So-Mi abruptly stood, fiery eyes narrowing as the rest of the group fixed their stares on her. She gritted her teeth. "What the hell are you talking about?"

  She scoffed, "You think making up stories will make you look innocent? Just admit it! You guys are the real mafia!"

  The pair of girls remained silent, while the vice president glanced around, feeling the stares bore onto her being.

  "You believe them?" So-Mi shouted, her voice getting louder. "I almost died trying to stop Dong-Hyun from falling!"

  "You know, we almost thought the same, that you were just trying to help Dong-Hyun then," Yoon-Ji said. "That's why we didn't immediately say anything."

  Eun-Chan and Yeon-Woo looked at her and Eun-Ha, just as surprised as the rest by the revelation.

  All the while, Eun-Ha, the only real witness to the crime, felt relieved by her friend's intervention. Still, a pang of tension remained.

  "But the way Dong-Hyun looked at you after he fell..." Yoon-Ji scoffed, now more certain in her words having been in the actual position. "It was obvious then that something was off."

  "He was horrified and angry with you," She declared with certainty, stepping back and pointing at So-Mi. "You pushed him!"

  "Stop lying!" So-Mi screamed, face flushing with anger as she tried to take Yoon-Ji by the front of her uniform. Before she could, the others stopped her. 

  "Now that I think about it, it's strange that Dong-Hyun would just... fall like that," Joo-Young dazedly commented, her face twisting into realization as she tried to piece the information, "He was more experienced in hiking than the rest of us. He would have probably known how to approach a ledge like that safely, right? Maybe he even asked you to hang back in case..."

  "Yah, Joo-Young? Are you serious?! I didn't do anything!" So-Mi shouted in disbelief.

  She charged towards said girl, who leaned away before yelling, "Get away from me!"

  The class vice president paused in her steps before looking around, desperation settling into her skin as she tried to get herself to be heard.

  But the damage was done.

  Joo-Young's words along with Yoon-Ji’s had hammered the final nail.

  So-Mi began crying up a storm, denying all the accusations. Everyone watched her lose her composure, meanwhile Yoon-Ji, who had since snapped from her daze, spoke up. "I don't care about anything except what we saw. You can try to make your case later with the others, but..."

  "What you did and how you acted here... there's only one truth we know."

  Bang. The door to the room slammed open as Woo-Ram, who had snuck out in the middle of the confrontation, got back, panting as he tried to catch his breath. 

  Once recovered, Woo-Ram announced, "E-Everyone, don't vote yet! The pres said we're to gather at the gym right now."

  Yoon-Ji and her friends shared looks of confusion, before standing up and making a move to exit the room. Before they could, they briefly looked back at Kim So-Mi who was still having a full breakdown.

  At the sight, Yoon-Ji felt her lips pull into a frown.

  'Things will only continue to get messy from here on out.'

–

  'Lucky.' Kyung-Jun noted with a hint of satisfaction as he walked around the swimming pool cafeteria. The facility was completely empty save for his group as well as one of their recurrent gophers, Jin Da-Beom, allowing them peace from the panic-stricken class. 

  He settled on a chair, crossed his arms over his chest and took the time to mull over the events that had taken place in the recreation centre.

  It had been his luck coming across the keys during the class' first discussion in the lobby. Without a second of doubt, he took it, knowing if he were to be trapped in such a place for an uncertain amount of time, with people of whose intentions were unknown to him no less, then gaining access to all of the facility and its advantages was top priority.

  Despite this, he wasn't naive to think he would be able to completely gatekeep these benefits from the others. It wouldn't be long until the president, or anyone like that infuriatingly observant girl- Kwon Yoon-Ji, started to look for the keys themselves.

  Until then, he would use the master access unsparingly. Maybe even include it in his plans to thwart the enemies’ activity.

  "Good thing Kyung-Jun got the keys for this place," Kim Jin-Ha remarked as he pilfered through the stack of cup noodles, scanning them to find his favorite. "I was already getting hungry from all the wait."

