The sound of bells echoed across the school, alerting everyone that it was lunch time. As soon as the teacher left, Eunbi was the first to stand up from her desk. She grabbed her phone and lunched and headed straight out the door. Dongmin, who noticed Eunbi's quick escape, chased after her, grabbing Yoobin's wrist and pulling her along.

Eunbi swung the door open and stepped outside. The moment she made a sharp turn to escape, she bumped into a tall figure. 

"Oof!"

She took a quick step back. Dongmin and Yoobin were right behind her, catching her from falling to the ground. Eunbi looked up, then scowled when she saw Mingyu towering over her. It was clear that he had been waiting for her outside her classroom for quite some time. He had his hands in his pockets and was casually leaning against the wall with one arm. His deep frown turned to a cocky smirk.

"Were you going to avoid me?" Mingyu asked. He took a step forward and the three took a step back, entering the classroom again. He had one hand on the head of the door, blocking anyone from entering or exiting. His face was close enough to Eunbi's face to the point where she felt uncomfortable.

"Maybe," Eunbi muttered. She looked away.

He grinned wider, feeling quite triumphant. He stepped inside the room and locked his arm around her neck, trapping her between his arm and hip. She grunted as he began to drag her out of the room and through the halls. Dongmin and Yoobin followed in silence.

The four continued to walk. Eunbi kept feigning pain, claiming that Mingyu was locking her head too tightly. Mingyu only ignored her and continued to drag her away so that he could talk to her in private. Dongmin and Yoobin continued to remain quiet, but they had their eyes on Mingyu, wondering if he would explode any minute.

Eunbi tried to look over her shoulder. "You know, for someone who's been helping you a lot in the games, it'd be nice to see you return the favor at least in our reality."

"S-Sorry," Yoobin stuttered, "b-but I don't really want to make Mingyu mad…"

Mingyu turned and met Yoobin's eyes. She flinched and grabbed Dongmin's arm, shaking. Dongmin awkwardly tried to shove her away, but she clung onto him tightly. A few students passing by stared at Yoobin and the way she clung onto Dongmin's arm. Dongmin continued to gently push her away from him.

"That's right. You definitely don't want to see me mad," Mingyu agreed.

"What happened to the other guy?" Eunbi asked.

"Who?" Mingyu asked.

"You mean Jungkook?" Dongmin said, finally prying Yoobin off of him.

"Is that his name?"

"How do you not know your classmate's name?" Eunbi criticized.

Mingyu stared at her. "Do you know all your classmate's name?"

"Well, no, but I'm a transfer student," Eunbi said.

"Great excuse," Mingyu said sarcastically.

"No, seriously. I am."

"Sure, whatever you say."

He turned at a corner, but stopped when he saw Jungkook running up to them. A small frown escaped his lips. He turned to the other side, leading the group in a different direction. He walked a bit faster. Yoobin and Dongmin looked at each other, confused, while Eunbi kept complaining on how he was walking too fast.

"Hey, Mingyu! Mingyu, slow down!" Jungkook yelled from afar.

". We're running," Mingyu said. 

He lifted Eunbi up, causing her to widen her eyes. He threw her over his shoulder and began to run, carrying her while she kept kicking in the air. She pounded her fist against his back, demanding that he should drop her.

"Let me down! Help! Let me down!" Eunbi screamed. She looked down at Yoobin and Dongmin, who were trying their best to keep up with them. "Oh my god! Why are you guys just running?"

"H-He said to run!" Yoobin pointed out.

"Oh my god," Eunbi muttered, putting her hand over her face. She could see Jungkook quickly catching up to them. "Why the hell are you avoiding him? Aren't you two friends?"

"Friends with him? Ha!" Mingyu made a sharp turn.

"Mingyu, wait for me!" Jungkook yelled.

Eunbi looked down at Yoobin and Dongmin. 

"What's his relationship with him?" Eunbi asked, pointing from Jungkook to Mingyu.

