Click. Clack. Click.
The rhythmic tapping of keys echoed through the dimly lit room. The glow of multiple monitors cast flickering shadows on the walls, the only illumination in Roi's tiny apartment. At 18, he had long mastered technology—hacking, bypassing firewalls, and tweaking hardware as easily as breathing.
A year ago, he abandoned school to pursue a career as a gaming streamer, occasionally taking up tech repair jobs to make ends meet. His parents disapproved, calling him reckless, a disgrace. That's how he ended up here, crammed into a rundown apartment, living off viewer donations.
With a final keystroke, he leaned back, adjusting his glasses with a smug grin.
"Finally, I've bypassed it." His voice was a mix of pride and exhilaration.
On his screen, a dark interface filled with cryptic numbers and letters shimmered under a single, unassuming search bar. This wasn't an ordinary website. This was the dark web—a hidden corner of the internet where anything could be found… for a price.
He clapped his hands together and turned his attention to the chat flooding his stream. Roi never showed his real face—only a playful dog filter concealed his identity.
"Alright, chat, are you ready?" His voice carried a teasing edge.
The comments scrolled rapidly:
[User1234]: Hell yeah! Search for black market weapons!
[AnonymousVIP]: Nah, I wanna see classified government files!
[GhosthunterX]: Find a real cursed website!
Roi chuckled, eyes gleaming. "Biggest gifter gets to decide what I search next! Keep those gifts coming."
The donation alerts chimed, and his excitement grew. He had done countless dark web dives before—selling hacked accounts, uncovering hidden databases—but tonight felt different. Something about this search, about this moment, sent a strange chill down his spine.
A notification popped up, flashing red.
[Mysterio69] has gifted you $1000.
Roi's eyes widened. "Woah! Look at that! Mysterio69 just dropped a thousand bucks!" His voice was filled with excitement as he leaned closer to the screen.
As if on cue, the lights in his tiny apartment flickered. Once. Twice.
He glanced up but shrugged it off. Probably just a voltage fluctuation—nothing new in this rundown place. But when he looked back at his monitor, his grin faltered.
The chat was… silent.
No more messages. No more rapid scrolling of usernames. The donation alerts stopped. Yet, at the top of the screen, the viewer count remained steady at 3.2K.
Something wasn't right.
A single comment appeared.
[Mysterio69]: I've gifted you the most and the biggest you've ever received.
Roi let out a nervous chuckle. "Hell yeah! But… where did everyone go?" He refreshed the chat window. Nothing changed. "The server still says I have 3.2K viewers. Why did they stop commenting?"
Another message.
[Mysterio69]: Perhaps you should search what I want, like you promised earlier.
Roi hesitated. His fingers hovered over the keyboard. The silence in the room felt suffocating now.
"Uh… yeah, yeah, of course," he said, forcing a laugh. "It's just weird, haha. Okay, what do you want me to search?"
The cursor blinked on the search bar. The air in the room felt heavier. He had explored countless hidden corners of the internet, but something about this moment made his gut twist.
And then, the next message appeared.
[Mysterio69]: Search for 'The Black Gate.'
Roi frowned. "The Black Gate? Never heard of it…"
He typed it in.
The page loaded.
And then—
The website took a few seconds to load—probably just his crappy internet acting up again. Roi leaned back, expecting something sinister or mysterious, but when the page finally appeared, he burst into laughter.
The screen displayed nothing but images of literal black gates—wrought iron fences, wooden doors, even a few random real estate listings.
Roi smirked and shook his head. "Bro, do you have a fetish for black gates or something? Hahaha!"
A notification popped up.
[Mysterio69] has gifted you $1000.
Roi's jaw dropped. "Damn, you're rich as f***, dude!"
A new comment followed.
[Mysterio69]: Now click the sixth picture, then go to the site listed below it.
Roi hesitated for a second. He had done weird dares on stream before, but this was getting interesting. "Alright, big spender. Your money, your rules."
