They are herded like cattle in a line heading towards a grassy field, but instead of a day out in the sun they are dumped into the dark, eyes blindfolded and hands bound to each other's. When Wooyoung was blindfolding Mingi, the former had taken off his glasses, shoving them in his pockets carelessly.

After the blindfolds are loosened, it's only now that they see each other and everyone seems to be in a competition on who looks the worst. Faces and bodies bruised, dried-up blood painted on their skins, their dead eyes search around the space and exhausted figures are guided around like they are puppets on a string. They were forced to stand in a line while Wooyoung went and collected them from each of their rooms, as if he's a bus driver ferrying schoolchildren around. It proves to be easy for him because they don't fight back; they can't and they won't. Their reflexes are still subdued by the injected sleeping drug; it's five against two but it's obvious who is on the winning side.

San is waiting at what looks like the basement, face unnaturally bright even without a smile as he welcomes the entourage, hands holding their next binding material. Wooyoung unties Hongjoong first from the group and San works fast by looping the ropes around two hooks on the wall plates, tugging on it to make sure that the knots are secure. Wooyoung pushes Hongjoong against the wall, while San ties the rope around his wrists, whistling while doing so and by the time he's done, the redhead is suspended a few centimetres off the floor, arms extended like he's a bird taking flight. San jumps off the ladder, moves it to the left, repeats the same process and this time, Mingi receives the same treatment. Mingi squints to try and make sense of the blurred scene in front of him, needing aid from his glasses.

They are now live effigies on the wall, the result of the careful artwork of two maniacs.

Wooyoung steps back, smiles while admiring the two, as if they are the best work he has ever sculpted. His face immediately turns sour as his reverie is interrupted, his ears catching a verbal threat from behind him, spat out by whom he knows is the youngest.

"Where did you take Mr. Jeong to? What did you do to him? Once you untie me I will break your fucking skulls and you will regret you ever laid your hands on us."

"Tch, look how cute," Wooyoung interjects. "But you already have phenobarbital in your system. Try to throw a punch at me and you'll stumble like a drunkard in the early morning. You're lucky I don't give you a dose that will kill you."

"You... won't... yet..." Yeosang jumps into the conversation, even if his tongue feels tied.

Wooyoung signals for San to prepare for their next move. "Bingo, not yet. And you don't have to worry about your lovely boss because I'm taking care of him really, really well. What you need to worry now is for your lives." He snaps his fingers and it's a cue for San to flood the whole place with bright artificial lights, unveiling the torture chamber previously masked by the low light.

If it's even possible, the victims feel their stomachs physically tightening and twisting, bringing forth a fear fuelled by the insouciance held by the two and the state of the basement. There are three metal cages at the far left corner of the room, but not normal ones. Instead of having empty spaces in between the bars so anyone could put their limbs through, another box made of polymethyl methacrylate is screwed to the metal from inside. It is as if the metal cages are protecting the plastic inside, creating a sturdy claustrophobic environment. Pipes are connected through an opening into the case, but they don't know what's its use. It could be a channel to supply air, but they doubt their captors would be so kind to give them the freedom to breathe easily. Six holes are punctured on top of the boxy enclosure, the only source of connection to the outside environment, and also making it the only way air can enter and exit.

Even looking at them has managed to make them suffocate.

They do not need to ask what they are for because Wooyoung has made sure that they know that his intentions are clear. San is standing at the back of the enclosure, holding the door to the chamber open as if he was an usherer. The former picks up Yeosang by grabbing the back of his shirt, dragging the pink-haired man across the floor, the blood from the fresh wounds on his body making trails on the cement. He throws him into the box, with San snapping it shut immediately after his legs made it past the entrance. Jongho puts in a struggle to escape, but a slap to the back of his head coupled with the dampening effect of the drug brought him to the same condition with Yeosang beside him. Yeosang has brought himself to sit against the wall, eyes empty as his life flashes before him, while Jongho bangs his fist on the plastic, the strength reducing as time goes by. The sound of him pounding on the plastic gradually gets fainter, and he slides down onto the floor, tears pooling in his eyes.

San claps his hands at the sight, as if they're at a circus and the victims are performing for them. Wooyoung looks at him with some sort of desolation; it looks like San's condition is starting to get worse. He keeps bouncing back from his 'normal' self to his childish-like counterpart so frequent that Wooyoung cannot tell which personality he has taken on at a particular time. Crazy, that's what they call him. After spending so much time with San, he is starting to turn crazy too - that is why they are here, holding these people captive.

All for the game they're about to conduct.

"Let's play a game shall we? And we'll see how lucky you are," Wooyoung announces.