"Jungkook is the only guy who's able to handle Mingyu," Dongmin explained. "I think it's a one-sided friendship."

"There's no way that I'm letting him be my friend," Mingyu said, scoffing.

They started heading down the stairs. As they rushed down, they stopped when the crowd of students surrounded a particular student who was waiting down the stairs. Mingyu's eyes went wide and he stopped on the middle of the stairs. Yoobin stood right behind him and paled while Dongmin quickly accessed the situation and grabbed Mingyu's shirt. They were all out of breath, exhausted from running.

Jungkook made a quick turn behind them, but once he saw the powerful figure waiting at the end of the stairs, he tried to turn around. However, Dongmin lunged towards him and grabbed his blazer, forcing him to join the group. Eunbi turned her upper body to get a better view of whoever was standing at the bottom of the stairs.

The student was just as tall as Dongmin, possibly around the same age. He had a messy double-comma hairstyle with his front bangs loosely parted from each other. The way he stood and dressed gave off an impression that he held some kind of power in the school. From Mingyu's scowl to Dongmin's sudden change in proper behavior made Eunbi think that this guy was either a bully or…

"Student council president," Mingyu murmured bitterly.

The student council president smiled a little before tilting his head to the side. He held out a small pocket book, which Eunbi recognized as the school's rulebook.

"Drop the girl," the president ordered. Mingyu did as he was told. "Now, according to the rules, there's no running in the halls and no rough-housing."

"We weren't rough-housing," Mingyu explained. "We were just…talking."

"Oh really?" the president said, raising an eyebrow. "Carrying a girl over your shoulders and running from your friend is 'talking' to you, right?"

"Pretty much," Mingyu muttered.

"I was running up to catch them, Junyoung," Dongmin lied.

"Ha!" Eunbi faked a laugh and rolled her eyes. "You were right behind us and could've stopped this giant any time!"

"Well, I did what I did," Dongmin said, pulling on Mingyu's and Jungkook's clothes. "I stopped them when I could. If I had grabbed Mingyu first, then I wouldn't be able to catch Jungkook."

Eunbi scoffed and crossed her arms in response.

"I've already talked to the teachers. I told them that there were a few students who were running through the halls and disturbing the students. So…" Junyoung smiled and flashed out a few slips. "Here are you detention slips."

"Seriously?" Mingyu asked, eyes wide.

"I just transferred here!" Eunbi cried out. "I was taken against my will!"

"Sorry. Rules are rules," Junyoung said, walking up the stairs and handing them their slips. "You stay after school for an hour doing whatever the teacher wants you to do." When he handed one to Eunbi, he leaned in and whispered, "Fortunately for you, today's teacher is old Mr. Hwang. I heard that he just sleeps and lets his students do whatever he wants for an hour."

Eunbi made a small smile. Junyoung smiled back and finished handing out the four detention slips. Jungkook looked at his slip and then back at Dongmin.

"Hey, why doesn't the vice president get one?" Jungkook complained.

"He helped catch you guys," Junyoung said.

"You don't actually believe that, do you?" Jungkook asked.

"I trust the vice president."

"This is corruption!" Jungkook complained. 

"Yeah, yeah. I'll see you at detention," Junyoung said. "Meanwhile, you guys should disperse."

Mingyu frowned. "But I need to talk to her."

He grabbed Eunbi's hand and pulled her closer to him. She jerked away her hand and glared at him.

"You can see her in detention and talk to her after school," Junyoung told him.

"It's important. You don't understand—"

"Do you want a second detention?" Junyoung threatened, holding a pen.

Mingyu finally kept quiet. He grumbled something before walking down the stairs. Jungkook chased after him while Yoobin stood close to Eunbi. The students who had crowded to see what was going on finally dispersed. The entire school resumed their normal business.

After waiting for a few more seconds, Junyoung finally looked at Dongmin.

"Hey, Dongmin. A word?" Junyoung said. Dongmin bit his tongue. "You're the student council vice president. You can't be this careless."

