Ann raised her fist in excitement, and the threads around her trembled… then everything changed. The threads that had been moving like precise arms… now twisted like creatures waking from a long slumber.
Silvara slowly lifted her hand and said seriously:
"Ann… stay focused. What came before was only minor interference. What's ahead is harder."
Ann swallowed, reseted her stance, and said:
"Got it… just open me a small path, and I'll handle the rest."
Phase Four began. The threads burst around her like the web of a giant spider. Five threads in front moved slowly… while four others crossed from behind in a weaving motion. But the terrifying part was the pair curling around her from both sides, as if it's trying to close the path entirely.
Ann gasped:
"What?! This is too much!"
Silvara raised both hands this time. Her fingers moved with precision. The threads began to tremble… but they didn't shift as easily as before. A drop of sweat slid from her temple.
Ann noticed immediately:
"Silvara… are you okay?"
Silvara answered, her expression was steady despite the strain:
"This network… has a will. I can feel it resisting me."
The threads tightened suddenly, nearly collapsing the open passage.
Silvara said quickly:
"Ann! Now!"
Ann leapt forward. She ran through the tangled threads, right foot first, spinning her body to slip past a twisting thread like a snake, then dropping to one knee to dodge another that lunged from behind. She moved lightly, but the threads were faster.
Silvara shouted for the first time:
"Ann! Left! Now!"
Ann dove fully to the left just as the threads twisted ahead, closing off the path.
Silvara clenched her teeth:
"I won't allow it…"
She thrust both arms forward. The air around them shifted violently, as if the pressure in the room flipped in an instant. The tangled threads in front of Ann split apart for a single second.
Ann said:
"This is my chance!"
She jumped with all her strength, shooting through the narrow gap Silvara had opened. She slipped between the chaos of threads in a flash, her foot lifting at the perfect moment over another thread lunging up at her.
She landed in a fast roll, then rose immediately, breathless. She looked ahead… only three meters separated her from the final thread and the opposite door. But the threads began folding around her again… as if realizing she was about to win.
Silvara said sharply:
"Ann! Cross it now or it'll close!"
Without thinking, Ann hurled herself forward. She ran lightly, leaping over a low thread, ducking under a high one, then tilting her body aside to avoid a third that twisted across her path. She made one last wide jump and landed right in front of the door.
Ann pressed a hand to her chest, while panting:
"Haah… haah… I did it… I actually did it!"
Silvara shouted from behind:
"Ann! The button! Press the button to finish the game!"
Ann turned quickly to the small metal panel beside the door, carved with the mark of a wolf. She reached out and slammed her palm against it. All the threads vanished instantly. Ann dropped down to the floor, laughing lightly, exhausted but charged with victory.
"Haah… it's over… I can't believe I crossed it."
The mechanical voice echoed as soon as the threads disappeared:
"Well done completing the phase. Now… each contestant must choose a separate door. The right door: the sun. The left door: the moon. Two contestants cannot enter the same door."
Ann glanced at the doors, and Silvara stepped towards them immediately.
Ann said without a hint of hesitation:
"I'll finish my path quickly."
Silvara replied simply:
"And so will I. I'll see you in the final room."
They exchanged one last look, then Ann headed for the Sun Door and opened it. Silvara moved to the Moon Door and opened hers. Both doors shut at the same time, beginning their individual paths.
The scene shifted abruptly… moving to the room the three boys had entered. Ken stood at the front, examining the space while the others stayed behind.
The mechanical voice echoed through the chamber:
"Welcome to the Bear Room. In this test, you must solve a single riddle… before the entire space fills with lethal gas."
Akio's eyes widened immediately:
"Gaaas?! Lethal?! Can't we start with something friendly first?!"
Mabushi groaned:
"Of course… we needed death too. Because the previous gates and games weren't enough?"
Ken, meanwhile, lifted his head toward the ceiling where small vents were slowly opening.
With his usual calm, he said:
"The gas hasn't started leaking yet. That means we haven't wasted any time."
Akio snapped at him:
"You're talking about the gas like it's regular air!"
Ken raised an eyebrow lightly.
"If you're going to panic, save it for after we solve the riddle."
A glowing panel appeared on the front wall, built from interlocked stones of different sizes, with a single line carved beneath it:
"Open the bear's mouth… before it devours your breath."
Three raised stone tiles appeared on the wall, each with a different symbol:
Rocks – Claws – Heart.
Mabushi approached and muttered:
"A death-flavored puzzle."
Ken stepped closer and inspected one of the symbols.
The mechanical voice said:
"You have ninety seconds. If the bear's mouth is not opened before time ends… the gas will be fully released, and none of you will survive."
Mabushi scowled:
"Oh great…"
The voice continued:
"To solve the riddle, you must determine the correct order of the three symbols. Pressing them in the proper sequence will open the bear's mouth. If the first attempt is incorrect, there will be no second attempt."
A countdown lit up on the wall:
90… 89… 88…
Akio yelled:
"What is this nonsense?! What does that even mean?!"
Mabushi stepped forward with a frown:
"It's like… born, beats, protects, fights?! Who wrote this riddle? A novelist with issues?!"
Ken sank into thought immediately:
'Rocks… stable. Claws… combat. Heart… life. But the connection… isn't linear.'
Mabushi noticed Ken freezing in front of the wall. He took two steps forward and raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, gloomy guy… planning to stand there until we all die? Let me think with you."
He gestured rapidly toward the symbols:
"So… what does the bear do first? Roar? Sleep? Eat?!"
Akio waved his hands frantically from behind:
"Or maybe… maybe it's born first?! But where's birth here?! Do rocks mean birth? No, that's stupid… or maybe not?! Ah, I don't know!!"
