Yoon-Ji made her way into the dimly lit lobby, feeling the quiet wrap around her figure.

  Her eyes were almost immediately drawn to the centerpiece, a statue of a serene-looking woman, eyes gently closed as if in quiet contemplation.

  She slowed her pace as she approached. The soft glint of the bronze plaque caught her eye beneath the display. ‘Auroram quae numquam advenit exspectat.’ The words were embossed with quiet weight, their meaning unfamiliar but oddly haunting.

  Yoon-Ji lifted her gaze back to the statue's face and felt a shiver pass through her. Before she could make sense of the feeling, a voice gently cut through the stillness beside her.

  “Hey, you okay there?” The voice, which belonged to the class president, Kim Jun-Hee, asked.

  The girl blinked in surprise and looked at her classmate, who was staring back at her with quiet concern. “Sorry. The statue just kinda… took my breath away for a moment there.”

  Jun-Hee observed the display himself before nodding, “I can see why it'd make anyone stop.”

  “Yeah.” Yoon-Ji muttered, adjusting her grip on her bag.

  “Have you finished scanning yet?” The class president asked, gesturing towards the QR code for the WiFi posted beside the pamphlet stand.

  “No.” Yoon-Ji shook her head, telling the male, “Didn’t get the chance. Kyung-Jun ran off with my phone earlier and I was about to follow him, but as you saw,  I got sidetracked.”

  “He did what?” Jun-Hee frowned as he glanced in the direction he saw Kyung-Jun disappear to with his cronies. "Wait for me, I'll go get it back quickly." he told the girl.

  “I’m tagging along,” She insisted, levelling the president with a decisive expression. “I’m the one he has a problem with, you shouldn't deal with him alone.”

  “But-”

  "What's going on?" the voice of Yoon-Seo floated between them. Her gentle gaze shifted between the pair as she and Jung-Won neared. "We noticed you were approached by Kyung-Jun earlier. Are you okay, Yoon? He didn't do anything, did he?"

  “He didn't.” Yoon-Ji shook her head. "I'm alright. Just… I really need my phone back before father tries to spam Mr. Lee asking about me.”

  “He's even stealing phones now?” Jung-Won crossed her arms, voice tinged with distaste. “That guy…”

  "You can use my phone for now if you want?" Yoon-Seo suggested to Yoon-Ji, whose eyes briefly widened before she nodded in agreement.

  Yoon-Seo passed her phone to Yoon-Ji, who quickly typed into the device, her blood running with anticipation as she awaited her father's response. 

  ‘We’re here!’ She sent along with a quick snap of the lobby attached as evidence.

  But a few minutes passed since sending, and not one of her messages was opened.

  Normally, her father would have replied already, whether by giving her a scolding or reminding her to keep safe. So the absence of any type of acknowledgement filled Yoon-Ji with confusion.

  A hand landed on her shoulder, jolting Yoon-Ji out of her thoughts. She looked up to find the three, their concerned gazes fixed on her. Before they could even ask what was wrong, she quickly handed the phone back to Yoon-Seo, offering a grateful smile in return for her kindness.

  Jun-Hee, sensing Yoon-Ji's hesitation, let his hand drop from her shoulder and glanced around at the group. “How about we all head to the main hall first? If Kyung-Jun’s not messing around there, someone’ll know where he went.”

  The three agreed and together they began walking down the corridor.

  “What’s his deal with you anyway?” Jung-Won asked, casting a glance in Yoon-Ji’s direction. “It's new.”

  “Right? But I wouldn't know,” Yoon-Ji let out a faint sigh, “He said something about our noise this afternoon, but I doubt it.”

  Jun-Hee sighed. “No matter the reason, he shouldn't be doing such things.”

  “Why isn't the school doing anything then? No way there haven't been complaints right?” Yoon-Seo found herself asking out loud, making the group think her words over.

  Before they could continue their conversation, a scream suddenly pierced through the air. High-pitched. Panicked. 

  Everyone stopped in their tracks.

