Jieun woke up with one of the worst headaches she had ever faced. Her head throbbed as a sharp pain inflicted itself behind her neck, causing her to freeze up for a few minutes before she felt her nerves tingling again. She reached over to the side of her head, only for her fingers to graze against the wide cut that oozed with blood. She tried to open her eyes, but her vision would overlap each other and become a blur.

"Ugh…"

This time, she widened her eyes as big as possible and looked up from the ground. She gasped when she saw Mino sitting across from her, slowly waking up. She took a minute to look around, and realized that she was stuck in a well. Memories flashed inside her head as she recalled the terrible fall and how she had out. She groaned and looked down at her watch. Now, the watch was completely broken.

"Damn," Mino began to mutter. His voice was dry, and Jieun reached over to her bag to offer him a bottle of water. He took it, not knowing who he was taking it from. He tried to twist the cap, but his strength had strangely diminished. "Can you op—" He widened his eyes and threw the bottle in front of him. "What the—Jieun?"

Jieun could only give him a fake smile. "Disappointed?"

Mino stopped himself and tracked back to his memories. Then, he snapped his fingers and glared at her, pointing at her as if he was accusing her of committing a crime.

"This is all your fault!" he declared.

"What?" Jieun scowled. "How is this my fault? If I remember correctly, I was alone when I fell inside!"

"Yeah, and guess who came to try to save you?" Mino pointed at himself with pride. "That's right, it was me!"

"Well, look around you, Superman! Guess what? You didn't save anyone from the fall," she pointed out, rolling her eyes. She gasped in pain and put her hand over her wound. "Besides, this wouldn't have happened if you and your friends fooled around and left the group."

"Did we ask you to come along?" Mino asked, crossing his arms. Jieun remained silent, causing Mino to smirk. "See? You went and followed us by choice."

"I went and followed you because it was my responsibility as the group leader," Jieun argued. She sighed and looked up. "Forget it. You know what? We need to figure out a way out of here. Can you climb?"

Mino tried to get up, but he quickly collapsed back down. "Forget it. This is a smooth wall. There's no way we can climb."

"Well we got to think of something," Jieun said. She turned around and tapped against the stone. "I'm pretty sure there should be a rope or something…"

"Jieun, this well is empty. Look." He grabbed a handful of dirt and dust in his hand from the ground. "See?"

"But look up," Jieun said, gesturing her chin over to the higher parts of the well. Mino did as he was instructed to do, and noticed rich green leaves wrapping itself across the wall. The stem of the leaves was thick and sturdy, pointing out that if cut, it could be used as a rope.

"It's like a vine." Mino realized the situation the two were in. "So you want to use the plant to climb out of here?"

"Exactly. I just need to figure out a way to climb a bit to cut the rope." She pulled out a pocket knife from her bag. "I can cut it and the two of us can climb out of here."

Mino gazed upon the leaves. "I think if I lift you up, you might be able to reach it. You're short, but it seems short enough."

Jieun scoffed. "Are you underestimating me? I got first place in the physical exam, remember?"

Mino turned beet red as he remembered the shameful incident of letting a girl beat him in athletics. Sure, she was able to beat him in intelligence. He thought that if it came to sports, he would end up doing better because of the different athletic abilities men and women had. However, the day when it came to test fitness, Jieun was able to beat him in everything. The only thing he could beat her against was his height, and he always used height as his strong point.

"What? Are you saying you're going to jump?" Mino asked. He ended his question with a scoff.

"I don't see the problem. Give me a second the warm up my legs." She slowly got up, stumbled over her feet from the loss of blood, but managed to focus and stood up. Her knees began to buckle like a newborn deer. "One…Two…Thr—"

She collapsed back down, dizzy and feeling faint. Mino couldn't help but laugh at her situation. His laughter was replaced with harsh coughing noises. He quickly reached for Jieun's water bottle and found the strength to twist the cap open. He gulped down the warm liquid, eventually finishing off more than half the bottle.

"Watch," he said, getting up on his feet. "I'll climb up this wall and get the vine."

Jieun ignored him as Mino tried to reach for the vine. She looked at the blood that was dripping all over her hand. Slightly disgusted at the rich red sight, she slathered her own blood against the wall.

I wish there was an easier way for us to get out of here, she thought to herself. The moment she sighed, the well began to shake. Mino gasped and collapsed back on his bottom, clawing against the wall.

"E-Earthquake?" Mino squeaked.

"The stone!" Jieun screamed, looking up. The stone began to sink in and out of the soil, threatening to fall on them. The two clutched their heads with their bare hands, praying for the stones to not fall.

They waited for quite some time, hearing the sharp sound of stones rubbing against each other. Dust clouded up their air, causing them to cough until the earthquake had ended. The two kept quiet until the dust cleared up. Mino was the first one to open his eyes and look around him.

