Being swallowed into a mushroom was a strange experience. Did mushrooms even have the ability to digest humans?
The soft cushiony feeling of mycelium wasn't so bad, but it was getting harder to breathe. Nox took shallow breaths to avoid losing consciousness.
30 seconds…
48 seconds...
The suffocating feeling disappeared after a minute. He flexed his fingers. Underneath him, he could feel… grass. Blinking, he stared at the purple grass beneath his fingers.
Where were they?
A notification appeared in front of him. Seeing its contents, Nox understood their situation.
[Task 1: Find your way into the forest of the White Palace has been completed.]
This trial unfolded like a series of chain quests that they had to follow. Getting swallowed by the mushroom triggered the start of the 'real trial.'
But… Nox looked at the screen gloomily. What kind of person would willingly get swallowed by a mushroom? Did that mean they would have been stuck in that forest if they did not find the entrance point?
A nearby groan turned his attention to his new companions. Bak Soomin looked like she had swallowed something unpleasant, Liam sat there in a daze, and Li Zemin… passed out.
Sighing, Nox shook Li Zemin's unmoving body. "Hey, Li Zemin. Get up." When he was unresponsive, Nox shook harder and slapped his face twice for good measure.
Eventually, the lazy bastard woke up. "Huh.. Nox? Five more minutes… the professor won't care...zzz…"
Annoyed, Nox pushed the unmoving body down the hill.
The mushroom had disposited them on top of a small, grassy purple hill overlooking a large white palace in the distance. Behind them was a forest of tall trees of varying colors and shades; below the small purple hill was a checkered marble floor.
The impact should wake him up.
Based on the sound of impact and the startled yell, it worked out fine. "Where am I?!"
"In heaven," Nox called down, looking at his confused friend with a smug grin.
The sky was a saturated mix of blue and purple, unnaturally colorful clouds floating in the sky. There seemed to be some tea cups floating up there, too. In any case, it was probably the last thing someone would picture heaven to look like.
"If this is heaven, then why are you here?" Li Zemin demanded, rubbing his back with a wince.
"... moral support?"
"Bullshit."
"You died from Professor Wu overworking you, don't you remember?" Nox gave Li Zemin an innocent smile.
"Perhaps there are more important things to focus on?" Bak Soomin commented dryly.
Enraged, Li Zemin started to climb back up the hill. "You wait, you black-hearted demon! You promised to never mention that again!"
"Is this your first time?" Nox asked Bak Soomin, although he could already tell what her answer would be.
Bak Soomin shook her head, "Second."
The nervous movement next to her had Nox turn towards the young boy. "Are you alright?" He was rocking back and forth with his arms wrapped around his knees.
Liam shook his head, then nodded hesitantly before shaking no again. "..I'm okay." His light green eyes were lucid- despite the uneasy body language the young boy expressed, he was still in the moment.
Nox nodded his head. "That's good."
"Uh, Nox. I can't climb back up," Li Zemin called out, still stuck at the bottom of the hill. It looked like his feet were slipping off the strange purple grass, forcing him to slide down every time.
"Should we head down?" Nox suggested, feeling a bit guilty.
Bak Soomin leveled him with a look. "You can go first, then."
Fair enough. Nox walked down the small hill slowly, reaching the bottom with all limbs intact.
"You look like you're about to be eaten," Li Zemin snorted.
Nox flipped him off with a glare.
Bak Soomin and Liam joined them shortly. As soon as their feet hit the black and white marble tiles, a prompt appeared.
[Triggered Task 2: What is white in a world of black?
Objective: Tell two truths and one lie to enter the White Palace.]
The group glanced at each other. A green door appeared in front of them, its fancy handle happily beckoning them in. Quite literally, too, since the door swung open by itself.
Inside, there was a simple room with black walls and a white floor. A scale was placed on a small table, with a small description burned into the wood.
The weight of truth cannot surpass the weight of lies.
Nox turned the phase over in his mind, assessing its meaning. The weight... of truths and lies.
A troubled look settled on Bak Soomin's face. "It looks like this isn't as easy as the task suggests," she said, reiterating the phrase. "There has to be a catch somewhere."
