CHAPTER 2

SLIDE.

Taking a deep breath, you followed right behind the woman into the elevator. After a few seconds, everyone else began to load into the elevator.

"You're Y/n L/n right? My older brother is such a big fan of yours! He watches you play pretty often! The schoolgirl talked to you.

You nodded. "It would be a pleasure to meet him if we are able to make it out of here alive."

The elevator dinged again once it reached the designated floor. The doors opened and you peeked inside. The ground was in a checkered pattern and the walls were ashy gray.

Everyone's phone chimed. "The time limit for this room is 2 minutes."

A timer appeared on everyone's phone in red characters. For a few seconds, you watched the timer tick down before reality struck you. You muttered a few words before turning to everyone and making your way out the elevator with the other people.

You realized that there wasn't much head clearance or space to walk around nor was there much space to move around in general. Other than the elevator entrance, there were two closed black doors. One had a poster of an anime girl on it that was ascending to the heavens with the word 'live' while the other was a picture of a skeleton with the word die written across the poster.

"What is this..?" You heard someone ask.

The older woman read the posters."Alive... or dead."

Everyone looked around in confusion, no one was quite sure how the game worked yet.

The shortest of all the guys pulled out his phone and began recording everything. "Is this really a game? I think... this is really getting exciting. I'm sure these must be doors to an art gallery."

You further examined the room as they continued talking and discussing.

"I want to go.. Home." The girl said, her voice quivering slightly.

The cameraman softly chuckled. "It'll be fine. You're with us. We'll play the game, get our prize, and go home. Okay?"

"You sound like such a creep when you say that." You couldn't help but tell him.

As you walked away from them, to see what the other two guys were up to, an announcement was made. "One minute remaining."

No one seemed phased by the announcement. Everyone just continued on with what they were doing.

"Arisu. Which door do you think it is?" You heard the yellow haired man ask one of his friends.

Arisu only chuckled in response.

The cameraman moved over to face the door that says 'die.' "Well, it can't be the skeleton, right?"

The messy haired male turned to the woman, seeking her help. "And if we choose the wrong door?"

"You'd probably die." You guessed. "It would only make sense."

"The answer is 'alive.' Open the door that says 'alive.'" She blurted out.

You couldn't help but turn to her like everyone else. 'How does she know?'

Thankfully, Arisu asked her that question before you had to.

The woman's eyes drifted to the floor, as if she was unsure. "Because obviously, it's the 'alive' door."

You were able to detect right away that she wasn't sure. The way that she struggled to maintain eye contact and was fidgeting the whole time gave it away, but before it was even mentioned, a scent entered the air.

"Do you smell that?"

"Oh, fuck!" The yellow haired male looked at the ground; there was dark gray smoke entering the ground where the corner of 4 squares intersect.

You looked down and covered your nose. "The smoke is hot, it's definitely coming from a fire or something."

"30 seconds remaining."

The woman screamed. "The answer is 'alive!' Hurry and open the door!"

"Open it yourself!" The tallest in the room screamed back.

"20 seconds remaining."

You stood still, trying to calm yourself. You made sure to watch everyone in the room, waiting for someone to fall for the trap that the woman had set. That was when the schoolgirl caved.

"I can't take it, I can't breathe!" She ran to the 'alive' door and opened it.

She was only able to take one step into the room before she was shot down by the laser.

'That's one down.' You thought before you made your way to the other door, leaving everyone else to stand in shock.

"The time limit for this room is 1 minute and 50 seconds."

You looked down at your phone and clenched your jaw. The time was decreasing and the thought of sacrificing people again and again wasn't something that you were really interested in doing.

"She really is dead." The yellow haired man gasped out.

"Look guys, we can mourn her death later. Right now, we need to be able to get out of here." You paced around the room.

"What is this?" Arisu moved towards the woman. "You were the one who killed that girl."

You stood by as she tried to defend herself. "But you guys survived because of me, didn't you?"

'That is true, but if we actually spent the time efficiently then we would've probably been able to find a way to make it through here without having to get her killed.'

"Huh!?"

"We are not going to argue. If we argue, then we're all dead!" You interrupted their argument.

"Okay, okay. Since the last one was 'die' the next one should be 'live." Arisu reasoned.

His yellow haired friend added his own thoughts. "Yeah, but maybe that's what they want us to think."

"Do you think that I could possibly use the things in my bag and throw them into the room?" Everyone stared at you, not sure what to say. "Okay I guess not."

