Prism's head creaked and snapped towards me as the question left my lips fully. Although he didn't have eyes, I could almost feel the tension radiating off him and I took a step back.

"P-p-pla-a- w-wh-wha-," he stuttered as if he was glitching out or something. His head made snappy motions and everyone became tensed, afraid he might explode or something.

"Why would you ask him that?! Where did you hear that from?" Jonghyun yelped and I gulped.

"What are you talking about, oh dear-d-dear?" Prism spoke, still in that glitching mechanical tone as his head hung low. "W-wh-what-"

"Everyone, get back!" Jonghyun said and we started to move away from Prism collectively.

The color of his prism head suddenly dulled into a deep dark black, no more light shone through it as if someone had switched him off. The dark seemed to seep out around him as we became engulfed by it. People screamed and gasped in shock. The sound of footsteps trying to run from it echoed through the hall as well.

"Minhyun, come on!" Baekho said and pulled on the cuff yet a part of me knew we couldn't run away from this. Where would we even go? Into the rooms? Still, I followed him and we tried to outrun the dark wrapping around us all. We kept running as if it was endless.

"Where are we even going?" I asked, turning to look behind me but there was nothing. Only bleak blackness.

"I don't know... I don't know what's going on either! It's as if we triggered something that we shouldn't have!"

Are we all going to die? Just because I asked about that? Impossible! What was so important about it that Prism had to glitch out to prevent us from knowing?

The black started to fade, replaced with cold bellowing snow as we started to shiver.

"What the f-" Baekho and I looked at our new surroundings. It was as if we had landed in a post apocalyptic world. Buildings were broken and tattered. Roads cracked and snow buried almost everything. Abandoned and overturned cars laid all over the road.

"Where are we? Hah... Its so cold," I said while shuddering, feeling my body heat drop rapidly. I wrapped my arms around my body and started to rub them. I could see my breath puffing up into steams and Baekho didn't seem to be dealing so well with it too. He shivered even more than me despite his size.

"Hah...."

"Minhyun! Baekho! This way!" We heard Jonghyun's voice calling out to us and we rushed over to him as he was inside one of the fallen buildings with Ren. It was slightly more bearable but still cold anyways. Fueled by anger, Baekho grabbed Jonghyun's collar and gritted his teeth.

"What the hell is going on?! Explain!" he growled and both Ren and I pried them apart. I held onto Baekho and tried to stop him from lunging at the other other.

"You triggered the final level," Jonghyun said and we gasped.

"What did you say?!"

"This... Is the final level or to be more precise, the survival level before the betrayal level..."

"Tell us everything!"

"Only if you tell me how you know about the player. Are you the player?" Jonghyun snapped back and Baekho flinched.

"We don't even know what this player is!"

"They're the only one capable of turning the tides of the game!"

"They? There's more?" I asked and Jonghyun shook his head.

"I don't know... But what I do know is that... This is the extreme survival level... Which means... The last two standing will be the semi final winners... And will have to go against each other for the final level."

Baekho looked at me with wide eyes before shaking his head. "No..."

"That's what I thought too... That's why you have to let me win! And you weren't supposed to be here!"

"Calm down, you two. What's really happening?" I asked and Jonghyun's frustration seemed to fizzle slightly.

"You and I went against each other in the last game... And before this, whoever who skipped a game wouldn't show up in the next level. I was so certain that would happen which was why I was shocked when you two were there when we came back."

"Prism said we were being favored. Do you know anything about that?"

"Probably the onlookers. The ones that affect our objectives."

I nodded, trying to process the information given. "We eavesdropped on your conversation last night... That's how we know about the player and that you didn't want us joining the games."

"You heard us?" Jonghyun gasped and glanced at Ren whose face turned red.

"Yes? Before Hoshi made a racket, of course. But who are these onlookers? And also since I told you how we know, now you should tell us what the player is in more detail."

"I don't know every detail of what the hell is going on but if you have the ability of a player, you get to pick your choices. Imagine an actual game where there's a main character and the rest of us are just NPCs running around in a fixed path."

I blinked and frowned. "Choices? But we all have choices, don't we? We are humans. We have freedom of thought and speech."

"That's what I thought so too but that isn't the case at all... It just isn't that obvious but some actions of ours are already predetermined just like our past."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Baekho asked, clearly even more upset now. Before Jonghyun could reply him, a sharp screech made us all jump.

"We have to survive if we want to talk more about this."

"But you said the game won't end without two last standing!"

"We can't just stand here either! Listen to me. You have to survive. Find clothes, weapons and food. Anything that will help you get over this!" With that, Jonghyun broke into a sprint with Ren following hurriedly. The screech got closer and the two of us started running as well. We had no idea where to go at all but definitely not towards the screech.

"We have to leave the building," Baekho said and I nodded.

"Let's just do as Jonghyun say and... Wait. Did he just ask us to find food?" We didn't have time to think about that when the building we were still in suddenly started to shake violently as if an earthquake was happening. We didn't even want to turn to look at what was happening when we plunged ourselves back into the heavy snowstorm outside. The building started collapsing even more and we run further from it as dust and snow kicked up.

