Weird Game

First question: Where do you think humans go after death?

Second question: What will humans feel before death?

Third question: How important is survival to you?

Fourth question: On a scale of 1 to 10, what is the likelihood that you would choose to commit suicide?

…

"The fuck?"

'What kind of questionnaire is this? Am I filling out a cult registration form or what?'

Aditya's mind was filled with many questions that he deemed very important, and his furrowed brow made his face look like someone trying to hold back a bowel movement.

Shandy, who was sitting beside Aditya, stopped chatting with his friends and glanced at him.

Sensing the uncomfortable aura from the weirdest friend he had ever met in his life, Shandy had two options: to distance himself as far as possible or to try to find the source of the problem before it exploded in his face.

Unfortunately, Shandy didn't have a heart hard enough to choose not to be friends with his desk mate for six semesters.

So, reluctantly and cautiously, he asked, "Dit, what's wrong?"

Hearing Shandy's question, Aditya showed his smartphone screen to Shandy's face, "Here, take a look, I downloaded the game I mentioned earlier, but when I opened it, it showed weird questions like these.

"Am I being invited into another weird cult again?"

Reading the first three questions that appeared out of the 20 questionnaires, Shandy wrinkled his forehead with a puzzled expression, "Wow... these questions are so philosophical. Seems like you've got another invitation to join a weird cult, Dit, hahaha!"

"Tch! Don't remind me of that damn cult again! Luckily, I got a packed lunch; otherwise, I would have burned down the meeting place along with its contents," Aditya's face creased even more as he recalled the events from a few months ago.

"But is this really the game you mentioned? Why are these strange questions popping up? Ah! Maybe it's just to add some filler. Like making the player's mood more tense and giving the game a deeper theme. Adding background to the game to make it more mysterious..." Shandy tried to analyze.

"Hmm... you might be right. Let me fill it out first!" nodded Aditya before refocusing on his smartphone screen.

Aditya began to fill out the strange questions one by one.

Although his face appeared neutral, in reality, he started to feel worried.

The questions he encountered were more than what he could generalize as "philosophical." These questions even felt more like what would actually happen in the future.

After filling them out, Aditya was finally met with the appearance of something typical in games.

A blank box on his smartphone screen indicated the entry of the game ID name. Without hesitation, Aditya filled it in with the name "KnightKumoku."

This was the game ID that Aditya always used for all the games he played since junior high school.

Aditya himself had forgotten the meaning of Kumoku, if he remembered correctly (which meant he was wrong), Kumoku was a title used to address the tribal chief in Africa.

Aditya no longer remembered, but Knight and Kumoku had stuck with his identity until now.

After that, the term agreement appeared, which Aditya immediately scrolled down to find the consent box. After all, who reads through all the term agreements? Aditya didn't have time to read them and didn't care either.

However, perhaps his eyes were deceiving him; one of the term agreements seemed to have the words "death" and "suicide," which he dismissed as just his imagination and promptly vanished from his mind.

Finding the consent checkbox, Aditya pressed it, and the smartphone screen changed to a large blank box with the word "signature" above it.

This made Aditya furrow his brow in frustration at how troublesome this was.

"The world has truly gone to hell; even playing games has become this complicated!" he cursed inwardly but didn't stop his index finger from carving his signature inside the blank box.

As a future celebrity, Aditya had his own complex signature.

He used his high school years to create a unique signature and worked hard to remember it. He didn't want to mistakenly give his signature to his future fans when he became famous.

However, of course, he wouldn't use his valuable signature for a game like this.

He felt exploited when asked for his signature so casually; at least only his number one fan would have the honor of receiving his authentic signature.

Therefore, Aditya only provided a brief initial instead.

But after hitting the enter button, his smartphone screen turned black with white text that read, "Please wait for the game equipment to arrive within two days". After that, the game froze with that white text, and there were no further instructions.

Aditya's breath raced as his anger surged higher and higher.

His furrowed brow began to show bulging veins.

If only he had a lot of money, his smartphone would have been shattered into pieces meeting the hardness of the cafeteria floor by now.

Shandy, who was beside him, started to move away, sensing the dark aura emanating from Aditya's body.

Although he had a good heart, he wasn't foolish enough to become a punching bag for this weird creature's rage.

But before Aditya could reach the peak of his anger and start yelling, disrupting the peace of the upper cafeteria, Shandy's smartphone beeped, indicating a message that Mr. Suharjo, whom they had been waiting for, had arrived.

With quick steps, Shandy immediately informed the others before the clown next to him could make him lose face.

Hearing that Mr. Suharjo had entered the classroom, Aditya's anger, though still simmering, didn't dissipate. He and his classmates began to leave the upper cafeteria and head to their classroom.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Two days had passed, and the sound of knocks echoed from outside Aditya's dorm room. He, busy filling his room with cigarette smoke, frowned.

"Isn't it too early to pay the rent?" he wondered inwardly, cold sweat starting to dampen his back.

Aditya's landlady was named Mrs Murni (Pure).

Despite having the name "Pure," there was nothing pure about Mrs Murni, especially her heart.

Aditya was pretty sure that if her chest were split open, a new chemical element much darker than a black hole would be found.

