59 REMAINING

"My god..." in a big and unknown dark room, the first boy opened his eyes with a groan. "I have such a huge headache it's like I drank last night..." That boy was Kim Taemin (#34), who carefully stood up in the pitch dark room. The boy knew that it was fishy, firstly, he wasn't lying on his bed, and he couldn't have fallen out, because he would've been awake if he ever did. And secondly, the smell. It was an unfamiliar smell. It wasn't a mix of real young man sweat, dirty underwear and air freshener of the trainees who desperately tried to cover it up, but it was a horrid, unfamiliar smell. Taemin never smelled it before, but he never wanted to smell it again either. The boy sniffed a few times, trying to identify the filthy odor, but he just couldn't connect it to anything, so the boy just looked around aimlessly, even though he barely couldn't see anything, except for a dim light coming from one side, it must be the outer wall, because the boy spotted two windows. In the dim light of what must be the start of the rising sun, he could see a bunch of trees. They were in a building, in the middle of a forest, and by the smell, Taemin thought that it was abandoned. Just what was he doing there... And he was certainly not alone, because except for his own heart beating and his nervous breathing, the boy could hear various other breaths, slow paced and calm. More sleeping people. Were they the other trainees? Maybe some strangers? Maybe... bad people! No matter how much he thought, the boy always found a factor that terrified him, and on top of that, he was lost in that darkness that seemed endless. "H-Hello...?" the boy murmured silently, his voice already trembling like crazy.

"Yes, #34?"

As Taemin let out a loud shriek from the shock, all the lights were suddenly flicked on. The boy was in the exact middle of a huge room, which except for a small and worn out desk, was completely empty. Well, not exactly empty, because the floor was filled with a doggy pile of 58 young men. Behind the desk, there was... "PD-nim!" Taemin gasped, still not able to get a grip of the circumstances as he covered his mouth, "What's going on! Why are we here?" The PD showed his usual evil chuckle as the staff that were standing next to him readied their guns. "Don't ask too many questions, 34, or you'll go down before it even starts... We'll explain everything later, so just stay calm and let's just wait for the rest to wake up, okay? Look, because of your loudness, a lot of them are waking up." It made Taemin look around, and indeed, a lot of them had woken up, and they were all just as puzzled as him, except for Park Jihoon (#02), who was just too sleepy to notice that something was off. "Good morning..." the boy groaned in an adorable way as he stretched his arms, scrunching up his nose. "Jihoonie..." the one who was next to him, Ha Sungwoon (#11) sighed as he tried to fix the other's extremely messy hair. "Don't you notice that something's very odd?" the boy whimpered, still extremely sleepy himself. It made the younger look around, and once he noticed the men with the guns, he squeaked before hiding behind Sungwoon's back as they were still sitting on the cold floor. Many of the others had stood up, with back aches from sleeping on the floor, but no one cared about that, because they were all worried about what was going on. While RBW trainees Gunhee (#23) and Hwanwoong (#19) were gripping onto each other's shirts, staying as close to each other as possible, the Pledis trainees were separated, trying to comfort other frightened trainees in all corners of the room. As more people woke up, the ruckus also increased, as the trainees grouped together in small cliques to discuss about what was going on. But the PD's voice silenced them all.

"I see that you are all very confused right now, dear trainees..."

"Dear my ," Eunki (#39) silently murmured in the back. "I heard that, #39!" the PD snarled at him, but to his surprise, the boy did not even budge. "Excuse me, PD-nim..." Haknyeon (#55) stepped forward as he raised his hand, like a kid who knew the right answer in elementary school. Before he could ask his question, the PD silenced him, by ordering the staff to point all their guns at the boy. "Questions can be asked later, you punk. Stand back and listen to what I have to say!" While everyone had their eyes rested on him, the Cre.ker trainee admitted his defeat, and calmly stepped back, to stand in between the other trainees again. The PD nodded, statisfied of the boy's behavior before scanning the room, with 59 trainees staring right back at him, 59 dark eyes, some full of curiosity, other full of fright, but surprisingly, there were a few who had eyes full of amusement, those who were excited about what was to come.

