- Little over three months earlier -
———
"Yah Chan, move away from me" Felix groaned when he felt something heavy on his stomach.
He opened his eyes and saw Chan's head laying on him.
Chan also groaned as he woke up from the slumber.
"What happened last night, why are we sleeping here together" he asked and sat up, allowing Felix to sit up too.
They looked around, and then at the same time they realized where they were, or more like where they weren't, because they weren't at home. They looked at each other with big eyes.
"Why are we in an elevator?" Felix asked the older with sudden panic.
"Don't know, this is weird" Chan said and rose from the ground.
Then the doors opened up, letting them out. They looked outside and saw purple fields as far as they could see.
"This place is weird" Felix said.
Chan just nodded as he took a step outside.
"Yah Felix you should see this" he said.
Felix followed him outside. The field really was endless. He turned around to see what Chan was looking at.
In the midst of it all was a cylinder shaped building of concrete. "Well that looks out of place" Felix commented. "This elevator too though" he added when he realized they'd just stepped out of an elevator that was just standing there with no purpose.
"Weren't we in an arcade yesterday? In Seoul?" Felix asked.
Chan nodded.
"When did we leave that place?" He proceeded to ask.
"I can't recall we ever did leave the Arcade" Chan said and looked out over the feilds with worry in his eyes.
"Were we drugged or something? I don't understand how we could end up in the middle of nowhere, we can't have walked all the way here right?" Felix talked to the older boy.
"No we're not even close to any civilization, we can't have walked out of Seoul and this far away from it in one night" Chan said. "But let's go see whats inside that building" he said and pointed at the cylinder thing.
"Mm" Felix said, but he'd stepped into the elevator again to examine it a bit closer. He pressed the button for the first floor, not expecting anything to happen, he turned to look at the other wall but suddenly the door closed shut.
No light could enter, it was completely dark.
"Yah Chan!" He cried for his friend who turned around to see where Felix were. The doors to the elevator were closed and Felix was nowhere to be seen. His voice had come from the elevator though.
For Felix the elevator begun shaking, but for Chan that second the doors opened up and the elevator was completely empty.
"Felix!" He cried in despair as he looked around and ran to the elevator to find his friend. He looked behind it but Felix was nowhere to be seen.
He entered the elevator too and looked around. An urge told him to press the button for the first floor, the only one he could press, so he did, and a second later the doors of the elevator closed once again.
Chan stepped out to a square and looked around. Then a speaker voice started talking. "Level one, district 9. The first level of the first chapter of your journey, I am: NOT" it spoke.
Level 1? Chan was confused. Why did it seem like a game. And how could that elevator have taken him here?
He looked around but still couldn't find Felix when the speaker spoke again. "The regime has finally taken over the last district, district 9. Now the regular procedures start in order to create the perfect society. Those who do not fit the template of a normal and loyal citizen will be offered helpful self awareness sessions in order to change"
Is this a game? They were after all in the closed down arcade what they could remember last. The realization hit Chan. And the reason it was shut down was because of a boy who died with no signs of how he died.
It should be impossible, but that was the only thing Chan could think of.
Then he saw Felix. He was surrounded by a group of people in dark clothes. The outfits reminded him of security guards, but the clothes were intensive black. A feeling told Chan they were bad people.
But he couldn't possibly get trough them all and save Felix.
Felix now saw Chan, but shook his head slowly. He couldn't get to him, that would only put Chan in danger too. Felix hoped Chan would run away.
He stayed though. At first he just stood there inspecting the scene, then he kicked the first man down and tried stealing his gun.
"Chan no!" Felix cried when the whole group had seen the second boy.
They were fast to react and it all turned around. In a few seconds Chan was standing with a gun to his head and Felix was watching. Two of them were holding Felix so he couldn't escape and the rest surrounded Chan who was standing still in their circle.
A man took out a syringe and went closer to Chan, who couldn't escape now.
He was about to insert the needle when Chan tried breaking free again. He didn't get the chance to try though, the second he moved a muscle, a gunshot went off.
"No Chan!" Felix cried hysterically when he saw his friend's body drop to the ground, lifeless.
He had expected his body to stay there, like corpses usually did, but his body vanished into nothingness and Felix was left alone with the bad group of guard looking people.
Felix had no idea what was going on and before he noticed it someone had injected something into his body trough a syringe and the next second he blacked out.
Next time he woke up he was alone in a cold and empty room. He was tied to a stretcher and couldn't move at all. Anyone would get claustrophobic from being tied up like that, but there was nothing he could do. He just lied there for what felt like forever. Nothing happened, until the door out was opened up and someone took him down an elevator and into a lab.