  For a split second, no one moved. Then Jun-Hee snapped to action. “That came from the hall!”

  He broke into a sprint, and the rest of them followed without hesitation, the slap of sneakers echoing down the corridor as they raced toward the sound.

  Once they arrived, the main hall’s lights had been turned off. Every other student took refuge by the sides, avoiding the central figure in the scene. 

  "What's going on?" Yoon-Ji trailed off as she squinted her eyes against the dark, trying to get a good look at the figure. "Is that...?" 

  The figure in white swayed as it continued to shamble around aimlessly and the once terrified voices faded into the darkness, replaced instead by annoyance.

  One of their class’s athletes, Jang Hyun-Ho, had enough of the theatrics. Grasping a basketball in his hand, he reeled his arm back and then threw the ball towards the figure as hard as he could. 

  The ball hit the figure, who stumbled forward just as the lights turned back on revealing that the perpetrator was none other than Heo-Yool.

  "Are you serious?"

  "Gosh, what a psycho."

  The students let out varying groans of annoyance upon seeing the boy responsible for the prank. Yoon-Ji felt Jun-Hee's gaze and raised a brow back, as if to signal she was just as clueless about this spectacle as the next person.

  "Hey, Hey!" Heo-Yool called out to everyone inside the hall. "Listen carefully. Have you heard of the rumors about this place?"

  "A long time ago, apparently, a high school girl killed herself here," He laid out, some listened closely to his words, while others only viewed the scene with unamused faces.

  "Because of that, there are a few things that you absolutely cannot do here under any circumstances." The boy stumbled 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 eye contact with mostly the girls, who already looked scared out of their wits.

  "If you break it, a ghost will pop up!!" He bellowed as he ran towards Joo-Young's squad, rousing shrill screams of terror from them all.

  Heo-Yool then did a victory dance, laughing alongside Yeon-Woo whilst trying to escape the vengeful girls. He continued to tease the others, though was immediately humbled as Eun-Chan sent a slap to the back of his head.

  "Have you guys seen Kyung-Jun and the other two?" Yoon-Ji looked away from the scene and turned towards Jun-Hee, who was talking to Kim Dong-Hyun, another athlete classmate of theirs.

  "Why? Did he do something again?" Dong-Hyun raised a brow, noticing the girl who trailed after the class president. "What's going on?"

  "Kyung-Jun stole her phone right as we got off the bus," Jun-Hee explained before asking once more, "If not Kyung-Jun, have you guys seen which direction Da-Beom or Ju Won went?"

  "Oh! Da-Beom!" Dong-Hyun’s brows shot up and pointed towards the direction he remembered the male headed off to. "I remember them walking out in the middle of Heo-Yool’s performance. You planning to go?"

  "Who's going where?" Another voice, this time Jang Hyun-Ho, walked into the conversation. He nodded at Yoon-Ji before addressing Jun-Hee, "You're going after Go Kyung-Jun? I'll come with you."

  Jun-Hee thought for a bit before agreeing, "Okay."

  With that, the group slipped away from the hall, navigating the whereabouts of the delinquent group.

  Jun-Hee and Hyun-Ho led the way, their feet carrying them towards the direction of the reception area where they immediately heard a trail of voices that could only belong to the very same people they were trying to find.

  “I need it by next-” The meek and unassuming voice which they identified to be Ju-Won, was swiftly cut off by a sneering Seung-Bin. “Shut it! You damn jerk!”

  “Yah, Shin Seung-Bin!” Hyun-Ho’s booming voice echoed throughout the place, alerting the delinquents. “You're still shaking other people for money even here? Are you that desperate you damn jerk? huh?”

  “What did you just-”

  Before Seung-Bin could continue, Kyung-Jun suddenly stepped forward, hands in his jacket’s pocket. “What's the prez doing out here? Shouldn't you be busy doing the teach’s errands?”

  Jun-Hee looked from Kyung-Jun, then to the low headed Da-Beom and Ju-Won. His brows furrowed before stepping aside to give way to Yoon-Ji.

