Minhyun's POV

"... Dongho. Or you can call me Baekho, most of my friends do," the male cuffed to me said. I looked at his hand and frowned a little before looking at him.

"Minhyun," I replied nervously and slowly reached out, shaking his hand. He nodded and tried to smile but it came out awkward. I knew he was just as scared as me. He was familiar to me, oddly enough for being a stranger but it was hard for me to concentrate for now as I had just seen someone blown to pieces before me. Well, two someones.

"Cool... So... Guess it's us...together."

I nodded and we fell into an awkward silence before I noticed people started rushing down a hallway that I hadn't seen earlier. He caught my line of sight and followed it.

"Want to check that out?"

"Sure," I replied him and he helped me up unexpectedly. He seemed a little tough with the blazer he had on but I guess he also seemed pretty decent if I didn't judge him based on his looks alone. I looked at my own clothes and raised a curious brow as I wasn't in my pyjamas anymore but instead in one of the sweaters I owned with little foxes on the chest. I was pretty sure that I had worn something else to sleep but I suppose it didn't matter anymore considering how I didn't wake up in my own bedroom.

The hallway was filled with doors leading to rooms. I glanced into a few and noticed how they were designed as bedrooms. On the doors were nameplates, some written in Korean and some in other languages. I blinked in confusion since everyone I could hear sounded Korean to me. I was slowing down in pace but the tug on the handcuff reminded me that I was now having extra luggage with me. I turned to the male or Baekho, whatever he called himself, who was already walking further ahead. I picked up my pace and tried to follow alongside him while others started slipping away into rooms.

"I can't believe this.. Its like... We are... In some kind of...," he mumbled and frowned.

"Comic book?" I muttered and he nodded before shrugging.

"Something like that... I mean.... Whoever that prism head was? He snapped his fingers and the two just... They just... Died."

"Yes, they did."

"Doesn't that make you scared?" he whispered and I shrugged.

"I think everyone here is the same... Scared out of our wits..."

"Yeah... Oh, look." I turned to what he pointed at and noticed it was a door with our names on it. Dongho and Minhyun. "Think this belongs to us?"

"Well... That's what one would usually assume so... Plus we have no idea what's... Really going on now... And it looks like people are fine being t-" I paused since I realised I was about to start rambling away and he was staring at me. "What?"

"Huh? Nothing... I just thought you had quite a lot to say suddenly. That's good. I won't be bored to death," he said with a hint of cheerfulness in his tone as he dragged me into the room with him. I shut the door behind us and immediately took notice of the single king size bed, a cupboard, a desk, a chair and another door. It looked so normal that it almost felt as though I had stepped into a hotel room instead of whatever nightmare I was in now. "Oh... Great. So we get to not only, share our lives but also a bed..."

We explored the room a little, staying as far away from each other as much as the handcuffs would allow us. I knew we could just try to get comfortable with each other but the sudden realisation that if we didn't sleep on the same bed, one of us would have to take the floor and I knew I didn't want to. We looked through the cupboards, drawers of the shelves and even under the pillows. There were clothes in the cupboard, half belonging to me and half of his. We could recognize our own belongings after all. There were stationaries in the drawers along with some papers but there wasn't much of interest on them. He ended up opening the other door first which led to a bathroom. I followed behind him and the moment we both walked in, a distinct click sounded. We stared at each other in confusion and then at the handcuffs that were now disconnected.

"Oh , we are going to die!" was his first response as I froze in surprise and fear that we were indeed going to die since the pyramid headed male had said that the cuffs were never to be disconnected. We both stood there for a solid minute but nothing happened. He stared at me and I took a step out from the bathroom. The cuffs, as if attracted by a strong magnetic force, clicked back to one another.

"I'm guessing the bathroom is a safe zone for us to have it unlocked," I said as I moved my arm inside the bathroom to check. They swung apart again, clearing my suspicions. Baekho let out a relieved sigh as he slowly squatted.

"I thought we were going to die without even having a chance to survive," he whined and I patted his shoulder.

"At least we know that we can change and actually shower or do our business without having to be stuck right next to one another."

