I picked out the mushroom from the piece of my pizza and placed it on Kyuhyun’s. Ha, plain salami pizza was way better. I took a big bite. Kyuhyun and I ordered pizza for dinner. God, I was famished. Thanks to Hyukjae, I only ate a cronut for lunch.   

“Jesus, who actually wants to download this game? It’s mutilation!” Kyuhyun groaned, starring at his computer screen. We’re doing some research about the games with similar theme and trying to find the positivity and/or advantages of this game that the others didn’t have. Which I thought was none. We got the RFP for this game two days ago and the programmer himself had requested Kyuhyun personally to do this. He believed with Kyuhyun’s ability in advertising he could gain success in the market.

The game was simple, honestly. It was just about conundrum. But the scariest thing was its punishment. There was a man stood on the left side of the screen and each time you input the wrong word, there would be a chainsaw that will cut that man’s body part. First it’s his left leg then his right. When he got no more legs, it’s his left hand then his right. And if you got it wrong for the fifth time, it would be his head. Then the game was over.

As if that wasn’t just enough; this game was the most visualized game I’ve ever seen. Every time the chainsaw cutting off the body parts, you would see the blood covering your phone screen with the man’s scream echoing through your speaker. Once the blood was clear from your phone screen, you would still see the blood dripping from the cut where the used-to-be-there body parts had just been and you could still hear the man’s groan.

And the sickest thing about this game was its name: Chopping Words. I had just realized what its name meant when I took a look at this game the first time. Yeah, like the name said: it’s chopping a man using words—indirectly. 

My god, I should stop now before I actually threw up in Kyuhyun’s office.

Trying to distract myself, I pushed the pizza box. “Eat.” I didn’t want to monopolize this food because Kyuhyun had only eaten two slices and I already had four. Hey, what can I say? I was hungry.

He looked at his pizza, noting the extra-topping-mushroom. “Oh, ! I’m sorry.”

I was about to pick out the mushroom when he stopped me. “It’s okay, Sungmin.” He took the slice and took a big bite.

“Sorry, it’s habit, I think.” I said, embarrassed. When we were dating, we used to come to Pizzeria where my brother worked. He worked as chef assistant and sometimes he got to make his own pizza. If many customers ordered and liked his pizza, his boss would put his pizza creation on the menu. Kyuhyun and I always ordered it even though I knew it had mushroom. And because I was such an awesome brother, I convinced my friends to order it, too. In the end, he got two of his pizza creations on the menu. I was stoked.

It’s really fascinating watching Kyuhyun eat with gusto. It briefly made me forget that his pizza had extra-topping-mushroom plus the addition of the visual of this game that had made me want to vomit.

“Do you like it?” I asked between my munching.

“What?”

“Mushroom.”

“No.” He said before he bit his pizza. “It’s fungus, Sungmin. How human likes to eat this is beyond me.”

Exactly my thoughts. Then, I abruptly stopped my munching when I’d processed his words. Oh my god, this was shocking. “I thought you liked it. That’s why I always order this pizza.” Well, besides the obvious reason that it was my brother’s.

“I thought you were a masochist. I know your brother made this but you hate mushroom yet you always order this. And now finally I know the reason.” Then his infamous smirk appeared. “It’s really flattering, Sungmin. You always think about me.”

Ignoring his cockiness, I asked the important question. “If you hate it, why did you eat them?”

He shrugged. “You hated—apparently still do—it and you always shoved it on my plate when Sungjin didn’t see.”

I gaped. His words really made me look like a . I put down my pizza, instantly losing my appetite. “Why didn’t you tell me that you hate it?”

“It’s okay. You cannot eat that and we have to clear our plates. I’m getting used to the taste and I think my body is immune to it already.” He shrugged once more.

I sat there, dumbstruck. All those years I shove that fungus on his plate he never complained, not even once. He ate them even though he hated them because knowing I wouldn’t and couldn’t eat that crap and my brother would be sad if we didn’t clear our plates. He cared. He cared for my brother and he cared for… me. How could I move on from this idiot if he kept doing little things that always make my heart thumping fast? 

“So, Sungmin,” He said suddenly. Then looked at my pizza, smirking. “If you really like salami pizza, don’t you think my salami tastes best?”

This time, I dashed to the toilet, vomiting.

I was washing my mouth when I saw a familiar figure came out of one of toilet stalls. “This is men’s toilet.” I said, raising my brows at her from the mirror.  

