JUNE 17th, 2014.

The messenger’s inputs go still, as the blinking light of the cursor continues in their stead.
Seth remains quiet, staring at the screen and gripped by the throat, as if he just saw a corpse.

That’s not possible. The VPN gateway should’ve intercepted...
…I need to get out of here.

As soon as he pulls the chair out backward, more text begins to appear on the terminal.

exit your room and the girl dies
yell and the girl dies
you are not safe

past the first test, the second future lies in entrapments of the mind
suffering awaits the failure who attempts to play God
password:

The cursor blinks again, mockingly. An aura of extreme dread floods Seth’s mind, as he realizes the severity of the situation without further delay.

Miki… you bastards…!

“Who are you?” Seth says, withholding any anger from his voice so as to not risk it being taken out on Miki. Text appears on the screen once again.

not relevant

past the first test, the second future lies in entrapments of the mind
suffering awaits the failure who attempts to play God
password:

He stares at the screen, seeing the same hint for the third time.
That’s all I’m going to get out of you, huh?
He pulls his chair forward yet again, staring at the blinking cursor to the right of “password:”.

The first test… must be related to the train. I’ve already “passed” it. ‘The second future’...
A second test? ‘Lies in entrapments of the mind’.
The second test that lies in entrapments of the mind.

Seth recalls the searching he’d just gone through minutes prior to this.
Death and rebirth both have significant impacts…
‘Suffering awaits the failure who attempts to play God’...
A cycle of death and rebirth… awaits those who attempt to play God.

Seth hesitantly types in the word “Samsara” into the terminal, and presses the enter key. More text arrives on the screen.

[X] [  ] [  ]
You have: 2:30 minutes remaining.

SHIT! Shit, shit, shit! I’m on the clock now?!
Seth puts his hands to his forehead, pushing his hair back to feel it. The stress begins to seep its way under his skin, influencing his mind. He breathes in, knowing he doesn’t have the time for doubt.

Okay… If I ignore the possibility of it referring to me specifically, the only way to escape Samsara is to follow the eight-fold path…
Right view, Right Resolve, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.
While counting each one, Seth does so with his fingers as well.

Resolve, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration.
In logical order, that would be…
Mindfulness, View, Concentration, Resolve, Speech, Action, Effort, and Livelihood. I think…

So, M-V-C-R-S-A-E-L…
Seth types the arranged letters into the terminal, and presses enter.

An unhelpful message shows itself in response.

[X] [X] [  ]
You have: 1:45 minutes remaining.

Shit… Then it has to be a cipher… Think, Seth, THINK!
He pinches his forehead, trying his hardest not to panic.

Samsara, a new world, the eight-fold path, death and rebirth…
He taps his foot stressfully against the ground.

Wait. Samsara… Could be a letter-to-number cipher? The eight-fold path… if I use eight as the value for “A”…

Looking at the letters on the keyboard for reference, he taps them in accordance with their number.

That’s twenty-six... eight... twenty... twenty-six. Eight. Twenty-five… eight.
Twenty-six appears twice… a cycle of death and rebirth, Yin and Yang… Groups of two?

Eight. Twenty. Twenty-five.

The ‘free world’ would be an escape from Samsara.
So, twenty-six represents Samsara. The only number that repeats twice: a cycle.

Eight. Twenty. Twenty-five. These numbers either don’t repeat, or repeat more than once.
…That’s it. All of the eight paths are “right”, “absolute”, even… Meaning there’s only one way through them. Only sets of absolutes.

Twenty and twenty-five.

Seth quickly types the set of numbers into the terminal, and finally presses the enter key, betting everything on this last deduction with only ten seconds remaining on the timer. Text appears on the screen yet again.

congratulations, progenitor
you view a world unbiased by God
this is what we expected
rest assured
the girl will not be harmed

The text pauses for a moment as the monitor seems to lag in its absence. In less than a few seconds, it continues:

we have a reward for you

Another window opens up atop the monitor, and Seth’s pupils expand in fear.

That’s… my apartment.

A cold sweat begins to run down his back as a camera positioned from the ceiling of his apartment is looking down at around a sixty-degree angle, at a large metal box sitting on the floor, with a white envelope sitting on top of it.

