[WHAT IF WE PLAYED CAT ON THE PERCH?]
00: 00 : 00
[MY DEAR CHILDREN]
Said in a trembling, broken voice
Everyone looked up towards the track; it wasn't the doll, but rather a small tortoise, barely a meter long, that caught our attention. Standing on its hind legs, it moved very, very slowly with the help of a cane.
Then a strange, fragile silence fell over the arena.
The floor plates locked one by one. The players watched, a little disturbed, then less perplexed, their legs relaxed, their minds somewhere between confusion and ridicule of the scene.
Then the voice fell silent.
[MY DEAR CHILDREN,... SORRY FOR THE CHANGE BUT OUR DEAR ELISABETH IS VERY BUSY SO I WOULD HAVE BEEN IN CHARGE OF THE RUNNING OF THIS GAME]
That was indeed the voice we had listened to.
It was definitely him
An old voice.
Worn out.
A voice that no longer knew speed, strength, or youth.
A voice that lingered like a sick breath.
All eyes meet in questioning glances.
And nobody understood what he was seeing.
And the fear and doubt had vanished.
– a turtle?
– What is this nonsense?
It was not a robot.
It was not a powerful creature.
Neither a colossus nor a chimera some imagined it or were waiting to see.
A small turtle.
She advanced with the help of her cane carved from a kind of blackened red coral.
She seemed lost.
Or very, very patient.
Because she hasn't taken more than 10 steps since we've been waiting
A-09 murmured, loud enough to be heard:
— We're starting to get bored. There's nothing faster.
They all burst out laughing, forgetting for a moment where they were.
The entrance to death.
The tortoise raised its head.
Her wrinkled neck trembled.
Its shell, split in several places, let out a pale, almost watery light.
She took a long breath, as if each syllable cost her an entire year of her life.
[SORRY KIDS… I'M LATE, LET'S GET STARTED.]
A shiver ran through the arena.
A word that evokes trauma.
Kang-Dae moved closer to me, his hand on my head.
- It'll be alright... Ki-Moon...?
His voice was strained.
I did not reply.
Kim Young instinctively stepped back, as if this small creature were more dangerous than all the players combined.
Her pupils were tiny, contracted into a single point.
And she looked between herself and her watch.
The tortoise stopped.
[THE RULES ARE SIMPLE, I WILL BE THE CAT FOR THE ENTIRE DURATION OF THE GAME, AND YOU ARE THE MICE. YOU EACH HAVE A BALL. DURING THE GAME YOU MUST AVOID BEING TOUCHED BY ME OR ON THE 3RD TIME YOU WILL BE ELIMINATED FROM THE GAME. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO PERCH ON ANYTHING BUT FOR NO MORE THAN 10 SECONDS AND TO STOP ME YOU MUST HIT ME WITH YOUR BALL TO IMMOBILIZE ME FOR 20 SECONDS. EACH ELIMINATION EARNS ONE MILLION COINS AND ACCESS TO THE GAME SHOP]
[ GOOD LUCK]
The rules slammed like a bell
Kim Young turned as white as paper.
"At that speed, you might not catch anything," Ray Lee whispered with a sly smile.
[STARTING IN 5 SECONDS, GET READY]
The turtle then turned towards us.
And small white balls appeared
His gaze was… slow.
But incredibly precise.
[... 4….3…..2…1…. 0.]
RUN!!!!!
Kim Young yelled
My heart skipped a beat.
The other players were murmuring quietly.
Barely searching for a perch, a logic.
– let's relax a little
– a ridiculous game
– what can a turtle possibly do
More
Ji-yunwoo, on the other hand, almost exploded:
- What is this nonsense?!? Hey! Are we playing or what?!
The tortoise caught its cane.
Very slowly.
And above all, naturally, with its prominent muscles that emerged from beneath its shell.
It wasn't a game.
He almost lost his head with that fishing rod, which was spinning at full speed; it was turning like a propeller.
Ji-yunwoo was embarrassed.
He fell onto her buttocks.
The tortoise retrieved its cane, raised a trembling, rigid, hard leg.
And said:
[WE WERE PLAYING CAT ON THE PERCH AND YOU'RE NOT PERCHED]
The floor tiles changed immediately.
The players were at the end of their rope.
Panic returned and in the process he fell over and trampled himself, in a courtyard at the perch.
The tortoise spoke again:
[THE CAT ARRIVES.]
She was an inspiration.
[SEVENTEEN .]
A pause.
[FOUR .]
Terror tore the group apart.
A-09 serra sa planche .
— It's a speed test… or a disguised execution.
The tortoise gave a slight smile,
[ ZERO .]
And with his trembling feet, he made an enormous stretch
BOOM!
HAAAAA!
The weeds fall all
– HAAAAA, create L-01
Crack
The cane planted him in the ground, tearing off his right arm.
- shit
Kang-Dae grabbed my sleeve just in time with a force that surprised me.
— Ki-Moon… don't move.
Her eyes were fixed on the undulating ground.
I observed the ground.
It wasn't far away, but it still made me feel dizzy given the situation; that was pretty normal.
The tortoise slowly moved forward to his cane, which he pulled from the ground.
L-01 escaped, missing an arm.
[RUN... YOU HAVE TWO CHANCES LEFT.]
The tortoise smiled, an almost tender smile, if you forget the fact that it had just torn off a player's arm.
Kim Young, A-09, Seo Hwan, Ray Lee, all found themselves in the same predicament.
The countdown above their heads had now reached zero.
Ray Lee spat:
— STOP .
THREW THE BALL .
The others take advantage of the situation to flee.
The tortoise closed one eyelid.
[RUNNING IS A LOST EFFORT.]
VOUMMMMM!
The duck flew away
The plates bend as he passes over them.
The ridiculous game.
He was no longer one.
It was a hunt.
Prey that hunts its hunter.