Yoon-Ji made her way to the dimly lit lobby, whereupon a plaster statue of a woman was displayed. The sole spotlight adorned her figure, giving it an ethereal glow that illuminated the night scene. She was so drawn to the art that, for a moment, she almost forgot about her true objectives.
Only once she noticed a sign by the statue did she remember what she was intending to do. 'Right, I need to find Kyung-Jun and get my phone back.'
As Yoon-Ji scanned the lobby, her mind replayed the moment Kyung-Jun swiped her phone and disappeared into the crowd. Annoyance gnawed at her, baffled by his sudden decision to mess with her night.
"Just what is his deal?" she muttered under her breath, clutching her bag tightly. Was it because of their ruckus in the afternoon? Or was it something else entirely? As she's pondering, jus then, a familiar figure, Kim Jun-Hee, materialized beside her, focused on scanning a QR code on his phone.
After successfully scanning the code, he registered the presence beside him, sensing the unbridled confusion. He turned to her with a concerned expression. "What's wrong?" he inquired gently.
Yoon-Ji hesitated briefly before deciding to confide in Jun-Hee about Kyung-Jun's antics. She knew she could trust him; after all, he was known for his reliability, and active leadership. She gave him a recount of the incident where Kyung-Jun brazenly snatched her phone while she was about to message her father. She described how he did so, and all the things the male had said to try– though she doubted it would work so– contextualizing the action.
After hearing everything, Jun-Hee's lips formed a disapproving line as he glanced in the direction Kyung-Jun had disappeared with his cronies. "Don't worry, I'll handle it," he assured Yoon-Ji.
Grateful for his support, Yoon-Ji breathed a sigh of relief and told him directly she could join him to help. Jun-Hee seemed to consider it for a moment, but before she could get her answer they were joined by two other classmates, Yoon-Seo and Jung-Won, who had observed the interaction from afar.
"What's going on?" inquired Yoon-Seo, her gentle gaze shifting between Jun-Hee and Yoon-Ji, concern evident in her voice. "Yoon, We saw Kyung-Jun bothering you earlier. Is everything okay?"
Yoon-Ji affirmed the observation, earning a disgruntled remark from the normally quiet Jung-Won. "That guy is insufferable."
Yoon-Seo's frown deepened as she empathized with Yoon-Ji, whom they regarded as one of the most decent individuals in their class. Though they weren't particularly close, Yoon-Seo admired Yoon-Ji's amiable nature and wondered why she was being targeted.
However, Yoon-Seo also understood that for someone like Kyung-Jun, causing trouble might outweigh any consideration for decency.
Yoon-Seo passed her phone to Yoon-Ji, a gesture of kindness that momentarily eased the latter's racing thoughts. Grateful for the distraction, she quickly typed a message on the device, her heart fluttering with anticipation as she awaited her father's response. But as the minutes passed with only a single view, a wave of unease washed over her.
Normally, her father would have replied promptly, perhaps with a comforting message or a simple acknowledgment. The absence of any response sent Yoon-Ji into a quiet panic, her mind filled with anxious questions. Was her father alright? Had he forgotten to check in with her? Or was he too busy at work to respond?
A hand suddenly landed on her shoulder, jolting her out of her spiraling thoughts. She looked up to find the class president, his concerned gaze fixed on her. Though he seemed on the verge of asking what was wrong, Yoon-Ji quickly handed the phone back to Yoon-Seo, offering a grateful smile in return for her friend's kindness.
Jun-Hee, sensing the brief unwillingness from Yoon-Ji, removed his hand from her shoulder and instead took to messaging his fellow class leader about the current situation. Afterwards, he turned off his own phone screen and addressed the group. "I've already asked Kim So-Mi to take over. Let's go look for that guy, Go Kyung-Jun."
Despite her uneasiness, she nodded and skipped up to the spot beside the male. "We'll be going ahead," they bid farewell to Yoon-Seo and Jung-Won then set off to find the possessor of her phone.
As they navigated through the corridor, Yoon-Ji found herself feeling a lingering sense of discomfort. Every so often, she would glance at the walls, which seemed to stretch on for miles, even though in reality both ends were as clear as day.
