The Cutting Edge

Bonus Chapter: Panic!

"I highly doubt you'd be able to conjure up anything of standard," Gina mused. She picked up one set of keys for herself and dropped another set into Ares' hand, then she headed for the stairs. "Not even a bloody lift in this place."

Ares stepped up to the counter. "Dodge, was it?" he asked.

The boy nodded. "Are you the kpop star? They said you folks were here for some music video shoot. Funny choice of location for a shoot if you ask me."

"It is a bit far out. You mustn't get many outsiders around here." In order to get here they had travelled past what felt like a lifetime's worth of farmland. Not that Ares was complaining. He quite appreciated the peace and quiet. Sometimes cows were better than humans.

"No we don't. Nothing much happens around here, unless you're lucky enough to be here for Panic season. You're a month too early for that."

Dodge's eyes seemed to glaze over, the wry smile he had been wearing on his face all this while fading away. Ares thought he was looking at someone, or some place, deep within the inner recesses of his mind, tucked away in a corner he was reluctant to touch.

"What's Panic season?"

"Oh, just some stupid high school graduation game." Dodge shrugged. "Complete a series of challenges, be the last one standing and win a pot of money—or die trying."

"Excuse me?"

Ares turned to see Yeseul standing beside him, her wine-coloured lips curled in incredulity.

"Like I said, it's stupid really. Goodness knows what possesses so many people to do it."

"Have you done it before?" Ares asked. He could detect a certain tension hidden behind Dodge's words when he spoke of Panic, and that peaked his curiosity.

"Yeah. Last year."

"So what's it like? These challenges."

"Jump off a cliff into a quarry, break into someone's house and steal something, survive a night buried in a coffin—mindless shit like that."

"Did you win?"

Dodge hesitated for a moment, then he simply pushed all the keys towards them. "Dial 1 for reception, but I can only handle things like leaky pipes and broken bulbs. If you need anything else, don't dial 1, there's a convenience store five minutes down the street from here. Have a good stay." His lips twitched upwards in a stiff smile, then he disappeared into the back room.

"He was joking right?" Yeseul asked. "About people dying?"

"Yeah, probably."

Honestly, Ares wasn't too convinced of his own reply. Dodge didn't look or sound like he was joking when he said that, but this rundown B&B was already unsettling enough without having to plant thoughts of dead teenagers into Yeseul's mind.

"Here," he held out his key to her, "you can have this room."

Gina had given him 303, but he didn't need all that space. Space made him feel even emptier than he already did.

Yeseul was eyeing him suspiciously, as if he was leading her into a booby-trap.

He laughed. "Come on, I'll help you take these up the stairs," he said, referring to the duffels. "I hope you're less averse to climbing stairs than Gina."

#

The town was as dull as Dodge said it would be.

Since his filming schedule didn't start till the next morning, Ares decided to take a gander down to the convenience store. Gina didn't care because there wasn't going to be any whiff of paparazzi in this rural backwater anyway. She had declared she would be sleeping the rest of the evening away because staying awake and staring at the garish floral wallpaper of her B&B room—or any other part of this town—was too much for her chic self to deal with.