Wonwoo woke up from his dreamless sleep.

Slowly, he pushed himself up off his side. He blinked hard to get rid of the drowse weighing on his eyelids. His vision unblurred to the knife on his bedside table. Wonwoo quickly redirected his attention elsewhere.

Nobody in his shack was up yet. He didn’t hear anybody outside either. Wonwoo reached down for the crate under his bed, sliding it out and snatching up his notebook and pencil. He clicked the head of the pencil twice and flipped to his last written page, skipping a line and jotting down yesterday’s events.

It was a little after my first week, I crossed the bridge with no difficulties. This was the first time someone was able to cross.

We were mostly split into pairs, I was with Chan and Mingyu. We scouted the forest and around six minutes in, we spot a strange creature ahead. Pale, hairless, and skeletal in stature. Was eating a deer carcass. This can explain the absence of animals.

The pencil lead hovered over the page as he realized how little detail he had on the creature itself. Wonwoo couldn’t even recall its facial features. Letting out a soft exhale, he decided to move on.

The three of us were chased by said monster. The others were also chased by creatures of the same species. We ran back to the village safely.

Wonwoo lifted the pencil from the paper before a memory flickered through his mind, immediately pressing the lead onto the notebook once again.

The monster gave up running towards the end of the chase. Lack of stamina?

He skipped a line.

A storage room filled with weapons was found by Seungcheol and Jihoon about a year ago. Following the artificial environment theory, this room may have been here for the purpose of providing weapons without the waiting time for the tree to deliver.

Content with what he wrote down, he closed the notebook and tossed the items back into the crate. Slipping into his flip flops, he left the shack as quietly as he could, fitting himself between the ajar space he pulled open and gently shutting the door behind him.

He skidded on the spot as he saw Jihoon and Seungcheol marching down on the stone stairway, both carrying what seemed to be fighting dummies. Wonwoo had met them halfway as he walked up to a cardboard box filled with combat knife sheaths. “We noticed there weren’t any sheaths around in the storage room,” Jihoon put aside the hollow dummy beside him, “so we requested them. Don’t want anyone accidentally nicking themselves.”

Wonwoo could only nod as he stared at the dummy placed in front of him. It was a wooden one, likely designed for the purpose of being a target for projectile weapons such as throwing knives and axes. Seungcheol had brought the dummies into the recreational storage shack. Some made out of other material for varying purposes, most of which were meant for close combat. "What are we doing today?" Wonwoo inquired, deducting that they were least likely allowed to sit around with the new equipment brought in. "We're going to discuss about our next course of action," Jihoon huffed, "We don't want to push you guys into doing things so suddenly, but we have to at least talk about this whole situation."

His words struck true. Though he still felt the tension from the incident, Wonwoo's mind was more cleared out. They could use the time to talk about what to do next. "Seems good to me," Wonwoo shrugged. The smell of bacon and eggs wafted up his nose. He gave a greeting nod to Jihoon before he walked off and entered the kitchen. Jeonghan and Jisoo busied themselves with cooking the eggs and bacon respectively. The steam of the rice cooking mixed into the air.

He pulled a chair and took his seat, lying his head on top of his folded arms on the table and wondering about the upcoming discussion. What else could Jihoon and Seungcheol say? What plan did they have in mind?

Soon, the food was set on the table. Wonwoo ended up cutting the scrambled eggs and some bacon strips into pieces, mixing them into his bowl of rice. He forced himself to eat his meal despite his lack of appetite, taking his sweet time on chewing each spoonful.

Everybody else followed in, greeting each other a good morning as they took a seat and served themselves. Soonyoung sat to his left, uncharacteristically yet understandably quiet than usual. He was still shaken up from the incident. Wonwoo lowered and tilted his head towards him, "Are you alright?" he quietly asked Soonyoung. The boy turned his head as his attention was piqued. A grave gloom was cast onto his eyes, but Soonyoung spoke anyway. "Back at the forest," he started off, "one of those things nearly ambushed Seokmin." He stared down on the table, "If I hadn't yelled out in time.." his voice shook at the thought.

Wonwoo recalled the scream that had rung out in the forest. It was faint from where he was located, but frantic. It was Soonyoung.

He couldn't find the most comforting words to say but nevertheless wanted to conjure something up before the silence prolonged. "He's safe now, thanks to you," Wonwoo reassured him. Soonyoung could only nod as he went back to prodding the food in his bowl. Wonwoo noted that it still took a toll on everyone as they ate in a dazed state. Conversations were being held moderately as the others tried not to let the situation bring them down. The topics being held related to what was outside. Minghao picked up some of the bacon placed at the center of the table, talking to nobody at the table in particular, "I wonder if it's the same beyond the forest." Everyone at the table shot him dreadful looks as he suggested the idea. Navigating through the forest already was going to be a challenge to go through. God forbid they manage to escape and find that those things also lurked beyond the forest.