"Isn't it just a simple game?" Li Zemin laughed, walking to the table. "We used to play this all the time in college."
They heard a message as Li Zemin stepped in front of the scale.
「What are your truths?」 the monotone voice asked in an almost bored manner.
"I'm afraid of the dark, and I like to eat spicy chicken," he answered confidently. The scale tilted to the left.
'What is your lie?'
"I like dogs." The scale dipped slightly to the right, evening out the weight.
Bzzzt.
The answer was met with a loud sound like someone had pressed a giant red buzzer.
「Invalid.」
The scale reset itself and a bucket of water appeared from thin air, drenching Li Zemin. "Woah!"
Nox shifted away to avoid being splashed. At least the penalty wasn't something more dangerous.
"What was the weight of your lie?" Bak Soomin questioned.
Nox answered for Li Zemin, who was trying to wring out the water from his designer overcoat, a disgruntled expression on his face. The water had soaked most of his torso, making his carefully styled hair plaster against his forehead.
"Anyone can figure out his two truths if they spend two hours near him. As for the lie," Nox paused, recalling the amusing memory. "It's a pretty well kept secret of his."
Giving up his futile attempt of drying out his clothes, Li Zemin scowled at Nox. "It's one thing to confess that myself, but when someone else talks about it it becomes so irritating."
It seemed like lies weren't measured by their secrecy then.
Bak Soomin observed the scale, eyes wandering between the two sides before stepping forward. She avoided the remaining puddles from Li Zemin's punishment, waiting for the voice to ask the same question again.
「What are your truths?」
"I'm not a doctor."
The scale tipped right.
"Liam isn't my patient."
The scale tipped right again.
"..." She paused, but revealed, "I have a younger sibling."
The scale dropped to the left, making the scale even again.
She had reversed the number of truths and lies. Nox contemplated her decision. What had made her say two lies and a truth when the prompt stated the opposite?
Of course, if the only criteria was to have the 'weight' of truth not exceed the weight of lies, then it would be possible to pass by reversing the number of truths and lies. But that would go against the task itself...
Bzzzt.
「Invalid.」
Once again, a bucket of water poured down. Bak Soomin tried to move, but it looked like her feet were stuck in place, forcing her to face the punishment. She covered her head with her hands as the water was dumped over her head.
A snicker, then a flash of white teeth followed by a pair of purple eyes. Nox frowned, thinking that they looked somewhat familiar as a white cat with a gray snout and gray paws appeared floating in the air, staring down at them in amusement.
"My my, what do we have here?" It rolled upside down playfully. "Intruders?"
Liam slapped a hand over his mouth and crouched down fearfully. Nox frowned at his reaction, wondering why he was so afraid of a cat. It was pretty cute, with a bushy tail lazily waving in the air.
"Are you an overseer?" Bak Soomin asked warily, pushing her wet hair back from her face.
The cat hummed, giving her a flash of teeth as it purred, "Who knows? I think I should be asking you why you're in the vicinity of the White Palace... especially with that odd smell around you." Its dainty pink nose twitched. "Outlanders."
Bak Soomin replied calmly, "We're here to visit."
With a 'mrreow,' the cat let out a purring laugh, "Is that so?"
"Yes."
"And what… business," it paused, emphasizing its words. "Do you have at the White Palace? For all those dyed in white, many come in black." It grinned, as if pleased with itself.
"We're here for sightseeing." Nox spoke up, a smile plastered on his face as he looked at the cat.
The cat waved a paw in the air, tiny fangs showing as its smile stretched further. "Sightseeing… anything in particular?" Its purple eyes glowed mysteriously.
"... The heart." Nox watched as the scale tipped onto the left side, the edge of its plate touching the table.
Bak Soomin whipped around to stare at him in disbelief.
It was the biggest reaction he'd seen from her yet.
Li Zemin looked at him with his mouth hanging open, while Liam peered up at the black haired man cautiously.
[Task 2: 'What is white in a world of black?' has been cleared.]
The white and gray cat meowed at him happily. "Pretty smart for a human." With a flick of its tail, it disappeared again. "May Chaos bless you."
