Sunggyu shivered and continued to back away, but his movements started to slow down significantly and it felt like he was trying to move through molasses.

The woman’s mouth curled up in a cat-like grin as she held her hand out toward Sunggyu. “Come to me now.”

Sunggyu’s entire body seemed to tense up and he couldn’t move anymore. He couldn’t even speak. He could only stare wide-eyed at the woman as his legs started to move him forward. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop himself. He was getting closer and closer toward the mirror and his gaze was fixed on only her pale, yellow eyes. They seemed to glow to him in a strangely calming way. He could feel his body relaxing more and more until he wasn’t fighting back anymore. As his vision became hazy, he heard a faint but clear voice sound in the back of his head. It kept calling Sunggyu’s name and sounded familiar. The more Sunggyu heard it and focused on it, the more clear-headed he became and blinked slowly.

“Get out of there! Hurry!” The voice called urgently.

Sunggyu’s head shifted to the side slowly and could feel a light illuminating from behind him. He heard a ghostly hiss from the woman in front of him and that woke him up even more.

“Now! Run for it!” The voice shouted.

Sunggyu didn’t hesitate and jerked his entire body around, bolting for the space in front of him. The view of the pink hallway was all he could see and focused on only on it. His movement slowed down only a little until all of the weight of his body came back to him and he collapsed onto the floor of the pink hallway, breathing hard and shakily supporting himself on his hands and knees. He felt hands touch his shoulders and he quickly looked up.

“D-Dongwoo?” His voice was very shaky.

Dongwoo quickly pulled him up and pulled on his hand. “We have to keep moving.”

Before Sunggyu could respond, Dongwoo dragged him down the pink hallway. Sunggyu felt the light from the ceiling on his skin and he was back to feeling completely normal in less than ten seconds.

“Where’s Hoya?” Sunggyu asked once his breathing was steadier.

Dongwoo glanced at Sunggyu questionably.

“…Hoya left with you…a while ago. Don’t you remember?” Sunggyu started to get weary.

“…no.” Dongwoo said quietly and turned his gaze back to the path in front of them.

Now Sunggyu pulled away and stopped walking. “Why should I trust you? I thought I was talking to the real Myungsoo before and looked how that turned out!”

“Sunggyu.” Dongwoo stopped walking and turned around to face Sunggyu. “I know things are very confusing right now but you need to trust me, okay?”

“Give me one good reason for me to trust you.” Sunggyu kept his feet glued to the floor.

“I just helped you get out from almost getting your soul stolen. Isn’t that a good reason?”

“We’re dealing with a ghost here. You could be her right now.”

“Why would that woman almost steal your soul and then allow you to get rescued?”

Sunggyu shrugged. “Maybe she really just likes messing around with her prey until they completely lose it.”

Dongwoo was silent for a long time. “…well don’t trust me then.” He sighed and dropped his head. “But I really want to leave this place. That woman is really annoying and she won’t let us go anywhere. So you don’t have to trust me, but at least trust my words?”

Sunggyu was quiet for a moment. He was really torn about what action to take next. His trust about everything was extremely low after the little scene in the public bathroom.

Suddenly Dongwoo turned around and seemed to be listening to something. “I found him.” He quickly moved down the hallway.

Sunggyu opened his mouth slightly then closed it and hesitantly followed behind Dongwoo. Even though he was extremely doubtful, he decided to trust Dongwoo’s words for the time being.

Dongwoo turned suddenly to the right and into a pink and purple-lit room. As soon as Sunggyu stepped into the room, his ear rang with low pressure and his eyes closed tightly for a brief couple of moments. After fighting the sudden fatigue, he blinked his eyes open and glanced around the room. There were a couple of plants in the corners of the room and a single empty picture frame on the wall. But the thing that caught Sunggyu’s attention immediately was the figure of Woohyun sitting with his back facing Sunggyu sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. There was a wall mirror in front of Woohyun, but even though he was sitting in front of it, there was no reflection in the mirror. Woohyun’s head was lowered and it looked like he was sleeping.

“W-Woohyun?” Sunggyu took a step forward but froze when he felt a hand touch his arm.