"Over there. Another building," Baekho said and pointed in the direction we started heading towards. We headed inside and as if it was really some game, there was a jacket on the ground as if it had been discarded there in a hurry. Baekho picked it up and frowned. "Well, better than nothing. Here."

"Huh? You're handing it to me?"

"Yeah. We can just find ano-"

I pushed the jacket to him and he stared at me confused.

"You wear it. You can't stand the cold, can you?"

"It's freezing out there. Neither of us can stand it."

"Yeah but I saw how you were earlier. Wear it. I'll take the next one," I said and smiled a little. Baekho pursed his lips and reluctantly wore the jacket. "Let's do a quick search and try to find for some weapon. I'm sure people have already raided most of the stuff since we were busy talking earlier."

Baekho nodded and we went around the building. It seemed like an old musty apartment that had holes in it, letting the cool wind break in. I checked the cupboards and they all seemed empty, almost as if no one actually lived here. There weren't that many decorations either and they were all furnished in the exact same way too.

"I wonder if the apartment was new before it became like this."

"Why do you say that?" Baekho asked.

"There's nothing here. Even if you were going to shift houses or evacuate, there's no way there's not even a hint of life..."

"Well, we are in a game, aren't we?" he sighed and I puffed my cheeks. "Oh. How's your allergy?" 

"What?"

"Well, I thought you were allergic to dust."

"I am."

"That whole apartment came crushing down just now and dust probably came up. Also, if this is set in a post apocalyptic world... Surely everywhere is dusty including this apartment."

I squinted at Baekho, trying to understand the connection of his words before I gasped. My allergies weren't affecting me unlike the time in the cat game.

"Crap. You're right. My nose isn't affected..."

"What does that mean...?"

"I have absolutely no idea!" I said and laughed. I felt like with every game we participate in, I was losing my mind more and more. Nothing made sense.

"Maybe Jonghyun is right... Everything is just predetermined... Like how you wouldn't get allergies here but how you would in the other game..."

For some reason, Baekho seemed upset and clenched his fists. I tilted my head and reached over, placing a hand on his. He flinched and looked at me.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"It's just... I refuse to accept that that's the truth."

"No one said you have to. We are still us." I wasn't sure what brought about this sudden change but he turned around and held my arms. I flinched unintentionally since his hands were cold.

"Minhyun, I have to be honest."

"Y-yeah? Right now?" I blurted out since his eyes were serious. I gulped and he nodded.

"I... I really..."

Really?

Thunk.

Both of us froze at the sound. They were soft but continuous like little metallic clicks against the wooden flooring. Baekho placed a finger on his lips as both of us hurriedly lowered ourselves to hide behind the bed in the room we were in. The clicks became louder until we finally saw it. It was like a bug or praying mantis to be exact except it was large, way too large to even fit the hallway properly. Two frontal large legs curved in a threatening angle. But it didn't look natural. It looked just like it sounded. Metallic. Shimmering silver gloss as it poked its head into the room we were in. We immediately lowered ourselves even more and held our breaths. It started coming closer judging from the sound itself but stopped after awhile. We peered upwards, afraid we would see its terrifying head but there was no sign of it. Then, the clicks continued out and gradually faded. Baekho shifted and peeked first before letting out a soft relieved cry.

"Please don't tell me that's what we are up against," he whispered and I could only shake my head.

"You think?" I bit my lip and crawled over to the window. I peeked out to try to see something, anything but the snow blurred out a lot of things. There was a sound but distant. "What was that?"

"Huh? You heard something?" Baekho crawled up beside me and tried to listen and there it was again except this time, it was clear that it was a scream piercing through the cold winds. "Hell no..."

"Baekho..."

"This isn't real, right?"

"You and I both know the answer to that. We go out there... And it's against a metallic mantis. Who knows if there are more?" I said while sitting beside him.

"Are we going to die here? Is this it?"

"Isn't that what we always thought in the other games too?" I said and Baekho sighed.

"Yeah but this feels worse..."

"More real?"

Baekho bit his lip and nodded. "I mean, a big metallic mantis isn't actually real but death... Feels much more real here than the other games."

"It's either freezing to death or mauled to death, huh..." I looked at Baekho who was shaking and held his hand. "Didn't think you could look this afraid."

"I thought I was more afraid of heights but..." He looked at me and squeezed my hand. "After what Jonghyun said earlier, I'm most afraid of losing you."

I blinked and realised he was being sincere. His eyes twinkled with sincerity as he held my hand tightly. I smiled and unintentionally chuckled. "That's weird."

"It is?" He let go of my hand and I grabbed it.

"I feel the same."

He froze and we stared at each other as if this was the best time to be romantic. But if one of us were going to die anyways, why would it matter? It was better to say it out now than to regret it later on.

"You do?"

~

"I do."

> Kiss him

> Push him down

> Leave the apartment