The red shoe.

Marcuse slowly blinked his eyes open and found himself standing at the entrance of a school, a place bustling with energy and excitement.

Ugh! He sighed.

Unfortunately, to them it's a place where only the strong survive, their lives and death depended in their wisdom, any place the enter, as long as it's drerealm, there isn't any excitements.

He was not alone—other players stood nearby, their faces a mix of confusion and curiosity. While others found themselves in the game unknowingly. As usual.

It wasn't long before Mathias joined them, Marcus touched himself to check if the bag was with him.

" Oh..Thank God.." he sighed as he adjusted the bag he had carefully tied around his arm, which inexplicably traveled with him from his deep slumber.

They waited at the gate, anticipating the arrival of more participants. Moments later, a group of three approached them, hope gleaming in their eyes.

"Excuse me, sir, can we join you?" one of them asked, the eagerness palpable in his voice.

Just as Marcuse was about to welcome them, Mathias interjected with a firm shake of his head.

"Sorry, guys, we can't, but if we find clues, we'll let you know."

Reluctantly, their new acquaintances accepted this, resigned to share whatever discoveries might come their way.

As they say... team work is always the best.

The group trekked into the school compound, where a tall, stern-looking NPC awaited them at the entrance of the first block.

"I guess you're the builders they sent to renovate our old classrooms," he stated with a knowing nod.

His expression shifted, and he lowered his voice to a whisper, "Remember... don't move out at night... from 6:00 PM." Raising his voice again, he added, "You have only one week to complete the renovation!" With that cryptic warning, he departed, leaving them standing in bewilderment.

"We re not builders..how can we renovate, Andrew whispered.

Mathias quickly spoke up, "This renovation thing? It's a hint, not a task." The group exchanged puzzled glances but decided to press on.

They made their way to the dorms, only to find mysterious piles of canes hidden under the beds and stuffed in the closets. "What's with the canes?" Marcus wondered aloud. "Are we supposed to be scared?"

Mathias, ever the strategist, mused, "It could be a trap, but the game wouldn't kill us right away." He thought .

" That's not possible." He sighed, then he instructed Marcus to leave the canes where they were, and just then, their neighbors entered, confirming their own rooms bore the same peculiar décor.

"At least we're not alone in this," Mathias reassured them.

" Guess we're not the only ones with it.." still Marcus wasn't satisfied.he decided to go to other rooms too, checking one by one , only to discover all the rooms in the dorm had the canes in similar position.

Meanwhile mathias, driven by a thirst for clues, he decided to investigate a blocked-off area that was restricted, rumored to be dangerous.

"The most treacherous places often hold the most valuable secrets," he whispered, and Marcus nodded as they set off.

Arriving at the block, they encountered the two players Musa and max, members of the earlier group that wanted to join them, their expressions tense.

"Anything strange?" Mathias asked softly. "Nothing, but we are waiting for our friend; Janette, she went to the toilet," Musa replied.

Just then, Janette emerged from the restroom, looking pale and shaken.

The cheerful chatter dissipated into silence as she noticed something down the corridor. From the shadows stepped a figure, a woman clad in blood, resonating an eerie aura. It was Madam Koi-Koi, a ghost from the darkest tales told by school children.

But it wasn't just a tale, it was real.

Madam Koi-Koi approached the Janette, her presence made Janette scared and paralyzed.

"If you answer my question, I'll let you pass," she intoned, making the girl tremble. With barely a whisper, Janette nodded, fear choking her words.

Koi-Koi recited a riddle, but it wasn't a just a riddle . It was a story of what happened to her.

"I had two red heels... one I have, but one I lost. My legs hurt; one is high, one is low... only one echo is heard—can you give me yours?.... What shoe did I lose?"

The girl, caught in terror, stammered as she was so desperate not to be harmed, without hesitation she answered,

"The red one!"

But the answer unleashed a scream that echoed through the halls, throwing their group into chaos.

Frantic, Mathias and Marcus rushed to find her, yet the bathroom was eerily empty, but the corridor floor had titan blood that seemed like someone was being pulled on the ground.

But as they followed the flow of blood, it ended mid way and vanished.

"Forget about your friend. She's gone," Mathias tried to reassure the max and musa, but fear began to hung heavily in the air, especially musa. The absence of closure gnawed at their minds. "Let's check the classrooms," Mathias suggested, keen to find some answers.

They entered SS4, a classroom Madam Koi-Koi once taught in. On the teacher's desk lay a solitary cane—untouched and ominous. Glancing at Marcus, Mathias reminded him.

"Don't say a word if you ever encounter her." Marcus nodded, a familiar fear flickering in his eyes.

When Marcus excused himself to the bathroom, Mathias waited outside, alert.

But as Marcus, unzipped his pant to easy himself, comfortably, he squatted, but suddenly he glanced around and glimpsed at dots of blood on the floor.

Raising his head up, he was shocked to see a writting on the wall, which never existed as he entered the restroom.

" What the hell is this!"

He stood up immediately without even finishing easying himself as he pulled his pant up.

Instinctively, Mathias turned, his heart racing fast, then he looked at the writing on wall written with blood. Unable to take it, he rush out of the toilet to wash his hands in the sink.

Gasping his breath for a moment then he raised his head on the mirror to look at his face, the mirror gleamed with the same sinister red writing.

"I had two red heels... one I have, but one I lost. My legs hurt; one is high, one is low... only one echo is heard—can you give me yours?.... What shoe did I lose?"

Then he heard a laughter, soft at first, grew loud and piercing—a chill swept through him.

"Answer and I'll let you go," the voice beckoned, taunting Marcus, who was now rooted in fear.

" I can't read..." He yelled.

Answer and l will let you go." Her laughter alond terrified Marcus.

"I.. don't know how to read..l never went to school, my parents were poor. He stammered as he replied, remembering Mathia's warning.

Everywhere he looked, the blood writing sprawled across the walls, echoing the dreadful riddle.

"Hahaha...can you read now..."

He panicked, staggering to move as the laughter of madam koi-koi grew louder and louder .

He loooked around, blood writtings turned into bleeding wounds, they flowed to the floor, the whole room become a pool of blood.