Chingu Game: Seongyeon Pyun

Not-so-secret SPOOK
Pairing : Seongyeon x Sungyeol (Infinite)
Genre : Psychological Thriller
Words : 24,549
Written By : annabloem
 
 
Why does my head hurt?
 
Park Seongyeon opened her eyes, and almost instantly closed them. So bright. Wait. Why was it so bright? This was not her room.
 
“Yeon, are you okay?” She heard the familiar voice of Hee-Jin. But this wasn’t Hee-Jin’s room either, and she didn’t remember anything about a slumber party anyway.
 
She opened her eyes once more.
 
“Where the hell am I?”
 
“I don’t know,” Aemi answered her. Yeon looked around the brightly lit white room. It was small, but there were her closest friends. Song Hee-Jin. Lim Aemi. Park Sungyeol. Kim Myungsoo.
 
“How did we get here?” Sungyeol questioned.
 
“Fufufufu~” A sudden voice could be heard. It did not quite sound human. As a door opened, Hee-Jin clung to Aemi, while Sungyeol took Yeon’s hand. Myungsoo just stared at the door without moving. They were all on edge. How had they gotten here? Why were they here? Where was here?
 
“Good mooorning~~”
 
“What the hell are you?” Yeon exclaimed.
 
“That’s not very nice now, is it?” The voice came from something looking like a cross between a robot and a mascot character. His head was incredibly large, with big eyes. His clothing was childish, and brightly coloured. But something about it was off, making him look creepy, rather than cute.
 
“My name is Baeuda. I’m your host. Welcome to the Chingu Game!”
 
“Chingu Game?” Hee-Jin repeated uncertainly.
 
“What is that?” Aemi added.
 
“You kidnapped us and now you’re making us play a game? That sounds shady as .” Yeon commented, eying the thing suspiciously.
 
“I’m not making you do anything. You applied for this, haven’t you? You even paid the admittance fee,” Baeuda commented with a shrug. “You don’t have to play. But you’re not getting back the money.”
 
Now they all looked at each other. One of them had applied for this game? Without telling the others? Yeon looked around curiously. Out of the five of them, there were two who especially liked games. Hee-Jin loved games, but she found it unlikely the girl would want anything to do with Baeuda. He was creepy, and she wasn’t good with scary things. Sungyeol, her boyfriend, on the other hand, would probably consider this the perfect prank. And while Myungsoo might seem ‘cool’ and ‘stoic’ to people who didn’t know him, he was actually a giant dork, and could very well have entered them in some kind of game. The only one who seemed to stay away from games was Aemi. Did that mean it was one of the boys? What was this game even?
 
“What kind of game is this?” It was Myungsoo who asked the all important question. Baeuda smiled.
 
“I’m glad you ask. Chingu Game is a game where you test your friendship.”
 
“Then we’ll be fine!” Hee-Jin exclaimed with a relieved sigh.
 
“Fufufu~ I’m sure you will. But that’s not all there is to this. In the Chingu Game, you have to play five different games. Clear them all, and you will be free of debt.”
 
“Debt?” Sungyeol asked.
 
“I’m not in a debt,” Yeon added.
 
“Fufufufu~. You might not be, but one of you is. A billion won debt, to be exact. If you decide to participate in this game, you’ll work together, by winning games, to clear this debt.”
 
“And if we fail?” Aemi asked.
 
“If you decide to participate, the debt will be split equally between all five of you. 200 million won each. If you lose, you will of course keep the remaining debt, even after the game,” Baeuda explained.
 
“So whoever was in debt will have less debt whether we win or lose? That hardly seems fair,” Seongyeon commented.
 
“But if it’s games that test our friendship… we can win and help whoever it is,” Hee-Jin suggested.
 
“It’s really just about what’s more important to you, isn’t it?” Baeuda said. “Money, or your friends.”
 
“Of course it’s my friends,” the girl replied instantly. Sungyeol nodded in agreement.
 
“First things first, whose debt are we talking about, and why did they enter us without telling us anything?” Aemi commented quietly.
 
“What is this? Do you not trust your own friends, Lim Aemi?” Baeuda commented and laughed again. “Fufufu~ Even though that is the most important thing in order to win this game.”
 
“I say we help whoever has a debt, and win this game. As long as we win, there’s no harm in it,” Myungsoo reasoned.
 
“I agree… There must have been a reason why they couldn’t tell us…” Hee-Jin commented. “Even though I’m sad they didn’t trust us enough… I want to help.”
 
“I would give my life for each of you, so what is a bit of debt compared to that?” Seongyeon added. It was true. While the debt was more than a bit, and it scared her quite a lot to have to face such a burden, she couldn’t even imagine how much a burden this debt must be to one of them. Of course she would help her friends. They were more important than money.
 
“The games could even be fun,” Sungyeol said with a smile.
 
Aemi was quiet.
 
“So you really do choose money over your friends?” Baeuda asked her. She stared at him, then at each of the people in the room. Finally she shrugged.
 
“As long as we win, it’s no big deal, right?”
 
“I was hoping you would say that!” Baeuda clapped his hands together gleefully. “Let’s start with the first game right away. Follow me!”
 
He led them through a short corridor to another room. In it was a table with a sheet of paper on it, surrounded by five chairs. In the middle of the paper lay a 50 won coin. The paper was divided in two parts, yes and no. Behind it stood a small fox statue.
 
“You might not know this game, but it’s a famous game in Japan, called Kokkuri-san. It’s really simple, like an ouija board. Sit down, and I’ll show you. But before that, please put on these name tags.” He pointed to another, smaller table, with five envelopes on it, as well as five name tags. One for each of them.
 
“These name tags have your current debt written on the back of it. As you clear games, it will get lower and lower. It’s an easy way to keep track of how much is at stake.” Baeuda explained while the friends put on their tags.
 
“There’s one but. You are not allowed to show the others the back of your name tag. If someone sees your current debt, your debt will get doubled as penalty.”
 
“Why?” Seongyeon asked. If they all had the same debt, why did it matter if they saw it?
 
“To make it more fun! But don’t worry, you are free to discuss your debt whenever. You can tell your friends what your debt is, but you can’t show them.”
 
“Then there’s no problem,” Sungyeol shrugged.
 
“Yup, as long as we can just discuss it, it’s fine,” Hee-Jin agreed.
 
“So what’s the game?” Myungsoo asked as they all sat down.
 
“It’s really easy. You will have to answer yes or no to a statement. For example: Grass is green.”
 
They all stared at Baeuda now. That was too easy. Is it because it’s an example? That must be it, Yeon decided.
 
“So, yes, obviously,” Aemi commented.
 
“Push the coin towards yes, then,” Baeuda suggested.
 
“It’s not moving,” Hee-Jin commented, and tried pushing the coin a bit harder. It didn’t budge.
 
“Done? Let’s go then. Kokkuri-san, Kokkuri-san, if you’re here, show us the answer,” Baeuda chanted.
 
Slowly, the coin moved to yes, and the fox statue lifted its arms, as if it was cheering for them.
 
“Congratulations! That’s right, the answer was yes. As you can see, Kokkuri-san is holding up its arms. That means you all answered yes.”
 
“So what if one of us had said no?” Seongyeon asked.
 
“Try it.”
 
As soon as she pushed the coin towards no, it moved again, and the foxes arms went down.
 
“As you can see, Kokkuri-san always sides with the minority. If one of you gets it wrong, you all get it wrong. There will be five questions. If you get one right, you win this game, and you will earn 200 million won. So your debt will go down 40 million each,” Baeuda explained.
 
“That’s easy,” Sungyeol said confidently.
 
“We can do that,” Myungsoo agreed.
 
“Only one should be easy, but maybe the questions are super difficult,” Hee-Jin considered.
 
“Either way, we’ll just have to do it,” Yeon said.
 
“One more thing,” Baeuda interrupted. “This game has one more rule. You’re not allowed to talk during this game. Make a sound, and your debt will get doubled. But, you’ll all be asking the questions one by one. Of course, you are allowed to speak when asking the question. They are in the envelopes on that table. Please ask them in the right order. At the end of this game, the person with the highest debt will get a penalty, and will take on everyone else’s debt. Of course, if no one has the highest debt, there is no penalty. Understood?Then we’re starting the game. Not a sound.”
 
They nodded.
 
I guess this means we can’t discuss the questions. I bet Hee-Jin was right, and the questions are insanely difficult, Yeon reasoned.
 
“The first question will be read by Kim Myungsoo.”
 
The boy got up without a word, taking the envelope marked 1 from the table. He opened it to take out a small card. He read it silently for a while, and seemed uncomfortable.
 
It has to be difficult after all, Yeon thought, and for a second she wondered if they would be able to get the right answer. But then again, they weren’t stupid. They could do this, for sure. If not the first question, then surely one of the other four.
 
“Question 1: The Korean war started in 1950.”
 
Easy. Why is it so easy? I bet Myungsoo was just surprised it was such an easy question. Yes. Done. We cleared the game with a single question. Yeon smiled, and only when she felt relieved she realized she had been worried.
 
“Kokkuri-san, Kokkuri-san, if you’re here, show us the answer,” Baeuda chanted once more, and the coin started to slowly move.
 
All they could do was stare at it. Because there, before their eyes, the coin moved to NO.
 
“Wrong! That’s wrong! The answer was, of course, yes!” Baeuda exclaimed happily.
 
Yeon scanned the table. This should have been an easy question. But maybe one of them had been sleeping during history? She did so occasionally herself.
 
“Park Sungyeol, please ask the second question.”
 
When the boy stood up silently, the robot-mascot smirked and called out: “You’re not going to answer?”
 
Sungyeol did not let himself be baited and kept quiet until he had read the question.
 
“Question 2: Seoul is the capital of South Korea.”
 
Another easy question. Too easy, almost. But as long as we win, who cares. Yeon pushed the coin towards yes. This time, for sure, they would clear the game.
 
“Kokkuri-san, Kokkuri-san, if you’re here, show us the answer,”
 
The chanting finished and again the coin moved slowly, but surely, to NO.
 
The game has to be rigged! She wanted to call out, to shout at Baeuda that he was being extremely unfair by giving them a rigged game. But that would double her debt. She wouldn’t risk it.
 
But no one would have gotten the answer to this question wrong. Something is up.
 
“Wrong! You’re wrong again! The capital of South Korea is Seoul. The answer was yes. You must be so frustrated right now.”
 
When no one replied, Baeuda continued. “Park Seongyeon, please ask the third question.”
 
So it’s my turn now. Seongyeon got up slowly, taking the envelope of the table. It had a large three on it. She took a deep breath before taking out the card.
 
“Think of a question by yourself.
If the coin goes to ‘YES’ you win.
 
Extra rule: ‘If the coin goes to ‘NO’ your debt will be halved.”
 
So that’s why. That explains everything. Yeon eyed the two boys. They must have answered ‘no’ themselves, in order to get their debts halved. She wanted so badly to ask them why, why they had given up and picked themselves over their friends. But then she realized it. Halving your debt would leave you with a debt of 100 million won. Winning the game would leave them with a debt of 160 million won. It makes sense. If we all do that, we can clear our debt sooner.
 
“Question three: Korean is written in Hangul.”
 
It’s easy. So simple, everyone will answer yes. I’ll answer no. Kokkuri-san will chose the minority, go to no, and my debt gets halved. The other two will do the same thing, and we’re halfway done.
 
“Kokkuri-san, Kokkuri-san, if you’re here, show us the answer.”
 
When the coin went to ‘no’, Yeon wanted to cheer. She wanted to check her name tag, just to see if her debt had really been halved. She could sense how uneasy Hee-Jin and Aemi were feeling right now. But they too, would soon understand.
 
“You are wrong again! The answer is yes! If you’re not careful, you will lose the game, and take your debts with you, back to the real world,” Baeuda reminded them.
 
Damn! If we all halve our debts… we can never win. And if we lose, we’re stuck with them. I did not think this through. It felt as if Baeuda had read her thoughts, choosing to mention this just after she had decided it was the fastest way to get rid of her debt. And there was a penalty as well… If we all halve our debts except for the last person… She’ll get all of our debt, right? Suddenly, she felt bad. She should have considered her options for a little longer. But then again, the others hadn’t either, had they? Why should she have a 160 million debt, while the boys halved theirs, and then got 40 million in prize money as well? That was not fair.
 
“Question 4, Lim Aemi, if you’d please.”
 
The girl nodded. Yeon realized that she looked tense, tenser even then during their exams. Even though the exams were a lot more difficult. The girl read the question, or, as Yeon now knew, not even really a question, and started to speak almost immediately.
 
“Question 4: Koreans speak Korean.”
 
She’s using the same strategy. And easy question, so everyone will get the right answer. And then halving her debt.
 
But after Baeuda’s chant, the coin moved slowly towards the left, towards yes. For some reason, Aemi had not taken the offer to halve her debt.
 
“Correct! That is correct! You’ve cleared the game at the fourth question! Congratulations!”
 
Everyone stayed quiet, though they looked a lot happier now that they had made it through the first game. All except Aemi.
 
Does she regret not halving her debt?
 
“You’re free to talk now. The game is over, after all,” Baeuda reminded them.
 
“We did it!” Hee-Jin cheered.
 
“Of course we did! There are no games we can’t beat!” Sungyeol cheered with her.
 
“I guess the nerves made us get the questions wrong,” Myungsoo suggested.
 
“What are your current debts?” Aemi asked as she checked her name tag. Yeon decided to do the same thing. The game hadn’t lied. She was now at a debt of 60 million won. In just one game it had gone down 140 million. If that wasn’t a success, she didn’t know what was.
 
“Our debts? They’re the same for everyone, right?” Hee-Jin commented and checked her name tag. “160 million won.”
 
“Me too,” Myungsoo commented after a look at his tag.
 
Wait. That can’t be. Didn’t he get his question wrong? He should have halved his debt, like I did. Were there different rules on all the cards? Was I the only one lucky enough to get that card? Or is he lying? He wouldn’t, would he?
 
“I’m at 160 million won as well,” Sungyeol answered. “How about you, Yeon, Aemi?”
 
“Me too,” the latter replied. Yeon paused. If I answer honestly, will they think I’m cheating? Because I’m the only one with a lower debt?
 
“Same as everyone,” she lied. After all, she didn’t want them to think she had anything to do with this stupid game. If she was the only one getting better result, it would look suspicious.
 
“Before we start the second game, we will drop you off at home. Of course, you are not allowed to talk about this to anyone. Also, we will keep your tags here for safekeeping,” Baeuda explained and handed them a blindfold.
 
---
 
It had been two days since their first game of the Chingu Game. Things had changed. Where they used to be a close-knit group, now Aemi had started to avoid them.
 
“I wonder if something happened,” Hee-Jin mused.
 
“She’s not good with changes, I bet she just needs some time by herself to figure things out,” Myungsoo offered.
 
“Yeah, we did suddenly all get a gigantic debt after all,” Sungyeol agreed.
 
“But we’ll win the games and clear it, right? So there’s no need for her to worry,” Hee-Jin said. She didn’t sound to sure herself. Of course, she wanted to win the games and get rid of the debt. But would all games be as easy as the first one?
 
“What if she… if she was the one with a debt before this?” Seongyeon softly suggested.
 
“You’re thinking she used us?” Myungsoo asked, and instantly Yeon felt bad for suggesting it. Of course Aemi hadn’t been using them to clear her debt. She had been friends with the girl since forever. Before she even knew any of the others. If anything, she should be trusting Aemi the most. But then why, why was she acting so weird?
 
“She wouldn’t use us!” Hee-Jin instantly retorted.
 
“I don’t want to believe it either… But she has been avoiding us ever since we gotten back,” Sungyeol said.
 
“Exactly,” Yeon couldn’t help but agree. What was going on with her friend? There must be something, right?
 
“Maybe it’s something else? Something which has nothing to do with the game?” Hee-Jin sounded more unsure by the second.
 
“I’ll talk with her later,” Myungsoo said, and the others nodded. Out of all of them, she would surely talk to her boyfriend about whatever was bothering her, wouldn’t she?
 
Yeon sighed softly. “I really want to believe she wasn’t using us. She can’t be. But then again, I can’t believe any of you would do that.”
 