Felix thought he was going to die now. The anxiety built up to create a lump in his stomach. He was too young to die. He really didn't want to die.
Another syringe took him out and next thing he knew he was back in the cell he'd been in before. He wasn't tied to the stretcher this time, although his hands were cuffed.
He sat curled up with his back against the wall with constant anxiety and panic.
With his handcuffs he wrote one simple word on the wall; "help"
He knew nobody would see it and here was nobody that could help him, but he needed some sort of hope in the darkness.
As the loud noice signaling someone had unlocked the door was heard Felix impulsively ran towards the door. He might as well try and make a run for it. Maybe they wouldn't keep up with him if he ran like his life depended on it, as it actually did more or less.
He wasn't fast enough. When the trigger went off Felix had barely even had the chance to see the outside of his cell. Then everything went black. It was like an old video game was playing in his head. In front of him, inside his head he saw three floating hearts, then one disappeared leaving only two hearts left.
***
Chan who had gotten his theory more or less proved had gone to explore the big cylinder shaped building. He wasn't worried about Felix for now because he figured he'd just come back here if he died.
He hadn't gotten a very long look around before he felt the whole ground shaking though. Curious what that could have been he went out of the building and looked around. He couldn't see anything different, but after a minute the door of the elevator opened up. On the floor Felix was sitting, looking quite dazed and not understanding what had happened.
"Felix" Chan called for the boy's attention and ran towards him.
He looked up at Chan. "You're not dead?" He said, still in a daze while Chan helped him stood up and took him out of the elevator.
"I'm not, not you either" he said.
Felix looked confused so Chan explained to him they seemed to be inside a game.
"That's ridiculous, it's impossible" Felix denied it.
"It should be, but you saw it yourself didn't you? The heart disappearing when you died" Chan said.
Felix didn't say anything.
Then the ground started shaking again and a rumbling noice could be heard.
"What's that?" Felix asked with sudden panic.
Chan looked around and managed to connect the dots. "I think a new player has joined" he said and looked at the elevator which now had closed doors.
They waited a minute before the doors opened up, and like Chan had stated a boy was inside the elevator. He looked lost, just like the two of them.
"Who are you?" He asked the two boys.
"I'm Chan, this is Felix" he introduced the two of them.
The boy nodded. "And what is this place" he said after looking around.
"Did you visit an arcade last thing you remember?" Felix asked him, just to have it proven to him.
The boy nodded.
"And you started a game that was on and then you don't remember anything?" He proceeded to ask.
The boy nodded again.
"Oh this is just great" Felix said and was trying to hide his panic.
"How could you know that?" The boy asked them.
"We're inside that game" Chan said.
The boy stared at them, clearly not believing. Like who wouldn't believe two random dudes that claimed you'd been trapped in an arcade game?
"What's your name?" Chan asked him with a smile of politeness.
"Minho" he answered him.
"So Minho, welcome to the game, we have a lot to show you" Chan said and they started walking towards the building behind the elevator.
***
It didn't take long before they were 7 guys hanging around in the odd building. Once convinced they were inside a game, (by maybe accidentally falling off the roof *cough*), Minho, Changbin, Hyunjin, Seungmin and Jeongin had entered the elevator and were off to try and clear the first level.
Felix had needed a break to rebuild his strength before trying again and Chan stayed behind with him.
"This place is scary" Felix told Chan, sitting in the warm-colored sofa in the middle of the cylinder.
"It really is, a part of me is still convinced this is all a dream" Chan answered him.
"I'm too scared to go again, I don't want to die" Felix spoke truthfully.
"You won't die, you have two lives left" Chan tried to encourage him.
"I know, but someone had died in the arcade before, someone who used to work there, don't you get the feeling he might have been the creator of the game?" Felix asked and looked at his older friend.
Chan looked back at him. "We can't be certain of that" he said, but he didn't look like he believed his own words.
"If not even the creator could make it though, then how are we going to make it through?" He asked and saw no hope at all.
As on cue the ground started shaking.
"Someone either entered or died, and I don't know what to hope for" Felix said and they rose from the sofa to go back to the elevator.
First to die were Hyunjin and Jeongin who'd died together and showed up in the elevator together. Not long after that Seungmin joined them. Minho and Changbin made it way longer, but at last the two of them returned as well.
All 7 of them gathered in the lobby again. But the ground begun shaking again.
Seungmin who'd been the last to enter the game looked around with a frown "We're already all gathered, why is the ground shaking?" He asked, thinking the ground only shook like that when someone died.
"A new player is joining the game" Felix said with a bitter tone.
And so they were 8, the eighth boy being Jisung.
