“When I look, it’s like a labyrinth,

When I grab, it's like time goes on,

In my mind, it's like mist,

Like scattered, enigmatic puzzle pieces.”

– Danger, Taemin

Jung Krystal is the first player to arrive at the manor sharp at 1:00 pm. In all honesty, rather than feeling intimidate because it might be or might not be a lie, she could not help but be overwhelmed with delight.

A massive part of the reason is because she has a reason to leave the house during the summer break. It is totally suffocating to stay at home and do nothing except watching TV and playing computer games. Although exam result for midterm has yet to be announced (in which perks her up), her mother still would not let her go out. She can only go out when she is accompanied by family members.

The invitation card that was sent to her last week appeared like an angel in disguise. She will be able to sneak out of the house. However, at first, it was not enough to completely convince her mother. She thought she was merely lying.

Having no idea what to do in order make the latter believe her, Krystal had to seek help from her older sister, Jessica. In a split second, she managed to persuade their mother and Krystal was able to go out eventually. She thought if Jessica was not her mother’s favourite daughter, she would have been in her room and done nothing.

“Welcome, Miss Soojung,” a man who seems to be in his forties, welcomes the first player with a warm smile. He is wearing a complete set of tuxedo with leather shoes in which makes him look like a butler.

He later manages her luggage and delicately gestures Krystal to come in and sit at the dining table.

“Actually, I’d like you to call me Krystal rather than Soojung.” She casts him a rather cynical grin, but the old man only bows at her in respect and leaves the scene.

“I shouldn’t have come so early,” she mutters under her breath, seeing the chairs are yet to be occupied. “For the record, why aren’t they putting anything on the table? I guess it’s a perfect time for lunch.” She would love to ask anyone who happens to be around the dining room, but no one is there.

Having nothing to do, Krystal spares the free time by roaming around the house. Albeit the so-called butler had told her to stay put, Krystal casually broke the order.

The manor is really beautiful yet classic at the same time. She would say it was built solely for the game’s purpose. The fully furnished lounge looks very exquisite; the pastel colors used and the arrangement of the furniture are effortlessly amazing.

Krystal does not bother going upstairs because she is afraid if there is something she should not see up there. Thus, she goes back to the dining table and waits until the rest of the players come.

///

After a couple of minutes, here comes the second player. With flashy, branded clothes and black sunglasses, he walks towards the dining table and effortlessly takes a seat in front of the reserved girl.

Krystal juts her lips out. Her prior expectation was totally different after seeing how he acts. He did not greet her right after he sat down. His cell phone is his sole companion and a fit of wacky laughter follows a second later.

“Weirdo,” is her comment as she occasionally gives him a suspicious glance. She supposes the reason why this arrogant, tanned man is laughing like an idiot is because he is vigorously skimming through his social network sites. She could see the application ‘Instagram’ when he slightly inclined his cell phone a moment ago.

“Hold on.” She gawks in disbelief, mouth goes agape. “Isn’t he–”

“Hey, girl.” The tanned man flashes his piercing glare at her direction. “You may think I didn’t notice just now because I’m busy with my phone, but… seriously, why are you looking at me so intently?”

Krystal is about to let out a defensive reply, but the latter boldly and brusquely cuts her off.

“Well, that’s right.” He pulls out his black sunglasses and gives her a smug smirk. “I’m Kai, the famous member of EDEN.”

“Are you a spy that was hired to follow me around? Since when have you been following me? I bet you’re going to tell your friends that we met today, aren’t you?”

Krystal huffs a breath of annoyance, unable to defense herself because he dominates the ambience with his non-stop accusation.

It is true, she perfectly knows who the famous EDEN and its members are, but that does not mean she adores them like how her best friend, Jinri and the other die-hard fan girls idolize them. Their songs are undeniably great, but Jung Krystal could not bring herself to like them – even for slight. Never.

“What do you want in return so that you wouldn’t talk about me or even distribute photos of mine to your clique?” Kai continues to irritate the fuming girl. “An autograph? A photo with me?”

