The sound of applause resounded across the sky after Lucian's grand entrance, reaching every corner of the world. Yet, what was most unsettling was that not a single person was clapping and that's enough to make a goosebumps.
Han Juho's eyes widened in shock when a blank blue screen appeared right in front of his face. He looked around at the people nearby to see if they were seeing it too.
"Hey, you see that?" he asked a man wearing a mask beside him. The man, surprised that Juho had spoken to him, quickly nodded with a serious expression.
"Yeah, I saw it. I think everyone did, just by looking at their faces."
Lucian, with a spine—chillingly satisfied expression, watched the reactions of the humans below. Their shocked faces amused him every time, it was almost too funny to bear.
"Enough with the chitchat and listen carefully. That is, if you don't want to die... We will begin with the first trial—the question of life and death that our dear audience will witness from outer space!"
Juho and the masked man beside him exchanged matching frowns, muffled by this seemingly unbelievable nonsense before them.
Just as Lucian's words hung in the air, the blue screen in front of Han Juho flickered like a broken TV and a strange wave moved across its surface. The emptiness was replaced by a message, then another—almost like a live chat—but there was something disturbingly foreign about it.
[Your.distant.brother]: ".. Huh? Why's everyone around here so tiny? Have I joined the land of the mini-humans by mistake?"
➥[LucidLunatic]: "Nope, that's just your ego making you feel taller than you are."
[TheEsteemedAdmirer ♡]: "Wait, wait, wait-hold up, is this a brand-new survival program? And the host here is our Lucian?! Where do I sign up???"
[Hail_the_king57]: "Just hoping I don't get bored out of my mind... Is there anyone interesting here?"
Juho blinked, his mind racing. Not a car, though. He stifled a groan, realizing he'd somehow landed in... what, exactly? Some twisted game orchestrated by Lucian himself? Or a system straight out of some fantasy manhwa?
He stifled a groan. Next thing he knew, he'd be seeing power levels flashing above people's heads or some ridiculous HP bar. "Great," he muttered under his breath, "as if my life wasn't complicated enough." A little bit of chuckle came out of his mouth with how ridiculous this is.
But seriously, this wasn't how he remembered reading. In Villain Overkill, there was just Lucian, orchestrating chaos with that eerily beautiful voice of his. And... someone else, maybe lurking in the background. No system, no this thing similar to live chat—just Lucian and his hauntingly twisted game. So why was he getting system vibes now?
Juho sighed, eyeing the empty air around him. "If I start hearing level-up sounds, I'm out."
. . .
"What's wrong, my dear player?" A familiar voice whispered right beside his ear, sending a jolt through him.
He turned to look up and was startled to see Lucian, who had seemingly appeared from nowhere. The noise around Juho momentarily faded as Lucian's smile grew, as if there was nothing serious happening.
He spoke again, adding to what he said before. "I see you have a lot on your mind, huh?" Lucian chuckled lightly, a sound that sent shivers of both fear and intrigue through Juho. "Don't worry about trivialities, and just keep your beautiful eyes on me. Look, everyone here is excited. Aren't they?"
Juho swallowed hard, trying to shake off the unsettling mix of fascination and dread bubbling within him. Excited? Sure, if by excited it means terrified out of their minds. Unless he meant... Wait—were those strange usernames floating across the screen?
At the far right of the screen, it reads. "Player_ke9QSgPF", Juho blinked, the weight of the name sinking in, leaving a strange tension in his chest. Player? He didn't like where this was going.
Before he could even process it, a voice echoed around him, cold and commanding. "Let the trial begin." Those chilling words seemed to slice through the air, setting the trials into motion. Juho's heart pounded as he strained the identity of the speaker—he was certain it did not belong to Lucian.
"?!"
The screen in front of him flickered, its blank surface suddenly filling with a single line of text, stark and imposing.
________________________________________
[QUESTION] [Trials 1.0]
>|| "What's 1 + 1?"
Rewards: Honor (scaled by speed and accuracy of response)
Penalty: Death
Remaining time: 59 minutes, 55 seconds
_______________________________________
The question seemed laughably simple at first glance. But the more Juho thinks about it, the more he thinks that something about it feels... off. As he stared, the possible answer appeared in his mind, could it really just be "2" or was there something else lurking beneath the surface?
Juho blinked, his mind scrambling to make sense of it. The words lingered on the screen, daring him to respond as a timer began ticking down, adding to the pressure.
