Here follows a complete line-up of the choices you as readers have made at the end of every chapter, what results your choices had and what would have happened if you’d chosen differently.

CHAPTER ONE

Winning option: Sunyeong opens Jeonghan’s locker.

The first failed attempt revealed that every mistake has dangerous consequences when Jeonghan’s drawer explodes, and also Minghao’s space shrinks. The successful try reveals Seungcheol’s importance and the code note for all the lockers.

Other options: Jeonghan stops him OR He opens Hansol’s locker.

If he’d been stopped, nothing would have happened at all, so no progress. Had he opened Hansol’s locker they would have been given a choice that could have saved both Hansol and Junhui from their traps earlier but no code note and nothing on Seungcheol.

CHAPTER TWO

Winning option: Sunyeong saves his key.

This means that Sunyeong’s key will still be available at the end of the story when its time to open the last door and escape the house, but it also means that Seungcheol remains locked up.

Other option: Use the key to open Seungcheol’s locker.

Choosing this option would have released Seungcheol, but broken Sunyeong’s key, making it useless later. He’d been able to help and set other members free much, much sooner since he is in the Corridor which connects many rooms.

CHAPTER THREE

Winning option: Seungcheol saves Sunyeong.

Although the poll ended at 50/50, I had started writing at a time when this option had more votes. This option gave Jeonghan the ability to start the Communications System with a handbook and stopped Sunyeong’s drowning trap, but we lost Junhui’s key which will be important later.

Other options: Seungcheol saves Junhui.

This option would have given Seungcheol the ability to speak to Junhui, connecting him to both Jun and Chan sooner, as well as Hansol. Could possibly have resulted in Seungcheol’s release, but Sunyeong’s chances of survival would have been extremely small and depended entirely on the subsequent vote.

CHAPTER FOUR

Winning option: Activate the Communications System for the Bathroom.

This saved Junhui’s life and connected him to Jeonghan and Sunyeong, and eventually Hansol. Seungcheol remains locked up and Seokmin remains poisoned.

Other options: Activate the CS in the Interrogation Room OR in the Corridor.

Activating the Interrogation Room would have killed Junhui, but connected both Seokmin and eventually Jihun to the Control Room which would have saved Seokmin from the poison. Activating the Corridor would have set Seungcheol free, and he would have been able to save Junhui if the subsequent choice had been “correct”.

CHAPTER FIVE

Winning option: Sunyeong raises the temperature.

Since both rooms are connected, this saves Wonwoo in the Freezer Room but puts Jisoo in more danger in the Boiler Room.

Other options: Sunyeong leaves the temperature be.

This would have spared Jisoo of more danger but Wonwoo would have had much less time to be saved. Seungkwan would have had the possibility to connect to the Control Room.

CHAPTER SIX

Winning option: Seungkwan shatters Hansol’s glass.

This gives Hansol his key which he uses to escape his scythe trap. It connects him to the Control Room, but Seokmin’s poisoning continues to get worse and he’s separated from Jihun with the antidote.

Other options: Seungkwan shatters Jihun’s glass.

This would have shattered the window between Jihun and Seokmin, uniting them and saving Seokmin. Hansol would still have been saved by Junhui, but he’d be much more badly injured although his key would still be available later. Instead of Hansol getting the blue rope/red rope dilemma, Seokmin’s puzzle would have been revealed, which we still don’t know what it is.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Winning option: Hansol pulls the blue ‘Risk it!’ rope.

This sets of Chan’s Butcher Trap but releases Seungcheol in time to save him. Jisoo remains locked up in the heat of the Boiler Room and Mingyu still can’t connect to the Control Room. Junhui and Hansol are united, but Junhui’s trap is set off. The next dilemma falls to Wonwoo.

Other options: Hansol pulls the red ‘Don’t risk it!’ rope.

This would have opened Jisoo’s Boiler Room door and he’d been able to help Seungcheol escape eventually, at the cost of Jisoo’s key. Junhui’s electrocution trap would have been set off while he’s still alone making it much more dangerous, and his survival would have depended on the next dilemma, which would have fallen to Mingyu.

