Assessment

A car stopped in front of a three-star hotel. Twelve people get down one after another, each holding bags and suitcases.

"This is the only hotel in town. For the next five days, this will be our place of stay." A man wearing a black t-shirt with the name of some travel agency printed on it began to introduce as he led them to walk into the hotel, appearing to be the group's tour guide.

The eleven candidates arrived in their respective characters at this time.

Kai adjusted to the previous discomfort and immediately realized the changes in his body. Bowing his head to look, he saw two mounds on his chest. Looking further down, a small skirt flutters slightly with his movement.

It seems his character was a woman.

This knowledge made him disoriented for a while. That damn last-minute change in the mode came without warning. Now, the original average difficulty of the assessment had evolved into super hard! How frustrating.

The tour guide continued to talk in front. "Everyone will have a room for themselves except for married couples and families according to the lottery we made. Now, please take your room cards after I call your name."

As he finished his words, the floating transparent screen appeared in front of the candidates again, the specifics of everyone's role written on it.

Kai composed himself and looked at his character's profile.

His character was a female graduating high school student named Charlie. Charlie is smart and came from a well-off family. She is a well-known figure in their school.

She is originally born in Wallux Town but due to her father's business, her whole family had to move to the city when she was five.

A few months ago, she came back to visit the town for the first time in twelve years.

Their trip this time was due to her boyfriend, Stephan, winning a trip for two from a raffle of a well-known travel agency. After learning about it, her best friend Meghan and Stephan's friend, Jester came along, paying for the extra fee themselves and then requesting to be added to the group.

The last page had the profiles of the three along with some other NPCs.

Andrew, the tour guide, called everyone's names one after another.

Due to the unexpected change in the mode, everyone moved rather stiffly and unnaturally. Some even looked to be in a daze.

Kai received his room card and a prompt appeared on his screen that remained in his line of sight.

[ Ask your friends' room number. ]

Following that, a five-second timer appeared in the lower part of the screen, counting down.

As Kai was about to move, a man's loud voice entered his ears first.

"What the f*ck is this prompt sh*t? Aren't we supposed to move free—ahh!!"

The man finished his curses with an ear-piercing scream, filling the lobby.

Kai turned his head and saw Jester— no, this was definitely Norton. Who else would be dumb enough to voice out their thoughts in the actor mode like this? It seems he just got over his discomfort and didn't even see the last-minute change in the setting.

Right after he finished his thought, a ding sounded and another prompt appeared in the corner of his screen. The prompt was in green, unlike the first which was in blue.

[ Congratulations. You have successfully cleared the sub-task, find the actor playing the character, Jester. ]

[ Time Taken: 34 seconds ]

[ Task Difficulty: C ]

Kai was surprised. To think he would clear his sub-task just like that.

[ You have made a new record. ]

[ It is suggested you do the additional task— find the identity of the actors playing the characters. ]

[ Do you wish to accept? ]

Kai recalled the information from earlier seeing the last prompt and found that the candidates' profiles were already blurred. He hesitated.

Not everyone is like Norton who can so easily reveal himself with one sentence.

He had only briefly scanned the profiles of the other candidates earlier thinking it was of no importance and can be recalled anytime.

He was only able to barely remember all their names by relying on their clothes, their seating arrangement in the waiting room, and their state.

The clothes can at least help him identify the other candidates' jobs but it's not like he can use their seating arrangement and state and match it with the characters. The characters are all in a different state from the candidates after all.

Unless people's state when they died were deeply embedded in their souls causing them to act almost the same even when in a different body, this information wouldn't do much aside from giving him some clue— ah!

Kai suddenly recalled what Chloe said about how the moment of a person's death is an event that leaves a deep impression on their soul and is shown through their ghost form.

Can this mean souls like them would still subconsciously act according to their original state even when possessing an entirely different body?

Will the experience of their death even make them feel fear towards what caused it?

Kai had died after being hit on the head by a flower pot while walking on the street on the way home, causing his ghost form to have blood dripping on his forehead.

Now that he thought of it when he walked on the empty street of Hell City, he would always subconsciously look up to check if his path was safe. This should be constituted to his death.

Then, if this is the case, he should probably be able to identify the other characters' actors?

Kai was uncertain and was still hesitating. At this time, a prompt entered his vision.

[ You now have an additional task— find the identity of the actors playing the characters. ]

[ Number of characters to be identified: 9 ]

[ Note: This is an additional task and would not affect your initial task clearance even if not cleared. ]

Kai stared blankly at these prompts. He felt like an idiot for feeling torn in the first place. Clearly, the prompt is just there to inform him and he doesn't really have the ability to choose!

Jester's blood-curdling scream lasted for ten seconds before it ended due to his passing out.

OOC warnings were accompanied by intense pain for thirty seconds to make the candidate learn. If the candidate received the OOC warning three times, they would be evicted.

This is one of what made the actor mode more difficult than others. They always have to be careful following the script and avoid acting out of character.

Of course, not acting out of character doesn't mean they had to perfectly portray their character at all times. They weren't professional actors— at least most aren't, not to mention portraying their character on point, they might not even be able to properly speak their lines.

Acting out of character was just speaking words not in the script, progressing into big actions without prompt, and not complying with the prompt within the time limit.

As long as they don't do any of the three, even if they speak with a monotone voice when the prompt told them to speak happily, they would be fine.

Still, acting appropriately according to character adds additional points from the assessor who was watching them so it's important not to do it half-heartedly. Not to mention there was a sub-task that ask the candidates to identify the character's actors.

The others were afraid of suffering the same result as Jester and hurriedly followed their prompt.

