“Living in a dark swamp, during the damp and cold night,
This place is filled with only the gloomy spirits,
The devil that caught you is sneering as it looked at me,
I am not able to catch it.”

– Thriller, BTOB

I will explain the rules of the game in case some of you don’t get them very well;

Actually, the rules are pretty simple; CODE:BREAKER consists of two rounds of games. I'd rather not tell anything about the final round so let's just talk about the first one.

For the first round, it consists of another two rounds or simply put, two matches; a main match and a death match.

Lu Han, Jongsuk, Chen, Kai, Yoona and Krystal will compete in the main match and the one who wins the main match will advance to the final round as well get two tokens of immunity (he will not be picked for the death match) and he can give the other one to any player except the elimination candidate.

Besides, the winner of the main match will also be given an authority to pick an elimination candidate to play in the death match and the chosen one will as well pick a player who does not have a token of immunity to play in the death match. Cutting to the chase, two of them will compete in a different game and the one who loses the match will be eliminated and sent home.

The remaining five players will automatically advance to the final round.

Since the host’s announcement about the game for the main match, everyone has been practically on edge even during dinner just like a cat on a hot tin roof. They do not talk much and only the air of awkwardness fills every corner of the manor. They must be wondering what kind of game ‘catch the culprit’ is. Most importantly, they are afraid if they were to be the elimination candidate. No one wants to be sent home in the very first day.

“Unnie,” Krystal calls after Yoona, tapping her shoulder lightly. “Are you ready for the main match?”

“Not really.” The older woman shakes her head feebly. “Still, I will do my best. I don’t want to go home tonight.” Being dubbed as The Girl on Fire, Im Yoona will never waver and hope to turn the tables. She is going to be the winner of the main match. To be the first eliminated player would be very terribly cringe-worthy.

“Me too.” Krystal puckers her lips.

“By the way, who do you think is the most confident right now?” Yoona her head to the other side in curiosity. “Use your mind-reading ability. You said you can read people’s mind by reading their face expression, didn’t you?

“I want to know who it would be,” she adds determinedly.

“Hmm,” she hums, instantly scanning everyone’s faces. Starting from Lee Jongsuk who is sitting at the last seat to Kim Jongdae, they are immersed in eating dinner so Krystal could not decipher much. However, she still can see the wavering eyes of theirs.

“Get it?”

She nods and lets out a tiny smile. “The one who’s the most confident and calm is Jongsuk oppa.”

“Jongsuk?” Yoona furrows an eyebrow. “Uhm, well, I can’t say much, but he is definitely one of a kind.” She recalls his confession this evening that made everyone tremble in shock.

“What about the most nervous one? Can you tell see that?”

“I’d say Kai.” Her answer is brisk.

“No way!” She makes a dubious look. “He’s pretty smart from my opinion. I think you said that because you, uhm, kind of hate him.”

“No personal feelings here, unnie,” answers the young girl. “Although I really hate him to the point I want to kick his , I am not that bad or even trying to belittle him.”

“Then why do you say he’s nervous?”

“Because…” Krystal latches her gaze at him. “His pupils are shaking and you can see he doesn’t feel like eating. He’s just drinking and that’s it! I bet he’s too afraid to be the would-be elimination candidate!”

Yoona presses her lips together into a thin line. Not trying to say Krystal is not right, she somehow could see the idol is somewhat awkward and alert. He keeps on glancing at the wall clock every ten seconds.

9:00 pm. Time is ticking and the main match is about to start.

///

A broad smile spreads across Kim Suho’s face as everyone has gathered at the lounge sharp at 9:00 pm. It feels as though they are anticipating the first ever main match that will be revealed in a few minutes more – or so he thought.

“Before we start the main match, is there anyone here wants to ask any question or still don’t get the rules?” he asks. “I will answer everything.”

“Here,” Yoona says and swallows the lump in .

“What are you curious about, Miss Yoona?”

“Let’s say if we were to have joint winners. What will happen next?”

The host smirks. “If we happen to have more than a winner, then it’s a great a thing. Two of them are exempted from the death match.”

