Frog in Boiling Water

Jack was wondering what Mia was panicking about, but tucked away the rewards he got quickly. Mia then disappeared, but Jack still found himself sitting in the lounge by himself.

[Bonus reward for high point value! - Thief's Garbs]

A tattered black cloak suddenly wrapped itself around Jack, covering his upper body and reaching down to his knees.

[Significantly disguises presence while in the dark - A thief's best friend]

For a moment, Jack admired the texture of the cloth, rubbing it between his fingers before he was suddenly transported out.

"Um, I don't know... he just left."

Jessica was standing in front of Mia with an awkward expression, while Mia had a stern one. Jack scratched the side of his head while in the light of the lamp.

"So what happened?"

Mia let out a long sigh.

"I thought maybe that guy would be vengeful and try to attack the moment we were ejected from the game."

Jessica smiled bitterly.

"Well, he just ran away, so you were just overthinking."

Jack's eyes stared off into the darkness.

"Are we sure he isn't running from something else?"

Mia furrowed her brows.

"What would he be running from other than us?"

Jack tilted his head to the side. His eyes widened slightly.

"...I don't know. He's looking another way while running."

Jessica blinked a few times.

"What? How do you know that? Also, where did you get that cloak from? You didn't take it from that guy, did you?"

Jack looked up at her with oblivious eyes.

"They gave it to me for playing the thief game. I think it's because I was the winner!"

He didn't answer the first question, but he wasn't pressed further despite that fact. Mia instead let out a small sigh.

"Anyway, does everyone still have a full set of twos in their playing deck? If so, we can try to play the game again."

Yet, right as she said that the bright neon signs dulled as the entire pillar began sinking into the ground. Just a few moments later, it was as though it wasn't there in the first place.

Mia's eyelid twitched.

"...I guess it wouldn't be that easy. It looks like they constantly move around now, so there's no point in remembering exact places."

Jack let out a small hum.

"I still have twos, maybe we can find a new game!"

Jessica let out a small sigh.

"Well, I don't have as many fours, but I still have enough twos to work with."

Mia put one hand on the side of her neck before cracking it.

"I guess we should just go back and try to see if we find another available game to play too."

Jack scratched his cheek.

"Hmm... do you hear that?"

Mia raised an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?"

Jack tilted his head to the side.

"I don't know, I just hear something."

Jessica's eyes suddenly widened as a sense of fight or flight had overcome her. She remembered the strange cymbal monkey that came to find them the last time Jack was talking about hearing something and found herself panicking.

"We have to run now!"

Mia looked at Jessica strangely but decided to trust her.

"Run to where?"

In response, Jessica seemed to short-circuit.

"I... I don't know, maybe hide behind one of the stalagmites!"

With that, both Mia and Jessica rushed to do as she said. Mia frantically tried to turn off the lamp. Failing a few times but got it in the end. As for Jack, he just stood there in the middle of the darkness, wondering what they were so excited about doing.

Because it was dark, Mia and Jessica just assumed that he was already hiding, but he in fact wasn't. Instead, he just stood in the middle of the darkness. But at the same time, it was incredibly hard to notice him. Not just visually, but even the sounds of his breathing and heartbeat were muffled.

In terms of Jessica's fears, they were proven true. A large clanging gradually came from the distance in the form of a giant cymbal-clapping monkey. It looked just like an oversized toy, though the chattering teeth and rapid advancement were quite intimidating.

Especially since the most prominent feature was its bright red glowing eyes, which were bright enough to make its body visible in the first place. It appeared to be patrolling the area, walking around, and checking the area pretty thoroughly. When it got close to Jack, he ended up walking up to it out of curiosity. However, it just shot right past him before he even got a chance to get any closer, as though he wasn't even there in the first place.

Jack turned around to look at it curiously as it continued to rampage noisily throughout the cavern. Mia and Jessica were doing their best to be as silent and hidden as possible, slowly moving around the stalagmite so that they would be out of view.

Unfortunately, the monkey suddenly rushed towards their location, while the red light from its eyes grew several times brighter. The monkey peaked over the stalagmite as its red eyes shone like a laser on the two of them.

And with that, they both suddenly disappeared.

The monkey then continued on its way, patrolling the caverns further. As for Jack, he suddenly found himself alone in the caverns. He remained there for a few moments before calling out.

"Hello?"

However, there was no response. Not even an echo from the caverns. The cloak worked pretty damn well, from the look of things. Jack frowned a little, feeling a tad bit lonely. But being by himself wasn't exactly something he found to be foreign, so he just began walking around aimlessly, trying to see if there was anything fun nearby.

Now that he was by himself, he walked much slower, mostly because he was still feeling a bit tired and had a fairly weak constitution. Although it was pitch black, Jack's vision was still good enough to see a few meters in front of him, which was enough to navigate through without tripping over himself.

He didn't even think for a second about how he was supposed to get back to the hub if he just randomly walked around all the time. What Jack found more important was searching for something to do now that the others were gone.

In the end, he wandered for quite a long time. In fact, he even found two different, but still grotesque monsters. Although Jack said hi, they didn't respond, not even noticing him. After a bit of contemplation, he decided to just continue, trying to search for something exciting, whether that was another game, or it was actual people.

After about an hour of aimless wandering, Jack decided to take a break, sitting down and eating his jerky. He noticed that his playing deck had gotten pretty hot by now. However, Jack wasn't really thinking about it, kind of like how a frog won't notice slow changes in temperature and can be boiled alive without even knowing.

While he was on his break though, he actually noticed a faint light in the distance. He could make out that it was someone holding onto a torch, though he didn't know who exactly.

With a smile, he ran over to them excitedly.

He waved his hands enthusiastically and called out.

"Hi! What are you guys doing?"

However, he wasn't met with a response. The person holding onto the torch was a woman with curly hair. Right behind her was a man that looked quite similar, her brother. Despite being met with no response, Jack continued to call out to them.

Eventually, the man furrowed his brows, looking around.

"Hey, do you hear that?"

His sister clicked his tongue.

"What are you talking about? The only sound here is the sound of gravel and your hoarse breathing."

Her brother continued looking around, almost like he didn't hear that. Eventually, he ended up gritting his teeth.

"I... I think I hear someone calling out to us or something."

In response, his sister let out a long sigh.

"Don't tell me you've got schizophrenia now?"

Yet, as soon as she did say that, she suddenly froze in place.

"...Wait, I do hear something."

She began taking steps towards where she believed she heard the noise. At the same time, Jack ended up stopping. That was because the heat coming from his playing deck was beginning to become painful.

He opened it up and took out the Joker once more. Just by holding it, he was getting first-degree burns on his fingertips, though he just focused on the image of the Joker itself.

The Joker appeared rather different. Instead of just the head, or even the shoulders, the pattern instead had the entire body of a jester wearing a mask. It looked strangely elegant despite being needlessly adorned with bells and strange clothing.

The detail was so intricate, that one might actually think it was a photo that was color changed to red at first glance.

Jack's mind gradually grew blurry, as a daze overcame him.

At some point, he was no longer holding onto a Joker card, but rather onto a mask with an exaggeratedly wide smile.

When the woman did end up illuminating Jack with the torch, he had already put the mask on, with one hand holding it from the bottom. And his clothes had become bright red and black, with exaggerated accessories and bells hanging from the side.

"Do you want to play a game with me?"