10:12
09:12
Screams erupted, the smell of burning flesh tainted the air.
More Z-Streamers had lost their lives, and the weight on Jang-book had increased.
Lying flat on the floor, the ringing in Min-ho's ears returned. His heart pounded hard, threatening to break free of his chest as his limbs began to quiver.
"Just let me go!" A voice emanated in his ears. It's tone crisp and clear despite the ringing.
With a blink, Min-ho could see a girl in hospital clothing. She was small and very thin. Running toward the window, he could only see her short blonde air fluttering in the wind.
He chased after the girl, only for his heart to stop when she leaped out of the window.
Diving in, Min-ho reached out and grabbed the girl's arm just in time.
She hung from the towering building overlooking a massive technological city that went about its business without even noticing something as insignificant as a child trying to take her own life.
Looking down at her, Min-ho felt his being shatter at what she had tried to do.
"Let me go," the girl cried out, her green eyes filled with tears that streamed down her cheeks to her neck where a set of purple arteries that looked like the fingers of death itself sprang up.
Gasping hard, Min-ho was brought back to the screaming, the blood, the chaos.
He gritted his teeth and got onto his feet.
"I'm not dying like this," he muttered while making his way to the symbol on the wall, ignoring everything that was happening at the moment. Even the pain burning on his chest did not distract him.
Sae-wee and Dok-su followed behind, the latter trying to come to terms with how much people were dying, while the former ignored it all.
Upon reaching the wall, Min-ho placed an arm on the symbol, in hopes something would happen.
As his hand rested on the wall, the surfaced moved. When he realized this, he pushed the surface deeper.
CREAK!
The wall began to rise with a grinding sound.
Min-ho didn't wait for the pathway to fully open. He bent low, peering inside. What rested on the inside was a room lit with white lights and housing a pedestal with floating pieces of debris on top.
Min-ho's brow rose in confusion open seeing this.
"Ahhh!" A scream startled him, pulling his gaze to the slaughter-field.
Their numbers were dwindling, the Spectors were growing in number.
He turned his gaze to Jang-book, and discovered to his relief that he was still holding his own. Though more and more Spectors were escaping him, he was still trying to hold much of them back.
Yet one thing that was strange was the fact that no Spectors were coming their way. All of them were aiming for the finish line.
He needed to act now.
"What is that?" Dok-su said, aiming his question at the floating debris on top of the pedestal.
Min-ho did not answer Dok-su's question, he instead rushed into the room, the instinct to be cautious failing him as of now.
As he dashed inside, he stole a quick glance at the timer.
8:41
Time was running out.
Upon reaching the pedestal, the floating debris began to glow a faint blue hue. In the second that followed, the debris shot toward their center.
All eyes widened when they saw the debris form a cube.
But the cube did not stay whole for long, as it once again scattered into a multitude of pieces. Small and bountiful pieces.
"It's a puzzle," Sae-wee said, her eyes lighting up.
"A puzzle?" Dok-su said in disbelief. "It's so… complex."
While they marveled or dreaded the cube, Min-ho's attention was on something else. The symbol on all sides of the cube. The same one on the wall and the same one to the far right of the enormous Spector.
Stepping back, he rushed to the exit of the room and began to scan the opposite wall.
He spotted another, then another.
'One more,' he thought, then stepped out of the room and scanned the wall his white lit room rested on.
He found the last one.
If his assumptions were correct, there were three more cubes waiting for them. All of which had to be solved to escape this horrid place.
"Sae-wee, Dok-su," Min-ho called out before turning to face them. "Did the two of you see the symbols near the big Spector?"
"I did," Sae-wee said.
"I think so," Dok-su responded.
"The same symbols are on the walls in this hall, I need you two to head to each one and open the room. Can you do that?" Min-ho asked.
"I can," Sae-wee responded and Dok-su nodded.
"Good, now go, we don't have time," Min-ho said as he rushed out the exit.
Before Sae-wee and Dok-su could ask where he was going, he yelled at the top of his lungs.
"For us to escape this Event alive, we have to complete four puzzles!"
Though the Z-Streamers listened, they didn't once take their sights of the Spectors they were fighting. As doing so would mean their demise.
"Completing the puzzles will set that giant sword over the mother Spector's head free, killing it instantly! But I'm no good with puzzles, so I need four of you that can do this!"
His words had gone without a response for a second or two, but then, amidst the struggle, one of the Z-Streamers spoke up.
"I can do it! But my team needs me, if I leave, we're dead!" the Z-Streamer said.
"Me too!"
"Me too!"
"Me too!"
'That's four,' Min-ho thought, relief mixing in with the dread echoing throughout his being.
"Hold on, I'll find a way to…"
BEEP!
BEEP!
BEEP!
Min-ho felt his soul escape him upon hearing those sounds.
Acting on instinct, he fell to the ground as his pulsing heart filled his ears.
BOOM!
Fire balls shot out in every direction. Taking both Z-Streamers and Spectors.