---
 
“Do you really think Aemi is the one who started this game?” Hee-Jin asked Yeon. They were in her room together, watching Peter Pan. They would have these girls nights weekly, eat snacks, laugh and talk. Tonight was the first time they were with two, instead of three.
 
“She’s not here now… I feel like something is going on with her… So, what if it really is a debt?” Yeon said softly.
 
“How do you think she got it? If she got it, of course.”
 
“How would anyone get a debt that deep? We’re just high schoolers for s sake.”
 
“Yeon, don’t curse~” Hee-Jin mumbled as she turned back to the movie. They were both enjoying the movie, when suddenly Hee-Jin’s mom called them.
 
“What?” Hee-Jin called back, but of course, like mothers often do, her mother didn’t reply. In the end, the two girls had to go downstairs, where Hee-Jin’s mother looked rather annoyed.
 
“I’ve been calling you forever.”
 
“What’s wrong, Ms. Song?” Seongyeon asked.
 
“Aemi called and asked me to give you two a message. If you could come to the park, because she has something to tell you…”
 
“It can’t be…” Hee-Jin muttered softly.
 
“Why wouldn’t she call us herself? She didn’t ask to speak to us?” Yeon asked.
 
“She just asked you to come over.”
 
“Then we’ll have to go,” Hee-Jin commented, and Yeon nodded. If Aemi had something to tell to them, they’d be there.
 
They arrived at the park in a few minutes, and found Aemi already there, aimlessly swinging.
 
“So, what’s up?” Yeon called out when they arrived. Aemi just looked confused.
 
“Why are you guys here? Shouldn’t you be watching a movie?”
 
“Of course we’re here! You’re more important than a movie,” Hee-Jin replied.
 
“You called us after, so of course we’ll come,” Yeon added.
 
“I didn’t call you.”
 
“But my mom said…” Hee-Jin started.
 
Before she could finish her sentence, they were joined by the two boys.
 
“Why did you call me here, Aemi?” Myungsoo asked.
 
“Why did you call me here, Yeon?” Sungyeol asked at the same time.
 
“I didn’t. You called me.” Just as Aemi spoke those words, Yeon spotted a dark shade behind her. Seconds later, she got knocked out.
 
---
 
“Not again.” It was Aemi’s voice that woke up Yeon. Once again, they found themselves in an unfamiliar place. Definitely kidnapping.
 
“A rooftop this time?” Sungyeol commented as he took in the view.
 
“Where are we?” Myungsoo muttered. He didn’t seem to expect an answer.
 
“Is this a school?” Hee-Jin uttered.
 
“Fufufu~ Good mooorning~~”
 
They turned to look at the by now familiar face of Baeuda. So it really was time for the next game. Part two of the Chingu Game.
 
“As you have probably guessed, it’s time for the next game! Are you excited?”
 
When he got no reaction he shrugged and continued. “This game is the Backbiting Game! It’s simple, just like a boardgame.”
 
As he spoke the ground seemed to change, and now squares, just like of a boardgame appeared on them. At the end, a large sign stating goal appeared. They also were handed back their name tags.
 
“Only the people who reach the goal will go on to the next game! You’ll go forward based on a very simple system. Watch.” Baeuda pointed at the sky. Suddenly letters appeared.
 
“Is it going to start soon?”
 
“I can’t wait to see what they’ll do.”
 
“I hope it’s something interesting this time.”
 
“It’s all set up anyway, right?”
 
“kekeke”
 
“They look so normal, do they really have secrets?”
 
“Why haven’t they started yet?”
 
Words kept coming and coming, as if they were getting real life commentary. As if they were on a game show, for other people’s entertainment.
 
“These are our loyal watchers.”
 
“Is this a game to you?” Myungsoo interjected.
 
“It’s called Chingu Game for a reason,” Baeuda pointed out. “We need to make our money back one way or the other. This is, after all, a business.”
 
“How did they do that?” Hee-Jin softly said.
 
“VR.” Aemi shortly answered.
 
It seemed to make sense to Yeon. Virtual reality was the only thing that could make these things appear so suddenly. So that meant, they weren’t actually here either.
 
“So what’s the game about? We roll the dice and move forward?” she questioned.
 
“Fufufu~ Something like that. But if it was just that, it wouldn’t be interesting. It wouldn’t test your friendship either. This game is called the backbiting game for a reason. Every turn, you get to go into this booth, one by one. In there, you’ll write a secret about someone. You’re in the booth for three minutes, whether you write or not. You can write secrets about whoever you want. Then the audience decides which secret is the worst. The secrets gets ranked, and the person with the worst secret goes 5 steps ahead, the second 4, etc. The only rule is that you are not allowed to lie.”
 
“And if we don’t write anything?” Hee-Jin asked.
 
“Fufufu~ If no one writes anything, you’ll all move one space ahead. You will reach the goal together, as the close group of friends you are. Fufufu~”
 
“It’s easy then,” Sungyeol said. “No one writes anything, and we all win. Second game, cleared.”
 
“If you are ready, then let’s start the game.”
 
It was a simple progress. One by one, they entered the booth. There, they had to wait for three whole minutes, before they could leave. All of them entered a blank paper. When the final person returned, Baeuda announced the result.
 
“Five blank papers. You all get to move forward one step.”
 
As soon as they stepped forward, they noticed the text on the square.
 
-10 million won.
 
“What the hell? What is the meaning of this?” Yeon shouted. A single glance at her name tag, revealed that indeed, her debt was now 70 million.
 
“Fufufufufu~ I told you, it’s just like a regular board game. Whatever’s on the square goes.”
 
The process repeated itself in round two.
 
“For round two: five blank papers. One step forward for everyone!”
 
-80 million won.
 
“This makes no sense! We’re only getting more in debt if we play like this!” Sungyeol shouted.
 
“We have a larger debt now than when we started the first game,” Hee-Jin commented sadly.
 
“For round three. Four blank papers.”
 
Only four?
 
They all stared at Baeuda in shock. Did this mean that the fifth paper contained a secret?
 
“The last paper says: Sungyeol cheated on his last maths test. Since this is the only secret, Sungyeol goes 5 steps ahead, the others, one.”
 
“And there goes another 20 million,” Yeon sighed.
 
“Well consider yourself lucky,” Sungyeol commented sourly. “50 for me.”
 
Sungyeol doesn’t look happy. Well, I wouldn’t either, if I lost that much money. I wonder who wrote the note? Which one of us knew? Myungsoo? Hee-Jin? Aemi isn’t that close to him, but maybe she suspected it, because he got a better score than usual?
 
“Fufufu~ you’re getting the hang of this game, aren’t you? Three blank papers this time. The first secret: Myungsoo is a closet otaku. The second one: Hee-Jin has a crush on Xiumin.”
 
Hee-Jin’s eyes widened in shock as she heard her name being read out. As soon as she heard the secret she turned bright red and turned to Aemi.
 
“I told you that in confidence!”
 
So it was true after all.
 
Aemi kept quiet. The voices in the sky seemed to be deliberating.
 
“He’s an otaku? What a waste.”
 
“Who cares about any of these secrets?”
 
“Look she’s blushing, how cute.”
 
It didn’t take long for the votes to role in, and soon it was decided that Myungsoo would move forward five steps, Hee-Jin four, and the others one. Sungyeol and Myungsoo were at the same square again.
 
“And there goes 50 million won.” Yeon could easily tell Hee-Jin wasn’t happy. Of course she wasn’t. Not only did her debt get quite a bit deeper, but Aemi had also just betrayed her to win this game.
 
“Fufufu~ The secrets keep rolling in. Secret one: Seongyeon sleeps in a Disney onesie. Secret two: Myungsoo has a secret folder on his computer.”
 
Yeon eyes her two female friend suspiciously. They were the only two who knew. So it’s really Aemi, then? She’s the only one who hasn’t been called out on a secret yet. It has to be her.
 
“Seongyeon five steps, Myungsoo four. It was a very close call this time, fifty one percent against forty nine. One step for the others.”
 
“Minus hundred, you’ve got to be kidding me!” Seongyeon exclaimed.
 
“At least we’re on this square together, I guess,” Sungyeol commented.
 
“Fufufu, we have more secrets for you. Secret one: Hee-Jin and her sister are not actually related. Secret two: Sungyeol didn’t like Seongyeon when he started dating her. Secret three: Aemi dyes her hair to pretend to be half foreign, just to be different.”
 
“That’s a lie,” Aemi and Sungyeol claimed at the same time.
 
“Fufufu. Okay. Then prove it.”
 
They just stared at Baeuda for a second.
 
“So much for not being able to lie, then. I can’t prove my hair colour is natural right this second,” Aemi reasoned.
 
“And how is it even possible to prove how I felt? It’s not true, I’m the witness, I’m telling you it’s not!” Sungyeol shouted. “Who wrote this? Why would you write that?”
 
So… they’re lying? Someone is lying? So many secrets, are they all written by Aemi? Her name appeared now too. Even though it was a lie. And not actually a secret. Are they all lies? No. I do sleep in a onesie. And Hee-Jin was upset too. What is going on? So Sungyeol didn’t like me? Does that mean now he does? I’m so confused.
 
As the game continued, the secrets getting written down got worse and worse.
 
“Seongyeon shoplifted.”
 
“Myungsoo got expelled in middle school.”
 
“Sungyeol tried to commit suicide.”
 
“What, why?” Hee-Jin exclaimed.
 
“It’s a long time ago,” He smiled bitterly. This was indeed something he had been keeping hidden from them. He couldn’t even think of who would know. Seongyeon? Myungsoo? Why would they expose him here?
 
This is not going well. What is happening to us? I just want it to be over. It just hurts now.
 
Their debts were getting bigger and bigger. Yet, after a while, the squares also had plusses, not just minuses. Slowly, they won back some money as well.
 
Aemi stared at Myungsoo when the next round started. He looked back as if to ask her what was up. She smiled sadly, and mouthed: ‘I’m sorry.’ Just then, Sungyeol returned and it was her time to enter the booth.
 
When they all had been in the booth, Baeuda announced the results.
 
“Fufufu~ we actually got four secrets this time! A new record today~!”
The first secret is: Hee-Jin actually hates animals. The second secret is Seongyeon claims she’s sick when she really just want to skip class. The third secret: Aemi had an abortion, even though she didn’t want to.”
 
“What!? When!?” Seongyeon interrupted.
 
“You went through that alone?” Hee-Jin added.
 
“It’s obviously a lie,” the girl in question said with a shrug. “The second part makes it obvious, since I don’t even want children.” She turned to Baeuda now: “Not sure how to prove it though.”
 
Yeon studied her friend. Did she imagine the girl looked a bit paler than normal? And although she sounded casual, her lips seemed to quiver, and her eyes were slightly red. Was this actually true then?
 
“Can I continue, then? Secret four: Myungsoo was the one who signed us up for this Chingu Game.”
 
They stopped and stared at him. The boy was quiet. Aemi was the first to speak.
 
“Since you know who signed us up, you’d know if this was a lie, and the liar would get punished, right Baeuda?”
 
“That is correct.”
 
“Thank you,” the girl said and quickly wiped a tear of her face before turning to Myungsoo. “Why didn’t you tell us? Me? Why did you hide it? Do you think that little of us?”
 
“...”
 
“It must have been hard to tell us,” Hee-Jin stated carefully.
 
It was Myungsoo? Not Aemi after all. Was she suspecting him from the start? Was that why she stopped hanging out with us? Because she was hurt?
 
“How in the world did you get a debt that deep?” Seongyeon continued.
 
“I’m so done with this game. What happens if someone does lie?” Aemi turned back to Baeuda.
 
“If someone lies, they instantly reach the goal and will have to play the next game by themselves. And as a warning, you won’t be able to win the next game alone. So it would be an automatic loss in game three.”
 
Aemi now turned to her friends.
 
“We’re all on different squares. We’re never going to reach the finish at the same time. We’re only increasing our debts. I’m going to lie next round. If you want to join me for the next game, you’ll have to lie too.”
 
What is she saying? Is that the only way? She won’t be able to win by herself. She always did think she was able to do more than others. She might think she is able to win anyway. Or does she trust us to join her? Thinking of a lie. One that can be proven a lie. It’s not as easy as Aemi makes it sound. How about the others, can they do it?
 
“You all seem to be forgetting something. The votes for this round are in.” Baeuda sounded quite annoyed that they had been ignoring the game.
 
“Aemi gets five steps, Myungsoo four, Seongyeon three and Hee-Jin two,” the robot-mascot said with a sigh. Once they had taken the new places on the board, the supposed last round started.
 
What if she doesn’t actually lie? What if she just said that, to make us go to the next round? Why is this game so complicated? It’s making me lose faith in my friends. Testing our friendships? More like destroying it.
 
“For this round, we have five secrets,” Baeuda declared.
 
Did we all do it? Will we get through this together?
 
“Secret one: Hee-Jin is actually 25 years old.”
 
“Just check her birth record, you can do that right?” Aemi suggested.
 
That’s the first lie. Who wrote it?
 
“It’s a lie! That means Hee-Jin is now at the finish, because she lied,” Baeuda exclaimed.
 
Of course Hee-Jin would lie, since Aemi asked her to. They’re the closest after all. I just hope she won’t betray us.
 
“Next: Seongyeon has a tattoo.”
 
“That’s a lie too. I have two, see,” Yeon replied with a smirk. At least she’d be joining Hee-Jin for the next game.
 
“The third secret, is actually the same as the second. Another lie. Sungyeol and Seongyeon are disqualified and continue to the finish.”
 
“Guess we had the same idea, Yeon,” Sungyeol said with a smile.
 
“As expected of a couple!” Hee-Jin giggled.
 
“The fourth secret: Aemi is wearing coloured contacts.”
 
“I’m not. Feel free to check,” the girl in question said, with a smile. After Baeuda briefly inspected her, he nodded.
 
“Myungsoo is also disqualified for lying.”
 
Only Aemi left. She’ll join us right? Of course she will! I trust her.
 
“Fufufufu~ This is a big one you guys. Aemi got convicted for murder.”
 
“You can check my criminal record. If I had one. But I don’t, because I lied. I’ll be joining my friends then?”
 
“Yes, you will. All five of you received an instant finish. You’ll continue onto game three as a group of five, with a total debt of 1 billion 740 million won.”
 
“It’s only becoming more,” Hee-Jin complained.
 
“Are we ever going to clear it?” Sungyeol sighed.
 
“We are if we just clear the next three games,” Myungsoo reasoned.
 
“You guys actually joined me,” Aemi mumbled.
 
“Why do you sound so surprised?” Yeon asked. Although she realized herself that it was quite hypocritical of her, she was sad her friend hadn’t trusted her.
 
“Because I am,” the girl said, and suddenly she looked very different. Cold and unapproachable. “I don’t trust any of you. Because I know for a fact that at least three of you betrayed me, us, and lied. I don’t trust you one bit.”
 
“We betrayed you?” Yeon asked. Maybe she had. Maybe, by suspecting her friend, she had betrayed her. But there was no way the girl could even know she had suspected her. ‘For a fact’? She was fooling herself.
 
“Yes. Did you, or did you not lose in the first game just so you could halve your own debt? And then lie about it? And you’re not the only one. And you,” she pointed to Myungsoo. “You just dragged us into this mess, without even asking if we were okay with it. And now, I’m stuck with a debt of over 400 million. Do you really expect me to trust you guys?”
 
“Halved their debt?” Hee-Jin muttered.
 
“Had I done the same, you’d have had all our debt now, Hee-Jin. You were just unlucky to be last,” Aemi stated and turned to Baeuda. “Does the third game start right away? Or do we have some time between this one and the next?”
 
“We’ll bring you home shortly. We’ll contact you for the next game.”
 
Our bonds are definitely breaking, Yeon thought sadly.
 
---
 
They returned back to their school lives almost as before. Almost, because Aemi refused to talk with them.
 
“I don’t even know what I did,” Hee-Jin said sadly. It was weird eating lunch without her best friend there.
 
“I don’t think you did anything,” Yeon said.
 
“Did you write any secrets?” Sungyeol asked and Hee-Jin nodded.
 
“We all did, right? To end the game, we had to lie.”
 
