Retrieval ERROR
“Alright, let’s see what this is all about.”
Luchel leaned back against the headboard, gripping the Mana Panel with both hands. Ayla slid closer and rested against his side.
The title screen read Retrieval ERROR. Below it, the synopsis unfurled in ominous letters: A retrieval team enters a sealed facility. The target item is missing—only the previous investigator’s records remain.
“Whew. The synopsis alone sets a pretty creepy mood.”
“Same price as Northern Defense… hope it’s worth it.”
“Noona, don’t tell me you don’t trust GameMakerCute?”
They bantered lightly, but the moment the start button appeared, tension crept into their voices.
“If anything feels off like last time, we quit right away, okay?”
“It’ll be fine. You’re right here with me.”
Luchel forced a smile and turned back to the panel. “Anyway, those two probably have no idea it’s him. I’d rather not blab and end up embarrassed.”
Ayla simply nodded. No point guessing. Let’s just play.
When Luchel pressed start, a sinister image filled the black screen, silencing them both.
“Your task is to retrieve the designated item from a long-sealed facility.”
“All personnel inside are presumed evacuated…”
“Recover the item and return immediately. That is all.”
A deep male voice crackled through the static. At the same time, a crude map marking the storage room appeared in the corner of the screen.
“Oh…?”
“Whoever that is, he’s a pretty good actor.”
“Short, but he explained everything nicely. I thought it’d be like Dodge the Fireball—die if you don’t know the rules.”
“Maybe…”
The screen brightened slowly, revealing the player character.
“The viewpoint… is over the shoulder?”
“This might get uncomfortable since we can’t see behind us.”
“Yeah. Be careful.”
Luchel moved the character around, revealing the entrance to the sealed zone. Vines crawled wildly over the weathered stone archway.
“Guess we go in here?”
Stepping through the half-open door, a dismal corridor stretched before them. Moss clung to neglected stone walls. Faint magical lamps flickered weakly. The floor was a mess of dust, stains, and scattered footprints.
“…Hoo.”
Luchel unconsciously straightened his posture. This is on par with places I’ve actually explored.
“Has GameMakerCute seen a lot of scenes like this?”
“Huh? Noona, what did you just say?”
“The details are really impressive.”
Luchel examined the corridor closely. Gray dust settled in every crevice, thick moss filled the gaps, and sharp scars ran along the walls as if something had clawed past.
With Ayla’s quiet gasp, the character crept forward. The footsteps echoed loudly in the silence, accompanied only by the faint whisper of distant wind.
Luchel tried to bluff through the tension. “What? It’s not so bad after all.”
“…Luchel. We haven’t even been playing for ten minutes.”
“…”
The in-game map made navigation simple. When they reached the storage room door—
“According to the title, there probably won’t be anything inside, right?”
“No way. If the item was just sitting there, the game would be over already.”
The character turned the handle. A long, grating creak filled the air.
“—Hup.”
“…”
The storage room was splattered with red stains that looked like blood. Everything was in chaos. The pedestal that should have held the target item stood empty—spotless, without even a single bloodstain. Only frantic scratch marks surrounded it.
“Hup…”
Ayla’s fingers dug into Luchel’s sleeve.
“N-Noona.”
“…Yeah.”
Luchel leaned closer without thinking, and Ayla was already clutching his arm tightly. Neither of them mentioned it.
“Isn’t this way too intense right from the start?”
“Haah… You’re telling me. If it’s like this already, how bad is it going to get later?”
“Want to stop?”
Instead of answering, Ayla gripped his arm even harder.
“Just a little more. Let’s see a bit more.”
They began searching the room. The pedestal, the floor, the shelves, the walls. Beside an empty shelf, someone had left a hurried message scrawled across the stone.
“Item moved to [garbled].”
“Time is [garbled].”
“Records room???? Can’t????/”
Luchel frowned at the blood-smeared, barely legible writing.
“The letters… are hard to make out.”
“Why bother writing it if they’re going to make it unreadable on purpose?”
“Luchel! Look down!”
At their feet lay the badge they had seen at the start of the game.
Senior Investigator’s Badge
Severely damaged.
Ayla zoomed in on the badge. The name was worn away, the ring broken, but a few numbers remained barely visible at the edge.
“Doesn’t seem like just an atmospheric prop.”
“You think…?”
Luchel glanced between the wall message and the badge, uncertain. When he zoomed the view back out, a faint light flickered at the end of the corridor beyond the open door.
“Does that mean we go there?”
“…No other choice. The goal is to retrieve the item.”
The moment the character stepped out of the storage room—
Tap.
A tiny sound came from somewhere. So small it might have been imagined.
“Kyaak!!”
“……”
Luchel’s shoulders jerked, and Ayla’s head snapped sideways.
“You scared me!”
“S-Sorry. But you heard that too, right?!”
“Haah. I heard it.”
Luchel quickly hit pause and scanned the room.
“…Not going to keep playing?”
“Just a second. Just a second.”
He pressed a hand to his chest. “I think my heart stopped for a moment.”
“Making such a fuss… How did you ever explore scary places before?”
Grumbling under Ayla’s teasing, Luchel resumed the game.
They moved cautiously into the next area. The corridor here was narrower, the lights dimmer. A slow, creaking sound echoed from far away, and Luchel grimaced.
“Ugh. I really hate stuff like that.”
“Weren’t you scared just now?”
“…That was just annoyance.”
