The four remaining players—Matthew, Rin, Jisoo, Minho, and Elliot—stepped into a room unlike any before.
Not mechanical.
Not distorted.
Not cruel.
Just… white.
A horizonless void, an endless expanse of polished stone beneath their feet.
No walls.
No ceiling.
No exit.
A single structure rose from the center:
a black monolith with shifting text, eerily calm.
FINAL GAME – THRESHOLD
Reach the exit. Only those who accept the truth may return.
Rin exhaled slowly. "That means there's a trap."
Elliot approached the monolith and brushed it with two fingers.
The surface rippled—then revealed five doors, each appearing behind them like floating frames.
One door for each survivor.
All leading somewhere different.
Jisoo swallowed hard. "Separate paths? That's always a bad sign."
Matthew stepped forward. "We survived worse. We'll meet at the end."
But no one believed that completely.
The monolith pulsed again, and this time the message locked in sharp digital red:
Before choosing, reveal your hidden truth.
Only those who confess may pass.
Minho stiffened. Rin looked away. Jisoo clenched her fists.
Elliot whispered, "It wants to force vulnerability. Identity. The one thing we hide."
Silence weighed heavy.
Finally—
Rin broke it.
"I wanted to survive more than I wanted to save Sora," she said quietly, eyes trembling. "I hesitated. I knew she'd fall before I reached her. And I didn't warn her."
The monolith glowed green.
Her door lit.
Then Minho spoke, voice cracked.
"I pretend to be brave. But I'm terrified. Every game I kept Harper alive only because I didn't want to be alone. And I failed anyway."
His door lit.
Jisoo:
"I manipulate people because I don't trust them. Even now, I'm calculating who I'd sacrifice next."
Her door lit.
Elliot:
"I don't fear death. I fear purpose. Because if I survive this… I don't know what I become."
His door lit.
Only Matthew remained.
Everyone turned to him.
And the truth he carried was heavier than all of theirs.
"I don't want to go back," Matthew whispered.
The others froze.
"I want to… but I'm afraid I don't belong there anymore. The real world feels like a memory someone borrowed from me. I don't know who I am outside Death Land."
The monolith went silent.
Then—it glowed brighter than all the others.
Matthew's door opened.
All players cleared. Proceed.
They stepped through their doors—
and the world collapsed into light.