CODE : SURVIVAL (BTS X READER)

Chapter Ten: The Hall Of Elevators

“What is this place?” Hoseok asked quietly, stepping in beside her.

No one answered.

Their footsteps echoed as they advanced, and then—they saw it.

Elevators.

Dozens of them.

Lined up like coffins on both sides of the hall. Tall, silent, waiting. Each one slightly different—some had scratched paint, others flickering lights. One had a cracked mirror inside. Another's floor was caved in slightly.

It was an unnerving sight.

“I’ve never seen so many elevators in one place,” Jimin whispered. “This feels wrong.”

They moved cautiously. The air was still. Tense. The kind of silence that made your skin crawl.

Then—

DING.

One elevator on the left suddenly lit up.

Its doors slid open with a mechanical hiss, revealing a plush red interior and soft elevator music playing from unseen speakers. Too soft. Cheerful in the most unsettling way.

Everyone froze.

“Nope,” said Hoseok, backing away. “Nope nope nope. This is how horror movies start.”

“Honestly,” Jin said, eyeing the open elevator, “it looks kind of classy. If I die in there, at least I’ll die surrounded by velvet.”

“Stop jinxing it!” Jimin hissed.

Jungkook tilted his head. “So... do we go in? Or—”

Taehyung cut him off, pointing upward.

A flickering neon sign had appeared above them from seemingly nowhere:

STAGE CLEARED. STAGE TWO: ELEVATOR MAZE. CHOOSE WISELY.

And then the rumble started.

A deep, mechanical growl beneath their feet.

The walls behind the elevators slid open like sliding panels—revealing another layer of elevators. Then another. Rows upon rows. A maze of shifting doors and blinking lights. The whole floor groaned as if the building itself were alive, rearranging around them.

“It’s shifting,” Namjoon muttered. “Like a puzzle.”

“It is a puzzle,” Y/n said, her voice steady despite the spike of adrenaline in her chest. “ I think Each elevator leads somewhere. Some lead ahead. Some... don’t.”

“Define ‘don’t,’” Yoongi asked flatly.

“Let’s just say—some doors don’t lead to places. They lead to things.”

Taehyung blinked. “Cool. So death it is.”

Jin approached one of the doors cautiously, placing a hand on its cold surface. "Do we just… pick one?"

"That might be a trap," Jimin muttered, voice laced with wariness. "It’s too convenient."

Convenient, yet inevitable. Y/n knew they had no choice but to enter. The game had led them here, and it wouldn’t let them leave until they played by its rules. Her mind raced through the events she remembered. Each floor would be different. Some would test their physical limits, others their sanity. The real danger wasn’t just the unknown—it was the way the game twisted reality against them.

She took a deep breath and forced her voice to remain steady. "We don’t have many options. If this is the only way forward, we need to be careful."

Namjoon nodded, making the decision for them. "Stay close. We don’t know what’s inside."

One by one, they stepped forward, the doors sliding open as if welcoming them in. As Y/n crossed the threshold, a shiver ran down her spine. The moment they were all inside, the doors slammed shut behind them, sealing them in darkness.

The elevator maze had begun.

A low hum filled the air, the only sound breaking the suffocating silence of the enclosed space. Dim lights flickered overhead, revealing the interior of what looked like an ordinary elevator. The buttons on the panel gleamed, each labeled with a number corresponding to different floors.

"Where do we even start?" Jungkook muttered, his voice barely above a whisper.

Namjoon studied the panel carefully. "There's no pattern. Just numbers. No hints."

Y/n swallowed, her pulse quickening. She knew what lay ahead. Some floors would be illusions, others would be nightmares brought to life. One wrong choice could mean disasters

Jin clapped his hands once. “Alright. Game faces. Don’t get lost. Don’t touch anything. And absolutely don’t—”

Taehyung without hesitation press a random button.

"--press random buttons.." Jin finished.

The moment Taehyung's finger made contact, the lights flickered violently, and the elevator jolted, sending them all stumbling. A mechanical voice echoed through the space:

"Floor 12. Psychological Distortion."

A pit formed in Y/n’s stomach. This was one of the worst ones.

The elevator doors slid open with an eerie chime, revealing a hallway lined with mirrors. A cold breeze drifted in, carrying whispers—soft, indistinguishable, but undeniably real.

"I don't like this," Hoseok murmured, stepping back instinctively.

"Neither do I," Yoongi muttered. "But we have to move."

They stepped forward cautiously, the mirrors reflecting their movements perfectly. At first, everything seemed normal. But then, the reflections began to change. Subtly at first—a slight delay in movement, a flicker of a different expression. Then something more sinister.

Y/n's breath hitched as her reflection grinned at her—a wide, twisted smile that didn't belong to her.

Jin cursed under his breath. "Everyone, stay together."

But it was already too late.

The mirrors shattered simultaneously, plunging them into chaos.

The moment Y/n stepped onto the next floor, the world around her distorted. The flickering lights buzzed erratically, casting elongated shadows against the walls. A deep chill settled in her bones, an unmistakable sign that something was wrong. The oppressive silence of the maze was replaced by faint whispers that crawled under her skin.

She turned her head sharply. The others were there, but something was off. The air was thick with tension, and she could see it in their faces. Confusion. Fear. Then, suddenly, Namjoon gasped, staggering back as if struck by an invisible force. His breath hitched, eyes widening with something close to terror.

"Namjoon?" Y/n called out, stepping toward him, but he didn't react to her voice. His pupils trembled, locked onto something unseen. Then, one by one, the others followed. Yoongi’s face went pale, lips slightly parted as he whispered something Y/n couldn't catch. Jimin clenched his fists, his usual bright gaze dark and distant. Jin’s entire body tensed, his fingers twitching as if trying to hold onto something slipping away.

It hit her all at once. This floor—it was warping their minds. Making them see things.

Y/n’s eyes widened. They weren’t just fighting to survive now.
They were fighting themselves.