Luda's POV

So it's been a while since we parted ways with Eunseo and friends. Right now we're heading to the last mission before the first checkpoint. Never thought that just three missions would take almost all day to finish. Maybe because we started off pretty much late. Let's just see how many missions we can finish tomorrow, or even the third day if the missions for the second day are too much for us to handle.

Clutching my best friend's arm tightly, we walked at the back of the group. We have a lot of thoughts going on even though it's just the first day.

"Dawon ah…" it’s me trying to initiate a conversation with my best friend, who kept on peeking at other people in the group.

"Yes?" She replied, still, her eyes are fixated on the other girls walking in front of us.

"What were you looking at? I need a serious talk with you." I tried to divert her attention to me, but still, I failed.

"Wait a minute." She tried to halt me to take a last look, then glanced at me. "Yeah, tell me about it, Luda."

"What were you looking at just now?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Ummm, I was just wondering, how can Jiyeon eonni look at her phone like this, I thought we don't have any signal inside this tower." She said while glancing at Jiyeon eonni once in a while.

I swear I'm so done with Dawon. I'll never be able to figure out what is going on inside her head, not only this time but also even before we got trapped here. I know that Jiyeon eonni is on her phone sometimes since we are trapped inside here, she is even on her phone right now while walking, but I just don't get how she can think the other way.

"Anything wrong with trying to find help? Maybe that's what eonni is doing." I argued.

"Whatever, you won't understand." Dawon said, then sighed. "After all, the missions are already so hard, like… inhumanely hard."

"Yeah, I know. Which is why I don't want to contaminate my mind any further with your baseless accusations." I said sternly, then something struck in my head.

"Or maybe. Someone might be behind all of these crazy hard missions and all these?" I said while doubting myself. There I saw the drastic change in Dawon's expression.

"Exactly my point!" Dawon said, trying her best to not be heard by the others. "I'm actually suspecting at least two of them."

"B-but, how?" I still can't understand what made her think that way.

"I don't know for sure, so far I just got that kind of gut feeling."

Dawon's statement just left me devastated. This won't do, I kept thinking about how to escape sooner and without any more casualties. I start to think of any solution that might work.

"Ummm, now that I think about it, how about, maybe after this mission, I'll ask Jiyeon eonni about this, maybe she can help-"

"No! Please, don't do it!" As expected, Dawon rejected my idea faster than a lightning.

"Anyone but her. Just, don't. She is way too suspicious, at least to me."

I'm speechless. This is way too ridiculous. If she really tried to harm all of us, she won't even help us through the missions and everything, getting all of us killed even before the first day ends. If I can say, Jiyeon eonni is the one contributing most help, at least for today.

"Luda, you know. I can't stop you from doing so, but keep in mind, I just want all of us to be safe and escape before the cleansing day comes. Still, if you choose to tell her, be extremely careful." Dawon gave me her last advice before she unclutch her arm from mine and decided to walk alone.

Well, and at that moment we are almost arriving at the third mission site. An armed man is standing behind a casino table. On the table there is a deck of cards. Beside it, there's a piece of parchment scroll, probably containing the rules of the mission. Maybe this mission is all about gambling and pure luck? Ah, can we even survive this challenge and unwind in the first checkpoint?

This time, Yeonjung is the first one to reach the mission site. She waits till all of us gathered in front of the casino table before grabbing the parchment scroll. On the other hand, the armed man spreads the deck pile across the casino table.

"Woah, looks cool." Sojung eonni admired the armed man's shuffling skills.

"Look at this eonni trying to befriend the armed man." Yeonjung said, teasing the group leader.

"Yeonjung, please open the scroll! We are all here." Dayoung pleaded impatiently.

Yeonjung opened the parchment scroll she was holding this whole time, then read the content of the scroll.

"Checkpoint mission, each person will pick a random card on the pile, the people who picked a weaker card compared to the card picked by the armed men (r