"Please... let us go..." Mingi has found the strength to talk back to them, partly thanks to the fact that he can barely see the situation around him, so his fear got cut off midway. His vision is blurry without his glasses, so their two captors are only faceless figures, and even their threatening aura does not reach him. He sees his colleagues in the enclosure - two helpless crouching figures - enough for him to know that they are starting to accept their fates, that they will never end well. The idea of getting help is an illusion at this point; they seem to have been trapped here for who knows how long, yet nobody out there has reached out to them.

Just how dangerous are these two?

"That's not the answer I want to hear, so let me repeat my question," Wooyoung smiles, but he says the sentence through gritted teeth. San is bouncing on the balls of his feet, patiently waiting for the play to start. "Let's play a game shall we?"

"Let- us- go-"

"Looks like you're excited to play the game aren't you?" Wooyoung has started to ignore his plea to let them go and is feeding himself the answer that he himself wants to hear. None of them answer him, knowing that their pleas are falling on deaf ears.

San produces two chairs for them to sit facing the victims and he pulls Wooyoung to sit with him, side by side. While seated, Wooyoung then changes his question, but again without any context. "Why don't you make a choice? Come on, pick between one and two." A glint appears in his eyes, excited at the thought of what's going to happen next and how he's in control. "If you don't, I will throw both of you inside too, and I will make the choice. So," he clasps his hands, "who wants to start first? You, redhead? Or you, half-blind freak?" He refers to both Hongjoong and Mingi. They still refuse to answer, but he doesn't falter. With a pressing voice, he says, "Why don't you start first you half-blind freak? You seem like you follow orders well."

"I don't... understand... why you're doing this... to us..." Mingi pronounces. "Why..."

"Some things are better left unanswered." Wooyoung stands up, eyes already directed at somewhere over his shoulders. "I don't like it when people ask too many questions. I despise it." When he finds what he's looking for, he sidesteps the chair, hands reaching out for the weapon backed up against the wall. A metal pipe, curved at the end, finds its place in his right palm, his legs advancing towards the live statues on the wall. He charges at them like an agitated bull, and smirks as he raises the pipe past his shoulders, already aiming at Mingi's stomach.

Mingi's brings his legs up as a reflex to try and protect the soft flesh of his torso. His mouth instantly shouts, "Two, I pick two!" in an effort to halt Wooyoung. It works, because he lowers down the pipe, nodding, fully satisfied.

"See, it's not that hard. I gave you a choice, and you just have to pick either one. You don't even have to do anything besides choosing a number. So, two, huh? Interesting."

He turns to San, putting up two fingers as a sign that the chosen number was 2. The latter is the next to get up, and he disappears behind a curtain near the door to the basement; the curtain is made up of different materials patched together that it seems that it's only stitched as an afterthought, that the materials are only leftovers from previous sewing projects. Behind the curtain, they hear a click, like a button being pressed down, and a lever being pushed followed by a low hum of a machine. Dazed, Mingi and Hongjoong turn to look at the trap Yeosang and Jongho are in. At first, it seems like nothing is happening.

Then the first scene of the play starts rolling.

Spurts of water come out of the pipes, already filling in the floor of the enclosure. If before this both Jongho and Yeosang show no reaction towards the threats, now their captors' intents towards them fill their headspace, grounding them towards their current situation.

They clamber to get up to their feet, adrenaline pumped by fear, activating their fight-or-flight reaction. Fight is barely an option as they feel that they are on the losing side anyway. Flight is also not an option as they are currently trapped, the water level rising speedily, already making it past their shins.

The two wade through the water, reaching out for what they feel is the only escape. Jongho starts first by ramming his whole body against the entrance of the box, but it doesn't even budge - the metal lock does not rattle, as if it's frozen. Yeosang traces his fingers along the almost-invisible rectangle exit, wishing he could melt through any openings. There isn't any, except for the six holes on top. Any gaps are sealed with rubber, making the box perfect as an anti-leaking trap.

Yeosang looks up, training his eyes on the holes and then down, his lower-half already submerged in water. The speeds the water is filling both of the enclosure are the same, suffocating them as it reaches their chests, their legs losing ground as they float on the surface of the water. They struggle to stay afloat, desperately breathing in air that seems to diminish with every passing second. The water buoys them, bringing them closer to the top of the box. Their legs kick around in the water that feels like thick syrup, their palms press against the roof and their mouths stay open to increase their air intake.

They have nowhere else to go - both up and down will cause them to drown. Jongho hammers his fist against the roof, more of a feeble hope that the roof will magically pop open rather than a show of strength to take it out. The water level is almost reaching the roof; the distance between the surface of the water to the roof is about the thickness of a 150-page notebook, just enough for them to stick out their noses to breathe. Inhaling air pulls in the water together, and their lungs seem to inflate with water instead of air. The water sloshes around from their struggle; their ears muffle every sound and their eyes sting from forcing them to stay open in the water.

