The school bell rings*
'…what .. What just happened?'
I adjust my body and touch my head. It feels like it should be swollen but it's not. I look around and find the rest of the students, half of them still sleeping and some are regaining their consciousness just like me.
"My head hurts."
"Why are we laying on the floor?"
"I don't have any idea."
"Heoyul.."
I can tell Yoonseo is awake by how she is standing over the window Yul jumped over.
Our phones buzz with notification. I open the screen the moment I hear a strange woman's voice through the school speakers at the same time.
"Before the last vote ended, the police used their skill.'
"Choi juwon was executed by the mafia."
"Choi juwon was mafia."
'What the hell is this all about?'
"All participants, identify the mafia and begin to vote."
"Where is Juwon?"
Yoonseo asks everyone but no one answers. I find Dabum stumbling a bit, coming closer and passing by me and even ahead next to Yoonseo.
"The broadcast room, who's responsible for it? Quick, let's check who's messing with us!"
Wooram suggests a good idea for someone who just woke up, considering how everyone still with his emotions all stirred up. "The studio is on the second floor." Hyunho says, "Let's go now."
I follow from behind as I grab the hands of Nahee who is still laying on the floor suggesting that we can go together. I notice our class couple too holding hands together and coming with us so we can all check the studio room.
Both Hyunho and his friend nod a single time with their heads as Hyunho puts his hands on the door knob and moves it slowly. The moment they open the studio's door, they dash in so we do, to be met with nothing.
'How come there is no one? Where is the woman who just spoke? That doesn't make any sense.'
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Hyunho enters the recording room but he sees no one. We met with nothing except only that weird cup of coffee again. again.
"What are we going to do now?"
Nahee looks at me then Hyunho, and I wish I could answer her but I don't. My phone buzzes with notification and I open it to check, so does everyone else.
Junhee, the class president, sends a message with an order.
"Everyone, let's leave the building. Now!"
We all start moving and head outside the centre as we flood everywhere in the burning sun heat. I feel a bit of hope starting to rise again inside of me. 'No matter who or what madman did this to us, you will find your end. Just wait for us to call the cops.'
"Where should we go?"
"This way, I saw a gas station yesterday on our way to this centre. Let's go there!"
'Great Idea class president. I wonder if we can find a vehicle nearby?'
I search with my eyes for any car, bus or anything that we can ride. 'Where did the bus go?'
"warning ! Warming! Warning !"
"The game must take place within the boundaries."
'It's the woman from the speaker! but how? We just checked the studio room right now, this is impossible!'
"What does that mean?"
"Why are we stopping?"
"What is this all about?"
"Hey, do you hear that?"
"What should we do now?
The warning alarms keep going on and off as we stay in our place clueless, until it reaches our phone screens too. I check everyone and they all have the same sign just as I look over Nahee phone next to me and Hyunho's. Then I search with my eyes towards what will the class president do now, or where are the rest of the students? Are all of us here? I guess yes we are.
'Boundaries, The white line?'
My eyes keep changing their direction between the white line and the students to see what we will do. I turn around and check the faces of the students as I notice Kyungjun close to the centre main gate. He's in the back with Seungbin and Jinha.
"Guys, hold on! Let's stay here for a bit."
"Why?"
"Something is off." The class president says.
"Do you believe in this nonsense?" Sanghwan shouts on Junhee's face, "I don't fucking care, I'm out of here."
"No! Stop!"
Sanghwan steps over the boundaries with his friend following him. And I wait for a second, a goddammit second where my heart stops to see if something is going to happen, maybe it's an april fool day, maybe it's a nightmare and this is all hallucinations. Maybe the teachers are just playing this prank as a surprise welcoming gift.
"For breaking the rule, Lee Sang Hwan will be executed."
"For breaking the rule, Kim hyun seok will be executed."
'How I wished for this to be the case.'
"AH!"
"What the fuck!"
"Oh my god!"
'How I wished for this.'
I step back and hold Nahee's hand as she hold mine when we witness two bodies who are killing each other in animal-like behaviors, bumping and cracking each other skulls with fractures mixed with their blood splattering,
"What are you guys doing?"
"Someone stop them.."
"Guys, knock it, stop!"
"What's wrong with you guys!"
"Don't do this! Stop."
