SUNHEE

The room is madness, she swears. The two brothers are already investigating the mirror on the far wall. Sunhee had tried to ask them what they were doing, but neither seemed to hear her. No worries! She didn't need to worry about them anyhow. The other girl, Taehee she thinks, is with the other girl with oddly pink hair and Yonghyun by the chute Jiwoo had opened by accident. They're speaking very quickly, the pink haired Myungok, MYUNGOK RIGHT THAT'S HER NAME, gesturing at the chute while Taehee shakes her head slowly. Yonghyun looks just as excited. Maybe she should go over to them to see what they are-

“Sunhee,” Hana's melodic voice calls.

“I'm here!” Sunhee spins around to face Jiwoo and Hana at the books. Both are currently touching the four books. Jiwoo chews her bottom lip as she begins to open one, but must decide not to since she just takes her hand away.

“Four books lay here,” Sunhee reads the words out loud once more. Where was the answer? Maybe if she said them enough the answer would magically appear. Four colors, but one doesn't belong. Which once doesn't belong? How does one not belonging make any sense? Where'd that smart brother go? The smart one who seemed to know what he was doing? Can he come back? That'd be nice.

“Obviously we open one of these,” Hana is gently, delicately running one of her beautifully manicured hands across the cover of the yellow one, “but which one?”

“Does not belong in the light...what does that even mean?” Jiwoo once again touches the green one, but stops again. She sighs, “maybe we shouldn't.”

“Don't be daft,” Hana chides quickly, “we totally should. We're supposed to be solving puzzles right?”

“Just because we could be solving puzzles doesn't mean we should, Hana,” Jiwoo's is practically hissing Hana's name.

“But Hana's right!” She tries to add, but Hana's already waving Jiwoo off.

“Doesn't really matter what you think.”

“Oh really? Care to be the first to open the book then princess?”

“After I think about it, peasant.”

Sunhee didn't like where this was going at all. Jiwoo's face is screwed up in a mean, angry expression; but Hana didn't give her any notice. She instead chose to reread the riddle again aloud, her voice soft and careful.

“Hey!” Myungok is calling to them, “we're going through this chute to the other side.”

“Are you insane? Yonghyun,” Jiwoo exclaims, “there's no exit there!”

“It has to lead somewhere right? And if not, we;ll just crawl back here.” He shrugs nonchalantly, “no big deal. Taehee is coming, right?”

“All of your are mad,” Hana says while turning to them and away from the books and Sunhee, “the chute is unknown. We know for a fact that these books here are meant for solving. Why are we even wasting time on the scary, dark passageway? It's perfectly fine out here.”

Sunhee sighs and resumes looking at the books. The other two continued to argue with the others. It was finally determined that Myungok really didn't give a crap what Hana thought, and would like her to just go away now. That earns some mirth from Jiwoo, finally, but Hana just turns away indignant and returns to Sunhee.

“You sure you don't want to come with us?” Yonghyun asks Jiwoo once more.

“No thanks. You go crawl into an unknown place. Good luck.” And then Jiwoo returned to them. The three by the chute then got in one by one, with Taehee taking the rear. Once again, Jiwoo and Hana began to debate the books and best course of action. Hana, brave and daring as she is, said for them to just pick one already. However, Jiwoo insists they take time to consider their options more clearly. Honestly, Sunhee doesn't understand the problem. They already investigated the room pretty good she thinks. That one guy, Beomho she thinks, seemed pretty good at pointing everything out. What else do they need to do? Besides, Hana is confident. That should be plenty of assurance.

“Okay then, tell me what book are we opening then?”

“The blue one, clearly.”

“The blue one? Why the blue one?” Jiwoo questions. Sunhee stopped her investigating of the yellow book, which she assumed was the the color of the sun so maybe that made sense? And went to the blue one. Oh! Hana has a blue dress this color. She looks radiant in it!

“Think about it. The color of light? It's the lightest shade of blue here!”

“Well….it does seem like the lightest color. But that's not the point. Why not the green one? Red, blue, and yellow are primary colors. The green doesn't fit.”

