Dongmin couldn't believe it. When the alien slid its tentacle under the table and accidentally pressed a button on the floor, the floor had opened, forcing him and Yoobin to fall inside. The two had slid down a chute until they fell on top of a mountain of shredded paper. It took the two a while, but they finally managed to get back on their feet. 

"Oh god," Dongmin muttered, running his fingers through his jet black hair. "We're going to die! We're going to die!" He started pacing around back and forth. "The aliens are going to kill us! We're going to get caught! A game of stealth? Stealth? Ha! I don't have stealth! We're all going to die!"

Yoobin began to cry as she collapsed on her knees.

"We're all going to die!" she cried out.

The two panicked for a long time, muttering to themselves, trying to cope with the idea of their impending death. The dark room didn't help calm their anxious spirits. They were thoroughly convinced that there was no hope for them, that no one was going to help them, that they were alone.

After a couple of minutes of crying, the two finally calmed down. Yoobin sniffed while Dongmin could finally breathe properly. They stared blankly at the ground, trying to come up with something to say. They both waited for each other to think of a plan, but when they realized that neither had any idea on what to do, they let out a small sigh.

"Do you think Eunha is going to find us?" Dongmin asked.

"I don't think so. She probably would've noticed the secret door. If we were her top concern, then she would've came down for us," Yoobin pointed out.

"Right? Right. That's what I thought," he muttered. He got back on his feet. "She's already breaking our promise. We're not going to get through this. We're on our own." He locked eyes with Yoobin, then groaned. "Why did I have to be stuck with you? Anyone else would've been better!"

Yoobin didn't say anything. She looked down, ashamed. She watched Dongmin walk back and forth, looking around, trying to find a way to escape. His eyes wandered from the top of the ceiling from where they fell to the only door out of the dark room.

"Okay. We shouldn't stay here for a long time," Dongmin said. "We should—"

The doors slammed open. Dongmin widened his eyes and Yoobin gasped when they heard a beastly growl. He kept mouthing to her "We are going to die" while Yoobin grabbed a handful of her hair and began to pull on it. The two looked at each other, wondering if they would have a better chance of survival if they split. When they heard a roar, they both flinched and started hiding behind the mountain of paper scattered in the room. They didn't care how they were going to get out—they just needed to get out.

Dongmin looked to Yoobin for help. Although she was in the middle of panic, she seemed like she was looking for things. Then, she reached inside the piles and began to move her hands, searching for something. Dongmin quickly followed her, reaching into the pile, hoping that something would pop up miraculously.

SCREEEEECH!

The alien screamed, causing both to flinch again. They withdrew their hands from the pile and kept awfully still. They could hear alien stomp closer. Dongmin managed to take a quick peak. It was another bipedal alien, this time with thin lines running from the back of its head. It acted as hair, but it was floating around as if it was floating in space. Unlike the gray monster they saw earlier, this alien was more human-like, with like a human woman. Instead of a face, it had a hard shell covering where the eyes and nose should be. It had a mouth full of small sharp teeth with two large canine tooth sticking out of its mouth. The blue alien walked around with its thin legs and doe-like hooves. This particular alien had a bloody axe in one hand and a dagger knife in the other. The alien's veins were visible, revealing its slow pulse. 

It opened its mouth again, letting out a horrendous shriek. Dongmin and Yoobin had to cover their ears to prevent themselves from becoming deaf. The alien walked around carefully, watching for any hidden movements. Then, it randomly swung its axe against a pile of paper, slicing it perfectly in half. Dongmin and Yoobin could hear the sharp swish! coming from the axe loud and clear. They trembled, unsure of what to do.

Dongmin eyed at Yoobin. Yoobin gulped hard. She was already starting to sweat. Dongmin looked at himself. His skin was pale and drops of cold sweat was forming on his forehead. He quickly wiped the body fluid and looked back at Yoobin, who stood still for a second. Then, she bolted to the next mountain pile. Dongmin tried to grab her, shocked to see that she had abandoned him. Yoobin searched through the pile and pulled out a few items: a few medical supplies and an alien blaster.

