost conversational. And then he turned his back on it and stepped towards the corridor..
—
"Old Man Randy," out of no where she muttered. "H-he's the one who saved you. He always comes back."
"Always?"
"Always."
Behind us, footsteps. Steady. Unhurried. The old man catching up, or something else keeping pace. I didn't look back to find out.
Don't look. I'd learned that rule now. Too late, maybe. But I'd learned it.
The specific quote actually came from the bible, here is the specific words, Ecclesiastes 7:15:"I have seen everything during my lifetime of futility; there is a righteous person who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked person who prolongs his life in his wickedness"