Social Value.
It only takes a brief glance at society to understand that not all lives carry the same value.
A rich, spoiled child can be a complete psychopath, surrounded by little psychopathic friends who, together, routinely kill animals and homeless people.
They can drown dogs and cats with both hands locked tightly around their necks as the animals thrash in desperate struggle.
Watching slowly as the light of life and the terror of death faded from those eyes, leaving them increasingly opaque and glassy.
All the while, their friends pour gasoline and strike matches on a homeless person nearby, laughing and enjoying themselves.
It's brutal.
It's inhuman.
But it doesn't matter.
Their social value is high; they won't be punished, and their actions will be justified by one authority or even several.
At the same time, a young man from the outskirts of the city who doesn't even know who his father is, whose mother had multiple children very early in life.
A young student. An ordinary one.
He can be walking down the street like anyone else and still the police will stop him, shout at him as if he were a stray dog, frisk him aggressively as if he were already a criminal, and in the end, even if he's innocent, he can still be taken to the station.
It's infuriating.
It's unjust.
But it also doesn't matter.
His social value is low, therefore the aggression against him becomes justified by the authorities.
At this moment, I am in that very same situation.
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH
"Can you read it?" Grand asked. "You're a scholar after all, right?"
Everyone else looked at me with the same expectant expression.
THUMP THUMP THUMP
My heart began to race. Sweat formed both from the rising heat in the room and from my nervousness.
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH
The flames kept closing in while I still thought about my next move.
My origins were a lie.
Even so, I could get around the situation by saying I wasn't a scholar of this specific field.
They would easily believe it!
But then my social value would instantly drop.
At this moment, the social value hierarchy from highest to lowest is:
Grand → Burges and Drake → Ares (me) → John.
If my social value falls, I'll be on the same level as John, which means I'll be a burden to the group and therefore disposable.
No one wants to be disposable at any time, but here it especially means death!
Meanwhile…
Lying would mean staying just below Grand, on the same level as him, or even above.
I would be too important; in that case, I would have to be protected at all costs!
I took a deep breath, making my decision.
"I need time!" I said, turning to face the ancient runes. "Try something in the meantime!"
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH
"But we don't have time!" Grand shouted, and I looked at the five doors again."I need a quick answer!Or else we will die!"
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH
"It's a dead language, for God's sake, even the greatest geniuses need time in these cases!"I clenched my teeth before looking back at him, straight into his eyes.
"This is not up for discussion! You're the scholar! We need an answer! Give us a damn answer!"Grand pointed his finger at me through clenched teeth and an aggressive stance."Now!"
I was speechless for a moment with my mouth wide open.
How should I answer that? It's impossible to solve that quickly, even for a true scholar.
It was an irrational request!
Wait a minute...
It was an irrational request.
I looked deep into his eyes again.
He reminded me of my manager for a moment.
"Fuck you." I said and I pointed my middle finger.
"..." His eyes widened.
Clearly, he wasn't used to being answered in that tone.
"That's not my problem. I need time." I said bitterly, my face twisted. "You're the leader. Aren't you? So deal with it on your own, damn it! And stop crying like a baby."
"Argh." Grand recoiled his head, irritated. His teeth clenched along with his fists. "Watch how you talk to me! you son of—"
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH
The flames didn't stop to hear his speech; only half the room wasn't on fire anymore.
"Tsk!" Seeing this, Grand changed focus. "Team! We need to decipher that quickly! Otherwise our scholar won't save us!"
He glanced at me once more.
Drake and Burges did the same, sour-faced, cracking their knuckles.
I just snorted, focusing on deciphering the text—or so it seemed to them.
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH
My eyes scanned everything around me for clues while they tried to solve the riddle on their own.
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH
"Spider, Rat, Bat, Serpent, Scorpion. Spider, Rat, Bat, Serpent, Scorpion… What the hell does that mean?!"
Grand repeated it over and over, searching for enlightenment. But, he only accumulated frustration.
"FUCK!!!" he exclaimed. "We're not making any progress!"
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH
"Choose already!" I shouted, feeling the heat become unbearable."We're going to die at this rate! Do something, leader!"
The flames had already consumed eighty percent of the room!
Grand clenched his teeth fiercely as sweat ran down his back.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" he said, wiping the smile from his face and clicking his tongue. "I have no choice! We need a new approach…" He dragged out the last words.