Nice! Dongmin thought. Yoobin quickly placed the medical items in her bag and turned to him. She widened her eyes. She motioned him to duck. He did, confused. His confusion disappeared in seconds when he felt a cold breeze swipe through above his hair. The top half of the pile collapsed. Dongmin shrunk himself, trying to keep calm. Yoobin's hands trembled as she silently pointed the blaster at the alien, who was inching closer to Dongmin… closer… and closer—

Ding… Ding… Ding…

"Escape Pod #4 has been launched. Only three more Escape Pods are left. A total of 34 players are in this game. Maximum of 18 players may depart for this round. Repeat: Escape Pod #4 has been launched. Only three more Escape Pods are left. A total of 34 players are in this game. Maximum of 18 players may depart for this round."

The blue monster growled and looked up at the ceiling. Then, letting out another horrendous screech, it started to run away, heading towards the exit, abandoning the room.

Once the alien was gone, Dongmin let out a sigh of relief. He placed is hands over his beating heart. He couldn't believe it. He barely got away with it. He looked over at Yoobin, who looked extremely guilty for almost letting him die. She had the blaster in her hands, but her fingers hadn't moved from where they were resting. She quickly dropped the blaster to the side and wiped her tears.

"I-I'm sorry," Yoobin stuttered. "I-I meant to shoot. I-I really did."

Dongmin only continued to breathe. "I-It's fine. I'm alive. I'm alive."

He was about to get up until his fingers hit something. He looked down and noticed a green square on the ground. It was the size of a third of his pinky. He picked it up and observed it for a few minutes. Yoobin widened her eyes.

"T-That's a microchip!" Yoobin exclaimed. She ran up to him and stared at the object. "T-This is what gets us the bonus points!"

"These things are this small?" Dongmin cried out. "No wonder they're worth extra points! You can hardly see them!"

"Keep that safe," Yoobin said. "We should show it to Eunha, Jungkook and Mingyu as soon as we meet up with them."

"Right," Dongmin muttered. He quickly placed the chip in his pocket. "I can't believe that the chip was in the trash room."

"The chips could be anymore. Hide them well. Other players may start to target us," Yoobin told him.

"Is there a way for us to contact the others? There should be a map of some sort, right?" Dongmin asked. "Have you played this game before?"

Yoobin pressed her lips. "Yes, but the map is different. It always changes every round."

"What do you mean?" he asked, frowning.

"Right now, it looks like we're in the middle of a round. The rules state that if we get caught by the monster, then it's considered to be a loss. To win, we need to take one of the three remaining escape pods, with each pod capable of holding six people. Chances are, those escape pods won't hold all six people and might hold two or three, maybe even one. If all three are gone, then how would you win? That's when the game goes into another round. They'll send us instructions if that ever happens," Yoobin explained.

Dongmin slowly nodded his head. He kept the microchip in the pocket of his chest.

"Got it," he said. "I'll keep it safe." He looked Yoobin's blaster. "That's not going to kill the alien, is it?"

"It's either going to stun it for a few minutes or slow it down," Yoobin said. She checked the blaster. "The meter says it's low on energy."

"Can we charge it up?" Dongmin asked.

"Maybe. I'm not sure. Usually I just threw it away if I couldn't find a way to recharge it," Yoobin said.

"Okay. Hold onto it for now. Save its energy. Use it when necessary," Dongmin told her. She nodded. He was genuinely surprised that he was able to hold a normal and serious conversation with her. In real life, he would've probably ignored her and pushed her away, keeping away her tainted name from his pure image.

He looked away, feeling a bit guilty before the two crept away from the disposal room together.

"You seem pretty confident," Mingyu said.

Eunbi made a smirk. "Stealth is my forte. It's easier for me to go alone—"

Mingyu coughed, reminding her that she was now in a team. She grimaced and didn't bother to finish her sentence.

"Well, I like this," Jungkook said, smiling. "We're getting along and bonding—I feel like we're just playing a casual game, you know?"

"Yeah, except this game can kill you," Mingyu muttered.

"Aw, come on. You're spoiling the mood."