“I know.” She said indifferently.

“Why are you here, then?”

“Do you know what girls do in toilet, Sungmin?” It’s rhetorical, of course; because how in the world I’d be in women’s toilet? Duh. She shook her head and talked with a flat voice. “Talking, caking their faces, talking, and caking their faces again.”

“You’re one of them. Aren’t you supposed to do that, too?”

“Oh, I take care of myself alright.”

If someone looked at the girl in front of me now, they would not think that she was Cho Ahra. The Cho Ahra who had always been in style; never went out of the house without her branded clothes, bag, shoes and her Chihuahua in her arm. Just like the typical girl you’d see in Beverly Hills.

By ‘alright’, she meant like a weirdo. She was dressed in an ugly oversized brown shirt with a black skirt which reached her mid calves. Her hair was in a messy bun. Her face was pale with no makeup and big glasses that almost covering her whole face. Oh, and don’t forget her boots. It’s Wellington boots!

Ahra was Kyuhyun’s sister. We met several times when Kyuhyun and I were dating, and even though we worked in the same building—more precisely the same Agency—we rarely met. She liked to lock herself in her office. She only came out when it’s time to go home.

“Looks like I’m not the only girl here, Sungmin.” She said.

I didn’t understand what she said but when I was about to ask her, I heard the sounds.

It’s the sounds that you’d hear in videos where both the man and the woman faked their moans. But instead of stars’ voices, it’s the voices I recognized. They were talking now and it made me more certain about the pair in this toilet stall. Even though they were panting and their voices were huskier, I could perfectly pin the owner of those voices. I heard it almost every day when she called from the front office to notify me for anyone who wanted to meet Kyuhyun. And for the man’s, I also heard it almost every day because this had been stealing my food and called me fat.

Before I could kick the door, it’s open; revealing the flushed faces of Bora and Hyukjae. They stiffened at first when they found me stood right in front of their stall, but then Hyukjae smirked at me. Bora winked at me then she walked to the sink and did what Ahra had just said by ‘caking’ her face.

“You should try her, man. She has nice and real !” Hyukjae whispered, so it only me who could hear.

I shook my head and laughed. “You’re maniac. Is there any girl in this office you haven’t showed your yet?”

“ fiends!” Ahra yelled.

Hyukjae looked up and stared at Ahra. I couldn’t put a finger on the way Hyukjae looked at Ahra. It’s like it was the first time he saw her. But there’s more of it. “There’s one, Sungmin. And she’s here.” Then he left the toilet. .

I saw Ahra’s face changed, it turned red but it’s definitely not blushing. It’s anger. He stared daggers at Hyukjae’s retreating back. And I swear I could hear something cracked. A moment later, I knew what it was. Ahra’s was gripping her glasses and now the poor glasses were broken into two.

“Of course you’re the one. Who in the world want to you, honestly?” Bora wrinkled her nose. “I mean, look at you! You don’t even know how to dress. And I bet Sungmin doesn’t want to do you either. Am I right, Sungmin?”

Ahra shot me a look. Why did I need to be dragged in this situation? Jesus, girls and their mouths. Because I didn’t want to encourage Bora and didn’t want to say anything that made Ahra more upset, I left the toilet.

“Sungmin, wake up!!” I jolted awake at the sudden voice. “We need to call the police now!”

“What? What’s wrong? What time is it?”

“Now is eight thirty. Bora’s dead, Sungmin. We need the police now!” This made my eyes wide open. What? Bora’s dead? But how? Wasn’t she in the toilet few hours ago? “! Why the the phone is not working at this time? Try your cell.”

I fumbled for my phone in my pocket. “! No signal!”

“Mine’s too.” Kyuhyun said, frustrated. “Come on, we need to inform the security on the first floor.” He started running out of his room.

I followed him suit. “Why don’t we use the landline?”

“It’s not working either.” We’re running toward the elevator. “Goddamn it!”

The elevator also wasn’t working.

. What’s happening here? We then ran taking the stairs three at the same time. This running would burn my pizza instantly. I was slightly happy thinking about that. When we reached the first floor, we lost our breaths. It was from the running partly, but mostly it was because the sight right before our eyes.

There, lying on the floor were the two guards. The blood pooled around them, it’s coming from the slits on their necks. And what caught my breath next was the big chains on the entrance door and the addition of the biggest padlock I had ever seen.

“We’re doomed, Kyuhyun!”