After a night of heavy rain , the second day was quiet and peaceful as if the heavy storm never took place making people unconsciously wonder if all that lightning was all just a dream.

" Did Taemin come back yet? " Key and CL walked out of the school canteen together with boxes of food in hand. He looked at the clear blue sky and asked worriedly ," Do you think something happened to him? I have a strange feeling that he might've gotten in some sort of trouble."

CL only grinned ," There was such a huge storm yesterday , of course he wouldn't come back . A couple that just got back together after a fight is especially sweet , who knows maybe he's sleeping soundly at Krystal's.

"Taemin's a good student though . He's never skipped a class in all the years he's been here , don't even talk about spending a night out." Key squirmed around worriedly ," Class is starting soon and he's still nowhere to be seen .Yesterday , he said he'd come back soon , even told us not to lock the door yet he didn't come back or at least call us , don't you think it's strange?" Key's face visibly pales.

" I think you're scared and still not thinking clearly after yesterday's events. How 'bout this , do you know krystal's number? why don't you just call her to make sure." CL pointed out.

"uh , why would I have his her number?"

"Well , who do you think knows?"

" Victoria probably does."

They waited in the hallway near Victoria's class a few minutes before class hoping to catch her when she arrives but ran into Top instead. Luckily , Top happened to be doing a project with Krystal in some class he had with her so he had her number.

" Hey Krystal , about time you gave Taemin back to us. If you make him cut class , he's gonna get pissed."

Krystal was one year younger than Taemin and they met during the school showcase when they had to do a performance together.

" Excuse me? what are you talking about? " came Krystal's shock and confused voice.

"Isn't Taemin at your place? He didn't come back the whole night." Top started feeling uneasy.

"Taemin didn't even come to my place , and plus we had a huge fight the other day and till now he hasn't contacted me at all." Krystal began to worry, "Did you say he didn't come back for the whole night yesterday?"

"Yesterday night he received your call. I remember clearly him saying your name , something about no he can't and then wait for me before he went out." TOP's hands started getting sweaty as he asked, " You didn't call him? then who called him ,I remember very clearly the name he said was Krystal."

"Wait , meet me at the library." Krystal ended the call and got out of bed. She hurriedly grabbed random sweats shirts and sweat pants before running out.

Taemin ,where are you? Why did he get out in the middle of the night , he wouldn't do something stupid right? Krystal smacked herself in regret . ugh , I shouldn't have annoyed him and started the fight , what if something happened to him...no , no nothing happened. He's just in a bad mood and decided not to go o class. But our fight was a week ago , why would he skip class today?

She reached the library fast . Cl ,Top , and key were standing in the entrance .

"Taemin really said my name during the call?"

" We all heard it ." Cl looked at top and Key for confirmation. Both nodded.

"Ugh! which pretended to be me! "Krystal turned back at the three ," Did you guys hear where he went?"

Top shook his head while Key held his head frantically ," I was the closest to him , I think I heard where he went but was too nervous to remember it."

"Try your best to recall it, think carefully." Top looked hopefully at Key.

"I'm sure it had something to do with his story, where is it again?" Key bit his lips trying hard to remember.

"Story? wait , are you saying its related to the story's setting?"

Key's eyes shined in realization ," Right , the Lake , I remember. He said something about the lake . Oh god , this is scary , no wonder I was covered in cold sweat when I heard it , he went to the lake!"

" , the lake!" Krystal toward the lake frantically.

***

Stories and rumors related to " The Lake " are endless.

The more these stories were spread , the more horrifying they got and in the end this beautiful lake turned into a nightmare. None dared to bring it up.

The lake had been there for years , even before the school. In order to go there , one must go to the very very back of the huge school and pass through the woods. No one knows how long the woods had been there , not even the oldest professor in the school.

The reason why the lake turned into a horrifying place , the reason why nobody dared step foot anywhere near the lake is because people have died there , and it wasn't just two or three.

The first ones recorded to have died there was a pair of couples that wanted to escape the arranged marriages both families have made for them and so jumped into the lake together .

Stories said the lake was once extremely clear and green. Not a bit of garbage nor pollution as it sat quietly beside the woods but after the couples died , the lake's color slowly and gradually changed.The once emerald green turned into murky red. The red , some say is the color of blood, after that the lake was named the blood lake.

