Being an Extra Actor in an Escape Game

After Ye Lans physical altercation with the drawer to gather the clues within, their erstwhile companions seems to have taken inspiration.

They stop following along the usual rules of Escape Rooms. Instead, they proceed by breaking down the scenery and tools, taking shortcuts.

It means they are proceeding extremely rapidly, even if Ye Lan and Shen Ynj still have no idea what kind of mystery this place is.

And, the more they proceed along this locked house, the more Ye Lan and Shen Ynj feel that theyre going around in circles. The number of rooms and scenarios in this Escape Room seems unusually big.

Finally, they end up stuck in some room. They do not find a key to leave this room, or more accurately, they do not even know where it might be hidden.

So they stand there, expressionless.

Ye Lan and Shen Ynj look at each other, and are about to go search for it themselves or simply kick the next door open, or maybe just go root through everything not nailed down. Theyre not going to remain in this room.

However, something seems to have entered their minds, suppressing their thoughts. They feel dazed and their heads are throbbing. Its like the whole world is twisting and twirling in front of their eyes. Their vision is blurring.

They stand there, blanked out, for a long time.

Did they do something wrong?

While their minds remain muddled, Shen Ynj tries his best to keep thinking despite everything. He tries to work through everything theyve done carefully, to see if any of them might have been a trigger.

Until Ye Lan points out quietly, we may have missed something, when we simply knocked everything over

Shen Ynj gets it.

The dizziness is gaining in severity, until finally, he finds his consciousness lost in a sea of noise. He can only stand there, just like everyone else in the room, like a mannequin, forever locked up inside this room.

Some time passes, when suddenly, the lock clicks. It opens up.

A few people pour in from outside. They complain that these customers have broken the objects, and theyll have to reimburse them for the losses incurred.

They appear to be the staff of this Escape Room.

When they walk into the room, Shen Ynj can feel his mind suddenly coming back to him. Its like waking up from a drunken stupor.

Though he continues to act like hes knocked out, while listening to the conversation and thinking about this scene.

If there are still staff members in this place, then that must mean, that only these customers here have ended up treating the Escape Room as a real murder case in progress. These staff members are still lucid or, not?

Shen Ynj listens to the staff complaining.

What a mess, theyve broken whatever they could get their hands on.

Its not like the audience dont like it this way You know theyre not excited enough by people being intelligent anymore.

They should just pack it up and go watch cockfights then! Werunon people being intelligent.

Shit. Theyve got the Damage Report in. You might as well rebuild this whole damned place with that figure, fucking hell!

Its lucky we stopped them in time I wish we could just leave these people here. Not like theyre even sane anymore

Hey, we cant, you know theyre that, victims of the madness.'

Oh please, that again? What else are these mad people good for if not being streamed for the audiences pleasure? And its not like they hate this, either. Were not even treating them inhumanely, right?

Theyre probably not exactly liking this place either, are they? At least, I wouldnt like it.

These people are convinced this place is real, though like, actors being immersed in their roles, whatnot?

As long as it makes money. Who cares? Theyre helping to pay our bills.

I heard management found some new people They treat some entire action adventure game about saving a little girl as real I bet its far more impressive than these dingy escape rooms. Maybe well lose our jobs sooner than we think.

Damn it, are the audience not happy even with that Battle Royale Livestream in that wherever? I thought those were popular?

There are always people who like other kinds of games, why else would there be so many genres If nothing else, if just one rich guy likes a genre, then they can choose to make whatever streams. Who knows which ones theyll choose?

During their idle chatter, the staff quickly moves the unresponsive people inside the room out. By sheer coincidence, theyve left Shen Ynj and Ye Lan who are standing around on their own for last.

And just when theyre finished moving everyone else and are coming to get these two people last, they suddenly look at each other and immediately run for their lives.

When they run through the original entryway to this room, a grey fog suddenly bursts out.

Shen Ynj yells, when we know the truth hidden behind the scene We can leave through any door?

They already went through that door to enter, but the grey fog didnt appear then.

When they understood the truth behind the scene, the door immediately became their ticket out.

The truth here, is that this is a real-life Escape Room attraction, where the mad people have treated it as reality.

Others, somehow, saw this verisimilitude as a selling point, and started broadcasting their struggles as if theyre mere entertaining clowns, and are making dosh off of it.

How many people have gone mad in the world already? How many audience would be willing to dish out ungodly amounts of money just to watch their suffering?

Shen Ynj does not know the answer to the question.

He is simply lamenting, that no wonder there were proposals to ensure the rights of the mad peopleWait, rights of the mad people?

How did he know this? Is it part of the memories he has forgotten?

A familiar confusion takes over him, as he glances over at Ye Lan.

She has the usual heavy tone. It seems she isnt particularly excited or glad to be able to leave the scene.

She responds to Shen Ynjs shouting from earlier, perhaps, this door simply means, this is the truth.'

Like a door of truth?

Shen Ynj mutters.

If so, then he cant help but wonder, what would that first door that led them to these endless, bizarre scenarios, mean?

If X Beijin could hear Shen Ynjs thoughts, then he would certainly answer, that that is equally, a door of truth. Of the truth to the grey fog, beyond which, they will learn of the most tragic of the circumstances of the Tower.

So its hard to say, whether having lost their memories, is a strictly good or bad thing for these Missiontakers.