He clicked on the sixth image—a grainy, low-resolution picture of an old, rusted gate. Below it, a sketchy-looking URL was listed. No description. No previews. Just a single, ominous link.
With a deep breath, he clicked it.
The new site loaded instantly. The screen displayed a video. Just a black gate standing in an empty, foggy field. Nothing eerie, nothing unusual.
Roi raised a brow. "So what now? You just dropped two grand on a video of a gate?"
A comment popped up.
[Mysterio69]: Hahaha. Play the vid.
Roi shrugged. "Alright, whatever." He clicked play.
The video started.
At first, there was nothing—just the black gate standing still. The audio was pure static, but beneath it, he could faintly hear something. A whisper? A voice? It was muffled and distorted, like a transmission barely reaching him.
Then, the gate in the video slowly creaked open.
Roi leaned closer, his curiosity piqued. It was just an old gate, right? So why did this feel… off?
Suddenly—
A deafening, high-pitched screech erupted from his speakers.
The noise was unbearable. Nails on a chalkboard, metal scraping against metal. It drilled into his ears, sharp and unrelenting.
"Ah, f***! What the hell?!" He fumbled with his keyboard, trying to lower the volume, but—
The volume went up instead.
Maxed out.
Roi clamped his hands over his ears. The screeching intensified, shaking his tiny apartment. His monitors flickered, his lights pulsed wildly. His vision blurred—
And then.
Silence.
He hesitantly uncovered his ears. The sound was gone.
His screen had changed.
The black gate was no longer there. Instead, he was back on the dark web's main search page. Like nothing had ever happened.
He exhaled sharply, heart hammering. What the hell was that? A prank? A virus?
Then he glanced at his stream chat.
The comments had returned.
[User1289]: Bro, you lagged out for like two minutes.
[DarkWebFan]: You froze. Your vid cut out.
[GhosthunterX]: What happened? You good??
Roi swallowed. His fingers felt cold against his keyboard.
He hadn't lagged.
He had been there the whole time.
Roi sighed and tapped his WiFi router, which sat right next to his PC. "Damn, probably just slow internet again," he muttered.
He stretched his arms, letting out a yawn. "Alright, chat, that's it for tonight."
The comments exploded with frustration.
[User2345]: Bro, no! One more search!
[DarkWebFan]: Don't end it now! That was getting creepy!
[BigTippers]: Wtf, at least finish the dare!
But Roi just smirked. In his mind, he'd already won. He made a solid $2000 in one night—more than enough for rent, food, and maybe even some upgrades.
"Nah, I'm good for today, guys. This was fun, though. See y'all tomorrow!" He waved at his camera, then ended the stream.
The chat faded. His streaming software closed.
He exhaled, feeling the adrenaline settle. But just as he was about to power off his PC, he noticed something odd.
The dark web page was still open.
Roi frowned. He clicked the refresh button. Nothing. The page didn't respond.
"Weird." He tried closing the window—still nothing. His cursor moved fine, but the site wouldn't budge.
Maybe it was lagging?
He clicked a few more times. No response.
Then he remembered the video. "Oh, right… maybe it had some weird-ass virus," he muttered, laughing to himself. It wasn't the first time he had encountered shady files from the dark web.
Still, he wasn't worried. His monitor was old junk anyway, and with tonight's earnings, he could easily buy a new one. Worst case? He'd just reset the whole system.
With that in mind, he reached down and yanked the power plug.
The PC turned off instantly.
But his monitor stayed on.
Roi blinked.
The screen still glowed, a faint, dim light against the darkness of his room.
That wasn't possible.
The monitor was unplugged.
Yet, there it was. Still on.
His smirk faded. A chill crept up his spine. Slowly, he straightened up, staring at the screen.
Then—
The screen glitched.
Flickering. Distorting.
And then, against the black background, a single line of white text appeared.
WELCOME, ROI.