From two fronts, Masa Ed fought a battle of life and death, but it was the end of his own life that he fought for.

  As he pray for the endless and torturing pricking pain assaulting his mind from all angles to either come to an end or take his cheap life, he also hopes whatever is happening to his body on a whole—accompanied by a drowning sensation and is slowly taking his life—should do fast and end his misery.

  At one point, things changed—a new spice was added. Whenever Masa Ed escape the deepest level of hell—a place where pain and suffering of the highest order is the law and order—reaching the gate of oblivion—the place he longed for—he will always be mercilessly dragged back. Maybe he owed hell, or hell has a special business with him; for quite a long time, though its length is unknown to him, he repeated the cycle—trying to enter oblivion—inching closer each attempt until he was able to finally barge through its gate, obtaining a hard fought victory.

  ...

  Yet again, it was the familiar fifty meter by sixty meter room with an usually tall ceiling. Nothing about it has changed: the paintings on the wall; where the door is and is where the grandfather clock sit next to remain the same; the white and gold floor mat covering the floor has not changed; the wooden cupboard that is against one of the room's smaller walls which naturally face the other, which is where the large bed in white is positioned against and its also where a table—with a chair in front of it, and a lantern and piece of paper on it—is also positioned against, close to the bed, all are as they always were; and strangely still, the gigantic moon sitting on an endless stretch of fog still hasn't make a move—a mysterious view, one could see through the transparent glass wall that is close to one of the length side of the bed, and is also opposite the wall with the only door in the room and four full length portrait paintings.

  Like a butterfly about to emerge from its cocoon, Masa Ed's figure laid on the large bed in white like all the time he has returned to it, spasmed severally before he came back to life—suddenly rising up into a sitting position like a drowned fellow that was just resuscitated, wheezing dramatically as he grasp for breath.

  A moment later, Masa Ed having manage to reclaim both serenity and lucidity, crawled towards the right edge of the large bed and sprang out of it without much thought.

  After turning his head left to right a few times, looking around the ridiculously large room, Masa Ed move closer to the table, pull out the chair next to it, and turning it around, he plopped on it—a somewhat different action to what he did the previous times he was back in the room.

  At the recess of his mind, Masa Ed having understood the difficulty of following the nameless idiot instructions that guarantees him no exit from his prison concludes to totally ignore it this time. Meaning, he has decided to find his own way—a return to his philosophy which is to always follow his own carved out path in all situations, big and small.

  "Why was I even following instructions? When did I become a puppet?" Masa Ed laughed out mirthlessly, mocking his own previous choices of thoughtlessly doing as told without any original thought.

  Meanwhile, the clock rang as usual, announcing its midnight. However ignoring it, while also putting the why on his mind aside—which is the reason he acted out of characters during the previous times he attempted to leave the room—Masa Ed sprang to his feet and march towards the wall where the door is, and its where four full length portrait paintings are firmly stuck to, two each on either side of the door at the middle.

  On reaching close to the embellished white wall, Masa Ed stood in front of one of the four paintings that has a similar dimension to the door—one of the two that is positioned farther on the left side of the door when facing it—looking at its blurry content he can't make out no matter how much he squints.

  'This painting is strange.'

  Masa Ed concludes because, when looking at the painting from afar, its like he should clearly see its contents when he gets closer, but now that he is standing in front of it, its contents is far more blurry than he would have expected.

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  Also, looking at its embellished purple frame arouse an intense feeling of obsession and affection mixed with a feeling of heartbreak and guilt he is certain will get him addicted if he dwell on it, so, moving on before it take root in his heart, he plants is finger to one of its edges, attempting to pry it off the wall. And it didn't take much time and effort for the painting to come off the wall with its opposite edge strangely still stuck to the wall, looking like it is a door that opened.

  "Eh?" Masa Ed was surprised by the ease at which the painting yielded. However, moving on, he set his gaze on the words written in purple on the wall behind it that it exposed.

