CHAPTER 40

The group left Hirayon, who then continued his sleep. This earned frowns from the audience, including Savio and his benefactor, who had spent so much money to bet on his candidate. They all think Hirayon is giving up and no longer cares about the game.

Because the audience who had given their votes to Hirayon was making a fuss, Tedie decided to pull their attention to another group of children to distract the audience. It didn't take long for their upset shouts to turn into cheers when they saw two groups of children fighting over a lump of black objects. They decided to make the game more interesting by having a group battle, and the winner takes it all.

Because of that, no one saw a shadow moving under Hirayon's bed. Paws stepped out, and the cat bent forward for a good stretch. It was the black cat. Hirayon felt its presence earlier while he was talking to OAR48.

He didn't know if it was because of his newly gained title, but Hirayon could somehow feel auras and presence aside from powerful oddities. It was still weak, and he could not feel it if it was far, but he could feel it when near him, like the ones inside the room. In addition, the cat strangely gives out a strong presence; that is why Hirayon immediately noticed when it suddenly appeared under the dusty bed. He could feel the cat's colossal presence full of dense black Aura.

Without opening his eyes, Hirayon sluggishly asked. "Are you Miti?"

Silence enveloped the room, but Hirayon patiently waited. After a minute, Hirayon sensed something climbing atop him. Its paws pressed softly to Hirayon until he felt most of its weight in his stomach.

"Meow."

Hirayon heard a soft meow, and when he opened his eyes, he was greeted by the gleaming green eyes of a feline. It was staring at his bluish-violet eyes as if looking intensely at his soul. He felt uncomfortable as he stared back at the hypnotizing cold eyes of the cat, so he avoided its gaze and looked at its deep black fur.

"Meow."

Without looking at its eyes, Hirayon asked Miti. "Are you hungry?"

"Meow."

As if he understood the cat, Hirayon spoke to Miti. "Sorry, but I don't have any food I could give you."

The cat stood up and turned his back to Hirayon. "Meow."

"Should we play instead?" Hirayon offered and sat on the bed. He watched the cat go back under the bed in the shadows, but it didn't take long to return with a bright green rubber ball in its mouth. Its size wasn't too big, just enough to fit the cat's mouth.

It dropped the ball before Hirayon, looked up at him, and gave out a rather loud meow. Its eyes were gleaming with excitement, ready to play.

"That seemed a happy meow. Alright."

Hirayon took the ball and threw it softly toward space without much rubble and mess. Before it landed, Miti had already caught it and ran back to Hirayon. Hirayon threw the ball again, but this time, he used his ability and enclosed the ball inside a water orb. With great control, Hirayon moved it to the left before Miti could catch it. He made the cat run for it until Miti started to gasp for air, breathing with its mouth open and tongue out, just like a dog after a good run.

"You okay?" Hirayon asked, awkwardly tapping the cat's head. He became more comfortable with the cat the more they played, but he still couldn't stare back at Miti's green orbs for a long time. Something in it makes Hirayon nervous, and he could feel emotions he couldn't describe.

"Meow," the cat answered as if the two were talking.

Hirayon's tapping eventually turned to petting. He was enjoying the cat's soft fur when he remembered something. "Why did you steal their things, Miti?"

The cat pushed its head on Hirayon's hand more and meowed adorably. It was like a kid who uses their cuteness to escape scolding.

"You should not do that. Stealing is bad," Hirayon said in a gentle tone.

The cat meowed again and cuddled up more in Hirayon's hand. It was extremely pleased to feel Hirayon's warm and gentle petting.

"I wonder if the myth is real. I don't know what happened to your town, but I think you were left alone here."

'You must've been sad. I hope my interpretation of the poem was different from what actually happened.'

Hirayon couldn't understand, but he felt empathy for the cat. Even though it was only created as part of the game, Miti felt so real, especially how it would look in Hirayon's eyes. Miti also has a dark presence, which is a mystery to the child.

There is a chance it was because Miti was the black myth they needed to hold at the end of the game, but it bothers Hirayon that the cat has such aura.

Hirayon checked the time and saw only a few minutes remaining. He decided to spend it with the cat by playing catch. When the time was almost up, Hirayon brushed the cat's head.

"Hope you had fun."

The cat looked up at him and gave the child an elated meow, bidding him goodbye.

The surroundings slowly disappeared until Hirayon found himself in the white arena with the other children. Miti was also gone, and Tedie could be seen standing on the platform with a floating microphone in front of him. He was smirking with his canines with another pleased but scary expression.

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"Congratulations, everyone. It's a good thing no one was severely injured this time. Before I show the results of the game and who is the winner. I would like to read you guys a poem that some of you might be familiar with."

"There once was a cat named Miti.

Miti was smart, playful, and witty.

She can't smell,

But she rings a bell.

As a talented cat, Miti can play, dance, and act.

She has a family, four and three,

Miti was full of love for eternity.

She would count, two and one,

Play snatch for fun.

When darkness fell, there she waited to play again."

Tedie scanned the children, who had apparent confusion on their faces. Only a few showed no surprise, including Hirayon and the group where he had shared the story.

"This is where this game, The Black Myth, was based," Tedie started, and a ruined village was shown in a hologram above. It looked highly similar to where the children had the game, but there were a few differences here and there. In the picture, the buildings are covered with a slimy dark substance, which the children had not seen in the makeshift village.