Perhaps it was because of her lingering tiredness from the long ride. Or maybe it was her being unused to the place. Whatever the reason, something felt off to her.
Jun-Hee noticed her unease and turned to her. "Are you alright? Do you feel ill?" He asked as they made their way down the hallway.
Yoon-Ji thought about it before shaking her head and responding, "No, I'm fine. Just feeling... homesick already, I guess?"
"Ah, I understand," he replied, sympathising with having been through similar situations himself. His background as a competitive swimmer forced him to toughen up and, in time, get used to being away from home. So now, he rarely feels that way.
They continued down the path, a comfortable silence settling between them. Once in a while, Jun-Hee risked a glance at the girl, trying to read her expression. These actions didn't go unnoticed by Yoon-Ji, who noticed them out of her peripheral vision. The silence was starting to become unbearable, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to break it either.
Thankfully, Jun-Hee broke the silence by speaking up, filling the empty air between them. He began with the matter that was of utmost importance, given the situation.
"Go Kyung-Jun, do you have any idea why he did this?" he asked Yoon-Ji, hoping to gain some insight into the situation.
"Why he's-?" Yoon-Ji let out a sound of realisation as she figured that the male was trying to get her to open up about what could be the reason Kyung-Jun was victimising her. She thought for a bit, then sighed to herself, "Honestly, I don't know; I'm just as lost as you."
"I can count on both hands the number of interactions we've had since the school year started. Not one of them lasted for longer than two minutes, so if there's anything I'm certain of, it's that I haven't done anything to cross him or his little group." She nodded resolutely before feeling the need to follow up. "We'd probably have a better chance at knowing after confronting him directly."
Jun-Hee let out a 'right,' before quietly letting slip a small, "That guy is troublesome."
This prompted Yoon-Ji to chuckle, which in turn caused the male to also share a small laugh. Despite the fleeting moment of ease, they were interrupted by the sound of a high-pitched scream echoing from the direction of the main hall. The two immediately looked into each other's eyes, wondering what could have made one of their classmates react in such a way.
They dashed in the direction of the scream, their shoes squeaking against the floor. They eventually reached the hall and were met with an unusual sight. The main lights had been turned off. A figure enveloped in a white blanket stood in the middle of the court while all the occupants of the facility were looking on, muttering amongst themselves.
"Is that...?" Yoon-Ji trailed off as she squinted her eyes against the dark, trying to get a good look at the figure to confirm her guess.
The figure in white continued to sway for a bit while taking a few slow steps around. This action made a number of occupants of the facility flinch back, unsure of what this could mean. Some of them entertained the idea that it might be some sort of apparition, while others were simply displeased by the interruption to their activities.
One of the students, Jang Hyun-Ho, had enough of the theatrics. Grasping a basketball in his hand, he reeled his arm back and threw the ball towards the white figure as hard as he could. The impact of the ball resulted in the figure stumbling forward and dimmed lights turning back on just in time to reveal the perpetrator, who was none other than Heo-Yool.
"Are you serious?"
"Gosh,"
Some of the students let out varying groans of annoyance upon seeing the boy responsible for the prank. However, Yoon-Ji could only watch amusedly as the boy stood back up with a grin on his face before his expression suddenly changed. The boy looked as if he had just realised something, leaving Yoon-Ji wondering what could have caused such a dramatic shift in demeanour.
"Hey, Hey!" He called out towards the others, "Listen carefully. Here's what I heard here."
"A long time ago, apparently, a high school girl killed herself here," Heo-Yool told everyone. Some listened closely to his words while others only viewed the scene with unamused faces, Yoon-Ji being one of them, as she felt using the story of a girl who claimed her own life seemed insensitive.
"So! There are a few things you must not do here." The boy walked towards the other students, trying to sell the scare. "One! Don't look in the mirror and turn around at midnight. Two: If someone grabs your ankle while sleeping, don't look down. If you break these rules,"
Heo-Yool dragged his words out, keeping serious eye contact with mostly the girls, who already looked scared out of their wits.
"If you break it, a ghost will pop up!!" He suddenly bellowed as he ran towards Joo-Young's squad, rousing screams of terror from them all.
After effectively scaring the lot, he did a victory dance of sorts, laughing with Yeon-Woo while avoiding the others closing in to take revenge for the prank. Despite thinking he could escape unscathed, Eun-Chan went up to him and didn't let the boy go without at least a slap to the back of his head.
