"What did you do?" Seungcheol was first to cross the bridge. The rest of the boys slowly walked through the bridge, admiring the new view on the river as they looked over the railings. "I just ran," Wonwoo simply said. Jihoon shortly joined the two in their conversation, "Why is it now that the bridge doesn't get torn down?" All three were at a loss for an answer. Seungcheol's gaze pierced through the forest as he contemplated on the next course of action. "We should take advantage of the opportunity," he started off, "We don't know if we'll be able to cross this bridge next time." At this point, most the boys had huddled up around. Jihoon clarified on the plan, "Is splitting into pairs fine with you guys?" A chorus of agreement sounded among them. 

Seungcheol clapped his hands together, "Alright, let's do this."

Wonwoo ended up being grouped with Mingyu and Chan. The boys had quickly paired with each other efficiently and set out on their assigned direction. Seungcheol instructed that they scout for ten minutes and turn back and gather at the end of the bridge. Some of the boys who had watches on them had distributed theirs so that every group could keep the time. 

The three trekked through the forest north-east of the bridge. Slivers of sunlight seeped through the leaves hanging from the arching branches. They were still getting accustomed to the bumpy, grassy terrain. It wasn't that they weren't used to walking on it, it was more that it had felt oddly satisfying the whole time. It was something new. The trees towered several meters up in the air. Wonwoo had been careful not to trip on any of the roots as he admired the new view of the trees. He wouldn't have guessed he would be walking beneath these trees so soon. 

"Mingyu, how many minutes left before we turn back?" Chan was behind the two and Mingyu ahead. The younger had been struggling to walk right beside Mingyu due to his shorter legs. "In four minutes," Mingyu glanced at the digital watch latched on his wrist. There was still nothing ahead nor around in sight, nothing that was worth reporting. Wonwoo also kept his eye out on any animals that may appear, giving the benefit of the doubt and thinking that they simply stayed further into the forest. Anything they knew back from the village could be proved wrong now that they were here. Walking into the forest felt like a new door of possibilitiies opening up. It felt like a new world.

"I can't believe we crossed that bridge," Chan filled the silence with his voice, "I wonder how long we've gone without knowing we could actually cross it this time." None of them really knew, though. "Beats me," Mingyu said, "If it weren't for Wonwoo we would've gone longer without knowing." Wonwoo was slightly flustered over the mention of his name, and now that he thought about it, "Uhh, sorry about suddenly running out on you guys. It was one of the rules and you guys were probably worried-"

"No, it's fine!" Chan waved his hands. Mingyu turned to Wonwoo, walking backwards while he agreed with Chan, "Actually, we expected you to do that." Chan nodded to confirm, "Almost everybody tried to cross the bridge when they were new, so it's become a norm to just wait it out and keep a watchful eye in case they got hurt." Wonwoo had nothing to say. He didn't realize that as a result of living here, they eventually got used to newcomers trying to cross over and watched over them. "Did any of you guys try to cross?" Wonwoo asked and Chan grinned, "Everyone except for a few." Mingyu started recounting the attempts, "I think Seungkwan, Jisoo, and Jeonghan didn't try to escape. Of course, they eventually saw the bridge being torn down when others ahead of them tried to make a run for it."

"But isn't it exciting?" Chan changed the subject while he threw his arms up in the air, "We can find out something new about this place! There may not be any clues back at the village, but this opens up so many possibilities." It really did. Before they all separated, Wonwoo could see the eagerness and wanderlust in everyone's eyes. A string of hope appeared before them to pull and unravel the mystery of this place.

Mingyu skidded to a halt. 

He held his hand up, signalling the two boys behind to stay quiet. Chan's eyebrows shot up in alarm, tilting his head to see ahead of Mingyu. Wonwoo looked just beyond in between the trees spanning meters ahead.

There was an odd figure with its back to them, bent down on its knees and having been fixated on what's in front of it. The strangeness of it had already struck fright in their hearts. The figure wasn't far from just being a shockingly pale bag of bones, clothless and hairless. It was disturbingly frail. Wonwoo forced himself to take his eyes off and look what was in front of it.

A deer carcass. 

A shudder went up Wonwoo's spine and suddenly the sun has lost its warmth. They could see it bring its hands close to its mouth, gnawing hungrily into the decomposing meat. 

"Run!" An echoed scream ripped through the silence.

The three boys were cut from their trance as the figure's head suddenly snapped to the side. 

And saw them.

Without a word, the three whipped around and broke into a frenzied sprint. Wonwoo could feel his heart almost leaping out of his chest as it was quickly plagued with fear. 

What the . What the . What the . What the -

They could faintly hear the hollers from the others as they desperately pushed on to make it back to the village. Crazed footsteps and battered breath trailed just behind them. None of them wanted to look over their shoulders and powered on. Their lungs were burning, their legs threatened to collapse, their fear was eating their minds away yet they were forced to keep their wits about them. They were kept on edge as they eyed the ground beneath them, alerted to evade protruding roots and uneven ground.

Wonwoo could hear Chan's breath become more ragged. "Chan," he managed to say in between his own laboured breath, "keep running! We're almost there!" Just ahead, they could see the sunlight shining bright on the ground. They were almost out of the forest. The chaser seemed to realize this and snarled in an almost broken, dry voice. Mingyu began taking bigger strides, placing a hand on Wonwoo's back and pressing pressure to encourage him. "Go, go, go!" Mingyu's raw voice ripped out from his throat. The three strode harder to create a distance and make it to their safe zone.

The sunlight hit him as they ran outside the towering trees' shade. The others were at the safe end of the bridge, hysterically spurring them on to keep running as they spotted them. Hysterical screaming rung in the air and echoed in Wonwoo's mind as his heart beat against his ribs, threatening to burst any second. He willed against his legs to betray him and collapse, feeling each one of them wobble as he took each step. 

A rush of relief went through them as they set foot on the bridge, wood thumping harshly as they prolong their long-gone stamina. Wonwoo attempted to slow his pace down as he reached the village, stumbling past the guys and losing his footing, his body falling forwards and hitting against the ground.

He pushed himself up and barely hoisted himself up with his aching body. Wonwoo quickly counted all the boys present, relief washing over him as they were all accounted for. He looked beyond the bridge, fear striking him in the heart as he scanned the outskirts of the forest. More than ten of those monsters lingered at the edge, fixated on them with a deadly longing. As they stood paralyzed in their spots, horror remained instilled in their hearts as each figure disappeared into the forest one by one.

Their secure world here crumbled before their eyes.