  “We’re here for my phone,” Yoon-Ji put her palms out, “Can you give me my phone back?”

  “So,” Kyung-Jun crossed his arms, exhaling an amused breath. ”Brought other people to fight your battles then?”

  “Huh?” The girl scrunched her face, “Unlike you, I don't pick petty fights for no reason. If you'd just give me my phone back I'll be out of your hair as soon as possible.”

  Silence passed as the male thought her words over.

  “What if I don't want to?” Kyung-Jun raised a brow, “What are you gonna do then?” 

  “...Then you'll have a case waiting for you once the retreat is over.” Yoon-Ji smiled, shrugging her shoulders casually. “What are you gonna do then?”

  Kyung-Jun’s face lost their amusement, his stony face shining through the surface. He took a step forward, but immediately stopped at the sight of Jang Hyun-Ho, who looked just as ready to get physical should things come down to it.

  His neck pulsed as he clicked his tongue. With no other choice, he took the phone out of his pocket, handing it over to Yoon-Ji.

  He then looked at the group as a whole, “We good here now?”

  He didn't wait for their response, tossing one last look at Yoon-Ji before turning and swinging an arm over Da-Beom’s shoulders, bringing him along.

  “Yah, where do guys think you're going?” Hyun-Ho asked, eyeing the stiff figure beneath the delinquent’s hold.

  Kyung-Jun stopped in his tracks, then looked back, “Our Da-Beom here owes us a game of basketball. Why? Is that not allowed?”

  “Right, you told us earlier Da-Beom,” Kim Jin-Ha pat the male on the back, making him flinch before looking towards Jun-Hee and his group.

  “W-We’re just gonna play a bit…” He tried to reassure them, but it was clear that he was doing it out of necessity, to pacify the delinquent group’s anger.

  Yoon-Ji and Hyun-Ho looked to Jun-Hee, awaiting his reply. The president on the other hand, remained quiet, his silence causing the delinquents to go on ahead without a fight.

  They watched as the last of them, Seung-Bin, turned to glare at Hyun-Ho, before fading into the dark hallways.

  “You're just letting them go?” Hyun-Ho asked, peeved at the decision of the president. 

  Yoon-Ji couldn't help but pipe up as well, her brows furrowed as she tried to make sense of Jun-Hee's lack of action. “You know what they'll do to those two, why let them be?”

  “I’ve already told Mr. Lee about them earlier.” Jun-Hee replied, his voice soft as ever.

  “What did he say?” came Hyun-Ho’s query.

  “That he'll set them right later.” 

  “I should get back to the main hall and help So-Mi.” Jun-Hee said, making it clear from his voice alone that he wanted to be the one to set things straight, but the circumstances begged otherwise.

  “Then,” Yoon-Ji bowed. ”Thank you, both of you, for helping me.”  

  She straightened her back, “I'm not sure what would've happened if I confronted them myself.”

  “It's fine,” Jun-Hee shook his head, Hyun-Ho in agreement beside him. He sent the girl a small smile. “Go ahead. Oh- and tell Mr. Kwon I said hi.”

  “I will.” Yoon-Ji looked at the time on her phone and looked up. "Then, I'll be with Eun-Ha and the others if you guys need anything." 

  With a smile and a bow of her head, she thanked Jun-Hee and Hyun-Ho again before walking off, heading walking up the stairs and towards the room she would be sharing with her friends

  ──

  Entering the room, Yoon-Ji was met with the sight of Yeon-Woo and Eun-Chan sorting through the snacks they brought and Eun-Ha making herself comfortable, pulling out a number of soju bottles.

  The room was cozy, though Yoon-Ji felt that could be attributed to her friends' presences.

  "Oh, you're here! 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!"

  The girls watched the chaos unfold before them unconcernedly.

  "Aish!" Eun-Ha hissed as the two loudly quarreled. She turned to Yoon-Ji and said, "Come sit here, Yoon. Ignore those guys."