"Right. How comforting," he scowled and I gave him a small smile. It wasn't any more comfort even to me but I was a little relieved to know the person I was stuck with wasn't a complete jerk or one with a difficult personality. I heard a click and looked at the main door, walking towards it and turning the knob. My eyes widened as I tried again. "What's wrong?"

"Door is locked," I replied and he came up to the door to try it but it didn't budge either.

"Great. Now we are locked in?"

"Huh?" I muttered as I realised the light was dimming. "I guess it's time to sleep, huh..."

"How comforting. Not only are we cuffed but we are being treated like kids with curfew."

"Well, I guess we should at least try. He or whoever that guy was.... He said something about playing a game in the day, right?"

I wasn't sure if I was going to just lay in bed without washing up again since I woke up on the floor earlier but the other didn't really give me a choice as he took off his blazer and shoes before climbing onto the bed. I stared at him and he quirked a brow at me. Well, I guess there was some getting used to. I removed my shoes and got onto the bed as well. He turned to look at me and I stiffened slightly.

"So... Minhyun... Since you and I are like partners, I guess we have to um... Trust one another so why don't we try being friends?"

I glanced at him and unintentionally held my breath for a moment before letting it go. "You seem rather... Accepting of our situation."

"Well, what else can I be? We both woke up in the same situation, hella confused and scared. Next thing we know, we are being pitted into games that might even cost us our lives and I don't want to die now... So..."

I hummed in amusement and nodded. "Fine. Friends. Let's start with that but I need my sleep."

"Okay. We will talk more tomorrow."

I nodded again and closed my eyes, feeling fatigue catch up with me or maybe I was still tired to begin with. Whatever that was happening to us didn't make sense but at least, it was a bit of a relief to know that maybe Baekho was someone I could depend on to help me get out of this and vice versa.

*

"Rise and shine, my lovely humans!!" a sharp voice rang in the rooms and I blinked my eyes open. I felt a tight constriction around me and gasped softly before realising they were just the arms of the male I was sharing the bed with. He was hugging me and clearly still asleep. Well, this was a problem. "You have exactly 30 minutes to wash up and be at the main hall. Starting now."

I immediately started to panic as I shook him, trying to ignore the fact that his arms were tightly wrapped around me. He groaned and muttered something that I didn't quite catch. I was about to slap him awake when I noticed the wall in front of me had a timer that was counting down for 30 minutes. Great. I tried to push his arms away from my waist and he grumbled, pulling me closer and tighter. I breathed in and frowned.

"Baekho sshi, wake up!! We have to get ready!" I started yelling while slapping his cheeks as lightly yet roughly as I could. How do I even wake him up? Great, just when I thought it wouldn't be such a big deal for having him as my partner but now we are going to be in trouble just because he wasn't an early riser? I frowned and my panicking did the next thing it could think of since shaking and hitting him didn't quite help. I bit him and he yelped, shooting up from his sleep. He blinked in confusion and stared at me before he noticed the timer.

"W-what's going on?" he muttered.

"Time to wake up. That's a timer for us to get ready and to leave."

"Leave? Go where?"

"The main hall," I replied as I got down the bed and rushed to the bathroom. He yelped and I stopped, having forgotten about the cuff for a moment. He hopped off the bed and followed me. 

"Sorry... I didn't hear anything."

"Neither did you react to me hitting and shaking you...," I responded with a huff. He became embarrassed and cleared his throat, rushing into the shower area while I brushed my teeth. Thankfully they provided us with all these. Why am I even saying thank you when it was all their(whoever they are) fault for putting us into such a scene. He was out from the shower in an instant and I flinched when he stepped out with just a towel around his waist. "Wah!"

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"N-nothing!" I responded and he raised a brow at me. We exchanged places and he had to wait for me to be done before we could both exit the bathroom. Being cuffed together is such a pain.

This time, the door opened when I turned it and we noticed other people exiting their rooms as well. He shut the door and we made our way to the main hall. Gasping as we noticed a huge machine right in the center of it. It resembled a slot machine but nothing about it yell gambling. For instance, there were no pictures in the slots at all and there was also no fancy lights or numbers sticking out around it. Standing on top of the machine was the same person from yesterday or Prism as he called himself.

"What do you think that's for?" Baekho asked and I shrugged, clearly just as confused as he was.

"Maybe today's game?" I replied.

