They stay true to their promises of not mingling with each other; they spend the rest of their day minding their own business. Even when the six of them are seated at the beach at the same time, they make sure to stay as far away as possible from each other. The two villa owners are nowhere to be seen after they offered some peeled oranges to them, saying that they are free to use the kitchen if they ever feel the need to cook something. Up until now, none cooked lunch and none wanted to have any.

After they decide that the sun can no longer burn their skin intensely, they each bring out anything that can be used as mats, lying down on the sandy surface while closing their eyes, simply enjoying the sound of the waves hitting the shore and the slight touch of the salty water against their feet. Being surrounded so much by the hurried pace at the company, sitting by the beach while doing practically nothing seems like the best thing in this world. None of them have touched their phones ever since they came here, deciding to put their busy lives behind for a moment.

They savour the feeling they get as they put their hands behind their heads. At this time, nothing can compare to the lightness in their hearts. They stay lying down, unaware of the fact that the sun is almost setting and only when Wooyoung calls them over to remind them that they will be having dinner together, do they realize that the whole day has basically passed with them lazing around at the beach.

Jongho runs back to the villa first, claiming that he's going to shower before they gather for dinner. The rest return at a much slower pace, taking their own sweet time to dust off the sand from their clothes and pick up their mats. The surrounding has darkened considerably, and they notice that the lights at the villa has been switched on, giving the villa an unearthly glow against the backdrop. There is still a pronounced awkwardness between the young men, but as they make their way back to the villa, they think that maybe this isn't so bad after all. They part ways with each of them planning to freshen themselves with a quick shower before dinner is served.

In his bathroom, Jongho hums happily as he lathers the shampoo onto his brown hair, glad that he finally has the opportunity to relax after being in a week-long slump at the company. He rinses off the bubbles, wrapping the towel around his lower body before stepping out of the cubicle. He looks up when he notices that one of the bulbs in the room is flickering, and he makes a mental note to ask the owners to change it. He hears what sounds like the door to the bathroom being unlocked, but when he checks it, nothing is amiss. He's not the type to get scared easily, so he ignores it and goes over to the mirror, which has fogged up from the heat. He swipes a hand across the mirror, and he crashes backwards towards the floor, almost knocking his head against the toilet bowl when he sees what's on the mirror.

Choi San is staring back at him, smiling so wide the corners of his lips could touch his ears.

He shakes his head, trying to force himself to believe that it's only a hallucination. He gets up slowly, approaching the mirror and he sees none other than his own reflection. He turns his head to scan through the whole bathroom, thinking that the owner would be playing some kind of sick joke on him. He feels silly when realizes that he is alone in the bathroom. His ragged breath bouncing against the walls shows that he is slightly shaken, but he comforts himself saying that it's only his mind playing tricks on him. Not wanting to spend any more time in the bathroom, he steps out almost too quickly he almost slipped, putting on whatever clothes is comfortable before darting downstairs, eager to at least see familiar faces.

Maybe it's his expression, or his irregular breathing is what gives him away, but Yunho creases his forehead when he notices the youngest coming down the stairs as he asks, "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

He only puts up a hand and tries to paste a smile on his face to show that he's fine, because he is sure that his voice would start cracking if he starts talking. All 8 of them are gathered at the dining table, and he tries hard to avoid eye contact with San. He doesn't have to worry about it, though, as the latter seems to only focus on the grilled meat in front of him, his eyes not leaving the poultry even for a second. Wooyoung invites the rest to dig in, but he doesn't take one for himself, not until he has made sure that he has served San first. They nudge each other silently, gesturing at how Wooyoung seems to care so much for San. Jongho doesn't join them, his mind still disturbed.

"I'm not hungry anymore," San announces. They look at his plate, and he has not touched his serving at all; whatever Wooyoung had put on the plate for him to eat stayed the same. Wooyoung sighs, but he smiles as he takes the serving from him, feeding his own mouth instead. San stares at the latter munching on his serving, but he doesn't say anything else.

"His appetite is a bit all over the place," Wooyoung explains. "He can say he's hungry but the moment someone puts a serving in front of him, he decides he's not."

"It's... endearing how you care so much for him," Yeosang tries to make conversation. He stabs a piece of meat with his fork and studies it. "It'd be nice to have someone who cares for you. Like Seonghwa," he turns to him, "Would you care that much for your boss?"