  [I FOREVER BELONG TO YOU]

  "You belong to me. Very funny" Masa Ed paraphrased and chuckled with amusement, finding the words amusing. And quickly setting aside the words that almost amplify by several folds the mysterious feeling tugging at his, he starts knocking the revealed plain white wall after knocking the part of the wall beside it, trying to see if its different from the other part of the wall around it. And confirming there is no difference by comparing the echoes of the knocks, he quickly moved to the next painting, which is to its left and is the one closer to the door.

  And reaching it, Masa Ed stood in front of it, looking at its content that is also strangely more blurry than expected while he does his best to ignore an intense feeling of affection and guilt—ike the one he experienced whenever he is in room 33—that is building up in his heart.

  Moving on after a brief mulling, he pried off the painting from the wall like he did the first one. And after it yielded like the first one—opening like a door, his eyes landed on words in alternating gold and white written on the part of the wall it revealed—a plain white wall—like with the first painting.

  [HIM: LOVE IS LIKE GREED; ITS BLINDS THE EYES FOR SEEING THE TRUTH.

  ME: LOVING THE TRUTH MUST HAVE BLINDED YOU. SELFISH BASTARD.]

  "Wow!" Masa Ed after reading the words amidst the strange emotions growing at an increased rate in his heart became amazed by it that his eyes that have lost its brightness since the first time he returned to the room, lit up, making him look like an excited kid.

  "This person is not bad; he has a point." He concluded upon further thinking about the truth held in the words, especially the last part which is what actually surprised and amazed him.

  However, before he can ponder more on it, he noticed the temperature of the room have dropped drastically low, making him feel like he has been dropped at a center of the frozen land, and he might very soon turn into a frozen man.

  "What's going on?" Masa Ed looked around him. Though he is confused about what's going on, he quickly probe the revealed wall like he did with the first painting. And confirming there is no possibility of a passage hidden behind it, he quickly move towards the next painting, moving across the door amidst the biting cold seeping into his bone, faster every second.

  Then, reaching the next painting that has purely an irritating gold frame, he didn't bother to look at its content that is strangely more blurry than expected, but instead, he quickly pry it open like the previous two, and again like the other two, he saw on the wall behind it that it revealed, bold words written only in gold.

  [THOSE THAT BREAK THE LAW WILL BE TRIED BENEATH ITS WEIGHT. THERE SHALL BE NO EXCEPTION.]

  "What?" Masa Ed exclaimed in surprise, because, just as he finished reading the words that strangely annoyed and disgusted him greatly, his almost frozen body strangely starts becoming heavy and stiff, and its definitely not owed to the freezing temperature he is suffering from.

  'Reading the words should be the trigger." Concluding the act of reading the words is responsible for the unfavorable mysterious changes, he quickly probed the part of the wall the painting revealed, despite his body that is almost completely stiff and super heavy—extremely difficult to carry.

  Then getting nothing from the probing, he forcefully dragged his nearly crystalized body towards the last painting of the four—expanding his muscle strength to the maximum in the process, just to resist the heaviness in the room that is increasing in magnitude every second—trying to crush him.

  Then, after dragging his super heavy and frozen body on his hands and legs, managing to finally reach in front of the last painting which has a loathsome black frame, he only touched its edge lightly for it to open like the others. However what he got from behind it was not what he expected, but a nest of black vicious-looking snake with blood-red eyes that slowly slithered towards his helpless frozen body like they dare him to run.

  "Fucking snake." Admitting defeat, he cursed just as he was engulfed by the pitch black evil snakes.

  Then in the next instant, an unforgiving pain that originates from their strange bites all over his body and from their venom that is not going for his heart as expected, but is going around his nerves and selected tissues, assaulted him, slowly torturing and humiliating him to a point he wanted to scream—denying his vow—but he couldn't as he is unable to command a single cell of his frozen body that is also gradually getting crushed by a multiplying invisible pressure. And it was only after all his bulging veins and organs, including his bulging teary red eyes, ruptured simultaneously, was Masa Ed released from his unbearable agony and suffering amidst the silence of the room.