"Mingyu's right," Eunbi said. "Don't think that this is a friendly game. The most innocent game can be the most cruel game."

Jungkook pouted. Mingyu smirked, feeling victorious. The three continued to creep down the halls, listening for any signs of footsteps.

"But hey, you need to give props to whoever came up with the design for this place. I mean, I don't even think you can find the materials on Earth," Jungkook said, knocking on the white wall. He flinched when Eunbi and Mingyu both whirled around and glared at him. "S-Sorry?"

"Keep it low," Eunbi urged him. "We don't want to die yet, now do we?"

"No ma'am," Jungkook muttered.

Eunbi looked around and noticed a door. There was a green light bulb above the door. Eunbi quickly placed her hands over the bloody handprint screen. The green lights blinked and the door opened. The three leaned against the wall for a second until Eunbi took a slow peek inside. Her eyes widened and she finally stood in front of the entrance. She quietly crept it, crouching. The two boys followed her pursuit and widened their eyes when they saw what had happened in the room.

Most of the ceiling lights were off, but a few lights here and there were blinking rapidly. They could hear the electric current buzzing from above. The entire room was thrashed. The chairs were flipped and the desks were upside down. There were piles of rubble here and there. The dust nearly clouded the room until Eunbi had opened the door, letting some of the dust and clouds escape.

"Woah," Jungkook whispered. He examined the blood stained all across the room. "This must've been a battle field of some sort."

"H…Help…"

Eunbi turned her head. Mingyu and Jungkook flinched. They looked around and saw two people—an unconscious boy and a whimpering girl—under a chunk of metal. They quickly rushed over while Eunbi became very wary.

"Why aren't they out of the game?" Jungkook asked as he and Mingyu tried to remove the metal.

"Because they haven't loss yet," Eunbi said. "Hold on. Don't help them yet." The two boys stared at her. "It could be an alien."

"W-We're not aliens!" the girl yelled. "Please, help us! At least help him!"

"Eunbi, come on," Mingyu said. "It's not the time to start suspecting people—"

"What? For all we know, they could be monsters in disguise," Eunbi pointed out.

"Look, we don't have much to offer!" the girl cried out. She was completely covered in dust and slime. "We can give you i-information! Right, information! Things we know about the aliens!"

"I don't tr—"

"Eunbi," Mingyu called her. He glared at her. "We should help."

Eunbi glared. "Fine, but if we get attacked, I'm throwing you to the aliens first."

"Fine by me," Mingyu said.

"Save the girl first," Jungkook said.

Mingyu looked at him. "The guy's critical injured."

"The girl's weaker," Jungkook insisted. "Besides, she's alive."

"She said to save the guy first."

"She didn't say that—"

"Can you guys please get this metal off of us?" the girl begged. "I don't care who you save first! I just want it off!"

"Look, I'll be doing all the ordering around here," Eunbi said. She bent down on one knee and rested her arm over her raised knee. She leaned close and stared at the girl, who gave her a look of fear. "Give me your name."

"What?" The girl scoffed. "I'll give it to you after you help the two of us out of here!"

"Great, so we can leave you two," Eunbi said. "Mingyu, Jungkook stop."

The two boy hesitated, but they obeyed. The lump of metal fell back on the girl's and the boy's weight, crushing their bones.

"Okay, okay! I'm Krystal! Krystal! The boy here is Kai! We were working together to escape until we ran into the blue alien! Now help us!" Krystal cried out.

"Okay, fine," Eunbi said. "You guys can lift it up now."

Mingyu glared at her. "Are you going to keep making us put this up and let go? This metal is ing heavy!"

"At least I'm being careful," Eunbi argued.

"Just pull it up!" Krystal yelled, blowing the loose strand of brown hair from her face. 

"Okay, okay, okay!" Mingyu muttered. He looked at Jungkook with annoyance, who playfully shrugged. Once again, the two raised the metal object, finally letting the girl crawl out and escape. It took her and Eunbi to pull out the unconscious guy from the pile or rubble. Once the area was cleared out, the two boys finally dropped the metal back on the floor.