The black-haired assistant's mouth stays shut but his hand reaches for the canned beer at the middle of the table instead. A fizz is heard as he opens it and they watch in awe as he gulps down the whole can before reaching out for another. No one stops him, curious to see how far he could go before he slumps forward on the table, clearly from drinking too much. Yunho slides his plate away from him, just in time before he dives onto the surface of the table. The 24-year-old's limit seems to only be up until 3 cans, because he starts to mutter incoherently, banging his forehead on the table with slight force and shaking his fist towards the other men. Then he lifts up his head, his lips curling into a smile before he points a finger to Hongjoong, sitting on the right side opposite him.

"You!" he slurs, "Mr.-I-am-your-boss-so-you-need-to-follow-whatever-I-say! You deserve to rot in hell for making people like me work even when I'm not supposed to! I do every work you ask me to, but you never appreciate it one bit. I'm always scared of gettting-" he hiccups, "-fired because you have the upper hand. My girlfriend tells me that I'm not spending that much time with her anymore because I always work, even on weekends!" He jabs his finger towards his direction twice. "It's all because of you, Mr. Kim! Hongjoong! I hate you!" His head lolls to the side before it snaps back up again, as if he just remembered something that he wanted to deliver. He shifts his droopy eyes to Yunho then points a finger at him next. "Mr. Jeong! Please fire this man this instant! He should not be allowed to be a boss. He's rude, incompetent, always looking down on others and overworking people. He's not human, he's a devil! There is only a 4-year difference between us but he acts like a big shot just because he's the head of the department." Then he starts blinking rapidly, "Don't... make... me..." he sounds like he's choking on his own words, "kill... you... when... I... had...enough."

He finishes his outburst with a high-pitched laugh before he slams his head down on the table, knocked out cold. A soft snore fills the still atmosphere in the dining room, and Yeosang chortles when he sees that the black-haired assistant is already out.

"He talks a lot when he's drunk," Yunho muses. "He always seems so reserved and quiet when he's at the office."

"He sure does, that little-" Hongjoong starts.

"Give him a break, Hongjoong," Mingi cuts him off, placing a palm on Hongjoong's back. "He has suffered enough and is still suffering, so just let him go this one time, won't you?" The latter relents. "Why don't you only give him work that he's supposed to do? Come on, he's human too."

Hongjoong doesn't answer, but returns his focus to the dish in front of him. Mingi tries to make small talk with Yunho and Jongho, because they are the two that he's most comfortable with. Wooyoung is coaxing San to eat, but the latter is only shaking his head, like a child who is adamantly refusing to take his greens. Yeosang observes the surrounding and he can only think about one word: weird, weird and weird. Then his eyes fall to the person beside him, his snores getting louder by the second, and he confirms it again: weird. He finishes his dinner quickly, trying to make sure that he is already full so that he'll be able to lock himself in his room and sleep soundly later on.

He gets up at the same time as San, who pushes his chair backwards, scraping the legs on the marble floor and he stomps his feet, whining, "I told you I don't want to eat!" San storms off, making sure that he goes up the stairs with such purpose that his steps echo throughout the whole villa. There are the sounds of his steps on the floor above followed by a banging door, so loud that it seems to rattle the windows at the dining room.

Wooyoung sighs before he buries his head in his hands, exasperated. Even Yeosang, who is already standing while balancing his plate on his left palm to bring it to the kitchen, stays frozen, unsure of what he's supposed to make out of the situation. "Uh- Is he-?" He does a gesture with his right hand to his temple, trying not to appear as if he wants to offend anyone. He sets down his plate once more on the table before sliding back into his chair, the intention of him going back to his room as soon as possible long forgotten. He finds that he prefers not to be alone on the same floor as San right now.

Yunho eyes Wooyoung, as the latter's shoulders sag in defeat. "He...uh. Something happened to him some time ago so sometimes he's a bit..." he gestures towards his head, "detached. It happens only at times; he's normal one moment and the next he acts like a child. But don't worry though," he hurriedly adds when the others are starting to look anxious, "-he doesn't hurt people. He throws in tantrums sometimes, but he's mostly a good boy."

Jongho collects the dirty dishes without being asked and brings them over to the kitchen to be washed. He keeps thinking back to the incident at the bathroom, and his mind wandered off too much that he has been sponging the same plate over and over again. Thinking that he might as well go to sleep to forget about it, he asks for Yunho to help him do the dishes as he cannot find his focus anymore. Without offering any explanation to his weird behaviour, he leaves the director with a sponge, a bottle of dishsoap and a pile of dirty dishes in the kitchen.