Sunhee traced the edge of the blue book. Jiwoo was right about the primary colors. But what about the colors in light? Like those old TVs where you would look really close at the screen and see red, blue, and green. They did an experiment with light like that once in class so-

The sound of glass shattering stops their conversation. The brothers, at least as far as she remembers, had broken the mirror they were investigating. They seemed to pay the three girls any mind, and were going through the opening behind the glass fairly quickly.

“What is wrong with these people? Jumping into dark places. Really,” Hana huffs, rubbing her temples, “might as well go see what they're looking at in there, yes?” Jiwoo actually agrees with Hana this time, and the pair leave Sunhee alone at the books. They spend a minute or two there, Sunhee left to just idly consider each of the books. She continues to trace the cover of the blue one.

Hana did seem pretty certain it was the blue one. Maybe just a little tug to see…

Sunhee pulls on the blue cover gently, and there's an immediate click.

The room seemingly rumbles now. Jiwoo and Hana are running back to here, asking her what happened.

“Did you mess with a book?!”

“Sunhee! What did you do?!”

“I just tried the blue one and-!”

A blast of cold air blows into the room from somewhere above, and the chute and hold in the mirror both are sealed by shutters that CLANG loudly. A rumble shakes the room around them, the lights flickering erratically, and the books in the shelves all falling around them. Sunhee saw one of the shelves come falling down towards Hana, and rushed over to shove Hana away just as the shelf was about to slam into her.

“Sunhee what the hell?! WHAT DID YOU DO?!”

Before Sunhee could answer, another rumble emanated from the table where the book lay. Another series of clicks and the cover flew open wide on the blue book. A cloud of red vapor poured out into the room in waves that seemed impossibly big to be coming from that one book. It reeked of something like rotten eggs, and Sunhee felt herself gag. The gagging, however, also made her in some of the red fumes.

It burned. Oh it burned and hurt in and then into her chest. Near her, Hana and Jiwoo also cried out in pain, coughing and hacking. Her lungs felt like they would burn out but then the feeling of burning was replaced by cold. So cold. The red vapor obscured her vision as she stumbled around, trying to find Hana in the room. Her chest felt tight, and she coughed as if to clear away mucus, but nothing came out. It's getting harder and harder to breathe.

The cold fades, and now all of Sunhee's limbs just feel weak and jelly like. Oh, she feels sick. The world is spinning now. Even with the red vapor fading and vanishing around her, all she wants to do is curl up and cry at the dizziness overcoming her now. She can still hear Hana and Jiwoo, both gagging and feeling what Sunhee must be at this moment.

Just as Sunhee felt as if her dizziness is fading, the lights in the room flicker off and on again. At the far end, she sees the first lights just go out completely, leaving that part of the room in solid black darkness. And then the second light goes out, and that part of the room is dark. Cold air is blasting them from that darkness.

“Look!” Jiwoo grabs Sunhee and hauls her up, “the door is open!”

Hana is first, running while gasping for sir towards the door.

TANYA

There was something to be said about seeing a man decapitated. Most doctors will tell you death occurs pretty quickly. First is the loss of consciousness from lack of circulation of oxygenated blood in the first few seconds; followed by irreversible brain damage and cell death. Not the worst way to go. Youngchul probably didn't even have time to recognize what was happening before blacking out. The horror of seeing a twitching face and head amidst gushes of blood was more the problem of the people who witness such acts.

As noted by the shrill scream of Jumin not even before the blood had stopped flowing from the neck.

“What the actual ?!” The one boy is shouting.

“Oh god! OH MY GOD!” Jumin is still shrieking, having fallen to his knees. Tanya is honestly surprised he's not crying yet.

“Stop screaming,” Junhee asks rather calmly.

“But-BUT HIS BODY-!”

“We all see it! Stop shouting old man!”

“HE'S DEAD!”

“No !” The boy Jihyun is arguing back at Jumin, a sneer across his features. Meanwhile across the room Yong had knelt next to Miyeon, offering her a cloth from somewhere to wipe her face. Miyeon took it quietly, wiping some of the blood from her face, mutely and still staring at Youngchul's head. Tanya feels a pang of sympathy for her. Out of everyone here, the girl is probably the most entitled to having a fit of screaming.