Lucian, who had been beside Juho a moment ago, had vanished, yet his presence lingered like a faint whisper at the edge of Juho's awareness. It was enough to keep Juho on edge, a reminder that Lucian's watchful eyes were never far-even if unseen.
Around him, murmurs grew—a buzz of frantic whispers and panicked voices. People were muttering to themselves, some arguing in hushed voices, some fidgeting nervously with their fingers. While a few shouted and ran around as if waiting for someone to clarify what was going on.
A chill ran through him, but an idea crept into his mind, and his eyes darted toward the masked man nearby, who looked equally lost in thought, his gaze fixed on the screen, brows furrowed in concentration. He seemed... confused, maybe even as unsure as Juho was.
Why not discuss it? Juho wondered. His mind comes with a possibility. That's allowed, right? After all, this is a matter of life and death.
Juho approached him directly, getting straight to the point about these trials that he wanted to discuss together. The masked man didn't seem to mind Juho's straightforwardness, though there was an unmistakable weight lingering in his gaze.
"Hm, do you have any idea what is going on here?" Juho asked after a moment of hesitation, trying to ease the awkwardness of not knowing each other yet.
The man turned to Juho, a flicker of tension in his eyes. "No idea," he admitted, his voice low. "But... this question doesn't feel right. Like there's a catch."
Juho's gaze returned to the screen, an uneasy thought forming in his mind. "So... maybe we need to talk about it," he said, almost to himself. If this was a question of life and death, every second counted.
As he and the masked man debated for the possible answer, Juho's mind jumped through numerous possibilities.
"What if the answer is 11... or perhaps a window?" The man mused.
As for Juho, he tapped his forehead repeatedly, eyes closed as he tried to piece together his own theory. "What if it's... something more symbolic?" He said slowly, as if voicing his thoughts would make them clearer. "Like, maybe it represents the beginning of possibilities, suggesting that a simple arithmetic problem can be the first step towards learning math, logic, and beyond."
The man looked stunned, his mind spinning as he tried to make sense of Juho's deeper (and maybe slightly overcomplicated) interpretation.
"What you said is... pretty complicated. How did your brain even come up with that theory?" he asked, rubbing his temples in disbelief. Juho just grinned, giving a casual shrug as if it was no big deal.
"I don't really know. But we have to consider all the possiblity, right?"
As the timer continued its relentless countdown, Juho felt the pressure mounting. With each tick, the air thickened with tension, a palpable reminder of the impending danger.
[29 minutes, 21 seconds remaining]
"Half an hour left," he murmured, anxiety creeping into his voice.
[TheEsteemedAdmirer ♡]: "Oooo they're close to the cut-off time! Wonder who'll figure it out first..."
[LucidLunatic]: "Tick tock... not that any of them would know, of course."
Juho stared at the cryptic messages, the chats as unfathomable as hieroglyphics. Others around him wear expressions of confusion or muttered in low voices, looking from one face to the next as if someone, anyone, could explain it all. But no one spoke up. Everyone seemed equally lost.
Juho's mind raced through possible answers, but nothing felt certain. A creeping sense of dread settled in his stomach—one wrong move could mean disaster.
"We can't just guess," Juho murmured to the masked man, whose name is still unknown, because they still don't have the time to know each other properly, his voice barely above a whisper. "Whatever this means, we need to be sure."
A piercing silence settled around them as the timer loomed over their heads.
[20 minutes 01 seconds]
[20 minutes 00 seconds]
[19 minutes 59 seconds]
The timer's numbers flashed erratically. Then, with a sudden, nauseating jolt, the time dropped-plummeting faster than he could process.
[5 minutes 00 second]
[4 minutes 59 seconds]
[4 minutes 58 seconds]
Juho's heart seized. Panic spread through the sea of people around him, eyes wide, breaths catching in collective horror. How had they lost so much time?
"We're down to four minutes?" someone choked, their voice shaking.
Juho felt a cold sweat trickled down his back. Each tick of the clock now felt like a countdown to disaster. Focus, focus... His hands were clammy, his mind racing. They had no time left for careful planning, they had to act, and fast.
All around him, whispers turned into frantic shouts, some people rushing to answer, desperation etched across their face. It was chaos.
From above, Lucian observed the scene with a smirk, clearly savoring every bit of the fear below. "I thought you'd be more efficient at using your time," he taunted, his voice dripping with mockery. "But it seems you're intent on savoring every last... second."
•
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To be continued.