Krystal gripped on Eunbi's clothes, limping as she worriedly looked at Kai. Eunbi quietly eyed at her and glanced down at how tightly she was grabbing her sleeves. She let out a small sigh and glanced down at Jungkook and Mingyu, who were squatting next to Kai. Eunbi then looked over at G.M, noticing that his hand was oddly close to a knife hanging from his belt.

"Get up," Eunbi ordered her teammates.

Jungkook raised his eyebrows. "But the guy is—"

"Just. Get. Up," she said in a tight voice.

"Eunha, he's—"

Kai's eyes suddenly shot wide open. "Now!"

Then, pushing himself up from the floor, he pulled out his weapon and grabbed Jungkook's shoulder. Mingyu reached out to grab Kai's shoulder, but Krystal kicked it away.  Jungkook took advantage of the delay to dodge Kai's arm. 

Eunbi, noticing that Krystal was still grabbing onto her clothes, grabbed her arms. The two girls wrestled for a bit before Eunbi realized that another figure had appeared out of nowhere. The figure slammed a heavy object behind Eunbi's head, causing her to scream and collapse. Her head starting throbbing. She turned around, but her visions blurred for a second. Before the figure had the chance to throw the disc at her again, Mingyu charged at him from the side, knocking him out. It took Eunbi a while, but she recognized the man who had hit her from behind.

"Ju-ne, you ing bastard!" Eunbi yelled, remembering the name of the raven-haired man from her first game as a First-Time Returnee.

", she's alive!" Ju-ne cried out. "Kai! Krystal! Run!"

After Ju-ne kicked Mingyu away from him, he started dashing to the door. Krystal, who had been helping Kai try to grab ahold of Jungkook, ran away as well. Kai managed to escape, but Jungkook managed to kick him before he left the room.

Mingyu, exhausted, started to pant. He spat out blood from his mouth, rinsing his teeth with his spit and the red liquid. He looked over at Jungkook, who had no injuries whatsoever. Eunbi, however, on clutching the back of her head, trying to stop the ringing.

"You okay?" Mingyu asked her.

"Does it looks like I'm okay?" Eunbi asked in a tight voice.

"Sorry. We should've listened to you," Jungkook muttered.

"Whatever. It's fine. Forget it," Eunbi said. The boys weren't sure if she was actually forgiving them. She didn't know if she meant the words she uttered either. The pain on the back of her head was far more important than letting the boys know how she felt.

Ding… Ding… Ding…

"Escape Pod #5 has been launched. Only two more Escape Pods are left. A total of 33 players are in this game. Maximum of 12 players may depart for this round. Repeat: Escape Pod #5 has been launched. Only two more Escape Pods are left. A total of 33 players are in this game. Maximum of 12 players may depart for this round."

"I wonder who's the selfish er that took a whole escape pod," Eunbi muttered. "If there's only two more Escape Pods left, then we need to leave now. We need to find out where Yoobin and Dongmin is…"

Everything started turning blurry. Eunbi groaned and held on her head. Before she knew it, she was in Mingyu's arms. 

"Eunbi, Eunbi, Eunbi." Jungkook's voice echoed in her head. "Are you okay, you okay, okay?"

"Aw crap," Eunbi murmured in a low voice. She felt something wet trickle down from her head to her eye.

"She's bleeding, bleeding, bleeding!" Jungkook yelled again, his voice ringing in her head.

No , Eunbi thought sarcastically.

She took a deep breath, then collapsed.

Dongmin and Yoobin encountered a room with a round white cylinder desk at the center. Above the counter, there was a large blue light flickering. On each side of the room, there were messy scribbles written with an orange neon marker. When the two approached the counter, they realized that it was some kind of holographic computer. 

"Are you good with computers?" Dongmin asked her. She shook her head. "Okay. Keep guard. Let me see if I can get this on."

He bent down and tapped the desk. A keyboard-like image appeared on the desk. Dongmin felt chills running down his spine. He knew that he was in a nerve-wrecking game, but it was kind of fun to be messing with the advance technology. He quickly observed and deciphered the code, tapping his fingers against the white desk while his eyes were glued to the hologram that appeared beneath the beam of blue light.

