The screens flickered once. Then the words appeared, hanging in the air like they'd always been there.
SINCE EVERYONE IS DONE, THE FIRST GAME WOULD BEGIN. IT'S A GAME OF TRUTH AND DARE. WELL, SINCE Y'ALL KNOW HOW TO PLAY THAT GAME, I'LL SKIP TO THE RULES.
A pause. Long enough for hearts to race, for hands to clench, for 540 people to hold their breath.
KINK!
The word pulsed on the screen like a heartbeat. Like a joke. Like nothing funny at all.
RULES: STUDENTS ARE TO SIT ACCORDING TO THEIR DEPARTMENT. 5 PLAYERS WOULD BE SELECTED FOR EACH ROUND. FAILURE TO FINISH THE QUEST RESULTS IN DEATH. HOWEVER, YOU MAY RECEIVE REWARDS AFTER YOU SURVIVE THIS GAME.
Luis read the words twice. Three times. His mouth felt dry.
Death. They kept saying death.
WELP! CAN'T WASTE TIME ON SLOW READERS. THE GAME STARTS NOW.
Around him, students scrambled. Pushing. Shoving. Trying to find their department tables like it mattered, like sitting in the right place would save them, like any of this made sense.
Luis moved with the current. Found himself at a table marked BUSINESS AND FINANCING. Sat down next to colleagues who looked just as lost as he felt.
His lens flickered. New text appeared.
// TRUTH: DON'T BE SHY, SHARE YOUR MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT...//
KINK!
// PLAYERS SELECTED: MIC, LUIS, TSUKASA, SELINA AND DORIS.//
Luis's stomach dropped.
"Huh?" The sound escaped before he could stop it. "Why me? Is this for real?"
He looked at the others. Mic—loud guy from accounting, always laughing too hard at his own jokes. Tsukasa—quiet, pale, hands trembling under the table. Selina and Doris—two girls from marketing, both already crying.
"Aaah..." Luis let his head fall back. Stared at the ceiling. "CURSE YOU SYSTEM!!!"
His lens pinged.
LUIS, BECAUSE YOU CAUSED THIS, YOU HAVE OBTAINED THE SKILL ×2 TO ALL.
He blinked. Read it again. "×2 TO ALL? What the hell is that?" He thought to himself.
DOUBLES ANYTHING. The system replied
"Ooo..." He almost smiled. Almost. "Rewards too? Wait—"
His blood went cold. "Even game events?"
The screen pulsed. Cheerful. Almost playful. BLEEH!
"Aw, come on." Luis dropped his head into his hands. "I hate you. I hate you so much."
Before he could spiral further, Mic was on his feet.
"EVERYONE!!!"
The word boomed across the hall. Heads turned. Conversations died. Five hundred forty-three people stared at one guy standing at a business table, face red, eyes wild.
Mic took a breath. Then shouted it out like a confession, like a punishment, like he just wanted it over with.
"I pooped in a rubber bag and kept it in my pocket! And somehow my crush saw me doing it!"
He collapsed back into his chair, face buried in his arms. The silence stretched for one beat. Two.
Then the hall erupted.
"Eww, that's so nasty—"
"Wait, who's his crush—"
"When did this even happen—"
Luis stared at Mic. At the way his shoulders shook. At the way no one touched him, no one comforted him, everyone just talked about him like he wasn't there.
"Geez." Luis looked away. "That's gross." But something in his chest hurt. Just a little.
Tsukasa stood next. His voice came out quiet at first, then steadier. Like he was convincing himself.
"It's really hard to say this but... I've got no choice. I ain't choosing death over embarrassment."
He swallowed. Looked at the table. Looked up.
"Guys... I... erh..." His face went red. "I placed my hand in my butt and sniffed it. Not knowing the principal was behind me."
Donald from engineering choked. "Before the principal?!"
Aera—sitting two tables over, beautiful, untouchable—covered her mouth. "He did that in front of my dad? How shameful "
Luis's heart stopped.
