The Cost Of Balance
Derek was shocked. He began quickly reprocessing all the information he had about this level—and then, all of a sudden, it struck him hard.
Those words came to play again: "Everything is not what it seems."
Immediately, Derek stepped closer to the mirror and slightly touched the holographic figure. It glitched—showing 81 before fading back to 72.
Derek's heart filled with joy. He had finally solved the puzzle. The true answer was real—the fake one was just a glitch.
His heart pounded as he realized he still had one more problem to face. It had taken him about 150 pattern-repeating mirrors to find the first flawed pattern.
Derek's hands stiffened as he glanced at the clock—and then, at full speed, he began bursting through the mirrors faster than his legs could probably carry him.
He had just 20 seconds left, and by his calculations, he needed 10 seconds at each station to make it in time.
Derek kept running through the room of endless mirrors. Finally, he reached the second equation, picked it, and moved on. He had just 8 seconds left, and the truth started creeping in.
At his current speed, he wouldn't make it.
Derek quickly did a mental calculation—and although dangerous, he decided to use his acceleration to launch himself forward. He would leap for it.
As planned, Derek reached his calculated spot a few meters before the mirror. With three seconds left on the clock, Derek propelled himself forward and finally tagged the last mirror.
> Level 9 zone 5 completed. 10 points added. Click the green button to proceed to the next level.
Derek lay on the floor, utterly tired and dismayed. His feet felt sore as the adrenaline began to wear off. He could barely move in such a state.
---
Lucian watched from the screen of his laptop, a graceful smile grazing his lips at the sight of Derek's fatigue. At least now, Derek would be weak—mentally and physically—so when Lucian began his attack, Derek wouldn't be able to break free.
If he tries hard during this last trial just maybe he wouldn't win and if he doesn't then his goal has been achieved.
All eyes were on Lucian—the man in the all-black outfit. He looked calm and composed, but his behavior came off strange to the other audience members.
Firstly, why was he streaming some unknown guy's feat instead of Thompson? After all, Thompson was who they had come to see.
Many people brushed it off, assuming the boy might be his son or someone he loved. But the real red flag was how he occasionally pulled up series of data on his holographic screen, showing details about the event.
Many of the VIP guests casually kept their eyes on him, ready to call the cops at any further suspicious movement.
Lucian knew all this—but he wasn't panicked at all. After all, he had his backup story ready in case complications arose.
Most importantly, no one had any idea who he truly was. That was exactly why he had dressed in full black, with a large black heart pinned to his chest.
One thing was for sure: if they ever found out who he really was, they wouldn't dare cross his path.
---
Lucy stood still before red holographic screens.
Today, she was sure most people had already made it past the first 4 zones —but she was just wrapping it up now .
She questioned everything she thought she knew about herself. Was she really smart?
Lucy bowed her head slightly. Maybe Michael was right. Maybe she wasn't good enough for anything. Maybe her mom was wrong. Maybe she wasn't even ranked in B class.
Lucy slowly wiped the tears forming in her eyes as she stepped toward the screen and clicked the green button.
All she wished for was for this to be over.
As soon as she clicked the button, a warm light-yellow chamber materialized before her.
In the middle of the room stood what looked like an old, rickety balance scale, tilted slightly to the right—clearly not accurate anymore.
Beneath the floating scale were five different objects, each with different sizes, shapes, and colors.
There were nine in total. Lucy looked toward the holographic screen, searching for answers.
---
> Emotional Math – Level 1 zone 5
Choose three sets of objects. Only one set of three brings balance.
---
Lucy read it aloud, shocked. She hadn't expected to use the old balance scale for measurement anymore.
Furious, she scanned the screen thoroughly, hoping to find clues.
She only found a bit of extra information: the goal weight was 18 – x—which made no sense to her, since there were no visible weight-measuring tools in the room.
Lucy rushed toward her bag. Her plan was to randomly test combinations of the items to see which set would balance the ancient scale.
But as soon as she grabbed the first item, she froze.
She calmly dropped it and picked it up again—same effect.
Whenever she picked up an item, she saw a specific image in her mind.
Testing her theory, Lucy picked up the remaining items to verify.
They all triggered images—nine total:
1. Teddy bear – hummingbirds singing
2. School bag – a tired girl coming back from school
3. Broken pencils – a crying girl
4. Graduation cap – smiling people clapping
5. Red box – a birthday party
6. Phone – Michael in rage
7. Sticky note – a child writing
8. Door – a slamming door
9. Picture of a heart – a man breaking up with a woman
Lucy stood frozen. She still didn't know what to do with all that information.
She stared at the holographic screen, re-reading it word for word.
When she was done, she asked herself: What does all this have to do with emotion? Why is it called Emotional Math?
As if answering her, Lucy's eyes lit up.
"It definitely has to do with emotion," she said aloud, now taking the memories into consideration.
She quickly categorized each image by its emotional tone:
Teddy bear – warmth
Graduation cap – pride
Broken pencils – frustration
Phone – anger
Sticky note – perseverance
Picture – sadness
Door slam – fear
Birthday – joy
School bag – exhaustion
But even after this, Lucy realized—she still didn't know what to do next.
She kept brainstorming as she watched her time tick away.
Then suddenly, her face lit up—as if she had just discovered something.
One name came to mind:
Skyhigh Technology