Every wall in the room shimmered, revealing embedded televisions—hundreds of them—hidden behind translucent panels. Each screen flickered with the same image: an untraceable silhouette with a voice deep and slightly distorted, as though speaking from the depths of a nightmare.
"Welcome, players."
Silence fell over the room like a dead weight.
"I am the owner of this organization. The one who governs the game you will be playing. You are here because you are not normal citizens of the world. No, no… Each one of you is a ghost of society, a rot in the system. Criminals. Shadows. People with dark backstories and blood-soaked hands."
Confusion turned to unease. And unease quickly mutated into dread.
The voice continued:
"You all are what the world has cast away. But today… you get a chance. Not to repent. Not to change. But to play."
Murmurs spread like wildfire—soft at first due to the restrictive collars, but quickly rising as people leaned close to whisper to their neighbors.
"Games?" someone whispered, voice straining.
Another figure—a muscular bald man with a barcode tattooed across his forehead—spoke slowly, as if testing the limits of the collar.
"W-what do we get… from doing all this?"
The silhouette on the screens seemed to smirk.
"Excellent question."
Suddenly, one of the largest television panels lit up, displaying a large, stylized currency counter.
10,000,000 GACs.
"That's what the winner will receive."
Gasps rippled across the room. Even Darian's sharp expression faltered for a moment.
Another voice rose, cautious yet desperate: "How much is that… worth?"
"Oh, let me help you understand," said the voice with a low chuckle."The world economy has crumbled. We are at the edge of humanity's collapse. Today, even 1 USD can buy you a piece of land. With 10 USD, you could afford a small house.And you're looking at a prize pool of over 1.8 billion USD."
A few jaws dropped.
Even the most hardened killers, smugglers, and gangsters in the room couldn't help but feel the chill of desire creep into their blood.
"But don't get comfortable," the voice snapped."There's a catch, of course. If you lose… you die. If you try to escape… you die. If you attempt to notify the police or external authorities—your device will detect it and you will be instantly terminated."
People looked down at the collars again.
"These devices read your heartbeat, location, voice, and even what your eyes are seeing. One wrong move… and boom."
Many tried once again to shout. One man even tried mimicking a scream internally to see if the collar could detect it.
It could.
He collapsed to his knees, clutching his throat in silence.
There was no escape.
And in that moment, everyone in the chamber understood one thing:
They were no longer individuals.
They were players.
And the game had only just begun.