#jun hee fanfic

[heavens-moonlight]

𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦 | 𝟬𝟭 : 𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗔𝗗𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘

SYNOPSIS | 02 : THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT

Author’s Note: The following chapter will be where the misery starts but I wanted to build character and friendship dynamics here first. Updates won't be as frequent (because of one word: life) but I have pre-written a lot for this drama already so I'll see this work to the end! Hopefully this is enjoyable so far, and feel free to let me know what you think (or what you want to see in future chapters)! Until next time! ♡

"THE INNOCENT CIVILIANS HAVE LOST, AND THE MAFIA WON!"

Your heavy palpebrae that moments earlier masked your vision in dimness, adorned with a trace of gentle sleepiness, slowly flutters open at the announcement, eyes emerging from the veil of unconsciousness. Finding yourself awakening with an overwhelming and unshakeable wave of trepidation washing over you, your chest tightens in palpable distress. The heaviness pales no less in comparison to the weight of an anvil sinking down atop your sternum, lungs punctured by bowed bones.

You sit there in a state of unease, mind racing with apprehension and discomposure, searching for answers to the troubling sensation coursing through your body. The sense of foreboding grips your heart tightly like an invisible vice, leaving you breathless and unable to shake off the unwanted feeling.

In a haste, you slide open the window beside you, the glass screeching against rubber weatherstrips expanded by scorching summer heat. Through the humidity, a light breeze brushes past, breathing air and life back into you. It's not hard to recognize the way your subconscious whispers insistently that something is amiss, the combination of uncertainty and uneasiness blending together into something you can't decipher.

Your hand comes to rest against your chest, heart pounding strongly and ceaselessly against your ribcage, almost as though wanting to escape from its confines. It sends you reeling, akin to an out of body experience. For some unexplained reason, confusion clouds your thoughts as you struggle to clear the thick shroud of fog encasing your entire being, the mist muddling and settling deep within you. A haunting sense of premonition creeps over as if some elapsed memory shares in its ominous secrets. Yet, try as you might, you could not uncover the source of this inexplicable anxiety. You're left clueless except for the empty feeling both in your mind and soul, like you have forgotten something important.

When your breathing returns to normal and your pulse has settled back into its regular rhythmic beat, you shake your head to clear it of the sudden upsetting thoughts. Only then do you realize you had fallen asleep at one point, head tilted back against the warm and worn peeling leather seats of the bus. The sound of loud conversations and even louder hum of the engine, the smell of smoke, and the bump of the vehicle's wheels on uneven pavement brings with it a gentle sway of movement that returns to you a sense of comfort you can't put into words.

Glancing down at your lap, you notice that you had left the entirety of a horror movie playing on your phone, the end credits having long since rolled endlessly, words drenched in red blinking cursorily across the screen. You rarely experienced nightmares, not even after indulging in disturbing content, and certainly not when it's broad daylight out still. So then, why now?

The sound of a book plopping down to the ground pulls you out of your reverie and you lean forward to pick it up, folding it closed to survey the front cover.

흰나비의 살인.

The White Butterfly's Murder.

You smile to yourself. It was so like Yoon-Seo to read a murder mystery on a school trip, the same exact one you had gifted to her only yesterday for her birthday. A love of thriller was what brought you both to be such good friends in the first place, and it didn't seem those like-minded interests would diverge any time soon.

"Yoon-Seo ah..." Scooting forward in your seat, you lightly tap her on the shoulder and she jolts upright, turning back to look at you, unreasonably startled, a shiver running down her spine. "What's wrong?" Your grin drops slightly at her growing restlessness, face now pale as if she had encountered an apparition. Her eyes shift back and forth, guarded for a microsecond before snapping back into her usual self.

Yoon-Seo takes noticeably deep inhales, drawing the attention of Jung-Won, her seat mate for the ride, who pauses mid-coding to look over, displeased.

"What did you dream of?"

"I'd rather not say."

"Han Seol-Hwa. Lee Yoon-Seo.” Jung-Won clicks her tongue teasingly, pointing a finger from you to Yoon-Seo. “I'm making it a rule that you guys stay away from blood, murders, and deaths this trip, alright?"

You roll your eyes good-naturedly. "Alright, I promise you eomma. No more nagging Yoon-Seo and I."

Jung-Won scowls at you playfully, pushing her glasses up higher on the bridge of her nose and you stick out your tongue in her direction impishly. Yoon-Seo laughs quietly at the exchange as you hand her back her book.

"Thanks, Seol-Hwa."

"Tell me all about it later when we've arrived." Despite muttering it under your breath to avoid being heard by Jung-Won, you fail miserably.

"Seriously?!"

You and Yoon-Seo laugh together as Jung-Won goes on a tangent about how psychologically, scary things are not good for young, impressionable minds, fingers click-clacking away all the while. Fortunately preoccupied, she doesn't notice Yoon-Seo sending you a wink, a hidden promise between you two to indulge in the realm of the supernatural regardless.

A resounding and victorious scream travels all the way from the back of the bus and you turn around to observe the friend group seated there.

"See?! I told you all Yool was the Mafia! Let's play again," Eun-Ha says, arms crossed. "You idiots never listen to me, do you?" She slaps both Yeon-Woo and Eun-Chan on the back of their heads as petty punishment.

"What can I say? You simply can't kill the master." Yool leans back, legs thrown atop the headrest of the seat in front, a proud smile stretched across his face.

As they're about to commence another game, Jin-Ha gets relayed a message through Seung-Bin. "Tell them that Kyung-Jun is sleeping and to shut the hell up."

"YAH!" The random shout is so out of place and entirely uncalled for, but it's effective for the time being. "Kyung-Jun is sleeping," Jin-Ha parrots, obedient. "You guys are always so fucking loud that we can hear you before we can see you!" Met with blank stares all around, he's finally satisfied at the reduction in volume and goes back to looking at something Seung-Bin points out to him on his phone. Unbeknownst to him, the rest switch to eyeing him in disfavor behind his back.

It wasn't hard to see the hierarchy of the bullies' group, although Jin-Ha most likely doesn't notice anything wrong with the skewed power dynamics.

Kyung-Jun unpredictably opens his eyes, turning to glare at Heo Yool specifically, but when he swivels back around again, your eyes meet coincidentally and he simply stares, an unreadable expression on his face. You avert your gaze hastily, not wanting to stir up trouble with the bullies, especially not Kyung-Jun who was quick to anger if someone so much as breathed wrongly in his direction.

Your eyes search the rest of the bus lazily before landing on Jun-Hee, sleeping peacefully unaware, head tilted towards the window. The sunlight bathes him in a soft yellow glow and you can't help but stare as a single ray of light filters through the curtains, slanting lightly across his face. You etch every slope, every contour, and every dip of his countenance behind your eyes so that the image of him doesn't fade.

The comfortable rise and fall of Jun-Hee's chest, synchronized with his steady breathing is so serene that it captivates your heart. In high noon, the gentle curves of his face seem even more soft, accentuated by the calmness enveloping his features. Fondly, you observe him in the morning's bright golden haze, and in the beauty of the falling sunbeams, you wonder if he'd ever see you in the same way.

A rolled-up piece of paper hits you square in the face and you finally drag your gaze away long enough to see who it is. Whipping your head around, you're met with snickers from Hyun-Ho and Dong-Hyun, who don't even try to hide they're the culprits.

You're being obvious. Hyun-Ho mouths the words discernibly. Just sit next to him if you're going to gawk.

You chuck the paper ball back toward him and it smacks him in the mouth, your nose scrunching up in focus mixed with annoyance.

"I think that's the most creative way I've ever seen someone being told to shut up," Dong-Hyun voices approvingly, shooting you two thumbs up.

"Are you my friend or hers?" Hyun-Ho asks childishly, somewhat snubbed.

"To be honest, she can be more frightening than you at times even though she's half your size."

You giggle to yourself as the two start squabbling in their seats across the aisle from Jung-Won and Yoon-Seo.

For the most part, after having transferred to Yooil High, you were fairly well-liked by everyone for your just and nonjudgmental attitude. That, and you pretty much kept to yourself, stayed out of trouble, and knew not to dig your nose in other's business if it didn't concern you. You weren't popular by any means, but not a single person had a true reason to dislike you and you hoped to continue that track record.

By a stroke of bad luck, your parents died a few years ago in a car accident, and you've been living with your cousin Hyun-Ho ever since, adopted by your aunt and uncle-in-law. They have been nothing short of welcoming and loving, and the same goes for Hyun-Ho, who acts no less like your real brother. Sure, he's annoying at times but it's just his overprotective nature and ease of accepting the older sibling role. You got on quite quickly with Yoon-Seo and Jung-Won, and Hyun-Ho made sure you adapted to his own friend group, introducing you to his best friends Jun-Hee and Dong-Hyun. You loved your companions dearly, all incredibly close and inseparable ever since you could remember.

But you couldn't remember when you began to see Jun-Hee as more than that.

Friends.

It's not the first, and it certainly won't be the last time you remind yourself of that fact.

Just friends. Nothing more and nothing less.

Except, you're not the only who was harboring feelings for him. Where you were quiet and discreet about it, So-Mi is loud and unabashed. It's hard to ignore and pretend you don't hear her snapping pictures of Jun-Hee shamelessly and without permission, the shutter ticking in quick succession.

"Isn't this crazy? It's like a photoshoot, right? How does he look like that? Even while sleeping?" So-Mi rattles off questions in awe, more to herself than anyone else.

Woo Ram doesn't miss a beat in his reply. "I'll tell Jun-Hee about your crazy obsession with him."

"Could you, please?" So-Mi widens her eyes, batting her lashes imploringly. "I'll use that as an opportunity to tempt him."

You hear Ji-Soo's laugh ring out brash and clear. "This delusional girl, seriously..." she chides. "You've been saying that since last year. When will you actually find the courage to tell him?"

That's the question you ask yourself also. You don't blame So-Mi. Sometimes, you think it might be better to not have been best friends with him. It only complicates your feelings further, too afraid to ruin years of friendship, but also too filled with wishful thinking on the mere possibility of it growing into anything beyond that.

Sighing, you turn to look out the window, trying your best to tune out their conversation even though it doesn't work. There's not much to hold your attention when the scenery is endless stretches of barren trees and even emptier infrastructure, or lack thereof, rolling by.

The setting sun dyes everything in a blaze of orange, making it appear as if the city was burning, the sky collapsing.

"Seduce him now," Yu-Jun taunts, voice giving way to his utter lack of confidence in So-Mi's coquetting abilities, knowing full well the impossibility that the two would ever end up together.

"Cut it out! It will happen soon...just not here." So-Mi tries to shush her friends as they holler at Jun-Hee teasingly, with all intent to wake him up.

Woo-Ram and Yu-Jun successfully manage to rouse him if the sound of So-Mi's indignant squeals is anything to go by, coupled with the unmistakable clicking of her phone's camera shutter, pressed by accident this time around.

Somewhere in between listening and musing, you had begun to doze off again when you feel the seat shift and sink beside yours. The movement is so light and careful that you don't pay it any notice at first.

"Hey, I thought when you flirt with someone, they're supposed to come to you and not away from you." Ji-Soo's snickers mix in with So-Mi's annoyed remarks aren't as jarring as you thought it'd be after everyone was subjected to the silent rule earlier.

You feel your head droop forward before someone touches the side of your face gently, fingers grazing the curve of your cheek to angle your head into the broad line of their shoulder.

The pads of their fingers trace the underside of your jaw in a featherlight motion, and you lift your face in alarm, curious as to who would do such a thing especially if they weren't necessarily close to you

Eyes trailing upward, your vision refocuses and they widen at the sight of Jun-Hee staring down at you, gaze soft and unwavering as he stares, transfixed, pupils shining. One hand is hanging in midair, held steady to shield your face from the sun.

You open your mouth to say something, anything, but no words come out, a frozen expression of surprise on your visage.

Jun-Hee's lips tilt slightly upward, the motion bunching his cheeks up, almost as if he was trying hard to suppress his laugh.

Pulling yourself together, you sit up properly and lean away from his shoulder. "Sorry."

You don't notice Jun-Hee's smile dropping imperceptibly and the light in his eyes dimming as you're no longer within close proximity. "Why are you apologizing?"

"It's nothing." The response is too dismissive even to your own ears as you can't conjure up an excuse for the sudden pretense, or for your outlandish behavior.

It would be quite a long bus ride, sitting next to each other, both not knowing what to say.

The space between Jun-Hee's eyebrows crease together in confusion, but he doesn't push the matter further.

You clear your throat awkwardly, shifting in your seat to sit on your hands. When did simply talking to him become so hard to do? You've hidden your feelings for years without problem, so why was it so different now? Those feelings changed and grew. "When did you come to sit here? Weren't you just sleeping earlier?"

Jun-Hee knocks his shoulder into yours, a teasing lilt to his voice. "You were watching me?"

"Pft, as if," You deny with lackluster confidence, scoffing. "I was just observing what everyone was doing."

"Right..." He elongates the word. "...And what I was doing was sleeping. That you watched." Jun-Hee looks at you again, a deadpan but knowing look on his face. Flustered, you duck your head only for him to mirror the movement, subtly leaning his own toward yours and trying to catch your eye. It ends up with him chortling as your forehead nearly collides with your knees in the slouched over position you had subjected yourself to.

Knowing full well you were being made fun of without a hint of malice, you twist your body sideways and lean your back against the window, turning to him with a glare. "Is this fun to you?"

As he laughs, you find yourself wanting to follow suit, but stick to the bit of maintaining your mock angry façade, slapping him on the arm. If anything, he continues to chuckle, barely flinching, finding your reaction rather amusing.

"Don't worry. I promise I didn't sneak any pictures." It quickly registers to you that he was clearly teasing So-Mi for earlier. You can't help the scandalized look on your face, cheeks puffing out as you try to hold in your laugh. "I guess you did notice a camera being pressed up to your face, huh?"

"Kind of hard not to with all the noise." He shakes his head in annoyance. "But I am still sleepy." Jun-Hee pulls your arm so that you're pressed against his side again, no semblance of space remaining between the two of you as he lowers himself, sinking further down into the seat, eyes shut and head now leaning against your shoulder.

"Jun-Hee..."

"Let me borrow your shoulder for a little while."

You're about to pull away, thinking he's playing around when his grip tightens on your arm.

"Think of it as returning the favor from earlier. We can call it even."

Making a vague sound of neutrality but not moving, you relax, and Jun-Hee lessens his hold, adjusting his position to be more comfortable. "Are you going to watch this time too?" His hand squeezes your forearm once.

"Dream on," you kid.

"Maybe I will," he answers with certainty. "Until it becomes reality."

"I didn't know you were this affectionate with everyone."

"Not just anyone. Only you," Jun-Hee mumbles, tilting his head further into the crook of your neck. His lips move dangerously close to the juncture of your shoulder, your pulse point centimeters away as he shifts around, finding the most relaxing spot to rest.

"Don't say things you don't mean." You can't bite your tongue fast enough as the words tumble out unprompted. That was supposed to be an inside thought no one else should be privy to but yourself.

"Who says I don't mean it?" You tense up beside him, at a loss for words, but Jun-Hee doesn't point it out, more than not nice enough to ignore it for your sake. "I'm self-proclaimed as your favorite." He bumps his knee against yours. "I know you better than anyone else."

"Do you, though?"

"...Of course, I do."

But you don't know that I'm already halfway in love with you.

"On what basis, mister?"

"Best friend privileges."

"Right..."

You stare down at the top of his head, Jun-Hee unaware of your blatant staring and the way your smile fades at the same time one appears on his face.

"That's acceptable, no?"

"Of course, it is. Best friends. That's what we are..." You trail off.

And I guess that's all we'll ever be.

Hours later, the sky has since darkened and you can see the visible outline of the full moon on high, light not concealed by the stars weakly glimmering to illuminate the night.

Most, if not the entirety, of the students on the bus were asleep, except for you and your two lovable, but mischievous best friends sitting in front of you.

Yoon-Seo and Jung-Won peer over the back of their seats like cute meerkats, only their eyes visible, phones raised suspiciously in your direction.

"You're welcome in advance," Yoon-Seo says cheekily, showing the widest grin you've ever seen on her, eyes crinkling as Jung-Won stifles her laugh behind her hand. At your persistent eye signals, they sink back down into their seats, satisfied after overfilling their camera rolls.

As the bus slows down, indicating that your class was nearing your destination, the road gradually begins to get rougher and bumpier. It's a surprise Jun-Hee still hasn't woken up yet, sleeping soundly away still leaning on you.

Deciding to mess around with him, you slightly pivot your body so it's facing him, leaving enough room for his head to not fall off your shoulder.

"Jun-Hee," you call, tilting your head down in front of his.

"Jun-Hee ah." The bus is rocking him, lolling his head forward along with the movement, his face nearly downturned.

"Wake up, sleepyhead." Your shoulder is no longer acting as support when you turn your face directly below his and peer up, tilting your head like he had done to you miles back, smiling at his obliviousness to the harmless prank, peacefully undisturbed in his slumber.

"Kim Jun—" The bus lurches abruptly, running over a speed bump the driver misses, and your words die in your throat as it jostles Jun-Hee's body forward and consequently his head toward your own, his lips meeting yours. The next slope in the road, and the fleeting press of the accidental kiss fades away, but the butterflies in your stomach refuse to settle.

You're motionless, eyes wide, hands immediately coming up to touch your lips where they're still tingling from the lingering imprint of Jun-Hee's lips against your own, barely registering just how close his face is to yours still, remaining asleep all the same.

"Kids, we're here!"

Your teacher's announcement snaps you out of your thoughts and you hurriedly sit back as Jun-Hee's eyelids sluggishly part, the first thing they focus on is you. He grins drowsily, and you wonder what can truly fix the irreparable damage to your heart.

Get a grip, Han Seol-Hwa.

Forcing a smile that you hope isn't as awkward as it feels onto your face, you decidedly withhold the truth about the incident.

"That was the best sleep I've had in a while," Jun-Hee tells you, leaning closer to be heard over the ruckus of everyone moving around in their seats, wanting to alight the bus the moment it stops.

You scoot back reflexively with your face aflame, still not over what had happened.

Jun-Hee also pulls away, worry mixed with bewilderment evident on his face. "Are you alright?"

"What do you mean?" You cringe internally at how guilty the tone of your voice comes out.

"It's just..." Jun-Hee regards you for a moment, studying your face as you avoid his searching eyes. "You've been acting a little weird since this morning."

"I'm tired is all," you lie through your teeth.

"If I—"

Suddenly So-Mi appears next to the two of you in the aisle, eyeing you up and down judgingly. "Jun-Hee, the teacher said he wants to talk to us."

As Jun-Hee gets up but doesn't reply, you swiftly scoot out of your own seat and attempt to scurry away to where Yoon-Seo and Jung-Won are waiting for you by the wheel, wanting to avoid the dreaded conversation you knew was sure to follow.

So-Mi dismisses your presence completely, standing into the empty space between the rows in an effort to block Jun-Hee off.

His eyes count your steps and before you can move even a feet away, he grabs ahold of you, fingers wrapping securely but tenderly around your wrist. Your pulse quickens beneath your skin, and you wonder if he can feel how rapidly it bounds under his touch.

"Seol-Hwa—"

Jun-Hee appears a bit dejected for some reason you'd rather not dwell upon. You gaze down at his grasp on you before turning to face him.

"Didn't you hear me?" So-Mi interjects, trying to make him focus on her by stepping into his line of vision, but his eyes remain fixed only on you. "Seonsaengnim needs both of us for something."

Your fingers graze Jun-Hee's as you slowly remove his hand, much to his reluctance. To the bitter distaste of So-Mi, he doesn't seem like he'll go along with her any time soon. She directs her glare at you once more, and you sigh quietly, not wanting to be in the middle of this interaction one bit.

"I'll see you later Jun-Hee."

"Wait—" He tries to grab your hand again, but So-Mi is quick to turn his shoulder away, making up filler dialogue.

Given the slip unintentionally, you speed walk toward your friends, and the three of you descend the steps. You feel Jun-Hee's stare burn through the back of your head yet refuse to turn around.

Maybe if you leave everything that happened on the bus and the thoughts along with it, you'll go back to being yourself soon enough.

The teacher is pacing the edge of the curb looking perturbed, voice frustrated as he speaks into the phone, the person on the other end not comprehending a single word.

Before you can tune into what he's saying, Yoon-Seo taps you on the forearm, whispering, "Have we been here? Why do I feel like I have? It's so familiar..."

"All the youth centers look the same," Jung-Won settles, rummaging through her backpack. "Yoon-Seo, Seol-Hwa, I'm heading in first. See you inside."

You wave to her as Yoon-Seo stands beside you, unmoving and gazing up at the third-floor window of the building.

"Yoon-Seo...?" You move your hand back and forth in front of her face, and she finally blinks, her gaze returning to normal.

"What is it?" she responds absentmindedly.

"That's what I should be asking you." You halt at the blank expression on her face staring back at you.

"I thought I saw something..." She points at the window but when you look, squinting against the dark to focus your eyes, all you can see is the white curtains billowing back and forth from the window barely cracked open.

"It's only the wind. Your mind is probably playing tricks on you." Yoon-Seo seems assured by your answer for the time being, nodding. You rap on her head lightly with a loose fist, mock admonishing. "Aigoo, Miss Detective. The books are taking over your imagination."

Yoon-Seo laughs and shoves you playfully. "Don't act like you don't also live and breathe all things horror."

"But I'm not the one seeing things, am I?" Raising your eyebrows at her teasingly, Yoon-Seo simply rolls her eyes and links her arm with yours.

"Come on, let's go. It's cold out here, and I want to see the rest of this place."

The two of you enter the lobby, and the first thing you take note of is the pure white marble statue of a girl, sitting atop a pillar and staring down into nothingness, eyes soulless and devoid of emotion. It’s melancholic in a way, a personified goddess, yet alone and ostensibly powerless.

"Yoon-Seo, don't you think those eyes remind you of anyone?" You fix your gaze on the figurine closely, examining the features etched haphazardly into the rock. Whatever intention the sculptor had, you couldn't find the purpose for the seemingly out of place decor.

Yoon-Seo nudges you. "Now who's the one with the wild imagination?"

"I'm being serious here."

"I don't see any resemblance to anyone we could possibly know. There's no informative plaque on who it may be either."

You shrug. "Maybe it's just me then."

"Aren't you two going to scan?" Jung-Won ushers you and Yoon-Seo toward the flyer:

[ sᴄᴀɴ ᴛʜᴇ ǫʀ ᴄᴏᴅᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴄᴏɴɴᴇᴄᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡɪ-ғɪ ᴀɴᴅ ɪɴsᴛᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʏᴏᴜᴛʜ ᴄᴇɴᴛᴇʀ ᴀᴘᴘ ᴀᴜᴛᴏᴍᴀᴛɪᴄᴀʟʟʏ ]

"This place has an app? What for?" you question.

"Hmm, I'll just stick to this paper booklet they have instead." Yoon-Seo decides quickly, rifling through the readily available printed maps.

"You'll have to lead me around," you say in all earnestness. "I'm very direction disoriented."

Jung-Won doesn't even try to hide her smile. "We can tell."

"It's not my fault I was born like this." You dramatically fall back onto Yoon-Seo. "Would you two really lead me astray as my best friends?"

Yoon-Seo giggles behind you. "No way. We saw how dazed you were getting off the bus earlier. You need all the help you can get."

Jung-Won snickers, shaking her head while dragging you and Yoon-Seo through the double doors of the gymnasium where the rest were gathered.

Everyone is off scattered into their own respective friend groups, your trio throwing your backpacks haphazardly on the floor before sitting against the wall of bleachers yet to be pulled out.

Jun-Hee and So-Mi enter shortly after with the teacher, engaged in a discussion. You look away before they can notice, and focus on the girls attempting to practice for their performance instead, Woo-Ram filming their efforts. Joo-Young pushes Mi-Na out of her spotlight and steals it openly, not that Woo-Ram minded. If anything, he holds the camera ever-sturdier, a newfound excitement apparent this time around as he zooms into her face. His happiness is short-lived however, as Kyung-Joon turns off the speakers nonchalantly, forcing the girls to start over from the beginning, much to their irritation.

Despite what you decided on earlier, you can't help but throw glances over in Jun-Hee's direction. He's seated at the table reserved for school council members by the entryway, overlooking everyone as So-Mi talks his ear off, undeterred by his indifference.

"Stop staring. You're going to wear away his pretty face," Yoon-Seo jokes from your left.

"I wasn't staring," you reply back half-committally, knowing she's caught you in the act.

"You totally were," Jung-Won joins in, slowly leaning her head on your right shoulder. "Let me borrow your shoulder while I code."

"If she's allowed, I should be too," Yoon-Seo copies, mirroring Jung-Won from your left side.

"Careful, that one's Jun-Hee's. You'll have to wait your turn, Yoon-Seo."

"Oh my god," you groan, embarrassed, hiding your face into your hands as the two laugh beside you, kicking your feet from both sides with theirs. "You two are merciless."

"Are you going to deprive me of the best sleep I'll ever have?" Yoon-Seo snuggles closer, hugging you tightly to her.

"Yah! Lee Yoon-Seo!"

You had the intention of taking Jun-Hee off your mind by hanging out with your friends, only for you to see bits of his personality in Yoon-Seo, their long-time friendship having had them taking on one another's mannerisms.

"I'm using my best friend privileges." Jung-Won pats you on the knee. "Stay still."

As Yoon-Seo and Jung-Won squish into you from both sides, you can't help but giggle at the sheer absurdity of the reenactment and their dedication to coming up with jokes on the fly. You try to fight back the onslaught of laughter, but it's entirely pointless in their presence. Traitorously, your eyes crinkle in mirth, half-crescents resting atop your cheeks as your laugh tinkles in the shared space, making the other two giggle along, shaking with glee where they're pressed against you.

Jung-Won eventually caves and sits up properly when all the hooting you and Yoon-Seo are doing keeps rattling her laptop, messing up her coding. A permanent smile sits on her face though, watching you two bicker.

"Jung-Won, help, I need my inhaler. I can't breathe from laughing so much," Yoon-Seo gasps out, holding her stomach.

"I'm not getting it for you."

"I can't believe you would tease me at the expense of your asthma." You push Yeon-Seo away, sniggering as she goes back to clinging onto your arm and laying her head back on your shoulder.

Jung-Won turns to look at you and Yoon-Seo briefly, her eyes shifting to the side momentarily, a ghost of a smile settling on her lips before she resumes attention to her laptop. "Don't look but Jun-Hee is watching."

Right as she says that, you make to move your head, but Yoon-Seo expects it and holds your chin in place with her hand, pinching your cheeks playfully.

"I said don't look!" Jung-Won chuckles.

It throws Yoon-Seo into another fit of giggles as you try to speak through your puckered lips. She releases her hand quickly after, and you drop your head to lean on the crown of hers, giving up.

You elbow Jung-Won in her side. "Were you messing with me?"

"Why would I?" she says innocently, typing away.

You look at her pointedly. "Yeah, you totally wouldn't."

Jung-Won holds her hands up in a motion of surrender. "I'm not this time, really. Seeing So-Mi angry is my favorite past-time."

"So mean," Yoon-Seo sing-songs.

"And you had no part in this?" You poke Yoon-Seo in the cheek. "Who told you to have an annoyingly cute and kind best friend?"

"You mean you?"

"You know what I mean."

"It's true."

"Guess I'll have a crush on you instead."

Yoon-Seo chortles with laughter. "So, you do admit you like him!"

"I didn't say that!"

"I read between the lines."

��It was one line!”

"This really sucks," Jung-Won says off-handedly, scrolling through the app. "I can make something like this in a day."

"Huh?" Yoon-Seo inquires, lost.

"You really didn't scan the QR code earlier? It was installed automatically. Give me your phone. I'll do it for you."

"No, it's okay. I'll get by. It's a short trip."

"I wouldn't put it past Yoon Seo to carry around the paper map for two whole days," you jest.

"Careful, you can't even navigate well, Seol-Hwa."

Jung-Won snorts at Yoon-Seo's jab.

"You got me there. If you tell me to walk back the way we came from I'd probably end up walking in the opposite direction."

Yoon-Seo shakes her head in fond disbelief.

"I'm not getting any signals in here." Jung-Won holds her phone up high, arm stretching.

While you watch as Jung-Won moves her device around to figure out the cause of the lost signal and no connection to Wi-Fi, Yool rushes past, making a mad run for the storage room. Adjacent to the bleachers where you and your friends were sitting, he flings the door open with purpose and digs through the contents of the room. Various apparatus gets upended from their designated places, the speed and sheer amount of hiking gear, equipment for ball sports, as well as other items meant for the gymnasium flying out from the doorway is nothing short of the effects in a comedic cartoon. Knowing how much of a jokester Yool was, you pay it no mind and turn back to the task at hand.