***
"Don't you think it's time we try again?" Chan asked Felix after they'd showed Jisung the whole 'you don't die if you fall off the roof' stunt and explained to him where they really were.
"We must get out of here one way or another, and even if you die now you still have a life left" Seungmin tried to see it positively.
"I guess" Felix said, but he was still scared of entering the game again.
Chan managed to convince him, but it went just like last time. The second they entered they were captured and taken to cells.
Back in the same cell as last time, once again tied to the stretcher, Felix still didn't see any hope of escaping this game.
At least this time he was sharing room with Chan.
They went trough their first brainwashing procedure, and a second. Trying to think of an escape plan, they endured it, but they didn't have much time to communicate with the others, or each other.
They could only meet the others once a day when they all stood outside their rooms for daily medicine. At least they guessed it was once a day. They couldn't tell since there were no windows nor clocks.
At last Chan had a plan. Felix doubted his plan, but he didn't oppose. He didn't have a better plan himself.
As Chan picked up his daily pill from the tray a guard was walking with, he discreetly put down 6 pieces of red paper he'd had with him in his pocket wrinkled and folded to look like one of the pills, where he'd carved a hint for the escape plan with a screw from his bed.
Felix didn't need to take one since he'd already heard the plan, but after he'd taken his pill and the guard had his back towards him he mouthed to the others, 'the red pills' as clearly as he could so they would all take one each.
From what they could see everyone had taken one. Hopefully everyone would understand what to do once it was time, which was next time they came by with medicine.
***
Once the time had come, Felix was feeling anxious. He still doubted the plan. It was foolish and impulsive. He just didn't get a good feeling.
"Are you ready?" Chan asked when the door was unlocked and they were expected outside.
Felix only looked at Chan with worry in his eyes. Chan didn't look too confident either. He knew the plan had many flaws, but it was the best he could come up with.
The two boys walked outside and saw the rest already standing there, waiting for them.
Everyone exchanged nervous glances, as they all felt somewhat uncertain on the plan. The guard was making his way towards Chan who as usual was the first to take the medicine. Chan had other plans though. He ran to attack the guard and so did the others at the same time.
The plan wasn't very advanced if you hadn't figured that out by now. They only had a signal which should be the signal to attack, everyone at the same time.
The biggest misjudgment; the guards were a lot more than they'd thought, and they had guns.
Felix saw a guard coming up from the staircase with a gun in his hand. He was aiming at Chan who was busy beating down another guard, still with his hands in cuffs.
"No!" Felix cried and ran to cover Chan. The guard pulled the trigger and the next thing Felix felt was a shot though his chest.
"Felix!" He heard Chan behind him, but the next second everything was black.
Felix was back in the elevator and now alone in the lobby. He expected the others to come back soon too, but nobody did.
They'd been overwhelmed and taken back into their cells. All of them were back to be tied down to the stretcher.
Chan was waiting for Felix to return, but inside of him he knew Felix wouldn't return, not unless someone managed to convince him. He knew he had to purposely die to go back there, but right now he couldn't even die.
As time passed Felix was just sleeping on the sofa. That was until the ground started shaking.
'Chan' was his first though.
He ran out to the elevator, and there was Chan.
"Why are you back here?" He asked him.
"I knew you wouldn't come to us, so I decided to come to you instead" Chan said.
"If you're gonna try getting me to try again it's no use, I'm staying here" Felix muttered.
"You really want to stay here for the rest of your life?" Chan wondered.
"I'm not going back out there again, that's for sure" Felix argued, still too scared off by what he'd been through.
"You'll be living here alone forever, is that really what you want?" Chan asked him with a serious expression over his face.
Felix felt his stomach twist at Chan's words. The anxiety hit him like a truck, but he just couldn't get himself to go back out there again. "I don't wanna die too young" he said and looked at Chan with red eyes. "I must live until I die of old age, I must do it for my mom"
Chan didn't know what to say. He didn't get the chance to say anything either because soon the ground started shaking and the rest of the boys returned too.
"Oh Felix, are you ready to leave again?" Seungmin asked and was already preparing to go back in there, despite being on his last life. They all were, except Jisung.
"No, you guys go without me" he answered him.
"You're not coming with us?" Jeongin asked and looked at Felix with a frown.
Felix shook his head.
"But you have to" Jeongin insisted. "We can't just leave you here, right Chan?" He looked at Chan with big eyes.
Chan swallowed. He opened his mouth, about to say something, but hesitated a few seconds before actually speaking. "Come on Jeongin, we should leave again" he said and put his hand on the youngest shoulder.
"But..."
"Good luck" Felix said as he felt the anxiety grow inside of him.
"I'll be back for you, trust me" Chan said before they all entered the elevator and left Felix on his own.