"Get out already, jerk!"
"You're a lunatic!"
Heo-Yool let out a burst of laughter, completely disregarding the curses being thrown at him, while Yeon-Woo and Eun-Chan were left to face the consequences. In the midst of the chaos, Yoon-Ji found herself scanning the hall in search of Kyung-Jun's group. However, to her disappointment, they were nowhere to be found.
She turned towards Jun-Hee and asked, "Is it alright if I put my stuff in my room first? It kinda keeps getting in the way..."
Jun-Hee gazed at the duffle bag that the girl was carrying and nodded in response. Yoon-Ji thanked him before heading in her friends' direction. However, just as she was about to continue, Jun-Hee gently grabbed her wrist and informed her of a sudden change in plans.
"Actually, you can go ahead and just rest for now. I'll find Kyung-Jun myself," he said.
Although he didn't explicitly state the reasoning for the change, Yoon-Ji carefully considered his words and was only then reminded of the bad blood between Jun-Hee and Kyung-Jun. She knew that whenever they had a confrontation, it often resulted in a fight, and if she happened upon one of those, chances were she could get caught up.
Realising this, Yoon-Ji agreed. "Okay, Thank you again for the help." With a smile and a bow of her head, she thanked Jun-Hee before walking off.
She collected her friends along the way, ushering them all out of the main hall to get to their shared room where they would celebrate the first day of their retreat.
-
After leaving the main hall and finding their shared room, the group swiftly began preparations for their celebration. While Yeon-Woo and Eun-Chan sorted through the snacks they brought, Eun-Ha quickly made herself comfortable by taking out a number of soju bottles. The room felt surprisingly cozy, and Yoon-Ji suspected her friends' presence had a lot to do with it.
"Can you come help us with this, Yoo-" Yeon-Woo's sentence was abruptly cut short when Eun-Chan snuck up behind him and slapped the back of his head.
"Yah, did you even try to put some variety in here?" Eun-Chan reprimanded, showing the bag filled to the brim with chips. "All of these are just the same ones you eat in class every day."
"So?!"
"You couldn't even get the ones I liked!"
While the other two bickered, the girls simply watched the chaos unfold before them.
"Aish!" Eun-Ha glared as the two loudly quarrelled about the chips. They were basically inconsolable when they started, so she just turned to Yoon-Ji and said, "Come sit here; don't mind them."
Yoon-Ji followed her instruction, and sat down beside Eun-Ha, eagerly reaching for the green bottle and pouring a good amount into her shot glass. She took a sip and let out a satisfied sigh, enjoying the taste of the liquid as it ran down her throat.
If you tuned out the sound of bickering between the two males, everything seemed serene. But it wasn't long before Eun-Ha, who was watching her friend closely, had the courage to break this peace to ask, "Yoon-Ji, do you..."
Said girl tilted her head and raised a brow. "Do I what?"
"Do you have a thing with the president...?!" Eun-Ha finally let out, a taunting grin on her face as she teased her friend. She saw the pair talking in the lobby and even entering the main hall accompanied by one another, so it was hard to not immediately jump to conclusions, at least for her.
Yoon-Ji attempted to explain herself, but Yeon-Woo and Eun-Chan interrupted her like they hadn't just been fighting a few moments ago, shouting, "-with the president?!"
"Stop shouting, you guys," the accused scolded, irritation crossing her face. Taking a deep breath, she continued: "No, it's nothing like you're insinuating, Eun-Ha. We were talking about trying to get my phone back."
"Eh? Why? What happened to your phone?" Yeon-Woo pried, having completely settled down to serve himself a glass of soju. The other two also leaned in, anticipating her explanation.
Yoon-Ji told them the situation, choosing to omit a few small details knowing it would likely lead her friends down a rabbithole of questions.
"That guy is insatiable," Eun-Chan commented once Yoon-Ji finished telling them everything. "They already have two punching bags, and yet they're still unsatisfied."
"Don't call them that," Yoon-Ji furrowed her brow as she scolded the male. "They don't deserve any of that; no one has to be a punching bag to anyone."