"As you can see, we finally moved locations..." the PD broke the silence, and decided to say the most obvious first. "You can also see that you are wearing your old ranking jerseys again... But there's a change to it, take a look." The trainees all looked at their pink, orange, yellow, green or grey shirts, and a lot of them started to mumble to the boys nearby. "Hey, Ong, you have #01 on your shirt!" "What is this? I'm only #56?" "What the heck man, I'm confused..." These were only a few of the words that were heard in the room. The PD let them be for around half a minute, trying to figure out what was going on, before he silenced them all with one single gesture. "As you can see, you're all numbered from 01 to 59. No worries, this is actually random, not according to the votes. Well, it would be pretty impossible anyway, Guanlin dropping like that and such... Wouldn't it?" Some of the trainees nodded in agreement, as the rest just either stared at the PD, the floor or the armed staff, keeping an eye on their actions. "From now on, I will call you by your numbers, so you have to know your own, so you can react immediately, okay?" Before the trainees could take any action, the PD already continued. "#55," he spoke coldly, and Haknyeon immediately stood up straight like a meerkat. "Y-yes... sir?" The PD slowly, but dramatically looked over to the trainee. He sure knew how to be dramatic, maybe that's why he became the new PD. "That was your question, right? Why we were calling you by the numbers?" The Cre.ker boy was so surprised by the PD's ability to see right through him, and he couldn't say a word, so he only nodded, looking down at the concrete floor. The PD chuckled for a moment before continuing. "So, why are you all numbered? Why do you think? Because we're putting this show into a new format. From now on, only one will be the winner, not 11. And it will be a real survival show." The boys started to talk again, wondering what it all was about. "So, PD-nim... Did this show turn into a Battle Royale?" Seongri (#37) wondered out loud, and the PD smiled proudly, giving the smart trainee a nod. "Wait, so we all have to fight to the death untill only one remains?" Daniel's (#50) mouth fell open, as behind him, several trainees bursted into tears. "If this is a camera prank, like that ghost one, it's seriously not funny," Moonbok (#03) dared to gave one of the staff members a glare, and that man immediately aimed his gun towards the ONO trainee, so he immediately retreated, and went to stand somewhere in the back. "It is not a prank, dear trainees. It is all true, and as proof of that, I have someone here, who kept standing up against the idea..." the man took his walkie-talkie and calmly spoke: "Bring the luggage in, and her too." And the door immediately opened. First, two big carts with backpacks and several weapons, and after that, a sight that made all the trainees' jaw drop. Two heavily armed staff members pushed a captured woman into the room, she was struggling, even though she was completely tied up and weakened. It was obvious that she had rebelled, because a small stream of bright red blood was streaming down from her forehead, and her arms were clearly bruised. "Oh my god-" Sungwoon covered his mouth immediately as he widened his eyes in shock, but he wasn't the only one. "N-noona!" Jihoon, who was still hiding behind the other furrowed his brows in concern, because the woman in front of them, weak and drained, was Cheetah. Her eyes got filled with tears when she saw all the boys, mostly frightened and very shocked to see her. The trainer tried to stay strong and swallowed her tears, but she was weak. They had made her weak, to show their power. Cheetah was a trainer who the trainees looked up to a lot, because she was such a strong lady, and seeing her like that right now, it made the boys even more afraid. Cheetah knew what was coming, so she briefly looked at all of her little cubs one last time, untill the cold words of the PD echoed through the dead silent room.

"Kill her."

A single shot made every trainees' ears ring, as Cheetah rapidly grew lifeless, dropping on the ground, blood slowly creeping out of the back of her head. Some of the trainees wanted to scream, but except for the sobs of the crying younger ones, it actually stayed surprisingly silent, just because they were too afraid.

"Just what the was that for?!"

One trainee apparently wasn't that afraid, and stepped forward, first checking on Cheetah's corpse, then standing up boldly, right in front of the PD. "You don't have the ing rights to do that, you crazy ." It was the trainee who also dared to speak up against the PD just a few minutes ago. "Just one step closer..." the PD grunted in a very threatening way, as all the guns were pointed at the boy. "No!" Insoo (#12) reached out dramatically in an attempt to stop his friend, but that trainee didn't even think of stopping. "I still don't believe you, PD... If you really think like that, you're not in your right mind and deserve to..." Eunki ran forward in a swift motion to scream it right into the PD's face, "You deserve to be ing dead!!" But it wasn't the PD who would be killed. No... Not at all. It seemed like a dramatic slow motion scene. While Insoo and Kenta (#33) yelled in despair, several shots overpowered their desperate calls. Eunki slowly fell down on the ground, right next to Cheetah, and managed to roll over with his last powers, looking at his two mates. "He dared to do it... D-don't do the same as m-me..." the boy grunted, his weak voice filled with pain and sadness. "I-I'm sorry... But I d-didn't want to do t-this anyway..." his lips curled into a weak smile as he looked over at the two boys who had fell on their knees, tears streaming down their face. "N-no... Eunki..." Kenta whimpered ever so silently while his eyes were locked on the other's. "Goodbye... K-Kenta... Insoo..." the trainee smiled one last time, before his eyes went all blank, and from the usually warm and fun Eunki, there was only a creepy shell of a body left. Several older trainees made sure that the younger ones didn't have to watch, as Eunki's two best buddies from the show were kneeled down in the middle of the room, mourning their friend, crying bitter tears while they clung onto each other. The PD rolled his eyes. "Done with the cheesiness now? Can we go on? Well, who ing cares. If someone wants to get the same fate as Eunki, you have the chance now, go ahead." No one budged, not even Insoo and Kenta. "Guess you all still have a will to live... great! You'll all get called out one by one, get a bag and a weapon. If you don't respond in time when we call your number, you'll have to go outside without any supplies. Understood?" Most of the trainees gave the PD an obedient nod. The little punks were finally behaving well, and it statisfied the PD an awful lot. "Now let's start..."

"#01!" Seongwoo immediately jogged towards the carts, got his backpack and weapon, and left the room quickly, it was like a breeze passing by, and it got the other trainees worried. Seongwoo could be a lurking danger.

Participant #39: Hong Eunki DEAD

Dear Eunki stans, i'm terribly sorry, but the death order was completely chosen at random. And honestly, the winner was also randomly chosen, and it even surprised me, lmao.