"Oh, so it is corruption," Eunbi said, smirking.

"Mm, maybe a little," Junyoung said with a grin. "Anyway, I'll see you during detention. Every time Mr. Hwang is looking over the students, they want me to be there with him."

Before Eunbi could say anything, Junyoung caught someone else running in the halls. He sighed and quickly left, chasing after the students to give them a warning. The three watched him disappear upstairs into the crowd.

"He's a good person," Eunbi said.

"He gave me detention," Yoobin whispered, feeling sick.

"Junyoung was elected for the president position for a reason. He's the perfect role model. Everyone trusts him." Dongmin made a proud smile. "I aspire to be like him. He's a great guy."

Eunbi looked up once more. "Yeah. He seems like a pretty good guy…"

During detention, just like how the student council president said, an old teacher around the age of 80 sat at the teacher's desk. Once he had taken attendance, he made a ten-minute speech about behavior before falling asleep. Next to him, Junyoung and Dongmin took a chair and sat down, observing the students and making sure that none of them were doing anything suspicious.

Eunbi sat on the second row from the front. She was genuinely surprised to know that it was only four people—including her—who had received detention. Then again, she assumed that a lot of the students didn't get detention at this prestigious high school. Right behind her, Mingyu kept poking her shoulder, demanding that she should turn around so that the two could whisper and talk. Yoobin, who sat at Eunbi's right, trembled in fear, praying that Mingyu wouldn't blow up and get them in more trouble. Jungkook, who sat down to Eunbi's left, curiously observed Mingyu and the annoyed girl. 

"Hey, start talking about this game," Mingyu said, raising his phone.

"Not now," Eunbi muttered.

"The old geezer isn't going to wake up until detention is over. He can't hear a thing. I literally yelled into his ear once and he still wouldn't wake up," Mingyu told her. "Now, start talking."

Eunbi looked over at Junyoung. "I'll talk if you can get the student council president out of here."

"I-If you're worried about the rules, Junyoung is a Timepiece player," Yoobin whispered to Eunbi.

Eunbi looked at her, raising her eyebrows. "Seriously?"

"I've only seen him play Trivia, and I think I've seen him play Puzzle. After that, I don't think he's been invited to play other games," Yoobin informed her.

"I'm not going to risk it," Eunbi said, crossing her arms. "You're not sure about seeing him, right?"

"W-Well, I'm not a hundred percent sure, but—"

Mingyu looked up. "Hey, Junyoung!"

The student council members looked at him. Mingyu waved his phone in the air with the Timepiece application opened on his screen. Eunbi's eyes widened in fear.

"You play this game?" Mingyu asked. "Timepiece."

"You idiot! You—" Eunbi stopped and looked at Junyoung's expression.

Junyoung seemed a bit stunned. Then, he pulled out his phone from his pocket and swiped his finger on his screen. A moment later, he showed the group his screen with Timepiece opened on his phone. Eunbi carefully looked at Junyoung who smiled.

"Yeah. I've played only once, though," Junyoung said.

So not twice, Eunbi thought, shooting a small glare at Yoobin. Yoobin cowered in her seat.

"It's a weird game experience. Did you know that it causes you to fall asleep and dream about playing a game? I had a dream that I played Trivia," Junyoung said casually.

"That's not a dream," Eunbi said seriously. "Don't ever think that it's a dream. You're too careless."

Junyoung stopped smiling. "What are you talking about? There's no way that I can be transported into a whole different world and gave a game setting magically appear before me."

Eunbi sighed. He has this all wrong. He's underestimating the game.

"Let me start with the basics for all of you here." She her lips and held up her phone with the application. She cleared and looked at everyone with keen eyes. "This is an application called Timepiece. It's a game app that can only be obtained through an invitation. You read the rules, right? You have an alias, and you use that alias. Never use your real name, or at least try to not use your real name. You play the games, which will either reward or take away a certain amount of points. The points—called Timeticks—varies by the game and other factors. You will feel real pain, but the physical harm does not transfer to reality. Only the possible psychological and emotional damage transfer back to the real world."