Eun-Chan and Yeon-Woo shared a glance, the latter gesturing towards the former by repeatedly making slicing motions on his neck, 'Stop.' Amidst all this, Eun-Ha busied herself with her phone, partially already tuning out the conversation after getting the gist of the actual situation she had unknowingly romanticised.
Yoon-Ji coughed into her hand, diverting from the topic: "Anyways, do any of you know where Heo-Yool is?"
"He says he's pissing," Eun-Ha huffed out a laugh, showing the message she received from said male.
Understanding what this implied, Yoon-Ji threw a thumbs up, and they all continued on without questioning Heo-Yool's whereabouts. They peacefully shared drinks and snacks with one another, exchanging a few stories here and there until they were interrupted.
"Huh?" Eun-Ha's voice hung, questioningly looking at her phone. The guys immediately took out their own phones as well and let out confused noises as they read the notification they simultaneously received.
Yoon-Ji, the outlier, glanced over Eun-Ha's shoulder to look at the notification, which simply showed as a red rectangle devoid of any text. Confused, she tried to make sense of the strange situation by checking the other two's own notifications.
She went over to the guys' side and viewed their phones. She saw things that corresponded to rules for a mafia game, similar to the one they played on the bus ride, but no matter whose phone she checked, she couldn't see any of the roles the three received.
"It's there," Yeon-Woo showed his phone, insisting that there was text showing his role as an innocent citizen.
Yoon-Ji shook her head in return, panicking. "There's really nothing there, Yeon-Woo."
She began to wonder whether she was truly awake or if she was still dreaming on that white tour bus. But that was impossible since she could feel everything she was supposed to feel. Dreams weren't like that, right?
Thankfully, Eun-Ha and Eun-Chan chimed in, saying they also couldn't see anything after viewing Yeon-Woo's screen. They took turns showing each other their own phones and concluded that there was something that was barring them from directly showing their roles.
Though the revelation eased Yoon-Ji's worries, it didn't make the situation any less bizarre.
"This must be some advanced AI stuff, huh?" Yeon-Woo awed, scanning his entire phone to try to figure out how the app was selectively showing content. He used his finger to cover the front camera of his phone and turned the screen towards Eun-Chan, who only shook his head.
"What's it for?" Yoon-Ji inquired. While the knowledge that all of them were seeing the same thing when they looked at others' phones served to ease some of her worries, she was still confused about where this game came from and what its purpose was.
"It wasn't here before we arrived," Eun-Chan remarked before guessing, "It's probably from that QR earlier."
Yoon-Ji deadpanned, "The sign said the code was for the WiFi and for downloading the retreat centre's app, not some self-installing mafia game."
"You think they aren't below adding an undisclosed part through the code?"
"Well! Whatever it is, it's already here, so you guys should just go along," Eun-Ha finally said, her fingers hovering over the screen of her phone. She looked up and told everyone in the room, "Just so you guys know, I'm innocent, got that?"
'Ping-' All their phones were notified at once, and they checked to see the game's chat function containing three consecutive messages from Heo-Yool, who was away on his bathroom escapade.
'Hi losers! Is it my turn to step out?'
'Hi losers! Let's play a game.'
'Is Baek Eun-Ha the mafia?'
Upon reading the teasing tone in the male's messages, the three couldn't help but share a laugh, leaving Yoon-Ji confused as to what had happened. Eun-Chan chuckled while showing his screen, "This jerk is extremely happy."
"Hey, I can't stand him," Eun-Ha whined, recalling the times Heo-Yool would put his suspicions on her for no apparent reason other than to mess with her. After this, she thought of an idea, which she immediately imparted to the three: "Let's kill him."
"All votes for him, huh? Are you in?" She asked, to which the two guys enthusiastically agreed, all of them voting at once, excited at the prospect of getting rid of Heo-Yool so early in the game.
Meanwhile, Yoon-Ji, defeated, glared at them, telling them, "You guys... I don't even have my phone with me yet. How could you do it without me? Now it's one person less funny."
"If you want to do something funny, you should do it in front of his face later," Yeon-Woo suggested, his tone dripping with amusement.