“So only in the last round then?” Myungsoo asked and when the girl nodded again said: “Then she’s probably not angry with you.”
 
“Does that mean you guys have broken up? Because you got us all in trouble?” Seongyeon asked and added: “What did you even do to get a debt that large?”
 
“She’s not talking to me at all, so I’m guessing we didn’t technically broke up.”
 
“Let’s make sure this game doesn’t get in between us,” Sungyeol told Seongyeon, as he took her hand. At least some of them were still doing good. But since they had entered the Chingu Game, everything seemed colder.
 
---
 
“I knew you would be here,” Yeon said when she spotted Aemi in the library. The girl glanced up, but returned to her book again without saying anything.
 
“Oh come on, don’t be like this. Stop being mad? We were playing a game. Sure, I shouldn’t have lied about my debt. I just… I wasn’t thinking. I thought halving our debt would mean we got rid of it faster. I didn’t think about betraying anyone.”
 
Aemi turned a page. Had she even been listening? Seriously? Is this all our friendship means to her?
 
“You’re just angry because we’re losing the game, and your debt got bigger, is that it? Don’t take it out on us,” Yeon was slowly getting frustrated with the girl. After being friends forever, she got angry over a stupid game? And she ing refuses to talk about it. If we could just talk it over, everything would be alright again, wouldn’t it? Why won’t she talk to us? Hee-Jin didn’t even do anything.
 
So maybe they weren’t as close as they had been in elementary school, when it had still be the two of them. Aemi had lived close to Yeon and they had soon become friends. They’d always play together in the neighbourhood and they ended up going to the same schools as well. They had been inseparable.
 
When they entered High School, Hee-Jin had joined their little group. They had fitted very well together, and just at the right timing too. Yeon soon started dating Sungyeol, and she was glad that Aemi wouldn’t be by herself. Hee-Jin and Aemi became besties, but of course Yeon was just a good a friend as always. Aemi had ended up falling for Sungyeol’s friend and so they had become a group of friends who spend most of their time together. The girls had their weekly Disney movie marathon and like in those movies, Yeon had always believed they’d stay friends forever. Until now.
 
---

 
Like for the first two games, they suddenly found themselves waking up in a forest for the third game. Baeuda was there, dressed as a forest ranger.
 
“Good mooorning~~” he greeted them. “You don’t look like a close group like that. Are you going to be okay? This is a game about friendships, remember?”
 
Four of them were standing on one side, Aemi quite far removed, by herself on the other.
 
“Aemi…” Hee-Jin tried, but like in the week before the game, the girl didn’t react.
 
“This is just the perfect game for you~ game three is Chingu Hide and Seek!” Baeuda announced.
 
“Hide and seek?” Sungyeol repeated.
 
“We have to find each other?” Myungsoo asked.
 
“I quite like hide and seek,” Hee-Jin said.
 
“Fufufu~ no, you won’t have to find each other. For this game, we’ll have you, Team E play against another team, Team X. They should have arrived just now.”
 
And just as Baeuda had spoken, a group of five girls walked towards them. They didn’t look very confident, and had clearly also been fighting a bit.
 
Does no one get through this stupid game without losing their friends? Yeon wondered.
 
“Welcome team X. Should we do some introductions?” the robot suggested.
 
“I’m Seongyeon, this is Hee-Jin and the boys are Sungyeol and Myungsoo. The girl over there is Aemi.” The quicker we win this damn game the better. Let’s just get it over with.
 
“I’m Hyunmi, and these are my friends Yerin, Seulyi, Jihye and Maerin.”
 
“Alright, now we are done with the introductions, I’ll explain the game. Each team has one ‘hider.’ They hide, the rest of the team searches. Pretty straightforward, right? But that’s not all. We have a few extra rules. Rule one: You are not allowed to use violence against the other team. If you do, you instantly lose the game. Rule two: The hider is not allowed to move. There is a food area in this forest. Because the hider is not allowed to move, the seekers will have to bring food to the hider. The hider has a special rule. They will receive a ‘give up’ button. If they push it, the game ends. In this game, the hider has it the worst. All by themselves, they have to wait. They can’t move. They can’t do anything. They might not even have food or water, depending on their friends. If they can’t take it anymore, they can choose to give up. Of course, this means their team will lose the game. The seekers also have a special move. They can ‘switch.’ They can move to the other team.”
 
“Move to the other team?” Yerin asked.
 
“Yes. If you, Yerin, for example, choose to switch, you become a part of Team E. If Team E wins, you win as well. The remaining members of Team X will lose, and you will be debt free. Team X will take on your debt as well. But if you switch and Team E loses, you will lose with them. You will get the amount of debt of your former teammates, Team X, added to yours and you will continue to the next game as a group of five, with an even larger total debt.”
 
“This is so complicated,” Hee-Jin commented.
 
“Why can’t it just be normal hide and seek?” Maerin agreed.
 
“As long as we work together, it will be fine,” Jihye said. “We got through the other games as well.”
 
“It took us long enough, though,” Hyunmi said sadly.
 
“Alright, both teams, please decide your hider,” Baeuda said.
 
“I can hide, I’m the smallest,” Hee-Jin suggested.
 
“You like food too much.” It was the first time Aemi had spoken to them since the last game, yet it was a senseless remark.
 
“What does that have to do with anything?” Yeon asked.
 
“They’re right there. I’m not going to give away strategies now,” Aemi said simply. “I’ll do it. I’ll be the hider.”
 
“But you don’t trust us,” Sungyeol stated.
 
“I don’t.”
 
“We could all betray you, and leave you with the debt,” Myungsoo added.
 
“I know. I still think I’m the best bet. I’ll hide.”
 
“Alright, whatever. I don’t care either way,” Seongyeon muttered.
 
“I’ll be our hider then. Baeuda, we have decided.” Aemi declared.
 
“Fufufu~ Team E has decided. How about you, Team X?”
 
“Not yet,” Yerin stated. They were still discussing their options.
 
“Hyunmi is short, she would be hard to find,” Maerin commented.
 
“Don’t call me short!” the girl in question replied.
 
“I don’t mind being the hider,” Jihye offered.
 
“I think Maerin is right, though. Hyunmi would be hard to find,” Yerin said.
 
“Hey!”
 
“She didn’t call you short. She was just thinking it,” Seulyi said.
 
“You don’t want to be the hider?” Maerin then asked.
 
“I don’t know… Would I really be the best?” Hyunmi asked.
 
“Hard to find is a plus,” Seulyi commented.
 
“And we’ll bring you food, so you have nothing to worry about,” Yerin added.
 
“I’m positive I could go without food for about twentyfour hours, so I should be okay…” Hyunmi finally gave in.
 
“Fufufu~, so for Team X it will be Hyunmi?” Baeuda asked.
 
The girls nodded.
 
“You’ll have two days to hide, after that, the game begins. Also, you are allowed to contact each other whenever you want, so you’ll get these cell phones. You can call each other whenever. But remember, this game is all about trusting each other.”
 
---
 
“Isn’t two days for hiding way too long?” Sungyeol commented as the group walked through the woods.
 
“I guess that just means the forest is that big,” Myungsoo suggested.
 
“So what were these ing strategies you were talking about Aemi? You can’t very well go back to ignoring us now.” Seongyeon thought she had been holding it in long enough.
 
“The other group did choose the smallest person to hide… Are you sure that wouldn’t have been better?” Hee-Jin asked. Aemi sighed.
 
“Yes, I’m sure.”
 
“And would you care to tell us why?” Sungyeol asked.
 
“We’re not all as intelligent as you seem to think you are,” Seongyeon added.
 
“Please don’t fight,” Hee-Jin interjected.
 
“The forest is too large, is that what you mean?” Myungsoo asked.
 
“Too large? As in, we won’t be able to find them anyway?” Hee-Jin looked around. The forest did seem huge. How would they ever find anyone?
 
“It’s the food, isn’t it?” Seongyeon now said, as she remembered Aemi’s earlier comment.
 
“The food?” Sungyeol hadn’t quite figured out what this was about yet.
 
“Yes, the food. The easiest way to win this game is to follow the person bringing the hider the food. It’s simple. The four of you follow their seekers. No one can give Hyunmi food. She gives up. Or, you follow a seeker as they bring Hyunmi food. You find her. We win. As long as I can go without food longer than she can, we win.”
 
“But… being without food is hard.”
 
“Honestly, the less food the better. I’m not allowed to move, so I can’t exactly go to the toilet either,” Aemi said dryly.
 
---
 
“So where am I supposed to hide?” Hyunmi asked her teammates.
 
“As long as it’s not too obvious, it should be fine?” Jihye suggested.
 
“The forest is large enough, it will make it hard to find you no matter where you are,” Yerin added.
 
“Should we make sure it’s somewhere relatively close to one of the food area? We don’t want to be walking food up and down all the time and not have time to search,” Seulyi suggested.
 
“You’re right… but that also makes it easier for them to find her…” Jihye reasoned.
 
“Not if they are just carrying food up and down all the time,” Maerin replied with a smile.
 
“So not too far, not too close from the food area would be best, everyone agreed?” Yerin asked. When the others nodded, she continued: “I guess that means we must look for the food area first.”
 
“What if we run into them before the two days are over?” Seulyi wondered.
 
“That will just make it easier for us to win, right?” Hyunmi said with a smile. She was confident they could beat Team E. They did not look like they were getting along well with each other.
 
---
 
“I’m just double checking, but you don’t want us to bring you any food, right?” Seongyeon asked her friend. It seemed like a reckless plan. And while she wasn’t opposed to being reckless per se, she did think this might be pushing things.
 
“I don’t. Just shadow the other team and win the game,” Aemi replied.
 
“For someone who says she doesn’t trust us, you’re putting a lot of trust in us,” Sungyeol pointed out.
 
“I can make you lose this game instantly,” the girl warned him.
 
“You’ll lose too, though,” Hee-Jin mentioned.
 
“Don’t die on me, Aemi,” Myungsoo said simply.
 
“Why? Would that be bad for your conscience? Since this whole mess is your fault? Just win the game quickly and I won’t die, easy as that.”
 
She’s hurt. That’s why she’s lashing out, isn’t it? What if she’s actually trying really hard to win this for us? Because she wants to win? Because she still cares about us? Yeon considered. Of course, having the give up button gave Aemi a lot of power in the game. She could decide to end the game by herself, while they had to all switch to turn on her. Why was it so hard to decide whether Aemi was still with them or not? For a game based on trust, they all trusted each other very little.
 
“We won’t let you down,” Yeon said. The girl didn’t reply.
 
“What about here?” Hee-Jin suddenly asked, pointing to a rock.
 
“Behind a rock?” Sungyeol asked and Hee-Jin shook her head.
 
“Not behind the rock, that looks like the entrance to a cave.”
 
“Are you sure?” Myungsoo asked.
 
“Well, if we can barely spot it, then it’s definitely a good hiding place,” Yeon decided.
 
“Alright, I’ll head in then,” Aemi said and before they could reply, she did.
 
---
 
The five girls had been walking for a long time before they finally found one of the food areas. There was plenty of food, all kinds of dishes, and they decided that stopping and eating would be the best thing to do.
 
“Don’t drink too much, Hyunmi, what if you have to pee?” Maerin warned.
 
The sudden thought horrified Hyunmi.
 
“You can’t be serious. They’re not going to stop me from going to the toilet, are they?”
 
“They did say you’re not allowed to move...” Seulyi muttered.
 
“But they can’t mean… Not even for basic needs?” Jihye asked.
 
“Since they’re cutting her off from food and water as well, I think that’s exactly what they mean,” Yerin stated, and looked at Baeuda, or a copy of him, since it looked just like him, but was a lot smaller. “What’s the deal?”
 
“You’re free to do whatever, as long as you don’t move from the spot, fufufu~”
 
“Ewww” the girls exclaimed. They continued walking after their short food break, realizing once more what a horrible challenge this was.
 
After they had walked for what felt like forever, but was in reality closer to two hours, they found an area of bushes.
 
“How about here?” Seulyi suggested.
 
“Become a bushwoman!” Maerin exclaimed with a giggle.
 
“She’s not from Australia though,” Yerin commented and Jihye laughed:
 
“She’ll just be a different kind of bushwoman then.”
 
“Alright, alright, I’ll be your bushwoman. You better find the other hider quickly because I don’t want to be stuck here forever.”
 
---
 
“Do you trust her?” Sungyeol had taken Seongyeon aside, just as the others entered the cave. He wasn’t sure what to think right now, but of course, his girlfriend knew Lim Aemi a lot longer than he had.
 
“I… I want to trust her,” Yeon replied, looking down.
 
“So, I can take that as a no?”
 
“She just… hasn’t been acting like herself at all. And I can’t figure out if it’s because she’s somehow hurt, or because she’s given up on our friendship. But she refuses to talk with us, and that’s what makes it so weird. Why won’t she just talk it over?” The frustration Yeon felt seeped through in her voice. They were best friends, weren’t they? So then why?
 
“I’m thinking… If we really can’t trust her... We can always switch.”
 
“Can’t we trust her?” The girl sighed.
 
---
 
“You’re going to keep ignoring me?” Myungsoo’s question didn’t get any reaction from the girl steadily walking in front of him. The cave had let to a series of tunnels, and Hee-Jin was trailing behind them, leaving a trail of leaves so they’d be able to find their way back out.
 
“I guess that means we’re breaking up?”
 
That did get the girls attention. She instantly stopped in her tracks and turned to him.
 
“If that’s what you want.” The light made it hard to tell, but tears seemed to be flowing from her eyes. Her voice, while Myungsoo was sure she had tried to keep it steady, was far from.
 
“Of course it’s not. But if you won’t even talk to me…”
 
“Did you talk to me when you got into an insane debt? Did you talk to me when you decided to apply us for this game? Did you talk to me when this game started? You didn’t. You didn’t talk to me once, yet you think you have the right to complain about me not talking to you? you.”
 
Hee-Jin gasped when Aemi swore. It was so out-of-character, for a second she forgot she was leaving a trail.
 
“You already did,” Myungsoo tried to joke, but the girl didn’t smile. Instead, she turned back to the trail, and continued walking.
 
Seongyeon and Sungyeol caught up to them quick enough and before long they found themselves in a room which could very well work as a hiding place.
 
“So, is this it then? You’ll be here until we win the game?” Sungyeol asked. Aemi nodded.
 
“Are you sure you’re okay being by yourself?” Hee-Jin asked. “I could stay...”
 
“I prefer it. Besides, we can’t win the game if you stay.”
 
The words from her best friend hurt Hee-jin, but she tried her best not to show it. Somehow the words ‘I prefer it’ got stuck in her head anyway.
 
“We should probably get going, and try and get a head start,” Seongyeon suggested.
 
“Don’t come back until you win.”
 
As they left the cave one by one, Myungsoo stayed behind.
 
“I’m sorry.”
 
For a second he thought she hadn’t heard him, or at least was pretending to, when suddenly the girl burst out crying. Without a word, he said down next to her and hugged her. It didn’t take her long to calm down.
 
“Why did you do it?” she asked softly.
 
“Because I’m an idiot.”
 
“You are. And you probably would have gotten away with it too. Your diversion would have been perfect, had Baeuda read it after my revelation it was all you.”
 
“Anyone could have written that,” he reasoned, but she shook her head.
 
“No. They really couldn’t have.”
 
They were quiet for a second and Aemi pushed him away. “You should go. Win the game. Don’t let me die, alright?”
 
“I won’t let you down again.”
 
“Yeah, you will.”
 
---
 
Myungsoo joined the other three outside the cave. They all looked rather serious.
 
“What’s going on?”
 
“Sungyeol says he has a plan to get rid of our debt instantly,” Hee-Jin said.
 
“It’s simple really. Or at least, kind of simple. We switch. If all of us switch, Team X wins. So do we. So our debt will be gone,” Sungyeol explained.
 
It makes sense.
 
“And Aemi would be the only one in team E, lose the game and get stuck with our debt, is what you mean?” Myungsoo asked.
 
“Yes. She doesn’t trust us, right? She doesn’t talk with us. It’s hard to even call her a friend right now,” Sungyeol said, but he looked a lot less certain than he sounded. He knew this was a very selfish choice to make. But it would be the quickest way to get out of debt.
 
