The alarm clock screamed at 7:00 am like it personally hated him. Luis slapped it silent and lay there, staring at the ceiling, already tired. Already done with the day before it started. Next to him, his twin sister moved with the kind of energy that made him feel ancient by comparison.
"Luis. Lois." Their mom's voice cut through the wall like a knife. "You're leaving for school or do I need to drag you both out?"
Lois was already dressed, already glowing, already too much this early. "Of course we will!" She was smiling that smile she always wore, the one that made people like her instantly. "I can't miss my sculpture class.
Luis pulled the blanket over his head. "Bruh." His voice came out muffled. "At this point I can't even say no… "
Their mom appeared in the doorway, coat on, keys in hand. The morning shift at the hospital waited for no one. "Whatever. Just don't forget to close the windows and lock the door. BYE!!!"
"We won't forget!" Lois called out. "Bye!
The front door slammed. The apartment went quiet.
Luis dragged himself out of bed twenty minutes later. Got dressed. Walked with Lois toward Westmount High like he'd done a thousand times before. Split off at the gate while she headed for the art building.
He didn't go to class.
He never did on days like this—days when his skin felt too tight and his bones felt too heavy. Days when the thought of sitting in a room full of people made him want to crawl out of his own body.
The school park was empty this early. Just him and the oak tree and the grass wet with morning.
He sat on a bench. Leaned back. Let the spindle dig into his spine.
"Bruh." He said it to no one. "I haven't done anything today yet. my body hurts. I look all worn out."
The phone came out of his pocket automatically. Thumb moved automatically. Webtoon site opened automatically.
He didn't even think about it anymore. It was just what you did when the world felt like too much. You disappeared into something else.
"What a bright day," he muttered, the words flat, ironic. "Let's start it by reading a manhwa."
He scrolled. Nothing caught. Chapter after chapter of stories that looked like every other story—same art style, same tropes, same pretty faces saying the same things.
Then his thumb stopped. His eyes fixed on something.
The thumbnail was different. Darker. Wrong in a way he couldn't name. A title in jagged letters:
THE DOOM AHEAD
"Ooo..." The sound came out soft. Curious. "This is going to be interesting one…"
He clicked it. The first panel loaded. And the world fell away.
Hours later—minutes? he couldn't tell anymore—Luis was running.
His feet slapped against pavement. His lungs burned. His bag was gone, left behind under the oak tree, but he didn't care. Couldn't care. Could only run.
Because the phone in his pocket had shown him things. Because the screen had flickered and changed. Because black text on white background had told him he'd been selected. And because something in his gut—something older than thought—had whispered run.
He burst through the front door. Slammed it shut. Pressed his back against it.
"Haa... haa..." His breath came in ragged gasps. "What the hell was that..."
He pulled out the phone. The screen was still on. Still white. Still showing that same cold text.
YOU ENJOYED READING, DIDN'T YOU?… DON'T YOU THINK YOU WOULD ENJOY IT BETTER IF YOU WERE TO PARTICIPATE IN IT?…
"Why the hell is my phone not budging?" His voice cracked. "It's been hacked. It has to be. It's just showing me this shi—"
The screen changed.
YOU ALL ARE TO FINISH AN INCOMPLETE MANHWA. ONE AMONGST YOU READ IT.
Luis stared at the words. Felt something cold curl in his stomach.
"WHO THE HELL DOES THIS HACKER THINK HE IS —" He was shouting now, shouting at empty air, shouting because shouting felt better than the silence. "—TO PULL SUCH PRANK ON ME?"
The phone buzzed.
HAHAHA... PRANK? His blood went cold.
ALL STUDENTS ARE TO MEET AT THE MAIN HALL IN 30 MINUTES. FAILURE TO DO SO MAY RESULT IN SUDDEN DEATH.
"Death?" The word came out small. "Is this thing really gonna kill me? Or it's still just a prank some psycho's pulling somewhere?"
He stood there in his empty apartment, holding his phone like it might explode, and realized he had no choice but to find out.
TIME LEFT: 29 MINS 5 SECS
"Shoot!." He was moving before he finished the thought—grabbing his keys, pulling on shoes, already out the door. "Is this thing being for real? Well I don't wanna die so... Lemme just follow what it says." He ran.
All the way back through streets he'd just run through. Through the school gates. Past the oak tree. Toward the main hall where students were already gathering—a flood of them, confused and scared and looking at their own phones.
Luis pushed through the crowd. Checked his screen.
TIME LEFT: 1 MIN 12 SECS
"Move. Move." He was shoving now, not caring who he pissed off. The doors loomed ahead. Open. Waiting. He dove through with seconds to spare. And turned around just in time to see them close.
TIME'S UP
The massive doors slammed shut with a sound like a coffin lid. From outside, muffled, distant, screams began.
Luis pressed against the crowd, trying to see, trying to understand. The hall was packed—hundreds of students pressed together, faces pale, eyes wide.
"What will happen to the others—"
"Who read the incomplete manhwa—"
"Why did we get this notification—"
"I'm so scared—"
The voices overlapped, a chorus of fear.
Then the screens appeared.
Not on phones this time. In the air. Hovering before each student like something from a dream—or a nightmare.
56 PLAYERS HAVE DIED, 544 LEFT
ALL STUDENTS SHOULD PICK A LENS FROM THE TABLE BEFORE THEM.
Luis blinked. Looked down.
A table that hadn't been there a moment ago stood before him. On it: a single lens, sleek and dark, technology he didn't recognize.
Around him, voices rose.
"Who's gonna take orders from this anonymous—"
"Yeah, who cares about the shi it's spilling—"
"Some messages and we all became scaredy cats—"
Three students. Loudest in the crowd. Refusing to pick up the lenses. Luis watched them.
The first one exploded. Then the second as the third followed.
Blood, sound and things he couldn't name painted the students nearest them. Screams ripped through the hall. People fell back. People cried. Someone threw up.
Luis stood frozen for one heartbeat. Two.
"Damn," he breathed. "Lemme just get mine. "Then he reached down and picked up the lens.
It fit over his eye like it belonged there. A virtual screen bloomed in his vision—clean, advanced, terrifying.
NAME: LUIS | AGE: 19 | LEVEL: 1
STATS | INVENTORY | SKILLS | SP: 0
He stared at the interface. At the numbers. At the cold proof that this was real—whatever this was.
But even as he said it, something tugged at the back of his mind. A face. A name.
Lois, his sister.
"Come to think of it... where's Lois?"
He looked around at the crowd—543 students pressed together in fear. Looking for her face but not finding it.
"Hmm... never mind." The words came out automatic. "She's grown enough to care for herself. I just hope she's in here."
He touched the lens interface. Watched it respond to his fingers.
"But lemme be frank," he muttered, forcing lightness into his voice. "This lens is dope."
Around him, 543 students wore the same expression—terror barely held together by thin threads of denial.
Above them all, invisible, the countdown continued. And somewhere in the school, behind doors that had closed and locked, 56 bodies lay scattered like broken dolls. The game had just begun.