Broadcasting Hall

The man in the suit sank into contemplation. He had been pondering this situation for a while now, but the harder he tried to make sense of it, the more bewildered he became.

He paced back and forth, his movements restless until his steps faltered. His gaze landed on the door, before landing on the crushed corpse between the tightly shut door. The blood oozed slowly from the distorted body, the sharp metallic scene wafted filled the air. His stomach churned at the sight, yet he couldn't bear to look away.

He knelt before the lifeless body, his hands trembled as he attempted to pull the remains free from the door. Even if he felt uneasy seeing it, he couldn't shake the thought that this poor child should atleast be freed from being stuck in such a way.

He tried to act fine after the boy's death, but the truth was, he didn't come with Kian and the others for a reason.

The number one reason was the fear of what he might face or the fear of dying like this boy. The second reason was because he felt bothered about the boy's degrading state. No one deserved to die like this.

Such pitiful kid.

A gush of wind blew swiftly past his back. The sudden rush of air made his skin shiver. He spun around quickly, but saw nothing. Yet, the feeling of being watched lingered.

He turned around and saw no one. However, he could sense the presence of someone lurking in the shadows.

Squinting his eyes, he finally saw a something. A dark shape barely visibly in the dark place. He hesitated before speaking, "Who's there?"

The silhouette didn't answer, Instead it stepped forward. Not being able to see the person due to the darkness, he felt alert, and asked. "Who are you?"

Ah wait, he's a grown man, what if it's just the people he was with earlier? It would be awkward if he acted scared in front of them.

Trying to act brave, he swallowed hard, hoping it would mask the nervousness he's feeling. "Why did you guys come back?"

He took a cautious step closer, while trying to make out the figure in the darkness. But he stopped in his tracks, when he realized something was off.

He closed his eyes, then opened them again, to make sure his eyes weren't playing a trick on him. He tried focusing his eyes once more, but the scene remained the same. The shadow is still a shadow.

A shiver went down his spine, his eyes shook in fear. It was a natural reaction, considering he had expected to see a human face once close to the silhouette. However, he met a literal shadow. A human shaped shadow

He backed away quickly when he felt something blocking his back. An invisible force was pressed against his back. He stopped moving.

The unidentified sensation stung his skin, even if the clothes shielded him from the direct contact.

He peeped from his peripheral vision and saw that the shadow in front of him, was extending its never ending dark ashy to block his movements.

"W-What is this?!" He shrieked, his fingers digging into the darkness, but it wouldn't even budge. Instead, the shadow slithered around his hands, as though it were deliberately pacifying his desperate attempts to break free.

"What's your name?" A low and chilling tone entered his ears. The voice seemed to emanate from the shadow itself, from its human-shaped face, despite having no mouth for them to speak.

The guy trembled, unable to speak due to the nervousness soaring through his body.

"What are you?"

The shadow paused briefly, before chuckling softly. The chuckle gradually morphed into a high pitched, erratic cackle.

The man was baffled. He opened his mouth to interrupt the entity, but something went inside of mouth. The sensation was eerily similar to a sudden gush of water, barging straight inside his mouth.

"Huak—cough!" The man gagged, coughing repeatedly, but the sensation didn't stop. Little by little, his mouth felt full. He tried closing his mouth, but he can't.

Meanwhile, the shadow continuously seeped into his body through every opening it could found. It went inside his mouth, ears, and even his eyes. It forced its way in, relentlessly, until it vanished completely.

"Thud!" The body became limp and hit the ground. Nevertheless, the body stood up immediately. As if it never fallen in the first place.

For a split second, the man's eyes went completely black before returning back to normal.

The man brushed the dust off his clothes, his movements paused when he caught sight of his hands.

He stared at them in wonder, turning them over repeatedly, his eyebrows furrowed seemingly unsatisfied.

He slowly lifted his hands into the air, waving them clumsily, as though analyzing every twitch and motions with careful scrunity.

His movements looked clumsy, And unnatural. He stretched his limbs in an unnatural manner. After repeated stretching his limbs unnaturally, he finally adjusted.

