Twenty hours, was it? My heart sank as I processed the fact that we were running against the clock. I continued to stare at the seconds tick down like a countdown to doom.
The fog, which had been swirling thick around us, began to thin. It was gradual at first, like a morning mist dispersing under the sun. The oppressive weight of the fog that had clung to us since entering the labyrinth lifted, revealing more of our surroundings.
The labyrinth walls, once looming and mysterious, became clearer. As the mist pulled back, what we thought were solid, impenetrable walls now seemed... different.
Cracks ran through the shimmering surfaces, and deeper within, the faint outlines of shapes moved. It wasn't just a maze. It was a place where people had tried to survive.
Gu Eun-Kyung and I exchanged a glance. This wasn't just a trap to confuse or eliminate us from this death game — it had been used before. People had been here.
As we approached the walls, we saw makeshift dwellings carved into the stone. Tiny alcoves had been dug out, forming rough but functional spaces, each one filled with remnants of life. Tattered cloth hung across some entrances, makeshift doors cobbled together from the materials available.
There were signs of people having lived here — scraps of belongings, tools left behind, and even crude carvings etched into the walls, marking time or perhaps counting something else.
And just ahead, we saw movement. Not the flicker of shadows or remnants of the past, but actual, living figures. They were huddled close to one of the larger alcoves, half-hidden by the overhang of a tattered cloth, their eyes wide and wary as they watched us approach. Their clothes were ragged, their faces gaunt and pale, like they'd been living here far too long.
Gu Eun-Kyung froze beside me, her breath catching in her throat. She couldn't speak.
One of the figures, a man with stringy hair and hollow cheeks, stepped forward cautiously. He was taller than the others, his shoulders hunched as if the weight of this place had ground him down over time.
His eyes, though dim, held a glimmer of recognition — like he knew exactly what we were going through. He looked us over, scanning the blood still smeared on my hands, the weariness in our faces.
"New arrivals," he said, his voice raspy, like it hadn't been used much recently. "Haven't seen fresh faces in a while."
***
Gu Eun-Kyung was absolutely gobsmacked.
People were living here? In these conditions? With these ridiculous stakes?!
Another person, a woman with dirt streaked across her cheeks, emerged from the shadows, gripping a makeshift weapon — a metal rod sharpened into a jagged point. Her expression was harder, distrustful, though she couldn't blame her for that. In a place like this, trust would be in short supply.
Gu Eun-Kyung scanned the small group — six in total, all looking malnourished and beaten down by the labyrinth. But they were alive, which was more than could be said for a few they had already passed.
The silence Eun-Kyung hadn't been paying attention to whatsoever was broken by the man that first approached them. "We didn't have much of a choice. Some tried to find a way out. Most never came back."
"Is there a way out?" she asked, as if the answer could be that simple. The words hung in the air, so naïve, so clueless.
Namgung Kyong shot her a look, incredulous. To be fair, in a place like this, it was almost ridiculous to even ask.
The assumed leader of the group gestured to the makeshift base behind him. "We made a home here, best we could."
Perhaps inaccurately reading the mood, a bitter chuckle escaped Eun-Kyung before she could stop it.
A home. In this hellish place. She couldn't imagine how long they'd been trapped here, living in fear of the maze's constant shifting and looming dangers. But as she looked closer, she realized they had carved out more than just survival. Tools, bedding, even small fires burned in the corners of some areas. They'd built something in the ruins of what had been given to them.
One of the other survivors, a younger man with haunted eyes, glanced up at the walls nervously. "It's been quiet for a while now. Too quiet. That usually means it's about to change again." The voice was tinged with the despair of someone who had bared witness to such an event multiple times over slightly more than a day.
Gu Eun-Kyung's laugh died as quickly as it came, her face paling as the weight of the younger man's words sank in. "About to change?" she echoed, her voice shaky.
The tall man, who seemed to be their leader, nodded grimly. "The maze shifts. The walls close in, open up, twist and turn in ways you can't predict. It's always different. The quiet is just the calm before it starts again."
Eun-Kyung felt a cold knot tighten in her stomach. A shifting labyrinth that changed its layout without warning, with no regard for who or what might be in its path? The survival of these people suddenly felt like an even crueler miracle.
She slowly turned to Namgung Kyong, eyes wide with disbelief. "So… we're supposed to find our way out of a place that changes?"
***
I clenched my jaw. She wasn't wrong. It sounded impossible. But impossibility was a luxury we didn't have here. Not with the timer ticking down, reminding us that our time to figure this out was slipping away.
The silence that followed her words was suffocating. The weight of the situation pressed down on me, just like it had ever since we stepped into this twisted game. My heart pounded in sync with the timer in my head, counting down to our inevitable fate if we failed.
I glanced back at the walls, still shimmering, still cracking. It was as if the labyrinth itself was alive, waiting, watching, ready to strike. The feeling of being hunted had never left us since we entered, and now, with the knowledge that it changed, that sense of dread multiplied tenfold.
But standing around, wallowing in despair, wouldn't help. The walls weren't going to stop shifting just because we were afraid. Fear wasn't a strategy.
How, then, did they survive?
The tall man held up a hand, silencing my thoughts. "We survive because we adapt. We move when we have to. We've learned the "patterns", the shifts. It's not perfect, but it's enough to stay alive for how long we have so far."
"Patterns?" Gu Eun-Kyung's voice cut in, sharp and eager.
I could see the gears turning in Eun-Kyung's mind, but I wasn't ready to put all our hopes on "feeling" the rhythm of this nightmare. "You say you've adapted, but how long do you think you can last?" I asked.
The expression of the younger man darkened. "Long enough to know that you can't just outrun it. The maze always wins in the end."
I felt that cold knot in my gut tighten, but I pushed past it. We didn't have time to dwell on survival alone. "We don't have the luxury of waiting it out. We're on a clock."
The leader's gaze flickered, a brief recognition crossing his face. "You're in one of those challenges, then." His tone held a grim sort of understanding, as if he could see himself in my eyes.
Eun-Kyung stiffened beside me. "What could you ever-", she began asking in a rhetorical tone.
The tall man met my eyes. "You're not the first group to come through here under a time limit."
The man didn't answer continue away. Instead, he looked over his shoulder at the others — the woman with the jagged rod, the younger man with haunted eyes, and the rest of their small group. They all averted their gazes, like they couldn't bear to meet our eyes. As if they were ashamed.
"Some groups make it through," the woman with the rod finally said, her tone bitter and sharp, cracking in the process. "But most… most don't."
My blood ran cold. The cracks in the walls, the makeshift dwellings, the crude carvings marking the days — it all started to make sense. These weren't just survivors who had adapted to live in the labyrinth.
They were trapped here.
"You're saying you failed," I said, my voice low, the realisation hitting hard.
Why not just kill them? Let them have it? Such thoughts were running through my head. The answer was obvious, though.
"Kill us?" The younger man added in, his eyes wide with fear, exhaustion and hatred. "Because that would be merciful. The maze doesn't deal in mercy. It wants you to suffer, to linger."
Gu Eun-Kyung was frozen in disbelief.
"Why... why..."
The woman with the rod scoffed, her eyes narrowing. "You two should focus on beating the clock, just like we hoped to do. You're running out of time."