Midnight.

  The sky was pitch black, and the wind wandered silently through the city streets, rustling the grime stuck between the stone pavements.

  I reached into my pocket. The moment my fingertips brushed against the golden ticket, a shiver ran down my spine. It wasn’t cold... but whatever it was, it curled in my gut like a slow-moving serpent of unease.

  This wasn’t just an invitation.

  “You’ve crossed the 100,000 Tower Coin threshold. Mr. Piggy is expecting you. The game begins at midnight. You won’t get another chance.”

  Those words were heavier than the gates leading out of the Tower. Each one pressed down on me like a decision I hadn’t yet made but already carried on my shoulders.

  I took a deep breath.

  The building before me—old, broken, once a theater—now served another purpose. It stood there, lost between the others, so nondescript I’d never have found it if I wasn’t given exact directions.

  But something inside me already knew.

  This was it.

  This was the place where everything would change.

  I slowed my steps as I approached the old wooden door. I reached for the rusty knocker… but I didn’t need to use it.

  The door opened on its own. Silently.

  It was dark inside, yet strangely… I felt compelled to enter. I didn’t hesitate. A voice inside said, “It’s just a game.”

  But I knew better.

  This wasn’t a game. This was a test.

  The moment I stepped inside, the door slammed shut behind me.

  The interior resembled an old theater, but there were no seats. Just a massive table.

  Behind it, a red velvet curtain.

  Around the table, figures of all kinds sat—some dressed in glimmering extravagance, others hiding their faces behind masks or deep hoods.

  Their expressions hovered somewhere between curiosity and contempt.

  As I walked in, a heavy silence fell over the room.

  Every gaze turned toward me.

  One chair sat empty—right at the center of the table.

  And standing behind it... was Mr. Piggy.

  It was the first time I faced him in person.

  His presence... was overwhelming.

  The golden pig mask on his head gleamed like a crown, adorned with crimson embellishments.

  The suit he wore was white—like a butcher’s coat—but the collar bore stains. Wine, perhaps... or something else.

  His eyes… glowed with a deep crimson light from behind the mask.

  When he looked at me, time itself seemed to freeze.

  “Welcome,” he said.

  His voice was soft—yet threatening.

  “You’ve gathered enough coins. That means you're ready to play.”

  I swallowed, but didn’t step back. I made my way to the empty seat and sat down.

  My eyes scanned the players at the table. At least five of them… were far stronger than me.

  Their posture, clothing, and even the gear they wore said as much.

  “What’s the game?” I asked.

  Mr. Piggy tilted his head slightly.

  “You’ll see,” he said, and snapped his fingers.

  From behind the curtain, masked dealers stepped out, each holding a deck of cards.

  They approached the table and began carefully laying the decks out.

  Each deck had different colors, shapes, and symbols.

  “Is this gambling?” I asked.

  But this… wasn’t an ordinary game of chance.

  The cards whispered something beyond numbers.

  I reached out and touched the table, activating my [Examine] ability.

  The moment I did, I began to sense things—how the cards connected, the hidden rules in the designs.

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  This game wasn’t just luck.

  There was a pattern.

  A logic beneath the chaos.

  Mr. Piggy spoke:

  “The name of the game is: Labyrinth.”

  “Each round, you’ll choose a card.

  Each card brings either fortune… or ruin.

  You’ll learn the rules as you go.

  The rules are never explained.”

  Some players grinned. Others shifted uncomfortably.

  “And lastly,” Mr. Piggy said, tapping his fingers against the table,

  “Every loss comes with a real cost.”

  My throat went dry.

  But somewhere in this twisted trial... was an opportunity.

  I would decipher the rules before they revealed themselves.

  My [Examine] skill allowed that.

  If I could see the pattern, I could win.

  But one mistake...

  Death.

  I whispered to myself.

  “Alright then…

  If this is the second stage of Floor One, then…”

  Let the game begin.

  The room fell silent.

  Every eye remained fixed on me.

