The maze was still.
But even in its quietness, there was something unsettling about it.
The walls had stopped shifting. The air that had once been so thick with the constant hum of the game now felt empty—vacuum-like, devoid of anything except the weight of the moment. I could still hear the echo of the Teacher's Pet's screech in the back of my mind, a jagged sound that clung to me even now, long after the battle. Its threat had been momentarily silenced, but the uneasy calm made me feel as though the walls were waiting. Waiting for us to slip up, to falter.
We stood together, breathing heavily, our chests rising and falling in ragged sync. My legs felt like they were made of lead, and every part of me ached in ways I didn't know were possible. But we were alive. For now.
"Did we… did we really do it?" Ji-ho's voice cracked through the silence, the exhaustion pulling at his words.
Seo-yeon, still slightly trembling, wiped her forehead, the small sparks of electricity fading from her fingertips. "We bought time. That's all we've done."
I looked around at the others. Min-ji, her flames no longer crackling with the same intensity, seemed to have deflated. Her usually fiery spirit now seemed distant, her breath shallow. Professor Lee, leaning against the cracked wall for support, was pale and unsteady, his gaze lost somewhere beyond the walls.
For a moment, there was nothing—only the faint rumble of the maze itself, as if the entire structure was breathing, waiting for the next chapter to begin.
"Where do we go from here?" I muttered, more to myself than to anyone else. It wasn't a question of direction. I wasn't looking for a map. I was looking for answers. What was this place? What did the Scholar want from us? Was this all just some test, or had it become something more?
A low humming sound rose from the floor beneath us, like the faint vibration of a far-off motor. The walls, having seemed motionless, now pulsed again, a sickly purple light creeping from the cracks in the floor to bathe everything around us in its eerie glow. It felt like the maze itself was alive—no longer a construct we were simply part of, but a thing that had begun to grow, adapt, and change around us.
I staggered forward, reaching out for something—anything—to steady myself.
"Stay alert," Seo-yeon said quietly. She was scanning the walls, her eyes narrowing at the soft light that now filled the space. "The maze isn't done with us."
Her words were a harsh reminder that the Teacher's Pet had only been a single trial. And we still had no idea how much worse it could get.
Ji-ho took a deep breath, trying to push through the exhaustion. "If that was the first test... what comes next?"
None of us had an answer. We had fought to survive, to outsmart the maze, but in the back of my mind, I kept hearing the Scholar's voice—cold, calculated, detached. It was like he was watching, just waiting for us to slip up.
[Basic Information Sight]
Current Access: 4.8%
Status: Combat Analysis
Note: Scanning environment for potential threats
I could feel my ability working overtime, my mind racing to process all the incoming data. But there was something wrong. The numbers were there, but they felt... off. There was no clear pattern in the data. The walls around us seemed to shift, but only slightly, in a way that didn't make sense. The entire maze was shifting, not in a way we could understand, but in a way that was almost alive—breathing, adjusting to whatever we did next.
The entire atmosphere felt charged, as though the very air was waiting for something. For what, I couldn't say. But the tension was palpable. We weren't alone anymore.
"Min-ji," I whispered, barely able to catch my breath. "Do you feel that?"
Her eyes flickered to mine, a mixture of weariness and something darker. "It's the maze," she said, her voice low. "It's not like before. It's... different now. We've pissed it off."
A loud crack interrupted her words, and I turned sharply toward the sound. The walls before us shifted, the pulsing purple light glowing brighter, more erratic. Something was happening—something out of our control.
Suddenly, the floor beneath us cracked open, a deep rumble filling the space. A wide chasm split the ground, the floor falling away into nothingness.
"We need to move!" Seo-yeon shouted. The urgency in her voice snapped me out of my daze.
Before anyone could react, the floor gave way beneath us. We all jumped back, barely catching ourselves before the widening gap swallowed the space where we had been standing.
The walls shifted again, but this time, they were no longer just walls. The maze wasn't just a structure—it had become a force, adapting to everything we did. It was reacting to our every movement, as though it knew us, as though it understood what we were trying to do.
I looked to the others, their faces drawn and pale, eyes wide with confusion and fear. No one spoke. There was nothing left to say.
"Where do we go now?" Min-ji's voice was barely a whisper, the weight of the question pressing on all of us. "How do we even survive this?"
Professor Lee pushed off the wall, looking to the group. "We keep moving. We don't stop." His voice was grim, more resigned than before. The shock of what had just happened was still settling, but his tone carried the weight of finality.
[Basic Information Sight]
Current Access: 4.9%
Status: Combat Analysis
Note: Recalculating environmental changes
My ability flickered again. I saw the maze before me, but it didn't feel the same. The walls were shifting, constantly reconfiguring themselves. There was no telling where we were going next. But one thing was certain—the maze wasn't just a trap anymore. It had become a sentient entity, alive with purpose, changing in ways we couldn't anticipate.
A sharp crack from above made us look up. The ceiling was warping, like the maze was folding into itself, preparing for something worse.
"We're running out of time," Ji-ho said, his breath labored. "We need to move. Now."
I felt the weight of his words. We couldn't afford to hesitate. We had to keep moving. But where could we go? The maze had already anticipated our every move.
Seo-yeon stepped forward, her eyes narrowing. "There," she said, pointing to a narrow path that had just opened up in the distance. It was barely visible—another shift in the maze's ever-changing layout. "That's our only shot."
Without another word, we began to move. Each step felt like a desperate attempt to escape something we couldn't fully understand. But the walls didn't make it easy. They pushed back, closing in on us as if they were trying to prevent us from reaching that narrow, shrinking path.
The sound of rumbling, low and ominous, filled the air. The maze was coming alive around us, bending and reshaping. And in that moment, I knew something worse was coming. We hadn't finished the trial yet. The maze was only beginning.
I glanced at the others, their faces filled with the same quiet terror I felt in my chest.
The Scholar hadn't told us everything. He never did.
And we were about to find out just how deep this game really went.