Chapter 10: 22:32 – A Countdown to First Death [01:28am]

Seungho POV

[WELL WELL,] came a very unpleasant crackle. [IT SEEMS YOU BOYS OUTDID MY EXPECTATIONS.]

“Oh yeah?” I spun round to face the red hologram. “And what did you expect?”

Bemused expression versus raised eyebrow.

[WHY THAT YOU’D ALL DIE ON THE FIRST LEVEL ALONE.]

Bastard. He didn’t have to be so forthright. Ever heard of a little lie and pretense?

“Hey fancy pants!” G.O snapped, drawing his attention. “I have some questions for you.”

[SPEAK]

“Are you seriously trying to kill us? Since when was that part of the plan?”

The ringmaster chuckled, a deep-throated noise that sounded like he was being choked. I wrinkled my nose with disgust. [OF COURSE. WAS THAT NOT OBVIOUS?]

“Who do you think you are?!” G.O got to his feet, his words becoming heated. “Who do you think you are to play around with lives? You’re no god!”

The ringmaster gave him a pitying look. [BUT MY BOY, I AM GOD.]

Beside me I heard Mir choke. “What?!” he exclaimed.

The ringmaster gave us all a cursory gaze. [GOD. WHAT DEFINES GOD?]

“An almighty presence. An unfathomable presence. We don’t know who he, or more aptly put, it is. But it has power greater than we can all imagine. Power that can shape and warp this world. Power to create and destroy," I answered on behalf of everyone else. 

[AND…] The ringmaster stared me down. [DOES THAT NOT DESCRIBE WHAT I CAN DO?]

Blasphemy. “No it doesn’t,” I snapped. “Sure you kidnapped the five of us, locked us in a prison and are controlling us all through machinery and so on, but that doesn’t make you God. You can’t produce things from thin air, control water or-"

I ate my words.

The ringmaster raised one hand and flourished it, like a magician showing off his deck of cards or a circus master welcoming the crowd. As he did so, the water from the trapdoor rose and twined its way through the air. Our mouth collectively fell. The ringmaster gestured, a conductor of an orchestra, and the water twirled through the air like a dragon through the sky. It formed shapes and dissolved them almost simultaneously. It wrote words and then erased them. And then the ringmaster clapped his hands together and the water crashed to the ground, mere droplets.

There was a stunned silence.

[IS THAT SATISFACTORY?] he rumbled.

 I swallowed hard. “I-impossible. What was that trick!”

[YOU STILL DO NOT BELIEVE ME?] The ringmaster shook his head like he pitied me. [WHAT MORE MUST I DO TO CONVINCE YOU? FORM MOUNTAINS?] He lifted one hand and a mound from the floor rose up, spiraling into a mountain. [CREATE LIFE?] he pointed to his mountain which shuddered and then suddenly a mole popped out, blinking against the bright lights. It let out a small squeak and buried downwards. [OR PERHAPS] he turned to us [IF I KILL ONE YOU…]

I took a hasty step backwards. 

And then something that felt like an invisible hand shot out. It wrapped its ghostly fingers around my neck, making me stumble backwards and fumble for air. It was choking me, wringing out every bit of oxygen. I gasped for breath and fell to my knees.

“ENOUGH!” a voice yelled. It sounded miles away. “You’ve proven your point. Now stop!”

The hand vanished. I gulped in air, grateful to be alive.

[ENOUGH? DO YOU ACCEPT I AM GOD?] the ringmaster leaned forwards, eyes glinting cruelly. [WELL SEUNGHO?]

I peered up, my vision blurry, towards this man who called himself god. And I could do two things. One was to accept that he was god. In his definition, he was this little world’s god. The little world that was our prison and the carnival and perhaps out deathbeds should he so wish it to be. He may not be that holy god whom people write bibles about and worship, but he was a god in his own right. However, what sort of cruel god was he?

My second option-

“You may think you are god with all your fancy magic tricks,” I swiped my mouth with the back on my hand and stood on my own two feet. “But I do not recognize you as god. And a god with no believers is just an old man with a hat full of tricks that no one wants to see!”

The red hologram came close to me so that we were eye to eye. I could hear the hiss of the air from the image projected and even though I knew he wasn’t there, what he had just shown me was enough proof that he could kill me if I got on his bad side. Sweat trickled down my brow.

The ringmaster grinned. A row of shiny white teeth as sharp as a lion's canine. 

[VERY GOOD SEUNGHO,] he leaned back and away from me. [I DID NOT PICK YOU ALL TO BE SUBSERVIANT WIMPS. I LIKE PEOPLE WHO CAN THINK FOR THEMSELVES EVEN IN THE FACE OF DANGER. EVEN IF-] and he glanced back at me. [EVEN IF YOU ARE ALL GOING TO DIE.]

“We are not going to die,” I said firmly, resolution in my words and my eyes.

[GOOD GOOD,] the ringmaster tipped his hat to me. [IT WOULD BE BORING ELSEWISE.]

I growled.

[NOW. THE GAME OF REFLECTIONS HAS BEEN COMPLETED. DEATHS: NONE. PENCANCE OF GOODWILL ACCOMPLISHED. TIME STANDS AS 01:35. YOU HAVE 22 HOURS AND 25 MINUTES REMAINING TILL ZERO.]

Wait…what did he say? Penance? Time?

“Wha-“

[PROCEEDING TO LEVEL 2]

And then the ground rumbled and shook and before we knew it, we were speeding upwards on some sort of platform, higher and higher at a speed impossibly fast. The G-force made my knees crumble and my hands splay out for support. Around me, I could see the other four mirroring my pose. Their facial expressions were one of shock and disbelief.

And then it stopped. A rocky, haltering stop. And we were five dots in the midst of utter blackness.

[WELL NOW,] the ringmaster glanced at all of us. He wouldn’t even give us a minute breather. [WELCOME TO LEVEL 2: THE GAME OF REALIZATION. GOOD LUCK AND HAVE A NICE DEATH.]