Hongjoong stays frozen, forcefully shutting his eyes and deafening his ears for he doesn't want to witness whatever is in front of him. Mingi opens his mouth but nothing comes out, his voice taken away by the shock towards the consequence of his choice. His vision might be blurry but he is well aware of what is going on in the two cages.

"Stop."

It's not any of the captive's voices begging for the torture to be stopped, but rather it's the voice of one of their captors. Wooyoung puts up a hand, signalling towards San. Just as Jongho and Yeosang's bodies go still, bubbles stop appearing at the mouth of the pipes, which means that water has stopped flowing in. There is a moment of silence before a button is pressed again. With a mechanical grunt, a drain opens at the bottom of the enclosure, sucking in the water as fast as it appeared. All of the water is drained out, leaving Jongho and Yeosang's bodies lying flat on their stomachs at the bottom, drenched and unmoving.

Wooyoung tilts his head, observing the scene in front of him. Then he slowly says, "You won't die unless I say so. You don't have my permission to die just yet. Do you... understand?"

Hongjoong and Mingi hold their breaths as they look upon their colleagues. No, they cannot lose two more of them. They look at each other, their hearts offering silent prayers - either they believe that the two will wake up, or not. The two remain still on the floor.

"I told you," Wooyoung raises his voice, before he bellows, "You don't have my permission to die just yet!" He brings the pipe in his hand to bang it against the exterior metal structure, causing Hongjoong and Mingi to flinch. The metal clangs as he repeats the movement. He will not stop until both of them show that they are alive. "There's no use of pretending to be dead when your heart is still pumping blood. You can't fool me, idiots."

If there's something to at least feel relieved about, it's this.

Jongho coughs out water, gasping for air as he pushes himself up, but flops back down again when his arms basically feel like jelly. Yeosang takes longer to show a response, but their two colleagues heave a sigh of relief as they can confirm that Jongho and Yeosang are still with them. Shivering from the cold, they wrap their arms around themselves, teeth chattering and mind wandering. Their stares look as if their bodies are there, but their souls have left them. They are scarred from the experience, but it doesn't look like it will stop any time soon.

"Now that you've seen what we can do, you understand how important your roles are, don't you?" Wooyoung points his forefinger to Hongjoong, then Mingi. "Your friends' lives depend on both of you. Isn't it fascinating how you get to choose how their lives are going to go?"

"If we... refuse..."

"You won't," Wooyoung replies. "Because you saw how much control we have over you, didn't you? One wrong move and you'll end up in the newspaper. As dead bodies." He quickly brings up a hand to inform that he is done with the stalling, slight irritation creeping up on him when he feels like he's losing control over the situation. He hits the pipe against the metal again, the sound echoing throughout the basement.

"We're going to end up in the newspaper anyway because eventually you will end up killing us."

Wooyoung smiles gently, but his eyes betray him. Anger embroils inside him when he hears them answering back to him. "If people even care. Why do you think no one has come to your rescue yet? Do your families actually care? Your colleagues?" He laughs a sinister one. "They probably don't even realize that all of you are missing."

Their expressions change as reality dawns on them.

"Someone... would realize..." Hongjoong refutes.

"Right. But look at all of you now," he replies spitefully. "Where are all your rescuers?"

Maybe he should have gagged them, but if he did, he wouldn't be able to hear the choice they are about to make. An idea comes to him, and he goes over to San to whisper into his ear. San nods enthusiastically, receiving the orders very well. He steps out of the basement.

Wooyoung analyzes the four of them. He eyes the only unoccupied box, lamenting, "If only the other box would be of good use. Too bad he died too early."

"Fuck you," Mingi pronounces. He's a bit surprised by himself - he's not the type to cuss so freely. If he were to count, he has probably only said two curse words in his life. Even then, the two has earned him an earful from his mother, which lasted for about one week per curse word. He has learnt to not let it slip past his lips, because the consequences he bore made him shameful of it. But now, it doesn't matter what his mother had said because these monsters deserve even worse; cussing is the gentlest form of defiance he could give. "Fuck you. How dare you talk like that about Park Seonghwa-"

"Did I ever say that one is for the little wimpy assistant?" A glimmer bordering on a thin edge of him being playful and mocking them appears in his eyes, the corner of his lips tugged upwards. "Don't forget about the other person that came with you."

"No, no, no. What did you do to him?" Mingi spits. "Did you kill him too?"

Wooyoung ignores him, already humming. "Now that we have played the first round, aren't you excited to move on to the next one?"

Hongjoong and Mingi say nothing. But through their eyes they ask, until when do you plan on doing this to us?

Until I get what I want.

What do you want?

Wooyoung stares at them, face hard. His eyebrows crease.

That is for you to find out.