The person totally covered in black, and also wearing a balaclava whistled and entered the room slowly. The gun was a common one, but not the hunting knife hanging on the person's belt. When the shooter closed the door again and pulled a chair to sit in front of it, three of the actors there became instantly petrified, but Mark just sighed loudly.
"Let me guess, are you a fan? Did you do all of this just to get my autograph and a selfie?" Mark asked sarcastically. He seemed to be the only one not intimidated by the shooter. He didn't even move from his spot when the stranger came in. Nanon, Ohm, and Chimon were all huddled together on the other side of the room as they watched the two interact.
"Actually, I am an anti, Markie." The person chuckled and removed the balaclava. "And I am here in the name of justice."
The four of them were shocked to find out that the shooter was a regular-looking girl, possibly younger than them, but with a unique kind of dead look on her face. "What!? You dispshits thought I was a guy? I hope this little detail doesn't make you less scared of me. I am not here to play with dolls and braid your hair, folks."
Mark started laughing maniacally as if he approved of the girl's dark humor 100%. Nanon abhorred that sound. Mark still laughed in the same unhinged manner. The singer shouldn't be surprised about that, but he would never get used to the man's sick ways. He still wasn't sure if the former badminton player and the girl didn't know each other, but he didn't regret opening the door. He imagined that if the girl was really just a random person having a psychotic episode, maybe they could survive that day by talking her out of that killing spree. Chimon was having similar thoughts. The oldest member of the 2000 gang was already rehearsing in his head what to say to convince the girl to let them leave the hospital unscathed. He figured out that if she wanted to kill them, she could've done that the moment she entered the room.
Ohm was being cautious. He could try a few Muay Thai immobilization techniques, and disarm the shooter, but his ankle was hurt, and he never had to deal with someone using a gun. He knew he needed to be careful not to get anyone shot in that room. So he waited for the best opportunity to take action. The girl needed to be distracted, and he had to get very close to her to take away her weapons. Ohm was hoping that Mark kept talking to her because if she kept focused on the former player, he could jump the girl and end that circus at once.
"Are you mocking me, Markie? Will I be able to cut short that laugh of yours when I stab Nanon and pull his heart out of his chest?" She asked abruptly, and the former badminton player became more serious. Chimon gasped. Nanon gulped and Ohm held his boyfriend's hand tightly.
"Will you let me help you do it? From what I've gathered, this might be the only chance I get to have his heart completely. Or at least get a little bit closer to it." Mark spoke again in an emotionless tone. The 2000 gang was dumbfounded. The girl huffed.
"Sorry. But that trophy is all mine." She took the knife wrapped around her belt and pointed it in Nanon's direction, signaling him to come closer. "Come here, sweetie."
"Over my dead body." Ohm said suddenly, placing himself in front of the singer.
"Why are you even protecting him? Huang Le Rong never went to make merit with you, did he? He didn't attend your graduation and never wished you a proper birthday. He didn't stand up to show his support to you when the bullying rumors started, and he left you to face all the bashing and death threats by yourself. While you kept promoting his stuff online, he never even posted anything about your solo works. During international fan meetings, he always ditched you at the hotel and went out to explore the places with his dear Kwang. He doesn't care about you, he's a self-entitled bitch who uses and discards people like trash. You're better off without his fake friendship. Why would you wanna be around a bastard who cheats on his girlfriend and writes a song about it, plagiarizes other people's stuff-"
"Will you shut the fuck up?!" Chimon chimed in before she continued babbling about the superficial view she had of the singer's life. But Nanon just shook his head at him.
"Mon, it's okay, she knows nothing about us. Let it go-"
"No, meung! Enough is enough! Just because we work in the showbiz industry, we don't have to take this kind of shit every single day! It was not okay, but still bearable when these crazy people kept saying toxic shit online, because blocking them could do the trick. Now they are shooting people at hospitals and threatening us face to face?! This is too much!" Chimon said briskly, and the girl eyed him with a disdainful expression on her face, but let him speak his mind. Ohm warned him to not make things worse.
