When Joon was a trainee, Rain would make MBLAQ practice dancing for ten or more hours a day. If they weren’t dancing, then they were working on their vocals. Then if they weren’t doing that, they were being shipped of to some event that they were too tired for. Those early days were exhausting. He never thought something would rival that feeling, but here he was in Battle Royale. The constant worm burrowing in your brain, keeping your thoughts moving every second about if that shadow you just saw was a person. This game left you no time to relax and just breath. The freedom he had in this game was hard to grasp, because everyone else had the same privilege. Anyone, could do anything, no matter how immoral it was.  

Last night could have been worse. Actually, it was the best six hours so far. After Ana let them go to the washroom, she proposed the idea of dividing the space. Still frightened greatly by her mere prescience, easily Mir and him agreed to her ideas. They got to sleep in the kitchenette while Ana slept on the couch. Joon laid down on top of the counter, beside a bowl of apples, and passed out. Of course, Mir was the one to wake him up after what felt like only 15 minutes of rest. Roughly, he roused Joon from his sleep,

"Joon; Ana is gone."

“Bathroom,” groaned Joon, curling his body into tighter ball.  

Mir shook his head before giving Joon another shake,

“No, she’s not there. She is gone, gone. Her stuff too.”

Half asleep, Joon sat up on the counter only to knock his head on the cupboard above. His head rebounded off the wood, his hand immediately rubbing the spot while he strung together some colourful words. He grunted,

““Let’s eat before we do anything.”

Being extremely hungry himself, Mir slid over to the fridge. He had been waiting for Joon anyways, so they could eat together. On the top shlef there was half a carton of eggs, leftover spaghetti, assorted juices, and some apples. It was a much better meal than what they usually ate, which was the same kimchi fried rice in a takeout container. Laying on top of the eggs was a light green sticky note with unfamiliar writing. Mir picked it up, reading it aloud as Joon slumped over to the food area,

“If you are reading this, it means you are alive; congratulations. I left a gift. Hope we don’t see each other again, because that would mean I’d have to kill you.”

Mir shrugged, seeing Ana’s blocky signature,

“Well that was quite nice of her.”

“What if she is trying to trick us, and actually poisoned the food?” yawned Joon, practically putting himself in the fridge.

“I’ll take my chances,” Mir inspected the middle shelf after shoving Joon out of the way, muttering as he found half a hamburger, “I’m starving, and if Ana did want to kill us, she could’ve done that anytime last night.”

Already Joon had gulped down most of the apple juice in the fridge. He wiped his mouth, agreeing,

“True. She could’ve just shot us when we asked to pee.”

The moderately calm scene was rudely interrupted by the shattering of glass. Both Joon and Mir ducked. Were they being shot at? Had someone broken in who needed shelter? Cautiously they crawled towards the living room to see what had happened. The floor was covered in shards of window, the curtains violently billowing. Mir stalked towards the window, unsure what to expect. Whatever had come crashing through to the second story had to have been launched with great force and quite heavy. He motioned for Joon to wait as he approached a suspicious mass among the shards. With a sigh of relief he picked up the brick, standing up for Joon to see,

“It was a bric-”

The glass crunched as Mir dropped the brick back on to the ground. It had indeed made the initial impact that broke the window, but something else had been tossed in.

“What is it?” asked Joon as he weaved through the hazardous area.

He jolted backwards when he saw the second projectile; a grenade. Not only that, it was stuffed in the mouth of a decapitated head. Unfortunately, Joon recognized it as Leo from VIXX. A small electronic voice was being emitted by the explosive, counting down until the detonation. Cheerfully it yipped the number 29. Mir grabbed Joon by the arm, dragging him towards the kitchen. He began screaming,

“The fridge! Inside the fridge!”

“Why?” yelled Joon, stumbling as he tried to keep up.

“It worked in a videogame and we’re too high up to jump,” replied Mir, flinging open the fridge door.

While the countdown continued, Joon and Mir were rapidly clearing out the shelves. There would-have-been breakfast was being thrown everywhere as they scrambled to empty the space.

“Twenty”

First, Mir tried to fit himself inside the fridge; only half of him made it. With a panicked look he jumped out and began to tug away at the shelving itself. Joon could hear the grenade reach the fifteen second mark. This was too real for him; eight seconds and he would be dead. Miraculously they had managed to rip out the six plastic shelves. This time Mir easily fit inside.

