"it hurts... it hurts so much."

—

"YOU ARE MY LIGHT IN THIS WORLD FULL OF DARKNESS."

—

3 r d p e r s o n s v i e w

"jeez, did you even sleep?" jaemin furrows his brows as soon as he steps in the club room. his eyes were fixated on the three who seemed to be still decoding the code.

it has been four hours and they still haven't figured it out. "what's that?" jaemin questions, walking closer.

weijung immediately grabs their seal and the recent note, placing it immediately in the box. "u-uh, nothing? we were just examining the clues." she mumbles and grabs the notes one by one, storing it back in its container.

jaemin sighs after seeing her tired state, "you three need rest."

"i shouldn't have agreed on you three staying here, mark wouldn't have either if i didn't." he says, patting weijung's head.

"i'm hungry." donghyuck announces, standing up. "let's get some food." he nudges a problematic renjun beside him.

renjun hisses, "leave me alone."

"tsk, what a grumpy old man." donghyuck scoffs.

"jungie! let's get some food, please?" donghyuck looks at weijung, sending her puppy eyes.

weijung blinked a couple of times, "i'm not hungry though."

"seriously?" jaemin raises his right brow in disbelief, "first you put up an all nighter and now you're not gonna eat?"

donghyuck chuckles plainly, "yeah, tell her, jae."

weijung rolls her eyes at donghyuck, "you just want me to come with you."

donghyuck pouts, "please?"

renjun sighs and stands up, "let's just go, i can't stand his voice anymore." he spat, getting a bit annoyed by donghyuck's continuous talking.

"i'm coming with you!" jaemin says while grinning.

"woah, woah, woah, where are you guys going?" jeno raises a brow, entering the club and blocking them from going out.

"we're going to get some breakfast, wanna join?" weijung responded to his question since none of the boys wanted to.

jeno nods, "i wouldn't want to miss breakfast, let me just get something and let's go." he walks to his desk at the editors office.

once he got the file he needed, he heads out and locks the door before following the others to the cafeteria.

"it's been so long since we've last hung out like this." jeno chuckles, "i guess everyone got so busy then."

"totally." donghyuck agrees, "i just want everything to end quickly, then we'll be happy again."

"uh, you're always happy though." renjun points out.

donghyuck shrugs his shoulders, looking down at his food a bit, the corners of his mouth tugged up a bit, "i wish i was actually happy though." he mumbles, a bit inaudible for the others to hear.

"what was that?" jaemin tilts his head, not quite hearing what donghyuck had just said.

donghyuck's mouth formed a grin as he shot them a teasing smile, "i said why shouldn't i be? we shouldn't be moping around, we gotta enjoy life even though life gives us hard times."

"i guess i just learned how to be happy even when it gets tough." he shrugs, shoving a piece of meat into his mouth. "damn, this is so delicious!" he squeals happily.

weijung shakes her head, actually knowing what donghyuck whispered. she nudges the boy a bit making the boy avert his attention from the meat and on to her. "what?" he mouthed, raising both of his brows.

"you okay?" weijung mouths back.

donghyuck chuckles and reaches out to tousle her hair, "of course i am. i am as bright as the sun. no need to worry about me." he scoffs, looking back at his plate of food.

weijung sighs and forces a smile, "whatever you say, sunshine."

donghyuck raises one brow at his given nickname, "sunshine? that's new."

weijung eyes him, "why? you don't like it? i think it suits you though. you're so positive, energetic and full of light."

donghyuck shrugs, "i don't know..." he mumbles, wanting to tease weijung.

"then i'll change it—"

"i don't like it." donghyuck stressed.

"yeah, i said i'll chang—"

"i love it." donghyuck cuts her off again, this time flashing her a smile. "yes, it suits me, i am well aware of that. thank you."

jaemin squints his eyes at weijung, who had been doing nothing but poking her food for the last thirty minutes they've been in the cafeteria. "yah, anything wrong?" jaemin utters, quite loud causing the other boys to turn their attention onto the girl.

weijung hums, looking at jaemin. "o-oh this? i'm not that hungry, sorry."

