The Dissenting Vote
"What the hell?! Who the hell voted against?!"
The joy of realizing he was still alive vanished from Lee Ji-han's face in an instant. The knowledge that they had been dragged straight back into the pit of despair filled his bloodshot eyes with rage.
"Who was it?!"
His scream made the others flinch and shake their heads.
"W-who would do something like that? Th-this has to be a scam!"
The instant Kim Min-jeong finished speaking, a puff of smoke burst into the air with a pop. Bunny stepped out of it, grinning as she glanced up at the scoreboard.
"Nope~ This isn't a scam! My cute little shrine maiden, I didn't interfere at all. This vote was conducted solely by the will of the participants."
"H-how are we supposed to believe that?! What kind of lunatic in here would actually want to play another game?!"
"Mmph mmph mmph!!!"
While everyone else protested, one boy said nothing at all. Lee Ji-han's gaze landed on Kang Hyun-soo. The boy was staring at the floor, avoiding every eye in the room, muttering something incomprehensible under his breath.
"Hey! Hey! You — Kang Hyun-soo!"
Lee Ji-han clanked toward him, his armor rattling with every step.
"Was it you? Don't tell me you were the only one who voted against?"
Kang Hyun-soo flicked a glance at him, then looked away.
"Answer me, you crazy bastard!"
Lee Ji-han seized him by the collar and roared into his face.
"It was you, wasn't it? Huh? Ever since we got here, all you've done is stir up trouble. I know your type. The kind of socially stunted little shit who can't even make a real friend — who just sits on internet forums all day with a completely warped worldview."
"...I didn't."
Kang Hyun-soo grimaced and shoved Lee Ji-han's hand away.
"Got any proof it was me? Classic. Things don't go your way, so you start griefing and playing politics. Tsk tsk."
"You little shit—!"
"That's enough."
Han Mir had slipped between them before either one noticed, wearing a pleasant little smile. Both of them — having witnessed his power firsthand — immediately shut their mouths.
"Why are you two fighting? Hmm? It's not a good look in front of a kid."
"That's right, that's right! Fighting in front of me makes you bad people!"
Lee Ji-han swallowed hard. This was the demonic survivor who had turned the tables and slaughtered that monstrous killer. He looked like an ordinary high schooler, but inside he was a creature stuffed full of blood and violence. Standing before such a being, Lee Ji-han could no longer treat him like some ordinary underage student.
This thing was something beyond human — something that transcended common sense entirely.
He nodded slowly, his voice trembling.
"I-I'm sorry. I got carried away."
"……"
Kang Hyun-soo didn't answer at all. His head hung low, and his shoulders trembled. But Han Mir saw it. Kang Hyun-soo wasn't afraid of him. The boy was furious. His arm was shaking because he was clenching his fist so hard.
Whether it was self-loathing at his own powerlessness, or jealousy toward Han Mir for stealing the protagonist's seat, Han Mir couldn't tell. What was certain was that the boy was genuinely, truly angry.
Han Mir beamed.
"H-haha. Yeah, that's right. With M-Mir here, what's there to be so worried about?"
"Alright then. Go ahead and start the next game."
Watching Han Mir — whose demeanor had grown noticeably milder than before — Bunny's eyebrow twitched.
Just what the hell was this thing?
A bug that shattered the game's balance. But he was also a confirmed player, so she couldn't exclude him.
"Alright! Then allow me to introduce the next game!"
Bunny said it with a meaningful smile.
Just like the name says — a really simple game. All you have to do is escape the room you're trapped in.
The only downside is… the room is reeeeeally big!
📜 Rule: If even a single person finds the exit and gets out, you all win.
⚠ Notice: Unlike the first game, there is no penalty that forcibly ends the game if someone dies. Keep that in mind!
🏛 Type: Endlessly repeating space — reminiscent of the Backrooms
⚔ Threat: Grotesque monsters roam freely
📍 Exit: Unknown — possibly undiscoverable
💀 Note: There is no way to tell where the way out even is
Bunny looked at Han Mir and sneered inwardly.
The number of players who had cleared this game was vanishingly small.
He might be strong enough to turn the tables on the first game's killer, but could he really hold out against actual monsters? Moreover, that place was an infinitely expanding space. Finding the exit would take at least a month.
Even the record for the fastest clear was thirty-five days. A game from hell. Naturally, as time passed, hunger and thirst would set in, and the crushing pressure of never knowing when or where a monster might appear would drive people insane.
In the end, they would even kill and eat their fellow participants just to survive. The greatest game of all.
Go ahead. Struggle all you want.
"Ah, whatever. Just start already?"
At Han Mir's prompting, the corner of Bunny's mouth twitched.
"How wonderful to see such enthusiasm for the game! Well then — let's begin!"
