18: Mines

     Joohyuk and Kyungri hid behind a stack of potato sacks and watched as another team approached the danger zone marked with a X on the map. Infront of the danger zone was the large stadium that was labelled Midnight circus - completely emanating with silence. 

"It's just a flat ground," Kyungri whispered. "How-"

"Shh," Joohyuk whispered as Jooheon and his partner walked toward the danger zone, clueless.

Jooheon abruptly stopped and stared at the ground.

"He knows something," Kyungri whispered as she watched him.

     "What?" Jooheon's partner turned back and stared at Jooheon who stared at the ground for a long time. He pulled his partner back and began whispering something into her ears and the two nodded as Jooheon walked over to an empty booth in the side and hid behind it.

Jooheon's partner began pacing back and forth, getting on her knees and pretended to tie her shoelace as she watched another team walk toward the danger zone.

"Se-yi," the girl from the team gasped as she walked over to Jooheon's partner. 

"Min-jeong," Se-yi faked a smile. "You guys made it here!" 

"We were so lost, but we followed footprints here." 

"I think we're supposed to get there," Se-yi pointed to the stadium. "All the other places lead into that stadium as well."

"We should team up Se-yi," Yeonjun, Min-jeong's partner said with a light smile. "We need to take all chances."

"O-of course," Se-yi nodded. "You guys go ahead, I'll just tie my shoelaces and go."

"By the way," Yeonjun asked. "Where's Jooheon?"

"He's taking a dump somewhere around here," Se-yi laughed awkwardly. "He'll find his way."

     Minjeong and Yeonjun nodded as they walked through the danger zone. Jooheon peeked from behind the booth and watched the two as they walked through the zone in silence. Joohyuk and Kyungri watched their surroundings as the ground began to shake lightly until the shaking grew harder and harder, followed by a loud explosion and the splatter of blood on the walls.

Joohyuk watched in shock as Yeonjun's leg went flying through the air and landed infront of the potato sacks. 

The explosion smoke disappeared and the only thing left in the spot was Minjeong and Yeonjun's hair on the ground, dripping with blood. 

Jooheon hopped out from behind the booth and walked toward his partner, staring at the pieces of hair on the floor. 

"I think I got it," Se-yi said quietly. 

'What?" Jooheon asked with a frown as he waved the smoke out of his face.

"It's a land mine."

Joohyuk and Kyungri exchanged looks, then back at Jooheon.

"What, that's it?" Jooheon frowned. "There's gotta be something more than that."

     Se-yi walked over to the booth and carried a few rocks in her arms. She stepped back and threw a rock in the middle of the danger zone, falling down as the ground exploded again. She threw one in each part of the zone, her focus on the spots that wouldn't explode when she threw a rock. 

A total of five rocks laid on the ground in the shape of a hopscotch. 

"That must be the pattern," Se-yi sighed. 

"There's such a huge gap between the last rock and the end of the danger zone," Jooheon stuttered. "This isn't going to work." 

"Um, maybe you could come up with the next plan?" Se-yi rolled her eyes. 

"Goddamit it," Jooheon cussed under his breath. "We just gotta jump for our lives."

---

     Zico and Suzy walked toward the explosion, hiding behind a pile of wooden boxes as they saw Jooheon and his partner standing infront of what looked like the final danger zone before the stadium. 

Suzy felt something wet on her foot and looked down, seeing an organ part dripping with blood.

Zico covered Suzy's mouth shut even before she could scream, turning her face toward what Jooheon and his partner were doing.

     Zico watched as Jooheon walked hopped into the danger zone, only in the spots where a rock was present. The two reached the last rock and they paused, before taking a big leap over a faint line which marked the end of the danger zone. 

     Jooheon and his partner rolled on the floor, watching as the ground began to part into little squares and reorganize themselves, forming what seemed to be a new mine pattern. The squares swallowed the rocks into the ground and formed one surface, leaving the little blood stains of Yeonjun and Minjeong.

"What was that..?" Suzy asked in awe. 

"Must be some sort of puzzle," Zico whispered as he watched Joohyuk and Kyungri walk out from behind the potato sacks. 

"Joohyuk-"

     "That son of a ," Zico released his grip from Suzy and ran toward Joohyuk, pushing him onto the ground. He climbed on top of Joohyuk and began punching him in the face, trying to search for the map on his body.

"What the are you doing-" Kyungri pushed Zico off Joohyuk and helped Joohyuk balance himself. 

Joohyuk wiped the blood off his mouth and glared at Zico, running toward him and punching his face. 

"Where's the map you ing piece of trash?" Zico screamed as he threw a punch that Joohyuk dodged. 

"Don't act like this now," Joohyuk laughed. "You were going to dump us sooner or later."

     Zico growled and threw another punch into Joohyuk's face, Joohyuk returning the punch as the both of them fell to the ground with a loud thump. Blood dripped from Zico's mouth and nose as he stared at Joohyuk laughing as he wiped the blood with his sleeves.

     Suzy bit her lips. 

She had never seen this side of Joohyuk before, and she didn't want to believe that Joohyuk was turning his back on her. 

"Joohyuk," Suzy croaked. "What's wrong with you..?"

Joohyuk glanced at Suzy who was on the verge of tears as spoke, trying not to cry.

He didn't know what to say to her. 

"You're not this kind of person.."

Joohyuk bit his lips, unable to say another word.

"Suzy," Joohyuk said as he stood up from his spot. "I'm sorry."

"What..?" Suzy whispered.

"I want to protect you, but I can't protect you as much as I can protect myself." He stepped back and stood beside Kyungri. 

     Suzy felt her tears flowing down her cheeks as his words echoed in her ears. It felt as someone had pieced a bayonet through her heart and ripped her heart apart, but she knew she couldn't become any more weaker than she already was. She wiped the tears off her face and nodded silently.

"Fine," Suzy said firmly. "You do whatever you want to do." 

Joohyuk sighed and turned around, walking toward the danger mine.

"But," Suzy's last word stopped him. He looked back, staring at Suzy's stern eyes. The sweet look she gave him was nowhere to be seen.

"Give the map back," 

"Here," Kyungri threw the map at Suzy. "This map's no use, it only takes us to the stadium." 

     Suzy picked up the map that laid infront of her and stared at Joohyuk as they began throwing rocks into the ground infront of them, falling to the floor each time an explosion covered the place with white smoke.

Suzy watched as Joohyuk and Kyungri hopped in the places of the rocks and crossed the danger zone, walking toward the stadium infront of them.

And not once did Joohyuk look back.

Suzy crouched down, staring at the danger zone infront of her as the ground reorganized itself. 

"Are you ok?" Zico asked as he crouched down and met her eyes. 

"Let's go," Suzy stood up. "We need to catch them."

Suzy grabbed the first rock and threw it into the danger zone, her heart firm as the rock laid on the ground without an explosion.

     Zico and Suzy crossed over to the other side and walked toward the stadium.

     There were other teams coming out from other sides of the block, all walking toward the large entrance in the center of the stadium. As they got closer to the entrance, they could hear the faint orgel sound they heard infront of the game booths they entered earlier. 

As Zico and Suzy walked into the stadium, they could hear laughter and chatter from the inside. 

The two walked into the entrance room and walked through the glass door that led them outside, halting in their tracks as they stared at the world around them.

It was a sight to behold.

Hello..

Sorry I didn't update in ages,, AGAIN. I've just.. been busy (like always) because I am a senior in high school and I've been doing planning about this story and visiting places gave me alot of inspiration for how this story will go, so I will try to update whenever I can.

Thank you.