"are you sure, weijung?" jeno questions, wanting to be sure. he knew he wasn't always there for her, so he considers this as a way to make it up for her.

weijung chuckles dryly and gives them a weird look, "i'm fine. i always am."

"bullshit." renjun whispers to himself. now, this boy knew what has been going on. not technically everything, but at least some. he noticed little actions, little expressions that made him really concerned, although never really brought it up, scared by the fact it could cause something worse.

"there you guys are!" mark panted as soon as he reached their table.

"i went to the club room and you weren't there! jisung, chenle, nayoung and heeyeon at by the booth, arranging stuffs and probably goofing around," mark mumbles. "anyways, i need to borrow jaemin for a bit, we have some stuff to talk about."

jaemin nods, "okay, i've finished my breakfast anyways."

"geez, sometimes i forget that jaemin's the vice president." donghyuck jokingly sneered.

jaemin rolls his eyes playfully, "and sometimes i forget that you handle our photography section."

mark deadpans, "yeah, jaemin we're in a hurry."

"oh yeah, sorry. we'll see you guys later!" jaemin bids before running off to follow mark who had already left without him. "yah! hyung! wait for me!"

jeno scrunches his nose, closing the folder he brought. "i guess there is more to astronomy club than we had found before, wei."

weijung raises a brow, "you found more?"

jeno nods, "apparently, at the editors office, i found files related to them, there were a bunch!"

"and suddenly, we don't exist." renjun murmurs making donghyuck stifle a laugh.

"what else did you find?" weijung asks.

"well, other than that, i found layouts, maps of some sort. i also found, keys? yeah, keys." jeno points out, "found them somewhere in the office as well. i have no idea what were those lying around in the office, but maybe, someone misplaced?"

weijung frowns, "why would they misplace a key? unless... they were trying to hide it."

"why would they hide a key?"

"emergency purposes? maybe they are hiding something."

renjun holds the bridge of his nose, "if this they you are talking about is previous members then... it could be."

"i mean, dream team is a very secretive club," renjun shrugs, "they could've hidden a shit ton of things from other people and us!"

"you got a point," weijung agrees, "however, we need more than just keys and maps. yeah, they could be important. but, if they were hiding something, they wouldn't hide it somewhere that it would be easily found. doing it like that would lets us to believe that they are really bad at hiding things." she jokes before shaking her head.

"i mean, it would let us to believe that what they placed isn't something so important." weijung shrugs. "well, i guess that's based off on my perspective.

"i don't think we should be talking about such things here, it's... weird." donghyuck stops them before they could even talk about something they shouldn't be talking.

"you know what's weird?" renjun crosses his arms.

"what?"

"we haven't gotten a text from killer, yet. it's... really surprising." renjun says.

"i think the fairs gonna start in a few minutes, we should go and help." jeno stands up, the others following him.

jeno decided to head back to the club room while dragging donghyuck with him, who let out a groan in frustration while uttering, "why me?" in an annoyed tone.

despite donghyuck's annoyed look on his face, he still ended up with accompanying jeno to the club room while playing with him all the way to the room.

meanwhile, the iconic duo, renjun and weijung, went out to go to their booth.

"oh, you're here! heard you ate breakfast." jisung exclaims as soon as he sees the two.

weijung presses her lips into a thin line, nodding, "yes, we did."

jisung smiles softly, his eyes shaping into crescents, "glad to know you're not skipping breakfast anymore."

weijung scrunches her nose and went to the table to prepare with the other girls. "where's jeno and donghyuck?" nayoung questions, realizing that the duo came without the two boys.

weijung was about to answer when renjun suddenly butted in their conversation, "they went back to the club room."

"oh, okay." nayoung nods.

a few more minutes passed and they finally finished up reorganizing the booth. weijung decided to take a seat and rest for a bit. "so—" weijung looks up, surprised to see chenle.

