9^th February 2017, 1.00AM

If anybody were to enter Seoul Amusement Park at the moment, they would be greeted by the sight of ten people having a group hug in the middle of it. If the group hug happened in the middle of the day instead of in the middle of the night, people would have shot them weird glances and some would even openly stare at them.

But then, it was weird to see ten people having a group hug in the middle of the amusement park.

After a few more minutes, the girl who was caught in the middle of the hug struggled to release herself from the bone-crushing hug. Sulli was grateful for them trying to comfort her but they were taking too much of her own personal space. At the gesture, everybody immediately separated.

The atmosphere became awkward.

“I think we should tell one another which cloak we were wearing that night,” Yoona suggested and all of them agreed. “I’m Gold Cloak,” she said.

“Green Cloak,” Taemin mumbled.

“Like I said, I don't remember what happened at all ten years ago. I don't even remember cursing Yuri,” Krystal murmured.

“Blue Cloak,” Baekhyun said emotionlessly.

“Purple Cloak,” Luhan said. “And Kris is Maroon Cloak,” he continued as soon as he saw Kris was about to open his mouth. Kris’s mouth snapped shut and he looked at Luhan. Luhan just shrugged.

“Bronze Cloak,” Sooyoung said.

“Holy crap,” Sulli suddenly said, causing everyone to look at her. Her face was as white as a sheet. Her eyes were wide open and there was fear in them. She let out a small gasp and covered her face with her hands. “Oh my God…”

“What’s wrong?” Taeyeon asked, concerned.

“Another memory just resurfaced in my mind,” she said, her voice was muffled. Her whole body was shaking but there were no sobs could be heard. She looked up and her eyes were red but her cheeks were not streaked with tears. She was trying hard not to cry.

“I was the one who sent all of you the letter,” she announced. Her lips were quivering.

“Wait, you’re Mirror?” Kai asked in confusion.

“No!” Sulli shrilled. “I’m not Mirror! But Mirror ordered me to send you the letter. Her voice was in my head when she ordered me to do that. I don’t know who she is. Wait, I'll write what color all of your cloaks were that night.” She grabbed Taeyeon’s notebook and pen before scribbling something on top of it.

White Cloak – Sulli

Green Cloak – Taemin

Blue Cloak – Baekhyun

Yellow Cloak – Krystal

Purple Cloak – Luhan

Maroon Cloak – Kris

Gold Cloak – Yoona

Bronze Cloak – Sooyoung

Silver Cloak – Taeyeon

Orange Cloak – Kai

Pink Cloak – Hyoyeon

Black Cloak – Mirror

“Wait, Kim Hyoyeon was Pink Cloak?!” Taeyeon asked out loud in surprise. “Why isn’t she here with us when she clearly was in this together? Why was she the only one killed?”

“I think it’s a warning,” Baekhyun murmured. “It’s a warning to us because the way she was killed was exactly the same way how we killed Yuri before we put the curse on her.”

“What about Jonghyun hyung?” Taemin stuttered out. It was clear that he still was not over with grieving about Jonghyun’s death.

“Maybe it’s a warning too,” Krystal replied. “It’s a warning for you, Taemin-sshi. I think the next victim will be someone who’s close with us.”

“But what doesn’t make sense, why did Mirror choose Hyoyeon out of all of us to die when she could choose someone else?” Taeyeon wondered out loud.

“Maybe she favors Hyoyeon,” Luhan said almost bitterly.

All of them kept quiet for a little while, thinking about the mystery. They were deeply confused and scared. They were lost in their own thoughts, trying to analyze what was happening. Who was Mirror exactly? Why did she send them a letter to help them get rid of their biggest enemy only to torture them now? Why was Hyoyeon the only one who was not tortured but instead killed?

The questions that ran through their minds only served to make them more confused. They wanted some answers and they were desperate.

At long last, Taeyeon finally broke the silence. “I think we should make some plans,” she announced. “I will dig in more about Kwon Yuri’s case.” She turned to Luhan. “You’re Park Luna’s psychologist, right?” The guy nodded. “Well, you should dig in more about her. She’s awfully suspicious. She was Jonghyun's ex.” Taeyeon noticed that Taemin looked up in surprise when she said that sentence.

“But it’s against the protocol,” Luhan protested but one glare from the policewoman shut him up.

“Good. We’re settled about that. Yoona-sshi, you work at Seoul Hospital, right?” Taeyeon asked.

“I used to work there but they transferred me to Seoul Mental Hospital,” Yoona corrected.

“Are you close with Lee Sunny?”

“Um, I’m quite close with her. Why, though?”

“Find out what truly happened when Kim Hyoyeon’s body went missing. My team leader, Tiffany, told me that the woman still refused to tell her the truth,” Taeyeon ordered. Her order caused the others to stare at her in shock.

“Wait, Kim Hyoyeon’s body is missing?” Kai asked for confirmation.

“Yes. This has not been made public. Don’t you dare sell this information to a reporter or I swear I’ll cut off your head,” Taeyeon threatened. Then, she looked at Taemin. “You try to find out what your group member, Key, knows about Jonghyun’s death. He told us that your hyung was seeing an older woman but I have this feeling Key is not telling us all of what he knows.”

