"LET THE GAME BEGIN!"
Hearing these words, all the groups headed to their designated rooms.
Just as all the people of Group A, including John and Emily, entered theirs, a voice came from the speaker:
"The first round will begin in 5 minutes—prepare yourself mentally and physically."
This sounded to the people as if he was mocking them.
But most didn't give much attention to the warning—except John.
Seeing the past behavior of these people, John was on alert.
Although that might not change anything.
John glanced at Emily, then started analyzing the room.
There were a lot of people. Some seemed rich.
Greed never ends.
There was also a military man in the crowd.
Now the time was over.
Before the round started, there was a red light and a loud sound—like an explosion.
The result was surprising.
There was no floor beneath them anymore, and they were flying.
Well—more like falling, since they didn't have wings of freedom.
"Uhh... AHHHHHH!"John shouted in surprise, and so did everyone else.
They couldn't open their eyes due to the high pressure of air,
and some chose to keep them shut from fear.
But when they finally hit the bottom,
instead of broken bones and pain—they felt... wet?
Wet!?
Yes. It was water.
Well, it's not like those guys are mad enough to kill a hundred people.
...Or are they?
Seeing that it was just water, people sighed in relief.
The screams of fear began to fade.
The room was big and half-filled with water.
Noticing that Emily wasn't there, John started searching.
Meanwhile, Emily—who didn't know how to swim—was drowning.
Suddenly, a hand supported her and pulled her upward.
Emily couldn't see who rescued her through the water,
but after reaching the surface, she realized it was the military man.
Seeing Emily, John quickly approached.
He supported her and thanked the man for saving her.
Emily also thanked him.
"Ah, it was no big deal,"he said while rubbing the back of his head.
"Well, thank you again,"John told him.
Just as the military man was about to say something, a voice from the speaker echoed again:
"Ahem... Players! Your first round has started.
You have to climb from this room using the steel bars stuck in the walls.
You must start climbing when the siren starts ringing.
GOOD LUCK, PLAYERS!"
After the message, the voice went silent.
People started exploring.
They found two sirens on the walls, and saw the steel bars.
There were three walls with bars for climbing.
A glass panel covered the top of the room,
blocking access until the siren rang.
John and the military man also analyzed it.
While waiting, John realized he hadn't asked for the man's name.
He started a conversation, and they shared names.
His name wasKyle.
While John and Kyle chatted, the siren finally rang.
The glass panel above was released,
and now they could climb.
Some people who were near the bars started climbing—
including John, Emily, Kyle, and others from the group.
But something was moving underwater.
It seemed something had been released.
People pushed each other to climb,
and one of them accidentally broke a steel bar from the wall,
making it more difficult to ascend.
Everyone was struggling when they heard a scream:
"AHHHHH!"
A trail of blood surfaced in the water.
That's when they saw it—
A shark.
Everyone began screaming.
Meanwhile, in another room,
a man could be seen laughing while saying:
"More sacrifices are coming!"
On the monitors, it could be seen that on other floors,
people from other groups were dying.
Some were still safe.
Other rooms were a bloodbath.
"THIS IS IT!"the man said,
grinning as he stared at the chaos.