“Hey Subin” Luhan came closer to her and asked, “are you good at this stuff?”

“I actually am. Why ask?”

“Great! Then let’s be partners then!” He said excitedly.

“Wait, no. How about Sehunnie? Aren’t you going with him?” They both looked at Sehun’s direction who was already talking and clinging arms with Tao.

“Nah. I think Sehun has already found a partner.” So in the end it was Subin – Luhan and Tao – Sehun. The other pairings are Jongin – Kyungsoo, Baekhyun – Chanyeol , Jongdae – Yixing, and Yifan – Joonmyun. After the pairings had been decided, it was not time for the first pair to enter. And as volunteered by their beloved members, the leaders were up first.

Yifan and Joonmyun, as leaders, had to look tough on the outside. Well they are, but not until you make them enter a Haunted House.

“Joonmyunyou go first.” Yifan instructed. “Why me? You’re bigger and older! You go first!” Joonmyun retorted.

“What? You live in this country! So you better go in first and lead the way like any other Koreans on their homeland.” Before Joonmyun could speak another rebuttal again, Yifan pushed him in and there goes the start of their time. The closed behind them and they both screamed in shock. They each took one step at a time trying to look straight ahead as possible when suddenly something from above came down and hit Yifan right on the head. It was soft though, but it shook all of the tall guy’s insides. Joonmyun couldn’t stop laughing. He could feel his jaw hurt from doing it. They continued to walk inside, this time more careful and alert than when they first entered.

“Just you wait, shortie.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know being tall could also have its disadvantages, especially inside places like this.”

Due to the height difference, Joonmyun’s steps were only half of what Yifan makes. Because of that, the had waiting on the floor was not able to get hold of Yifan’s. But with Joonmyun’s, it was too easy to target. The hand caught the feet of the short one at the right time, and he fell on the floor. Joonmyun screamed in fear and pain while Yifan had his revenge of laughter. He looked back at his co-leader for a moment then continued to walk faster. He too was so afraid already that all he wanted was for the torture to end. Joonmyun got up and noticed Yifan walking away.

“YA! WU YIFAN DON’T LEAVE ME!” Yifan noticed the change in the voice of Joonmyun. He couldn’t help but stop and wait for him to catch up. “Are you ok?” He asked when Joonmyun was only  a few steps behind. He offered his right arm and Joonmyun wrapped his left harm on him. The screaming didn’t stop but they never left each other’s arms until they come out.

When the members saw how their leaders look after the horrifying trip, they laughed their heads off. That’s when the two realized that they were still clinging, and they started blaming each other once again. Among the group, Baekhyun’s and Chanyeol’s laughs were the loudest. And so the two leaders decided to chose them to be the next pair. That’s when 2/3 of the Beagle stopped.

Baekhyun started screaming the moment his foot landed inside. Chanyeol just kept on laughing at him but deep inside he too was shaking and wanting to scream. Once both were inside Baekhyun’s brilliant might caught an idea that would make them move faster towards the end.

“Hey Yeol, carry me!” Chanyeol slapped him on the head and pushed him forward instead. “What the heck are you talking about?”

“Come on! Carry me! It’ll be our strategy. You have long legs, so you can walk faster.”

“That’s your only basis? No Baek, I won’t carry you. Walk on your own. You’re not an infant anymore.” But the mischievous Baekhyun didn’t stop. He jumped and landed on Chanyeol’s back with force. Chanyeol screamed so loud because of shock. The members waiting outside heard it and they all laughed so hard.

“I think a Titan was just attacked by a Human inside,” Luhan commented, which made them laugh more.

“Hyung, you’re watching too much Shingeki no Kyojin.” Sehun remarked. Subin looked at Luhan with glittering eyes and asked, “you watch it too?” Luhan nodded in response.

Back inside,Chanyeol was struggling to get Baekyun off him. But the latter was gripping so hard on the former that it’s pissing Chanyeol off.

“Byun Baekhyun, seriously, get off me now!” Baekhyun sensed that the tall guy was not joking with him anymore, and so he freed himself from him and walked ahead.