“Get in!” shrieked Mir, tugging on Joon’s arm

Joon felt awfully calm as he looked at his friend. Though Mir was very slim and of average height, there was not enough space for both of them. Was this how Joon would be eliminated from the game? Of all ways to die in though, Battle Royale or real life, saving Mir was a cause he would willingly go for.

“There’s not enough room” whimpered Joon, shaking off Mir’s death grip.

“Ten”

Rarely did Joon cry, and even more rarely did he cry in front of other people. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had cried at all. Well, cried out of some sort of emotional distress versus a scary movie. With only ten seconds until the fatal explosion, he did not care at all if Mir saw him sob. He was tired of pretending that this was normal, that they would be transported to sound check this evening. Mir would have to endure seeing his older brother be weak.

“Don't give up; get your in here!” commanded Mir, seizing Joon’s hand again.

“Six”

Firmly Joon shook his head no as Mir tried to yank him into the fridge. For a less than a second Mir stopped, staring at Joon with widened eyes. Joon smiled despite his crying, as the fact of going it alone began to sink in for Mir. Being him, meant making the sacrifices.

“Four”

Mir tumbled out of the fridge swiftly, pulling Joon in for a hug. Neither wanted to let go, so perhaps neither would save themselves. Could one of them actually win this game of inevitable and painful death? There really was no more noble, or honest way to die in this game than to with your friend. Joon was about to demand that Mir squeeze back into the fridge, but his voice was useless. It was easier to just keep on crying. Instead, Mir whispered in his ear,  

“Please win.”

For the following three seconds Joon was frozen, unable to do anything out of his own will. Forcefully Mir pushed him into the vacant fridge before slamming the door shut. He was bewildered, the countdown reaching one second. It emitted a final message,

“Goodbye.”

The blast rocketed the fridge out of the building. Inside it Joon was curled up tightly as possible with his eyes squeezed shut. It landed with a heavy thud before rolling over three times, causing Joon’s head to knock against the sides. He definitely was going to have a concussion if not worse. When the fridge came to a rest, Joon immediately kicked open the door. He was about to crawl out on to the street when he saw his hands; there were six of them. His vision spun as he tried to move, seriously disoriented. Suddenly, Joon lurched forward and vomited on the pavement. Mindless he stared at the ground, blood splashing down from his head. At least he was still alive. Well, maybe for another ten minutes. A pair of voices increased in volume as Joon continued to regain his senses,

“Didn’t expect the explosion to be that big.”

“We got lucky. She told us there were supplies and people here.”

“Should we wait to look around, because of the smoke?”

“If we wait around someone might find us.”

The two distinct voices continued to chat, deciding if there was anything worth stealing here. Obviously they had been the ones responsible for the explosion. There were only two options; stay by the fridge or don’t stay by the fridge. Joon reasoned that if he stayed put and was found, he wouldn’t be able to play dead convincingly enough, so he began to crawl away. The dizziness had improved slightly after vomiting. He only saw three spinning versions of everything.

“Where’s Mir,” thought Joon, his palms and knees burning as he went over some debris.

As if they had heard his question, a female voice chimed,

“Ren, look; this body is number 3.”

Before the explosion Mir had shoved Joon into the fridge with only a couple seconds left. There was a small light of hope that he had somehow managed to escape or find another safe place, but now that was gone. If Mir was alive, he wouldn’t have been referred to as a body. Also, he wouldn’t have been approached so easily. The time to grieve was not now though. Joon had to simply stay alive. He continued to search for some sort of escape while listening to Ren’s voice,

“ Think he has his weapon on him?”

The girl replied in a disgusted tone,

“I don’t want to touch the body.”

Ren and the unknown girl bantered about whether or not to search Mir’s body. It was more so a fight to see who was the least repulsed by a dead person. Joon halted his steady creeping to check out what the scene was like. He peered at them from behind a large pile of destroyed furniture, Ren and the girl in his view. Conveniently they were both at an angle where he could see their faces, making it easy to identity the girl as KARA’s Nicole. With a heavy shrug of her shoulders, Nicole sighed,

“Fine, I’ll do it.”

Grudgingly, she slumped towards Mir’s limp body. As if he had fallen asleep waiting in line, Mir rested on the ground against a sooty wall. If Joon didn’t know, he would have assumed Mir had been in the explosion at all. A sad smile crossed his face, seeing his lifeless friend unmangled and unmutilated. Immediately it turned into a scowl, seeing Nicole with her weapon raised. She wielded a long sword (a katana) and was about to impale Mir with it.