You pull out your own phone to try and locate even one bar of cell phone service, only to be met with the message that the vicinity was an unserviceable area. "That's weird. We're not in a remote place or anything like that. What happens if the power goes out, then?"

Right as you say that, static from the speakers produces head-splitting screeches, causing everyone to recoil with palms over their ears in annoyance, the lights flashing once before cutting out.

With everyone fearing the worst, a few remain unmoving while screams of the rest bounce off the walls, echoing in the spacious room. You and Yoon-Seo however, have no reaction, more curious than anything else.

"Why did you turn the lights off?" Someone you can't put a name to probes in the dark. "Turn them back on!"

Following in haste after one another, the students make good use of their phone flashlights, aiming it at the court's center, revealing a figure cloaked in white standing as clear as day amidst the obscurity of the room.

While the majority cower in fear, clutching onto their friends, Hyun-Ho imperturbably throws a basketball at the unknown prowler, knocking them over in one go.

"Ouch!"

The white sheet is flung off theatrically, and out crawls a disheveled but cackling Yool.

"Aish, seriously," Hyun-Ho admonishes. "Quit goofing around."

Kicking the blanket to the side away from his feet, Yool raises his hands up in the air dramatically, acting to the end. Not a single person has managed to find the overhead lights in the meantime, the only ones illuminating the outline of his thin frame were the stage bulbs operating on a different circuit.

"While I have your attention, you guys have to listen up," he begins conspiratorially. "I heard a harrowing tale that's been passed down to everyone who steps foot into this building." Yool looks from one classmate to the next, more serious than he's ever been. "They say a female high school student took her own life here." He continues on as gasps and murmurs spring up around you. "There are things you absolutely can't do." He waggles his pointer finger dramatically for emphasis. "Don't look back after glancing in the mirror past midnight, and ignore it even if someone were to grab your ankle while you are asleep. If you don't follow these rules..." Yool pauses for staged effect before walking in broken steps like he’s possessed, arms and legs bent in odd angles, rushing straight toward the dancers still seated on the floor.

"...YOU'LL SEE A GHOST!"

Shrieks pierce the room as someone manages to flip the lights on again with perfect timing, ending Yool's one-man show.

Jung-Won clucks her tongue while you and Yoon-Seo look at one another. You were expecting her to be as nonchalant as you were, all her readings considered, but she's staring straight ahead, spooked.

"Earth to Yoon-Seo?" You touch her hand and she flinches, causing you to jump as well from her unexpected reaction.

"Huh?" She whips her head toward you, still zoned out. "Sorry." A forced smile settles on her face, an infrequent sight to her usual bright demeanor. "Don't worry, it just felt like deja vu for a minute."

"You said something similar earlier. Are you sure you're doing okay?" Your voiced is laced with worry.

"See, this is why I told you two to tone it down with the heebie-jeebies. You're only scaring yourselves." Jung-Won pats your head and then Yoon-Seo's in turn. "We should go to our rooms anyway. They all have too much energy they can't wait to waste away," Jung-Won states, gesturing to everyone milling about.

"Let's go?" You pull Yoon-Seo up, and she nods in return, reassuring you that she was finally present and not off and away in her thoughts.

As the three of you leave, your ears perk up at the last thing you hear Yool say.

"Did you guys really believe it?" His sentence is cut by a boisterous laugh, pleased to no end at the affirmative from his friends. "Eyy, come on now, it was just an innocent and fake joke. None of us are going to die. Not tonight and not for a long time to come."

SYNOPSIS | 02 : THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT

© 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞. 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨, 𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞, 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫-𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐭. 𝐀𝐥𝐬𝐨, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐞, 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞.

[queenjang21]

our beloved author & writer, since "the impossible heir" are done, can you make a story or one shot/imagines for our beloved INHA and TAEHO please 🙏❤️

[papaya2000s]

Master List:

The posts listed below are all my own, except for the fanfics, which include original links to the sources where I discovered them, giving credit to the respective creators and writers of their work.

Old Korean Movies:

Emergency Act 19 (긴급조치 19호) - (08/08/2024)

Let's Meet at Walker hill (워커힐에서 만납시다) - Coming Soon!

Crossroads of Youth (청춘의 십자로) - Coming Soon!

The History of Korean Acts - 1900s-Now:

History of Korean music over the past century.

The History of Korean Male Groups (Rewrite):

Part 1 - (13/08/2024)

Part 2 - (21/08/2024)

Part 3 - (29/08/2024)

Part 4 - (29/08/2024)

Part 5 - (15/09/2024)

Part 6 - In the Works!

The History of Korean Girl Groups (Rewrite):

A preview on what groups will be mentioned down below. This series will be coming out in the later part of next year.

Coming Soon!

Korean Soloists from the 20th Centaury:

Enjoy the history of some of famous Korean performers that lived in the 20th centaury that have been lost with time.

Female:

Yun Sim Deok/ (Rewrite 1, 2) - (29/04/2024)

Lee Ari Su - (05/03/2024)

Kim So Hee - (05/10/2024)

Park Nok Ju - Coming Soon!

Lee Hwa Jung Seon - Coming Soon!

Jeon Hae Nam - (13/10/2024)

Male:

Kim In Sik - (21/09/2024)

Choi Nam Seon - Coming Soon!

Lee Eun-sang - (27/09/2024)

Hyun Je Myeong - Coming Soon!

Lim Dong Hyeok - Coming Soon!

Kim Saeng Ryeo (Part 1, 2) - (11,16/12/2024)

Lee In Beom - Coming Soon!

Kim Seong Tae - Coming Soon!

Jeong Jeong Ryeol - Coming Soon!

Im Bang Ul - Coming Soon!

Han Seong Jun - Coming Soon!

Kim Min Ik - Coming Soon!

Photo Collection of Kisaeng's:

All photos below have been AI enhanced for a more clear viewing (there may be some errors in the pictures).

Part 1 - (17/07/2024)

Part 2 - (17/07/2024)

Part 3 - (17/07/2024)

Part 4 - (21/07/2024)

Part 5 - (21/07/2024)

Part 6 Finale - (24/07/2024)

Women considered to be the most beautiful in Korean History:

More than a century ago, a remarkable group of women known as Kisaengs captivated the elite with their captivating performances, without ever compromising their dignity.

These extraordinary women, often referred to as the celebrities of their era, were renowned for their beauty and talent, as evidenced by historical records that ranked the most enchanting kisaengs of that time!

Part 1 - Oh San-wol (오산월) - (11/07/2024)

Part 2 - Jang Yeon Hong (장연홍) (1) - (14/07/2024)

Part 3 - Jang Yeon Hong (장연홍) (2) - (16/07/2024)

Part 4 - Coming Soon!

The Birth of Korean Girl Groups Preview:

A preview on what girl groups I'll be posting in my series on 'The History of Korean girl groups'.

Part 1 - 1900s-1945 - (28/04/2024)

Part 2 - 1950s - 1960s - (28/04/2024)

Part 3 - 1960s - 1962 - (28/04/2024)

Part 4 - 1963 - 1965 - (28/04/2024)

Part 5 - 1965- 1966 - (28/04/2024)

Part 6 - 1967-1960s - (28/04/2024)

Part 7 - 1970-1972 - (02/05/2024)

Part 8 - 1974 - 1981 - (09/05/2024)

Part 9 - 1983 - 1987 - (09/05/2024)

Part 10 - 1989 - 1997 - (09/05/2024)

Part 11 - 1997 - (09/05/2024)

Part 12 Final - 1998 - 2000s - (09/05/2024)

Michael Jackson & Friends Korea, Seoul:

S.E.S: Part 1 and Part 2

H.O.T: Coming Soon!

H.O.T Kangta - Atlantis: The Lost Empire 2001

H.O.T Kangta - Dreams and Faith - (27/07/2024)

Ensign O'Toole - TV Series 1962-1963

Summary & Ep 1-12 - (26/10/2024)

Ep 13-32 - In the Work!

Korean Albums:

Season 1 will be about the 80s as it's one of my favourite music decades.

Episode 1 - (13/11/2024)

Episode 2 - (15/11/2024)

Episode 3 - In the Works!

[iris-sistibly]

So...apparently The Impossible Heir only has 12 episodes in total, I thought it was gonna be a 16-episode series. I have just finished episode 6 but I have also spoiled myself for the next couple of episodes that I already have the gist of the direction of the story. I may or may not post a full commentary/review about the series once I am done with all 12 episodes but so far, here's what I have to say:

I do agree that the storyline had a lot of potential, but unfortunately, they fell short as far as storytelling is concerned. The lines were just meh and the lead actress was so painful to watch, painful in the sense that I don't want to see her on-screen, that's how bad her performance was.

Choi Hee-jin was the saving grace of the show, despite being the second lead with only a handful of lines and a few minutes on screen, she NAILED every scene she was in. Lee Jae-wok, Lee Jun-young, and the rest of the cast did really well despite the crappy storyline.

Honestly, they could have saved this whole ass show had they shifted the focus on Han Taeoh and Kang Huiju's relationship the moment Na Hyewon pushed through her marriage with Kang Inha. I'll never get tired of saying this, but Jae-wok and Hee-jin have MUCH better chemistry than all of the former's scenes with Hong Suzu combined. It could have been an opportunity for Taeoh and Huiju to work together and find out the truth about who was trying to fuck up Taeoh or whatever and take KangOh together by storm, and eventually Taeoh realizing that he actually likes Huiju (I mean come on, if they gave an open ending for these two, why not just let them fall madly in-love with each other?) They could have been THE power couple of the show, and the entire series could have been saved.

I hope Jae-wok and Hee-jin would be given an opportunity to work together again as the lead actors of a drama or a film. They deserve a much better project than this.

Oh, and bring in the Taeoh x Huiju fanfics. I would love to read all of them ❤️

[vitos-ordination-song]

Overall assessment of tgcf now that I’ve finished the extra chapters

It was good. One of the better things I’ve gotten into in a while

Did not need to be as long as it is

It’s an extremely weird mix of mythological and self-indulgent fanfic writing style

Xie Lian is the best character. I was really impressed by the risks MTXT took with him—he’s is introduced as an archetypal kind and graceful god but this is shattered and rebuilt over and over in the narrative

Hualian has a great premise but got repetitive. It was really enjoyable at first but after the 500th interaction between them is the same as the others, it wears off. I also felt the writing was at times more geared towards wish fulfillment than what was best for the story

Like with shoujo I’ve read recently, I have an annoyance with stories which can’t just write a mature, adult relationship, but instead stays in this world of tee-heeing about sex and such. Hualian feels like it is at core a mature partnership but then the author keeps dragging it back into tropes to keep fans titillated. Not my thing anymore

More should have been done with Hua Cheng’s character and there’s some really obvious pathways that could have been taken to develop him. At first I was okay with him being a one-track-mind type character but again... it got repetitive and the story lost its teeth as a result. I don’t think that the core of his character—his devotion to Xie Lian—should be changed. But for instance, there was a second when I thought he was going to have to consider the way he blindly took orders as Wuming, but no. NOW, I actually don’t have a problem with him just being an amoral character whose only priority is Xie Lian. But even without disrupting that, you could do a lot of things. What gets in the way of doing any of them is that he always has to come out on top; he’s always right, always saves the day, always sacrifices himself, etc. Now that was fine at first—especially given the way the relationship started—but this story is longer than the Bible! Especially with how much was done with other characters, I was a little disappointed

Even though tgcf did lose my interest sometimes, it always dragged me back. I was impressed by much of the storytelling. There were so many good set ups and pay offs, so many good twists, so many times when my jaw just dropped. I respect just how much work went into making this an intricate, interconnected narrative. The structure of having books 1, 3, and 5 set in the present day while we get 2 and 4 in between means that you keep getting layer upon layer added to the characters and the complexity of the world and it’s just delicious

The tone was all over the place but I never had a feeling of dissonance which is impressive

Xie Lian and Jun Wu are an excellent example of hero/villain foiling. I found the White-Faced Calamity to be a genuinely horrifying threat, plus I’ve always had a thing for whump and villains trying to corrupt heroes. Even though it coulda felt like embarrassing fanfic torture porn, nine times out of ten it didn’t. I really enjoyed going on the psychological journey Xie Lian had to endure, and once the full story behind Jun Wu was revealed, I was immediately drawn in to the parallels between them. I find Jun Wu to be one of the most interesting characters. I think the core of the story is represented in their dynamic—we have a vengeful ghost destroying someone else’s happiness because of what they lost. And in a Taoist twist, the evil ghost is also the great and benevolent ruler. The duality and good-evil themes were one of my favorite parts of the story. I’m always a sucker for a character who struggles to remain themselves and watching Xie Lian develop was... breath-taking in that regard

So many of the side characters were vibrant and memorable. In fact I think all of them? And I love that there’s so much DRAMA!! Gods, ghosts, and humans, getting into all kinds of hatreds and betrayals and loves. It felt a little neat, but I did love reading those final chapters and seeing a resolution to all the relationships that had been introduced. MXTX has an amazing eye for detail and never lets a character go to waste, no matter how small

The Lord Rain Master HAS to be one of my favorites. What I love is that she is peripheral and not involved in all the “important” doings of the plot, and in fact she could basically be cut with no difference to the plot. But her peaceful and serene life is almost a rebuke to the other gods who get into all kinds of petty drama—which often gets people killed. Idk she’s always portrayed in this way that makes you feel like, no matter how down to earth she is, she is a god very much worthy of honor

I really enjoyed the Shi Qingxuan, Shi Wudu, and Black Water revenge plot—it was one of the most suspenseful passages. Shi Qingxuan’s development was great and made them another foil to Xie Lian

The Feng Xin/Xie Lian/Mu Qing relationship makes my heart hurt

Even though I complained about ways Hualian could have been better, it’s still the heart of the story and I’ve been crying like a little bitch about them for the past day so I shouldn’t talk too much

[tanz-der-salome]

Dear Yuletide writer,

Thank you so much for taking on my request! This is my very first Yuletide fic exchange, so I'm very excited. I hope this letter finds you well and that Yuletide is a welcome distraction for all the mess that is the world as of right now.

Onto the stories, where I’d like to say that first and foremost I enjoy when my stories are a bit dark as I tend to like rather morally grey up to downright villainous characters. I appreciate a happy ending, but they’re not essential for me to enjoy a story. I’m happy with whichever rating from G to E, although I do prefer there being some plot alongside the porn, should there be porn. I’d be overjoyed with the ships I mentioned

Things I like in a fic (gen):

Character study and/or reflection on a character’s motivations

Dialogue!

Unreliable narrators

Dysfunctional family/sibling relationships

Manipulation and mindgames

Power imbalances

Violence

Hurt & Comfort

Canon Divergence AUs

Pre-canon / backstories

Non-linear story telling

Characters being repressed

Codependency

Dark humour

Enemies or Rivals-to-lovers

Obsession (be it one-sided or mutual)

Outsider POV

Ships and Smut:

Belligerent and/or Unresolved Sexual Tension

One-sided attraction/lust (especially if it ends up not being one-sided)

Kissing everywhere but on the mouth when two characters have a sexually charged but otherwise complicated relationship and kissing on the lips would be crossing a line (I hope that’s somewhat understandable)

D/s dynamics

Awkward, weird sex

When F/M, a focus on female pleasure

Non-penetrative sex (penetrative is fine as well!)

Possessive sex

Spontaneous sex

Phone sex

Dirty talk

Humiliation

Non-con/dub-con

Sibling incest

Forbidden pleasures

Infidelity and the guilt that comes with it from the cheater

Jealousy

Do Not Wants:

Mundane AUs especially in period dramas and/or futuristic settings

Overt fluff

A/B/O

Unrequested sex changes to canon characters

Crossovers

Time Travel

Reincarnation

Requests:

1. Vincenzo - Jang Han-seo, Jang Jun-woo | Jang Han-seok, Choi Myung-hee

I chose Jang Han Seo, Jang Han Seok, and Choi Myung Hee because as someone who finds herself always fascinated with the antagonists (even if Han Seo does switch sides later on, and you may include Han Seung-hyuk since he’s also a part of the squad), I would love to read something about the Babel & Wusang "””family”””.

I’ll be happy with any potential ship constellation between the characters, with a slight preference towards Jangcest, Han-seok x Myung-hee, Han-seo/Seung-hyuk, and Seung-hyuk/Myung-hee. If you go for Jangcest, I’d only request that Han-seo is at least 15 or 16.

Prompts:

Pre-Canon AU for the Jang brothers set around the time where their father was ill.

Post-Canon where all of them survive and have to navigate their lives after the fall of the Babel Group

2. Ready Player One (2018 movie) - Nolan Sorrento, F’nale Zandor

As a villain enthusiast, both Sorrento and F'nale were characters that immediately caught my interest when watching the film, and when I found out that Andy Weir had written a fanfic called "Lacero" with Sorrento as the central character, which then was met with enthusiasm by the writer of the Ready Player One novel, I really wanted to read more about him. F'nale as a tough-as-nails henchwoman made me wish for more of her, especially since she is an original character in the movie and there’s plenty of chance to expand on her.

Ship-wise, I do like the scenario of them having mad tension that might get resolved, with both of them wrestling for control but not wanting to give in to the other.

Potential prompts:

How F’nale came to work for IOI, whether she was recruited by Nolan or approached him

Them plotting to take over the world find the Egg and at the same time trying to play against each other while knowing the other is a valuable ally

F’nale having aspirations to get rid of Nolan but still playing the part of the somewhat loyal henchwoman

3. HBO Rome (2005) - Octavia of the Julii, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus | Octavian | Emperor Augustus

Octavia and Octavian/Augustus were pretty much my favourite characters in the entire show, the Julii as a whole are so wonderfully messed up and I would love to read something centred on the siblings, although Atia, Caesar, and arguably Mark Antony, Livia, and Servilia can also be featured. Should you go for the platonic route, I’d still ask you to not ignore the canon events.

Potential prompts:

Post-canon where Octavia remains a close ally and adviser to Augustus

Outsider POV where someone else considers how close they are (and the rumours of them having once been lovers)

4. Succession (TV) - Kendall Roy, Shiv Roy

I do love the relationship between Ken and Shiv, and arguably what got me properly hooked to them was the scene between them in Season 2 where Shiv confronts her brother about why he stopped going after Logan. I won’t lie when I say that I also ship them very hard, especially with Shiv being the only one around whom Ken is openly vulnerable, and now in S3 him trying to get her on his team, but again, shippy dynamics need not necessarily be brought in if you’re uncomfortable with writing it.

If you chose to go for the ship: feel free to make it as messy, weird, and nasty as you like!

Potential prompts:

Backstory on them and their younger years! Roman can be included in that, along with Connor, Logan, and Caroline

As of now, this is AU-ish, but it might become canon: Shiv chooses to back up Kendall in his war against Logan and we get to see Team KendallSiobhan in all of its power duo glory.

[dangermousie]

Iris or Joy of Life for “send me a drama” 😊

Gonna do IRIS since I still haven’t finished Joy of Life (I know, I know!)

My OTP: Hyun Joon x Seung Hee. They are one of my biggest drama OTPs of all time, tbh. They start out as playful and happy and then he is systematically destroyed piece by piece but no matter what hell he is put through, she is his link to love and sanity and peace. And she is so strong, it’s incredible. The scene where he has to torture her to keep his cover and afterwards he takes her home and he is breaking down so so utterly because that was their reunion (!!!) and even though she gave her OK, still!!!! MY GOD this drama!!! This OTP!!!

My NOTP: Sa Woo x Seung Hee. When you are a gross weasel who betrays your best friend and then try to hit on his girl, SHARKS SHARKS SHARKS SHARKS NEED TO DINE ON YOU!

My fave thing about it: I love action movies but I almost always find thriller/action series boring because having big explosions and bad guys who want to take out the world is not enough to sustain more than a two hour movie (Vagabond, I am looking at you.) And most action series forget any complexities of characters or relationships or anything like that but IRIS does not! Even if you don’t care about fights or secret organizations or whatever, the character arcs and relationships are beyond amazing, beyond!

One thing I would change: The ending. It’s one of the most brutal kdrama endings I have ever seen. I cried so hard I felt like I was choking tbh and was depressed for days. It makes completely logical sense within the narrative but! They were so close to happiness and then the end is him shot and lying there helpless, dying, looking at her but unable to reach unknowing her, crying - he fought so so hard and at the end evil utterly defeated him and he knew it there, dying, he knew all of it was for nothing. They don’t make them like that any more and it’s probably just as well for my sanity.

My favorite character: Hyun Jun - say whatever you will about Lee Byung Hun being less than a stellar person off-screen, he is an incredible actor. And he was mega hot in the role, ngl, but the main thing was how he portrayed this very strong but incredibly broken man. After what happened to him, he was a beautiful, strong-willed but completely damaged mess in another universe from the adorable, sweet, flirty adrenaline junkie of the beginning. It's like he's been taken apart into his component parts and never properly put back together. It was A+++++.

My least favorite character: Baek San. I have no words for that man.

A character I thought I would love that I did not: Sa Woo. This was my first drama with Jung Joon Ho after watching him as the male lead of Last Scandal where he stole my heart utterly. I thought I would feel something nice for him but kudos to JJH for switching characters completely. I wished a swift demise of Sa Woo for the bulk of the drama even though he ultimately redeemed himself.

A character I did not think I would love but did: TOP’s assassin. When people talk wrongly about Hyun Soo in Flower of Evil being a psychopath, this is what they actually mean and they are damn lucky HS is not like that. TOP could kill a small child without blinking but from the safety of my screen he was so fun to watch. PS I loved that “love” did not change him. Heh.

If I could read only one fanfic about it, it would be: Hyun Joon is saved and there is hurt/comfort and therapy and healing!

[blacckestrose]

1,8 & 43 cause abba forever 😘

1. do you have a crush on anyone?

Can I say idols? Yes? Ok.

There's this guy, King Seokjin is he called, he's pretty damn hot. I have dreams about him.

Then there's Adachi Yuto. He's also very hot and the thickness of my crush is as thick as... my ass

And last but not least, Park Jun Hee doesn't let me breathe. I think I love him. It's not a crush anymore. It's pure love.

8. favorite fanfic trope?

I really should have one shouldn't I?

43. favorite ABBA song?

Do I dare only mention one? No. Absolutely not.

Honey Honey, Under Attack, Why Did it Have to be Me, When I Kissed The Teacher

Thank you Deni 💜

[heavens-moonlight]

𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦 | 𝟬𝟲 : 𝗕𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗞 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗦

𝟬𝟱: 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗦 𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗦

Authors Note: Here's another update and all I can say is the next 2-3 will be the best yet! As always, I'd love to hear what you think and I hope to be back soon! ♡

The night breeze is welcoming as you sit on the rooftop’s edge with your legs dangling over the precipice, a gust of wind bringing with it the evening’s chill, ruffling your hair. From your vantage point, it was as if you were perched on the brink of reality itself, and this long-drawn-out daydream, an invisible cage imprisoning you in the recesses of your nightmares.

Below you, the city sprawls out, an illusion of lights flickering like stars scattered across a vast, dark expanse. You can still hear echoes of the distant hum of sounds found only during dusk, a low constant murmur like your heartbeat.

Despite the precarious position, no more dangerous than your reality, up here high on this ledge, you were encased in a strange, almost serene silence. It brings you comfort to be alone, the only one who you can truly trust without a sliver of doubt being yourself.

You stare out at the landscape that stretches in front of you, but your mind follows a different path, your eyes far from focused on the backdrop. Instead, you were consumed by the labyrinth of the game that had ensnared you. What had started as a harmless and intriguing puzzle—something to pass the time—had now morphed into a disorienting maze with no exit, a twisted riddle that seemed to play with your sanity the longer you were trapped within.

Your life before, the world you were a part of like a mirror image of what you saw below, seemed so distant, so insignificant, compared to the complex, shifting panorama of the game.

“Why am I—Why are we all here?” you mutter to yourself, voice barely audible over the wind. “Why can’t we leave as we wish?”

You don’t notice the door swinging open, your eyes closed and titled upward toward the blackened firmament.

“I thought I’d find you here.”

When you open your eyes again, Hyun-Ho is already settling down next to you, the small outcrop much too uncomfortable for someone of his stature, but he cares more than enough to join.

“How’d you know where I’d be?”

He flicks you on the side of your head playfully and lightly. “Who do you think I am? Of course, I know where you go when you’re upset.”

“I’m not upset.”

Hyun-Ho shoves his shoulder against yours softly. “Even when we were little you would always find the highest point or place you could and escaped away there. It used to be our treehouse.” He points around, gesturing at the empty terrace. “Now you’ve upgraded to a roof. What’s next?”

“The sky.” You gaze back up, stars twinkling in the reflection of your eyes.

“Don’t say that.” Hyun-Ho frowns.

The possibility of the game’s ending couldn’t be ignored.

“None of this is fair,” you say, voice nearly cracking. “Why do we have to be put through this?”

Hyun-Ho exhales heavily, the weight of everything resting in that single breath. “Because people are evil and they do evil things—even worse if they know full well the consequences and still pursue it.”

“I can’t figure out the purpose of this at all. What’s the reasoning behind innocent lives having to be sacrificed? Is it truly a game of revenge or is it just a ruse to justify killing?” you emphasize, the word bitter as it leaves your mouth.

“I don’t know either,” Hyun-Ho trails off, thinking. “Maybe we all did something wrong—something we’re unaware of and it can’t be forgiven in any other way except this.”

“Then, is this heaven’s punishment for us?”

With the celestial presences overhead, it all feels wrong. How can something so pure, so beautiful, be used to inflict such suffering—to be involved in something so inherently cruel?

No matter how hard you try, you can’t figure out the dissonance, the fatal coexistence of good and evil.

“What are you afraid of?” Hyun-Ho questions hardly above a whisper, turning toward you slightly.

“It’s scary…to think that we’ve become evil people.” You look over at him, eyes finding his in the dark, speech shaky. “I’m afraid of what we’ll all become after this is over.”

“But we’re not evil people,” Hyun-Ho pats your knee comfortingly but your chest still aches, your lungs struggling to expand against the vivid streams of blood you’ve all stridden through to get here, wading in fallen tears of the innocent.

You shake your head. “Some of us already are, Hyun-Ho—those who have taken lives and those who allowed it to happen; we’re one and the same. It’s either kill or be killed. Our survival is at the expense of everyone else’s demise.”

“No, we’re not evil people.” Reiterating, he sits closer to you, presence comforting. “We’re merely people surrounded by evil and we have no choice, the only way out being to go through it.”

“You have so much faith in us when I feel like giving up.” You lean your head on his shoulder sadly. “How?”

“Because there’s still people like you around me.” He leans his head on top of yours, assuring you like an older sibling would. “Just the fact that you’re troubled and want to set the moral compass straight makes you a good person. How many others would worry about such a thing over their own survival?”

“When did you get so wise?” Hyun-Ho’s soft chuckle rings out, reverberating in your ears. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Tell that to yourself, Seol-Hwa. We promised we’d be in this together until the end. Whatever happens, it doesn’t matter as long as we don’t lose ourselves or each other.”

“You say I’m a good person and yet…I still can’t bring myself to vote for Kyung-Jun over Woo-Ram.”

Hyun-Ho doesn’t look surprised or mad, almost as if he was expecting it. “I know you must’ve found something out or it’s your crazy intuition but you never do things rashly without reason so whatever you decide, I support you in spirit. I voted too quickly due to peer pressure but if there’s one thing this game has taught us, it’s the ones you least expect that end up betraying you the most.”

“I have my suspicions, and they hurt already. I don’t want to find out the full truth,” you murmur cryptically.

“Who are you talking about?”

“Later,” you assure. “When I know for certain, you’ll be the first person I tell.”

“I’ll try my best to stick around until then.” Hyun-Ho presents his pinky to you and you mimic the motion, your fingers locking and thumb pads coming up to press together, sealing the promise.

“As long as you’re around, I’m not going anywhere either.”

You look back up at the stars in multitudes, wondering how many wishes and promises people have made upon them.

And how many were able to keep them.

The moment you step foot back into the freezer room, Yoon-Seo runs toward you and pulls you into a tight hug before letting go shortly after.

“Are you okay?”

You nod your head, smiling faintly at her. “Of course.”

“About earlier—” Jung-Won starts, hand around your wrist, but you cut her off.

“I’d rather not talk about it.”

Yoon-Seo looks between the two of you, baffled as to why there was a sudden weird distance she couldn’t bridge, not even with her presence.

“But you’ll vote for Kyung-Jun right?” Jung-Won’s fingers tighten on your forearm, her face betraying only a hint of worry.

“Jung-Won—" Yoon-Seo states sternly, about to step in between the two of you.