To his surprise, the well had changed shape. It was significantly larger than the well they were once in before. Some stones stuck out of the well, acting like stairways to the top. Jieun finally lifted her eye lids, glancing around her surroundings.

"What did you do?" Jieun croaked out.

"I-I don't know," he stuttered. He looked at her. "Can you get up?"

Jieun nodded and used to wall to support herself. The two got up on their feet, looking at the crooked stairway. Mino looked back, checking to see if Jieun was going to go first. She gave him a look telling him to go forth first. He scowled and slowly climbed up the slipper stone.

"Careful. It's kind of wet," he told her. She only nodded and continued to use the wall as her support.

Every time the two successful walked over a stone, it would disappear behind them, sliding back into the well. The bottom of the well began to narrow down to its original size as the two climbed higher to the surface. When Mino finally reached the top of the well, he jumped over the wall and bent down to help Jieun out of the well. Once the two escaped the hollow hole, the well retracted to its original size and the stairs were gone. The two stared down the well for a long time, then looked around their surroundings.

The first thing the two noticed was the dry patches of grass scattered all over the area. Trees were almost nonexistence—a warm gust of dust clouded any trees in their visions. They were surrounded with stones that all came in different sizes and shapes, representing tombs for different people. It took them a few seconds to realize that they were in a poorly tended graveyard.

"Where are we?" Mino asked her.

"A graveyard," Jieun replied.

"That's obvious. I'm saying that this place is completely different from where we lived. I'm pretty sure these stones used to be trees and the grass used to be there," Mino said. He paled. "Could it be that we were unconscious for several years and this is what happened?"

Jieun rolled her eyes. "Geez, what an imagination you have!"

"Well, I'm sorry that I'm worried, okay?" Mino reached into his pocket for his phone. He frowned as he tapped his phone. "My phone froze up. It's got a crack."

" for you. Come on, let's go," Jieun said. She took a step forward, but stopped when she heard some low grumbling sound behind her. She turned around, but saw no one behind her. She looked in front, looking at Mino's back. "Um, did you hear that?"

"I was pretending not to. You hungry?" he asked. He checked his pockets and pulled out a granola bar. "Want it?"

Jieun shook her head. "No, that wasn't my stomach."

"A fart?"

"Stop trying to be funny," she snapped, glaring at him. 

Mino only chuckled. "Sorry, sorry. It's probably the well. I mean, it was acting a bit funny."

"True," she agreed, nodding her head.

"F…Flesh…"

Shivers traveled up on Jieun's spine. She became deadly pale and stood close to Mino. The two stood still, waiting for another strange sound.

"F…F…Fle…Flesh…"

The sounds of jaws snapping and crunching grass echoed all around them. Low growls made its way to their ears. A strange stench of blood drifted below their noses. It was when Jieun heard the next snapping sound that she lowered her gaze and looked back.

A thin human approached them. It was made out of strings of muscles, all red and sometimes black. It was thin—very thin. Its eyeballs were colored white and popped out of what Jieun thought to be its head. There was no nose or ears—only a pupil-less eye and a long mouth with carnivorous teeth lined up against the gum. It walked towards them in a droopy, tired manner, like they were hungry—no, starving.

"What the hell is that thing?" Mino whispered Jieun, hoping that she would have the answer. His voice only made her shudder as more of the same creatures came and approach them.

"How the hell am I suppose to know? I never seen this before!" She hissed back, feeling a mixture of anger at his stupidity and terror from the creature. "Do something! Run!"

"We're damn surrounded," he pointed out angrily. "Do you think I can do something? The only thoughts coming in is throwing you in there!"

Jieun gaped at him. "Terrible! You're terrible!"

"Well, are you thinking of something?"

"Well, I'm certainly thinking of how both of us can get out of this mess!"

"Can you think faster? These things aren't as slow as you think they are!"

Mino was completely right. Although they looked tired, the two knew that the creatures were taking their time. The two were surrounded on both sides. There was no need for the creatures to lunge towards their prey.

Suddenly, Mino started to walk towards one. Freaking out, Jieun grabbed his shirt and pulled him back. The sharp tug caused her to lose balance as more blood poured down from her open wound. She was about to reach for her head until she realized how dirty her hands were. She didn't want to infect her wound, so she only grabbed onto Mino's shirt tighter.

"Where are you going?" she asked. "What are you doing?"

"What do you mean? That's our class right there," Mino said. Jieun squinted her eyes, noticing that his pupils were a lot smaller than they should be.

"What? I don't see our classmates. I see—" She let out a gasp when she saw her parents in the crowd. "Mom? Dad?"