  Yoon-Ji followed and sat down beside Eun-Ha, reaching for the green bottle and pouring a good amount into her own shot glass. She downed the whole glass in one go, enjoying the burn of the liquid as it ran down her throat.

  If you tuned out the sound of bickering between the two males, everything felt serene. 

  But it wasn't long before Eun-Ha, who was watching her friend closely, had the courage to break this peace to ask, "Yah, Kwon Yoon-Ji, be honest with me. Do you..."

  "Hm?" Said girl tilted her head and raised a brow. "Do I what?"

  "Do you have a thing going on with the president?" Eun-Ha finally let out, a teasing grin on her face. 

  She caught a glimpse of the pair talking in the lobby earlier and even caught the pair entering the main hall together. To others, it would seem pretty normal, but to Eun-Ha, it was quite the change, especially since she knew Yoon-Ji usually kept to their small circle. 

  "A thing with the pres?" Yoon-Ji echoed, realizing what her friend was insinuating.

  She 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, although the makings of a faint smile could be seen on her face. Taking a deep breath, she explained, "I promise it's nothing like that, okay? Me and Jun-Hee were just trying to get my phone back." 

  "Get your phone back? Why? Who took your phone?" Yeon-Woo pried, having completely settled down to serve himself a glass of soju. The other two leaned in, anticipating her explanation.

  With that, Yoon-Ji told them the situation, omitting a few smaller details such as Kyung-Jun being alone when he picked on her, and the outcome of the confrontation, things that would lead her friends down a rabbit hole of questions.

  "Seriously, something needs to be done about those guys," Eun-Chan commented once Yoon-Ji finished. "They've even got Ju Won and Da-Beom acting like punching bags for them, it's seriously messed up."

  "I wonder why Go Kyung-Jun hasn't gotten into trouble with the school," Yeon-Woo pondered out loud. "Shin Seung-Bin and Kim Jin-Ha have already gotten multiple records, but Kyung-Jun? Nothing."

  "I think I know why." Eun-Ha put a hand to her chin. "I heard from someone it's because he usually doesn't directly take part in anything, he lets Seung-Bin and Jin-Ha act out while he just watches and orders around most of the time."

  "That tracks," Eun-Chan nodded. "I've seen what they do with Da-Beom."

  "Still, being a bystander doesn't change the fact that he's as guilty as those other two," Yoon-Ji said, the three nodding in agreement.

  Eun-Ha nodded, “And who knows what actually happens when they're all alone?”

  Silence filled the room as they tried to digest everything.

  "Anyways," Yoon-Ji coughed into her hand, diverting from the topic. "Do any of you know where Heo-Yool is?" 

  "Says he's still pissing," Eun-Ha huffed out a laugh, showing the message she received from said male.

  Yoon-Ji threw a thumbs-up, and they all continued on without questioning Heo-Yool's whereabouts. They shared drinks and snacks with one another, exchanging a few stories here and there until they were suddenly 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 glanced over Eun-Ha's shoulder to look at the notification, which simply showed as a red rectangle devoid of any text. 

  Confused, 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.

  "Are you sure? I swear 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, inwardly freaked out. "There's really nothing there, Yeon-Woo."

  Thankfully, Eun-Ha and Eun-Chan chimed in to affirm this, saying they 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 though?" Yoon-Ji inquired, confused about where this game came from and what its purpose was.

  "It wasn't here before we arrived," Eun-Chan remarked before guessing, "So, it's probably from that QR earlier."

  Yoon-Ji deadpanned, "The sign said the code was for the WiFi and for downloading the retreat center's app, not some self-installing mafia game."

  "You think they aren't below adding an additional app through the code? Maybe it's one of the activities they have for us."

  "Well…whatever it is, it's already here, so we 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 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 group couldn't help but share a laugh. Eun-Chan mused, "This jerk's too happy about this"

  "Hey, I can't stand him," Eun-Ha whined, recalling the times Heo-Yool would get her killed in the mafia game for no apparent reason other than to mess with her. Then, she thought of an idea, which she immediately imparted to the three. "Hey, let's kill him."