"oh, chenle." she mumbles, looking elsewhere.

chenle laughs awkwardly, "is there something wrong?"

she shakes her head, "no, no, absolutely no."

"nothings wrong, chenle." she utters clearly.

"you know," chenle starts off, "i'm sorry."

"sorry for what?" weijung tilts her head, finally gaining more interest to talk to the boy.

chenle shrugs, "i just feel... sorry."

weijung scoffs lightly, forcing a smile, "there's nothing to be sorry about, chenle."

the girl stands up and walks away, looking around for her partner. "look who's alone." jaemin chuckles and walks up to her.

weijung crosses her arms, pointing at jaemin, "aren't you supposed to be with mark?"

"oh, mark's with jeno and donghyuck." jaemin informs.

"they were sorting out the files for this weeks article." jaemin says.

weijung nods and plays with her hand, still realizing the huge cut on her palm. jaemin narrows his eyes on her hand and immediately gasped at the sight of the cut. he grabs her hand and caresses it gently, "what happened?"

"i... uh... accidentally cut myself." she babbles.

"cut yourself?! how is this– why?"

"i mean... i technically didn't cut it but, gosh! it's so hard to explain, jae!" she whines.

jaemin frowns, "you need to tell me what's going on, wei."

weijung sighs, "i promise, once everything is cleared. now isn't really the right time to tell you..."

"i understand." jaemin sighs, looking at the cut. "but please, be careful and take care of yourself, for me? and the others."

"i will, jae. don't worry too much."

"honestly, i feel so sick." jaemin admitted.

"sick of what?"

"all of this. i mean, it's not like you witness something like this in an regular school." jaemin mutters.

"it's pretty messed up huh?" weijung snorted. "sometimes i wonder what is really going on. i mean, to me, director kim sometimes come off as... suspicious? though i don't want to point fingers– i just, i just want to make sure everything is okay with him."

"the killings are demonic. they are out of this world. where are the adults when we need them? police? guidance? anything??"

jaemin chuckles, "polices are nothing here. this is a secret society."

"yeah, but this is just sickening. just like what you said." weijung nods.

"the school wasn't always like this. there weren't anything dark, like murders, happening around in the past. mostly, it would just be suicide things." jaemin mutters. "until some psycho comes in and does some serial shit."

weijung laughs, "i find it amusing that she murders people just for a mistake, not knowing that even herself is making a big mistake by murdering them instead of just calling them out."

jaemin snickered, "our situation just shows how ignorant some adults are. they literally tell us that we should be like this, we should be like that, and when we do, we come off as amateurs and fools."

"we're helpless then."

"very."

ding!

weijung hurriedly fishes her phone out of her pocket, seeing who had texted her this time. she lets out a relieved sigh after seeing the notification was just from renjun.

RENJUN.
— come to the club room.
we have something to show you.

weijung places her phone back in her pocket before turning to jaemin who had a confused face. "i'm gonna go ahead, renjun's calling."

jaemin nods, understanding the situation, "oh, of course, go. wouldn't want to keep the boy waiting." he says before lightly pushing weijung away.

weijung chuckles and waves at him, "stay safe, please."

the girl sprints off to the club room, avoiding any possible distractions as possible.

"i'm here!" she announces upon entering the club room.

"just you two?" weijung tilts her head, gesturing to donghyuck and renjun.

renjun shakes his head, "we gotta be a bit quiet. jeno's working on the article at the editors office. mark? he went out to accompany jaemin and jisung."

"a bit quiet? well that's seems easy for us except donghyuck." she smirks.

donghyuck scoffs, "i'm quiet!"

"voice says otherwise." renjun retorts.

weijung hums, "let's just go to my office and work there, jeno wouldn't hear a thing." she mumbles before heading to her hacking room.

"okay, now that we're secured," renjun says, closing the door behind him, "this is what we were supposed to show you." he hands out his phone to weijung.

weijung was impressed. "you gathered the numbers?"

donghyuck nods proudly, "it's arranged from least to greatest."