My expression darkened in preparation, it was inevitable.
His aura changed, becoming more intense and dangerous.
He was going to sacrifice someone.
He took his eyes off the door and turned to us.
His gaze swept quickly across the room toward his subordinates and then landed on John.
Grand's intense stare locked onto John.
John was the disposable pawn, everyone knew it.
"N-no!" John trembled and took a step back toward the flames, but quickly felt the heat and stopped retreating.
"Don't stare at me!" he whimpered while Grand kept watching. "No!"
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH
"..."
However, at that moment his expression changed.
He smiled once more.
"Relax, kid," he chuckled softly. "I'm just thinking hard. We need that, after all. What the hell did you think I was going to do? Kill you? Hahaha."
Drake and Burges laughed along with him while John laughed weakly, unconvinced.
Their expressions quickly dried up after that.
"Ares, my great scholar, I want to take a look at the tablet." He then walked slowly toward me. "It can help us."
My eyes tracked him, assessing the danger, and then widened.
His hands were slowly and stealthily rising, as if to quickly grab an agile target.
Tap Tap Tap
He came closer.
"Step back!" I shouted, positioning the torch in an offensive stance.
Tap Tap Tap
"Why?" he continued advancing."I just want to take a look."
Tap Tap Tap
"I fucking told you to step back!" I shouted again as he kept advancing.
Tap Tap Tap
"You all think very badly of me, don't you, Ares—"
Suddenly, his hand lunged toward my wrist, trying to grab me.
WOOSH
I swung the lit torch against his chest, making him jump back in shock, both eyes wide.
WOOSH WOOSH WOOSH
I pursued him, the flames burning his face and clothes.
Grand panicked for a moment.
"I SAID BACK FUCKING OFF, DAMN IT!" I shouted, ready to strike again, though already retreating."Next time, I swear I'll burn your face so badly that no woman will ever be turned on by you again."
Grand slapped at his own clothes, putting out the flames.
"Crazy bitch!" Grand snarled. "Wait until this is over and you'll see what we'll do to you!"
He spat on the ground.
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH
The flames were just one step away.
Grand stomped his foot on the floor before turning to John once more.
"NO!!!!"
"Come here!" He grabbed his wrist and pulled him close while John struggled fiercely.
"ARGH! LET ME GO! PLEASE!" he begged as he was dragged, but Grand simply ignored him with his superior strength.
"Spider, Rat, Bat, Serpent, Scorpion! Which one! The choice is yours, now speak, damn it!" he shouted, while John only thrashed, fighting for his life without giving an answer.
"What the hell! Another crazy bitch!" He then yanked his body and grabbed John's head.
BANG
Grand slammed his head against the door once.
"Answer, you little shit!"
BANG BANG BANG
"ANSWER!"
And then three more times. Thick blood ran down his forehead as the young man was on the verge of unconsciousness.
"Listen here, you little bitch," he said, moving closer to his face. "I gave you a chance to choose, but you were a bad little bitch, so now I'll choose!"
BANG
"And I choose Rat!" He kicked the door open and threw the boy into an endless fog.
THUD
His body fell on the other side with a heavy sound.
"Tsk!" I clicked my tongue, looking up at the increasingly radiant ceiling, ready to throw myself at one of the doors.
Then—
Click
The glow dissipated.
The flames retreated once again.
The room returned to normal.
BANG
The door slammed shut once more.
Our eyes were magnetically drawn to it.
Squeak
"What is this?" John spoke from the other side. "A rat?"
Squeak Squeak
"Two rats?" he continued murmuring.
Squeak Squeak Squeak
"What the hell?" John crawled until he collided back-first with the door. "Get me out of here…" he whispered.
Squeak Squeak Squeak
Squeak Squeak Squeak
Squeak Squeak Squeak
Squeak Squeak Squeak
Squeak Squeak Squeak
"GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!" he screamed.
BANG BANG BANG
He slammed against the door repeatedly.
"I BEG YOU!"
BANG BANG BANG
AHHHH!!!!
BOOM
I was terrified.
My eyes widened as a chill took over my soul.
Blood leaked through the cracks of the door, forming a puddle that soaked my feet.
The pungent smell made me want to vomit.
The silence that followed was ominous.
However, my mind wasn't focused on that.
John had exploded.
'It wasn't the rats that killed him.'