"What do you mean by 'pain'?" Junyoung asked. He suddenly had a look of concern. Eunbi began to feel a bit uneasy.

"Right. You've only played Trivia, so you wouldn't understand. Timepiece holds multiple kinds of games. Let's say everything we're talking about is clockwise, okay? Just to make it easier for explaining. Some games are more passive, like RPS and Trivia."

"RPS?" Junyoung repeated.

"Rock-Paper-Scissors. It's called RPS because it might change when it's counter-clockwise."

"To what?" Jungkook asked.

"Counter-clockwise messes things up. Everything you once knew about the game should be completely forgotten if you're in counter-clockwise. I was in one RPS game where it was Rag-Pliers-Screwdriver. Didn't matter which one you chose. It was whoever could harm the other first wins. So many people picked screwdrivers and tried to stab each other. The best weapon turned out to be the rag since it was doused in poisonous liquid. A quick whiff would knock your opponent down in an instant," Eunbi said, reminiscing the past.

"That sounds awful," Junyoung said, nearly speechless.

"What other games are there?" Mingyu asked.

"There's a lot, and there are a lot more games that I haven't played. I just know that there's some pretty passive games likes RPS and Trivia, but there's some aggressive games, like Apocalypse and Battle Stadium."

"What the hell is Battle Stadium?" the tallest boy asked.

"You basically have a bunch of people in the stadium and fight to the death," Eunbi said. "There's other weird games, too, but I'll explain them if they ever pop up."

Junyoung made a small smile. "You guys are really into this game, aren't you? Is it popular?"

Eunbi stared at him. He doesn't believe me.

"So often do we get a game?" Dongmin asked. "It'd be bothersome if I keep disappearing and missing lessons too often."

"It's random. Usually just once in a while. Rarely, they'll have two games in one day," Eunbi explained. "When you're friends with people, you're more likely to be in a game with them as a team. Holding hands or just clinging onto someone before the game starts usually helps you spawn at the same place. In reality, the world is mapped out divided. A portion of the land is given to a Timehost. With that land, the Timehost can choose who plays and so on."

"So the people we play with live nearby?"

"Sometimes. Other times, they're several miles away. The plot of land they own varies."

"So there's a chance that we five might not be together again?" Jungkook asked. "If we don't hold hands and something happens."

Eunbi stared at him. "Woah, wait. Us five? I have no intentions of teaming up with everyone here in this room."

"Why not?" Mingyu asked. "You seem to have the most knowledge about this game. You should use that knowledge to help others."

"No thanks. We have different goals. I joined this game a second time to save a friend," Eunbi said.

"Who're you trying to save?" Mingyu asked.

"Her alias is Yuju."

"Yuju?" Yoobin looked at Eunbi, who finally made eye-contact with her. "Choi Yuna?"

"Oh, I know Choi Yuna," Dongmin said. He made a confused frown. "She…sat where you sat…I think?"

"You know Yuju?" Eunbi asked Yoobin seriously.

"We teamed up a few times together," Yoobin told her. "She used to sit at your desk."

"Where is she?" Eunbi asked. She turned her entire body to face the quiet girl.

"I…I don't know. You see, I was at 23 Timeticks, but at the last moment, Yuju kicked me out of the group. She said that she had something to do before she could get out. We all thought that I could get the 24th Timetick easily, but… Well, there was a game that I couldn't beat and after that, I kept losing," Yoobin explained. She gulped. "I…I tried to get in contact with Yuju, but she's been missing."

"In game or in real life?"

"In game. Well, I guess technically she's missing in real life, too, but no one knows about her existence. I figured this out a few months back when I asked the teacher if Yuna was sick, and he had no idea who I was talking to. I'm not sure when she started disappearing like this. She would make short and rare appearances in the real world, so I'm assuming she's doing okay, but lately, I haven't seen her at all," Yoobin said. "I'm assuming that she's stuck in a map and can't get out."