“Pfft…”
Luchel was about to retort when he noticed a half-open door and steered the character toward it.
“Wait, what’s in here?”
“Luchel, this isn’t the time to—”
“Nothing’s happened yet, so we might as well check everywhere.”
“…I’m getting a bad feeling.”
The instant they crossed the threshold, the corridor lights flashed red. The artificial silence shattered.
Sssssss———
Thump… thump… thump…
Step, step, step, stepstepstep—
Kikikikik.
“Huh?”
Before Luchel could react, the screen went black.
“What the heeeell?!”
Ayla stared blankly at the panel, frozen by the sudden shift in atmosphere. Luchel hurled the Mana Panel away and shot to his feet. He twisted his ankle in his panic, but fear overpowered the pain. Only terror, confusion, and disbelief remained on his face.
“No no… I’m just gonna get some water real quick.”
“Luchel?”
“Seriously, just a second. My mouth’s completely dry.”
Luchel limped out of the room at top speed. After gulping down ice-cold water until his head hurt, he returned, breathing hard.
“Hoo, hoo, hoo——”
“You okay?”
“…Not really.”
The combined assault of his first-ever jump scare and the chilling BGM had left him shaken, yet he couldn’t bring himself to quit. Yeah! This is exactly what I wanted!
With half-crazed eyes, Luchel sat back down and picked up the panel. Thanks to auto-save, they quickly returned to the scene of his first death. This time, they carefully examined the area around the open door before proceeding.
“Oh. Is this the hint we got earlier?”
Ayla pointed to a line of text on the screen.
“[garbled] Records [garbled]”
“…What’s that?”
“Earlier in the storage room, the senior investigator’s message mentioned something about the records room.”
“…Ah.”
“So I told you not to rush in without thinking, remember?”
“…You’re not wrong.”
Luchel pouted. Who actually remembers every single detail while playing a game?!
From then on, the character moved at a snail’s pace. Under the dim light, they scrutinized the floor, walls, and ceiling as they advanced. Strange noises kept scraping at their nerves.
Tap.
“…Hup.”
Creaaak——
“Kyaa!”
“Aah! Noona, your scream scared me!”
“…Sorry.”
“Ugh, no, I was startled too.”
Kick. Kikik.
“…”
“…”
They froze again, clinging to each other with wide, terrified eyes as they stared at the panel. The screen kept repeating that eerie, unidentifiable laughter—or perhaps it was just the sound of the old facility itself.
“Wait a second.”
“Yeah. Good idea.”
At Ayla’s suggestion, Luchel paused the game. Only then did they let out a shaky breath.
“Hoo… So why did you want to stop?”
“Every time the lights flicker, I think I see faint letters on the wall.”
Luchel wasn’t sure how she could even spot that, but Ayla herself looked uncertain, so they resumed, peering at the wall through the unsettling sounds.
When Luchel turned the viewpoint, he saw it too—strange markings appearing and vanishing with the flickering lights.
“We arrived. But too late.”
“What exactly is that item?”
“Never ever ever ever ever ever find it never ever find it never ever find it never ever find it never ever find it never ever find it never ever find it never ever find it never ever find it never ever find it never ever find it never ever find it never ever find it never ever find it never ever find it never ever find it never ever find it never ever find it never ever find it”
“…”
“What the heck is this supposed to mean?”
“What are we not supposed to find?”
“Is the item’s identity important? Can’t we just grab it and finish?”
“I don’t know…”
They still lacked too many clues. The storage room hint pointed to the records room. The senior investigator’s badge remained a mystery. This latest message likely related to the target item.
Maybe we’ll obtain the target in the next incident? But then the playtime would be too short…
While Ayla quietly pondered, a realization struck her.
“Ah!”
This game was terrifying enough to make even someone who had explored countless places with Luchel tremble—yet beneath the fear lay a strange kindness.
This is a game.
Everything was connected.
“Luchel.”
“Yeah?”
“If you see the target item… don’t go near it.”
Excitedly, Ayla explained her theory. “—So I think something will happen the moment you pick it up or get too close.”
“Aha. Got it completely.”
“What did I just say?”
“…Run away if we see the target?”
After a brief lesson, Luchel resumed the game with a sulky expression. The corridor widened enough for four characters to walk side by side, and every door was firmly locked. The unidentified sounds grew more frequent and closer.
Scratch. Scratch-scratch.
Luchel immediately looked up, but saw only the aged ceiling.
“Did you hear that just now?”
“Shh.”
As he tried to move again, the light at the end of the corridor flickered off and on. In that brief darkness, a silhouette passed in the distance.
“You saw it this time, right?”
“…Yeah.”
Luchel kept his eyes glued to the screen while asking. If he looked away, the monster might reappear. The character stood frozen, unable to decide what to do. Luchel swallowed hard and forced the character forward.
The lights went out. Then on again.
This time, under the glow, they saw it clearly.
It was too long, too twisted to be called human. It looked like pain and screams given form…
“Ah.”
A strangled sound escaped Luchel’s lips.
“Luchel?”
Thud!
The Mana Panel slipped from his hands and hit the floor. A moment later, his body tilted toward the edge of the bed.
“Hey, hey! Snap out of it! Luchel!”
Crash—
Ayla grabbed his shoulders in a panic, but her own strength had already drained away. Luchel collapsed to the floor.
“Luchel…?”
There was no answer. His face deathly pale, Luchel had lost consciousness.