“Why do you want me to save Woo-Ram so desperately?” You don’t know whether you want to hear her answer or not. Rather, you didn’t think you were prepared to.

Jung-Won drops her hand nippily, crossing her arms. “Then, will you save Kyung-Jun?!” she questions incredulously, her voice taking on a tone of suppressed annoyance.

“Guys—" Yoon-Seo interrupts. “What is wrong with you both?” She sighs, running a hand through her hair. “Let’s not fight against one another, hmm?” When you and Jung-Won reluctantly nod, Yoon-Seo’s posture relaxes.

“But, what were you guys doing in here?” you ask in all seriousness, entirely curious. “It’s cold.” The frozen bodies of your classmates lay jam-packed across the floor. “And a bit scary…” You eye the white sheets eerily, slightly convinced they could spring up unnoticed.

“I found a hole in the wall,” Yoon-Seo answers nonchalantly, walking towards the far right. “There’s a passage, which means it must lead somewhere.” She sticks her head in bravely, assessing.

“Do you want to go in?” Jung-Won’s shocked expression matches your own. “Yoon-Seo, we don’t even know what could be inside.”

“We won’t, unless we find out.” Yoon-Seo steps one foot onto the ledge, hands against the wall on either side as leverage.

You rush over and pull her back down. “You’re still not feeling well from earlier,” you remind.

Yoon-Seo breathes out, debating. “Maybe not, but who else aside from me would willingly try?”

“Me. I’ll go.”

“Yah, Seol-Hwa…” Jung-Won puts her hand on your shoulder in genuine worry.

You nod at her before turning to Yoon-Seo, addressing them both. “I’ll be back quickly,” you convince, ducking down and climbing through the cavity.

“Be careful.” Jung-Won’s face fills half of the opening as she hands you your phone with the flashlight on, Yoon-Seo looking in from the other half.

“Call out to us if anything happens,” Yoon-Seo adds.

“I will,” you guarantee, slowly heading straight before you veer off to the left, following the established path.

As you cautiously walk through the secret tunnel carved into the weathered walls, a sense of anticipation and trepidation fills the air. The dim glow of your flashlight dances against the crumbling bricks, creating eerie shadows that seem to trail your every step, distorting into dark shapes that nip at your heel, urging you forward even faster.

Neglect had cast a mysterious ambiance upon this hidden passageway with its whispered echoes reverberating only for your ears to hear. One of your hands reach out, feeling against the wall, each footstep of yours echoing like a heartbeat as you venture deeper.

The air grows thicker with musky dampness, wrapping around you, suffocating. As faint beams of light pierce through cracks in the decaying wooden ceiling, dust particles rain down lazily in your field of vision, a hazy curtain.

You forge ahead courageously, fueled by curiosity and a desire to uncover the secrets long since buried in the embrace of this darkness, hoping for a light at the end of the tunnel.

If no one was coming to save you, you would save yourself.

As the thought manifests determination into your mind, you come upon a dead end, face to face with a blank wall.

Taking one step forward, you immediately plummet straight down, your side slamming against hard ground with your shoulder taking a bruising bump as you land unevenly.

“Seol-Hwa?!” comes a mix of Jung-Won’s and Yoon-Seo’s voices, but you can’t quite form an answer as you unsteadily get back on your feet.

The room around you spins as your eyes catch sight of the vast display of CCTV’s lining an entire wall, recording every single square inch of the building.

No matter how outdated, you didn’t mind. As long as there’s proof of the heinous crimes carried out, there’d be no more room for argument and you could all be one step closer to ending this game once and for all.

In a rush of adrenaline, you hurriedly run to open the room’s door, wanting to find your way back to the freezer where your friends were anxiously waiting for your return.

As you navigate through each floor with no sense of direction or time, the disorienting blue lights cast a hypnotic glow down the length of the hallway in front of you, the distance narrowing the farther it stretches.

For looking so much like the layout of the retreat’s building, you knew it was not real.

An overwhelming sense of desolation permeates the atmosphere as with every turn you take down the corridor, a familiar sight awaits: a duplicate floor layout mirroring your past steps, plunging you deeper into confusion and despair.

Time seems to twist and stretch mockingly, the incessant looping cornering you into your wit’s end.

You know that any frantic cries for help would only bounce back in return as nothing more than empty echoes, taunting reminders of your predicament. Imprisoned within an eternal loop, you forego running with wild abandon and stop to think.

Beside you is the only room whose door remains closed. You reach out tentatively, praying that it will open.

The doorknob twists easily in your hand and you enter through to the other side, registering it as an exact replica of the staff lounge, phones ringing immediately as you step foot inside.

Urgently, you answer the phone only to hear the sound of a busy line coming through. You slam the phone back down onto the table, once again fooled by an illusion of the reality you have already lived.

Glancing around the room, your eyes fall upon a strange, ornately decorated box, seemingly much too large for the shelf it’s on and certainly much too out of place. The lid flips open smoothly, a blue beam of light illuminating the inside, coloring your face as you reach in.

You pull out a yearbook from the container, using the minimal source of light to view the contents. Class pictures dating back however long from the Muryeong Retreat Center stare back at you, all past schools that have come and gone, their memories locked in these snapshots frozen in time.

Flipping to the most recent one shows another class, decked out in the same uniforms of your school, every single face scratched out ostensibly with hatred. You pull back with a start as you realize only one face remains intact although the individual’s eyes are completely downturned and soulless.

Why does she look so familiar?

Pulling yourself together, you place the photo neatly back into the confines of your skirt pocket, resolute in finding the way back.

You make use of your keen intuition, meticulously tapping on various sections of all four walls, searching for any discrepancies or hollow sounds that may indicate a secret entranceway.

Each resounding knock resounds through the chamber, anticipation building with every measured tap that vibrates through your fingertips into the palm of your hand.

As you finally discover a subtle change in acoustics upon knocking at a particular juncture, you swiftly peel back the wallpaper, once again coming face to face with a hollowed-out wall just like the one in the freezer.

Perhaps you had grown expectant of seeing shadows dance in the dark, or perhaps your eyes were still playing tricks on you, not yet accustomed to the shift in realities, but the outlines of your awaiting friends was not the only one you saw.

In your peripheral vision, a hand reaches out, fingers moving as though beckoning you back into the depth of darkness.

“Thank goodness, you were able to make it back.” Yoon-Seo dusts you off, the three of you having made your way to the classroom. “I was worried about you.”

Jung-Won breathes out a sigh of relief. “I’m glad you’re okay.” She looks at your pale face and does a double take. “You…are okay, right?”

You nod your head. “Yeah, I am now.” The two look at you in equal parts curious and equal parts concerned at the implication that you weren’t fine originally. “I happened to fall down to the basement but as my luck would have it, I found a room with cameras. Somehow, someway, I was stuck in a repeating cycle of time and space, alternating between floors—the lowest and the highest. I barely escaped, and here I am,” you recap in a jumble of words, still trying to catch your breath, one hand holding your hurt shoulder.

Jung-Won scratches her head in bewilderment. “You said you fell all the way to the bottom of this building, but then suddenly were up a few floors? How does that happen?”

“I don’t know…” you trail off quietly, in disbelief yourself, but then remember the picture in your pocket. “I swear I’m telling the truth.” The photo rustles in your pocket as you reveal it, turning it towards your friends who hover over it. “This is what I found.”

Jung-Won studies it closely, inspecting every single face. “Are they from our school? The uniform is the same.”

Yoon-Seo pulls it closer toward her. “They look to be seniors...”

“Here,” you point at the faces, finger trailing each row. “Their features all distorted like in old tapes, eyes and mouths crossed out.”

“That’s…unsettling.” Jung-Won shudders, pushing the picture into Yoon-Seo’s awaiting hands entirely, having had enough of looking at it.

Yoon-Seo fixates on the girl like you had earlier. “I think she’s the ghost I saw.”

“What?!” you and Jung-Won say simultaneously.

“Earlier when I couldn’t breathe…” Yoon-Seo recounts. “…it’s because a figure crawled out toward me, black hair covering their entire face.”

“The pool…” you recall. “Someone grabbed my ankle in the pool.”

“Me too,” Yoon-Seo gasps, and Jung-Won stares at the two of you like you’re both out of your mind.

“What are you two—"

Before she can get another word out, Na-Hee hobbles into the room, looking frazzled. “Is Woo-Ram here?”

“No, why?” You turn to look at her as she walks farther into the room and settles herself into an empty chair.

“He said he’d wait in his room until voting closes but suddenly disappeared.”

“Where to?” Jung-Won inquiries.

“Beats me.” Na-Hee fiddles with her fingers. “That’s why I was wondering if any of you had seen him.” At three matching shakes, Na-Hee hangs her head. “Jun-Hee and So-Mi are looking for him all over with no success.”

“It’s highly unlikely he’s missing,” Yoon-Seo states calmly. “Maybe he’s just off wanting to be alone for a bit.”

The three of you fill Na-Hee in on what you just discovered, discussions and theories flowing out from every direction until you’re interrupted by a buzzing overhead, signaling the intercom coming to life.

“I’m Park Woo-Ram…”

Yoon-Seo and Na-Hee freeze, listening intently as Jung-Won whips her head toward the sudden address.

“What is this?” Jung-Won voices in incredulity.

Something is off about Woo-Ram’s voice, raspy and exhausted to your ears. “Why does he sound like that?”

“I’m the Mafia. I killed Lee Ju-Young.”

You can’t believe what you were hearing.

Why would he suddenly and willingly admit to his faults when he had begged everyone of his innocence earlier?

With Ji-Soo and Yu-Jun still yet to cast their votes, you knew Woo-Ram didn’t stand a chance.

Not after this.

You slide your phone from your skirt pocket and hold it tightly in your lap, fingers shaking around the device as you open the game’s app, Woo-Ram’s voice filtering monotonously in the background.

“I had no intentions at first until I grew more upset the longer I thought about how she humiliated me—how she belittled me—and all I wanted was vengeance.”

A guilty conscience needs no accuser.

Close your eyes, you hit the vote button, casting with finality.

With Woo-Ram’s takeover of the intercom, your vote goes unannounced.

No matter how silent the verdict, it was permanent.

“Did we vote wrong?” Na-Hee mumbles, her face revealing just how anxious and scared she was at the unprompted revelation.

Yoon-Seo springs up abruptly. “The studio!”

“Yoon-Seo!” You give chase after her as she runs like mad to the second floor, not looking behind to see if anyone would follow.

You stop short as you see Jun-Hee switching between throwing his whole body against the door and trying to kick the handle off, shouting angrily. “YAH! Open the door!” With how much force he’s applying, the sound loudly reverberates all down the length of the empty corridor. “Woo-Ram! Park Woo-Ram!” Every shout of his is punctuated by harsher and harsher pounds against the door, his fist slamming against the stubborn wood.

“Help...” comes Woo-Ram’s weak voice. “I’m in here. The guys kidnapped—"

Whatever screams he planned on letting out are abruptly muffled, and you become more restless by the second, hoping that you hadn’t made the wrong choice.

Out of nowhere, Yoon-Seo comes back, bearing an ax in hand.

“Out of the way.” She corals both you and So-Mi to the side as Jun-Hee grabs hold of the sharp weapon.

“Stay back,” he warns, raising the blade high over his head before bringing it down to hack at the doorknob. In one fell swoop, the door serving as barricade is dismantled.

Jun-Hee kicks the door nearly off its hinges, revealing Kyung-Jun and his gang, all flabbergasted at having been caught in their act.

Kyung-Jun throws his bottle against the ground, the water spilling and diluting the blood stains on the floor as it splatters all over, color fading the further it drags from Woo-Ram’s slumped-over form.

“Dammit, Kim Jun-Hee. You ruin everything.”

Your eyes widen at the horrible state Woo-Ram is in, all bloody and injured. One eye is swollen shut, bruised and swelling beyond recongition. Blood is running down his leg, dripping in incessant drops onto the floor like his own tears of blood.

“You bastards!” Jun-Hee screeches, swinging the ax he’s still brandishing.

“Are you sure we are? Kyung-Jun presses, even as his goons cower away in the corner, eyeing the light glinting off the ax’s blade. “Didn’t you catch a word of what Woo-Ram said?”

“Son of a bitch!” Jun-Hee spits out, advancing on Kyung-Jun, eyes set, hard and cold.

You jump in between the two and grab a hold of Jun-Hee’s arms. “Don’t!” you beg. “I won’t let you stoop to his level!”

His hands shake violently in yours, fists tightening around the handle of the ax by his side. “I need to kill him!” he says, looking crazed. “Only when he's gone will this be over!”

“What will that make you, then?!” You step closer to Jun-Hee, close enough that he has no choice but to look down at you and into your pleading eyes. “You’re better than this!”

He finally drops the ax down by your feet, raising his head in defeat, jaw shaking with suppressed anger. With one last glare at Kyung-Jun, he goes over wordlessly and helps Yoon-Seo, Jung-Won, and So-Mi as they attempt to untie Woo-Ram who appears more dead than alive.

Your gaze narrows in on the pen sticking out from the middle of his thigh, fresh blood still spurting from the wound. The location—the precise location—of targeting the femoral artery, one of the most dangerous anatomical landmarks to attack could only mean one thing.

Kyung-Jun wanted him to die.

You turn around and round on Kyung-Jun in anger at the possibility of having been swayed by his lies.

The vote you so carefully considered was too late to rescind.

As your frustration boils over, it instinctively turns into physical action, your clenched fists pounding against his chest repeatedly. “Why did you do it?!” Kyung-Jun just watches you intently, letting you hit him without putting up a fight, signaling for Seung-Bin and Jin-Ha to leave it be. “Did you want to be right so bad that you had to take Woo-Ram hostage and coerce him into lying by threatening him to the brink of death?!” Whether your outburst even has the slightest capacity to change anything didn’t matter to you, serving its only purpose of being an outlet for your pent-up resentment at the gravity of the situation. Each strike is more forceful than the last, in defiance and resistance toward the injustices and mistreatment that came naturally like breathing to Kyung-Jun. You look up at him, eyes burning. “Just once…could you not cause trouble?”

He grabs your forearms and pins you against the nearest wall, holding you still, pressed between him and the wall. "I could, but then I wouldn't be me, and that would be tragic."

You try to yank your arms away but he steps closer, leaning his face close to yours and gripping your fists still against his chest even as you writhe in his hold, pure rage and bitterness emanating off you. “Why can you never be a good person?”

“And yet,” he drawls, lips quirking. “You believed me.”

“I know now that I shouldn’t have. I regret it,” you say irately through clenched teeth.

The smirk falls from his face and he leans in even closer, fixing you with such an intense gaze, a tangle of various emotions in his eyes you can’t begin to unravel even if you tried. "Why do you have to complicate things?" His dark eyes bore into your own, staring you down. “You always make me weak and I hate it.”

“I trusted you,” you utter quietly, and his eyes shift imperceptibly, the corners now downturned. “How foolish of me…” With how close Kyung-Jun was standing, you can see his Adam’s apple bobbing, like he’s holding back from saying something he knows he shouldn’t. “If my trust makes you weak…” you pause, “…then consider this the first and last time that I will ever be on your side.” You turn your head to the left, away from his dark eyes, even duskier in the low-lit room, ending the conversation.

You feel his heart pound erratically beneath your right fist where it’s laid over the left side of his chest, his hand still wound around yours.

Jun-Hee finally sees your predicament as the rest supports a hobbling Woo-Ram out of the room and runs over to wrench Kyung-Jun away from you.

He doesn’t put up a fight at all, staggering back without saying a word. Although you avert your eyes, you can still feel his on you.

Jun-Hee shields you behind his back protectively. “Cut it out,” he tells Kyung-Jun. “You’re a horrible excuse of a person.”

“Come to your senses, idiot,” Kyung-Jun ridicules, pointing at the clock striking midnight before he gestures to the hallway outside where everyone’s gathered.

You follow Jun-Hee out into the hall where Ji-Soo and Yu-Jun have just arrived hand-in-hand, Mi-Na in tow, the couple’s votes being announced.

[ ᴘᴀʀᴋ ᴊɪ-sᴏᴏ ʜᴀs ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ᴘᴀʀᴋ ᴡᴏᴏ-ʀᴀᴍ. ]

[ ᴄʜᴀ ʏᴜ-ᴊᴜɴ ʜᴀs ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ᴘᴀʀᴋ ᴡᴏᴏ-ʀᴀᴍ. ]

Woo-Ram slumps to the floor on his knees, crying and punching linoleum to no avail. “I should’ve killed Kyung-Jun when I had the chance,” he laments. “Why die alone?”

He quickly stumbles back into the room and picks up the ax left on the ground earlier before dashing back out, his good eye widening. With nothing left to lose, Woo-Ram smiles widely, baring his teeth as he stares straight at Kyung-Jun. “You’re leaving with me tonight.”

Kyung-Jun tries to evade as Woo-Ram swings the ax wildly with abandon. “Are you fucking crazy?!”

No one dares to step in, the sharp and deadly weapon too fatal to stop.

Dead set on taking Kyung-Jun’s life, Woo-Ram is too far gone to care if anyone else were to become collateral damage, recklessly chopping at anything impeding him.

“I’ll kill you if it’s the last thing I do. You deserve a painful death.” Woo-Ram chases Kyung-Jun to the end of the hall, the latter ducking to avoid a hit on target but slams into the wall in his haste, tripping on his own feet and slides down, pressed against the wall in fear, an expression you’ve never seen on his face until this moment.

Just as Woo-Ram raises the ax above his head ready to slice into Kyung-Jun who is caught off guard frozen in fear, he freezes, jerking backward on his feet.

[ ᴛʜᴇ ᴠᴏᴛɪɴɢ ʜᴀs ᴄᴏɴᴄʟᴜᴅᴇᴅ. ᴘᴀʀᴋ ᴡᴏᴏ-ʀᴀᴍ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏsᴛ ᴠᴏᴛᴇs ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴇxᴇᴄᴜᴛᴇᴅ. ]

You can only watch in horror, falling to your knees on the floor as Woo-Ram turns the blade around and lets it fall against the top of his head, splicing his own skull in half. Blood sprays in arcs, splattering on your face and Kyung-Jun’s, the two closest in position to Woo-Ram.

Your eyes cease to blink as Woo-Ram’s lifeless body drops with a thud face-first right in front of you, the ax still deeply embedded into his skullcap, his brain becoming more visible by the second as the blade drops and continues to cut.

[ ᴘᴀʀᴋ ᴡᴏᴏ-ʀᴀᴍ ᴡᴀs ᴀ ᴍᴀғɪᴀ. ]

“See?” Kyung-Jun looks around at everyone, even as he’s taking in ragged gulps of air. “Didn’t I tell you I wasn’t lying?” The last sentence is directed entirely at you, his eyes fixed on yours, a single tear escaping from the corner of his left eye, betraying the smirk he has plastered on his face. Even then, his crooked grin is faltering, lips trembling.

You stare helplessly at the floor, not knowing whether to be relieved for having chosen correctly or hate that you readily sent a classmate to their death.

The conversation with Hyun-Ho earlier on in the night echoes in your mind.

No, we’re not evil people…We’re merely people surrounded by evil and we have no choice, the only way out being to go through it.

Your heart sinks as you realize he was sorely mistaken.

To survive by the deaths of others is not salvation.

The body lives.

But the heart decays.

If you all make it through to the other side, it doesn’t mean you were able to escape from evil.

No.

It means you all have already come face to face with the Devil himself and begged to be allowed past.

And he only ever shakes hands with those whose souls are tarnished, their innocence tainted.

We’ve become evil people.

𝟬𝟱: 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗦 𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗦

[ Taglist ] @ennycutie @mona643 @sheplut0

© 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟’ 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞. 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨, 𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞, 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫-𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐭. 𝐀𝐥𝐬𝐨, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐞, 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞.

[youngfcs]

Oi! Você pode me indicar faceclaims para a versão mais velha do Lee Jong Suk e da Im Jin Ah? Na minha fanfic eles são irmãos (ela 3 anos mais velha que ele).

Olá <3 aiiii difícil, porque não sei o que tem no rosto dele, que é tão incomum... Eu não sei quão mais velho, então vou misturar! Eu tentei pegar umas pessoas mais velhas que realmente o rosto poderia ir mudando com o passar do tempo.

Ele:

Lee Si-eon

Park Won-sang

Lee Pil-mo

Yeong-Hoon Kim

Yoon Sang Hyun

Kim Heechul 

Lee Byung-joon 

Um Ki-joon 

Hae-jun Park 

Ela:

Jeon Do-yeon

Moon So-ri

Yoon Se-ah

Kahi

Bekah

Lee Ha-nui

Kim Tae-hee

Gong Hyo-jin

(cib)

[ji-hyeon]

Arc 1 Chapter 1: Let's Begin

A/N: In my defense, I was given inspiration and then left unsupervised. Hope you enjoy, it's my first time writing a RPF, a Y/N fanfic, and using SM stuff to enhance a story.

A young boy turned a sharp corner, running from a group of older boys chasing him across the rooftop. Kim Sang-Hoon did not know what he did to earn the ire of the group of older boys. All he did was try his best in school and study hard. He was rewarded with the first place rank, and apparently he pushed out some young [chaebol]( "Korean term for a large family owned business conglomerate") from the first rank.

Apparently when he said that he just studied smarter than harder, it was not welcomed by the chaebol or his friends. It ended up with his things being stolen or missing, people tripping him in the corridors, and being locked in the shed after he put away the archery targets.

"GET HIM! DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY!"

Sang-Hoon was glad for all the years that he spent chasing after Zitao-[gēge]( "Chinese for older brother") and Haneul-[noona]( "Korean, masculine title for older sister"). He rounded the corner and suddenly was feeling very stupid for not getting off the rooftop when he saw the end of the end rails for the roof. "Nowhere to run now, punk."

"See, you keep calling me a punk," Sang-Hoon said with a smirk. "But I'm pretty sure you don't know the meaning of calling me a punk. See a punk is a insult for someone who is beneath you. Seeing as my tuition was paid by a scholarship that I earned instead of daddy's money and I ranked first for the annual school ranking, that would make me above you idiots."

The group of guys did not appreciate Sang-Hoon's words anymore than they appreciated his words after the rankings were posted. They cornered him. His martial arts was not as strong as Zitao-gēge, he was great at archery. His hand-to-hand was horrible.

One of the guys pushed him down as the others started to stomp on him. Sang-Hoon soon lost consciousness and lay motionless as the boys did not bother to stop. It was not until a voice called out to them.

"Who's there?"

"It's the Discipline Committee. Run!" They ran off leaving Sang-Hoon bleeding and unconscious on the floor. A taller boy wearing the school uniform with yellow band on his left arm. There was a name tag on his uniform that read 'Kim Jun-Myeon'.

"Who-?" His eyes widen as the flashlight fell from his hands. He pulled out a walkie-talkie from his belt. "11-41! I have an unconscious student on the rooftop. Call an ambulance!"

A well-dressed man offered the team of doctors and nurses in front of him a charming smile as they started to sign the non-disclosure agreements. It states that in exchange for ₩10 million they would falsify the reports on Kim Sang-Hoon as a suicide attempt.

He had already secured the security personnel of the Academy as well as the detectives who were handling the case. His contact that Deokhye Courant was already running the story as a puff piece stating the nonsense of "our hearts and minds goes out to the young boy and his family". In his experience taking control over the story narrative, was key in making scandals like this disappear.

The man secured the papers and slipped out of the conference room. He had to meet Assistant Lee on the sixth floor. Ironically, it was the same floor that Kim Sang-Hoon was on and he knew this as he passed Chae Hee-Young on his way to the hospital room.

"It took you forever to get here, Yoon Gan-Dae," Assistant Lee said. Yoon Gan-Dae shoved the papers into Lee Mal-Chin's hands before hearing his phone beep. He pulled out his phone and stared at the notification on the screen.

Gan-Dae smirked. "The Courant is already running the story. I'll inform the Director now if you have everything ready."

Mal-Chin waved Gan-Dae away. "It'll be smooth sailing from here."

"My son would not attempt suicide! You will amend your report immediately!"

Screams could be heard all over Pearl River Hospital. Chae Hee-Young refused to believe that her baby would even think of committing suicide. Not after his older stepbrother, Zitao had committed suicide three years ago, Sang-Hoon promised her he wouldn't leave her like that.

Her hands shook as the doctors offered their empty words, her baby lay in front of her motionless and hooked up to several machines. He looked so much smaller than he was, Hee-Young's eyes watered. Her baby was hurting and he never said a word to her about it.

Kim Dae-Hoon felt his eye twitch before he slapped a hand over it. Hee-Young [jesu-ssi]( "Korean for sister-in-law. wife of his younger brother") loved to joke and prank with him as they were siblings, and Dae-Hoon felt like he should give the young widower and mother to his little brother's legacy the type of family that could joke around with each other. But he was much, MUCH younger than that evil old hag. At least by twenty years! If not thirty!

Dae-Hoon sighed as he brought both hands to type at the keyboard. There was still a lot of time before the next entrance exam next year. Hee-Young and he would need to lay a lot of ground work to somehow sneak in the young [agassi]( "Korean for young lady") into the entrance exam.

He did not know how they were going to make everything work in time, as the mental list of things to do before the New Year celebration. Not to mention trying to find time in the day to keep Kim Myung-Ki's minions away from his precious nephew.

Dae-Hoon opened the list of prospective students that Deokhye Academy had their eyes on. It would be the easiest way to slip in the agassi without anyone becoming suspicious of her being at the school, let alone the county. His eyes widened at a name on the list of foreign prospects.

Y/N Davidson - 4 Junior Olympic Medalist for Equestrian, granddaughter of opera donna Josephine Burns and Master Chief Petty Officer Macro Davidson

"Oh, when did Chae Hee-Young think of it to put agassi in the prospective list? That, that solves so many potential problems!" Dae-Hoon said with a cheer. When a potential student on the prospective list applies to Deokhye Academy it means that someone had scouted for and ran a background on the student, cutting down on the interview process. It also meant that their position is not measured by the top thirty percent acceptance rate of the entrance exam.

Dae-Hoon relaxed in his chair. "Now, jesu-ssi just needs to get agassi to accept coming back to the place where her parents and god-brother died, reclaim her spot of clan heiress, and get rid of all the rot of the clan."

There was a moment of silence before he looked up to the ceiling, "Gods above, I hope she took after her father and not her mother."

Masterlist | >>

Korean Terms Used in this Chapter 

1. chaebol - Korean term for a large family owned business conglomerate, referring to being a rich heir/heiress

2. gēge – Chinese, older brother

3. noona – Korean, masculine term for older sister

4. ajubeonim – Korean, husband’s older brother

5. ssi – Korean, title used in place of Mr./Mrs. of people on the same footing (Japanese equivalent ‘san’)

6. jesu-ssi – Korean, younger brother’s wife

7. Agassi – Korean, young lady

8. nim – Korean, title used in place of Mr./Mrs. of people of a higher footing (Japanese equivalent ‘sama’)

[lexiegirlstuff]

Quick K Drama Thoughts (August)

All right, where do I start?

With Husband #4, of course!!!! So, Criminal Minds finally started!!!! And thankfully the sub groups have been angels of mercy and we have gotten to watch the show. I finished episode 3 and I’m about a third of the way on episode 4. 

Personally, I really like it. I think lots of people are comparing a 10+ seasons series (That’s well over 200 episodes, btw) to a 20 episode drama, and doing a disservice to the show. It’s not a perfect show, there are parts that need to work out: sometimes the pace is a bit off and the analysis doesn’t go very deep yet. 

But I do feel like, with every episode, they are getting a little better. I like the characters, all of them (even if I was a bit iffy about some of them at first); and how they work together. I hope the team gets better as the show goes on, I have no reason to think it won’t be this way. 

I do love Kim Hyun Jun (Lee Joon Gi’s character), I think he’s a nice departure from the usual brooding, action driven, hot-headed character we often find in these type of shows. He has no less than 3 quite tragic incidents in his past yet he’s not a jerk, he’s a good team player, he’s nice. He is a doer, but he doesn’t rush into things blindly for the most part, and he is - as far as we have seen - good at his job. 

(OT but, Lee Joon Gi /Kim Hyun Jun interacting with kids is almost too much for my ovaries. Like, I’m dead sure I don’t want kids but I would have his in a heartbeat.

You know how in Yuri on Ice, Yuri says that Victor has such Eros that he can get even a man pregnant? That’s pretty much how I feel about LGJ)

.

Moving on, Bride of the Water God... it’s not as bad as the first two episodes suggested it would be but the pace of the show is still off (sometimes nothing happens, then a lot of stuff happens in a row). I’m up to episode 9; and I’m intrigued enough to keep on watching, but I do need to force myself to start which is not ideal. 

