STGB Episode 569

June 13, 2025 • 12 min read • 1712 views

Closed Doors(3)

The private meeting with the village chief continued for a little while longer.

I kept pressing him—what was it about this floor that I didn’t know? What exactly did I need to do to activate the portal monument?

But the chief kept dodging my questions with vague answers.

“You’ll naturally find out when the time comes. And why worry about it now? You’ll eventually leave this place and return to the city anyway.”

“Why won’t you just give me a straight answer? Are you—”

“It’s not that I have ulterior motives. I’m merely considering what would truly benefit you.”

“What does that mean?”

“Who knows? Perhaps there’s something more to this floor that even I haven’t discovered. If I were to advise you now, you’d probably just follow my advice blindly and miss out on the opportunity to discover these things yourself.”

Is this one of those “a lion throws its cub off a cliff” situations?

That just makes it even harder to understand.

It’s not like we have some kind of deep parent-child relationship.

So I can’t just blindly trust that his intentions are to “help” me.

But still…

“Heh, don’t look at me like that.”

The chief smiled faintly and continued.

“Given how things have turned out, aren’t we in the same boat now? Surely you’ve considered how I might be useful to you in the future. Haven’t you?”

“Well… I won’t say I haven’t thought about it.”

“Same here. If my ally grows stronger, so too will my own capabilities.”

Tch, all pretty words.

“I’ll think it over a bit more before telling you. It’s not like I’m leaving right now, is it?”

He sounded like a parent trying to comfort a sulking child. I just nodded in reply. No matter how much I pressed, it didn’t seem like the situation would change.

Might as well move on to something more productive.

“So, what’s the plan now?”

It was a question I’d already asked several times today, but this time the meaning was different.

While my earlier questions had been about the chief and me personally, this one concerned the entire expedition.

“Are we staying on this island?”

What were our next steps for the expedition?

The chief gave a straightforward answer to that.

“We’ll probably stay here until the end of the day. Officially, we haven’t even found the dimensional stone yet. First, we need to locate it and then give the mages some time to study it.”

“Because that’s what Jerome Saint-Red would’ve done?”

“Exactly.”

“Alright, then what after that?”

“I haven’t decided yet. But I’ll have an answer by tomorrow.”

“…Understood.”

And with that, today’s conversation ended.

I returned to where my comrades were, and after killing some time, we received new orders through the vice-commander.

We were to sweep the village one more time. Each squad was to roam freely and report anything suspicious they found.

“It’s practically a rest order. Let’s find a good spot and relax.”

I led my temporary Squad 4 to an empty house to relax in.

But it seemed not everyone wanted to slack off.

“We’ll go scout the surroundings. It feels a bit off to just stay here like this…” Armind said

“Worried about what the commander might think?”

“More like, what if there’s really something hidden here that we might miss?”

Myul Armin led his scouts out to search, and Wyatt Hex, the leader of the Hex Clan, did the same.

“…If we find something, maybe it’ll count as a merit.”

While Armin’s group focused on “exploration,” the Hex Clan guys seemed more interested in rewards.

Either way, it wasn’t my concern.

Eventually, news would spread about the discovery of the cave with the Dimensional Stone, and I’d just stroll over to give a few reactions when the time came.

‘But now it’s just us again.’

With the Hex Clan and Armin’s scouts gone, only the members of Clan Anabada remained.

“Ack! D-Don’t look!”

As I was looking around the group, my eyes met Erwin’s—she yelped and covered her face.

Tch, she’s still like this.

As I sighed inwardly and watched her scurry into a corner, Versil walked up to me.

“Don’t worry. There’s a potion that speeds up hair growth. Once we’re back in the city, I’ll make it for you right away.”

“Oh, glad to hear that exists.”

“Wow… your tastes are really something.”

“…Huh?”

Why were we suddenly talking about preferences?

Versil averted her gaze as I gave her a puzzled look.

“I-I always thought short hair suited you really well…”

I thought so too.