Eventually he opened a file, which turned the entire image into a three-dimensional map of the ship. He reached over and flipped it around with his hands, exploring the entire ship. He would slide his finger up to break the ship into four different floors and slide it back down to bring it back in a whole. Sometimes he would tap the screen multiple times to zoom into the image, to get the little details.

"It looks like we're in the cartography room. If there's anything wrong with the ship, it's in red," Dongmin explained to Yoobin. "There's a couple of red areas. I'm assuming that those are the areas where the aliens would be located." He flipped the image around. "We fell down from the third floor, which was the file room and ended up in the paper disposal room on the first floor. The escape pods are located each floor. Each floor seems to hold two escape pods, which means that there's a total of eight escape pods."

"But only two are left, right?" Yoobin said.

"Right. There's one on the fourth floor and another on the second floor," Dongmin added.

"Does the map show where the players are?" Yoobin asked.

"Nope. I'd say we go to the one on the fourth floor," Dongmin said. "The second floor has a lot of…red around it."

"We're on the first floor," Yoobin said. "Doesn't that mean we're going to have to get pass through all the red to meet with the rest?"

"Well, there's this pathway right here. It's narrow, but it looks like it'll keep us safe from the monsters," Dongmin said.

"So it's safe as long as we don't encounter any players, right?" Yoobin asked.

"Right."

The two kept awfully quiet for a minutes. Then, they began to break down again from the stress and anxiety building up in their chest and head. 

This is hopeless, they both thought. They heaved a loud sigh and looked at each other.

"What are you good at?" Dongmin asked.

"H-Huh?" Yoobin said, slightly taken aback.

"Like, what are your skills? Mingyu is strong, Jungkook is fast, I'm smart, Eunbi is pretty much well-rounded, but what about you?" Dongmin asked. "You're slow, you're easy to throw into the enemy, and you're always panicking and crying."

"I-I'm sorry," she stuttered.

"See? You're doing it again," Dongmin said. "Were you always this weak?"

Yoobin seemed a bit triggered at Dongmin's comment, but she didn't say anything. She just gave him a look of hurt as if he should know why she was so weak. He stared at her, but didn't say anything else.

"I'm sorry," she repeated.

Dongmin only sighed. "Never mind. We should go."

"R-Right," Yoobin stammered. 

The two turned to leave, but they heard a screech in the hallways. They widened their eyes when they heard weapons firing and people screaming in agony. The sound continued to near. Dongmin and Yoobin bother turned around, trying to find a place to hide.

There wasn't anywhere to hide.

The two stood away from the door as far as possible. Their backs touched the walls. They pressed their bodies against the wall, hoping that even a centimeter would help them somehow.

The door opened. The blue alien that they had seen earlier turned its head at them. Then, it let out a terrifying screech, letting them know that the alien had sensed their presence. It started charging up to the two, jumping over the counter and raising its axe and knife high in the air. Dongmin and Yoobin screamed before they both closed their eyes. Without a second thought, Yoobin fired her alien blaster three times.

They waited for a few minutes, listening to their hearts pound against their chest. Then, Dongmin slowly opened his eyes. He gasped when he saw the edge of the knife's blade only inches away from his face. He widened his eyes even more when he saw the alien frozen in front of him and Yoobin. He looked to his side, noticing that Yoobin's hands were shaking with the blaster. The blaster beeped for a few seconds before it made a strange sound, informing its user that it had ran out of energy.

"W-W-We're alive," Dongmin managed to breathe out. Yoobin finally opened her eyes and gasped for air, trying to keep herself from crying. Sweat poured down heavily from their face. Then, Dongmin grabbed Yoobin's wrist and pulled her away from the alien slowly. "That thing isn't going to last long. We need to get out of here."

"You don't have to tell me twice," she murmured. Without a second thought, the two ran away, escaping the blue alien.