I’ve grown to like the interactions between Habaek and So Ah; and the interactions between the three gods. The MVP is definitely CEO Shin - his story is what I’m most intrigued by. At the same time I feel like they are doling out the information at a glaciar pace. The mythos has lots of potential, but they need to figure out what they wanna do with it. 

I will probably finish the show anyway, but it’s not going to be one I go back to. 

--

Suspicious Partner... I keep making my way though it, when I find time to sit down and watch it I find myself watching 3 or 4 episodes in a row. As the story progresses, it has a good balance of drama and comedy.

 I love the friendship between Eun Bong Hee and Ji Eun Hyuk. Thank you SP for showing us a healthy guy-girl friendship that is just that: FRIENDSHIP. No one is trying to get into anyone’s pants between those two and that’s refreshing. 

As adorable as I find the Ji-Bong couple (and they are so adorable); I think the deep, strong friendships are the backbone of this show, tbh. And it’s a show rich on friendships: between women (who do talk about things other than the guys); between the various guys (across various age groups) and between men and women. 

--

Slowly making my way through Descendants of the Sun. I keep forgetting it. 

And I’m also watching Chicago Typewriter. I finally made it to episode 4. Now, in the first episode I wasn’t sure about the show - and I had been put off by the promos, actually, I always loved the idea behind the show but the promos weren’t great. 

Thanks to my friend who loved it, I decided to give it a second show and once you make it past episode 2, it gets pretty addictive quite quickly. I like how it gets to the core of what being a writer really is all about. 

Oh, and I started School 2017. Its very cute so far and I lighthearted. I genuinely enjoy teen shows and I have been won over by this one. In episode 1 still, but I know I’ll keep going

I’ve also been lost in the land of Scarlet Heart Ryeo / Moon Lover’s fanfics. They are SOOOOOO good. Now I just need to watch the actual show. 

I highly recommend “And I’ll call your name” by LilyMaxwell, which is one of the best stories I’ve ever read. But there are tons of great ones out there!!! I love that we are at a point where enough time has passed that people have gotten over the shock/ sad of the ending; but we are still in the “I can fix that!” phase so there are a lot of romantic comedies; and authors are still updating regularly ;)

PS: The ending of Princess Agents Sucked.

[gizkasparadise]

Kdrama Review: Reply 1997

Master Kdrama rec list.

Series: Reply 1997 (also known as Answer Me 1997) Episodes: 16 (30 minutes to 1 hour each / inconsistent ep lengths) Genres: Romance, Friendship, Comedy, School, Coming of Age Spoilers in the Review: Nope If You Like, You’ll Like:  friends to lovers, the concept of How I Met Your Mother (but you wanted a better show), Fight for My Way, Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo, something to hit that 90s nostalgia, other installments of the Reply series, Then & Now stories Rank: 10/10

Special Note: It’s on Netflix!!!

“Let’s break up.”

“Do you really have to say that at a crab restaurant?” 

Premise.

This drama follows six friends as they grow up, fight, make up, fall in love, and write boyband fanfic (okay, just Shi Won). The drama cuts back and forth between their high school days in 1997 and their adult lives in 2012, where one couple will announce that they’re engaged. 

Characters.

Sung Shi Won. Our main character! Sung Shi Won is ranked deadlast in her school, spends her time fangirling popular boyband H.O.T., and writing smutty fanfic that spoiler gets her a college scholarship. Engages in stan wars. Will literally kick you in the face. Doesn’t take shit. Is probably my favorite kdrama heroine ever. 

Yoon Yoon Je  Shi Won’s best friend since childhood, who’s been in love with her since The Spring of 1996. Cranky most of the time, first in his class, and has a short temper. The Salty Mom Friend tbh. Blue to Shi Won’s Red.

Mo Yoo Jung. Shi Won’s other best friend and partner in crime. Fellow H.O.T. enthusiast but her pop star allegiance proves fickle. Falls in love easily, falls out of love easily, ride or die, will break up with you if you eat food weird. 

Kang Jun Hee Yoon Je’s best friend, who is the King of Dance at the local teen nightclub. Super nice, The Unsalty Mom Friend. Has a secret crush on someone completely oblivious to it. 

Do Hak Chan. Is actually played by a 1990s boyband member, so an Excellent Meta Joke there. An army brat who transfers to their high school, Hak Chan is quickly adopted by the Busan 5. Has a huge porn collection, but cannot talk to girls to save his life. Gets dumped 4 times in a week. Most Likely To Dramatically Chase a Bus To Confess Feelings At The Last Possible Moment.

Bang Sung Jae Resident Fuck Up Friend. Loves the drama and hot goss and is a total motor mouth. Thinks of himself as a smooth talker but really just gets hit a lot. Perpetual 5th wheel. Please stop him. Most obvious case of Dawson casting.

Yoon Tae Woong Yoon Je’s older brother, and other boy-next-door friend to Shi Won. Works as a new teacher at the high school the other characters attend, but is actually a software genius who later quits to pursue a start-up company. He is also in love with Shi Won (#drama)

Review.

this drama sticks with you. it’s heartwarming, cute, sad, hilarious. a lot of feel good and a lot of rooting for the characters. there’s no “bad guys” or shoe’d-in antagonists/second leads. the 90s nostalgia is real and great. it’s easy to see why this was an incredibly popular kdrama that prompted two spin-offs

Drawbacks.

a couple places where the second-hand embarrassment is real. i almost died when a teacher started reading Shi Won’s smutty bandfic out loud in class

ship-baiting is a main element to the plot, since viewers are supposed to be kept guessing as to who ends up with who. the reply series are a little notorious for the second lead syndrome...or third lead syndrome...fourth lead syndrome??

Reasons to Watch.

most iconic pregnancy reveal of all time

nuanced/relatable characters and relationships

best kiss scenes of any kdrama i’ve seen

the girls own my heart <3 i love them so damn much

refreshing is a word that’s thrown around a lot with this drama...but. it’s refreshing!!

the 90s!!! this is a period-accurate piece in every sense of the word (dial-up! boy band cassette mix tapes! AWFUL HAIR AND MAKEUP)

i love these friends so much ;3; 

light twists and turns to make the Who’s The Husband game a lot of fun :D

it makes me genuinely happy to see a family that communicates by screaming at each other because that is 100% my family

Final Thoughts.

90s kid / how-i-met-your-mother-if-that-was-a-decent-show mashup of my dreams

[heavens-moonlight]

𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦 | 𝟬𝟱: 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗦 𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗦

𝟬𝟰 : 𝗖𝗥𝗜𝗠𝗦𝗢𝗡 | 𝟬𝟲 : 𝗕𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗞 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗦

Author’s Note: I didn't expect to be gone for so long but life just got in the way T_T. I'm still doing well and will see this story to the end! Updates won't be as frequent so I'm not going to put dates on when in case I disappoint like last time and can't stick to a set schedule. More chapters will be coming soon (the next one is written, just needs heavy editing). Call me crazy but if I'm not satisfied myself with what's written, I feel like readers won't either so I have to take my time and make sure it's good enough. Hopefully this long one makes up for my unintended hiatus and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it in the comments! Also, please let me know if you’d like to be added to the taglist. Thank you to those still reading (and those just finding this now). It means a lot to me ♡

"Jun-Hee, please come back to me..." You place your hands on either side of his face and turn it toward yours. He stares at you, the only thing visible in the dark being each other.

As Jun-Hee stands frozen in shock, eyes shadowed by grief and body trembling uncontrollably, your heart aches at the sight. Without another word, you step closer, sliding your hand from its previous position on the side of his face down to hold his hand. In your mere presence, Jun-Hee's rigid posture begins to relax and his breathing, steadier.

Even when shrouded in darkness and even on the brink of despair, you would always be one another's comfort. And that, in itself, exists enough hope to spare.

"I can't do this without you," he whispers, hand clutching yours like a lifeline, his eyes refusing to look away from your own.

You smile up at him, but the sadness seeps through and the corners of your lips don't curl upward like before, the crinkle of mirth not quite reaching your eyes. "As long as we have one another, we have yet to lose."

The two of you watch forlornly in stunned silence as chaos continues to unfold all around, students like passerby thieves in the depth of night.

What was the price for stealing a life?

Seconds tick by, the passing of time like that of a fever dream where you can't escape the confines of an endless nightmare.

One Mississippi.

[ғᴏʀ ʙʀᴇᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴜʟᴇs, ᴏʜ ʜʏᴇ-sᴜɴɢ ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴇxᴇᴄᴜᴛᴇᴅ. ᴏʜ ʜʏᴇ-sᴜɴɢ ᴡᴀs ᴀ ᴄɪᴛɪᴢᴇɴ.]

Two Mississippi.

[ ғᴏʀ ʙʀᴇᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴜʟᴇs, ᴋᴀɴɢ ʏᴇ-ᴡᴏɴ ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴇxᴇᴄᴜᴛᴇᴅ. ᴋᴀɴɢ ʏᴇ-ᴡᴏɴ ᴡᴀs ᴀ ᴍᴀғɪᴀ. ]

Three Mississippi.

[ғᴏʀ ʙʀᴇᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴜʟᴇs, ʟᴇᴇ ʜʏᴜɴ-ᴊᴜɴ ᴀɴᴅ ᴘᴀʀᴋ ᴊᴜɴɢ-ᴇᴜɴ, ʙᴏᴛʜ ᴄɪᴛɪᴢᴇɴs, ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴇxᴇᴄᴜᴛᴇᴅ.]

Four Mississippi.

"Jang Hyun-Ho!" You immediately swivel your head to the right, recognizing Kyung-Jun's voice, seeing him pick up a phone that slides his way after rebounding haphazardly from a mistaken kick of desperation. He holds it up high just as the lights flash a dark scarlet hue, the deepest of the shades of red in the beam's spectrum. In its opaque midst, his Cheshire smile appears ever more sinister, pristine teeth stained with the color of blood. "Better find your phone quickly." With a taunting shake, Kyung-Jun chucks the device clear across the room carelessly and it clatters a short distance before settling deep underneath the lowermost bleacher seat.

You look back and forth between Hyun-Ho and Jun-Hee, torn on who to help. Regardless, you still had the chance of resurrection, to revive one of them, but with that comes the knowledge that you'd eventually have to first let go of one of them entirely.

Five Mississippi.

You would rather lose yourself all together than having to choose between either of them and watch as your world falls apart.

Making up your mind, you pull Jun-Hee along and he trails behind, not questioning where you were headed. Hyun-Ho is already on all fours by the time you reach the sidelines, face pressed against the ground and trying his hardest to reach beneath the small space to retrieve his phone.

Although he has long arms, they're neither thin nor flexible enough to reach far.

"Your muscles are useless." You move Hyun-Ho out of the way lightly and settle Jun-Hee on the ground next to you so that he's seated resting against the bleachers, finally catching on to what was going on.

"How can you still tease me in this situation?!" Hyun-Ho drones at the absurdity, whipping his head back and forth as more bodies drop dead all around. "Go, and don't worry about me. I'd give up a thousand of my chances for your one."

[ ғᴏʀ ʙʀᴇᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴜʟᴇs, ᴋɪᴍ ʏᴇᴏɴ-ᴊᴜ ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴇxᴄᴇᴜᴛᴇᴅ. ᴋɪᴍ ʏᴇᴏɴ-ᴊᴜ ᴡᴀs ᴀ ᴄɪᴛɪᴢᴇɴ. ]

"We promised each other, remember?" Even in the dark lighting, you can feel his eyes softening.

You don't mind the floor, laying down on your stomach with your arm outstretched. Even in his blank state, Jun-Hee instinctively extends his hand out, palm upwards for you to rest your face on rather than have it press against the dirty surface.

Your fingers tiptoe against the cold wood, feeling around for the phone, but all you sense is dust. Not giving up, you flatten your arm further, stretching your fingers as far as they can go, finally coming in contact with a sharp and hard edge. Without wasting another precious moment, you swat it slowly and surely outward, ensuring that it wouldn't get caught or trapped beneath the bleachers forever.

One more sweep and you hold in your outspread hand Hyun-Ho's lost phone.

"Hurry and vote." You push the device towards him. "So long as it's not for the person who has the most votes. We can't afford to give anyone else up." Before he can say anything, you pull Jun-Hee back to his feet again and run into the center of the gym, digging around at every single phone that someone else hasn't already picked up.

Even without words, you end up looking for Jun-Hee's and he, yours. To the right by the upturned trash can, two phones lay stacked atop one another, area not yet ransacked.

You hastily grab them and flip to inspect the phone cases. Thankfully, one of them is Jun-Hee's, the shared photo booth picture sets you two took together peeking through the back pocket.

"I found yours!" You press Jun-Hee's phone into his palm, encircling his fingers around it tightly as you both escape to the edges of the gymnasium, out of the way of others searching.

His grip on you tightens, not ready to let go yet; neither your hand nor the temporary sense of safety you provided.

"And what about yours?"

Right as he says that, Kyung-Jun meanders over with your phone resting in his hold, the lavender outlined case easily recognizable even in the dark. Matching photos with Jun-Hee's of the two of you during happier times stares back at you.

You have absolutely no clue where he managed to find it or why he looked for yours in the first place, but you knew he would never tell you even if you were to ask.

Surprised, you peer up at him but he avoids looking directly at you in favor of cradling your hand to place your phone facedown into your palm before leaving just as quietly as he had come.

Jun-Hee is as taken aback as you though he doesn't question it, mind still focused on the impending doom and punishment he riddled on everyone.

Not long after, Da-Bum, Jung-Won, and Yoon-Seo come bounding over, their own phones in hand. The thought comes suddenly to you, unbidden, as to why Da-Bum and Jung-Won always seem like they're together as of late.

It seemed unexpected that either had developed mutual feelings, for both preferred solitude over company if they could help it. Not being able to put a finger on it unsettles you for some reason, the pair appearing together solely when night falls only to be more indifferent than strangers during the day. Maybe Da-Bum feels indebted to your group for the help, or maybe Jung-Won is simply protective for the sake of it, your mind concludes for you. Regardless of whatever case it may be, if you thought any more about it, you would spiral into an oblivion of unanswerable questions.

[ᴋɪᴍ sᴏ-ᴍɪ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ʙᴀᴇᴋ ᴇᴜɴ-ʜᴀ.]

[ʙᴀᴇᴋ ᴇᴜɴ-ʜᴀ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ᴋɪᴍ sᴏ-ᴍɪ.]

[ᴘᴀʀᴋ ᴡᴏᴏ-ʀᴀᴍ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ʙᴀᴇᴋ ᴇᴜɴ-ʜᴀ.]

[ᴄʜᴏɪ ᴍɪ-ɴᴀ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ʙᴀᴇᴋ ᴇᴜɴ-ʜᴀ.]

[sʜɪɴ sᴇᴜɴɢ-ʙɪɴ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ʙᴀᴇᴋ ᴇᴜɴ-ʜᴀ.]

[ᴋɪᴍ ᴊɪɴ-ʜᴀ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ʙᴀᴇᴋ ᴇᴜɴ-ʜᴀ.]

[ᴀʜɴ ɴᴀ-ʜᴇᴇ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ʙᴀᴇᴋ ᴇᴜɴ-ʜᴀ.]

[ᴄʜᴀ ʏᴜ-ᴊᴜɴ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ʙᴀᴇᴋ ᴇᴜɴ-ʜᴀ.]

"Eun-Ha it is then," Jung-Won says to your group coldly. "Vote for her."

"What? No!" you outright reject, and Jung-Won is taken aback. "I'm not going to side with So-Mi on this without proper reason."

Yoon-Seo nods her head, assenting. "If we vote for her too, she'll die. We can't do that."

"What other choice do we have?" Jung-Won looks tense as she scrolls through the tally of votes yet to end.

"We'll scatter our picks so that we all get one vote each. I'll choose myself."

"We don't know if that's against the rules," you tell Yoon-Seo. "You can vote for me. Jun-Hee, you too."

"But—" they both oppose at the same time.

"I'll be okay." You look between them, resolute.

"Seol-Hwa..." Jun-Hee utters, more forlorn than ever.

"I'll gladly bite the bullet of two votes if it means we can hold out just that much longer. You and I both know we neither have the luxury nor time to think this over. I can take the small risk to save another innocent classmate."

"We don't know if she is," Jung-Won retorts.

"I know what I know and I trust my instincts. You can vote for her if you feel like it." Never before in your life have you ever seen less than eye-to-eye with Jung-Won but with the existence of this deadly game, it has become a given and no longer a rarity.

You watch as Da-Bum and Jung-Won eye one another nervously, your curiosity peeking over how they got so close so fast.

[ᴊɪɴ ᴅᴀ-ʙᴜᴍ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ᴏʜ ᴊᴜɴɢ-ᴡᴏɴ.]

[ᴏʜ ᴊᴜɴɢ-ᴡᴏɴ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ᴊɪɴ ᴅᴀ-ʙᴜᴍ.]

[ʜᴀɴ sᴇᴏʟ-ʜᴡᴀ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ᴋɪᴍ ᴊᴜɴ-ʜᴇᴇ.]

[ᴋɪᴍ ᴊᴜɴ-ʜᴇᴇ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ʜᴀɴ sᴇᴏʟ-ʜᴡᴀ.]

[ʟᴇᴇ ʏᴏᴏɴ-sᴇᴏ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ʜᴀɴ sᴇᴏʟ-ʜᴡᴀ.]

[ɪᴍ ᴇᴜɴ-ᴄʜᴀɴ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ɴᴀᴍ ʏᴇᴏɴ-ᴡᴏᴏ.]

[ɴᴀᴍ ʏᴇᴏɴ-ᴡᴏᴏ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ɪᴍ ᴇᴜɴ-ᴄʜᴀɴ.]

[ᴊᴀɴɢ ʜʏᴜɴ-ʜᴏ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ʙᴀᴇᴋ ᴇᴜɴ-ʜᴀ.]

[ᴋɪᴍ ᴅᴏɴɢ-ʜʏᴜɴ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ʙᴀᴇᴋ ᴇᴜɴ-ʜᴀ.]

You bite your lip in frustration as the two boys vote hastily, most likely swayed by the majority and not having been within earshot of Yoon-Seo's suggestion. Your eyes meet across the room, soulless and empty, shells of the people you once were, looking back at one another in a haze of blinding lights.

As the red hue morphs back into a dulled white, it feels like you have all just descended into hell and back, heaven now much too far out of reach.

[ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛᴡᴇʟᴠᴇ ᴠᴏᴛᴇs, ʙᴀᴇᴋ ᴇᴜɴ-ʜᴀ ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴇxᴇᴄᴜᴛᴇᴅ.]

Eun-Ha sits lifeless on the ground in the middle of the circle, fingers twisted around her phone, the one precious vote failing to be her saving grace. "I said I was a citizen," she whimpers in tears, going around and grabbing everyone's hands, pleading uselessly. Those that voted for her look away guiltily, the possibility of her innocence still up in the air. "How many times must I tell you it wasn't me?" Her steps stagger, not yet able to accept the unfair death sentence hanging above her head, everyone an executioner. "Why?" She repeats like a mantra. "Why me?"

Secretly pulling out your phone, you make sure no one knew of it. In the moment, everyone's attention was directed at Eun-Ha's spiraling emotions and you quickly click on her name, the first person you were choosing to heal.

You look up as Eun-Ha's footsteps squeak against the floor, her hands covering the tears streaming down her face as she runs through the glass doors of the gymnasium until her figure can no longer be seen rounding the corner.

Fate, please be less cruel.

No matter how hard you try to fight it, as the music crescendos over the speakers like a cursed lullaby, you can't fight the heaviness settling over you. Your eyelids heavy, droops to cover your eyes in a blanket of darkness as your body sinks to the ground.

Even above water, you feel like you're drowning on air.

Whether it's in sleep or reality, the pull of the void is too strong for you to resist, and you can't for the life of you, seem to get away, forced to succumb to it.

[ɴɪɢʜᴛ ʜᴀs ᴄᴏᴍᴇ.]

You're suspended on the threshold of subconsciousness and consciousness, light spots flickering behind your eyelids momentarily before they dissipate and you're forced to come back to the realm of the living.

As your eyes refocus upon opening, extricating yourself from the caress of sleep that miraculously enveloped you, you feel so, so tired of everything.

Would it be better to give in or give up?

Jun-Hee is beside you but doesn't utter a word, his gaze fixed on an empty space in the distance, eyes rimmed red. Your hand itches to reach out toward his but you instead will it to remain still, digits curling into your palm, nails clenched hard enough to create crescent divots intersecting the creases in your hand.

How do you even begin to comfort him when you can't so much as do it for yourself?

Yoon-Seo sits to your right, hand over her eyes as silent sobs rock her body, trembling back the telltale sign of her suppressed cries.

"Joo-Young..." Mi-Na calls, your attention turning to the pair. Your hand comes up to clasp over your mouth as you realize a white sheet had been laid upon her face.

Try as you might, you couldn't pretend not to know the one thing that meant.

"No..." you whisper out.

"Joo-Young," Mi-Na repeats, still receiving no response from her friend. Even shaking her foot does nothing to change the silence. "This isn't funny..."

Yoon-Seo scrambles over on shaky legs, dropping to her knees in front of Joo-Young's rigid body.

"She's acting weird..." Mi-Na mumbles, hand unsteadily reaching toward her friend. As she grabs the corner of the white cloth, the incoming announcement has her hand dipping to the floor limply.

[ᴅᴜʀɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ɴɪɢʜᴛ, ʟᴇᴇ ᴊᴏᴏ-ʏᴏᴜɴɢ ᴡᴀs ᴇxᴇᴄᴜᴛᴇᴅ ʙʏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀғɪᴀ. ʟᴇᴇ ᴊᴏᴏ-ʏᴏᴜɴɢ ᴡᴀs ᴀ ᴄɪᴛɪᴢᴇɴ.]

Yoon-Seo throws back the cover to the onslaught of gasps at the pale, lifeless body beneath, already stiffening up due to rigor mortis.

Irrespective of everyone's state of mind, the announcement drones on monotonously, unfitting of the somber atmosphere.

[ʙᴇғᴏʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴀsᴛ ᴠᴏᴛᴇ ᴄʟᴏsᴇᴅ, ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴏᴄᴛᴏʀs ɴᴏᴍɪɴᴀᴛᴇᴅ ᴡʜᴏ ᴛᴏ ʜᴇᴀʟ. ᴛʜᴇʏ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴄʜᴏsᴇɴ ᴄʜᴀ ʏᴜ-ᴊᴜɴ ᴀɴᴅ ʙᴀᴇᴋ ᴇᴜɴ-ʜᴀ.]

[ᴀʟʟ ᴘᴀʀᴛɪᴄɪᴘᴀɴᴛs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ɪᴅᴇɴᴛɪғʏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀғɪᴀ ᴀɴᴅ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴠᴏᴛᴇs.]

The staticky sound over the speakers is drowned out by Mi-Na's cries, yet to comprehend the death of her friend who she fell asleep beside last night, only for one of them to wake up in the morning.

Quietly, Yoon-Seo pulls back Joo-Young's shirt collar, fingers trembling against a ligature mark bruised red like branding done by the devil. "Strangulation..."

Mi-Na ignores Yoon-Seo's remark, beelining for Jun-Hee and grasping him by the neck of his button up shirt, shaking him in hysterics, resentful. "I said I wouldn't follow your plan," she reiterates her sentiment from the previous night. "If we hadn't listened, none of us would've gathered here only to end up like this." Jun-Hee is shoved back with every word, every accusation. "You killed them all and now it's on you!" Mi-Na nearly spits in his face, angry tears staining her face.

"Stop it!" So-Mi shouts.

You merely stare, not daring to move an inch. Everyone else remains rooted to their spot, the events of last night yet to fade from memory. Even Jun-Hee acknowledges his fault, allowing Mi-Na to throw him around and curse in his face. Nothing could make him feel better. Tears well up in your eyes as you dissect the gravity of the situation, pitying how responsibility can so easily become liability.

"They're not wrong," Ji-Soo voices, voice barely above a whisper. "We simply survived by pure luck. You and Kyung-Jun...neither of you can fix this nor return the lives lost."

Kyung-Jun, who had been sitting in the chair he fell asleep in last night, stands up and kicks it aside, sending it skidding across the floor. "Fuck you," he swears with venom at Ji-Soo. "If you know what's good for you, then keep my name out of your mouth. It's not my fault to share." He turns to her, glaring. "Did I suggest the idea first?" Pointing straight at Jun-Hee, Kyung-Jun shakes his finger condescendingly. "This happened because of you, and only you."

"I'm sorry," is all Jun-Hee manages to say as he staggers away from the scene, wanting to be alone.

No one runs after him.

This time, not even you.

You sit motionlessly, only having the heart to count how many steps it takes for Jun-Hee to walk away, and wonder how many it will take for him to come back.

"Whatever," Kyung-Jun waves his hand dismissively. "The class president got us into this mess, and the only way for us to get out of it is to go to the very end. Let's vote him out today." He casts a hidden sidelong glance over at your soulless gaze after Jun-Hee's retreating form and turns away, adding nothing more to fuel the fire but neither does he retract his statement.

Jung-Won steps forward, sizing up Kyung-Jun without a single fear of the possible consequences in doing so. "You—" At her address, his head swivels back, cat-like eyes sharp as daggers. "You said it was a good idea and went so far as to collect our phones. Why change your tune now?" She crosses her arms in front of her chest, gauging. "Care to tell us why you were the only one relaxed last night?" Jung-Won raises one eyebrow defiantly. "Is it because you took your phone back secretly?" Scoffing, she ridicules him. "Don't play innocent when you're the most suspicious."

You whip your head toward Jung-Won, wondering how she possibly found that out in the commotion. It finally clicks to you that either he had both his and yours hidden in his possession or he only had yours to look for after already having secured his survival with a vote. No matter which way you looked at it, Kyung-Jun devised a win-win situation. The clear advantage had compelled him to so readily agree with Jun-Hee and avoid the brunt of blame.

Of course he wouldn't change.

"Yah," he voices lowly and menacingly, stepping closer to Jung-Won, staring her down. "Isn't it obvious? How are we to trust Jun-Hee? For all we know, he could be Mafia." Turning to look at everyone in succession, he yells loudly, those nearest to him jumping from the sudden sound. "GUYS! Our lives depend on this game." His eyes shift toward Jung-Won pointedly. "Why entrust someone else with mine? I just used my brain, something you all don't seem to do." Despite his anger being directed at Jung-Won, he punctuates his words with punches to Da-Bum's chest, a mere bystander beside her. "If not, last night I would've been another corpse in the mountain of bodies."

"Stop it, please..." Yoon-Seo nearly begs, tiredness seeping into her voice. She throws her hands up in frustration. "Do you still want to fight after everything that's happened? How long must we stay here and anxiously wait out our turn?" Even when no one answers, Yoon-Seo adds, "Won't we even attempt to find our way back home?"

Though the schpiel was aimed at Kyung-Jun and not even her, So-Mi sneers, rolling her eyes, displeased. "How naïve do you have to be to think that we can? It's not that we don't want to. We can't."

Yoon-Seo turns to her. "This game—if we figure out its purpose, we can find a way out without anyone else dying." Silence envelops the room as she looks around, eventually gesturing to the bodies strewn across the floor. "Before that, let's move everyone."

Mouth hanging open, So-Mi looks at Yoon-Seo in shock. "Excuse me?!"

"We can't leave them like this. They were once our classmates. The least we can do is to allow them rest in the freezer."

As Kyung-Jun turns on his heel to leave, Seung-Bin and Jin-Ha are quick to follow, no ounce of sorrow hanging over them.

Yoon-Seo, ever-courageous, latches onto Kyung-Jun's wrist as he brushes past her. "Stay and help."

He yanks his arm back, grumbling under his breath. "Crazy bitch.”

Woo-Ram backs up Yoon-Seo, indignantly criticizing Kyung-Jun. "How cheap of you to always walk away by yourself, leaving others behind. Is it not in your ability to leave half of your heart to care for someone? Not even a single person?"

Kyung-Jun advances, ready to round on him, but So-Mi and Jung-Won block Woo-Ram off from his path and you're once again left floundering in the dark searching for answers to the unexpected dynamics established over the course of just a few days.

Not giving up, Yoon-Seo grabs Kyung-Jun again, on the brink of pleading.

You get up to your feet unstably, shuffling over to pry her quivering fingers away as no one else steps up to side with her. "Yoon-Seo..." you get out listlessly. "Don't waste your time on those who will never understand. We don't need them. We'll be fine on our own." You don't look back as the two of you task yourselves with the act, the others watching on aghast.

Mindlessly, you go through the motions, forcing your arms and legs to cooperate, mind numb as you drag the cold and bloody bodies of your fellow classmates.

So many hopes and dreams have yet to blossom, but this is where they'll remain, wilted and buried forever, never to bloom.

