Wendy lunged at me, kitchen knife in hand. My eyes bulged, I closed the basment door and managed to dodge the attack. Her knife was stuck on the basement door, so it bought me some time to scamper away. I ran to the stables, then I could hear her coming after me. I looked around for some weapon, and took a plank of wood lying around. 

Then Wendy ambushed me out of nowhere, her knife almost stabbing me if I hadn't blocked it with the plank. She was screaming bloody murder, and to my surprise she was still wearing her day clothes and her hair was dishevelled. I fell to the ground, and she was on top me which gave her the advantage. 

" Wendy ! Stop, it's me Irene ! " I tried reasoning with her.

" You're no friend of mine ! " she yelled. 

" G-Get off me ! " and I kicked her away. I panted for a minute, before escaping her grasp. I ran and ran and ran, until I was near the castle's back door. It was open, but Wendy was gaining on me. I was pushing the door open when she threw the knife at me, and it hit the door but barely missed my hand. 

I swept around, dread pouring over me. " Wendy....N-No.....don't do this-"

" -die ! " she screamed as she was behind me when I crawled into the castle. My heart was beating hard, out of anxiety and horror. 

" HELP !!! " I screamed as loud as I could. " Please, anyone !!!! ". Now we were close to the staircase.

She attacked me again, this time sending both of us on the floor. She raised her knife, but I blocked it with my arm, giving it a bloody gash. I didn't care about the gash, I was clining onto dear life. In the midst of everything, someone finally heard my cry for help.

It all happened really fast, the guards dragging Wendy away. Her kicks and screams violently present, but well away from me. To my relief, Ji Na and Yeri were the ones that pulled me up. They steadied me on my feet, " Miss Irene, are you alright ? " Yeri asked.

Ji Na looked in horror, " Of course she's not ! Oh dear god, she's bleeding to death ! "

" Nono, I'm fine. It's just a little gash. " I ignored their concern as I saw the crowd of people there and now. All the girls were there, gasping in shock. Even Kyungsoo and Junmyeon were at the scene. Junmyeon walked over to me, and looked at me with concern. 

" Are you alright ? " he asked attentively. " That looks serious, you might not want to get an infection. "

" Don't worry about me, we need to save Jiyeon. She's tied up in the basement next to the stables, I think Wendy did that to her. " I told them urgently.

So we all went to the basement, and found Jiyeon tied up like before. The guards went in, brought her out and untied her. She panted in relief, " Oh my goodness, you saved me ! "

" Are you okay ? " Junmyeon asked her, with equal amount of concern like before.

She nodded, a stream of tears just pouring down. " Oh Junmyeon ! You had no idea how much I suffered, Wendy's crazy, that's what she is ! She just abducted me for no reason ! "

Seulgi glared at her, " Well, it'd be doing us a favor..." she muttered.

Jiyeon gasped in dismay, " How barbaric ! She wanted to skin me alive, like a cannibal ! You want proof ? " and she pulled up her sleeve, with solemn gashes from something sharp. " See this ? She tried to butcher me for supper ! She practically made a kitchen out of this forsaken place ! " and then she looked at me with grateful eyes. " Thank goodness you showed up, Irene. Or I would've been dead ! "

" Your welcome. " I said awkwardly. We all headed back to the castle, when Junmyeon ran up to me in worry.

I nodded, " I'm fine, I just need to get patched up. " then I looked over at Wendy, who was shrieking like a madwoman. " What are you going to do with her ? "

Junmyeon glanced at Wendy for a second and shook his head. " That'll be the authorities' decision, this isn't something I can control, Irene. "

Then Kyungsoo came around, " She'll be sent to the authorities for interogation. Now this is settled, I say we best get a good night's rest, we have a lot of explaining to do in the morning to the media outlets. And you should get that cut bandaged, Irene. You'll be the one in the spotlight tomorrow. "

" I think she's sick, Wendy's not right in the mind right now. " I pleaded. " Don't make this any more hard for her. "

Kyungsoo stepped in and sighed, " That will be decided tomorrow after investigation, Irene. "

The next few days were complete misery, to me at least. We had interviews about the incident, if we were close with Wendy. Seulgi couldn't take it and already broke down crying halfway through the interview, which made tabloids spread even more rumors and conspiracies. There was one article that assumed Seulgi and Wendy had teamed up to eliminate all the rest one by one, only the planned failed. 

I threw that article straight into the fireplace to burn.

Then I had interrogation the next few days, both by medie outlets and the authorities. Jiyeon made herself look like she was the damsel in distress, who got abducted after Wendy lied to her saying Junmyeon was waiting for at the stables one fateful night for a date. She got tied up and was thrown into the basement for two whole days, without water or food. Then came this issue where Hyosung wanted to forfeit and leave the competition since she couldn't get over how violent this competition would be. So she left two days afterwards, so there were eight of us left.

I tried to avoid saying anything bad about Wendy, but it was hard since she was the very person who tried to kill me. I told them how different she was acting just a few weeks ago, how she would forget things from time to time and then wrongly assume others. Still, I didn't think I should reveal too much, considering I didn't trust something run by the Governor who told me to stay away from this Selection. But I also wanted to help Wendy...

When my interrogation was over, I went to see Wendy's interrogation to compare our words. So I stood behind the one way mirror as the authorities asked her questions. She said she wanted to enter the Selection because Seulgi always was better than her at everything, and she only remembered Seulgi because she used to pick on her in grade school.

As for Jiyeon, she hated her because she tried to get her out of the Selection by betrayal. And she wanted to kill me because I found out about her secret, and she told them I was a traitor, and I wasn't playing it fair. 