  As the dealers shuffled the cards, the elegant gloves on their hands shimmered faintly. A black gleam spread from their fingertips. That was the moment I realized—these people were anything but ordinary. Every movement they made, beneath the surface elegance, carried a silent threat.

  Bay Piggy leaned back in his chair. His posture looked lazy, but I could feel it—he was watching everything.

  “First round,” he said. His voice echoed through the hall. “Time to choose.”

  Before us, seven cards were laid out in a row. Each glowed in a different color: red, blue, black, yellow, purple, green, white.

  There were no numbers on the cards. No symbols. But… there were intricate patterns. One resembled a spiral, another zigzagged, one moved like a wave… and another was woven into a perfectly symmetrical web.

  My [Examine] ability triggered instinctively. Every time I looked at the cards, something started to unravel in the back of my mind. As if a hidden language lay beneath their surface.

  “Be careful,” said Bay Piggy. “Some cards bring luck, others erase destiny. Each choice… could bring you closer to an exit… or into a trap.”

  To my right sat a young woman—clad in armor, her eyes filled with panic. Her hand trembled as she reached for the red card. She didn’t hesitate. As she touched the card, she pressed down in a diagonal motion. Almost as if… she was following a pattern?

  At that moment, the card glowed.

  “Wrong pattern,” said Bay Piggy. A single snap of his fingers rang out.

  And the woman screamed.

  Her chair toppled backward. The armor wrapping her body suddenly turned black, the metal twisting unnaturally. She reached for her neck, but… her voice stopped. Her eyes stared into emptiness. She slumped onto the table.

  She wasn’t dead. But…

  Bay Piggy smiled. “Memory loss. The last three years—gone.”

  Everyone at the table felt their throats dry up. It wasn’t just me—everyone realized… this game was as real as death.

  The woman slowly lifted her head, eyes welling up.

  “Why… why am I here?”

  They escorted her out of the game.

  Next was the man to my left. His body was covered in tattoos, his arms wrapped with heavy chains. He took a deep breath and carefully picked the purple card. As he touched it, he traced a pattern diagonally—similar to the woman’s, but in reverse.

  The card glowed. A gentle light rose from the table.

  In front of him, 5000 tower coins materialized.

  “Correct pattern. Reward: 5000 tower coins.”

  A spark lit inside me. This… wasn’t just luck. The touch. The sequence. Maybe… it had to do with pressing the card in the direction of the pattern?

  My turn.

  Six cards remained in front of me. I looked closely. The white card… its surface showed intertwined spirals. One turned right, the other left. The green card had a broken symmetry… the yellow one’s pattern was… almost oscillating. It seemed to shift even when I blinked.

  My heart beat faster. But I didn’t approach it like a gambler with sweaty hands… I approached it like an engineer. Systematic. Focused.

  [Examine] was working. As my eyes landed on the cards, details slowly started to decode.

  The white card's pattern: a dual spiral. Pressing right caused it to collapse inward; pressing left caused it to expand outward.

  A binary structure.

  I had to make a guess. Collapse felt like being swallowed. But expansion… felt like safety.

  I placed my hand on the card. Gently, I pressed along the spiral, tracing it outward.

  The white card glowed.

  A warm light rose from the table, and in front of me… 2000 tower coins appeared.

  “Correct pattern. Reward: 2000 tower coins,” said the dealer.

  I took a deep breath, but the adrenaline hadn’t left me. If I had chosen wrong… I could’ve ended up like that woman. My memory? Maybe an arm? Maybe worse?

  At the end of the first round, three players had succeeded. One had gained a reward, one had paid a heavy price.

  Bay Piggy slightly turned his head, facing me.

  “Your mind’s not bad,” he said. “But this is just the beginning.”

  His red eyes met mine, and I felt a burning sensation deep within. It wasn’t praise. It was a challenge.

  I made a note to myself. The patterns on the cards functioned like gates. Solving them… either led to rewards or punishment. But each pattern had a logic. This wasn’t just guesswork.

  I had discovered the first rule.

  But the game… had only just begun.