“I don’t want to betray Aemi… But I have to admit that I’m scared she’ll betray us. She could lose us the game with a single button…” I should have talked with her. Forced her, whatever. We were so close. No, we are so close. I can’t betray her. I can’t.
 
“I won’t betray her,” Hee-jin said simply. “I don’t want Aemi to get stuck with all of our debts.”
 
“Me neither. It was my debt in the first place,” Myungsoo added.
 
“If she does betray us… that’ll hurt. But we won’t be the ones to do it. I would never hurt our friendship on purpose,” Yeon agreed.
 
“Alright, I guess we passed the first test of this game,” Sungyeol said with a laugh. “This game is about trust right? And we all picked friendship over money and a quick way out. I say we can win this game just as well.”
 
Was Sungyeol just testing us? No. He had been serious. Isn’t that why he asked me if I trusted Aemi? Has he already given up on her? Is he just going with the rest of us now, because he doesn’t want to look bad? Sungyeol. Don’t do it.
 
---
 
Hyunmi wondered how much time had passed since the others had left her. They had left her right after the two days were over and now she had nothing to do. She wished she had a book with her. She sat upright when she heard something. Had they found her already? There was no way that much time had passed.
 
“Hungry?” Jihye asked as she walked through the bushes.
 
“Lee Jihye! You scared me! I thought they had found me already!” Hyunmi scolded, but she couldn’t stop herself from smiling. While she hadn’t exactly been hungry, she had been bored, and kind of lonely.
 
---
 
It had been about half a day when they finally found some members of Team X at the food area.
 
“Oh, it’s Maerin and Seulyi,” Hee-Jin exclaimed when she spotted them.
 
The two girls were currently eating, and Team E decided that was a pretty good idea.
 
“Are you having any luck so far?” Sungyeol asked them.
 
“Well, we got a hint now. I’m guessing we have to go that way,” Seulyi stated, and pointed to where the group had just come from.
 
“Or they did that on purpose to confuse us,” Maerin suggested.
 
“Definitely that last one,” Myungsoo replied.
 
“I’ll go check it out. I’ll keep in contact with you.” Seulyi got up.
 
“I’ll stay on her,” Myungsoo said simply, and just as Seulyi was about to disappear in the forest he joined her.
 
The others took some more food, while Maerin stared at them curiously.
 
“Is he about to switch, or what?”
 
“No, he’s not,” Hee-Jin said confidently.
 
“I sure hope not,” Seongyeon added. “We just decided not to switch.”
 
“Then why is he following Seulyi?”
 
“Maybe he likes her?” Sungyeol suggested. After all, none of them were stupid enough to give away their strategy.
 
“I haven’t found anything yet,” Yerin complained as she reached the food area. She stopped when she spotted the other team.
 
“I’ll join you, maybe if we work together it goes faster,” Maerin suggested.
 
“Who’s going to go?” Hee-Jin whispered.
 
“There’s two of them, so I guess two of us will have to go. How about me and Yeon go, and you wait for the last one? She’ll probably come back here?” Sungyeol suggested.
 
“I guess,” Hee-Jin muttered.
 
“I’m sorry we’re leaving you on your own for now… At least you are with the food,” Seongyeon said apologetically. This did not make Hee-Jin feel much better as she was now reminded of her friend, who was both alone and without food.
 
“So why exactly are you following us?” Yerin asked, as she looked back. It felt weird to see the two opponents just walking behind them.
 
“To make sure you’re not actually getting close,” Seongyeon said with a smile.
 
“Wouldn’t it be better to actually search for Hyunmi? Not that I’m complaining,” Maerin replied.
 
“Yeah, it would be, but we’re pretty sure our teammate’s going to betray us, so why waste the effort?” Sungyeol said.
 
“Seriously?” Yerin turned back to them. “You really think so?”
 
“Well, let’s just say it’s a possibility,” Seongyeon replied. “After the last games we’re all on edge. You’re not in any trouble?”
 
“The first game was not my favourite,” Maerin commented. “I was the last one, so I didn’t get to halve my debt.”
 
“Though honestly, Jihye didn’t halve hers either,” Yerin reminded her. “The second game was worse in my opinion. Stupid secrets.”
 
“Most weren’t that bad though,” Maerin said.
 
“Maybe not for you miss derp queen,” Yerin laughed.
 
“You really do get along well,” Yeon said, and part of her felt a bit jealous. That’s what they used to be like too. Why did the game come between us but not between them?
 
“How did you end up in this game, then?” Sungyeol asked.
 
“We decided to join. It was a good way to help out and get rid of a debt, so why not?” Yerin said.
 
“And somehow we figured playing games would be fun. Well, we were wrong,” Maerin laughed.
 
“Now we’re stuck in a forest with some people we don’t know,” Yerin added.
 
---
 
After Jihye had gotten some food to Hyunmi she returned to the food area. She had suspected to find her friends there, but instead, she found someone else.
 
“Oh, hi, Jihye,” Hee-Jin greeted her.
 
“Hey… Hee-....”
 
“Hee-Jin,” the girl said. She felt weird about having to stick to this girl now. Keep following her. That was the deal, but randomly following someone through the forest sounded a lot like a creepy stalker. She did not exactly feel like becoming one.
 
---
 
A day later, Team X was getting frustrated. While they had been baffled by Team E’s behaviour at first, it was now becoming clear. Following them around all the time meant they couldn’t get any food to Hyunmi. And they needed to get her some soon. They were nearing the twentyfour hours that Hyunmi had said was her limit.
 
“What should we do?” Maerin asked Yerin. “We need to get things going soon.”
 
Yerin studied the two people sitting at a table next to them in the food area. They were talking together, but very much keeping an eye on them.
 
“How are they getting food to her? They can’t be abandoning her, right?”
 
“Since they think she might betray them, maybe they will leave here to fetch for herself? But they couldn’t be that mean, they were friends, weren’t they?” Maerin whispered.
 
“How about we try and run? With the two of us, one of us could be able to outrun them. We need to get Hyunmi her food asap,” Yerin suggested.
 
“Let’s do it,” Maerin agreed and with that they both dashed off. It only took Sungyeol and Seongyeon a second to run after them.
 
Yerin and Maerin tried their best to get rid of the two following them, but they had no success at first. Then the girl started to slow down. She was breathing rapidly and occasionally coughing.
 
This is not good. We need to keep up with them. Or Aemi will have to last even longer. They can’t reach Hyunmi without us being there.
 
Yeon pushed herself a bit harder, trying to ignore the tightness of her chest. She was not going to lose to asthma, not now, not here. She couldn’t. Aemi wouldn’t last. She had to continue. Her fingers had already found her inhaler in her pocket. Could she take it while running? She tried to speed up so she wouldn’t lose too much distance if she stopped.
 
Too…. far…
 
She regretted it instantly as she started coughing uncontrollably. She sunk to her knees, her inhaler still in her hand. She tried her hardest to get it in the right position, but she couldn’t stop coughing.
 
This is bad… I’m sorry… Aemi…
 
As soon as Sungyeol noticed Seongyeon collapse, he turned around. Instead of focussing on the two girls running away, he went to his girlfriend, taking the inhaler from her hand. He held her in his arms as he helped her take the inhaler. One puff. It didn’t seem to help. He waited for a few seconds before giving her another.
 
“Come on Yeon. It will be okay.” He spoke to her soothingly as he gave her another puff. That finally seemed to do it, and the girl’s breathing seemed to steady.
 
“You’ll be fine, Yeon,” Sungyeol said and she nodded.
 
“But what will happen to Aemi now that we let them get away?”
 
“She’ll have to hang on a little longer. We’ll just have to trust her.”
 
That sounds very suspicious from someone who wanted to abandon her a day ago. Yeon couldn’t help but think. But for now, she was just glad he was here, with her.
 
“We have to notify the others,” Sungyeol suggested.
 
---
 
Seulyi was very confused as to why this boy kept following around. At first, it had been nothing more than annoying and kind of creepy. He kept his distance and didn’t speak to her, but he was still there. So she had tried to talk to him and found out that he probably wasn’t that bad. In fact, he might actually be pretty good. At the very least, she thought he was very handsome. She glanced over at him, and saw he was making a call, just far enough away from her so she couldn’t overhear. I guess I better call my teammates too, now we have the chance to talk.
 
---
 
When Myungsoo dialed Aemi, it took a while before the girl picked up.
 
“They got food to their hider.”
 
She just sighed.
 
“You can talk, you know. They’re not close. Can you hold on?”
 
“I can hold on. I guess we’re back to the start… Any other developments?”
 
“I think the girl I’m following kind of likes me,” he half-joked.
 
“Really?”
 
“What, are you jealous?”
 
“... Yes… But more importantly, we can use that.”
 
“Use it?”
 
“Sweet-talk her. Get her to switch for you and have her win the game for us. And if she won’t betray her friends… Make her slap you. They’ll instantly lose.”
 
“You’re ruthless. I’ll win us the game, don’t worry. So hang on, alright?”
 
“Don’t worry about me. I don’t think I have to be alive for our team to win,” Aemi said simply and added softly: “Be careful, okay? I’m counting on you.”
 
---
 
Sungyeol had helped Seongyeon back to the food area. It was the mostly likely place to find the two members of Team X, that had escaped, again.
 
“I’m sorry,” Yeon said. Sungyeol just hugged her.
 
“It’s okay. It’s gonna be okay. It’s not your fault in the first place. We’ll find them again, and win the game. We can still win.”
 
“We need to think of another strategy. What if this happens again? Aemi won’t be able to hold out forever. There must be a better way. A quicker way.”
 
“We could just search for their hider instead?” Sungyeol suggested.
 
“We did see where they went. It feels better to actually do something, rather than just waiting here.” Yeon agreed.
 
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
 
“I’m fine. And even better when we find their hider, and win the game. Let’s go Yeol!”
 
She was feeling a lot better after her short rest and just the idea of actively trying to win this game made her excited. We can do this. We’ll win this game.
 
---
 
“I’m beginning to think that this forest is way too big,” Jihye commented. Hee-Jin nodded. While at first Hee-Jin had been following Jihye, feeling slightly awkward, now, they were getting along, walking through the forest together.
 
“As long as we’re together, we probably won’t find a hider anyway,” Hee-Jin added with a soft laugh. “I mean, I doubt you would let me find Hyunmi, right?”
 
“I definitely wouldn’t. And you wouldn’t let me find your hider either, so in the end, we’re stuck walking through the forest forever.”
 
“I wonder how long this game will take… I mean… Our parents will worry if we don’t come home, right?” Hee-Jin murmured. She was sure her parents would worry, and even if they didn’t her sister would. If all of them disappeared suddenly, someone would surely notice right?
 
“A game with this much money at stake probably has its ways. It’s kind of scary to think about it really,” Jihye replied.
 
“Scary?” Hee-Jin hadn’t thought about that. But maybe Jihye was right. Maybe there was more to this game than she had thought. Of course, they had found out during the second game that these games were used as some kind of entertainment. She had assumed that was all. But was that really enough to get such amounts of money? And how were they even able to re-distribute debts so easily?
 
“If they can just take our friends debt and split it over a group, they must be powerful, right?” Jihye stated.
 
“They must be.”
 
“At least we took it on willingly.”
 
“We didn’t,” Hee-Jin mumbled.
 
“Wait what? One of you just decided to use you to get rid of his or her debt?”
 
“Yes… I guess. I mean, sure talking about a debt and being in trouble and stuff must be hard… But he still won’t say how he got into a debt in the first place… It’s kind of weird. I think maybe that’s why we can’t seem to trust each other anymore.”
 
“And the games don’t really help either,” Jihye said with a sigh.
 
---
 
Seongyeon was glad they had abandoned Aemi’s plan. Finally, they were actively doing something to win this game, rather than passively waiting for the others to give up. They would find Team X’s hider, and win this game. She would show her friend that she could trust them.
 
“How about over there? It looks like the forest is a bit thicker there,” Sungyeol suggested.
 
They both ran towards it, and although indeed that part of the forest was harder to get through, they saw no sign of a hider.
 
“No luck yet, huh,” Seongyeon sighed.
 
Sungyeol just held her hand a bit tighter. It was reassuring having him there. While part of her realized that splitting up would probably make the search go a bit faster, she didn’t want to be alone, especially not after her asthma attack. Who knew what would happen next.
 
“We’ll find that girl together,” he said and she nodded.
 
“Of course we will.”
 
---
 
It had been over three days since the game had started, and Seulyi was getting used to having Myungsoo around. Over time, they had started to get along better. They talked and laughed a lot, and after a while, she had forgotten they were even supposed to work against each other. It didn’t feel like that anymore. More and more it felt like they were searching together.
 
“How about over there?” she suggested and he looked over to where she pointed.
 
“Alright, let’s check.”
 
“We’re supposed to work against each other, aren’t we?” she commented and his smile seemed to disappear.
 
“Yeah…” he said sadly.
 
“Why do you sound so sad about it?”
 
“Because working with you would be more fun.”
 
“I like working with you too,” she said, slightly blushing.
 
---
 
“Watch out!” Seongyeon said and quickly pulled Sungyeol back. They had arrived at a sudden cliff, and he had almost walked right off it.
 
“Thanks.”
 
“This forest is ing dangerous as well? Are they trying to get us killed?”
 
“Maybe they want to make sure we watch properly. I mean, if we miss a cliff, we won’t be able to see their hider either, right?” Sungyeol joked. He always did this. Always trying to make dangerous situation seem better by joking around. She couldn’t help but admit that she liked that about him.
 
“Maybe not. But we have to find her quickly, or Aemi won’t be able to hold out.”
 
“We have time enough. Myungsoo contacted me about that earlier.”
 
Seongyeon looked at him in surprise.
 
“He got Aemi food?” She smiled now, relieved that there was no need to rush anymore.
 
“Not exactly. Apparently, he confirmed that she doesn’t have to be alive for us to win.”
 
---
 
Hee-Jin and Jihye had reached a small lake. It looked so peaceful and pretty and so out of place in this game.
 
“Shall we rest for a while?” Jihye suggested.
 
“But… we need to keep working to win, right?”
 
“As long as we’re both working against each other, we won’t actually make any progress anyway. Besides, I’m pretty tired.”
 
“Me too,” Hee-Jin agreed.
 
They sat down at the edge of the lake and looked into the water. It was already becoming dark again. Was it because they were in a forest? Or had they really been looking around for over three days now? How long would this game continue?
 
“I brought some food, do you want some?” Hee-Jin asked and Jihye happily accepted.
 
“Somehow I feel like rather than losing friends in this game, I’m making a new one.”
 
“Me too. I just hope I won’t be losing any… Everything has been tense since we started this.”
 
“Forgive and forget, I guess that’s all we can do. And it’s worth it to help a friend out of a huge debt, right?” Jihye offered.
 
“Yeah… I guess. I hope… If I end up losing some of my best friends, I’m not sure if it’s worth it… I mean…”
 
“I can’t argue with that. That’s what the forgive and forget is about.”
 
---
 
As night fell, it had been getting colder, and she and Myungsoo had crawled together for some warmth. It still felt a bit awkward to her, but then again, it really was cold, and there were worse people to be stuck with.
 
“If only you were on my team,” she heard him mutter. It was as if all of a sudden, she had the perfect idea.
 
“What if you switched?” she suggested.
 
He shook his head.
 
“It’s my debt. I can’t do that to my friends.”
 
It was his debt? But even so he’s not trying to put it all on them. That’s a good thing. He has morals.
 
“Yeah, that would be horrible,” she agreed.
 
“You could switch?”
 
Could I? Seulyi thought about her friends, about how they had all decided together they would win this game and help Hyunmi pay of the debts of her marriage. Could she just abandon them? Win the game, be debtfree herself, with Myungsoo. Yet the others would be stuck with the debt. They wouldn’t even get rid of her part. They would still have to pay that off too. She would be the only one who gained anything. I’d gain Myungsoo, but they’d lose the game. It’s not worth it.
 
“I can’t betray my friends.”
 
“Of course not,” he said and reached out to her, his hand softly touching her cheek. As he came closer and closer to her, she felt her heartbeat speed up. When his lips were almost against hers she closed her eyes, but she was not prepared for what came next.
 
