----Tao, Chen, Xiumin and Kris----


Screech.


"... ... ..."


Screech.


Tao tossed and turned in his bed, hearing something in his sleep. It was getting annoying so he decided to open his eyes. "Huh?..."


Wake up...


"WAAAH!!!" shooting straight up from his bed, Tao jumped off then ran to open the door. He ran outside until he reached someone's room. He noticed the door was slightly opened and so he just barged in. "XIUMIN HYUNG!!!"

"OMO!!!" Xiumin, who was almost falling out of bed, fell off due to shock. "AAAAISH~" he groaned, rubbing his back.

Tao went to his side to help him up. "Xiumin hyung! Did you hear something?"

"Nae... you shouting my name." He rather said it sarcastically while looking at the clock. "It's only around four in the morning. What-"

"Ani!" Tao cut him off of his sentence. "The speakers!"

"The speakers-"


...EXO.


"MY BUNS!!!" Xiumin held Tao all of a sudden upon hearing a creepy voice. "Who on earth would wake us up at this hour?"

"Maybe we should go first to Chen hyung and Kris hyung." Tao said in Korean.

"We should, we should." Xiumin nodded then stood up to tag Tao along.

----Kai, D.O, Lay, Suho----

"What is happening?!" Kai bit his finger nervously. All of them were gathered together in the living room.

"Don't ask us! We all don't know!" D.O paced back and forth.

"This... really woke me up." Lay was obviously trembling.

"I wonder what is it this time?" Suho nervously breathed in and out when he saw D.O pacing back and forth, who made him dizzy. "Kyungsoo! Will you stop pacing back and forth?"

D.O halted to a stop, turning his attention to him. "Oh, mianhae, hyung!"

"Hey~ I'm really nervous..." Kai whined. "We're up so early."

"It doesn't make any difference. Only, I think, an hour difference. You know what I mean." Lay referred to their wake up time back in their dorm.

Suho nodded in agreement. "Well, true."

Listen now...

Everybody got startled by the sudden loud voice speaking to them. Suspense built up inside of them but they tried their very best not to be paranoid.

----Sehun, , Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Luhan----

All of you must be wondering...
Why so early?
Well, all of you had enough rest...
Today is the fourth day, so...
I prepared a game for all of you to play.

Listen carefully...
The moment you step out of this room,
You will see thirteen sticky notes stuck on the wall.
Each of you has a riddle to solve...
When you solved it, find the right door around this hotel...
That means you'll be wandering around alone.

Inside a room has a brainteaser game, so figure it out.
You will be given only four minutes to answer.
If you exceed within the time limit...
Well, you'll have punishment.
The game will end around 4pm.

How this goes...
You will only step outside of your room when 10am hits the clock.
While waiting, you better eat your breakfast early.
Then as explained, get your sticky notes.
You only have 6 hours to figure out the games...
If you haven't, you can't eat until diner time...
And of course, the punishment...
That's all...

"I don't like this feeling... I feel so very uneasy." hyperventilated softly while holding her chest in fright.

"Dongsaeng? You should drink water..." Luhan handed her a glass of water that he got from the kitchen.

She took it then drank the water. "Thank you, oppa."

"...This is very odd." Sehun pouted, twiddling his fingers while seated on a couch.

"Yeah~ Why is it only happening now?" Baekhyun nodded beside Chanyeol.

"Maybe to prepare the said game?" Chanyeol guessed, leaning against a wall.

"What kind of punishment? That’s the question we should be asking ourselves." Sehun shivered upon thinking of the word punishment.

"Lose to find out?" Luhan said the obvious.

"I think I would rather not lose the game. I feel like something really really bad is going to happen." finished drinking her water then she placed the glass down on top of a table. "I bet my life."

Sehun pouted hard. "Noona, you make it sound like something bad will really happen."

"Yah! If someone dies, I'd really believe and cry!" Chanyeol whined with his eyes wide and mouth agape.

"Don't think of such things, Chanyeol! You are scaring me!" Baekhyun lightly punched his shoulder.

"What if its true?" Chanyeol got worried.

"Well, it'll be proven true if someone does." she only shrugged her shoulders.

They fell silent for a brief moment. What if someone will die? Then the hotel wouldn't be a safe place as they've thought it would be. Putting those thoughts aside, all of them decided to prepare their breakfast.

----10AM----

All at the same time, EXO gathered outside their rooms. As expected, the sticky notes were stuck on the wall all lined up. When they went over to take a look on what was written on the paper, to their surprise, each paper had their names written on it.