So, are you still happy with your choices? The story could have been very different, and I love that idea, which is also why I love the choices you’ve made so far!

THE KIDNAPPING

Tuesday 17th of August, 10:10 PM

Seoul is never fully dark like this. The city is so full of lights and neon that the sky never finds that nightly blackness. Here in the smalls of nature, in a village that is known for its secretion and calm, the evening is so black it almost makes the boys scared of the dark.

After a good dinner put together by some of the better cooks in the group and their generous hosts, Mingyu and Seokmin pull most of the others into a video game competition. Seungcheol says he’ll go for a short run and then join them, and Jeonghan comes with him just because he feels like it. They take a tour around the neighbourhood at a comfortable pace, talk and laugh and enjoy the freedom of being outside without a single person noticing them for once. This vacation is worth it although it’s short—they’re going back to Seoul in just two days.

Wonwoo goes to bed early because he’s still feeling the effects of a cold he got right before they came here. He takes a shower, closes the window completely, pulls the blankets close around him in bed and drifts off quickly. He doesn’t think about the fact that he never opened the window in the first place.

Seungcheol and Jeonghan can see the house again and slow down to a walk. Jeonghan is laughing at a pun Seungcheol made when the stun dart hits Seungcheol in the shoulder. They can’t see who shot it and Seungcheol collapses. Jeonghan screams once before a dart hits him too, and he goes down.

Jihun is too good at this game, it’s not even funny. He prepares to sleep with pride at being the master of a game for once, while Junhui takes a shower. Jihun doesn’t even make it to his bedroom before he’s knocked out.

Minghao, Chan, Seokmin and Jisoo go to the pool to cool themselves off before bed, while Sunyeong and Mingyu prepare to head out and see if Seungcheol and Jeonghan have gotten lost in the unfamiliar town.

Seungkwan and Hansol continue their gaming contest. When Hansol goes into the kitchen to grab them a snack, he’s apprehended by a shadow with a syringe. Seungkwan hears the commotion and rushes to see what’s going on, but falls victim to the shadow as well. They are dragged out the same way the kidnappers took Jihun and Wonwoo, past where their hosts lie tied up and knocked out.

The same dart blowing man that took out Jeonghan and Seungcheol gets the drop on Sunyeong. Mingyu takes action and manages to get a solid kick in the face of the attacker, but he’s outmatched. A syringe flies at his neck and strikes, and he collapses next to Sunyeong.

Nobody in the pool notices the man sneaking up on Jisoo before it’s too late and he’s already been shot with the sedative. Chan attempts to fight the man off with everything he’s got, but with a slice of a knife Chan’s leg is cut open and he falls victim to the next syringe. Minghao runs when Seokmin yells at him to, and he doesn’t see when Seokmin is knocked out and sedated.

Minghao rushes up the stairs, screaming Junhui’s name, to where he thinks help is lying in bed sleeping. What he finds is a man pulling Junhui by the arms, unconscious and beaten raw. He kicks the man away, uses every martial arts skill he possesses to fight, but he’s too shocked to think. He receives a blow to the head that knocks him to the ground, awake but unable to stand up again. He cries Junhui’s name, pleads with him to wake up and save them.

The three men responsible come together above him. They’re out of syringes and darts. Their voices are vaguely familiar. Since he can’t fight back anymore, Minghao’s pulled out of the house and thrown into the back of a truck. He tries to wake his friends up but he can’t. He’s scared, angry, in pain.

They drive for hours. When they finally stop and the doors open, Minghao sees a large concrete building and nothing else—no people, no cities, no help. Just forest and emptiness and their three kidnappers.

They fetch a syringe and they knock him out with it. The next thing Minghao knows, he’s reading a message written in blood on the ceiling of a small concrete tomb.

친구의 실수에 대해 지불 할 거야. 공정하네? 
(You’ll pay for your friends’ mistakes. That’s fair, right?)