Make Your Choice [1]

The ground was cold yet my skin burned as if I had been facing the sun for days. Even after I opened my eyes all I could see was darkness, my heart racing in response to the fear of the unknown that already awaited for me.

Where is this place?

As I raised myself, the first thing I did was to touch my chest as a desperate thought popped in my head. I let out a sigh, joy and relief spreading within my body as I felt my hard, flat chest.

Whatever had spoken to me before, it didn't mess up—that should count for something.

I tried to spread my arms, but I was met with walls surrounding me in every direction. If they were trying to scare or traumatize me, they quite missed their mark. I wasn't claustrophobic—they would've better odds trying to bury me alive. That shit would be terrifying. Which led me to another question; was there only me in that place? Wherever that place was.

[Please state your name.]

Oh, look at that. I was not alone anymore, that's touching. Maybe that thing was listening to me.

The purple glow that irradiated from the letters gave me a good notion of the space I was in; it was quite small. I could stand without problems, but it was quite constricting. Something was not really fond of me moving in the space, apparently. But I got to choose my name as well? As in, a brand new name? Well, that opened up some doors.

[Please state your name.]

"Yea, yea, I'm doing that." Those letters could actually be quite annoying. However, that was actually a golden opportunity—I hated my old name. Well, not all of it, but still I was quite happy. I was not sure if I was dreaming, if I had died or was just being punished by some strange being and to be honest, I didn't care. Whatever that was, it was giving me more freedom than I've had in my entire life.

[PLEASE STATE YOUR-]

"For crying out lou—Eun-Woo, Park Eun-Woo! Will you shut up now?" My new name appeared in front of me, even though I didn't have enough time to think of a new one. Still, Eun-Woo… It didn't sound bad, right? It had a nice ring to it, the more I said it in my head. For a rushed response, it could've been worse.

In that moment, a white screen appeared on one of the walls. It took almost ten seconds for the screen to change, a static noise echoing in that tiny space before texts started to pop up.

[You have been given a chance to start anew. A chance to be one of the hands that will shape a new World.]

Now, that was interesting.

[As of now, your Destiny shall be molded by you alone. If you wish to survive and see the new Creation, you must abide by the rules and survive each Trial given to you by the Benefactors. Your new life is not guaranteed, from this point forward the choices and actions made by you will define rather you are a deserver or not.]

I wanted to hit a pause button, have some time to process what I was reading. I was trying to force my mind to keep focus, gather all that information and find its logic, its reasoning. If that was a dream, I would've woken up by that point—I was no stranger to lucid dreams. Yet the more time passed, the more I realized that what was happening in front of me was real. Whatever those letters were, there had to be some force or being behind them. Like a system from a video game, an algorithm that determined who passed and who failed, a code that made sure the game ran as intended.

Ha… I had to be losing my mind. What, was I inside a novel or something? Those kinds of stories had always been popular in Korea, I had tons of friends that wouldn't shut up about them whenever a new chapter was released. But until yesterday I was surrounded by buildings, cars, civilization. I had no recollection of the past days, so how come I was stuck in a small cubicle answering to some floating letters? I didn't care what the explanation was: rebirth, magic portals, an apocalypse or aliens invasion—all I wanted was an answer.

[This is an evaluation to test your heart. To see what your Truth is and where your Soul leans toward to. Remember these words: There is no right answer.]

Great, who didn't love those kinds of evasive, interpretative questions on a super important quiz? Imagine how happy students would be if every time they started to answer a question it read 'there is no right answer'.

[You must abide by the following rules:]

1. You must make a choice

2. You will be evaluated by the morality and ethics of your choices

3. You only have 30 seconds to answer each question

4. If by the end of the evaluation you have not reached a minimum amount of points, you lose

5. New rules will be added on later stages

I took a deep breath, my head starting to hurt. I managed to read the rules a couple more times before the letters disappeared, my mind racing as it tried to guess and imagine what would appear next in the screen. I had a feeling that if I wished to protect my life as Park Eun-Woo, I had to choose right. I had to make the choices that would not only guarantee my future, but my new reality. The meaning of this new Creation and the shape of a new World, I would think about those later; they were not important right now. This test was not about that. If my current situation was truly like those fantasy novels, then I would probably have more opportunities to learn about those things at another time.

But damn, thirty seconds? This thing was only giving me half a minute to make choices that would basically dictate my future as Eun-Woo.

[New Self Park Eun-Woo, you shall be the sole bearer of the consequences created through your actions. Do you accept the rules?]

A shiver ran down my spine. "Yes, I accept."

The screen's glow intensified, a warmth spreading through my skin. Somewhere around my chest I could feel something binding me, as if I had just signed a contract with my heart and soul. I could hear bells and low whistles as the screen turned a dark purple for a few seconds before clearing again, letters appearing alongside a small clock on the top right corner. It was frozen at '00:30'.

[Stage 1#]

When the final texts filled the screen, I began to laugh. Because that was the only thing I could do apart from crying, the only thing I could do in order to try to keep the fear away. Suddenly, thirty seconds were less than ideal.

[A train is heading toward two tracks. On the right track are your sister Hana and your best friend Hyeon.]

It was then that I realized thirty seconds were not enough.

[On the left track there is a family with two small children.]

[Will you save the family?]

Not enough at all.