*The next morning*
The loud sound and buzz of a notification appearing on the computer screen, made Doyoung suddenly open his eyes. His upper body got up abruptly from the desk he was laying at, causing the man to close his eyelids again, in order to stabilize the way he breathed.
His chest moved quickly up and down, hence why Doyoung had one of his hands placed upon it. After some time, he felt more relaxed and that's when his eyes fell on the hour that was written with pixelated letters on the computer screen.
"10.30. a.m."
"Huh?" Doyoung exclaimed confused and furrowed his eyebrows. "That's strange..." He pointed out and got up from the chair.
Usually Yuta would wake him up earlier, but...maybe he was still asleep?
Doyoung then remembered the note Yuta had left the night before.
Did he...return after taking care of that emergency?
"Yuta...?" He asked.
No answer.
"Yuta you're scaring me...Yuta!" His voice came out louder than before, and the man started searching all around the house in order to find him. "Yuta?! Yuta where are you?"
He was starting to get slightly panicked. A lot of possible negative scenarios crossed his mind but he didn't want to pay any attention to them. He didn't want to believe that something bad had happened to him.
Just then his phone started ringing.
"Hello?" Doyoung asked.
"Doyoung?! Omg thank god you answered the phone. I was starting getting worried."
Doyoung pouted confused. "Worried? Why what happened?"
"You..." Taeil took a long pause. "You don't know?"
"I don't know what? Taeil you're scaring me, is everything alright?"
Taeil didn't want to answer this question. If he had the option to not deliver the bad news to Doyoung he would pick it, but now there was no way he could get out of this situation. "Doyoung first of all...I need you to promise me that you will keep calm." He told him. "Because what you're about to hear..." The man stopped talking and breathed in heavily, the sentence he was about to form felt difficult. "Might...surprise you...in...a very negative way." The more he talked, the more he struggled to get the words out of his mouth.
"Taeil...what happened?"
"It's..." Taeil sighed.
"What is it?!"
"It's about Yuta, Doyoung he..." A small and intense pause followed. "He is dead..."
Doyoung didn't answer. He stood still but tried to make sure that what he heard was in fact correct. "Wh...what?"
"Yuta is dead Doyoung." Taeil said again, this time more bluntly.
A moment of silence followed and Taeil started to get scared. "Doyoung...?" He asked hesitantly. "Are you still there?"
But Doyoung didn't even listen to this question. The noise entered his one ear and got out of the other. He didn't want to hear anything else. In the end...he couldn't save Yuta. But even if he tried to reject it...this was the truth. This was...the reality.
It felt like something inside him broke. A wound that could not be healed.
Jungwoo was dead.
Sicheng was dead.
Mark was dead.
Haechan was dead.
Taeyong was dead.
And now...Yuta...was dead as well...
What was this game even about? Did everyone of them...every single one of the men that died manage to fulfill their wishes? Make their biggest dreams come true?
"Doyoung...?" Taeil asked again. "Can you hear me?"
Doyoung wanted to give up...
But he couldn't...
Not yet.
He had to find who Simon was.
"Yes..." He answered, his voice weaker than before. "Yes Taeil I can hear you."
"This must have been very hard for you..."
"It's..." He thought about it a little more. "It's...hard..." Doyoung announced. "But every single death was a lot to take in."
"I know..." Taeil sighed. "But...that leaves only three of us right?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean..." Taeil said. "That means that one of us must be Simon right?"
"We can't exactly know that.." Doyoung replied. "But you have a point."
"How can we not know that? The answer is clear. Only three of us have left so that means Simon is definitely one of us."
"Maybe..." The man paused. "But let's not make assumptions so quickly. Let's meet up and discuss about it, this is the best we can do after all."
"Right..."
"Let's meet up today, I will call Johnny as well and let him know."
Taeil wanted to prevent him from calling the other man. But deep down he knew that there was no way he could convince him otherwise. "Ok then..." So in the end he just agreed.
"We will discuss about Yuta's funeral as well." Doyoung said. "I...I will search about it myself in the meantime, I mean...I will search more details about Yuta's death."
"Ok..."
"Well...I will see you later I guess."
"See you later."
And the phone call ended.
--
*In the afternoon*
The air was cold, and the wind was blowing around the dark sky strongly, hitting mercilessly Taeil's face the more he walked, the force becoming stronger and stronger with every step he took. He had his eyes slightly closed, in order to protect them from the bad weather.
After some time that felt like hours to him, he stepped inside the café Doyoung had told them to meet up to. Taking off his coat, his gaze looked left and right, in hopes that it would fall upon the familiar figures of the men. While he was trying to find them, he saw a hand waving at him and thankfully it was Doyoung's.
He stepped closer to his direction and sat next to him, unfortunately noticing that the other man he wanted to avoid had joined them as well.
"Sorry for being late." Taeil said and breathed out.
"It's ok. We just got here as well." Doyoung smiled and reassured him that it was fine.
"Oh...ok then."
"Well now that we are all here let's discuss about the thing you wanted to talk." Johnny announced strictly, looking at Doyoung.
"I insisted that we meet up, because we still haven't solved the mystery yet."
"What mystery?" Johnny asked, rolling his eyes uninterested.
"The mystery of finding who Simon is." Doyoung said. "His identity still remains unknown."
"Maybe the game has already finished." Johnny suggested. "No one has done a mission in a while as it seems."
"And how would you know that Johnny?" Taeil asked.
"I said 'as it seems' Taeil." He answered. "It was only an assumption."
"Guys, I read an article regarding Yuta's death and...his murder is very similar to Haechan's. Maybe they were both killed by the same person." Doyoung announced.
"Maybe..."
"Well...who would have done this?" Johnny asked. "Do you think Simon did it?"
"Possibly..." Doyoung answered.
"Also." Taeil interrupted the conversation. "Only three of us remain so this means that Simon has to be one of us."
"What kind of nonsense is this?" Johnny asked, a neutral expression painted on his face.
"It's common logic Johnny. Almost everyone has died. Who else could it be?"
"Maybe Simon is none of us after all..." Johnny said.
"Wh...what?!" Taeil announced surprised. "Is that even possible?!"
"Maybe in the beginning when he said that Simon is one of us...he just wanted to turn us against each other. In order to not suspect the real Simon."
"That could be possible." Doyoung added to Johnny's statement.
"But...I don't get it. This can't be it...none of us?! I don't believe it." Taeil said.
"Everything is possible..." Doyoung relied. "We can't be certain about anything at this point...but one thing is for sure." He said. "I'm going to find Simon and stop this game."
"Ok then." Johnny replied. "But Doyoung..." He took a small pause. "I think you need to know something about Yuta."
"I think I know everything I need to know Johnny." Doyoung answered strictly.
"Ok then..." Johnny shrugged and turned his whole attention to the catalogue he was holding.
"What is it Johnny?" Taeil asked intrigued.
"It's-"
"Let's not talk about what Yuta has done in the past. Let's focus on now, and in our current situation. We also have to arrange his funeral as well." Doyoung suggested.
"You're right." Johnny answered and all of the men decided to not bring up what had happened in the past.
~Hmm...👀👀. Do you think that Doyoung will be able to find who Simon is and stop the game?
Also I just wanted to tell you guys that ilyyy🥺🥺. Like you all are just so sweet and if it weren't for you I probably would have never come this far. Thank you for the support and for all the love you have shown me❤️❤️. Aghh I literally don't deserve you.🤧🤧🤧~