  "You tell me." Sitting to Kyung-Jun's side was Shin Seung-Bin who yelled at the curly haired male, "Yah, make me one as well! I like mine spicy, okay?"

  "Yeah, yeah. Same with Kyung-Jun I know." The other replied, hastily preparing the noodles for their consumption. "Then, Sesame flavored ramyeon for the nerd, right?"

  "R-Right. Thank you." The only other presence in the room, Jin Da-Beom, meekly answered.

  As the two rambled on, Kyung-Jun found his thoughts completely drowning them out.

  They led him to think about their isolation. Other than their class, no one else was within the premises when the game officially started. Even their teacher who had been with them during the bus ride vanished into inexistence upon their arrival. 

  So why then, did the game only require them specifically?

  His thoughts took him further, this time on the nature of the deaths. The first, third, fourth and fifth had been explainable, all of them relative to the rules as indicated on the app or by the warnings that rang out. What he couldn't understand was the second death, Choi Ju-Won's, who upon discovery had been revealed to be a mafia. 

  He looked up from his phone and fixed his gaze on the table, taking the moment to derive a theory from what he knew but coming up empty-handed. 

  "In the rules," Kyung-Jun started, garnering the attention of the other three in the room, "The only indication that the mafia would know each other was the one about what happens after midnight voting, right?"

  Seung-Bin blinked before nodding, "Yeah, everyone but them will fall asleep."

  "So then, why did Choi Ju-Won die?" Kyung-Jun asked out loud, tilting his head in thought. The chime announcing the male's death had said that a fellow mafia killed him, why was that so? shouldn't it be a given that the mafia help one another out if they wanted to win?

  "Maybe one of the mafia got a little too murder happy," Jin-Ha grinned at his own joke, elbowing Jin Da-Beom as he sat beside the quiet boy. He glanced up from his food and saw Kyung-Jun and Seung-Bin staring at him with unamused looks, making him stop and murmur a faint, "Sorry."

  "Damn, this would be easier if we had a way to tell who has which role, like the police." Seung-Bin sighed, before going on a tangent, "Speaking of, why hasn't the police revealed themselves and told us anything? Wouldn't they have checked someone's role out by now?"

  He was knocked out of his train of thoughts by Kyung-Jun, who told him, "Idiot. If they reveal their role at this point they'll obviously be a target for the mafia."

  "Oh, right." Seung-Bin let out dumbly and silence once again fell upon the group.

  Kyung-Jun rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to his phone screen, which showed the role he was assigned. As he did so, his thoughts drifted to what was written in the rules.

  Vigilante. In the description, it said that those with the role would be allowed a specific time frame, much like with the mafia, to decide on a player to execute. Only, they had to make sure they would only kill a mafia or else they would die themselves. 

  It was also stated in the description that they could only do this if no mafia was executed during the voting phase, a stark difference from the mafia role which allowed nightly executions.

  'I need to start finding a suspect,' A serious look thundered across Kyung-Jun's face, understanding what his role entailed.

  His eyes flitted over to the male sitting beside him and then to the ones in front. Eventually, they settled on Da-Beom, whose eyes were lowered to the table like he always did.

  "Hey," Kyung-Jun called, making the mousy Da-Beom look up swiftly. "You're the game expert here. Have you ever seen this app anywhere before?"

  He showed the voting screen towards the other, who slowly answered, "N-No, it's my first time seeing it too."

  "Huh," Kyung-Jun nodded, accepting the answer, "Since it's a mafia game, it means we won't win unless we get rid of every single mafia here."

  "On the citizen's side there's a doctor, police and the-" Jin-Ha trailed off unsurely, to which Kyung-Jun completed, "vigilante."

  "I haven't heard of that one before," Seung-Bin commented off handedly, scrunching his face.

  "I-It's not a frequently played version of the mafia game," the quiet voice of Jin Da-Beom was heard.

  Kyung-Jun's eyes took on a curious gleam and he asked, "Why?"

  It was quiet for a moment before Da-Beom explained, "A-Adding vigilante gives the citizens a bit more advantage over the mafia, so when the version is played there's usually another mafia role in the game."