  "All votes for him, huh? Are you in?" She asked, to which the guys enthusiastically agreed with, all of them voting at once.

  “What about you Yoon?” 

  Meanwhile, Yoon-Ji looked at the group, "I'll do it later, first I need to check out what this game has."

  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'.

  A white envelope flashed on screen. She tapped it once to reveal her assigned role. 

  “See anything?” Yoon-Ji asked Eun-Ha, who was watching over her shoulder. Receiving a shake of the head, they sighed, unsure how to navigate the game without a concrete way to reveal their roles.

  She then went on to examine the voting status, chuckling at the number of votes that started being 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 would rally their votes against him.

  "Wait, I know! If you want to do something funny, you should do it in front of Yool’s 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.

  The sight drew a laugh from Eun-Chan, who grinned, "He'll be bashing his head, bowing against the floor trying to plead with her. Kind of like that one video, do you guys know that one?"

  He showed them a video of a man apologizing, but in very extreme ways, jumping a few feet into the air before landing on his knees in a kneel. All of them laughed, imagining their friend in the man's place.

  "You guys, I'm going to do it now," Eun-Ha announced, fingers hovering over the keyboard. "I'm going to tell everyone else to vote for him."

  "Do you think everyone will vote for him? It'll be funny, right?"

  "If someone doesn't vote for him, let's target them next!"

  Yoon-Ji hummed, feeling the hairs on her skin stand as the urge to urinate took over. She stood up and immediately bound over to the door, pausing to ask her friends, “I'm going out for a bit, need me to do anything else?”

  "Oh, Yoon," Yeon-Woo spoke up, "Can you ask them if they know why the WiFi isn't working? I want to check on something, but nothing's opening for me."

  Yoon-Ji's expression twisted in confusion. "I didn't even notice, but how were we doing all that then?"

  "Hm, uh, it's probably an offline game?" 

  Yoon-Ji shot Yeon-Woo a sarcastic look that asked, 'Really?'.

  "Don't mind him, Yoon, just go now," came Eun-Ha's input, her voice starting to drawl out from the alcohol. One of the boys handed her a bottle of water, which she immediately downed. "And make sure you do what we told you, okay? Don't be a killjoy!"

  "Yes, yes," Yoon-Ji answered as she stood up and patted her skirt down. She turned to Eun-Chan and Yeon-Woo and said, "Take her outside the room for a breather, 'kay? She needs to sober up, or else the teacher will find out."

  Stepping out of the room, Yoon-Ji wasn't surprised to see many students loitering around, seeing as their teacher had yet to return. 

  She sped through the hall, reaching the restroom in no time.

  Once she was done, Yoon-Ji left the restroom, her eyes falling on a specific bunch huddled near the end of the corridor, as though they were exchanging top-secret information. 

  Curious, she approached the group, "Hey, is anything going on?"

  All the members of the group exchanged glances before one of them answered, "Don't tell anyone else, but we heard from someone that Jun-Hee’s at the infirmary right now."

  "The infirmary?" Yoon-Ji repeated in suprise. "Why? Did anything happen?" 

  Had he finally confronted Kyung-Jun and his gang? Had it escalated badly? The questions immediately lined up in her brain.

  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 echoed the name. "Yoon-Seo? What happened?"

  "I heard Kim So-Mi pushed her into the pool while giving Yoon-Seo her birthday noogies. Luckily, Prez Jun-Hee helped her in time," another one of the gossipers interjected. "That Kim So-Mi is so...!"

  At that, Yoon-Ji thanked the group and set off in the direction of their room, already prepared to relay the news to her friends.

  Yoon-Ji strode back where she came from, finding her way back. There she was met with Heo-Yool standing by the doorway and engaging in friendly banter with Eun-Ha, as was their usual routine.

  "Yah, why did you tell everyone to vote for me?" Heo-Yool accused, to which Eun-Ha retorted.

