The recording had ended and no sight of LuHan’s current state. I didn’t know if to be happy or worried… Not showing him feels as if he were already dead…

BH: So, did you like it?...

MJ… You really think I ENJOYED seeing my loved ones being tormented by our disappearance?! Are you even human?  I’m starting to thing you REALLY are the Bacon Lord… You Greasy, cholesterol filled, artery clotting meat! YOU ENJOY OTHER’s SUFFERINGS!!

BH: SILENCE! Who do you think you are to be disrespecting me like that? Eh!?!I’ve been trying to treat you the best way I can, but apparently you’re just a stubborn, un-educated, little girl.

MJ: LISTEN HERE BASTARD! IMMA CU…

I was getting agitated by the discussion, when Kai stopped me from continuing. I remembered; I couldn’t lose my cool or LuHan would suffer the consequences. I wiped my tears away and tried to organize my thoughts before speaking again.

MJ: BaekHyun! What is LuHan’s condition? Weren’t these video updates supposed to be about him?

BH: Beats me! Kris is the one in charge of organizing the videos, so he’s the one you should ask. But if you want my opinion, maybe LuHan’s fate hasn’t changed much and it’s unnecessary to do a video about him…or maybe….he already died…

I didn’t scream or cry; I just stayed strong, trying to ignore his words. I knew I couldn’t keep making such a big fuss each time I heard or thought about this topic. Besides, these people, especially BaekHyun, love to trick us so we keep falling behind. I was starting to get the hang of this place and its people. I just breathed in a few times and let go of all the emotions. Just then, the light went out.

BH: Well, I’m guessing this conversation is over for now. Please do hurry up, I’m DYING to meet you in person… heheheh…

He’s sarcasm just overflowed the whole area; stupid Bacon lord. The speakers went off, and now it was time to put in action Kai’s plan.

MJ: Guys, now! Kai! LEAD!

We all automatically knew what to do; the drill was already like a ritual to us. We made sure nothing was left behind, took each other’s hands in the same formation as before, and got out from under the table. Through the darkest black Kai swiftly moved in between all the furniture, tables, and walls. After some minutes we finally reached the stairs; it had been an easy task thanks to Kai’s idea of scrutinizing the room in the lights. This time we slowed our pace and went with caution. One by one we climbed the flight of stairs that ascended in spiral form, circling each floor as it went up. We went through the 13^th, 14^th, and 15^th floor without obstacle. But when we thought we would be going towards the 16^th floor, the stairs ended.

MJ: Kai, why did the stairs stop here? Could it be we already reached the Penthouse and we think it’s the 15^th floor?

It was still dark, so I couldn’t see what his reaction was. Still, the only thing to do in this situation was to roam around said floor and try to find another way to go up.

MJ: Everyone, grab tight. Now that we need to find another way to ascend, keep a close eye…I mean ear, out for your surroundings. If anything weird happens, scream. Now, on your guard…

We all followed Kai’s lead, going at an even slower pace, making sure not to stumble upon anything, or fall in a mysterious hole… We never know what EXO Tower might have in store for us. We kept doing this for what seemed an eternity, but still no luck in finding the stairs. The Bacon lord was right; moving in the darkness was no fun. But what else could we do!? In light, we have to fight, in blue light we have to hide, and in darkness we need to move. These people truly love to torture us. As we continued on I began to remember the scenes I had just witness in the video… My parents looked so hurt and desperate; it truly made me sad. If only I could tell them and the Lu’s that were alive. It’s hard to believe 4 days have gone by already… IT’S SEEMED LIKE YEARS TO ME!... But wait! I noticed something; the reporter said that they would give more information regarding our case at 8:00PM. And as far as I remember, Channel 3 gives news at 5:00AM, 3:00PM, 8:00PM, and 11:00PM. That means nightfall must be going on now… Wow, we’ve been almost a whole day trying to figure out this building.

Suddenly, I thought I had heard a faint sound from afar. It was sort of metallic resonance, but maybe it was just the guys’ foot chains. But soon after I heard it again, this time a little closer. I whispered to the others.

MJ: Guys, stop for a minute (they all stopped walking). Did you hear something just now? Like metal banging against itself? Check it out…

I couldn’t see their gestures, but I sensed they felt intrigued. We all made complete silence without moving a muscle. At first there was nothing, but after a minute the sound came again. I felt Kai pulling one arm, while HaeRi squeezed to death the other one. Whatever it was, apparently didn’t want to be seen. I’m guessing it’s an Exotic; they must run freely around us while the lights are off. That way, when they turn them on, they’re already near us… Brilliant evil plan they have… I spoke in between my teeth, trying to sound as low as possible.

