Hyemi stepped down the stairs in her dorm, mind reeling through the multitude of options she had to sort through. To start, she was making her way to the games room above the dining hall. Having truly gotten stuck at school during break, she took to the university’s forums and asked around at who else was bored with nothing to do. All of her friends had already made plans that she couldn’t squirm herself into this late, so staying alone in her room as everyone else went off was something she came to terms with. After spending her Saturday messaging people back and forth, she was able to pull together a small group willing to meet up and hang out in the games room today, Sunday.

    As for the heavier thing looming on her mind, Seunghyun, she was still clouded. They talked a bit more Friday night, and he didn’t end up getting to leave until late Saturday night. It was now around noon, so he had landed just a few hours ago. The man, ever since they started talking, had offered her many things. Gifts, money, opportunities, all at the price of something Hyemi wasn’t ready to do. But now, he was starting to get in her head and it was a bit scary.

    He said after he finished his meetings in the city, he’d come up state and bring her back to Korea with him for the week. The man said she could come over and intern for his company anytime she pleased, which didn’t quite add up to her. She was just a freshman who studied psychology of all things.

This first year her courses were all basic requirements such as math, history, english, that she needed to get out of the way. She only took a few courses towards her major, but even that didn’t excite her too much. Hyemi had just picked that to study because she really enjoyed conspiracy theories and thought psychology was the closest thing to that, wanting to be able to understand the mental motives behind the thinking involved in these possible acts and events. Nonetheless, his offer was actually sounding more and more appealing. She hadn’t ever met him before, but she trusted him quite a lot, which made her even more nervous.

Hyemi tugged on her thin drawstring bag she decided to bring, full of random things that could be of use at the meet-up, along with her wallet, her keys tossed in and her phone put in as well, not trusting the short pockets in her skin tight jeans in being able to hold the device.

The girl walked passed the parking lot in front of her building, admiring the structures around campus. The dorms stood near the back of the property, forcing residents to walk around several buildings to get to classes. The games room was in the center of campus, so Hyemi still had a bit of travel to do. The girl craned her head up to get a good glance at the cupola roof on top of the Bursar’s office when she noticed peculiar vehicles driving past. They weren’t on campus, but on the side road just outside the property that one would only travel on to go around the university. She squinted in thought, but decided maybe it was maybe just some rich kids coming in to check out the college. When it came to well-off students, their parents could be kind of intense about their education, so some stubborn parents forcing their children to check out schools during break didn't seem too off.

Walking past the blooming trees and over the greening grass, Hyemi made it to the front of the building. As she opened the door, she noticed two kids her age walking up the sidewalk. She paused at the entrance, waiting until they came near to open it, wondering if they were part of the group she’d be meeting.

As they came closer into view, Hyemi felt a bubble of confusion rise. She thought she knew all of the Asian kids here? Maybe they were new, or they could have came in those cars and wanted to check out the campus. It was a boy and girl, the male being a foot taller than the female. The girl was pretty, like traditional korean pretty. She had dark black hair, the bangs pulled back into a braid that fell down the side of her face matched with a pastel casual dress. It still felt a bit nippy out, but maybe Hyemi was being a baby and others took the mild weather as a bit more inviting.

The boy had a blank expression, as if he didn’t care to be here yet didn’t mind it either. He had on a black hoodie with basketball shorts, his dark hair lying flat on his head. The two seemed to be in a bit of a conversation until they spotted Hyemi in front of them. She smiled until they came into earshot.

“Hey, you guys here to play Mafia?” she asked, referring to the main game she was excited to play, it being one of her childhood favorites. The girl blinked at her before giving a forced smile and the boy held a grin that Hyemi felt had more significance than she understood.

“Yeah,” the boy said, holding the door open so Hyemi and the girl could go in first.

“I’m Hyemi, by the way. Are you two new? I’ve never seen you before. I’m a freshman though so maybe I just don’t know everyone,” she started rambling, the nerves of the day making her already talkative self get a bit awkward. She turned to look at the girl who seemed a bit taken aback that Hyemi spoke so much to her. They turned down the hall and towards the staircase, Hyemi unintentionally leading the way.