A familiar blackout swallowed them. When their vision returned, they stood in a bland space washed in dim, watery light. It looked like the lobby of some building, painted floor to ceiling in a stark, electric blue, with nothing but the occasional pillar breaking up the emptiness.
"Th-this is completely the Backrooms."
Lee Ji-han's voice had shrunk.
"Mmph mmph?"
Do Gwang-sik, his mouth still sealed, raised the end of the muffled sound as if asking what that was supposed to mean.
"Simply put, think of it as a space that stretches on infinitely, with no end in sight. Which means finding the exit is just as hard."
"Mmph… mmph…"
The teddy bear's expression grew gloomy as he looked at Han Mir. This was a space you couldn't escape with brute force alone — not even the kind of strength that could beat a killer to death. But perhaps this boy had some clever trick up his sleeve.
Han Mir shrugged at that expectant gaze.
Do Gwang-sik's face darkened even further.
"Ah, I caught a glimpse of monsters earlier… will we be okay?"
Kim Min-jeong pressed herself close against Han Mir's side, trembling.
"I'm here, so what's there to worry about, unnie!"
Han A-reum swaggered about, completely failing to grasp the situation. Every time the child moved, her lizard tail swayed along with her.
"Hmph. You don't even know something this basic. This is why you shouldn't hang around with stupid humans."
Kang Hyun-soo stepped forward, pushing his glasses up with his middle finger. Lee Ji-han glared at him with open displeasure.
"Oh, so you know something, is that it?"
"Obviously. I've played a lot of games like this. The exit isn't going to be sitting there in the form of a door, you know. If you go through a door into another area, you'll just end up in even more danger. The answer is the wall."
"The wall?"
Kang Hyun-soo nodded with a confident smile.
"That's right. Watch me carefully."
The boy ran his hands along the wall, examining it in detail, then stopped at a particular stretch.
"Heh. The material of the wall is different right here. Obvious. Completely obvious. Idiots like you just barge through doors and suffer and die, missing the important stuff right at the start. They do say the darkest place is under the lamp, after all."
Han Mir looked at Kang Hyun-soo and thought, This guy talks way too damn much.
Han A-reum tilted her head.
"But what are you gonna do with the wall?"
"Tsk tsk. Kid, you need to develop the ability to think for yourself. Don't get trapped in fixed ideas like that old fossil over there. Break the frame of common sense."
"Are you gonna break the wall?"
"No! Hah. You're not breaking it — you're passing through it."
Kang Hyun-soo crossed his arms, stretched himself out, and struck a thoroughly self-satisfied pose.
"Ah, cut the crap and just show us already, whether you're passing through or not."
At Lee Ji-han's words, Kang Hyun-soo shrugged.
"Gladly. Try not to be too shocked."
The boy crouched low, loaded his eyes with an overflowing look of confidence, and took off at a sprint.
The participants all held their breath. Eyes wide, not even blinking, they waited to watch him pass through the wall.
Kang Hyun-soo's head hit it first.
CRASH!
A tremendous noise, and his body flipped over backward. Without even managing a scream, a massive lump swelled up on his forehead. Kang Hyun-soo lay there with his eyes closed, as if he'd passed out. The other participants stared down at him with something close to pity.
"What a complete idiot."
"He was way off the mark."
"Mmph mmph mmph."
"That oppa's a dummy! How do you even go through a wall! Kyahaha!"
In truth, Kang Hyun-soo's mind was perfectly fine. He just couldn't get up. If he opened his eyes now, the humiliation would kill him.
A soft rustle.
"Kyaaah!"
Kim Min-jeong suddenly shrieked and threw her arms around Han Mir.
"Mmph mmph?"
"W-what's wrong all of a sudden?"
Lee Ji-han and Do Gwang-sik, equally rattled, pressed in close to Han Mir and asked.
"S-something just passed by that pillar."
"N-no way. A monster already…?"
Lee Ji-han couldn't finish the sentence. A warm, sticky liquid dripped onto the crown of his head. He swallowed hard and slowly looked up.
A long-haired woman whose face looked like she hadn't eaten in days — cheeks hollowed out, even the flesh around her eyes sunken so that her eyeballs bulged from their sockets. Below her neck, she had the massive body of a snake, covered in stark white scales.
Her gaping mouth was large enough to swallow a person whole with room to spare. A giant snake with a human face — a Human-Faced Serpent — hung from the ceiling, drooling as it looked down at the group.
"Uh, uhb, uhbuhbuhb…!"
The grotesque appearance of the Human-Faced Serpent was so shocking that just meeting its eyes made Lee Ji-han's legs go weak. He couldn't even form words.
He could only tremble, staring into those lifeless eyeballs.
But something was strange.
Cold sweat rolled down the Human-Faced Serpent's face, and its body began to tremble.
Only then did Lee Ji-han realize — the Human-Faced Serpent wasn't looking at him. It was locking eyes with Han Mir.