"you see... the clue said there are thirteen sets, meaning thirteen numbers only." renjun explains, "there is the numbers zero, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eighteen, and two thousand-and-nine."

"that's thirteen sets." weijung nods understanding their point.

"the other clue... gave us thirteen letters." donghyuck utters, grabbing the other clue and placing it on top of the written numbers.

"how are you so sure about the numbers?"

"remember those notes someone left us? those numbers make up the thirteen sets." renjun recalls.

"now, it would somehow end up like this..."

weijung grins after writing the result. "all
we need to do is decode this code."

"i don't the clues complete, though." renjun frowns.

"why?"

"we have no idea in what order these go, and how many times some letters should be repeated. other than that, i think there is really something with, proclaimed eunji's death, that it keeps on getting repeated." weijung answers donghyuck's simple question.

"you mean, 092117?" donghyuck raises a brow.

"yeah, but, they wouldn't just give it that easy."

"maybe... 092117 creates something? like.. a word? i mean, all numbers are present." donghyuck mutters.

weijung knits her brows in confusion, "something's not right..." she trails off, staring at the code again.

"by the way, i heard jaena's finally awake." renjun opens up a topic. "i'm not sure about jinri, but jaena's being taken care of at the hospital. they made sure she would take her meds daily."

"we should visit her after the fair." weijung suggested.

"i'm cool with that." donghyuck agrees, wanting to go as well.

"if we even survive during freaky friday." renjun says sarcastically, "i'm not even surprised if one of us gets hurt again."

"well i hope it's better than using voodoo sh again. i'm quite glad they haven't been using the dolls, wonder why." weijung chuckles.

"we should finish this up immediately, mark might need more people out in the field." renjun utters before focusing on the papers on the table.

"agreed." the two nods before putting their focus on the papers as well.

. . .

"how have you been doing?" the man questions, taking a seat on one of the wooden chairs.

"i've been doing good. better than... before, i guess." the girl replies, a forced smile plastered on her face.

"you do know you're suspended right?" the man informs making the girl's jaw drop.

"w-what?"

"it's for the best." the man sighs. "you're suspended for a month."

tears formed around the rim of her eyes as her lips trembled, she had never been suspended nor did she want to be.

the man chuckles dryly, "i guess they were right. not everyone is lucky. and you happened to be one of the victims. so unlucky of you."

"what you did was inhuman and could make your friend suffer more, but you became selfish and let it be, why? because you wanted it for yourself, not for her." the man stated with a stern stare.

"i hope you realize that her illness isn't a joke,"

"i do understand." she replies.

"them leave her medication alone. no need to interfere." the man says before standing up.

"i'm expecting a lot from you, jinri."

"yes, dad."

"mr. kim seokjin?" the doctor enters the room, clipboard in hand.

"we've treated her the cuts around her body, it seemed like she had been strangled, quite relieved she was still breathing. she could've died from the strangling." the doctor says.

"i'm glad she didn't." seokjin says with a soft smile.

. . .

"who are you?"

"you don't know me?"

"i wouldn't be asking if i knew you."

"i'm killerkiller."

"come out the shadows."

"i can't. then you'll just tell everyone who i am."

"i don't even know you."

"you might know me."

sigh. "what do you want? are you here to take me? who are you? pennywise???"

"i'm not some fucking clown, idiot."

"then what do you want from me."

"i'm not going to hurt you. i just needed you."

"what do you need me for?"

"oh dear, the bomb has been planted."

"w-what do you mean by that?"

"friends... don't... lie."

—

"your eyes, they are beautiful. but other than beauty, there is something else i see in your eyes..."

"pain."

yikes. what the hell was that HAHAHA
hdksjsjs another update? how surprising.

y'all can do it!

this was quite long sooo—

anywaysSss i'm off to sleep, goodnight!

i'll try updating more often ~

-jibin