JISOO’S POV 

It was only when I decided to get on my way that I realised I had no idea where I should be going. Scanning the horizon for any form of landmarks or structures, all I could see were trees, trees and more trees. Well, if logic had to come into the picture...the psycho had called this Square One, and squares only had four sides. If I managed to find the border of the square, and followed it, I should be able to find an exit at one of the four corners.

Confident that my reasoning was sound, I decided to follow my intuition yet again and headed east. As I trekked along the uneven ground, my senses were on high alert, for I knew it wouldn't be long before I found myself in a sticky situation. Stress by logic? I mused over the strange combination of factors in play. Hopefully it isn't anything to do with logic puzzles or brainteasers...I wasn't confident if my brain had to come into the picture.

Despite making sure to constantly check on my surroundings, I saw nothing but flora and fauna around me. Despite making sure to take note of every single sound that could spell danger, all I could hear were crickets chirping and frequent shrill whistles, which I could only assume were made by birds. It was a pity, had I not been stuck in a life-and-death situation, I would have loved hiking in forests like these...my train of thought caused me to lose some focus. 

“Kim Jisoo!” A cheery voice I knew all too well rang out somewhere to my left, catching me completely off guard. My favourite voice in the entire world, belonging to my favourite person in the entire world. My lips curved upwards involuntarily as I whirled around to see Chaeyoung running towards me excitedly. We threw our arms around each other tightly, and I let myself melt into her embrace, feeling a massive weight being lifted off my shoulders.

“Kim Jisoo, I missed you…” Chaeyoung murmured into my ear. I couldn't remember Chaeyoung ever addressing me without honorifics, but I assumed it was more down to trauma and relief than anything else.

“I'm so glad you're safe, I was a fool, I put everyone in danger, and I simply have to get all of you girls out of this mess.” There were so many things I wanted to tell Chaeyoung at that instant that I ended up blabbering incoherently.

Chaeyoung nodded thoughtfully. “It's true, it's all your fault we're in such dire straits now.” It was the truth, but I winced nevertheless. Chaeyoung was usually so passive, so forgiving that she almost never cast blame on anyone. She must have been really angry…

I hung my head both apologetically and out of shame. “I'm really sorry, Chaeyoung-ah.”

She shook her head while still wearing a poker face. “Have you encountered....anything yet?”

“No, but don't worry, I have this baby if we meet anything.” I waved the pistol proudly.

Her face lit up immediately. “Oh, that's fantastic! Can I keep it?”

I found the request slightly odd. In fact, Chaeyoung had been behaving rather strangely the entire time, I wasn't sure if the psycho had pulled some strings, or she was really as shaken as she appeared to be. “I think it'd be better if I kept it, you know, all the Overwatch? I know my way around a gun.”

“But I want the gun.” Chaeyoung retorted with an edge in her voice. Now my Spidey senses were tingling. Keep an eye on her, she’s behaving weirdly. 

“No, I got you into these dire straits, didn’t I? I’ll be the one to protect you now.” Chaeyoung looked like she was about to protest, but seemed to think better of it, and eventually conceded. Still, I couldn’t help but feel that in some way, this wasn’t the Chaeyoung I knew. 

Things got a bit more normal, as we continued towards the border of the square while discussing how we would find our way out of this demented game. I had asked Chaeyoung if there was anything about me that seemed different from when the day had just begun, in the hope of discovering the key, but after she had earnestly given me a once-over and genuinely looked uncertain, she shook her head. Then how are we going to get out? I dared not voice out my thoughts though, for fear of Chaeyoung panicking even more.

“Oh, look, Chaeyoung-ah, it’s your favourite.” The adorable rabbit hopped towards us and looked at us innocently with its big eyes. I smiled to myself as I recalled Chaeyoung fawning over the rabbits in those pet cafes we visited regularly. And I had been expecting more of the same, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. 

“Aha, perfect!” Chaeyoung made her way to the rabbit slowly, which was gazing at her in wonder. When she got into close proximity with the rabbit, she raised the axe she had kept with her (having said it might be of good use when we came across it earlier) high above her head, leaving me wondering what she was doing. 

Imagine my horror when Chaeyoung drove the axe forcefully downwards onto the poor rabbit, blood spurted uncontrollably from the rabbit’s deformed body and she spun around with an unsettlingly cheerful expression on her face. “Kim Jisoo, don’t you love eating? I just got us some dinner.”

This wasn’t Chaeyoung, I was sure of it now. Either it was an impostor, or she had gone completely mad. The Chaeyoung I knew wouldn’t hurt a fly, and her love for animals was boundless. This despicable act of outright cruelty was far, far beyond her limits. As Chaeyoung started walking towards me, I instinctively backed away. 

“Who are you?” 

“I’m Park Chaeyoung, your friend. You forgot, Kim Jisoo?” Chaeyoung began picking up her pace, and I almost tripped over my own feet trying to maintain the distance between us.

“You are not Chaeyoung, I’m sure of it. You’re an impostor.” I tried my best to maintain my composure, but I was beginning to understand what Yang Hyunsuk had mentioned about high stress levels.

“Am I? You don’t trust me, Kim Jisoo? Shall I invite others to prove my point?” Chaeyoung had practically broken into a jog at this point, and she whistled loudly. I was stunned...that’s the bird whistle I heard earlier? The next couple of seconds were probably the most terrifying of my entire life, Chaeyoung began...morphing. Gone were her facial features and her legs. Her body followed in disappearing. Wings began to take shape. Claws and a beak soon followed, and I found myself staring right into the eyes of what I could only describe as a demented chickadee. Its claws and beak were razor-sharp, and even more horrifyingly, each of its wings had a pistol attached to it. This time, the fight-or-flight reaction most certainly kicked into action. 

Perhaps, human behaviour under stress was really different. Some wilted under the immense pressure, some stood up tall in the face of the challenges and fought valiantly. The fact that I seemed to fall into the latter category was probably the on