Mingyu and Jungkook didn't know what to do with Eunbi. Mingyu was carrying her on her back, running through the long halls with Jungkook, who was keeping out for an alien or some other threat. They had actually encountered a few users before, but managed to avoid them by hiding into a room or taking an entire different direction. Seeing that Eunbi didn't disappear and receive a "GAME OVER" yet, the boys figured that Eunbi was still conscious.

When they heard a scream coming from both ends of the hall, they quickly retreated into a random room. Once they entered, the tried to seal the door by placing random large objects against the wall. Then, he hid behind a few other large objects at the corner of the room.

"This is annoying," Mingyu muttered. He gently dropped Eunbi on the floor. Jungkook placed her against the wall and worried over her state of health. He turned and widened his eyes.

"Mingyu, your shirt is all red!" Jungkook exclaimed.

"Yeah. It's been feeling wet for a while. I think it's her blood," Mingyu said, fanning out his shirt. "Do you know how to patch her up?"

"What do I look like to you? A doctor? If anything, I thought you would know how to patch her up. You're the one who's always fighting."

". She might die," Mingyu muttered. "How long can a person live when they're head is bleeding?"

"I don't know! If I get a head injury, I go to the hospital!" Jungkook whispered.

Mingyu looked at him. "Do you think that there's a healing station somewhere?"

"What?" Jungkook laughed. "Mingyu, we're in the middle of space! There's no doctors! There's nothing up here!"

"But in games, they usually having some kind of healing item."

"This is a stealth game. We're trying to hide and sneak around—"

"Escape Pod #6 has been launched. Only one more Escape Pods are left. A total of 20 players are in this game. Maximum of 6 players may depart for this round. Repeat: Escape Pod #6 has been launched. Only one more Escape Pods are left. A total of 20 players are in this game. Maximum of 6 players may depart for this round."

The announcement echoed throughout the spacecraft. The boys tensed as they stared up at the ceilings. Jungkook looked around, doing the calculations.

"Wait. If only a total of six people could get on the escape pod, then that means there should be 27 players left. Why are there only 20?" Jungkook asked.

"The other seven must've been caught by the aliens," Mingyu said. "Or it could be that one person escaped and 12 people got caught."

The boys remained tense at the second thought. They only prayed that they wouldn't end up being space food for the deadly creatures.

While Mingyu kept a lookout for the door, Jungkook noticed something buried in dust. He quickly removed the dust and found an alien blaster. He grabbed it and checked it, making sure that it was still usable. When he looked to the side, the energy bar was full. 

"Mingyu! Mingyu! Look what I found!" Jungkook exclaimed. He showed him the weapon, but before they could do anymore, they heard a loud screech at the door. The alien on the other side started banging against the door, creating dents.

Before they knew it, the alien started to puncture its spider-like legs through the door. Mingyu swiftly scooped up Eunbi bridal-style. Jungkook scrambled onto his feet with the gun in both hands. 

The new alien started to pry the doors open with its claws. Then, it charged into the room, letting out a horrendous screech. It was a large spider-like alien. Every time it opened its mouth to scream, it would open up its chelicerae and spit out an extra mouth that could fit an adult's head. Whenever it stopped screaming, the extra mouth would slide back in and the chelicerae would start twitching. The monster was already covered in blood, showing that it was already breaking people's necks and ending their life.

"Oh, ! It's a huge ing spider!" Jungkook yelled.

The spider turned to them. It roared, shaking the room. Jungkook fired at the alien, but it seemed immune to his shots. Jungkook continuously pressed the trigger until the blaster stopped firing.

"Shoot, Jungkook! Shoot!" Mingyu yelled.

"No, no, no, no!" Jungkook repeated, slamming the gun against his hand. "It's not working!"

The alien shook itself a bit. Then, growling, it stormed up to the two boys. They both yelled and scrunched up closer to the corner of the walls.

Pew, pew!

Bzzt! Bzzt!

In a blink of an eye, the spider was paralyzed. Electrical currents appeared here and there all over the large spider. The boys finally managed to breathe after they saw a familiar figure standing at the door, holding another alien blaster: D.O.

"D.O!" the two boys shouted in glee as they approached the familiar face.

