After the twenty minutes elapsed, those without groups were assigned to one and instructed to retrieve their luggage near the buses. Students gathered their belongings and returned to the man in the black suit.

"Each group will enter one of the 15 sections, competing against other group. If the other group completes the maze before your group does, your group is disqualified. Best of luck, head to your designated section," the man stated

The students dispersed to their respective sections. In Seong's section, they found a straight stone hallway covered in moss. After a 15-minute walk, they reached a tented area.

Hwan commented, "I think we're supposed to sleep here."

"Yeah, we are," Jin Ae said.

Ara inquired, "What about food?"

Alejandro pointed, "There's a storage container over there." Seong and Minjun walked over, opening it to find 128 cans of beans and 64 packs of jerky.

Hwan remarked, "That's a lot of food."

"It seems like a lot, but considering we're staying for two weeks with eight of us, if we equally distribute, it's 16 cans of beans and 8 packs of jerky per person. We have to conserve our food if we don't want to starve for the last few days," Jin Ae explained.

Eun-Jeoung thought, 'Seong was right about the food. Why did I doubt him?' Seong opened his bag to check if the food was still there. "It's gone," he said.

Amelie asked, "What's gone?"

"I thought they would give us the bare minimum food, so I brought some extra in my bag, but they seem to have taken it out," Seong explained.

Jin Ae said, "They said they would only allow necessities."

"It didn't hurt to try," Seong replied.

Alejandro suggested, "I say we designate someone to be in charge of food supplies."

"Who do you suggest?" Minjun asked.

Alejandro said, "Jin Ae seems to be the best at math."

"I don't want to do it," Jin Ae rejected his suggestion.

Amelie said, "I'll do it."

"I suggest we take the sleeping bags and keep moving. This constant back-and-forth into the maze is just a waste of time. Let's keep progressing and not fall into the trap of coming back here repeatedly," Minjun suggested.

Everyone agreed and started stowing sleeping bags in their bags.

"What about the storage container?" Hwan asked.

Alejandro suggested, "Two people can carry it and switch every hour."

Hwan and Alejandro took the first shift carrying it, and the group proceeded further into the maze.

They walked for half an hour straight. "Is there anything even here?" Eun-Jeoung yelled.

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Another hour passed. "I think we are walking in a loop,"

Seong said. Jin Ae chimed in, "I agree."

"How?" Eun-Jeoung asked.

Jin Ae pointed out, "Because this leaf was there before in the exact same position."

"You remembered that?" Ara asked, shocked.

Jin Ae replied casually, "Yeah."

"What about you, Seong? Why do you think we are walking in a loop?" Alejandro asked.

Seong explained, "Because we have been taking the same seven turns for the past two hours."

"This is what two ten grades get you," Amelie said. "Now the question is, do you know why we are walking in a loop or how to get out of this loop?"

Minjun responded, "There isn't another way to go."

Eun-Jeoung suggested, "Maybe there is a moving wall or hidden door, like in those movies."

"That's a possibility," Jin Ae said, "but before we start searching for a way to escape this loop, let's first confirm that we are indeed going in a loop."

Hwan asked, "How are we supposed to do that?"

"Half of us go forward, while the other half goes backward," Jin Ae explained.

"Okay," Hwan said, and the group split into two groups of four, going their separate ways. In 20 minutes, they had met each other again. "Guess we were right," Seong said.

Minjun asked, "Does anyone have any idea why I didn't see another route to go through even this time?"

"Maybe Eun-Jeoung is right," Seong suggested.

Jin Ae said, "There are only two possibilities that could happen: either Eun-Jeong is right, or there is tunnel we missed. We should start searching this maze alone, and we shall meet back every two hours to check in and discuss what we have found."

"Okay, what about the food? Where should we keep that?" Ara asked.

Seong suggested, "Let's just leave that here. We've checked this maze four times; there are no animals that will eat the food, so it should be fine."

They left the food and started to search the maze. Nobody could find anything. "Are you sure there are no other possibilities?" Amelie asked.

Jin Ae replied, "I don't know; I can't think of any other."

"I think we should call it a night and resume the search in the morning," Seong suggested.

Everyone agreed, got into their sleeping bags, and went to sleep. In the middle of the night, Seong woke up and noticed that Minjun wasn't in his sleeping bag. Concerned, he decided to look for him in the maze.

At this time, the maze was completely pitch black, and outlines were barely visible. 'Where could he have gone at this time?' Seong thought to himself, continuing to walk for another 20 minutes.

He began feeling like someone was behind him. When he turned around, there was nothing, but the darkness made it challenging to see far. A sense of unease crept in, and Seong pondered, 'They wouldn't keep something else in the maze, would they? Minjun is probably back; I should head back.'

Seong turned back, retracing his steps, but doubt crept in. 'Did I come this way, or was it the other?' He pressed on, relying on the loop to lead him back to the group. However, after 10 minutes, he didn't reach them. In the dark, he collided with a person.

"Ahh! Ahh!" Seong yelled.

"Calm down, Seong. It's me, Minjun," Minjun said.

Seong exclaimed, "Why are you here?"

"Because I couldn't get any sleep, so I thought I would see if anything changed at night. What about you? Why are you here?" Minjun asked.

Seong replied, "I was looking for you. Did you at least find anything?"

"Not yet," Minjun said.

Seong suggested, "Then let's search together."

"Why? You can go back to sleep," Minjun said.

Seong replied, "How will I go to sleep after you have a heart attack?"

"You know you scream like a girl," Minjun teased.

Seong retorted, "Shut up."

both of them searched for a till the sun came out with no discovery. "Seems like that was a waste of time," Minjun concluded.

Seong replied, "It didn't, but we wanted to make sure."

"Yeah, just exploring our options," Minjun added.

They rejoined the group, and Amelie asked, "Where have you two been?"

"We were checking if anything about the maze changes at night," Minjun explained.

Jin Ae asked, "Did it?"

Hwan asked, "How are we supposed to heat up the food?"

"We can't," Ara said.

Hwan said, "So we are supposed to eat it cold."

"Yep," Ara replied.

Hwan said, "Do they think we are cavemen who don't know how to use fire?"

"You won't get anywhere if you argue; we just have to handle it and solve this assignment as fast as possible," Seong said.

Amelie opened three cans and said, "We can eat three cans; eat a spoonful and then pass on ."

"Aren't three cans for eight people quite low?" Alejandro complained.

Amelie said, "If we want to eat three meals a day, then you've got to live with it."

Everyone took a few spoons and passed it on; this method continued until all three cans were empty. Hwan and Alejandro seemed visibly still hungry, but none of them could do anything.

The second day of the maze began.