  Hearing this, Kyung-Jun's face took on an interested look, "And what are the chances there's another mafia role here?"

  "I-I'm not sure," Da-Beom answered, nervously tucking in on himself feeling the three look at him intensely. "The rules mentioned all the citizen roles so I-I don't think there's any reason to hide more mafia roles..."

  "That's true." Kyung-Jun nodded and Jin-Ha slapped a hand against Da-Beom's back as if to congratulate him on a job well done.

  "This sucks." Seung-Bin groaned, rubbing his hands against his buzzcut hair. "So we have a doctor, a police, and a vigilante on our side, but none of us got any of those roles somehow? For real?"

  Jin-Ha snorted, "If it turns out someone useless has any of those roles we're done for."

  "Hey, instead of playing the game, why don't we just gather all the mafia in one place and let them kill each other?" Seung-Bin suggested, looking as if he had made the greatest plan in all his years of living.

  Jin-Ha gasped, thinking on the same wavelength as the other. "That's right! Then we wouldn't need to dirty our own hands with them, huh?" The two stood from their chairs and gave each other a high five, pumped by their ideas.

  "Dumbasses," Kyung-Jun interjected, making the two pause, "How would you even begin to do that if you have no idea who the mafia are?"

  The two were completely hopeless in answering the question, and they realized then they had indeed gotten too far ahead of themselves and fell silent.

  Go Kyung-Jun stared at the table, and let himself think of his next course of action. He couldn't just go around asking if anyone had his same role, so he had to make do and try to find a mafia to dispose of first.

  Following this line of thinking, the voice of the girl, Kwon Yoon-Ji, suddenly began ringing in his ears. 'I’m just playing the game' She had said.

  His eyes flitted round, before they fell on a phone atop the table. He stared the object down before an idea popped into his head.

  During a lull in the conversation, Kyung-Jun sent Jin-Ha a look, signaling towards the device. Jin-Ha immediately noticed this, and sent the same look towards a grumpy looking Seung-Bin. 

  The last member easily recognised the subtle hints, and the plan was put into place.

  Within just a few seconds of Jin Da-Beom taking a big bite out of his noodles, Jin-Ha smoothly slid the other's phone over to Kyung-Jun who caught it with ease.

  "Nice."

  It was too late when Da-Beom realised what had happened, as Kyung-Jun turned the screen towards himself.

  "W-What are you doing?" Da-Beom asked, looking at his phone in the delinquent's grasp.

  Scrolling through the mafia game application, Kyung-Jun answered calmly, "I need to check whether you're on our side or not first before we share a meal with you."

  Da-Beom stood up all of a sudden, stiff and nervous, "What are you talking about? Give me my phone back."

  Without wasting a second, Seung-Bin stood up and grabbed Da-Beom by his shoulders, holding him a good distance away from Kyung-Jun and keeping the male locked in place. 

  Da-Beom struggled against the restraint, uncaring of what could happen to him, and the ever observant Kyung-Jun found this behavior to be rather...desperate, even for the male. 

  'Mafia or civ with a role...? What exactly are you?'

  "Looks like it really won't show the role huh," Kyung-Jun commented out loud, observing Da-Beom's actions from afar. He saw how the male had so subtly showed relief, untensing but still continuing to struggle.

  Seung-Bin became a bit distracted by Kyung-Jun's words, opening a chance for Da-Beom to free himself and stand right in front of Kyung-Jun once more.

  "Give me my phone back now," Da-Beom heaved deep breaths, his eyes trained on bis device.

  "No, I'm not done checking yet." Kyung-Jun said, acting completely engrossed in what he was doing.

  Da-Beom faintly scrunched his brows in thought before asking out loud, "Check what?"

  "I want to check if I can vote on someone else's phone and if it'll count." Kyung-Jun uttered, "If it works then I can use it to rally votes for anyone suspicious."