Ken didn't look at them, but his brow lowered a little. Akio moved closer and pointed at the three symbols:
"The heart means life. The claws mean fighting. The rocks… what about the rocks? Does it mean the bear lives in caves?!"
Mabushi crossed his arms and said:
"If we press the wrong order, we die instantly. There's no second chance, so focus."
He struck the wall lightly with his fist and snarled:
"Come on, Ken! You're the smart one here, say something!"
Ken lowered his head for a moment, his eyes were half-closing… then whispered:
"Rocks… Claws… Heart."
He opened his eyes and said:
"This riddle… isn't about the bear itself."
The other two turned to him immediately. Ken continued in a low voice:
"It's about the structure. The origin. The natural sequence… of existence."
He looked at the three carvings again, then said:
"Help me confirm one order before I press anything."
The two rushed toward him at once, each throwing out ideas… while the countdown kept dropping:
61… 60… 59…
Mabushi suddenly grabbed Ken's arm and pulled him slightly toward him as he growled:
"Listen… before you waste time on philosophy, let's make one thing clear: I'm not any less smart than you."
He lifted his hand, pointing at the three carvings quickly:
"The rocks… the claws… the heart. Bears live in caves, right? That means the rocks are their home, the claws are their weapon, and the heart is their courage or life or whatever symbolic nonsense."
He jabbed his finger against the first stone:
"The first thing any wild animal needs is a shelter… somewhere to hide. After that, it needs a weapon to defend itself. And finally, all that stuff you're talking about like 'heart' and 'meaning' and f*cking 'symbolism', comes after it survives in the first place. So… the logical order of survival is: rocks first… then claws… then heart. Three simple steps… better than drowning in your meditation."
Gas had begun to leak in a thin line from one of the ceiling vents, spreading slowly near the top. Akio raised his hand to cover his mouth instinctively and said:
"Honestly… his reasoning doesn't sound stupid this time…"
Ken ended it with one sentence:
"Wrong."
Mabushi snapped towards him furiously:
"Huh?! At least I thought of something! What's wrong with it?"
Ken answered without even looking at him:
"Your entire logic is built on what a bear needs to live an ordinary day, and that's not what the riddle asks."
His eyes narrowed as he stared at the carvings:
"The riddle isn't asking 'what does it live with?' It's asking: how did it come to exist in the first place?"
He stepped a little closer to the stones and continued:
"The rocks… they're not just its shelter. They're the oldest thing in the equation. The ground… the mountains… the world it will exist in. Before the bear is born… before its heart beats… there must be a stage ready for its existence. The heart… isn't about meaning. It's the beginning of life itself. The claws come later, after life exists… after it needs to defend, hunt, fight."
Akio said:
"You mean… the rocks are the world… the heart is birth… and the claws are survival?"
Ken didn't answer. His eyes were locked on the carvings, while the countdown kept falling:
23… 22… 21…
Mabushi took half a step forward, exploding again:
"So what's your genius order?! At least say something before we suffocate!"
But this time, Ken didn't respond right away. He placed the tips of his fingers lightly on the edge of the middle stone and closed his eyes for a few seconds. Heavy seconds… stretching like an eternity.
Akio swallowed hard as he looked at the gas slowly descending from the ceiling:
"Ken…?"
Ken repeated the sentence inside himself, calm and steady:
'This riddle… is about structure. About origin. About the natural order of any creature's existence. First… land to stand on. Second… a heart that begins to beat. Third… claws that grow to protect itself.'
Mabushi suddenly shouted, his voice echoing off the walls as if the room had shrunk to a tenth of its size:
"Ken!! Are you just going to stand there and think?! The timer's past twenty seconds! Do you not see we're going to die because of you?!"
The tone carried real anger… it irritated Ken for a moment, tightening his chest, but he didn't turn.
He opened his eyes and said finally:
"The rocks… then the heart… then the claws."
He didn't wait for their approval. He immediately placed his hand on the rocks and pressed.
The countdown:
14… 13…
He moved quickly to the heart and pressed, then to the claws.
Akio shouted,
"Ken!! Hurry!!"
Ken pressed the claws firmly. At that instant… the wall shook, a mechanical sound rose from behind the carvings, and the stone bear's mouth opened wide as a massive slab of the wall slid aside, revealing a narrow passage.
But… the time had nearly run out. From the ceiling vents, the gas burst out all at once, violent and dense.
Ken covered his mouth with his left hand and bent slightly:
"Akio! Cover your mouth now!"
Akio obeyed instantly. But Mabushi… the angry, tense one who had been shouting seconds earlier, forgot to cover his mouth. He inhaled once… and his chest jolted violently.
"What…?! What is… this… this—"
He began coughing uncontrollably, as if his lungs were flipping inside out. He clutched his throat and staggered back, losing his balance and slamming into the wall.
Akio shouted:
"Mabushi!! Don't— don't breathe!!"
But the damage was done. Ken rushed to him, grabbed his shoulder, and said in a sharp, low voice:
"Mabushi… bend down. Don't breathe… listen to me."
But Mabushi could barely hear now. He staggered, his eyes are watering, his chest is rising and falling in painful bursts. A faint tone sounded… and the passage beyond the stone bear split into two doors:
Left: a dolphin carving
Right: a whale carving
A mechanical voice said:
"Two will enter together, and one will go through the other door."
Ken quickly looked at Mabushi's condition… then at Akio. The gas was thickening… Mabushi was losing balance… time was slipping away…
Ken raised his voice:
"Akio… go to the whale door. Now!"
Akio froze:
"But—"
Ken snapped, sharper than Akio had ever heard from him:
"Go now!! Don't argue!!"
Ken grabbed the collapsing Mabushi and dragged him hard toward the dolphin door. He opened it, pulled him inside, and shut it behind them.