"Pfft," came a laugh from Eun-Ha. "He's going to go, 'Yoon?! Why would you vote for me?!'" She mimicked Heo-Yool's surprised and incredulous reaction, which drew another laugh from Eun-Chan, who grinned, "He'll be bashing his head, bowing against the floor, trying to plead innocent. Kinda like that one video."
He showed a video of a man earnestly trying to apologise, but in extreme ways, such as jumping a few feet into the air before landing on his knees in a kneel. This earned a genuinely amused laugh from Yoon-Ji, who could envision the scene perfectly. It made her even more excited to get her phone back, and for a moment, she even considered going out and finding Kyung-Jun herself, but she held off to indulge some more.
"You guys, I'm gonna do it now," Eun-Ha announced, fingers hovering over the keyboard. "I'm going to tell everyone to also vote for him."
The other two chuckled while Yoon-Ji slowly fell into silence. She took a shot of alcohol, then went back to staring blankly at the wall, as she had nothing else to do for the time being.
Yoon-Ji told herself inwardly, 'It's fine. When I get my phone back, I can join in on the fun. I can wait.'
She listened to the three talk about voting Heo-Yool before proceeding to tune them out in favor of looking at her empty glass. She considered getting another drink, but hesitated as she wasn't even much of a drinker in the first place, and she didn't want to end up getting drunk and making a fool of herself.
"I can do this," she whispered to herself, trying to stay positive. "I just have to wait a little longer until I get my phone back." She splayed out against the floor, trying to relax and calm down.
"Do you think everyone will vote him? it'll be funny right?"
"If someone doesn't vote him let's target them next!"
Hearing all the talk about the mafia game, Yoon-Ji snapped and sat up, "Ah, I want to join!"
This seemed to rouse her friends from their merriment as they looked over at her. Yoon-Ji, feeling a bit guilty for interrupting, apologised for her sudden outburst, but they quickly let it go, welcoming her back into the conversation.
Eun-Chan, who had noticed her impatience, tutted and told her, "You should just go and ask Prez if he already has your phone."
"Right," Yeon-Woo agreed, then added, "While you're there, can you also ask them if they know why the WiFi isn't working?"
Hearing this for the first time, Yoon-Ji's expression suddenly twisted in confusion: "It isn't? Then how are you all playing that game?"
"Hm, uh, it's probably an offline game?"
"Just go now, Yoon..." came Eun-Ha's input, her voice starting to drawl out from all the alcohol getting to her head. One of the boys handed her a bottle of water, which she immediately downed. "And make sure to do what we told you, okay? Don't be a killjoy!"
"Yes, yes," Yoon-Ji answered as she defeatedly stood up and patted her skirt down. She turned to Eun-Chan and Yeon-Woo and said, "You two get her outside the room later for a breather, 'kay? She needs to sober up quickly, or else the teacher will find out."
After stepping out of the room, she wasn't surprised to see many students still loitering around as their teacher had yet to return. She scanned the halls, noting all the different groups engaged in their own activities, until her eyes fell on a specific bunch huddled near the end of the corridor, as though they were exchanging top-secret information.
Upon spotting them, she approached the group and immediately asked, "Hey, do you guys know where Jun-Hee is?"
All the members of the group exchanged glances, before one of them answered, "Don't tell anyone else, but we heard from someone that he's at the infirmary right now."
"The infirmary?" Yoon-Ji repeated, "Why? Did anything happen?"
One of the girls nodded her head, "Something did happen, not to the President, but to Lee Yoon-Seo."
As soon as she heard this, she bristled. "Yoon-Seo?"
"I heard Kim So-Mi pushed her into the pool while they were conducting interviews. Luckily, Prez Jun-Hee helped her," another one of the gossipers interjected, gushing about the male's valiant effort before shifting the focus back to the other variable of the story. "That Kim So-Mi is so...!"
Not really eager to hear any more of the talk, Yoon-Ji bid the group farewell and set off in the direction of the infirmary.
Before she could continue on her way, she bumped shoulders with a male who stood a few inches taller than her. When she glimpsed his face, she recognised him as Ju Won, a fairly quiet classmate who always kept to himself. He appeared dishevelled, with a roll of tissue paper inserted in his bleeding nostril.
Appalled by such a condition, she felt a mixture of emotions-pity, anger, and guilt-brewing inside her. Upon taking notice, the boy avoided her gaze and uttered her name with uncertainty, "Y-Yoon-Ji...?"
"Yes?" She asked, but instead of getting any verbal reply, Ju Won started rummaging through his pants pocket. The girl waited patiently, watching as the male took out something familiar, his hands trembling.
"K-Kyung-Jun told m-me to give this back," the male said as he handed over the rectangular device.
A moment of silence passed between the two as the girl received her phone and then observed the roughened-up Ju Won. The frown on her face deepened as her mind supplied a possible reason for the boy's condition: "Did he... beat you and force you to do this?"
The male's head snapped up as he hurriedly answered, "N-No!"
"Then why is this..." Yoon-Ji asked out of confusion rather than curiosity. If it was truly Kyung-Jun's decision to return her phone, and he wasn't obliged to do so by Jun-Hee, why did he even take it in the first place?
She pressed the power button and was delighted to see it boot up without any issues. Her battery was full, just like she remembered it being before she left for the trip.
'So I wasn't wrong,' she sighed, relieved to see that it was merely a technical error.
She went to express her gratitude to Ju Won, but felt a pang of disappointment upon witnessing him scurry away to the comfort room. Although she wanted to go and check in on him, she thought about how the other might want some time alone and decided against doing so.
Swiftly forgetting the need to head for the infirmary, Yoon-Ji scanned the contents of phone, looking for any signs that Kyung-Jun may have messed with it. While doing so, she noticed that the same Mafia game that everyone was hyped about, was already installed on her phone.
Disbelief turning to curiosity, she tapped on the game and was promptly greeted with a welcome screen and a note that read, 'The Mafia game will begin now. Check your identity.'
After this, a white envelope flashed on screen. She tapped it once to reveal her assigned role. Before she could even digest everything, the game redirected her to the main menu, where she discovered a variety of options, including chat, vote, rules, voting status, and list of participants.
"The interface does seem pretty neat," Yoon-Ji couldn't help but comment. She went to take a look at the chat function, where the last message came from Eun-Ha, who was convincing everyone to vote for Heo-Yool.
She then went on to examine the voting status, chuckling at the overwhelming number of votes cast in Heo-Yool's favor. Considering his behavior in the main hall and his penchant for playing stupid pranks, it made sense that the majority of the students had rallied their votes against him.
Yoon-Ji looked up from her phone, searching for Heo-Yool so that she could tease him. She found him standing at the front of their group's shared room, engaging in friendly banter with Eun-Ha, as was their usual routine.
"Hey, why did you tell everyone to vote for me?" Heo-Yool called, jokingly accusatory, to which Eun-Ha retorted:
"Yeah, but why'd you tell everyone I was the mafia?"
Yoon-Ji's phone beeped, and she looked down to see more of her fellow students rallying their virtual votes against Heo-Yool, eager to weed out the potential mafia member.
Seeing the opportunity to poke fun at Heo-Yool, Yoon-Ji immediately headed in their direction, eager to play her part in the teasing. Upon arriving in front of the group, she excitedly pulled out her phone and readied her voting screen, teasing Heo-Yool by hovering her finger over his image and saying, "Hey Yool, doesn't this guy look suspicious to you?"
With a mischievous glint in her eye, she added, "Look at him radiate Mafia vibes."
Yoon-Ji didn't really think the other was a mafia; there was no doubt in her mind that Heo-Yool was just causing all this ruckus and acting suspiciously to make the game more fun. So who was she to ruin that?
"Don't vote for me, Yoon, really," Heo-Yool pleaded, his voice laced with a hint of amusement that betrayed the desperate act he was putting on.
"Everyone has already done it, so before I lose, can you at least put your vote on Baek Eun-Ha for me?" He ignored the loud 'ha?' that came from said female and instead begged in front of Yoon-Ji while giggling, "Just your one vote, please? Vote for Baek Eun-Ha for me?"
Yoon-Ji watched as her friends signalled various 'X's in her direction, to which she hesitated seeing Heo-Yool, who was still pleading and pouting in front of her. While they were engaging in playful banter, a siren and announcement rang out from the hallway's speakers.
"A minute left to vote," the announcement boomed, catching everyone's attention.
To Heo-Yool's dismay, Yoon-Ji went ahead and voted for him anyway, even though he thought he had won her over. The boy, trying to hide his disappointment, pouted. "Aww, what? You really voted for me?"
"It was for the bit," Yoon-Ji giggled, hiding the lower half of her face behind her palm. "Maybe you shouldn't have teased Eun-Ha like that."
Heo-Yool looked at the aforementioned girl, but instead of apologising, he just stuck his tongue out cheekily. He ignored the resulting reaction from the girl and took the time to marvel at the fact that someone made use of the retreat centre's intercom system just for the game.
"The announcement is brilliant!" He exclaimed, looking to the rest of the group for approval. They all agreed with his sentiment, finding the game to be surprisingly grand in scale. He then watched the numbers on his phone steadily go down and commented, "Honestly, the countdown is so cool too."
Yeon-Woo chimed in, "Right, but didn't you make this, Heo-Yool?"
"Huh? No, I didn't," Heo-Yool replied with a note of surprise, followed by Eun-Chan, who shared his own suspicion: "It can't possibly be Heo-Yool. Maybe it's one of the retreat centre's stuff."
Yeon-Woo shook his head and continued to insist that it was Heo-Yool who made the game. This back-and-forth went on for a bit while the countdown continued. Those who hadn't yet punched in their own votes easily placed their vote on Heo-Yool.
Yoon-Ji monitored the voting status closely. Everyone seemed to have just about finished voting already, with Heo-Yool coming out on top as the most picked player to 'execute', as the game put it. All that was left was to wait for the countdown to finish.
'3...2...1...' As the timer reached zero, the announcement that "the voting has ended" could be heard, echoing through the hallway.
Eun-Ha, confident in the result, turned to Heo-Yool and declared, "Well, there you have it; everyone voted for you."
Realising that he was about to lose the chance to pose as the mafia after being immediately voted out by everyone, Heo-Yool bemoaned, "Why did you guys have to vote for me? Even Yoon-Ji... You guys should learn how to keep things entertaining."
Before anyone could respond, another announcement rang out, both from the hallway speaker and on everyone's phones. "Heo-Yool with the most votes, 25 votes, will now be executed."
Some of the students bid Heo-Yool their goodbyes, mocking him, while others simply offered him words of comfort, saying that if he turned out to be a citizen, at least he would've been done a favour by being removed early on. Heo-Yool responded to their quips with a bit of a bite, but as the exchanges continued, he started to look increasingly distressed.
Noticing this, Yoon-Ji made a move to check on Heo-Yool, but he suddenly grabbed his head and hunched forward, as if feeling a tremendous amount of pain come down upon him at once.
"What is he doing?"
"There he goes again..."
The other students raised their eyebrows, thinking that Heo-Yool was just trying to generate reactions by acting weirdly. However, Yoon-Ji knew better; the first time she saw Heo-Yool squeeze his head like that, a bad feeling crept up her spine. It felt like the cold was injecting and spreading itself onto her nerves, making her freeze in place.
After a few moments passed, Heo-Yool began to yell, his voice rough and pained, gripping tightly at his head and swaying from side to side as if he were in excruciating pain. The other students fell silent, taking a step back while his friends rushed to his aid.
"Yool, hey! Are you okay?"
Yoon-Ji's voice trembled as she tested the waters, warily asking, "Heo-Yool... what's wrong?"
Eun-Chan stood by Heo-Yool's side, trying to calm him down, gently placing a hand on his shoulder, and speaking in a soothing tone. "Yool, that's enough. You need to snap out of it."
Heo-Yool looked up slowly, revealing eyes devoid of any life, staring blankly into nothingness. This caused everyone's eyes to widen in horror, and they all warily stepped back a bit more.
Without saying a word, Heo-Yool shrugged Eun-Chan's hand off his shoulder. He slowly lowered his whole body, placing himself in a full bowing position.
His friends eagerly awaited his signature laugh, waiting for any sign that he was alright and was simply messing with them. But Heo-Yool's next actions only sent the group further into a state of shock as he reeled his head back and then slammed it against the ground repeatedly, each hit done with more force than the previous ones.