Aera—The principal's daughter. The girl he'd been too scared to talk to for three years. The one who smiled at everyone but never at him.
And she was right there. Watching. Listening.
Tsukasa sat down to a wave of whispers.
"For real, he has no manners—"
"So shameful, look at him—"
Luis's turn. He stood on legs that didn't feel like his own. Looked at the screen. At the timer counting down. At Aera's face, curious now, watching him.
"Do I really have to do this before her?" The thought circled like a vulture.
This makes no sense. But I have to survive. He opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.
"Ee... erm..." The words came out wrong. He forced them straight.
"I went to the movies. And the film actually hit me so much that I shouted. Everyone turned. Fixed their gaze on me. Even the owner of the cinema looked disappointed."
Silence.
Then Aera giggled.
The sound was small. Bright. It cut through the tension like light through smoke. And then everyone was laughing—not at him, not cruel, just... laughing. Because it was funny. Because it was human. Because they needed something to laugh at so badly they would have laughed at anything.
"Damn, that's hilarious—"
"Geez, I wish I was there—"
Luis sat down. His face burned. But underneath the heat, something else stirred.
"She laughed at me. Not in a bad way. Not like Tsukasa's shame. Just... laughed. Curse this damn screen thing. You're gonna pay—"
He glanced at the floating text. At the cheerful cursor blinking like it was waiting for him.
"Erh... never mind. I can't do shi to it."
Two left.
Selina stood first. Opened her mouth. Nothing came out. She looked at the timer—thirty seconds left—and her face went gray.
Doris grabbed her hand. Stood with her. Shook her head.
They couldn't do it. Whatever embarrassment waited in their pasts, it was safer behind their teeth than on their tongues.
TIME UP! The words flashed red.
// DORIS AND SELINA FAILED TO COMPLETE QUEST. PUNISHMENT WOULD BE ISSUED.//
Luis leaned forward. Everyone at the table leaned forward. Five hundred and forty people in the hall held their breath.
What would it look like?
What did punishment mean?
Selina's head exploded first. Then Doris's.
Blood sprayed across the table. Across Mic's white shirt. Across Tsukasa's frozen face. Across Luis's open mouth.
For one long moment, no one moved.
Then the screaming started.
"Eww—I'm soaked with blood—"
"Oh come on—I hate blood—"
"Damn... I'm s...so scared—"
Luis sat perfectly still. Blood dripped from his chin. Warm. Metallic. Real.
"Whoa..." The word came out quiet. Reverent. Terrified. "That's freaking terrifying."
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Stared at the red smeared across his skin.
I now see what this system thing is capable of.
The bodies hadn't even fallen yet. They were still slumping, still sliding, still becoming things that used to be people.
I need to be careful.
PLAYERS LEFT: 536
Luis looked at the number. Did the math without meaning to. "Fifty-six dead outside. Eight dead here. Sixty-four gone in the first hour. The students in this school have reduced by such a huge number. I'm guessing a lot are dying on the other tables."
He should feel something. He knew he should feel something. But all he felt was cold.
"I'm actually feel guilty for this..."
He looked at Aera. She was crying. Wiping blood from her cheek. Beautiful even like this, even terrified, even covered in strangers' remains.
But...
YOUR NEXT ROUND WOULD COMMENCE IN AN HOUR.
The timer started. Sixty minutes. A lifetime. No one moved. No one spoke.
Somewhere across the hall, someone was sobbing. The sound carried in the silence, thin and broken. Others joined in. Soon the hall was full of crying—five hundred thirty-five people weeping for friends, for strangers, for themselves.
Luis sat in his chair. Blood drying on his skin. Guilt sitting heavy in his chest. He didn't cry. He just stared at the timer and waited for whatever came next.
Around him, the bodies of Selina and Doris lay where they fell. No one moved them. No one could.
Outside, through the sealed doors, the morning sun kept shining like nothing had changed. But inside the hall, everything had. And no one knew that the worst was still waiting, patient and smiling, for its turn.
Sixty minutes, Tick. Tick. Tick.