Back at the dining room, Wooyoung has excused himself because he says that he needs to see how San is doing, while Mingi and Hongjoong dash upstairs, not wanting to deal with Seonghwa. Sighing but without complaining verbally, Yeosang heaves Seonghwa onto his back so that he could bring him to his room, where he can continue his drunken slumber. He almost gags from the smell of beer as Seonghwa exhales against his neck, so he tries to hold his breath until his hands reach for the handle of his door. He kicks the door open, releases Seonghwa from his back and he sits on the floor, trying to catch his breath. As he gets up, he hears the sound of notifications pouring in from Seonghwa's phone on the bedside table. Although he tries hard not to peek at it, it proves to be hard when the lit-up screen is basically the only source of light in the room.

He sees the first message from his mom.
Mom: Son, are you having fun going on the trip? Are you eating well?

Then, he sees two incoming messages from a contact labeled as 'Love', which he can only assume it's Seonghwa's girlfriend.
Love: Honey, are you having fun?
Love: I miss you a lot, please come back soon :(

Yeosang almost vomits at the messages from his girlfriend, thinking how it's so cheesy, but he figures that he was the one who brought it upon himself when he decides to peek at someone else's private messages. He shakes his head, trying to clear away whatever he saw. He throws a blanket over Seonghwa, tucking him in so that he won't get cold later as the night goes on. He is about to leave but Seonghwa suddenly grabs his hand, pulling him so that he is forced to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Don't... leave... me..." he mumbles. "I'm... scared..." His eyes remain shut, with him seemingly only sleep-talking.

He pulls his hand away from his grip, which proves to be easy for him as the pressure wasn't that strong. "It's too bad you already have a girlfriend, isn't it?" A soft smile plays on his lips as his eyes rest on Seonghwa's face. "Don't worry, nothing's going to happen to you, you idiot. Always being a pushover, aren't you?" He lightly pushes a finger against the latter's forehead, to which his response is an incoherent mumbling. "You need to learn how to speak for yourself. I don't know how it's going to be like with Hongjoong once you're sober tomorrow, but you better pray hard that he won't kill you."

He gets up. He checks the windows, making sure that it's closed and he switches the fan to the lowest speed, all to make sure that he won't get a cold when he wakes up the next morning. He leaves the room as he locks the door behind him.

The next morning, a shrill scream pierces through the floors, waking up the whole house. Groggily, they each walk around to find the source of the sound, wondering with their clouded minds on what could possibly be the matter on such an early Sunday morning. They find Wooyoung sprawled on the floor in front of Seonghwa's bedroom, his face masked by pure horror. He scrambles to get away from the room, kicking his legs against the floor, as if it could bring him far away from the place. Still sleepy, all six, including San, rub their eyes to look at the scene in front of them.

"What's the matter-" Yunho's breath gets stuck in his throat as he observes the sight in front of him. He steps back once in shock.

"I- I-" Wooyoung stutters, "I went to his room because I made some soup and I thought it would be good for his hangover but I-" There are tears in his eyes and he feels San crouching behind him, hugging him as to try and comfort him. "The door- it was unlocked- and I found- him- like... this."

The bed with white sheets has turned into a canvas of red, blood splattered and absorbed into the material. Seonghwa's body is tied to the bed with thick black rope, and his eyes are staring straight to the ceiling above, lifeless. His mouth is stuffed with a cloth, also stained dark red. There are lacerations all over his face, as if the person who did it to him wants to make sure that his face will be beyond recognition. In contrast to his face, his body is relatively clean, except for the wound above his heart, which could mean that it was what that had finally took his life away from him. From where they are standing, they do not see anything that was used as the weapon, but of course none had the courage to step inside the room to actually check.

That is not the last of it as their eyes catch the message written on the wall, written in big letters with blood. The menacing words swim around in their vision as they try to make sense of it all. They feel fear gripping their hearts as they read the letters one by one:
NO, I WILL BE THE ONE WHO KILLS YOU WHEN I HAD ENOUGH.

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[A/N: Who do you think is the killer and why is Seonghwa the first target??? I'd love to hear some theories... Anyway, I'll be starting my lab posting tomorrow and I'm so nervous, but at the same time kind of excited?? I'll try to find time to write despite being busy! Love you <3]