MJ: ...ok… this guy has to be… an Exotic under cover… so whatever happens… don’t let him attack you… lets freeze for awhile… until he disappears… after all, he can’t see us just like we can’t see him…

We all stood still like the famous Stonehenge; I even felt our breathing decrease. Slowly, the sound became stronger. The Exotic was getting near us by the second. I paid close attention to the sound… it was awfully familiar… Just then the clattering stopped. A minute went by and still no more sound from the Exotic. I was starting to think he had left the area, but then… He bumped into Lay! We heard screams from both parties.

MJ: Lay! Catch him!

Lay let go of HaeRi and before the Exotic could run away YiXing threw himself over him, causing both of them to tumble to the floor in a hand fight. The unknown man could be heard grunting and heavily breathing. His voice was sort of squeaky and nasal. I heard how Lay was beginning to get fatigued.

MJ: Kai, help Lay!!

Kai let go of me and began to roam a few feet around us until he found the two men on the floor. HaeRi and I were now holding each other by the waist, making sure that no one appeared and separated us. After some minutes the little mob finally settled into silence. RiRi and I began to make our way around until we came to find them.

MJ: Guys, make sure to take all his weapons and supplies. This guy might come in handy as a hostage. (I directed myself to the Exotic) So you thought you could do a sneak attack on us, eh? Who sent you? Kris, BaekHyun, Chen before he died?

The man didn’t answer back. I would have thought he was keeping some sort of silence vow to not talk about his leaders; but then Lay went up to us. He tried to gesture out something in the dark, but he noticed I wasn’t seeing anything. He took my hands and began swatting them in the air and passing them through his body.

MJ: …em….What!?... I don’t understand a thing Lay…

Oppa sighted and just made me kneel on the floor, taking my hand and passing it over somebody else’s body. It was the Exotic, and… he had a Cyanide pod in his arm? After that Lay put my hand on a cold object on the man’s leg; no wonder the sounds were familiar…

MJ: Wait a minute… is this guy an Exotic or a prisoner? Cynide?  Chain? No responses? You guys, what should we do?... Wait, forget I asked, it’s not like I can see you. I think we should hold him for a while, until we’re positive he’s a prisoner. Maybe these things are fakes just to trick us, after all… were in the Bacon Lord’s territory… He could be playing a stupid prank on us, WHICH could cost us the game. …IM NOT TAKING ANY CHANCES! Sir! You’re under “arrest” until we can prove your innocence.

Kai chuckled at my statement. The “now-I’m-not-so-sure-if-he’s-an-exotic” guy throw an ‘AAWWW’ that sounded more like a  little kid with no ice cream left to eat; if he wasn’t a man, I’d say he was about to throw a tantrum. I got on my feet and took a hold of HaeRi once again.

MJ: Boys, make sure he doesn’t escape. For now, we have to keep moving. Get him on his feet and let’s keep at it. Any moment now the lights go on and this guy’s friends are going to come after us.

Kai and Lay helped the man up and took a hold of him by the upper arms. Once again we got in formation, only this time it was different: Me, Kai, the guy, lay, and HaeRi. The boys went walking in front, followed by us girls. We continued walking all over the floor for some minutes, and no luck finding the stupid stairs. Suddenly, the lights went on. Without a moment to spare the Exotics came out from all directions. Not only that, they seemed stronger…and they were moving at an even faster pace. Kai and Lay began to run, dragging the unknown man, RiRi and me at full speed. As we went crossing the floor, trying to evade the Exotics that threw kicks and punches at us, I noticed the different rearrangement this floor had. It wasn’t like the other; it was more complicated: more walls and hallways. The floors were the same up to the 14^th floor; from the 15^th and above they had another rearrangement?! I also took a glance at HaeRi; she was having trouble running with her injured leg.

MJ: Guys, HaeRi can’t go on! We can’t keep running forever.

Just then the guys stopped, and at the same time an Exotic ninja came flying and landed on JongIn, starting a hand-to-hand combat with him. Lay was about to come protect RiRI and me, but at that moment another Exotic took him by the arm and yanked him away, making him fall. Lay tried to get up, but the man took his by the collar and lifted him up. With no time in between whatsoever, a third Exotic was making its way towards me and my friend. I had to protect HaeRi, but I didn’t’ know how to stop such a strong beast that was heading towards us. I just let my instincts act and ended up hugging HaeRi’s head, waiting for the impact… but it never came. We heard grunting and air gusts going about. As we separated to look at the panorama, the unknown man we had just encountered was taking a hold of our attacker. The man was giving us his back. He slowly turned around his head, and for the first time we could see who he really was.