"Mon, she thinks our whole lives are on IG posts and Internet interactions, you're not really going to engage-"
"Fuck that!" Chimon stood up and crossed his arms. "Do you know what your problem is? You keep occupying your mind with other people's private affairs instead of diving into yours. You've been cooped up in your room for too long, and you've got no idea how to handle your own emotions. You obviously have no life, and you think it's okay to direct your frustrations to people who actually have one? Non is an actor playing roles, and you probably watched too many of his works and forgot that the roles he played are not the real him. Why should his fucking world revolve around Ohm? They're not Pat and Pran! You can't scold or judge my fucking friend without even knowing him! How can you claim to know how he interacts with Ohm in real life? You don't even have his phone number, you're not even his acquaintance, you're just a stranger with a lot of free time on your hands! He owes you nothing! Why do you even have a problem with him? Who gives you the right to harass him? You're gonna hurt my friend just because you can't force him to act the way you want to? Realizing that he's not Pran in real life, bothers you so much?"
"I didn't even like Bad Buddy The Series." She shot back and put her knife back on her belt. She suddenly seemed eager to discuss the topic. The others just watched the debate with apprehension. "What I really enjoyed was their interaction in real life, in front of the cameras, and Huang Le Rong did say in an interview that he would die for Chen Bing Lin and for you. Let's see if that's actually true." The shooter added as her eyes traveled from Chimon to Nanon again.
"No! You stop this nonsense! Actors have to behave a certain way when they are interviewed! As an actor myself, I know that most of the time we've gotta say weird stuff that people are anxious to hear and do all sorts of skinship to keep the fanbases entertained. The BL industry builds, promotes, and feeds a ridiculous romantic gay fantasy to sell it to the world without thinking of its consequences. And when people buy it, we actors can only poorly satisfy people's expectations of us. Real life is not a fan fiction. The moment you start believing that it is, you've gotta find professional help." Chimon argued energetically.
"Well said, Wachirawit!" Mark said in a mocking tone and clapped his hands derisively. "But who's gonna pay for her medical bills? GMMTV's CPs messed with her head, so that means she's a victim of this whole fake system of imaginary BL relationships, right?" He added, with a cynical grin on his face.
"I am not mentally impaired!" She announced in annoyance, but something about the girl's body language signaled that she wasn't so sure of herself after Chimon's speech.
"Why do you call Nanon Huang Le Rong and Ohm Chen Bing Lin?" The former badminton played sounded genuinely curious.
"It's their Chinese names! Don't you know anything about OhmNanon?!" She almost sounded offended. Mark couldn't help chuckling.
"Don't mind him." Chimon said quickly, still able to grab her attention. "Why are you here? Are you ready to throw your life away because of ordinary people like us? Someone as young as you shouldn't ruin your life like this. What do you think it's gonna happen when the police get in here? Life in prison is not nice, and I'm sure you'll regret ever causing all this trouble to strangers who never did anything against you-"
"I only shot people who tried to stop me! They were in my way, and they thought that I would let them ruin my mission! I even started fires on a couple of floors just to empty the hospital and avoid more casualties. I am not a bad person!" She exclaimed exasperated.
"If you're not a bad person, you've gotta turn yourself in. There are sick and hurt people in this building, people who need special care and whose doctors are doing what they can to keep them alive. It would take hours for patients and staff to evacuate this hospital. Some people are just hiding because they are unable to leave their beds and some good doctors refuse to leave their patients behind." Nanon stood up and tried to persuade her with a softer approach. "Perhaps, we can go somewhere else and talk. We are not worth the suffering of all these people who have nothing to do with-"
"Shut up and sit the fuck down!" She suddenly shouted. The shooter looked angry now, but her hands trembled, and her confidence dimmed. "I came to this hospital to end Mark Pakin's miserable existence. I wasn't supposed to find you all here. But now that you are, I ought to have a little bit of fun. I've gotta a whole script in my head for the four of you."
"Hear me out...What's your name again?" Nanon started calmly.
