"You should go back. You've already been stuck here for 3 years," I said and smiled. Wonho seemed conflicted and I turned to Minhyun quickly. "Minhyun, let's find a different portal back." 

 

"Okay... But what about everyone else?" he asked and I shrugged. 

 

"Come on, Hyungwon. Let's just try to go in together. Everyone! Run to the portal at the count of three," Wonho said instead. It was hard to believe that it would let so many of us through but Wonho counted down anyways. At the count of three, most of them ran for the light while I held Minhyun's hand to prevent him from being swept up by the crowd. The light shone and then died down in a flash, people started crashing into one another instead and that's when we knew the portal could only take so many at a time. 

 

"I hope he made it back... Wherever back is," I said and sighed. Minhyun squeezed my hand and smiled. 

 

"Then we just gotta find a way to save him if he didn't. Come on." 

 

I nodded and was about to leave when I was tackled into a bear hug. 

 

"Wah!" 

 

"You guys were going to just leave us, weren't you?!" Hoshi snapped and I gasped. It had completely left my mind that Hoshi had been trapped in there earlier too. 

 

"Sorry, Hoshi. I'm just thinking about too many things at a time," I apologised and he let go. 

 

"You sure are, to forget your friend too.... So is it true? There are more portals?" 

 

"There should be but judging from how the portal closed so quickly, we need to hurry too." 

 

We started making our way out from the game centre and beelined our way to the church since it was the closest ray of light. We had to fight off some zombies on the way but surprisingly, Hoshi and Woozi were both armed with guns so our journey there was smoother than expected. Of course, having guns didn't mean that going up against a big toy bear would be any easier. We stopped at the front of the church, glancing at each other. I gulped as the church seemed almost too pristine and peaceful except for one of its door peeking open. I headed up the steps first as they followed behind slowly, peeking inside. 

 

I saw two bodies right on the walkway and that probably wasn't the most assuring thing to see first. I glanced up and gasped, seeing two people's back standing in front of the portal. The door creaked as Hoshi accidentally placed his weight on it, making the two stop and turn around. I froze when I saw who they were but instantly swung the door open once I regained control of my movements.

 

"Wait!" I yelled and rushed forward, forgetting momentarily that Minhyun was being dragged with me. Jonghyun quickly turned away and rushed into the portal with Ren. "Run!"

 

I held Minhyun's hand and started making a bolt towards the portal as the light started to die off. Hoshi and Woozi followed us from behind. We reached the portal but it had closed up by then.

 

"," I cursed unintentionally, turning around and stopping myself from being more aggravated as I saw their worried looks.

 

"It's fine, Baekho. Let's look around and see if there's any way to-," Minhyun said but was interrupted by a groan. We turned around and realised it was Minhyuk and Kihyun that were on the ground. We rushed to them and helped them up.

 

"Are you guys alright?" I asked, feeling bad for not recognising them earlier.

 

"Huh? Baekho, Minhyun... Wait. You have to get out now!" Minhyuk gasped and tried to pull us out despite himself being wobbly.

 

"What are you talking about?"

 

"The church is a trap," Kihyun wheezed.

 

"What's going on?" Hoshi asked and approached us.

 

"Don't come close!" Minhyuk yelped and stumbled back, falling behind onto his bum. Just as I leaned forward to help him again, Minhyun pulled me back in a hurry.

 

"Whoa?!"

 

A spiked fence shot up in front of us from the ground, blocking us from the door. We turned and realised we were blocked on all 4 sides, caging Hoshi, Woozi and the both of us in.

 

"What's going on, Minhyuk?" Minhyun asked the other who slowly got up.

 

"It locked us in with those two earlier and we couldn't get out... Don't touch the metal... Its lined with electric or something....and it hurts like crap."

 

"What do we do then?" Hoshi squeaked.

 

"You have to fight... I think... They attacked us and knocked us out," Kihyun said and frowned. "It'll only open once one side wins..."

 

I gasped and looked at Hoshi and Woozi who were also equally shocked.

 

"Fight Baekho? Are you kidding us?? Look at the two of them and the two of us! And we are friends. Why should we fight..." 

 

"There has to be another way around this," I sighed, not wanting to hurt my friends either. "Maybe if we climb onto one another..." 

 

"That won't work, Baekho," Minhyun said since the fence was too high and we would fall to our deaths either ways. He turned to Hoshi and I held his arms. 

 

"No, no, no. We are not fighting." 

 

"It's the only way," he said and I shook my head frantically. Hoshi and Woozi took a step back as well. 

 

"There has to be a way to disarm a trap," I squeaked as Minhyun held my arms and frowned. "Minhyuk, Kihyun, help!" 

 

"What do we even do?" Minhyuk yelped as they ran around the church to find something to help us before our only option was to turn on one another. 

 

"Something! Anything! Calm down, Minhyun." 

 

"I am calm and this is a game, Baekho. We already expected as much." I was about to argue with him when he pulled me close to him before whispering," And think about this, even if either of us lose, we can make a run for the portal together."

 

"Huh?"

 

"Shh. We saw what happened earlier. As long as we enter the portal at the same time when it glows, all of us should be able to get through. We just need to trick the game somehow." 

 

I gasped and turned to Hoshi who started to shake his head. 

 

"Yeah, I don't like that look on your face at all," he stuttered and I gritted my teeth. 

