Chapter - V

"The steps of this test are very simple." The blonde-haired man continued to speak, after receiving a nod of acknowledgement from the three Regulars standing in front of him. "Do you see the doors behind me? Within ten minutes you have to find the correct door and exit."

"That's all?" Baran inquired. Was he just asking to pick them any door at random and leave things up to fate? That's how he interpreted the test criteria.

"Yes. Isn't it very simple?" Han Sung responded with a practiced smile on his face. "There are twelve doors here and al you have to do is find the correct door and exit. If you manage to find the correct door, you all pass."

"However..." His expressions slightly changed. He narrowed his eyes and gazed intently at the three standing in front of him. "If you do not find the door in ten minutes and give up, you fail and if you pick up the wrong door.....then all of you will die."

The die had been cast. Having said what was needed to be said, Yu Han Sung went back to sipping his coffee, keeping an eye on the three Regulars and how they would react to this situation.

There are many such situations that arise in a person's life where they have to make decisions with less ground to base it on. The decisions at that particular point of time is made purely through the heart and not the mind in most cases. Especially when there is a time constraint and one wrong choice will lead to certain doom.

It is then when a person's true nature is revealed.

"Any bright ideas?" Androssi asked her teammates. They weren't going to get anymore answers from the examiner anyway so it was up to these three to figure out how to get out from this mess of a test.

"There is one but before that..." Baran give an affirmative nod before walking up to Han Sung. The latter simply raised an eyebrow seeing the gray-haired Regular making his way to him. "....Can I try this out?"

"Huh?'

The last thing Yu Han Sung expected was someone requesting to try out his coffee rather than focusing on the test. He tried to read Baran's expression and attempted guessing what he was thinking. Many other Regulars that came before their team freaked out or straightaway panicked in hopelessness having no clues presented to them and the time constraint was the biggest factor.

But here this person carried himself with a calm and composed demeanor. This kind of behavior was mostly shown by people who are confident of their success. He was visibly taken aback with how carefree and composed Baran acted even when he mentioned that they all are going to die if they pick the wrong door and there is the risk of elimination if they aren't able to pick the correct door in given time.

"....Sure.." Regaining his composure, Han Sung took out a spare disposable cup from below the desk and poured the beverage in it before handing it out to the Regular.

'What the hell?! He wants to try out some stupid coffee!!?' Androssi was glaring at her teammate as if he had grown a second head. Weren't they supposed to focus on the test? What's with him trying out coffee?!

'Humans do really make some good stuff..' Taking just one sip from the cup, Baran instantly took a liking to the beverage called coffee. It was his first time trying it and it definitely didn't disappoint. It is much different from the drinks served in the Demon Castle and he would rather abandon those drinks in favor of coffee.

"This is actually good. Mind handing over the recipe?" Baran looked down at the blonde examiner who was once again taken aback by the strange request.

Still he complied to it nonetheless and quickly jotted down the recipe in a piece of paper before handing it out to Baran. "There you go.."

The golden-eyed teen gave a quick read through the things written down on the paper. This served him two purposes at the same time. First, that he is able to understand not only the spoken language but also the written parts as well and secondly he got what he wanted, the coffee recipe.

Give a nod of acknowledgement and thanks, Baran finished through his cup before tossing it away and walked back to his teammates.

"What do you think you are dillydallying for? Do you really want to die that much?" Androssi grabbed him by the collar. "I can easily grant that wish of yours."

"Easy there vixen.." Grabbing her wrist, he pulled them away from his collar before motioning the two females to follow him.

He walked up to one of the doors with hands in his pockets before kicking the door opening. His teammates stared at him in shock, now anticipating what was going to happen to them. They have no idea whether the door he kicked open is the correct one or not. If it is the wrong door then they are all going to die and their ambitions for climbing the Tower will never be accomplished.

"How much longer do you wish to keep us suspense Mr. Examiner?" Leaning on the doorway, Baran glanced at Han Sung who smirked in response before clapping out of the blue.

"Congratulations. all three of you have passed the test." He cheered before meeting the dusty, golden eyes of Baran. "Pray tell how did you figure that this is the correct door? Even your teammates are curious about this.."

"You are wrong out there. Not just this door but all doors are correct. We just had to open one of them.." Baran corrected.

"I commend you on finding that out. I am curious on what gave it out." Han Sung seemed interested.

