I stood there confused yet shocked that an invisible man whose presence could somehow be felt from above talked to us about our situation.
[ This is a realm far from your home called Earth. The reason I have finally revealed my existence to you all, is to see who are worthy of being granted eternal life and sit in the Twelve Seats[1] of this world's Elysium[2] to watch over the Earth for many moons to come. ]
[ I have prepared a series of trials which will now be considered as a test the human race is required to pass and those who don't shall be punished. In the trials, you are also to be tested whether you are worthy of wielding the power.[3] ]
[ More will be explained further, but I shall see if you are all worthy of gaining the knowledge and power itself. I will be explaining the First Trial, The Rite of Passage. The rules are simple. Take another human's life at the maximum of one life. Failing to do so will result in death. Note that, I have taken away all of humanity's weapons. No one but getting rid of your own conscience can save you now. ]
[ Once you are out of this realm, the trial will start and your power shall be awakened shortly. ]
The realm we were in was filled with deafening silence and the intense aura could be felt in the air. We slowly turned around at each other with wide eyes before we were all transported back to their original places. Everyone continued staring at each other in complete silence while being confused of the current situation.
Jiyoon-nim and I stood in the middle of the intersection when suddenly, a fight broke out from one of the nearby stores which caused a chain of reactions to other people. Some started fighting and killing people for their own lives while some still tried to process about the current situation.
I grabbed onto Jiyoon-nim's shoulder and she turned around, terrified and scared. Within the flash of a second, I saw a single tear and visible confusion in her eyes. I wasn't planning on killing her, but I was planning on getting her to kill someone if she wants to live.
"Calm down, I'm not going to kill you. Come with me. We need to find somewhere safe to go—"
Before I could finish my sentence, a man just charged at me with a metal pole and tried to hit my head with it, however, it might have been a bit heavy for him that he only hit my shoulder.
Despite only hitting my shoulder, for someone like me who hasn't experienced a lot of physical pain, it was hurting so bad.
I turned around and walked backwards slowly as a man approached me.
"I'll just take this woman." He said as he walked towards Jiyoon-nim while holding his metal pole as a weapon.
If it wasn't Jiyoon-nim, I would have just ignored them and ran away. But, I wasn't able to and will never be able to repay the person I owe the most, so I'll protect the one that she would wish me to protect.
I ran to the man and took my shoulder bag to throw it at him. However, what the man hadn't noticed is that I had taken out a pen from my bag because I knew that a bag wouldn't do anything much against him.
"You've got balls, kid. But I have to see my daughters and wife again." The man looked at me with pity and a sliver of guilt and sadness in his eyes.
The man charged at me with the metal pole and swung, but I ducked under the pole just in time and pulled out a pen from behind.
Before getting the chance to swing a second time, I ran to the man and stabbed him with a ballpen on the arm, making him let go of the pole.
I grabbed the metal pole from the other end, but the man seemed to recover and could withstand the pain of having a pen stabbed deep in his arm.
"We both don't wanna do this."
He said while he pulled the metal pole stronger. I could barely match up to man's strength. I assume he must be doing tougher jobs.
The man pulled for the metal pole as I did the same. From that point on, it was an intense tug of war for the both of us where our life might be depending on.
I pulled the pole towards me and the man was pulled in as well because of his grip on it, he stumbled a bit when I pulled harder
The moment he stumbled, I took this as a chance to swing the metal pole upwards before pushing it towards his face.
The metal pole hit the man directly in the eye and knocked him off to the ground.
I charged with a pen at the man who was still trying to get up after taking a hit, but I kicked his chin and made him fall to the ground once again.
"C-Calm down, kid. Let's just go find someone else to kill—" The man nervously laughed trying to save himself from me, but he cut himself short when I picked up the pen.
For a moment, I could see the guilt and regret in his eyes turn into fear as I approached, but it's a sight I've gotten used to.
I sat on top of the man, raised the pen, and stroke the pen, straight to his forehead, causing an instant death.
Perhaps, I would have stopped myself from killing, but just as the so-called "God" said earlier, in the first trial, the key to victory is sacrificing your own conscience for your own good, but the bad of others.
Everyone around us stopped fighting and stood there frozen and silent as they saw me stand up with blood on my hands. This wasn't the first time it people had looked at me with those scornful eyes either. But, I wish I knew... that this was just a barely a small portion how worse I'll become.
[1] Twelve Seats - Based off of the Twelve Primary Apostles of Jesus Christ in Christian Theology.
[2] Elysium - A paradise where heroes conferred by gods immortality are sent in Greek Mythology.
[3] New Powers - Referring to the system that will be introduced on Chapter 2.