I look at the ground hearing the screams and noises of two people hitting each other, my eyes then look at Nahee's pale face and shaky hands. I clench on her hand even more to calm her down amidst all the shouts and screams. I momentarily succeed in getting her attention for a second as she looks at me holding her tears, and I thought I held mine too until I found myself wiping away them too with my other sweaty hand.
"Lee Sang Hwan and Kim hyun seok were citizens."
'How I wished for this to be a dream.'
All the students decide to move inside the building once again after what we just witnessed. I look at them as some smudged with the rotten smell of blood, they must be the nearest when it happened.
Seungbin is the one who loses his cool first and throws his phone to the floor, but it doesn't break.
"Why aren't the telephones working? "
It's all weird. pictures and memories' flashes upon me like an old tape keeps switching between one scene after another. The weird bus driver, the rigid staff members including the receptionists and their flat responses, the voice of the strange woman in the speaker even though we were just there.
"What do we do now? What if we all end up dying?"
"Our teacher will be back soon. Let's wait."
'It's not like you can order someone to kill themselves right off the bat and they will gladly follow your order, this whole situation doesn't make any sense. The way we also passed on yesterday at the same exact time, like a countdown timer inside our brains that shut off at the same time. Is it because a lunatic murder running around or a supernatural occurrence?'
"How much longer do we have to stay in the same places as these dead bodies? I hate it!"
"Can you not call them bodies?"
"They're dead, what else should I call them huh?"
Different students keep pickering in the background as I just stare at the white marble ceramics.
'I don't remember eating anything with an electronic bug or getting an injection with any chemical substance. Speaking of food, isn't this the most important source right now?'
"Hey! Will you do something! We need to go home!"
"Yah, will you be quiet? How can you say that after you saw what happened to them?"
I raise my head to look over Eunchan smacking a column before calming down Mina, I take the advantage of how everyone seemed preoccupied and I whisper to Nahee.
"For now, stick beside Hyunho. I will go somewhere."
"What are you going to do in a time like this?"
"Don't worry, I need to understand something, so I will go and search for it."
"Are you going to be fine? We can go with you if you want."
Hyunho hears us and steps into the conversation.
"That's right. I don't think it's a good idea to be alone during this time."
"Don't worry."
I guess it's easier to find yourself working with your roommates. I look at Hyunho and I raise my finger to him. "Take care of her."
I step away from the gathering and take one last turn towards Nahee as she looks at me too from a distance.
'She knows I'm the doctor.'
At the same time Yoonseo, Jeongwon, and Junhee go to the roof to check a theory they will inform us about in a few minutes. I take this moment and fully disappear from the crowd and go search for the security room.
There must be tools one can use for self protection, I stop my feet from hurrying and I randomly follow one of the hallways to see where my feet land me. I keep walking, checking the inside of each room so quickly with only my eyes.
'Security room!'
I hurriedly touch the door knob of the room that my eye catches the sign writing across. I give it a try once, twice and it's locked! Good dammit! The keys! There must be spare keys somewhere, I turn my body and I exactly stop at the person in front of me.
"Kyungjun." I say.
"What does such an innocent girl like you do all by herself at a time like these here?"
I stand my ground and stare at him.
"I'm not here to do anything strange. It's even locked, see?"
He doesn't react to me at all which makes me repeat myself, "I just tried to search for some weapons."
"No worries, I trust you. Nothing suspicious at all."
He throws the words as he cleans his ears with his index and then circles around me.
'He's mocking me.'
"Well, I can ask what you are doing here too, and I bet it will be strange just as much."
"We think alike. I'm here for the weapons as well. It's closed. What are you going to do next?"
"Go grab the keys."
"Like in front of everyone from the receptionist desk? Good luck with that."
"Well, I didn't know it was in the receptionist's desk but thanks to you, now I know it's in safe hands since you aren't a fan of sharing."
Kyung jun drops his smile, "don't tell anyone and I will give you whatever you want from there too."
"Relax, my idea wasn't to take a thing, but to actually destroy it."
Kyungjun knits his eyebrows and I continue, "To whoever madman put us in here, the less weapons they have, the more predictable they become, the more we can narrow down the other possible kills and maybe we can then take better measures to protect us."
I get closer to him and tiptoe to try to reach his level, " still think we think the same?"
"And how will you get rid of the weapons?" he says, not looking away from my stare and my feet drop to the ground.
