Chapter 1
The speaker crackled back to life above them, the same annoyingly cheerful voice chiming through with mock excitement.
"Okay! Sooo, good news! You guys don't have to just sit there anymore. But—bad news—you do have to wait a little bit longer."
A chorus of groans and curses broke out.
"Wait? Again?!"
"Why the hell are we waiting?! What is this, some kind of joke?!"
"This is illegal, right? We're being treated like animals!"
"Like criminals," someone muttered bitterly. "They're treating us like criminals…"
Simon leaned back against the cold wall, arms crossed, watching the chaos brew around him like a slow-boiling pot of human desperation.
He didn't join the noise. That wasn't his style.
No… he was studying.
He scanned the room—each trembling face, clenched jaw, fake smile. People were cracking. Already.
Some were terrified and couldn't hide it—shaking, crying quietly, eyes darting for exits that didn't exist. Useless.
Some acted tough. Loudmouths who screamed at the speaker, trying to be leaders. They'd fall the hardest when the curtain dropped. Not good enough.
Then there were the quiet ones. Calm, or maybe just stunned. Hiding something. Pretending. They were interesting… but too unpredictable for puppets.
Simon needed someone malleable. Someone pliable. A perfect pawn.
But right now, the pieces were all scattered. He needed more time.
As if on cue, the speaker returned.
"Alright, game prep is done! You can all proceed to the next area!"
A ripple of confusion passed through the group.
"Next… area?" someone repeated.
Simon raised an eyebrow. "So this place has levels? Zones? We're being herded like cattle."
He smirked. "Great. This'll be fun."
The floor beneath them rumbled with a mechanical hiss. Then—click—a section of the far wall split open, revealing a heavy steel door, creaking slowly as it slid to the side.
Beyond it was darkness.
Simon was the first to move. Of course.
"Move or don't," he muttered. "I'll go either way."
As he stepped through, the others followed hesitantly, clumping together in groups like frightened sheep.
What greeted them on the other side was... eerie.
It looked like an old high school.
Dust-coated tiles. Flickering overhead lights. Long, dimly lit corridors with cracked windows. The faint scent of mildew hung in the air, mixed with something coppery. Something off.
It wasn't just old. It was abandoned.
Like a school where something terrible had happened, and the world decided to just forget it ever existed.
And then the voice returned again, echoing from the hallway speakers like some kind of omnipresent ghost.
"Welcome… to your first game."
Simon folded his arms, his grin widening. Finally.
"The rules are simple: Survive… three nights."
That was it.
A pause.
Someone laughed nervously. "That's it?"
"Wait, what does that even mean?"
"What kind of horror movie setup is this?"
More silence.
Then the speaker voice spoke again—sounding chipper, like it was hosting a radio contest.
"Oh, right, forgot to mention the rule. Just one! Super easy."
Everyone leaned in instinctively.
"Rule #1: Don't try to leave the school building."
A beat.
"…That's it?" someone whispered.
"Don't try to leave? What happens if we do?"
"Why not? Is it locked?"
The speaker crackled one last time.
"That's all for now. Good luck surviving~"
Click.
Gone.
Just like that.
The silence that followed was filled with confusion, and then—panic.
"What kind of bullshit explanation was that?!"
"They expect us to just sit here for three days?!"
"Is this even real? Are we in a simulation?"
"Three nights? That's seventy-two hours! Are they giving us food? Beds? Are there bathrooms?!"
People started yelling over each other again, their voices rising like a crashing wave of fear.
One man was already pounding on the walls, testing for exits. Another was trying to pull apart a locker. A girl sat down in a corner and just started laughing—giggling nonstop like something in her brain had finally snapped.
Simon didn't care.
He wasn't listening.
His eyes were locked on the windows of the school building.
There… in the second floor hallway…
He saw something.
A silhouette.
A tall, lanky figure… unmoving. Watching them.
The lights flickered.
And just like that—it vanished.
Gone.
Simon smiled.
"Oh," he whispered. "There it is."
This wasn't just some prison experiment.
There was something else here. Something they weren't being told.
And Simon was thrilled.
This… this is the kind of fun he'd been missing.
Let the others scream and argue about morality or legality. Let them try to figure out the rules.
Simon already understood.
There were no rules.
Just survival.
Just chaos.
And in chaos… people broke.
People begged.
People obeyed.
"Time to start," he muttered to himself, cracking his neck.
The others were still arguing. Some were trying to organize rooms, assign watch duties, barricade doors. Mei, the girl who'd been accused of killing two kids, was standing near the lockers, staring into space with dead eyes. She hadn't moved once since they'd entered.
Simon walked past her, hands in his pockets, whistling.
This school?
This game?
These idiots?
It was all just a stage.
And Simon?
He was done playing background character.