" She's lying ! She's lying I tell you ! " she yelled at them as she stood up and slammed her fists on the table. " She's from Outside ! She's not one of us ! "

Dread filled me, I didn't expect Wendy to say something like that. I didn't understand how she could know about that, and it was a relief no one took her words seriously since she was practically insane. 

" Are you sure she didn't hit her head or something ? " one of the authorities asked me. " Or taken any drugs or medication ? "

I shook my head, " No, she was fine until a few weeks ago. She wasn't ill. "

And he smirked, " Well I bet she is now, as crazy as a mouse trapped in a teacup. "

Moreover, I knew the one who felt most uncomfortable at this time was Seulgi. She was the one who faced the most critisms, the one tabloids kept pestering for news, the one people would talk behind their backs because they believe the outrageuos rumors. 

She was the one who lost her best friend.

I found her sitting on top of the steps leading to the fountain somewhere near the courtyard one night, so I went and sat by her. She wasn't crying, but I could see the fresh tears on her face that were drying up. The only thing I did was stay silent, and I wrapped my arms around her and I hugged her solemnly. And she didn't comment, or maybe she was holding back tears.

" I'm sorry, Seulgi. " I said as I leaned myself against her shoulder. " I'm so sorry any of this happened. "

She sniffled, " It's not your fault, no one wanted this to happen to Wendy. I guess she just snapped, you know ? Now I'm starting to wonder if all this competing was really worth it ? If it costed my best friend, I'd rather not enter and kept on with my job..."

" Oh, Seulgi..." I whispered. " Come to think of it, I never asked about what you were doing before the Selection. "

" I was running a performing arts studio with Wendy and a few other friends. She taught music and I taught dance, a few others taught pottery and painting and stuff. Then the Selection was announced and most of agreed to participate together so the studio was taken down. " 

" You must miss those times, huh ? Being free and without worry ? " I asked her in the midst. 

She nodded, " A lot, Irene. And I'm not even sure I'll get to see Wendy ever again, that is, if she still wants to see me. God, what happened to her ? "

" I don't know, Seulgi. " I sighed. " I don't know. "

After our little get together, we parted ways and left for our rooms. I walked back into my room and was about to lock my door when I saw Jiyeon exiting hers, so I creaked it open a little just to get a sight of where she was going. She was still in her fancy dress, but now she was wearing matching flats rather than her go-to heels. She looked around before continuing her way.

She definitely was up to something, so I did the best option to follow her. 

She went all the way downstairs to the dungeons, constantly looking behind to see if anyone was following her. But I was quick, so she didn't spot me at all. She took a turn, and stopped at a hallway lit with torches. I hid behind a pillar as I heard someone else talking to her.

" So, it's safe to say my plan worked ? " Kyunsoo said proudly.

Jiyeon scoffed, " I'm sorry, I didn't hear you cleary. Repeat it again. "

He smirked, " Our.  Our plan worked. Happy ? "

" Well, yes with a few cuts and bruises along the way. " 

" On your behalf, I'm quite impressed with the measures you take to accomplish something. " he said. " I'm sincere here, how's your cut ' Wendy ' pulled on you ? "

" As long it doesn't cost me a permanent scar..." she answered. " It took me long enough to think before butchering myself with a knife, this is all because I agreed to your so-called plan. "

" Well, you have to act the role don't you ? At least our plan worked, and now we have seven left to get rid of. You really need to thank me for using the Amnesiac serum to our advantage, with me inserting those false memories into Wendy Son. "

Then Jiyeon laughed humorlessly, " Technically, you only bribed the lab assistants to manipulate those memories into something else that I requested. And I was the one that fed her the serum, I did most of the work. "

" Speaking of it, how did you make her drink the serum ? "

Then she smirked, " Bribed one of the maids to serve her food and drinks that I have slipped the serum in, then she had a cold and I kindly whipped her a batch of my home made honey tea, with the rest of the Amnesiac serum for her to drink, safe to say that was our lucky chance. "

Kyungsoo crept into a sly smile, " Park Jiyeon, you are a sneaky one.And you even thought about making Wendy sabotage all the other girls rather than doing all the dirty work yourself. The Governor taught you well. "

Jiyeon nodded, " I don't know what ' plans ' you have with my father, but he said it's safe to trust you. He did admit you were the better thinker than Junmyeon, always the one with the plans that usually worked.  Don't worry, he didn't slip anything to me. Your so-called plan is safe from me. "

" Does that me more attractive ? "

" Hmph ! Which is why I still prefer Junmyeon, he won't have that cunning mind of yours to maul someone else behind my back when we're married. As for you, I'm not sure any marriage with you would last long. "

" Easy on the sarcasm, Jiyeon. " he joked coldy. 

Then suddenly, many footsteps came closing in. Kyngsoo and Jiyeon changed anxious looks at each other, " What was that ? " Jiyeon demanded.

" Oh prick ! " he spat. " Someone must have escaped prison and the guards are searching. Come on, we need to leave ! " and they left the scene immediately.

And now I was in trouble and stranded in a castle dungeon I wasn't familiar with, and if the guard found me, I'd have a lot to explain. So I explored the dungeons, checking every turn for guards. And I was running and running until-

" Oof ! " I groaned as I crashed into someone. " Ow..." 

It was a man, who didn't look like someone from around here. He looked caucasian, and not a day over thirty. He wore some sort of uniform, prisoner clothes. He looked at me as he panted in fear. " Please, save me. " he pleaded.

I was speechless, and he grabbed for my hand. " Please, just this once. The guards are coming, I can guide you out. "

I didn't have a choice, " Ugh, okay. Lead the way ! "

And we ran for our lives.