“But you can still be my sidechick.”
 
“Excuse me!?” Before she had even thought about it she had slapped him and pushed him off her.
 
As the slap resounded through the forest, another signal could be heard. A buzzer, signalling the end of the third game.
 
---
 
Hyunmi was playing with the food she had received from her friends when she heard the buzzer. She had been way too bored, and was glad that the game seemed over.
 
Did we do it? Did we win? We must have won. I knew you guys could do it! Thank you!
 
The display of her phone showed her it was now alright to move, and that she should come to the food area. The number wasn’t from any of the participants, so it had to be of Baeuda.
 
I can’t believe we won.
 
---
 
The sudden sound of a buzzer made Hee-Jin and Jihye stop.
 
“What is that?” the former asked.
 
“I… don’t know?” Jihye had barely answered when their phone buzzed.
 
Game over
Return to the Food Area.
 
“Game over?” Hee-Jin read aloud.
 
“But, who won? Did you guys find Hyunmi? Did someone find Aemi?” Jihye asked.
 
“Wouldn’t they contact us if they found someone? They’d let us know, right? Why didn’t they let us know?”
 
---
 
“Return to the food area? They’re not even telling us who won? Or where we have to go?” Seongyeon complained.
 
“Do you think we lost?” Sungyeol asked.
 
“Why?”
 
“We didn’t find their hider. Our teammates are shadowing their seekers. They couldn’t have found the hider either. Which leaves only two options. A hider gave up, or they found Aemi.”
 
“But our cave was so well hidden…” Seongyeon retorted. They couldn’t have found it.
 
“So do you think Aemi gave up?”
 
“No… So did we lose because we left two of their seekers alone?” Seongyeon asked, suddenly worried it was all their fault.
 
“Definitely not. I doubt Aemi would have been able to go much longer without food anyway. Either she already gave up, or she would have given up soon. Even if you don’t want to believe that.”
 
Sungyeol hugged her and said softly: “I know you trust her. But I don’t think she’d die for us.”
 
“I wouldn’t like it if she did. But I somehow also don’t like the idea of her giving up at the cost of all of us… Why is this so complicated?”
 
“Let’s just go back to the food area now?” Sungyeol suggested.
 
---
 
Nine people had gathered in the food area, all looking slightly confused. No one was sure who had won and what exactly had happened. Baeuda seemed to be really enjoying that fact.
 
“Fufufu~ Now you are all here-,” he started, when Yeon interrupted him.
 
“What do you mean, we’re all here? Where is Aemi?”
 
Did she actually die for us? No way. That can’t be. Did we make her wait too long?
 
“She is currently being hooked up to an IV as she passed out from dehydration. If you cared that much, I would have thought you’d have given her some water during this challenge,” Baeuda explained.
 
“You guys really didn’t give her anything?” Yerin asked in amazement.
 
“That’s cold,” Maerin added.
 
“Not entirely unexpected,” Seulyi commented with a glare to Myungsoo.
 
“Is she going to be okay? She’s going to be okay, right?” Hee-Jin asked Baeuda. He did not reply.
 
“This is the end of the Chingu Hide and Seek between Team E and Team X. Fufufu~ What an exciting game it was. Strategies, betrayal, loooong searches and an almost dying hider, what more can we as a company wish for,” he continued.
 
“Betrayal?” Yeon asked and suddenly both team tensed. Had someone switched? What had happened?
 
“Fufufu~ I’m sure you’re excited to find out who have won this game. So I can say, congratulations, team E!”
 
“We won?” Hee-Jin said in disbelieve.
 
“How?” both Sungyeol and Seongyeon said at the same time.
 
“Did you give up? Did we give you too little food and water?” Jihye asked Hyunmi.
 
Hyunmi shook her head. “I thought for sure you had found her.”
 
While everyone was feeling confused, only Myungsoo was looking triumphantly.
 
“Myungsoo, you know what happened, don’t you?” Sungyeol asked him.
 
The boy smirked.
 
“She hit me. No violence against the other team members, right?” He asked this last question to Baeuda, who nodded.
 
“Yes. Because violence was used, the game ended with a win for team E.”
 
Team X now turned to Seulyi.
 
“You hit him?” Hyunmi asked in surprise.
 
“What in the world did he do?” Maerin added.
 
“He deserved it,” Seulyi said grimly.
 
“To be fair, I definitely did,” Myungsoo agreed with a smile.
 
“He planned it,” Yerin exclaimed.
 
“You planned to get hit?” Hee-Jin asked. “But that hurts!”
 
“Worth it, since we won the game and Aemi didn’t die. Good enough for me,” the boy said simply.
 
“You’re a ing genius!” Yeon exclaimed happily and hugged Myungsoo.
 
“This means Team X has lost and will take their debt home with them,” Baeuda said matter of factly.
 
“Are you okay?” Hyunmi asked Seulyi and the girl nodded after glaring at Myungsoo once more. She couldn’t believe she had fallen for that.
 
“It’s not your fault, he did it on purpose,” Jihye agreed.
 
“You guys don’t have to worry about the debt, I’ll pay it,” Hyunmi said, looking at her friends. “It was my debt in the first place.”
 
“You’re all free to go now. Team E, you will be contacted for the next game. Team X, good luck with the rest of your lives. Fufufu~ As always, don’t talk about the game.”
 
“Can I see Aemi?” Myungsoo asked, but Baeuda just pointed them to a pair of cars.
 
Before they knew it, they found themselves near the entrance of their school.
 
---
 
Their school life had returned to normal instantly. Nobody had even seemed to notice they had been gone for so long. Had they been gone? Had they been excused? Or was there something else going on?
 
“This game is dangerous,” Hee-Jin stated during a break.
 
“I should have never signed us up,” Myungsoo agreed.
 
“Especially not without talking to us first,” Sungyeol added.
 
At least we’re sort of back to normal.
 
“At least no one got hurt so far,” Seongyeon commented, thinking back to her boyfriend almost falling off a cliff.
 
“No one got hurt!? Aemi got hurt, that’s why she isn’t here, isn’t it? We starved her!” Hee-Jin exclaimed.
 
“She was the one who thought of that. You can’t blame us for listening to her,” Sungyeol retorted.
 
“She still got hurt. For us,” Myungsoo mentioned.
 
“Are you not going to tell us how you got your debt? Why you got us into this?” Yeon asked once more. They had been asking Myungsoo about his debt ever since they found out it was his, but he kept dodging the subject. It must be something bad… But we’re high schoolers, what can it be?
 
---
 
The next day, Aemi appeared at school again. She looked pale, weak, and was quiet.
 
Not that different from usual, considering she almost died. Yeon decided and felt relieved. She had worried that something really bad might have happened, with Baeuda not even letting them see their friend. But she seemed fine.
 
“I’m sorry you got hurt so badly,” she commented once she had reached her friend. For a second she thought the girl would go right back to ignoring her, but she didn’t.
 
“It’s okay. It was my plan. I’m glad we won.”
 
“Me too. Good thinking on Myungsoo’s part.”
 
“Yeah,” the redhead agreed with a smile.
 
They didn’t talk much as they walked to the classroom, but at least they were talking again.
 
Maybe we really can go back to how we were before.
 
---
 
A week passed, then another. Slowly but surely they were falling back into a rhythm. While it was clear some bonds had been broken during the Chingu Game, everything was getting better. Myungsoo and Aemi were talking again. In fact, Aemi was talking with everyone again, if not as much as before. Only Sungyeol seemed less than keen on getting her back in the group, saying he felt like she had let them fall as soon as the games had started. Hee-Jin was getting along with everyone, as was Yeon. The girls had even started their movie nights again, and the Chingu Game seemed much like a bad dream.
 
---
 
They had let their guards down. For the fourth time, they found themselves waking up in a strange place. The familiar laughter gave away what they already knew. They were here for the next game.
 
“Good mooorning~~”
 
“Just tell us about the game,” Aemi stated.
 
“Fufufu~ It’s so nice to see you guys getting along again! Just in time for the next game! This game is very easy. It is as easy as the first game, maybe even easier. It’s a knowledge based quiz game!”
 
“A quiz? About what?” Yeon asked.
 
“I’m not good at quizzes,” Hee-Jin said and was instantly stressed.
 
“About your friends, of course. It’s very simple. We have done some research over the past weeks. We have some interesting questions for you. Ten questions. All five of you will have to answer. To clear the question, you’ll all have to answer correctly. If one of you answers wrong, you lose. Simple, isn’t it?”
 
“So we’ll also answer questions about ourselves?” Myungsoo asked and Baeuda nodded.
 
“Well, at least that’s one we will get correct,” Sungyeol stated with a smile.
 
“Let’s go to the venue~”
 
The venue looked just like a regular quiz show. They had four booths to the side, and one in the center, where the candidate would normally sit. They could write their answers on the touchscreens in the booths, which would then later be projected on screens on the booth itself.
 
“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to our Quiz show, Chingu Game 4~ Team E! Today’s candidates struggled through the first few games but managed to find themselves here, even after almost losing a candidate in the previous game. How will they do this time? Will they be able to answer the questions correctly? Let’s see! The first question will be about Lee Sungyeol. Lee Sungyeol, please come to the center.”
 
Sungyeol sat down at the booth in the center, while the other four went to the booths on the side.
 
“Are you feeling confident?”
 
“I’m an open book. We should be able to get this.”
 
“For every correct answer, you’ll get 20 million won. These answers are calculated individually. Unlike in the previous games, you won’t be able to check your debt until after the game. If you get a single question correct as a group you’ll continue to the next game. Good luck, and here is the first question: Lee Sungyeol is actually very rich.”
 
“Well, that’s easy,” Seongyeon said with a laugh. We’re going to beat this game right away. We’re best friends, we know each other. There is no way we will get these questions wrong. Especially not when they are as easy as this.
 
‘No’
 
“Has everyone written their answers? Alright then, Sungyeol, we will now reveal your answer.”
 
YES
 
“What about our candidates? A no, another no, a yes, and a no. I’m afraid you aren’t unanimous, so you have got this first question wrong.”
 
“You’re rich??” Hee-Jin exclaimed.
 
“My family is.”
 
“But your house is normal,” Seongyeon commented.
 
“I don’t have access to the money until I’m of age, but technically, I’m rich,” Sungyeol explained.
 
They now turned to Aemi, who had somehow answered yes.
 
“How did you know?”
 
“Educated guess. They wouldn’t make this quiz that easy. So it had to be the unexpected answer.”
 
“And if it had been that easy?” Myungsoo commented.
 
“I would have made us lose the first question but I would have definitely gotten the next right. You’d have a smaller debt because of it.”
 
“Except now you are the one with the smaller debt,” Sungyeol pointed out.
 
“You’re going to antagonize me because I got the question right? Because I thought that was kind of the point of this game.”
 
So this game isn’t as easy as I suspected. It just means I’ll have to think about this a bit more.
 
“For question two, Myungsoo, please switch places with Sungyeol,” Baeuda announced.
 
“Question two: Myungsoo got into a debt, because his father’s hospital bills were too steep for his family to take care of. I’m sure you’ve all discussed why you are here, so this should be an easy question, right?”
 
Yeon looked at Myungsoo intently. He had never told them why he was in debt. Was it because of his father’s hospital bills? But if so, he could have just told them.
 
So it’s not that? It’s something we wouldn’t agree with? And that’s why he won’t tell us? But what if they are double bluffing? And it’s another yes? Isn’t this just asking us to judge his character? Do I believe Myungsoo’s debt is something he got himself into, or something he got caught up in without doing anything? Why is this so difficult? Why has it become so hard to just trust them.
 
“Alright, we’ll now reveal Myungsoo’s answer. He said yes. What about the others? Oh, split through the middle. A yes from Seongyeon and Sungyeol, a no from Aemi and Hee-Jin.”
 
“Ohmygosh, I was wrong? I’m so sorry! I thought… Because you didn’t want to talk about it… But then it must be hard to talk about your father being sick too, right? I’m so sorry!” Hee-Jin exclaimed.
 
Trusting him was the right thing. At least my debt is getting less. But we need to get the questions right… Will we be able to do it?
 
“For the next question, please come to the front, Seongyeon.”
 
So it’s my turn now? At least I’ll get another 20 million.
 
“Question three: Seongyeon’s father is currently being investigated for fraud.”
 
What the ? He isn’t. Right? Of course he isn’t. My father wouldn’t commit fraud… But would I know if he did? Besides, if they are investigating him, that doesn’t necessarily mean he did it.
 
She was in doubt. She had no idea what the answer to this question even was. None of her friends would know either.
 
It’s ing unfair to give us questions like this. She felt like screaming. Fifty-fifty chance. It’s just a guess right now.
 
“Let’s reveal Seongyeon’s answer. She said no. Everyone but Sungyeol also said no. You weren’t unanimous, so you didn’t clear this third question.”
 
“You think my father would commit fraud?” Seongyeon asked Sungyeol and her boyfriend shook his head.
 
“But he could still be investigated for it, right? And everything so far was true, so I thought, maybe this one was too.”
 
Was it? I don’t even know. How are we supposed to figure out what the correct answer is? Is my answer the right one? Is it up to me? But they claimed they investigated us. So then they should know the answer. The only way to check would be looking at our nameplates. But they didn’t give them to us… So… Maybe Myungsoo lied. Maybe Sungyeol lied. Maybe I was wrong. We won’t find out until we see what’s left of our debt. Damn this game.
 
“Since you aren’t doing well, we’re giving you another easy question. Lim Aemi, you are up.”
 
“Good luck,” Yeon told Aemi as they switched places. The girl just nodded, clearly tense. Of course she was. She might not even know the answer to the question herself. I didn’t know the answer either. But Baeuda said it was easy, so let’s hope we’ll get it.
 
“Question four is an easy one, as this was already mentioned in the second game. Aemi had an abortion.”
 
She said she hadn’t. So it’s easy, a no. Since Hee-Jin was as surprised as I was when that secret was read out, one of the boys wrote it. Myungsoo would know. Sungyeol wouldn’t lie about something like that. So Myungsoo believed it was true? Or did he lie? Would he lie about it? What if Aemi said it was a lie, just because the secret included her not wanting to have one. Maybe she did want one. And had one. And then neither of them would have lied. But I would have noticed if there was something this big going on, right? Yeon’s thoughts were going in circles. What was the truth? Who was lying? Was there even anyone lying?
 
“And here are the answers. Aemi wrote down no.”
 
So she didn’t have one after all. I was right.
 
But looking at the answers of the others, both Myungsoo and Sungyeol had written down yes.
 
Of course Sungyeol would trust Myungsoo, since they have been friends for a long time. But doesn’t this mean that either Myungsoo or Aemi is lying right now?
 
“The answers are split and you are wrong again.”
 
Hee-Jin had already gotten up, ready for her question.
 
“Question five: Hee-Jin’s crush, Kim Xiumin, has a girlfriend.”
 
At least we will get this one. He doesn’t. We’ve checked it. He definitely doesn’t have one. We’ve got this.
 
“Everyone has written their answers down already. Maybe this was the easy question. Let’s see your answers. Hee-Jin wrote down no. So did all of the others. Congratulations, you finally got an unanimous answer. Unfortunately, you are all wrong.”
 
“What!?” Sungyeol exclaimed.
 
“There’s no way,” Seongyeon added.
 
“How did we miss that?” Aemi muttered.
 
Hee-Jin was quiet, and obviously sad. Her two female friends were already there to hug her, but she softly shook her head.
 
“It’s okay. As long as he’s happy… ” Tears started to appear in her eyes. It was not okay. Definitely not okay.
 
“Fufufu~ a surprising result? Let’s continue to the next question. Lee Sungyeol, you’re up again.”
 
“Well, let’s hear it then,” Sungyeol said.
 
“Question six: Sungyeol slept with a teacher to raise his grade.”
 
He wouldn’t. He doesn’t care that much about his grades. Besides, how would they even find out? He wouldn’t do it now, right? Since he’s dating me. These questions can’t all be true.
 
“Let’s see the answers! Sungyeol answered no. How about the others? Seongyeon seems to agree. So did Hee-Jin and Aemi. Myungsoo, however answered yes. You did not clear this question.”
 