“What about the token of immunity that the winner can give to any player he wants? Is it still valid?” Jongdae rolls his eyes inquiringly.

“It seems like you’re trying to grab the token of immunity, Mister Jongdae.”

“Well…” Jongdae is both flustered and embarrassed at the same time. “If the winner wants to give one to me, I’d surely accept it with a big smile.”

“Out of the joint winners, only one will have two and he or she will definitely give it to you if they favour you,” Suho elaborates tactfully.

“Okay, I get it.” He gives him a nod of assurance.

“I will reiterate the rules once again in case some of you have forgotten.” Before he jumps to the rules, he eyes them attentively starting from Lu Han, Jongdae, Kai, Jongsuk, Krystal and Yoona. Some of them look composed and a tiny part of them seems to be trembling in anxiety.

“There will a game during the main match which is ‘Catch the Culprit’. I will provide a scenario about a fictitious incident later and all of you need to guess who the culprit is. The one who guesses the right person before the others will be the winner. He will be given a token of immunity in which will exempt him from being selected during the death match and he also is given another token of immunity in which he can give it to anyone he wants.”

“Oh, I forgot to add these details earlier; the winner of the main match is also given a chance to pick who is going to be the elimination candidate.”

“What?” Krystal’s jaw drops. “Why you suddenly gave another rule? You didn’t say it before, did you?”

Everyone has the same reaction and Suho asks them to seal their lips at once. It is too noisy and he cannot hear their complaints clearly.

Even Lu Han could not help but sigh heavily. “I thought you were going to be fair.”

“This is fair enough, Mister Lu Han,” Suho remark defensively. “There is no other way than the winner to pick the elimination candidate himself.”

“It just has the same pattern with the elimination candidate,” Kai chimes in. “The elimination candidate will do the same thing, right?”

“Very well, Mister Kai.” Suho nods, smirking. “The elimination candidate has the right to pick anyone he would like to compete with him in the death match. I would say it’s fair enough. If the winner picks him, he can do the same thing to another person.”

Amidst the rowdy commotion, Lee Jongsuk – for the first time ever – raises his hand for a question. With that bored look across his, he opens his mouth and says, “Question here.”

“This weird hyung actually has a mouth,” Kai murmurs in surprise, eyes locking at the older man suspiciously. “I thought he’s mute.”

The host smiles at him. “Yes, Mister Jongsuk?”

Closing his eyes momentarily, he lets out a snort.

“Can we just start the game now?”

///

All the six player’s attentive eyes are on the screen upon the host’s instruction. The scenario for the main match will be shown in a few seconds more. The main match which is ‘Catch the Culprit’ will require them to use their agile, logical thinking to uncover the real culprit.

Only one can make it to the top and claim the first spot while one of the others will be chosen as the elimination candidate by the winner himself.

“Is everyone ready?”

The players nod in response and in such respect and modesty, Suho flicks the ‘start’ button on the controller where the scenario for the main match is shown on the screen.

He later says, “This is the scenario for the main match, ‘Catch the Culprit’. The fastest player to give the right answer will be the sole winner!”

 [SCENARIO]

Tiffany Hwang was born and raised in San Francisco, California, but later moved back to her homeland, South Korea when she was 12 year-old. She is now a third-year student in SM High School and is living a life full of excitement and delight. Being the girl who is naturally friendly to everyone, she has a lot of friends and also has a boyfriend named Choi Siwon. Amongst her friends, she regards Kim Taeyeon as her best friend. However, she is also amicable towards Lee Soonkyu or Sunny.

One day, Tiffany was seen at the bottom of the basement with closed eyes and motionless body. Sunny was the one who discovered her body. As soon as she woke up, the teacher in charge, Mr. Kim, had interrogated her and everyone was shocked to know that Tiffany was actually being pushed by someone from the third floor to the basement. Much to her luck, she only injured her left leg and is still safe and sound.

Mr. Kim had thoroughly checked the CCTV record which was installed around the area and it recorded four persons who met Tiffany during that fateful day. He had asked the victim in case she knew who the culprit was, but to no avail. It was done when she was off-guard.