You kneel on the ground, aimlessly orientating limbs to lay properly and force the tears to stay suspended on the rims of your eyes, not allowing them to fall and desecrate the bodies of your schoolmates. Your thoughts blur as you move on autopilot when someone suddenly tugs you by the forearm up into a standing position.

You come face to face with Kyung-Jun, the force with which he pulls you up propelling you inches away from him as he fights with himself to keep up the angry facade, glint slowly fading as he catches sight of your eyes. Through the haze of tears, his features blur in your vision, the distortion of expression leading you to see only concern.

You attempt to yank your arm out of his grip but he doesn't intend to let you do so. Seeing you flinch, he realizes the force of his strength and relaxes his hold around your forearm, fingers lingering at your wrist.

"Let go."

"Why are you doing this?" he questions, the scene drawing the attention of the others, yet none dare to intervene.

"Because I actually care," you grit through your teeth, only loud enough for him to hear, tears cascading in rivulets down your face.

Away from the veil of tears, there's no mistaking the look on his face this time, pupils wavering back and forth between your own. The realization of the night in the infirmary dawns on him as he finally understands that you are the type of person to care for everyone, regardless of all else.

Kyung-Jun's eyes trail every path your teardrops make as it etches marks onto your face, his hold becoming lax. You pull away roughly and swipe at your tears with your sleeve, returning to the matter at hand and choosing to ignore him completely.

Everyone is more than surprised when Kyung-Jun moves you out of the way and wordlessly transports the bodies himself, enlisting the aid of Seung-Bin and Jin-Ha, who after being forced to get over their initial shock, have no choice but to listen and reluctantly follow along.

He throws backward glances at you all the while, not understanding or being able to pinpoint why and how infuriating it was that you were the only one who seemed to be able to get under his skin by doing nothing, by your presence alone, yet he doesn't think he'll get the chance to ever find out.

You drop to the floor even as everyone heads to the freezer, fingers pressed into the palms of your hands.

As you uncurl your trembling digits one by one, it reveals stains that bleed into every fold of skin.

One in particular is a darker shade of red, seeping deeper into the crease.

Your eyes trace the curve adjacent to your thumb, path now extended.

Life line.

Yet, you can't find it in yourself to rejoice at the sight when the one thing symbolizing your prolonged existence is a promise written in blood.

After Yoon-Seo requested to be alone to pay her respects to those who passed, you wait outside the ice-cold room, sitting on the floor with your back pressed against the sealed doors.

At the sound of footsteps, you look up to see Jun-Hee. Silently, he crouches down before you, simply looking at you before he lifts his hand toward your cheek. Your eyes follow as his fingers hang suspended in the air by the side of your face.

He closes his eyes once before opening them again and letting his hand drop into his lap, a dark look flitting across his soft features. "I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry."

You let out the breath you weren't aware you were holding. "What for?"

Jun-Hee slumps against the metal frame beside you, head leaned back and eyes avoiding yours. "Everything."

You watch him intently.

"I shouldn't have done what I did last night," he tells you, angling his body toward yours.

You shake your head, sensing him drawing into himself. "Don't blame yourself. None of us could possibly know what would happen."

"No, it really is my fault. I'll live with the guilt forever."

"I won't let you live with it alone..." You scoot closer to him, your arms pressed against one another's.

"How—" his voice shakes as he gazes at you, the space between his eyebrows creasing. "How can you still stand to talk to me? To look at me? To be next to me?" You make to speak, but he continues on before you can get a word in. "It hurts, Seol-Hwa." With a weak murmur, he rests his head on your shoulder.

"It's okay to be hurting. Cry if you have to." You lean your head atop his. "I'm here for you."

"Are you not repulsed by me?"

"Is that why you drew your hand away earlier?"

He sits back up properly but doesn't reply. You grasp the answerless answer all the same.

"Jun-Hee," you say, fingers still itching to intertwine with his as you look down at your hands touching in the gap between your bodies, but not enough to hold. "Until this game is actually over, people will keep dying. There's no way we can fight that, no matter how hard we try, but if you really want to be responsible—to still be responsible—think of how to find a way to get everyone out safe, okay?"

"Okay," he agrees, smiling the faintest for your sake.

You stare at him in the momentary silence that follows, wishing you could tell him what you truly mean. Instead, you mask your feelings, settling for a word of comfort that doesn't overstep the boundaries of friendship. "You can always come to me. When you're happy...and when you're sad."

This time, he reaches out to cradle your face without reluctance, without hesitancy. "What did I do to deserve you?" His thumb brushes across your cheek lightly. "Our friendship is my life's biggest dilemma."

"Good or bad?"

Your question draws a soft chuckle from Jun-Hee. "Good, I promise." He gets a faraway look in his eyes for a second as he mumbles, "Almost too good for me to ever change it. Even though I find myself wanting to, more and more, every single day."

"What do you mean?"

He pulls his hand away and smiles faintly to himself. "Later. I'll tell you later."

Although confused, you let it slide. "I'll hold you to that." You get up, brushing off your skirt before angling your hand down, outstretched for Jun-Hee to take. He grabs it and stands up, the two of you facing one another. "Me and you against the world?"

"Always," Jun-Hee affirms, pulling you in by the hand, so close that the toes of your matching white sneakers are aligned.

"Jun-Hee...?"

"Can you hug me? Just so I know that it will be okay?"

You stretch on your tiptoes, placing your arms around his neck and pull him in nearer as his wind around your waist, drawing you tighter against his chest, hands settling at the small of your back. He snuggles his face into the line of your shoulder and presses closer, breathing in deeply.

"Everything will turn out alright." You rest your chin on his shoulder and lean your head against the side of his.

"I believe you," Jun-Hee exhales out shakily, squeezing you that much tighter so that you have to rise higher on your toes.

"Let's not give up until this is over, yeah?"

"As long as I have you by my side, how can I?"

The two of you slowly extract yourselves from one another, the sound of something tumbling in succession on the other side of the sliding metal doors making you and Jun-Hee dash in without another thought after a second glance at each other.

Yoon-Seo lays in the middle of strewn empty crates, hands around her neck and gasping for air.

"Yoon-Seo!" You stoop beside her as Jun-Hee makes to prop her up while you dig in her skirt pocket for her inhaler, administering it to her quickly.

Given the sudden commotion, the rest file in, having heard the ruckus and loud exclamations, crowding around to see what exactly was going on.

Yoon-Seo still struggles to breathe as you assess her level of consciousness, supporting her the best you can. Eventually, her eyes close and she passes out.

You recruit help from Hyun-Ho and Dong-Hyun, Na-Hee trailing them as they take Yoon-Seo to the infirmary to rest. Unfortunately, that meant you and Jun-Hee had to sit down with the rest and discuss what to do going forward.

Thankfully, you realize with relief and a weight lifted off your heart, Eun-Ha is back and sitting with Yeon-Woo and Eun-Chan, very much alive and very much safe.

The only seat remaining is between Jun-Hee and Kyung-Jun, and you gingerly settle down in the middle, not acknowledging the latter even as he speaks up.

"Let's not drag this out and cut to the chase." Kyung-Jun sits spread eagle, leaning his elbows on his knees with his arms hanging down toward the floor as he looks up with his head slightly bowed, addressing everyone. "If you're part of the Mafia, speak up."

Jung-Won purses her lips, thinking it idiotic. "Are you aware that your mouth runs before your brain does? Do you think you would reveal yourself if it were you?" she says sarcastically.

Kyung-Jun whistles, in disbelief at her sassiness. "Okay, that was bad on my part. Let me try again. To rephrase, I'm giving you all a chance to condemn someone. Who would like to start?"

"So-Mi," Eun-Ha inserts without missing a beat.

"Yah! It's not me!" So-Mi shrieks, extricating her headband roughly from her hair and tossing it on the ground with a clang.

"Did I say it was you?" Eun-Ha crosses her arms and sneers, much bolder and more confident after having revived. "I simply called out your name. Why are you already on the defensive?

Kyung-Jun leans back in his chair, watching the scene unfold with amusement, the rest eyeing warily the two girls with nothing but a wall of animosity between them. "We'll come back to this," Kyung-Jun resolves, merely rolling his eyes at So-Mi's glare, unbothered.

Dramatically, Seung-Bin suddenly slams his hand against the table in front of him, a resounding outburst that's sure to have hurt his palm more than he let on. "Disclose if you're on the Police team too." Met with radio silence, he menacingly tries a different approach of threatening answers out of everyone. "Are you not going to?"

Da-Bum repositions himself in his chair, looking up and down from his clasped hands settled in his lap. "I...don't think they would do that either, just like the Mafias won't."

"Of course they won't," Yu-Jun agrees, making everyone turn toward him, still suspicious about his role.

Given how he was healed without imminent danger or justification to be saved, he was high on your list as a fellow doctor who chose to protect himself first and foremost. That was one of the reasons for you deciding not to ever pick yourself, otherwise the group could come to a certain conclusion if they put two and two together.

"Fuck," Kyung-Jun curses, looking out over everyone gathered. "Why the hell won't you cooperate?" When no one responds, and not knowing what more to say, he turns your way but looks past you at the last minute, instead turning the focus on Jun-Hee. "Banjang, it's you, is it not? Only citizens died because you didn't allow us to vote. Tell me then, was it all part of the Mafia's plan to get rid of as many citizens as possible?"

In a deadpan manner that leaves no room for argument, you don't look at Kyung-Jun when you defend Jun-Hee. "That's not true. If you read through the alerts of everyone who passed last night, a Mafia was caught in the crossfire too. Why would they willingly give up their own member if it was supposed to be a foolproof plan?"

You can feel Kyung-Jun staring a hole through the side of your face but it quiets him for the time being.

"At least we can be almost sure about who one of the doctors is," Woo-Ram voices, everyone's eyes flickering over to Yu-Jun, virtually indisputable.

He finally notices the attention on him and rejects the assumption feebly without a strong counterargument. "I'm telling you it's really not me." Yu-Jun looks to his girlfriend for help but Ji-Soo misunderstands the look as throwing her under the bus.

"Who do you take me for?"

Mi-Na points between the couple. "It has to be you two. Who else would bother to save Yu-Jun?"

The boy in question turns to Mi-Na, half offended and half frustrated. "I don't know why they decided to save me either. Would I be dumb enough to protect and out myself simultaneously if I had that role?"

Even Ji-Soo turns to study her boyfriend as he speaks and you're now positive with the way he's shielding that he was indeed the other doctor aside from yourself. "Maybe it really isn't him," Ji-Soo helps out. "By the same logic, you'd be saying that either Eun-Chan or Yeon-Woo had saved Eun-Ha, but the two of them were more shocked at her resurrection than she was."

Mi-Na uses that mention to segue into the next point of discussion. "Kim So-Mi."

"Me?" So-Mi huffs, widening her eyes in anger. "Again?"

"Eun-Ha said you were a Mafia yesterday. Did you pick her because she caught you red-handed?"

Hesitating, So-Mi turns her body toward her accuser. "I only voted for her because she was going to vote for me first."

"That's a weak excuse and you know it," Eun-Ha chimes in. "Don't forget I saw what you did on the mountain. Did you think I would disregard it and let it slide? After you nearly killed me yesterday?"

"What happened on the mountain?" Kyung-Jun presses, glancing over at you without your noticing, eyes trailing down to your legs still littered in bruises and cuts yet to heal.

Eun-Ha smiles sarcastically. "So-Mi purposefully tried to push Dong-Hyun and Seol-Hwa downhill so that they would fall outside the lines and be executed."

"You bitch!" So-Mi points a finger at her. "I almost slipped myself trying to grab his hand."

"You clearly didn't try hard enough," Eun-Ha retorts. "That same day when we came back, Dong-Hyun himself said that you never did so. You had no intention of doing it." Eun-Ha glances over at you briefly before continuing. "If it wasn't for Seol-Hwa risking her own life to help her friend, he would've most likely impaled himself on that tree stump down by the edge of the cliff." The description leaves little to the imagination and you close your eyes against subconsciously reliving the unwanted memories.

"This is all circumstantial evidence!" So-Mi screams, feeling cornered.

"Both Dong-Hyun and Seol-Hwa are still here. She hasn't corrected me, and if we're to go and get Dong-Hyun right now, I'll bet everything I have he would side with me." Eun-Ha smirks at So-Mi. "The three ghosts you failed to make are back to haunt you."

"What motive would I have to do it? Huh?!" So-Mi provokes, running out of options to act blameless.

"Easy," Eun-Ha leans forward, at the edge of her seat, not breaking So-Mi's gaze. "Dong-Hyun had to go first because you knew he's stronger and the only way to endanger him would be petty tricks like telling him to check the fading boundary line, knowing there was a fifty percent chance of him being wrong." She shrugs, using her face-up palms like a scale, weighing. "If he was unfortunate and was out of favor with the Lady of Luck, you knew either way Seol-Hwa, being the kind person that she is, would have done everything in her power to save him. If you played your cards right, you could've rid of both of them at once."

"And what would Seol-Hwa have anything to do with me being suspected like this?!" So-Mi fumes, vein protruding from her neck.

"I think everyone in the school knows this by now. They'd have to be blind or living under a rock not to." Eun-Ha laughs mockingly, hiding her smile behind her hand. "It's obvious how much you like Jun-Hee but he could care less about you when he'd probably turn the world upside down for Seol-Hwa. That's the only vendetta you have against her."

Jun-Hee shifts back and forth in his seat next to you, uncomfortable at being involved in So-Mi's villain origin story, and you try not to blush at what Eun-Ha is implying, entirely inappropriate for the situation.

So-Mi flushes in embarrassment, even more so that none of her friends were coming to her defense. "Do you really think I'd be that petty?!"

In a turn of events, it's not Eun-Ha but Kyung-Jun who replies to her. "Yes, we do. We've all seen what you're like at school and all the things you've done."

"You're no saint either, Go Kyung-Jun," So-Mi says to him bitterly.

He cackles in her face. "Maybe, but unlike you, at least I'm not a murder suspect."

"Fuck you—"

"Thanks but no thanks, because I wouldn't like you either." Kyung-Jun swats his hand flippantly at So-Mi before he reaches out and pulls your chair toward him, metal squeaking against wood. The rest turn and look, entirely baffled at the sight. You don't move very far as Jun-Hee drags the other side of your chair back toward him, not letting go even as Kyung-Jun releases his hand instantly, smirking. Jun-Hee probably doesn't realize that his hand has instinctively settled on your knee, without any intent to move it away. "Now that was a test." He motions with a circling finger from you, to Jun-Hee, and finally to Eun-Ha in succession before stopping directly in front of So-Mi, miming drawing an 'x' in the air level with her face. "And you're the only one who didn't pass." As So-Mi gapes at him, he turns to Jun-Hee. "Don't worry." He throws a sidelong glance, tilting his head at you, gesturing. "I'm allergic to nice people."

"Take of it what you will," Eun-Ha concludes, having said everything she needed to get off her chest. You can't help but beam to yourself seeing her back to the best version of her she could be. You've been suspicious of So-Mi from the start with all her power trips and victim mentality. It was about time someone put her in her place, and who better to do it then the person she expected to have finished off last night.

"Aside from So-Mi's inferiority complex," Mi-Na begins again. "Anyone else have anything to say?"

As a last resort, So-Mi turns the table on Mi-Na herself, knowing an attack on Eun-Ha would just be her announcing she'd like to be voted off. "What about you then? You're a Mafia, right?" She stands up, gaining height advantage as she approaches Mi-Na. "You and Joo-Young had a big argument yesterday."

"We did have one but why would I kill her over it? Friends fight all the time about the littlest things."

"You lick her boots as if you're her servant in front of her and then proceed to badmouth her behind her back. I guess you found the perfect alibi last night handed to you on a silver platter."

"No wonder," Jin-Ha chimes in, hatefully. "Joo-Young did treat Mi-Na no less than a dog."

"That's not true at all!" Stumped, Mi-Na turns to read the room but everyone is still processing all the accusations that have sprung up.

Kyung-Jun pinches the bridge of his nose, irritated. "Dammit, you all talk so much. Where was this fervor when I asked initially? Just turn yourself in or you'll see blood. I won't say it twice."

After a short pause, Woo-Ram dares to question him. "Why did you do that, then?"

"What the fuck are you going on about?"

Woo-Ram looks up, sitting backwards in his chair facing Kyung-Jun. "Why did you hide your phone if you knew the consequences of forfeiting our votes?" He scoffs, shaking his head and sending his hair into his eyes. "You purposefully didn't tell us, right?"

The room is silent, with all you can hear being the thoughts echoing in your head circulating around his repetition of what Jung-Won had said this morning.

Did they perhaps discuss it, or did he arrive at the same exact conclusion? How come Jung-Won isn't the one to bring this up now when she was the first to point out Kyung-Jun hours earlier?

Something gnaws at you for even starting to suspect Jung-Won when you hadn't initially. The feeling only hit you in the midst of disarray and now it refuses to leave no matter how hard you try to dissuade yourself that it couldn't be Jung-Won. You steal a glance at her, but she's simply staring at the ground, hands holding the sides of her chair, feet still and flat against the floor, body unmoving.

She's one of your closest friends—one of the few people you trusted the most. Surely, she wouldn't lie to you this way, would she?

Oh, how the betrayal would hurt.

Kyung-Jun's angry defense reels you back into the conversation as he once again, deflects the blame onto Jun-Hee. "I told you. How can we trust this bastard?"

"If you didn't believe it then, why tell us to follow through?" Woo-Ram pushes, dead set on incriminating Kyung-Jun.

You had no idea what Woo-Ram's role was, but you knew for sure Kyung-Jun wasn't part of the Mafia. He may be inhumane, caring about no one aside from himself, but all the things he's done in the name of self-preservation has been in-character, matching his notorious personality. The only thing that troubled you about him was his cornering of Jun-Hee.

Kyung-Jun chuckles darkly. "Don't try to cast the spotlight on me now. It's too late for that, Woo-Ram." The way he says the name scares you, like he knows something no one else does. "It's you who killed Joo-Young. Do you think I wouldn't know?"

Stammering, Woo-Ram grips the backrest of his chair tightly, fingers turning white from the force of his hold. "W-What?"

"You confessed to her only for it to end in rejection," Kyung-Jun details bluntly. "She spread the incident online where in place of sympathy, all you received was criticism. No one took pity on you and instead sided with her, bashing the one who bared their heart." He laughs sardonically. "Usually, people root for the one who professes for their courage in speaking up, yet you were a lost cause." Kyung-Jun raises one eyebrow, going in for the kill. "You've always been nothing but pathetic in the end."

"Did you seriously think I meant what I said to her?!" Woo-Ram whisper-yells. "I was joking. It was a prank. I was dared to do it." Judging by his digressiveness, you knew the cat's out of the bag.

"Don't try to fool me. I'm no idiot." Kyung-Jun brushes his hair back only for it to flop back down in its usual style by the sides of his face. "You kneeled and begged her to take down the post. Everyone here knows it. We all saw how much you groveled." He turns to Mi-Na, inciting her to join with a snap of his fingers. "C'mon. You say it. You were the one who recorded the whole thing and uploaded it."

You eye Mi-Na as she agrees without reserve and you sigh, realizing just how everyone lacked a sense of loyalty.

"It doesn't pertain to this!" Woo-Ran pounds the back of his chair in irritation. "What does that have to do with this game?" By saying that, he was basically admitting to it.

"IT DOES BECAUSE YOURE A GODDAMN MAFIA!" Kyung-Jun shouts back, control of the conversation now back in his court. "You killed Ju- Won first because it would've been suspicious if you went for Joo-Young first, correct?"

You have no idea how Kyung-Jun manages to sidestep every single allegation thrown at him with ease, ultimately making his opponents seem more suspicious than him. Though you believe he has no important role, there was no denying how formidable of a player he is in this game.

"How can I be a Mafia when you're still an option? The one who relentlessly blames others," Woo-Ram retorts blandly. Even he himself seems like he knows he's on the losing end of the fight.

Kyung-Jun stands up all of a sudden, his height towering over the rest seated. "Fuck it," he says, raising his phone in the air as he makes a show of pressing the button underneath Woo-Ram's name.

[ɢᴏ ᴋʏᴜɴɢ-ᴊᴜɴ ʜᴀs ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ᴘᴀʀᴋ-ᴡᴏᴏ ʀᴀᴍ.]

"Don't listen to him!" Woo-Ram turns and appeals to the rest. "It's really not me!"

Looking down, Kyung-Jun pats Woo-Ram's cheek mockingly, more like a slap to the side of his face before grabbing his chin and squeezing roughly, angling it up so Woo-Ram has no choice but to look at him. "These are the eyes of a killer. He's one hundred percent Mafia through and through," Kyung-Jun declares with certainty, pushing Woo-Ram by the chin, twisting his neck to the side harshly.

Before a fight can break out, So-Mi grabs a hold of both of Kyung-Jun's arms and tries to pin them down. As far as you were concerned, So-Mi and Woo-Ram were good friends but not to the point where she would go out of her way to help him. There was more to this interaction than meets the eyes.

You jump in your seat as Kyung-Jun casts her to the side callously, her hip slamming against the edge of the nearest table with a hard thud, sure to leave a bruise. She yelps in pain, hand holding her side. "Hands off me, you filthy bitch. You're next after him." He throws an unnoticeable look in your direction before rounding on So-Mi. "You've done much worse than Woo-Ram."

A single tilt of Kyung-Jun's head is enough to send a quiet message across to his lackeys, both pulling out their phones, screens bright.

[sʜɪɴ sᴇᴜɴɢ-ʙɪɴ ʜᴀs ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ᴘᴀʀᴋ ᴡᴏᴏ-ʀᴀᴍ.]

[ᴋɪᴍ ᴊɪɴ-ʜᴀ ʜᴀs ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ᴘᴀʀᴋ ᴡᴏᴏ-ʀᴀᴍ.]

"You lot of jerks!"

Kyung-Jun shuts Woo-Ram up instantaneously by effectively yanking him by his collar, choking him one-handed, eyeing the room as he addresses everyone. "You should all vote for him too. Who knows what trivial reasons he has hidden to kill you?" His eyes slide over toward Mi-Na sitting on the edge of her seat. "He holds so many grudges against you. Since Joo-Young is dead, you better watch out. Maybe it'll be your turn soon." He releases his fingers effortlessly and Woo-Ram drops like a dead fish face first onto the table, gasping for air.

With that, Kyung-Jun saunters out of the room, his friends in tow, Seung-Bin shoving Jun-Hee out of the way as he tries to get them to stay.

Slowly one by one, everyone disperses, Ji-Soo taking hold of Yu-Jun's hand and dragging him away the catalyst in driving the others to follow suit, filing out without listening to Jun-Hee's calls. You can tell by his eyes just how much it pains him having lost so much respect, authority as class president having diminished in the blink of an eye.

[ᴄʜᴏɪ ᴍɪ-ɴᴀ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ᴘᴀʀᴋ ᴡᴏᴏ-ʀᴀᴍ.]

"That crazy witch." Woo-Ram makes way to locate Mi-Na, but Jun-Hee stops him.

"Don't," Jun-Hee warns. "Think of what this will make you look like if you go after Mi-Na just as Kyung-Jun said." He squeezes Woo-Ram's shoulder. "I'll persuade them."

Before he can leave, Yoon-Seo walks in, supporting a still-limping Na-Hee, Hyun-Ho and Dong-Hyun behind them.

"What's going on? What happened?" Yoon-Seo looks around at all your stricken faces.

"I fell prey to Kyung-Jun's plot," Jun-Hee acknowledges. "I shouldn't have let them vote for Woo-Ram."

"Do you think they would've listened to anyone but themselves?" Jung-Won questions, her point standing.

"Instead of talking here, don't we have to sway the others to choose someone else?" So-Mi brings her nails to her mouth, biting at it worriedly.

"Who would we ask them to vote for?" Jung-Won shoots back, exasperated at So-Mi's inept attempt at rational thinking.

"I don't know," So-Mi drags the syllables out, pricked. "Anyway, it'll be fine as long as it's not us."

"Of course you would say that." You fix her with a sharp gaze, analyzing from your spot atop a table beside Hyun-Ho.

"What's that supposed to mean, you bit—" She steps toward you but Jun-Hee is quick to shield you behind him and she backs down, quieting.

"If only we knew more about the other team," Na-Hee mutters.

[ɪᴍ ᴇᴜɴ-ᴄʜᴀɴ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ᴘᴀʀᴋ ᴡᴏᴏ-ʀᴀᴍ.]

[ɴᴀᴍ ʏᴇᴏɴ-ᴡᴏᴏ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ᴘᴀʀᴋ ᴡᴏᴏ-ʀᴀᴍ.]

[ʙᴀᴇᴋ ᴇᴜɴ-ʜᴀ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ᴘᴀʀᴋ ᴡᴏᴏ-ʀᴀᴍ.]

[ᴊɪɴ ᴅᴀ-ʙᴜᴍ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ᴘᴀʀᴋ ᴡᴏᴏ-ʀᴀᴍ.]

"How can they do this to me?!" Woo-Ram laments loudly, pacing the room.

"Right!" So-Mi exclaims, cutting him off. "Ji-Soo and Yu-Jun are on our side. I'll find them and talk to them."

Yoon-Seo turns to Woo-Ram, kindly assuring him. "It's okay. We'll find a way."

He's having none of it though, nearly crazed. "A way?" He chuckles sadly. "A way?!" His fists pound the table forcefully and Yoon-Seo, standing closest to him, flinches. "Screw this. I have no choice. It's me or Kyung-Jun. It won't end before one of us dies." He delivers the ultimatum, leaning forward conspiratorially. "Let's do the same thing he does; vote for anyone else."

Jun-Hee turns to him, dismayed. "You would stoop to his level...?"

"He always bullies others. That reason alone is enough as to why that scumbag deserves to die. Kyung-Jun will do anything to survive." He looks at the half circle of people, meeting all your eyes. "Say he kills me today. What will happen tomorrow then? Who do you think will be the next sacrifice?" Woo-Ram takes pause for emphasis. "You—it will be one of you, and he won't stop until the whole class roster is wiped clear." Woo-Ram points to himself then at the door. "Make a choice."

"Woo-Ram is right," Na-Hee agrees, even though she wasn't present for the entirely of the discussion. "I'll vote for Kyung-Jun."

"Me too," So-Mi supplies, glancing at Woo-Ram.

"Then I'll follow," Jung-Won gives her word to Woo-Ram, which only further unnerves you. Just what deal did the three of them have to keep sticking to one another?

Seeing the rest of you hesitate, Woo-Ram implores, sweating and eyes glazed over in a frenzy. "Guys, if you don't help me, I'll die. Can you live with the fact that you sent me to my death? Please. Please help me," he begs.

Due to his guilt tripping, everyone ends up voting for Kyung-Jun in rapid succession, but your finger hovers between the two candidates, torn.

[ᴋɪᴍ ᴊᴜɴ-ʜᴇᴇ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ɢᴏ ᴋʏᴜɴɢ-ᴊᴜɴ.]

[ᴋɪᴍ sᴏ-ᴍɪ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ɢᴏ ᴋʏᴜɴɢ-ᴊᴜɴ.]

[ᴘᴀʀᴋ ᴡᴏᴏ-ʀᴀᴍ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ɢᴏ ᴋʏᴜɴɢ-ᴊᴜɴ.]

[ʟᴇᴇ ʏᴏᴏɴ-sᴇᴏ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ɢᴏ ᴋʏᴜɴɢ-ᴊᴜɴ.]

[ᴀʜɴ ɴᴀ-ʜᴇᴇ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ɢᴏ ᴋʏᴜɴɢ-ᴊᴜɴ.]

[ᴏʜ ᴊᴜɴɢ-ᴡᴏɴ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ɢᴏ ᴋʏᴜɴɢ-ᴊᴜɴ.]

[ᴊᴀɴɢ ʜʏᴜɴ-ʜᴏ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ɢᴏ ᴋʏᴜɴɢ-ᴊᴜɴ.]

[ᴋɪᴍ ᴅᴏɴɢ-ʜʏᴜɴ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ɢᴏ ᴋʏᴜɴɢ-ᴊᴜɴ.]

"Why are you hesitating?" Woo-Ram probes, all attention directed at you.

"I'm still thinking," you answer, feeling bad for him but also not wanting to make the wrong choice at the same time.

"About what?" So-Mi's eyebrows raise, incredulous. "Are you seriously considering all the lies Kyung-Jun told?!"

"Seol-Hwa," Jung-Won adds in, in a much nicer tone. "There's nothing to contemplate. Woo-Ram's right. Kyung-Jun is trouble." She looks at you warmly but all you can sense is the distance between the two of you, ever-widening.

"You and Kyung-Jun..." So-Mi starts, crossing her arms. "I wasn't going to say anything, but what's with the unspoken truce all of a sudden?"

