To his surprise, the supposedly lively, noisy and bustling carnival was deserted and silent. The carnival seemed old and abandoned. It was as if time had stopped. All the rides were still except for the merry-go-round; the horses went round the circle soundlessly. The lights flickered every now and then, increasing the eeriness of the spine-chilling atmosphere.

Dark clouds loomed over the low sky; it seemed that there would be a heavy shower in the warm and humid afternoon. Sunggyu cautiously pushed open the gate which gave a sharp screeching sound, involuntarily sending a shiver down his spine.

The Infinite leader’s sharp eyes caught sight of a black note attached at the window of the ticket vendor. He walked quickly towards it and read the content.

Alright, the first challenge…
Haunted house… Have fun…
Make sure to escape through the exit before we catch you…

Sunggyu scrunched up the note and sighed uncertainly. He quickly scanned around and managed to spot the old-looking, tattered and creepy hut. Numerous dim fluorescent light bulbs decorated the black signboard with blood red letters of “Haunted House”. Cobwebs were dangling everywhere.

“Wow… The effects are… r… realistic… and… s… scary…” Sunggyu gulped nervously but he had no choice but to enter the hut. Once he had stepped inside, the doors closed suddenly, startling the poor frightened leader. Sunggyu felt as if he was swallowed into a ball of darkness; he could not see a single thing and was beginning to feel extremely scared and insecure.

Unexpectedly, the light was switched on. Though it was dim, Sunggyu was able to make out the contour of the objects. He felt around and tried finding his way out of the uncomfortable hut.

Sunggyu’s fingers managed to seek out a doorknob. He twisted it and opened the door. Just then, a skeleton dropped down from the ceiling and dangled inches away from the leader; the scary creature emitted a menacing laugh that made Sunggyu yelped in fright and punched it before leaping away, sprinting towards the next nearest door.

After getting in, Sunggyu realised that the small room was empty except for a rocking chair near the window and a small light bulb was dangling from the ceiling. The window was pinned with planks of wooden boards as if to prevent someone or something from entering.

Sunggyu squint his small eyes at the window. From the gaps in between the planks, he was sure that there was someone watching, no, staring intently at him from outside. The figure suddenly moved and pounded hard on the window which startled the already shaking leader.

The figure then changed from pounding to scratching. The high-pitched screeching sound was a torture to Sunggyu’s ears. He squatted down, closed his eyes and used his hands to cover his ears from the irritating noise. Just then, a new noise was added and being curious, Sunggyu opened his eyes. The empty rocking chair was rocking rhythmically along with the high pitch scratching sound.

Sunggyu’s tiny eyes were so wide open that he could almost feel them popping out from the sockets. Without a thought, Sunggyu stood up, opened the door and ran to the next room.

In contrast with the previous room, this room was brightly lit. A dark brown wooden dining table was in the middle of the room. A silver plate with a cover was placed on the table, as if to beckon Sunggyu to take a look.

Unable to suppress his curiosity again, Sunggyu walked cautiously to the dining table and opened up the cover with shaky hand.

“Clang!” The cover dropped onto the ground with a loud sound. Sunggyu could not withstand it any further. He wobbled to the wall to support himself while vomiting.

On the plate was the smashed head of the manager. It was all bloodied and in a mess of brain juice and bits. The eyeballs were no longer in the socket; instead they were nicely placed in a separate small silver plate. The empty socket seemed to be staring hard at Sunggyu for causing its pitiful and scary plight.

The Infinite leader slowly stumbled out of the room and got into the fourth room. Before he could enter, he sniffed in a revolting smell. Frightened by the previous encounters, Sunggyu took a glance of the room and was not shocked to see a black coloured coffin lying in the middle of the dimly lit windowless room.

As if on cue of the door opening, the coffin top opened. Before anything jumped out from the coffin, Sunggyu already had the door closed and blocked with a wooden stick under the knob.

Sunggyu gave a sigh of tired relief before moving onto the next door. In comparison, the fifth room seemed normal, but it was too normal. It was an ordinary bedroom with a king-sized bed, wardrobe, study table and dressing table. Carefully, Sunggyu stepped into the room inspected the whole room but found nothing extraordinary.