"It's none of your business, but you can call me PakinHater666, or JikPloyPawie. Those are my nicknames on the Antis forum." She said quickly and narrowed her eyes at Nanon when the singer frowned at her reply. "What? Is it not a good nickname?"
"No, it's great, seriously." The singer cleared his throat and tried hard to smile, to make her less nervous. "Are you perhaps a student? What do you do?"
"It's none of your fucking business! Why do you care?" She asked briskly and walked towards him. But Ohm also stood up and blocked her path.
"We're not going to stop you if you still plan to take Mark out, be our guest and do it. You're the one with the gun, you make the decisions here. He surely deserves a few bullets. No one is gonna stop you from harming him, but you've gotta let us go." Ohm said suddenly, earning shocked glances from the others. "If you're here in the name of justice, you don't need to hurt Nanon to make Mark suffer. Just go straight to your target and get the job done."
"Exactly! Stop stalling." Nanon wasn't sure if he was indeed throwing his morals away to get himself and his gang out of that room, or if it was the actor in him talking. He didn't know if he would regret leaving a human being like Mark behind, but he tried not to worry about that at that moment. Even though Mark hadn't assaulted him after roofing him at that bar, Nanon couldn't forgive the man for turning his nights and days into a living hell. "We'll get out of here and leave him to you, so he can get the punishment he deserves."
"Ouch, that hurts, pal. I can guess why I deserve so much hatred, but you're supposed to be one of the good guys, right?" Mark snickered.
"Trouble in paradise? What's wrong? I thought you guys were besties." She frowned. "Now that he's awake from his coma I thought you would dump Ohm for good and be happy ever after with this fucker. I imagined that you were dying to work together. I bet that even Laneige has plans to pair you up with him. Hell, GMMTV is probably just waiting for their call. Haven't you guys been keeping each other's bed warm while Chen Bing Lin's career is in a crisis? I was wondering when the new CP would be officially announced to the BL world." The shooter cocked her head to the side and eyed Nanon and Mark with clear curiosity.
"That's not happening." The singer stated firmly. "Ever. I would never dump Ohm for him. Neither professionally, nor romantically. Whether Mark lives or dies, it makes no difference to me, because my relationship with Ohm will remain intact." he added, as he held Ohm's hand in his.
Ohm could never be more proud of those words. Chimon rolled his eyes and gave the pair a knowing look. He always knew his friends' relationship was stronger than any evil threat to their bond. Mark was quiet, studying the situation. The shooter's eyes grew large as she eyed Ohm and Nanon holding hands.
"You guys are really a couple, aren't you?" The disconcerted girl sounded puzzled, as she started pacing around the room. It was as if she had finally gotten the confirmation she expected, but it was too unbelievable to be real. "How come every comment on Twitter was about GMM officially terminating this ship? You know, as soon as I heard that Pakin was back from the coma I thought I had to come here and kill the main cause of the OhmNanon breakup! I read this fanfiction about what went down between the three of you! And everything that was written in those paragraphs made sense! It was so real, and cleared all my doubts about you guys! And now, I kinda feel frustrated and disappointed. I was supposed to come here and be a martyr! I was going to kill Pakin and kill myself afterwards. The other antis would be proud of me, and my name would never be forgotten! The RedGreen fanbase was going to worship me like a saint because I would be the one who brought OhmNanon back together." She shook her head in disbelief, as everyone stared at her like she was crazy. "What am I supposed to believe? How can I know you're not acting right now?" She retorted, slightly embittered and a little bit frenzied. The others were astonished to hear that the girl was led to that state because of a text written by a random fan and a few baseless comments online.
"Let me see if I got this right...You think that what a cheap ficwriter posts on Wattpad is true?!" Chimon was still flabbergasted. "So what? You wanna kill Mark because, in some stomach-churning plot, he stole Nanon from Ohm? Do you think Mark and Nanon are fucking or something? What universe do you live in? Are you on drugs right now?"
"I kinda like this plot." A mocking Mark cackled. "Can you share the link of this fic with me? I bet I'm gonna have a blast reading it."