He smiled, and gave us a side nod, telling us to run. I nodded back and did as I was told. I took HaeRi by a hand and began to run away from the area. I saw how Kai and Lay were still fighting off their enemies; they were tired and fatigued. They couldn’t continue fighting; I had to find the stairs and fast so we could flee. I dragged HaeRi all over the floor. Out of the blue, a group of 3 big, strong men appeared before us. We ran the other way, trying to escape them, but they were too fast. Just then, an idea hit me; it was a try or lose it all moment. In the moment they stretched their arms to catch us, I pushed HaeRi towards the floor, and I followed her. We fell flat on the ground and the men continued running forward. By the time they turned around we had already began to run towards the other direction. We took a right turn and a room appeared before us. It had a large sofa, a TV, and a small coffee table. The walls were decorated with pictures and mirrors; there were also modern vases.

MJ: HaeRi, destroy everything!!

If we made the room look like a mess, the Exotics will think another group attacked us and we weren’t there anymore. We began to break every single thing and scatter them all around them room, making it look like a battle had taken place inside. HaeRi turned the sofa over and ragged its fabric. I was shredding some curtains when I noticed there was a glass sliding door behind them.

I knew this had to lead somewhere. I opened it and peeked in. There was a wall to the right,  but to the left there was a white hallway, and at the end the beginning of a stair was seen. I was about to tell HaeRi, but I heard the men coming close. We had to hide, and fast! I took RiRi and hid her with me in this new corridor, closing the door, and praying the men wouldn’t come in.

I heard as the men came in, throwing and trashing all in the room, as if they wound find us under the rags. They grunted and one gave the order to look in the next rooms. Me and HaeRi felt relieved. But then one of the men said something that blew me off.

EX1: Wait a minute... Hyung! Look at the floor!

The floor!? What for, it’s all covered in shattered pieces of glass and fabric. I was sarcastically imitating them as they would be looking on the floor. And that’s when I saw it… I had left a blood trail from the room to here  in the new hallway. Before I could react, a hand came inches away from us, shattering the sliding door. We began to scream at the top of our lungs, as if we were being mangled alive. The men began to laugh. The one that had broken the door was now entering through the frame. He took me by the arm and raised me in the air, making me go into eye level with him. He smirked as he eyed me.

EX2: Hey boys... mind having a little fun before turning her in?

My eyes opened up in fright. HaeRi screamed from behind me. Just then, a familiar dagger came flying by, cutting the man in the cheek. He let go of me and looked towards the new attackers. I fell and HaeRi came to aid me. We were still in the hallway, so we couldn’t see towards the room, but we could hear all sorts of hurtful grunts and sighs. Kai was the one to come in after a minute or so; his spear had a bloody tip. He told us to stay still and went back into the room. Soon after, the sounds slowly began to fade until they stopped completely.

HaeRi and I were tightly hugging each other, lying on the floor. Running into the corridor came Kai and Lay; dirty, cut, blood smears in their cloths and weapons. I got up and hugged them both while trying to contain my emotions.

MJ: You guys are okay! Oh my God, I was so afraid! (I sobbed). I felt so horrible leaving you behind…but…I had to protect HaeRi, and…there wasn’t much I could do to help… and the guy…he…

Just then the man we had “arrested” came into the hallway. He was in the same state as JongIn and YiXing. The four of us stood in front of him, eyeing him from top to bottom.

MJ: Th… Thank you sir… If it wasn’t for you, I don’t know what would have happened to me and my friends. Please… accept my most sincere apology for mistreating you…

I kneeled before the man while lowering my head. The man took me by the arms and put me back on my feet. He sternly looked at me, but changed it into a beautiful smile.

This guy was actually very handsome and cute at the same time. He looked like a cuddly bunny rabbit; round fluffy face and not-so-tall in height. I just felt like hugging him, and so I did. He was startled. He even raised his hands in the air as if we were really arresting him. But he then warmed up and hugged me back, plus patted my head. I would have made it last some more, but Kai separated me from them man.

He was somewhat disturbed by something. Must be he’s upset because of the stairs… Wait, THE STAIRS!

MJ: You guys! I found the stairs!!! They’re at the end of this hall!! We should go there before any other appears… Come on let’s go!

The 4 of us began to run down the hallway. But my instincts told me to look back. The unknown man was still standing at the beginning of the corridor, looking at us disappear. He looked sad. I turned around and went towards him. I took him by the hand and motioned him to follow me.

MJ: Come on Mr. Bun! You’re not going to stay here alone, are you!?

I smiled, and I felt how he transformed into a brightful young man. We both ran down the corridor until we were united with the rest of the group in front of the stairs. Then, the  lights went black again.