"Close them all in one room and throw the keys? Burn it?"
"And how do you know if I'm not that madman? Or that I will blow away your cover to them, or even worse, that I won't kill you now?"
I blink.
'Calm down, he is just getting on your nerves because this is how he tests people's loyalty towards him in a twisted way.'
"You won't."
"Sure?"
'No.'
My phone buzzes and I remove my eyes from him while I can still feel his eyes linger in me for a bit longer before he checks his phone too for the same message in the group chat. They are all calling us to the main hall for another meeting.
'I think Yoonseo and Junhee figured out a plan out of here.'
We all gather to see Junhee, Yoonseo and Jeongwon across a big board of map. Junhee starts the meeting with the idea that Yoonseo and him came up with.
"There is a mountain between the trail, and at the end there is a village. We just need to find people and ask for help."
"What if we try to leave but end up dead too?" Jinha asks.
"Yes, won't it be dangerous?"
Junhee affirms, "No, we will be fine," he inhales and continues, "We're safe as long as we don't cross the line. Fortunately, the white lines cover these areas too."
He really looks like he is weighing down the earth on his shoulder right now, even though he speaks of such things, no one can actually be sure if we will be alright but one could hope. I'm grateful to have him as a class president.
"We did check the line earlier on before we all gathered you, me and Junhee with Jeongwon did find a trail and we thought it might be our way through the mountain to see the villagers. I think we can go as far as the line goes." Yoonseo adds.
"It's annoying to just wait, so it won't hurt to give it a try." Kyungjun says, "but do we all have to go? It will be very impractical."
"Yes, we can't all go, so we will divide us into two teams, a team who will stay and one who will go. I will first go." Junhee answers back.
"Then I will go too."
"No, Yoonseo, it will be very dangerous."
"That's right, you might end up dragging the others from how difficult the trail is, right? Let's stay here together." Jeongwon pulls her arm as she tells her.
I realise that the bond between Jeongwon and Yoonseo runs much deeper than I thought. So far now, the only moments I heard Jeonwon speak were only for the sake of Yoonseo protection and that's it. Even yesterday, she only did protect her and didn't scream or shout or hide instinctively all by herself. I do get why people would call her cold and unexpressive.
Kind of jealous when I only cared about myself.
"He can't go alone." Yoonseo says.
"We will come with him." Somi interrupts.
'Hm? That is a weird behavior to do right now.'
I look at Somi bravely holding the arm of Wooram and counting him in without even asking him for his opinion.
'Isn't she weirdly out of her character and too trusting in Wooram?'
"Nahee, Jisoo, and Yoojoon you will come as well right?"
"No, I won't."
Jisoo refuses, and so does her boyfriend.
"Where is your sense of loyalty? Then what about Nahee?" Somi pressures her even more, "Nahee, won't you come?"
'Nahee, Refuse if you don't want to.'
I look at Nahee standing next to her to assure her, she looks at me then she goes to stare at the floor. She seems like she was going to refuse when she opens her mouth.
"Won't the team be at a disadvantage if such members joined the hike trail?" Hyunho steps up, "we will go." He speaks for the athletic members as they step in. Seeing them doing so is comforting.
"I will come as well!"
Says Nahee not even a second later, this traitor! And I was worried for nothing. I sigh.
"I will join the team too."
"Yoonhwa."
Kyungjun said in a clear voice next to me.
"Well, I don't want any regrets. We will be back."
I find a movement in the back too as I step forward and so I look behind to find both Eunchan and Yeonwoo stop Eunha from going out but she calms them down. "You can stay here."
These three are a very known close friend group in our class, besides Heo yul, they always stick to each other and spend most of their time together.
'I hope we all make it out of here, I want to believe we can. We can, right?'
I hit my old sneakers to the concrete street's ground outside the centre's building and I stretch my arm muscles when I look at the trail ahead of us that seeps its way into the deep heart of the mountain.
"Are you going to wrestle?" Nahee asks.
'I didn't want to reveal this card so soon but here we go.'
"Actually, there is a fact I need to admit," I whisper as I signal Nahee and Hyunho to get closer with my hands, "I have never hiked before."
"Me too."
Nahee nods her head in a matter of fact way, in a monotone voice like it doesn't matter.
"Then why did you volunteer to go?"