“I guess I’m up next,” Myungsoo stated and got up.
 
“Are we going to be able to clear this game? It’s so hard!” Hee-Jin said, clearly worried.
 
“We should be able to do it. We know each other, right?” Yeon argued, but she was getting pretty demotivated herself.
 
“Question seven: Myungsoo has cheated on Aemi.”
 
“How far did you take it with that girl last game?” Aemi asked quietly.
 
“Not so far that it’d be cheating,” he replied confidently.
 
Why are they so calm? Does that mean it’s definitely not true? I’ll just say it’s not true? I want it to not be true.
 
“Fufufu~ you seem to be far from confident,” Baeuda commented.
 
“You didn’t, right? You didn’t cheat on her, right?” Hee-Jin asked. “You wouldn’t betray her, right?”
 
“He technically betrayed us all by signing us up for this game,” Aemi commented.
 
“So what you’re saying is he did cheat on you?” Sungyeol asked. Aemi shook her head.
 
“I trust him. I’m writing down no.”
 
“I never cheated on you, Aemi,” Myungsoo replied.
 
“I guess we’ll find out now,” Seongyeon muttered.
 
Or at least, we’ll find out who trust him and who don’t. What if Aemi actually wrote down yes? She already didn’t trust him in the second game… But then why would she lie now?
 
“Let’s see Myungsoo’s answer. He wrote down no. As did Hee-Jin and Seongyeon. What about the other two? Shall we reveal Aemi’s answer first, or Sungyeol’s?” Baeuda asked them with another laugh.
 
“Show me Aemi’s,” Myungsoo said nervously.
 
Of course he wants to know whether or not she trusts him.
 
“Aemi answered no. It’s all up to Sungyeol then! He answered yes. Once again, you failed to clear the question.”
 
“Alright guys, let’s pull it together. I’m up next, so we should be able to do it. It can’t be this difficult, it can’t,” Yeon tried to cheer everyone on. They needed to win this game, and win it fast.
 
“Question eight: Seongyeon does not trust anyone anymore.”
 
“Because of the games?” Hee-Jin asked sadly.
 
“Yes. It makes me doubt everyone, even myself,” Yeon admitted. She felt bad about it, but it was true. And she had already been caught lying once. Just tell the truth and get it over with, right? At least as long as everyone answers yes now, we’ll be done with this game.
 
“You all answered yes! Congratulations, you’ve cleared the fourth game. You have now a total debt of 1 billion 400 million won,” Baeuda cheered.
 
“It’s still more than we started with,” Yeon complained. She was glad they had received their nameplates again. 290 million won debt. Does that mean I only got two questions right? The last one for sure. Only one more? But which one? Am I sure I only got two questions right? Was my debt higher than I thought? I’m so confused, I should have double checked it before we started… But we never got our nameplates in the first place...
 
---
 
Like after the previous games, their lives returned back to normal quickly. There were a lot of tests at school and they had gotten busy, and for the first time in a while, their stress was because of normal problems, that everyone else in their class had too.
 
“I can’t believe I messed this up. I thought we had physics today, not chemistry,” Sungyeol exclaimed.
 
“We have physics tomorrow, right?” Hee-Jin said and Aemi nodded.
 
“At least you won’t have to study for tomorrow’s test?” Yeon tried to cheer her boyfriend up.
 
“I’ll forget! Why did I think we had physics?” he retorted.
 
“I’m sure you’ll be able to work something out, chemistry isn’t that difficult,” Myungsoo reasoned.
 
“Easy for you to say...”
 
It’s almost like nothing ever happened. Seongyeon couldn’t help but smile. After all the tensions of the past month, they finally felt like a group of friends again. Sure, if she looked at their relationship more closely, there were cracks. But right now, they seemed back to normal.
 
---
 
“It’s been long since we’ve been on a date,” Sungyeol mentioned as he and Yeon walked through the park hand in hand.
 
“Things have been crazy lately,” she agreed.
 
“Wanna go to Last Drop?”
 
“It’s only my favourite café, of course I do,” Yeon said.
 
They soon found themselves in the cozy café, drinking coffee and sharing a piece of cake. It was good, like before the game.
 
One more game and then everything will be fine. Only one more and this whole ordeal is over and we’ll go back to normal. Then it will be like this always.
 
---
 
Aemi and Yeon walked to school together.
 
“I’m glad you’re talking to me again,” Yeon admitted.
 
“Me too,” the girl replied with a smile.
 
“I truly didn’t mean to betray you guys or anything, you know. I am sorry for lying about my debt.”
 
“Why did you?”
 
“Since no one was saying anything.. I thought it was suspicious. And if we all halved our debt, it would have been great, right? So I thought that was best...” Even as she tried to explain her ideas to her friend, Yeon could tell the girl only half believed her.
 
“You still don’t trust me.”
 
“You’re wrong,” Aemi shook her head. “I trust you, but I’m not sure I want to. I don’t wanna get hurt again.”
 
“I would never intentionally hurt you!” Yeon exclaimed.
 
“I know. But accidental hurt still hurts,” Aemi replied with a weak smile.
 
“Maybe you get hurt too easily,” Yeon jokingly said and Aemi nodded.
 
“That’s definitely true. I’m sorry for being such a wuss.”
 
“I’m sorry for always acting rashly.”
 
“Some pair we make,” Aemi laughed and Yeon soon joined in.
 
I’m glad we’re back to being friends again.
 
---
 
Hee-Jin and Seongyeon were in a coffee shop, enjoying their coffees as they discussed their recent tests.
 
“I can’t believe I passed math!” Yeon said happily.
 
“I’m more excited about passing English,” Hee-Jin replied.
 
They took a sip of their coffee almost at the same time.
 
“I’m glad everything is slowly getting back to how it was,” Hee-Jin mused.
 
“I’ve been thinking the same thing. We’re totally getting back into our regular lives.”
 
“And our regular friendship.”
 
“That’s the best part,” Yeon agreed.
 
“And there’s only one game left, so I’m sure our friendship will survive. It has to, right?”
 
Seongyeon nodded.
 
“It has to.”
 
---
 
It was eleven at night when Yeon suddenly received a phone call.
 
“Do you know where Aemi is?” Myungsoo’s voice came through her phone.
 
“No… Why?”
 
“She’s not at home. I think something is wrong… I’m going to call the others, see if they know where she is.”
 
“I’ll call Yeol. Let’s meet at the park, so we can talk about it?”
 
And with that they decided to meet up. Of course, Yeol had no idea where Aemi could be either, which didn’t exactly surprise Yeon. They had never been that close.
 
When she reached the park, Myungsoo was already there, nervously pacing around. It didn’t take long for Hee-Jin to come running and as she was catching her breath Sungyeol joined the group as well.
 
“So what’s the emergency?” Sungyeol stated as he reached them.
 
“She left me a weird voicemail… And now she’s not at home. I think she might be hurt.”
 
“Hurt!?!?” Hee-Jin exclaimed.
 
“Why do you think that? What kind of voicemail?” Yeon said at the same time.
 
“How could you even tell that much from a voicemail?” Sungyeol muttered.
 
“I’ll let you hear.” He was already holding his phone in his hand and after he pressed a button, they heard Aemi’s voice. It was shaking.
 
Myungsoo? Hi. I just… I don’t blame you, okay? This… This is not your fault, so don’t feel bad. I love you. I’m sorry.
 
Weird sounds could be heard in the background before the girl hung up.
 
“She forgave you? That’s a good thing isn’t it?” Sungyeol said with a shrug.
 
“What is she sorry for?” Hee-Jin considered.
 
“This… this definitely sounds bad,” Yeon said and Myungsoo turned paler.
 
“So it’s not my imagination?”
 
“This sounds like a suicide note,” Yeon said quietly.
 
---
 
They had barely slept, trying to get a hold of Aemi. In the end, they had failed.
 
But that doesn’t mean anything. She might be sorry for something else. Maybe she also lied during a game? Maybe she made some mistake she is sorry for? It doesn’t mean anything.
 
Yeon thought back to Hee-Jin’s words the night before. ‘Aemi wouldn’t commit suicide. She’d never leave the game unfinished.’
 
It brought her some peace, because Hee-Jin was right. Aemi hated leaving things unfinished. Still, she had a bad feeling about this. About all of this.
 
When class started, Aemi wasn’t there.
 
This is not good. This is definitely not good.
 
She was getting more and more restless as time went on. She could see her friends were feeling the same. Something was definitely wrong.
 
Just before the break, she received a text. It was quite sudden and she was glad she hadn’t forgotten to put her phone on silence, or she would have surely gotten in trouble.
 
Meet me at the roof
~Aemi
 
She sighed of relief, seeing this message. Aemi was okay. Something had definitely happened, but they’d go to the roof, meet with her, and everything would be sorted out.
 
---
 
They woke up in a dark room with a single computer screen.
 
What happened? I was going to the roof to meet Aemi. We all were.
 
And sure enough, looking around, there were the others. Hee-Jin, Sungyeol and Myungsoo. Like at school that morning, was it still the same day? Aemi wasn’t there.
 
“Good mooorning~~”
 
“Where’s Aemi?” Myungsoo asked as soon as Baeuda appeared.
 
“No greeting? Straight to the questions? Fufufu~ If you ignore me, I’ll ignore you too,” Baeuda stated and turned towards the others.
 
“Good morning. Where is Aemi?” Hee-Jin tried.
 
“Just tell us where the our friend is already,” Yeon shouted. They had literally just made up and now she wasn’t here. What was going on?
 
“You’ll find out soon enough. Welcome to game five! Chingo Cluedo! I’m sure you know the game.”
 
“It’s that game where you have to find out who’s the murderer, right?” Sungyeol stated and Baeuda cheered.
 
“That’s right, that’s exactly right!”
 
“Are you saying one of us is a murderer? Since it’s chingu cluedo?” Hee-Jin asked, and she sounded confused.
 
“That makes no sense,” Yeon said.
 
“If I told you that, it would take away some of the fun. In cluedo, you find out who the killer is and with what they killed the victim. Chingu cluedo is a bit different. You find out the cause of death and the reason behind it. If you do that, you win.”
 
“How do we do that?” Myungsoo asked quietly.
 
“Fufufu~ I’m glad you asked. We will help you a bit, and give you access to the police report. The rest is up to your own inventiveness.”
 
“How are we even supposed to do that?” Sungyeol muttered.
 
“Let’s start game five: Chingu Cluedo: What happened to Lim Aemi?” Baeuda announced and clapped his hands.
 
The tv screen in front of them suddenly showed a picture of Aemi’s face. It was beaten, bloody and looked distinctly not alive.
 
“This… This is VR, right?” Hee-Jin said softly.
 
“It… it must be,” Seongyeon answered. This can’t be true. Aemi is not dead. She can’t be dead.
 
“Fufufu~ you don’t believe me? That’s fine, that’s fine. You’re free to walk out that door. You’ll have to, in order to investigate. If you want to see the police report, just call.” He tossed them a phone.
 
“We’ll be ready to pick you up any time. And don’t forget: tell no one about this game. Or you might just end up like your friend.”
 
---
 
Once they left the room, they were blindfolded and brought home. Or at least, they found themselves in front of Aemi’s house. Sure enough, it was sealed of with crime scene tape.
 
“What… What happened here?” Yeon asked a neighbour. She still couldn’t believe it, didn’t want to believe it.
 
“Apparently the girl living there was found dead this afternoon. Such a tragedy, she was so young.”
 
“Was it suicide after all?” Sungyeol asked softly.
 
“They don’t know,” the lady replied.
 
Without a word, Myungsoo sank to his knees. She really was gone.
 
Seongyeon wanted to comfort him but she felt tears rolling over her own cheeks already. Her best friend. Gone.
 
Sungyeol pulled her in a hug and she cried loudly. Hee-Jin was hugging Myungsoo and they were both crying too. Where she had thought things had been going back to normal, things were now the worst they had ever been.
 
---
 
Almost a week had passed since then. They had not done any investigating. In fact, they had had trouble enough with just living, going to school, eating, and being alive. Everything reminded them of their friend. Her empty seat at school, which was filled with flowers by people who probably couldn’t care less about her. The old playground close to her house, were she and Yeon had first met. Her favourite cafe, and seeing her favourite book in the window of a bookstore. Everything hurt.
 
It was Sungyeol who pulled them together. He called them and they met at a park, the same park they had met in when Myungsoo had been worried. They had all been grieving on their own, and it felt a lot longer than a week since they had last seen each other.
 
Seongyeon was pale, with black under her eyes from lack of sleep. There were scratches on her hands and arms, because she’d get anger attacks and panic attacks, and feel helpless all at once. She’d beat her wall in sudden anger and hurt her fists, and would yell and curse at anyone in the vicinity. But it still didn’t take away the pain she felt.
 
Hee-Jin had red eyes, because she had been crying a lot. Whenever she tried to pull herself together, something new would remind her of Aemi and she found herself crying again. Initially she had kept to her room, but even there were memories and finally she and her sister had switched rooms, and she had kept herself locked in, away from painful memories.
 
Sungyeol was quite the opposite to the two girls, and had kept himself busy, finding anything to do better than to think about his friend. He slept long hours and spend every waking hour outside, in crowds, to keep himself distracted.
 
Myungsoo looked the worst out of all of them. He looked like he hadn’t slept since he got the news, and possibly hadn’t really eaten either. His eyes were red and looked ready to give up. And most of all, he was clearly blaming himself for what happened, even though she had told him not to.
 
“We have to do something,” Sungyeol said once they had all arrived. “There’s still the fifth game.”
 
“This is the fifth game, isn’t it? They ing killed her.” As Yeon spoke, she already felt the anger rise in her again.
 
He told us we might end up like Aemi, right? He threatened to kill us too. Did she talk about the game? How could they just kill her? them.
 
“What if she really did commit suicide? Because she could no longer trust us since we joined this game?” Myungsoo suggested.
 
“She looked beaten up. I doubt she did that to herself,” Yeon retorted.
 
“You shouldn’t blame yourself. We don’t even know what happened,” Hee-Jin added.
 
“We have to look at the police report. It should have clues,” Sungyeol reasoned.
 
“So, we’ll call Baeuda?” Hee-Jin asked.
 
“I don’t ever want to see his face again,” Yeon yelled.
 
But I don’t exactly have a choice, do I? Don’t worry Aemi, we’ll figure out what happened. We’ll make sure they pay.
 
“I’ll call him,” Myungsoo said and it didn’t take long before a black car was at the park, and they were given a pill to knock them out.
 
Is that how they did it the whole time? Was Yeon’s last thought before she passed out.
 
---
 
Once again the four friends woke up in the same room they had been in earlier, where they had first heard of Aemi’s death. Her picture was no longer on the tv screen.
 
“How would you even know what happened to her? How do you know we are right?” Hee-Jin asked.
 
They had to have done it. Or they wouldn’t know.
 
“Fufufu~ excellent question. We have had you under surveillance, so we happen to have the death on tape,” Baeuda explained.
 
“Then give that tape to the police,” Myungsoo suggested.
 
“But then you wouldn’t be able to win the game,” Baeuda stated. “Instead we are generously keeping it to ourselves until after you have either won or lost this game.”
 
“Show us the police report,” Sungyeol demanded, before anyone could argue with the robot again.
 
“Fufufu~ as you wish.” Baeuda handed them a paper case file, as well as a remote.
 
“All pictures can been seen on the television over there. I will warn you in advance, they are quite gruesome.”
 
“I don’t think I’ll want to see them,” Hee-Jin muttered, and Myungsoo nodded.
 
“We have no choice if we want to solve this,” Sungyeol said.
 
It wasn’t often that Sungyeol was the most dependable in their group and never had Seongyeon been more happy with him than now. Surely, they’d all fall apart if he hadn’t been there to pull them together.
 
He’s so amazing today. He’s using his grieve to move forward and pull us with him. We are only wallowing in our sadness and falling into darkness.
 
With shaking hands Yeon opened the file.
 
The victim was found at 14:36. Identified as Lim Aemi by her father at 17:49.
Lim Aemi was found in a pool of her own blood. Her wrists had been slit by a small razor. There were bruises all over her body.
Possible suicide.
 