You picked up your bag and looked at the doors. Their bickering continued and you couldn't help but feel like the 'alive' door was calling towards you. Even though you knew you weren't the luckiest, you felt that maybe this could be the one. If you were to be right, that would be the rest of your life's worth of luck spent.

Sighing, you decide to go ahead and approach the door. "Before I possibly die, could I like, get to know your names?"

"What are you doing?" Arisu asked you, clearly worried.

"Don't worry, I have a good feeling. What are your names?"

It didn't take long for them to introduce themselves, and once they did, an announcement came up that there was only 30 seconds left. You could feel everyone's eyes on you as you gripped onto the cold metal door handle. With a deep breath, you turned the door knob and walked through it.

'No laser, and I'm alive. I'll take it' You raised your eyebrows in shock as you turned to the other people still left in the room. "You guys might want to hurry it up a bit. I'm pretty sure the timer doesn't have enough time for you guys to be lounging around."

Once everyone made it through the door, the net announcement came, announcing that there was only 1 minute and 40 seconds for this room.

"The time is shortening." Arisu stated.

Chota looked at his phone, almost crying. "I can't do this anymore."

Karube glanced at everyone and before stopping and loving eyes with the woman. "We're taking turns. You're next, I'll choose the door."

He didn't give the woman even a second to protest before he held onto her wrist and dragged her to the 'alive door.' "Go ahead and open. Open!"

"I can't." It was obvious that she was going to break out crying, there was no point in even trying to convince her, it wouldn't benefit anyone.

You walked over to Arisu to check what he was up to, but all he was doing was staring down at his phone.

"Arisu, what do you think?" Karube turned to his friend.

Arisu only looked at you confused before turning to his yellow haired friend. "Think?"

"You always say there are solutions built into every game, right?"

"But this isn't a game."

"You can figure it out. You've always solved the puzzle games that I could never figure out. So do it!" Karube urged.

Arisu stayed in his sitting position on the ground. "Karube, this is not a game. This is all about luck."

'So he's a game addict I'm guessing.'

"Arisu, just think!" Karube was now crouched in front of Arisu, trying to get his friend to put his strong suit to use.

"One minute has passed."

"Was there a clue somewhere?" The yellow haired man added. "Think back. Together, we came into this building."

Shibuki started panicking. "Remember the time limit!"

"If you're going to complain, then why don't you go ahead and open one of the doors to test your luck then huh? Everyone is here trying to think, so the least you can do is shut up." You scoffed.

"And then, we went into the elevator-" Karube tried to continue but was interrupted. "I won't do this!"

Arisu moved and got up in a hurry as Karube tried to get him to stay. "Don't give up, Arisu! You can reboot this game!"

"It's impossible, I'm telling you!"

"Arisu." You called out his name, and he stopped before turning to you. "Breathe. Try to think of a loophole. Nothing is impossible. I have almost everything you could need in this bag, just calm down and think. I'll do whatever I can to help you think of a way out."

You watched as he gripped onto his hair. "Wait. Do you have paper on you Y/n?"

Setting down your bag, you opened one of the smaller pockets and took out a notepad along with a pen. You handed it to him.

"30 seconds remaining."

"BMW 523. It was a BMW 523." Everyone listened in and watched him as if he was performing magic. "It's 'die'."

"How do you know?" The woman asked, her eyes wide in disbelief.

"10 seconds remaining."

"We don't have time for this! Just hurry up, go!" You picked up your bag and threw it over your shoulder.

You trusted Arisu, even though he was a stranger, you would tell that he didn't have the guts to purposely harm someone. Running to the door, you put a hand on the handle and turned the knob. As soon as you pushed the door open, everyone else piled on top of you.

"The time limit for this room is 1 minute and 30 seconds."

"Where to next? Do you know which one this time?" Chota asked.

Before his question was answered, Arisu answered Shibuki's question first. "My father has a BMW 523. It's 4 meters, 94 centimeters. One of 'em was parked beside the building. The length of the building is equivalent to four of those cars. That means that the building is approximately 24 meters in length. And this room... If I measure with my feet, it would be 6 meters. According to the evacuation map, the elevator is at the corner of the building. The shape of the building is a square. This room is also square-shaped. Assuming that one side of the building is 20 meters, and the length of a single room is 6 meters, that's 3 rooms a side."

"One minute has passed."

He flipped to a blank page on the notepad you gave him and clicked the pen before starting to draw. "We are in a square building. Assuming that each room is square, this means that this floor has 9 rooms."