"Listen here, young lady. OhmNanon is a ship that was sunk a very long time ago. It was over the moment it became real. Shipping is a fantasy, our bond is not. We don't have to parade our relationship through social media to make people happy and feed stupid ideas to ficwriters. Yeah, Nanon and I are together, and it's not pricks like the Kunaanuwits or insane people like you who get to write our story. Whether we break up or live happily ever after, this doesn't concern any of you. Just the two of us." Ohm informed the delusional shooter, whose world seemed to be crumbling down before her. Suddenly, the ringing of her cell phone made everyone apprehensive. When the shooter picked up the phone she talked fast and nervously, as she narrated to the other person on the line what she did in the hospital.
"No, he isn't dead. At least, not yet." She exhaled and eyed Mark with a ferocious look on her face, while pressing the phone against her ear. "Yes, I remember what I came to do here. I just got a bit tangled up. This mission is not as easy as I thought. Shooting at strangers who try to take my gun from me is one thing, but he's barely walking! He's just sitting on the floor, acting like a cripple smart-ass. He's harmless. Of course, I started the fires as a distraction, just like you instructed me to do. No, I didn't mean to shoot at civilians, but they came at me and-"
A tense silence followed before she continued again. "I'm on the 13th floor, in an on-call room at the end of the corridor...yes, I have him. Just hurry up!"
"Who was that? Who's coming?" Nanon asked suddenly.
"My good friend BbuildTapeWorm101."
"Geez! That's so lame. Can't you guys come up with better nicknames?" Mark snorted, apparently unaffected by the fact that his life could be more in danger than before.
"Fuck you!" She snarled while checking how many bullets she had left in the gun. The 2000 gang became more tense than before.
"Don't mind him. Just ignore this asshole, be smart, and run." Chimon commented, wondering if once her ally arrived they would get a chance to escape. "Nobody's gonna know you did it. If you let us go, we promise we won't even mention meeting you, we won't say anything-"
"Stop pressuring me! I just need more time to think." She barked at the singer.
"If you're gonna kill me before you leave, at least tell me who you are." Mark scoffed. "Don't you guys ever reveal your real names? What are you so afraid of? Being yourselves? If someone calls you by your real name you folks drop dead or something?"
"Anonymity is gold. I can bash everyone and curse and defame everyone online as long as I don't let them know who I am. That's what I call free speech." She replied briskly.
"I call it cowardice." Chimon chimed in. "And now that you've gone far from bashing people online and started hurting them physically, what's next? Those people you shot in this hospital, they have families, they had a life that you interrupted because of a stupid, and nonsensical mission that you yourself don't even-"
"I actually like you, Chimon. For a hater, this is a big deal, believe me. You keep your friendships behind the camera, you don't show people too much of your private time, and you don't say cringe stuff during interviews just to please shippers." She sighed and continued. "I wish you weren't here. I really do. But if you keep trying to make me regret the greatest moment of my life, I will shoot you." The shooter gritted her teeth, and Ohm immediately touched Chimon's shoulder, signaling him to stay quiet.
"Your friend, the one who's coming...Should we worry about our safety around him?" Ohm asked her in a rather soothing manner. Not only him but Nanon and Chimon were already convinced that Ananda couldn't be the girl's accomplice. After all, Mark's cousin had no intention of killing a member of his own family, right? However, whoever orchestrated that plan with the girl, could be worse than him.
Knocks on the door made everyone gasp, including the shooter. She looked apprehensive for a second, but the name spoken through the door made all her self-assurance go away.
"It's me. TapeWorm."
"You two, get in that closet. Now." She suddenly instructed Ohm and Nanon, pointing to a closet next to the farthest wall of the room.
"What? Why?!" The members of the 2000 gang asked at the same time.
"He might not like to see you guys together. He hates OhmNanon. His comments on the forum were pretty graphic. You will be safer there. Since you two are a real couple, I will protect your love." She explained quickly and almost smiled. "I was a RedGreen once, you know. Before you guys broke my heart."
