“Whoever started it first or not, I just want to stop and end this,
Words that provoke each other, it’s like a war without purpose,
They just see the benefits right in front of them at the moment,
They try to hide their sharpened teeth.”

– MAMACITA, Super Junior

“Please give our winner a round of applause!” Suho’s voice of ecstasy booms through the lounge as he looks at the winner in delight.

As if being obliged, Yoona automatically gives him a warm applause, though she is quite frustrated that she was not the winner of the main match.

She was really confident that the culprit was Sunny (based on motive and lack of alibi) but when the host did not announce her name as the winner, she was thrown off guard. Instead, Lu Han’s name was called. It meant Sunny was not the right culprit.

Despite the disappointment, Yoona does not let it control her feelings. Being the girl who is raised to never know the word ‘defeat’, she would be lying to not be envious of him, but she has no choice but to give in.

“In every end, there is also a new beginning,” she tells to herself in a hushed voice as she spares Lu Han a glance. “I will work hard and make it to the top. Im Yoona is not a girl who is easy to give up. Just like they suggested, I’m The Girl on Fire.”

“Lu Han hyung is awesome, right?” Jongdae whispers to Krystal, who happens to sit next to him. “He’s indeed the genius!”

A tiny smile tugs across her lips in recognition. She acknowledges his statement. Although she is still bewildered on how the older male got the right culprit in an instant, she thinks she could never reach Lu Han’s standard. Lu Han is a talented, sharp thinking boy who deserves to take the first place spot.

“Jongsuk hyung too. Although he did have the right answer, he was a tad second late,” he adds. “I think I need to keep an eye on him next time.”

She rolls her eyes. “You remember what he told us this evening, didn’t you?”

“I still remember.” Jongdae grins at him. Jongsuk’s confession may have come out as a surprise, but the rest of them took it seriously. “He’s no joke. I mean, he’s just as same as Lu Han hyung.”

“I know, right?” Ultimately, Krystal turns to the muffled idol. Seeing him in such a wrecked condition, she could not help but sneer at him silently.

Serves him right. He must be utterly sad to have lost the game. Plus, he lost against Lu Han, the one he seems to hate so much.

Once the applause has ended at once, Suho grabs the microphone and takes turn to ask questions to the winner.

“How are you feeling, Mister Lu Han?”

Lu Han smiles bashfully. “Uhm, I’m feeling great. I mean, at first, I had no idea who the culprit was because I had two possible names on mind. Thanks to Jongsuk I finally got the culprit right. His words to me had made me realize a thing which I never thought I actually would.”

His gaze falls upon the cold guy, but as usual, the expression across his face looks empty and soulless, as if he does not mind whether he wins or not.

“What did he say to you, Mister Lu Han?”

Upon Suho’s inquisitive query, every player’s attention is set on him.

Beating around the bush, he prefers to start with a smile of significance.

///

After Krystal’s withdrawal from the kitchen, Lu Han shreds a piece of paper and starts jotting down important notes upon the sudden facts he just happened to think.

In the midst of the business, Jongsuk’s precious words once again pop in his head and it makes his line of reasoning become crystal clear.

“Don’t only believe in the things you see… because the things you see are not all true.”

Not to forget, the quote from the second invitation card has somehow connected to this main match. One could have overlooked it because they never thought it would be a clue – or rather, a tiny clue.

Everything is possible in CODE:BREAKER

Amongst the twisted case and four suspects, there is one possibility that he has left out since he and the other players are too immersed in finding the real culprit – a suspect who was present at the scene of the crime, had an opportunity and motive.

The victim herself, Tiffany Hwang.

Suho was smart enough to not leak any evidence or details besides the mere profiles and alibis. He wanted them to ponder carefully.

If one looks at the scenario, he or she would not notice in a first glance. It needs to be skimmed through it thoroughly.

There are a lot of absurdities in the scenario. Lu Han grabs a pen and underlines each sentence that leads to illogicality.

[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.

First of all, Lu Han kicks off with the victim’s explanation right after she woke up from the state of unconsciousness. She stated that she was being pushed from the third floor down the basement.

However, it just does not make sense if she only injured her left leg. Falling from the second floor down the basement is quite a height. There will be dire consequences for instance, the damage of her head, torso or spine.

To complement his argument, the CCTV records only showed the four suspects who met Tiffany before and after the incident. It did not show the victim was being pushed off the basement. Everything was clearly vague and all the suspects had their own concrete alibis (except for Sunny since she only had the alibi after the incident).