As he stares, unable to speak, the terminal closes and the camera feed follows shortly after it.

I shouldn’t go. I should just stay here. Call the police, something.
But they wouldn’t believe me.
I don’t have any other choice but to play into the palm of their hand.

He had an unnerving, staying feeling that the ones behind this knew that already.
Rushing out of the fourth booth, he bolts to the desk and places his hands on top of the counter, quickly leaning half his body over.

“MIKI?! YOU THERE?!”

“H-huh?!” Miki, busy with something in the employee’s closet and out of Seth’s field of vision, sounds startled by the urgency in Seth’s voice.

“I’ve… I’ve gotta go! I’ll try and come back sometime soon!”

That’s a lie. As long as these people are following me… it’s obvious she’d be in danger just by knowing me.

Miki, still not showing herself, laughs to herself a little.

“That’s okay, Seth! You’re always welcome here, whenever!”

Without saying another word, Seth runs out of the internet cafe and down the sidewalk in the direction of his apartment.

I’m sorry, Miki. I never expected any of this to happen.


. . . . .

Seth quickly shoves his key into the lock belonging to his apartment door, but unsurprisingly, it’s already unlocked. Turning the knob, he slams it open, checking the apartment immediately for any disturbances. The white, thin camera can be seen taped on top of the wall.

It’s too large and obvious… This wasn’t here before I left earlier this morning. Even I wouldn’t be able to miss that.

Seth walks around underneath the camera, examining it.

An SD card slot and USB port on its side… they must’ve recorded a small snippet of footage… the way they presented it made it seem like a live feed, but…

Seth looks around the apartment once again, searching for any wires or additional devices.

…There’s nothing else here. I guess that’s a relief.

He crouches down, then quickly springs up and grabs the camera with his right hand, tossing it onto the bed as he hits the ground.

“I’ll look at you later.”

He turns his head toward the metal box on the ground, around one meter in length and width, half a meter in height. There’s a large keyhole near the front, close to the top, but the box seems machinery-sealed otherwise. On top of it, as he saw in the video, is an envelope in white. It has nothing written on its front-facing side.
Seth crouches down, picking it up and examining it. As soon as he turns it, he realizes the opposite side is black.

A black and white envelope? I’ve never seen this before.
More importantly…

On the black side of the letter, there’s writing in white.

‘To The Future’...?
I was expecting “To The Free World” or pretty much anything else.

Setting it down next to the box, he attempts to pick it up. This didn’t work whatsoever.

What… the hell… is in this box?! Ugh…! It’s so… damn… heavy…!

Seth’s hands slip against the cool metal, causing him to trip forward. He catches himself before he falls flat on his face.

I wish I had a screwdriver or something… I can’t try to shoot the locking mechanism inside.

Picking up the letter again, he tears the flap back and opens it. It’s a blank piece of copy paper with writing on it, with a metal key cut for the box taped to the bottom right. It reads as follows:

Dear Progenitor,
You have been found.
Rejoice, for the future is here. The Free World.
Your life is to begin anew. You will understand in due time.
We have prepared a gift for you. Please take the key attached and open the box provided with this letter.

Seth rips the key off of the letter, removing the excess tape.

Probably a trap, but I have absolutely zero leads, so…
He tightens the grip around the key in his hand.
I might as well do as it says.

He sets the key into the box’s lock, combing over the pins and turning it to the right as soon as it’s set in place.

A blinding white light engulfed the entirety of Seth’s apartment, originating from the box. It became hotter at an incomprehensibly fast rate, burning the air around it.

Molten metal shards left from the pieces remaining of the box shot outward in every direction, piercing Seth’s skin countless times.

Pain instantly flooded over his entire body for only a moment, until his vision was overtaken by a burning hot white. His senses stopped working as soon as he realized that this was the work of a bomb.

A highly volatile explosive reaction— rigged to detonate by letting oxygen through a vacuum-sealed interior that a person unlocking the box with a key would break— engulfed Seth’s entire apartment in flame, destroying everything inside of it…

…Including him.