Kai was with Stephan and Meghan from the beginning so there was no need to look for them. The three approached Norton, not waiting for him to wake up before hurriedly exchanging their room numbers.

Seeing the room numbers in the other three's hands, Kai found out that he was actually separated from the bunch.

Stephan, Meghan, and Jester's rooms were all on the fourth floor, placed just next to each other while he was on the fifth floor.

A prompt came on Kai's screen, asking him to ask Andrew for a room swap. Without time to think, he hurriedly approached Andrew, unconsciously pinching his voice as he asked.

"Excuse me. Can I swap my room? I don't want to be separated from my friends."

Andrew had been observing the candidates since they entered the lobby. This is the first time in a while that he entered the assessment and act as an NPC. The last time he came, he was with someone. Now, although that someone was still here, he was already alone.

Hearing Charlie speak, Andrew turned to see a young woman with a blank face speaking in an extremely coquettish voice, looking extremely incongruous.

Andrew blanked out for a minute. Although he know that the candidates weren't professional actors and would act terribly on the first day, knowing who the person behind the young woman was and seeing him act like this, he couldn't help but want to laugh.

Forcing himself to show a normal smile, he politely responded.

"I'm sorry, I can't do that. The other rooms in the hotel were reserved by locals for the night."

Kai didn't notice anything strange from Andrew's smile and only felt confused. Locals? The residents of Wallux Town? Why would they stay at the hotel?

"Babe, what are you doing? It's just one floor. I can visit you anytime, don't bother anyone."

Charlie looked back and found Stephan who followed after her, feeling reluctant, "But—"

"No buts. Since Mr. Andrew said it's not possible then let's not force it. We're here to enjoy. Let's not bother with this trivial detail, ok?" With that, Stephan nodded to Andrew and drag Charlie to the elevator. Charlie still had a reluctant expression on her face.

Meghan was talking happily in the elevator by herself. It seems she's supposed to be talking to Jester who was still unconscious in the lobby.

Charlie joined the conversation as the elevator door closed, stating her envy for Meghan and the non-existent Jester, teasing them along the way.

"Isn't it great? You two can immediately see each other the moment you open your doors."

Meghan blushed at her teasing. "Hey, are you still trying to pair us up? I told you this guy is far from my type."

Charlie didn't believe her. "Oh, what is your type then?"

Meghan shot a quick glance to Stephan and shyly counted, "They should be tall, reliable, likes me, and would treat me well."

Charlie caught the quick glance but didn't think of anything. She continued to tease. "But wasn't Jester tall and reliable? He also likes you and treats you well."

Her words were followed by a strange silence that was supposedly Jester's reply.

The three waited for a few seconds before Stephan hurriedly interrupted Charlie who still want to continue her teasing. "Enough about that. We're here. You two go. I'll follow after I sent Charlie to her room."

With that, the elevator door closed, leaving only Charlie and Stephan.

The prompt told Kai to suggestively ask Stephan to come to Charlie's room, making him choke. Although he knew this was just an act, the thought of a possible prospect of doing it with others in a woman's body made him feel unwell.

Reading the prompt with gritted teeth, Kai tried hard to speak. "Are you coming to my room tonight?"

Stephan hesitated. He seemed to find it hard to talk as well. Finally, before the timer ended, he barely managed to utter. "Yes."

Kai didn't want to remember the words that followed after that.

Sending Charlie to his room, Stephan hurriedly left with the excuse of unpacking his luggage.

This made Kai breathe a sigh of relief. He never knew acting was so hard. Knowing that the other was in reality a guy doesn't help either and only made things awkward.

Of course, he's aware that spirits don't have gender. The idea instilled in his head when he was alive just made him still regard this as a fact.

Kai walked around the room, approaching the bed and throwing his luggage in. They have been sitting in the car for almost five hours and everyone wanted to take a short break before proceeding to their itinerary.

Andrew gave them half an hour— just enough time to unpack and move around.

Kai used this time to mull over his tasks while moving his hands to take out his things. His main task was to find the ghost. The question is how?

Although Kai can normally see ghosts, according to Mr. Rupert's words, the assessment will test their reasoning and logic. In other words 'finding the ghost' shouldn't just simply be locating the ghost.

It should be more like finding and connecting clues to determine the identity of the ghost which just fits perfectly with his sub-task of completing the plot.

Thinking of this, he pulled the main task with his thought.

[ You have not reached 50% of the plot yet and are not qualified to complete the task. ]

These words made Kai raise his eyebrows. There was actually something like this?

Recalling and reading the previous information he digested, he learned something like this indeed exists to prevent candidates from guessing blindly.

Fifty percent of the plot, huh?

Speaking of the plot, Kai was reminded. He should find out who else won the raffle other than Stephan. Since there was a task to complete the plot, everyone should be somewhat connected.

He remembered there were only five winners in the information shown on his screen. This means he had to find the other four among the seven people with them in two days.

Although it was mentioned that the time limit of the assessment was five days, in actuality, candidates had to finish their task before their character dies in the script.

The first night in the actor mode is always a safe night in consideration for those who were first on the death list.

After all, with how they were unable to move freely and their death even already decided, if they were to die on the first night, can they even collect enough information to pass the assessment?

The screen would give the candidates a prompt some time before their character dies to give them time to prepare and finish their task. However, none of them knows the time of their death, so it was necessary to collect as many clues as possible before then. The best time to clear the tasks was two days after the assessment.

As this thought crossed his head, a blue prompt flashed on his silent screen, followed by a knock. Kai got up to open the door and was greeted by Andrew.