“W-Well, I think Miss Tersia actually looks good with short hair too…”

I thought so too. But every time I look at her, she avoids eye contact and does that.

It would probably just sound like empty reassurance if I said anything now, so I didn’t.

‘But we’ll have to stay here a while longer.’

I was starting to worry. But there was no immediate solution, so I tried to empty my mind for now.

Just as I was about to settle in for a break—

“There you are. I’ve been looking all over.”

A man entered the house where we were taking a break.

“Kaislan? What brings you here?”

“I saw Armin’s team walking around alone, and when I asked them, they said you were resting here, so I stopped by.”

“Well, glad you came. You should take a break too instead of just working all the time.”

“That’s what I was thinking. Once this expedition is over, I’ll be done with this tiresome military life.”

It seems like his resentment toward the royal family has reached its limit.

Slacking off like this wasn’t something the old Kaislan would’ve ever considered.

Not that it was my business.

Anyway, the unexpected visitors didn’t stop with Kaislan.

“Um… Excuse me…”

Soon, someone else carefully entered the house.

“Sven Parab? What brings you here?”

“I ran into the Hex Clan on my way here… If it’s all right with you, could we talk in private?” Just the two of us?”

“Sure.”

At the goblin’s request, I stepped outside and had a brief conversation with him in a nearby abandoned house.

He seemed to have a lot of questions.

“What… happened?”

It was a vague question without a subject.

Well, from his perspective, nothing made sense.

Our group had at least gotten some explanation, but he hadn’t.

I summarized the situation briefly.

“It’s hard to explain in detail, but it ended well.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve safely avoided the vision from your prophecy.”

“Ah… that’s a relief, but…”

He clearly wanted to ask about the parts I’d glossed over, but he swallowed his curiosity.

This is why I like him—he has good social manners.

I patted his shoulder encouragingly.

“Sven Parav. Thinking about it, I never got to thank you before.”

“Huh?”

“I can’t explain the details, but if it weren’t for you, things could’ve gone very differently.”

“Oh…”

“Let’s continue to work well together. If you ever need help with something, let me know. I’ll help however I can.”

He looked dumbfounded for a moment, as if my gratitude had caught him off guard. Then, he brushed it off with a modest remark, saying it was no big deal, and left.

“You’re working hard. See you later.” I did remember him saying the archbishop gives him hell for being away too long.

When I returned, Aynar came rushing over.

“Bjorn!!”

That tone of voice… She’s got something to brag about.

I looked around the room and instantly noticed something odd.

For some reason…

“Raven?”

Raven was here.

And also—

“Forget Aruru! Look! Look at that!”

Erwin was wearing a dark, clunky iron helmet.

“…What’s that?”

I asked Raven instead of Aynar, and she let out a deep sigh before explaining.

“Tersia seemed down, so Pheneline came up with a plan.”

Yeah, it was obvious from her smug face.

“Haha! Genius, right? With this on, she can cover her embarrassing haircut! And hey, it protects her head too!”

A barbarian-style solution, just what you’d expect from Aynar.

“Anyway, since you’ve seen it, can you please talk her out of it?”

Raven whispered to me, hoping I’d say something.

Instead, I looked Erwin in the eyes.

“U-Uh… How do I look…?”

Surprisingly, she didn’t look away.

I had worried that her short hair might bother her during battle—but the helmet solved everything.

“…Not bad.”

Sure, the helmet looked ridiculous with her outfit, but who cares?

“Smart thinking, Aynar.”

“Heh, it wasn’t easy. But Erwin’s my friend!”

Problem solved.

***

“You’re really going to let Tersia walk around like that? She’ll become a laughingstock! Ms. Raines, can’t you say something—”

“Leave it. If she’s fine with it, who are we to argue?”

“Ms. Tersia! Are you really okay with this?!”

“Huh? Y-Yeah… wearing this does make me feel less embarrassed…”

Raven’s jaw dropped in disbelief, and that was the end of that topic.

From now on, Erwin would wear the iron helmet.