All of the four men in the room eyed her with bewilderment. She sounded conflicted at that moment. Was she really a mentally unstable hater, or a pawn in someone else's game? Or perhaps, both?
"OhmNanon in the closet. What a lovely picture. I wish I had one of my cameras with me." Mark sneered from his corner.
"Can't Chimon hide with us?" Nanon almost begged the girl, as he grabbed his friend's hand.
"There's not enough room in there for the 3 of you. He will be fine, I'll look after him. Just go already. I should've let you out of the room when I had the chance, but it's too late now." She told him in a hurry and Chimon himself dragged the two to the closet and told them to stay quiet.
"Meung, we can't leave you alone with these two psychopaths!" Ohm argued and Chimon rolled his eyes at him.
"I'll manage. Just take care of each other for now." Chimon told him quickly. Nanon was about to say something, but he made a face at him and put a finger against his lips. "We're gonna get out of here alive. Don't worry about me. The police will be here soon. This building has too many floors, but they will get here eventually. See you in a bit." Chimon reassured them and closed the door of the closet. Nanon and Ohm chose not to ask any more questions. They just got into the closet after they both gave Chimon a long hug.
"Ploy? What's going on? Let me in!" The man exclaimed impatiently, and when she made sure her friend couldn't find the couple in there, she opened the door.
"Theepakon Kwanboon?" She was petrified. They had never seen each other's faces, but they chatted online for hours about that fateful day.
"What are you waiting for? He's right there!" Prom complained, as he eyed her in disbelief and pointed his finger to a laughing Mark with disgust. Once he realized Chimon was also in the room, he gasped.
"What the hell are you doing here, Phi?" Prom asked in shame.
"I wanted to make sure he wasn't faking the amnesia. I had to come. For both Ohm and Nanon's sake." Chimon replied, with a sad look on his face. "What are you doing here, kid? Are you part of this?"
"You wouldn't understand, Phi. The Kunaanuwits...I know about their basement. I saw pictures of it. Ananda told me exactly what he's going to do with me in there." Prom looked terrified. The girl beside him was genuinely shocked to realize that she had been in contact with a GMMTV actor all that time. "I've gotta eliminate them before they come for me."
Chimon was unable to conceive the fact that Prom was the one behind that mess. He was suddenly speechless.
"I thought you were my caretaker, Nong! Since when did you go to the dark side? That's what too many video games do to kids' heads nowadays. What a disgrace. But that's not the worst part, you made a girl do a man's job. Shame on you, Prom." A derisive Mark clicked his tongue and stood up without much balance.
"Ananda is going to kill me because you put that video online. We both know he does not accept failures, and I was supposed to keep you out of social media platforms. I should at least get rid of you before you two team up again. It was because of you I had the displeasure of meeting that psychopath! If I am going to die, you're coming with me!" Prom suddenly took the gun from the girl's hand and told her to leave. "Get out of here! Things are about to get ugly."
"I am not leaving! Did you use me since the beginning for a private vengeance? This should be about righting all the wrongs in the shipping world! But you are part of their universe! You manipulated me like the CPs who pretend they're real in front of cameras, but they fake a relationship just for money and-"
"Mark needs to disappear! You thought that you were doing it for OhmNanon and I told you I hated OhmNanon but Mark should die because he aimed to take Ohm's jobs beside Nanon! I am not into shipping BL actors, I never was! I didn't lie to you, you drew your own conclusions about my opinions." He hissed.
"But you're not here to protect Chen Bing Lin's career, are you? Why are they threatening you? Who's Ananda?!" She sounded scared now.
"Ananda Kunaanuwit is my cousin." Mark grinned and slowly walked towards them, still without much balance. The youngsters were obviously intimidated. The girl hid behind Prom as the boy took a few steps back. Prom tried to sound menacing while holding the gun in his hand but he didn't even know what to do with it.
"Stay where you are, or I swear to God-"
"Give me the gun, Little Prom." Mark said calmly, cutting him off. "I promise you I won't let you stay for too long in P'Nanda's basement."
"No!" The boy shouted in despair. A petrified Chimon could just watch their interaction, he didn't know who he should trust in that room.
