Chapter.47

[Checkmate]

Even when the handcuffs were taken off her wrists, Yoona did not allow herself to be less alarmed.

With the cuffs gone, she pulled her hands to rest on the table. The corner of her doe eyes caught the sight of the main-course knife placed neatly on the table. But she knew better. One gesture to reach the knife (or any other suspicious gesture for that matter), the men behind her would not hesitate to release the bullets towards her skull. It was a suicidal thought to try to fight Tiffany recklessly like this. She wanted to fight back, true, but not this way. She had to think of something else.

Yoona’s eyes slowly looked at Jessica. Her unnie was still bowing her head down –somehow still affected by the cruel treatment Tiffany had inflicted to Eunhyuk. Eunhyuk himself, to Yoona’s relief, had been dragged up to sit properly on the chair. Tiffany had allowed one of the maids to pour water into his mouth. The deed was done in order to humiliate Eunhyuk more, but at least, Eunhyuk had his stomach filled now –though without doubt, insufficiently. Eunhyuk was the only one who still had his hands cuffed. Jessica also had her arms freed, while Kibum had never been handcuffed in the first place.

Kibum seemed to notice that someone was watching him. Averting his gaze from Eunhyuk to Yoona, Kibum momentarily gave Yoona a smile. A smile that did not calm Yoona’s mind at all. It was still fresh in her memory, that Kibum was the one who had drugged her and brought her to the Choi villa in the first place.

Kim Kibum had proven to be a man puzzling enough. Yoona did not sense that Kibum shared the same murderous intention that Tiffany might have (or the coldness that Siwon had), but Kibum was certainly not a man Yoona could confide herself in.

With Jessica looking like a zombie, Eunhyuk rendered helpless, and Kibum untrusted, Yoona knew that if she wanted to fight, she had to fight for them all herself.

But how?

“That’s a nice expression you have there.”

Yoona blinked, and only then that she realized Tiffany was talking to her.

Pulling her lips wider into a pleasant smile, Tiffany elaborated more, “You’re desperate. And I love to see you this desperate, Im Yoona.”

“Soon I will be enjoying the same expression from you, Hwang Tiffany,” Yoona muttered under her breath.

The red-haired vixen did not pull the smirk off her face. She stared at her audience calmly, savoring the moment where she had a full control over these heirs and heiresses. Well, she did always have the control over them, but a display of direct control she had now satisfied her even more. Tiffany laid her chin on top of her clasped hand and in a paradoxically cute and devilish gestures, she threw the dice back on the table.

“The rule of this game remains the same. You only need to guess the other members’ role. We’ll see where we last left, hmm? Now that Leeteuk Oppa is dead, I’ll assume the role of the Storyteller myself,” Tiffany announced. She then glanced at one of the maids. The signal was sent and without further ado, the maids began to distribute some paper ballots and pen to each of the surviving Der Märchenclub members in the room. One of the male bodyguards then unlocked Eunhyuk’s cuff, but Tiffany’s intimidation must have made Eunhyuk afraid to touch the food without her permission.

None of them touched the paper or the pen provided –which was quite understandable. But Tiffany did not want to wait for their voluntary participation. It would never happen anyway.

“Let’s see. The last member whose role was correctly guessed was Sunny,” Tiffany paused, momentarily enjoying the flinch Eunhyuk displayed. “We’ll pick up the game from then. The first question of this night, what will your guess of Kwon Yuri’s role be?”

At the mention of the name, Eunhyuk lifted his head –and for the first time, he regained his normal sense back and broke the silence, “Yuri? S-she’s still alive, r-right? S-she’s just missing, right?”

Tiffany drew a hand to touch her lips, as if she had spoken of something that was not meant to be known. Her acting was poor –but it was intended to be so. Mockery was in order. She was the queen of the drama that night anyway.

“Oops, so you have not found her rotting body until now?” innocently, she clicked her tongue, as if regretting the situation. “Oh, the poor girl…”

Eunhyuk’s eyes widened. Sublime emotion that Tiffany had long recognized as raw anger was present on Eunhyuk’s eyes. To which, the mastermind only offered one challenging smile. Oh, sometimes she knew the members better than they knew themselves. She knew how Eunhyuk would be the usual soft-spoken pacifist. No matter how much her statement angered him, there would be no way that Eunhyuk dared to raise a tone against her. Phlegmatic much, she thought of him rather joyously.

“In exchange for the white feather, I’ll give you the hint myself. And since none of you seemed to have seen Kwon Yuri’s body yet, I’ll go easy on this one,” offered Tiffany.

Everything happened so fast and Jessica could barely keep up with the conversation, much less to join the game. She was just tired –couldn’t Tiffany just spare them? And game? What game? Jessica was having a thinning hope Tiffany would ever let anyone alive. Why bother playing the game then?

But Jessica’s silence protest was not heeded. Soon, Jessica felt like she was returned to the scenery foreign, but vaguely similar at the same time. It was no longer a rather lively meeting in the Bluebeard Chamber –it was now a deadly silent trial within the Choi household –deep inside the snowy forest. The real Story Teller was no longer alive to command the night, but the Red Queen was more than eager to take his place. Back then, the game might have been something she did for the sake of following her grandmother’s wish.