“You're going to be okay. Stay close by me for a while.” Miyeon nods ever so slightly at Yong's words. Junhee is already walking past them to inspect the body, ignoring Jumin suddenly shouting at her to not go anywhere near it.

“WE COULD BE NEXT! OH GOD! WHAT IF WE ALL DIE TOO?!”

SMACK

The woman Eunwoo huffed from where she now stands in front of Jumin, rubbing her hand that had smacked him seconds ago. Jumin is silent, rubbing his face a moment and staring at her with big teary eyes.

“That's enough.”

“But...BUT!!”

Tanya didn't want to be around anymore for what came next. Jumin resumes his cries of ditress, though noticeably quieter with the glare given to him by Eunwoo. The others are already discussing next steps. The consensus seems to be to listen to the clue and proceed past Youngchul to the next room or area. Logically, it makes sense she supposes. But the sight of all the blood on the ground, and the now thoroughly dead Youngchul staring into nothingness...

Tanya has no desire to walk past that. The girl Miyeon just nods once more mutely as she allows Yong to help her to her feet. He offers his arm to her, all smiles and warm looks. Jumin is still protesting loudly before Jihyun once again just tells him to shut up and continues on himself to the next room; not even batting an eye at the body.

She looks back towards the dark room. She ha no desire to walk past the body after seeing that trap take his head off that quick and clean. Sparing one last glance at the nearly sobbing Jumin, who is edging around the blood and body pathetically, and the numb Miyeon subtly clutching on Yong's arm, Tanya almost wanted to follow them instead.

Almost.

Tanya is already at the entrance of the dark room. The room really is nearly pitch black, but somewhere on the other end she can make out a bit of light.

The clue was correct. By all accounts the room is safe.

Tanya doesn't give herself a chance to talk herself out of it, and strides in whilst taking in one deep breath to hold. A couple moments later, and she lets out the air in her lungs once nothing horrible occurs. The little bit of light at the far end is enough to give her eyes something to focus on. Her hand reaches out next to her, feeling against the wall. Part of her brain is screaming at her to be more careful of setting off traps; but damnit, she needs light and the obvious choice would be to-aha!

Tanya allows herself to smile a little when she flicks on the lights in the room. A chandelier above lights up the room into full view. It's a simple one compared to the last few they've been in. A small circular table with a couple of books on it is near the door, a couple of chairs next to it, and amidst the books a small box that reminded her of a ring box. Against the wall where the light had been coming from was a chute of sorts, right next to a small unlit fireplace. From that chute, Tanya swore she could hear some voices. Curious, she is about to make her way to it when the sound of a chair moving behind makes her spin around to confront the noise.

Acha stands at the small table, quietly regarding Tanya.

“Jesus, don't do that,” Tanya feels as if her heart was going to fly out of her chest. Acha merely shrugs and continues perusing the table. She makes to take the ring box, but Tanya hisses at her, “be careful!” Again, Acha regards her before taking her hand away. Even if the clue indicated the room was safe, it didn't mean everything else was safe. Acha kneels to be eye level with the box, tilting her head one way and then the other.

“There's nothing keeping it on the table. And I don't see anything under it.” That had to be the firsttime Tanya actually heard the other girl speak complete sentences.

“Don't touch it until we check the room.”

“Hm,” she hums in agreement. Before either could continue their investigation of the room, noises from the chute draw their attention once more. And not a moment later the grate on the chute falls off with a loud CLANG. Pink hair is the first thing she sees before Myungok emerges from the chute with a flourish, shaking and adjusting the hair on her head.

“Whew! Glad I'm not claustrophobic! Oh hey!” She greets them, “Glad to see you both. This place is like a maze escape room or something. We just came from the other through-”

“Excuse me,” a male voice asks, making Myungok step away from the grate. Yonghyun emerges next, all smiles when he too sees Tanya and Acha, “So they do connect.”

“Told you,” Myungok simply grins and looks into the chute, “Taehee! Come on!” She turns back to the others, and her smiles falters, “you both okay? You look paler than me when I was hooked up for chemo.”

Before Tanya could decide to answer, the grate on the chute suddenly slammed closed once more. A startled shout from within the chute alerted them to Taehee's presence still within it. Yonghyun is already trying to pry the grate back open, but his hands are unable to grip the edges of it. Myungok is also trying to get the grate off again, though she seems less concerned with the grate and more involved in talking to the girl Taehee.