Mingyu had taken the seat to his right, Jihoon in his front. Minghao took a seat at the end of the table and Jun took the corner of the seat to his fellow Chinese villager's right. Chan sat at the opposing end with Seokmin seated to his left and opposite to Soonyoung. Jihoon patted the table to gently gain the attention of the others at the table, "Don't leave the shack yet, Seungcheol and I will be talking about what we're hoping to do soon."

One by one, everybody had put aside their dirty dishes on the cart at the side and seated themselves back to their spots. Jihoon was last to set his plate down before returning to his seat. Both him and Seungcheol shifted their seats to be placed to face everyone else in the room, almost forming a circle of seats in the dining area. Silence hushed among them as they turned to the two.

Seungcheol gave a small smile, appearing and disappearing on his expression in a flash. "Well, you guys already have an idea what this discussion will be about." He started off, "We'll pick up from where we ended yesterday." Jihoon took it from there, "If we want to get out of this place, we have to know where we're heading out. But considering some factors, it might not be that easy." He looked expectantly over each of the boys, waiting for any guesses to be made. Wonwoo's voice hitched in his throat as he contemplated whether he wanted to speak among the silence. Jihoon had already landed his eyes on him, knowing fully well that he out of all the boys expressed their skepticism over the village and the forest.

It seemed that everybody else caught on, tracing Jihoon's line of sight to Wonwoo. Despite the discomfort of it, he decided to give it a shot. The tree, the hidden storage room, the river, and the bridge connected to one idea. "This place is a simulation." He carefully suggested, "Everything is unnaturally under control including the tree, the river, and the bridge. Us actually living indoors can explain the lack of animals." Everybody seemed to have collectively agree on the idea and realized that it left them with too many hypothetical possibilities outside the supposed simulation. For all they know the world could be in a post-apocalyptic state.

No harm in staying optimistic, though.

"There has to be some solid proof that we're indoors," Jihoon said. "All this time delivering us what we need and keeping us away from the forest until now, there should be cameras and microphones hidden somewhere." Seungcheol rubbed the back of his neck, "We've been living here for several months now, so one of us should've noticed a camera by now." But there wasn't. None of the boys had their sights caught onto anything suspicious within the village. Microphones were easily concealed and could be hidden within the walls for all they know. They couldn't risk tearing down the shacks, though. That left for one thing.

"We'll have to check out the forest again," Jihoon announced, "there might be cameras installed in that area. That's where they might've been able to tell if we were going to run for the bridge." Seungcheol inquired of the boys, "Is the day after tomorrow fine for you guys?" A contemplative silence graced them until Soonyoung spoke up, "Can we move it up to tomorrow?" Seungcheol was taken aback by this, slightly raising his eyebrows to the boy as he urged him on to explain. Soonyoung took the gesture, "I think we should find our way out as soon as we can. We need to spend our time getting ahead before something else happens." Wonwoo couldn't agree more, nodding as he affirmed Soonyoung's point. If they spent another day free, it would be another day spent on thinking on their situation. They needed to act.

Jeonghan was next to speak, "We should go for tomorrow." The boys turned their heads to Jeonghan who was seated near the leader. "We have the day ahead of us to prepare ourselves. We have weapons to fend ourselves and now we know better than to stray far off." Jeonghan explained, "We're just looking for proof that this is being monitored and simulated, right? We can do it." Seungcheol nodded to Jeonghan in acknowledgement before he looked to the others, "Those in favour for the search to be tomorrow, raise your hands." Jeonghan and Soonyoung were the first to lift up their hands, followed by Wonwoo, Seokmin, and Joshua. The confidence spread across the room as more hands were put up in the air, some slowly but surely.

Seungcheol clapped his hands together, "Then it's settled."

Wonwoo sat by the river and dipped his feet into the cool water with Mingyu by his side. "I hope we don't come across those things too soon," Mingyu's stare went across the river and into the forest. Wonwoo shared the same sentiment but reminded him, "Yeah, but we'll have to get used to them anyway." If they wanted to find their way through the forest, they had to learn to power through the obstacles- including those creatures. Wonwoo noticed how Mingyu pursed his lips at the comment, staring down at his own feet under the water's surface. As an attempt to lighten the burden, Wonwoo recalled the plan for tomorrow, "We'll be split into bigger groups this time, so we have more of each other to count on."

No matter what they thought, there was still a tension that hung above them. "You think we'll be able to find something out there?" Mingyu carried on the conversation. Wonwoo sighed, "We'll have to put our faith in that. There has to be something. There has to be someone who's watching us and giving us our stuff through the tree." It was a given that the tree highly likely wasn't natural. It was a one-way gateway disguised as a tree. 

"It's almost hard to believe that all this can be indoors," Mingyu coined in his thoughts. Wonwoo absentmindedly hummed in agreement. The sky looked endless, the sun felt warm and sincere, the slight breeze was comforting.

To think that it all may be artificial led to a frightening thought. 

There will be much more against them than those creatures that will prevent them from leaving.

Author's Note

AND I BREAK FREE FROM THE WRITER'S BLOCK. So sorry for the wait. It's August! Which reminds me: Are any of you guys attending Seventeen's concert? I'm going to the Toronto one! Really, really excited to finally see the boys after so many years supporting them. ; u ;