Jung-Won pats your hand softly. "If he's blackmailing you, please tell us. He shouldn't do that to you of all people."

"No, it's not like that," you reassure, pulling your hand away gently, her touch cold. "I just don't want to vote rashly and then have us deal with the consequences in the morning. Have we not regretted things enough?"

"We have a lot of time remaining," Yoon-Seo settles nicely, ever the peacemaker. "Don't feel pressured to make a decision yet. We all know how difficult it always is." She smiles softly at you, genuine.

Woo-Ram doesn't say anything aside from staring helplessly at your phone, the only one yet with a vote placed.

"You let me know if that punk is messing with you," Hyun-Ho drapes an arm around your shoulder protectively. "I won't let him live it down, okay?" His fingers squeeze your shoulder comfortingly.

"We know what he's like," Jun-Hee intones. "He can bend lies and turn them into truths, so you can tell us even if it's hard to say. I'll always believe you, no matter what."

"Or..." So-Mi picks up again. "Is it something you can't ever tell us?" She smirks lightly, no one else ever the wiser to the slight uplift of the corner of her lips. Her hand comes up in a fake show of shock, mouth open behind her fingers. "Did you sleep with him and now you have to be on his side, afraid he'd use that secret against you? You can say you slipped up."

Before anyone can react, you use your hand with the phone still in your clutch and smack it clear across her face. Filled with so much force and ire, it snaps her head to the side, hair flying in disarray. The skin below her left eye bleeds from the cut, the surrounding area already left with an imprint.

She whips her head back your way, fingers clasping her cheek gradually turning red as she gapes at you in plain and utter disbelief.

You lean toward her, eyes innocent and wide, not able to tamper down your satisfaction at the sight of her cowering away.

"My hand slipped."

Powering your phone off, you walk away to echoes of shouts in the form of your name, yanking the classroom door shut behind you with a slam. The sound of its oscillating hinges reverberates repetitively like a gavel hitting the judgment stand with finality.

Your decision has been made.

𝟬𝟰 : 𝗖𝗥𝗜𝗠𝗦𝗢𝗡 | 𝟬𝟲 : 𝗕𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗞 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗦

[ Taglist ] @ennycutie

© 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟’ 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞. 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨, 𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞, 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫-𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐭. 𝐀𝐥𝐬𝐨, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐞, 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞.

[heavens-moonlight]

𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦 | 𝟬𝟮 : 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗨𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗟𝗬 𝗘𝗙𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧

𝟬𝟭 : 𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗔𝗗𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘 | 𝟬𝟯 : 𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦

Author’s Note: Well, here we go...The game has finally started but who will survive? As always, let me know your thoughts and all comments are greatly appreciated! ♡

The dorms are much more spacious than anticipated as Yoon-Seo and Jung-Won beeline for the sole coffee table in the middle of the room, occupying either side. You instead, opt to unceremoniously plop yourself down onto one of the sizeable bunk beds, plugging your phone in to charge, having depleted the power source earlier on the bus ride over.

With a familiar chime, the battery icon flashes, but you do a double take as you realize the bar has gone back up to more than 50%. "That's strange..." you whisper more to yourself than anyone, but Yoon-Seo hears you.

"What is?"

You flip over onto your stomach and turn your phone screen toward her. "Look." You point to the upper right corner, forefinger tapping at the yellow bar, lightning symbol on display. "I'm sure it was at 26% earlier but all of a sudden it's paused at nearly double what it was previously."

"Maybe you mixed up the percentages?" Yoon-Seo suggests.

"I don't think so..." You scratch your head in confusion as Yoon-Seo shrugs, neither of you having a clue in the slightest.

"Electronics are good when they work," Jung-Won says, padding over to the chair by your head where Yoon-Seo left her backpack. You place the phone face-down on the nightstand and see her slip a small gift box inside the unzipped bag, making a shushing motion with her pointer finger against her lips. Smiling, you mimic the locking of a key and throw it away behind you, keeping Yoon-Seo's birthday surprise between the two of you. "Ugh, I need to take a coding lecture but my laptop's failing to connect to the internet."

Yoon-Seo scoots her back against the side railing of your bed and crosses her arms, tsking at Jung-Won. "You keep badgering me nonstop for reading, but who else except you would willingly study during a school trip?" Yoon-Seo shakes her head. "Stop acting like the top of the class, Madame Mensa."

Jung-Won doesn't look up from her laptop screen, monotonously correcting the nickname. "Mensa is the name of the organization. You're supposed to say Mensan for the people. How many times do I have to tell you?"

You laugh at the habitual repartee between them, but get cut off by a ding signaling an incoming notification. Peering over Yoon-Seo's shoulder, you eye as an app materializes on her home screen, one you don't recognize nor have you ever seen it in the default bundle all phones come with.

"Jung-Won, what's this? I said I don't need it."

"It's really not me. I haven't touched your phone at all."

Curious, you grab your own phone and glance down at it, the same little round-edged square making its appearance. "Yoon-Seo, I have it too. Neither of us downloaded it or scanned the QR code when we arrived."

[ ᴡᴇʟᴄᴏᴍᴇ. ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀғɪᴀ ɢᴀᴍᴇ ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇɢɪɴ sʜᴏʀᴛʟʏ. ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴘʀᴏᴄᴇᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴄʜᴇᴄᴋɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴀssɪɢɴᴇᴅ ᴏᴄᴄᴜᴘᴀᴛɪᴏɴ. ]

"Mafia game?" As you touch the screen, an envelope unfurls following animation. "Wasn't this what they were playing earlier on the bus?"

"Yeah..." Yoon-Seo confirms distractedly, verifying her own occupation. "I guess I'm a civilian, not that I expected to be anything else. How about you guys?"

"I'm also a civilian."

[ ʜᴀɴ sᴇᴏʟ-ʜᴡᴀ ɴɪᴍ, ʏᴏᴜʀ ʀᴏʟᴇ ɪs ᴀ ᴅᴏᴄᴛᴏʀ. ]

"Me too," you fib, hoping that it wouldn't be questioned. You weren't a very good liar to begin with and hoped this would pass. Maybe there would be a reward for winning the game, but either way, at least you knew your closest friends were on the same side as you.

Still, for some odd reason, it didn't seem fit for you to reveal your real character. Being a doctor seemed too important of a role to just go around telling everyone willy-nilly. The three of you rarely kept secrets from one another, and so you trusted that a white lie for the game this one time could be forgiven.

Before any of you can discuss the odd happenings of the unexpected game further, paragraphs pop up in successive order, outlining the standard rules:

𝟣) ᴀʟʟ ᴘᴀʀᴛɪᴄɪᴘᴀɴᴛs ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ sᴇᴄʀᴇᴛʟʏ ᴀssɪɢɴᴇᴅ ᴀs ᴀ ᴄɪᴛɪᴢᴇɴ, ᴅᴏᴄᴛᴏʀ, ᴘᴏʟɪᴄᴇ ᴏғғɪᴄᴇʀ, ᴏʀ ᴀ ᴍᴇᴍʙᴇʀ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀғɪᴀ. ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴏᴄᴛᴏʀ ᴄᴀɴ ᴘʀᴇᴠᴇɴᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇxᴇᴄᴜᴛɪᴏɴ ᴏғ ᴀɴʏ ᴘᴀʀᴛɪᴄɪᴘᴀɴᴛ ᴛʜᴇʏ sᴇᴇ ғɪᴛ, ᴡʜɪʟᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴏʟɪᴄᴇ ᴍᴀʏ ᴄᴏɴғɪʀᴍ ᴀ ᴘʟᴀʏᴇʀ's ɪᴅᴇɴᴛɪᴛʏ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ᴄʜᴏᴏsɪɴɢ.

𝟤) ғʀᴏᴍ ᴇɪɢʜᴛ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏʀɴɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴍɪᴅɴɪɢʜᴛ, ᴀʟʟ ᴘᴀʀᴛɪᴇs ᴡɪʟʟ ᴅɪsǫᴜᴀʟɪғʏ sᴜsᴘᴇᴄᴛᴇᴅ ᴍᴀғɪᴀ ᴍᴇᴍʙᴇʀs ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴠᴏᴛɪɴɢ.

𝟥) ᴏɴᴄᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʟᴏᴄᴋ sᴛʀɪᴋᴇs ᴛᴡᴇʟᴠᴇ, ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴀʏᴇʀ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ʙʏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀᴊᴏʀɪᴛʏ ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴇxᴇᴄᴜᴛᴇᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ᴏᴄᴄᴜᴘᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ʀᴇᴠᴇᴀʟᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴀʟʟ ʀᴇᴍᴀɪɴɪɴɢ ᴘᴀʀᴛɪᴄɪᴘᴀɴᴛs.

𝟦) ᴀғᴛᴇʀ ᴠᴏᴛɪɴɢ ᴄʟᴏsᴇs ᴀɴᴅ ᴀ ᴘʟᴀʏᴇʀ ʜᴀs ʙᴇᴇɴ ᴄᴏɴᴅᴇᴍɴᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴇxᴇᴄᴜᴛɪᴏɴ, ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴏɴᴇ ᴡɪʟʟ ɢᴏ ᴛᴏ sʟᴇᴇᴘ ᴀsɪᴅᴇ ғʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀғɪᴀ ᴛᴇᴀᴍ.

𝟧) ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛʜᴇ ɴɪɢʜᴛ ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴏɴᴇ ɪs ɪɴ sʟᴜᴍʙᴇʀ, ᴍᴀғɪᴀ ᴍᴇᴍʙᴇʀs ᴍᴜsᴛ ᴇxᴇᴄᴜᴛᴇ sᴏᴍᴇᴏɴᴇ ʙᴇғᴏʀᴇ ᴅᴀᴡɴ.

𝟨) ᴋᴇᴇᴘ ɪɴ ᴍɪɴᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴏsᴇ ᴡʜᴏ ᴀʀᴇ ᴄɪᴠɪʟɪᴀɴ, ᴅᴏᴄᴛᴏʀ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴘᴏʟɪᴄᴇ ᴀʀᴇ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ sᴀᴍᴇ ᴛᴇᴀᴍ. ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴇɪᴛʜᴇʀ ᴛᴇᴀᴍ ᴄɪᴠɪʟɪᴀɴs ᴏʀ ᴛᴇᴀᴍ ᴍᴀғɪᴀ ᴏᴠᴇʀʀᴜɴs ᴛʜᴇ ɢʀᴏᴜᴘ, ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴀᴍᴇ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴇɴᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡɪɴɴᴇʀ ᴅᴇᴄɪᴅᴇᴅ.

[ ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ғɪɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀғɪᴀs ᴀɴᴅ ʙᴇɢɪɴ ᴄᴀsᴛɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴠᴏᴛᴇs. ]

You're still trying to wrap your head around the summarized instructions, sensing that there was much more to the game than meets the eye. Why was there no outlining of the individual tasks required for those with specialized occupations? How many of you were assigned to each role? What happens after execution?

Jung-Won's voice interrupts your thoughts, the thread of worries pausing in its unending tangling inside your mind. "If you push a name, a vote gets cast apparently."

"You elected someone already...?" It was quite obvious how much Eun-Ha pushed for Yool determinedly in the group chat, and reluctantly, you and Yoon-Seo follow suit, knowing full-well Yool's obsession with the game and his caliber for winning streaks.

Pensively, you start scrolling through the partakers' list, seeing your classmates' yearbook photos, including your own. Being the overthinker that you are, your mind starts spinning with all of the possibilities on how this game could end, but you had no clue why it even began in the first place. The awareness of budding anxiousness courses through you as a slight breeze from the window sends goosebumps raising on your arms at the late revelation. "But guys...why does this app have our identifiers?"

Yoon-Seo turns to you, eyebrows knit together in agreement. "Right. We didn't even sign up earlier. Who granted them access to gather this protected information?"

Jung-Won bites at her nails, eyes shifting back and forth across her phone screen, the glare of its light reflecting off her glasses. "The internet isn't working either. How are we able to play the game anyway?"

Silence encases the vicinity around your trio, no one knowing what to say to the other, all questions remaining unvoiced and unanswered.

"Why don't we go back down to the lobby and see if there's anyone we can ask?" you propose, Jung-Won and Yoon-Seo readily assenting.

The reception desk as you head downstairs is as empty as it was the moment you came in, maybe even more so as reticence settles over the expansive building, the sky having gone ominously dark from a single look out the glass doors of the entrance.

"Our teacher hasn't come back yet? He left so long ago..." Yoon-Seo walks around the reception desk, circling for any clues. "Nothing could've happened, right?"

"What if he got into an accident?" Jung-Won states bluntly, drumming her fingers against the marble countertop.

"Yah, don't say it like that..." you warn. "Words can be dangerous. You don't know what it can subject someone to."

Before Jung-Won can list more outrageous possibilities, Jun-Hee sidles up on the opposite side of the counter where you're spinning back and forth in the chair slowly, lost in thought.

"Hey Jun-Hee, do you know when Seonsaengnim will be back?" Yoon-Seo directs at him while she flips through the binder of contacts placed beside you. "These numbers aren't what we need at all. They're just for the retreat center's use like maintenance and all that."

Jun-Hee shakes his head. "I can't reach him." He pulls out his phone, only to sigh and slip it back inside his pocket. "Are any of your guys' devices working?"

"We don't even have service." You look around once more, surveying areas within your eyesight in case any adults would spontaneously reappear. "Shouldn't there be at least one staff member or at the very least a security guard on patrol at night?"

"I guess they all went with our teacher." Jun-Hee walks up next to you and settles down on the counter to your left.

You raise an eyebrow. "Every single one of them? They didn't think to have anybody stay behind as a chaperone?"

"Well, when you put it that way..." Jun-Hee begins. "It does seem a little unnecessary for all of them to up and leave."

"Then, what do we do now? How long do we wait?" Jung-Won stares at the clock ticking away. "It's barely nine o'clock. Surely, it wouldn't take him twice as long to pick up the others and return here, right?"

"There must be a phone in the staff lounge," Yoon-Seo stops her rummaging around under the desk long enough to say. "Jung-Won, let's go and search there."

"You're leaving me here alone?"

"Not alone," Yoon-Seo waggles her eyebrows so only you can see. "With Jun-Hee, of course."

Jung-Won conceals her smile behind her hand not so discreetly and begins to drag Yoon-Seo away. As they pass, Yoon-Seo pats Jun-Hee on the shoulder and cautions him. "If she gets lost, you'll be in big trouble."

He turns to her. "You've known me since we were babies, who do you take me for?"

Yoon-Seo merely ignores him and follows Jung-Won upstairs happily, an extra spring in her step, making it known how proud she was of herself. Rolling your eyes unnoticeably at their less than subtle tactics, you could only hope they were actually going to find a phone and not saying that purely for reasons of ulterior motives.

The hush after is stifling without the buffer of Yoon-Seo and Jung-Won. Jun-Hee is staring straight at you, hands bracing the counter on either side of him waiting for you to say something, but you're staring down at the floor, purposefully refusing to make eye contact.

"Are you mad at me?"

That was the last thing you expected him to say. "Of course not." You look up at him briefly, but what a mistake that was. With you lowered in the chair and him sitting up on the raised desk, your eyes meet his lips first and your mind automatically reels back to the kiss on the bus. Darting your eyes back to your lap immediately after draws out a weary sigh from Jun-Hee.

"Even now you can't look straight at me. At least tell me what I did wrong so I can fix it." When you're thinking of what to reply with, Jun-Hee grabs the chair's armrests by your sides and pulls you in closer, leaning his head down so that his form towers over yours. With nowhere else to look now, you're forced to gaze upward and the expression on his face has your stomach tightening in knots, guilty. "Now you're finally looking at me." A beat passes before Jun-Hee's eyes become downturn. "I'm sorry."

Your gaze softens as you glance into his dark brown eyes, seeing your own image in his irises. "I'm the one that should be sorry." You place your hands that were settled in your lap onto his forearms, and he instantly gazes down at the contact before looking back to you, his attention unwavering. "Don't ever apologize to me when you didn't do anything wrong, Jun-Hee."

His eyes dart back and forth between your own, questioning. "Then why have you been avoiding me? Did something happen while I was sleeping earlier on the bus? If there is or I made you uncomfortable in any way—"

"No, no, it's nothing like that," you're quick to salvage the situation and dismiss the notion entirely, even though he couldn't have been more spot on. He had always been an observant person. This you knew too well.

I didn't want you to find out my feelings for you and lose you as a friend all in one.

Instead of the full truth, you tell him only half of it. "I didn't want you to find out how tired I felt and have you worrying over me. I know you're the class president with greater, more important responsibilities, but I also know, above anyone else, that I can't burden you with my troubles just because I'm your friend."

"Seol-Hwa, even then, you could've told me." His hands move to rest on your shoulders. "You'll always be my top priority." In a much quieter voice he says, "And I'll always worry about you."

"Jun-Hee..."

He looks you dead in the eyes, expression open and filled with warmth. "I don't like when you're sad. You look the prettiest when you smile." You don't even get a chance to get a word in before Jun-Hee plows on, turning his head away slightly. If you didn't know better, you'd think he was abashed to be saying the things he did. "In the gymnasium earlier, you were laughing so carefree with Yoon-Seo. It's been a while since I've seen you like that with me. I can only be happy if you're happy..." He's almost sulking, his countenance like that of a kicked puppy.

You laugh genuinely, your head hitting the back of the chair. "Kim Jun-Hee, are you jealous of my friendship with Yoon-Seo right now?"

"I got you to smile this time!" He grins back brightly at you and the two of you sit there looking at one another, neither grin dropping. The soft exhalation of his laughter trickles into your ears once again, Jun-Hee being so content with having you in his presence, and you bask in how happy the sound makes you. Any previously existing tension disintegrates in an instant, and oddly enough, you feel closer to him than ever.

The moment gets cut short when a text from the app's group chat comes in, a start contrast to the discussion earlier, votes having already pooled in for Heo Yool.

[ 💬 sᴏ-ᴍɪ: ʟᴇᴇ ʏᴏᴏɴ-sᴇᴏ, ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴏᴏʟ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀɴɴᴇx. ɪᴛ's ᴜʀɢᴇɴᴛ. ]

The oddly specific and demanding tone of the message irked you to no end. "What is this about?" Never once have you seen So-Mi try to interact with your friend group voluntarily.

Jun-Hee waves his hand dismissively. "For the event tomorrow, we're interviewing everyone about the trip and the general experience."

"Even in this situation?" you ask incredulously.

Jun-Hee chuckles. "You know how So-Mi is." His eyebrows lift pointedly.

You pat his thigh accidentally, having missed his knee entirely and feel the muscles tense beneath your hand although he doesn't move away. "Don't you find it odd?"

Jun-Hee tilts his head, equal parts confused and curious. "About...?"

"Everything." You gesture around. "The lost signal, the disappearance of supposedly responsible adults, this automatically installed app that has our personal data, and the mafia game we're all in even though we didn't choose to play?"

Jun-Hee mulls it over for a second. "I honestly have no idea what's going on." He ruffles your head affectionately. "But don't worry so much. I'm certain once morning comes, everything will be alright."

"I sure hope so."

Your conversation quietens as heavy footsteps pad across the glossed floors and you squint to see the figure in the distance.

"Joo-Won?"

Jun-Hee turns around at your discovery and notices your classmate's bloody nose, a spark of recognition flashing across his eyes. "Where are you going?"

Joo-Won looks from Jun-Hee to you, and back again nervously, seemingly deciding whether he should say something or not. "W-Well, the guys wanted to see me for a second. So..." he stammers out.

You frown, knowing of the relentless bullying Kyung-Jun's group puts him and Da-Bum through.

"Wait there," Jun-Hee directs, hopping off the desk, and Ju-Won picks at his fingers, clearly on edge at the impending encounter.

"Be careful," you add in as an afterthought before he can leave.

"I will, now that I have you fretting over me." Jun-Hee smirks cheekily.

"I'm being serious, Jun-Hee." You fix him with a stern but caring gaze. "Try to be less confrontational. It won't be good for you or Ju-Won to get on Kyung-Jun's bad side."

He nods, understanding. "I'll try my best." Waving, he begins to lead Ju-Won away, the latter shuffling after with his head down pitifully. "I'll see you soon. Don't go anywhere where I can't reach you!" Your eyes trail after their distancing forms, agitatedly until you can no longer hear their footsteps echoing down the hall.

Not even a full minute has gone by before Yoon-Seo and Jong-Won show up again, trudging down the same stairs they climbed up less than an hour ago. Judging by their walk and the look on their faces, their search must've proved unsuccessful.

"Nothing came up?" You fall into place with the two as your all make way toward the pool.

"The phone lines..." Yoon-Seo begins, dishearteningly. "None of them worked. Every single ring had us fooled."

You stare at her in shock. "But—"

"We tried contacting 119 and even picking up incoming calls immediately, but no one answered." Jung-Won hangs her head despondently.

"This trip is starting to take a very wrong turn..." you hypothesize out loud. You don't even get to explain to Yoon-Seo and Jung-Won your reasoning before Na-Hee comes by, skipping over joyfully, oblivious on how to read the room.

"You all came." Na-Hee grabs your hand and Jung-Won's in each of her own, motioning with her head toward Yoon-Seo to enter. "Yoon-Seo, you should head inside." Without questioning it, Yoon-Seo does as she's told.

You slip your hand out of Na-Hee's nippily, and her smile wanes faintly, somewhat hurt. Hyun-Ho had confided in you that he liked her, but given what you knew about Na-Hee, you weren't fond of the idea. Not wanting to disappoint him, you don't say anything when he brings her up, but the things she has been a bystander for following in So-Mi's schemes never sat right with you. Silently, you hope that one day Na-Hee would come to her senses for Hyun-Ho's sake, but you've been proven wrong time and time again.

"Are these solo interviews or what?" you inquire curtly.

"They want to record Yoon-Seo first. You can come in a bit later."

"Can't be that special of footage." Jung-Won pulls you by the elbow, sidestepping Na-Hee and pushing the doors open of her own volition.

You're met with So-Mi, Ji-Soo, Yu-Jun, and Woo-Ram, all crowding around Yoon-Seo and singing her happy birthday with a makeshift cake comprised of stacked choco-pies.

So-Mi steps forward, offering Yoon-Seo the sweets and urging her to blow out a single measly candle that wasn't even lit beforehand.

"Since when have you done stuff like this? You barely give her the time of day." Jung-Won eyes So-Mi suspiciously, voicing your same exact thoughts.

Yoon-Seo is way too nice, proceeding to thank So-Mi. You, on the other hand, didn't buy into the latter's nice girl act whatsoever, and clearly, neither did Jung-Won.

So-Mi shoots Yoon-Seo a saccharine smile. "Don't mention it. We should celebrate since we're friends." The word doesn't roll off her tongue easily, openly not a genuine desire. "We brought a present too." You narrow your eyes at the group as they're trying to hide their shrewd smiles, albeit unsuccessfully. "Let's start with a birthday beating and plunge!"

Instantaneously, you try to drag Yu-Jun, leaving Jung-Won to fend off Woo-Ram, away from Yoon-Seo with no luck. More force would just topple all three of them straight into the water. You didn't particularly care if the boys fell to the very bottom depths of the pool, but Yoon-Seo shouldn't get soaked, no less on the night of her birthday. She didn't deserve this horrible of a treatment for simply being too trusting, genuinely wanting to see good in everyone with no ounce of judgment or malice.

So-Mi guffaws hysterically in the background, bent over clutching her stomach like the sight is the funniest thing she's ever witnessed. "Put her down," she orders in between giggles, wiping away a tear from her eye. "She's about to cry." Standing akimbo, she bites back her sneer, turning to the rest. "We went too far, didn't we?"

"You think?!" Jung-Won rounds on her, eyes blazing with anger.

You haul Yoon-Seo back up to her feet as the boys scatter, high-fiving. As she stands up again after you've barely let go of her hands, So-Mi swiftly shoves her over backwards, sending her diving into the water with a loud splash, droplets flying every which way.

"Are you crazy? How could you do that?!" Jung-Won kneels next to you by the edge of the pool, watching as Yoon-Seo resurfaces.

"You ok?" You reach out a hand to her, close enough that she can grip your fingertips.

"Yeah, I will be."

You breathe a sigh of reprieve, but it's rather short-lived when Yoon-Seo starts kicking madly underwater, her arms and legs flailing before she sinks beneath, no longer visible.

"Yoon-Seo!" you shout, but hear no response.

"What a funny 'prank' to you guys, huh?" Jung-Won yells crossly at So-Mi's group, everyone standing shell-shocked. How they have the conscience to even feel the tiniest bit of remorse is beyond your understanding.

The group tries to urge Woo-Ram to go in, but in hindsight, being on the receiving end of the prank didn't seem so appealing anymore.

Livid, you turn around to heave So-Mi backwards and she goes tumbling to the ground, the silver platter she was holding in one hand clattering and smashing cake crumbs all over her. For whatever reason, Ji-Soo is still recording, but you could care less about the captured situation. "Be glad it's not the pool I pushed you into." She's stunned enough that she can't find it in her to form words.

Na-Hee opens her mouth, outwardly wanting to apologize, but swallows the excuses when you glare at her in turn. "I was right about you all along. You'll never change."

You kick your shoes off and jump in after Yoon-Seo without hesitation, Jung-Won screaming for you in the background. Thankfully, Yoon-Seo is still conscious, but scarcely, and you manage to guide her toward the rungs of the poolside ladder. Jung-Won yanks Yoon-Seo up and over the edge, throwing a hand down to you.

"Yoon-Seo lost her shoes. I saw them earlier but couldn't reach them, so let me retrieve them too."

Jung-Won looks into the chasmic pool apprehensively, more concerned after what happened, but nods in acknowledgment, going back to propping Yoon-Seo up. "Come back quickly, Seol-Hwa."

Everyone is huddling around Yoon-Seo while you plunge back under, holding your breath comfortably as you grab her sneakers. Right as you're swimming on the path of return, something cold clamps onto your leg, refusing to let go. The vice-like grip tightens, pulling you downward to drown in darkness. No matter how hard you kick, you can't resurface due to the invisible power.

"Seol-Hwa!" Jung-Won calls out to you, frightened. "I'm going to get help, hang on!"

The last thing you see are spindly, mottled, black fingers, color washed out grey in the lighting; something sinister and otherworldly. As it curls tighter around your ankle, so too does your chest constrict, the coldness of the touch seeping into your bones and you find the sense of prior trepidation returning in full force before everything sinks into oblivion.

Lungs burning and head throbbing, you open your eyes groggily, the pristine white walls of the infirmary slowly coming into focus. In the bed next to yours, Yoon-Seo is still asleep.

The digits on your left hand are numb, and you look over to see Jun-Hee gripping it like a lifeline, head resting atop his arm by your knees. Your body protests as you turn on your side, muscles stiff, trying to draw your hand free. Reaching out, you card your fingers tenderly through his hair, the ends still yet to dry. Did he jump in?

After a while, he wakes up with a start, eyes flickering to your face. A shaky sigh of relief escapes him seeing the tiniest of smiles from you, any prior sense of unrest vanishing.

"Are you in pain at all?" He cradles the back of your head, helping you sit up as you dangle your legs over the bed's edge, seated knee to knee with him.

"How long have you been here with me?" You sweep the fallen fringe away to the outlines of his face, fingers lingering against his forehead. "You should've gotten changed at least." Your hand falls back to your lap when you can see his eyes better, unshielded. "You'll grow sick at this rate, Jun-Hee."

"Says the one I'm stressing over."

"I'm fine now," you assure.

"Why didn't you wake me up as soon as you came to? Do you know how terrified I was?" His brows are furrowed in concern still, and you lift your hand again to smooth the crease lines away.

"But you rescued me," you speak quietly.

"I thought you were dying in front of me and that I wouldn't be able to save you in time. I can't lose you; do you know that?" His hand comes up to cup your face delicately, barely daring to touch it wholly, almost afraid you would disappear if he did. "You're someone I can absolutely cannot let go of." You don't realize you're crying until Jun-Hee runs his thumb over your cheek, wiping away the twin trails of tears. You're not usually one to cry, but in this moment, you were overcome with emotions. "Why are you crying?"

"I was worried. Not for me, but for you." His hands are shaking where they're pressed against your face. You put your hand over his, expecting him to pull away at your next words. "I know you like to avoid the water as much as you can after..." you trail off, teardrops still falling. "You willingly jumped in to save me when I know how deep-seated your fear runs."

He smiles sadly at you. "I found out that the care I have for you outweighs any of my existing fears." His hands have stopped shaking and you drag them down, yours coming along with it to hold them together. "I told you earlier to not go someplace where I can't reach you but after this, I'm willing to follow you to the ends of the earth. Even in death, as long as it's with you, I wouldn't mind the thought."