What the hell is going on? she wondered, squinting harder. I just saw people without flesh walking up to us. How can Mom and Dad be here?

"Hey! There's some officers, too! Maybe they can help us," Mino suggested. He tried to walk, but Jieun grabbed onto his shirt even tighter, forcing him back.

"Stop it! Mino, I don't see what you see," Jieun said. Her breaths became uneven. She couldn't think correctly. When she looked at the crowd, she saw people—people she wanted to see dearly. However, when she was feeling faint, she saw them without flesh and only blood and muscle, like the strange creatures she saw a moment ago. Tears began to form in her eyes as she felt her pulse pumping throughout her entire body.

Help. Someone. Help. Please. She closed her eyes and begged. Help. Someone. Monsters. People. Flesh? Help. Help. Help. Help. He—

The faint scent of burning cinnamon and clovers wafted in the air. She watched the creatures in the back fall and let out a shriek of horror. Flames ignited in the back—pure white flames. The fire only grew bigger and came closer to the monsters. It feasted upon the dying fiend, dissolving it until the color of dull red dissolved into the fire.

Hell. That was the only word Jieun was able to think of. Her heart stopped racing and was being calmed at the sight of the fire. Beautiful hell.

"So I was right. There were people."

Jieun whirled around, seeing the white flame also burn up the creatures behind them. In front of the flames, she saw a boy of her age walking towards her. His hair looked like the color of cinnamon: a gentle brown color that seemed more rough than smooth. He held up a keen gaze, but for some reason, she felt relieved. His navy-colored coat was old and torn while the black shirt and pants seemed to be in better condition.

He seemed friendly, but Jieun sensed something odd about him. It was like she knew him, but she didn't. He was definitely someone she had met, but who?

"What just happened?" Mino mumbled. Jieun looked back at him and saw his pupil return to normal. She sighed in relief.

"Burned these ghouls up for you," the stranger said. He took a pair of black gloves from his pocket and slipped it on. "They were luring you into an illusion. They lure you towards them and kill you in order to feed on your flesh. Skin is what they love to eat."

"That's disgusting," Jieun muttered coldly.

"Yep. One of my teammates just got lured into one. I told her to snap out of it, but sometimes emotions get in the way. She got pretty emotional and ended up being caught. I don't know if she escaped or not," he said.

The sense of comfort quickly disappeared as Jieun scowled at his words. "That's even more disgusting."

"What is?" he asked innocently.

"The fact that you abandoned your friend," she explained. "This is why having people close to you like this are disgusting. They end up betraying you in the end."

The man narrowed his eyes. "Don't judge me when you haven't heard the entire story. She's the one who tried to kill me first. She said that she found a way out and led me into the graveyard. I know this graveyard so I just ended up using her as a sacrifice."

"Um," Mino quickly interrupted, stepping in front of Jieun, "if you mind, can you tell us where we are?"

"Certainly," the man said, nodding his head. "You're at the grave yard, and you better find the way out. Ghouls live around this area. When you find the gate, you'll be safe. Ghouls don't leave the graveyard."

"Do you happen to know the way out?" Mino inquired politely.

"No, not really," the stranger replied.

Mino studied the man, then pointed at himself. "Well, my name is Song Minho, but call me Mino. I'm a second year in high school. This is Lee Jieun, and she's in the same class as me. We were on a school field trip until we found ourselves stuck in the well."

Jieun dropped her jaws. How could he tell the stranger everything? She was sure that the stranger would care less, or that the stranger could use this information against them.

The man pondered on his thoughts for a moment. He looked at Mino, examining him thoroughly just with a glance. Then, he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Naeun is going to kill me for sure," he muttered to himself. He gave Mino a stern look. "Looks like you know how to get someone to open up to you. Alright. My name is Lee Taemin, and I'm the same age as you. I guess I can show you the way out of here."

"Thank you." Mino smiled and showed him a granola bar. "At the end, when we do get out, I'll give you this."

Taemin stared at the item, then nodded his head. "Deal. Let's go."

He walked pass the two, heading towards a certain direction. Mino helped Jieun get back on her feet and the two began to follow the leader. As the two walked in silence—with their eyes alert for more ghouls—Jieun tugged on Mino's shirt. Mino raised an eyebrow, showing her that he was listening.

"How'd you get him to do that?" Jieun asked softly.

"Do what?"

"Tell you his name and how to get out of here?"

"Couldn't you tell? He wanted information about us. He wasn't going to let some stranger take advantage of him. Besides, weren't you listening? One of his 'friends' dragged him along in here. He was suspecting us. We could've been people related to his former friend," Mino explained. "He was checking to see if we were going to kill him after taking advantage of his kindness."

"Okay, but what about the granola bar?" she questioned him. "It could be poisoned."