“We can’t help him now…it’s too late.” Dongwoo’s voice was unusually quiet and solemn. It didn’t make Sunggyu trust him any better since Dongwoo was always light-hearted and silly.

“What do you mean it’s too late? What happened?” Sunggyu asked.

“That woman. She got to him and now he belongs to her. Like me.” Dongwoo said.

“She took over his soul already!?” Sunggyu looked at Dongwoo wide-eyed. “Seriously!? Okay, Woohyun is a bit wimpy in these kind of situations but he really let himself go so quickly!?”

“The woman is powerful. What can I say?” Dongwoo shrugged slightly.

Sunggyu looked back at Woohyun and sighed. “Great, now there’s only me and Hoya left to help you guys out.”

“I’m not too sure about that. I don’t know where Hoya is.” Dongwoo replied.

“Well last time I saw him he decided to follow you because you told him to. Only he could see you.”

“I don’t remember that. The woman must have showed up in my figure to trick him.”

“Then where were you during all of that?” Sunggyu turned back to Dongwoo.

“In a dark room...” Dongwoo answered, shifting his gaze to the floor.

“How did you get out?”

Dongwoo slowly looked at Sunggyu. “When the woman wasn’t in the same room as me, I could move around a little more freely and then I felt your presence.”

Sunggyu blinked. “You what?”

“I couldn’t see you, but I could feel that you were near, so I escaped and was able to go where you were trapped with the woman and get you out before she stole your soul.”

Sunggyu was quiet for several seconds. It was obviously very hard for him to digest the words he was hearing from Dongwoo.

Dongwoo glanced at Woohyun. “I don’t know if we could have done anything to prevent this, but now that he’s already gone, the only thing to do now is to take the woman out once and for all. Then once her own soul is released, everyone else’s soul should be restored.”

“Should be?” Sunggyu’s eyebrow rose.

“Yeah. It makes sense, right?” Dongwoo shrugged.

“I guess…but I’m surprised she didn’t tell you anything.”

“Why would she tell me her secrets? I’m her prisoner after all.” Dongwoo blinked at Sunggyu.

“I…I don’t know. Forget it.” Sunggyu shook his head and sighed. “Well now what should we do?”

Before Dongwoo could answer, the room rumbled and the walls shook. Sunggyu almost lost his balance and caught himself before falling to the floor. His gaze immediately turned to Woohyun and his body remained very still. The empty reflection in the mirror in front of him flashed the figure with grey skin and long, grey hair. Her pale, yellow eyes pierced through the room and almost stung Sunggyu’s eyes, making him moan in pain and cover his eyes. Through his closed eyes he continued to see the imprint of the pale, yellow eyes.

“I’ll save you as the best for last.” The woman spoke lowly, her venom-filled voice invading Sunggyu’s mind. “I don’t know what it is, but I find you extremely attractive.”

Oh god, gross! Sunggyu’s closed eyes tightened.

“L-leave…right now.” Dongwoo’s voice suddenly sounded a lot weaker.

Sunggyu slowly glanced to his side and saw Dongwoo bent over, seemingly in a lot of pain.

“What about you?” Sunggyu asked.

“GO!!” Dongwoo shouted loudly, making Sunggyu step back.

After one last quick look at Dongwoo, Sunggyu bolted for the wall behind him, not caring that it looked like he was about to run into the wall. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what he did and he ended up bruising his nose.

“OW! Son of a…” Sunggyu held his hurt nose and pushed on the solid wall. “Why can’t I get through!?”

Then a strangely sweet aroma invaded his nose and he turned around. The plants in the room were giving off a pink gas and the gas was spreading very quickly. The mirror where the woman appeared was blank again. Dongwoo and Woohyun had disappeared.

“God damnit…” Sunggyu blinked slowly and leaned into the wall. He was getting more and more sleepy as the pink gas filled up the room. A wave of fatigue washed over him and he sunk to the floor. His hands holding his nose dropped to his sides and his head slowly lowered. Even though he should have been panicking, all of his thoughts quickly left his mind and he saw darkness before his eyes closed.