"It's just like a puzzle." You heard Chota say.

'It's basically a maze really, except the stakes are stupid high.'

Karube rushed in to add. "Arisu's a genius at puzzles."

"We started from this room. The high school girl died.. In this room. Thanks to Y/n, we moved forward. This means that the door to the right cannot be accessed. Then I opened the door to this room." The male hastily sketched as he explained everything.

"30 seconds remaining."

"By process of elimination, this room and the one beside it can't be accessed. I'm sure that-"

"10 seconds remaining."

"The answer is 'dead!' The 'alive' door is a trap!"

Everyone began to rush to the 'dead' door as the countdown started from 5. Barely everyone made it inside on time. The room that was left behind burst into flames that would for sure kill whoever was left in there.

"The time limit for this room is 1 minute and 20 seconds."

'Well isn't Arisu something, he would definitely be nice to have a buddy since he probably has a good amount of experience with everything game related.'

You turned to Arisu and shook your head. "You sure are impressive Arisu, maybe I'll treat you to something if we both survive."

"Yeah! If your reasoning is right, we're gonna survive!"

"You're awesome, Arisu!"

He picked up the notepad and pen and marked something again. "This game is not based on luck. We need to clear it together! According to my drawing, the next is also 'dead'"

"Let's do it!"

You were first to open the door and to walk in, and there was nothing; you were still alive.

"Nice!" Karube exclaimed before him and his friends started laughing.

"Yeah! We did it!"

"The time limit for this room is 1 minute and 10 seconds."

Arisu's yellow haired friend eagerly looked at Arisu and the notepad in his hand. "What's next? Huh? Huh?"

"'Alive.'" You followed everyone as they rushed to the door. "Lets go."

Once everyone made it through the door again, you all cheered. "Hell yeah!"

You looked around the room to hopefully find Arisu holding the door open for everyone, yet he only stared in confusion. "There's no door here."

"There's probably some extra space for a room or something. I'm sure that the creators of the game didn't intend for everyone to die in this game." You tried to come up with a reasoning.

"50 seconds remaining."

He took your thought into consideration as he looked down at his drawing. Once everyone else looked at it, they ran immediately to the 'dead' door.

He rushed to stop them before they could put a hand on the knob. "I might just have missed something."

"We're wasting time! We're all gonna die!" Shibuki yelled, panicking for her life.

Karube yelled back at her. "You haven't even opened a door!"

"It's not like you have either! What are you even talking about? Don't blame this on me!"

You took a racquet out of your bag and pointed it between the two to stop them from possibly getting into a fight, and they both backed up, glaring at each other instead.

"Wait..." Arisu started. "Chota, you took a video of the first room!"

Shibuki's face twisted in annoyance. "There's no time for that!"

"Well then maybe you should shut the fuck up and stop complaining so he can try to get us out of here!" You used your racquet to slightly push the lady beside you.

"30 seconds remaining."

Arisu grabbed onto the phone that Chota had taken out. "I could've missed something."

You stood behind Chota as he held the phone, replaying the video that he took not too long ago. He skipped several parts and fast-forwarded many parts of the video to where the highschool girl had died.

He zoomed into a paused frame of the video. "There's no door! There's no door in the room the girl entered!"

"What does that mean?" The older woman asked him.

"There's a door here-

"10 seconds remain."

-that means that Y/n is right! The room where the highschool girl died isn't next to us!"

"You mean what?"

Arisu pointed to the door. "There's another room on the other side!"

The timer started and you cursed. Holding tightly onto the straps of your tennis bag, you bursted through the door and everyone else followed. Chota was the last one to make it in. He was also the one to bring in some of the fire when it made contact with his shirt.

"The time limit for this room is 10 seconds."

'10 seconds? What the fuck? Who the hell can even calm themselves down in 10 seconds?'

As Karube helped Chota with his shirt on fire, you adjusted your bag and walked over to Arisu, Shibuki on the other hand: walked over to the 'alive' door and almost opened it.

"It's not 'alive!' It's 'dead!" Arisu called out to the woman across the small room. "Don't open it, it's a trap!

The countdown began again, and Arisu opened the door to prove to Shibuki that he was right. You followed him shortly after as he rushed everyone to hurry and exit the building before the room would burst into flames.

"You should've let her burn." You whispered into his ear as soon as you ran out the room.

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I just realized how obsessed I am with this man. He's just so perfect <3

This isn't proofread, but vote if you enjoyed it :)