Siwon may have affectionate feeling for his girlfriend’s best friend, Taeyeon, but he could simply ditch her if he wants to be with Taeyeon. Yuri, on the other hand, was present before Taeyeon so it would be weird if she was the culprit. Taeyeon could have known her best friend was already unconscious at the basement.

Taeyeon left the scene insulted after the argument and her image was seen going downstairs afterwards. Would a person be so leisure after having done a murder attempt, would not she? Taeyeon would have run helter skelter if she pushed Tiffany off the basement.

There are a lot of unanswered questions on why Tiffany threatened her life. Lu Han could not deduce correctly because it was vague. However, here are a few things he could say based upon the scenario;

Tiffany knew his boyfriend has a crush on her best friend and so did she. Consequently, it led to a fight between both of the girl at the crime scene. Tiffany must have felt very enraged and intended to avenge Taeyeon’s back-stabbing towards her by pushing herself down the basement so that Taeyeon would be found guilty.

Generally, girls have weak hearts and are very concerned if their boyfriends were to cheat on them. They would do anything to protect their boyfriends.

Lu Han emits a sigh of relief as he stares at his meticulous details. Every piece of puzzle has gone back to its board.

The purpose of the game is to catch the culprit amongst the four suspects. However, it turns out to be none of them is the one.

As Suho stated earlier, this game would demonstrate the player’s logical thinking and do any kinds of possible ways to survive. It does not matter if the answer was absurd; he only needs an answer.

Glancing at the clock, Lu Han shreds another tiny piece of paper and writes down the culprit’s name. Only five minutes before the main match officially comes to an end.

He rises from the seat, only to search for the host’s whereabouts.

///

The players (except Jongsuk) are all thrown off guard when Lu Han revealed that the culprit turned out to be the victim, Tiffany Hwang. Her name never came up in their heads as they were focusing on the four suspects.

“It just doesn’t make sense, does it?” Jongdae mutters, shaking his head in disbelief.

 “I was completely convinced that Siwon was the culprit.” Krystal nods. “What a plot twist!”

Jongdae chuckles in amusement. “It was really funny when I thought it back. I wrote down Sunny’s name and thought I was going to win!”

Two of them share details and become immersed with each other. They even burst into big laughter, showing they are really comfortable each other.

Krystal likes the fact that both of them are becoming closer to each other throughout this reality show. She had once thought that she would never get closer. To her, Kim Jongdae and Jung Krystal are having a so-close-yet-so-far relationship. They are attending the same school, but never really delve deeper than a mere smile whenever they meet.

Without her knowledge, Jongdae is having the same thought as he glances at her. A smile of euphoria blooms across his lips.

Suho later present the winner with a token of immunity (it kind of looks like a gold coin with the initial ‘I’ on both sides) and Lu Han gladly takes it with a beam.

“Who do you wish to give the other token of immunity, Mister Lu Han?” he questions him before he hands it over to him.

Lu Han bites his lower lip as he spares the rest of the players an apologetic look. He made it on top because of Jongsuk, so he thinks giving him the token of immunity is as if a thankful gift in return, though Krystal kind of helped him as well. If he had two right now, he would have given the other one to the girl as well.

“I’m sorry guys but I’ll give it to Jongsuk,” he says and steps ahead to the mentioned boy.

Jongsuk raises an eyebrow as he receives the token of immunity which will exempt him from being picked to participate in the death match against the elimination candidate.

“I had no idea why you helped me, but I’m really grateful.” Lu Han notes a hint of suspicion in the latter’s eyes, but he ignores him. He must be wondering to have received the token of immunity. “You could’ve been the winner if you passed your answer before me.”

“Nevermind. I wasn’t that interested to play the game, after all,” Jongsuk replies.

“Still, you were really great, Mister Jongsuk,” adds the host. “I acknowledge your capability of catching the culprit.”

“Errr… thanks?”

He lets out an awkward smile which leads to a burst of big laughter from the other players.

///

Kai looks at the winner of the main match with an irritated expression, but the latter avoids his gaze. It would be a huge lie if he did not feel anything for being selected as the elimination candidate. Only God knows how much horrible he is at the moment.

Lu Han let out a sigh of relief when the idol has averted his piercing gaze to somewhere else. He never knew Kai would be this angry to be selected by him as the elimination candidate.

To be honest, Lu Han did not think much when he chose him. There was no other way; he could not pick Krystal who obviously lent him a hand during the very last minutes and he had no urge to pick both Jongdae and Yoona (though he was still upse