“Sulli-sshi, I heard that your family is quite close with the Kwon family?” Taeyeon asked. The young woman nodded in affirmation. “Good. Visit their house and try to find out what they know about Yuri. If you can, search in Yuri’s room too.”

“Sooyoung-sshi and Kai-sshi, the two of you go to Seoul Boarding School and bring back the box of heart. You know where it is located at, right?” The two of them nodded and Taeyeon smiled in satisfaction. “As for you, Krystal-sshi, try to find out about what your sister knows about Yuri. She was her best friend, after all.” Krystal also nodded to show that she understood her order.

Baekhyun peered at Taeyeon uncertainly before saying, “I have a friend who’s a hacker. If you want, I can ask him to hack into some accounts to find out more about Seohyun.”

The policewoman nodded. “Yes, that’s good,” she replied. Then, everyone looked at Kris, wondering what his job would be. Taeyeon and Kris looked at each other for a little while before she broke the silence. “As for you, Kris-sshi, you should remain missing. You’re a businessman and you’re bound to travel around the country. We need to stick together if we want this to end once and for all.”

Kris looked thoughtful for a moment before agreeing to Taeyeon’s request. “So what should I do?”

“Lie low for awhile,” the policewoman said. “You should focus on that until the news about your disappearance have ceased.”

9^th February 2017, 2.00AM

The loud music inside the club was blaring so loudly that on normal circumstances, the young woman would have felt annoyed. But today was exceptional. She needed to get dead drunk and wasted. For a moment, she wanted to forget her horrible life.

An hour ago she had just found out what a horrible person she was. She did not expect herself to be so cruel and heartless. She was afraid of herself. Afraid was an understatement. She was petrified. Wait, no. Petrified was an understatement too. She was beyond petrified.

That was why she was trying to get herself drunk so that she would forget everything. She wished that she would be involved in an accident and had amnesia again.

She downed another glass of vodka in misery. She stared at her hands lifelessly. Her hands were the ones who had cut out Kwon Yuri’s heart. Her hands were the ones who had killed the so heartlessly. What made her feel more horrified was a part of her knew that she felt pure satisfaction when she did that. It was kind of sick and she did not like that part of her at all.

Suddenly, the hair at the back of her neck stood up and she felt someone was watching her. She looked up and her eyes met with a pair of beautiful eyes. Those eyes held such innocence that she would never have.

She was tainted.

Her eyes travelled towards the outfit the man was wearing and realized that he was the bartender. Oh, right. She had forgotten about the fact that she was in a club.

Sulli realized that she found the man quite familiar but she could not place where she had seen him before. Her mind was hazy due to the effects of the alcohol.

“You should stop drinking, Sulli-sshi,” the bartender murmured, his features were etched into a frown. It was a frown of concern, she knew. What she did not know was how the man knew her name and why she could not remember the man’s name.

“Who are you?” she asked, her words slurring slightly. “How do you know me?” Her head began to throb and she winced. She immediately regretted drinking too much alcohol. It was making her mind hazy and her head hurt. The loud music was pounding in her head and she wished it would stop.

“You are Victoria’s client,” the man answered. “Of course I know you.” A look of confusion flashed on her face and the man quickly added, “I’m Oh Sehun, a worker at Da Vinci Café.”

A flash of recognition flickered on her face before it went away. “Oh, I know that,” she replied, trying to cover up. She was embarrassed, to be honest. Of what, she did not know. She just felt the need to cover up.

A small chuckle escaped his lips and Sulli knew that Sehun knew she was trying to cover up. At normal circumstances, she would have become as red as a tomato but this was not a normal time. She was drunk and the alcohol was making her into someone that was not herself. The Original Sulli was shy and nice but Drunk Sulli was daring and confident.

“So you work at Da Vinci Café and at this club, too?” she asked an obvious question. But both Sehun and Sulli knew that she wanted him to explain more about himself. Sulli did not know why she was trying to strike a conversation. Sure, the man was good-looking. Well, drop dead gorgeous, to be exact, but Sehun was not really her type, judging by his looks.

Her type was someone who was quite manly and had a stable income. Working part-time here and there was totally not her style.

“It’s a part-time job for me to earn money before going off to study to get my master degree,” Sehun explained as Sulli made some hand gestures to indicate that she wanted to refill her drink. He poured more vodka inside her glass before continuing, “It’s a way of helping my parents.”

“And your parents are okay with you working as a bartender?” Sulli asked incredulously. She scrunched up her nose in distaste before clicking her tongue. Apparently Drunk Sulli was quite rude and blunt too. It was a new discovery for herself.

“My parents don’t know what I work as,” the bartender defended his parents. “I live with Kai in an apartment that we rent together. I only told them I got some jobs.”

Sulli did not hear what his explanation was and she could not care less. She could only hear the word ‘Kai’ in his sentences. The mention of Kai made her stiffen. “Please don’t mention Kai’s name now,” she snapped. “It reminds me of some bad things I don’t want to remember.”

