Yoomi pulled away from the 'protective' hug first.

 

Jihoo and Yoomi stared at each other for a moment before it was broken by a loud click of the door that would lead them to the ninth room.

 

Yoomi walked away from Jihoo and looked at the place where Zico and Luna were standing a while ago.

 

"Zico..." Kyung whispered as tears began to fall from his eyes. His bestfriend just died in front of him. 

 

"I'm so sorry..." Yoomi apologized as she took a step towards Kyung.

 

Kyung held up a hand to stop her from getting any closer.

 

"Please. Leave me alone," Kyung said before walking and entering the new room.

 

"I don't know if I can continue with this..." Hana said, her knees giving up on her.

 

"Noona!" Minwoo cried and helped her get back on her feet. "Noona, we can do this. Two or one more room left. Come on."

 

Myungsoo came to assist Minwoo with Hana and they entered the next room.

 

Yoomi stared at the wall blankly. She was dazed. Jihoo walked towards her and nudged her.

 

"We should get moving," Jihoo said.

 

Yoomi nodded, still blank and made Jihoo drag her towards the next room.

 

The next room was just like the second one. The puzzle was on display for everyone to see.

 

"Congratulations on knowing the truth and making it to the ninth room. Solve this puzzle and you are one step closer to your freedom:

 

In front of you are pictured tiles of a sequence. Place it in an order on the slots, of which happened first, to the most recent."

 

Jihoo's bomb started to beep. He panicked and worried, but didn't show it. Instead, he tried to push it away and concentrate on the puzzle instead.

 

He walked towards the picture tiles and realized that it were school events of the past year. All of which he had never attended.

 

Minwoo took a look at the tiles and mumbled, "School events? Sorry, can't help you, hyung. I wasn't there last year."

 

Jihoo merely nodded and started to work on the puzzle. He had never attended an event, so he didn't know a lot about it. He didn't know which came after the first, which was the opening ceremony. That was probably the only event he attended since he needed to know his class. He never attended the last event, which he thought was an awarding for the top students of the school.

 

Jihoo was struggling. There were 43 tiles, and he had less than 10 minutes. It wasn't easy. He was the only one answering. He was alone. And he can't blame the others. They were obviously disgusted at him for falling in love with his sister.

 

But he didn't care about what they think. To hell about what they think. What was important to him was Yoomi. He assured himself. He wouldn't let anything bad happen to Yoomi. Once he gets out of the place, alive, with Yoomi, he will fix things with her. He will tell her everything she wants to know. He will tell her everything she didn't know.

 

Yoomi sighed. More than 5 minutes had pass and he wasn't done yet. What was she doing? She knew how to answer that puzzle, yet she was standing there, letting Jihoo suffer.

 

She knew it was wrong for him to fall in love with her, but he was still her brother. And as a sister to a brother who had taken care of her, who had risked a lot for her, she had to do something.

 

Sure, she had faith in him. But what if he couldn't finish the puzzle? She should help him. After all, she couldn't live with the thought of her surviving, and him, not. She couldn't live without him. He was always there for her, and she couldn't live with the thought of Jihoo dying, or Jihoo dead. She loves her brother, only in a different way than he does to her. And she wouldn't let a confession ruin their relationship.

 

So Yoomi rushed beside Jihoo and helped him.

 

Jihoo stopped and grew shock at the moment. But realizing that his life was at stake, he continued to work.

 

While pulling on a tile, Jihoo's hand brushed on to Yoomi's hand. The both of them froze.

 

Funny, they had held hands countless of times before, but this time, it felt different. Even though their hands merely brushed.

 

Jihoo snapped out of it and grabbed the tile and placed it to where it was supposed to be. And not realizing it, the puzzle was done.

 

And a few moments later, Jihoo's bomb stopped with the short time, and resumed to tick to the same time as the others in the room.

 

They froze there, Yoomi and Jihoo, looking into each others' eyes.

 

And a few minutes later, the door to their last room, unlocked with a click.

 

---

 

Boring chapter. I know. I just had to deal with the emotional stuff first before killing someone off. Bwahahahaha!