"I know you're eager to find them, Kihyun but it's not easy. Plus we aren't heavily stocked on food either. It's safer to save energy right now," I said and his excitement fizzled down as he took deep breaths and nodded.

"Okay. Tomorrow then."

"We will get there when we get there," Baekho said. "No point in rushing when we don't know what's the end goal of this game."

"Alright... We will rest."

We set up the sleeping bags and huddled accordingly to our partners but I couldn't bring myself to sleep. Thoughts kept invading my mind as I stared at nothing in particular until I remembered about the camera. I took it out from the backpack and turned it on. It flickered alive and I snapped a picture of Baekho's face. Smiling a tiny bit, I clicked into the gallery and was surprised to find other clips and images there. I clicked into one of them and gasped softly. It was a picture of me and Jonghyun. I clicked into a video and played it.

As it started, I heard a hum and something in my head seemed to click. The voice was mine. I knew the song. I couldn't sleep. So I made it.

I played a different video and it showed someone walking along a hallway before the view made me frown. It was the same main hall as the ones we arrive in. The camera turned around and I looked at myself looking back at me.

"This is the main hall where we meet up every morning. Oh, say hi, Jonghyun. He's my partner," the me in the video said while reaching his hand out to someone before moving the camera towards none other than Jonghyun who looked over.

"Seriously, I don't understand why you bought a camera," he said but smiled.

"Well, since we might die anytime, I thought it'll be nice to have something someone else could remember me by."

"We won't die, Minhyun. I'll protect you."

"Yeah, yeah. Oh look!" The camera turned in a rush and my eyes opened widely as I saw Baekho entering the frame as video me rushed up to him. "Baekho!"

"Huh? Hey, Minhyun. You participating this round?"

"Yep. Hey, Hoshi."

"Hey~!"

I paused the video and took a deep breath. There was no way this was real. This had to be fabricated. There was just... I looked at Baekho and furrowed my brows. Maybe my thoughts were right. Maybe our memories have been erased time and time again. If that's the case, is anything even real? What is real? What isn't?

I closed the camera and faced Baekho before shutting my eyes tightly. Don't think about it. Tomorrow, you will show it to them and then, he will have an explanation for you. Maybe.

~~~

I opened my eyes to find the others rolling up their sleeping bags. Yawning slightly, I scooted out from the sleeping bag and stretched before rolling it up as well.

"Are we leaving now?" I asked and watched as they laid out the food from yesterday.

"After we eat," Baekho said and smiled.

"Huh... Okay..."

"Something wrong?" he asked and I sighed, pulling out the camera and showing it to him.

"I didn't mean to hide this but I got this yesterday."

"Huh? From where?" He took the camera and tilted his head. "So why do you seem so guilty for having it? It's not like-"

"That's the thing. I opened it last night and... There are some videos that I want you to look at."

"Huh? You didn't take anything weird, did you?"

"No way. I wouldn't have the time. You'll understand once you see them..."

"Okay?"

Kihyun and Minhyuk scooted over to see the camera as well since it wasn't like I had something to hide. Their expressions were flat as they watched the videos that I saw yesterday. It wasn't until one of the videos that they seemed surprised. I scooted beside Baekho and realised it was one of the videos I hadn't watched yet since it was Jonghyun turning on the camera and adjusting it.

"Minhyun. Hah.... I don't know when you will realise that I took this video. But when you do see this, I hope its either at a crucial moment or everything is already over and this video is unnecessary," he started saying with a nervous expression. "So, what I'm trying to say is... There's a programme in this game that is called a Player. We are given choices in this Game. I don't know how many Players there are but from my own experience, we have more than one path to choose from. I know as regular living beings, all of us have choices that we can choose from but sometimes we feel like our options are limited. As a Player, it's different... While our options are shown to us... We don't choose our path either but we can make the most out of what's given."

We exchanged confused looks at one another before continuing the video. Jonghyun lifted the handcuff on his wrist and clicked it.

"These objectives are probably just a distraction, tricking us into believing we all have freewill but what if we don't? Even NPCs probably don't have freewill... We all might just be programmed to do something.... Even as Players... The only thing different we can do is probably... Win the game. I want to win even if there's a slight chance that I can. I want to get us out of here. And I hope.... By then... When we do... We can still be friends."

"What does he mean?" Kihyun asked the very question lingering in all our minds. What exactly was Jonghyun trying to tell me with the video? That we had no way to win unless we were this player programme? "We are just...NPCs?"

"Not so fast, Kihyun. We can't just conclude things like that. There has to be more to it. We need to talk to Jonghyun about this," I said.

"And what if he can't tell us? He made the video because he can't say it straight to you."

"No, he can," Baekho interrupted and we looked at him. "But we need to find him in this game. Prism practically broke down to send us into this game. If we can just ask him everything, he won't have a reason not to tell us."

"So our objective has shifted to finding Jonghyun?" Minhyuk asked and I shook my head. "Huh?"

"We still need to group up with your friends first. Then we will decide what to do. Whether we... Go our separate ways or... Stick together and solve this game."

Neither of them said anything as if we knew what was bound to happen but we started to pack after that. Kihyun called his friends just to make sure that they were still alive before we set out.

"Minhyun, thank you for trusting us with the videos," Baekho said as I kept the camera.

"Hmm? You're my partner now. Of course, I trust you. Thank you... For trusting me too. I know how this may look for me but I promise you, I really don't remember anything."

"You're not the only one, Minhyun. I was caught in the video too. And yet I don't remember it either... The thing about the player though... That's what we should focus on right now."

I nodded and we packed up, heading out quietly as the streets were empty and suspicious. The zombies from last night weren't piled up on the street anymore as if someone or something had caused them to leave.

"Look over there," Minhyuk said and we looked over to where he was pointing at. It looked like some long winding path that led up directly to the tower we needed to go and we slowed down.

"Should we use that route?" Baekho asked and Kihyun shook his head.

"When I talked to Shownu earlier, he said there's an elevator leading right up to the tower at the bottom of it. I think this way would be faster if we just run straight to it."

I looked between the two and blinked. As if I felt like these situations occur more often than I like, something else came to my attention this time. At first, it happened like a flash but after the video we had seen, something seemed to click in me. I blinked and took a small step back before gasping softly. There it was.

> Go up

> Go down

Wait...

"Jonghyun said... As the Player... We would be able to see our options... But we can't choose..," I whispered.

"Hmm? Something wrong, Minhyun?" Baekho asked and I frowned. This would make me... A Player, wouldn't it? Unless... This is just my system. Nothing makes sense. "Minhyun?! Minhyun!"

"What's going on? He looks like he's in pain."

"I don't know."

I don't understand anything. I can't tell what's right and what's wrong. What's real and what's not.

"Minhyun!"

~~~

"He passed out," Baekho said and lifted Minhyun into his arms.

"Woah. What's going on right now?"

"I have no idea but I can't go on without him. You two can go ahead. I'll catch up once he wakes up."

"We shouldn't leave each other right now."

"Your friend is waiting... I won't die just like this and its harder to travel with someone unconscious."

Kihyun and Minhyuk were both reluctant but Baekho had already started finding for a place to hide. They watched as the two disappear into a building and started heading out to the tower.

~~~

Continue as?

> Baekho

> Minhyuk

> ???