The man sighed, "I'll never get used to this."

The man began striding forward, and a mechanical voice echoed through the eerily silent place.

[ Identity of the participant, confirmed. ]

[ Teleporting the participant... ]

---

Kian put his hands above, and squinted his eyes at the sudden burst of brightness.

Kian raised his hand to block the intense light, his eyes narrowed, struggling to see due to the sudden burst of light.

After a few blinks, the brightness finally softened, revealing a hall that seemed otherworldly, like stepping into a hyper realistic dream.

Luxurious golden chandeliers hung above, casting a golden, but radiant glow over the polished marble floors. When he looked down, he noticed that the marble floors, was so pristine that they even mirrored the intricate carvings of the towering statues distributed in the place.

Not only that that, vibrant flowers were carefully arranged, which added a splash of color into the elegant place. It looked particularly fascinating to the eyes.

The hall was stretched enough to accommodate thousands of people, though the word "large" barely captured it's immense scale. It's sheer size was staggering, as the entire hall resembled a collosal flight of stairs, meticulously devided into seven distinct tiers that descended in a cascading formation.

Somehow, this kind of arrangement gave off a sense of hierarchy and elegant grandeur.

But the most notable thing wasn't the tiers, nor the evenly scattered decorations around the room, but the huge projected image floating in the middle of them.

The screen floating showed the same scene, playing over and over again.

Kian was so lost into analyzing his surroundings, that he almost felt distant from the mumbles, yells, and complains of the crowd.

He was focused on the screen, his eyes were fixated on the screen. He can't understand why he can't tear his eyes away from it.

On the screen, only the back of a man was shown, at the bottom of the screen was a number, which is two.

Seconds later, the screen switched, and a different man showed up.

This time, the number was changed on the bottom. Number one. And the scene didn't play over and over again, unlike earlier.

The screen showed a guy who looked incredibly handsome. He was making some gestures like talking to the audience.

The man has tan skin, and a hair thrown in a messy half bun. He looked effortlessly attractive. The way he looked at the camera felt like an experienced idol, making a stream appearance.

"Hello, new participants." He greeted the crowd. The seemingly unstopping immediately crowd quieted down. Kian could hear some people muttering the sentences,"He's handsome." "Who is he?" "He looks like a celebrity."

"I know you're confused but, I'm here to explain." The man on the screen continued.

The people looked at each other in confusion. Then they once again began asking the man, as if he would answer.

The people asked all at once without patience.

It felt harder to hear because of how loud the crowd was. Kian squinted, trying to read the guys' lips.

'Participate or be eliminated?' Did he read that right?

Kian can't tell, he felt incredibly annoyed but none of that was made obvious to his face.

"Can't you all just shut the fuck up?!!!" A person yelled out loud, enough to make his voice echo.

"How can we understand anything if y'all are so loud?!!" Kian turned around, feeling grateful to the guy who yelled. However, he only noticed that it was the guy wearing a suit from earlier. No wonder, he sounded familiar.

The crowd seemed to snap out of it as series of voices agreeing spread out.

"He's right."

"We won't get anything by being loud."

"Yes, let's listen first."

Kian was about to approach him when someone poked his shoulders. It was the school boy.

"Isn't that mister?"

He nodded.

"Right, I thought he don't wanna come." Isen quipped in.

Kian glanced at Isen. He can't help but slowly lift his lips into a smile.

He thought. She's really similar to Archelle.

"The host will arrive later, you can ask them for further questions. Don't forget, I am –--- the number one mortal streamer!" The handsome man on the screen, smiled brightly.

His smile seemed practiced.

And it seems like nothing ever makes sense in this place.

What did he even mean by "mortal"? That sounds like something someone would say if they know humans aren't the only ones living on earth.

Also, from what Kian understood. It looks like they are here to participate in a program. However, he couldn't understand much with the crowd being so loud and erratic.

The screen turned black, everyone turned silent, but magically, a person suddenly appeared at the center of the hall.