Seungkwan broke down into hysterical sobbing, burying his face into his hands as the shock was spelled away. Hansol leaned close to his friend, "H-hey, it's going to be alright." His hushed voice shaking gave away his own anxiety, "We're safe now." He pulled Seungkwan into a hug, comforting him as best as he could.

The reaction seemed to sober everyone up and process what had happened. They began reaching out to each other, appreciating that they were all in one piece. That they were still alive with them.

Wonwoo looked back at the outskirts of the forest and none of the monsters were to be seen, as if they hadn't shown themselves in the first place.

Seungcheol and Jihoon had their backs to everyone, facing the bridge as they seemed to be in a deep discussion.

Mingyu plopped down to the ground and sighed, speechless and exhausted. Everybody's faces were painted on with a glum expression, yet the day had just begun. This was the first day of its kind.

What were they going to do now? They couldn't carry on with the day as if like nothing happened. Their peace of mind was ripped to shreds. They just learned that right outside their village were these monstrous creatures. 

How were they supposed to leave this place?

Seungcheol clapped twice and hollered out, "Everybody, gather and listen carefully!" They did as they were told, huddled up in a circle and listening attentively. "There's something that both Jihoon and I have been keeping away from you all. We're sorry we kept it to ourselves, but it was better to have you guys feel safe." Everybody's expression shifted in slight bewilderment. "Follow us," Jihoon sharply stated, making his way up to the stone stairway and leading the way. A surprised silence was shared among the rest of the boys, stunned that Seungcheol and Jihoon had hidden something away from them. They didn't even know for how long. 

The thirteen boys made their way to the opposite side of the village, declining down to the lowest row of shacks. Jihoon turned to his right, stopping at the first shack encountered. The door creaked loudly as he pushed it open, entering and stopping right in the middle of the shack. Seungcheol took his place right next to Jihoon as everybody else filed into the shack. Making sure they were paying attention, Seungcheol crossed his arms, "Notice anything weird?" The question prompted everyone to look around but to no avail. Jihoon then hinted, "Don't you think it's a bit smaller here than what was seen outside?" It seemed that the miniscule detail hadn't caught anybody else's eye. "We almost didn't find it either," Seungcheol admitted, "and now we're glad we did."

He turned to the opposite wall of the door, placing both his hands on the wall and shoved.

The wall budged.

Jihoon moved up to help shifitng his body weight onto the wall. Slowly, a section of the stone brick wall was revealed to be a hidden revolving door.  The two left it halfway open, allowing Seungcheol and Jihoon to enter in the dark room. A slight must came from the room as the boys shuffled closer. Both seemed to have quickly grabbed something off the side, turning to everybody else with an oil lamp in Seungcheol's hand and a box of matches in Jihoon's. They eyed everybody to make sure they were watching. Then, Jihoon took out a match, striking it on the side of the box and lighting the oil lamp. The room was then illuminated, shining its light in every direction.

There they saw the room congested with weapons.

The room was a meter in width, and in it were a plethora of weapons leaned and hung up on the walls. Most, if not all, were melee weapons. There were knives, axes, nailed baseball bats, crowbars, and many more. There was more than enough for all of them. 

"Seungcheol and I found this room back when it was just the two of us in the village," Jihoon started, "We didn't get any of these from the tree, all these weapons were already here when we discovered this room." Seungcheol then explained, "We knew then that this place must've been dangerous, but because we couldn't find anything wrong in the village, we kept it a secret so as to not cause any unnecessary panic." The atmosphere was heavy on their shoulders as they realized the severity of the situation. Seungcheol revealed, "We both thought that if it wasn't the village, then there must've been something in the forest that was dangerous. That's why despite how vast the forest is, we decided to give our scouting only ten minutes." 

They gave only ten minutes in case of an emergency. In the event that they were in danger and had to retreat, a walking distance of ten minutes was easy to clear when running. The two were a step ahead. "Now that we definitely know what we need these weapons for, we'll be using them," Jihoon's somber tone gave away. He didn't want anybody to need to use the weapons, both of them had been hoping it'd never come to this. Seungcheol pushed the door further in, "Take at least two weapons on you, something that you think you can handle. Use it responsibly."