"Okay... creepy. So this person knows us." D.O saw his name and took his paper, flipping it over to read what was his riddle.

Everybody silently read their own riddle and some of it was longer than the others. To the bottom right of their paper was a number. Their guess was it might be the floor number or the room number. It'll be hard for them to roam around the hotel.

"Should we start roaming around? I'm kind of scared... This time... walking alone." Tao bit his quivering lips at the thought of it.

"We can't do anything about it, Tao. We have to follow rules." Kris patted his back.

Someone groaned in frustration. "The riddles are kind of hard." Chanyeol got the longest one.

"Oh, I noticed something." Xiumin voiced out within the group, "How will we know if we got the answer right?"

Everybody exchanged looks.

It was a good question.

then tried guessing, "I guess we should roam around now and go to this... number we all have. Maybe there is something in that room we're about to find." glancing at her number, she got 28. "Mine is 28."

"Mine is 4." Sehun told the group.

"16." Chanyeol told his.

"Uhm... number 12." Baekhyun uttered.

"20." Luhan added.

"Number 24." Suho said.

"Mine is 22." Lay told his.

"10th floor?" D.O wasn't sure if it was really a floor number.

"6th here." Kai looked at his paper.

"18." Xiumin read his number.

"14." Chen said his after Xiumin.

"Number 8..." Tao was focusing on his paper.

"26th." Kris said firmly.

Scratching her head, decided, "Kris oppa and Suho oppa? I think we should go to the elevator. The numbers are floor numbers."

Kris raised an eyebrow. "How can you be sure about it?"

"But I think what she said is true." Suho bit his lips, looking at his paper. "The game is hard--and isn't it that the 1st floor begins with Room 1 until Room 199?"

"Oh yeah." Suho got Kris thinking. "We would all head for the 1st floor since the "Game Master" told us we would be wandering alone."

smiled. "Good job duizhang!" she chuckled softly. "Nice conclusion, but you're right. That's what I was thinking."

Kris nodded with a smile. "We should go together as one and accompany those members below the 12th floor. I think Baekhyun's floor is already this one."

"Nae." Suho nodded too. "This is already Baekhyun's floor."

"Okay then. We should accompany D.O, Tao, Kai and Sehun." turned around to call the attention of the group, "Yah! Listen! We decided on something!"

All of them lent their ears.

Suho started off, "We will all go together inside the elevator to accompany each and everyone of you to your floors, but as for Baekhyun, you will be the first one to be left here. Your number is 12 right?" he asked for clarification.

Baekhyun nodded. "Mmhmm..."

"So..." Kris looked at four people. "D.O, Tao, Kai and Sehun? You come with us three." the four exchanged looks and they all went beside Kris, Suho and .

"As for the rest, don't wait for us to come back. Proceed to ascend floor levels." she explained, scanning their expressions. "We should get going now."

Everybody understood the instructions. So, without any further ado, they headed for the elevators. The three leaders let D.O, Tao, Kai and Sehun to head inside first the elevator.

Luhan from afar, was seen pumping his fist in the air for Sehun. "Hwaiting!"

Sehun bit his lips then nodded nervously, mouthing his reply, "Hwaiting..."

The elevator door swooshed closed then Kris pressed 10, 8, 6 and 4. Descending, they had an awkward silence. It might be because of the game making them frantic. They didn't even know what was going to happen, especially for the punishment. First, they dropped off D.O on the 10th floor.

"This is it..." D.O stepped out of the elevator then everyone bade him good luck. "See you guys."

Second, they were going to drop off Tao on the 8th floor. Indeed, he was fidgeting with his body quaking, but Kris assured him some encouraging words before he could step out of the elevator.

"Tao? Do your best and imagine you are just walking along the beach shore. Don't worry about anything, hmm?" Kris lifted a thumb for a good luck.

Tao nodded nervously, taking in deep breaths. "I will..."

took a deep breath then also gave him some encouraging words, pulling his wrist down so she could reach him. "You might get nervous when I say this, but you'll be thinking of something else to be nervous about..." she whispered softly, "...I'm still thinking about it. I didn't forget the kiss you did." she pulled away then smiled innocently as if nothing was wrong.

Tao blushed in beats of red, nodding again before going out the elevator. "... ... ...What."

"Kung Fu Xiongmao! Hwaiting!" she pumped her fist in the air just in time before the elevator door would close.

He stood there for a minute, thinking of what she just said. "She's right... I'm thinking of something else right now..." Tao blushed again, but he shook the thoughts off to think of the riddle.

Back in the elevator...

