The Host's Judgement

4. The Dilemma of Trust

The floor beneath our feet sank almost a centimeter with a dry click. I held my breath, expecting stakes similar to the ones that had torn Thomas apart to rain down from the ceiling or for the corridor to turn into a meat grinder. Around me, the eighteen survivors froze in place. The smell of fresh blood still seemed to cling to my nostrils, carried from the room we had just left.

But the massacre didn’t come. Instead, the pressure plates clicked again, and a row of white fluorescent lights flickered on along the ceiling, illuminating the corridor that ended in a new, spacious hall with gray walls and completely devoid of any luxurious furniture. In the center of this new space, nineteen individual frosted-glass cabins were lined up, each with a digital screen on the side.

The Host’s voice echoed, free of static, seeming to float above our heads:

“Congratulations on choosing collective survival… for now. Thomas’s sacrifice was a necessary lesson: arrogance is a mortal sin in this hotel. Now that nineteen remain, it’s time to test the true weight of the word that brought you here.”

In the center of the hall, a platform rose from the floor, revealing nineteen small black metal boxes.

“The next challenge is called ‘The Trust Dilemma.’ You have three minutes to divide yourselves into pairs. Since there are nineteen of you, one will operate alone, taking the role of the wildcard. Each pair and the solo player will enter their respective cabins. In front of you, there will be two options on a digital screen: SHARE or STEAL.”

I felt my muscles tense. It was the classic prisoner’s dilemma, but played with human lives.

“The rules are absolute,” the voice continued. “If both in the pair choose SHARE, both advance safely to their respective rooms and receive an essential supply of water and food for the night. If one chooses SHARE and the other chooses STEAL, the one who stole advances and gains a privilege, while the one who shared will be punished. If both choose STEAL… both suffer the punishment immediately. For the solo player, the system will randomly generate a hidden opponent.”

The timer on the wall began to run.

[ 03:00 ]

Chaos broke out instantly. People began scanning each other with their eyes, looking for faces that seemed minimally trustworthy or weak enough to be manipulated.

“Hayes!” Elena’s voice pulled me out of my trance. She approached, her eyes cold and focused. “You and me. We kept our heads back there. We’ll choose to share and get through this round without drama. What do you say?”

I looked at her. Elena was a doctor. There was a surgical coldness to her that scared me, but also a practical intelligence. Before I could answer, Marcus walked past us, dragging the man in the crumpled suit who was about to collapse from crying.

“You’re coming with me, you worm,” Marcus hissed at the man. “And you’re going to press the share button, got it? If you try to steal from me, I guarantee I’ll kill you before the Host does.”

The man just nodded, too terrified to speak.

I looked back at Elena.

“Alright,” I said, tasting bitterness in my mouth. “You and me. Share.”

“Great,” she replied with a firm nod. “Let’s go in.”

We walked to cabins 5 and 6. Before closing the glass door behind me, I looked at the rest of the hall. I saw the young woman in the hoodie, who had been isolated since the beginning, enter the solo cabin, choosing to face the system alone. The younger boy I had only glimpsed at the banquet was huddled in a corner, being pulled by an older woman who was trying to calm him.

As soon as I stepped inside the cabin, the frosted glass door sealed with a magnetic click. The glass changed state, becoming completely opaque. I was locked inside a white-light coffin. In front of me, a touchscreen displayed two glowing buttons:

[ SHARE ]

[ STEAL]

[ 00:45 ]

My hand hovered over the screen. My mind raced. Elena had been rational so far, but she herself had said at dinner that the Host wanted a spectacle. What if she was pretending to cooperate just to ensure I chose share, allowing her to steal safely and gain that “privilege”? In my pocket, the invisible weight of my overdue bills and secrets whispered that, in this place, trusting someone was the fastest way to the morgue.

If I chose to share and she stole from me, I would be punished. If I chose to steal and she shared, I would be safe and she would suffer. But if we both stole…

[ 00:10 ]

Sweat ran down my forehead. My fingers trembled. I needed to make a decision. I stared at the word STEAL. It was what the world had always done to me. But if I wanted to be different from the monsters the Host claimed we were, I needed to take the risk.

I closed my eyes and pressed the screen.

A sharp beep indicated that time had run out, and the Host’s voice cut through the silence of the cabin: “The choices have been made. Prepare for the results.”