Your heart stutters in your chest at the sincerity of his words, and you know that your feelings for him would never fade. Not in this lifetime. "Jun-Hee..."

"Seol-Hwa? Jun-Hee?" Yoon-Seo's trembling voice has the both of you looking in her direction, but Jun-Hee is yet to release your hand.

"Yoon-Seo..." you reply, eased now that she's awoken. "How are you feeling?"

"I can't recall what happened at all." She holds her head, staring blankly ahead. "But somehow, I find I'd rather not remember." Yoon-Seo moves over to sit on your cot, back-to-back with you. The warmth radiating from her is welcoming. "Seol-Hwa, thanks for always being there. You're a good person through and through."

"Tell that to yourself." You smile and lean your head back against hers. "What are friends for?"

"Saving one another's lives now apparently," Jun-Hee jokes, lightening the atmosphere.

"Then I owe you one," Yoon-Seo continues. "I'll be your Superwoman next time."

"You and Jun-Hee really are like one another. What did you both do together when you were babies to make you fearless like this?" you question, exasperatedly fond. "Readily giving up your life for another person?"

"Only because we know you'd do the same. That kind of sincerity comes once in a lifetime."

The door creaks open just as Yoon-Seo ends her sentence, So-Mi's group filing in self-consciously, Jung-Won leading them in with her arms crossed.

"Apologize," Jun-Hee states emotionlessly. "Right now," he emphasizes, leaving no room for argument. "Pranks are supposed to be harmless, not harmful."

So-Mi grimaces at his harsh tone. "I'm sorry," she's quick to apologize. "Seol-Hwa."

She's not looking directly at you but past to the side of you, gaze straying to your hand in Jun-Hee's where he's absentmindedly rubbing circles with his thumb into your palm, not aware of his own actions. One corner of So-Mi's lip twitches, but aside from that, she doesn't comment on it. If the others have noticed, they don't say anything either.

"I'm not the one this should be reserved for."

You see her bite her tongue, annoyed at having to repeat herself once again, but not yet dropping her fake performance. Plastering on the most pitiful puppy eyes she can conjure up, she shifts her attention to Yoon-Seo, still pale. "I do feel guilty. We truly just wanted to wish you a happy birthday." So-Mi forces the waterworks on, squeezing one teardrop out at a time.

"I don't think I've ever been pushed into a pool as a birthday present before," Jung-Won mutters not so quietly under her breath.

Yoon-Seo elbows her subtly. "It's okay. Don't cry, So-Mi."

You and Jung-Won both whip your heads toward Yoon-Seo, in pure disbelief. Neither of you would've accepted that half-baked, insincere apology.

"Really?" So-Mi's eyes widen on cue, as if she didn't expect Yoon-Seo to be so pardoning. "Will you forgive us?"

"Of course, I accept. I'm alright now, so let's just put it in the past."

Jung-Won doesn't attempt to hide her distaste as she groans aloud. "Yep, totally fine. You just almost went and saw King Sejong is all."

"That's enough," Yoon-Seo whisper-yells.

"Alright, everyone out," Joon-Hee cuts in, feeling the tension in the room. "We'll all talk later."

So-Mi is the first to leave, unmistakably irritated and shamed at the same time. No matter how hard she tries to mask it, you see right through her well-crafted persona. Na-Hee lingers, the last one to exit. Before the door slams shut, she catches your eye, but in finding a look of indifference staring back at her, she turns away without saying a word, the light from the hallway dimming once more.

"That wench spilled crocodile tears."

"Jung-Won ah," Yoon-Seo expresses tiredly. "She said she was sorry."

"I don't care. It wasn't genuine. She acts up because you're the only one that gives way to her."

Yoon-Seo gets up to drag Jung-Won away and out into the hall as the latter begins to raise her voice. Their conversation lowers, but you can hear the last bit of it as they step outside.

"What would you like me to do then?"

"You don't have to do anything," Jung-Won reasons. "I'm only saying I don't tolerate her or her victim mentality, and neither should you."

"Shouldn't we head out too?" You turn to Jun-Hee.

He shakes his head lightly. "Stay and rest a bit more."

"I really am fine." You give his hand a squeeze in affirmation. Despite saying so, you continue to shiver in only your thin white button-up still damp in random patches from being submerged earlier.

Jun-Hee opens the backpack by his feet and tugs out his uniform cardigan, wrapping it around your shoulders. "Here, put this on. You're still cold to the touch."

"Then what about you? Sitting in wet clothes isn't comfortable."

"I have extras I brought with me." Jun-Hee's name tag still pinned to the sweater falls into his line of vision and he can't help smiling to himself that you haven't noticed it's positioned right over your heart. "Plus, it looks better on you anyway."

"It what?" You lean forward, tilting your ear in his direction, not sure if you heard correctly or if they were still water-logged.

"Nothing," Jun-Hee evades, suppressing his smile. It seemed too far-fetched a thing for him to say in either circumstance, so you leave it be, not wanting to wander down the winding paths of your own thoughts. He crouches down and draws the heel of your socked foot to rest on his knee, his free hand untying the laces of your shoes placed to the side.

"I can do it myself," you tell him, flustered from all the attention you were receiving.

Without looking up, Jun-Hee proceeds to put your sneakers on your feet. "I know you can." He goes so far as to knot them tight, tying bows on both sides. "But I want to do it for you." His fingers reach out to trace the shoelaces all the way to the ends of the aglets, remembrance in his eyes.

Embarrassed, you put your feet back on the ground but he looks up at you, eyes twinkling with mischief. "You kept them."

"Of course, I did." You gaze down at your shoes. "You gave them to me."

His own white sneakers come into view, and you wonder why you never noticed his laces, dyed in your favorite color, and yours in his own. "So did I. I didn't think you would."

"Why not?" You toe his shoes with yours. "Just because we made them during summer camp a few years back? A gift is a gift," you reply, nearly pouting.

He laughs at the faux cross tone of your voice, but as his eyes trail upward, the sound chokes and dies off at the end. "Uh...your shirt's now see-through..." He coughs awkwardly and stands up, looking away, a slight tinge of pink dusting his cheeks. "I'll see you out there." Jun-Hee picks up his backpack, hurriedly slinging it over one shoulder before turning to look back at you once more before leaving.

Only a short bit of time has passed, but the moment you step back out with Jun-Hee's cardigan on, you slam straight into Hyun-Ho. He steadies you by the upper arms, eyes widening upon seeing you. "Seol-Hwa!" Before you can react, he throws his arms around you and gives you the most suffocating of hugs, larger form squeezing you tight as his arms encase you, rocking back and forth.

"Hyun-Ho. Can't. Breathe." Your voice comes out punctuated, every pause a ragged intake of air.

He lets go soon after, yanking your head every which way to assess for any injuries.

"Ouch!" you exclaim. Hyun-Ho doesn't know how to control his strength so every pat comes out more like slaps. "Alright!" You try to push his hands away but they're hell bent on checking your well-being. "Ok! That's enough!" You say with finality, laughter bubbling up as your cousin continues to shake you around like a rag-doll. "Yah! If I didn't have any bruises, I sure do now!"

Hyun-Ho steps back, chiding. "Where's the thank you, huh?"

"For giving me new injuries?"

"Is that how you repay me?" Hyun-Ho scoffs. "I was the one who found you in the pool first."

"Y-You were?!" You splutter. "How come no one told me?"

"I said I found you. I wasn't the one who saved you." He shrugs like it was common knowledge.

"Aish." You shove his shoulder but he stands his ground, not budging an inch. "And you're thick-skinned enough to request a word of thanks?"

"Obviously." He flicks you on the forehead, drawing a scowl from you. "I went and got Jun-Hee for you."

"Ok, and...?" You're more baffled than ever.

"Geez, this ungrateful brat." Hyun-Ho tries but fails to hide his smirk. "Who do you think handed you over so you could be carried by Jun-Hee all the way to the infirmary?"

"What?!"

"You looked more comfortable in his arms than on my back, but really, it was no big deal." He shrugs. "All in a day's work for me."

"You—" you point a finger at him, gawking and at a loss for words.

"Also, nice change of outfit by the way." He raps his forefinger on Jun-Hee's nameplate, nails clacking on the piece of plastic. "I know it's your favorite brand."

You gasp as you finally notice, immediately unpinning the white rectangle and slipping it in your skirt pocket. "I'm going to kill him," you mutter under your breath.

"Why not kiss him instead?" Hyun-Ho jests, knowing well enough by now to evade your incessant slaps to his back, running down the hallway as you give chase after.

The two of you come to a stop when the rest of your classmates congregate from the other end of the hallway where Jun-Hee and So-Mi were making an announcement about retiring for the night and trying to contact the teacher again tomorrow morning.

Yoon-Seo taps your shoulder from behind and tilts her phone screen toward you where a timer has popped up.

Before anyone can so much as take a step toward their rooms, the intercom comes to life.

[ ᴠᴏᴛɪɴɢ ᴇɴᴅs ɪɴ ᴏɴᴇ ᴍɪɴᴜᴛᴇ. ]

With everything that has happened since you got here, the mafia game had slipped from your mind.

Suddenly, Yoon-Seo's meter starts counting down from 59 seconds, and with the ding comes a renewed sense of excitement from everyone around you, sleep long forgotten.

While Yool and his friends incessantly chatter away, trying to place blame on one another in good fun, you're the exception. Questioning the origins of the game, you feel a sense of foreboding, an ill-omened current in the air. You were known among your friends to have good instincts, but you hope against all hope that this time, your intuition wouldn't be true.

Jun-Hee walks over beside you, placing a hand on your shoulder that makes you jump out of your skin. "Seol-Hwa...? Did you hear anything I said?"

Hands trembling, you grip onto the rolled-up sleeve cuff of his shirt. "I...don't think we should've voted."

You eye the shaking numbers on Jun-Hee's phone screen, growing shades redder by the minute as it nears zero. He doesn't get a chance to reply as successive announcements come in.

[ ᴛʜᴇ ᴠᴏᴛɪɴɢ ʜᴀs ᴄᴏɴᴄʟᴜᴅᴇᴅ. ʜᴇᴏ ʏᴏᴏʟ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏsᴛ ᴠᴏᴛᴇs ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴇxᴇᴄᴜᴛᴇᴅ. ]

Seconds later, Yool lets out a guttural scream of agony, clutching the side of his head.

"Oi, look at this kid. Gosh, he's just begging for attention again," Eun-Ha utters with clarity, unfazed by Yool's prankster tendencies. While everyone laughs at her statement and his actions, you study his face contorted in pain, veins popping up in his neck.

That kind of intensity isn't for show.

"Jun-Hee...Something's not right," you undertone tremulously, fingers slackening from the grip you had on him. The moment those words leave your lips, Yool falls to the ground, slumped over.

As his friends crowd around, Jun-Hee is rooted to the spot, intertwining your hand with his, holding on tight. You can tell he wants to go help as well, but he keeps throwing glances down at you and ultimately decides against it.

A sickening cracking sound has you sliding your eyes slowly over to see Yool's neck snapping rearward, the rest of his body contorting into a standing position in descending parts. Like a puppet controlled on a string, his limbs bend in odd angles, much more grotesque and inhumane compared to his earlier stint in the gymnasium. As his head straightens again, screams ring out down the length of the hallway.

You press yourself against the wall, finding it hard to breathe as you look directly into Yool's rolled eyes, now completely white, no irises in sight.

The White Butterfly's Murder.

You knew. You knew that butterflies were often seen in the spring as a divination of death, a harbinger of impending demise if it were to encircle someone while in flight. But to have it be white, the color of innocence yet also the color of surrender, you can't help but to wonder if these were all signs you should've heeded. Would we still have ended up here?

Eyes are windows to the soul, they say. Here, you realize, now stands a soulless individual.

Eun-Chan and Yeon-Woo have both fallen to the floor in a heap, staring up at their now unrecognizable friend with nothing but absolute fear in their expressions.

A mindless Yool throws himself side to side, intentionally crashing his head against pictures framed on the wall, glass shattering into a million pieces and raining the floor with shards akin to glitter.

But not all that glitters is gold.

You can't tell if it's the glass reflecting light, or if your tears are distorting your vision, but the scene hazes and blurs, turning into the illusion of a haunted nightmare you so desperately want to wake up from.

The horrific effect doesn't end there as Yool proceeds to crouch down and thump his head repeatedly against the floor, prostrating himself as if he's paying for sins he doesn't even remember; sins he can't even begin to atone for.

Blood is pouring in rivulets down his face, pooling around him like the expanding rings of a target, leaving only the center for his body to stay dead centered.

A broken sound escapes from your lips and Jun-Hee pulls you into his arms, shielding you against him, screening your eyes from having to look any further. Where your ear is pressed against his chest, you can hear the pounding of his heart, but even that sound alone is not enough to drown out that of Yool's head bashing against linoleum.

You squeeze your eyes tight, hard enough until you see spots, but these faint flickers of light are not lucky stars you can wish upon tonight.

If you could, you'd wish to be able to wake up. To start again from the beginning.

But you can't.

Rather, frozen in this cruel reality, you can only escape once you cease to wake up again.

And Yool does just that.

A thousand footsteps running toward a bitter end.

A crash as hope falls apart.

A thud to cease the beating of a heart.

And then...complete silence.

Before you lose consciousness, you feel that same vice-like grip from the pool return in full force, unbreakable chains around your heart.

This time, you're not sure anyone will come to your rescue.

This time, you don't know if you'll make it out alive.

𝟬𝟭 : 𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗔𝗗𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘 | 𝟬𝟯 : 𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦

© 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞. 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨, 𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞, 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫-𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐭. 𝐀𝐥𝐬𝐨, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐞, 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞.

[heavens-moonlight]

𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦 | 𝟬𝟰 : 𝗖𝗥𝗜𝗠𝗦𝗢𝗡

𝟬𝟯 : 𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦 | 𝟬𝟱: 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗦 𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗦

Author’s Note: Here’s a new chapter and the next one will be up in another two weeks! It will only be downhill from here...Personally, the ending of this one is my favorite writing so far ♡

The rest of the hike back to the retreat center is done in silence, no one daring to say a word.

There was no solace found on the journey.

Near death experience.

No way to escape.

Frozen reality.

Where do you all go from here?

Without prompt, Eun-Ha had taken on the responsibility of helping Na-Hee, allowing Hyun-Ho to switch over in support of Dong-Hyun, the latter's arm thrown over the former's shoulder, exhaustion evident in every single heavy step of his.

You can't help but observe how angry your cousin is, more than you've ever seen him before, a deep scowl present on his face. It's typical for him to blame himself when he can't protect someone, and given how you and Dong-Hyun, two of the people he cared for the most nearly lost your lives, you know he's wallowing in self-blame. If the two of you really had passed, you didn't think he'd ever let himself live with that fact.

When your eyes meet, his soften immediately, the dark look on his face passing briefly from the reassurance of the small smile you send his way. You can tell even without his direct confirmation this would become one of the moments that will haunt him forever. Even so, he'll remain strong so as not to worry you and your heart hangs heavy with that knowledge.

Noticing the silent exchange, So-Mi shuffles along in the back while constantly chewing on her nails, glancing between you, Dong-Hyun, and Eun-Ha in succession, more worried for her own life than anyone else's.

When your tears had long dried up, Jun-Hee insisted that he'd carry you on his back the remainder of the way no matter how much you refused. With your arms around his neck, your chin rests on his shoulder and your face is pressed against the side of his.

He's sweating profusely and you pull the sleeve of your blouse down to wipe off the drops that accumulate on his hairline. "Jun-Hee..." you start, a weak whisper.

"Don't," he responds gently. "I know what you're going to say."

"Then put me down, please."

"I won't." He strengthens his hold on your calves, fingers curling and uncurling, itching to touch the scratches, some more severe than others, marring the length of both your legs, the blood yet to dry.

"By the time we make it back, you're going to be in pain."

He turns his head slightly, cheek brushing against yours with an exasperated sigh. "And you think I'm not already in pain when I see you hurt?"

"But I can bear it when I'm hurt alone. I don't want anyone else to suffer because of me. Especially not you."

"Then you, more than anyone, should know how I feel."

Exhaling tiredly, you know there's no point in trying to dissuade him. Relenting, you brush the strands of hair that have fallen into his face out of the way instead, tightening your hold on his shoulders and closing your eyes, succumbing to the deep ache you finally allow yourself to feel.

A few tense minutes later, the group stands in front of the building's glass double doors, everyone stopping to stare.

The trip was pointless and you were all back where you started.

One step forward.

Two steps back.

The moment Jun-Hee pulls at the door, even without opening your eyes, you can tell the hurried footsteps belong to Yoon-Seo and Jung-Won, the two meeting you all by the entrance, having watched and waited the whole time for your return.

You feel a hand on your arm and a gasp follow. "Seol-Hwa..." comes Jung-Won's voice, shocked.

"We saw the notification. What even happened?" Yoon-Seo pats your arm soothingly, backtracking at the look on everyone's faces. "Anyway...it doesn't matter. You don't have to say anything. As long as you're back and safe."

"I'll tell you later," you utter, and Yoon-Seo nods, eyeing your injuries restlessly. Jung-Won's eyebrows are knit in worry, curiosity evident on her face although she doesn't voice it.

The remaining students await in the lobby anxiously and you tap Jun-Hee's shoulders softly to let you down but he doesn't give in. If anything, he only tightens his hold, keeping you close.

Eun-Chan comes running up in surprise. "What happened to Dong-Hyun and Seol-Hwa?" He shifts his gaze between the two of you, eyes widening at the state of Dong-Hyun's ripped clothes streaked with dirt and the bruises littering your skin.

"Say something," Mi-Na presses, voice shaky. "Why do you guys look like this?"

"Dong-Hyun..." So-Mi begins nearly inaudibly, timid. "He thought the line stopped there so he was checking. Then he slipped and Seol-Hwa tried to save him. Both of them..." she pauses, and you bite your lip hard, nearly enough to draw blood, wishing the discussion was anything but this. Her voice alone irritated you. "...Nearly went over the line."

"Funny that you should be the one to recount the story," Eun-Ha states grimly from the back.

"What are you talking about?" Yoon-Seo questions, focusing with rapt attention on Eun-Ha.

"So-Mi here, our role model of a vice president, loves to bend the truth." Eun-Ha's cryptic response has So-Mi fuming, striding over to shove her shoulder back roughly.

"Weren't you the one who told us all to vote for Yool that first night? What about that, huh?!"

"Guys, please calm down—" Yoon-Seo steps in hurriedly to pacify the situation, attempting to pull the two girls apart.

"You love to turn victims into criminals, don't you?" Eun-Ha's eyes blaze with anger, pushing So-Mi's hands away harshly. "As long as it's not you, right?" Eun-Ha crosses her arms and chuckles in So-Mi's face, a sarcastic and dry laugh devoid of humor. "I saw what you did with my own two eyes. Come to think of it, I shouldn't even be surprised. Out of all of us, you would definitely be the one to do it."

"Say it properly so we can understand." Jung-Won walks forward. "Just what the hell happened?"

"She...intentionally led them downhill under the guise of herself having slipped to guarantee that they wouldn't make it out alive." Eun-Ha points between you and Dong-Hyun, the others following with their eyes, the sight matching up.

A few of your classmate's mouths hang open in disbelief while others freeze, trying to process the information as neither you nor Dong-Hyun speak on the matter.

Where you're pressed against his back, Jun-Hee tenses up and you can feel the way his muscles stiffen, jaw clenching and head snapping toward Eun-Ha as he listens, wordlessly seething.

So-Mi rushes over to Dong-Hyun and grabs his hand desperately, the grip unreturned, her hold hanging limply. "Dong-Hyun," she pleads, trying to catch his eye as he avoids it, staring straight at the floor with Hyun-Ho glaring daggers at her. "Tell them that's not what happened."

With bated breath, she awaits his answer but regrets it the moment he speaks up, her face falling. "You didn't catch my hand earlier, so why hold it now?" He looks up at her through narrowed eyes with a look that could kill.

Head shaking, So-Mi drops his hand and falters, taking backward steps toward you as a last resort.

"Seol-Hwa...please." In a crazed manner, she turns to you with an outstretched hand. Before she can so much as graze her fingertips against you, Jun-Hee swivels his body in a way that shields you against her touch.

"Don't you dare lay a hand on her. I won't apologize for my actions if you do." His voice is cold and it makes So-Mi stop immediately, his warning like a slap of cold water across her face.

Not giving up, she turns to the crowd instead. "Are you all really going to believe Eun-Ha, the one who was the first to point fingers at innocent Yool?" She fixes each student with her gaze in turn. "Over me?!"

"What makes you think just being you gives you a pass?!" Eun-Ha slams the backpack she was carrying for Jun-Hee earlier onto the ground, the sound echoing in the still lobby. "Stop acting like you're better than everyone. You would have been a murderer, Kim So-Mi," Eun-Ha spits out with venom, articulating the name like acid that burns her tongue.

"Do you even have any proof, you bitch?!" So-Mi screams.

Calmly, Eun-Ha looks her dead in the eyes. "As if their appearance isn't enough proof," referring to you and Dong-Hyun. "Why are you so defensive then if you're not at fault? The more fervent a denial is, the stronger the confirmation."

"You're cornering me—"

"BOTH OF YOU SHUT THE HELL UP!" Kyung-Jun's voice reverberates in the space and everyone silences. "I don't give a flying fuck what your roles are right now. It's more important whether we can even leave."

He turns to Jun-Hee, regarding you behind his shoulders, eyes flickering over your form, contemplating what Eun-Ha said for a moment before shaking his head. "How far into the village were you able to go? You said you would meet people and call the police. Did you?!" Kyung-Jun's voice gets louder and louder with each sentence.

"We couldn't get anywhere. At least, not a distance that mattered. The entire place is enclosed within the lines and we're trapped here." Jun-Hee's voice is quiet and robotic, clearly hating to be the bearer of bad news.

Kyung-Jun slams his phone to the ground so hard that it ricochets and bounces a short distance away, the screen clattering on the floor.

Yoon-Seo turns in Jun-Hee's direction, looking at him hopelessly. "Then...does it mean we can't leave this place until the game is over?"

Jun-Hee nods remorsefully, the hopes of the rest falling along with his bowed head.

You're walking up and down the floors of the building aimlessly by yourself when you spot Yoon-Seo tucked into an alcove's corner, sitting in the dark of a resting area with her head down.

Approaching soundlessly, she doesn't notice your presence until you speak up. "Yoon-Seo, are you crying?" You lower yourself into a chair adjacent to hers.

She looks up at you with red eyes brimming with unshed teardrops. The ones that have already managed to escape outline tear marks on her cheeks. "If I hadn't suggested that we could try going to the mountain, neither you nor Dong-Hyun would've almost died. Even Jun-Hee is acting differently. All of you came back like you lost your souls out there." She swipes at her eyes frustratedly, choking up with every word that comes out. "What a stupid thing for me to have said. This is all my fault. I made everyone more hopeless than they already were."

Seeing her so sad hurt your heart as her friend. You didn't blame her one bit. No one could've predicted the events. "You didn't make any of us go, Yoon-Seo." Reaching over, you place your hand over the back of hers, warming her cold ones. "We all volunteered. Even then, at least you were able to think of a solution we could try. You can't resent yourself for not knowing that there wouldn't be a real way out, could you?" You give her a genuine smile as she looks over at you. "So, what will you do? We can't leave this place until the game is over. Are you just going to waste your tears here and mourn our regrets?”

"No," she replies resolutely, placing her other hand on top of yours, making a stack in the middle, both your hands tightening with determination. "We must find another way out, no matter what it takes."

"Count me in," Jung-Won adds as she rounds the corner, joining in, the three of you sitting peacefully and comfortably in each other's presence, discussing what to do going forward. "First, why don't we try searching through the staff lounge again?" she suggests.

As the three of you approach the room, you hear muffled yells mixed in with the sound of the table phones going off.

Swinging the door open reveals Jun-Hee hunched over, screaming into the phone's receiver angrily before swiping all present office materials off the desk's surface and onto the floor.

"Yah! Jun-Hee!" Baffled, Yoon-Seo approaches him and picks up the phone he casted aside.

"What are you doing?" Jung-Won quickly flips the light switch on, bathing the room in a soft yellow glow.

"Why aren't you answering the phone?" Yoon-Seo swiftly presses the phone against her ear, listening before trying a greeting that remains unanswered.

"Forget it!" Jun-Hee yanks the phone from Yoon-Seo's grip harshly and once again, tosses it on the floor to land uselessly amongst the other things he threw away in rage.

Jung-Won glances over at you, concerned. You shut the door and walk toward him, taking his forearms in yours and hold them tight so that he'd stop making a mess of the room. "Jun-Hee, it's Yoon-Seo," you remind, shocked that he would lash out at her like that. Yoon-Seo stands still next to you, staring at him like a stranger.

His frustration boils over, and he withdraws his arms out of your grip, grabbing hold of an empty mug with all intent to smash it against the glass cabinets. Yoon-Seo and Jung-Won clench their eyes shut, prepared for the impact, but before he can chuck it, you throw your arms around his waist, hugging him tight, face pressed against his chest. "Stop! Please, Jun-Hee." In a quieter voice only for him to hear, "For me?" He trembles in your hold before immediately lowering the mug, placing it lightly on the table, all tension finally leaving his body. You pull back enough to look up at him, slightly apprehensive about the repercussions still. "What's gotten into you? You're never like this." He's the calmest person you've ever known, rarely losing his temper when uncalled for.

"It's fake. Everything is," he says, a faraway look in his eyes, irises still burning in anger.

You stretch on your tiptoes and turn his face toward yours so that your eyes can meet. Once his dark eyes focus again on yours, they soften entirely, staring at you deeply.

"What are you talking about?"

Jun-Hee slumps into the chair he was sitting in previously. "The phone lines..." he begins, dishearteningly. "They're severed. Every single one of them."

"What?" you look around the room in incredulity.

Yoon-Seo makes herself busy, going from cubicle to cubicle, confirming that even the computer wires were cut and frayed in the same manner. Closing her eyes, she drags a hand down her face, not sure what to make of the discovery.

"Look at this." Jung-Won flips through file folders and binders organized in a bookshelf by the door, tilting it in your direction. "They're all empty..."

Yoon-Seo sinks into a chair opposite yours as Jun-Hee pulls one out for you, guiding you down by the hand into it before dragging it as close to his as physically possible.

"I'm sorry, Yoon-Seo..." Jun-Hee looks her way guiltily.

"It's okay. I know you were just disappointed." She puts her head in her hands. "I too, feel like I'm about to go crazy the longer we're here." Jung-Won settles atop a desk, turning to Yoon-Seo as her friend voices her ideas. "You know, the person who created this game...What was the reason behind putting us through this? I think we need to find that out before anything else."

Jung-Won spins a pen in her hand, thinking. "Where do you think the creator of this game is? Isn't it just us here?"

"Maybe they sneak in when we fall asleep?" Jun-Hee proposes.

"It's a bit unnerving to think someone is sitting around watching us. Also, what makes us sleep automatically without being able to fight against the feeling?" You revisit the role of the announcements. "If there is someone, how come we never see them but can only hear them?" As an afterthought, you add, "If that's even their real voice or it's modulated."

"They probably killed Ju-Won when we weren't aware."

"No, I don't think so," Yoon-Seo refutes Jung-Won's statement. "We were specifically told that it was done by the Mafia." She shudders at the thought. "Only us students are part of the participants list, so it has to be those hiding among us."

"Right," you agree. "If it was someone else, their name and picture would be listed along with ours."

"They must have also chosen the Mafia members when developing the game." Jung-Won stands up, pacing back and forth. "I don't know how they decided that though, or by what criteria."

"Then, someone in our class really killed Ju-Won in cold blood?" Jun-Hee leans against the chair's headrest.

Yoon-Seo takes a deep breath and exhales heavily. "Unfortunately, according to the rules we all saw, that was more than likely what went down."

A knock interrupts your little gathering before Woo-Ram pokes his head into the room, peeking around the door until he spots Jun-Hee. "There you are. I was looking all over. Everyone's saying it's time to vote, so we should go." He looks around, addressing you, Yoon-Seo, and Jung-Won too. "All of us."

Stepping out into the hallway, Jun-Hee looks at Woo-Ram incredulously. "Yool died after we voted and they still have the heart to go through with that again?"

Sighing, Woo-Ram hangs his head. "What else can we do? We can't leave until the game is over." Na-Hee rounds the corner just then with Hyun-Ho and Dong-Hyun in tow. "None of us have much of a choice."

Yoon-Seo tries to persuade him, regardless of the circumstances. "Still, how can we sacrifice someone? We have to stop them. As a group, we mustn't vote at all."

"Wait, Yoon-Seo." You hold her back from marching off to find the others and talking them out of it. If we want to convince them, we need an alternative otherwise they won't listen."