But now, the game was what Jessica needed to survive.

To her painful realization, the game was what they all needed to survive.

Only one would survive tonight.

And she wished she did not know these people. She wished she did not know Eunhyuk –who, despite having less conversation with her, seemed to be a genuinely nice person. She wished she did not have a peculiar bond with Kibum –because despite his betrayal and unpredicted nature, was someone that she had learned to actually care about. She wished she did not have a history with Yoona –because goodness, fighting her seemed to be equivalent to stabbing her own sister.

She couldn’t. Jessica might not have been the nicest women ever, but she did not think she was capable of sacrificing any of them to survive.

Really?

She clutched her head –frustration was getting the best of her, because in the midst of her chaotic mind, a certain conversation with Kibum she wished she had forgotten returned to her mind.

“Don’t lose hope, Jessica-sshi. A cornered mouse is scarier than you think. This is not a game to see who could guess right. This is a game to see whose inner monsters are awakened in the right time and place.”

Jessica gulped. She could feel her teeth clattered suddenly, and no matter how much she wanted herself to stop, she just couldn’t.

Monsters.

Tiffany was trying to turn them all into monsters.

Would you kill when you have to, Jessica?

Tiffany loved to see the realization slowly dawned on each of her guests’ face. Under other circumstances, she would allow herself enjoying the sight a little longer, but no. The game had to begin now. After all, her guests seemed impatient already, and she herself couldn’t wait to see who would be the monster coming out alive that night.

So she began the game; she brought Der Märchenclub’s terror back to the table. Their first game was about Yuri, and almost eagerly, Tiffany recited. Ah, the girl trapped behind the walls. Kwon Yuri, how did it feel to have your life string slowly pulled out? How did it feel to wait there in the darkness, to scream to the silent wall, to wait for help in desperation, to be consumed with the darkness of your heart?

Did you enjoy your slow and painful death, Yuri?

Tiffany had to smile to herself. Ah, after all Yuri’s death was one of the most artful ones that the Circus Master had presented her.

But Tiffany could not dwell on the past too long, so she announced the general hint.

Her voice was clear and pleasant, but her words were not so.

“She fears not the sword. She fears not death. But it is a young maiden’s beauty, she deems as the bitterest poison she tastes.”

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Dear Witch,

You are hereby invited to the royal palace.

Leave your broom, cauldron, and old spells behind.

As the most beautiful of them all, you are now the princess for the night.

Meeting commences at 9 PM every Wednesday night at the Bluebeard Chamber in Seoul Opera Building.

Sincerely,

Der Märchenclub

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The papers were collected, the luck was tested. Hwang Tiffany honestly tried her best to control her excitement.

Oh, lies.

She did not hide her mirth as she eagerly unfolded each ballot. The Evil Queen, Stepmother, and ah, there was it: the guess that she was looking for.

The Witch.

Tiffany picked the paper and read the name of the guesser to herself.

Oh, how she loved it. The irony of it all, she ing enjoyed it.

“Congratulation,” she said as she clapped her hands. No one copied her action, but that did not deter nor embarrass her a bit. She was the main actor of the night, the queen of the dying bishops –her action was absolute and she would not have it other way. “Eunhyuk Oppa, you correctly guessed Kwon Yuri’s role.”

As opposed of being happy or even relieved, Eunhyuk only gazed exasperatedly at Tiffany. “It can’t be,” he weakly muttered.

“Now, Oppa, that’s not the way a victor should react! You should even be more –“

“Yul is a nice girl. Yuri… you should not have given her such vile role.” Eunhyuk, even with his rather timid nature, managed to interrupt Tiffany’s absolute words and still had his head intact at that. Cutting off her speech was something Tiffany found to be irritating, but she had to admit the dejected look on Eunhyuk’s face made up for it.

“You are a kind man, Oppa. But like the others, you only choose to see what you want to see,” Tiffany coaxed. “Now, as a prize, I will give you an additional hint for the next guess,” she decided as she nudged at another maid. Having been instructed prior, the maid walked to a nearby table and picked a red-colored box. She grabbed the rolled piece of paper inside and handed it to Eunhyuk.

His hands were shaking as he unfolded the paper. A short sentence was written on it.

            Curiosity may kill a cat; but it is naivety, that kills a man.

Eunhyuk’s breath hitched. Guessing Yuri’s role had been pretty easy, but this one was not. He was not privy of much fairy tales either. Carefully folding the paper back, he decided to try his luck in connecting the dots with Tiffany’s next hint.

“Let’s see who’s next in line after Kwon Yuri, hm? We have our dear, courageous Kim. Kim Ryeowook. Guess his role.”

“And the hint?”

Tiffany pretended to ponder for a while. There was, in all honesty, no thinking required anymore. She had devised her plan carefully for years. The next hint she was about to announce was already imprinted in her mind.

“And in the end, the Fox ate his heart.”