  Da-Beom became speechless at this. He glanced from his peripherals and immediately found himself subdued once again, this time in a kneeling position. He screamed against the bodies restraining him in place, "Let me go! Don't touch me!"

  "Hey, keep it down," Kyung-Jun clicked his tongue before lowering himself to level Da-Beom's stare. He showed the voting screen towards the male and ordered, "Pick anyone who you think is a mafia and I'll vote for that person."

  A moment of tense silence rushed over the room, as Da-Beom was faced with the sudden choice. After a bit he let out, "No."

  "Then," Kyung-Jun brought the phone back to face himself and said, "It'll be you."

  "What? D-Don't do that! No.... No!" Da-Beom yelled, struggling even more against the hands restraining him. He continued to scream, "Stop it, I said no! No!"

  "God," Kyung-Jun let out, scanning over the desperate sight. He rolled his eyes, "Stop screaming, I was just messing with you."

  He then uncaringly slid the phone over to the restrained male, and fell back against his seat, satisfied with his findings. Although the method had been flawed at best, it revealed something worth noting.

  Jin Da-Beom was hiding something.

  "What on earth are you guys doing?" The door to the cafeteria opened, and in came the class president hurrying over to free Da-Beom from Jin-Ha and Seung-Bin.

  "Come on, let's go." Lee Yoon-Seo said as she entered and urged the male away from the scene.

  "Three against one guy?" Jang Hyun-Ho spat out, looking at the scene before him, "Aren't you ashamed of yourselves?"

  Da-Beom successfully shuffled away from the scene, avoiding Jin-Ha and Seung-Bin who sprung into action to take him back but were stopped by Yoon-Seo and Jung-Won.

  "Come with us, I have something to say." The class president told Kyung-Jun, treading lightly as to ensure there would be no scuffle. 

  Having seen what came of the previous attempts Kim Jun-Hee made, Kyung-Jun was unconvinced. "Why should I?" 

  "So you can kill more of us in whatever new plan you thought of?" He sneered, making the president falter as he was reminded of the deaths that had stained his hands with blood. Kyung-Jun saw this, and grabbed the collar of Jun-Hee's uniform, "I'm right, aren't I?"

  "Yah, Go Kyung-Jun!" Jang Hyun-Ho yelled, forcibly pushing the male away from the class president. The already irate delinquent inwardly grit his teeth as the athlete clicked his tongue, "Seriously..."

  "We're... all going to gather at the assembly hall," Jun-Hee, knowing he wouldn't be able to get through the other by simply asking, informed, "You guys should go too."

  The group started to leave, slowly filing out of the room to head off to the hall. As everyone did so, Hyun-Ho hung back, glaring daggers as he instructed the group of three, "You leave this door open for others to use."

  With that, they left, leaving Kyung-Jun to stew in anger. 

  Throughout the years, the two- Kyung-Jun and Hyun-Ho, had often bumped heads fighting, with the latter doing so in retaliation to the former bullying and harassment of others. More often than not, these fights would result in physical violence, that to Kyung-Jun's chagrin, would then end with his loss.

  And losses were not something Kyung-Jun simply accepted, no matter the situation. 

  This was no different.

  Jin-Ha and Seung-Bin neared him, eyes trained on the leaving figures as if awaiting an order from Kyung-Jun. To their surprise, the male didn't make a move, letting the group get away without much of a fight.

  It was only after a bit that Kyung-Jun finally broke the silence.

  "I'm gonna make sure to get that asshole myself." Kyung-Jun muttered lowly, eyes blazing with fury as he recounted how he'd been looked at by Jang Hyun-Ho. 

  The two, being the only ones there to hear him knew it was both a promise, and a foreboding warning of what was to come.

-

  By 11 PM, the class gathered at the assembly hall, heeding Jun-Hee's instruction. Some, like Yoon-Ji and Eun-Ha, opted to arrive at a later time, putting their selves first before all else.

  The timer counting down to midnight continued, and with less than an hour left, the class knew they had to make a decision, one that they would not regret. 

  That was, of course, easier said than done. None of them had any idea of what a right action even entailed. Which was why most of them would rather leave it up for the President to decide.