"Oh, thank god she's alive!" Eunbi said, letting out a sigh of relief. "If you know who Yuna is, then Yuna is definitely stuck in a game."

"What happens if you reach zero Timeticks?" Mingyu asked, staring at his phone and then at Yoobin. "She got a game over in that zombie apocalypse game, but she looks fine."

"Zero Timeticks means that you lose your Rights to Existence," Eunbi told him. "It's basically your free will. You won't know it, but you lose control of your own life. Once you hit zero, Timepiece gets ahold of you and can control you however they want." She pointed at Yoobin. "Also, for the millionth time, she's fine. You can receive a game over in game, but as long as you have some Timeticks left, you'll be fine. The only thing that might transfer here is her experience with getting eaten alive by zombies, which can affect her psychologically or emotionally." She looked at Yoobin. "You've been shaking pretty bad. What happened to you?"

"A…A lot of counter-clockwise games," Yoobin said uneasily. She looked sick. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Understandable. Anyway, just make sure and keep count of how many Timeticks you have and how many you might earn or lose. Just make sure that you don't end up with zero Timeticks," Eunbi warned them.

"That's how Jiho died," Dongmin mumbled. He had a solemn expression.

"She committed suicide, yes, but the police are still investigating," Junyoung said.

He really doesn't believe us, Eunbi thought in her head. He's been playing passive games, so he doesn't see the harm.

"What happens if you jump on the stage and kill one of the masked guys?" Mingyu asked. "You know, during the pre-game? They look pretty filthy rich, especially the way they dress and how luxurious the stage looks."

"You can't. They have this protective barrier around them. You saw how the wall rippled every time we threw a dice in it," Eunbi pointed out.

"I don't remember," Mingyu said, staring at back at his phone.

"Why are they all wearing masks?" Dongmin asked.

"I don't know, but I do know that the masks matters," Eunbi replied.

Mingyu scoffed. "Those stupid masks do something?"

"How does it matter?" Jungkook asked.

“The animal mask matters a lot. They speak about the Timehost’s personality and the kind of game you’re heading into. Like, let’s take the most recent Timehost: the Hyena. Why is she a hyena? The hyena is an eater of death. It symbolizes uncleanliness, which relates to the zombie apocalypse,” Eunbi explained.

The group paused and looked at her for a long time.

“ this ,” Mingyu muttered, kicking the floor. “This is just like Literature class during our Poetry Unit. ‘Why did the poet decide to use a black cat instead of a blue dog?’ I don’t ing know—because the poet wanted to?”

Jungkook cracked up while Dongmin glared at him, telling him to shut up.

“But there's a lot of creatures associated with eating the dead. There are vultures, insects, and so on," Junyoung pointed out. 

"Hyenas steal. They have a weird laugh, so things should be a bit more 'funny' during the games," Eunbi said.

"There's nothing funny about being in a zombie apocalypse," Jungkook said.

"Well, I'm not sure about this, but let me take an example of what could be humorous: Yoobin's death. The way Dongmin pushed me to push Yoobin out of fear was supposed to be a type of humor," Eunbi said. "Us running and dodging the endless bullets from the gang up on the roof was supposed to be funny. Also, your girlfriend betraying us was supposed to be humorous. Hyenas will do whatever they want to do ensure their survival. They'll steal meat from a lion if they have to."

"None of that was funny!" Jungkook cried out. "I even broke up with my girlfriend after this, and do you know what she said? 'Oh, you're still alive?' Outrageous! that !"

He scoffed and sat back in his seat, scowling.

"It's definitely not our type of humor, but the Hyena probably got a good laugh out of it," Eunbi said.

"Why do you know so much?" Mingyu asked.

"Like I said, I played this game and won before. I'm a First-Time Returnee," Eunbi revealed.

"You mean you got all 24 Timeticks, finished the game, yet decided to come back to save a stupid friend?" Mingyu described.