I ask with a louder voice than I intended to, I see Nahee stealing a glance over Hyunho.
I'm gonna be a third wheeler I feel.
"Okay so we depend on you, Hyunho. Lead the front, and Nahee," I hold Nahee's hands, "grab his sports jacket and I will hold onto yours so we don't get lost."
I glance over the centre building and I see Kyungjun glaring at me with his hands in his pockets, he mouths something with his lips from a distance and then turns around to leave, followed by both Seungbin and Jinha.
'Stupid.'
"Let's start moving."
Junhee's give the green light to start steeping into the road. We walk in a line with Junhee on the front with the mountain's map, then walk Hyunho, Nahee's and then me with the vice president behind me. I have never felt this discomfort before. I had to watch both my steps and my back; where my feet are stepping and how close Somi is to me.
The scene where she forced Wooram to go with her on the trail seems to bother me. It keeps repeating inside my mind, over and over. Speaking from how calculative her character is, hasn't the fact that he might be dangerous cross her mind?
That's why this trail is very important. Not that I think we will find help, but for the fact that there is something more valuable one can gain throughout this mission.
'observations.'
Information about them, their behavior, and actions. The more experiences we go through, the more these people will shed their layers exposing themselves. What could serve better as evidence except for human behavior? If there's a madman murder that orchestrated all this nonsense, then they must have an intel between us.
'Or why would I risk my life to take this trail then?'
High risk, high gaiـــ Ah!
I slip and slide off the trail once it gets all muddy and crooked.
"Careful!"
Junhee stops and yells, Hyunho and Nahee quickly pull me over by their arms. I breathe loud inhales and exhales as I let my knees collapse once I feel the ground under me.
"I'm sure she is fine. Let's continue."
Somi goes past me and suggests for Junhee to continue climbing up, "what? It's not like she twisted her ankle or so, we can keep moving, right?" She ignores the stares and dash forward.
Junhee looks over. "Are you okay? Can you continue? We can return if this feels dangerous."
"I'm fine, let's move on."
We change the order of the trail line, and somehow now behind my back I see Eunha and Nahee assisting me carefully. Thank goodness I didn't twist my ankle. It was just the shock that kept me from walking a bit.
"Thank you guys, I owe you."
"No need." "It's fine."
Both Nahee and Eunha comfort me while they help me. I also feel a little bit proud when I help Nahee to slowly climb the crocky edge that is so much higher than the rest with ease, with the help of Eunha too. I love this team work so far, I slightly enjoy it a bit that I totally forget the fact that someone …. died.
"If you want to talk to anyone about anything, feel free to talk to me."
I say to Eunha, I know she is the closest to Heo yul.
"Thanks. I think we all need a talk right now."
"So,"
Nahee breathes some air and I see that she is trying to change the mood to a much more lively one. She cutely takes a few seconds longer than she seems to expect. I look at Eunha as we try to conceal the faint smiles in our lips.
"So, what's up with you and Kyungjun?"
"That's right!"
"What's up with you and Hyunho? Or you and Eunchan?"
"Don't change the topic!"
"Don't change the topic!"
"Someone I knew from middle school."
"Really?"
"Oh! No wonder why you guys seemed close."
Enuha takes her time to come up with what to say next, worrying not to seem rude and I kinda guess what she is going to ask.
"I hope you know him from a good place and not a bad one."
"No he didn't bully me, if that's what you imply."
A memory flash and I remember seeing a group of boys making a ruckus over the bathroom. I felt that their noises were too loud and abnormal so I called the teacher on them just in case, as I had this weird feeling from them. Later, I discovered through the teacher himself at the teachers' room when he helped me with a homework question that they were bullying someone by throwing his lunch over the toilet and forcing him to eat it from there. Thank goodness the teacher came as soon as I called him or that boy would have ended up drinking it from the toilet that someone just pissed on. That boy's name is …
"Hey! Upfront!"
Donghyun rashly runs ahead first, "be careful of the line," Junhee warns him. I narrow my eyes and cover my face from the heating sun as I see a red sign indicating the end of this trail.
'shit.'
"Careful, the line!" even though the class president tries to calm Donghyun down a couple of times, "Junhee, there is another way this side, right? according to the map, right? Let's go and check it." he still runs in another direction, I look at Nahee and Eunha all worried with Hyunho ahead of us. He stretches his arm in front of us from time to time to make sure we slow down and stay away from the line and in the narrow width of the borders' road.