It felt unreal. Despite being in the village, all of them felt out of place. It was like their first day in the village all over again. Wonwoo waited by the doorway for his turn to come, caught in a powerful daze in the disbelief of it all. The space inside was limited and murmurs could only be heard as people piled into the storage room. Each boy slowly slipped out of the room staring at the weapons in their hands. Soon, Wonwoo stepped into the room and felt the musty air surround him. He could almost smell the dust accumulated as he took each breath.

He browsed the walls, spotting a rack of combat knives mounted. Many slots were emptied by the others. As the knife being the easiest and most familiar to wield, it automatically became the popular choice. He reached out for the most sturdy looking, reaching for the hilt and unsheathing it from the rack. Wonwoo observed the room more, searching for one last weapon to wield. The weapons' multiple shadows formed from Seungcheol's oil lamp and danced around as the lamp swayed in the leader's hand. It made the room too eerie for comfort, urging Wonwoo to make haste and pick a weapon up. His sights landed on a nailed baseball bat, leaning against the corner among other variations of bats. He grasped the handle and raised it upwards, observing the nails hammered into the wooden bat. The sight of the bat to the head and the splattering of blood flashed in his mind. He shook off the inevitable scenario in his head, turning around and leaving the room. 

Everybody sat in the shack with their heads down and shoulders heavy. They looked down in the weapons in their hands. They were carefree boys made into fighters.

Seungcheol and Jihoon were the last to return from the storage room, both with weapons in their hands just like everyone else. The leader his lips as he prepared to speak to the rest. "Things will be different from this day on," he declared, "I'm finally going to speak clearly with you all, too." Everybody slowly looked up in anticipation of his words. "We all know that in the back of our heads we wanted to know how this all came to be," Seungcheol spoke openly about their common concerns, "We also wondered if we'd ever leave this place and get our lives back." He lifted up the mace in his hand, "We've all been happily living out a lie, and we just received our wake-up call."

They couldn't turn a blind eye on the matter anymore. Anything could happen now that they could cross the bridge. There could be more to come and they couldn't afford to fall back. "I want to unravel all the mysteries here until I find the truth, for all of us. I trust that you all want to find your way out, too." Seungcheol looked at each person in the eye and as Wonwoo met his eyes, a flicker of determination reflected in the leader's. "I'm scared, too." he admitted, "But the last thing I want for all of us is to continue living this lie and dying out here."

Everyone shared agreement on Seungcheol's stance, some slightly nodding to his words and others who had determination sparked in their eyes. "We'll get out of here, even if it means scavenging for clues here and out there day and night." Seungcheol eyes soften, "I'm glad you are all safe. We need to look out for each other more than ever."

He nodded towards the door outside, "But for now, we all need some rest."

The remainder of the day went quieter than the previous ones. Wonwoo played badminton with Chan, Jun, and Mingyu to take his mind off of the incident. They all did. But the life was out of everyone, even lunch and dinner were unbearably less talkative.

Time passed slowly, but it was finally the end of the day.

Wonwoo sat up in his bed, leaning on his pillow propped up against the bed's wooden board. His three roommates were also present, lying around in their own beds. The shack was illuminated by all four light sources on each of their side tables. Wonwoo lost his motivation to write about the day's incident on his notebook. He thought perhaps he would leave it for the following morning, hoping he'd regain the motivation when he wakes up. 

"I'm going to sleep early," Soonyoung put out the fire in his lamp, throwing his blanket over him and facing the stone wall. Seokmin gave a sympathetic look and followed suit, "Good night, everyone." Mingyu prepped into his bed and also ended his day, putting out his oil lamp after Seokmin, "Sweet dreams." The irony in their greetings put a weigh in the atmosphere. Wonwoo was left with his candle providing the only light in the room. He looked at his side table, spotting the bare combat knife lying idly on the surface. Its blade shone and reflected the flicker of the flame. His eyes followed up to Mingyu's side table, his burning candle slightly spilling out its light to his neighbour's side. He could see the slight glint Mingyu's own knife reflected. Wonwoo leaned over to give a sharp blow to put out the fire.

The sight of it all made his heart sink like the dimming of the candle wick.

"Good night."