“Good grief… How did it come to this?”

What’s her problem?

“Anyway, Raven, why are you even here?”

 

“Oh, that? I was just wondering what you were up to, Mr. Jandel.”

“Huh?”

“We’ve got free search orders, right? I figured that if anyone would find something, it’d be you…”

Ah, so she came to freeload.

If anything was discovered, she could be the first to study it.

“Too bad, then. As you can see, we’re just relaxing.”

“…Yeah, didn’t expect that.”

As I chatted with Raven, Amelia cut in.

“By the way, Jandel, are you done talking?”

“Yeah, Sven Parav left.”

“I see… Then, got a minute for me too?”

Everyone wants a piece of me today.

“Just a sec. Raven, hang around or go back if you want.”

“You think I’m that idle? Whatever. I was just about to leave anyway.”

“Yeah? Take care.”

I gave her a half-hearted goodbye and walked outside with Amelia.

What did she want to talk about?

What did she want?

I soon found out the answer.

“I was going to ignore it, but seeing her sulking alone like that… I just couldn’t look away.”

Ah…

So this was about that.

“What happened between you and Karlstein yesterday?”

I didn’t have a reason not to tell her.

About Lee Baek-ho, the resurrection stone, the two-and-a-half-year gap, the growing cracks in our trust…

But, for some reason, the words wouldn’t come out.

So I just said:

“Nothing happened.”

A lie so obvious even a toddler wouldn’t buy it.

But Amelia simply nodded.

“I see.”

“…”

“If you ever feel like talking, I’ll be waiting.”

What am I, a kid?

I let out a small laugh and replied.

“Alright.”

Somehow, I did feel a little better.

***

The stay on the chief’s island ended up being longer than expected.

The reason was simple.

Originally, we planned to leave the day after discovering the dimensional monument.

But—

“The mana flow from the Dimensional Stone resembles the bidirectional transmission device described in recent papers!”

“This might mean we can forcibly activate the stone!”

The mages studying the stone had apparently found something unusual. They spouted incomprehensible jargon and begged to stay longer on the island.

And…

“You have ten days. Make it happen by then.”

The chief granted their request.

From his perspective, he had no choice.

Jerome Saint-Red would’ve made the same call.

Of course, there was also the question of what if.

If the mages succeeded in activating the stone, we could return to the city immediately.

‘Not like the chief cares much about the expedition anyway.’

Since his plan was to just “adapt” and return, staying in the village or exploring outside didn’t make much difference to him.

One day, two days, three…

Time passed endlessly.

The mages spent their days experimenting with the Dimensional Stone, while the rest either relaxed in the village or hunted monsters on the island.

And after many days had passed like this.

[The character’s soul resonates and is drawn to a specific world]

Before I knew it, the day of the community opening had arrived.

The only space where I could communicate with the outside world—and where I could finally meet that bastard Lee Baek-ho.

‘Finally, I can settle this.’

Having waited for this moment, I immediately powered on my computer and moved the mouse as soon as I woke up.

Click, click.

But what was this?

As soon as I opened the community, a pop-up window covering more than half the screen appeared.

[To all Ghost Busters players—an important announcement.]

“…A notice?”

I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this before.

Did something happen outside?

I quickly scrolled down to read the rest and froze in my tracks.

[Hello, this is the GM.]

The notice, starting with that generic phrase, went on to explain when this community had begun, what its purpose was, and how much effort the staff had put into maintaining it.

For anyone who had ever played a niche game, this kind of message could only mean one thing.

Because whenever posts like this appeared, the conclusion was always the same.

‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’

I had hoped it wasn’t true, but—

There was no need to read further.

[We deeply appreciate all the players who have enjoyed Ghost Busters up until now, and we sincerely apologize for delivering this news.]

[Due to personal circumstances among the staff, Ghost Busters’ service will be terminated after today.]

[Refunds for GP purchased with real money can be requested through the newly opened refund inquiry tab…]

The server was shutting down.

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