“Taehee. Taehee, sweetie, honey, I promise I'll get you out. Don't panic.” From within the chute Tanya could hear distant screams, clearly not from Taehee.

“The others are in trouble! Get me out of here! There's something coming up through the other end! It looks like smoke!”

“Calm down-”

“The passage is moving now! It's getting smaller in here!”

“Hang on!” Yonghyun backs up a few steps and tries to kick the grate open in a panic.

Tanya takes one half step towards them with every intent on helping when the room they're in shudders. The chandelier is swaying, the crystals tinkling, while the lights upon it flicker erratically. What on earth was happening?

“I don't want to die in here! Help!” Myungok and Yonghyun both assure her in panicked voices she won't, and continue to try and get the grate off. From her position, Tanya can make out Taehee's fingers wrapped around the grate they could slide into, shaking. Taking one more step towards them, that's when Tanya saw it. The walls...the walls are moving. With every shudder the walls are moving inch by inch.

“We have to go,” Acha says to her, “it's getting faster.” She motions to the walls, having noticed the movement as well. She's already running for the door. Tanya spares one more glance back at the others, and notes how much closer the wall nearest to them is. A few more moments, and she knew it would block the chute, locking the poor girl inside it.

Shaking her head, Tanya sprints to follow after Acha who, to her surprise, is actually waiting by the door for her.

“Where are you going?! Help us!” Myungok is calling to them angrily, still trying to rip that grate off.

“Yonghyun please, please, please, I don't want to die here. It's getting smaller, please, please, please!”

“I can't get enough leverage to open it,” Yonghyun cries out in frustration, “I'm sorry!”

“Please!”

Tanya is almost to the door when she swears to herself and turns back around. Acha shouts at her something in a foreign language (don't ask Tanya if she could even recognize it), but Tanya is already running back to the chute. As she passes the fireplace, she spots a poker within it, and takes it in hand.

“Move!” She commands before jamming the poker into the side of the grate. From behind the grate, despite the rumblings and shakings of the room, she hears the muffled sobs of the girl behind it, “Help me!” She shouts to Yonghyun. The boy grabs the poker with her, and the pair lean their weight into it as they pry the grate. One, two, three, fourth try and the grate pops off with a clatter to the ground. Yonghyun immediately reaches in and pulls out the sobbing Taehee from the chute. Tanya can see it takes him actually pulling and yanking her out: the chute had closed in enough to where the girl's shoulders were being compressed.

“Run!” Acha shouts form the door again. To Tanya's surprise, the girl had dragged the table so that it was jammed in the doorway. It only took Tanya a moment to realize the door was trying to force itself shut.

They were going to get locked in.

Not waiting for the others, Tanya raced across the room. She can hear them behind her, but the more important fact is that the table lets out a crack. Tanya is up and over the table, clumsily crawling over it to make it back to the room they'd come from.

Once in the other room, she turns to see Yonghyun practically throwing Taehee over the table before scrambling over himself. The last one, Myungok, is a few steps behind.

But as if in a bad horror movie, she trips.

Before any could think to do anything, the door gave one last great heave, and the table was shattered, sending them all to the ground covering their faces from the splinters. The door slams shut, the hear the plaintive cry of Myungok one time before all goes silent. Yonghyun goes to bang on the door, trying to open it back up.

“Myungok!”

Taehee is still on the ground, her face red from the crying, and she is hugging herself. When Yonghyun finally manages to open the door, all they see is darkness. He is about to put his hand into it when Taehee shouts for him to do no such thing. Cold, cold air gusts from the darkness, and Tanya turns away. Without waiting, she is already heading for the other doorway.

Which is shut now as well. Swearing at herself, Tanya then turns to go back to the main hall they entered from previously. She wanted nothing to do with whatever had happened in that other room, or the cold darkness within it.

“Is...is that blood...oh god his head...”

Tanya pays no heed to the words of the boy. She's made it to the hall when she realizes she has tightly clasped in her hand the ring box.

