Chapter (34):under the table part 2
In Emma's Room
Emma was pacing around her room, thinking about what had happened.
"It was a lie, everything was a trick, but for what purpose?"
"Damn, is there really a secret organization?! I thought it was just speculation, a joke for Smiley, but now... all of this makes sense now, and they managed to cover it all up completely."
"That means the ones who killed those three were monsters from that forest, and Smiley... that doesn't matter right now."
"But there's one part I can't understand no matter how much I think about it..."
"They should've shut down the school, or sent the police or their men to isolate the forest, but instead, they did the exact opposite, they decided to return everything to normal."
"As if... they didn't want any problems with going to and from school. Good thing tomorrow's a holiday so I can talk to Smiley... wait a second."
"If I think about it another way... they did all of this just for me? But I haven't done anything to catch their attention... FUcK!"
Emma quickly opened her computer and logged into the site directly. Once inside, she saw there was another account, which felt strange because no one else knew about the site. But she decided to log out and back into her account again. Once in, she immediately saw a notification in the middle of the webpage.
"Let me see how..."
She saw that her post about the bodies of Jack and Sarah had only gotten ten comments, and while she was wondering why, she looked at the post she made about the strange code—and saw that it had over 1000 comments. She was shocked by what she saw.
"What the hell?! 1000 comments!?! How did this happen?! Let me—"
[Darkman820: What is this?]
[Sesu22: This is a strange code, I've never seen one like it. What is it?]
[Omaa3: Is it like Cicada?]
[Hija00: Hell, maybe it's true, maybe it's a test from them?]
[Kaiser999: Definitely just another prank. It's just a dumb code.]
[Victor2king: No, it's an old code, but the way it's made is genius. I'm a former cybersecurity engineer, and as an expert, I say whoever made this didn't want anyone to know what's inside.]
[Alpha3king: This code really revived the site. There were only about fifty people online, but now there are over ten thousand! That's insane.]
[Rio23: Looks like being X became famous overnight. I know people who were here from the start, and their posts didn't even hit a hundred! This code turned the world upside down.]
Emma saw many comments—some good, some bad—but what really caught her attention was one comment, maybe because it was written in gold, something she had never seen before.
[Edward: ...Interesting...]
[Edward: Let's talk when you're available, being X.]
[Notification: Edward, one of the V.I.Ps, has added you as a friend.]
"V.I.P? Like rich people? But there's nothing like that here on this site. What are its features?"
Emma clicked on "V.I.P" and immediately a notification popped up.
[Notification: You are not authorized to view information about V.I.P.]
"What? Then what about Edward's profile page?"
When Emma clicked the button:
[Notification: You are not authorized to view this person's identity.]
"What?! He added me as a friend, but I can't access anything about him?! Who the hell is this Edward guy!"
[Edward: I have a question.]
"Huh? Speak of the devil."
[Edward: Where did you find such an amazing code?]
"Hmm... let me think... I found it in the... No, I won't tell him anything yet. This guy is way too suspicious. I won't talk to him until I know more about him."
[Edward: I know you're online right now, being X. And if you're wondering how—well, that's one of the perks of being a V.I.P.]
"Ah, shit... okay. I guess there's no point in avoiding him anymore."
[Being X: I found it in a car factory.]
[Edward: A car factory?]
[Edward: Where is this factory?]
"It's in... wait... I shouldn't tell him the truth... but what if he could offer me something in return?"
[Being X: I'll tell you, but on one condition.]
[Edward: What do you want?]
[Being X: I've never heard of V.I.P before, and I can't access any information about it. Same goes for you.]
[Being X: Tell me what the perks of being a V.I.P in Anonomyth are.]
[Being X: And in return, I'll give you the exact location.]
[Being X: Consider it a deal.]
[Edward: Now you're talking.]
[Edward: Alright, I'll tell you.]
[Edward: Being one of the V.I.Ps here allows you to see posts and comments from other V.I.P members.]
[Edward: You can also see who's online and who's not.]
[Edward: And normal users can't see or even notice V.I.Ps unless they allow it.]
[Being X: What are the conditions to become a V.I.P?]
[Edward: Unfortunately, I can't tell you. The conditions are secret to become one of us.]
[Edward: Now that I've held up my end of the deal, it's your turn, being X.]