 

"I'm sorry, Hoshi. I don't want to do this but I don't have a choice either," I said and he clung onto Woozi.

 

"No way! I don't want to fight you." 

 

"Me neither so let's do this. Man to man." 

 

"What?! You'll crush us!" 

 

"Exactly." 

 

"Wait! Don't fight," Kihyun said and panted. Minhyun nodded and we both charged towards them without pulling out our weapons, hoping they would be able to understand what was going on. Hoshi freaked out while Woozi seemed upset instead, pulling out his gun. 

 

"Stay back! I will shoot you if you come any closer to us."

 

"Come on, Woozi. Fight us man to man!" I snapped and winked as well. He blinked in confusion and his eyes widened a little. 

 

"Oh. A man to man fight. I'll do it," Woozi said, changing his character. Hoshi held him back though. 

 

"No! Don't fight! We will lose!" 

 

"Then at least they can get out if we lose," Woozi said and Hoshi gasped. 

 

"What?" Woozi squirreled out from his hold and charged at me. I tackled him down almost too easily, pretending to punch him as he played along. Hoshi jumped at me, trying to push me off. 

 

"Stop it. Don't hurt him!" he snapped at me. Minhyun grabbed Hoshi and pulled him away. "Let go! I will hurt you!" 

 

"Go ahead and try then," Minhyun said and lifted him off the ground. He flailed and snarled at us. I don't remember having seen him be so mad before and Woozi shoved me down in that split moment, our handcuffs tangling together and making it almost impossible to keep ourselves upright. We stumbled over one another and struggled while Minhyuk and Kihyun panicked outside but they were unable to do anything. 

 

"I give up!" Woozi yelled and held his hands up. 

 

"You give up?" 

 

"Yeah....," he panted and wiped his sweat away. The fence started lowering and we all looked up. I grabbed Hoshi who was still confused and started running. Minhyun grabbed Kihyun by the arm and we all ran to the portal that lit up. 

 

We jumped in. 

 

~~~

 

The light was blinding but after it faded, we started looking around. 

 

"Ow, ow, ow," Hoshi said since I was still carrying him tightly by the waist. 

 

"Oops. Sorry." I let him go and we realised we were in the hallway but it felt different. After untangling ourselves, we made our way to the main hall. To our surprise, we saw Wonho and his friend standing there along with a couple others. 

 

"You guys!" he gasped and rushed to us, crushing us with his arms. 

 

"Crap!" Kihyun gasped and we all turned to him. "We left without Shownu!" 

 

Then, we gasped. 

 

How could I have forgotten? After how much Kihyun worried and stressed out about meeting with his friend again. He dropped to the ground and Minhyuk seemed equally distressed, patting his back. 

 

"I'm... I'm so sorry...," I said but Minhyuk shook his head.

 

"You're not at fault here," he said. "We split up by ourselves to cover more ground. You just wanted to help us get out too..." 

 

I gritted my teeth and clenched my fist. Still, I should have remembered and not just care about myself and Minhyun. There were others here, others who want to escape and stop everything just like us. 

 

"Welcome back to Prison," a voice much similar to Prism spoke up, startling all of us as we turned to find someone standing in the middle of the hallway but instead of a prism head, he had a cube head that looked like a cage. Even his outfit was more bleak and black. "A place where you can never escape, my poor poor prisoners." 

 

"Wait. This isn't Prism anymore?" Hoshi asked aloud and the new person remained calm while shaking his head. 

 

"I'm afraid you have entered the wrong game if you are searching for Prism," he spoke in a manner that was almost the complete opposite of Prism. 

 

"What happened to all my other friends?" Wonho asked worriedly. 

 

"They have gone through the other trials, abandoning you behind unfortunately. It seems they couldn't wait after all. Waiting for 3 years would drive someone mad after all."

 

"Don't let him get to you, Wonho," Hyungwon said and placed a hand on his arm. 

 

"How do we get back to Prism?" a voice that I really felt like punching right now asked. I glared at Jonghyun who was standing a good distance away from us. Even he was brought here...

 

"You cannot or should I say, you have entered my area and thus, are now my prisoners. There is no winning this game. You can grovel and beg all you want, fight to the ends of your life and it will all lead you back to me."

 

"We will still fight no matter what!" Wonho said and some cheered along with him. From their looks, I can tell they were probably from the same ring as he was. Prison or well, cube face, clapped his hands slowly. One clap, two clap. 

 

"To watch your futile efforts, you get three choices. Fight a friend, a foe or me. Shall you win, I will grant you passage to the next level or if you choose Prism. Shall you lose and you will be executed." He moved his hand out and a guillotine fell from nowhere, startling everyone as the ground shook from the weight of it. 

 

"Fight? I choose to fight you!" Wonho said. "And if I win, you will let us all go."

 

"Very well. You may come at me all at once too if you wish," he said, almost too confidently that I didn't like the sound of his tone. 

 

"This has to be a trap," I said and Wonho frowned. 

 

"I have to do this." 

 

"I'll fight with you," Hyungwon said and Wonho shook his head. 

 

"If this is a trap, at least you will know after I fight him." 

 

"You'll die alone!" 

 

~~~

 

But death eventually comes to everyone... 

 

> Fight a friend

 

> Fight a foe 

 

> Fight Prison