Sunggyu was about to leave the room when he found something weird with his reflection in the mirror. Sunggyu frowned at his reflection who was giving a lopsided grin and he was not. The image reflected had the same appearance of the leader but the facial expression was totally different.

Slowly the reflection smirked evilly and walked towards the real Sunggyu and it really freaked out the leader. Sunggyu wanted to run away from the scene but he was stood rooted to the ground; it seemed that he was casted under a spell and was unable to move.

The reflection was slowly trying to make his way out of the mirror while the dumbfounded leader stood there, unable to move a single muscle.

Seconds went by and the reflection had half of his body out of the mirror. The dazed leader finally awakened and dug out a hammer from his pocket and smashed the mirror to pieces. The reflection emitted a furious and frustrated roar before vanishing.

Sunggyu let out a tired sigh before proceeding to the sixth and final room. Cautiously, he opened the door to reveal a dark room. It was so dark that he could not see a single thing. Sunggyu fumbled around for a light switch. He was getting anxious as this was the last room and he really hoped that this was the exit.

Sunggyu smiled when his hand had found the switch. He switched it on but there was no reaction. “Holy ...! The light is spoilt...? Damn it...!” Sunggyu grumbled.

Just then, Sunggyu saw two small spots of light which were getting closer slowly. Sunggyu squint his eyes to adjust to the darkness and realised that it was a pair of cat eyes.

“Meow!” Another pair of eyes appeared from nowhere.

“Meow...!” Three more pairs of eyes appeared and their mewling sounded angry and threatening.

More and more pairs of eyes appeared and it seemed that there were dozens of cats in the small, dark room which seriously disliked and did not welcome the presence of the leader. The cats slowly and gracefully walked towards the leader who finally managed to see the cats clearly, using the dim light from the main room.

All the cats were black. However, patches of fur were missing from each cat and there were cuts and bruises all over their bloodied scrawny body.

The leader stepped back in fright as the troops of horrifying and gross cats walked threatening towards him. Soon, hundreds of cats in the main room surrounded him.

Sunggyu panicked as he had already accessed all the six rooms and there was no sight of any exit. He shook his head, trying to dismiss his possible cruel fate of scratching and tearing of flesh by these menacing cats.

“Thump!” Sunggyu had no hope of exit as his back hit the entrance door with the cats closing on him. He gritted his teeth and bet all his luck on one last impossible hope.

Sunggyu flung open the entrance door and ran out, closing the door behind him. He leaned against the door and slipped exhaustedly onto the ground, heaving precious air in and out. Spine-tingling, high pitch scratching sound from the other side of the door could be heard.

Just then, a black envelope was dropped onto his lap, startling the terrified leader. He quickly torn open it and read the black note.

Wow...! That was fun, isn’t it...?
Hahaha...! We had you fooled, Kim Sunggyu...!
Entrance = Exit
Didn’t realise that until you went through all the fun...?
Time check = Two hours and forty-nine minutes...
Next challenge... Roller coaster...
Travelling at a high speed of 240km/h...
The tallest roller coaster in the world...
Almost 90 degrees perpendicular to the ground...
360 degrees turn...
Do you dare to have a ride...? See you soon...

No matter how much Sunggyu dreaded to be on the monster ride, he braced himself and got into the roller coaster.

Ten minutes later, the disorientated leader stepped down the roller coaster carriage with weak and wobbly legs. He leaned against the gate and began to vomit again, further emptying his already emptied stomach.

A black note was stuck by the side of the gate and Sunggyu reached weakly for it.

Awesome...! Well done, Kim Sunggyu...!
You’ve endured the most frightening ride...!
Alright then, seeing that you’re so pale and disorientated, we decide to be benevolent...
The second stop shall end here...
The third stop will be the hotel across the road...
Shall searching for Sungyeol, using the remainder time of two hours and twenty eight minutes...

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I apologise for the super-duper long wait... T__T
I was having Chinese New Year celebration and do not have the time to update... >__<
Hope the above is acceptable and please do leave down your comments... ^_^
Happy Lunar New Year, my dear readers....! ^_~