"I was on my way to get an escape pod to leave this game, but then I saw the alien run here and you guys screaming," D.O said. "Hurry, come out! That alien isn't going to stay paralyzed forever."

They nodded. They quickly ran around the alien and left the room, following D.O.

"So what happened to Eunha?" he asked, noticing that she was still unconscious.

"Some group tried to attack us. They managed to sneak behind Eunha and hit her head," Mingyu quickly explained.

"She's already making enemies? Why am I not surprised," D.O muttered.

"So where's the Escape Pod?" Jungkook asked.

"The last one is on the second floor," D.O said. "It's apparently the most dangerous one, too. At least, that's what I've heard from the people who took the last escape pod from the fourth floor."

"You didn't with them?" Jungkook raised an eyebrow.

"I was going to, but there was a person younger than me who was basically crying to get on. I told her that she could get on in my place. In exchange, the group that was about to leave told me that the last escape pod is in the second floor."

They went down the stairs. When they made a sharp turn, they gasped and encountered two other familiar members: Yoobin and Dongmin.

"Why are you guys at the second floor?" Dongmin cried out, widening his eyes. "You guys were in the fourth floor!"

"Well, we kept running around," Jungkook said.

Yoobin widened her eyes. "What happened to Eunbi?"

"Someone jumped on her and knocked her out," Mingyu said quickly.

"There's only one pod left. We can make it," D.O told them.

"Aw, damn. Is the last one on the second floor?" Dongmin asked.

"How'd you know?" D.O inquired him.

"Binnie and I were in a room that showed us a map. The second room has a lot of…problems," Dongmin murmured.

"Well, it's the last ship. We better go for it. I'd hate to be stuck here until another round of people," D.O said.

They suddenly heard strange sloppy noises from a distance. Realizing that it was the red tentacle alien, the group dove into a random room and began to hide. While most of them were hiding, Yoobin gestured Mingyu to bring Eunbi closer to her. He slowly brought her to near the end of the room behind some large counters. After laying Eunbi on the ground, Yoobin took out some medical supplies from her bag. 

"What's this?" Mingyu whispered.

"While Dongmin and I were running, I found these," Yoobin explained. She patted a cloth against Eunbi's forehead, trying to stop the bleeding. Then, she disinfected Eunbi's arm and pulled out a syringe with a long needle attached. She pierced the cold needle against Eunbi's skin and injected a strange blue fluid. After injecting all the blue liquid, she threw away the syringe across the room and used another cloth to wrap up Eunbi's arm. Then, she pulled out a small pill capsule and broke it right below Eunbi's nose. 

Eunbi coughed and scrunched up her face. She groaned and felt dizzy for a few seconds until she opened her eyes. Mingyu let out a huge sigh of relief while Yoobin seemed awfully glad that Eunbi was fine.

What happened? Eunbi wondered to herself. She looked around, noticing that she was in an unfamiliar area. It took her a while, but she finally realized that she was still stuck in a Timepiece game. Her eyes widened and she sat up. How long was I out? What's the situation?

"Eunbi's awake!" Mingyu whispered loudly, alerting the three boys who were hiding in the room.

"What's going on?" Eunbi asked. Her entire body felt tense. Her head continued to throb.

"We're currently going to the second room to get on the last escape pod," Yoobin informed her. "There's 20 players left."

"We ran into D.O, too. He helped us out," Mingyu told her.

Eunbi made a mental note to thank D.O personally after the game was over.

"So what's the situation n—" 

Eunbi stopped when she heard the door open. Just from the sound, she knew that an alien had entered the room. She could hear the tentacle's arms drag along the floor, creating a trail of slime. She looked at Yoobin and Mingyu, who seemed pretty tense. Noticing that neither had a weapon, she realized that she would have to escape in a classic route. She managed to quietly grab two flasks from a table. She knew a flask to the left of the room. The alien reacted and started charging over to the broken flask. Before it could see the three, Eunbi motioned the three to quickly hide behind another counter closer to the door.