SANGHO

Sangho removes his jacket and places it over the mirror before using his elbow to break the glass. While the others seemed more intent on the book puzzles or even that random chute the one girl found, he wanted to know what was behind this mirror. Someone took the time to hide something back here to use this two-way. And he wanted to know to what end.

His intuition proves correct.

“Good eye,” Beomho compliments while peering into the opening behind the now shattered mirror. The mirror hide behind it a passageway. Sangho leans in a little further, eying left and right, up and down. The passage is dark, but lit enough that he's sure they could make their way down it without issue. The smell of old dust and mildew permeates the cool air that now flowed freely from the passage.

“I'll go first,” he announces before taking a careful step through the opening. It requires him to practically climb through, but the action is easy enough and he avoids any remaining broken glass. The passage dead ends to the left, but goes for quite some distance on the right. The air definitely seems to move a little, still colder than the ambient temperature within the mansion itself.

Satisfied he didn't see anything amiss, he calls back to Beomho. His brother carefully follows, needing a little more help in avoiding the glass. Beomho stares at Sangho a moment before realization spreads over his features.

“The air in here is moving your hair down the hall.” Sangho instinctively reaches up to feel his fringe, “you didn't notice?” Not spairing an answer, he simply pushes the hair back to free the forehead and looks down the corridor to the right. It's dark, cobwebs hanging from the ceiling while one hanging lamp from above flickers weakly to provide a little light. The air grows colders, a sudden gust surging past them both down the corridor.

“Yeah, no,” Sangho turns and begins to usher Beomho back.

No sooner had they turned did something rumble. He would liken it to distant thunder, but it sounded very mechanical. In fact, it sounded more like gears whirring if he-

A solid shutter suddenly slammed shut over their exit, the loud, resounding clang making them both jump and Sangho swear out some colorful language. He pushed past Beomho to try the shutter, pulling at it upwards in an attempt to raise it. No such luck.

“Well, I'd say that was a trap,” Beomho announces rather casually, “But everything points us to go down the hall. Let go.”

“Like hell we are,” Sangho grumbled and looked around them for something to pry the shutter open, “the moment I get this open, we're leaving this carnival.”

“But you're assuming we could get out this way. If this is a trap, whoever put this here is literally, LITERALLY telling us we have to go that way,” to emphasize his point, he motions down the corridor and another gust of air blasts past them, “See?” Sangho would be lying if he didn't think that was pretty spooky, “But maybe it's not a trap? What if this is some secret area we chose based on our inherent abilities and the desires of whoever is machinating this event to see someone take a secret corridor he, or she, or person, really wanted to reveal to the world?”

Sangho simply stares at Beomho.

“Right! Onwards!”

Not really seeing an alternative now that he knows there's nothing he could use to pry the shutter open, Sangho follows closely after Beomho down the corridor. The gusts of sir still raise occasionally, though without as much force as before. At the far end, he can make out the light coming through what he assumes is a closed door. And as they go, something wafts up into his nose. Something that smells like an old, wet, mildew bathroom. But the scent just gets stronger the further they go. But then it gets heavier, like that bathroom had not been flushed and cleaned for a long time. And now it's just smells rotten.

Not long after Sangho and Beomho encounter the source of the smell.

Sprawled in the middle of the corridor, just beneath the second of two swinging lamp lights he'd seen, is a body. It appeared badly decomposed at this point, but the smell was like hitting a wall of rot. Beomho gags, covering his mouth, a hand reaching out to clutch onto Sangho's arm. Despite his desire to do the same, Sangho pushes forward cautiously. He really wishes he hadn't, since now he can see the man, yes man, was bisected horizontally. In other words, on leg, arm, half a torso, and a slit head was on each side of the corridor.

“Sangho,” Beomho whispers through his hand, “do you see it? His older brother held his arm tightly, preventing him from moving forward. He sees it now.

A thin, fine wire, pulled taut horizontally in the corridor, stood in between where the pieces of the body are. He swears he sees gore clinging to it.

“, , ,” he curses, “We are leaving the moment we can.” He wasn't going to wait for Beomho to agree on that, nor did he need to based on how tightly he still clung to his arm. Moving carefully around the wire, trying not to look at the body, they were just about around the scene when something catches Sangho's eye. In the hand of one of the, well, one of the hands are two clear test tubes. Removing Beomho from his arm, Sangho carefully, keeping an eye on the wire, reaches out to take the tubes.