"Noona? What did you whisper to Tao hyung?" Kai asked curiously.

only smiled mischievously. "Very encouraging words." she bit her lips then giggled all of a sudden.

Sehun leaned in to whisper to Kai, "I think she scared him instead..."

Kai nodded in agreement.

Then, the elevator stopped on the 6th floor.

Suho looked over at Kai. "Dongsaeng? Good luck, arasseo? Show us you can survive the game in reality~"

He nodded with a smile. "I will, hyung!"

"Hyung! You must win, arasseo? Or else you're not good with games anymore~" Sehun encouraged Kai, adding a little bit of teasing.

"Of course!" Kai lifted a thumb and he went out the elevator the moment the door opened up.

"Hwaiting!" they exclaimed in chorus.

The last person to be dropped off on the 4th floor was Sehun. "It's my turn."

"Don't be nervous, okay?" Suho patted his back. "You can do it."

Sehun firmly nodded then he walked out of the elevator. "Goodbye, noona, hyungs! Let's see each other after 4pm."

"Annyeong, Sehun!"

All of them waved goodbye and when the elevator closed, Kris pressed the 24th floor. It was Suho's floor. The elevator ascended many floor levels, and somehow, felt like the speed of the elevator was a little faster. Well, she was able to tell.

"...Ugh. The elevator speed is a bit fast. This is why I hate going up so many levels." she tried shaking her head to avoid the pressure, but she decided to pinch her nose again while popping her ears because it wouldn't work.

Raising an eyebrow, Kris noticed her uncomfortable actions. "Are you okay?"

She disagreed, "No. I am not. Pressure. Speed. Ear hurts. Muffled again."

Suho's jaw dropped along with Kris who also got surprised. "Mwo? Even in elevators?"

"Did you have your ears checked up? Did you do any diving?" Kris asked questions.

"Diving... Diving..." tried to remember her childhood memories. "No. I only found out about this pressure thing when I rode an airplane. The doctor said I have a... What did you tell me last time?" she looked at Kris.

"The Eustachian tube?"

"Right... My Eustachian tube malfunctions and if I can remember... my cause is... Baro... Barotrau-yeah! Barotraumas! Injury to the ear from changes in atmospheric pressure!"

The two leaders felt like having an inferiority complex now. "Say what?" Suho's eyes widened. "Baro what? It sounded like you memorized that from a book!"

only snickered on what Suho told her.

"Barotraumas." Kris repeated for . "Injury to the ear from changes in atmospheric pressure."

"Riiiight." Suho nodded in complete understanding. Then before they knew it, they were already on the 24th floor. "Oh, my turn to step out."

"Good luck!" Kris and lifted their thumbs up.

Suho stepped out of the elevator and pivoted to face them. "Be careful you two!"

"We will!" she smiled while Kris nodded with a smile as well.

The elevator closed and both of them were left. Kris was about to press the 26th floor but he thought of . "Do you want me to accompany you to the 28th floor before I go to my floor?"

She was a taken aback by Kris' offer, but it was hard to say no. "Uhm~ S-sure? Why not, oppa?" she bashfully smiled.

"Okay then." Kris finally pressed the number 28.

Awkward silence fell among them as they ascend, until Kris asked her a question to break the silence, "What did you tell Tao, by the way?"

Eyes widening in shock, averted her gaze somewhere else, hiding her rosy cheeks. "Uhm..."

"Honestly."

"I told him I would think about it and~~~" thought twice really quickly if she should, whether or not, tell about the kiss. "~~~that's about it. He was really flaky about that now instead--and not the game." 

Kris stared at her for a while like he was going to eat her, but he agreed by showing a nod. "Okay. Good. At least he won't be nervous about the game."

She chuckled nervously. "Yeah~ but no need to worry about him too much."

After a few minutes, the elevator opened up. Lucky for her, she wouldn't be able to hear and answer Kris' questions if he had the chance to ask more. He was really scaring her a bit since he was the kind of person you couldn't even lie to. It was as if he could see right through you with his staring eyes.

"We're here now. I should go now before I waste more time." stepped out of the elevator but Kris pulled her back and whispered something.

"If there was a chance... ... ..." 

Her eyes flew wide, becoming edgy on what Kris was whispering to her. He pulled away after then patted her head while blocking the elevator door with his other hand. 

"Think about it too."

She shifted her eyes away from Kris and nodded slowly, blushing deeply. "... ... ..."

Kris had a smug look put on when he saw her all speechless. He took a step back inside then bade his goodbye to her. "Bye. See you later."




"... ... ... ...Seriously?"