Preliminaries (Trials 2-5)

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Chapter warnings: Mild language

Word count: 1401

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As they all looked down at their screens, the next trial popped up fairly quickly. As Y/N hit the start button, one thing changed. Rather than the regular space beneath the text, there was a new string of words. Drop-Out Fee: $50. Hmm. So there was the first drop-out fee.

"That seems like a lot of money for the second trial." Luhan commented idly.

"Yeah..." Chen agreed. "If it increases by fifty every round, that's like a million dollars."

"Actually, that'll only be five thousand dollars by the end." Kyungsoo corrected.

"Whatever, imagine doing math. Anyway, it looks like we're in this for the long run now." Chen continued.

"Guys, look at the second trial." Kris called their attention, reading it out loud. "Pick a location for trial 3... That's it? That doesn't seem difficult at all."

"I mean, I expected them to be easy at first, but really?" Baekhyun agreed. "At this rate, we'll have our wish by the end of the day." Shrugging, Y/N tried to get them back on track.

"So, where do we want to go?"

"You think they'd tell us what the challenge is before we pick a location." Chanyeol muttered, a bit annoyed with the game. "Who's the limited power?" Looking down, Luhan answered him.

"Oh... it's me."

"Telekinesis?" D.O. wondered. "Maybe it involves moving something. We should pick a location that has stuff that's easy to move."

"Or we just go wherever." Kris muttered.

"Take this seriously! We don't want to be detrimental to our progress later on!"

"Who cares? It's literally the second trial-"

"What about we stay in the practice room?" Suho offered, trying to defuse them both. "Except for some of the speakers, everything's super easy to move, and we're familiar with it. It's not too small, we can all fit comfortably, and there's access to windows and water and everything we might need. Sound good?"

No one really had an objection, so they chose to move onward with that plan. Looking at the controls, Y/N noted that there was a 'Choose Location' button where the 'Start Round' used to be. Selecting it, a smaller pop-up appeared. Are you sure you'd like to submit your current location for Trial 2? She pressed Accept, watching as the pending trial boasted completion.

"Well... are we starting trial 3?"

"I don't see why not." Suho allowed her to press the next button. As she was starting to get used to , the words faded away to give leave to new ones. "Trial 3: Break Items" Underneath, the italics read Each person is required to adequately destroy one item of their choice. You will have thirty minutes to do so. Moving on, it also read, Drop-Out Fee: $50 and Restricted: Luhan

"So you can get restricted two times in a row?" Luhan asked, waving his hands, a bit annoyed.

"I guess. It makes sense that they'd choose you, though. Assuming we had picked a more difficult place, you could just lift stuff up and slam it into the ground." Kyungsoo pointed out.

"Sure, but you could probably crush stuff up just as easily." He argued.

"It doesn't matter, it's not like I'm the one picking. Let's focus on completing the trial. We have-" He looked down to check. "Twenty-nine minutes and fourteen seconds left."

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