“Hey, wait up!” Chanyeol hurriedly followed behind his best friend. He bumped on him when Baekhyun suddenly stopped when he reached a new room. They looked at each other with feaful eyes. No one was talking. Together with their hands, they slowly opened the door and, “AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!”

The members outside started to laugh so loud again as they could hear the two best of friends scream their hearts out. What’s more funny this time was that there was the unintended harmony; with Baekhyun being on the high note while Chanyeol on the low one.

“SH*T!!! $#@@%@$^&!!! #$@#%@$^!!! @^&*^$*^$$%!!!! #@$@@%” Different forms of curses could be hear from both of them. If only those curses can turn to money, they could probably buy a share from their company. The two didn’t stop from screaming until they got out. They were catching their breath upon leaving the Haunted House. Unfortunately, they had a longer time than Yifan and Joonmyun. Therefore they were automatically eliminated from the contest. The two magnaes, Tao and Sehun, couldn’t stop from laughing at their exhausted hyungs. The two then decided to chose the magnae line as the next victims.

“WHY US?” Tao asked with his voice already shaking.

“Why not YOU?” Chanyeol answered him back with a question. The magnaes know that they could not argue with the reasoning of those two that’s why they accepted their defeat and headed to the entrance with arms wrapped around each other like kids being punished.

Tao was seriously shaking hard just being by the entrance. Sehun couldn’t control him, and so he ends up shaking as well. They were standing there for almost 5 minutes when Yifan ordered, “Just go inside kids! You’re taking too much time here outside!” With that, the two went in. Tears started to fall from Tao’s eyes. Sehun wanted to laugh but he tried to suppress for the sake of his partner.

Everytime something scares Tao, he hastens his steps to a point where he was dragging Sehun already just so they could move faster. Tao only had one goal in mind, and that was to come out alive. On the last stop, the long corridor. Tao suddenly stopped. His whole body was shaking and tears kept on streaming down his face. Sehun could sense the urgency of going out as fast as they could because the longer Tao was inside; the harder it was for him to breathe normally due to fear and anxiety.

“Hold my hand, and don’t let go.” Sehun told him. And he continued to instruct, “at the count of three, we will run as fast as we can. Don’t look at the sides, don’t look behind. Just look straight ahead where the exit is, ok.”

Tao couldn’t bring himself to say a word but Sehun knew he listened. The younger grabbed the hand of the elder and on the count of three they ran like a bullet train. Sehun gripped Tao’s hand tighter as the latter cried heaps. The next thing they know, it was bright. They were finally outside.

Everyone was shocked to see them out already. Not a single one uttered a joke when they saw Tao’s condition. He was shaking to the max. And so was Sehun. Yifan and Luhan immediately ran to their aid and assured them that they were fine. When they were finally seated and have calmed down a bit, Minseok announced their time, “4 minutes and 22 seconds.”

Everyone was surprised. They beat the record of the leaders by just 1 second. Yifan and Joonmyun were out of the game. The new pair to beat was Tao and Sehun.

“Really?” The magnaes couldn’t believe it as well. They were speechlees as the result haven’t sinked to them yet. Next up was Jongdae and Yixing, who volunteered themselves, so that their turn will be done already.

As compared to the first 3 pairs before them, Jongdae and Yixing were perfectly quiet. The members outside barely heard any noise from the inside. Before the members knew it, the two went out sharing only one hot pack.

“Did you guys really go inside?” Baekhyun asked suspiciously. “Of course we did. Didn’t you see us walking out from there?” Jongdae answered him.

“What happened inside? Why do you only have one hot pack now? You two were awfully quiet the whole time.” Joonmyun was really curious.

Yixing let Jongdae explain what happened. “We stopped everytime someone tried to scare us, and we gave them our hot packs since it was really cold inside and they were not wearing any thick clothing unlike us.”

“You still did some charitable work inside. You dudes are saints.” Chanyeol expressed his awe.

“So what was our time hyung?” Yixing asked, half-expecting that they’ll be on the lead. “It’s 4 minutes and 32 seconds.”