"A thousand years ago, there was a village that was now in shadow territory. It was a prosperous and peaceful village that was massacred by a deadly virus with no cure. Until now, it is unknown what virus it was, but it quickly spread by inhaling it. People died. All of them, and Miti, the black cat, was the only one who miraculously survived."

The picture changed into a black cat with gleaming green eyes. "As an intelligent cat, it knew that the people had died. But it continued to stay in the village, roaming the streets and waiting in the darkness. It never left the village and was killed with it in time," Tedie finished with a deeper tone to sound dark and heartbreaking, which fits the unfortunate end of the story.

His slightly sullen eyes changed, and he was immediately back to an excited Bearman in a suit. "And with this, it must be obvious what the black subject was. Its Miti. So the one touching the cat at the end of this game is...."

The whole arena got quiet, and the lights turned off. The next second, a spotlight lit, revealing an indifferent Hirayon with tired eyes.

"Him again?!" A child commented with surprise and frustration.

"Isn't he cheating?! How come he won again?" A little girl shouted and pointed at Hirayon.

This ignited the children's frustrations, and they started to speak one after another. All of which were displeased rants and complaints toward Hirayon and Tedie.

"That's unfair!"

"Yeah! How come he's always the winner?!"

"Did he know about the story? You shared it with him, didn't you?" A child speculates and doubts the host, who should be impartial.

That comment spread more doubts until Tedie became the focus of the children's rage.

"Quiet!" Tedie roared, and the children got silent with wary and fear in their eyes. Some even looked away to avoid Tedie's beastly eyes that seemed like baring holes into them when mad.

Tedie strictly looked at everyone before he smiled. His expression was gentle but still strict, looking like an intimidating teacher who wouldn't accept any more complaints.

"OWS59 might have succeeded in touching the black subject, but there is a hidden rule. Before the game started, you were allotted points. And these points are slowly being deducted depending on your actions. These actions are your thinking, strategy, collaboration, and more," Tedie explained.

"As you aspire to be one of the strongest oddities in the world, it is only natural that you, children, know how to work in groups. Thus, the scoring system for The Black Myth was based on how you performed in this game, which has no clear goal or task. Does everyone understand?" Tedie explained and scanned the crowd of children to see if anyone had questions.

When none raised their hand, Tedie cleared his throat and looked at the children with sharp eyes. "Before I show the final results, I want every player to realize that some games have twists and hidden rules like this. And I, including the whole Familia, have always been fair and had no favorites in this game," He said coldly with a strict demeanor.

He wanted to make the children realize that cheating or using underhanded tricks is impossible in the White Arena Torneo. After all, the children's lives and freedom are not the only ones at stake. This is also a competition between Familia members to win the position of Governor and rule the whole Familia.

Tedie's eyes showed a stern glint. "If you lost, that's because you're weak. Blame yourselves," he said indifferently, bringing some children to grit their teeth.

Although the players know that what Tedie said is correct, they can't accept it, especially those who grew up in a pampered environment. Their pride couldn't bear the notion that they had lost because they were weak, and it was pointed out right on their faces.

"Now that we're done with that, here are the winners for this game."

A massive hologram behind Tedie showed the rank, names, and final points.

1 OAR48 - 91

2 ODE152 - 90

3 OWS59 - 89

4 OID76 - 87

5 OEL51 - 83

6 OSZ61 - 82

7 OIZ54 - 80

8 OST87 - 77

9 OMA38 - 76

10 OPE94 - 74

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"Everyone started with 100 points. In this game, your points were deducted, and the only chance for you to gain points was to touch the black subject at the end of the game. That is why even though OWS59 Initially had 39 points because all he did was sleep, he received 50 points for touching the black cat and basically because he was lucky," Tedie explained and even revealed that Hirayon did nothing noteworthy in the game but still managed to be in the third rank because of his luck.

"He slept, but he still ended up with 39 points? Why do I only have 30 points remaining when I searched so many buildings and worked harder than him?" a brave child voiced her concern.

After Tedie's scolding, no one dared to speak up and question the result. The little girl didn't want to anger the host as well, but the unfairness she had felt overcame her fear.

Tedie nodded and showed a clip of Hirayon talking with the other three who woke him up. "It is because he had shared what he knew to these three. And what he had shared was valuable information that could have helped the three of them to win."

The clip changed and played a video of the girl who voiced her complaint. In the video, she was searching for a black object in a room when a little boy entered. The boy offered to team up, but she angrily declined. When the boy tried to search the next room beside the room where the girl was, she got furious and pushed the boy outside the broken house, angrily slamming the door in front of the boy.

Tedie looked at the little girl, red with humiliation. She was biting her lower lip, which could bleed anytime. Her eyes were pooled with unshed tears, but her gaze furiously looked back at Tedie's black orbs.

"That was the mildest act you did in the game that cost you three deduction points," Tedie said, giving the little girl a wry smile. He didn't care that the girl felt humiliated but instead used her as a lesson for other children.

Looking at other children, Tedie reminded. "We have cameras everywhere. All your actions in the game are recorded, and anyone in the audience, even you, can watch it. So feel free to check what cost you points. We will also send the breakdown of points."

Tedie smirked and watched each and every player's reaction. Some showed fear, concern, and anger. But what caught his attention were the two children who showed indifference. In his years of hosting experience, he knew the expressionless ones were the smartest. They don't easily show what they think and prefer to act independently and do the unexpected. They are the most witty of them all and also the most troublesome.

"We see everything."

R E H I L I Y A