Not once had his ears not felt like exploding from being scolded for late rent payments.

Therefore, Aditya always ran away on rent day while waiting for a kind friend to lend him some money.

Never had he thought that Mrs Murni would be kind enough to delay the payment without a slap or two across his face.

Even scarier, the past stories heard from other tenants about someone having to wear false teeth due to their real ones being knocked out by Mrs Murni's deadly slap.

So upon hearing the knocks on his dorm room door, the first thing Aditya searched for was an escape route or a place to hide.

After making sure that whatever happened, he would remain safe without ending up toothless, Aditya started checking the date on his calendar.

"It's only the 27th. I'm just two days late on rent, why is Mrs. Murni here already?" Aditya cursed inwardly, seeking the reason for Mrs Murni's early arrival.

Most likely, he imagined, Mrs. Murni's mood was exceptionally sour right now.

Whether it was because her husband was gambling again or her daughter was pregnant without knowing the father again, Aditya wasn't ready to be the punching bag for Mrs Murni's wrath.

Although he had 32 strong and well-aligned teeth, losing one or two would mar his perfect handsomeness. Therefore, without further thought, Aditya ran towards his room's window.

His room was on the second floor, and jumping out of the window might sprain his leg or injure him. But all that was better than receiving a slap from Mrs. Murni, which clearly enhanced with willpower. 

*BOOM!

"ADITYA MAHENDRA, WHEN I BANG YOUR DOOR OPEN, YOU BASTARD!!!"

But before he could open his window, the sound of the door being forcefully kicked open resonated. An aura of dread froze Aditya in place.

With a neck as stiff as a rusty door hinge, Aditya turned towards the demon far more terrifying than Sadako.

In reality, Mrs Murni had an attractive appearance. Long, silky black hair cascaded down her back. Fair skin with a healthy glow, thanks to her rare exposure to sunlight. A slender figure with bombastic breasts and a shapely rear.

When Aditya first met Mrs. Murni, he was grateful to be living in this boarding house and hoped to have the chance to enjoy this MILF. However, those illusions and hopes were shattered the moment the rent due date arrived.

No longer could Aditya see Mrs. Murni as a MILF since that day, but as a creature from the deepest of hell, who knows when, creeping in through his door, screaming horribly, "Rent money or your head will roll!"

"Hahaha... Hi, Mrs. Murni. You look absolutely beautiful today! Ah, did you just come from the salon? Your hair is so glossy black, like polished shoes!" With a trembling voice, Aditya automatically complimented, hoping to give himself a chance to escape from this situation.

"Hehehe... Aditya, you're really good at flattering, but unfortunately, I haven't been to the salon today because there's a naughty rat who forgot to pay his rent!" Mrs. Murni's booming voice came with a smile, making Aditya's T-shirt even wetter from the cold sweat dripping.

Without hesitation, without a doubt, and without making any wrong moves, Aditya collapsed in front of Mrs. Murni with his once-a-month pleading face, as he did every time he failed to escape.

"Mrs. Murni, I beg for a chance to correct my mistake! Please don't kick me out of this boarding house! You know my parents are gone, and I only survive on the miserly charity of my uncle! I promise to pay it in a week—No, in three days! Please don't evict me from this place, I still want to see your beauty every day, Mrs. Murni!! That's the only reason I have to keep living!!"

A string of flattering and pleading words gushed from Aditya's mouth, with his pure eyes showing no hint of insincerity.

However, the reason why Aditya persisted in staying in this boarding house was because it was cheap, not because he wanted to see Mrs. Murni's beauty.

If there were two buttons to choose between getting a Lamborghini and Mrs. Murni's gruesome death, Aditya wouldn't waste a breath pressing the second button.

Yet, the struggle for survival managed to soften the dark heart of Mrs. Murni. The aura of death emanating from her body subsided slightly, and a smile appeared on her lips.

"Heh... I know that my beauty is the greatest sin in the world. Hmm... What can I do if you'd rather die than not be able to see my perfect, beautiful face? Then I'll give you a little leeway. But only this once, understand! Next month, you must pay on time!"

'Heh, I praise the same thing every month and it always works,' mocked Aditya inside his heart without any change in the pleading expression on his face.

"I understand, Mrs. Murni! Thank you for giving me the chance to keep seeing your divine beauty every day!" Aditya clasped his hands together as if praying to a god.

Mrs. Murni simply nodded and walked out of Aditya's room without caring about the door she had just damaged with a kick.

Aditya rubbed his chest and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. But before he could start cursing Mrs. Murni from behind, the demon suddenly turned around, causing Aditya's face to quickly pale.

"Oh yes, I forgot to mention that there's a package for you. Pick it up in the front room, on the coffee table," said Mrs. Murni, continuing to walk without waiting for a response from Aditya.

Nevertheless, Aditya still thanked her, as this time he was quite sure Mrs. Murni had eyes and ears at the back of her head.

As for the package that arrived, Aditya felt like tearing it apart and throwing it away for bringing the deepest hellish demon to his doorstep.

"Whoever the sender is, just wait and see if I don't send back a cursed package filled with nails and rotten eggs!"