“WHAT?” Tao and Sehun still couldn’t believe that they were still on the run for the top place. Jongdae and Yixing congratulated the two kids even though they were a bit disappointed.

Jongin and Kyungsoo were the penultimate pair since Luhan and Subin volunteered to be the last. The two were pretty competitive, saying that they’ll beat Tao and Sehun’s record. Jongin even joked, “They can’t see me cos I’m too dark for them peeps,” which caused laughter among the group.

The two then bravely went inside. But as they went further, Jongin starts to scream. His voice was getting higher each time he opens his mouth.

“Yeah right Jongin. They can’t see you but they can hella hear you from afar.” And that’s exactly what the guys outside were thinking too.

When the thing from above went down, Jongin fell and kneeled on the floor. Due to his own fear, Kyungsoo didn’t notice what happened to his partner. He was talking to Jongin to calm himself as he walked further but after hearing no response from the guy, he looked back and saw that he was not there anymore. He started to panic. He immediately retraced his steps to look for Jongin. After some twists and turns, he found him still on the floor with face on the ground. He knew it was no use; Jongin was extremely scared and already weak to walk on his own. Kyungsoo then lifted Jongin, put the latter’s left arm around his narrow shoulders and supported him like that until the very end.

When the members saw the two at the exit, they immediately ran and helped Kyungsoo. They’ve never seen Jongin that scared. They didn’t bother asking for their time because they were pretty sure it took them longer than they expected. And so, Tao and Sehun still remains the pair to beat.

The winner will finally be determined after Luhan and Subin’s turn. They were off to a good start, or so Subin thought. Upon entering, Luhan’s hands immediately turned ice cold due to fear but he didn’t let Subin know this. He was trying to pull an image. But little did he know, Subin knows him.

She intentionally touched Luhan’s skin with the back of his hand to feel his temperature. When she confirmed to herself that it was indeed cold already, she grabbed Luhan’s hand without hesitation. Luhan was shocked by the aggressive action from a girl.

“I won’t let go, ok. Just hold my hand and you will be fine,” she assured him. Luhan couldn’t say anything in response and so Subin continued, “also, if you feel like screaming don’t be shy to do it.”

“But I don’t want to scream in front of you.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“Because you might think I’m not manly.” Luhan confessed his true fear. Subin lightly laughed at the guy’s answer.

“Being manly is not about being strong all the time. It’s about having the courage to show your weaknesses too.” After Subin’s reminder, Luhan came out from his shell and followed his instincts, which is to scream when he gets surprised. When they were near the exit Luhan asked, “how long have we been inside?”

“I have no idea.”

“But do you think we’ve already passed Tao and Sehun’s record?”

“Maybe not yet. We’re kind of fast, in my opinion.”

“Oh, ok. Then, let’s stay longer. If that’s ok with you.”

“You want the kids to win, huh?” Luhan nodded with a brotherly smile on his face. And then they stayed. They chatted while sitting at the near end of the last corridor. They lost track of the time. The members outside started to get worried because it was taking too long for them to come out.

“I’ll check inside,” Minseok volunteered. He went to the Exit to start and there he saw the two chatting happily like no one’s waiting for them to come out.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” The two were surprised. They immediately stood and explained to Minseok about their plan of letting the kids win.

“Don’t tell this to any of them, promise?” Luhan put up his pinky in front of his best friend. Minseok did the same.

“Promise. So now, can we go out? They’re waiting for you guys. They thought you two ran away already.”

“WHAT?!” The two exclaimed

“Kidding! Unless you really would want them to think that way,” and he signaled to the hands of the two still hodling each other. They freed it exactly right before coming out.

Questions here and there, asking where they went and what happened filled the air as they returned to the group. And the two’s only answer was, “we got lost.”

It was then announced that the final winner of the Haunted House contest was the unexpected, Huang Zitao and Oh Sehun! The kids were so happy as they received their prize. They were so ready to use it as soon as they can. And that’s how Tao and Sehun got their early Christmas present.