This player was none other than.....
A-09
We ran as if we were being chased. The white liquid slapped against our shoes, pulled at them, then ripped them off; the axes cast their shadows back like promises of death. Every movement made me lose my breath a little more, jumping while running to avoid sinking; every step made me groan. It was unbearable.
Kim Young was in front, speeding past me, a luminous fury, K-10 and Ray Lee almost glued to her. And me with Kang who was preventing me from ending up at the bottom of this white lake, Seo Hwan, was closing the march, his eyes fixed on the doll in the distance, over there, because he hadn't moved and had returned to stay in the room with the old man, a room that was only an inch now, he was calm as if he was capable of turning the situation around or becoming a supreme judge who would already decide the outcome of this game.
The obstacles had begun to lick us. Planks cut through the air, tears gushed forth, and with each swing of the large central axe the liquid vibrated beneath our feet. I was still the only one at the back who had difficulty passing the first obstacles while half were in the center and the brave ones near the back line, damn,
I'm tired... I can't take it anymore
[3 MINUTES]
Just a….. A little break…. J
I'm in pain... Just...
Just a moment.
The blurred vision, the heavy pumping, the muscles relaxing after so much effort, the slowing steps, the bed seemed so close, the peace so good, surrendering and everything will be so good, good, good, good, good-
-AHAAAAAAAAAAA AHAAAAAAAAA
Hein?
A Body
I saw
I see
I can see
HAAAAA!
A figure falling in two, sliding, cutting in two, like slices of bacon and disappearing
I saw these bodies hitting the liquid and not rising again.
Ha! Move!
My foot had almost disappeared into the liquid
"Ki! Don't brake!" Kang shouted, his voice almost lost beneath the clatter of the mechanisms.
I managed to escape, leaving my shoe slipped. Without braking, I resumed my run, a little more awake. I must not die so easily. I need to understand. I moved forward as if I were being pushed, pushed by my desire to survive. I promised myself that I would make them taste the same thing. Whispering under my breath: she's really going to kill me.
And when the last board slammed behind me, she slipped, fell to her knees, then jumped up, sobbing, and finally stood up in front of the doll.
Kim Young was the first to arrive safely on the other side.
The rest of us, the follower, gave everything we had left. Ray Lee was next; Seo Hwan really wasn't worried about his situation. Kang, who a few minutes earlier had shouted at me to move, had also arrived at the same time as A-09, finding in her legs a speed that was unlike her. I no longer existed except by instinct, to move forward, to breathe, to hold on.
[ 1 MINUTES]
50 SECONDS
I redoubled my strength, almost forgetting the danger
30 SECONDS
I ran, swinging my arms in all directions
10 SECONDS
cour court court
AHAAAAAAA
When I finally crossed the last line, the doll was waiting for us, motionless. She looked at us, her child's face too white, and her smile grew wider, as if she were savoring the smell of our fears.
"Look at the rooms," Kang whispered breathlessly. "They stayed…"
I saw it afterward: the small rooms where some had hidden, the cowards, the paralyzed by fear, those who still wonder the reason for their arrival or their misfortune, all lit up a clinical red. Except our room, which lit up green.
[ DEFECTIVE PRODUCT,
REQUEST FOR ELIMINATION.]
Then a silence
Just players freezing and dropping like flies one after the other.
No one protested. No words. Just that cold, calculated thing that had just reminded us of the law.
*Bing
New message
Appeared on my watch
A younger buyer raised his glass.
Asks you to become its product
*accepted. *refused
The doll gave an amused tilt of her head. "That was easy," she said in a tart voice that rumbled through my ears.
The survivors remaining on the other side were none other than Seo Hwan and the old man.
Kim Young had white on her lips. Ray Lee clutched his chest as if it were about to explode. Kang trembled against me, emptying his breath into the back of my neck. Seo Hwan had this thin smile, which was neither joy nor sadness, but pure mockery. If he wanted to help us, he could have told us, that bastard.
"Well done," the doll breathed. "You've earned the right to continue. You're now admitted. The owners are watching you now. There wasn't really an elimination, but I found it amusing to see you fighting for your lives."
I looked at my fingers, still wet from the liquid. The metallic taste remained on my palate. Something had just happened inside me: the naiveté of believing that surviving was enough. Here, surviving was only step 1. The rest, being bought, selling one's soul, giving up oneself, one's principles.
"Ki-Moon," Kang whispered nearby, "where are you going?"
I looked up at the doll, whose glass eyes were two bottomless windows.
"Where am I going?" I answered quietly. "I'm going to collect what's due me."
The doll giggled. "Hehehehe."
The doll sat up, and her voice, sweet as a nursery rhyme, fell upon us like acid rain:
"Welcome to your global journey. Climb the ladder, shine until you are no longer useful."
[IS THE NEXT GAME WILL BE...…..]
ridiculously…. Deadly.