"Baekho? Is that you?!"

"Huh?" A male rushed over to us and he immediately tackled Baekho into a hug, causing all four of us to almost fall as Baekho slipped. I caught him and prevented that from happening. "Holy , Hoshi! You're here?!"

"Yeah... I can't believe I didn't notice you yesterday."

Hoshi? That sounded like a Japanese name yet something about the look on the guy's face told me otherwise. The two rambled on and I noticed his partner was a small male who looked particularly annoyed about having been dragged.

"Who is this with you?" Hoshi asked, turning their attention to me. "He's tall!"

"Oh, this is Minhyun."

I waved and smiled a tiny bit before Hoshi gasped and took a step back, surprising us. "Minhyun?? Eh??"

"You know him?" Baekho asked while looking at me. I blinked and shook my head in response.

"Oh, come on! Don't be like that. Of course you do. I'm a loyal visitor to your game shop. You were working the day we entered too. Yesterday!" Hoshi said and I blinked, taking a better look at the male and then at Baekho. The game shop?

"Huh? You work at a game shop?" Baekho asked me and Hoshi let out a bewildered sigh.

"Wait, you two don't recognize one another? We just met the other day."

"Ah," I muttered and blinked. So that's where I saw Baekho before. "The loud guy."

"Hey! I'm not that loud."

And certainly too cheerful given our situation.

"You are, Hoshi. People are looking in our direction."

"Oh shoot. Sorry."

"That's 30 minutes!" Prism said as he stretched his back as if he had been waiting a long time, pulling everyone's attention towards him. I gulped and hoped the games he talked about were easy since I wasn't great at games at all. Never had been even among friends. "Seems like not everyone are early birds but matters not. For the rest of you who are here, I commend you for your abilities to be punctual and disciplined."

"Oi, just shut up and get to the point already!"

"Such impatience," he sighed but continued on talking. "Welcome to your first game. It shall be decided with this slot machine in front of you."

"You think this is a game?!"

"Clearly it is a game."

I just stared at the male, wondering how his head even balanced on his body and how his voice was being emitted. Was this really just some kind of game world? But if it was, then how did he make people's heads explode just like that? I knew I had too many questions and no way to get my answers for them.

"Hey, you alright?"

I gasped and looked at Baekho who seemed worried. "You're asking me?"

"Yeah. You've been staring at Prism head for a long time without blinking."

"Sorry. I'm just thinking about a lot of things..."

"Well, you guys interrupt me way too much," Prism continued as he twirled the cane in his hand. He hoped down onto the lever and it moved down from his weight. Images started to appear in the slot machine and rotated at a high speed. Everyone fell silent as the first image appeared. It was a picture of a gun with 5 filled slots spurting out blood at the tip of it. It was almost childish. Then the second slot stopped at what resembled a balance beam with what seemed to be a person being unsteady and third but not the least, a handful of poker cards. I could easily tell they were all not games that I wanted to take part in at all. A gun? Are we going to shoot each other to death? Because I'm not up for that. I had plenty of arguments but none I was sure Mister Prism would hear as two of the slots started turning again.

"And your fates have been chosen!!"

A loud clank was heard as one of the rotating slots became jammed, stuck in between two choices. Prism turned towards the slots and let out a high pitched crackle before clapping his hands."

"-or you may have just broke the machine."

He hoped over to the stuck slot and gave it a kick. It started to rotate again and all of them ended with the same slot as the middle one.

"Good. Good. The game has been decided," he said as he tapped the slot machine with the stick in his hand. "Now it's time to choose if you'll take part or not. Remember, you only have five skips. Use them wisely."

"Wait! How do we win this game?!" a voice yelled loudly. "You can't just plunge us into a game without explaining anything or telling us how to get out of here!"

Prism crackled and shrugged. "But you see, I can. Now, pay attention to your cuffs."

I looked down at mine and so did Baekho. It lit up and there were two electronic panels that popped up, one thumbs up and the other a thumbs down.

"Should you choose to join, click on the thumbs up. Should you choose to skip, both parties have to click on the thumbs down."

"You're saying we have to be in agreement to skip?"

"Did you not hear a word I say? Now, stop interrupting me."

I looked at Baekho and gulped before looking at the picture on the slot. They all seemed dangerous including this one.