They are sealed with black rubber stoppers, and on the front of each is a label with snakes twisting around a stick. He recognizes this symbol. He sees it in the hospitals all the time.

“SANGHO!” Beomho grabs him again and Sangho is yanked back to Beomho. He feels the wire rather than actually seeing it. Right where he once was, the wire was there, shuddering from its sudden and swift movement. Something warm trickles down his face.

“Are you okay?” Beomho turns Sangho to look at him and gasps quietly, “oh no...”

“It'll be fine,” he waves off the concern his brother is showing, ignoring the stinging of the scrape on his cheek. Mentally, he is thanking his luck that Beomho was there. That could have ended...quite messy.

“Let's-” Beomho is interrupted by sudden screams and shouts from nearby. The sound is muffled, but Sangho can recognize them as female, and immediately thinks of the girls back in the room. He doesn't have time to consider this for very long. Another shot of cold air blasts them, and the rumbling from before resumes intensely. It's getting louder by the second from where they came.

Not wasting a moment, he grabs Beomho and they dash down the corridor towards the light of the door. Without missing a beat, he kicks the door open. It slams open, the bright light from the other side nearly blinding him, but they rush out of the corridor. For good measure, Sangho turns and slams the door shut.

“We're leaving. Right. Now,” He doesn't wait for Beomho to accept this fact before dragging him towards the entrance. They'd emerged back near the entry, into the brightly lit hall where they started. Perfect. He'd just drag Beomho home and they could pretend this night didn't happen once he caleld the police to-

“...where the hell is the door?”

Where the entryway once was, is a solid wall complete with the lavish wallpaper of the rest of the room. They only had moments to process this when one of the girls, the foreign one, emerged from the room he and Beomho had opted not to go into. Following behind her were some of the others, all looking worse for wear.

“Hey, what happened to you?” Beomho speaks first, joining the group with Sangho reluctantly following behind him.

“There's a dead body in there. It's that Youngchul,” the boy Yonghyun mutters, face pale, “and Myungok is gone. All the doors are locked. Oh my god, what is this place?”

“The front door is gone too. We just came from-”

“AHHH!!” The doors from the room they chosen originally flew open. Out came stumbling three of the other girls, all coughing and gagging. Yonghyun rushed over to help the girl Jiwoo while Sunhee found and clung to Hana, gagging and proclaiming she was dizzy.

“What do you want me to do about it-oh gross! SUNHEE!”

The smaller girl retched, bowed over, and proceeded to vomit all over Hana's shoes. The girl shoves Sunhee away, coughing herself and trying to kick off the vomit on her shoes. Somewhere Sangho hears someone snort in amusement. Tanya is by Sunhee's side, patting her back and telling her to let it out and to calm down, to breathe.

“God, I feel so sick,” Jiwoo breathes, her complexion pale and sweaty, “that gas just...I just feel so weak now.”

“Hey,” Beomho interjects from where he'd gone to check on Taehee who was being very quiet, off to the side on her own, “does anyone else see that there are three more doors open now?”

“Enough. We're finding awindow and getting out of here.”

“But think!” Beomho interrupts Sangho before he could continue, “do you really think we can just get out through a window?”

“Couldn't hurt to try.”

“There's something...something dark and scary back there,” Taehee finally speaks, her voice quiet and yet neutral in tone, “You didn't see that darkness. It...”

“It took Myungok,” Yoinghyun finished for her.

“And that's not including the actual traps,” Tanya adds, “I saw Youngchul's head come clean off, and the rooms closing in around us.”

“Exactly my point,” Beomho points to the rooms ahead of them, “do you think any of us have a choice now? We can either sit here and do nothing, or try to get through this place.”

The mansion now eerily silent, the group now faces the three open options for them.

Sangho, Beomho, Hana, Sunhee, Jiwoo, Yonghyun, Taehee, Tanya, Acha – which way do you go?