And like I guessed, the line ends.
I tilt my head from the back of the line to see both Junhee, Somi and Donghyun in complete utter shock. I didn't have much expectations from this mission so it hurts less, but they look like glass been shuttered from the inside.
I squat next to Nahee, as Eunha searches with her eyes for anyone close ahead, so I stand and lend a hand. "Hey Look!" Wooram calls us and we turn and get closer to him with his camera. I can't believe that but the camera's zoom in feature really surprises me when we catch the glimpse of a few villagers with it.
"Smart move!" I tell Wooram as Junhee and the rest come as well.
"There's a person."
We all stare at the distance when we can see two figures from afar, probably two men are fishing right in the end of the piles of rocks ahead of the shore.
"Hey! Over here!"
"Help us!"
"Can't believe there are people over here."
"Over there, hey! Can you hear us?"
"Save us! please!"
'We can make it! We can make it! We can make it!'
I start to jump and scream with all my lungs just like Eunha and Nahee and Junhee, and everyone's.
"Please! Look over here!"
"Help us!"
"Hey! Right here, we're right here!"
"Everyone, please look over here!"
"Help us! Hey, we're here!"
"Hello! Mister! Save us!"
"Please! Over here, help!"
My jump start to slow down and the spurts of energy we had starts to lower as well. The more I stare at these two figures from afar, the less human they become.
I look at Wooram's camera zoomed in footage again for a bit. Darn it. They're not moving.
"Something is weird,"
"Why?"
'Breath in, breathe out, calm down, you will be fine. Everything will be alright.'
Wooram starts to catch onto the fact that there is something off and calls Junhee as I step back to catch my breath knowing very well what they will say.
"Look at this, this person is in the same position for far too long now, and the seagulls … the seagulls are not moving either."
"What?"
"They are just frozen."
"Give the camera to me, let me check. There must be something wrong."
"This can't be … it can't be."
Eunha wanders far, I search for Nahee and I find her next to Hyunho so I think she will be fine. I follow Eunha as her strange and absent mind worries me from her doing something stupid.
"Eunha, wait for me. Let's not wander alone, hm?"
"For breaking the rules, Kim Donghyun will be executed."
Me and Eunha both cover our mouths when we see Donghyung falling off the trail, my tears fall when we make eye contact with his pleading eyes in shock one last time before it completely turns white. A look of 'please, save me, please just one more second, one more.'
"Donghyun, what's wrong? Dammit." Junhee runs as the others come, "Dongyun, just come over here!"
"Dongyun! Just grab my hands! quick!"
"Dongyun, come back here now."
"Hey! Donghyun, just move your feet! Hurry!"
"Hey! Donghyun-ah!"
Even with the burning heat of the sun, I could still feel the air drop to a shivery and ice-cold temperature. The hoarse rattles of the crows weeping at the start of the new death parade ahead, celebrating the embrace of the newfound horror webs that wrap all around us to suffocation inside the deep mountain's woods. The webs tighten its white sharp threads as it dances in the midst of the impossible foggy wishes of waking up.
Donghyun stands still as I hear the cries near me. He tweaks and jerks his hand as if he is a crooked wooden puppet controlled by invisible threads. In indescribable movements, he dislocates the arm with snaps and split bones' that shrieks as if he is mimicking the human act of a farewell motion, as if whoever is controlling him is ridiculing us. His corner lips touch his earlobes to perform a smile. I cover my mouth to prevent the liquid stink of puke from coming out when he uses the bones of his fingers to gouge his pupil's eyes, squeezing and scrunching the white popping substance of his eyeball to pull them off from the last detached nerves before it snaps like rubbers. "Please God! Make it stop." He throws them to the ground as one rolls uncoordinatedly its way back next to Somi's feet. A scream pierce my ear as Somi pulls her legs and crawls her way back away from it. Dounghyun turns his back in a sluggish motion as he jolts and tilts his half body to one side then streaks forward in rapid speed, stretches all his four limbs to the sky and jumps off the cliff.
"No!"
"Donghyun!"
"Fuck!!"
A moment later we hear the rupture crackling noises of bones fractured hitting solid ground with something liquid spilled.