"He doesn't want the granola bar," Mino said. "I just added it in there. It's just a sign that I want to be friendly with him. Besides, since I'm not forcing him to eat it in front of me, he could just throw it away later."

Jieun clicked her tongue. She was kind of glad that she had Mino besides her. He knew how to be social around others, and it was a skill Jieun didn't have. If she had to deal anything with strangers, she knew that she would just have to push Mino in front of her and let him do all the talking. If she was the one talking, she knew that she would mess it up.

"And we're here," Taemin announced.

The two looked up from their conversation and noticed a badly wired gate. The doors to the gates were swung wide open, inviting anyone in and out of the graveyard. The two gave Taemin a suspicious stare.

"Like I said, ghouls can't come outside," he assured them, sighing.

"Is he telling the truth?" Jieun asked Mino.

"Probably. He's tired, so I doubt he's going to lie," Mino replied.

"Good. That's all we need." She stepped out of the gate, along with the two other boys. She stopped and gasped when she some loud noises from the graveyard. "You said that ghouls don't come out of there!"

"Ah. Zombies," Taemin quickly mentioned. "I totally forgot about them. After you kill a ghoul, you wait for it to decompose a bit before it turns to a zombie. It's a thirty-percent chance, though. Looks like some of the ghouls I burned turned into zombies."

"Do they get out of the graveyard?" Mino asked, clenching his teeth.

"Of course." Taemin frowned at them. "Are you two new around here?"

A loud rumbling sound came from the side. Two beams of light shined from the east, where a dark forest loomed over the shadows. From the forest, a two-seated mortocycle and another motorcycle with a side car appeared. The two vehicles stopped right in front of them. The two people who were on the motorcycle took of their helmet, but left the engine on.

Mino and Jieun felt their hearts skip a beat at the sight of the new strangers. They were extremely handsome and beautiful. The two were sure that these two worked as models at least once in their lifetime. 

"Hey Taemin!" the attractive man (he looked a bit older than Taemin) greeted. He looked at Mino and Jieun. "Who're they? What happened to Hyeri?"

"Ghouls ate her. She tried to kill me," Taemin said shortly. "These two were found in the graveyard."

"We're not inviting her, right?" the alluring girl asked, giving Jieun a judgmental look. "She's bleeding all over the place."

She wasn't wrong. By now, a part of Jieun's shirt was doused with red. She could only look down at her shirt with shame as she led the blood drool down her wound. She was amazed at how capable she was to withstand the loss of blood. She was sure that any normal girl would've fainted or passed out already.

"I never gave them an invitation," Taemin said.

"Are they trustable?" the boy asked.

"Seems so," responded Taemin.

"But we have no room," the girl pointed out. If Taemin was getting on the motorcycle, then there would only be one seat remaining. The three began to argue, wondering if they should let Mino and Jieun join in or leave them alone to run.

Jieun turned around, and widened her eyes when she saw a small figure of zombies coming from the graveyard. She reached over and frantically tugged on Mino's shirt.

"Coming," she said. "It's coming!"

Mino, who also began to notice, bit his bottom lip and looked at the crew. "Okay, can we stop fighting now and take off? We just need a temporary group right now."

"And by taking off, let's take off now," Jieun pleaded desperately.

The older boy looked at the two other members. "You know, if we head back, we can go take that motorcycle with two side cars. It'll be a lot more easy to hold our food produce if these two decide not to join."

The girl groaned. "But we just escaped escape that revenant. It was so hard!"

"True. Chances are, if we go back, we're going to encounter that revenant," Taemin agreed, nodding his head.

"Please! We beg of you!" Jieun cried out, seeing the zombies approach them closer.

"Alright, let's do this!" the boy declared. He patted the seat behind him. "Naeun, get on here."

Naeun stared. "Why do I have to go and ride with you, Myungsoo?"

"Cause you grab on to me better than Taemin," Myungsoo quickly explained. "Put that girl in the side car." He looked at Mino. "You don't mind riding with Taemin, right? He's skinny and looks light, but you can squeeze him as tight as you want."

"Wait, so I ride behind Taemin?" Mino asked. "I'd rather sit in the side—"

"Who the hell cares!" Jieun shouted. She jumped into the side car. "Hurry up! Go, go, go!"

Naeun groaned and got off the motorcycle and walked over to Myungsoo's side. The rest got into position, taking their respective spots. Taemin quickly wore his helmet, and watched the other motorcycle take the lead.

"Sorry, we got no spare helmets, so just hold on tight," Taemin said in a muffled tone. The vehicle roared, and the two motorcycles headed its way back into the east.

Jieun, who was finally losing unconscious, began to close her eyes as the sound of the engine resonated in her ears until she could only remember darkness and silence.