It vanished just as suddenly as it appeared. A solid white door materialized on the far side of the black wall.
Bak Soomin, "..." Unable to restrain her curiosity, she asked doubtfully, "How did you do it?"
Lips curved up mischievously, Nox questioned her back, "Do you want to know?"
Li Zemin mumbled, "Finally revealing your black hearted nature."
Bak Soomin stared at him humorlessly, deigning not to answer.
This group of people didn't attempt to humor him.
'It's a pity.' He sighed in his mind regretfully.
"The task title is 'What is white in a world of black?,'' he explained. "It tells us to say two truths and one lie, but the inscription states that 'The weight of truth cannot surpass the weight of lies, which means that the weight, or meaning behind our lie should be heavier than two truths combined."
Bak Soomin nodded. "We can figure that out logically."
Nox nodded. "That's also why you said two lies and a truth, to test if we just had to go along with the inscription on the table. And Li Zemin's answers were supposed to factor out the weight of 'secrecy' to our lies, but that was actually a part of the answer." His mouth hooked up. "'What is white in a world of black?' This was the answer. It just means that lies can be truths and truths can be lies; that truths may be no different from lies in a world full of them."
Truths could sometimes be the heaviest lies.
His subtle meaning slowly dawned on Bak Soomin. "What made you assume that white represented truth and black represented lies?"
He shrugged. "Isn't it a normal concept? Like good and evil." The scale had been there to measure the weight of their words, but their lies and truths were switched around.
Li Zemin opened his mouth to pipe in, "I'm not the only one confused, right? How come my answer didn't work?" He turned to look at Liam, who stared back at him quietly. '... Am I really the only one who doesn't get it?' Li Zemin thought despondently.
"It was a mix between your answer and Bak Soomin's. The truth we tried to suppress was considered as our biggest lie, while our lies served as the truth. So Bak Soomin was on the right track by switching around her truths and lies. And the weight represented how much we didn't want to expose that truth, or the 'secrecy' factor. I'm guessing that the truth wasn't heavy enough, or that the scale would only tip in our favor if the facts were related to the trial itself," Nox explained.
Li Zemin looked at Nox with wide eyes, "I still don't get it, but when did you get so smart?"
Nox raised an eyebrow, "I'm not that smart, just smarter than you." To be honest, after explaining it out loud he also started to feel confused over the specifics.
The mysterious cat had been surprisingly helpful with its seemingly innocent questioning though. 'Are all the overseers cats?' Nox mused to himself.
"Argh, you-"
"Dr. Bak, are we going to go through the door?" Liam stood there quietly, glancing at the three adults patiently. He shrunk in on himself when they all turned to look at him.
Bak Soomin walked over, resting a comforting hand on the young boy's shoulder. "Of course, let's go."
On the other side of the white door was a pure white road lined with a long patch of white flowers. "... Calla lilies," Liam mumbled, entranced by the sight.
[Task 3: Enter the White Palace.]
"You know what these flowers are?" Li Zemin whistled, impressed. "I can never tell them apart."
Nox chuckled to himself, recalling that one girlfriend that broke up with Li Zemin after receiving a large bouquet of geraniums.
Liam nodded. "These were my mom's favorite flowers."
Nox paused, "Were?"
Shuffling back, Liam answered quietly, "She died in a trial before the red moon appeared."
There were no fluctuations in the young boy's voice, but Nox felt a hollow pang inside his chest.
"Any idea of where we are?" Li Zemin's voice broke through Nox's trance.
"The White Palace," Bak Soomin replied curtly.
Li Zemin said, "But the task is telling us to actually enter the palace."
"Maybe this is the garden?" Nox suggested, looking around. The white calla lilies swayed under the moonlight, highlighting the white marble road. But there was no sign of the grand palace they saw when they first arrived, as if it had vanished into thin air.
Bak Soomin studied the flowers before picking one off its stem. "I still don't see how the palace-"
"Doctor?" Nox called over his shoulder, wondering why she wasn't finishing her sentence. "Ba- huh?"
The trio looked at the empty place where she was before.
Only the shifting breeze greeted them.