Coburn Elementary School

Dan Smith proceeds through a Coburn hallway.

Coburn Elementary School is a site in the video game killer7. It is the setting of Target05: Smile.

Overview

Coburn was once used by the Japanese government as a secret indoctrination site and training ground for fifth columnist assassins to be used against the United States. Emir Parkreiner attended the school as a young boy and became a sort of prodigy. When the United States government became suspicious of the reality behind the institution, it dispatched an investigator named Holbert to uncover its secrets. Holbert learned the truth, but met his end at the hands of Parkreiner before he was able to report the information he had gathered. This killing was part of Parkereiner's rampage on Coburn where he executed most, if not all students and faculty, including the principal, an avatar of Harman Smith, whose body Parkreiner then locked in his office safe. In doing so, Parkreiner broke Harman's back, effectively confining Harman's subsequent incarnation to a wheelchair. The school was abandoned after the massacre, although it seems to be located in a residential area.

Years later, Garcian Smith and the Smith Syndicate, having been disillusioned with the United States government and gone rogue, act on information gathered at the Union Hotel and travel to Coburn Elementary School to investigate Garcian's own origins. The long-abandoned building is atmospherically dark and desolate, the sense of dislocation heightened by the unusual time of day and lack of children, jarring to anyone who has only ever experienced a school during daytime hours. The group follows a path of cassette tapes that Holbert had left behind in a last gasp attempt to get the story out. As a result, with help from Travis Bell, Garcian slowly comes to uncover the truth.

Garcian ultimately confronts Benjamin Keane in the principal's office, where the man challenges him to a game of Russian Roulette: Should Keane win, Garcian agrees to murder the President, and should Garcian win, he will teach Garcian the secret to hitting on women with 100% success. Garcian wins the game and Keane commits suicide. Using the information he gathers about Emir Parkreiner, a former incarnation of himself, Garcian unlocks the office safe where he finds Harman's previous body and deposits his Vision Ring. Garcian's Third Eye briefly opens as a result of this.

Garcian's search finally leads him to the gymnasium, where he briefly speaks with the increasingly more powerful Kenjiro Matsuoka, who seems poised to literally take over the world. He is then forced to battle the former Chairman of the Education Ministry, Greg Nightmare, who drops the Golden Gun upon his defeat. Six Black Smiles then appear one by one, seemingly invincible, each killing off a member of the Smith Syndicate with a suicide attack until only Garcian remains. Garcian however picks up the Golden Gun and easily executes the final Black Smile before fleeing the scene.