Divide in half and stand?
Does that mean it’s a team battle?
[Step… Step…]
Without time to think, people started walking.
Well, it would be easier if the teams were already set…
I had to find Seong-ho in 5 minutes, join him, and if possible, make up.
“Seong-ho!”
I shouted again, but it seemed to be blocked by the sounds of movement and whispering around me.
More than anything, I had been hearing a faint vibration since earlier.
Maybe because my condition suddenly worsened, my voice isn’t coming out well…
“Hoo…”
If I go one way, the odds are fifty-fifty.
Do I have no choice but to test my luck?
But my fortune for today was so bad.
[03:21]
Time is already at 3 minutes.
If I’m lucky, maybe I can break through the crowd and find Seong-ho in 3 minutes.
“Ugh…”
But this headache was the biggest problem.
Why does this keep happening since yesterday…?
They must have done something with the injection again.
It would be better to at least be with someone I know.
If not Seong-ho, then at least number 63…
It was hard to distinguish each person’s face.
Maybe because most of them have top-tier looks…
The only way to distinguish them was by hair color and hairstyle.
But even those overlap a lot.
Should I look for men mainly…?
But even the teams I formed during the third and fourth games were all…
Come to think of it, it was bad luck from the start.
More than anything, even if there were men, it wouldn’t be easy to find them in this crowd.
Someone with a strong characteristic…
“Uh…?”
That dark skin…
I remember him as the person I helped last time.
What was his name…?
…
[Clap-]
“Hello…! We meet again!”
“Oh… Ji-yoon?”
He looked at the 456 on my patch and said my name, which made me a little happy.
I never thought I’d see him again in the next game…
“Please call me Ji-yoon.”
“Are you going somewhere?”
“Uh… to the right.”
Strategically, it’s better to go where there are more men…
But it’s not easy to distinguish them in this crowd, so following him seemed like the better option.
“Then I’ll go that way too!”
“Ah… I didn’t have anyone to talk to, so thank you.”
[Step… Step…]
As I walked along the line, the building was more spacious than I imagined.
The flag stealing game wasn’t normal, but this place was also the size of a large building’s lobby.
As I went a little further, there was a black line between the walls.
I guess I just have to go inside there…
[Welcome to the Sixth Game]
[The Sixth Game is ‘Snail Game’]
Snail Game…?
The rock-paper-scissors game I used to play as a kid?
“Excuse me…”
While walking, he touched my arm and seemed to want to say something.
“Yes?”
“I know what a snail is… but what’s the Snail Game?”
Ah…
He said he lived in Ghana.
“Do you know rock-paper-scissors?”
[Clap]
“Fist and scissors and this…”
“Ah…! I know! It exists in Ghana too!”
After that, it was a bit ambiguous how to explain it.
“Well… there are two teams and people move along the road…”
It became complicated when I tried to explain something I had taken for granted.
If I say we do rock-paper-scissors when we meet here, will they ask why we meet?
As I was worrying about that, the faint vibration gradually started to get louder.
And…
[Thud-]
“What is this…”
I could see countless walls rising from the floor and ceiling.
The noise was louder than I imagined, so I had a ringing sound in my ears for a while.
And…
[Bang!]
When the wall completely blocked the front, it became a form where I couldn’t see the front except for a few entrances.
The inside of the entrance… I don’t know the details, but it looked quite like a maze.
At least it wasn’t a scale to end with rock-paper-scissors.
[All participants, please wear the vests next to you]
Then, countless white team vests began to fall from the ceiling.
This… was a vest similar to the ones I wore in my childhood, like during the flag stealing game.
“First… shall we put it on?”
The vest also had the unique bleach smell I smelled in the shower room.
[Rustle…]
When I put on the vest… the smell was so strong that it seemed like people would either love it or hate it.
And the hater was. Also me.
“Ugh…”
“Are you okay?”
Not okay at all.
I already have a headache and I’m not feeling well… the bleach smell is too strong.
But today is game day.
I had to endure it, even if I had to force myself.
