DIAMOND | Stray Kids

1;3

THREE.

"Because it is dangerous for you to try."

- - -

The door clicked. He started to slowly push it open, wary of what might be behind it. After all, he was warned. But it was all a game, and he'd wake up in the real word eventually. What did he have to lose?

Sure enough, outside was just what he was told it would be. Barren wasteland, the skeleton of a town. He was warned.

"It will never live again."

And two hundred years after the end of the world, he was left.

To some extent, alone.

- - -

"What do you mean by dangerous, exactly?" Chan asked.
"It is certain that you will have regrets when you leave, and you will not be able to come back."
"Wait," Changbin started, "Is it dangerous or something outside?"
"Indeed," ACES responded.
"How so?" Minho interrupted.
"Because it will never live again."

Chan's breath hitched.

Deathrow.

It wasn't a game anymore.

- - -

No one.

Nowhere.

It was exactly how it was described.

Dead.

Never to live again.

The door shut itself behind him. He had nowhere to go, stuck between hell and home, and he'd been making a mistake this whole time. What he was staring at wasn't home. It was only the shell of it, void of all meaning.

And it will never live again.

- - -

"Chan!"

"Chan, are you okay?"

Chan's eyes slowly fluttered open, "I'm fine. What happened?"
"What do you mean "what happened," you literally passed the fuck out," Changbin rolled his eyes, "Get up."
"What happened to you?" Minho asked as Chan got back on his feet.
Chan thought for a moment. Should he tell them? No. It'll only stress them out.
"I don't know," he replied, "I'm probably just tired. This is taking a lot of energy out of me."
"You don't say," Jisung snickered.
"Anyway," Chan said, "How long was I out? Did you find anything?"
"We found another person," Minho answered, "Seungmin, his name is. I'm not sure what to think about him, he seems a bit of a know-it-all."
Chan laughed.
"What?"
"He can't be much worse that you," Chan joked.
"I am not a know-it-all," Minho looked offended, "I'm just gifted with logic and reason, more than you'll ever have."
"Oh," Chan laughed, raising an eyebrow cockily, "Really?"

"Stop flirting!" Changbin shouted.

"We are not flirting!"

- - -

"We've caught Seungmin up on everything," Woojin said, "Including the whole player nine thing."
"So what are we doing about it?" Seungmin spoke up.
"That's our question... we don't know," Hyunjin started, "The door won't open, there's no way of getting to them."
Chan froze, and for a second he felt sick again.

Player nine....
Lock. System. Malfunction. Danger. Awake. Key.

"Is there a lock of of some sort on that door?" Chan asked, interrupting someone.
"Yeah, why?" Hyunjin replied.
"What kind?"
"A passcode. Four digits."
"Let me see."
Chan marched into the hallway, stopping in front of room nine. The keypad was unusual. While most have numbers from zero to nine, this one in particular was missing a zero.
"Someone ask ACES how many attempts we have," Chan ordered, "I don't want to fuck this up."
Jisung ran back to the computer room, leaving everyone else confused.
"Do you know what this is?" Minho huffed, "Maybe you are smarter than me."
"I have some idea, but don't worry," Chan laughed, "I'm not taking your crown."
Jisung came running back in.
"We have four attempts," he stated.
"And what happens if we don't manage in those four attempts?" Seungmin asked.
"Well..." Jisung started, "In short, they cut the power supply."
"And?"
"You're not gonna believe it," Jisung said, "Hell, I don't think I believe it. It's not moral or legally possible."
"Well? What is it?"
"Diamond is programmed in the same way most older MMVR games were," Jisung answered, "You know, before the Force Stop Act."
"You mean there's no force stop safety systems?" Jeongin frowned.
"None," Jisung replied.
"Could I be enlightened as to what the fuck that means?" Changbin mumbled.
"They programmed Diamond in such a way that force stopping the game in any way will stop all electrical impulses in the brain," Hyunjin stated.
"In layman's terms," Minho started, earning a glare from Changbin, "If we don't unlock that door, player nine will be dead."

- - -

PLAYER NUMBER: NINE
NAME: F#/8x 0#3
STATUS:

...AW#KE...

...A/IVE...

...U^STA6LE