“I’m Joohyun, are you Korean?” the girl asked in a thick accent. Hyemi’s eyes widened feeling a bit shocked. She paused on the first step, the others now beside her, waiting for her to go up before them.

“Uh, yeah, I am,” Hyemi responded in Korean, making Joohyun’s expression twist from confused to calm. The boy behind them laughed and the girl finally remembered to start walking.

“I’m Park Chanyeol. Today’s gonna be fun, huh?” the boy said, and Hyemi wondered if this was how teens in her family’s country talked. It felt kind of stiff and weird,  but she knew that students over there were really stressed when it came to academics. She pushed past the weird vibes and decided to just treat them as any other friends.

“Of course. It that we all got stuck here for break, but at least we have something to do.”

They made it to the third floor and Hyemi walked through the hall, turning when needed and making way to the room. Joohyun and Chanyeol seemed to be taking their sweet time, already a few paces behind the girl. She turned back to check on them, only to be met with Chanyeol giving her a nod, which made her feel a bit more at ease. She was still curious as to what was really going on though.

Upon entering the room, she was met with a group of various students already circled up in metal foldable chairs. One person stood at the lectern in front of the room. A couple extra chairs leaned against the far wall, so Hyemi felt comfortable that she was able to still join in. She started on time but got caught up in messaging Seunghyun and then finding the two Korean kids.

“Nice, we were just about to start,” the blonde boy behind the stand said. Hyemi walked across the room to grab a chair, Chanyeol and Joohyun finally coming in behind her. The girl turned around, chair in hand to see the boy handing them playing cards, telling them their roles in the game. She walked over to him and received one as well, putting it in her pocket as she needed both hands to carry the chair.

Once everyone was settled, Hyemi checked her card, excited that it read Mafia. This role was the most manipulative, and the most fun in her opinion. They were practically the game makers, getting to choose who lives and who dies, working with a select other few in sending coy looks and quick glances at one another so as to not get caught by the civilians. The girl sat and looked around at everyone else, vaguely recognizing them but still taking time to cycle through and ask everyone’s name so she knew what to call them as they played. What caught her eye, was the boy and girl who decided to sit on either side of her.

When they came in, the circle was already formed, so everyone had to scoot back a bit to create room for three new chairs to fit in. Hyemi put her chair right in the middle, so it was kind of her own doing to sit between the two new people. The girl kept her bag on her back, partially not trusting the strangers from years of bad experience having lived in one of the shadiest cities, and also because it was so light that it wasn’t too noticeable. She looked down at the floor as Kyle, the blonde boy who played the narrator, called the town to sleep. The girl closed her eyes, but kept small slits open, of course looking down at the floor as she was a good sport and wouldn’t cheat.

The thing that struck a nerve in her was as she looked down, Chanyeol extended his legs out, revealing a small dragon tattoo on the back of his kneecap. It was on the left knee, the one closest to her seeing as he was seated to her right, and it looked very intricate. It looked too intricate for the design to be a random pattern a college kid picked out because “it looked cool.” Dragons were more of a Chinese thing she thought. Well, maybe he was into the culture? Hyemi didn’t know why the image filled her with such a sense of dread. She also didn’t know why her instincts told her to look over at Joohyun’s legs as well. What put Hyemi on red alert was that Joohyun’s left leg, tucked under right, also bore the dragon tattoo.

“Mafia, please wake up.”

Hyemi lifted her head, careful of her breathing for several reasons.

“Please acknowledge each other.”

The girl looked to her left, seeing Joohyun grin at her, then to her right, seeing Chanyeol smirk as well. The group only had about seven other kids beside them playing, so maybe Kyle choose to only have one mafia as he waited for Hyemi to show up, then decided to have all three of the late attendees be bad guys. Seems fair.

But for some reason, it made Hyemi’s throat go dry.

“Okay, now please agree on one pe