The bartender opened his mouth to ask why but when Sulli shot him don’t-ask look he shut his mouth. “Okay,” he agreed, puzzled. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Talk about what?” the young woman asked, feigning ignorance. If there was one thing she did not want to talk about at the moment was what made her drink like crazy.

“Why are you drinking?” Sehun asked the question that she dreaded to answer.

Her shoulders visibly sagged and she let out a small sigh. She looked into the man’s eyes and the despair was clear in her eyes. “Have you ever had this feeling of not knowing who other people truly are?” she asked.

“Nobody knows who people truly are, Sulli-sshi,” the young man responded. “Not even we know who we truly are.”

A bitter laugh escaped her lips as she realized that Sehun had said the exact same thing that she had just found out. “Have you ever wondered what you are capable of?” she asked again.

The bartender shrugged nonchalantly. “I don’t usually think about it,” he replied. “I'm sure I'll find out one day. In the end, the truth will always prevail, Sulli-sshi.”

Certainly, she thought to herself. But she did not want the truth to prevail that quickly. She was afraid of finding out who the person she was, ten years ago. She did not want to find out how much of a monster she was. Most importantly, she was afraid she would mold into that person from ten years ago again if she found out who she truly was.

Choi Sulli was afraid.

And her fear was slowly killing her.

9^th February 2017, 2.30AM

Sooyoung stared at the man in front of her. She observed his features carefully. His perfectly-sculptured face was as perfect as always despite the fact that he had just been kidnapped. His body parts that were exposed were milky-white with no traces of bruises on top of it. His wrists did not have the redness of someone who had just been tied up.

Well, she assumed that Kris had been tied up. He was kidnapped, after all, and people usually tied up the hands of their captives, right?

She could see that her boss was shifting uncomfortably under her piercing gaze. They were currently at her apartment. Not that she was thrilled at the thought of having a man in her apartment but she had to let him sleep in for the night. Sulli had suggested asking for Victoria’s help and they agreed. If things went according to the plan, Kris would be staying in at Victoria’s house as long as he needed to. But right now, it was in the wee hours in the morning and it would be rude to knock on Victoria’s door asking for a favor.

Since everyone except for Sooyoung did not have their own apartments, she was the only choice left.

So here she was, finding herself observing Kris’s movement. She was a little bit confused as to why the man did not have even a single scratch on his body.

“I know what you’re thinking, Sooyoung-sshi,” Kris stated, snapping her back to reality. “You’re wondering why I seem perfectly fine.” The secretary did not deny it and the man continued, “You should be glad that I’m not harmed, Sooyoung-sshi.”

At his last sentence, Sooyoung flinched guiltily. Her face went red and she looked away. Kris was right. She was supposed to be happy that her boss was not harmed in any way, right? But Mirror had the chance to torture Kris, so why didn’t she do that?

But Mirror was unpredictable, after all. Ten years ago, Mirror was their friend and now, she was their greatest foe that they needed to get rid of.

“Do you seriously believe that Mirror did not harm me?” Kris asked quietly. The sentence sent Sooyoung’s mind into confusion. She raised her eyebrow at her boss.

“What do you mean?” she asked inquisitively.

Kris just smiled bitterly. His bitter smile soon became a humorless laughter. He turned around and took off his shirt. Sooyoung could see that the man had a good and toned body. She could see the muscles on his arms.

“You’re going to be shocked when you see this, Sooyoung-sshi,” Kris said quite mysteriously.

The woman immediately wondered what her boss was talking about but she soon found out when Kris turned around, showing the front of his body to her. As Kris had predicted, she was appalled at the sight. A small gasp even escaped her lips. It was not his nicely-shaped body that made her gasp nor was it his glorious chocolate abs.

In the middle of his chest, leaning more to the left side, there was a gaping hole exactly where his heart was supposed to be.

Sooyoung swallowed the lump in . She was beyond furious at Mirror for tricking them. Mirror told them that if she wanted Kris to still be alive, she had to gather the others and go to Seoul Amusement Park.

You don’t have to worry about him being alive. Mirror wants him to stay alive so that she can torture him like she will torture all of you.

Those were Seohyun’s words. Sooyoung felt like she should have known. At the moment when Seohyun had called them, Kris was still alive. After they had ended the call, Mirror had tortured and killed him just like she would torture them later.

A small gasp escaped her lips as realization dawned on her.

Mirror wanted to turn all of them into what they had turned Yuri into and she was horrified by the thought of it.

She took out her phone and reread the text message Mirror had sent her.

You want to see Kris still breathing? Gather at Seoul Amusement Park tomorrow at eleven at night with the other eight who received the exclusive invitation to go there a few days ago. Don’t forget to bring the invitation card. –Mirror

She could feel the tears in her eyes threatening to drop. Oh, Mirror did fulfill her promise. Kris was still breathing but that did not mean he was still alive. Mirror did not say anything about him being alive when he was returned to them. She only said ‘still breathing’.

Mirror did not trick her, after all.

And Choi Sooyoung did not know who to be angry at.