"The screams after every five minutes. You said we have ten minutes but in reality we have to open just one of the doors in five minutes." Baran clarified. "The test had begun even before us entering this room. That's how the Tower works, doesn't it? You don't know what is a test and what is not a test..."

"Looks like I don't need to explain any further." Giving a polite bow to the Regulars, he bid them farewell. As they left, he lingered his gaze on the three.

'That is quite an interesting team..'

____________________________________________

Having passed the tests, the Regulars were guided inside to a lobby where they were all gathered at one place. Most of them sat with their teammates. Earlier during the test conducted by Lero Ro, they were all complaining on how hastily they formed the teams in the survival game and right now they are sticking together. That is some quick change.

There were a very few who bothered to hold conversations with members of other teams even if it was only for a short duration.

Leaning back on his seat, Baran was intently reading the recipe handed to him by Yu Han Sung. From what he deduced, good quality coffee beans are utmost necessity for making the best coffee one can make. The man even bothered to note down how to select what kind of coffee beans.

Either he was being considerate to a poor soul who tasted coffee for the first time or he must be a massive coffee addict himself. The second one seemed more plausible in this scenario.

"Chosen Regulars, did you all have a good rest?" The voice of Lero Ro, the examiner for the previous Barrier test and one of the rankers broke through the silence in the room. Everyone's attention was directed towards the yellow-haired man. "I have come here to deliver some good news."

Everyone perked up on hearing the word good news. Curiosity was common in everyone's faces.

"Before coming here, I had a little talk with the director and we decided to conduct a bonus game for everyone!"

"Excuse me.." A guy wearing purple tracksuit raised his hand up. Baran identified him as the one in the lizard's team and also the one who had great difficulty in crossing the barrier. The man still pulled it off somehow. "If the number of games increase, it is actually not a good news for us."

'He is not wrong.'

"Such heart breaking words. A bonus game is different from regular games." Lero Ro sighed before continuing. "Attending a bonus game is entirely up to you. And just because you didn't attend the bonus game, there won't be any disadvantages later. But, the ones playing the bonus game and winning it will be awarded maximum points for every test on this floor, thus earning the right to go to the next floor."

'I have to commend the people of this Tower. They really do have their own way with words and know what to speak and when..' Baran mentally completed the orator skills of the examiners, seeing as how the mood changed at the mention of benefits one could gain from the bonus game.

"Then what of the remaining tests?" The light blue-haired boy from Baam's team inquired.

"You don't have to participate.." The ranker replied. He hid his anticipation behind his plain face One can't appear too obvious can they?

"Stop beating around the bush and just explain the game already.." Baran spoke for all of them present, since he figured everyone was curious about the Bonus Game.

From what Baran could infer from the tone Lero Ro spoke with, he had a hunch that the test administrators are onto something and that this game is a ruse for it. He has lived long enough to see through people, what they think and what they speak. And he was a Monarch who ruled over a populace and as a King, one has to be sharp enough to see through things.

He wasn't interested in what they are plotting or what their goal is so he will just go with the flow for now and take part in the games and tests in order to advance through the Tower. That is his only goal for the moment that will help him with his revenge against 'them'.

"The game you are all going to participate in is called the 'Crown Game'. More details will be given in the arena." With that said, Lero Ro and the assistant along with him guided the Regulars interested to take part in the game to a circular arena where all the participants were placed into separate rooms.

There was a large throne in the central room and said central room was connected to all the rooms where the teams were placed in.

"In a word, Crown Game is all about 'Stealing the Crown'. Out of all the teams here you must fight and the last team in possession of the crown is the winner."

The rules weren't just limited to that. As Lero Ro explained further, it got more complicated. The game is played in five rounds, each lasting ten minutes each and the team having possession of the crown from the previous round automatically advances to the next round. The team that wins the crown in the previous round will have to make someone from their team sit on the throne wearing the crown. They cannot get off from the throne and if they lose the crown from their head, that team will be disqualified.

In short, once a team takes possession of the crown, they are reduced to a 2-on-3 fight against other teams as they will have to make one of their members sit on the throne unable to do a thing. The team members would need to choose wisely on who has to sit and who defends the crown once they are in possession of it.

"Teams that wish to enter may press the red buzzer in each of your rooms." Lero Ro finished before putting down the crown on the throne and moved away from the arena to a high area to get a good view of the game. "Let the game begin!"