4
The billboards led them to a towering apartment building. Inside, they found eleven other participants. Among them was a lean, silver-haired man who exuded an unsettling calm, and a strong, athletic woman with an intense gaze.
A man named Nitobe stepped forward. "You must be new," he said. "Let me explain the system. Every game corresponds to a playing card. The number? That's the difficulty. Higher means deadlier. The suit? That’s the game type."
Arisu and Karube listened intently.
"Clubs require teamwork. Diamonds test your intelligence. Spades? Physical endurance. And Hearts…" His face darkened. "Heart games destroy you. They pit people against each other."
Arisu’s stomach twisted.
Nitobe gestured toward the glowing sign:
"GAME: A GAME OF TAG"
"DIFFICULTY: FIVE OF SPADES"
"The goal is simple," Nitobe continued. "Find the safe room before time runs out. If you don't, the entire building explodes. But…" He hesitated. "There's a tagger. And if they catch you, you die."
A mechanical voice announced:
"GAME START. YOU HAVE TWO MINUTES TO DISPERSE."
The participants scattered.
The two-minute grace period ended.
Then—thunderous footsteps echoed through the hall.
A figure emerged—a towering figure in a grotesque horse mask, clad in tactical gear, carrying a machine gun. Without hesitation, it opened fire.
Bullets tore through the hall.
Screams. Chaos. Nitobe was the first to go down, gunned down as he tried to run. A desperate participant tried to escape through the main exit—only for a laser from the sky to pierce his skull.
No escape. Only survival.
"Shit—Arisu, move!" Karube shoved him into a stairwell just as bullets rained down.
The remaining players formed a plan.
"Call out the tagger’s location!" someone shouted. "We can help each other dodge it!"
The plan worked—temporarily. But some chose to fight. Karube, ever the brawler, and another participant engaged the tagger directly. Despite their speed, both were wounded, Karube taking a bullet graze to his arm.
And through it all, the silver-haired man—Chishiya—watched, unbothered.
Arisu’s mind worked frantically. There has to be a pattern.
Then, realization struck. The tagger is defending one specific room.
"That’s it," Arisu breathed.
He sprinted towards the door, nearly colliding with Chishiya. The silver-haired man smirked. "You figured it out too?"
They pushed through the door—
Only to be ambushed.
Another tagger. This one smaller, faster, wielding a knife.
Chishiya dodged effortlessly, slipping past like a phantom. Arisu, however, was forced back. He needed a different way.
His eyes darted across the room. And then—he saw them.
Two buttons.
Arisu’s mind clicked. "That’s it. This isn’t about just surviving—the game ends if both buttons are pressed."
Suddenly, a figure moved beside him. The athletic woman from earlier—Usagi.
"On three," she said.
"Three!"
They slammed their hands down.
A loud beep echoed.
The countdown on the bomb stopped. One second left.
The taggers froze. Their collars beeped—then exploded.
Silence.
The survivors stood in the wreckage, panting. Karube limped into the room, blood dripping from his temple. He was holding something.
A radio.
A voice crackled through.
"The answer is in our hands. Return to the Beach."
Karube turned to Chishiya. "What the hell is 'the Beach'?"
Chishiya only smirked. "If you want to survive, follow me."
And so, the next chapter of their nightmare began.