6:00 a.m. – Jinan Village
The scent of warm toast drifted through the crisp morning air of Jinan, a small village tucked far from the capital. Only a handful of families lived there, scattered between wide green lawns and gardens that seemed to stretch endlessly beneath a sky so blue it looked unreal.
Jinan was often called the hidden heaven of the country. Its people were known for their striking beauty ,snow-pale skin and luminous golden eyes that shimmered like honey in sunlight. Even the men were often described as beautiful rather than merely handsome.
"What a delicious smell… Raspberry jam. My favorite,"
Joey murmured as he stirred awake.
His silky black hair fell over his forehead in soft bangs, brushing against golden hazel eyes still heavy with sleep. Morning light spilled across his pale skin, making him look almost ethereal.
Downstairs, a voice rang through the house.
"Joey! Wake up, son! And wake Ryou too! Come down for breakfast before you leave!"
Mrs. Maya never needed to shout twice.
"Right away…" Joey replied lazily.
He turned his head and froze.
Something was snoring loudly on top of his quilt.
"…Yes… yes… I want chicken… not that one… the big one…"
Joey stared at the figure sprawled across his bed.
Without hesitation, he nudged him with his foot.
The figure rolled dramatically off the bed and hit the floor with a loud thud.
"Oh God! Can't you wake someone up gently?!" Ryou groaned from the floor.
Ryou, also twenty-four, had been Joey's closest friend since childhood. Unlike Joey, his family wasn't originally from Jinan. Years ago, when war destroyed the capital, his grandparents had fled to the countryside and found refuge there. Joey's family had helped them survive those dark years.
Since then, they had become inseparable.
With his light brown hair and wide doe-brown eyes, Ryou carried an innocent look that often hid his sharp instincts. Sitting on the floor, rubbing his eyes, he yawned.
"So… what's for breakfast?"
"If you don't want me to leave without you, get up," Joey replied flatly, already grabbing his towel.
Downstairs, at the breakfast table, little Naya sat quietly.
"Naya, sweetheart, eat your breakfast," Mrs. Maya said gently. "It's your first day back at school."
Then her voice softened.
"I know you're upset your brother is going to the capital. Believe me… I don't want him to leave either. But his ambition is big. We must support him."
Naya brushed strands of silky black hair away from her rosy cheeks. Her golden eyes identical to her brother's, dimmed slightly.
"Mom… it's not just that," she whispered.
Mrs. Maya frowned. "What do you mean?"
Naya lowered her gaze to her untouched plate.
"That test… the one he's taking…"
Her fingers tightened slightly.
"No one comes back from it alive."
The room fell silent.
"What did you say, dear?" her mother asked slowly.
Before Naya could answer.
"I'll miss your cooking, Mrs. Ashbourne!" Ryou's voice boomed as he rushed downstairs.
The tension shattered.
Mrs. Maya lightly smacked his shoulder. "Oh, I'll miss your sweet talk, you little brat."
"For every hit, I demand one handmade toast!" Ryou declared proudly.
Joey grabbed a cherry from the table, but his eyes were fixed on his sister.
"Naya. What are you thinking about?"
Everyone turned to her.
She forced a small smile.
"I'll pack you some fruit," she said quickly before escaping to the kitchen.
Joey exchanged a knowing look with his mother and followed her.
In the kitchen, apples slipped from Naya's trembling hands.
Before she could hide it, tears spilled down her cheeks.
Joey's teasing smile vanished instantly.
He gently lifted her chin.
"Hey… I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."
He brushed her tears away carefully.
"You know I'll come back. You and Mom are my whole world. This exam… it's an opportunity. Imagine how proud you'll be."
She searched his face, as if trying to memorize it.
"You promise?" she whispered.
"I promise."
He kissed her forehead.
By 6:35 a.m., the boys were out the door.
Mrs. Maya watched from the entrance, tears slipping silently down her cheeks.
"Don't chase the capital's girls!" she shouted after them.
Ryou laughed. "No promises!"
Joey turned one last time.
"I'll text every day."
Then the door closed.
The capital did not welcome them.
It swallowed them.
The air felt heavier the moment Joey stepped out of the train. The sky above the city was pale, almost colorless, nothing like the endless blue of Jinan.
"Fifteen minutes," Joey said quietly, checking the time.
Ryou adjusted his jacket. "Then let's not die before we even get there."
Joey didn't smile.
The police headquarters towered over the street like a monument carved from stone and authority. Cold. Watching.
They climbed the stairs quickly.
And then..Impact.
A shoulder slammed into Joey's chest.
Not hard enough to hurt.
Hard enough to assert dominance.
Joey lifted his head slowly.
The man in front of him had wheat-toned skin and eyes too sharp to belong to someone ordinary. His brows were slightly drawn together, not in anger—but in calculation.