As she slowly read out the file, Sungyeol tapped the remote. The crime scene picture instantly appeared on the television screen. Hee-Jin averted her eyes. Aemi’s white skin contrasted with the dark red blood around her. It was hard to see where exactly she was bleeding from, there was too much blood. There were bruises all over her body, and her phone had fallen from her hand, lying close to her.
 
Had she tried to call for help?
 
The scariest part was her face, so Yeon realized. She had always assumed death would be peaceful. Aemi did not look at peace, and instead had a defiant look on her face.
 
This does not look like someone who’d commit suicide.
 
The next page was a copy of the coroner's report.
 
Time of death: between eleven pm and three am.
 
That’s around the time of the phone call to Myungsoo.
 
Bruises caused by fists, possibly more than one perpetrator. Both wrists are cut horizontally. Signs of ual contact before her death, some l bruising.
 
Reading this made Yeon look at Myungsoo. The boy shook his head.
 
“I didn’t see her that day.”
 
“This is just too horrible, why do we have to read this?” Yeon said softly, and tossed the file aside.
 
“If she died at night… why was she only found the next afternoon? Where were her parents?” Hee-Jin commented softly.
 
“You’re right. Even the identification was ing late. What were they doing?” Seongyeon agreed.
 
“So, our first suspects are her parents? And her boyfriend on the side, of course. Who’d have thought Aemi was the one cheating,” Sungyeol reasoned.
 
“You think she cheated?” Hee-Jin asked with a gasp.
 
“I sure hope so,” was Myungsoo’s solemn reply.
 
She didn’t. There’s no way she would.
 
“There’s another page,” Sungyeol said as he flipped through the police report. “They already interviewed her parents.”
 
“Read it out loud already,” Yeon complained when Sungyeol stayed quiet.
 
“Apparently, they were away for the night and Aemi was home alone. And according to this, they’re going to interview you next, Myungsoo. If you’re here will they assume you are on the run?” Sungyeol asked.
 
“I should go back.”
 
Sungyeol pressed a button on the remote, and carefully skipped through the photos.
 
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Hee-Jin muttered.
 
“I don’t wanna look at that anymore,” Seongyeon agreed. “Let’s all go back?”
 
---
 
Yeon was doodling on her notebook. She couldn’t keep focussed on class at all. In her mind she kept seeing the pictures of Aemi’s crime scene. How were they even going to solve her murder?
 
I wonder if we have to solve it before the police does so…
 
She tried to get the facts straightened out, hoping to find a hint, anything that could help them.
 
Horizontally cut wrists.
 
She shook her head, trying to get the image out. But instead she suddenly remembered something.
 
“You won’t believe what I saw last night, it was so horrible,” Aemi said. They were both in the playground near her house, sitting on the swings. They couldn’t be older than eight.
 
“What did you see?”
 
“My mum was watching this show on tv, and it had dead people.”
 
“Dead people?”
 
“Like murders and such, so scary.”
 
“Why were you watching then?” Yeon asked in surprise. “If it was so scary?”
 
“It’s weirdly interesting somehow? The sciency stuff.”
 
“It’s educational? Ugh,” Yeon shook her head. Why would anyone watch that? Wasn’t school bad enough?
 
Aemi laughed.
 
“I guess it’s a little educational. They said you should slit your wrists vertically instead of horizontally if you commit suicide, because you die faster and with less pain. Not that it’s very useful information.”
 
“Why would you even remember that?”
 
“Because the pictures were quite graphic. I couldn’t forget even if I wanted to,” Aemi replied and pulled a face of disgust.
 
It was a sudden memory, but so very clear. If Aemi still remembered that… Then she had not commited suicide. Because why would she choose the most painful way to die?
 
Someone killed her. But why?
 
What could be a motive to kill her friend? Yeon didn’t know. She didn’t think Aemi had any enemies.
 
Was it because of the game after all? Did she talk about it? But then someone should know about the game too. Wouldn’t it make more sense to kill that person instead? Or kill them both?
 
She was not getting much further. As far as she could think of, there was no reason to kill Aemi.
 
---
 
They had all gathered around to discuss the ‘case.’ After some talk they had agreed to try and pretend that it wasn’t their friend, that this wasn’t personal, if only so they could focus on what they had to do.
 
“It wasn’t suicide,” Seongyeon announced. “There were better ways, and she was aware of them.”
 
“How sure are you?” Sungyeol asked her.
 
“100%”
 
“Good enough for me,” he commented with a smile.
 
“I talked to the police yesterday,” Myungsoo said.
 
“What did they want to know? Do they suspect you? They can’t be suspecting you, can they?” Hee-Jin asked.
 
“Personal stuff… I don’t think they suspect me, but they did want to know if I had any idea about who else she might be seeing…” He turned to Hee-Jin now.
 
“Do you have any idea?”
 
“Me?” Hee-Jin asked in surprise. But she thought about it right away and after a short silence answered:
 
“I don’t think there was anyone else. She never talked about anyone but you… I don’t think she was cheating on you.”
 
Myungsoo just looked pained hearing that.
 
“Do we have any idea what the motive could be?” Sungyeol changed the subject quickly.
 
“I don’t think she had any enemies,” Hee-Jin said.
 
“It has something to do with the game, right?” Seongyeon said.
 
“I think so too,” Myungsoo said quietly.
 
“Shouldn’t we, like, check out the crime scene or something? That’s what they do in all the tv shows,” Hee-Jin suggested.
 
“It’s sealed off, isn’t it? By the police? There’s no way we can ever solve this,” Seongyeon said with a sigh.
 
“We’ll just have to keep going over the police report, I guess? As things get added to it?” Myungsoo reasoned.
 
“Let’s call again tomorrow, to see if they have added to it?” Sungyeol suggested and they nodded.
 
---
 
It was dark when Seongyeon met up with Sungyeol. They had decided to follow Hee-Jin’s advice and go to the crime scene. They hadn’t invited the others, because Myungsoo was already a person of interest, and showing up to the crime scene would not look good for him. And Seongyeon hadn’t wanted to drag Hee-Jin into the trouble they would surely get into after they crashed a crime scene.
 
Yeon knew the Lim’s house well enough and led Sungyeol up a tree. It was easy to get to Aemi’s window over the roof that way. She had done it time and time again.
 
She had not been ready for what she saw when she entered the room.
 
“So much blood…” Sungyeol muttered.
 
He was right. There was still so much blood, and the room was a mess. Aemi had always been a messy person, but not like this.
 
“Do you think she struggled with her killer?” Seongyeon asked her boyfriend. Would he even know?
 
“So I’m guessing it’s not always this messy?”
 
“It’s not.”
 
“I’m not even sure what we’re supposed to be looking for,” Sungyeol admitted.
 
“Anything that could lead to the killer. Or a motive,” Seongyeon answered.
 
“That’s not helpful at all…”
 
---
 
The next morning, Myungsoo did not show up at school. Of course, this had them all worried now, after what had happened to Aemi. Not just their group, but even the other students seemed uncomfortable by this.
 
Only after school, around the meeting time did they receive a text from him.
 
Already there.
 
“What does he mean he’s already there?” Yeon mumbled.
 
“He gave me the phone yesterday… So I guess we should go, maybe?” Hee-Jin suggested.
 
“Let’s wait a little longer, but if he doesn’t show, we should go,” Sungyeol agreed.
 
After half an hour, they decided to call Baeuda after all. When they woke up into the investigation room, Myungsoo was already there.
 
“You’re late,” he commented.
 
“Why are you already here?” Sungyeol asked his friend.
 
“Because I figured it was better than doing nothing. I’ve been going through the police report.”
 
“Anything new?” Hee-Jin asked.
 
“Quite a lot. The cause of death has been released, though it was pretty obvious. Exsanguination. They’ve ruled it a likely murder. Because of the bruises. They found tissue under her nails. It’s no match to her parents, nor to me. Her phone records show she did not have another lover. They’ve ruled it a possible . Also, it seems like there was a break in last night, so the perpetrator was possibly looking for something and hadn’t found it yet. They’ve also found a fingerprint.”
 
“The break in was us…” Sungyeol said sheepishly.
 
“We found clear signs of a struggle. Her door was forced open, so she possibly knew she was going to be in trouble. She never usually locked it,” Seongyeon added.
 
“You went to her house? Why didn’t you invite me?” Hee-Jin pouted.
 
“So that’s your fingerprint then? You could have just found that out from the crime scene pictures,” Myungsoo stated.
 
“If she knew she was going to get attacked… Why didn’t she call anyone?” Hee-Jin wondered.
 
“She did. She called me,” Myungsoo said softly. “Time of death was somewhere after eleven. Somewhere after she called me… If only I had gone into her house, I might have been able to save her...”
 
“What about that message she left you? Are there any clues in that?” Seongyeon asked.
 
“You can hear them break through the door, I think.”
 
“Them?” Sungyeol asked.
 
“Footsteps. I’m guessing two people. We know at least one of them is male…” Myungsoo reasoned.
 
“I bet they’re both male,” Seongyeon thought out loud. “What woman would stand by a ? And work with a known ?”
 
“What man would?” Hee-Jin countered.
 
“What about motives?” Sungyeol asked.
 
“Well, the police is thinking the perpetrators were looking for something, because of the break in. But I guess that’s out… Since it was you guys…”
 
“If she knew she was in danger… She had to have known why too…” Hee-Jin commented.
 
“You think she left a clue?” Myungsoo asked.
 
“I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary in her room… Other than the obvious… The blood and such,” Seongyeon replied as she mentally recounted the scene.
 
“Then… I don’t know…” Hee-Jin sighed.
 
---
 
The next day, the police picked up Sungyeol from school. His fingerprints had been found at the crimescene.
 
But he can’t say we went their because of the game… He is going to be in so much trouble, isn’t he? I should have gone by myself.
 
Seongyeon blamed herself for bringing him with her, and for not thinking about wearing gloves.
 
It seemed to take forever before the police released Sungyeol.
 
“How did it go?” she asked as soon as she spotted him. He hugged her.
 
“Fine. They asked me why I was there. I said I was trying to find out who killed my friend.”
 
“You didn’t mention… Chingu Game, did you?”
 
“Of course not. Don’t worry, it’s going to be fine.”
 
---
 
Two days later, Myungsoo send her a text.
 
I’ve found something.
 
All this time, Myungsoo had stayed in the investigation room. He had been calling in sick at school, and people weren’t really surprised he’d stay away after his girlfriend had just died. But now, he said he had found something. Seongyeon hoped it would be enough. Enough to find out what had happened to Aemi. To find who did this, and make sure they would pay.
 
As soon as they finished school, they called Baeuda and got taken to the room.
 
“What did you find?” Hee-Jin asked.
 
“Did you find the killer?” Sungyeol said.
 
“Or the motive?” Seongyeon added.
 
Just the thought that he had found something usefull made them all excited.
 
“Just a clue,” Myungsoo said, and they all turned quiet.
 
Of course it’s just a clue. If it was so easy to solve this, the police would have done it already, right?
 
“What kind of clue?” she asked.
 
“They logged her day planner. It said she had visited this place… This place I know...”
 
Myungsoo seemed hesitant to continue.
 
“What kind of place?” Hee-Jin asked.
 
“It’s an underground gambling establishment. It’s where I got most of my debt.”
 
He looked down guiltily.
 
“You’re addicted to gambling?” Sungyeol exclaimed.
 
“Didn’t you say it was because you’re father was ill?” Yeon added.
 
“I lied. And no, I’m not addicted to gambling. I just… got into a messy situation with the people there... They’re bad. Really bad. And if Aemi went there… It might have something to do with her death.”
 
If that place really was a dangerous as Myungsoo seemed to think, then it was very reasonable to think it had something to do with their friends death. Seongyeon couldn’t deny that.
 
“We should go there,” she suggested.
 
“I agree,” Myungsoo said. “That’s why I called you.”
 
“Is it… Is it really that dangerous?” Hee-Jin asked softly.
 
“If they did kill her, will we end up dying too?” Sungyeol added.
 
Myungsoo shook his head.
 
“I doubt that. Not unless we do something really stupid.”
 
Does that mean he thinks Aemi did something really stupid? She’d be so mad if she heard that. For a second, Yeon smiled thinking this, until the reality hit her. Aemi didn’t hear it, because she was gone, forever.
 
---
 
Myungsoo led them to an average looking building. It looked like a big arcade, if a bit shady because it was so far away from the city center.
 
“This is it,” he said simply.
 
“What are we waiting for then, let’s go inside,” Yeon commented, and without waiting for a reply, entered the arcade. The interior was kind of disappointing. It looked just like an arcade, and most of the people there were youths. It looked too normal.
 
“Kimmi, Are you here to pay or to play?” a guy looking like he was in his early twenties came up to them, and greeted Myungsoo.
 
“Neither, Lee. Not today. I just... Have a question.”
 
“A question? About the payment, I suppose?” Lee asked. He looked at the three others and nodded. “Sure, let’s go somewhere more private.”
 
“They’re coming with, if you don’t mind,” Myungsoo said politely.
 
“Whatever you want, mate.”
 
Lee led them into a small office. It was neat, and official looking, again, not at all what Yeon had suspected from an illegal gambling operation. What was more, it looked like Lee was way too young to be in an office like this.
 
Lee pointed them to chairs, but kept standing himself.
 
“You had a question, you said? I heard you got rid of quite a bit of your debt already, so I applaud you for that,” Lee said with a smile.
 
“My friend, was she here, recently?” Myungsoo asked and handed Lee his phone showing a picture.
 
“Feisty one. Yeah, she was here.”
 
So Aemi did come here.
 
“Why was she here?” Hee-Jin asked softly.
 
“Same as Kimmi over here, questions about her debt. I’d never seen her before, but apparently she had one too.”
 
“And then?” Sungyeol asked.
 
“I talked with her. Quite a good conversation really. Then I send her to my boss, since I couldn’t give her the answers she wanted.”
 
“What kind of answer?” Yeon asked, and Lee smiled at her.
 
“She was cute, really. Wanting to know how debts could be transferred to other people. Saying she wanted to help some friends,” he chuckled and added: “I bet she was looking for an easy way out of her own debt. Real cunning, I’m sure.”
 
Did she want to take on our debts too? Take on our debts, and then commit suicide after all? So the debt would die with her?
 
“Can we talk to your boss too?” Myungsoo asked.
 
“No, you can’t.”
 
“Why not?” Yeon asked.
 
“I already got in trouble for letting your friend through,” Lee commented and added with a suggestive smile: “But she was quite persuasive.”
 
“So, she talked with your boss, and then what?” Sungyeol asked.
 
“She left, obviously. Why not ask her herself?” Lee shrugged. “If that was all, I have work to do. Make sure you pay off your debt Kimmi.”
 
“Thanks for your time.”
 
“No problem. And Kimmi,” Lee started just as they reached the door.
 
“If she gets tired of you, send her to me. I’ll even take some of your debt off.”
 
What a ing creep. He thinks he can buy Aemi?
 
They left the office and for a second were lost.
 
“What’s next?” Sungyeol asked.
 
“That wasn’t as useful as I would have hoped...” Hee-Jin added.
 
“In the end, we learned nothing. Again, we learned ing nothing.”
 
“Let’s just go home?” Myungsoo suggested and they nodded.
 
We’re not even going to try to get to that guy’s boss?
 
---
 
As they were heading back, Sungyeol came to walk next to her.
 
“You’re going to go back, aren’t you?”
 
“I’m thinking about it… I feel like we have to talk to that boss… Since he’s probably the last person to talk with Aemi…” Yeon admitted.
 
“I’m not letting you go by yourself, you know,” he replied.
 
“But the police is already looking at you because of the fingerprint, right?”
 
“So? These guys might be dangerous. I’m not letting you go back there alone.”
 
“How do you think Aemi persuaded that guy? I mean… I doubt he would be convinced by logic…” Yeon wondered out loud.
 
Yet Aemi always uses logic… Feisty, was that what he said? That doesn’t sound like Aemi at all.
 
“Maybe he’s really into smart girls? I don’t know,” Sungyeol laughed. “Anyway, does this mean we’re going back?”
 
“Let’s not, like you said, it’s too dangerous.” She smiled at him. No way was she going to get him in trouble again. The police already came to him once. Being at another important place would only make him seem more suspicious.
 