"Alright, no harm in telling part of the truth."
[Being X: okay]
[Being X: I found it in the Forest of Faces.]
[Edward: Forest of Faces? Of course it would be there. Obviously.]
[Being X: Not sure if that's praise or sarcasm.]
[Edward: Both. Because I know the factory you reached. And let me tell you something—]
[Edward: I don't know how or why you're still alive. There was nothing like that when my friends got there.]
"His friends? ...!... Wait, does that mean he knows what's going on in the forest?! His friends must be the members of the organization hiding everything!"
"Bullseye! I need to try and get whatever information I can from him!"
[Being X: Did you try looking behind the tool wall?]
[Edward: Tool wall?]
[Being X: Yeah, I found it inside a safe.]
[Edward: A safe?]
[Edward: A safe?!!?]
[Being X: Yes, a safe. No need to repeat twice, it's just text as you know.]
[Edward: Wait! Can you tell me what else was inside the safe?]
[Being X: Why do you want to know about that?]
"Come on, take the bait!"
[Edward: Just tell me.]
[Being X: I've fulfilled my part of the deal and told you the place as promised. Unless you give me some useful info about the forest]
[Edward: What do you want?]
"Yes! Now for the boldest move yet. It's now or never."
[Being X: let's make a deal.]
[Edward: You want money?]
[Being X: No, I don't want money.]
[Edward: Then what you want?]
[Being X: Information.]
[Being X: I want to trade information. For every important detail I give you, you give me something equally important.]
[Edward: You really think I know some things in this forest]
[Being X: Yes. After all, you and your friends know some things about the forest.]
[Edward: Why do you think me and my friends have searched about the forest]
[Being X: Isn't the crashed plane in the forest one that belonged to your friends?]
[Edward: !!!!!]
[Being X: Or the cover-up about the deaths of those school students—wasn't that the work of your friends too?]
[Edward: Just... how much do you know exactly?]
[Being X: Just a little, just a lot.]
[Edward: Alright, I agree... to the deal...]
[Being X: That's good.]
[Edward: Can you at least tell me your name, man?]
[Being X: Consider that my little business secret.]
[Edward: As you wish.]
[Being X: And as a sign of good faith, I'll send you something I found in that safe you're so curious about.]
"Alright, I'll send him something else, but what is there? There's only the shoe, the money, and...Ah! Right, there's this!"
Emma opened her bag, carefully took out a notebook containing all the death records from that factory, and sent it.
[Being X: Image]
".....I wonder if this will be useful to him?"
[Edward: Thank you]
[Edward: What you sent is something I was looking for]
"Oh, so it was useful. Good thing I didn't throw it away."
[Edward: So, what information do you want to know?]
[Being X: Let's save that for next time]
[Edward: Why?]
[Being X: What you provided was proof that I have something to exchange with you]
[Being X: Starting tomorrow, our trade begins. We must gather our cards before we play poker.]
[Edward: I see]
[Being X: Let's talk tomorrow]
[Edward: Alright, it was a pleasure doing business with you, Being X]
"Phew! That was close. Da*n! It felt like I got involved with a secret organization. Wait, isn't that exactly what I did? Haha."
"Hah, what a day. First dealing with monsters, then dealing with organizations. My record will be full of things...."
"By the way, what did those people post? Let me see."
"Huh? There's a deleted post? Maybe they posted something negative. Not my business.... And what's this 'Big Foot'? Let me check."
.....
In an unknown place, a shadowy figure sat in the darkness. Nothing could be discerned about them—they were like a shadow in a dark room, with the only light coming from their computer.
"Interesting."
"It seems this Being X has information even those people don't provide me."
"But if the site didn't trace back to that person, I would've hacked it and gone straight to them."
"I could hack it, but it would cost more than my life. He only made me a V.I.P. because I worked for him for three years before he retired from them."
"I must not anger this person, no matter what."
"Now, all I have to do is wait and gather the information they want to know."
"I only have a little information about that forest, but it's better than those fools."
"But why specifically the Faces Forest?"
"Well, that's not my problem. If it weren't for the cipher, I would've spent decades before increasing my usefulness to them—and they're the ones who forgot about my existence..."
"Just like poker. Ironic, isn't it?"
"Being X!."
Without Emma knowing, she had become the focus of the most dangerous people in the world.