Behind him stood a massive bald man whose presence felt like a wall.
"Watch it," Ryou snapped.
The bald man tilted his head slightly. "Your friend should apologize… little one."
Ryou stepped forward instantly. "Who are you calling little, bald"
Joey's arm blocked him.
"It was mutual," Joey said calmly.
The wheat-skinned man studied him.
Not his face.
Not his clothes.
Him.
Something passed between them. Something invisible.
After a moment, the stranger's lips curved faintly.
"Interesting," he murmured.
Joey didn't respond.
He walked past him.
Behind them, the bald man frowned. "What was that?"
The man's eyes remained fixed on Joey's back.
"I felt it."
"Felt what, Zain?"
A pause.
"Death."
The word landed softly.
"He's surrounded by it."
Zain smiled.
"But it doesn't belong to him."
The waiting hall was packed.
Nearly a hundred applicants.
Some nervous. Some arrogant. Some pretending not to be afraid.
Joey scanned the room once.
He felt it too now.
Not death.
Pressure.
Like the air itself was watching.
Ryou leaned closer. "This doesn't feel like a police recruitment."
"No," Joey replied quietly.
"It doesn't."
The doors opened again.
This time, silence followed.
A woman entered first.
Long dark hair. Expensive coat. Sunglasses shielding unreadable eyes.
Confidence radiated from her like a weapon.
Behind her walked a man in a brown leather jacket composed, unreadable.
People moved without being told to.
She removed her sunglasses slowly.
Dark green eyes meet Zain's.
"You ignored my calls."
Zain leaned back in his chair lazily, one ankle resting over his knee.
"If you stand there, I can't see."
Her jaw tightened slightly.
"You think this is amusing?"
"I think," he replied smoothly, "you worry too much."
Ben crossed his arms loudly. "Look at them. Farmers. Villagers. They think they can protect the capital?"
His voice carried across the room.
A few heads turned.
Aran finally spoke.
Calm.
Measured.
Dangerous.
"First," he said without looking at Ben, "it's Commander Bai."
The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
"And second… not everyone here will survive."
Silence.
Not dramatic silence.
Heavy silence.
The kind that presses against your ribs.
Ryou swallowed. "Did he just say survive?"
Joey's eyes never left the far end of the hall.
The large double doors at the front.
They hadn't opened yet.
But something was behind them.
Waiting.
And for the first time that morning
Joey felt something watching him back.
The sound of the lock echoed longer than it should have.
For a moment, no one moved.
Then the lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
And stabilized.
The room was vast far larger than it had appeared from the outside. A single, impossibly long table stretched across the center of the hall, covered in white silk that shimmered faintly under the chandelier's dim golden light.
Silver plates. Crystal glasses. Steam rising from dishes that smelled… rich.
Too rich.
The air itself felt heavy.
"Wow… they weren't kidding about the feast," Ryou muttered, attempting a laugh.
No one laughed back.
Joey's eyes scanned the walls.
No windows.
No visible exits.
And the door they had entered from gone.
In its place stood a seamless wall of dark stone.
"…You've got to be kidding me," Zain whispered.
At the head of the table stood an empty chair—taller than the others. Carved from black wood, its surface etched with symbols that seemed to shift if stared at too long.
Alicia stepped closer to one of the plates.
The food looked perfect.
Roasted meat glazed in a deep crimson sauce. Fresh bread still warm. Fruit polished to unnatural shine.
Too perfect.
"Don't," Zain said quietly.
She paused.
"what?" she asked.
Zain didn't answer immediately.
Because the steam rising from the food wasn't rising upward.
It was curling sideways.
As if drawn toward something unseen at the center of the table.
Suddenly...
A low hum filled the room.
Deep.
Vibrating.
Not from the walls.
From beneath the floor.
Several candidates stood abruptly.
"What is that sound?!"
The chandelier flickered again.
And this time—
The shadows beneath the table did not move with the light.
They moved on their own.
Slowly stretching.
Crawling.
Like ink spilled across stone.
A man near the middle of the table laughed nervously. "Okay… this is part of the test, right? Some kind of psychological evaluation?"
No one answered.
The hum grew louder.
The empty chair at the head of the table creaked.
Without anyone touching it.
It pulled back slightly.
As if inviting someone to sit.
Ben finally stepped forward from the back.
"…It's starting," Zain said quietly.
Joey's eyes snapped toward him.
The plates trembled.
Every single dish on the table began to darken.
The crimson glaze turned black.
The bread hardened, cracking like old bone.
The fruit split open
And inside there was no flesh.
Only ash.
A scream tore through the hall.
The shadows rose from beneath the table like living smoke.
And then...
A voice echoed from everywhere at once.
Not loud.
But impossibly clear.
"Welcome… to the Test."