At their new position, she could see Jungkook. Jungkook managed to hide from the alien, but if it wasn't for his speed, he would've been caught by the alien when Eunbi threw it near his direction. Jungkook gave her a mean look, to which she responded by mouthing "sorry" to him. After making eye contact with him, she silently motioned that she would throw her flask near the back at the center of the room. Jungkook nodded his head, giving her an "OK" signal.

Eunbi slowly turned and threw her last flask at the end of the room. The flask shattered against the wall. The alien looked up and charged towards the broken glass. The four began to move around and noticed that Dongmin and D.O were already near the door.

I need one more thing to throw, Eunbi realized. She, Yoobin, Mingyu and Jungkook were close to the door, but they weren't able to get up and start walking out without getting caught by the alien. Her eyes searched for an item, but there was nothing. She looked to Jungkook, who shrugged. D.O and Dongmin didn't seem to have anything on them either. Eunbi took a deep breath. Okay then. There's only one thing to do.

She motioned Mingyu and Yoobin to stay in place. She eyed at D.O, giving him a look to take care of her teammates. He gave her a small nod. Eunbi started to crawl behind the rows of counters, trying to avoid the alien that was starting to move. She kept awfully silent, walking over the left-over slime and make sure that the tentacles never came near her. It took her a while, but she managed to find a cabinet with a glass window. She pressed her fingers against the glass. Figuring that she could probably punch it and break it, she curled her fingers into a fist. Before she could punch it, she felt someone grab her wrist. She turned and noticed that it was Mingyu. He gently pushed her to the side and motioned her to get ready. She gave him a confused look until his fist crashed through the glass, shattering it to pieces.

The alien howled and started charging for the cabinet. Before Eunbi had any time to react against Mingyu's action, he grabbed her with his clean fist and dragged her silently through the rows of the counters. In a matter of minutes, the two made it safely outside, joining the rest. No one said anything and only followed D.O and Dongmin, who seemed to know where they were going.

Eunbi eyed at Mingyu's bloody fist. She made a small glare, feeling that it was unnecessary for him to use his strength to cause a distraction. If anything, Eunbi felt like she was the one who should've punched the glass. She was already hurt the most. It wouldn't matter if she sustained more injuries.

As they ran through the halls, the ceiling in front of them broke. Dongmin and D.O's sneakers squeezed. After realizing that it was the alien spider, D.O frowned and aimed his alien blaster at the spider. The spider-like alien shrieked until D.O paralyzed it with his gun. After the monster stood still, D.O gestured the rest to carefully walk between the alien's body and thin legs. They followed his instructions and continued to run, desperate to get into a ride.

They finally arrived in a dark room with several large windows on the wall. The words "ESCAPE POD #6" were blinking in red above a circular door. The other circular door had the words "EMPTY" in pixelated font. 

"Over here!" D.O yelled. He charged towards the door and began to twist the wheel. He managed to get it open. "Get in, get in!"

Dongmin entered first, followed by Yoobin. Jungkook didn't hesitate to jump right in. Mingyu and Eunbi followed. D.O quickly slipped in and began to close the door. He sealed it shut and started to buckle up with the rest.

"ESCAPE POD #6 will depart in ten…nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…one…!"

The circular vehicle shook a bit before it was detached from the spacecraft. The six looked out from one of the three windows, admiring the stars in the space. They all sighed in relief.

"Is your hand okay?" D.O asked Mingyu.

"It's fine," Mingyu said, picking out a few glass.

"Thanks for helping us," Eunbi said to D.O.

"That's not a problem, but I heard that you've already made enemies," D.O said. He gave her a look of concern.

"It was a guy that I played RPS with a few months back," Eunbi said. She made a bitter expression. "God, I swear. If I see him next time, I'm going to murder him into bits…"

"Well, it's a good thing that you're safe," D.O said, smiling a little. 

"Oh, right," Dongmin suddenly said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a microchip, causing everyone except for Yoobin to widen their eyes. Dongmin grinned. "It looks like we're going to get out of Timepiece a lot faster than we think!"

"Thank god I came into this escape pod instead of the one before!" D.O cried out, clasping his hands. The group laughed and cheered before their escape pod entered a large portal to the real world.