  "I gathered you all here tonight," Jun-Hee started off, hands on both hips. "Not to decide whom to vote for..."

  "But to tell you to give up on voting."

  The words took everyone by surprise, uncertainty heightening as they considered what this sudden decision would result in. "Give up on voting?" "Are you sure about that?" 

  "If we vote, one person is guaranteed to die," Jun-Hee started, relaying his line of thought for this decision. "But if we don't, we'll all survive."

  "What if we agreed not to vote but someone does so in secret," Mi-Na stepped forward, "What are you going to do then?"

  "That's right, how can we trust others?"

  "We have to," Jun-Hee answered, before proposing, "If we really need to be sure, we can collect everyone's phones so no one can vote."

  "We can't," A new voice interrupted as two others entered the assembly hall, Yoon-Ji with Eun-Ha assisting her.

  Yoon-Ji stopped just a few feet away, before slowly walking into the circle her classmates had made. "We don't know if the makers of the game put another punishment for avoiding the game, just like they did with those who stepped past the line."

  "Like the rules say in the app, the only win condition is for either the mafia or civilian side to wipe the other out. If we risk doing this," Yoon-Ji gestured to everyone, "We might die."

  "Are you saying we should do what the game wants? That we kill each other instead?" Ji-Soo glared, her hands trembling at the notion. "So either way, only one side wins, is that it?"

  "If that's what it takes, then so be it," Yoon-Ji finally admitted, earning herself a throng of horrified looks. The feeling of irritation she'd been putting off crawled up her spine, "Let me ask you guys this, how sure are you that doing this will stop the killing?"

  Jun-Hee opened his mouth to speak, but was stopped as the girl continued, "Let's say we survive not voting this round. Sounds good, yeah? But assuming the game continues after that, then we'll all black out right here." 

  "Do you guys even understand what that means?" Yoon-Ji asked, balling up her fists by her sides. 

  The others looked on wordlessly, confused. "It means that the mafia will have a chance to kill! So, tell me how sure are you guys that they won't do anything?"

  A look of enlightenment passed across the faces of everyone, as her words brought up a huge concern. 

  "Do you understand now? We can't put trust in something as uncertain as that," She relayed, stunning the room into silence. Yoon-Ji turned to face Jun-Hee, pleading, "Please Jun-Hee, reconsider this. We can't cling onto wishful thinking like this if we want to live."

  Just as she'd been telling herself over and over again. None of them wanted this. None of them asked to be a mafia or civilian, and put into a game where truths and lies dictated life or death. 

  But without a solution in sight, they had no choice but to mind their own survival and play by the rules. She wanted Jun-Hee stop and understand that. 

  However, the president had long since made his mind, opting for the method he believed could save not just a single faction's life, but all of theirs. "We have to try."

  His words came from a place of responsibility, as the class leader, everyone and himself had set high expectations for his ability to cater to the needs of the class. 

  And with a few lives already listed under his name, Jun-Hee couldn't help but feel he owed it to everyone to get them out alive.

  Yoon-Ji looked around her, observing the expressions of everyone else. Although she'd presented reasonable doubts, most of them quickly got over their indecision and decided to go through with the no voting thing.

  She looked at Eun-Chan and Yeon-Woo, finding them staring down at the ground and avoiding her gaze.

  She then let her gaze befall the male she'd decided to trust, and saw him quietly pondering, If he felt her boring into his figure, then he didn't bother to return her stare.

  "Yoon," Eun-Ha whispered, making the girl snap out of her daze and look back. The two stared each other wordlessly before Yoon-Ji faltered, biting on her lips as she returned to her friend's side. 

  Although apprehensive, Eun-Ha was thinking on the same wavelength. She had a gut feeling that her earlier confrontation could put a target on her back, and wanted to use the meeting to expose the person they'd identified as a possible mafia member. But they were nothing compared to the loud majority, so they had no choice but to step back and watch.

  Yoon-Ji and Eun-Ha talked amongst themselves silently, before the former finally relented. 