"I'll do it," Jun-Hee decides with determination. "Are the rest gathered together?"

"No, nearly everyone's in their room," Woo-Ram juts his thumb at the closed doors all down the hallway.

"Can you assemble them for me?"

Woo-Ram nods and Na-Hee agrees to help him round everyone up. "But...there's something you should know." Woo-Ram pulls Jun-Hee aside. "Da-Bum is being cornered by Kyung-Jun's crew downstairs. It was where I saw them last."

Hyun-Ho curses under his breath. "Those bastards. I never liked them." Without waiting any longer, he walks away, Dong-Hyun and Jun-Hee hot on his heels.

You, Yoon-Seo, and Jung-Won all fall into step behind, hoping that nothing had befallen Da-Bum yet at the hands of the cruel group.

It doesn't take long to locate the boys, screaming and shouting heard loud and clear coming from the cafeteria.

Jun-Hee swings the doors open, nearly hard enough to throw it off its hinges as it slams into the wall behind. "That's enough! What on earth are you doing?" Jun-Hee pulls Kyung-Jun away from Da-Bum, jostling Jin-Ha and Seung-Bin away in opposite directions. "What's your deal with him anyway? Is it fun for you to belittle others?"

You run in and help Da-Bum to his feet. "Get up, Da-Bum." A quick glance-over reveals he hasn't suffered too much yet, your group having arrived in time to prevent disaster. Yoon-Seo is by your side in mere moments, assisting to take him away not within reach of the three bullies. Jung-Won directs him backward further from the entrance so that he's blocked by your group, standing where someone would have to go through everyone before getting to him again.

Hyun-Ho steps up, leaving Dong-Hyun to look over all of you. "Three on one guy? Aren't you ashamed of yourselves?" he scoffs with disdain.

"Where do you think you're going?!" Kyung-Jun balls his fists up and makes a beeline for Da-Bum, but Jun-Hee elbows his chest hard, forcing him back.

"Cut it out."

"You can't stop me even if you are the class president." Kyung-Jun slides his upturned eyes over angrily. "Why do I have to listen to you?"

Wanting to help out his friend, Hyun-Ho further adds fuel to the fire by shouldering Kyung-Jun until he lands on the floor.

"You're not the boss of me either." Kyung-Jun balls his hands tightly, staring Hyun-Ho down as he gets back up. "Understood?"

You watch with trepidation, sensing a huge blowup about to take place and not being able to do anything to stop it without escalating the situation.

"You jerks never get it when I say it nicely. Guess I need to teach you a lesson, huh?" Hyun-Ho turns around to grab a metal container off a well-organized display of snacks, smacking Kyung-Jun on the head with it before proceeding to launch him over the very same counter, the table collapsing inward under Kyung-Jun's weight, products flying every which way.

Usually Kyung-Jun would back off and take revenge in some other way when spectators are none the wiser. However, with the presence of so many people, he needed to prove his point and show the control he had, which was in reality, very little. You rear back, knowing that to jump into the middle of this would both be stupid and pointless. Hyun-Ho and Kyung-Jun's rivalry has simmered for a long time with no one truly knowing the real reason behind it.

Seung-Bin looks around, eyes settling on a trash can, immediately upending it to smash against Hyun-Ho. It hits him square in the back and he wavers slightly but doesn't give up.

A kick behind from Kyung-Jun has him pivoting on his heel as the former grabs one of the foldable metal chairs scattered throughout the room to hoist overhead, trajectory sailing toward his opponent.

Luckily, Hyun-Ho ducks right as it brushes atop his head, the chair collapsing into itself and thumping with a loud clang into the opposite wall, sending bagged chips and snacks falling from the shelves upon impact.

The food rains down and Hyun-Ho quickly tosses them in succession at Kyung-Jun's face, the two ending up engaged in a fistfight on pure strength alone, no more creative petty methods as distraction.

Kyung-Jun winds up no match against Hyun-Ho and gets flipped onto his back, crashing into the ground harshly. Seung-Bin and Jin-Ha also get tossed to the side easily, incapable of retaliating for the time being.

Hyun-Ho hovers over Kyung-Jun to pin him to the ground with a tight grip around his collar, forcing him down to the spot.

"Let go of me," Kyung-Jun grits out, thrashing around in vain as Hyun-Ho has no intention of freeing him. "I said let go, you son of a bitch." Though he tries to appear threatening, you watch the rapid rise and fall of his chest, knowing the fight has left him. He's aware that he has lost, fair and square.

Hyun-Ho tightens his hold, squeezing Kyung-Jun's neck hard enough that he starts sputtering, glaring up revengefully. "Then, are you going to finally listen? Will you do as I say?"

Kyung-Jun uses his last spurt of energy to bat Hyun-Ho's fists away from his throat, kicking him off. "Fine, you bastard."

Hyun-Ho brushes off his hands and pants, all the more disgusted at the sight of the messy cafeteria. As he turns to everyone waiting by the door, Kyung-Jun grabs something from the counter, hiding it out of view beside his leg before making a beeline toward Hyun-Ho.

Jun-Hee dashes over and bends his arm back before the rest of you can even register he has in his possession.

You look up to see him wielding a pair of scissors meant to stab Hyun-Ho by way of petty retribution. Without hesitation, you drag Hyun-Ho out from the room, knowing the more Kyung-Jun sees him, the angrier he'll become. "Gaesaekki, get back here! I'm not through with you yet.”

Having had enough of standing around as a mere spectator, you step into the room before Hyun-Ho can stop you, moving Kyung-Jun away from Jun-Hee and stand between them. "Will you give it a rest for goodness' sake?!" He simply fixes you with a steely glare but halts, gauging your reaction. "Can I tell the others what you just did? What do you think they'd say if they knew you were willing to kill someone?" You keep your tone even and face neutral, wanting to appear reasonable rather than confrontational as much as possible. Kyung-Jun relents after a short pause, albeit reluctantly, weighing the consequences. "Come to your senses."

Jung-Won sidles up beside you in support. "What's the point of talking to him?" She points a finger, jabbing it against his chest. "If we vote on you now, everyone else will follow suit. Do you want me to press your name?" Taunting him, she goes so far as to pull out her phone. "I can do it easily. Say the word and I won't think twice."

"You bitch," he grits out between clenched teeth, trying to snatch Jung-Won's device.

You grab his balled-up fist even as he tries to evade it, fingers clenching around the scissors in his right hand. "Drop this now and I promise I won't let the others know." Not backing away from his glare, you stand your ground. "Just stop here."

Surprisingly, Kyung-Jun yields to you, his curled knuckles loosening in your grasp as he thinks better of his odds against your large group. Removing your hand from his, you turn it palm side up, tilting your head toward it. Getting the hint, Kyung-Jun slaps the scissors into your outstretched fingers and steps closer threateningly, lowering his head down to look straight into your eyes. "You better keep to that promise or I won't sit still."

"Aish shibal," Seung-Bin spits out from the corner where he's slumped in a heap nursing his sore arm, forced to surrender.

You regard Kyung-Jun for the last time as you turn to leave, his eyes following when you stop short to mention, "We're all going to gather in the assembly hall in a short while. Come once you've all calmed down."

As everyone files out, Hyun-Ho throws one final remark at the bullies. "You better leave the cafeteria door open and accessible for everyone to use unless you want a repeat of this."

After the confrontation, you had dragged Hyun-Ho and Dong-Hyun by the ears to the infirmary despite the two of them protesting all the way.

Once there, you push both of their shoulders down onto the beds so hard they bounce back up before settling into the mattress, their weight dipping the material.

You stand before them with arms crossed, eyeing their identical meerkat expressions in all seriousness.

The two look back and forth between one another before glancing back up at you inquisitively, entirely confused.

"Why are we here again?" Hyun-Ho speaks up.

"This is like couple's therapy," Dong-Hyun mumbles under his breath and Hyun-Ho elbows him as you roll your eyes.

"You guys never listen," you scold, flicking both of them above the eyebrows.

"Yah!" They say in unison, hands coming up to their foreheads in sync.

"Always getting into trouble. Making me worried," you mumble, busying yourself around the room gathering supplies.

"Talk about yourself," Hyun-Ho retorts, touching his forehead where a red mark is still imprinted. You press the q-tip you were holding dipped in antiseptic and squish it against his cut lip hard, narrowing your eyes as he winces in pain and flinches away from you. "Watch it! Can't you be a bit gentler?"

"Oops, my bad," you tease with a sarcastic smile. "Tough love."

Dong-Hyun tries to hide his chuckle before you also turn to him with an ice pack in your extended hand and he swallows the next fit of laughter immediately. "It's not funny," he says, suddenly stoic. "Nothing is funny." Looking to the side and up at the ceiling, he begins to whistle, hoping to avoid the same fate as Hyun-Ho.

You laugh, hiding your smile behind your hand. "I don't know. This is pretty funny." You place the ice pack lightly down into his lap, pressing it against his stomach where he slipped face-first down the dirt hill earlier on the cliff.

"Why is he being treated better than me?" Hyun-Ho sulks.

"Because he has more injuries, none of which he intended to have." Dong-Hyun sticks his tongue out at Hyun-Ho, enjoying being off the hook. "And you," you start, tapping your forefinger against Hyun-Ho's forehead, shoving it back lightly. "You willingly put yourself into less than desirable situations without thought and get hurt for fun."

"This time there was a reason!" Hyun-Ho argues. "It's not fair for them to act all mighty when they're really nothing."

You sigh, dabbing his lip and some scratches visible on his face with ointment so that it'll heal faster. "I know there is," you concede. "But do you think Kyung-Jun cares about that?" You step back and look at the boys in front of you. "This game...we don't know how it will end. It's best if we try to avoid conflict as best we can. We can't begin to imagine what anyone is capable of with ill intent and a deep-seated grudge that refuses to go away."

"We can protect you!" Dong-Hyun chimes in. "I owe you my life."

You run a hand through your hair, fond but exasperated. "I don't want you guys to have to risk your own wellbeing for mine. I can take care of myself, you know?"

"We know," Hyun-Ho answers. "But that doesn't make us any less worried for your safety."

"Then, can you at least promise me to put your safety before my own? Please?" you plead, knowing how the boys are, unyielding in their principles. You step forward and pull them both into an embrace, their arms coming around you immediately and squeezing tight, the circle becoming smaller in the group hug.

"Are you trying to convince us with your affection or what?" Hyun-Ho's voice comes out muffled where his face is pressed into your shoulder.

"Depends," you say. "Is it working?"

"Feels weird. We never hug."

"Don't get used to it."

For once, Hyun-Ho is solemn, hugging you tighter. "Promise."

"I don't hear anything from you Dong-Hyun," you tease.

He pats your back firmly. "I promise."

"We'll all make it out of here together," you say to them quietly. "Wherever we go, as long as we have one another."

With one last squeeze, you release the two of them, insisting that they head to the auditorium first while you clean up the infirmary. By how the game was already going, you felt like this was as good a place as any to know like the back of your hand. Heavens knows more and more will be injured the longer this goes on.

You've only just started looking through the medical supply cabinet when the door to the room slams open, bounding off the wall with a hard thump.

A hand placed over your heart in shock, you swivel your head toward the sound, seeing Kyung-Jun with one foot nudging the door open, keeping it from swinging shut.

Looking behind him with his hands in his pockets, he hasn't yet realized you were even in the room at the moment. As he sighs and lifts his head from the previous position, his hand also reaches up toward his face, touching his split lip.

You're gawking still, bandages in one hand and antiseptic in the other. It was unusual to see Kyung-Jun look, if you dared to say it, so down and defeated.

Finally, he steps over the threshold and kicks the door closed behind him, looking up and stilling as his eyes make contact with yours. You don't miss them widening slightly, clearly expecting the room to have been unoccupied.

Without saying a word, he turns on his heel about to leave, but putting the clues together, you stop him in his tracks.

"You clearly came for something."

"That's none of your business," he replies evenly, one hand on the doorknob.

"Then, I'll leave so you can stay," you offer.

You see his fingers slackening from the handle before he spins around again, analyzing you. The silence is uncomfortable, and his penetrating gaze, suffocating. Whatever it is he was searching for in your expression finally settles a look of indifference over him, his shoulders slumping.

"No." He takes a few steps forward, still staring at you. "You were here first."

Your eyebrows knit together, not quite understanding. "Come again?"

He purses his lips together, clearly regretting having remained in the room when he should've left. "Stay and do whatever you need to do and I'll wait until you're done."

Kyung-Jun plops himself on the bed Hyun-Ho and Dong-Hyun were just seated on earlier and the atmosphere is such a stark difference, you're tempted to pinch yourself to see if you happened to be hallucinating. Never in your right mind would you ever think you and Kyung-Jun could be in the same place at once without the former going on a rampage. You two were not the type of people who belonged together in any type of setting.

He leans against the hospital bed frame and kicks his leg out on the length of it, remaining quiet.

Decidedly, You don't say anything more and go back to sorting through the supplies, earnestly wanting to get out of the room as soon as possible. The only reason you didn't go escaping at the first sight of Kyung-Jun was you didn't want him to think you feared him at all in any capacity. He always used others' distress as leverage against them to remain in control and you weren't going to fall prey to that trap.

"When will you be done?" he asks, and you can feel the slight irritation in his voice rising.

"Soon," you counter curtly, disregarding his presence. Despite that, you can feel his stare fixated on the back of your head.

You hear rustling followed by liquid sloshing and you turn around just in time to see Kyung-Jun about to smear something on his face from a suspicious bottle that looks a lot like the one you told Na-Hee to use for her foot. You scurry over in a haste and yank it away from Kyung-Jun.

"What the fuck?!" He curses, as a q-tip drops from his hand, tumbling to the floor. His eyes are narrowed in slits as he glowers at you. "Didn't I tell you to do your thing and I'll do mine?"

"This..." you reveal to him in an even tone, pointing to the brown bottle, "...is for the feet only."

His eyes shift over to the label on the bottle he definitely did not read earlier in your grasp. If you didn't know any better, you would say he looks a little sheepish and embarrassed at the blunder.

"Aish," he groans, hand once again going to his lip as the wound stretches from the movement of forming words.

Shaking your head, you walk back to the cabinets, setting the bottle on a high shelf and grabbing the antiseptic you stored away earlier. With new cotton swabs and circular bandaids in hand, you approach Kyung-Jun and place it on the bedside table.

"I'll do it for you."

"I didn't ask."

"First, you came here to the infirmary for an obvious reason," you start ticking off on your fingers what you've observed. "Two, you could've kicked me out like you usually do to others that are in your space." He makes to speak but you plow on, unperturbed. "And finally, the third and most important point, you clearly don't know what you're doing." You look at him with a pointed stare. "Isn't that why you allowed me to stay? You weren't going to ask for help, but on the off chance you swallow your pride and decide to, it's better to have someone here. Am I wrong?"

"No, but I don't like to admit that I am."

"You can try, starting from today."

That draws a smirk from Kyung-Jun. "I like you better than Hyun-Ho." He glances up at your face again from his seated position, swinging his legs over the side and onto the ground, scooting to the edge and closer to you. "You have guts," he says, tapping his forefinger near his lip. "Go ahead." He visibly has to bite his tongue after, inwardly reprimanding himself for having said it at all. Shaking himself out of it, Kyung-Jun closes his eyes and lifts his chin up, inclining his head toward yours.

He's tall even as he's sitting, and you have to lean forward, bending at the waist to be able to clean both his lip and his forehead wound. It wasn't hard to fall out of favor with Kyung-Jun who more or less saw everyone like a thorn in his side, yet for some unknown reason, he tolerates you—back in the cafeteria and even now.

You pause with a swab in hand, not exactly sure how to touch his face. The wait has him opening his eyes, one at a time until they're focused on you, gaze steadfast. "Don't get scared now." He pulls your free hand against the side of his face in a much gentler manner than you expected. "I don't bite."

You look up at him, considering, and he lifts his brows at you. "We'll see."

The corner of one side of his lips quirk up in amusement, but he doesn't say anything else, opting to stare straight at you as you work, easily disinfecting the hurt areas and applying ointment after, waiting for it to dry before you can cover it up. Kyung-Jun's eyes lazily trail the path of your pupil's movements as you inspect the wounds, but he sits still otherwise, not flinching at all, no matter how deep you press the q-tip in certain spots.

"You sure have a high pain tolerance," you intone more so to yourself, having a habit of voicing your thoughts at times.

"I do, but I can't lie that this still hurts like a bitch."

"And you decided to not say anything?"

"You're gentle."

You tilt your head at him in perplexity, and he runs a frustrated hand through his hair. "Don't give me that look."

"What look?"

He doesn't say anything anymore, and you don't push it, bewildered and curious all at once. You were genuinely confused. His labile personality was giving you whiplash but you power through it and finally place the bandaids on him, stepping away.

"You didn't give me weird themed ones, did you?" He inquires suspiciously, tapping both bandaids to make sure.

"Of course not. That would be a waste of the nice ones."

He studies you for a moment, halting his movements before finally getting back up to his feet. "Don't tell anyone I was here." Gone was his usual bravado and you finally understand why he had ditched Seung-Bin and Jin-Ha back in the cafeteria, along with the explanation for his shifty actions prior to entering the room. He didn't want to be seen as weak.

"I wouldn't dream of it," you confirm resolutely, finding no necessary reason to ever bring it up to anyone anyway.

"I mean it." Kyung-Jun points a finger at you. "If you do, I'll kill you."

"People who truly want to kill someone won't announce it beforehand. They just will."

Kyung-Jun lowers his arm, having been caught in his bluff and contemplates your very nature at the core, stare lingering before shaking his head to himself and striding toward the door. As he opens it to step outside, he pivots and casts his attention on you once more. "That look... I hate it like crazy." It finally registers to you that he was circling back to what he said earlier. "Your eyes...." he pauses, gaze flitting back and forth between your own. "Some people will misunderstand and think you actually care."

With that, he leaves, and you're left in the dark wondering if by some people he was referring only to himself.

As you finally make it to the gymnasium, everyone is congregated in a circle, the atmosphere tense and somber. You slip in beside Jun-Hee with Yoon-Seo to your right cradling her phone.

"I gathered all of you here not to decide whom we should vote for, but to give up on voting for good," Jun-Hee starts, hushed murmurs spreading through the crowd.

"Abandon voting?" someone probes with uncertainty. "Are you sure about that?"

"If we vote, one person is guaranteed to die. If we don't, we all stay alive."

"What if we agree to this but someone votes in secret. What will you do then?"

Although Mi-Na wasn't outrightly rejecting the idea, you didn't think she was really in favor of it either, going by the questions she brought up, her wariness ran high. You didn't blame her for you could count on one hand those you without reasonable doubt one hundred percent trust.

"She has a point," Ji-Soo concurs. "How can we truly believe you that this is the best option for us all?" Yu-Jun doesn't chime in, settling for taking glances at his girlfriend as he quietly debates the suggestion.

"We should at least try to trust one another," Jun-Hee resolves. "We can collect the phones so no one will be allowed to vote."

Eun-Ha nods, deep in thought. "He's right. That'll work." You look over at her, analyzing her actions and statements up until now. Call it your astuteness or pure instinct, but she in no way, shape, or form struck you as a Mafia member.

Ji-Soo continues to dissect Jun-Hee's idea, not so readily agreeable. "Who's going to guard the phones, then? The person in charge might change their minds last minute."

She's not wrong per se, given that your classmates were willing to go through with murder, a small betrayal like this didn't seem too far fetch.

Yoon-Seo gestures with her phone to the center of the court. "In the middle. We can all keep watch over it."

"What if someone steals it?" Mi-Na adds in, looking around at everyone's faces lacking confidence. "I'm not doing it." She takes a step back, crossing her arms and hiding her phone. "Don't count on me handing in my phone."

"I think it's a decent plan," Yu-Jun speaks up weakly, daring to take a peek at his girlfriend this time, linking arms with her. "Let's give our phones, yeah?"

Ji-Soo retracts her arm, rounding on him, her open blouse flapping wildly. "Are you crazy?!"

As the couple argues back and forth much less strained than you expected, probably due to Yu-Jun's calm demeanor and ability to recognize Ji-Soo's short temper, it helps her simmer down somewhat, the two going on to hold a conversation despite their differences.

"Can't you live without your phone for a few minutes?!" Joo-Young outbursts against Mi-Na, reaching out toward her friend's mobile device.

Mi-Na evades Joo-Young's hands and sidesteps the circle. "Why the hell are you yelling at me?!" Angrily, she tugs her hair roller out from its strong hold on her bangs and tosses it to the floor in a show of defiance.

"Gosh, you all are noisy and annoying," Kyung-Jun bellows, everyone immediately shutting up. "Banjang is actually making sense for once. Why won't you cooperate?" Looks are thrown around the room, curious as to why Kyung-Jun is siding with Jun-Hee. He doesn't agree with anyone or follow the rules, gladly making his own to follow. When no one says a word, Kyung-Jun grits his teeth and fixes everyone with a menacing stare. "I'm not asking. I'm telling you to do it, and you better damn well listen to me when I'm being nice." He emphasizes the end of his sentence, purposefully throwing it in Hyun-Ho's direction, echoing the words relayed to him previously.

The wait that follows is excruciating after Kyung-Jun collects phones and thumps the trash can haphazardly into the center ring. You and Yoon-Seo had tied white ropes in a line and placed it around the receptacle, enclosing it within, almost like no-man's land.

[ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ɪs ᴀ ᴍɪɴᴜᴛᴇ ʟᴇғᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴠᴏᴛᴇ. ]

No matter how many times you hear the announcement, it still makes goosebumps run across your skin and your hair stand on end, habituated to expect the deathly siren to follow.

"Yah Prez, are you sure we'll be alright?" Seung-Bin probes, head in his hands and fingers running through his buzzed hair repetitively, visibly anxious.

Calmly, Jun-Hee replies to him but doesn't take his eyes away from the collection bin. "Let's just wait a little longer. It's not midnight yet."

"Fuck this shit..." Seung-Bin curses as he settles down, trying to manage his restlessness by wringing his hands in his lap instead.

All around you, your classmates are either sitting frozen with eyes unmoving from the center, biting their nails to the nub, or pulling their hair out in worry, scattered in various spots. Some are in chairs, others are on the floor, and the remaining are lying down like they've given up already.

You're no better, sitting cross-legged with your eyes transfixed on the clock by the exit sign, unwilling to remove your eyes from the second hand. 30 seconds to go. Every tick of the black plastic has your heart beating along with it, palpitations irregular and resoundingly loud in your ears. You don't realize you're bouncing your leg repeatedly against the heel of your foot below it until Jun-Hee lays a warm palm on the exposed skin of your knee, just below the cover of your skirt and you turn to him, his eyes silently questioning.

You nod and smile back, trying to not make it as strained as it feels. His touch is a welcoming distraction in forcing you to stop staring at the numbers on the clock you've been so focused on that the printed dots and dashes begin to blur into a swipe of black and white, hypnotizing you.

All of a sudden, Woo-Ram springs up, his metal hair skidding back as the legs screech against the wooden floors. He points with a shaky finger toward the clock. "Hey, hey, hey." He pats those next to him hurriedly. "It's past midnight now and there was no announcement. Did it work...?"

You whip your head toward the clock and sure enough, it was now well past twelve, time ticking by so much faster than when you were waiting on it.

"Have we made it?" So-Mi's eyes widen in shock, the first time you've seen a true reaction from her not screened by her fake acting.

"We did it..." Jun-Hee whispers as you both spring to your feet, unable to believe in the miracle of a loophole.

Joo-Young turns to Mi-Na, grabbing and shaking her in excitement. "It's over! We've beaten the game!"

Jun-Hee draws you into a triumphant hug, holding you close. You can feel the smile on his face as he presses his cheek against yours. He's squeezing you so tight, it almost lifts you off the ground, your arms winding around his neck as you stretch on tiptoes, celebrations breaking out all around you.

In a matter of seconds, the smile drops right off of your face and your throat closes up as the alarm blares incessantly, signaling a broken rule.

Jun-Hee's arms fall from around your waist as he falters back, staring at the intercom, almost wishing he could will it away.

[ ᴘᴀʀᴛɪᴄɪᴘᴀɴᴛs ᴍᴜsᴛ ᴠᴏᴛᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ɪᴅᴇɴᴛɪғʏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀғɪᴀ. ]

Without a second thought, Joo-Young scurries toward the trash can of phones.

"What are you doing?!" Hyun-Ho yells to closed ears.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Joo-Young counters, spinning around to look at him, crazed. "Nothing else but grabbing my phone." She gestures wildly at everyone's sheer panic. "And if we do nothing only to die? Are you going to take responsibility?!"

"You can't return lost lives and you know it," Mi-Na reiterates, hastily moving to where Joo-Young is standing right on the ropes acting as a barrier.

"Wait..." Jun-Hee splutters.

"For what are we hesitating? We're still doomed," Joo-Young says with frustration.

"Stop blaming Jun-hee and settle down," So-Mi states from her spot on a chair, unmoving. Her friends listen to her for the time being and you wonder what she has over their heads that they willingly cater to her and heed her every beck and call.

Mi-Na's abrupt scream pierces the room as a body unexpectedly drops from atop the bleachers onto the floor with a sickening thud.

Your blood runs cold as you eye your fellow classmate, knowing a drop from that height would've crushed her organs resulting in internal hemorrhage with only fatality as the outcome.

There's no salvation.

Your hands shake and you have to clasp them together hard enough that your knuckles lose all color. Even then, they continue to tremble.

You wonder belatedly if in this position you could pray. Would the gods offer saving grace, or have they abandoned you too?

Instantaneously, another body plops down on top of the previous one, the impact so hard the corpses rebound off the ground before plopping with listless limbs back to the floor, the cracking of bones clacking.

Blood pools, a sea of red expanding vaster and vaster.

[ ғᴏʀ ʙʀᴇᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴜʟᴇs, ʟᴇᴇ sᴏᴏ-ʙɪɴ ᴀɴᴅ ᴘᴀʀᴋ ᴊɪ-ʜᴏᴏɴ, ᴡʜᴏ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ʙᴏᴛʜ ᴄɪᴛɪᴢᴇɴs, ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴇxᴇᴄᴜᴛᴇᴅ. ]

"Grab your phones if you don't want to wind up like them!" Kyung-Jun shouts across the gymnasium as someone chucks the trash can overhead and phones scatter every which way.

Complete pandemonium and utter chaos ensue as every single person resort to crawling on all fours to locate their phones, no less like grave sinners atoning for their wrongdoings, groveling for leniency and forgiveness.

[ ғᴏʀ ʙʀᴇᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴜʟᴇs, ᴏʜ ᴊɪɴ-sᴇᴏᴋ ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴇxᴇᴄᴜᴛᴇᴅ. ᴏʜ ᴊɪɴ-sᴇᴏᴋ ᴡᴀs ᴀ ᴄɪᴛɪᴢᴇɴ.]

Jun-Hee's legs give out and he falls onto the floor, staring lifelessly into the void of the room, unblinking, overcome by the burden of guilt and the deaths he sentenced innocent individuals to inadvertently.

"Jun-Hee..." you call out weakly as you kneel beside him, receiving no answer for the first time.

A deafening silence befalls upon the room as bodies continue to barrage down with every passing minute from the rafters, lifeless forms hurtling to the ground with abandon amidst the crimson flashing lights.

The danger.

The warning signs.

Red as pure evil.

Why didn't anyone see it sooner?

Why didn't you?

But how could you? When Jun-Hee's still here in front of you, dressed in white, like a fallen angel succumbed to watching human suffering. Your eyes can only see him even in the shroud of red, but you're forced to remove your rose-tinted glasses. No, this shade of red isn't the color of love, of ardor, or of vitality.

It is the color that dyes the remnants of anger, uncontrolled flames, and stains of blood.

Not even the gentle flashes of white associated with light, goodness, and transcendence can mask the deep hue permeating all around.

Instead of peace, you see madness.

Instead of bliss, you see misery.

Instead of life, you see death.

No more did the divine exist in white.

The gods aren't here—you're all alone.

Yet, try as you might, how can you dare to blame the gods when humans are the most dangerous of all?

Unforgiving.

Unrelenting.

Self-persevering.

Plain naïve.

You had hoped—hoped so desperately.

But to hope is to risk disappointment. Now it's gone and left, leaving you exposed and vulnerable, clinging onto the shreds of previously existing innocent expectations.

The space has become a battlefield littered with bodies and drenched in torrents of blood.

Red meant war.

And you're losing the fight.

𝟬𝟯 : 𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦 | 𝟬𝟱: 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗦 𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗦

© 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟’ 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞. 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨, 𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞, 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐧𝐚����𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫-𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐭. 𝐀𝐥𝐬𝐨, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐞, 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞.