A/N: Buckle your seat belts because you're on a roller-coaster ride!
Behind them the rest of the contestants were starting to complain, discussing with raised voices, hoping that their anger would drown their worry.
There were a few attempts to break in the door, either with one of the 5 chairs in the centre of the room or, for the desperate ones, with their fists and shoulders. The loud bangs and thumps of material clashing against the wooden door faded within minutes, replaced by heavy panting and sharp inhaling noises.
"It's no use, I'm pretty sure the door's fake." Hyungwon pointed out sullenly, muttering "fucking asshole" and looking away from the scratches on the off-white surface, which marked their depressingly futile attempts.
"That just makes things more frustrating." Shownu replied, stating the obvious. He kicked the door one last time while cursing loudly, looking beside him at the chair he used as an attempt to break in. The intensity and fury in his eyes looked like he was about to murder the white furniture.
"Why isn't Smiley coming back? We need the instructions. It's supposed to be a game, right?" Kihyun said, wincing at the word 'game', having truly tasted the absurdity of the one-word description of the current situation. "I mean, he thinks it's a fucking game."
No one looked at the screens anymore, too scared and confused to try deciphering the messages on them. By doing that, they successfully tricked their brains into thinking there was nothing to worry about, as long as the truth wasn't shown to them. Took in their place were instead frustration and anger, which were emotions their limbs and mouth happily reacted to.
Changkyun was busy explaining everything to Minhyuk, stopping for a moment when he heard about the doors being fake. That might be the explanation as to why he couldn't hear anything. But the answer was far from certain. For the sakes of both Jooheon and Wonho, he needed to know the actual one.
"What happened? Are you ok?" Minhyuk asked, shaken by what Changkyun had previously shared to him but equally worried about the despair written all over his friend's face.
Changkyun nodded, feeling his dry lips crack when he forced a smile. Minhyuk returned it with one of his own, none less forced than Changkyun's. "You were talking about the virtual reality headsets on those two. But I still don't understand, why don't they just take it off?" He wasn't showing it, but Minhyuk was using up all his resources trying not to squirm at the images of Wonho and Jooheon stuck in a room helpless. The sole idea of it was enough to make him sweat and shake with overwhelming anxiety.
"I don't know, but there are two possible reasons I thought of." Changkyun's voice was reduced to barely a whisper, as if voicing whatever was in his head was hurting his throat. He figured it wasn't really far from the truth when he began explaining. "Either they are both too scared and traumatized to take it off, or..." The words were unable to form properly. Changkyun gulped and tried again. The possibility of his words becoming the truth was too scary.
"Or they can't take it off. The headsets are stuck onto their heads some way or another."
Minhyuk covered his mouth to stifle a gasp, not wanting to grab attention just yet. "Fuck...I wish I can at least see Jooheon. Even if it's just through a screen. It's too dark to see shit."
Changkyun placed a hand on Minhyuk's shoulder, feeling it tremble slightly just like his hands were. "I'm sure he's fine. He's a good person." Changkyun wasn't sure how being a good person would help, but that was the truth.
Minhyuk's lips curled up a fraction of a degree but the weak smile disappeared after a split second, eyes looking at Changkyun but drifting off to elsewhere.
"Minhyuk? Are you ok?" Changkyun said, increasing his grip on the lean shoulder.
Tears pooled behind Minhyuk eyes when Changkyun brought him back to reality from the short memory trip. Minhyuk wasn't close enough with the other people in this room to let tears fall that easily and make a scene, but his resolve was shattered a long time ago. It felt good to let the hot tears blur his vision and wet his cold cheeks.
By succumbing to the restraints Minhyuk freed himself from them.
He told Changkyun everything that happened last night as if he was just telling a sad story. "Yesterday night, I woke up finding Jooheon on the floor. He was going to the toilet but got hit when he saw someone walk past the door. I shouldn't have slept after I saw him go back to sleep. I should've known something was wrong and stayed up to look after him."
Changkyun shook his head and wiped Minhyuk's tears away with the napkin he always keep in his pocket. He hadn't changed it since the day he arrived the building, but he rinsed it last night so it should be clean enough. Changkyun hugged Minhyuk and stayed in the position until he stopped crying.
"By the way, I heard beeping in the box. Like there was a device in there." Minhyuk said quietly, sniffing and blinking hard with his swollen red eyes.
Deep in thought, Changkyun frowned and looked around the ceilings and walls of the room. Somehow everything clicked into place magically and the answer found its way to his head. It wasn't a significant answer, but it was something. He felt good to get at least one problem solved. "Smiley's listening to our conversation. We know that he has a camera in every room, or else he wouldn't be 'supervising' us while playing the games. Having another device to record what we say isn't surprising."
Minhyuk nodded. "So, what are you implying?"
"He was watching us for fun. When all of us stop showing new reactions, Smiley will continue." Changkyun explained, turning around to look at the other three contestants, two of which have already sat down and gave up. The last one standing had his arms crossed and was staring into space, silent and thinking quietly.
"They were just listening to us talk." Minhyuk added, understanding. "Well, I think you told me everything you have to tell me."
Changkyun shrugged, but his shoulders were so sagged it barely moved. "Yea. I wanted you to help me break the truth to the others afterwards, but I realized Smiley was going to tell them anyways."
During the conversation, Minhyuk was standing right next to the box, which was next to the door they came in from. They wanted a little privacy, but surely didn't expect what happened next.
This was the exact reason why he almost got hit in the back by the door when it got slammed open, startling everyone in the room.
Kihyun and Hyungwon scrambled up to their feet and could only stare in horror and bewilderment when Changkyun and Minhyuk – who were standing closest to the entrance – got dragged forcefully to the chairs in the middle of the room.
Five people dressed in black wearing masks (yes, the yellow ones with a smiley face on it) walked in the room purposefully and aimed for a contestant that wasn't already taken by another worker.
They grab Kihyun's shoulders and Hyungwon's hands, barely using any effort to pull their light bodies and force them onto the white chairs. Shownu was the hardest to deal with. He struggled and pushed away a few workers, most successful in fighting back so far.
A sixth worker appeared out of nowhere and hand cuffed everyone that was previously held in place on the chairs by the other workers. Minhyuk noticed that the box was opened. The handcuffs must've been stored there. But that didn't matter anymore. When everyone was locked in place, the iron grips on their shoulders were released. The sixth worker, the only female with the long hair, picked up the chair that was previously used to break in the doors and returned it to its rightful place. Just in time for Shownu to be placed down like the others.
Any remaining hope in their hearts had completely faltered away. If anyone had chances of escaping, it would be Shownu. But now that he was here, restrained like the others were, they knew they weren't going back any time soon.
Too stunned to fully comprehend the situation, they looked at each other with shaking eyes and twitching lips. The shock and fear were too overwhelming for the body to react, yet they were given almost no time to contemplate about feelings when despair and sorrow quickly flooded in, adding to the storm of emotions eroding the inner walls of their heart.
Looking deeply into each other's darkened eyes, everyone saw the same amount of anguish that reflected and matched their own. The game had taken an ugly turn.
The five workers, excluding the female one, stood behind the chairs, one in between every two contestants. For what, they couldn't be certain. They weren't even sure whether they wanted to know. The metal biting into their skin were enough to be a constraint, but maybe they were guarding in case someone managed to break out.
They sure hoped someone could actually do that.
Moments passed and the fear had become a bit more bearable. Shownu was just about to protest when a deep rumble accompanied with ground shaking filled them with a whole new layer of apprehension.
The walls, along with the screens and the doors and the couch, retreated backwards and disappeared into the underground when four flaps opened beneath them. In a matter of seconds, the chair they were sitting on and the carpet beneath it were the only things left that were white in the new room.
Now, everything was grey. The room was bigger than any of the contestant's houses, so big and empty that even the smallest sound created an echo so big it resounded in your brain for a good 30 seconds. There were no machines in view, but from the rumbling and whirring of engines, things had to look a lot more complicated under the ground than what was on the surface. The noise was not pleasant to listen to, but when it finally quietens down, the five contestants would rather face the alternative.
The screams and shouts were back.
Clearly, whatever they heard back in the makeshift room were only parts of the truth hidden behind the sound proof walls.
Minhyuk felt a hand sliding in to grab onto his own. He turned around and saw Changkyun's stiffened body, unaware of his own taut muscles bulging with fear. The screams indicated that both Wonho and Jooheon were still alive and relatively well, but despite the logic behind it, it did nothing to tamper the terror already etched deep into all of them.
Shownu struggled to break free again. Kihyun frowned at him and tried to stop him with a worrying look. But when Shownu didn't stop, the two men standing beside him and held him down with so much force he groaned. No words, just actions. But that was no doubt an unspoken warning for everyone else sitting. Kihyun gave them a deadly glare but said nothing else.
They waited, not knowing what to say, not wanting to say anything.
When the speakers finally turned on, their faces said of those who had lost every single last drop of hope in humanity that had ever existed. Despite that, their slumped bodies straightened up when the first word was delivered through the speakers. Anger flashed through their wary eyes, even for just an instant.
Everything happened too quickly. The change was too abrupt for them to accept it as their fate just yet. They demanded for answers, an explanation.
They have never wanted to win a game so badly before.
For a good five minutes Smiley taunted the five contestants and had fun provoking them by keeping the rules of the game a secret. No one knew where Jooheon and Wonho were, despite hearing the occasional shouts of shock and sometimes even whimpers of fear. There were no rooms or visible doors from where they are sitting, and the screens that showed a live recording of their rooms were no where to be seen as well.
Hyungwon had to wonder whether everything was fake, whether everything they had seen was what the people behind this wanted to see. And by the angry and frustrated looks on everyone's faces, they probably thought the same. Truthfully, Jooheon and Wonho could be in even more danger if what they witnessed before was all fake, but they chose to cling on the small possibility of Smiley being a bastard and hiding the two contestants just to scare the others.
"Where are they?" Finally Minhyuk couldn't take it anymore and interrupted Smiley, hissing to one of the workers as if he was the actual person. He could be, as with the four other workers, but the masks made it impossible to tell.
Smiley sighed, disappointed at the interruption. But he clicked a button nevertheless and the flaps reopened, bringing everything back. Minhyuk and everyone else flinched at the increased volume of Jooheon and Wonho's cries. "They are so fucking loud. Jesus." Smiley said, clicking another button and actually making the noise disappear.
Breaths were hitched, minds racing and imagining the horrible ways one can do to shut people up. To their greatest relief Smiley's complaint about the stupid mistake of installing an audio receiver along with the camera ensured them that no one was hurt. At least not physically hurt.
Smiley must've gotten impatient waiting as well, because he finally started explaining the whole objective of the game.
At this point they couldn't say it was a game anymore.
Changkyun didn't know how to feel when he learnt that all of his speculations earlier were true. Even though Smiley told them Jooheon and Wonho haven't passed out yet from the shock and weren't likely to, it disgusted him how cruel a person can be.
Following disgust was fear. Not knowing what Smiley planned to do to the rest of the contestants had him shuddering uncontrollably. Because of the chains attached to the handcuffs, he could move his hands around, but the area of activity was limited only around his chair. He let his arms fall from the armrest and dug his nails into his thighs. It was his way of stopping the shuddering whenever he was nervous, and it had worked perfectly before. He could only hope it did as well now.
"For the very first contestants that joined this adventure, you would know that this is just a simple game like the first one." Shownu and Hyungwon shared gazes and gulped, knowing very well that the game that determined their fate was nowhere near simple. "You want to help your friends escape, but I want to keep them in their rooms. It's as simple as that. Normally I don't like sharing, but since there are two of them, we can make a deal."
The implications behind those words sent shivers down everyone's spine. Lips were bit and abused while they try to swallow any words of protest, not wanting to risk provoking Smiley and suffering from the consequences afterwards.
"Take out your phones." The way Smiley said it sounded like he was going to elaborate. But when he repeated the sentence with a shout, no one said a word and fumbled in their pockets for their phones. It wasn't an easy task when your hands have limited movement, and once again they found themselves swallowing anger and frustration when Smiley teased at them for being slow.
"Open the Smiley app and you will see a new screen with two big buttons on it." There were mutters of curse words when they saw Wonho on one button and Jooheon on the other.
"Just like the very first game, all you have to do is make a choice. You get to have one back, and I get to keep one. Sounds fair to me."
How Smiley objectified two wonderful people right in front of Minhyuk set off an explosion in his chest. The flame was always there from the very beginning, and the fuse was shrinking in size with every passing moment. Now that it exploded, there was no holding back.
He reached out to press the button that would save Jooheon.
Changkyun caught him at the last moment and warned sternly. "Minhyuk, no." Minhyuk groaned and tried to twist his hand away from Changkyun's grip. He never knew his friend could be this strong.
"Let go of me!" Minhyuk shouted, making the chains rattle angrily. Shownu, Kihyun, and Hyungwon were looking at them nervously. Smiley was probably enjoying every moment of this.
"You haven't listen to all of the rules yet." Changkyun explained, his voice surprising calm despite the iron grip and white knuckles that showed otherwise. Minhyuk's continued struggle showed that he didn't care. Changkyun placed down his phone and used his other hand to reinforce the grip.
He warned again, more loudly, "It can't be as easy as what you think it is! After all of this, do you still think Smiley would make things easy?" Minhyuk seemed to be swayed as his hand relaxed a bit under Changkyun's grip. Changkyun released one of his hands and continued.
"Besides, you can't just choose the person you want to save. If what Smiley said is true, we can only save one. Just wait, ok? We're supposed to be a team." Changkyun stared at Minhyuk, reading his expression. When he was sure Minhyuk was completely resigned, he let go of his friend's hand and picked up his phone.
"Well said, Changkyun." Smiley said. Changkyun looked straight ahead, trying to look indifferent. He understood giving no reaction was the best way to speed up the process. Though he wasn't sure if he wanted the process to be sped up anymore.
"He was right, you are a team. And teams work together to achieve the same goal." As if following Changkyun's warning, everyone listened intently for the rest of the instructions. Their hands grasped onto their phones tightly.
"Which is why all five of you have to select the same button. You should feel lucky Changkyun stopped Minhyuk just in time." Minhyuk clenched his jaw, irritated. He couldn't read any of the expressions that were directed to him. He wasn't sure if it was of contempt or relief, or a mixture of both. All he knew was that he was made a potential danger for the rest of the team.
"You have all the time you want to make your choice, but you have only one chance. Once you press a button, there's no going back." Smiley continued.
As much as Kihyun wanted to just get this over with and save the victims already, he needed to know something. Not that he was likely to find the answer pleasing. "What happens if we select different people?"
"Then that shows me you're not a team, and not worthy of taking one of your teammates back."
Kihyun clenched his teeth at the answer, even though the bubbling anxiety was evidence that he should've expected nothing better.
"Okay, now that we got the instructions out of the way, I'm going to tell you what exactly is going on in Jooheon and Wonho's room. I'm sure this will help you make your decision."
It was going to be horrible listening to Smiley's version of whatever was happening to their friends, but it was undeniable that they needed to know what Jooheon was facing. And even though they saw what happened to Wonho through the screen previously, there was no saying it was the truth.
"The games you played previously were boring, I know. But the point was to get you to talk so I get to know more about you. I really have to thank Hyungwon and Changkyun for telling me Wonho was afraid of heights. So of course, Wonho thinks he is now standing on a tower so tall he can't see the ground anymore. It's funny how someone so strong is actually scared of heights. He was the person the broke my mask too, which was impressive."
Hyungwon and Changkyun either dug their nails into any exposed skin or bit the insides of their mouth. They did anything to keep the burning tears – surfacing because of guilt and sorrow – at bay behind their eyes, even though it was stinging and felt like it was on fire.
"Anyways, as for Jooheon, it took me a while to make that choice. But eventually I realized he looks so uncertain and troubled whenever the lights are turned off. And after some research, I figured he was scared of bugs too. So now he thinks he is suck in a dark room full of bugs. Whenever I press a button to blow some wind across his skin, he thinks it's a bug."
As ironic as it sounded, Minhyuk was thankful he was tied to a chair. He wouldn't know what he would do if he were free to do whatever he wanted. And he knew he would've regretted it afterwards. It was better having no choices sometimes. At least he wouldn't make the wrong one.
"As a side note, both of them managed to stay conscious. It's been almost an hour since I placed them there. But I'm not sure if they can deal with it any longer. Wonho is shivering more vigorously, but Jooheon is screaming and whimpering more. It's your choice who you think needs more help." That was all they got before the "game" began. Smiley kept everything too vague for anyone's liking. But even if he wrote a whole essay about it, they doubt it would help with their decision-making.
"Oh, and one more thing. Since this is the last game, the tip I gave you last time is the most important here. Let me remind you. You get what you want from playing this game, but it's ultimately your decisions that create your fate."
No one else seemed to notice because of the upcoming decision they had to make, but Changkyun found Smiley's advice really suspicious. It was out of place. He couldn't understand why an advice was so generously given when Smiley was clearly doing something way crazier than that. In a time like this, in a situation like this, he wasn't going to risk the consequences that neglecting something even only the slightest suspicious would bring.
The observation disturbed him in many ways, but his brain told him an answer wasn't available any time soon. But he needed to know. And he was going to find out.
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So the ICT paper I did today was actually quite easy (hopefully I didn't get my hopes too high) 😄😄😄 Btw, I want to thank the people who actually reads the author notes I sometimes have, it makes me feel connected with you :))
Also, tell me what you feel about Changkyun being the "smart" one that MIGHT be able to solve this problem...