  Crossing her arms, she uttered, "I'm still not convinced... but I won't vote. However, if what I warned you all about happens, just know I'm not gonna be swayed anymore."

  Her words carried an underlying tone that only those present for the circle discussion understood, a few glanced their vice president's way and found the girl staring daggers at Yoon-Ji.

  The discussion continued with more asking what of their phones, and how they would ensure no one would break the no vote condition.

  "We can just place all of them at the center," Yoon-Seo suggested, nodding towards the position, "That way we can watch over them together."

  "What if someone steals it?" Mi-Na presented the possibility, to which others like Ji-Soo also agreed. They disagreed with the notion of turning their devices over, thinking of the worst.

  With so much disapproval, the president could do nothing but stew in silent anxiousness. 

  "I think we should hand our phone over," Yoo-Joon tried to convince his girlfriend, who visibly irked at the suggestion.

  "Are you crazy?"

  "Can't you live without your phone? No one would even want to steal it!"

  "Why are you yelling at me?!" 

  As the other members of the class argued about whether to surrender their phones, a voice suddenly rang out.

  "Oh, be quiet." Go Kyung-Jun groused, effectively cutting through the air with his ever commanding voice. 

  Yoon-Ji eyed the male as he walked into the circle, carrying a shallow, yellow bin which he set down right in the middle.

  "The president is actually making sense for once, and you guys won't even cooperate?" His eyes swept over the ones who were arguing, who ashamedly avoided eye contact. "Hand in your phones now so no one can vote."

  To encourage the action, he reached into his pocket and brought out his phone, which he then dropped into the bin without a care, "Everyone, make sure to hand in your phones."

  Like clockwork Kyung-Jun turned around to stare Hyun-Ho squarely, uttering, "Listen to me when I'm being nice."

  The athlete remained quiet, not one to get easily riled up the same way the delinquent would.

  The class watched as the delinquent brought the bin towards the president, who after a moment dropped his own phone in. From there, Kyung-Jun went around the circle, making sure everyone put their phones into the yellow bin.

  When it was Yoon-Ji's turn, Kyung-Jun spent a moment or two staring right at her, trying to discern what she had in mind. He wasn't stupid to disregard her warnings, finding everything she said completely valid cause for worry. 

  But he already had a plan, and the girl's hypotheticals would have to wait until he'd finished what he intended so.

  Yoon-Ji went and looked at the inside of the makeshift storage and hesitantly put hers inside, making sure to place it amongst the ones at the very top along with her friends' own. Once done, she stepped back, gritting her teeth as a feeling of wrongness pulled at the pit of her stomach.

  She hoped, for their sake, her worries were for naught.

  After all had been collected, the bin was placed smack center, Kyung-Jun went back to his place, allowing everyone's eyes to focus on the container as the clock continued to tick down to the time limit.

  Tick, tick, tick. The silence in the air only elevated the tension. A looming feeling of dread encased the class as every movement of the analog clock lugged them towards an uncertain faith.

  Just as both hands of the clock neared the 12th mark, a haunting horn rang out, followed by an announcement, "A minute left to vote."

  Hearing this caused restlessness amongst some members, like Shin Seung-Bin who skittishly moved around his feet.

  "Darn it, seriously," The male rubbed his head, before asking out loud, "Hey, Class President, are you sure we're okay?"

  Kim Jun-Hee, who himself was racked with uncertainty, replied, "Let's just wait, it's not time yet."

  The nervous Seung-Bin bit his tongue and turned on his heels.

  As the final stretch came, they each bared witness as the clock hands eventually struck the midnight hour, the following seconds ticking normally by.

  "H-Hey," Woo-Ram hastily stood up from where he was sat, pointing towards the clock, "It's already midnight, but there still hasn't been any announcements!"

  'What?'

───────── •✧• ─────────

( note )

i have a mental dartboard
for who to kill first 💕

04/18- i wanna drop from uni so bad guys
i just wanna write but nooo i have to do
my fuckass business thesis FUCK