  "You have your priorities skewed, Yool. If anything, you should be apologizing for lying and telling everyone I was the mafia."

  “I didn't say that, I was asking.”

  Yoon-Ji's phone beeped, and she looked down to see more of her fellow students rallying their virtual votes against Heo-Yool.

  Seeing the opportunity to poke fun at Heo-Yool, Yoon-Ji swung her arm over the boy's shoulder, showing her voting screen. She teased Heo-Yool, hovering her finger over his image and asking, "Yah, Yool! doesn't this guy look suspicious to you?"

  With a mischievous glint in her eye, she added, "Look at him, huh, he's practically radiating Mafia vibes."

  If she were being honest, Yoon-Ji didn't think the other was a mafia. There was no doubt in her mind that Heo-Yool was just causing all this ruckus to make the game more fun. And who was she to ruin that?

  "Wait, don't vote for me, Yoon, seriously," 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. 

  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 pouted. "Aww, what? You really voted for me?"

  "You know I’ll do it if it was for the bit," Yoon-Ji snorted, hiding the lower half of her face behind her palm. "Maybe you shouldn't have teased Eun-Ha in the first place."

  Heo-Yool looked at the aforementioned girl, but instead of apologizing, he just stuck his tongue out cheekily. He ignored the resulting reaction from the girl and took the time to marvel at 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. I think it's one of the retreat center's stuff."

  “You think Yool would waste his time doing all these intricate things when he can just do other fun stuff instead?” Yoon-Ji laughed in disbelief.

  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 placed their vote on Heo-Yool, who was the leading contender to be voted out.

  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 unanimously 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 has voted for you."

  Realizing 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... Have you guys never heard of a joker role? You guys should learn how to keep things entertaining, seriously."

  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 favor being removed early on.

  Heo-Yool responded to their quips with a bit of teasing bite, but as the exchanges continued, he started to seem increasingly distressed.

  Noticing this, Yoon-Ji made a move to check on Heo-Yool but stopped as 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 others raised their eyebrows, thinking that Heo-Yool was simply trying to generate a reaction 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, 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 bystanders fell silent, taking a step back while his friends rushed to his aid.

  "Yool, hey! Are you okay?" 

  "What's going on? Are you hurt?"

  Yoon-Ji's voice wavered 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 stepped back a bit.

  Without saying a word, Heo-Yool shrugged Eun-Chan's hand off his shoulder. Then slowly, he lowered his whole body, placing himself in a full bowing position. 

  His friends 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 into a state of complete shock. 

  He reeled his head back and then slammed it against the ground, repeating his actions with full force, each hit louder than the previous ones.

  The sudden and violent change in Heo-Yool's behavior left the students around him stunned. Gasps and screams of terror filled the room as they witnessed his wild movements, some covering their mouths in horror and others standing motionless, unable to look away from the disturbing scene unfolding before their eyes.

  "Stop!" Yoon-Ji rushed and tackled Heo-Yool, preventing the boy from hurting himself more than he already had. 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! Snap out of it! 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 on a mutilated tongue.

  She caught a brief flash of green from the corner of her eyes, and before she knew it, she was already far away from her friend, a pair of hands pulling her back from the scene. 

  "Don't come near him, you don't know what he'll do next." A voice came from behind her, wrenching her in place as the entire hall watched the horrifying scene.

  The bloodied Heo-Yool rose back up on his own and then turned and began 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!"

  "Just 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.

  "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.

  The male looked off into the distance and then began to run towards the end of the hall, busting out the window before 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.

  'It's the game,' a painful realization shot through her, making her 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.

  A few students tried to run to the window and peek 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 )

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 😘!

4/20 - edited some parts to
make things make sense; srsly wth
was I doing back then? edgy ass writing smh

12/30 - i made one particular event actually serve a purpose (the kj taking yj's phone thing) now y'all can have more of Yoon-Ji's actual personality instead of her just reacting whenever something major happens.