CHAPTER 24 — The Maze of Masks
"HDVH — Heart of Devil, Voice of Human."
The hallway was dim, the cracked tiles beneath them cold against their legs. Shadows stretched across the walls, the silence pressing heavier than the walls themselves. The third game lingered over them like a phantom, each breath laced with the dread of what tomorrow might bring.
Shun sat with his back against the wall, his eyes fixed on the floor as though he were staring into another world. When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet, but sharp enough to slice the silence.
"My parents… they filed a police complaint after I vanished," he said. "I was their only child."
No one moved. No one dared to interrupt.
"The police tried. For months. But they never found a clue. Because where I was taken… didn't exist on any map." His jaw clenched, his hands trembling slightly against his knees. "They didn't just kidnap us. They recruited us. Into something that called itself… a school."
---
The White Facility
The memory clawed back into his mind. Sterile white walls. Endless hallways where each turn led only to more of the same. Children stood in rows, all dressed in black uniforms, a number stitched into their backs. His had been somewhere near four hundred.
Fluorescent lights buzzed above as the children were herded into a training room. On the tables in front of them lay disassembled pistols, metal parts gleaming coldly.
"There was a class," Shun said, his voice drifting between memory and confession. "Gun training. They taught us to shoot. To reload. To kill."
Guards barked orders.
Pick it up. Aim. Fire.
Clicks. Bangs. The sound of children learning death.
Then, one boy broke. Eleven years old at most, face pale and wild with desperation. He seized the pistol in trembling hands and turned it on a guard.
The shot rang out.
The bullet vanished midair. Dissolved, as though it had never existed.
"They were ready for that," Shun said. "Every gun was modified. If it detected aim at a guard—it shut down. Safety protocol. No escape."
The boy's weapon clattered to the floor, useless. Guards seized him instantly. No warnings. No mercy. He was dragged into the place they all feared.
The White Room.
---
Punishment
They were forced to watch.
The boy was strapped to a glowing wall, limbs spread wide. From the surface extended mechanical arms tipped with knives, gleaming silver. His cries echoed through the sterile room as the blades pierced his arms, his legs.
"They didn't kill him," Shun's voice broke faintly. "They left him alive. Just enough. Like they knew exactly how far a body could bend before breaking."
Blood stained the floor, bright against the perfect white. The boy screamed until his voice gave out. When the knives finally retracted, his body sagged, broken, before he was dragged away.
Days later, he returned. His eyes were empty. His lips curled in a smile that didn't belong to him.
---
The Man in White
But the worst memory was not of the knives.
It was of the man.
A room filled with screens, dozens of them, each one showing a classroom, a hallway, a punishment. On a pristine white sofa sat a figure in a matching white suit. His face seemed human—but his smile never moved. It was carved into him, eternal.
In his hand, a silver pistol spun lazily.
A knock.
A guard entered, trembling.
"Boss," the guard muttered. "The boy who fired at us… requesting permission to terminate."
The man in white stood slowly. His pistol stopped spinning.
The shot came swift. The bullet tore through the guard's shoulder.
"You disappoint me," the Boss said, voice smooth and calm, even as the guard writhed on the floor. "That was a child. A valuable asset."
He stepped closer, his smile unchanging.
"You don't kill children over mistakes. You train them. Break them. Rebuild them."
Leaning close, his voice dropped to a whisper.
"Repeat the code."
The guard gasped through his pain.
"HDVH… Heart of Devil, Voice of Human…"
"Good." The man turned back to his screens. "Now get out."
---
The Present
Shun's voice pulled the others back from his memory.
"That's what I came from," he said, his tone cracking like glass under pressure. "That was the maze they built for us. Endless rules. Endless fear."
The group sat in silence. Mei's eyes shone with unshed tears, though she didn't let them fall. Ren's usual calm had shattered into something grim. Aoi's fists tightened against her knees.
Tatsuya leaned forward, gaze steady. "They made you a weapon."
Shun didn't answer. He didn't need to. The silence around him screamed enough.
---
END OF CHAPTER 24 — The Maze of Masks
The deeper the secrets, the colder the air becomes.
The third game is coming.
But this time… the game doesn't want players.
It wants survivors to suffer.
NEXT: CHAPTER 25 — The Death Game Begins
Who dies next?