As Tiffany finished her sentence, Kibum’s laugh erupted. While neither Jessica, Yoona or Eunhyuk dared to even look at Kibum (or anything else, aside from the paper ballot), Tiffany pleasantly inquired, “Is it so funny, Kibum Oppa?”

I’m quarter gone, I’m half gone.

Shaking his head, he laughed. He laughed so hard he felt his jaw cramped, he felt his heart ached. He felt the penetrating, nearly disgusted stare Jessica was giving him, but he did not care about Jessica that much at such point. But he immediately ceased all his laugh and condescendingly challenged Tiffany. “That was a rather accusative hint.”

I'm three-quarters gone.

Tiffany smiled. “Let you be the judge on that.”

I’m all gone!

“Sure, sure,” muttered Kibum, displaying a rather cunning smirk, as he grabbed the pen and scribbled his guess on the piece of paper without much hesitation.

There was one rather famous tale where the Fox ate its heart. Kibum did not even need the extra hint given to Eunhyuk to know what Ryeowook’s assigned role was. After all, he was the one who witnessed his own cousin’s death. He knew the implication, the metaphor behind Tiffany’s words and the cruel implication of it.

Ah, but then again, she was partially right, anyway.

It did not even need that long for Tiffany to announce the winner after the second ballots were returned to her. Kibum smiled. Chances that either Jessica or Eunhyuk to have a same guess existed, but he knew that being the only one who was actually there when Ryeowook was murdered, he had the biggest advantage.

In the end, the Fox ate his heart.

In the end, Kibum betrayed his own cousin.

If the “Fox” was Tiffany’s personification of him, than it would make Ryeowook –

“And the winner is Kibum Oppa. For correctly guessing Ryeowook Oppa’s role as... the Gingerbread Man.”

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Dear the Gingerbread Man,

You are hereby invited to chase the horizon

Run, run as fast as you can.

No one can catch you, you’re the Gingerbread Man!

Meeting commences at 9 PM every Wednesday night at the Bluebeard Chamber in Seoul Opera Building.

Sincerely,

Der Märchenclub

Kibum laughed again.

The Fox.

The most cunning, the slyest, the one who could never be trusted …

            (Hide your guilt elsewhere, laugh it off)

Quite a fitting metaphor, eh?

“Alright, Kibum Oppa,” Tiffany interrupted Kibum’s train of thoughts. “We will now give you the extra hint.“

He nearly refused to look at Tiffany, because suddenly there was a sudden disgust that he felt when he saw her. No, Kibum had known Tiffany was corrupted –but then again, there was something about her vicious mind that kind of intrigued him. But at the moment, he felt like looking at Tiffany would equal to looking at a mirror. He could accept the fact of Tiffany as a corrupted villain.

But could he accept the fact that he was indeed, equally as corrupted?

“Do I have the right to postpone the hint?” inquired Kibum calmly as he played with his fork instead. “Or exchange it with something else?”

The guests nearly forgot the presence of the mastermind’s loyal sidekick until that man decided to open his mouth again. There was clearly something rather personal going on between the two of them, but it was no grand secret after all. “You know the rules, Kibum-sshi,” strictly stated Siwon. “This is your only chance to claim your prize, otherwise, you get nothing.”

Tiffany tapped her fingers against the table, deliberating. “Are you sure you want to proceed to the next question without hearing the extra hint, Kibum Oppa?”

Relaxing his taut muscles, Kibum then reasoned, “It’s gonna be the same anyway, eh? Most times, the extra hint doesn’t really give you much advantage.”

“Still, an advantage.”

“Can I try my luck on other things instead?”

“Depends. If I am feeling merciful, I may grant your other wish in exchange for the extra hint. But if I don’t feel like it, then you will get neither the hint nor your request. How’s that?”

Kibum smirked, and slowly lifted his face to see Tiffany again. If there was anything, Tiffany’s challenges always thrilled him. Heechul would probably hate him (more) if he knew how much Kibum still treated all of these as a game. But Tiffany’s silent stare reminded him that he still owed her an answer. Clearing his throat, he then uttered, “By now, you should have known that I’m the type of person who likes to take risk.”

Tiffany snickered. “Me too! I also love to take risk! Aren’t we more similar than we think, Kim Kibum?” she mused –hitting him in the right place.

Kibum’s smile was rather a bitter one, but it was still a smile nonetheless.

Tiffany sighed. “We’ll proceed to the next guess then. Kim Hyoyeon. And the hint that I would give is…”

They all waited.

“When the time comes, she shall return what she borrows.”

Jessica, for the first time since she joined the new game with Tiffany that night, felt a ray of hope lightened her doom. Being the only persons in that room aside from Tiffany, Siwon and Kibum who knew what had exactly happened to Kim Hyoyeon, she immediately knew the reason. But then again, there was still Kibum. He might have claimed not to be directly involved in Donghae’s doings, but Kibum now had the same knowledge of what happened to Hyoyeon.

Jessica closed her eyes and began to think.

Hyoyeon’s legs were mutilated. And judging by Tiffany’s hint, it had something to do with a deal, with time.

Time.

And legs. Shoes?

            At midnight return the slippers you borrow, Sweetheart.

            Or…