A. Straight

B. Left

C. Right

JUNHEE

Even if you are rich and so called powerful, it never changes the color of your blood. Red and glistening in the light of the room, Junhee admires that particular shade. It's gorgeous. And truthfully, the man probably had it coming. Still. It's a shame the girl had to witness it so close. Junhee waited by the body, seemingly shielding it from view of the more delicate members of their current entourage. Jumin skulked by first, looking pale and ready to vomit at any give moment. Poor man. Next went Eunwoo, not even batting a lash at the blood or body, and then came Miyeon with her current white knight Yong. Jihyun had already moved ahead before Junhee.

When had Yong grabbed that sword, she wondered upon falling into step with those two. He'd must have taken one from one of the knights in the previous room. Upon closer inspection of him, he's definitely a pretty fellow. Though a bit weak looking. Something about how he tried to reassure Miyeon felt...unusual to Junhee.

“Miyeon, are you alright?” She asks the younger girl while slipping an arm through Miyeon's and casually leading her away from Yong.

“I'm fine,” she mutters. Junhee looks back at Yong. He simply smiles at her and moves past them, “hope you don't mind my taking your knightly role for now?” He just shakes his head, “Stay close by then. We'll get out of this place as soon as we can.” She directs her words to Miyeon.

“Mmhm,” she responds halfheartedly.

They enter a room that is brightly lit. The floor is checked black and white, reminding Junhee of a chessboard. The far wall is a solid mirror. Something you might find in a dance studio. That how Junhee realizes the wall behind them, where they enter, is solid dark wood. The wooden panels of the walls are covered in etchings. A random assortment of letters it seems. The same ones are repeated over and over many times. They're spaced oddly, with repeating patterns. She take a moment to stare at the ones closest to their entry:

lliksayorehtndalanogiadseogtseiphetthginkehthtiwogod

tuositherugifuoynac

aswulofmjjotauteloewindlolpoohw

dableeflliwiedllayfi

wqlonfmdjieowlsnghjjrorlseeewiilmlledokdeokfhytcssakk

She leans in closer, releasing Miyeon, wanting to spend some more time reading these when the door they entered from clicks shut. None of them had even realized it was shutting. Eunwoo is the first to go back to it, trying the door knob to no avail. Immediately, Jumin begins whimpering.

“No...no no no we're locked in again? What's going to happen?”

“Don't panic,” Eunwoo chides, “just don't touch anything until we know what this room is for.”

No sooner had she spoken, the lights blinked out. And Jumin lets out a shriek.

“Goddamnit! Stop with the screaming!” Jihyun shouts at him, “You're not helping!”

Next to her, Junhee can feel Miyeon tense up. There's chatter from Jihyun telling Jumin to stop sniveling, and Eunwoo telling both to be silent so she can think. Yong says nothing, and in the pitch black Junhee can't even be certain where he's at.

Not more than a moment later, three lights blink into existance. Small spotlights from somewhere above, showing them three square tables. Those certainly were not there before.

Three tables light up individually. The left table has a carving of a knight on it. The middle table what appears to be a priest. And the final table a pair of royals, a king and queen. Interestingly enough, there are slots carved into the sides, eight each: one on each flat side and one carved into each corner. The clock in the far corner begin to gong as a voice, something ethereal and non-binary whispers into the air from an unknown source.

Choose wisely for your safety. Be careful of your foes, but you must remain close to them. Who do you stand with…?

Looking around her, Junhee considers carefully.

“We'll each have to pick one and slip our hands in,” Yong finally speaks after being silent for a long while. He runs a hand over the tables, tracing the patterns carved into them, “be mindful of splinters,” he looks to Miyeon, “this one with the king and queen are beautifully carved. You should have a closer look.”

“Oh...”

“Look, but don't go sticking your hands in,” Eunwoo states, leaning back against the wall to stare at the tables, rubbing her chin thoughtfully, “the answer has to be somewhere here, right?”

Junhee, Miyeon, Yong, Eunwoo, Jumin, Jihyun – which table do you choose, and do you stand at a side or corner? Each table has eight potential places for you to stand and place a hand into. Everyone could go to the same table, or you could go to your own. Choose wisely. Should there not be enough slots in the positions chosen, I will take them in the order they come and then place you elsewhere at the table.

A. Knight Table

B. Priest Table

C. Royal Table