The sudden and violent change in Heo-Yool's behaviour left the students around him stunned. Gasps and screams of terror filled the room as they witnessed his wild movements, with some covering their mouths in horror and others standing motionless, unable to look away from the disturbing scene unfolding before their eyes.
"No!" Yoon-Ji rushed and tackled Heo-Yool, aiming to prevent the boy from hurting himself more than he already did. Eun-Chan, Yeon-Woo, and a few others ran to her side, helping to restrain the boy's arms and legs to keep him from thrashing around.
"Yool!" Yoon-Ji screamed aloud, reaching to take his face in hand and trying to snap him back into reality. "Yool, please! Wake up!"
They didn't know what else to do. No amount of yelling, slapping or crying did anything. It seemed they'd already exhausted their options, and all they could do was restrain him and hope for a breakthrough.
"Wake up!"
As if her screams were heard, the thrashing ceased abruptly, and everything fell silent, leaving Yoon-Ji's sobbing the only thing heard in the hall. The guys loosened their grip on Heo-Yool, allowing Yoon-Ji a chance to catch her breath.
It was then that Heo-Yool's mouth started to slowly open, and his tongue moved as if he were getting ready to speak. Seeing this gave everyone an initial spark of hope that Heo-Yool was about to come to his senses.
But that hope was quickly dashed as things escalated from bad to worse. The next thing Yoon-Ji knew, tiny splatters of blood were staining her cheeks. Her gaze was locked onto Heo-Yool's mouth, where a bloodied row of teeth repeatedly and forcefully bit down a mutilated tongue.
She caught a brief flash of green from the corner of her eyes, and before she knew it, she was already ways away from her friend, a pair of hands pulling her back from trying to near the scene. When Heo-Yool began mutilating his own tongue, she figured someone had dragged her away, but she couldn't bring herself to care when she had witnessed a bloodied Heo-Yool rising back up on his own and instantly ramming his head on a framed painting on the wall. The sound of the glass shattering coincided with the terrified cries of the entire class.
"Yool!"
"Stop!"
The male repeated the same thing and bashed his head against the framed painting on the opposite wall, falling to the floor, but never completely falling dead. By this point, the male's face had practically turned unrecognizable. Gone was his trademark expression full of joy and childish mischief.
"N-No...!" Yoon-Ji had, at one point, lost all her voice after screaming her friend's name desperately. Her knees gave out beneath her, and she could do nothing else but loudly sob as she watched Heo-Yool swiftly run towards the end of the hall and bust out the window, falling from a height where no one could simply survive.
"Heo-Yool was a citizen," came the announcement from the speaker, the words echoing through Yoon-Ji's ears as her mind thought back to the game.
'It's the game,' a painful realisation shot through her, making her shakily place her palm over her mouth to prevent herself from sobbing out loud. 'The game was real, and we just voted to execute him.'
'Did we...kill Heo-Yool?'
Outside Yoon-Ji's bubble, different questions floated around amongst the students. There was no denying that they were all confused and even more afraid for their own lives after seeing what happened to their classmate.
"What's going on?"
"What just happened to Heo-Yool?!"
The students reeled from the shock of the incident, unable to make sense of what they had just witnessed. With no answers to their questions, they could only stand around, their hearts heavy with uncertainty.
Meanwhile, with how fast things escalated, some of the students were still so overcome with disbelief that they couldn't accept the fact that their classmate was truly gone. They tried to run to the window and peep outside, hoping to catch a glimpse of Heo-Yool and confirm the news for themselves, but before they could even fully comprehend the weight of the situation, it was as if a mysterious force had overtaken the entire hall, rendering the students completely senseless.
In the blink of an eye, they were all sprawled on the floor, immobile and unconscious. Their minds were lulled by the soft, soothing melody floating in the breeze, enveloping their bodies as they lay there in the dark.
Little did they know, this was only the start of their torment, and they were about to awaken to a terrifying reality that, never in their entire lives, they could have imagined.
( note )
remember me cutting the previous
chapter because it was at 3k?
Yeah... this one's at 6k...
I considered separating this to
make two chapters, but I don't
want y'all to wait any longer
just so I can set up the ep1
so I'm leaving it at this length
Heo-Yool's gone gone, so this marks
the actual start of the game.
I hope y'all tune in to Yoon-Ji's
interventions to canon 😘!
unedited !