Right, the issue here is that when the game is paused, all code freezes. I’m trying to walk you through a way to achieve what you’re wanting. You can’t pause it and have a timer.
Think of it this way. Imagine any game that starts with a timer:
Mario Kart
SSX
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater
etc.
The game is running, animations are playing, things are happening. You just can’t GO yet. Once that timer hits 0, the player can go. So you can’t pause the game, you need to think of it in a different way. What is it that you DON’T want to happen? We can start there. HOWEVER. Right now, we’re still trying to get the timer right. So we need to get back on track with that.