The four suspects are;

Choi Siwon (17): He is Tiffany’s boyfriend. He met her girlfriend twenty minutes before the incident happened. Tiffany had just known two days prior that he actually has a crush on her best friend, Kim Taeyeon. Siwon is loved by everyone because of his good looks and manners.

Kim Taeyeon (17): She has been a friend of Tiffany since the first year of high school. The two of them met ten minutes after Siwon’s withdrawal and had an intense argument about Siwon. Tiffany also discovered that her best friend also likes Siwon, but had to keep her feelings bottled up because she did not want to ruin their friendship. Taeyeon only left the scene insulted. Her image was captured by the CCTV when she was going downstairs.

Kwon Yuri (17): Tiffany and she are sworn enemies. Neither of them liked each other. Yuri used to be Siwon’s girlfriend before Tiffany got in her way. Since the day onwards, Tiffany had always been an eyesore. Described as having a strong aura, Yuri is infamous for being a girl who is wicked and vengeful. She was seen talking to her enemy before Taeyeon’s presence and is likely to be the culprit.

Lee Soonkyu/Sunny (17): A classmate and a good friend of both Tiffany and Taeyeon. She was the first personto discover Tiffany lying motionlessly at the basement and quickly called the teacher, Mr. Kim, for help. Although she is close to Tiffany, Sunny could not help but feel envious of her rising popularity throughout the school. Being short-legged and somewhat the ugly duckling of the class, Sunny thought that Tiffany’s kindness to her was fake.

“That’s all?” Kai frowns in confusion. “No pictures of the suspects or CCTV records during the crime scene?”

The host shakes his head. “That’s it. Only the scenario and alibis of the suspect are given. You are free to jot down all the details and only are given an hour and half to complete the puzzle which means the main match will end sharp at 11:00 pm. For the umpteenth time, I want to repeat that the fastest player to give the right answer will be the sole winner.”

“Are we free to be at any place around the manor?” Krystal asks after she finishes writing simple notes of the details.

“Yes, you are free to be at any place around the manor.”

“What about the alliance? Can we form one?” The rest of the players instantly give Kai a suspicious look.

“Of course you can.” Suho grins meaningfully at the idol. “However, as aforementioned, only one can be the sole winner even some of you decided to form an alliance.”

With a brisk nod, Kai opts to form an alliance with Kim Jongdae and Jung Krystal in which he thinks the best players out of others. They will have a brain-storming session and decide which one of the suspects is the culprit.

Yoona furtively cranes her neck at the formation of the alliance that has just been made a moment ago.

They will end up betraying each other later. As a person who has a belief on the quote, ‘don’t trust anyone’, Yoona has promised to herself that she will never make an alliance. Working by herself is the best option and betrayal-free. It is better this way, she supposes.

“You have a question, Miss Yoona?” Suho looks at the girl’s hand gesture.

“Yes.” She nods lightly. “I was wondering if a person didn’t come up with any answer within the time limit, will he or she be the elimination candidate without the winner’s selection?”

“That’s right.” He eyes the other player. “That player will automatically be the elimination candidate.”

They start to think even though they might not know who the culprit actually is, they should never leave the answer empty. They should come up with an answer, at the very least.

“Since no question is being asked and without further ado, let the game begin!”

///

9:45 pm, Master Bedroom.

“Jongdae, who do you think the culprit is?” Kai has his utmost attention on the IT prodigy. He wants to know his ally’s thoughts.

“Based on the profiles and alibi, I’d say Sunny’s pretty suspicious.”

“Why do you think so?” Krystal rolls her eyes. “Just because it says on her profile that she is somewhat envious of Tiffany, it doesn’t mean she was the one who pushed Tiffany off the basement. It just doesn’t make sense…”

Kai nods at the girl’s theory. “I agree with her. Plus, wouldn’t it be too obvious if she was also the one to discover Tiffany, would it? If I were the culprit, I wouldn’t expose myself and set up my own alibi by saying I was the one to discover her motionless body at the basement.”

“Hmm,” Jongdae only hums in response. If they were given other evidences like CCTV records during the incid