“Or,” he trails off, to let a suggestive smirk creep upon his lips. “Do you a warm, tight hug from me? I bet you’re not going to shower for a week if I ever hugged you!”

“You are being too much–”

As if premeditated, her cell phone starts ringing through the speaker.

Kai points his finger at her cell phone. “Answer your phone, girl. It’s annoying.”

Ultimately, Krystal has no choice, but to take the bothersome call with a grunt.

“Hello?!”

“..….”

“I’m at the venue, mother.”

“..….”

“Jinri didn’t follow me because she wasn’t invited.”

“..….”

“Do you still I’m lying?”

“..….”

“I’m here just a few days. I promise you I will return home right after the program end.”

“..….”

“Fine! You’d better chop my hair off when I came home! I’d rather be bald than having a suspicious mother like you!”

“Looks like we’ve got a spoiled brat here,” Kai lets out a scornful chuckle and winks at her significantly after the call ends abruptly.

Krystal tells herself that she should get a grip of herself. She ought to pay no heed to his sarcasm because it will not bring any good to her – it’s pointless.

“By the way, why didn’t you set the ringtone to our song?” Kai looks at her questioningly. “You do know we’ve just released a new song called ‘Overdose’ right? I mean, it’d be weird if you were the only who don’t know the song. It’s now all about ‘Overdose’ era!”

“Why would I?” Krystal replies airily. “I’m not one of your fangirls.”

“I’m wounded.” He feigns a hurt look while pressing his chest dramatically.

“Instead of liking you, I’d rather like Sehun oppa,” Krystal voices out, only to irk him. She knows Kai would be very sensitive when the older member’s name is brought up for comparison. The rapper, Oh Sehun, is just as handsome and fairly tall as Kai is, but he is more delicate than the maknae.

“He’s handsome, kind, modest and is totally my ideal type!” Krystal cringes. “You’re not even close to being like him!”

Kai grits his teeth and slams his fist against the table. If he could tarnish his idol status at this moment, he would have done that earlier. This girl is getting on his nerves.

“Serve you, bastard,” she muses inwardly, smirking triumphantly.

///

The five minutes before the next person’s arrival feels like going through an English exam. Kai and Krystal have not spoken since the argument ended. The young man and girl would rather stare at their respective cell phone than at each other’s faces.

“Hello.”

Kai and Krystal look up at the manly voice and it is apparently the third player, Kim Jongdae. Enthusiastically, he bows at them with a big smile before taking a seat next to the girl.

“Jongdae!” Krystal gasps in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here for the game,” he chuckles in amusement and gazes at Krystal keenly. “I never thought you’d be here as well.”

“Wait a sec,” Kai intervenes, looking clueless. “Are you guys friend?”

“Just… someone from my school!”

“I was, uhm, about to say the same thing,” she laughs bitterly. She would be lying if she didn’t feel a little disappointed of his words, albeit it is true.

“Really?” There is a smirk at the corner of his lips. “But this girl seems a tad devastated when you said she isn’t your friend.”

“Shut the hell up!” Krystal bites her lower lip, though her coy reaction would only add the fuel to the fire.

“You’re Kai, right?” Jongdae attempts to change the subject.

“That’s right. I’m the popular Kai.” The idol nods smugly. “Do you listen to our new song?”

“Overdose, isn't it?”

“Yeah, that’s right!” He turns to the reserved girl. “I told you. Everyone knows our song except you. Have you been living under the rock for all this time, girl?”

“So what?” Krystal grunts. At this very moment, she swears she will beat this cocky idol in any kind of game they will be playing afterwards and make him kneel down in front of her. She will make him regret for humiliating him to the point in front of a special person like Kim Jongdae.

Amidst the intense ambience, Jongdae casually fishes his laptop out of his backpack. He needs to occupy the spare time with something beneficial.

“What are you doing?” Kai throws an inquisitive question.

“Since the rest are yet to arrive, I’m going to work on my unfinished website.”

“So you’re a Mark Zuckerberg wannabe, huh?”

“Well, you can say that.” He grins at him cheekily. “By the way, how old are you?”

“16,” the tanned boy answers. “You?”