---
 
Later that night, Yeon headed back to the arcade. She needed to find out what had happened, but she wasn’t going to put her friends in danger to do it.
 
“I knew you were going to come back.”
 
“Yeol? Why are you here?” She was very surprised to find her boyfriend as soon as she entered the arcade.
 
“Why do you think? I already told you I wasn’t going to let you go by yourself.”
 
“I said I wouldn’t.”
 
“You really think I am that stupid?” he laughed.
 
I guess I did.
 
“So, we’re going to talk to the boss then?” she asked with a sigh.
 
“If Aemi managed to speak to him, I’m sure we can too.”
 
They hadn’t actually considered yet how they were going to get to speak to this boss and were now wandering through the establishment rather aimlessly.
 
“It really does look like your average arcade,” Yeon commented.
 
“I guess that’s what makes them good at what they do?”
 
“I guess so.”
 
How are we going to do this? We can’t very well sneak into an office. Hell, I can’t even see where their offices are.
 
Yeon was feeling less and less confident this was going to work out every minute. That was until she spotted Lee. At least that was sort of a lead.
 
“Let’s go!”
 
And with that, the two cornered Lee, who just raised an eyebrow.
 
“You are back too? Fancy a game, maybe?”
 
“Not quite what we came for,” Yeon replied.
 
“We’re here to speak with your boss.”
 
Good job, Yeol. Yeon thought with a sigh.
 
“I already told you I was not going to let you speak to him.”
 
“Aemi managed to convince you, though. So maybe we can too.”
 
“Aemi?” Lee looked confused for a second. “Oh, right, the friend. Kimmi’s girl.”
 
“That’s the one,” Sungyeol nodded.
 
Lee looked them up and down, then shook his head.
 
“You don’t have it in you. I’m not letting you through.”
 
“What if we make you?” Yeon challenged.
 
Lee chuckled.
 
“I’d like to see you try. But to be fair, I am the one with a gun here, so it wouldn’t be wise to do so.”
 
The two teens froze.
 
He has a gun? He actually has a gun? Is he bluffing? He’s bluffing right?
 
She looked sideways at Yeol, but he wasn’t moving either.
 
“That’s the spirit. Now go home quickly, and go to bed like good little kids.” He waved at them with another chuckle.
 
God, he pisses me off.
 
“Come on Yeon, let’s go. It’s not worth it,” Sungyeol took her arm, and pretty much dragged her away.
 
Is it really not worth it? For Aemi? But he has a gun…
 
---
 
Two weeks had passed without so much as another clue popping up. It wasn’t going well for them, and it had Yeon wondering about whether or not they even had a deadline for this stupid game. Was it designed to keep them busy? Or was it just set up so they would lose anyway?
 
“I say we try and guess something, get it over with,” Sungyeol suggested. It had been a while since they had met up all four of them. It had become weird now, without Aemi.
 
“If we’re wrong we’re stuck with the debt, though,” Myungsoo reasoned.
 
“It was your debt in the first place. No matter what, you’re better off than before the game,” Yeon muttered, just hard enough for him to hear it.
 
He narrowed his eyes at her.
 
“You did not just…”
 
“Yeah, I did. This is all your fault, isn’t it? We’re running in circle, trying whatever we can to figure this stupid game out, just so your gambling debt gets taken care of. She was my best friend!”
 
She hadn’t finished yelling at him when he got up, and just walked away. All her frustrations of the past weeks had come out and she would probably regret this some other time, but not now.
 
“It all your fault!” Yelling it didn’t make her feel better at all, and she felt tears coming up again. Getting a hug from Sungyeol pushed her over the edge and she was crying. Why wasn’t anything going well these days?
 
---
 
They found themselves in the same room as before. Yeon could not remember having called Baeuda, but there he was.
 
“Good mooorning~~”
 
“Good morning?” Hee-Jin sounded as confused as she herself felt.
 
Why are we here?
 
“I’m glad to hear you guys figured out the final game; Chingu Cluedo: What happened to Lim Aemi. Let’s hear it then.”
 
Yeon looked at the others. Had they figured it out? Why would they have kept it from her?
 
Sungyeol isn’t actually going to guess, is he?
 
It wasn’t Sungyeol that spoke up, but it was Myungsoo.
 
He doesn’t look good at all.
 
“Alright. She was killed because she was trying to find out what this game, I mean the whole Chingu Game was about,” Myungsoo started.
 
She was? Why would she care? Weren’t we just going to win it and get it over with? What would be the point? Curiosity?
 
“A case of curiosity killed the cat?” Baeuda asked.
 
“Curiosity didn’t kill her. You guys did,” Myungsoo retorted.
 
“Fufufu~ I see. You’re saying I killed Lim Aemi?”
 
“Not you yourself. But I am sure that the person in charge of this game got some guys to come and hurt Aemi,” he said.
 
How can he be so sure? Did he find something?
 
“How do you know?” Hee-Jin asked softly.
 
Myungsoo didn’t reply.
 
“He just guessed?” Sungyeol tried.
 
“You did not just bet all of our futures on a stupid guess, did you?” Yeon exclaimed.
 
“Well, he did also bet our futures on this game to begin with…” Sungyeol muttered.
 
He did. So he would do it again.
 
She noticed Hee-Jin take Myungsoo’s hand, but she couldn’t bring herself to go near him now. He bet their futures on a game. And because of that, Aemi was now gone. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to forgive him, even though she knew he couldn’t have meant for this to happen.
 
“Fufufu~ Shall we see if you’re right then?”
 
“See?” Hee-Jin asked and paled.
 
“We have a video, right? You wouldn’t just believe me if I gave the answer, would you?”
 
“I would not,” Myungsoo answered, though he was looking rather pale himself now.
 
“As I would have thought.” Baeuda held out a remote and soon the screen came to live.
 
Aemi was in her room, reading a book of some sort. The girl got up quite suddenly and looked out of the window. She rushed to her bedroom door, locking it and grabbed her phone.
 
“Come on, come on, pick up.”
 
She sighed and climbed in her wardrobe while talking to her phone.
 
“Myungsoo? Hi. I just… I don’t blame you, okay? This… This is not your fault, so don’t feel bad. I love you. I’m sorry.”
 
“That’s the voicemail she left you…” Hee-Jin commented.
 
Yeon was grateful Sungyeol had taken her hand. Were they really going to witness their friends murder? She did not want to see this. Why was this all so real?
 
Two men crashed through the door just moments after Aemi had finished talking.
 
“Where did she go?”
 
“She’s in here, that’s for sure.”
 
They trashed the room trying to find the girl. It didn’t take them long to reach the wardrobe and pull her out.
 
“You’re making quite the mess for yourself missy,” one said.
 
Aemi looked at her room with a frown. “I feel like you are the ones doing that.”
 
“Trying to be funny?” The second guy hit her straight in the face.
 
Aemi smirked. Did she just actually smirk when she got hit?
 
“I’ve never really been the funny type.”
 
This earned her another hit.
 
“Come on, dude. Let the girl be. That’s not what we’re here for.”
 
“Then what are you here for?”
 
“Stop poking your nose where it doesn’t belong, if you know what’s good for you, missy.”
 
“So you’re just here to threaten me? You could have just called.”
 
“Not quite as effective as actually being able to hurt you.” As if to demonstrate it, he tackled her to the ground and held her down, hitting her a few more times for good measure.
 
Aemi didn’t even whince. She did however spit him in his face.
 
“Stop it, stop it, I don’t want to watch this,” Hee-Jin said, holding her hands over her ears and now looking away from the screen.
 
Sungyeol was also looking away now, as their friend was being beaten harder and harder.
 
Yeon also closed her eyes, but even the sounds were horrible. Hitting, grunting, tearing, and finally crying, screaming by the girl that had been trying so hard to stay strong.
 
“I’m sorry.”
 
“Stop, stop, put it out! I don’t want to hear anymore!” She yelled out, crying. They were all crying.
 
“Had enough?” Baeuda asked innocently and turned off the tv.
 
“More than enough,” Sungyeol said softly.
 
“You never even got to find out who those guys were… Oh well, I guess we will just get straight to the next part! Congratulations, you’ve won the fifth game! You have won Chingu Game. You are now debt free.” Baeuda cheered.
 
Who cares? Who the cares anymore?
 
---
 
They had somehow won the game. This game supposedly about friendship. Yet all that had come out of it was that Yeon had lost her friends. Some more literally than others, but their little group was broken beyond repair.
 
It wasn’t just Aemi’s death.
 
It wasn’t just that she had trouble forgiving Myungsoo for getting them all in this mess.
 
It was as if she herself had changed too. No matter what anyone said, she was more suspicious than she had ever been. Were they lying? Hadn’t they all been lying during the game? And if not lying, then they had been hiding stuff.
 
The one person helping her through, making sure she didn’t give up on everything was her boyfriend, Sungyeol. If he hadn’t been there, she might have ended up dead, like Aemi.
 
Myungsoo wasn’t talking to her. She couldn’t blame him.
 
Hee-Jin wasn’t not talking to her, but spend more time with Myungsoo than with them.
 
Only Sungyeol was still there, like before.
 
“I’m so glad I at least have you left,” she admitted.
 
“You’ll always have me,” he replied.
 
---
 
Sungyeol was quite content, smiling happily when he arrived home. It had been quite a while since he had seen his father, so he was surprised to find him at home.
 
“I take it you enjoyed our little game?”
 
“It was better than I could have hoped for. Perfect results,” he replied with a smile.
 
“Pity the girl had to die,” his father commented. “That is not usually what we go for.”
 
“I’ll do better next time, with the next team. It’ll be easier when I’m not also on the team.”
 
“Of course you’ll do better. You’re my son after all. Experiencing the game once is the best method of learning the business. You did good.”
 
“I’m glad we got it done. Aemi was getting on my nerves for a while now. Taking up all of Yeon’s time. I’m kind of sad I had to lose Myungsoo in the process, but at least, now Yeon is all mine.”
 
And I’ll never let her go.
 
 
Fin
 
Messages:
Yeon, I really hope you like this! I don’t know how this ended up really long… But I got so into the story and this is what it turned out like. I kind of feel like I should have made Yeon even more a main character… There really are five mains here ><;
I ended up liking it too much and writing more chapters, that are equally long… Thanks for the inspiration!
Like this story? Give it an Upvote!
Thank you!
Back to Top ↑

Comments

You must be logged in to comment
Shino159 #1
Chapter 9: awww the title is super cute and sweet already~ i'm scared because it says angst too! ohhh~ OKAY I WAS RIGHT TO BE SCARED OHMYGOSHHH T^T all the happy moments made me squeal so much and then drop the bomb and nuuuuuuuu T^T
I love that yunhyeong is her brother!!! lipbalm buddies for life~! woohooo~
but ohmygosh it breaks my heart to see Minseok so broken but then it got worse with his hallucinating and owwwwww my heart T^T
Wonho is soooooo mean ohmygosh how could he?!?!?!?!? >:(
I'm kind of glad to see that Minseok took care of her instead of her being stuck in a hospital for all those days :(
Thank you Eyah T^T I love it and it really hit my heart~!
careless000 #2
Chapter 7: I know the first chapter is eun's story, but i cant help myself to click on hyunmi-woohyun story first>.<
And...... I totally regret that. I already warned by the genre, but i dont prepare myself well for the tragic ending. I really cant stop my finger to scroll up and read the ending again n again, hope maybe i wrongly read the ending:(
careless000 #3
Oh my gosh, why i have this familiar feeling with the oc's chatacters name *grin*
Shino159 #4
Chapter 8: nuuuuu this is so sad T^T they both have their own chapter that they need to finish T^T
he can touch books even when being a ghost?
ohhhhh so interesting!!! the reason why she's there is so nice T^T
if he connected the phone call and what she said he would know instantly xd
does chiyeon come from the police or herself??? ahaaaa ok i get it
aww i was so sad because hoseok was a ghost and chiyeon not but the ending was nice ~
julyana23 #5
Chapter 2: OMG! I'M JUST.. OKAY, THIS IS A BIT UNEXPECTED. WHY SUNGYEOL WHY?!?!
Shino159 #6
Chapter 7: ohmygosh the angst gets just shoved in your face by the first sentences!!!! omgggggg T^T
wowww i didn't expect baekhyun!
loll is kibum jealoud? :p nah, he's probably only annoyed loll xD
why you make it so sad T^T baekhyun keeping his radiant smile T^T ohmygosh shot to my heart
ohmygosh she's going to the place they first met T^T but... kibum is really a good friend tho, being able to get her usual reactions out
oww hyunmi T^T ahhh i thought maybe the guy she bumped into... but he couldn't be rude!
omggg therapy, i hate that XD it doesn't work for me
ohh... it is him!! xD it sounds like therapy could help for him for less anger xd i wonder if woohyun remembers hyunmi or if that meeting insignificant for him. because hyunmi does remember him
I think it's really sweet of hyunmi to help, like it's such a burden and she didn't even really like him either and still she tries
oh~ hyunmi is popular~
owwww i love the slow place and how you really see how they get closer
ohmygosh the video T^T omg omg omg T^T
okay it turned from bittersweet to freaky and scary T^T
nuuu i thought it was going better with woohyun T^T and woomi T^T

i just got an e-mail today actually! about a new anime and it is called king's game? it looks like blue whale a bit when i read the sypnosis.

hyunmi and woohyun are so different from the usual cheese and it's so much fun to read woomi newly interpreted!!! :D really love it Kimmi~! <3
i really like it that the parts are so small with the dividers, it's easier to read for me :)
Shino159 #7
Chapter 6: Mira with bedhair is so cute xD Reminds me a bit of Anna from Frozen because i remember we talked about which Disney princess we were.
lolll xD mira is not a morning person is she? xD but that was really rude of him! :(
do only mediators see the ghosts?? or other people too? since it's like a professional job and all.
mediators only get new ghosts when it's finished or??? because people just die, there's no waiting list is there???
this is so interesting but confusing ^^'
ahh okay, psychics can see too but not everyone then???
hahahahah hyunmi grandma xD so funnyyyyy and the inconvenience xD
awww too bad she knows a lot but not his weakness or anything
hahahahah yoohoo~~~ scam xD
well that was easy to go to him xD
do vampires perish or also turn into ghosts? was hyungwon maybe one of them???
oh~~~~ maybe he is human with contacts and tomato juice? xD or he's really powerful but that's scary!!! or he's a fake rebel but rebel? i don't know how to explain xD
ohhhhh~~ breaking the rules~~! so he is one of them!
hahahahah crush muxh xD so cuteee
again??? he brought another girl too!? omoooo
so.... what did actually happen in the end??
i wished it was longer because its just so confusing now xD ...
mira and minhyuk are so cute~ but i wish there was more development to see how they ended up together if it's not based on love at first sight.
I imagine the ghosts waiting for mira with disgust on their face to see a happy couple snuggled together lolllll xD
Shino159 #8
Chapter 5: Just seeing the pairing and genre, i'm so curious!!! :D
red house..... red because of blood?!?!?!
wahhh such a fancy car~ are they rich??? or did they steal it?! :O
Lolll no man would be crazy to be here but there they were xd GASPPPP so they're crazy... is this foreshadowing? >.>
ohmygosh if i would be lost i'd panic so much T^T but they're together luckily! please lock the doors ohmygosh i'm scared of what will happen >.<
oh~~~pretty house~~ is it abandoned??? oh it's not
lolll no check in or payment xd so nice~
ohmygosh don't leave her there?!?!?!? ALONEEEE
awwwww not all people with scars and big built are scary T^T
i'm getting paranoid i think, like i'm scared something is going to happen any time xD WINNYYYYY T^T
don't tell me it's human meat T^T like sweeney todd >.<
i shouldn't laugh but when i read use his i had to laughx D
ohmygosh where all these scary people coming from?!?!?! are they people??? are they ghosts? T^T i'm getting shivers!
ohhh jisoo is so courageous standing up to mr kim!!!
ohmygosh that whole family is crazy!!! it's so scary T^T
ohmygosh poor mark T^T i hope they are able to escape though. what if the family tempered with their car and they don't have fuel or anything?!?!? omggggggg
Back to Top ↑