[Next, I will explain the rules]
[All participants must follow the maze to find the green arrival area]
[If you enter the arrival area within the time limit, you will pass, but there is a condition]
Condition…?
The maze alone seems like it will be quite confusing, but what other condition is there?
[If a team encounters another participant, one side must subdue the other to pass through the area]
[If it is determined that one side has subdued the other by means other than violence,]
[That participant will return to the area where they were initially]
Subdue…?
Does that mean I have to knock them out by suppressing them?
It was quite a difficult word.
“Hmm…”
Then I should avoid encountering male participants if possible.
Wait a minute, male?
Ah…
Even here, I could see that the meaning of subjugation was unusual.
“Haa…”
It seemed better to avoid encounters with men as much as possible.
“Do you… want to go together?”
“I don’t know how to do it…”
When I turned my head, he asked bluntly.
I would have accepted if it wasn’t for the last sentence…
If he doesn’t know the game rules, he’s a hindrance, even if he’s big and on the same team.
“It’s better to split up in games like this.”
“You never know? The team with fewer passers may be eliminated.”
“Ah~!”
I tried to gloss over it, but it seemed to work.
When I looked around for a moment, there weren’t many lights.
It felt like they designed it to get caught on purpose…
Now is the time for my hearing to shine.
[00:04]
When I looked at the timer behind me, it was already running out.
And…
[Beep-]
[Now, let’s start the game]
[09:59]
“Haa…”
When the timer reset, I took a moment to breathe.
10 minutes as usual.
Considering the length of the maze, it would be over if I got lost or was ‘subdued’.
“Come on… I can do it!”
[Thump! Thump!]
As I entered the entrance, I kept seeing countless choices.
Whether to go left… whether to go right… whether to go straight…
There was an article I saw while browsing the internet before.
You can escape the maze by following the law of the left hand…
If it’s a passing area, does that mean it’s the same as an escape area?
I don’t know for sure, but the odds were similar anyway.
I have no choice but to go left…
…
[Thump… Thump…]
As I kept running, the words I glossed over to George started to come to mind.
Come to think of it, if there are fewer passers on the team, will the entire team be eliminated…?
It was a word I said in a fit of anger…
With the personality of this place, it was something they could do.
But they didn’t mention it on the broadcast… so I don’t have to worry about it.
[Thump… Thump…]
“Haa… Haa…”
I don’t think I ran that much, but I started to get tired.
As expected, this body combined with my condition was the worst combination.
“Whoa…!”
I haven’t seen any place that’s worth mentioning since earlier.
Maybe because it’s dark around me… it was hard to grasp the surrounding structure.
And above all, there was another mistake.
“There are too many footsteps…!”
I thought at least my ears would function properly…
It was too noisy to figure out the situation.
Come to think of it, it was natural since about 450 participants were running around here.
I should have gone with George.
Even though it was a solo match, it was better to form a team from the beginning in this kind of game.
[Thud-]
Just as I was about to sit on the floor and look around for a moment…
[Beep-!]
The vest suddenly started to shine more than usual with a sound.
Before long, I realized that this was a signal that there was an enemy nearby.
If there is… how many people are there?
Is it about time for teams to overlap?
It was difficult to grasp the situation because I couldn’t tell the time and it was dark around me.
[Rustle…]
As I slowly got up, the light was getting stronger.
It must be a sign that they’re getting closer.
[Step… Step…]
First, I had to get away from this place.
I think I should go back to where I came from for a while.
At that time…
[Thump… Thump…]
This time, I could clearly hear the sound of someone running.
It seemed quite close.
The vest seemed to be shining even more as he (or she) approached, so it seemed like an enemy.
… It was better not to encounter them.
But… it was a speed that I couldn’t help but be caught up with.
Do I have no choice but to make them do what they call ‘subjugation’…
I was confident as long as it wasn’t a man.
As I tensed up and started to be wary.
[Thump! Thump!]
“Uh…? You…”
“Why are you here…?”
What a coincidence.
There was number 269 wearing a black vest…
A gangster.