“Don’t touch him,” Joon clammered out of his hiding spot, attempting to stand up straight while continuing to shout, “He’s mine.”

Immediately Ren and Nicole turned, Ren bringing his stun gun to life and Nicole slashing her katana. Both of these weapons were pretty idiot proof, meaning that Joon did have something to worry about, seeing as he was empty handed. He would have been happy if he had even his rope.

"Get away from Mir" barked Joon.

It seemed to humour Ren that an unarmed person was threatening them, narrowing his eyes while smirking. He felt confident in overpowering Joon if it came to that, seeing as it was two against one. Also, Joon was still struggling to remain stable.

"Does he have a weapon,” yelled Nicole, waving the blade back and forth.

Ignoring the question, Joon continued to trip towards Mir. Weakly, he attempted to push past the duo. Nicole effortless shoved him away, almost causing him to fall back down. Still, Joon tried to make it over to Mir, shouting,  

“Leave!”

"We can't let you just walk away, " Ren made his stun gun buzz loudly before continuing, “Whatever Mir has, we’re taking it.”

“I’m not afraid to kill,” added Nicole unconvincingly,

Feeling as if he was drunk, Joon laughed in their faces before punching Nicole. He would’ve punched Ren too if he had faster reflexes. Blood began to gush down Nicole’s face, her nose extremely crooked. Angrily Ren lashed out at Joon, jabbing the stun gun at his neck. Still in a daze, Joon barely missed the attack, but instead tripped backwards. He scrambled backwards, eyeing what he had made him slip. Innocently, there sat a small, worn bag. Unlike the bags all the guys were given, this one was actually a backpack. The familiar tough green fabric was faded, stained, and ripped; it looked like it had seen at two Battle Royales, not two days. What caught Joon’s attention was a small black pipe sticking out between the flap. He dived for it, desperate for anything to use as a weapon. Ren and Nicole’s footsteps could be heard, running away from him and for Mir. Joon wasn’t going to let them though. Hastily he yanked at whatever was in the mystery bag. What was just a small black pipe turned out to be the head of an automatic gun, a uzi 9mm to be exact. Then he remembered Ana’s note; “I left a gift.”

“ Go away! He is not a body you can take whatever you want from!" Joon shrieked, showing of his weapon.

Nicole lowered the blade, whispering something to her partner. They clearly were intimidated, having no long range weapon to kill Joon first. He could smoke their asses right then and there. Mir floppily remained against the wall, the strap of his binoculars sticking out of his sweater. Ren noticed this, reaching for what he thought was a gun as well. Nicole began to cry before Joon released the first round. This weapon didn’t require Joon to be accurate, only angry and willing to kill. He showed them no mercy.

Ren was first, dropping on to the ground when a shot hit his leg. Joon erratically fired the uzi, showering the ground with casings. Ren and Nicole shouted in pain as their bodies were pierced through and through, over and over. It was clear Joon had won this show down, yet he still was firing at their jittering bodies. Lifelessly they laid in the debris, still gripping their own weapons. Watching the blood leak out and run on to the pavement was eerily calming. He took a few heavy breaths before rushing over to Mir,  

You’re safe now kid, ok? It’s all done, it’s over. Ren and Nicole, I killed them. You’re ok. We’re ok.” he cried.  

With the strength he had left, Joon began to pick up Mir. It took him four tries before Mir was successfully in his arms. As if he was carrying a sleeping child to bed, he began to walk with the body. He didn’t bother taking the katana or stun gun; Mir was his priority. As a precaution he did kick them away, hoping no one would find them.

Half a dozen step was all he could manage before collapsing on the ground. Mir’s body landed in front of him and his head on Mir’s chest. The morning sun blinded him as he flipped on to his back. There was no way he could get up, find shelter, and carry Mir. Admitting to his exhaustion, Joon closed his eyes, mumbling

“It’s ok Mir. I’ll carry you. I just need a nap.”

However, there was a silhouette moving on his eyelids. Of all times to be a good actor, this was the moment. He tried his best to slow his sharp breaths, hoping that they’d just walk away. Joon was counting of that person’s laziness and stupidity, or that he’d go unconscious soon. Death would be easier to handle if he didn’t know it happened.

“Joon; you ing idjit, “ muttered the person, their voice clearly a women’s.

Was it Ana? It might be. He couldn’t remember her voice very clearly so there was a chance. The again, he couldn’t remember anything at the moment, losing consciousness seconds later.