Before everyone left to find the robots, Seong said, “We'll first meet back. After we get the other seven robots here, and no one gets two, just let it go. It will cause problems for the rest of the group.”
Everyone agreed and left. Seong didn’t find a robot instantly, but he did find one in 30 minutes, which wasn’t that bad, in his opinion, for the previous four hours he had been looking for one. He headed back and saw Alejandro, Amelie, and Jin Ae waiting.
“You're fast,” Seong said.
Amelie replied, “Not so bad yourself.”
They waited until the rest of them came back.
“We wait until Amelie keeps her robot on the pressure plate because her pressure plate is the furthest from here. When we hear the footsteps, all of us keep the robots on the pressure plate. After you place the robot on the pressure plate, meet back here,” Jin Ae said after all of them made it back.
All of them followed Jin Ae's orders, went to her pressure plates, and waited patiently for the sound of footsteps to come, hoping to finally exit the maze.
After twenty minutes, Seong finally heard the sound of footsteps and placed the robot on the pressure plate. There was no immediate change, but after Seong let go of the robot, it didn’t run away like before; it just stayed still.
“It seems to have worked,” Seong said after witnessing the robot remaining stationary.
Seong headed back and saw Jin Ae there. “It worked,” Seong said.
“We don’t know yet; there could be something else,” Jin Ae cautioned.
Seong replied, “Yeah, maybe you're right, but you should be a bit optimistic.”
“No,” Jin Ae said.
Seong understood that something was holding her back, preventing her from showing her true emotions, or perhaps it was a form of self-punishment. He chose not to pry; after all, it wasn't his business.
“It worked!” Eun-Jeoung yelled out from behind.
“Yeah,” Seong said. After everyone returned, Amelie suggested, “Let's eat and then search the maze together to see if anything is different.”
They agreed, had their meal, and started searching the maze again. Before long, they stumbled upon a massive opening in the maze that hadn't been there before. The stone on the walls looked unstable like it could collapse in at any moment, but with no alternative, they cautiously proceeded. It wasn't the most perilous thing they had done in this maze, so they pressed on through the extensive tunnel. Unlike the previous ones, this tunnel was long, taking them a whole three days to reach its end.
“Hey, is there something there, or am I seeing things?” Eun-Jeoung asked.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Amelie responded, “Nope, there is something there.”
They all rushed to a white room with gold outlines. As soon as they entered, the tunnel closed behind them. The room contained eight doors, and in front of them was a tablet measuring 1 meter in width and 2 meters in length, with a play button on it. Seong went and clicked it. The room filled with a voice.
“Welcome to the final stage of the maze. Congratulations on reaching this point. However, to complete this maze, you will have to undertake the last task, and the challenges you've faced so far will pale in comparison to what lies ahead.”
“The rules of the final task are simple. There are eight doors, and each person must enter a door to solve the puzzle individually. Since there are only seven of you, one person will need to tackle two doors. You must go in order, and each door has a time limit. Failure to solve the puzzle within the time limit results in a failure. If one person fails, the next doors cannot be activated and will fail automatically. Here's a piece of advice: the doors increase in difficulty, so don’t assume they are all equal. I wish you the best of luck. Actually, I don’t wish you luck. Bye,” the mysterious voice explained.
“Oh, wait, I forgot to mention that this decides how many points you get based on how many doors you solve. Bye!” the mysterious voice added before ending the message.
Amelie questioned, “Should we go for the safe method to gain as many points as possible or risk it and try to solve the maze?”
“I say we should go for a safe approach and accumulate as many points as we can,” Eun-Jeoung suggested.
Jin Ae disagreed, “I say we risk it. We have the best odds in the entire year level. If we don’t do it, then who will?”
“Just make a vote; why argue about it? Raise your hand if you want to risk it,” Alejandro suggested.
Jin Ae, Amelie, and Alejandro raised their hands, while Ara, Seong, Minjun, and Eun-Jeoung didn’t.
Seong said, “Fuck it; let's risk it.”
Ara asked, “So what's going to be the order?”
Jin Ae replied, “First Eun-Jeoung, second Alejandro, third Minjun, fourth Ara, fifth Amelie, sixth me or Seong, and seventh and eighth me or Seong.”
Amelie inquired, “How are you going to decide it?”
Jin Ae replied, “I don’t know.”
“Let's not make this hard; let's just do rock-paper-scissors,” Seong suggested.
Amelie, shocked, asked, “Did you just say rock-paper-scissors, a game of luck, to decide a crucial part of this assignment?”
“Yeah, why spend time figuring out who is smarter when we're both capable? It's better to leave it to luck,” Seong explained.
Jin Ae said, “Okay, let's do it.”
Seong declared, “Rock-paper-scissors, shoot.” Jin Ae revealed her move on scissors while Seong revealed his on shoot.
“You cheated,” Jin Ae accused.
Seong retorted, “You're supposed to keep it out on shoot.”
“You should have told me that,” Jin Ae defended.
Seong said, “I thought you knew; okay, let's redo it.”
“Rock-paper-scissors, shoot,” Seong announced, and they both revealed their moves simultaneously—Seong kept scissors, and Jin Ae kept paper.
“I won,” Seong declared.
Jin Ae replied, “Best out of three.”
“When did we decide that?” Seong asked.
Jin Ae said, “Just now.”
"Okay, if you say so," Seong said, "Rock, paper, scissors, shoot." Seong stuck with rock, while Jin Ae opted for paper, winning the second round.
"Guess it's up to the last game," Seong mused, "Rock, paper, scissors, shoot." This time, Seong went for paper, but Jin Ae chose scissors.
"I won," Jin Ae declared, a smile gracing her face. "Guess she can smile," Seong thought while observing her expression. "You did, so guess I’ll will go to door 6," he stated.
"Yep," Jin Ae replied.
"Are you sure about this?" Eun-Jeoung inquired, hoping to gauge whether they might change their minds.
Jin Ae reassured, saying, "If you don't solve it, fine. It was our decision together, so don't worry about it. Just focus on doing your best."
"Okay," Eun-Jeoung responded, with a hint of nervousness evident in her voice.
"Alright, let's go in," Alejandro suggested. Amelie interjected, "Wait, we have to distribute the food. We won't be together for the rest of the assignment, so let's do it." They divided the food equally and stood in front of the door, entering simultaneously.