After the war ended and peace restored , the stories were easily forgotten , casted aside , all that was left was baseless rumors. Soon as cities were rebuilt and modernized , as schools , business , the media, the economy ,Korea became bigger and bigger , as they upgraded over time , the Lake became a place for suicides , a free cemetery for the dead whose without family , the perfect place for homicides . No one ever cared nor wondered just how many corpses lay within the lake.

After the huge period of change , the school was built. It was just a small , plain , normal school , sometime before the three most successful CEOs bought the school and completely changed it. And even then , the old rumors and stories managed to get pass down.

Back then , it was split in two. One side for boys and the other for girls  . Romance was forbidden until the end of the year dance where they were allowed to meet.

One evening , a male student and his girlfriend who was the most popular girl in the school back then decided to take a walk near the lake but something from the lake pulled the male into the water. The girl , holding a piece of his clothing fainted near the lake .She went crazy after that , continuously repeating the same thing day and night.

" Don't pull me , I don't know , don't pull me , I don't know..."

After that rumors exploded, the most popular and believed one was that all couples in love would be pulled into the lake alive because the dead couple from back then couldn't stand others being happily in love.

Since then less and less people came but 2 years later another death related incident happened.

This time it was a teacher who recently became a professor , he was the youngest teacher in the school at that time . What happened to him , what was his background no one knew . A few days after he became a professor he went missing and only a month later did some security guards find his pen, when they retrieved his body , all that was left was a set of bones. All traces of flesh was gone , as if eaten by some unknown creature.

Later on it was said that the professor had an affair with one of his students . The girl got pregnant  and he was scared for his reputation to be ruined so he tricked the girl into eating Abortifacients drugs which caused the girl to almost bleed to death. This professor , taking advantage to the girls loyalty to him even after the incident , made her tell the school that everything was done by a boy that has loved her for a long time . The poor student was forced to drop out.

After the incident , everyone concluded that he was killed by the restless souls of the lake. No one went to the lake anymore , not even security guards .

Right now, Krystal ran frantically to the lake Key said Taemin mentioned in the phone call . Why would anyone go there so late at night and not come back! Her heartbeat sped rapidly as she ran there like her life depended on it.

The sun was already up , but the heavy rain the night before created a dense fog in the woods. The woods were huge , She felt like she ran a long time yet she has yet to see an opening anywhere.

By the time she reached the opening to the lake , she had to stop abruptly. Someone was there!

"Who!" She yelled , no time for fear.

But the shape only floated a bit before disappearing .

"What is wrong with me?!" Krystal scolded herself before continuing her run to the lake. The fog was heavy and thick disabling her to see anything clearly. She stopped by the lake and looked around desperately.

" OPPA! "

Not far ahead , a white floated around.

"T..Taemin!! " Without thinking , Krystal ran toward the white shape.

The white shadow only floated a bit before vanishing.

"Taemin! Everything was my fault! I shouldn't have been so annoying , I shouldn't have fought with you! I shouldn't have accused you of anything!! Everything was my fault. COME OUT! " She ran to the spot the white shadow had been just seconds ago but there was nothing but a tree.

No one was there. The lake became even more quiet.

A white object caught her sight from the corner of her eyes so she immediately knelt down to see what was lying beside the water.

A mask! She walked over and quickly and picked the mask up.

The mask was simple and white with weird gold patterns on it.

"The mask Taemin wore yesterday!" A voice cried beside her.

Krystal turned around and saw Key's extremely pale face. Top and CL followed behind , all colors of blood slowly draining from their faces as well.

"Are you sure it's his?" Krystal asked.

Key nodded , no sounds made it through his opened mouth.

"Yesterday , when Taemin went out he didn't take off his mask." CL tried to explain as calmly as she can," She rushed out with her mask and didn't come back."

"He's Dead! Killed by the lake's restless souls !" Key screamed ," See! Didn't I tell you not to play pen spirit! Its too late! It's too late! We too , can't escape ! "

"Key, Shut your mouth!" TOP covered his mouth harshly with his hands.

Taemin was retrieved from the lake one day later.