Eunbi glared at him.

"Yuju is not just a 'stupid' friend. If she's back in the game right now, then she's also a First-Time Returnee like me. I have no idea why she joined the game a second time, but she did. She's been missing for years, so I'm going in to save her. I thought I could find some more information by attending her school, but it looks like everyone here is useless." She turned to Yoobin. "Except for you. I'm going to have you by my side while we both figure out what happened to Yuju."

"Wow, teaming up with the only girl here. How ist can you be?" Mingyu said in a light-hearted manner. He smirked when she turned and frowned.

"If the opportunity comes, I'll kill you."

"I'm not afraid to hit you, either."

"You can't hit a girl," Dongmin scolded.

"What happened to equality?"

"Equality doesn't mean you can just hit any…" Dongmin sighed. Then, he looked at Eunbi with pleading eyes. "Look, we don't know anything about this game. We're helpless."

"I'm not," Mingyu said quickly. He threw his fist in the air. "I'll use my strength to get my way."

"Good luck when it comes to a game of smarts," Eunbi said, smirking.

"I'm smart." Mingyu tapped his head. "Street smart."

"Oh, I'm so impressed," Eunbi replied sarcastically.

"I don't see you doing anything impressing," Mingyu responded. The two exchanged glares.

"Listen, Eunbi," Jungkook said, sliding in between them. "Like Dongmin was saying, we don't know anything. Shouldn't we team up? If we team up, wouldn't we cover more ground and find Yuju faster?"

"That's literally impossible. We'll be in the same game together because we're in the same school," Eunbi said. "We would be in a separate game from Yuju, which would mean that we can't find her."

"Yeah, but your friend attends the same school as us. We, for some reason, are not in the same game as her despite being from the same area. Don't you think we might have even a little chance?" Jungkook pointed out.

Eunbi kept awfully quiet. Jungkook was speaking the truth. If anything, Yuna should be in the same games as her, but she wasn't. She was starting to think that there might've been something wrong with the game, but she never heard of any obvious glitches like this. She carefully observed Jungkook, trying to see if he was up to something else. When she deemed that he was trustworthy enough, she sighed and touched her phone.

"I already got Dongmin's and Yoobin's information as my friend. Everyone else, give me your alias," Eunbi ordered.

Dongmin beamed and encouraged Junyoung to approach her. 

"My alias is 'Jun,'" Junyoung said.

"I sent you a request," Eunbi said, typing on her phone. "Yours is just Jungkook, right?" Jungkook nodded. "Sent." She turned to Mingyu. "Yours is Mingyu, right?"

"How can I trust you?" Mingyu asked, raising an eyebrow.

At this point, Eunbi wanted to strangle him. Delinquent or not, he was pissing her off.

"Mingyu, just be friends with her. It won't hurt you," Jungkook said, accepting her friend request.

"Well, she's kind of glaring at me," Mingyu said calmly. "Glaring is a sign of hostility."

"That's because you keep offending her. Accept her friend request."

"I can't accept anything if she didn't give me one," Mingyu pointed out.

"That's right. You can't accept it if I don't send you one because I'm not," Eunbi snapped. She turned in her seat and faced the front with her arms crossed.

Mingyu stared at her. "Hey, you can't just offer something and take it back."

"Guess what? I just did," she said in a haughty voice.

Mingyu scoffed. "Fine. Whatever. I didn't want to be friends with you anyway. I got the information I needed."

He shoved his phone back into his pocket.

"Mingyu, be friends with me!" Jungkook exclaimed excitedly.

"Hell no. If I'm not friends with her, then I don't need to be friends with any of you," Mingyu said.

"Suite yourself," Eunbi said loudly. 

"I will!" Mingyu said, raising his voice. Yoobin looked at Dongmin and Jungkook with an uneasy expression, who only pretended to ignore the fowl atmosphere.

The two began to ignore each other the entire day, waiting for the hour to pass so that they could go home.