“Same here.” He glances at Krystal. “So we’re all the same age here.”

“Hope there will be at least an elder here,” she says.

“I pray there won’t even be one.”

Just as if on cue and completely contradicting to the idol’s prayer, here comes an elder.

///

It is such a bad idea.

Lu Han lets out a sigh as soon as he lowers his head after seeing all of the three figures attentively. All of them look pretty strong and unbeatable.

Minseok is undeniably right here. Instead of coming all the way to Sadang-dong to participate in the game that he does not even know what it would be, he should have joined Minseok and his crew to the beach in the first place.

Just because he is deemed the epitome of perfection, does not mean Lu Han does not possess a single flaw. Sometimes, he would have inferiority complex whenever someone got higher marks than him in any subject. It is not contagious, but it would certainly shake him off.

“What is your name?” The girl with a pretty smile looks at him in interest.

He takes a deep breath. “Lu Han.”

“I see.” She nods. “How old are you? Are you the same age of us?”

“I’m 17.” Lu Han tries to be amicable, considering whether the game requires a formation of alliance later. “Are you 17 too?”

Krystal shakes her head, beaming. “Nope, three of us are 16.”

“I guess I’m the oldest one here.”

“It’s good to have someone older, hyung,” Jongdae pitches in as he shuts his laptop down.

Seeing the latter has clearly dropped the honorifics, Krystal opts to do the same thing. “May I call you ‘oppa’?”

“S-sure,” he replies awkwardly. His heart thumps at the mention of the endearment. Since he was a child back then, no one has ever called him with ‘oppa’. He is the only child of his family and he could pretty much say that he never gets himself surrounded by girls. Lu Han is attending an all-boys school, after all.

“So hyung,” Jongdae starts again, eyes glimmering in curiosity. “Which school in Seoul are you attending?”

“Seoul All-Boys High School.”

“Then you must be a gay, right?” Kai chimes in after having his lips sealed since Lu Han’s arrival five minutes ago.

“Are you out of your mind?” Krystal’s eyes widen. “How can you say such words to someone who’s older than you? You don’t even speak to Lu Han oppa like Jongdae did!”

“Just because hyung’s from an all-boys school, doesn’t mean he likes guys,” Jongdae states matter-of-factly.

“Nevermind. He’s right.” Lu Han cracks a tiny smile. “I’m attending an all-boys school so people may think I’m a gay.”

“Does that mean you admit you’re a gay?” Kai does not stop his blunt accusation despite Krystal’s harsh response.

“I am not.” His voice comes out delicate yet firm. He knows the male idol has been looking at him as though he is going to eat him alive since his arrival. He wonders what makes him think that he is an eyesore.

“I heard that Seoul All-Boys High School is one of the best schools in Seoul!” Krystal manages to intervene Kai who was about to retort. “And since you are invited to take part in this game, you must be the smartest student there, right?”

The half-Chinese student rubs the back of his neck bashfully, blushing furiously. “Not really.”

Jongdae tilts his head. “If I’m not mistake, you’re a member of MENSA, right?”

“How did you know?” Lu Han gapes. “I don’t recall telling it to anybody.”

“I used to hack the website so yeah, I kind of saw your face in the list of members.”

“You’re a MENSA member?” Krystal looks stunned and the moment Lu Han nods in approval, she replies with a light shake. “I haven’t expected I would be sitting next to a member of MENSA. It’s quite difficult to find one nowadays.”

“It’s becoming lesser now.” Jongdae nods. “In South Korea, we only have about 1000 members.”

Kai snorts discontentedly when the two of them keep praising the elder. It would be a lie if he did not feel jealous of him being the member of MENSA.

MENSA is an international society for bright people and the qualification for membership is a high IQ. The society welcomes people from every walk of life whose IQ is in the top 2% of their respective countries.

One of the reasons why he is disgruntled towards Lu Han is because he had once failed the test and automatically, he was eliminated. Everyone says the test is difficult so he is wondering how the latter passed with flying colors.

“Oppa, may I know what your IQ score is?”

Lu Han frowns, as if he is uneasy with her ques