"Are we joining?" I asked and he shrugged.

"I don't know... We don't know what's the point of even joining the games... Can we even win and get back to our regular lives if we joined?" he questioned aloud and I just fell silent.

"What'll happen to those of us who don't join?" someone else asked.

"You get to spend the day here. Doing nothing but aimless thinking here," Prism replied while hopping onto the top of the machine again.

"What about food?"

"Food? No one said you need to eat anything."

"You're rigging us to lose, aren't you?!"

From that question alone, I noticed something weird. I didn't feel hungry at all even though I was usually hungry once I woke up.

"Baekho sshi, are you hungry?"

"Huh? No... Oddly enough..."

"Are we really in a game...? That's why we don't feel hungry? Or thirsty?" I questioned aloud.

"You, over there."

I looked up and realised Prism's walking stick was pointed in my direction. I gulped and unconsciously reached for Baekho.

"Ding, ding, ding!"

"Huh?"

"This is all just a game but do not be tricked because death is still very much a reality here."

"So if we die here... We die in real life?" Baekho asked and the man nodded. If he had mouth, he would have probably been grinning widely.

"Ding ding ding."

"How do we go back to reality?"

"I mentioned it yesterday, didn't I? Or oops. Did I forget? Nevermind that. Let's just begin the game! You have a long way to go if you even think about going back to reality."

Or winning the game...

"So, start clicking away or your heads will go poof in 5, 4-"

He started to count and the hall became a striking red as if it was warning us to make a choice. I panicked and hit the thumbs up before I could talk it out with Baekho who clicked the thumbs down.

In a flash, we were teleported to a different room. I blinked, feeling a little dizzy but the moment I realised I was being squished among other people, my focus came back. I felt a tug on the handcuff and noticed Baekho was a little further from me that we were just now. I pulled the cuff and he tried to squirm his way over to me but just as we moved, there was a loud metallic sound as if something had detached itself. A scream followed by more screams as I felt the ground beneath us move but I couldn't see what was going on with everyone panicking and rushing around. I tried to keep myself upright but felt a leg trip me. Just before I fell, a hand grabbed my arm and I looked up at Baekho.

"What's going on?" he asked in general since he knew I wouldn't have an answer either.

"The floor is moving. That's what I can tell," I replied instead of saying I didn't know. I turned towards the direction of the screams and noticed people disappearing.

"This game isn't fair!" someone nearby yelled.

"Yeah! The people inside are safe!"

"Pull them! Push!"

Baekho grabbed my shirt tightly, pulling me closer to him as people started tugging and shoving one another. It was utter chaos despite the floor actually moving slowly but even if I didn't fully grasp the game, I could tell there was no way people would be able to stay standing on a platform closing in on both sides.

"I'm guessing we have to stay on the platform?" Baekho muttered.

"I don't know... It would be weird if it worked the other way around," I replied him.

"Baekho! Help!" A sudden yelp sounded from the other side. He gasped when he realised it was his friend from earlier who was close to the edge that was closing in, hand outstretched.

"Hoshi!" Baekho shouted and reached his hand out to help his friend. I gasped and grabbed his arm.

"You can't," I said.

"What? But he's my friend!"

"He's closer to the edge. If he pulls us, we will fall with him."

"Not if we pull them in. I'm not letting my friend die!"

I gritted my teeth and caught hold of the chain while he grabbed his friend's hand. We pulled them in, trying to keep each other in the middle ground that seemed to be closing on us.

"Oh god. Everyone is pushing and pulling on the outside. People are falling down like... Like I don't know!" Hoshi rambled.

"Did you see what's down there?" Baekho asked and Hoshi shook his head.

"It's nothing but darkness," the one attached to Hoshi spoke up.

"So we will really die if we fall?" Baekho asked worriedly and all the others could do was just look at him bewilderedly including me. I frowned as the platforms kept closing in on us. It didn't take too long before hands started reaching for us as well since we were in the middle and most possibly one of the safest spots on the platforms.

"We won't be able to survive if we keep holding onto them," I said to Baekho while looking at the chain in my hand.

"Well, I'm not letting go."

"You want to die here in the first game?!"

"No! But I'm not letting him die either."

###

Ding ding ding

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