It was an awkward four in the morning, when two friends sat next to each other in the hotel corridor. Unmoving. Unspoken. One was fiddling with his thumbs, while the other was burying his head in between his knees. None of them were planning to go back to bed, not after the incident occurred to them. They’re confused, and clueless. They wished it was never happened, and now they’re facing it again. No one ever heard that lightning strikes twice, but they’re slowly going to believe it as a bad luck.

“I don’t know what to do from here.” The smaller body spoke first.

“Me either.” The taller replied.

“I can’t sleep.”

“...Me either.”

The smaller scooted closer to the taller, tugging his arm. “Think of something, Kyungsoo!”

The taller could only blink twice at the floor and his face was blank, as if his soul has taken away. “I can’t think of any.”

Chanyeol’s shoulders slumped lower than they’re supposed to be. His lips curled into disappointment, and his eyes were staring at the floor just like Kyungsoo. “So we have no choice? We’re going to play pretend again? How can we tell if this is all just a dream? Argh, I never signed for this. Not when I kept telling myself I’ve ignored the nightmare I faced months ago.”

Kyungsoo watched as Chanyeol hugged his knees again, he moved his hand to rub on the smaller’s back. “I never asked for this too, Chanyeol. If this really happens then... we must have done something without notice. It could be something we ate or what we saw. We did not fall from the stairs this time, so let’s forget about our worries. It isn’t going anywhere.” Chanyeol lifted his head up to look at the taller, and slowly nodded. Kyungsoo felt bad for him that he looked paled, and overwhelmed by the accident. He can easily tell by looking at the face. “So do you remember anything about the food you ate yesterday? Anything... weird?”

Chanyeol looked away, and his eyes were unfocused, digging his memories of yesterday’s dinner. “Not much. We had a bunch of seafood, but that’s all about it. They were delicious as I recalled.”

Chanyeol was right. They had the same dinner on the same table. The seafood was luxurious, and it’s not easy to forget what they consumed. “How about drinks, and desserts?”

“Juice, and fruits? I love their watermelon.”

Nothing unusual. Kyungsoo had the same drinks too, and they didn’t serve alcohol on the first day. They mostly ate common dinner. Although they’re from different country, the food was still a standard dish for all people to eat, which brings Kyungsoo to the next question. “What about anything you saw? Like marks or weird languages you happened to read. Who knows, it turned out to be a spell?”

“Are you still doubting me?” Chanyeol looked offended, while the other rolled his eyes.

“Out of many people I know, you have one habit that easily distracted by everything. You can correct me with your excuses if you want to, but you’re wasting our time. I’m asking you again, ‘did you happen to see anything weird’?”

Chanyeol huffed lightly, and shook his head.

Well, that wasn’t so hard.

Silence took them again, when Kyungsoo watched the older him starting to bury his head. Chanyeol was worrying too much, Kyungsoo thought. Of course, none of them wanted to be in this hell hole, and Chanyeol seemed to be most affected by it. Kyungsoo reached to rub harder on Chanyeol’s nape. “We can get through this, okay? Just hang on a little bit. We’ll find a way.” Kyungsoo cooed.

Seeing Chanyeol bobbed his head lightly, he helped him back to his feet. Chanyeol seemed to be blank at the moment, and Kyungsoo had to make sure the smaller heard his voice. He told him to go back to his shared room with Baekhyun, or else they’ll get caught lingering around the corridors. They departed, but within seconds, Chanyeol came back from the corner, tugging Kyungsoo’s sleeve.

“Um...” Chanyeol bit his lower lip.

Kyungsoo blinked. “What’s wrong? You alright?”

“I’m okay...”

“What is it then? Did you forget the room number?”

“Well...” Chanyeol turned red into embarrassment. “I locked myself out.”

“...Oh.” ‘That was awkward’, Kyungsoo thought. “Then to Jongin’s shared room we go.”

Baekhyun freaked out when he found out Kyungsoo’s bed was empty. He called every member at six in the morning before calming down when Jongin told him that Kyungsoo was with him. Chanyeol, who was in Kyungsoo’s body, desperately apologized to his best friend, and he didn’t notice that Baekhyun looked at him awkwardly. Kyungsoo leaned to whisper Chanyeol that he doesn’t usually apologize on such a small thing, and the smaller was only smiling sheepishly.

“Hey, hyung.” Sehun walked next to the tall member, and tried to get his attention. Seeing the other didn’t respond back, he frowned. “Chanyeol-hyung?”

Kyungsoo blinked twice when he heard the name, and then realized that Sehun was calling for ‘him’. Sehun almost caught him off guard. “Oh, hey. Sorry, I was thinking.”

“At seven in the morning? It’s still early to daydream.” Sehun mocked. “Anyway, I found something shocking about the shop we went yesterday.”

Kyungsoo couldn’t remember if he really went to this ‘shop’, but he assumed Chanyeol did go there with Sehun. And how is he going to fake it? He didn’t know what shop, or what did they buy. So, ‘pretending‘ was the only option. “What about the shop?”

Sehun began. “Remember that you bought the doll from the shop? Manager-hyung said you shouldn’t buy it on the first hand. Since there’s a myth behind it, but does it matter? The myth was too ridiculous to believe.”

That catches Kyungsoo’s attention. “A myth? Tell me about it.”

“I knew you would ask.” Sehun smirked. “So there’s a myth about the doll. Have you heard about voodoo doll, right? But it’s not really ‘it’.” Kyungsoo lowered his walking pace to listen to the story clearly. “The story was about decades ago when a lady made cute dolls for kids. She did the job for years, and she didn’t stop making those dolls. Until she got super old, she wasn’t ready face um... unavoidable sickness.”

Kyungsoo nodded lightly. “I can understand that.”

“Now this is the scary part. She believed that she can stay alive as long as she wanted, but it costs a life. So she traveled through the woods to find a witch who could help her. Once she found the witch, she asked about how she could live eternally. And guess what? The witch gave her a voodoo doll, creepy looking one. Just like the one you bought.” Kyungsoo slightly raised his eyebrows as Sehun continued his story. “All she did was giving the doll to someone younger than her and have them write her name on the back of the doll. The next morning, the magic happened.” Then Sehun leaned into the taller to whisper. “They switched bodies.”

Kyungsoo felt his body froze, and went cold. It was the same circumstances happening to them. “S--So, did-- Did the old lady... lives?”

“She was completely a different person, but yes. That’s how she became immortal, as long she has the doll with her. Some say she’s still living somewhere in the world, but nah... Like I said, it’s just a myth, but the doll itself quite famous around here.” The youngest didn’t get any response from the older, which made him curious. “You alright?”

Kyungsoo snapped out of his thought. He was completely distracted. “Y--Yeah. I’m good.”

“No, seriously. You look pale.” Sehun frowned.

One thing that every member can spot on Chanyeol’s face; he’s easily can show expression, and emotion. So there’s no surprise when Sehun can tell by looking at his face. Kyungsoo waved at him lazily, and immediately made an excuse to leave. He needed to find Chanyeol.

He quickly walked away from the maknae as he sped up to find the smaller member. He should be at their breakfast table. Kyungsoo reached the destination as he franticall