A gunshot was heard, and then the sound of glass shattering. Ohm and Nanon gasped in panic, inside the closet. The older actor moved to get out of the closet, but Nanon pulled him back.
"I need to go out there." The older whispered anxiously.
"Then we go together." Nanon stated.
"No! You've gotta stay here. I will be more focused if you stay in here." Ohm argued.
"Meung! Why do you think I'll let you handle this by yourself? Are you bulletproof now? Look, we're not going to part ways again, ever again. If this is the last days of our lives, let it end with the two of us together." Nanon insisted and intertwined their hands. Ohm swallowed and shook his head at him.
"Non, please, don't say these things. We're not dying today. Please, don't be difficult. You heard the shot. Chimon might've gotten hurt. I don't want you to get-"
"It's not a stranger in there. It's just Prom, and he's scared and on the edge." Nanon reminded him. "No matter how much he resents me for not being able to take my place in your heart, he won't shoot me. He's not like those cousins from hell." He insisted. Ohm shook his head one more time.
"If something happens to you-"
"We're gonna be alright. Both of us. I promise." Nanon told him softly and kissed him on his cheek. Ohm sighed defeatedly and then nodded to him.
The moment Ohm and Nanon decided to get out of the closet, they had no idea they would find that kind of scenario in that on-call room. The female shooter wasn't there anymore. Mark had possession of the weapon, and he had the gun pointed at Prom's head now. A horror-stricken Chimon faced the broken window in shock.
"Where's the girl?" Nanon asked as he hurried to Chimon's side.
"Mark pushed her off the window. When he tried to take the gun from Prom, she stabbed him to keep it from happening, then Mark just..." Chimon's voice trailed off as he eyed the broken glass on the floor. Ohm immediately went to check the window, and when he took a look outside, he just gasped in horror.
"It was an accident. Prom and that moron made a mistake coming here today, and so did all of you." Mark exclaimed as he pressed the barrel of the weapon against Prom's head, making the terrified youngster whine. There was blood on his hand, where the shooter had stabbed him, and his hospital gown was also turning crimson red. Everyone just assumed that he could've gotten hurt by the shards of glass from the shattered window, or the bleeding wound in his hand, but that wasn't the case.
"Let him go. The police will be here any second." A revolted Ohm warned Mark. "They certainly saw the body down there and they will figure out which floor we're on -
"Wanna trade then?" The former badminton player scowled at him. "I'll give you Prom and you give me Nanon. How about that?" He gritted his teeth and groaned in pain. Only then everyone in the room realized that he had been shot in his stomach. His blood was already soaking the hospital gown he was wearing.
"You've been shot." A startled Chimon pointed out.
"No shit Sherlock! Why do you think I had to throw Ploy out of the window? I really didn't plan to kill that crazy bitch, but if I didn't get rid of her, I would end up dead. What I did was pure self-defense. She and her partner Tapeworm here decided to gang up on me!" He sneered as he tightened his hold on Prom's shoulder and poked his head with the gun.
"Mark, you can stop this now. You must stop this now. It's over, look at you! You're gonna bleed to death. You don't need hostages. You need medical assistance." Nanon said suddenly. Mark swallowed and eyed him intensely. The former player seemed to consider the singer's words.
"If you shoot this kid, you're dead, you hear me?!" A menacing Ohm shouted angrily and took a few steps towards him.
"You come any closer, and you will be the one to blame for his death." Mark warned him. Prom trembled and shook his head at Ohm, who stayed still.
"Maybe you're confused right now, and you're unable to remember the time we spent as friends. You couldn't be faking all the time. There's still good in you. I saw it, I felt it. You might be a lot of things, Mark, but you're not a killer." Nanon hoped his approach would work and they could all get out of that room before the worst happened.
"Really? I don't know any of you, or what you're capable of. You, my so-called best friend, had a syringe when you first came to see me. Prom, who's been looking after me like a good Nong, just pointed a gun at me...Maybe I should kill you both!" Mark barked and groaned in pain at the same time.